Russia, China and Iran

“So now, as the U.S. and its allies work to economically isolate Iran, as a
second aircraft carrier heads to the Persian Gulf, as coalition forces arrest
Iranian officials suspected of stirring violence in Iraq, what is Russia’s
response? Last week, Russian defense minister Sergei Ivanov confirmed that
Moscow had sold air defense missiles to Iran. Yes, that’s right. Russia is
selling weapons to Iran. It’s selling weapons to a state that is a leading
sponsor of terrorism, whose president has vowed to wipe Israel off the map. It
is selling these weapons even though the UN has been warning and cajoling and
threatening Iran to stop its nuclear program for years. How did Ivanov justify
the sale? Simple. It was all part of a contract signed in December 2005.
Translation: Business is business, and to hell with the rest of the world. The
Russians insisted that the sale doesn’t violate any international agreements.
And that the missiles are short-range and purely defensive. But let’s see. What
might Iran be defending? Its illegal uranium-enrichment sites? Other nuclear
facilities where it is likely to be developing the expertise to build a bomb?
And whose forces would be the likely targets of those missiles? The Russians,
like the Chinese, issue reassuring pronouncements about opposing Iran’s nuclear
march. The Chinese recently called on the Iranians to give a ‘serious response’
to the UN resolution. Yes, harumph, harumph. Serious!... Iran poses a grave
nuclear threat. Russia seems intent on giving it cover.” —Chicago Tribune