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Having been asked to answer, I'm going to punch down a deep, powerful instinct to answer cynically. I will do my best. Believe it or not, what you're reading here is what I consider the non-cynical version of the answer. The cynical answer... probably violates the BNBR policy, and is six times longer.A lot of getting better educated starts with un-learning what you thought you knew. What you see on TV is absolutely wrong. It contains nothing of value, and is most likely the opposite of true. Stop watching TV news. I'm not just talking about Fox News here, though they are especially brazen about it. I mean any news source where you don't get the time to sit, reread, and reconsider. If the news is presented to you as something you should enjoy getting, then news is being sacrificed to entertainment.I actually recommend magazines instead. Here's the thing: aside from very rare emergencies, you don't actually need your news today. If you get your news a week late, so what? You missed the opportunity to be outraged on Tuesday, with everybody else, and had to wait for Saturday or Sunday for it. A magazine gives at least a hope of having a few days to incorporate context, to include corrections (a stunning amount of "news" turns out to be retracted, quietly, a few days later). I like The Economist, which has the advantage of a slightly outside perspective. The Week is also OK for such things.The second thing is to become educated in some field, any field. That's just your domain of expertise. That's going to help you calibrate the rest of what you read. When you get the news as it applies to your field, and you discover just how astonishingly wrong it is in everything you actually know about, you'll at least have a measure of their ignorance. When you know some science and read the latest claptrap about the God Particle, or when you know highway engineering and you read some politician's blather about how he's going to fix the roads on the cheap, you'll have a much better appreciation for just how much the journalist actually knows about Syria or the FEC or who shot whom in Florida.With that in mind, you'll be able to at least realize that you're generally making an uninformed decision. The odds are you'll never make an informed decision. That is the bizarre promise of democracy: that somehow 300 million people who don't know what they're talking about add up, via the wisdom of crowds, into one who does. It's the responsibility of each of them to try to get better educated, but in the end the goal is for the 49.9% who have an irrational bias for X and the 49.9% who have an irrational bias for not-X will cancel each other out, and the remaining .2% will actually come to the correct decision.Anyway, one area I'd really like people to learn more about is just what actually happens in Washington DC. I honestly can't think of any way to do it except to come live here. No book or newspaper reports it accurately. Not even the Washington Post, which is abominable, since they're surrounded by it.What you'll see, if you come, is essentially a gigantic HR/accounting/internal affairs department for the "corporation" that is the nation. It's a half-million or so people doing the same thing you'd see inside any other company: setting policies, sending checks to people it owes money to, supervising work done on its behalf. It's not magic; neither is it a bunch of monsters. It's just a bunch of people doing work that mostly needs to be done. No book or magazine article would ever be written about it, because it's boring.There's also the legislature, and honestly... I'm hard pressed to tell you what to think there. Again, nothing you read in the newspapers (or magazines) is accurate. Much of it is the same dull plodding bureaucracy of the executive branch, but for high-level non-C-suite managers, all simultaneously working with each other and undercutting each other.As with a manager, their stated reasons for running for office matter hardly a whit. Everything in the campaign ads that they say about themselves is the truth (and practically everything they say about their opponents is a lie), but neither part actually matters. What a really skilled politician does is GO TO MEETINGS, and try to convince the other people there to strike a deal. This isn't something they're going to put in a campaign ad. The closest you get to it is the straightforward assertion: if I can persuade you, maybe I can persuade those other guys.And despite the screaming on the television, there is (or at least used to be) a fair bit of persuasion going on. As abominably bad as the current Congress is, it still managed to passTHOMAS (Library of Congress)::To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to provide that the District of Columbia Treasurer or one of the Deputy Chief Financial Officers of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer of the District of Columbia may perform the functions and duties of the Office in an acting capacity if there is a vacancy in the Office.And this, whatever it is, which sounds important but is nearly impossible to read because of the illegible style in which laws are written:Page on GpoTo reauthorize certain programs under the Public Health Service Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to public health security and all-hazards preparedness and response, and for other purposesI'm afraid that this advice is all rather scattershot, for which I apologize. In general, the best advice I can give is to try to develop your BS detector (a good tool for your life in general) and reject 99.99% of what you hear about politics, government, and the news. By the time you've rejected the exciting-but-wrong stuff, you'll find that your own education and common sense will get you as far as democracy allows you to go.

Q. How closely linked was Argentina to Nazi Germany before, during and after WWII?A2A.How South America Became a Nazi HavenCHRISTOPHER KLEINLightning flashed across the Argentine skies as Ricardo Klement stepped off a bus after finishing his shift as an assembly line foreman at a Mercedes-Benz automotive plant. As he walked to his small brick house in a middle-class Buenos Aires suburb on May 11, 1960, he passed by a chauffer and two men working under the open hood of a black Buick limousine. Suddenly, Klement was grabbed by the men and hauled kicking and screaming into the back seat of the vehicle, which sped off into the night.Adolf Eichmann (Credit: Adam Guz/Getty Images Poland/Getty Images)Everyone involved in the abduction was playing a high-stakes game of deception. Klement was actually Adolf Eichmann, the notorious Nazi SS lieutenant colonel who masterminded the transport of European Jews to concentration camps, and the men with the limousine were Israeli secret service agents.The Long Road to Eichmann's Arrest: A Nazi War Criminal's Life in Argentina - Mémoires de GuerreEichmann was hardly alone among Nazis in finding refuge in South America after the fall of the Third Reich. According to a 2012 article in the Daily Mail, German prosecutors who examined secret files from Brazil and Chile discovered that as many as 9,000 Nazi officers and collaborators from other countries escaped from Europe to find sanctuary in South American countries. Brazil took in between 1,500 and 2,000 Nazi war criminals, while between 500 and 1,000 settled in Chile. However, by far the largest number—as many as 5,000—relocated to Argentina.Adolf Eichmann on trial, April 21, 1961 in Jerusalem. (Credit: John Milli/GPO via Getty Images)Due to the hundreds of thousands of German immigrants who lived in the country, Argentina maintained close ties with Germany and remained neutral for much of World War II. In the years after the end of the war, Argentine President Juan Peron secretly ordered diplomats and intelligence officers to establish escape routes, so-called “ratlines,” through ports in Spain and Italy to smuggle thousands of former SS officers and Nazi party members out of Europe. As with numerous other fascist-leaning South American leaders, Peron had been drawn to the ideologies of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler while serving as a military attaché in Italy during the early years of World War II. The Argentine president also sought to recruit those Nazis with particular military and technical expertise that he believed could help his country, much like the United States and the Soviet Union who both poached scientists from the Third Reich to assist them in the Cold War.Bishop Alois HudalAccording to Uki Goñi, author of “The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Peron’s Argentina,” the Peron government in 1946 sent word through Argentine Cardinal Antonio Caggiano to a French counterpart that the South American country would be willing to receive Nazi collaborators from France who faced potential war crimes prosecution. That spring, French war criminals carrying passports issued by the International Red Cross stamped with Argentine tourist visas began to cross the Atlantic Ocean.In their attempts to aid Catholic refugees amid the post-war rise of communist regimes across Europe, numerous Vatican officials unwittingly aided in the escape of Nazi war criminals, but