President Putin to visit Middle East despite arms delivery scandal with Is

http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/88/354/15167_israel.html

President Putin to visit Middle East despite arms delivery scandal with Israel and Syria
03/24/2005 18:09
Israel's Sharon never visited Russia in 2004, although he was a frequent guest in Moscow before

President Putin is going to visit the Middle East. Russian president's first visit to the region is slated to take place at the end of April. The program includes official visits to Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian autonomy. According to the current plan, President Putin is to visit Cairo first, after that the Russian leader will go to Israel and complete the Mideastern tour in Palestine's Ramallah.

The Russian Security Council is taking a very active part in preparations for the visit. The council's secretary, Igor Ivanov, visited Egypt and Israel on March 13th and 18th respectively to coordinate details of Putin's forthcoming visit, Vremya Novostei reports. In the meantime, Aleksei Miller, the chairman of the Russian giant Gazprom, is expected to visit Cairo today. Gazprom will probably participate in the project to build a gas pipeline to Europe, France in particular, via the territory of Mideastern states.

The Israeli part of Putin's trip in the Middle East will be rather important against the background of worsening relations between Russia and Israel. The problem occurred over Russia's intention to sell anti-aircraft systems to Syria, which Israel is at enmity with.

Israeli and Russian media outlets wrote that the relations between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (77) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (52) had taken a turn for the worse before the scandal with arms deliveries took place. Sharon never visited Russia in 2004, although he was a frequent guest in Moscow before.


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Putin is going into hot box!!!

Sharon looked into his eyes.... and saw something else. A backbone perhaps?? Now why can't those pesky Russians just lie down and take it like any other good little third world nation.... don't they know Amurka is on the move? Pity the fool.

How dare Putin challenge the Almighty Neo-Cons of God's beloved #1 Nation. Doesn't he realize that * was specifically selected by GOD? /sarcasm off

I'd bet money that ole' * is having a hissy fit right now? It's *impossible* for him to come to terms with THE FACT that he (and his Neo-Con Handlers) can NOT control every nation of the world.

...was shipping weapons through Pakistan and on to Afghanistan to arm bin Laden and the mujahideen in the 1980's to defeat the USSR? For some reason I don't think he will forget.

Don

http://www.satribune.com/archives/jul20_26_03/P1_charlie.htm

Pakistan Has Been Getting Sophisticated Weapons from Israel in Secret Deals

WASHINGTON: Most of the Afghan war against the Soviet Union was fought by Mujahideen and Pakistani soldiers using Israeli arms supplied after General Zia ul Haq entered into secret deals with the Israelis, a book published here has revealed.

The revelation, coming at a time when the Pakistani Army Chief is campaigning for recognition of Israel, throws hitherto concealed light on secret Army-Israeli deals and their cooperation through the CIA. It reveals that the Army was not averse to secret defence cooperation, although publicly it did not acknowledge any contact with the Israelis.

Congressman Charles Wilson from Texas, a great pro-Pakistan activist who hated the Indians, was the central figure to get these CIA-funded weapons for Pakistan and is credited in the book as the man who broke up the Soviet Union with the help of a 48-year old Houston woman with whom General Zia ul Haq also had an affair.

The book, “Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History” is written by journalist George Crile, who was an editor at Harper's in the Seventies and who is now a producer at 60 Minutes II. snip

It was thus Joanne’s dinner in Houston which launched Zia in US and started the Pak-Israeli cooperation in arms. The book says of that event: “Zia had dangerous decisions to make in the coming months about the CIA’s involvement in his inflamed North-West Frontier, and all of them centered on whether he could trust the United States. Joanne’s startling toast was strangely therapeutic for the much-maligned leader, who remembered how quickly Jimmy Carter had turned on him. In Houston that night, Joanne Herring saw to it that a host of powerful Americans actually honored him. And that same night, Charlie Wilson provided yet another dimension to Zia’s growing partnership with the United States when he took the general into a side room for a private talk. The congressman had a novel proposition for – the Muslim dictator. Would Zia be willing to deal with the Israelis?”

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