The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Turkey are engaging in various degrees of hypocrisy in their respective pursuits to purchase highly sophisticated long-range Russian-made S-400 air defence missile systems.
Qatar is going ahead with its plans to buy S-400s over Saudi Arabia's objection. Riyadh, which has levelled an air, ground and sea blockade against Qatar for more than a year now, has even suggested it is ready to take military action against Doha to destroy the missiles if they are delivered. In spite of this threat Moscow has affirmed it will still supply the missiles.
In June, Riyadh sought to convince French President Emmanuel Macron to intervene diplomatically and convince Doha not to buy the missiles, claiming the purchase would destabilise the region.
Qatar's air defence capabilities at present are dwarfed by the Saudis and the other regional powers blockading the tiny country. While Doha has made several deals with the Americans and Europeans for more advanced fighter jets to replace its 12 Dassault Mirage 2000s which currently defend Qatar's airspace, the Saudis possess at least 100 far more advanced aircraft.
Furthermore, Riyadh itself is seeking to buy the very same Russian missile system to bolster its military forces, while simultaneously seeking to stop Doha from doing so. Saudi possession of the system could enable it to shoot down Qatari aircraft inside Qatar's own airspace. For this reason it is logical that Doha wants such a system to protect its own airspace and deter any attacks.
Last year, the Saudi state-owned press outlet Al-Arabiya released a sordid video depicting its ability to shoot down Qatari civilian airliners entering its airspace. The Gulf region has quite a depressing history of civilian airliners being threatened and destroyed, particularly in the 1980s.
Riyadh is seeking to buy the very same Russian missile system to bolster its military forces, while simultaneously seeking to stop Doha from doing so
At that time, Iraq threatened to shoot down civilian airliners operating in Iranian airspace during the savage eight-year war it fought against the country.
But it was a US ship, the USS Vincennes destroyer, which did infamously shoot down Iran Air Flight 655 on July 3, 1988, killing all 290 people aboard during skirmishes with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in the Gulf.
What objections does US have to S 400 being sold to India when their close allies Saudi Arabia and Turkey are also planning to buy them.
— Chandru (@ChandrusWeb) July 1, 2018
Given this depraved history and Riyadh's sinister little animated video, its own push to purchase S-400s should be questioned and scrutinised.
The Republic of Turkey is also pushing ahead, despite US and European objections, to buy S-400 air defence missile batteries. The decision follows almost half a decade of Turkish efforts to acquire such a system.
In 2013 Turkey initially sought to buy Chinese-made FD-2000 missiles, basically a copy of the S-400's older brother, the S-300 (a generation behind the S-400 in terms of capability). This led to American and European defence firms warning their Turkish counterparts that: "If Turkey buys missiles from China, our partnerships in certain fields will be over."
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