Russian support for Islamists
More evidance of certain Russian factions supporting Islamofacists in Solmalia. From the Counter Terrorism Blog.
http://counterterrorismblog.org/
Bout's Planes Still At It
By Douglas Farah
The Times of London has just outed another aircraft tied to Viktor Bout by U.N. reports, to arming Islamist radicals in the Horn of Africa.
The undercover sting operation by the newspaper found that a Russian, Alexander Radionov, whose Antonov 8 aircraft in Sharjah was already identified as a Bout aircraft, was willing to fly a load of weapons to the Islamic Court Union forces in Somalia, even though Somalia is still under a U.N. arms embargo.
It is worth remembering that the ICU is the radical Islamist organization that was imposing _sharia_ law in Somalia before being driven out last December by Ethiopian troops, who acted with the support of the United States.
Not only does the embargo exist on paper, but the journalist posing as an arms purchaser specifically stated the flights would not be declared, and that they would be dropped in an area clearly controlled by the Islamists.
As the Times noted, "The offer to hire out an aircraft and provide parachutes for the mission to Somalia, which is under a United Nations arms embargo, demonstrates how easy it is to flout the efforts of western governments to stop illegal arms trafficking."
http://counterterrorismblog.org/
Bout's Planes Still At It
By Douglas Farah
The Times of London has just outed another aircraft tied to Viktor Bout by U.N. reports, to arming Islamist radicals in the Horn of Africa.
The undercover sting operation by the newspaper found that a Russian, Alexander Radionov, whose Antonov 8 aircraft in Sharjah was already identified as a Bout aircraft, was willing to fly a load of weapons to the Islamic Court Union forces in Somalia, even though Somalia is still under a U.N. arms embargo.
It is worth remembering that the ICU is the radical Islamist organization that was imposing _sharia_ law in Somalia before being driven out last December by Ethiopian troops, who acted with the support of the United States.
Not only does the embargo exist on paper, but the journalist posing as an arms purchaser specifically stated the flights would not be declared, and that they would be dropped in an area clearly controlled by the Islamists.
As the Times noted, "The offer to hire out an aircraft and provide parachutes for the mission to Somalia, which is under a United Nations arms embargo, demonstrates how easy it is to flout the efforts of western governments to stop illegal arms trafficking."
