Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.
From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.
One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.
MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.
Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.
Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.
Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.
He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml
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http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?storyid=11727
Muslim Students Say U.S. Media is to Blame for Misconceptions about
Islam
Providence, RI 1/5/2007 11:24 PM GMT (TransWorldNews) Most Americans
associate Islam with violence and hatred of the West, but a recent
survey of 130 young Muslim adults studying in the United States--both
American- and foreign-born--paints a very different picture. For
example, although 87% of respondents believe that Americans do not
understand Islam and 63% believe that Americans are prejudiced against
Muslims, an overwhelming 80% have a "generally favorable view of
Americans." Seventy-two percent believe that Islamic values are
compatible with Western values.
When it comes to Western misconceptions of Islam, the vast majority of
respondents blame the "distorted media," which according to an
Indonesian-born student at University of Kansas "likes to jumble
everything under one umbrella. Something that is not necessarily taught
by Islam could be acted out by its followers."
Also at fault are the U.S. education system, which according to an
American Muslim from John Hopkins University, doesn't "put enough
emphasis on teaching about the values of 20 percent of the world
population," as well as Muslims themselves, some of whom "misinform by
being poor representatives of their religion and its values," says
Pakistani-born Fahad Zahedi, a student at University of Texas at
Arlington.
Respondents insist that if we succeed in bridging this gap in
understanding, non-Muslim Americans will discover that they have more
in
common with Muslims than they think. Says Pakistani-born Abdur-Rahman
Syed from Boston University, "Islamic values appeal to many of our
basic
moral intuitions about human dignity, equality and accountability. It
isn't surprising that there is considerable overlap between Western and
Islamic values."
Respondents generally agree on the most widely held Western
misconceptions about Islam, including the misconceptions that Muslim
women are oppressed, Islam is an inherently violent religion that
condones terrorism, Islam is intolerant of other religions and "jihad"
is synonymous with "Holy War."
Full survey results are featured in Glimpse Quarterly's winter issue,
which focuses on Islamic practices around the world. The survey was
conducted by Glimpse Quarterly's 501(c)3 parent organization, The
Glimpse Foundation, which fosters cross-cultural understanding and
exchange, particularly between the United States and the rest of the
world, by providing forums for young adults to share their experiences
living abroad. Click here for a PDF of the survey results as they
appear
in Glimpse Quarterly:
http://glimpsefoundation.org/downloads/Spectrum-Winter2006.pdf
Glimpse Quarterly's Editor in Chief, Kerala Goodkin, is available for
comment.
Granny, I happen to agree completely. There is a great misconception that islam is a religion and a peaceful one at that, which the U.S. media is to blame for.
FYI, Bibi Netanyahu's blog is now translated into english:
http://www.netanyahu.org.il/?cat=65&article=2136195
The Art of Compromise is Not Yet Dead
By Israel News 4/1/07
Jan 6, 2007, 08:46
Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus-based leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, makes no bones: Either Israel leaves all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza and agrees to the 'right of return' - or war.
Meshaal is officially the head of the diplomatic desk of Hamas, but is recognized as the #1 man in the terrorist organization. The target of a failed Israeli assassination attempt a decade ago, Meshaal told a Lebanese newspaper this week that Hamas will not hesitate to resume its armed warfare against Israel.
Specifically, he threatened, "If within six months, the international community does not come up with a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders [i.e., on all the land liberated by Israel in the Six Day War - ed.] and for the return of the refugees, the Palestinians will turn to an armed struggle against Israel."
"We can have an intifada even when running the Palestinian Authority,"
Meshaal said, explaining that the ceasefire was not designed to bring peace, but is rather another stage in the war with Israel. "The current calm [cease-fire in Gaza - ed.], just like the escalation [before that], is part of the way we manage the conflict with Israel."
Many Israeli military men and analysts have said that Hamas is using the current truce in Gaza to rearm and regroup towards the next round of fighting.
Hamas Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniye, visiting in Syria, echoed Meshaal's position in a speech at a refugee camp. He said the Palestinians will not give up on "even one grain of sand of Palestine," and that Syrian President Assad promised him that all the Palestinian [terrorist] prisoners incarcerated in Israel would be freed.
Meshaal admitted that the Hamas-Fatah talks for a unity PA government have "encountered difficulties," but said they have not yet hit a dead end. This clashes with announcements by Hamas leaders Haniye and Mahmoud A-Zahar, who said on Monday that the negotiations had failed and were beyond recovery.
