Fireworks: “Finland has impounded a ship bound for China carrying 69 surface-to-air Patriot missiles. The missiles, produced by US firm Raytheon, were discovered following a customs search on the British-registered Thor Liberty, owned by Danish firm Thorco, at the port of Kotka, about 120 kilometres from Helsinki. The BBC is reporting the missiles were found in containers marked fireworks.”
Finns detain crew: “‘The ship’s captain and the first mate have been detained,’ the head of the Finnish customs anti-crime unit, Petri Lounatmaa, told AFP. … Lounatmaa said the Thor Liberty’s first officers and crew of about 30 were all Ukrainians, and that interrogations were under way.”
German Defense Ministry says shipment was theirs: CNN reports, “A shipment of Patriot missiles that Finnish authorities found and seized was legal and authorized, the German government said Thursday.”
A Germany Defense Ministry official said the missiles, found on board the Thor Liberty, were part of a German delivery for South Korea under a longstanding agreement. … This was to be the last such delivery, said Lt. Col. Holger Neumann. Earlier, a customs official familiar with the case told CNN the shipment departed December 6 from the German port of Emden. “The exporters had all necessary permissions, including an export authorization and a special authorization for the export of war weapons,” the source said.
The Washington Post traced the route of the vessel:
The ship sailed from the north German port of Emden on Dec. 13 and was en route to China, Finnish officials said. It docked in Kotka to pick up a cargo of anchor chains and an old paper machine.
Finnish officials impounded the cargo Wednesday and launched an investigation. Detective Superintendent Timo Virtanen said the ship’s captain and first mate were detained.
“The missiles did not have the appropriate transit papers,” Virtanen said. “We are questioning all the other 11 crew members who are also Ukrainians.”
Klaus Kaartinen, spokesman for the National Bureau of Investigation, said Finnish police and customs would continue their investigation into the cargo.
“Even if the missile cargo is a legitimate shipment, from a Finnish point of view the law has probably been broken because it was not properly declared,” Kaartinen said. “Also, the explosives were stored improperly.”
American-made Patriot missiles are used to counter threats, including aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. They are part of the U.S. Army’s weaponry and were extensively used during the 1991 Gulf war.
Manufactured by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Florida, Patriot missiles have been in service in several countries, including Egypt, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and South Korea.
One possible explanation for this strange story is that a decision was made to supply someone with Patriot Missiles and muddle the trail. In that narrative, the ordnance would be shipped under a cover. But if perchance it were discovered by accident and the cover were blown, then the transporters would have to play their get-out-of-jail card, in this case, a phone number at the German Defense Ministry.
Other explanations are possible, but who knows? We either live in a world of Smart Power where games are played too deep for our ken or in a universe in which more things have been sold out on heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy.
But come;
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself,
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on,
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumber’d thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As ‘Well, well, we know,’ or ‘We could, an if we would,’
Or ‘If we list to speak,’ or ‘There be, an if they might,’
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
That you know aught of me: this not to do,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear.
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Probably all proper and legal, part of an Obama Admin program called “Fast and Furious II.”
Note that back in the 80′s some supposedly unsuspecting American businessmen delivered something like fifty Hughes Model 500 helicopters to North Korea, under the claim they were going to Taiwan or someplace like that.
W: “We either live in a world of Smart Power where games are played too deep for our ken or in a universe in which more things have been sold out on heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy.”
“If one is to rule and to continue ruling, one must be able to dislocate the sense of reality… If human equality is to be forever averted; if the “high,” as we have called them, are to keep their places permanently; then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity.” George Orwell – 1984
It’s good to see that ships are still
Named after gods of old
For Thor is with us yet and will
Bestow upon us gold
But gold is found in many forms
In bullion and in cash
Or just perhaps in case of storms
A tidy missile stash
This incident begs the question as to what else is being shipped to China in violation of ITAR. Treaties are worthless if you are the only one playing by its rules.
In reply to a previous thread and this one, a serious question.
Why did C-BS allow the 0bama footage on YouTube?
Are there saner people at C-BS or do they really belive that the teleprompter in chief is the great pumpkin?
Where do Shrillary and Panetta stand on the issues?
Have a peaceful holiday season and may we all merit saner times!
Dang, first guns to Mexican cartels and direct State Dept. sales to Mexican military that might as well be to the cartels, and now this. And people bust Putin’s chops for one measly S-300 battery sale to Iran that’s been on again, off again (when the Israelis offered Moscow a better deal?) At least you knew where those rockets were going.
“Treaties are worthless if you are the only one playing by its rules.”
Correct! Treaties assume that life is a “positive sum game”.
Essential features of a “positive sum game” are Trust, Clear Communication, and Transparency.
Poker is a “zero sum game” whose features are Brinkmanship, Secrecy, Obfuscation and Buffing
If your strategy in any given situation (transaction, treaty, bargain, game) is to play as if you are in a “positive sum game” and yet your opponent / counterparties strategy is to play as if it were a “zero sum game” you will have your ass handed to you every single time.
Thanks for the analysis W!
“Treaties are worthless if you are the only one playing by its rules.”
Correct! Treaties assume that life is a “positive sum game”.
Essential features of a “positive sum game” are Trust, Clear Communication, and Transparency.
Poker is a “zero sum game” whose features are Brinkmanship, Secrecy, Obfuscation and Buffing
If your strategy in any given situation (transaction, treaty, bargain, game) is to play as if the is a “positive sum game” and yet your opponent / counterparties strategy is to play as if it were a “zero sum game” you will have your ass handed to you every single time.
