Middle East Tumult Complicates U.S. Arms Sales

After Moammar Gadhafi lost his grip on the reins of Libya, and then lost his life, the new government inherited a military and police arsenal depleted by civil war and already antiquated. During years of isolation by the broader international community, Gadhafi had found few allies and even fewer arms trading partners, and surplus Russian equipment provided one of the few opportunities to arm his forces.
With a country to defend, the new pro-American government began a series of conversations with the U.S. about purchasing military hardware. Seeing a chance to help a new ally, senators and Defense Department officials encouraged the State Department to approve a series of deals, said sources at the department and on Capitol Hill.
But despite their desire to support the fledgling government, and despite the financial opportunity to help U.S. defense contractors bracing for upcoming budget cuts, State took its time considering the deals.
It wasn’t because Foggy Bottom didn’t see Libya’s need. Rather, the department was compelled by law to assess whether the deals, what would have been foreign military sales (FMS), would be in the national security interests of the U.S. The political situation in Libya was still complicated, so State officials weren’t comfortable. They stalled, holding up potential sales.
It’s a debate likely to repeat between branches and agencies of the U.S. government, with the Middle East still recovering from the Arab Spring but in possession of significant oil wealth and a thirst for military products. The region continues to be one of the chief targets for growth for many U.S. defense contractors. And with the U.S. defense budget facing cuts, both government and industry are eager to expand overseas markets to support the industrial base.
When asked about the pressures surrounding Libya and deals in the Middle East, Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, described the difficult environment and the need to make sure State retains its authority over weapons sales.
“I have, as part of various interagency debates, had to take on other bureaus and other departments which have other interests in order to enforce [Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s] authority,” Shapiro said. “There’s a reason why that authority was put in the State Department, not the Defense Department. It was to make sure that arms sales support our foreign policy goals and our national security.”
In the case of Libya, last year’s attack in Benghazi, which claimed the lives of four, came and passed without any significant arms deals completed. The Libyan Embassy in the U.S. did not return calls requesting comment on the country’s interest in weapons deals.

OIC calls for a cease-fire in Mali

The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Tuesday called for a cease-fire in Mali, where French troops are engaged with the Malian army in an offensive against Islamist fighters .

In a statement, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called for a cease-fire in the immediate member of his organization, and a return to negotiations between the Malian authorities and Islamists controlling the north of Mali, which were sponsored by Burkina Faso.

U.S. arms to Gulf allies hint of strategy

The largest infusion of U.S. arms ever for Persian Gulf allies has shifted more toward offensive weapons at the same time that President Obama’s military strategy says it will rely more on allied firepower in any future war.

The only war on the horizon for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and four other Gulf coalition partners would be with nearby Iran.
Noting U.S. sales of air defense-penetrating F-16s and F-15s, satellite-guided bombs and a pending order for ordnance that can burrow deep and then explode, analysts say Gulf nations could participate in a U.S. air campaign to strike Iran’s nuclear sites.
These American-armed nations could either be part of an overall war plan or be forced to enter the battle once Iran counterattacks, as expected, with missile launches.
“The thinking certainly is that Iran would retaliate against the Gulf states, or at least against the facilities in the Gulf that we use,” said Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East analyst at the Congressional Research Service. “That would certainly draw the Gulf states into any conflict that went on. The Gulf might become embroiled in this conflict, and I think they’ve calculated it’s best to be prepared.”
There has been public focus on the U.S. military buildup in the Gulf — more aircraft carriers, warplanes and strike groups studded with Tomahawk cruise missiles; more minesweeping ships; a visit by Air Force F-22 stealth jets; and thousands of Army soldiers positioned in Kuwait.
But just as methodically, the George W. Bush and Obama administrations have approved a series of large arms sales that are giving some oil-rich Gulf states offensive capabilities that would make Iran think twice about an attack.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta underscored the alliance Dec. 11 when he landed in Kuwait, a staunch Gulf ally, for consultations. He also spoke to some of the 13,500 U.S. troops stationed there.
“Our presence in Kuwait and throughout the Gulf helps advance the capabilities of partnering nations, deters aggression and helps ensure we’re better able to respond to crisis in the region,” Mr. Panetta told reporters beforehand.
At a Kuwait air base, he said America has 50,000 troops and an armada of warships in the region.

