
A | Russian President Vladimir Putin, on his first trip abroad since being indicted by the International Criminal Court in March, on Friday called on an alliance of former Soviet states to expand relations with non-Western countries.In an address to the Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Putin also defended Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an attempt to prevent war and blamed the United States as an integral cause of the current war between Israel and Hamas fighters. His comments did not break ground but the trip was significant as his first venture outside Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine after the ICC indictment for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. The indictment would oblige any country that is party to the ICC to arrest him on their soil.The CIS consists of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Armenia. Tajikistan has acceded to the ICC; Armenia, which recently approved joining the court, did not participate in the summit amid rising disputes with Russia. Putin told the CIS heads of state that “it is important to work together, together with like-minded people from other regions of the world — with the countries of the so-called world majority, the Global South, whose views are very close to us.”He deplored the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which broke out last week when Hamas launched raids on Israel, but took aim at the United States' role.“For many years, the one-sided line of the Americans led the situation further and further into a dead end," he said. “The large-scale tragedy that Israelis and Palestinians are now experiencing was a direct result of the failed U.S. policy in the Middle East.”On Ukraine, he reiterated Russia's contention that sending troops into the country was justifiable because of years of fighting between the Ukrainian military and separatist forces in the country's east.Our special military operation is not the beginning of a war, but an attempt to stop it," Putin contended.。 Israeli officials are planning to ask US President Joe Biden for his formal blessing to provide an Iron Beam laser-based air defense system to Gulf Arab states including the United Arab Emirates and possibly Saudi Arabia, Israel’s Channel 12 has reported.,The unsourced Hebrew-language report, cited by the Times of Israel, indicated the delivery of the system to the Gulf countries would assist with the US-led push to ramp up air defense cooperation between Tel Aviv and a loose regional coalition including Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.,The Jewish State does not have formal diplomatic relations with the latter two country, and Riyadh has repeatedly stated that it would not establish formal ties with Israel until the Palestinian question and the creation of a Palestinian state was settled.,On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US and Middle Eastern sources, that the Pentagon had organized a hush-hush meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in March to discuss ways to improve air defense cooperation against Iranian ballistic missiles and drones. The meeting was said to have been chaired by then-US Central Command chief Frank McKenzie, and attended by top military commanders from Israel and the Arab countries who were invited.,Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who announced the formation of a regional anti-Iranian air defense alliance last week, appeared to signal the veracity of WSJ’s reporting on Monday, saying Israel was “building” a “wide partnership with additional countries in the region to ensure a secure, stable and prosperous Middle East,” and that “among other things, this also includes aerial defense.”,Israel Creating 'Middle East Air Defense Alliance' Under US' Wing, Defense Minister Says20 June, 11:03 GMT,“We will strengthen this, as a stable Middle East is an international, regional and Israeli interest of the highest order,” Gantz said.,Iran’s military also appeared to issue an indirect response to WSJ’s report, with Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri warning Monday that Tehran “will not tolerate” the threats posed by Israel and its cooperation with CENTCOM, and “will definitely react to them.”,Israel has long touted the purported advanced capabilities of its so-called ‘Iron Beam’ laser-based air defense system, a prototype of which was unveiled last year. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the “game-changer” weapon would shift the balance in Israel’s favor, with the estimated $2 in electricity required per burst to intercept enemy rockets just a drop in the bucket compared to the tens of thousands of dollars a rocket might cost. Bennett expressed hope that the system would come online by 2023.,‘Iron Beam’: Israel’s New Laser Air Defence System ‘Will Bankrupt Enemies’, Bennett Says1 June, 11:44 GMT,Last week, Breaking Defense reported that Israel would ask Biden for more money Iron Beam’s development, on top of the $3.3 billion in annual US subsidies already received by the Israeli military and defense establishment. The outlet’s sources indicated that Israel will likely ask the US president to shell out about $300 million in additional cash.,“The relations between the US and Israel are solid. The issues that will be on the table during the visit are of utmost importance to both the US and Israel. I’m confident that the talks will be fruitful to both sides,” a senior defense source told the outlet.,During his trip to the Middle East next month, Biden is expected to tour an Israeli airbase and get a firsthand look at the prototype laser weapons being developed by Israeli defense giants Rafael and Elbit Systems.,Lasers for use against aircraft, missiles, drones, ships, and ground equipment have been on the drawing board of weapons developers since the Cold War, with engineers spending decades mulling over the prospects of replacing conventional missile and shell projectiles with the futuristic beam pulse. But energy-directed weapons have long faced what have previously been deemed unsolvable issues, such as the immense amounts of power required to operate them, as well as interaction between combat lasers and natural phenomena such as rain, fog, smog or dust, all of which dissipates their strength.,Last month, US weapons maker Raytheon reported that its own laser weapon, fitted aboard an Army Stryker vehicle, had successfully downed incoming mortar rounds in testing.,Raytheon Laser Weapon on Stryker Vehicle Succeeds at Shooting Down Incoming Mortar Shells19 May, 22:19 GMT。
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