 By DAN BILEFSKY Published: December 26, 2008 SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Thirteen years after a war in which 100,000 people were killed, a majority of them Muslims, Bosnia is undergoing an Islamic revival. A woman waited for a seminar to finish at a mosque in Sarajevo dating from 1591. More than half a dozen new madrasas, or religious high schools, have been built in recent years, while dozens of mosques have sprouted, including the King Fahd, a sprawling $28 million complex with a sports and cultural center. Before the war, fully covered women and men with long beards were almost unheard of. Today, they are common. Many here welcome the Muslim revival as a healthy assertion of identity in a multiethnic country where Muslims make up close to half the population. But others warn of a growing culture clash between conservative Islam and Bosnia's avowed secularism in an already fragile state. Two months ago, men in hoods attacked participants at a gay festival in Sarajevo, dragging some people from vehicles and beating others while they chanted, "Kill the gays!" and "Allahu Akbar!" Eight people were injured. Muslim religious leaders complained that the event, which coincided with the holy month of Ramadan, was a provocation. The organizers said they had sought to promote minority rights and meant no offense. In this cosmopolitan capital, where bars have long outnumbered mosques, Muslim religious education was recently introduced in state kindergartens, prompting some secular Muslim parents to complain that the separation between mosque and state was being breached. Bosnia's Muslims have practiced a moderate Islam that stretches back to the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century. Sociologists and political leaders say the religious awakening is partly an outgrowth of the war and the American-brokered Dayton agreement that ended it, dividing the country into a Muslim-Croat Federation and a Serb Republic. "The Serbs committed genocide against us, raped our women, made us refugees in our own country," said Mustafa Efendi Ceric, the grand mufti and main spiritual leader of Bosnia's Muslim community. "And now we have a tribal constitution that says we have to share political power and land with our killers," he said. "We Bosnian Muslims still feel besieged in the city of Sarajevo." That resentment is evident. As several thousand worshipers streamed into the imposing King Fahd mosque on a recent Friday, a young man sat outside selling a popular conservative Muslim magazine with President-elect Barack Obama on the cover. "Hussein, Will Your America Kill Muslims?" the headline asked, using Mr. Obama's middle name, a source of pride for many Muslims here. Religious and national identity have long been fused in multifaith Bosnia. It was tradition in villages to refer to neighbors by their religion — Muslim, Orthodox, Catholic, rather than as Bosniak, Serb or Croat. In the nation-building that followed Dayton, that practice has become stronger. In Sarajevo, a predominantly Muslim city, dozens of streets named after Communist revolutionaries were renamed after Muslim heroes, and political parties stressing Muslim identity gained large constituencies. Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs, meanwhile, cleave to their own religious and cultural identities. Church attendance is on the rise; in the Serb Republic, even ministries and police departments have their own Orthodox patron saints. Muharem Bazdulj, deputy editor of the daily Oslobodenje, the voice of liberal, secular Bosnia, said he feared the growth of Wahhabism, the conservative Sunni movement originating in Saudi Arabia that aims to strip away foreign and corrupting influences. Analysts say Saudi-financed organizations have invested about $700 million in Bosnia since the war, often in mosques. Wahhabism arrived via hundreds of warriors from the Arab world during the war and with Arab humanitarian and charity workers since, though sociologists here stress that most Bosnian Muslims still believe that Islam has no place in public life. Dino Abazovic, a sociologist of religion at the University of Sarajevo, who recently conducted a detailed survey of 600 Bosnian Muslims, said 60 percent favored keeping religion a private matter; only a small minority prayed five times a day. Still, violent episodes have occurred. Earlier this year, after an explosion at a shopping mall in the town of Vitez killed one person and wounded seven, Zlatko Miletic, head of uniformed police of the Muslim-Croat Federation Interior Ministry, warned that a group in Bosnia linked to Salafism, an ultraconservative Sunni Islamic movement, was bent on terrorism. Nonetheless, Grand Mufti Ceric said Wahhabism had no future in Bosnia, even if more people were embracing religion. "Children are fasting on Ramadan, going to the mosque more than their parents," he said. "We had de-Islamification for 40 years during Tito's time, so it is natural that people are now embracing the freedom to express their religion." Some critics of the mufti argue that he has allowed religion to encroach on civic