Sunni Leaders Gaining Clout In Mideast

New York Times
November 28, 2012
Pg. 1

News Analysis

Sunni Leaders Gaining Clout In Mideast

By Neil MacFarquhar

RAMALLAH, West Bank — For years, the United States and its Middle East allies were challenged by the rising might of the so-called Shiite crescent, a political and ideological alliance backed by Iran that linked regional actors deeply hostile to Israel and the West.
But uprising, wars and economics have altered the landscape of the region, paving the way for a new axis to emerge, one led by a Sunni Muslim alliance of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey. That triumvirate played a leading role in helping end the eight-day conflict between Israel and Gaza, in large part by embracing Hamas and luring it further away from the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah fold, offering diplomatic clout and promises of hefty aid.
For the United States and Israel, the shifting dynamics offer a chance to isolate a resurgent Iran, limit its access to the Arab world and make it harder for Tehran to arm its agents on Israel’s border. But the gains are also tempered, because while these Sunni leaders are willing to work with Washington, unlike the mullahs in Tehran, they also promote a radical religious-based ideology that has fueled anti-Western sentiment around the region.
Hamas — which received missiles from Iran that reached Israel’s northern cities — broke with the Iranian axis last winter, openly backing the rebellion against the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. But its affinity with the Egypt-Qatar-Turkey axis came to fruition this fall.
“That camp has more assets that it can share than Iran — politically, diplomatically, materially,” said Robert Malley, the Middle East program director for the International Crisis Group. “The Muslim Brotherhood is their world much more so than Iran.”
The Gaza conflict helps illustrate how Middle Eastern alliances have evolved since the Islamist wave that toppled one government after another beginning in January 2011. Iran had no interest in a cease-fire, while Egypt, Qatar and Turkey did.
But it is the fight for Syria that is the defining struggle in this revived Sunni-Shiite duel. The winner gains a prized strategic crossroads.
For now, it appears that that tide is shifting against Iran, there too, and that it might well lose its main Arab partner, Syria. The Sunni-led opposition appears in recent days to have made significant inroads against the government, threatening the Assad family’s dynastic rule of 40 years and its long alliance with Iran. If Mr. Assad falls, that would render Iran and Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, isolated as a Shiite Muslim alliance in an ever more sectarian Middle East, no longer enjoying a special street credibility as what Damascus always tried to sell as “the beating heart of Arab resistance.”
If the shifts seem to leave the United States somewhat dazed, it is because what will emerge from all the ferment remains obscure.

Piracy drops by 54% in Gulf of Aden

Ahead of the upcoming Seatrade Middle East Maritime exhibition and conference, the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre confirms that pirate attacks off the Somali coast have declined by more than 54%, leading to a softening of insurance premiums for the global shipping community but raising controversy surrounding the use of onboard private armed security contractors.

According to IMB September 2012 figures, global attacks on commercial and private vessels stood at 225 incidents year-to-date with 70 recorded attacks off the Somali coast, with 11 ships seized and 188 hostages currently being held for ransom. In the first six months of 2012 IMB recorded a 54% drop in pirate activity against 2011, with 177 incidents reported against 266 in the same period last year, supported by additional data released by the United States Navy.

While moves to thwart piracy activity in the Gulf of Aden appear to be paying off, the IMB says that Somali piracy in the Indian Ocean gives serious ongoing cause for concern, as well as noting a shift in geographical focus from East to West Africa. Increased attacks are also being reported in the Gulf Of Guinea, Nigeria and Togo, as well as further afield in Indonesian waters.

"The world's busiest trading routes are still suffering from the ongoing threat of piracy, which costs global trade up to US$12 billion annually. Aggressive patrolling by international combined naval forces and the increase - over the last 12 months - in the use of private armed security contractors onboard vessels, are acting as an effective deterrent in many cases, but the regulatory oversight of these emerging number of private firms is currently a 'grey area'," said Chris Hayman, Chairman of Seatrade.

This, and other security issues, will be debated by a panel of industry experts at Seatrade Middle East Maritime's 2012 conference, with a dedicated session taking place on Wednesday 28th November to assess the current state of the maritime industry's response to piracy and how best to move forward in developing a safer, more effective and more accountable defence response. Confirmed speakers include Peter Cook, Security Director and Founder, Security Association for the Maritime Industry (SAMI); Roberto Giorgi, President, V Ships; Pottendal Mukundan, Director, International Maritime Bureau; Simon Osborne, Regional Director, Protection Vessels International (PVI) and Todd J Offutt, Commander US Coastguard, Officer in Charge, US Maritime Liaison Office (MARLO).

HMS Northumberland sails for Middle East deployment

Royal Navy warship HMS Northumberland has sailed from Plymouth for an eight-month deployment to keep shipping lanes open east of Suez.

