Eurasia Security Watch: No. 198

Arms bring Israel and India closer
Israel has just overtaken Russia as the top arms supplier to one of the world’s largest and most rapidly advancing militaries. Officially, Israeli military sales to India have eclipsed $1 billion each of the last two years, outstripping Russia’s average annual sales of $875 million. Maj. General Udi Shani, head of the Defense Export and Cooperation Agency described the burgeoning partnership with India as a “very special defense relationship.” Among recent deals inked between the two U.S. allies: a $2.5 billion deal to develop an advanced version of the Spyder surface-to-air missile; a $600 million deal for EL/M Aerostat radars to “provide advance warning against incoming enemy aircraft and missiles”; a deal for three to six Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control Systems; and an agreement to jointly develop a medium-range surface-to-air missile. (Jerusalem Post February 15, 2009)

In new Great Game, Uzbek and Turkmen gestures to U.S.
America’s efforts to develop alternative logistical supply routes to Afghanistan appear to be graining ground in two Central Asian nations, just as the U.S. has been asked to vacate an airbase in a third. The Kyrgyz government has now formally ordered the U.S. out of the Manas airbase within six months, but in sharp contrast Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are signaling a willingness to open their territory to the transport of non-lethal supplies to the Afghan war zone. Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov used a visit to Uzbekistan as an opportunity to announce that his country had “nothing against allowing humanitarian cargo to use [Turkmen] air space.” Uzbek president Islam Karimov, for his part, offered NATO “permission to allow the transit of non-military cargo to Afghanistan,” according to coverage by Russia’s Interfax news agency. (Reuters February 25, 2009)

Fatah focuses on hearts and minds
With the initiation of a bevy of new television and radio stations, Fatah has decided to take its long-running battle against Hamas for supremacy of the Palestinian territories to the airwaves. Under orders from President Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah is establishing television stations, websites, and newspapers in Cairo and Ramallah to “counter Hamas’ media supremacy.” The official television and radio stations operated by the Palestinian Authority, which is dominated by Fatah, will also be undergoing changes, but Fatah officials worry they will still have difficulties competing with Hamas, who they argue gets favorable coverage from the widely viewed al Jazeera, and whose al-Aqsa station is also “highly popular.” (Tel Aviv Yediot Ahronot, February 25, 2009)

Saudi’s jab at Iran…
Shi’ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia continue to trade barbs in their unspoken battle for the leadership of the Islamic world. The latest shot comes in the form of an article published in Saudi Arabia’s al-Watan, ostensibly provoked by an Iranian lawmaker’s inflammatory remarks about Bahrain, a Saudi ally in the Gulf. Written by Suleiman Al Uqelli, the article rehashes the emergence in Persia of Safavid Shah Ismail in 1502 A.D., citing forced conversions of the largely Sunni population to Shi’ism. Uqelli adds: “The policy of persecution… continued throughout the [subsequent] eras in Persia, and [still continues today,] after the Islamic Revolution.” He rails against Iran’s “racist attitude” toward Sunnis and Arabs in general and insists Iran is attempting to “Persianize” the Arab regions in southwest Iran. The article ends by claiming Iran’s government is “as fragile [as] a glass [castle]” but insists on “sink[ing] its claws into the internal politics” of Arab countries and “supporting Sunni extremism in order to undermine [their] internal and social stability.” (Middle East Media Research Institute, February 23, 2009)

…and duck fire from their own Shi’ite community
In what appears to be a strange coincidence, only days after the al-Watan article was published, Saudi Arabia’s Shi’ite minority engaged in a rare conflagration with the kingdom’s religious police. According to Shi’ite witnesses, the spat began with the arrest of several Shi’ites visiting the al-Bagie cemetery in Medina, who began protesting when Saudi security forces were seen videotaping their women doing rituals. The pilgrims clashed with the religious police and several were arrested. Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi school of Islam generally recognizes Shi’ites as apostates and their rituals as heretical. Prince Naif, the Saudi Interior minister, warned the pilgrims were “offending the companions and the family of the Prophet through desecrating graves and removing soil.”

However, after weeks of protests by Shi’ite activists in Medina and Al Qatif, and a dialogue with several dozen Shi’ite leaders on March 4, King Abdullah has issued a pardon to all involved in the original incident. Abdullah has tried to address Shi’ite claims of discrimination before, by upping their number of representatives on the Shura Council from two to five, but recently disappointed the minority by failing to include one of their own in a major government reshuffle last month. (Dubai The National, March 16, 2009)