“The exporters had all necessary permissions, including an export authorization and a special authorization for the export of war weapons,” the source said.
And who exactly are these ‘exporters’, if the fireworks are those of the German defense ministry and this is all so aboveboard?
Obviously not a word of this is true, but just who are the players and what is the game, is utterly unclear.
I was involved in state and defense licensed exports for twenty years, otoh never shipped any munitions or “fireworks”.
Not to be too off the wall, but could this be some kind of quid pro quo for some Chinese Sovereign Debt bailout?
9. Josh Ditto. During my Merchant of death phase I sold Redeyes, 60mm mortars and M-60 LMG’s in S, America. You DO NOT label a legitimate transaction “Fireworks”.
Something very wrong here and Somebody is trying to cover their tracks.
Unsk, possible but unlikely. Such a sale would be handled by State and marketed widely as a sign of Sino-US relation improving. Certain Congress critters would have whined loudly, and then been bought off.
No, this looks to have been Some German-American making a quick buck.
I don’t think the Germans co-produce Patriots
http://www.army-technology.com/projects/patriot/
pinched
“As well as the USA, Patriot is in service in Egypt, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan.”
Depending on which mod it is, the Soviets could make use of the technology to allow them to penetrate NATO defenses. Maybe…. Most AD in Nato is done by Fighters, the Patriot is sort of a last ditch defense for C&C units (Headquarters) and airbases. It does have a limited use against short range missiles. SAMs just need to be fast. Accuracy is provided by the trailer full of electronics and the tech weenies making it work.
The Patriot is actually behind the latest Russian SAM’s as technology. That is because Soviet doctrine calls for a SAM heavy AD. It has to, since their fighter planes suck and they have no pilots that would qualify to sit in a teen series (F-14,15,16,18) fighter. This theft in and of itself doesn’t bother me.
What twitches my trigger finger is the pattern. The RQ-170, now enough misslies to load a battery. I’m starting to wonder just what else has gone missing.
It is starting to look like this administration has lost the key to the cupboard marked “Military secrets”. The FBI and the DIA need to get right on this. With Warrants for EVERYBODY that has been within a country mile of a Patriot over the last few years.
Who labeled those crates ‘fireworks’? Who last had costodey of those seriel numbers?
Lots of Questions, so far no answers, or at least believable answers.
Stoch I saw a tweet that this was a legit sale to South Korea, but none of what’s been described above is consistent with that m.o. It’s like the feds’ whole ‘we laundered money to the Mexican drug cartels only to see how they do it’ excuse upon getting caught. Wouldn’t surprise me given the Ukrainian crew if the Russians were the ones who tipped off the customs enforcers who found the stuff. There is no one looking out for the national interest anymore, there are only competing private interests masquerading as your government, including in defense and foreign policy.
We’re lucky the ship pulled into Finland. It could have pulled into Kaliningrad and the missiles would have vanished. Israel is to some extent dependent on Patriots and I believe that Taiwan uses them too. China would be very interested in ensuring that their huge missile force in Fukien could devastate Taiwan. If the credibility of their ABM systems is compromised then Taiwan, and Japan, have an incentive to move to a nuclear response strategy. This could be one of the great “own goals” in history on China’s part. Expect an article in the Nation arguing that proves that this was really planted by forces loyal to Darth McChimpyhalliburtonbushitlerkoch to induce the spread of nuclear weapons that threaten the Worker’s State.
Josh/Stoicheion – suggest simplest explanation most likely. End user certificates presumably in order – that would have created larger fireworks. Think charter broker shopped the market for the cheapest ride downrange without paying attention to the ports of call en route. Since the carrier would have done the DG cargo inspection/hazardous cargo paperwork, not unlikely that the lowest bidder also had the least competent supercargo. Therefore 1) they accepted leaking barrels of piric acid (bad call); and also 2) used incorrect UN number for missles (should have been UN 0181 Rockets with Bursting Charge; instead of Fireworks – UN333 or 334/335/336/337). Note the numbers aren’t even close so this wasn’t a typo. Interesting how many folks at BC have experience in this line of work.
C’mon, these are Patriot Missiles. What are the folks in Finland going to find next, a freighter hold full of W-88′s? Um, these are “thermonuclear” and even though they have an explosive charge, you cannot declare them as “fireworks.”
If this is for real, we are through the looking glass, people.
Back during the Cold War, I braced various more or less public liberals with the following question: Given that treaties are explicitly or implicitly self-limiting–i.e. if one side breaks the treaty and refuses to stop, the other parties are released from their obligations–what do we do if the Sovs breake the treaty in question at the time? “Negotiate.” And if they break that one? “Negotiate.”
Et tedious cetera.
IOW, for dems and libs, only the US is to be bound by treaties, and is to be bound by treaties even if the other side breaks them, and even if–feature not a bug–this puts the US in a bad position vis a vis the enemy.
Patriot missiles come in various flavors, these days, so which version is involved is still a puzzle.
69 of them is a HUGE, MONSTER $$$$$$ sale.
Helsinki is not on the direct route to Asia.
China does not import fireworks — export is their game.
perhaps the missles were transiting through Lebanon… to complete the last leg of their journey to Israel under their own power.
Sounds like the begining of a spy/thriller… we can call it “The Christmas Conspiracy”.