18 July 2019
Saying It With Weapons
I love you, man!
By Neil Tidmarsh
Italian police mounted raids against far-right extremists across the north of the country this week. They arrested three men and seized a number of weapons. What did they find? A few flick-knives and coshes, perhaps? Some hunting rifles and fancy handguns? A few obsolete firearms and other souvenirs from the days of Mussolini and Hitler and World War II and twentieth-century fascism?
Well, yes – but they also found a modern, state of the art, French-manufactured Matra air-to-air missile, “in perfect working order”.
They also found automatic assault rifles and rocket-launchers, but it was the Matra missile which posed the biggest questions. Why did they have it? How did they get hold of it? And what on earth were they planning to do with it?
As it happens, it seems that they weren’t planning to use it but to sell it. Italian media reported that a police wire-tap had overheard one of the three arrested men trying to sell it to “an official of a foreign government”. No country has been named, but the police raids and arrests were the result of an enquiry into Italians volunteering to join the Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine. The Italian far-right is open about its love for Putin and Russia, and as many as thirty of its members are thought to have gone to join the pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Could the offer of that Matra missile have been an expression of that love? After all, there were a number of other international arms deals in the news this week which seemed to suggest that, as far as international diplomacy is concerned, saying it with flowers and chocolates is passé these days and saying it with weapons is now the accepted form for declaring an undying passion. Offering someone an arms deal seems to be today’s way of saying “You’re my best mate, you are! I love you, man!”
Russia has just sold its S-400 surface-to-air missile system to Turkey; the first shipment of arms and equipment arrived at Murted airbase near Ankara this week. This appears to seal a new entente between the two countries. Russia and Turkey are natural and traditional trading partners but in recent years they’ve fallen out over the conflict in Syria, where Putin backs Assad and Erdogan backs the rebels. More recently, however, they’ve co-operated in establishing a cease-fire in north west Syria; Erdogan appears to be holding back the extremists among the rebels, and Putin appears to be withholding support for Assad as regime forces attempt a final push. Erdogan’s recent beefing-up of the president’s constitutional role and powers is generally considered to owe a lot to Putin’s example. Both men appear to admire each other and to recognise that they share similar views about power and politics.
Of course, giving and receiving flowers or chocolates is as much about saying “I hate you!” to an ex-partner as it is about saying “I love you!” to a new partner. Turkey is a member of Nato, but its relationship with its fellow members, and with the West in general, is on the rocks and heading for divorce: the West doesn’t approve of Erdogan’s increasingly autocratic and oppressive government, and Erdogan doesn’t approve of the West’s sponsorship of the Kurds on his doorstep. And the uneasy relationship between the West and Russia has frozen over following the trouble in Ukraine and the Crimea. Both Russia and Turkey are suffering from US/Western sanctions.
And of course it suits Putin to drive a wedge between Nato allies. This arms deal between a Nato member and Russia is a first, and could lead to more US sanctions against Erdogan and to Turkey being frozen out of military co-operation within Nato (Turkey could well be cut out of the F-35 stealth fighter programme). It’s unclear what strategic or tactical purpose the S-400 system could serve – Turkey isn’t under any threat from the air – but it could certainly be read as a slap in the face to the rest of Nato, which strongly disapproves of the deal, and a huge finger up to the USA which had warned Ankara against it. Putin must have chuckled when he heard that the USA had offered its own Patriot missile system to Turkey as an alternative to the S-200, in a uniquely generous package, but that Erdogan had refused to be seduced away from the Russian deal.
Also this week, the White House gave its approval to a $2.2 billion sale of arms to Taiwan. The deal includes one hundred and eight M12T Abrams tanks and two hundred and fifty Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, as well as machine guns and technical back-up. Taipei is delighted with this lovely bunch of flowers, this delicious box of chocolates. “Taiwan stands in the front line of China’s ambitious expansion and faces enormous threats” said the foreign minister. “This arms sale… will help greatly to increase our defensive capabilities.” The USA’s Defence Security Cooperation Agency beamed back; the deal, it said, will “support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve security and defensive capability.”
And China, jilted and stood-up by the USA over trade and tariffs? What did Beijing say about this romantic overture to a country which the USA was supposed to have rejected in favour of China in 1979 (when the USA reversed its diplomatic recognition)? The Chinese foreign ministry announced its “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” and insisted that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China’s territory.”
It’s as well to bear in mind that romantic gifts and gestures lead to tears and heart-break as often as they lead to happy-ever-afters. Just think of the tragedy which resulted from the last time someone in eastern Ukraine managed to get hold of an anti-aircraft missile system from some fool with his brain turned by misguided brotherly love. Thank goodness the Italian police managed to seize that French missile before it could blossom into the intended bouquet. Les fleurs du mal, indeed.