some clerics such as Bishop Alois Hudal did so with full knowledge of their actions. According to Goñi, Hudal, an Austrian-born admirer of Hitler who ministered to prisoners of war in Rome, admitted to abetting Nazi war criminals by providing them with false identity documents issued by the Vatican that were then used to obtain passports from the International Red Cross.Josef Mengele, who evaded capture, c. 1950. (Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)Hudal also aided the Franciscan monk in Genoa, Italy, who supplied Eichmann with an Argentine visa and signed an application for his falsified Red Cross passport, which allowed him to board a steamship to Buenos Aires in 1950 under the assumed identity of Ricardo Klement. The German legal team that examined South American files in 2012 told the Daily Mail that most of the Nazis who entered the continent did so using forged Red Cross passports, including 800 SS members to Argentina alone.Many of the Nazis who escaped to South America were never brought to justice. SS colonel Walter Rauff, who created mobile gas chambers that killed at least 100,000 people, died in Chile in 1984. Eduard Roschmann, the “Butcher of Riga,” died in Paraguay in 1977. Gustav Wagner, an SS officer known as the “Beast,” died in Brazil in 1980 after the country’s supreme federal court refused to extradite him to Germany because of inaccuracies in the paperwork. Perhaps the most notorious of the fugitives was Dr. Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death” who conducted macabre experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp. He fled to Argentina in 1949 before moving to Paraguay in 1959 and Brazil a year later. Buried under an assumed name after drowning off the Brazilian coast in 1979, Mengele had his identity confirmed only after forensic testing of his remains in 1985.Klaus Barbie outside the Lyons court house following his sentencing on July 4, 1987. (Credit: STAFF/AFP/Getty Images)In some cases, the United States was complicit in the exodus of Nazi war criminals to South America. Following the war, the U.S. Counter-Intelligence Corps recruited Klaus Barbie—the Gestapo chief in Lyon, France, who played a role in the deaths of thousands of French Jews and members of the French Resistance—as an agent to assist with anti-Communist efforts. He was smuggled to Bolivia, where he continued his spy work and instructed the military regime on how to torture and interrogate political opponents. “The Butcher of Lyon” was finally extradited in 1983 and sentenced to life in prison after his conviction for crimes against humanity. Barbie became one of the few Nazis who fled to South America but ultimately couldn’t escape justice, much like Eichmann who was also convicted of crimes against humanity by an Israeli court and executed in 1962.Massive Collection Of Nazi Artefacts Discovered In Secret Room In ArgentinaArgentina’s foreign ministry is transferring digital copies of nearly 40,000 documents about World War II and the Holocaust to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, D.C.“There are two avenues of interest to us when it comes to Argentina,” Anatol Steck—project director for Central Europe, Latin America and Israel at the international archival programs division of the museum’s Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies—tells Newsweek. “One is that it has one of the largest Holocaust survivor communities in the world, and certainly the largest survivor community in Latin America. Also of interest, of course, is the flight of Nazi war criminals to Latin America. Many made their way to Argentina.” The museum, which is active in 58 countries worldwide, has been working in Argentina for more than a decade.Argentina’s Secretary of International Cooperation Ernesto Gaspari and USHMM representative Samanta Casareto signed a handover protocol on Friday in Buenos Aires, and Casareto accepted the material on the museum’s behalf. The scans are now being sent to the museum, where they will be added to the archives and made accessible on an internal network to researchers and members of the public. This is the second batch of documents from the political division of the foreign affairs ministry to be transferred to the museum following an agreement, signed in 2012, which allowed the museum to gain access to the ministry’s holdings; to independently survey and evaluate records for relevance; and to reproduce, digitize and make them available to the public. The museum received the first set of a similar number of documents in 2015.The second set of 38,779 documents—which include letters, telegrams, newspaper articles, notes and reports—was produced between 1939, when World War II broke out, and 1950, five years after the war’s conclusion. The stash includes dispatches and reports by Argentine consulates abroad about the political situation in Nazi Germany and other countries in Europe, Steck says, as well as documents about immigration matters, such as applications from Jews for visas, and meetings of the Argentine congress on neutrality, on breaking ties with the Axis powers and, finally, on the country’s declaration of warArgentina, which had a large population of German immigrants and a close relationship with Germany, remained officially neutralfor most of the war. The country severed diplomatic ties with Germany and Japan on January 26, 1944, and only formally declared war on the Axis powers on March 27, 1945, less than two months before the end of the war in Europe, and less than six month before Japan’s surrender.More than 100,000 Jewish immigrants settled in Argentina legally between 1918 and 1943, with an additional 20,000 estimated to have arrived illegally during the first decade of the Nazi regime. At least 4,800 Holocaust survivors later made the country their home.But Argentina is also famous for becoming a refuge for Nazi war criminals, including such infamous figures as Josef Mengele and Adolf Eichmann. The former drowned near a resort in Brazil in 1979, while the latter, living under the pseudonym Ricardo Klement, was captured by Israeli agents in May 1960 and hanged two years later after standing trial in Jerusalem.Why Argentina's Government Welcomed Nazis After WWIIBettmanby Christopher MinsterUpdated January 08, 2018After World War Two, thousands of Nazis and wartime collaborators from France, Croatia, Belgium and other parts of Europe were looking for a new home: preferably as far away from the Nuremberg Trials as possible. Argentina welcomed hundreds if not thousands of them: the Juan Domingo Perón regime went to great lengths to get them there, sending agents to Europe to ease their passage, providing travel documents and in many cases covering expenses.Even those accused of the most heinous crimes, such as Ante Pavelic(whose Croatian regime murdered hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies), Dr. Josef Mengele (whose cruel experiments are the stuff of nightmares) and Adolf Eichmann (Adolf Hitler's architect of the Holocaust) were welcomed with open arms. It begs the question: Why on Earth would Argentina want these men? The answers may surprise you.Important Argentines Were SympatheticDuring World War Two, Argentina clearly favored the Axis because of close cultural ties with Germany, Spain, and Italy. This is not surprising, as most Argentines were of Spanish, Italian, or German descent.Nazi Germany nurtured this sympathy, promising important trade concessions after the war. Argentina was full of Nazi spies and Argentine officers and diplomats held important positions in Axis Europe. Perón's government was a big fan of the fascist trappings of Nazi Germany: spiffy uniforms, parades, rallies, and vicious anti-Semitism.Many influential Argentines, including wealthy businessmen and members of the government, were openly supportive of the Axis cause, none more so than Perón himself, who had served as an adjunct officer in Benito Mussolini's Italian army in the late 1930s. Although Argentina would eventually declare war on the Axis powers (a month before the war ended), it was partly a ploy to get Argentine agents in place to help defeated Nazis escape after the war.Connection to EuropeIt's not like World War Two ended one day in 1945 and suddenly everyone realized how horrible the Nazis had been. Even after Germany was defeated, there were many powerful men in Europe who had favored the Nazi cause and continued to do so.Spain was still ruled by the fascist Francisco Franco and had been a de facto member of the Axis alliance; many Nazis would find safe if temporary, haven there. Switzerland had remained neutral during the war, but many important leaders had been outspoken in their support of Germany. These men retained their positions after the war and were in a position to help out. Swiss bankers, out of greed or sympathy, helped the former Nazis move and launder funds. The Catholic Church was extremely helpful as several high-ranking church officials (including Pope Pius XII) actively aided in the Nazis' escape.Financial IncentiveThere was a financial incentive for Argentina to accept these men. Wealthy Germans and Argentine businessmen of German descent were willing to pay the way for escaping Nazis. Nazi leaders plundered untold millions