Russia is sending an advanced air-defense missile system to Syria. The sale had been scheduled for some time, but the EU and the US had persuaded Russia to delay delivery. The decision to send the missiles suggests that the Russians fear some sort of intervention by the Western states, most likely a no-fly zone over Syria. But it also suggests that the Russians believe that Assad must have a reasonable chance of surviving since they would be unlikely to anger the Western allies on a losing bet. The Russians, however, demonstrated that hypocrisy is still a fine art in world politics since, at the same time they announced the delivery of the missiles, they condemned the EU for not extending the arms embargo on Syria.
Foreign Policy has published an article by Alireza Nader on the Iranian nuclear issue. Nader makes a persuasive argument that a nuclear-armed Iran would not be as dangerous as many assume. The likelihood that Iran would act substantially differently from other nuclear powers is a difficult position to defend. Nuclear weapons have had the effect of making states act more cautiously than they might otherwise have acted.
The Washington Post has published an article outlining the degree of cyber-spying by China on advanced US weapoins systems. The article reports that the Chinese have hacked into the computer files detailing two dozen advanced weapons systems, including the F-35, the not-even-deployed fighter plane that is supposed to be the most advanced fighter plane ever built. It’s not clear how much information was stolen through the spying, but the report indicates that the US Department of Defense is concerned about the security lapse. One should not be surprised that such spying occurs–every state spies on every other state.
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