JUST WAIT 'TIL THE FOURTH "I" GETS ADDED:

India embraces US, Israeli arms (Siddharth Srivastava, 7/27/07, Asia Times)

here is also a school of thought emerging that most recent deals cleared have either involved Israel or the United States.

Even with the US entry into India's defense market, no decline in defense trade between India and Israel is expected, as the US generally sells complete major systems such as fighter jets and naval ships, while Israel specializes in compatible ancillaries.

India's importation of military hardware and software will reach $30 billion within the next five years, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry said recently.

India's cabinet committee on security, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, recently cleared a joint venture between India and Israel for the co-production of missiles. The medium-range surface-to-air missiles with the capability of hitting aerial targets up to 70 kilometers away will be produced at an estimated total cost of Rs100 billion ($2.5 billion). Defense officials say the missile will be an extended version of the Barak-8, also called Barak NG, a naval missile under development.

India has also procured electronic warfare systems and advanced radars from Israel.

MORE:
Washington's befuddling line on Iran (Gareth Porter , 7/27/07, Asia Times)

[The] administration line ignores the fact that Iran's primary ties in Iraq have always been with those groups who have supported the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, including the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and Da'wa Party and their paramilitary arm, the Badr Corps, rather than with anti-government militias. That indicates that Iran's fundamental interest is to see the government stabilize the situation in the country, according to Professor Mohsen Milani of Florida International University, a specialist on Iran's national-security policies.

Milani argues that Iran's interests are more closely aligned with those of the US than any other state in the region. "I can't think of two other countries in the region who want the Iraqi government to succeed," said Milani.

He believes the Iranians are so upset with the efforts by the Saudis to undermine the Shi'ite-dominated government that they may try to use the talks with the US on the security of Iraq to introduce intelligence they have gathered on Saudi support for al-Qaeda and Sunni insurgents.

Trita Parsi, author of a new book on Iranian-Israeli security relations, agrees that Iran's support for the Maliki government stands in contrast to the attitude of the leading US Sunni ally in Middle East, Saudi Arabia. "Look at what the Saudis are calling the Maliki government - a puppet government," he observed. "You're not hearing that from Iran."

James A Russell, a lecturer in national-security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and a specialist on security affairs in the Gulf region, agrees that Iran and the US do indeed share common strategic interests in Iraq, at least in terms of rational, realist definitions of strategic interest.

The problem, Russell said, is that the history of the relationship and domestic political constituencies pose serious obstacles to realizing those common interests.