Hamas and Fatah elements traded blame and accusations for the failed talks.Fatah leader Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) is expected to announce - possibly today - whether he plans to dissolve the Parliament, thus leading to a clash with Hamas.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/printer_27396.shtml
Behind The Curtains are More Curtains
By Wayne Madsen, Online Journal 4/1/07
Jan 6, 2007, 08:53
Mario Scaramella, the Italian interlocutor for the poisoned Alexander Litvinenko and Russian-Israeli media/mobster tycoon Boris Berezovsky, is now under investigation by prosecutors in Rome, Naples, and Bologna for international arms smuggling, divulging official judicial secrets, conspiracy, international trafficking in radioactive materials, and the dumping of hazardous waste through unauthorized third parties.
Scaramella was arrested last month by Italian police and his offices have been searched by police several times.
The Italian media is reporting on transcripts of phone conversations between Scaramella and two former U.S. intelligence officers. One conversation, reported in La Repubblica, is a January 25, 2006, conversation between Scaramella and a mysterious ex-CIA agent from California who uses the name "Perry." In the conversation, Scaramella stresses to Perry that his activities are not "just my activity, but the activity of the organization.' It is becoming clear that the :organization" to which Scaramella is referring is a private and global intelligence organization involving former members of the KGB and Russian Federal Security Bureau (like Litvinenko), private military and intelligence companies, and ex-CIA and British intelligence officers. Scaramella discussed the political dirty “trick” they are preparing for Italian center-left leader Romano Prodi and it is clear from the conversation that Perry gives Scaramella his orders, though politely. When Scaramella goes into a tangent on his international activities, Perry merely replies, 'You must work on the Italian politics.' When Scaramella presents a list of the possible future options open to him, Perry very curtly suggests, “You could be part of the cabinet of the minister.” But Scaramella is pessimistic when he states, “most probably Prodi will win, even if we will launch our attack . . ."
The "attack" is key to the conversation. WMR was the first media outlet to suggest that the Scaramella-Litvinenko affair was a dirty bomb plot gone bad and that the intelligence services of Russian President Vladimir Putin may have actually derailed the plot.
Scaramella relates to Perry his conversation with then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in which he asked the right-wing and now-indicted politician for a job, preferably at NATO or the United Nations. Scaramella claims that he was first offered a seat in the Italian parliament but declined because he feared a rough political campaign against him after he had made public his "KGB claims" against Prodi and that he "preferred a post outside Italy in an international organization."
The Italian paper Corriere della Sera is also reporting on a telephone conversation between Scaramella and Paolo Guzzanti, the Miktrokhin Committee's chairman on 28 January 2006, three days after the phone conversation between Perry and Scaramella that Romani Prodi was "cultivated by the KGB" and cited ex-KGB Colonel Oleg Gordievsky as his source. Guzzanti responds, "in that case he is our man?" "Yes," replies Scaramella's." "That's enough. I don't want to know anything else," Guzzanti replies.
It has also been revealed that while talking to Perry, Scaramella declared that he had obtained taped testimony against Prodi from Gordievski and that the testimony was given in the presence of "Lou Palumbo," who has now been identified as a 22-year veteran of the CIA. Gordievski, who is under the protection of the British intelligence services, has since denounced Scaramella as a fraud. It is also clear that Scaramella's mission was to seek out prominent Russian exiles and defectors in order to trick them into bringing false charges against leftist politicians like Prodi.
Previously, WMR reported that Scaramella was linked by Italian investigators to Filippo Marino, who is involved in the security business and founded the Special Research Monitoring Center (SRMC), and claims he was a member of the elite Italian Army 131st Regiment and member of an Italian law enforcement organized crime task force targeting the mob in Naples. One of Marino's companies, Securitydirector LLC, is registered at P.O. Box 190487, Miami Beach, FL 33119-0487. According to La Stampa, a link has now been discovered between Marino and Hallandale, Florida-based Incident Management Group (IMG). Marino has been a senior consultant for IMG, according to La Stampa. IMG's Managing Partner is none other than Louis F. Palumbo, Scaramella's task master in the reported attempt to tarnish Prodi. Palumbo's bio at the IMG website states that in 1977, he founded the security consulting firm Ackerman & Palumbo. The Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) lists a Louis F. Palumbo at 7980 N. Biscayne Point Cir., Miami Beach, FL 33141.