from the Jews they murdered and some of that money accompanied them to Argentina. Some of the smarter Nazi officers and collaborators saw the writing on the wall as early as 1943 and began squirreling away gold, money, valuables, paintings and more, often in Switzerland.Ante Pavelic and his cabal of close advisors were in possession of several chests full of gold, jewelry and art they had stolen from their Jewish and Serbian victims: this eased their passage to Argentina considerably. They even paid off British officers to let them through Allied lines.The Nazi Role in Perón's "Third Way"By 1945, as the Allies were mopping up the last remnants of the Axis, it was clear that the next great conflict would come between the capitalist USA and the communist USSR. Some people, including Perón and some of his advisors, predicted that World War Three would break out as soon as 1948.In this upcoming "inevitable" conflict, third parties such as Argentina could tip the balance one way or the other. Perón envisioned nothing less than Argentina taking its place as a crucially important diplomatic third party in the war, emerging as a superpower and leader of a new world order.The Nazi war criminals and collaborators may have been butchers, but there is no doubt that they were rabidly anti-communist. Perón thought these men would come in useful in the "upcoming" conflict between the USA and the USSR. As time passed and the Cold War dragged on, these Nazis would eventually be seen as the bloodthirsty dinosaurs they were.Americans and British Didn't Want to Give Them to Communist CountriesAfter the war, communist regimes were created in Poland, Yugoslavia, and other parts of Eastern Europe. These new nations requested the extradition of many war criminals in allied prisons. A handful of them, such as the Ustashi General Vladimir Kren, were eventually sent back, tried, and executed. Many more were allowed to go to Argentina instead because the Allies were reluctant to hand them over to their new communist rivals where the outcome of their war trials would inevitably result in their executions.The Catholic Church also lobbied heavily in favor of these individuals not being repatriated. The allies did not want to try these men themselves (only 23 men were tried at the famous Nuremberg Trials), nor did they want to send them to the communist nations that were requesting them, so they turned a blind eye to the ratlines carrying them by the boatload to Argentina.Nazi war criminal Martin Bormann traced to Argentina in 1953Legacy of Argentina's NazisIn the end, these Nazis had little lasting impact on Argentina. Argentina was not the only place in South America that accepted Nazis and collaborators as many eventually found their way to Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and other parts of the continent.Many Nazis scattered after Peron's government fell in 1955, fearing that the new administration, hostile as it was to Peron and all of his policies, might send them back to Europe.Most of the Nazis who went to Argentina lived out their lives quietly, fearing repercussions if they were too vocal or visible. This was particularly true after 1960, when Adolf Eichmann, architect of the program of Jewish genocide, was snatched off a street in Buenos Aires by a team of Mossad agents and whisked off to Israel where he was tried and executed. Other wanted war criminals were too cautious to be found: Josef Mengele drowned in Brazil in 1979 after having been the object of a massive manhunt for decades.Over time, the presence of so many World War Two war criminals became something of an embarrassment for Argentina. By the 1990s, most of these aging men were living openly under their own names. A handful of them was eventually tracked down and sent back to Europe for trials, such as Josef Schwammberger and Franz Stangl. Others, such as Dinko Sakic and Erich Priebke, gave ill-advised interviews, which brought them to the attention of the public. Both were extradited (to Croatia and Italy respectively), tried, and convicted.As for the rest of the Argentine Nazis, most assimilated into Argentina's sizeable German community and were smart enough to never talk about their past. Some of these men were even quite successful financially, such as Herbert Kuhlmann, a former commander of the Hitler youth who became a prominent businessman.SourcesBascomb, Neil. Hunting Eichmann. New York: Mariner Books, 2009Goñi, Uki. The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Peron's Argentina. London: Granta, 2002.The escape of Nazi criminals to ArgentinaIan HarveyMost people know that Adolf Hitler, his wife Eva Braun, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife, Johanna Maria Magdalena “Magda” Ritschel took their own lives in Hitler’s underground bunker as the Soviets were bombing Berlin. Their fear of capture and execution led them to end their lives with cyanide pills, and Hitler shot himself in the head to ensure his death and ordered his and Eva’s bodies burned beyond recognition.There were many other officers and important figures of the Third Reich, as well as supporters of Hitler from other countries, that feared capture and were not only welcomed by the Argentinian government but were also assisted in their escape. Juan Peron, president of Argentina, was a Nazi sympathizer and provided travel visas and money to ensure that Hitler’s men had a place to hide. Peron personally welcomed the most notorious members of the Third Reich such as Dr. Josef Mengele, who conducted cruel and heinous experiments on captive Jews, and Adolf Eichmann, the director of the Holocaust.Many Argentinians had German, Italian, and Spanish backgrounds, and Peron promised perks after the war in exchange for their support. Argentina was already home to important Axis spies, and Peron was an admirer of Nazi principles. Other important figures in Argentina had openly supported the Nazis and devised a plan to declare war on the Axis powers just before the end of the war. This would allow them to have their people in a position to aid Nazi criminals.President Perón at his 1946 inaugural parade.Many of the atrocities committed by the Nazi party were not yet public knowledge, so supporters from Swiss banks and the Vatican had no problem in assisting former Nazi officials blend in with the people of Argentina.When the Nazis overran Poland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Norway, they captured valuable artwork, jewelry, gold, and cash which aided in their move to Argentina. Greedy Swiss bankers had helped them hide their plunder until it was needed.Peron was convinced that World War III would follow quickly on the heels of World War II. He believed the United States would surely come to blows with the Soviet Union. Peron believed that the anti-communist former Nazis and sympathizers now in Argentina would help him become a powerful leader and Argentina would take its place as one the most significant and authoritative countries in the world. While Peron waited for the war that would not materialize, the true nature of the Holocaust eventually became public.When Eastern Europe was carved up after World War II, several countries were changed to communist rule. These countries, especially Poland, demanded the Allies turn over the Nazi criminals. Knowing the criminals would end up being executed, the Allies and the Vatican were hesitant in turning them over and quietly allowed their escape to Argentina.When Peron was deposed in 1955, many of the Nazis moved to other South American countries and lived the remainder of their lives in anonymity. Some of the more prominent members, such as Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele, were actively pursued. Eichmann was found in Buenos Aires in 1960 and extradited to Israel where he was executed, but Mengele had adopted a new identity and lived in Brazil until he suffered a stroke while he was swimming, causing him to drown in 1979, About Education reported.Demonstration for Perón’s release on 17 October 1945With the passage of time and the exposure of the Nazi death camps, Argentina began to regret becoming a haven for Nazi criminals.Many of them were bold enough to use their own names, and Dinko Šakić, the commander of Jasenovac, one of the worst concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia, and Erich Priebke, a former SS captain and participant in the murders of three hundred and thirty Italian civilians, even gave interviews leading to their arrests.We have another story for you: Nazi’s “Black Book” considered rounding up wanted notables after the planned invasion in EnglandErich Priebke was sentenced to life in prison, living until the age of 100; and Šakić was sentenced to twenty years but lived in relative comfort while he was imprisoned. He passed away from heart problems in 2008, at the age of 86. Most of the escaped Nazis, however, led quiet lives as businessmen and retirees and were never found.Argentina during World War II - WikipediaA newspaper announcing Argentina's severing of diplomatic relations with the Axis powers on January 26, 1944.The history of Argentina during World War II is a complex period of time beginning in 1939, following the outbreak of war in Europe, and ending in 1945 with the