Trail of bullet casings leads from Africa

Trail of bullet casings leads from Africa's wars back to Iran.

www.nytimes.com

The first clues appeared in Kenya, Uganda and what is now South Sudan. A British arms researcher surveying ammunition used by government forces and civilian militias in 2006 found Kalashnikov rifle cartridges he had not seen before. The ammunition bore no factory code, suggesting that its manufacturer hoped to avoid detection.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is interesting to say the least. Does this change the way we should look at conflicts in Africa? Or is this just a business aspect for Iran and not a political one?

One thing we should note is that the ammunition could have been brought over from a person not affiliated with the Iranian government - just trying to make a buck.

But the fact that there's no identifying markers of the origin sure does make itinteresting.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

War is big business and business has never been better, sadly. I'd note there is always another side those bullets are being supplied to shoot AT ... and so who is supplying the other side? It seems to me the Military/Industrial production of the West is getting annoyed by competition. It's not like Africa has EVER had a problem finding ammunition that I've heard of, regardless.

MSM and Iran, I sense something amiss here.

The bullet casings were only ever going to be from a country the west has problems with

Originally posted by Clisen33


This is interesting to say the least. Does this change the way we should look at conflicts in Africa? Or is this just a business aspect for Iran and not a political one?

Strictly business in this case.

Wars, armed conflicts etc. are essentially the "business" of killing. Weapons, munitions, ammunition are highly profitable commodities.

Every nation that has armies, manufactures weapons, and ammunition will also sell it for a price, to almost any buyer. Sometimes overtly, usually covertly through proxies and third parties.

Manufacture a war or conflict, and you have created a business opportunity.

None have been quite as good at this business than the elite western governments, especially the USA and NATO.

Iran on the other hand usually has more sinister objectives, profit isn't as important to them as it is to the major global entities that supply the machines, weapons, and ammunition for wars/armed conflicts.

One day soon, someone may "manufacture" the last war, the "final conflict" and it will be greed that makes it all possible.

I have to question the solidarity of the evidence, or at least the way that it is being interpreted. If it is true that the people who investigate these methods, have found that the rounds have been produced in such a way as to make them difficult to trace, then how can they be one hundred percent sure that the government of Iran has ANYTHING to do with this matter?

To me, it seems bizzare that the researchers would even dare say such a thing without irrefutable evidence. Now, Iran is not a small nation, and much as we are lead to believe that the government there are somehow aware of the activities of everyone in the nation, they are not, not by an awful long way. I know that, because Britain has a much better, much more informed intelligence sector than Iran, and our lot still miss things!

For all these researchers can possibly know, the rounds could have been produced by an independant, but powerful underground criminal enterprise, acting under a guise of government involvement, or legitimate private enterprise, within Iran. The fact that the researchers have decided to link these rounds with the government of Iran, is somewhat empty and weak in my view.

reply to post by TrueBrit


That's a very long way round of putting it, in short this story is probably a false flag and it could've been anyone who made the bullets.

Iran is still very much on the agenda it seems

reply to post by Zcustosmorum


I merely meant to offer a little more detail on how my thinking was running when I came to my conclusion, to avoid having to explain in a second post in response to someone saying things like "Easy to say that, but what leads you to believe this is baloney?"

But you have the gist of what I was saying. In the words of Bill and Ted, "Bogus!"

Originally posted by TrueBrit
reply to post by Zcustosmorum

 

I merely meant to offer a little more detail on how my thinking was running when I came to my conclusion, to avoid having to explain in a second post in response to someone saying things like "Easy to say that, but what leads you to believe this is baloney?"

But you have the gist of what I was saying. In the words of Bill and Ted, "Bogus!"

"Excellent!"

The manufactured origin of the arms is not so important as the money which was used to buy them. A poverty stricken bunch of goat herders suddenly appearing carrying RPG's and AK-47's does not necessarily mean they were armed by the Chinese or Russians.

As in all things these days, follow the money, and therein will lie the answer as to who is behind the conflicts.

The U.S. gives 20 F-16's to the Muslim Brotherhood, hardly a whisper in the press.

Iran sells some 7.62mm bullets to African crapholes, they're all over it.

Unless i missed it in the article, it doesn't go into any detail as to how it was determined that theses were Iranian (although they did make a point to state that the goal was to solve a mystery, not implicate a nation....which yells out to me, "We aren't saying, we're just saying....").

How did they determine that these were Iranian?

Even more, why does anyone care? Is it because it wasn't US made bullets that killed someone, it is an issue?

Read the article through to the end.

In late 2011 Mr. Bevan obtained the bill of lading for 13 shipping containers seized by the authorities in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2010. The document showed that the containers originated in Iran and declared the contents to be “building materials.”

But, as the researchers noted in their report, “concealed behind stone slabs and insulation materials” was a shipment of arms, including the same ammunition that they had been finding in the field.

The shipping company was based in Tehran, Iran’s capital.

and

“In terms of prescription, if it was clear that there were repeated violations by Iran, I think we could come down more strongly about it,” he said. “But a good portion of this, and in perhaps the majority of these cases, the ammunition was transferred around Africa by African states.”

also

Ultimately, Mr. Bevan noticed that Iran had published limited technical details of its cartridges, including bullet weights. Some of these weights are atypical. Late in 2012 he had samples weighed on a jeweler’s scale, confirming the match.

There is more but big/long quote removed


The paper
www.conflictarm.com...
view.samurajdata.se...

It appears to be 1950's French made 7.62 x 39 mm. Now there seems to be the case of completely unmarked as in blank shell casing that showed up in Kansas. And 7.62 x 39 mm were in short supply in the US in 2006 and 2007. Seems Russia could not keep up with production.

Iran does not use numbers or letters to mark their ammo. They use Arabic script.

Found a link that the JMS 02 marking was used for ammo made for the US DOD for Iraq and Afghanistan.

www.afte.org...

JMS 7.62x54R Ball ammunition, reportedly US DoD contract for the new Iraqi/Afghani forces, copper jacketed, lead core projectile, brass case, brass percussion primer, red primer sealant, ring primer crimp. Packaging & cartridge construction similar to IK production, but possibly Privi Partisan production. Headstamp JMS 02

Would you like to expand on what your saying as JMS was not mentioned once in the paper or the article