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Newsletters

Edited by Christian Lowe | Contact

Libyan-French Connection Rekindling?

gaddafi.jpg

It seems a long time ago that Muammar Gadaffi was the root of all evil, doesn't it? Those were the good old days of "Freedom of Navigation" ops (remember the "Line of Death"?) and VF-32 Tomcats picking on kids coming off the short bus.

Of course, Gadaffi has done an "Abominable Snowman after the dental work" and made nice with the world, right? Well, Joe at DID has an interesting report about Libya's recent outreach to . . . wait for it . . . FRANCE.

Here's a bit:

Libya's military has traditionally been Soviet supplied, alongside some equipment from France. The demise of the Soviet Union, the 1990s drop in oil prices, and Libya's pariah status all combined to choke military modernization – but Libya's new political direction, and the rise in oil prices, are changing that. Unsurprisingly, there have been widespread reports in recent days that France and Libya have signed a Memorandum of Understanding covering arms deals worth up to EUR 4.5 billion, including the first foreign sale of the Rafale fighter. Has France learned the lessons of Morocco and Saudi Arabia? Can the Rafale find an export home at last? Will the deals come to fruition?

See the rest here.

Meanwhile, Christian and I are flying back from corporate headquarters on the west coast, so we'll be post-light for the rest of today. See you for the Sunday Paper.

-- Ward

Comments

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Posted by: aoc gold at May 19, 2008 07:50 PM


Excellent reporting Roy Smith. However you left out one point. That sub was sailing into Africa. Now ask yourself, from where. Now add in the defactoe of wards article here of arms sales going past France to Libyia and Syria and Iran to say Africa to humor you. Now past that where would 100,000's of troops placed elsewhere use those guns and where? Now ask this, where is the sub base that sent the sub to S Africa and you may have your answer to where the next insurgency will and is allready, but is unarmed properly at this time. Keep it up Roy. You allmost have it figured out. You may unravel a lot more. GW!Ward!

Posted by: Max Anderson at December 18, 2007 02:36 AM


Sorry...just don't see the problem here. Since Libya came clean with the nukes and since they reportedly are helping with the war on terror...

I agree- its a little weird seeing Qadaffi labeled as benign- but by all accounts they have been cooperative. Better France gets some of that oil dough than Russia or China.

Posted by: Emastro at December 17, 2007 01:29 PM


Libya's defense is in need of attention. Purchasing from a regional source (France and Libya border the Mediterranean) makes sense.

Posted by: Mark Pyruz at December 16, 2007 04:56 PM


frankie,
I'm an American from the state of Georgia.I've been following whats happening in South Africa through Africancrisis.org & Africancrisis.co.za.I'm sorry for whats happening over there.I was one of the fools that bought into the idea of South Africa becoming a better country with Nelson Mandela as president after Apartheid.Unfortunately,now I see the same insane policies going on in South Africa that is happening in Zimbabwe.As things seem to be going in South Africa,it probably won't be long until they are also considered a rogue nation.The only nation benefiting from all of this chaos in the whole African continent is China.Also,I'm most likely one of the few Americans who see whats happening over there.As soon as the World Cup comes up & national teams realize that they actually have to play over there & the fans refuse to come because of safety concerns,then you'll probable see FIFA finally saying that enough is enough.

Posted by: Roy Smith at December 16, 2007 03:51 PM


Roy
are you from SA? you seem to know a lot about what is going down here, what you said is unfortunately true btw.

SA's indigenous defense industry is a largely a product of afrikaner expertise amid heavy sactions during the 70's - 80's. A lot of the skillset has left, including a couple of my dad's friends who left to work on the Appache in the States after working on the Rooivalk for Denel here.

With Jacob "showerboy" Zuma on his way to the presidency, I'm getting more and more worried about the future of our lovely country.