surrender of Japan. German influence in Argentina was strong, mainly due to the presence of a large number of German immigrants, and Argentina's traditional rivalry with Great Britain furthered the belief that the Argentine government was sympathetic to the German cause. Because of the close ties between Germany and Argentina, the latter stayed neutral for most of World War II, despite internal disputes and pressure from the United States to join the Allies. However, Argentina eventually gave in to the Allies' pressure, broke relations with the Axis powers on January 26, 1944, and declared war on March 27, 1945.German Argentine - WikipediaArgentina in World War IIAt the outset of World War II, in September 1939, Argentina announced a position of "prudent neutrality" toward the belligerents. Its action was based on several factors: freedom of action in its relations with European nations was the keystone of Argentina’s foreign policy traditions; its neutrality during WorldWar I had been domestically popular and made the Argentine economy prosper; it wanted to revitalize its economy after the disastrous impact of the Great Depression; and it saw itself as a counterweight in the south to the United States in the north.Although Argentina agreed at the Havana Conference in 1940 that an attack on any American state would be considered an act of aggression against all American states, it insisted that any action undertaken in response to an attack was a matter for each state’s individual interpretation.Nazi rally in Buenos Aires, April 10, 1938Nazi activities began in Argentina in the early 1930s and continued throughout the wartime period. When war broke out in Europe in 1939, there was a very large German population in Argentina. Some 60,000 of them belonged to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, an organization of Germans living abroad. This organization controlled shipping lines, a special news service, and other entities in Argentina. Germans also had a great economic influence in Argentina, controlling a considerable part of the nation's industrial, chemical, pharmaceutical, and electrical goods production, and having a large part of the military and civilian construction.German financial activities in Argentina centered around two large banks, Banco Aleman Transatlantico and Banco Germanico de la America del Sud. They were also involved in holding companies, organized in 1939 by Johann Wehrli & Company of Zurich, Switzerland. These companies maintained secret numbered accounts that were owned by Germans. The Germans also had insurance firms in Argentina, as well as being deeply involved in metallurgy, arms, and munitions.Thus, it is not surprising that Argentina pursued a neutral policy after the United States entered the war in December 1941. It failed to induce Chile, Paraguay, and Peru, to form a neutral bloc. But it did continue to defy United States pressure to align itself with the Allies and ignored Allied recommendations and declarations to end all financial interaction, direct or indirect, with Nazi Germany. The Allies became particularly concerned about the operation within Argentina of subsidiaries of Germany's leading firms, including I.G. Farben, Staudt and Co., and Siemens Schucket. These firms maintained links with Germany throughout the war and supported major Nazi espionage operations in Latin America.The Allied wartime blockade made it impossible for Argentina to provide substantial amounts of exports to Germany, which up until then had been one of its principal trading partners. But Buenos Aires, however, was one of the principal Latin American ports from which goods valuable even in small quantities, such as platinum, palladium, drugs, and other chemicals, were smuggled to the Axis.Argentina, it should be noted, despite it economic and financial dealings with Nazi Germany, also had close economic ties to the Allies. Argentine exports to the United States and Great Britain (which depended on Argentine beef to help feed its population) rose dramatically during the war, essentially doubling their prewar volume.Britain, which had substantial investments in Argentina and maintained much more important commercial relationships with that country than did the United States. Wartime Britain became even more dependent on imports from Argentina, especially meat. Britain ostensibly supported U.S. efforts to overcome Argentina’s neutrality and bring it into line with the general Western Hemisphere coordination against the Axis, but maintained reasonably cordial relations with Argentina and was unwilling to support a general embargo. Unlike the United States, Britain seemed content with Argentina’s neutrality, which offered protection for meat shipments against German U-boat attacks.In 1944 US efforts to thwart German-Argentine commercial relations were given a new impetus by Argentine involvement in the December 1943 overthrow of the Bolivian Government by right-wing nationalist forces. Armed with evidence that the Argentine military regime had sponsored the overthrow and was plotting similar coups in other South American countries, the United States took several measures to escalate pressure on Argentinato break relations with the Axis, including sending ships from the South Atlantic fleet to the vicinity of Buenos Aires, moving to freeze Argentine assets, and threatening to publish evidence of the Argentine Government’s machinations against its neighbors and attempts to strike a secret arms deal with Germany.By 1944 the United States and its Allies were growing increasingly concerned that Germany was seeking to move assets to the neutrals, including Argentina, in an effort to lay the basis for a resurgent Nazi state after Hitler’s inevitable military defeat. The Safehaven program aimed at identifying and thwarting these efforts by Germany. Strained US-Argentine relations hampered early investigations of German assets in Argentina.A military coup d'etat in June 1943 and the uncovering of a Nazi espionage network, led Argentina to sever diplomatic relations with Germany and Japan on January 26, 1944. However, Colonel Juan Peron led a palace revolt and a new president, General Edelmiro Farrell, was installed. This regime gave open support to Axis-controlled firms and tolerated the dissemination of Axis propaganda. The change in power came less than a month after Ramirez’ January 26 announcement of the breaking of diplomatic relations with the Axis, leading the State Department to attribute Farrell’s accession to extremist, pro-Axis forces within Argentina.Believing the new Argentine government was pro-Axis, the United States refused to recognize the Farrell government and recalled its ambassador in July 1944. The next month the United States began an economic pressure campaign through the blocking of Argentine gold deposits in the United States. The Argentine Government responded, in part, by granting German construction companies very lucrative contracts between June and September 1944.Nazi artifacts cache seized in ArgentinaNevertheless, economic sanctions and diplomatic pressures resulted in the Argentine Government in October 1944 establishing an administrative council to control Axis firms. In November Axis bank and insurance companies were brought under Government supervision. In March 1945, the Argentine Government announced that intervened Axis construction and industrial establishments and banks would be liquidated and the proceeds blocked in the Argentine Central bank.Eventually, the United States took a more conciliatory line towards Argentina and as a result of the Mexico City Conference (February-March 1945) and the steps it took regarding Axis assets. The Argentine Government issued a decree in March 1945 stipulating that Axis-controlled firms would be placed under goverment control and possession, but delayed taking action for so long that the managers of these firms had ample time to distribute or dissipate their assets.Argentina formally declared war on the Axis powers on March 27, 1945 and the United States recognized the new Argentine government on April 9, 1945.Following the end of the war, the State Department prepared a compendium of information on Argentina's support for the Axis cause, the Argentine "Blue Book," for use in consulting with the American Republics concerning the position that should be taken with regard to the military regime in Buenos Aires. The "Blue Book," published in February 1946, charged that where the German Government preferred to transfer from Europe, it found no serious obstacle in any Argentine exchange control regulations, and that the availability of these funds made possible the subversive activities in which German organizations were known to have engaged.These activities included intervention in Argentine elections, press and propaganda subsidization, and purchase for shipment of strategic materials for the German war machine. The "Blue Book" also sought to demonstrate the continuing potential for Argentina to become a base for a resurgent Nazism.By the end of 1946, however, American relations with Argentina began to improve and the onset of the Cold War renewed American desire for hemispheric alignment, contributing to the improvement in U.S.