THE FUTURE HAPPENED YESTERDAY:

India To Use Israeli Radars To Check Rebel Infiltration In Kashmir (Agence
France-Presse, Oct 06, 2002)

A defence ministry source said the deal was signed recently, while the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency said India had already
received the first of the 1,022 portable radars, which can detect human movement up to 10 kilometres (six miles) away.

India has already installed some of these radars along the Line of Control -- the de facto border dividing Kashmir into Indian and Pakistani
administered regions, the report added.

The decision to purchase the radars in bulk was taken after the Indian army reported considerable success in checking infiltration of Islamic rebels into
Indian-adminstered Kashmir following a trial of the sensors. [...]

Officials said the deal with Israel also covered the acqusition of 600 Elbit thermal-imaging systems to equip the Indian army's T-72 main battle tanks and 300 Russian BMP-II armoured personnel carriers.

Besides the portable radars, India has also signed a deal to acquire eight more Israeli Searcher-II unmanned air vehicles for deployment in the mountainous regions of Kashmir to monitor cross-border activity, the PTI report added.

We still eagerly await that Tom Friedman column about the Axis of Good, where he suddenly discovers that while the Times editorial board obsesses about our deteriorating relations with our former allies in Europe, it turns out we've been forging the alliance that will matter in the 21st Century with Israel, India, Turkey, Taiwan, Russia, etc.. These are the countries that share our democratic values and among us we surround both the Islamic world and the remaining Communist states: China, Cuba, North Korea. We have in place a brand new infrastructure, and a de facto policy, of containment though none of the Eurocentrists seem to realize it.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 7, 2002 2:47 PM