Palumbo's partners at IMG include Daniel Donohue, a former CIA clandestine services agent in Southeast Asia and India; Harley Stock, a "forensic hypnosis" expert with the FBI and US Secret Service; and, perhaps most intriguingly, Christopher Hagon, a 21-year veteran of the London Metropolitan Police.
Hagon told La Stampa that Marino did work as a consultant for IMG as a consultant. In fact, IMG's consultant profiles list Marino as: "FILIPPO MARINO, SENIOR CONSULTANT, has 10 years of international experience in the areas of security and environmental crime prevention. Marino has worked on a variety of security-related assignments ranging from investigative support of judicial authorities to personal awareness training and private consulting worldwide. He is one of the founders of Special Research Monitoring Center (SRMC) and a founding member of the Permanent Intergovernmental Conference for Environmental Crime Prevention. He is currently Director of Security & Operations, for the SRMC. Marino served as an officer of the prestigious 131st Regiment of the Italian Army, and is an inspector for a law-enforcement, environmental task force against organized crime in Naples, Italy. He holds a magna cum laude B. A. in Behavioral Sciences from San Jose State University, and has obtained multiple certifications in security and protection services. He speaks fluent Italian and German."
Note that Marino's links to Scaramella's ECPP is also cited above. Also of interest is the listing of a Curtis Perry as an IMG consultant: "CURTIS PERRY, SENIOR CONSULTANT, has 27 years experience in government and private sector security. He served for ten years in the CIA and was stationed throughout the Far East. Mr. Perry is fluent in several Chinese dialects and has access to numerous government agencies in the Philippines and throughout Southeast Asia. Previously he was employed as a Senior Consultant by the security firm of Ackerman & Palumbo and was a Managing Director for Kroll Associates in Manila from 1992 -1996. Mr. Perry has undertaken numerous investigations for Corporate America -- including those involving kidnappings, extortions and product contaminations -- in the Far East and Australia."
Another IMG consultant is Robert Wager, whose bio claims he manages security for the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia. Scaramella claims to have also worked in Bogota. The bio of another IMG consultant, Ned Timmons, states, "for two years Timmons directed an international import/export corporation operating undercover in Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Central America [and] . . . He currently serves as a consultant to the U.S. and Cayman Governments on drug trafficking matters." There is yet another Colombian link, "John Stabler, Senior Consultant, has 17 years experience in security management and consulting profession, with 13 years of specialization in Colombia. He has designed security for plantations, mines, pipelines, piers and airfields in hostile locations in Colombia, Panama, Ecuador and Chile."
Also of interest is another "environmental" link that ties the various Scaramella-Litvinenko players under the cover of an international environmental network. An SEC EDGAR search revealed a stockholders' agreement between Harrison-Kroll Environmental Services, Inc. of Louisiana and Palumbo Partners, a Delaware corporation dated December 31, 1992, in which Kroll acquires Palumbo Partners. A Google search also revealed that former Secret Service Presidential Protective Division agent Jim Holt served as Training Director for Ackerman & Palumbo and was "one of the original directors and consultant partners with Palumbo Partners, Inc., Miami." An office of Harrison-Kroll Environmental Services is listed at 300 S. Grand Avenue, Suite 1300, Los Angeles, CA 90071.
Kroll Associates is an enigmatic "security services" company which has close links to the CIA. Not only is Kroll active in private military contracting in Iraq, but it has long been associated with dubious U.S. intelligence activities at home and abroad. According to a knowledgeable source, Jules Kroll, who founded Kroll Associates in 1972, obtained needed funding for his firm from Foothill Capital in the 1980s. Foothill was deeply enmeshed in the savings & loan collapses in the 1980s but salvaged itself to become a part of Wells Fargo Bank. Kroll, who helped Curtis Publishing (renamed Cadence Industries after a merger) cut waste in the 1970s (and pilfer the company's pension fund in the process), got his first big break when he helped locate the stolen millions of Philippine ex-President Ferdinand Marcos (he would later go after the off-shore bank accounts of Haiti's Jean-Claude Duvalier and Iraq's Saddam Hussein).
According to our well-placed source, Ray Steffans (aka diStefano of New Jersey), Jewish mobster Gideon Chern, and Eddie Baker of Vanguard Petroleum met in Houston in September 1983 to discuss, among other items, funding for Kroll. In December 1977, Bernard Taubenfeld, Gideon Chern and Shalom Goldburd, officials of B'nai Torah Institute affiliate, Nutrition for Youth, were convicted of defrauding the government by submitting bills for food that was never served to poor children in the New York City summer lunch program. Chern's other organized crime activity in the 1980s reportedly had an important protector -- former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Rudolph Giuliani. The former New York Mayor and prospective GOP presidential candidate reportedly suppressed a wealth of evidence against Chern.
