Germany approves sale of sixth nuclear-capable submarine to Israel
Germany has approved the sale of a sixth Dolphin submarine to Israel and will pay for a third of its cost, government sources told dpa on Wednesday.Israel already has three German-made Dolphin submarines, which are capable of carrying missiles with nuclear warheads. Berlin paid for two of the submarines and the cost of the third was shared between the two countries. Two more are being constructed.The government sources said Germany had allocated up to 135 million euros (180 million dollars) in next year’s budget to pay for its share of the cost for the sixth submarine, the sale of which is part of a deal finalized in 2005.

[ED NOTE: Because delivery systems for nuclear weapons are restricted by counterproliferation treaties and laws, it seems clear that Germany knowingly engaged in nuclear proliferation. And because the submarines did sea trials in Norway in 1999 - under German flag - it is possible that the Norwegians also were aware of the submarines capability (ref 2). Furthermore, German law about any weapons export is very strict, with arms-trade forbidden to countries with: poor human rights records, to countries at war, to countries which have not comitted to nuclear non-proliferation treaties and of weapons that might add to regional tensions. It would seem the Dolphins fail all of these tests laid out in EU Code of Conduct for Arms Exports, but there has been very little debate about this in Germany.