Iran-Nigeria interested in defense collaboration

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Iranmania.com is reporting that, "Iran and Nigeria explored avenues for bolstering bilateral cooperation in various defense fields. The visiting Nigerian Defense Minister Rabiu Kwankaso and his Iranian counterpart, Ali Shamkhani held a second round of talks. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Shamkhani said expansion of cooperation with Africa, particularly the continent’s western states is a foreign policy priority of the Khatami administration, IRNA reported. Iran is determined to promote cordial ties with Nigeria, in the interest of the two nations, he said. Kwankaso, for his part, expressed satisfaction over his visit during which he also toured major industrial units affiliated to the Defense Ministry, and reiterated Abuja’s interest in boosting cooperation with Iran. He said the visit helped him get familiar with Iran’s defense achievements."

Yet another reason why the West must stop regarding Africa as the red-headed stepchild of the world; The US appears to be standing slack-jawed while Russia, China and the Third World scramble to create strategic partnerships around the globe. Why might that be? Because if the United States has any intentions of ever employing another military intervention, a tangled web of strategic partnerships across Africa and Asia will create untold obstacles if not complete catastrophes for whatever war plan we might have thrown together.

For example, we counted on Turkey, an ally of not only the United States but Israel as well, to launch a northern front in Iraq. It was a major point of our invasion plans. However, that all went out of the window when relations went south and Turkey told us to, for lack of a better phrase, stick our plans in our collective noses. Our whole invasion plan had to be revised to accomodate the loss of an imporant staging ground.

Another example is over-flight rights. We've been denied over-flight rights by countries in the past and that has impeded our ability to effectively launch campaigns that were dependent on said rights.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and it is yet another exporter of oil. I think it's safe to say that if a line needs to be drawn between us and the Iranians over their inevitable (yes I mean that) possession of nuclear missiles, we don't want Nigeria on their side.

Over the last few months I've covered stories on how Iran is linking itself to Russia, China, Venezuela and of course Syria. This sort of thing is only going to continue. In many ways it has to. Pay Buchanan and folks whom are out of work can scream all day long about protectionism and outsourcing but the fact of the matter is that globalization is a juggernaut on the march. It's not stopping and to paraphrase a My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult sample, "Globalization is the new way to go, it is the way of the future."

Further complicating this mess is the fact that we are one of the few if not only countries that still levels economic sanctions against Iran. The Europeans don't. The Africans don't. The Asians don't. The South Americans don't. The EU and the UN are both talking about employing sanctions against Iran but who knows if that will happen or not. I doubt it will as European countries have heavy trade with Iran and more importantly both Russia and China oppose sanctions against their strategic ally.

Meanwhile, while some in Iran may be talking about democratic reform in the face of the upcoming June 17th elections, the Mullah regime military is hard at work on weapons that can be weaponized and used to hit targets in Israel, Europe and eventually, the continental United States.

Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, children of all ages, meet the Shahab-6 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile:

The Shahab-6 is the longer range of the new class of Iranian missiles being developed in conjunction with North Korea. Similar to the Shahab-5, the Shahab-6 is based on technology from the North Korean Taep’o-dong 2, which in turn is based on Chinese technology.

The Shahab-6 is a two or three-stage liquid/solid fuel rocket. The missile uses most of the same systems as the Shahab-5, but economies in weight and payload increase the range to approximately 6,000 km (3,728 miles). The missile is intended to carry one single warhead with a substantial yield, most likely in the area of 500-1,000 kg. As a result of its inaccuracy, the missile’s utility it probably restricted to attacking population centers and spreading radiation rather than hitting military targets. Thus, the Shahab-6 is more likely a blackmail/terrorist weapon than a military asset.

The integration of technology from the Taep’o-dong 2 missile into the Shahab-5 represents a substantial security risk for the U.S. If its 6,000 km reported range is accurate, the Shahab-6 will be able to target most of Europe, Russia, and Asia. The United Kingdom, a staunch ally of the U.S., will be completely vulnerable to an attack, as will be a number of other key U.S. allies. In addition, the possibility exists that Iran will give or sell its missile technology to rogue states or terrorist groups antagonistic to the US. Iran’s military is known to support terrorist groups and the Iranian government has little control over its own missile force. (missilethreat.com)

We cannot go on like this. First off, the administration needs to do a better job of educating the public about the real dangers brewing across the world. It would also be nice if the press would do it's job and actually report news instead of the same old tabloid nonsense. I'm sorry that Natalee Holloway may have been kidnapped and possibly murdered and my prayers go out to her family but for God's sake the world can't stop turning over the unfortunate happenings of yet another white chick. I feel like Eddie Izzard asking an audience of Americans, "Do you know there are other countries out there?"

We also cannot continue to practice policies in a vaccum under the premise that we are alone in the universe. We're not. Between a hypertransitory world wide population, the internet and ICBM's, we are now living on top of Eurasia, not on the other side of the world. Michael Jackson's pedophile verdict is not important. Iran currying strategic partnerships in Africa is. Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise's love affair is not important. The arms race brewing from the Middle East to South East Asia is. Let's get organized folks.