Two days after the Houston meeting, a Jaguar supposedly with the body of Baker in it was found charred outside of Houston. A fire investigator later revealed that no body was found in the car at the time of the fire. Kroll, after Enron's bankruptcy, purchased Zolfo-Cooper, and thus owned Zolfo-Cooper's Steven Cooper, the attorney appointed by New York bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez to run Enron in bankruptcy. In July 2004, Marsh-McLennan bought Kroll and Associates. Marsh-McLennan is run by Jeffrey Greenberg, son of Maurice (Hank) Greenberg of AIG. Funny, since Chase and Citibank notes from Kenneth Lay/Enron were purchased in May 2001 by AIG and the MacArthur Foundation.
Kroll was responsible for the security of the World Trade Center on 9/11, The firm had hired FBI top counter-terrorism agent John O'Neill as director of World Trade Center security upon his retirement from the FBI. O'Neill died in the 9/11 attacks. Kroll also markets Identity Theft Shield, the first time Kroll has offered its services to individuals as opposed to governments and companies. As of June 30, 2006, Kroll had amassed over 560,000 customers for its Identity Theft Shield program.
The Chern link brings us back to the Russian-Israeli Mafia connections of Scaramella and company. Berezovsky's friend, former Yukos co-owner Leonid Nevzlin, a Russian-Jewish oligarch and former president of the Russian Jewish Congress who now lives in Tel Aviv and is wanted by Russia for tax evasion and corruption. As the Democrats prepare to assume control of Congress, Nevzlin is now in the United States, protected by the FBI from arrest based on Russian and Interpol arrest warrants. This is not Nezvlin's first visit to the United States. In the summer of 2005 he appeared before the US Congress' Helsinki Committee to criticize the government of Vladimir Putin. Nevzlin's sponsors were incoming House International Relations Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-CA) and New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith (R). Nevzlin used the hearing to argue for the expulsion of Russia from the G-8. Another Nevzlin supporter is Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, another prospective GOP presidential candidate.
In a further example of the dubious activities of the Arlington, Virginia-based Fellowship Foundation, dubbed the "Christian Mafia" by many local residents, two of Nevzlin's wanted Yukos fellow shareholders, oligarchs Mikhail Brudno and Vladimir Dubov, who were indicted in Russia on charges similar to those brought against jailed Yukos former chairman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, were invited the have breakfast with President George W. Bush at the February 5, 2005, "National Prayer Breakfast." The annual Prayer Breakfast contrivance of the Fellowship Foundation is a ruse designed to provide a series of top level intelligence and organized crime meetings under the sanctioning smile of "Jesus." The person who invited Brudno, Dubov, and the jailed Khodorkovsky to the prayer breakfast was Lantos, whose wife, daughter, and son-in-law are devout Mormons.
Brudno and Dubov, citizens of Israel, were assured by the FBI that it would ignore the Interpol and Russian arrest warrants, just as the FBI is ignoring the arrest warrant for Nevzlin, who is now in the United States, most likely with the acquiescence of Lantos. Lantos, who has his own connections with mob-run unions operating at San Francisco International Airport, does not seem to mind the fact that Nevzlin has been under investigation by Israeli police for illegally laundering $500 million through a Tel Aviv branch of Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest bank. Nevzlin also took over assets of Khodorkovsky's collapsed bank, Menatep, which was also linked to money laundering involving the Bank of New York.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev supports Putin's attempt to bring the Russian-Israeli oligarchs to justice. He told Britain's Sunday Times that it is believed that the exiled oligarchs have hidden away $1 trillion.
Nevzlin's and Berezovsky's activities with Litvinenko are the tip of a huge iceberg of private intelligence intrigue that involves a number of wanted Russian exiles, including Nevzlin, Berezovsky, ex-Russian media magnate Vladimir Gusinsky, Mikhail Chernoy, Roman Abramovitch, and Chechen "Foreign Minister" Akhmed Zakayev. Berezovsky's (and Litvinenko's) spokesman, Russian exile Alex Goldfarb, freely operating out of both London and New York. All are involved in various efforts to destabilize Russia with the help of neocons in the Bush administration and the government of Israel. However, the Israel Lobby's pressure on the U.S. media, most notably the Associated Press, New York Times, and Washington Post, ensures that the Russian exiles' links to Israel and organized crime are studiously ignored.
