Sunday, October 1, 2017

Cache of North Korean RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenades) Seized in Egypt

Type of North Korean RPG Cache Seized in Egypt

North Korean Army with RPG's on Parade

Pretty startling headlines... absolutely astonishing. A cache of some 30,000 RPG's from North Korea (picture above) were nabbed on a ship recently and guess who had ordered them? 

Here's the story and headline from the Washington Post:

Highlights:

Last August, a secret message was passed from Washington to Cairo warning about a mysterious vessel steaming toward the Suez Canal. The bulk freighter named Jie-Shun was flying Cambodian colors but had sailed from North Korea.

The warning said it had an-all North Korean crew and unknown cargo shrouded by heavy tarps.

Armed with this tip, customs agents were waiting when the ship entered Egyptian waters.

They swarmed the vessel and discovered, concealed under bins of iron ore, a cache of more than 30,000 rocket-propelled grenades (RPG’s).

It was, as a UN report later concluded, the “largest seizure of ammunition in the history of sanctions against the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – North Korea).”

So, who were the rockets for? The Jie-Shun’s final secret would take months to resolve and would yield perhaps the biggest surprise of all:

The buyers were the Egyptians themselves – yeah, U.S. ally. 

Then this background: Washington under various administrations has given Cairo nearly $80 billion in military and economic assistance over the past 30 years. Pledges have been made to continue to support Egypt in helping defeat extremists, fighting terrorism, and bolstering their economy (one Trump official said). 


I Conclude: We remain great at picking allies don’t we, um?

Now what is the Trump Team’s next move? Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by – come again.

No comments: