Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Revealed: Russia's secret deal to re-arm Saddam (from February 1999). I must have missed this one -- not that it's a surprise that Russia has been complicit for some time. Furthermore, it isn't just a policy under Putin: The Foreign Office said yesterday that it had received reports of the arms deals, which were being investigated. Officials privately confirmed that the deals had been approved by Moscow. A senior Foreign Office official said: "It is almost beyond belief that a permanent member of the security council could authorise such a flagrant breach of the UN arms embargo. It indicates that Russian relations with Iraq have become a great deal closer since Mr Primakov became prime minister." [Counterpoint] There's considerable irony in Russia standing for international free trade in defiance of a socialist organization. 10:55:41 AM    comment ()

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