The Type 23 frigate will relieve sister ship HMS Sutherland following a short period training with the Response Force Task Group (RFTG) on Cougar 12.

Under Cougar, which is led by fleet flagship HMS Bulwark, Royal Navy warships, Royal Marines commandos and naval airpower will be training with French and Albanian maritime forces.

Midway through this exercise, Northumberland will depart the RFTG and proceed to the Middle East and Indian Ocean.

HMS Northumberland's Commanding Officer, Commander Paddy Dowsett, said:

    "My ship's company is keen to get going on this demanding mission.

    "It takes a tremendous amount of personal and professional commitment to regenerate a warship ready for operations and I am extremely proud of my ship's company for the work they have done in getting us to this point.

    "The ship's company is rightly excited about the deployment and we are all committed to it being a success."

HMS Northumberland has come through an extensive nine-month period of regeneration, including refit, trials, numerous capability upgrades and an intensive operational sea training programme, to prepare her and her ship's company for what lies ahead.

U.S., Gulf countries seek to advance missile defense plan

The United States and its Gulf partners are looking to deepen cooperation on missile defense as tensions rise with Iran, and announcements could come soon on new purchases, U.S. officials said on Friday.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) officials in New York as Washington seeks to boost regional defenses against perceived Iranian threats.
"Our aim is to help our Gulf partners with their defense needs ... there is a missile threat that they face, we want to help them face that threat as best they can," one senior U.S. official said, previewing the meeting for reporters.
"We've had expressions of interest from our partners in the Gulf in additional missile defense capabilities," the official said. "We hope that we will be having announcements in the near future regarding those expressions of interest."
The official declined to provide specifics on the plans with the GCC, a political and economic alliance linking Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
But Lockheed Martin Corp, the Pentagon's top supplier by sales, received an initial $1.96 billion contract in December for two of its Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon systems for the United Arab Emirates, the first foreign sale of the system.
Lockheed has said other GCC members, including Saudi Arabia, have expressed interest. Other leading missile-defense contractors include Boeing Co, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman Corp.
Friday's talks reflect the increased tempo of U.S. efforts to put pressure on Tehran, which the United States and its allies say is seeking nuclear weapons capability under the cover of a civil program. Iran denies this, but has been hit with a series of international sanctions over its nuclear work.
SECURITY UMBRELLA

Ex-ambassador to Israel: U.S. will go to war with Iran in 2013

Former Ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, offered a dire prediction of a U.S. confrontation with Iran, saying it could escalate into war as early as next year.
"I'm afraid that 2013 is going to be a year in which we're going to have a military confrontation with Iran," he said Sunday on "Face the Nation."
Indyk joined a roundtable of foreign policy experts to discuss the latest protests in the Middle East and Israel's public statements pressuring the United States over Iran.
The former ambassador said the time has not come, yet, that the U.S. needs to take military action. "Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon," he said. [W]hile there's still time, there's not a lot of time."
As for the public dispute between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama over Iran, Indyk said he doesn't think "the difference between Netanyahu and Obama on this is that great, in terms of the President's commitment not to allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons."
On Israel's insistence that the U.S. publicly declare a "red line" that Iran is not permitted to cross, Indyk said "that is an unreasonable requirement. The idea of putting out a public red line - in effect issuing an ultimatum - is something that no president would do. If you noticed, Governor Romney is not putting out a red line; Senator McCain didn't, either. And neither is Bibi Netanyahu for that matter, in terms of Israel's own actions."

Obama's Arab Spring becomes the Arab Winter

The murder of Ambassador Stevens prompts a new question to Obama supporters: "How's that Arab Spring thing workin' out for ya?"
The horrific photo of Chris Stevens, who died in service to his country, is the new icon for Obama's naïve Arab Spring mantra.
Back on May 19, 2011, in a speech on the Arab Spring, Obama said:

