So Russian arms makers are focusing on new markets, such as Southeast Asia, where the U.S. has long been the main player. Russia s big push into the region paid dividends in 1995 when Malaysia ordered 18 MiG-29 fighters. This isn t a poke in the eye for the U.S. in military terms, says a Western military analyst in Moscow. It is the simple brutal economics of competition. And it is getting brutal out there.
Some governments are prepared to play America against Russia to get the weapons they want.
The Thais were adamant, perhaps because the Malaysians hope to get a comparable Russian missile to go with their MiGs. The Clinton administration balked because selling the rocket to the Thais could trigger missile envy. That s a shame, said the Thais. We ll have to buy the MiG-29 instead. They were bluffing, but the U.S. relented.