life. Vedrana Pinjo-Neuschul, who comes from a mixed Serb and Muslim household, has led the fight against Islamic classes in state-financed kindergartens across Sarajevo. Parents may remove their children from the religious classes, but Ms. Pinjo-Neuschul, whose husband is part Jewish, Catholic and Serb, said the policy would stigmatize non-Muslim children. She recently withdrew her two young children from a public kindergarten and gathered 5,000 signatures against the policy, which has also been criticized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Vienna-based group monitoring democracy. "I do not want to explain to my 4-year-old son, Sven, who is in love with his Muslim classmate Esma, why they suddenly have to sit in different rooms," she said at a Jewish community center in Sarajevo. "Nobody has the right to separate them." But she says she has been harassed by Islamic radicals on the street and has received hate mail in Arabic. "There are some people who want to turn Bosnia into a Muslim state," she said. Mustafa Effendi Spahic, a prominent liberal Muslim intellectual and professor at the Gazri Husrev-beg Madrasa in Sarajevo, went further, calling the introduction of religious education in kindergarten "a crime against children." "The Prophet says to teach children to kneel as Muslims, only after the age of 7," said Professor Spahic, who was imprisoned under Communism for Islamic activism. "No one has any right to do that before then because it is an affront to freedom, the imagination and fun of the child's world." Milorad Dodik, prime minister of Bosnia's Serb Republic, has referred to Sarajevo as the new Tehran, and talks of a "political Islam and a fight against people who don't share the same vision." But Muslim leaders and most Western analysts here counter such assertions, saying they do not correspond to Bosnia's secular reality and are part of an attempt by Serb nationalists to justify the brutal wartime subjugation of Muslims by both Serbs and Croats. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27islam.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=bosnia%20Islam%20mosques%20&st=cse&scp=1 --- Backgrounder: Jihad okay, but no Wahhabi preaching now! Bosnia Plans to Expel Arabs Who Fought in Its War By NICHOLAS WOOD Published: August 2, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/world/europe/02bosnia.html?fta=y SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina — When Fadhil Hamdani first came to Bosnia from Iraq in 1979 he had no idea he would stay so long. But after prolonged studies, marriage to a Bosnian woman, the birth of five children and citizenship, the years turned into decades. Raffaq Jalili, a Moroccan wounded in the Bosnian war of 1992-95, became a citizen, but Bosnia's government has revoked his citizenship. Now he says he feels more Bosnian than Iraqi. But the Bosnian government does not agree. It views him as a threat to national security and is putting Mr. Hamdani and other foreign fighters who have lived in Bosnia for many years on notice of deportation. Arabs, the largest group among hundreds of foreign fighters, fought alongside the Bosnian Muslim Army during the war here, from 1992 to 1995, against Serbs and Croats. In return, they were given Bosnian citizenship. Most left after the war, which tore apart Muslim, Serbian and Croatian communities and cost around 100,000 lives. But a number stayed on and settled down. Bosnian officials say their policies are merely reversing decisions that were illegally made at the war's end. But Bosnian politicians and international officials say that the reversals are primarily motivated by a broader concern: that Bosnia should not be seen as a haven for Islamic militants. Western officials and local politicians, mostly the Muslims' former opponents, have accused the former fighters of promoting radical Islam and damaging Bosnia's reputation in the process. "Some of their structures have been very active in promoting radical activities in the form of Wahhabism," said Dragan Mektic, Bosnia's deputy security minister, in a recent interview, referring to a strict form of Islam. "The public feel endangered." Western governments have been encouraging the move. Miroslav Lajcak, a Slovak diplomat who is the high representative of the international community in Bosnia and the senior international official here, has increased pressure on the government to move ahead with the deportations. So far, only two former combatants have actually been expelled, both last year. "The presence of foreign fighters isn't particularly useful for building a modern democratic state," said a Western diplomat closely involved with the review, who spoke on the customary diplomatic condition of anonymity. While many former fighters who stayed have managed to fit into Bosnian society, others stand out. Imad al-Hussein, a former medical student from Syria with a thick beard, became the public face of the Muslim fighters, or mujahedeen, after the war. He is one of six former fighters the government wants to expel first. The government has not publicly outlined its case against