"That story of self-determination began six months ago in Tunisia. On December 17, a young vendor named Mohammed Bouazizi was devastated when a police officer confiscated his cart. This was not unique. It is the same kind of humiliation that takes place every day in many parts of the world - the relentless tyranny of governments that deny their citizens dignity. Only this time, something different happened. After local officials refused to hear his complaint, this young man who had never been particularly active in politics went to the headquarters of the provincial government, doused himself in fuel, and lit himself on fire.
Sometimes, in the course of history, the actions of ordinary citizens spark movements for change because they speak to a longing for freedom that has built up for years. In America, think of the defiance of those patriots in Boston who refused to pay taxes to a King, or the dignity of Rosa Parks as she sat courageously in her seat. So it was in Tunisia, as that vendor's act of desperation tapped into the frustration felt throughout the country. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets, then thousands. And in the face of batons and sometimes bullets, they refused to go home - day after day, week after week, until a dictator of more than two decades finally left power.
The story of this Revolution, and the ones that followed, should not have come as a surprise. The nations of the Middle East and North Africa won their independence long ago, but in too many places their people did not. In too many countries, power has been concentrated in the hands of the few. In too many countries, a citizen like that young vendor had nowhere to turn - no honest judiciary to hear his case; no independent media to give him voice; no credible political party to represent his views; no free and fair election where he could choose his leader.
This lack of self determination - the chance to make of your life what you will - has applied to the region's economy as well. Yes, some nations are blessed with wealth in oil and gas, and that has led to pockets of prosperity. But in a global economy based on knowledge and innovation, no development strategy can be based solely upon what comes out of the ground. Nor can people reach their potential when you cannot start a business without paying a bribe.
In the face of these challenges, too many leaders in the region tried to direct their people's grievances elsewhere. The West was blamed as the source of all ills, a half century after the end of colonialism. Antagonism toward Israel became the only acceptable outlet for political expression. Divisions of tribe, ethnicity and religious sect were manipulated as a means of holding on to power, or taking it away from somebody else.
But the events of the past six months show us that strategies of repression and diversion won't work anymore. Satellite television and the Internet provide a window into the wider world - a world of astonishing progress in places like India, Indonesia and Brazil. Cell phones and social networks allow young people to connect and organize like never before. A new generation has emerged. And their voices tell us that change cannot be denied.
In Cairo, we heard the voice of the young mother who said, "It's like I can finally breathe fresh air for the first time."
In Sanaa, we heard the students who chanted, "The night must come to an end."
In Benghazi, we heard the engineer who said, "Our words are free now. It's a feeling you can't explain."
In Damascus, we heard the young man who said, "After the first yelling, the first shout, you feel dignity."

Here's the newest addition to his list of events:  In Tripoli, we see the limp body of a dead American Ambassador.

In that May, 2011 speech, Obama went on to say,

"That's why, two years ago in Cairo, I began to broaden our engagement based upon mutual interests and mutual respect."

"Mutual respect," he predicted.
When a nation chooses to be governed by incompetent leadership, people die. It's always been that way. It will always be that way. And that's the way it is now, in America.

The Guns of October – In the Persian Gulf

Students of defense studies are routinely assigned Barbara Tuchman’s excellent study of the outbreak of the First World War, The Guns of August. The thrust of Tuchman’s analysis was that the stars were aligned in favor of war. Over a number of years national politics, alliance relationships, military organizations and war plans had created a reinforcing architecture that made war all but inevitable. More recent scholarship has taken this thesis a step further, arguing that most of the Great Powers wanted a war, albeit for different and often misguided reasons. All that was required was a trigger.

The situation in the Persian Gulf between Iran and much of the rest of the world increasingly suggests the possibility for a replay of the Guns of August scenario. Teheran is expanding, dispersing and hardening its nuclear enrichment program and trying to find a way around sanctions before its domestic economy is crippled. Beyond the immediate issue of Teheran’s nuclear program there is the changing character of security relationships in the region, the political storms set off by the Arab Spring, the evolving U.S. security posture in the region, the declining strength of Western military establishments in general, the new economics of global energy and the military buildups by the Gulf States.

Iran's Ahmadinejad says no place for Israel in new Middle East

DUBAI (Reuters) - Many thousands of Iranians shouted "Death to America, death to Israel" during state-organized protests on Friday and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told them there was no place for the Jewish state in a future Middle East.

Iran, penalized by tough Western sanctions, faces the threat of an Israeli or U.S. military strike on its disputed nuclear facilities. With popular uprisings reshaping the region, the Islamic Republic is also trying to prevent the overthrow of its closest Arab ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"You want a new Middle East? We do too, but in the new Middle East ... there will be no trace of the American presence and the Zionists," Ahmadinejad told worshippers at Tehran University in an event broadcast live on state television.

The Iranian leader, whose own authority is under challenge from hardliners as well as reformers, was restating Tehran's familiar goals as the Middle East undergoes a very different upheaval from the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah and brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power.

Iran Asks Muslim States to Sign Treaty to Defend Palestine

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi called for strategic defense agreements among Islamic states to defend the Palestinian people and the holy Quds.