Posted by: frankie at December 16, 2007 12:34 PM


White South African farmers are being murdered & raped left & right.The crime rate is out of control in South Africa.The South African electric company keeps having power outages(or power shedding).South Africa is supposed to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup but already thats proving to be an embarrassment to FIFA because ANC led South Africa is nowhere near ready,& unlike Greece with the 2006 Olympics,will never be ready & thats on top of the fact that there would be no viable security to protect both players & fans from the thugs currently terrorizing the country & murdering both fans & tourists today,& I don't care how many troops that the ANC say they are going to mobilize & how many more police tthey say they are going to hire.The ANC have a problem & they know it(oh,& unless you want to fly on passenger jets where the engines fall off of the planes,don't fly ANC run South African Airlines.They already chased off their white pilots & mechanics by threatening to fire them.Don't believe me on this,but would you really want to take a chance in finding out who's right & who's wrong?).

Posted by: Roy Smith at December 16, 2007 07:04 AM


The problem with South Africa is that the ANC are pretty much 3rd World & cut from the same cloth as Robert Mugabe & Zimbabwe.They are pretty much chasing the Afrikaners & other whites out of South Africa & it both was & is the Afrikaner who made those South African weapons & currently make them work.Without the Afrikaners,South Africa is just another 3rd world African s**thole.Its sad but true.Thabo Mbeki,current president,doesn't believe that the HIV virus causes AIDS,& the person picked to succeed him,Jacob Zuma,has been charged with raping a woman who it turns out is HIV positive.Zuma made the outrageous statement afterwards that there was no danger in him contracting AIDS from her because he "took a shower" after he raped her.If the white South Africans totally flee South Africa,then the ANC will need Red China to help them keep their heads above water.The ANC run military is totally undisciplined & untrainable & if it wasn't for the Afrikaner still serving in it,would be reduced to total anarchy.I'm not trying to sound racist,I'm just telling the truth as I see & hear it.

Posted by: Roy Smith at December 16, 2007 06:45 AM


Sorry...just don't see the problem here. Since Libya came clean with the nukes and since they reportedly are helping with the war on terror I just view this as a reward for good behavior with the additional aspect of helping a long time ally prop-up its flagging defense industry. Concerning minor nations ability to support high tech weaponry, well again no big deal. Defense contractors are a part of the US military and I can't imagine going to war without someone from Boeing, Sikorsky, Northrup or Grumman hanging around a ramp, tarmac or motor pool. Its just a fact of life in today service. Lastly, I wouldn't be so quick to slam the South Africa Defense Forces or their technology base. BAE OMC is pumping out world beater vehicles and these are the same types that gave us the Rooikat, G-6 Howitzer, Ikwala(?) AFV and a really sweet attack helicopter. There Navy has never operated subs (I believe) so the growing pains there are to be expected.

Posted by: Solomon at December 16, 2007 06:03 AM


I need to qualify my statement about the Islamic Brotherhood,I meant the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt have been blowing up & shooting tourists in Egypt since the 90s.

Posted by: Roy Smith at December 15, 2007 03:48 PM


Algeria is one of the most dangerous countries for a foreigner to visit.A decade before Nick Berg,people have been getting their heads cut off & their throats cut in Algeria.You also have the Islamic Brotherhood who have been blowing up & killing tourists since the 90s.When Al Qaeda started cutting heads off in Iraq & Saudi Arabia I said to myself,"this is nothing new,they've been doing that in Algeria since the 90s" which I imagine is news to a lot of people reading this today.

Posted by: Roy Smith at December 15, 2007 03:46 PM


I have been running some older stuff here:
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-O1ahRPI8er4gvVWAGF6W_kZB;_ylt=AmRO89EZLUVZAfNO3jk4gL60AOJ3

But all I have to say is Word Ward!

This is very true. there is an initiative of Hamaas, Hezbullah, & Iran. All of the replies are somewaht accurate also. Don't forget N Africa, Roy Smith. 12-11-2007. There is insurgency rampit there also. See National Terror Alert
Global Security Alert
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/11/algerian-bombings-claim-62-lives-al-qaeda-claims-responsibility/
Past that there is this:
A report by the US congressional Research Service has concluded that there is a very strong possibility that North Korea provided the Hezbollah terrorist organisation with Arms, training and the know how in which to build bomb proof bunkers.