-Argentine relations.The Act of Chapultepec of 1945 recognized the right of each of the Republics of the Western Hemisphere, including the United States, to dispose of Germany property within its own respective jurisdiction and retain the proceeds. Since the Farrell regime adopted the Chapultepec agreement when it finally declared war on the Axis at the end of March 1945, the Allies could not lawfully law claim to an estimated $200 million in German assets in Argentina.Thus, the United States undertook no negotiations with the Argentine government regarding the identification and disposition of German external assets. The policy of the United States was to establish more friendly relations with Argentina following the criticisms contained in the State Department "Blue Book" on Argentina in early 1946. Argentina had resisted wartime Allied entreaties to freeze German assets and, by the end of 1947, American officials concluded that German assets were not identifiable by the Argentine government and no looted gold had reach Argentina.After the war Argentina became a refuge for escaping Nazis, such as Adolf Eichmann, and those that had collaborated with them, such as Ante Pavelic. From 1946 onward a Nazi escape operation was based at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, harboring such war criminals as Josef Mengele. An elaborate network relied on the complicity of the Vatican, the Argentine Catholic Church, and the Swiss authorities.How Argentina Tried to Build a Nazi Jet FighterOperatives from Heinrich Himmler's secret service arrived in Madrid as early as 1944 to prepare an escape route; in 1946, this operation moved to Buenos Aires, establishing its headquarters in the presidential palace. Eventually, this operation's tentacles stretched from Scandinavia to Italy, aiding French and Belgian war criminals and bringing in gold that the Croatian state treasury had stolen from 600,000 Jewish and Serb victims of the Ustasha regime. Ingrained antisemitism, anticommunism, greed, and corruption all fortified these clandestine protection rackets.It should be noted that Argentina also received some 25,000 to 45,000 Jewish refugees between 1933 and 1945. These number were higher than any other country in the Western Hemisphere, including the United States.

Q. How much did the Israeli military influence the Vietnamese military modernization?Vietnam, an Emerging Partner in Israel’s ‘Asia Pivot’ PolicyThe Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Economic and Trade Department of the Israeli Embassy at Vietnam-Israel business forum in Hanoi, image by Mark Neyman, Israel GPOBESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 468, May 17, 2017EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Israel is increasingly looking for partnerships in economic, political, cultural, and military sectors with countries in Southeast Asia, and relations with Vietnam, in particular, are on the upswing. While cooperation between Israel and Vietnam is largely focused on civilian sectors, defense ties are also growing more robust, with Israel getting involved in upgrading aging Vietnamese weapons systems and collaborating on weapons development. There is a visible bonhomie between the nations, and Israel-Vietnam ties are likely to deepen.Vietnam’s relationship with Israel has been getting steadily stronger over the past few years. In what could be considered an extended, modern-day “peripheral doctrine”, Israel is doing all it can to enhance cooperation with the Asian countries. This can be seen with regard to China, India, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, South Korea, and Japan. Thriving economic and military-security cooperation has become the hallmark of its relations with these countries (though in some cases, political relations have yet to be strengthened).Israel and Vietnam are carefully crafting a potential partnership based on their respective national interests – economic, military, and political.Contemporary Israel’s Vietnam policy resembles the overtures it made during the 1950s and early 1960s towards the Sub-Saharan countries, with which it shared technical expertise in agriculture and healthcare. With the aim of forging friendly, supportive relations, Israel focused on multifaceted initiatives in Africa, including technical assistance, training programs, joint-economic enterprises, trade, and so on. Military cooperation and arms trading were also important elements of Israel’s relations with African countries, including Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zaire, and Ghana.A similar trend is now being followed with Vietnam. Israeli-Vietnamese relations are expanding in the fields of agriculture, commerce, science, and technology, and – most importantly – in the defense sphere.Israel and Vietnam established diplomatic relations in July 1993, and their economic relationship is relatively healthy. Bilateral trade volume touched US$1.3 billion last year, and the countries aspire to take it to an annual US$2 billion. In 2004, the countries signed the Agreement of Economic and Trade Cooperation for further development of trade. Israel imports cellular phones, electronic components, seafood, coffee, textiles, and footwear from Vietnam, and exports machinery and equipment, hi-tech goods, and fertilizer.In the first quarter of 2017, Israel had 25 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam worth over US$46 million. In December 2015, during a visit by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai to Israel, formal discussions were launched on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This raised the prospects for further growth in the investment, finance, services, science and technology, and labor sectors. Cooperation in the health sector is also expanding: the two countries have signed an agreement in which Israel has agreed to assist Vietnam in the construction of a 300-bed hospital with some of its latest technology and equipment.Israel’s agricultural involvement with Vietnam – an area in which Israel has deep expertise over many decades – is significantly on the rise. To augment cooperation, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MASHAV), and embassy in Hanoi have implemented a training program in the country for Vietnamese citizens. In December 2013, Israel’s Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir and Vietnamese officials agreed to establish a joint Research and Development (R&D) program in agriculture to expand businesses in this area. Some of the areas in which Israeli companies can offer assistance to Vietnam are breeding, preservation technology, water use, and models for scientific research.Remarkable progress can already be seen, and Israel has become an important partner for Vietnam’s dairy industries – so much so that it has become an essential component of Vietnam’s “dairy diplomacy”. Israel-developed agricultural technology is now widely used in almost every province in Vietnam.Simultaneously, there is steady growth in openly acknowledged military-security relations between the countries. In addition to trading arms, Israel and Vietnam are engaged in joint ventures in the production of weapons systems suitable to the needs of the Vietnamese armed forces. Israel’s entry into this defense market is timely, as Hanoi is undergoing modernization programs for all three military services. It is increasing defense expenditures, which touched nearly US$4.6 billion in 2015 and are expected to reach US$6.2 billion by 2020. These steps have likely been taken by the Vietnamese government in response to the Chinese military build-up in the South China Sea.Israel has carved a niche in the global arms market by developing and manufacturing some of the most technologically advanced systems for maritime security, air defense, electronic warfare systems, reconnaissance drones, arms and ammunition, short/long-range missiles, and avionics and other subparts. These systems are reasonably priced, and the securing of deals to acquire them is relatively easy as they tend to come with fewer strings attached.Vietnam’s large army is equipped with aging weapons systems, and Israel has the potential to upgrade some of them. Elbit Systems is reported to have secured an upgrading contract for Vietnam’s Mil Mi-17 helicopters. In 2011-12, Israel Weapon Industries established a production facility (at a cost of $100 million) in Vietnam to help supply Galil ACE 31 and 32 assault rifles to the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA). In 2014, the countries worked towards signing agreements to establish a “formal framework” to upgrade their bilateral defense relations, including promotion of future technology transfer and industrial cooperation. In 2015, Israel set up a defense attaché in Vietnam.The frequency of visits by military officials, which has become an annual phenomenon, is another manifestation of the keenness on both sides to intensify defense ties. In January 2017, General Pham Ngoc Minh, Deputy Chief of Staff of the VPA, met Mishel Ben-Baruch, Director of the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s International Defense Cooperation Division (SIBAT), to explore ways to expand military cooperation to include training, education programs, and exchanges. Following a