"If Islamic countries shape a strong and strategic defense unity for defending the causes of Palestine, the Zionist regime will have no option but to accept the will and demands of the Palestinian nation," Vahidi said, addressing a meeting of Defense Diplomacy Committee here in Tehran on Tuesday.

U.S. moving submersibles to Persian Gulf to oppose Iran

                        Fasten your seat belts, we're heading towards World War III

The Navy is rushing dozens of unmanned underwater craft to the Persian Gulf to help detect and destroy mines in a major military buildup aimed at preventing Iran from closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the event of a crisis, U.S. officials said.
The tiny SeaFox submersibles each carry an underwater television camera, homing sonar and an explosive charge. The Navy bought them in May after an urgent request by Marine Gen. James Mattis, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East.
Each submersible is about 4 feet long and weighs less than 100 pounds. The craft are intended to boost U.S. military capabilities as negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program appear to have stalled. Three rounds of talks since April between Iran and the five countries in the United Nations Security Council plus Germany have made little progress.

The Saudis Warn Israel They Will Shoot Down Any Jets Using Its Airspace For A Strike On Iran

Israel has only a handful of flight paths it can use to bomb Iran's alleged nuclear sites, and one of those is off the table after Saudi Arabia vowed to take down any Israeli jet flying its airspace.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reports the message was passed through senior U.S. officials in Jerusalem and came straight from Riyadh.
The paper also reports that Israeli officials firmly believe the threat is part of an American plan to thwart a lone Israeli strike, and the the U.S. could certainly persuade the Saudis to open their airspace if it chose to do so.
Regardless, military experts have been saying for months an Israeli air strike would be a very elaborate affair involving more than 100 planes, from jets to re-fueling tankers, over 1,000 miles to strike eight Iranian targets.

Gulf Nations Aim To Secure Water, Food Supply

DUBAI—Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz has triggered alarm about the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf, but for the arid, oil-rich countries in the region it poses another uncomfortable question: For how long can they feed their people if the strategic waterway is blocked?

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are among the world's richest countries, but as much as 90% of food needs for these mostly desert nations is brought in from abroad, according to the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.

Much of those imports come to the Persian Gulf via the narrow Strait of Hormuz. Iran has threatened to block the strategic waterway—through which about 35% of the world's ship-borne oil is exported, in the opposite direction—in response to sanctions over its nuclear program. It remains uncertain whether Iran could succeed in closing off the shipping lanes, and the U.S. and its allies are taking measures to make sure that doesn't happen, including preparations to de-mine the strait.

But any prolonged closure of the strait could lead to food shortages in the Persian Gulf and force countries to find alternate channels.

U.S. And Gulf Allies Pursue A Missile Shield Against Iranian Attack

The United States and its Arab allies are knitting together a regional missile defense system across the Persian Gulf to protect cities, oil refineries, pipelines and military bases from an Iranian attack, according to government officials and public documents.

It is an enterprise that is meant to send a pointed message to Tehran, and that becomes more urgent as tensions with Iran rise. But it will require partner nations in the gulf to put aside rivalries, share information and coordinate their individual arsenals of interceptor missiles to create a defensive shield encompassing all the regional allies.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, among the first to raise the need for the missile shield three years ago, sought to spur the gulf allies on during a recent visit to Saudi Arabia.

“We can do even more to defend the gulf through cooperation on ballistic missile defense,” she said during a session in March of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“Sometimes to defend one nation effectively you might need a radar system in a neighboring nation,” she said, adding, “But it’s the cooperation — it’s what they call ‘interoperability’ — that we now need to really roll up our sleeves and get to work on.”

Harris Receives $8 Million Order from Nation in Middle East for High-Frequency Manpack Radios

Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company, has received an $8 million order from a country in the Middle East for Falcon high-frequency manpack radios as part of its tactical radio modernization program.

The Falcon II RF-5800H will provide this nation's armed forces with beyond line-of-sight terrestrial voice and data communications. The RF-5800H is part of the most fully integrated HF radio family in the world, offering advanced features such as Third Generation-Automatic Link Establishment, integrated data link protocols and embedded GPS receivers.

“The RF-5800H delivers highly reliable and secure communications even in the most challenging mission environments, such as mountains and urban areas,’’ said Brendan O’Connell, president, International

The Failure of the Arab Spring

What has happened in many of the countries that have been hit by the Arab Spring, and this was recently painfully obvious in Egypt, is the coming to power of radical and extremist Islamic elements that had less power or existed only on the fringes before the uprisings in their respective countries.

