Friday, April 26, 2013
Michael Vickers is Really Good at Weapons Deals.... Lets Hope These People "Don't Turn on Us"...... Respectfully I Wish I could Have Read This in an AMERICAN Paper...
Pol. International
Arming the Maghreb: Algeria buys in the U.S. market. Coincidence?
Posted on 26.04.2013 at 8:20 | React Jaabouk By Mohammed (6) Favorites Print Send Newsletter
The year 2010 saw the launch of a U.S. anti-terrorism assistance in favor of Algerian military program. Since the sessions are held regularly, the latest was in late February. This military cooperation has taken a new step with the signing of arms contracts. Washington wants its share of the Algerian cake.
Today, the electronic version of the daily El Watan reported Algiers could buy weapons from the United States, including military transport aircraft type C17 Globmaster II. A device is "since last Monday" on the tarmac base Boufarik to perform a series of demonstration. In a first phase, the Algerians could control between 6-8 carriers. Each unit costs about $ 170 million.
And that's not all. In March, the U.S. company, Harris Corporation, won a major contract to equip the Algerian air force a new communication system (Liberty-STAR Voice Communication) to assure him "the air traffic control even in remote areas of the country, "said El Watan. A visit to the net, we learned that Harris has already sold seven such systems to Algeria and four others are optional. Algiers is a strategic ally of Washington and Rabat
These contracts are expected in the near future, to multiply, as the needs are enormous. Algiers wants to diversify its suppliers of weapons. The U.S. military industry also needs new markets to continue to grow. It's a win-win, especially since the Israeli reservations about arms sales to Algeria no longer citizenship.
In addition, the side of Morocco, the official press tend to forget that the eastern neighbor is also a strategic ally of Washington as well as the kingdom. Last October, held in the U.S. capital the first session of the strategic dialogue between the two countries. This is Abdelkader Messahel, Minister Delegate for Maghreb and African Affairs, who led his country's delegation to the meeting.
A meeting which prepared the ground for the visit on March 10, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Defense for Intelligence, Michael G. Vickers, a former CIA agent, who met with the Minister of the Interior, Dahou Ould Kablia. The timing of this move comes just two weeks after the announcement by the New York Times of an agreement aimed at strengthening security cooperation between the two countries whose main consequence is the green light from the Algerian authorities to U.S. drone stationed in Niger, to fly across its airspace.
If the recent diplomatic crisis between the United States and Morocco in Morocco surprised some, others see as a consequence of warming relations between the Americans and the neighboring Algeria. If worst will these recent arms contracts as a trigger, the most optimistic shall conclude a mere coincidence.
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