{"id":348,"date":"2012-05-08T09:39:07","date_gmt":"2012-05-08T13:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.matthewvandyke.com\/blog\/?p=348"},"modified":"2012-06-13T12:32:35","modified_gmt":"2012-06-13T16:32:35","slug":"russian-chinese-arms-sales-authoritarian-regimes-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.matthewvandyke.com\/blog\/russian-chinese-arms-sales-authoritarian-regimes-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian and Chinese Arms Sales to Authoritarian Regimes – Part 1 (Russia)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian and Chinese Arms Sales to Authoritarian Regimes – Part 1 (Russia)<\/h1>\n

This article is Part\u00a01 of\u00a0Russian and Chinese Arms Sales to Authoritarian Regimes.\u00a0 Part\u00a02 can be found here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article is also available in Arabic (\u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629)\u00a0at Free Syrian Translators<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Russia: The Evil Empire Revisited?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wherever\u00a0you find people fighting for their freedom you\u2019ll find a regime killing them with Russian weapons.\u00a0 During the Libyan civil war I was often under fire\u00a0from Russian guns, grenades, rockets, and mortars used by Gaddafi\u2019s forces, and I used captured Russian weapons myself on many occasions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Freedom

Freedom Fighter Matthew VanDyke with his Russian DShK machine gun in the Libyan Civil War<\/p><\/div>\n

There is no greater ally of authoritarianism in the world than Russia.\u00a0 Russia obstructs intervention in Syria through the UN Security Council<\/a>, while at the same time shipping weapons to Bashar al-Assad to ensure that he remains in power and a good customer for future arms deals.\u00a0 Moscow has developed close relationships with several authoritarian regimes around the world that oppress their populations and abuse human rights using the weapons that Russia supplies.\u00a0 As a result of the Arab Spring and a wave of democratization sweeping the world<\/a>, Russia is watching its influence drain away like water from a\u00a0busted dam\u00a0and it doesn\u2019t care how many bodies it takes to plug the leaks.<\/p>\n

The FAS report “Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2003-2010”<\/a> contains Russia\u2019s customer list for arms deals.\u00a0 The usual suspects are all there:<\/p>\n

Iran – Libya (under Gaddafi) – Syria – Algeria – Yemen – China – Sudan – Zimbabwe<\/em><\/p>\n

For comparison, the United States’\u00a0main customers are:<\/p>\n

Israel – Taiwan – Saudi Arabia – Egypt – Pakistan – India – Jordan<\/em><\/p>\n

Some of these countries are authoritarian regimes and I have not listed every country that buys weapons from Russia\u00a0and the USA,\u00a0but the moral implications of the Russian and American customer lists are quite clear.\u00a0 Although the US is not innocent of arms sales to questionable regimes, the actions of Russia and China are arguably appalling in their strategy and magnitude.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Disturbing Pattern<\/strong><\/p>\n

The customer lists don\u2019t tell the whole story.\u00a0 A close examination of which weapons systems Russia is selling to these regimes reveals a strategy that appears designed specifically to discourage military intervention by the West against authoritarian regimes (such as occurred in Libya).\u00a0 The evidence is in the numbers (I have also\u00a0included the numbers of US weapons for comparison):<\/p>\n

Surface-to-Air Missiles sold by Russia (2003-2010): 10,570<\/em><\/p>\n

Surface-to-Air Missiles sold by the US (2003-2010): 1,427<\/em><\/p>\n

Supersonic Combat Aircraft sold by Russia (2003-2010): 320<\/em><\/p>\n

Supersonic Combat Aircraft sold by the US (2003-2010): 152<\/em><\/p>\n

Helicopters sold by Russia (2003-2010): 390<\/em><\/p>\n

Helicopters sold by the US (2003-2010): 138<\/em><\/p>\n

Why would Russia be selling massive quantities of Surface-to-Air Missiles and air force assets to these regimes?\u00a0 The answer is clear: to discourage Western military campaigns against their best customers.\u00a0 It has worked in Syria where one of the arguments against Western airstrikes to support the rebellion against Bashar al-Assad is the strength of the regime\u2019s air defenses and the massive undertaking it would be to dismantle them<\/a>.\u00a0 Their work is ongoing – in November 2011, Russia allegedly sent technical advisers to help set up very sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air missile defense systems in Syria and update Syrian radar systems around critical facilities.<\/p>\n

Syria\u2019s major weapons imports increased 580 percent between 2002-2006, and Russia supplied 78 percent of the arms to Syria during the 2007-2011 period.\u00a0 These purchases included air defense and anti-ship missiles; the anti-ship missiles have a long range of 300km.\u00a0 Syria received 7% of Russia\u2019s $10 billion total arms deliveries in 2010.<\/p>\n

Libya, Venezuela (a hybrid, partially authoritarian regime)\u00a0and Burma (Myanmar) have all purchased surface-to-air missiles from Russia in recent years.\u00a0 Russia also planned to sell S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran, clearly intending to discourage an American or Israeli strike against Iran\u2019s nuclear program<\/a>, but the sale has not taken place because of diplomatic pressure from the US and EU.<\/p>\n

Protecting Their Investment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Russia, a shadow of the former Soviet Union, desperately seeks influence in the world through the arms trade.\u00a0 Many of their customers purchased Soviet-era weapons systems and are reliant on Russia for repairs, replacements, upgrades and ammunition.\u00a0 Russia also\u00a0produces technologically advanced weaponry and sells it to regimes that the US and EU countries won’t deal with.\u00a0 By doing so, Russia aims to counterbalance American influence in the world, protect its military and economic interests (as well as national ethos), and more recently to help stop the spread of democracy around the world that might lead to a Russian Spring arriving in Moscow.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, these games of international intrigue and influence are played on the backs of people suffering in the developing world in\u00a0countries like Iran, Syria, Algeria, Yemen, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and until recently, Libya.<\/p>\n

Click this link for Part 2: Russian and Chinese Arms Sales to Authoritarian Regimes (China)<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian and Chinese Arms Sales to Authoritarian Regimes – Part 1 (Russia) This article is Part\u00a01 of\u00a0Russian and Chinese Arms Sales to Authoritarian Regimes.\u00a0 Part\u00a02 can be found here. This article is also available in Arabic (\u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629)\u00a0at Free Syrian Translators … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,5,12,37,14,15],"tags":[60,61],"class_list":["post-348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arab-spring","category-iran","category-regime-change","category-russia","category-syria","category-war","tag-arms-trade","tag-assad"],"yoast_head":"\nRussian and Chinese Arms Sales to Authoritarian Regimes - Part 1 (Russia) - The Freedom Fighter Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.matthewvandyke.com\/blog\/russian-chinese-arms-sales-authoritarian-regimes-russia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russian and Chinese Arms Sales to Authoritarian Regimes - Part 1 (Russia) - The Freedom Fighter Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russian and Chinese Arms Sales to Authoritarian Regimes – Part 1 (Russia) This article is Part\u00a01 of\u00a0Russian and Chinese Arms Sales to Authoritarian Regimes.\u00a0 Part\u00a02 can be found here. 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