meeting in Hanoi in late February between Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and Israel Military Industries (IMI) chairman Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Vietnam began to consider purchasing Israeli-made Delilah standoff-range air-to-surface missiles (including, for example, the Orbiter-2 Unmanned Aerial System [UAS], manufactured by Aeronautics). Vietnam has also fortified some of the islands in the disputed South China Sea with the EXTRA rocket system acquired from Israel.Between 2010 and 2016, Vietnam imported Spyder, Derby, and Python-5 missiles and ELM2288/ ER and ELM2022 air defense radars from Israel. More trade in such items can be expected, as the lethal arms embargo against Vietnam was lifted by then US president Barack Obama in May 2016. At this stage, immediate competition from other international arms vendors is unlikely, as Israel’s share in Vietnam’s imports is relatively low. Russia, for instance, is accountable for 80% of Hanoi’s recent military purchases. However, this possibility cannot be ruled out, as a Moscow-based military expert has already questioned the capability of Israel-made missiles.Arms exports remain an important instrument of Israel’s foreign policy for both politico-diplomatic and economic reasons. The perpetual nature of the security challenges emanating from its hostile neighbors, and their unrelenting attempts to isolate and castigate Israel politically from the standpoint of regional and international groupings, continue to motivate Israel’s arms sales diplomacy. Israel’s economic and technological assistance and arms transfers to Vietnam can be understood as emanating from this strategy.While Israel’s arms diplomacy helps it to build political relationships, the funds generated by arms exports sustain its R&D programs in military technology, which it needs to maintain its edge over its regional adversaries. This applies to almost all its relations with Southeast Asian countries. Given that the Asia-Pacific countries contributed US$2.6 billion to the Israeli arms business in 2016 out of a total global export of US$6.5 billion, Israel will certainly continue to encourage defense cooperation with Vietnam and other nations as a means of diversifying its revenue sources.The state visit of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to Vietnam in late March 2017 added further impetus to the already flourishing ties. He pushed not only for the existing cooperation to continue but also for Vietnam’s political support, especially in multilateral fora such as the UN. If good relations are to last, this element – in addition to economic and military cooperation – will be very necessary.That said, an atmosphere was created by the Rivlin visit, and more avenues for cooperation have opened in all the sectors. It is now up to the two countries to determine how they can most effectively take advantage of the plethora of opportunities they can offer one other. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “pivoting to Asia” policy is taking shape, and Vietnam is emerging as a crucial partner.Alvite Ningthoujam is a Senior Research Associate at the New Delhi-based think tank Vivekananda International Foundation, where he focuses on Middle Eastern security dynamics, international terrorism, and ISIS. His other research areas include Israel’s arms exports, Indo-Israeli relations, and Israeli-Southeast Asian ties.Vietnam Eyes Israel's Delilah Standoff Missile And F-16s Could Be NextKGYST/WIKICOMMONSChina's militarization of its man-made islands in the South China Sea and the resulting anti-access/area-denial bubbles that will cover massive swaths of that body of water in the not-so-distant future has Vietnam shopping for weaponry that can counter Beijing's grand plans. Hanoi has already forward-deployed Israeli-built GPS-guided Extra multiple launch rocket systems to their own islands in the South China Sea—a weapon system that could rain down rockets on China's outposts with little warning. Now, Vietnam is looking towards Israel once again for its weapons needs, this time to provide a standoff multi-role cruise missile that can strike targets over 150 miles away with pinpoint accuracy.US LIFTS BAN ON ARMS SALES TO VIETNAM AMID TURMOIL IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEAISRAEL RETIRES THE F-16A/B “NETZ” AND PUTS 40 UP FOR SALEAccording to Flightglobal.com, Israel's Delilah missile system was a topic of discussion between Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang and Israel Military Industries chairman Yitzhak Aharonovitch while he was visiting Hanoi.Israel Military Industries Delilah air-launched cruise missile has evolved over the last decade to become a reliable, highly flexible and extremely accurate standoff weapon. Delilah is quite compact when it comes to cruise missiles, weighing in at just over 400 pounds. It can pack different warheads in the 50 to 75-pound weight class and flies to its target at subsonic speeds and at various altitudes. The missile evolved from an air-launched decoy design, having roots going back decades, but its first known operational use was in 2006 against targets in Lebanon. Since then it has been a front-line weapon of choice for the IAF and it would have been heavily used in an Israeli offensive against Iranian nuclear and air defense sites if that operation were to have been launched.IAFDelilah uses inertial navigation with embedded GPS coupled to an autopilot for down-range navigation, and then it can switch to imaging infrared or CCD imaging for terminal guidance. It does this via data link allowing for man-in-the-loop control of the missile for final targeting. What this means is that a weapon system officer in the back of a fighter jet 150 miles away can make fine-tuned adjustments on the missile's point of impact, giving the missile an extreme level of accuracy.For instance, instead of hitting a designated building, a controller can have Delilah fly through an air duct or window on that building. It can also hit moving vehicles and can be used as an anti-ship missile. Israel has long chosen a man-in-the-loop control option for some of their most capable air-to-ground missiles. The much larger AGM-142 Have Nap/Popeye missile, and even the much smaller anti-armor Spike/Tammuz missile use similar control concepts.Delilah can also loiter over a target area, throttling back its turbojet engine to conserve fuel and be retargeted on the fly. It can even be told to "go around" if the target cannot be identified clearly by the operator. Although it is a key feature of the missile's design, this man-in-the-loop control concept is not absolutely necessary. The weapon can also attack fixed targets autonomously using GPS/INS guidance alone. Delilah can also be configured for the suppression/destruction of enemy air defenses role where it loiters over an area for a period of time. Once it detects an enemy radar emitter it homes in on that target and destroys it.Although Delilah is best known as a fighter-launched medium range multi-role missile, because of its small size and relatively lightweight it can also be carried by helicopters and can even be deployed via ground launchers.IMI has been working on more advanced versions of the Delilah for export purposes, ones that could feature more range and warhead choices, and are capable of avoiding or attacking air defenses autonomously. Additionally, automatic target recognition and scene mapping capabilities could take the place of man-in-the-loop targeting for certain missions. Similar abilities are being integrated into the latest Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as Lockheed's promising and very stealthy Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), among others.So what you have here is a single missile that can accomplish what a series of discreet missiles types would be traditionally needed to do so. Which along with its range and size make it perfect for a country that needs a diverse set of standoff missile capabilities but is on a tight budget. As an air-launched system, a Vietnamese fixed-wing aircraft would have to fly just 150 miles from Vietnamese mainland before launching a Delilah missile at a target on China's sprawling Fiery Cross Reef island outpost. A Delilah missile could reach China's strategic Hainan Island without needing an aircraft delivery system at all, instead, it could be shore-launched. As such, you can see how the system is uniquely suited for Vietnam's regional needs, and the fact that it can attack ships too makes it all that more attractive.IAFThere is the issue of what Vietnamese aircraft would put such a missile to use. Their Su-30MK2 Flankers could possibly be adapted to employ the missile, and it would not be the first time Israeli avionics found their way into to Russia's iconic heavy-fighter design. Vietnam's Russian-built helicopters could also be adapted to sport the missile, but it would not be ideal. Beyond their existing fighter platforms, Vietnam may also opt to procure western fighter aircraft, and there are rumblings that this could be underway as part of a larger initiative to turn away from Hanoi's traditional sources of weaponry.Israel may have just the jets to sell them with their new missiles—40 