The report quoted Paris Intelligence Online, which specializes in political and economic intelligence, which provided details in September 2006 of an extensive North Korean program to provide weapons and advance terrorist training to Hezbollah.

According to the French internet publication, Hezbollah terrorists travelled to North Korea in the 1980's for advanced training. The program was expanded in 2000 by North Koreans who taught Hezbollah terrorists on site in Lebanon how to build underground bunkers.
Past that there is this:
Clad in green fatigues, their dark hair pinned under army caps, half a dozen of Gaddafi’s “Amazon” guards, all highly-trained recruits from an elite Libyan officers’ academy, scanned the crowd from the edge of the stage.

Most of the women in the audience were of African origin but came to Paris from across France. Most had veils, many wore elegant African-style evening gowns.

The debate on “the situation of women around the world” was carefully organised. Khali, who also heads a pro-Libyan organisation, warned the audience “you must not upset him”.
----------------------
final notes . If you are a terrorist and you are overarmed this could occur. So anotherds childrens guns and boms are bad okay. So if a man in a car offers to give you a ride and offers you guns or bombs, just say no okeeeyyyyyy(a little southparkian mr makey for ya'll:
IsraelNN.com) Four Gaza terrorists were accidentally killed Friday during the funeral of a fellow terrorist who was killed in an IAF air strike Thursday.

YeshaNews reports that in the course of the funeral, a grenade accidentally went off and four terrorists died in the explosion.


(IsraelNN.com) Eyewitnesses at the Gaza funeral procession Friday said that someone fired a handgun in the air during the procession and immediately afterwards a loud explosion occurred, and two of the mourners were killed.

NRG quotes Hamas officials who say the explosion was an accident that took place when one of the marchers dropped a pipe bomb he was carrying. Fatah terrorists say that Hamas activists passed the mourners in a car and lobbed a hand grenade at them.

Posted by: Max Anderson at December 15, 2007 02:41 PM


Maybe the Rafale is destined to be a 3rd World jet fighter that will also find its way into the Brazilian & Argentine inventory.If you were to rank fighter jets between the JSF,the Eurofighter,the Gripen,& the Rafale,the JSF would rank No.1,the Eurofighter would be No.2,the Gripen would be No.3,& the Rafale would most likely be No.4.

Posted by: Roy Smith at December 15, 2007 04:40 AM


The french would sell to Satan himself it they could make a buck. It is my opinion that the French are far more export oriented in their defense industry as they have a smaller domestic base to cover development costs. 300 Rafale fighters is not a lot to spread the development costs. By comparison, Eurofighter has 700 orders and F-35 will sell a few thousand. This raises the cost of the program as spare parts become cheaper as well as the production run increases.So the French will do anything to keep the program going...usually one plane gets several generations of improvements over 20-30 years and this is expensive to do on an ongoing basis as development costs never really cease.

Posted by: Rix at December 15, 2007 02:22 AM


Sell Libya all the weapons you want.If they don't know how to take care of them,the weapons will just sit in the motor pools & tarmacs & rust.I've learned this with the ANC of South Africa.They've bought 3 diesel subs from Germany,but they can only man one.Besides that,they are so incompetent,they almost sunk one of their subs when they were sailing(I'm sorry,I don't know the correct word or terminology for getting a sub from point A to point B on its own power) it from Germany to South Africa.If it wasn't for the Afrikaner Commander the New ANC submarine would have went to the bottom of the ocean.The same goes with the Gripen fighter jets that South Africa bought from Sweden.If ANC run South Africa goes rogue,we don't need to sabotage their war equipment,their incompetence is doing a good enough job of that on their own.I guess let this be a lesson on selling class A weapon systems to 3rd world nations,they'll f*ck the weapons up every time.

Posted by: Roy Smith at December 14, 2007 01:49 PM


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