him. His views do lie outside the norms of most Muslims here. For instance, he says that suicide bombings are justifiable but only within Israel. He said in a long interview that he and his former comrades had always acted within the law in Bosnia. But in response to the threat of being removed from his family's home by force, he said: "I keep asking myself, will I be able to contain my instincts. If you defend yourself on your doorstep you become a martyr. And that is a great temptation." Other veterans are tensely biding their time, and they contend that there is nothing to connect them to any form of illegal activity. "If there was any evidence against us, then why have they let 12 years pass without prosecuting us," said Raffaq Jalili, a Moroccan wounded in the war. Bosnia is still recuperating from the war, and international officials who play a large role here are working to resolve stark differences among the Muslim, Serbian and Croatian populations. The high representative — currently Mr. Lajcak — still has the power to make laws and fire local politicians. Both Saudi Arabia and the United States say that Islamic extremists have used Bosnian passports to travel between the Middle East and Europe; some Bosnian government officials say that has been impossible to confirm. Western intelligence services and their Bosnian counterparts also claim they have uncovered two major plots in the past six years by Islamic extremists in Bosnia to attack Western targets. In October 2001, six Algerians were arrested by the Bosnian police and later were sent to prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In 2005, a Swedish man of Bosnian heritage and a Turk who had lived in Denmark were accused of possessing explosives and vests for making a suicide bomb. They were convicted and sentenced to prison in January. It is not known how many foreign fighters remain in Bosnia — estimates vary wildly from more than a dozen to several hundred. The government says that a commission reviewed a list of more than 1,000 names and has revoked citizenship for about 420 people so far. Mr. Hamdani was the first to be notified by the commission, a year ago. From 1996 to 2001, many of the former fighters occupied Bocinja, which had been a Serbian village in central Bosnia. The fighters lived there under Islamic Shariah law until they were evicted by the government, and they dispersed throughout central Bosnia. Mr. Hamdani came to Bosnia when he was 18 and studied engineering in Zenica. By the time the conflict in Bosnia broke out in 1992, he was married and had two children. It was only natural to fight for his adopted country, he said, as Bosnian Serb forces, backed by neighboring Serbia, attacked Muslims across the country. In February 1995, nine months before the end of the war, he was granted citizenship. As with all the other cases under review, he had no right to appear before the commission, which met behind closed doors and sent him its decision in the mail. "I think that it does not matter when you arrived in this country," he said in an interview. "What matters is which unit you served with during the war." Serbs and Croats say that Muslim members of the government gave out citizenship too freely. Mr. Jalili, a former Moroccan customs officer, bears burn marks across his face and a deformed ear from a rocket-propelled grenade. In a hillside cemetery near Zenica, he showed the unmarked concrete pillars that mark the graves of Arab fighters from his unit. Now he and his wife and two children live in Zenica on a disabled veteran's pension. In March, he, too, was notified by mail that his citizenship had been revoked. "When I first came here, everyone welcomed me," he said. "Now we are being kicked out like dogs." The government says its grounds for removing citizenship are that at the end of the war, the government was not properly functioning, and therefore, passports issued then were not legitimate. "Citizenship can be revoked upon the discovery of any procedural irregularity, even if you now fulfill the conditions for naturalization anyway," said Darryl Li, a legal researcher from Yale who is studying the veterans' cases. "Someone living in Bosnia for 15 or 20 years with a wife and children here now finds himself in the same legal situation as a new immigrant, except half his life has been bureaucratically erased." URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1113 http://newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1113
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| Islam and the West | | 19 Jan 2009, NewAgeIslam.Com |
| | Unusually large US weapons shipment to Israel: Are the US and Israel planning a broader Middle East war? |
