[As I have said so many times… its the bloody Russian bastards… who stoke the fires of war… in other parts of the world… and then sit back… and pretend to be innocent. It is they who sell arms, arm terrorists, build nuclear weapons for others, etc, etc. Do you want to know where modern GLOBAL TERRORISM comes from… it comes from these Russian buggers… Every terrorist and “freedom fighter” on this planet… runs around… killing people with Russian-made weapons… Yet… everyone quietly ignores the trouble-making role… as the major stoker of international tensions… Russia… goes about causing wars elsewhere and having Third Parties fight it… It is the Russians who are arming the Muslims/Arabs… it is the Russians who are stoking the fires of war… and the hate… by using Arabs as cannon-fodder… just as they got blacks to be their cannon-fodder in Africa… Jan]

Syria missile deal said at heart of Israeli-Russia crisis
By Haaretz Service

A recent mystery crisis in Israeli-Russia relations – the subject of wide speculation with its details remaining classified – was sparked by Moscow’s plans to sell Syria missiles capable of striking at nearly any target within Israel, the Moscow daily Kommersant reported Wednesday.

It said the Iskander-E missile has a target radius of 280 kilometers, placing nearly all of Israel within reach, including the nuclear reactor site outside Dimona.

Only the southern Negev and Eilat would be out of range.

Israel has briefed the American administration on the crisis in its relations with Russia. Israel did not ask the United States to intervene, even though the Americans have dealt with this matter in the past.

Consultations held by the political echelon in Jerusalem resulted in a decision to attempt to solve the matter through direct talks with Moscow, and not to get help from the U.S. for the time being.

Meanwhile, tension is mounting in Jerusalem ahead of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s first visit to Moscow, on January 24. Assad will meet with President Vladimir Putin and discuss bilateral cooperation in various fields. Putin is scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush about a month later in Slovakia.

The Kommersant report was based on recent Haaretz accounts of a severe crisis in relations between the Sharon and Putin governments.

The Iskander is a relatively new weapons systems, having been developed in the 1990s. Two years ago, Damascus sought to purchase 18 of the systems, but the matter was delayed by final testing of the missile. The tests were completed in August.

Rumors of cause of crisis
As reported in Haaretz last week, the crisis in Israeli-Russian relations was the focus of a special meeting that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened 10 days ago with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and the heads of the intelligence community. The meeting ended with the Foreign Ministry being assigned to take charge of reviewing the matter and suggesting ways of resolving the problem.

A first discussion took place early this week at the Foreign Ministry, with representatives of all relevant branches in attendance, but no recommendations have been submitted yet to the political echelon.

Political sources in Jerusalem Tuesday denied the Channel 2 news report that the reason for the diplomatic crisis is Putin’s anger over alleged intervention in the Ukrainian elections by people in Israel, and their support for his political rivals. The political sources said the problem stemmed from something completely different which concerns Russia’s conduct.

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Source: www.haaretz.com