On Sunday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said an independent inquiry found no evidence that a Russian cargo ship that docked in South Africa last year was loaded with weapons despite US claims.
The Russian ship, the Lady R, docked at a naval base near Capetown in December 2022, angering the US because the vessel is under US sanctions. Without evidence, US Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety claimed in May that he knew the ship was loaded with weapons, saying he would bet his life on the assertion.
“The panel found no evidence that any cargo of weapons was loaded for export on to the ship, Lady R,” Ramaphosa said of the inquiry, which was led by a retired judge. “None of the persons who made these allegations could provide any evidence to support the claims made against our country.”
The South African leader said the Lady R docked at the base to deliver equipment that had been ordered for South Africa’s military in 2018.
Ramaphosa said the accusations hurt South Africa’s economy and that it called into question the country’s neutrality policy related to the war in Ukraine. When he made the allegation, Brigety said it would be “unacceptable” for South Africa to provide arms to Russia.
South African officials were unhappy Brigety made the accusation while an investigation was ongoing. In response to Ramaphosa’s news about the inquiry, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Pretoria said the US “will let South Africa speak for its panel’s conclusion.”
The ambassador is so desperate, he is probably just sure those cruise ships full of retirees are also secret weapons shipments. The desperation of the Biden Administration is on the verge of embarrassing. I wonder how they are coping with the fact that a good number of western companies are still doing business in Russia?
“On the verge”? That ship has passed.
I’ll be waiting for the American Ahole Ambassador to make good on his promise… looks like he bet and lost.
After all, lies should have consequences.
No one will hear from him anytime soon, egg on the face is never a good look.
The consequence in the US government nowadays is promotion.
Notice that besides Russia and China, US and its western vassals started blaming other BRICS members for nonsense because they see a threat…. And India which plays both sides won’t be an exception…!
Despite their utter stupidity, the Russians still managed to defeat Hillary Clinton and find weapons they desperately needed in where? …South Africa? …What’s that? …Their evilness compensates for their stupidity? …Makes sense to me. (Evil sarcasm)
quit being so evil man
Quit upvoting yourself, man.
get a real job
South Africa Says Inquiry Found No Evidence of Arms Shipment to Russia
IF South Africa sent arms to Russia who cares!
Russia does not need South African arms.
I would imagine Russia is producing many of it`s own weapons as they did in WW2 after they transported all their manufacturing far to the East where the NAZIS couldn`t get to it in no time at all thousands of tanks ect ect where coming off the production lines .
SA should provide the manifest for evidence for him to enforce his wager.
South Africa owes him nothing. If he doesn’t apologize – actually grovel – SA should expel him as persona non grata. Right now, as a member of BRICS, South Africa holds the upper hand for the first time in a very very long time. Want to sanction them? Go right ahead; anything they want to buy they can get from China; anything they want to sell, they can sell to India or China. And it can all be done in their own currencies; no dollars or US banking system needed.
He lost the bet; but his life is worthless to anyone anyway; just another overpaid, overconnected bureaucratic toad; send his ass back to the USA – commercial; in the back of the plane.
Yes, but he owes them a life.
Maybe they should give him a seppuku knife.
Yes; like we “knew” Iraq had WMD; we “Knew” OBL was at Tora Bora; we “knew” the little kids we killed in our “righteous strike” were terrorists; we “knew” the goats we killed in Syria were high ranking ISIS.
At this point, to anyone paying attention, the USA is not to be believed about anything, domestic or international. Every single organ of government, every agency and bureaucracy, and of course, their captive slave media, is corrupt, dishonest, and self serving.
from google, although it might be hard to trust an organization that can’t even spell the word defense properly =
“The South African defence industry is the most advanced in Africa and one of the most advanced and largest in the world with over 20 defence companies. The defence industry provides weapons and equipment to the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and for export customers.”
“Russia ranks second in the world’s arms export. Moscow supplies arms and military equipment to 66 countries.”
anyway, it seems that neither one of 2 those idiots would ever need any weapons from any other source other than their own.
Sorry, “defence” is the correct spelling.
Idiots and Americans spell it “defense”.
You’re the only idiot here it seems.
You must be an Amerikkkan.
ok using your “logical” explanation of language, you must be an idiot or an Englishman. so it would appear that i am not the only idiot here.
here in America “defence” = the removal of a fence.
but since maybe yalls Limeys did invent the English language, whatever bastardization us Yankees have perpetrated upon yalls hallowed saintly English language should either be excused as “stupid americans” at best or “evil appropriators” at worst, then perhaps yall Limey MF’s should be prepared for a simple American MF like myself to easily suggest that yall boys should suck it
The spelling of “defence” is literally in the dictionary, you imbecile.
You couldn’t even get that right!
Instead you write an entire paragraph to paper over your stupidity.
This must be like that gender-fluid nonsense that’s all the rage in America right now: “spelling fluid”. “A WORD CAN IDENTIFY AS ANYTHING YOU WANT”.
“The spelling of ‘defense’ is literally in the dictionary, you imbecile.”
Fixed, no charge.
Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages ·
defence
/dɪˈfɛns/
noun
noun: defence; plural noun: defences; noun: defense; plural noun: defenses
1.
the action of defending from or resisting attack.
“methods of defence against this kind of attack”
Fixed. No charge.
dude you should take a break. or maybe just put on the brakes.
hey “break a leg! you actor …. “
i apologize to you.
google = “Defence and defense are both correct ways to spell the same word. The difference between them, the fact that one’s spelled with a c and the other with an s, comes down to the part of the world in which they are used. In the United States, people spell it with an s—defense.”
thank you Mr. Knapp. – for a minute there i thought i would have to remove the giant fence that i spent several weeks building on my Mama’s property last year.
oh bloody hell maybe now i should worry about the spelling of the word “konkreet”
mugwump: an animal whose head is on one side of de fence, and whose wump is on the other side of de fence.
Just thought I’d toss in my two nano-cents.
Another Baghdad Bob moment for the U.S. Any word on the Iraqi WMDs?