surplus F-16A/Bs "Netz" fighters that are currently up for sale. Israel Aerospace Industries could refurbish these jets indigenously with advanced multi-mode radars, electronic warfare suites, and new cockpit avionics. Additionally, IAI can also apply structural upgrades to the used jets to give them thousands of hours of additional service life. Doing so would give Vietnam a uniquely capable and supportable western fighter aircraft that is tailored to employ the Delilah missile, along with other Israeli-built air-ground and air-to-air munitions—and they would not have to deal with the Washington bureaucracy to obtain them.IAIIf Vietnam were to execute such a strategy, China would not be happy. But considering the changing geopolitical and military realities in Southeast Asia, Vietnam has to do something to further bolster its offensive capabilities. Seeing that a unique Israeli weapon system is already being by Vietnam used to counter-balance China's military expansion in the region, it makes sense that Hanoi would go to the same source to continue doing so, especially if that source can provide big capabilities at a relatively low price. Not just that, but with Vietnam spending increasing defense dollars with Israel for other air combat needs, including ordering high-end SPYDER air defense systems, getting a fighter aircraft that can interoperate intimately with these systems is only logical.One thing is for certain—fielding a couple squadrons of highly upgraded F-16s armed with Delilah missiles would give Vietnam a considerable boost in power projection capabilities, and would be a worthwhile step in countering China's military expansion into the South China Sea.Contact the author: [email protected] tour is proof Israel, Vietnam are brothers in armsIsraeli President Reuven Rivlin’s tour of Vietnam indicates ties between both countries are improving, especially in the area of defense area. The state visit, which ends today, is just the second to Vietnam by an Israeli head of state.In November 2011, former President Shimon Peres became the first Israeli leader to visit Vietnam. The bilateral relationship has progressed rapidly since then, with both nations exchanging high-level visits and extending cooperation across many fields, including trade.According to Vietnamese statistics, the two-way trade between was US$1.3 billion last year, rising from US$68 million in 2005. Trade will increase rapidly in the next few years, with both countries committed to striking a free-trade agreement.The core of the relationship is, and continues to be, cooperation in defense. In March 2015, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh and Israel’s Director General of the Ministry of Defense, Dan Harel, signed a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation, that strengthened cooperation in areas such defense sales and technology transfer.Earlier this year, Pham Ngoc Minh, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnamese People’s Army (VPA), received Mishel Ben-Baruch, the Director of the International Defense Cooperation Directorate of Israel’s Ministry of Defense. The meeting ended with a resolution to improve bilateral defense cooperation.One month later, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, chairman of Israel Military Industries Ltd (IMM), a state-owned weapons developer and manufacturer, was in Hanoi.In hosting Aharonovitch, who already visited Vietnam in February 2014 in his role as Minister of Public Security, Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang said bilateral cooperation, especially in defense, “has consistently advanced.” Quang, who toured Israel in November last year in his former role as Minister of Public Security, said Israel “has become a big partner of Vietnam in the defense field.”Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, said he hoped that Aharonovitch and his company would continue contributing to advancing cooperation on defense.That Vietnam’s president and a high-ranking VPA official received the head of one of Israel’s leading arms companies indicates Hanoi’s desire to enhance its defense ties with Israel and upgrade its defense capabilities.In an IMI statement, Aharonovitch said he hoped “both countries will work on streamlining the mutual collaboration and high technology knowledge transfer.” He stressed that the “advanced weapons systems developed and manufactured by IMI Systems correspond to the advanced technology used by the Vietnam army.”While the main purpose of President Rivlin’s week-long visit is to foster cooperation in fields such as agriculture, education, health and trade, defense cooperation remains top of the agenda.Like his predecessor six years ago, the 77-year old traveled to Hanoi accompanied by a big defense industries delegation, which reportedly includes MMI Systems, Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Elbit, Israel Aerospace and Rafael are ranked 29, 32 and 43 in the 2016 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute index of the world’s top 100 arms-producing and military service companies.On Monday, Vietnam’s Defense Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich received the leaders of the Israeli defense businesses. A day later, the first Vietnam-Israel defense industry forum was held in Hanoi. Lich, Rivlin and many other officials from both sides attended.Also on Tuesday, Lich, a Politburo member, met with Rivlin and both toured an exhibit of Israeli defense equipment. During the tour, several Israeli companies, whose products were displayed, presented them with developments and advancements in unmanned planes and drones, sophisticated tanks, rocket launchers, and others.While acknowledging that much has been achieved, both the host and the guest underlined the demand for and potential of ongoing, significant deals in defense.According to his spokesperson, Rivlin said to Lich as “you and I were raised in countries which were battlefields, we all know that quiet, security, and peace cannot be taken for granted. The military and security forces have a role, not just in times of war, but also in times of peace.”The message would have been well received not only because of Vietnam’s battles against foreign aggression but also for the country’s need to strengthen the military to safeguard sovereignty and territory.China’s expansive territorial claims and its military build-up in the disputed waters of the South China Sea are now Vietnam’s biggest concern. They are also the key reason why Hanoi is seeking closer defense ties with countries that have advanced military technologies and know-how, such as Israel.Russia and Eastern European states have been Vietnam’s main arms suppliers. That has changed in the past decade with the purchase of Western-made arms. It has, for example, ordered Israel’s surface-to-air Python and Derby (Spyder) missiles. Vietnam has increased its military spending and turned to Israel not only because it is one of the world’s top exporters of military equipment but also because the Middle East military power is willing to share its expertise.In his talks with Vietnam’s Defense Minister, the Israeli President said his country was “a pioneer in that it recognizes the need to establish advance production lines with Israeli know-how in Vietnam, and to produce with Vietnam and in Vietnam.” Lich expressed Vietnam’s appreciation for Israel’s “extensive and excellent cooperation in the field of defense”.That Vietnam places the greatest importance in Rivlin’s visit was evident earlier this week when he was greeted by the president, prime minister and Communist Party secretary general, the three most powerful positions in Vietnam.VIETNAM ISRAEL TRADE DIPLOMACYXuan Loc DoanXuan Loc Doan is a UK-based researcher. He holds a PhD in International Relations and researches and writes on a number of areas. These include Vietnam’s domestic and foreign policy, ASEAN, EU, UK’s politics and international politics in the Asia-Pacific region.Vietnam-Israel Military Ties in the Spotlight with Bilateral Meeting (diplomat.com)Image Credit: Wikimedia CommonsLast week, an Israeli defense delegation paid a visit to Vietnam as part of an ongoing effort to explore further opportunities in the defense realm. The interaction spotlighted the growing defense relationship between the two sides that often remains under the radar relative to some of Hanoi’s other defense partnerships.Though Vietnam and Israel established bilateral ties back in 1993, over the past few years, that has grown to include defense cooperation as well. A series of steps have been taken by both sides, at times quietly, with Israel opening a defense attaché office in Vietnam in 2014, the inking of a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation in 2015, Vietnam’s purchase of Israeli weapons systems, and both sides exploring other areas of cooperation such as technology transfer and defense industry through meetings, fora, symposia, and other interactions. Last year’s visit by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, just the second to Vietnam by an Israeli head of state, touched on defense issues as well.2018 was expected to be an active year for bilateral ties, including the defense realm. Apart from the convergence of