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Subscribe to RSSWhile world leaders try to tackle the global debt crisis at the G20 summit in Mexico, all eyes are focusing on relations between President Obama and Russia's Vladimir Putin in the face of the Syria crisis. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
Updated at 11:00 a.m. ET: A ship carrying military helicopters and missiles from Russia to Syria was halted off the coast of Scotland on Tuesday after its British insurers canceled the vessel’s cover, prompting it to turn back.
The MV Alaed was carrying weapons and Mi25 helicopters from the Russian port of Kaliningrad, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The vessel has been closely monitored by intelligence agencies since Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week said such shipments were adding to the arsenal of weaponry available in Syria, which has spiraled into civil war.
Britain's Foreign Office said no physical intervention had been made to prevent the ship's progress. However, Foreign Secretary William Hague told lawmakers on Tuesday that the vessel had "turned back now apparently toward Russia." That could not be independently verified as the ship appeared to have turned off its Automatic Identification System (AIS) equipment in the early hours of Monday.
Clinton last week said Moscow had "dramatically" escalated the crisis in Syria by sending attack helicopters there. The State Department acknowledged later the helicopters she accused Moscow of sending were actually refurbished ones already owned by the Assad regime, but Russia was clearly annoyed, and the spat further fueled tensions between the two countries over Syria. It was not immediately clear whether the helicopters aboard the MV Alaed were the ones to which Clinton had been referring.
The British marine insurer, Standard Club, said it had withdrawn cover from the ship’s owner, Femco, a Russian cargo line.
Arms shipments from Russia to Syria are not prohibited by the United Nations because attempts to impose sanctions have been vetoed by allies of Damascus, including Moscow.
However, a European Union arms embargo outlaws the "transfer or export" of arms and any related "brokering" services such as insurance to Syria by EU members, including Britain.
"We were made aware of the allegations that the Alaed was carrying munitions destined for Syria," the company said in a statement. "We have already informed the ship owner that their insurance cover ceased automatically in view of the nature of the voyage."
“Having its insurance withdrawn will be a problem for the MV Alaed," said Liz McMahon, senior reporter on insurance for maritime specialist, Lloyd's List. "It could make entering other ports difficult."
The Soviet-era helicopters onboard MV Alaed were returning to Syria after being sent to their Russian manufacturer, Mil, for servicing and repairs, the Telegraph reported.
NBC News first reported last week that Russia is preparing to send troops to Syria in the event that it needs to protect personnel and remove equipment from its naval facility in the Mediterranean port of Tartus.
Syria is Moscow's firmest foothold in the Middle East and buys weapons from Russia worth billions of dollars. It also hosts the Russian navy's only permanent warm-water port outside the former Soviet Union.
Russia has used its U.N. Security Council veto to dilute Western efforts to condemn Syrian President Bashar Assad and secure his exit from power, arguing that deposing a government using external pressure is unacceptable.
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I thought that iran might be the catalyst for the next world war, but since syria has such strong support from russia, maybe syria will be the catalyst. The reason i believe we are close to a new world war is because of history. The last world war broke out before the great depression ended, and so many people both common and powerful are so pissed off over this current depression i see no reason for history to not repeat itself. Im just trying to pin down what will be the catalyst to ignite the war.
The Third WW has already started, albeit at a slow boil. The USS Cole, and the repeated World Trade Center bombing attacks were the beginning.
I do not know what you all talking about , Its OK for the US , NATO , SAUDIS ,QATARIS AND THE TURKS to arm the Alqaeda rebels in Syria , But Its not OK for a Sovereign country to get weapons , I do not know where you all get all this demanding power , Russia is not doing anything , We do not do , Russia did not mind NATO attacking Libya and every country they choose , But Its not OK for Russia to Arm a country that they have been allies with for 45 Years . Nothing surprise me about the way the NATO and the US thinking , What good for them , Is bad for everybody else .
The greatest contribution China can make to the Middle-East is to flood it with 50 million Chinese professionals. Arabs will be busy praying while a wave of computer geeks will turn the sands of Arabia into computer chips.
I'm sure the Russian ship has been tagged with a listening device and British submarines are now listening in.
If only those listening devices worked reliably. They're all made in China these days.
Meanwhile, the ongoing "negotiations' (read Iranian stall tactics) have failed to get even one step closer to stopping Iran's nuclear weapons program. Best not talk about that in the media, because Mr. Obama has had too many failures reported in the media this month. and the Supreme Court rulings have yet to be issued.
I love it some of you whiner viners blame Obama, some blame others. Read the article - THE INSURANCE COMPANY did the deed. It appears neither Putin or Obama had a damn thing to do about it.
