O what a night
Israel Iran Spat from the Chinese view
Israel sold US drone technology to China in violation of their agreement, China sold it to Iran, who now uses it to attack Israel
[link to www.theguardian.com (secure)]
Conal Urquhart in Tel Aviv
Sun 12 Jun 2005 19.01 EDT
The United States has imposed sanctions on Israel after a dispute over Israel's sale of drones - unmanned aerial vehicles - to China, according to news reports.
The US has suspended co-operation on several development projects and frozen delivery of night-vision equipment.
An official at the US embassy in Tel Aviv said he was aware of the reports but would not comment on them. He said the information about the sanctions had come from the Israeli government and not the US.
The sanctions have been in place for at least three months and were approved by Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, and Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, seven months ago, according to the reports.
Although the US is primarily angered by the behaviour of civil servants whose tenure stretches back to the Labour government of Ehud Barak in 2000, the crisis threatens Israel's relations with the US.
A report in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz concluded: "Following the crisis, one can sense the repulsion toward Israel among lower- and middle-ranking officials in Washington.
"More and more of them are saying that it is not worth doing business with Israel."
The US believes that Israeli officials lied to them about the export of Harpy Killer drones to China.
The officials claimed that Israel was merely refurbishing old drones which had been exported with American consent. The US argued that the drones had been upgraded using new technology which it had shared with Israel.
The US fears that China is becoming increasingly well-armed and may seek to settle longstanding territorial and political disputes by the threat and use of force.
China has repeatedly threatened Taiwan with attack if it declares independence, and South Korea and Japan are concerned about China translating its size into military power.
I hate to say this but I’m gonna. I think Russia and especially China are the adults in the room. It is China responsible for cooler heads prevailing if indeed they actually do. I can explain on so many levels. The future belongs to the multi polar universe. The right has been programmed to hate China; the left Russia. The elites knew all to well one or both needed to be made an example of. They were/are a threat to their unipolar hegemony. It’s funny the elites (West) counted their chickens before they hatched. They smashed patriotism and nationalism (pride). Gutted the military thinking there were no more foreign wars to fight. Their mighty sanctions would destroy any enemy. It warms the heart to know they fucked up. Lowers the mood to understand we are all on the sinking ship.
Hope you have been well sir.
To mop up and get territory. As in air war.