Headlines

November 11, 2015

Headlines:

• Myanmar goes to the Polls
• Russia to provide Iran with S-300 Air Defence Missiles

Details:

Myanmar goes to the Polls

It looks almost certain Aung San Suu Kyi will win with a considerable margin in Myanmar’s first nationwide general election since the country began transitioning from military to quasi-civilian rule in 2011. 91 parties competed for 498 parliamentary seats representing constituencies throughout the fractured, largely rural country, in addition to state-level positions. The new parliament will choose the next president in early 2016. International attention focused all most entirely on the contest between the establishment Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), founded by the former military junta, and the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The electoral result points to a sweeping victory for her National League for Democracy (NLD), but final official results will not be known for days. But the military junta will still maintain its influence as the road map it came up with sets aside a quarter of the 664 parliamentary seats for the army. But this may be seriously challenged as Suu Kyi may surpass 75% of the parliamentary seats. Amongst all this the Rohingya Muslims were not afforded a vote as they are not considered citizens of Myanmar by the Burmese people, despite being there for hundreds of years.

Russia to provide Iran with S-300 Air Defence Missiles

Various media outlets have reported Russia has finally signed a contract to supply Iran with sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air missiles. The contract got the go-ahead after international sanctions on Iran were lifted earlier this year, following a deal over its nuclear programme.

The Jewish entity, the US and Saudi Arabia are all opposed to the missile contract. Russian officials say the first batch could be delivered 18 months after Iran has specified the S-300 type that it wants. Technical talks are continuing. “The deal to supply the S-300 to Iran has not only been signed between the parties but it has already come into force,” said Sergei Chemezov, head of Russia's Rostec arms firm, speaking at the Dubai Airshow-2015. The $800m contract, signed in 2007, was frozen by Russia in 2010 because of the international sanctions. President Vladimir Putin unfroze it in April.

The S-300 is regarded as one of the most potent anti-aircraft missile systems currently fielded. Its radars have the ability to simultaneously track up to 100 targets while engaging up to 12. It takes the S-300 system just five minutes to get ready for launching. It can attack aircraft, warships, any ground targets, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles with high target accuracy. The S-300 missiles are considered in general to have more capabilities than their counterparts, including some advantages over America’s patriot missile system.