| | By Michel Chossudovsky 18 Jan 2009 Courtesy Global Research [http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11743] A very large delivery of US weaponry to Israel consisting of 3,000 tons of "ammunition" is scheduled to sail to Israel. The size and nature of the shipments are described as "unusual": "Shipping 3,000-odd tons of ammunition in one go is a lot," one broker said, on condition of anonymity. "This (kind of request) is pretty rare and we haven't seen much of it quoted in the market over the years," he added. Shipping brokers in London who have specialized in moving arms for the British and US military in the past said such ship charters to Israel were rare (Reuters, Jan 10, 2009) The Pentagon has entrusted a Greek merchant shipping company to deliver the weapons to Israel: The US is seeking to hire a merchant ship to deliver hundreds of tons of arms to Israel from Greece later this month, tender documents seen by Reuters show. The US Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) said the ship was to carry 325 standard 20-foot containers of what is listed as "ammunition" on two separate journeys from the Greek port of Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January. A "hazardous material" designation on the manifest mentions explosive substances and detonators, but no other details were given (Ibid). It is worth noting that a similar unusually large shipment of US ordinance to Israel was scheduled in early December: "Tender documents indicate that the German ship hired by the US in early December also carried a massive cargo of weapons that weighed over 2.6 million kg [2600 tons] and filled up to 989 standard 20-foot containers to Ashdod from North Carolina" (Press TV, 10 Jan 2009) Are these large shipments of ordinance connected to the invasion of Gaza? The request by the Pentagon to transport ordinance in a commercial vessel, according to Reuters, was made on December 31, 4 days after the commencement of the aerial bombings of Gaza by F16 Fighter jets. Analysts have hastily concluded, without evidence, that the 2 shipments of "ammunition" were intended to supply Israel's armed forces in support of its military invasion of Gaza. "A senior military analyst in London who declined to be named said that, because of the timing, the shipments could be "irregular" and linked to the Gaza offensive." (Reuters, January 10, 2009) These reports are mistaken. Delivery of ordinance always precedes the onslaught of a military operation. The ordinance required under "Operation Cast Lead" was decided upon in June 2008. Further to Tel Aviv's request under the US military aid program to Israel, the US Congress approved in September 2008 the transfer of 1,000 bunker-buster high precision GPS-guided Small Diameter Guided Bomb Units 39 (GBU-39). The GBU 39 smart bombs produced by Boeing were delivered to Israel in November. They were used in the initial air raids on Gaza: "...The Israel Air Force has used the new lightweight GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb acquired from the USA in the recent attacks in Gaza. The [Jerusalem] Post mentioned the new weapons ordered last September having arrived last month [November], and already put to action with the IAF fighters. These weapons could have been deployed by the Boeing/IAF F-15Is, since so far SDB is cleared for use only with this type of aircraft. " It is highly unlikely that the bulk of the weaponry included in these two large shipments, scheduled to arrive in Israel in late January, is intended to be used in Israel's military operation in Gaza. The GBU-39 is lightweight (130 kg). The entire shipment of GBU 39s (1000 units) would be of the order of a modest 130 tons. In other words, the specifications of the GBU 39 do not match the description of the "unusually large" and "heavy" shipment of ordinance. Escalation Scenario The shipment ordered on December 31 is of the order of 3000 tons, an unusually large and heavy cargo of "ammunition" pointing to the transfer of heavy weaponry to Israel. According to US military statements, the ordinance is for stockpiling, to be used "at short notice" in the eventuality of a conflict: "This previously scheduled shipment is routine and not in support of the current situation in Gaza. ...The US military pre-positions stockpiles in some countries in case it needs supplies at short notice" (Reuters, 10 Jan 2009) Whatever the nature of these large weapons shipments, they are intended for use in a future military operation in the Middle East. Since the launching of the Theatre Iran Near Term Operation (TIRANNT) in May 2003, an escalation scenario involving military action directed against Iran and Syria has been envisaged. TIRANNT was followed by a series of military plans pertaining to Iran. Numerous official statements and US military documents have pointed to an expanded Middle East war. What these shipments suggest is that the "escalation scenario" not only prevails, but has reached a more active stage in the process of US-Israeli military planning. Whether these weapons will be used or not is not known. The central question, in this regard, is whether the Gaza invasion is part of a broader military adventure directed against Lebanon, Syria and Iran, in which heavier weaponry including US made bunker buster bombs will be used. History of US Weapons Shipments to Israel The stockpiling of US made bunker buster bombs by Israel has been ongoing since 2005: "The United States will sell Israel nearly 5,000 smart bombs in one of the largest