Saudis, Qatar load up on missile defense

International Business Times:
On Tuesday the Department of Defense announced a new $524 million contract for Lockheed Martin to sell Patriot missiles domestically and to foreign militaries, including those of Romania, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Kingdom is represented in Washington through a web of influential power brokers — among them until recently was the Podesta Group, which folded late last year amid possible implication in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. While representing Saudi Arabia in Washington, Podesta Group also lobbied Washington on behalf of Lockheed.

Saudi Arabia’s three-year-long war in Yemen has been aided by U.S. military equipment, intelligence, and logistics support. Last year, the kingdom acquired $1.1 billion worth of American precision-guided munitions and helicopters, aided by lobbying from former U.S. congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon . In May, President Donald Trump announced a $110 billion arms package to be sold to Saudi Arabia over the next 10 years, but only a small portion of that has so far been approved and delivered. The exact portion of the new $524 million Lockheed contract heading to Saudi Arabia is not publicly known, as the DoD does not segment out those numbers in press releases and did not respond to International Business Times requests for clarification.
...
Patriot advanced capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles are defensive missile systems, used to intercept ballistic missiles such as those launched by Houthi rebels. However, there are questions about the effectiveness of PAC-3 systems, with a recent investigation showing that Patriot missiles may have failed to shoot down a missile launched from Yemen toward Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
...
According to FARA regulations , registered foreign agents are required to submit activities filings within 30 days of the end of the six-month period. Podesta Group’s last six-month period ended Dec. 31, 2017, making its filing currently more than a week late. Reached by IBT, Tony Podesta, the former head of Podesta Group, said that the filing would be submitted “soon” and is delayed because he is on business in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is a key partner in the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen.
...
The Saudi's purchase of the Patriot missiles makes sense because Iran is still a major threat and could launch not only from Yemen but Iran too.  Qatar is on the outs with the Saudis and other Gulf states because of its dealings with the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran.  While the US has a large base in Qatar, it is not clear why selling them Patriot is in teh US interests.

It does look like backing Hillary has not hurt the Podesta's business.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Washington Post: Some Democrats eye adding more justices to the Supreme Court to change its ideological bent The once-remote idea has gained the attention of liberals angered by the GOP push to remake the federal courts. Probably the easy way to defeat this court-packing scheme is for Trump to propose doing the same thing now.  It would lead to Democrat denunciations and claims that it would be wrong, thereby blowing up any attempt by them in the unfortunate event of Democrats winning a presidential election.
Read more

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Conn Carroll: A new survey of 368 midsize to large companies found that 29% of them are considering terminating their active employee health care plans when Obamacare is full implemented in 2014. Only 71% of employers surveyed said they did not expect to drop their health coverage, while 20% said they did not know and 9% said they were planning to exit. The latest survey, conducted by Towers Watson, echoes an ealier survey by McKinsey & Co. finding that 30% of private-sector employers were planning to drop their employee health insurance coverage by 2014. When the Congressional Budget Office crunched Obamacare's spending numbers, they estimated that only 7% of employees currently covered by employer-sponsored plans would lose their plans. ... This means the cost of the health care fiasco will be hundreds of billions more than estimated by the CBO and Congressional Democrat. It is also clear that Obama's pledge that you could keep your health care plan if you wanted t
Read more

Bin Laden's concern about Zarqawi's remains

James Robbins: ... Bin Laden suggests that President Bush should allow Zarqawi’s body to be returned to his family in Jordan, but this is a matter that is up to the Jordanian government, which so far has not shown much interest in facilitating a homecoming. Bin Laden mocks King Abdullah II, calling him a Coalition minion, and asking “w hat scares you about Abu Musab after he’s dead? You know that his funeral, if allowed to happen, would be a huge funeral showing the extent of sympathy with the mujahedin.” A large crowd would definitely turn out, though most people would be on hand to demonstrate their anger and disgust. Last November’s hotel bombings in Amman , masterminded by Zarqawi, are still fresh in people’s memory, and mentioning them to Jordanians has the same visceral impact as memory of the 9/11 attacks does here. Jordan has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards those who choose to mourn the country’s least favorite son, and four opposition members of parliament who paid con
Read more