Jimmy Johnson

Finland’s ministry of defense has narrowed the field in its competition to provide the Finnish army with mini unmanned aerial vehicles. Of the five remaining bidders, four are Israeli firms with deep ties to the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights.

A recent meeting between Chinese and Israeli military officials is only the latest in a burgeoning security relationship between Israel and China that includes drone technology, crowd control training, surveillance, intelligence gathering and more. This raises the question of how China’s official support for Palestinian self-determination will coincide with its ongoing procurement of the tools of Palestinian pacification. Jimmy Johnson comments.

The 2010 summer in the disputed area of Jammu and Kashmir, administered by India, has been marked by popular protests by Kashmiris and crackdowns by India’s military. The stream of violence has left more than fifty dead, mostly young protestors. The situation in Kashmir has some parallels with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, even borrowing the term intifada to describe the uprising. But the connection is more than analogy. Jimmy Johnson analyzes for The Electronic Intifada.

On 16 July 2010, US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro laid out the Obama Administration’s policy on strategic cooperation, noting that earlier this year, President Obama “asked Congress to authorize $205 million to support the production of an Israeli-developed short range rocket defense system called Iron Dome.” If approved, these funds would be “above and beyond the $3 billion in Foreign Military Financing that the Administration requested for Israel” for 2011. Jimmy Johnson comments for The Electronic Intifada.