weapons deals between the allies in years. Among the bombs the [Israeli] air force will get are 500 one-ton bunker busters that can penetrate two-meter-thick cement walls; 2,500 regular one-ton bombs; 1,000 half-ton bombs; and 500 quarter-ton bombs. The bombs Israel is acquiring include airborne versions, guidance units, training bombs and detonators. They are guided by an existing Israeli satellite used by the military. The sale will augment existing Israeli supplies of smart bombs. The Pentagon told Congress that the bombs are meant to maintain Israel's qualitative advantage [against Iran], and advance US strategic and tactical interests" (Jewish Virtual Library: September 21-22, 2004, Haaretz / Jerusalem Post.) The actual shipments of US made bunker buster bombs started in 2005. The US approved in April 2005, the delivery of some 5,000 "smart air launched weapons" including some 500 BLU 109 'bunker-buster bombs. The (uranium coated) munitions are said to be more than 'adequate to address the full range of Iranian targets, with the possible exception of the buried facility at Natanz, which may require the [more powerful] BLU-113 bunker buster [a variant of the GBU 28]'" (See Michel Chossudovsky, Planned US-Israeli Nuclear Attack on Iran, Global Research, May 1, 2005) The BLU-109 is smaller than the GBU 28. "It is a 2,000lbs warhead that can be used in combination with a GPS guidance kit [...], and can penetrate up to 15 feet of fortified concrete" (See F16.net) In 2006 at the height of the Lebanon War in August 2006, a major shipment of the 2.2 ton GBU 28 bombs, according to the New York Times, was dispatched to Israel. The GBU 28 is produced by Raytheon. It was used against Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War, has the capability of penetrating some 20 feet of reinforced concrete (Haaretz, 9 Nov 2008). In contrast to the GBU 39 smart bombs (130 kg) used against Gaza, each GBU-28 weighs a hefty 2.2 tons. "The Guided Bomb Unit-28 (GBU-28) is a special weapon developed for penetrating hardened Iraqi command centres located deep underground. The GBU-28 is a 5,000-pound laser-guided conventional munition that uses a 4,400-pound penetrating warhead," Federation of American Scientists. (For a visual depiction see "Bob Sherman, How the GBU-28 works", USA Today on-line). The recent unusually large shipments of weaponry to Israel are part of the 2004 agreement between Washington and Tel Aviv, financed by US military aid to Israel. As mentioned above, there is a history of delivery of bunker buster bombs (including the GBU 28), going back to 2005. While the nature and composition of these recent weapons shipments to Israel are not known, one suspects that they include the heavier version of the bunker buster bombs including the GBU-28. In this regard, it is worth noting that last summer, Israel requested the Pentagon to deliver GBU-28 bunker buster bombs. The stated purpose was to use them in the eventuality of a military operation directed against Iran. In September 2008, according to US and Israeli press reports quoting Pentagon officials, Tel Aviv's request was turned down. According to the reports, Washington categorically refused to deliver the shipment of GBU 28 bunker buster bombs, to be used to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. "Instead" Washington accepted to deliver the lightweight GBU-39 for use against Gaza. The US had "rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support that would improve Israel's ability to attack Iran's nuclear facilities." The Americans viewed [Israel's] request, which was transmitted (and rejected) at the highest level, as a sign that Israel is in the advanced stages of preparations to attack Iran. They therefore warned Israel against attacking, saying such a strike would undermine American interests. They also demanded that Israel give them prior notice if it nevertheless decided to strike Iran. In early September, Haaretz reported that the request had included GBU-28 "bunker-buster" bombs. In mid-September, the US agreed instead to sell Israel 1000 GBU-39 "bunker buster" bombs which Israeli military experts said "could provide a powerful new weapon" in Gaza, AP reported. So when Israel requested weapons that the US expected would be used for bombing Iran, the US said no, and added explicitly that it did not want to see an Israeli attack on Iran. And there was no Israeli attack on Iran (Defence Update.com, December 2008) Media Disinformation The official statements and press reports are bogus. Israel and the US have always acted in close coordination. Washington does not "demand that Israel give them prior notice" of a military operation: The report in Haaretz suggests that the Bush Administration was adamant and did not want the Israelis to attack Iran. In fact, the reports suggested that the US would shoot down Israeli planes, if they tried to attack Iran: "Air-space authorization: An attack on Iran would apparently require passage through Iraqi air space. For this to occur, an air corridor would be needed that Israeli fighter jets could cross without being targeted by American planes or anti-aircraft missiles. The Americans also turned down this request. According to one account, to avoid the issue, the Americans told the Israelis to ask Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for permission, along the lines of "If you want, coordinate with him" (Haaretz Nov 9, 2008) This Israeli report is misleading. Israel is America's ally. Military operations are closely coordinated. Israel does not act without Washington's approval and the US does not shoot down the planes of its closest ally. The nature and composition of the recent US weapons shipments to Israel These unusually large shipments of ordinance would normally require Congressional approval. To our knowledge, there is no public record of approval of the unusually large shipments of heavy "ammunition" to Israel. The nature and composition of the shipments are not known. Was Israel's request for the delivery of the 2.2 ton GBU 28 accepted by Washington, bypassing the US Congress? Are GBU 28 bombs, each of which weighs 2.2 tons part of the 3000 ton shipments to Israel? Are tactical bunker buster mini-nuclear bombs included in Israel's arsenal? These are questions to be raised in the US Congress. The two shipments of "ammunition" are slated to arrive in Israel, respectively no later than the 25th and 31st of January. Secretary Robert Gates who remains at the helm of the Department of Defence ensures continuity in the military agenda. Preparing for a confrontation with Iran: beefing up Israel's missile defence system In early January, the Pentagon dispatched some 100 military personnel to Israel from US European Command (EUCOM) to assist Israel in setting up a new sophisticated X-band early warning radar system. This project is part of the military aid package to Israel approved by the Pentagon in September 2008: "The Israeli government requested the system to help defend against a potential missile attack from Iran. Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates signed off on the deployment order in mid-September. .... Once fully operational, the system will be capable of tracking and identifying small objects at long distance and at very high altitude, including space, according to US Missile Defence Agency officials. It also will integrate Israel's missile defences with the US global missile detection network. "This will enable the Israelis to track medium- and long-range ballistic missiles multiple times better than their current radar allows them to," Morrell said. "It will … more than double the range of Israel's missile defence radars and increase its available engagement time." This, he said, will greatly enhance Israel's defensive capabilities. "There is a growing ballistic missile threat in the region, particularly from Iran," Morrell said. "And no one in the region should feel more nervous about that threat than the Israelis. And they clearly do, and they have asked for our assistance" (Defence Talk.com, January 6, 2009, emphasis added.) The new X-band radar system 'permits an intercept soon after launch over enemy instead of friendly territory" (Sen. Joseph Azzolina, Protecting Israel from Iran's missiles, Bayshore News, December 26, 2008). The X-band radar would "integrate Israel's missile defences with the US global missile detection network, which includes satellites, Aegis ships on the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Red Sea, and land-based Patriot radars and interceptors" (Ibid). What this means is that Washington calls the shots. The US rather than Israel would control the Air Defence system: ''This is and will remain a US radar system,' Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. 'So this is not something we are giving or selling to the Israelis and it is something that will likely require US personnel on-site to operate'" (Quoted in Israel National News, January 9, 2009, emphasis added). In other words, the US military controls Israel's Air Defence system, which is integrated into the US global missile defence system. Under these circumstances, Israel cannot launch a war against Iran without the consent of the US High Command. The large shipments of US ordinance, slated to arrive in Israel after the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States and Commander in Chief are part of the broader program of US-Israeli military cooperation in relation to Iran. The reinforcement of Israel's missile defences combined with the large shipments of US weapons are part of an escalation scenario, which could lead the World under an Obama Administration into a broader Middle East war. New Cold War? There has been a military build on both sides. Iran has responded to the Israeli-US initiative by beefing up its own missile defence system with the support of Russia. According to reports (December 21), Moscow and Tehran have been holding talks on the supply by Russia of "medium-range air defence systems - specifically, S-300 surface-to-air missile systems" (Asian Times, January 9, 2009) URL: http://www.newageislam.com/Controlpanel/AddArticles.aspx?Article_ID=1131
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