Expert after expert, time and time again, have stated that the results of the Arab Spring are going to be widespread long-lasting and difficult if not impossible to undo. The U.S. was warned many times that what they were unleashing was not going to go the way of their pie-in-the-sky scenarios but nevertheless they continue to push for regime changes which we have seen have only caused more bloodshed and suffering and not the quick implementation of reforms and the appearance of democratic governments.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the largest Muslim organization in the world, is an example of one such group which had been banned in

 Egypt, and whose original goal was to bring about Sharia Law and Islamize society. Although their extremist and violent nature have been toned down many experts are worried that their claims and actions which appear to adhere to democratic principles are merely tactical and a way for them to obtain real power.

The Muslim Brotherhood had promised not to front a presidential candidate in Egypt but we have seen that was a lie. What other lies they have presented to garner the trust of the people are yet to be seen but if they went back on one promise they are sure to go back on others.

The Muslim Brotherhood has a long and violent history including bombings, assassinations and attempts at overthrowing governments. It was also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sayyid Qutb, who laid down the intellectual and theological justifications for the use of jihad, that inspired the leaders and founders of many of the modern day radical, militant and terrorist Islamic groups, such as Al Qaeda.

Tunisia, where Mohamed Bouazizi, the poor street grocer set himself on fire, the event that sparked the Arab Spring, appears may be another failure for the West, even though they claim success there. Laws prohibiting alcohol consumption and forcing women to wear traditional Muslim dress which did not exist before the Arab Spring are beginning to appear in the country.

Gulf: U.S. Navy opened fire on Indian fishermen

An American ship opened fire Monday on a small motor boat which seemed to threaten the coast of the emirate of Dubai, the Gulf, the Pentagon said. The USNS Rappahannock tanker opened fire with heavy machine guns against the civilian vessel "after she had not responded to warnings and then it was rapidly closing" the American ship, said the U.S. 5th Fleet. The Emirati authorities said Monday night that the boat was that of Indian fishermen.

The 5th Fleet based in Bahrain, says a person was killed and three others wounded. The incident occurred off the coast of Jebel Ali, a city of the emirate of Dubai with an EPZ. The tanker was fired after the boat against the usual warnings, including warning shots, according to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity, who said that, since 2000 and the attack against the USS Cole off Yemen, the U.S. Navy was "very careful" to potential threats posed by small boats. An investigation was instituted, in the 5th Fleet.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy will accelerate the deployment of an aircraft carrier and its escort the Middle East to deal with tensions in the region, including Iran and Syria, said Monday the spokesman Pentagon, George Little. "The Secretary (of Defense Leon Panetta) approved late last week the request of Central Command to expedite four-month deployment of the USS John Stennis," said Mr. Little told reporters. CENTCOM is the U.S. command responsible for Middle East, stretching from the Red Sea to the Gulf and the western Indian Ocean.

Arab Spring demands change in arms policy: report

The government must exercise more caution in granting licenses for the export of arms to authoritarian regimes such as Bahrain in light of the Arab Spring uprisings, a parliamentary report has urged.

A Commons select committee review of export controls also revealed that the Foreign Office (FCO) is concerned about the sale of equipment to Argentina amid tensions over the Falkland Islands, the Guardian reported Friday.

Select committee chairman John Stanley said the government needed to make “significantly more cautious judgments on the export of arms.”

“Bahrain is self-evidently a very sensitive country, given the very serious human rights violations that took place there,” said Stanley. “There have been very serious human rights violations involving doctors and nurses.”

Around 100 licenses were granted last year for sales to Bahrain for equipment including rifles, body armour, shotguns, pistols and small arms ammunition.

Under British rules, licenses should not be granted if there is a strong chance the arms will be used to provoke conflict or as instruments of internal repression.

The chairman said FCO unease about the sale of equipment to Argentina mirrored anxiety within the government triggered by “previous Falklands experience, where British ships were tragically sunk and many people lost their lives”.

Alistair Burt, the minister for counter-proliferation, said Britain had behaved responsibly during the Middle East uprisings.

“The UK has a rigorous export licensing procedure,” he said, according to the Guardian.

“We look at each application on a case-by-case basis. It is wrong to allege that in the runup to the Arab spring UK export controls were lax.

“When the licenses in question were issued, they were properly assessed in the light of the prevailing circumstances. Once the circumstances changed, the risk was reassessed and licenses were revoked,” he stressed.