Russia to Veto Syria Arms Embargo

[tabatha]

Russia will not support any arms embargo on Syria, Russia’s envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin said on Wednesday.

“How can we say that we will tear up all of our contracts, sever all our ties with Syria,” he asked rhetorically. “We will not agree to any embargo, not even so much as a hint of an embargo.”

His remarks echo those made by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday.

“We signed some contracts and contracts must be implemented,” he said, stressing that “we are arming the constitutional government: We don't approve of what it is doing, using force against demonstrators but we're not picking sides, we're implementing our commercial contractual obligations.”

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120201/171072768.html

[joshcryer]

1. russia sold 'em $4 bln in arms

no shit they will veto any arm embargo

[tabatha]

2. And apparently Syria did not pay all of its bills. That is why Russia gets to use Syrian ports.

[surfdog]

3. I agree with Russia

The US vetos every resolution that comes up against Israel

Russia has every right to cast this veto

[joshcryer]

6. Yes, and the US has its business reasons for it, just as Russia does.

Arms dealing.

[jakeXT]

4. They learned from Lybia, where Rebels got their weapons despite an embargo

Tartus is protected by S300



Russia's one and only naval base in the Mediterranean is at the Syrian port of Tartus. Not by accident, Russia has installed its S-300 air defense system - one of the best all-altitude surface-to-air missile systems in the world, comparable to the American Patriot - in Tartus. The update to the even more sophisticated S-400 system is imminent.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MK24Ak01.html

[tabatha]

5. Russian weapons are being used against Russian weapons.

The Syrian defectors take their arms with them.

The embargo could not be enforced - Russia is openly supplying arms to Syria. Iran and Iraq are secretly supplying arms.

I don't know how many arms are getting to the rebels via Turkey.

Oh, and btw, weapons were illegally supplied to both sides in the Libyan conflict.

The tragedy with both of these countries, is that the leaders did not step down and allow free and open elections to occur without bloodshed.