interests and continuity in ties, the fact that both countries were commemorating the 25th anniversary of their establishment of diplomatic ties and Israel was commemorating the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel meant that we were likely to see some developments tied to these occasions. Indeed, the newly appointed Israeli ambassador to Vietnam has been highlighting the quest to boost bilateral ties this year, including in the defense realm.Tavor TAR-21 Fielded By Vietnam Special Forces - The Firearm BlogIWI To Produce Weapons In Vietnam - The Firearm BlogBáo Người đưa tin 24h - Đọc báo tin tức hôm nay mới nhat reports that Israeli Weapons Industry is looking to open a factory in Vietnam to produce weapons for the Far East market. They could invest up to $100 million in the plant. The Vietnamese military has adopted a wide range of Israeli small arms including the Tavor, Negev LMG, Galil SAR rifle and Galil Sniper rifle.As part of this context, the bilateral defense relationship was in the headlines again with an Israeli defense delegation in Vietnam last week. A delegation from the International Defense Cooperation Directorate of the Israeli defense ministry (SIBAT), led by Director Mishel Ben Baruch, was in Hanoi for meetings with Vietnamese personnel and officials.According to Vietnam’s defense ministry, the meeting provided the opportunity for both sides to evaluate the current state of cooperation in areas like education and training as well as defense industry, as well as to expand future collaboration.Unsurprisingly, few specifics were released about exactly what the shape of that future bilateral defense collaboration would look like. The defense ministry said that in a reception held for the delegation, Vietnam’s Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chin Vinh had expressed his appreciation for the results of Vietnam-Israel defense cooperation and expressed hope that the visit would further enhance the bilateral relationship.Vietnam, Israel to expand defense cooperation (qdnd.vn)Defense Minister receives Israeli ambassadorHo Chi Minh City wants to cooperate with Israel in various fieldsDefense Minister receives outgoing Israeli AmbassadorAt the reception, General Vinh highly valued the Vietnam-Israel defense cooperation which has achieved positive results over the past time. He also hoped that the visit of the SIBAT delegation to Vietnam would enhance the bilateral relationship.Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh (R) and Director Mishel Ben BaruchThe host also affirmed that Vietnam will create favorable conditions for the Israeli delegation to visit and look for cooperation opportunities in line with Vietnam’s laws.The two countries should also continue exchanging and improving practical cooperation in the fields of education and training, search and rescue, and defense industry, he added.For his part, Mr. Ben Baruch briefed General Vinh on the results of the earlier meeting between the Israeli delegation and the Department of External Relations under the Vietnam Ministry of National Defense. He affirmed that the Israeli side is willing to expand defense cooperation with Vietnam, especially in the previously-mentioned fields.Translated by Minh AnhIsrael’s top arms clients: India, Vietnam, AzerbaijanPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, watch as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flies a kite in Ahmedabad in January. (photo credit: REUTERS/AMIT DAVE)Arms sales do not ensure support in international forums, as the top three markets for Israeli military equipment – India, Vietnam and Azerbaijan – almost always vote against Israel in the United Nations.According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s updated data, India is by far Israel’s largest weapons market, having bought $715 million worth of weaponry in 2017, down slightly from the $767m. it bought in 2016. This represents a whopping 650% increase in arms sales to India over the last decade.Israel is India’s second largest source of arms, lagging far behind Russia, which sold New Delhi $1.9 billion’s worth, but significantly ahead of both France and the US.According to the database, Vietnam is Israel’s second largest customer, having purchased $142m. in arms in 2017, making Israel its second largest arms supplier, after Russia.Azerbaijan – a Muslim country on Iran’s border – is the third largest weapons market for Israel, having bought $137m. worth in 2017, a steep decline, however, from the $248m. it bought in 2016. Israel is Azerbaijan’s largest arms supplier.While India at times abstains on key Israel-related votes in the UN, Vietnam and Azerbaijan can be counted on always to vote against Jerusalem.The institute ranked Israel as the fifth largest arms supplier in the world, with $1.26b. of sales last year, following the US, Russia, France and Germany.The data place Israel in 18th place regarding the import of arms, having spent $528m. on arms last year, fully 97.5% of it imported from the US, and the rest coming from Germany. In the past decade Israel has only imported arms from the US, Germany, Italy and Canada.According to the SIPRI data, in 2017 Israel sold $11m. in arms – Dvora patrol boats – to Myanmar. Israel came under fire last year for arms sales to that regime, accused of carrying out ethnic cleansing. Jerusalem’s sales represented 6.5% of Myanmar’s arms expenditures in 2017, with China and Russia making up the bulk of sales to that country, and Ukraine and the Netherlands selling more to Myanmar than does Israel.Last year was the first year Israel sold arms to Myanmar since 2011.Among other interesting trends culled from the data:• For the second year in a row, Israel sold no military equipment to Turkey, a country that in 2009 bought some $320m. worth of Israeli weapons, making it far and away Israel’s top arms client that year.• The Philippines emerged as a major market for Israel for the first time in 2017, having spent $21m. on radar and antitank systems.• Weapons deals with two Asian countries, Singapore and South Korea, slipped precipitously last year, the SIPRI data said, with South Korea, which bought $52m. in military equipment in 2016, not making any purchases in 2017, and the amount sold to Singapore dropping from $43m. to $2m. last year.• Italy is the fourth largest purchaser of Israeli arms, and the biggest customer in Europe, having spent $87m. in 2017 for Israeli airborne early warning and control systems.• Israel sold $25m. worth of radar systems to Canada last year, the first time Israeli arms have been sold to Canada since 2009.• Cyprus spent $23m. on an offshore patrol vessel for its coast guard to protect the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone and the Aphrodite gas field. The only other time that country has ever bought military equipment from Israel was a million dollar deal in 2002.Vietnam seeks closer defense trade ties with IsraelTEL AVIV, Israel – In a rare public acknowledgment of growing defense trade with Israel, Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang said Israel "has become a big partner of Vietnam" and should work to deepen bilateral ties in research, development and technology transfer.Quang's remarks came at a reception held in Hanoi for Yitzhak Aharonovitch, chairman of Israel's state-owned IMI Systems, where the Vietnamese leader cited "consistently growing" cooperation, "especially in the areas of security and defense."According to an IMI statement released Monday, Aharonovitch, a former minister for public security, said the Israeli company he now chairs has been investing in Vietnam since 1999 and hoped that "mutual collaboration and high technology knowledge transfer" with Vietnam would continue to grow."Aharonovitch stressed that the advanced weapon systems developed and manufactured by IMI Systems correspond to the advanced technology used by the Vietnamese Army," the statement read.Although the press release did not identify specific IMI products that have been sold to Vietnam, sources said the list includes advanced tank rounds, artillery systems and the firm's Extra, a four-meter-long precision artillery rocket designed to carry a range of warheads up to distances of 150 kilometers.According to the IMI statement, Aharonovitch last visited Vietnam in 2014 in his role as Public Security minister. "President Quang praised the contribution of Aharonovitch in expending Vietnamese-Israeli cooperation during his tenure as Minister of Public Security and expressed the hope that Aharonovitch will continue to further promote bilateral relations, especially in training quality personnel in the field of technology."In March 2015, the two countries concluded a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation that codified areas for expanded defense trade, technology transfer, and licensed production.The IMI Chairman's visit to Vietnam comes on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's week-long visit to Singapore and Australia; a trip that the Israeli leader defined as an "Asia pivot" aimed at strengthening regional ties among a spectrum of industries, including aerospace and defense.Deputy PM’s visit beefs up Vietnam-Israel cooperationWhy does Israel work with Vietnam in military? (Quora)