The insurance company did it because of an EU embargo. Obama had nothing to do with it. Putin, on the other hand, was sending the helicopters to Assad. It is Putin's job to protect Russia's interests, and that's what he's trying to do. He can't be blamed for that.
The Russians are right. Both Syria and the world are better off with Assad than an Islamic government. Look at what is happening in Egypt and Libya right now. Syria will be next if Assad falls. Does the world really need that?
I hope Britain has money and plan for Syria when Asad is killed or dirven out.
If you tocuh it , you own it.
Why do you people want another Egypt/Libya in the middle east? Why do you want to risk conflict with Russia over a bunch of terrorists?
Slow down everyone. There is so much in the Syrian conflict that we are not aware of. If the rebels are actually islamic extremists and are trying to overthrow the Syrian government, Bashir has ever right and responsibility to defend his governemnt and the security of that government. In regards to civilians being killed, that is a terrible thing, but I am not so sure that the blame should go to Bashir's (sorry about the spelling) government forces. Terrorists hide in the civilian populations for that very reason - to make their opposition look like butchers. Any government can either wimper away from that type of hiding while the rebels continue to undermine the stability of a legitimate government, or the established government can move forward and confront their enemy while hiding among the civilian population. Terrorists are cowards - they use women and children for cover and "barganing chips" in an effort to bring the outside world screeming about the brutality of the governement forces, when in reality it is the cowardice of the rebels that bring death upon the civilian population. The civilians also have a responsibility for their own safety. If terrorists are hiding among them and they do not want to be considered as collateral damage, they need to "out" the terrorists, and not give them refuge. The US invaded Afganistan, and Iraq, who are we to tell the Russians they can not play a part in the defense of thier ally. Everyone needs to step back, get a proper understanding of the situation. In the final analysis, it is not the right of any outside governmental or military force to dictate to Syria how to run it's country and government.
Sounds like our own arms manufacturers are just jealous that they are not in on the billions in sales like we are elsewhere in the region (like Saudi Arabia, which we know is a totally benevolent regime...)
Glad to see a less militarized action against the Russian carrier that still provided positive results of not allowing the attack helicpoters back into Syria where they can harm the citizens. It doesn't mean next week another ship won't arrive there with military hardware from Russia or some other country but at least diplomatic and economic actions are being considered first. An embargo on Syria might be prudent also only allowing the basic necessities into their ports to ensure at least no military supplies arrive via the ocean.
June 19, 2012 -- "Iran, Russia, China and Syria will hold the Middle East's
largest ever war game, Iranian news outlets reported quoting unnamed sources,"
reports the Jerusalem Post.
"According to the report, 90,000 troops, 400
warplanes and 1,000 tanks from the four countries will take part in land and sea
exercises. The war games will feature Russian atomic submarines, according to
Iranian media, as well as warships, aircraft carriers and mine-clearing
destroyers. Semi-official Iranian FARS news agency stated that the exercise was
being planned in coordination with Egypt, which recently acceded to grant the
passage of 12 Chinese warships through the Suez Canal. The report stated that
the Chinese naval convoy is due to dock in Syrian harbors within the next two
weeks. Regarding the timing of the planned exercise, FARS quoted unnamed Syrian
officials as saying the war game would be held 'soon'.."
This story by Joel Rosenberg ...
...is particularly intriguing -- and disturbing -- in light of Bible prophecies in
Ezekiel 38-39 that indicate a Russian-Iranian military alliance will develop in
the "last days" to attack the nation of Israel.
My thoughts are...
...It's all beginning to come together, even the world leaders are meeting to discuss the worlds financial woes. Remember the 666 of revelations, well a mark on every ones skin may be on it's way. When pooling resources becomes the only way to survive, and a world system becomes established, what do you think will be next? of course, a universal cashless accounting system.
You may say,"just another religious fanatic" well all I can say is "you had better be ready"..
The best way to be ready is found in John 3:16, of the Bible.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
His messenger
The Russian AC will have to travel from the Baltic to get there. It is powered by conventional steam turbins, and can only stay out at sea for 45 days. It is not a blue water AC. The Chinese AC is still in Sea Trials. It will be interesting to see exactly what Russia and Chinese do about ferrying troops to the area. They have no transports. They have cargo ships, but those all ill-suited for troop carrying as there are no large scale facilities to support troops on board. Keep an eye on this one,
Ed....as someone who has participated and many unilateral war games, I can assure you that 90000 troops, 400 warplanes and 1000 tanks is not anything to get your panties in a bunch over.
Furthermore, this is nothing to start getting all apocalyptic over either. By comparison, the D-Day invasion in 1944 (which was no game) makes this this ho-hum display look like wheel chair race at the local seniors' home.
Try and occupy your mind with something more constructive than a book full of fairy tales that was written over 2000 years ago by a bunch of crack heads who thought they heard voices from the sky.
DSP - CAPT/USNR
oilman
We will see.
Funny how people talk about about Putin because of his support for Syria, an ally, while the US supports Yemen, Bharain, and Saudi Arabia --- all brutal dictators and won't flinch at a massacre and in fact, the fact majority of terrorist come from Saudi Arabia and we are it's supporter --- if anything, Americans need to seriously look in the mirror, the simpletons.
Good thing they Russians instead of Mexicans!
The cold war never ended in Putin's eyes. This is the same man who had his Spetsnaz wiskall of Iraq's WMD to Syria prior to the invasion. It was called operation "Sarandar" and was one of the most successful secrete operations in history. Syria's rebels are finding these huge stockpiles of WMD from Iraq. After the 1991 Gulf war, Iraq was re-establishing it's nuclear program again with Russian help. Iraq transferred 65 Iraqi nuclear experts and technicians to Syria prior to the invasion. This led directly to the developement of Syria's first reactor which Isreal took out under operation Orchade. In 2008, we found 550 metric tons of Yellow cake in Iraq. This was their stock pile that never made out of country. It was shipped from Iraq to Canada.
Russia under Putin has not changed since the Cold War days. Putin needs to realize that this is the 21st century and the old Russian doctrine does not work.
It is working for him . He is actively arming his ally, Assad, while the rest of the world stands around doing virtually NOTHING. And he has Obama running around talking non sense about a diplomatic solution. I doubt Mr Assad will be coming to the negotiating tables while he is receiving arms and support from Russia.
Wow! So many posts here are embarrassingly hypocritical. We advocate democracy, the power of people against repressive bloody tyrants... EXCEPT if the people want to choose a Muslim state over their tyrant. Then we don't care if that tyrant butchers tens of thousands of their own people. We'd be glad to keep them in power.
You know why Egyptians, Iraqis, Iranis, and Pakistanis (and still the Saudi Arabs) hate us? Because in each of their respective countries we propped up such bloody tyrants for decades, turning a blind eye to the bloodshed and repression, because we could control these tyrants to our own interests, instead of letting their people choose their own way.
But then again, in our dictionary, when we talk about 'democracy,' we don't actually mean the people of a country actually get to choose. We mean 'democracy' as 'it serves American corporate interests.'
PUTIN took 0bama to school he PUTIN kick 0bama ass
King, really? He said nothing of what he'd do, no specifics whatsover... "Everything" indeed... The guy is an idiot and your falling for it...
Free clue... Carrier groups have been in and out of there for decades.
Not permanently stationed and not as a group of carriers and not with the intention of sending a strong message to Iran. Rather, they are on routine shipping lane patrols. Not preparing for military action against Iran. In fact, when Iran was threatening to close the Strait Obama removed one of the ships and later, sent in another for a few days.And the fact remains that Obama has been very ineffective in getting Iran to do anything. Next thing you know he will be announcing his "containment" policy the week after Iran's tests its first nuke.
A Russian owned ship with a Russian military cargo, and they turned the AIS off? They are still on the way.
I hope they are checking behind for periscopes. Might be an accident.
you right chip 0bama is an idiot, 0bama is so naive
Look... Putin has taken his KGB background, supected murderer of a Russian agent defector in England, and his corrupt criminal activity from which he has emassed 10s of billions of dollars of wealth to the Russian presidency...
He is an extremely dangerous man... money talks and now he has the power... he will do everything and anything to undermine the sanctions in Syria...
Don't think that this shipment headed for Syria is to help anyone but the murderous Syrian government... though both sides are not the best answer in that country.
The Syrian military are not just murdering people, they are murdering and wiping out complete towns.
Both the words 'human civilization' has no description to any of these muslim/islamic countries that are in conflict around the world.
My calendar shows year 2012 - these cults seem to think it is back in pre-AD days... Since when is murder of innocents and God part of the same ideals?
Some people need to get educated and grow up.
Insurance? We don't need no damn insurance. The US ship so much weapons that we are self insured. Buying insurance is for the little guys.
Putin looks like his protegee in Syria and he knows how to deal with opposition. Is it the fear in Putin to show a strong arm? China and Russia are the two elements that do not care about human rights, about killing opposition, after all these are two regimes that have no human rights and Putin kills off all voices (Reporters) that could harm him. He looks like a guy that does not belong under world leaders, a small criminal himself, with years of experience in the KGB.