In another full circle between Tel Aviv and Italy, Menatep's former chief for investment management Alexei Globuvich said, after his arrest last Spring in Italy, that Nevzlin may have tried to poison him and his family after mercury was found in his office, home, and car. Globuvich said he was a threat because he knew where Yukos and Menatep assets were located. Shortly thereafter, a Scotland Yard officer handed over to the British security firm ISC Global plans by the British government to extradite a number of Russian-Israeli exiles in Britain to Russia. ISC Global had been part of Menatep and Nevzlin was one of its chief customers.
The London offices of ISC Global, now known as RISC Management, were visited in November 2006 by Litvinenko and Russian businessmen Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun and traces of polonium-210 were discovered there. According to the Sunday Times of London, Russian police are also investigating whether the poisoning of Litvinenko and the attempted poisoning of Globuvich are connected to the radiation poisoning death two years ago of Roman Tsepov, a former bodyguard of Putin when he was deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. Tsepov was involved in the Russian government's tracking of Yukos assets. Also of interest are connections to the June 2004 assassination of Forbes Russian edition editor-in-chief Paul Klebnikov, a U.S. citizen who wrote a damaging expose of Berezovsky. Three Chechen contract killers were charged in Klebnikov's murder. The same Russian-Israeli mob ring is also being looked at in the investigation of the assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya of Novaya Gazeta as a way to embarrass Putin.
The connection of Nevzlin to the polonium and the receipt of classified British secrets is more of a reason for Russia's Prosecutor General's Office to seek his extradition -- but the FBI refuses to cooperate due to the orders coming from people like Lantos, McCain, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and others who do the bidding of the Russian-Israeli mob and their Italian mafiosi underlings.
The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office has stated, "“A version is being looked at that those who ordered these crimes [polonium poisoning, etc.] could be the same people who are on an international wanted list for serious and very serious crimes, one of whom is . . . Leonid Nevzlin."
The connections now discovered by Italian and Russian investigators between the Russian-Israeli-Italian-British-US private intelligence network of former intelligence agents and billionaire mobsters suggest that the "serious crimes" committed may be more than the poisoning of Litvinenko and others with radioactive materials. The investigators are wise to pursue the links to U.S. security firms and former CIA personnel involved in pre-9/11 protection functions. The FBI cannot or will not investigate the actual perpetrators of 9/11. However, the Italian and Russian law enforcement professionals are beginning to get very close. It is a shame that American law enforcement is not interested in pursuing real leads in the biggest crime in American history.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/printer_27401.shtml
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evu79cIfwf2zzI0&req=l%3Devu79bIfwf2zzI0
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Abbas calls Hamas forces "illegal"
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has declared a Hamas security
force in Gaza illegal and called for its members to be integrated
into official security services. Abbas's statement comes as part of
a planned reshuffle among security chiefs aimed at ending spiralling
violence in the Palestinian Territories. Members of the governing
Hamas movement's so-called "Executive Force" have participated in
recent gunbattles with Fatah fighters loyal to Abbas. Meanwhile,
diplomatic efforts are continuing to secure the release of Peruvian
national Jaime Razuri, who was kidnapped outside the AFP offices in
Gaza City on Monday. No one has claimed responsibility for the
abduction and there has been no word on his whereabouts.
Iraq's al-Maliki threatens critics
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has threatened to "review"
relations with countries which have criticised the execution of
Saddam Hussein. Maliki, a Shi'ite, said the former Iraqi leader's
hanging was a "domestic affair." He said Saddam had received a fair
trial and that his execution was for the benefit of Iraq's unity. A
clandestine video showing images of Shi'ite officials taunting
Saddam on the gallows has angered his fellow Sunni Arabs and
increased sectarian tension. Maliki said that his security forces,
backed by Americans, were ready to implement a major new security
crackdown in Baghdad. Earlier, the chief of the Baghdad police
managed to survive a bomb blast targeted at his motorcade.
Bush offers to work with rival Democrats
In his weekly radio address, US President George W. Bush has offered
leaders of the Democrat-controlled Congress cooperation in
eliminating the budget deficit and improving education. But Bush
chose to entirely avoid the issue of the war in Iraq, which
threatens to balloon into a major political battle in coming weeks.
Democratic leaders wrote Bush a letter on Friday, urging him not to
increase troop levels in Iraq and to end the war. Bush is expected
to unveil a new strategy for Iraq this coming week.
Somalis protest against Ethiopian troops
Hundreds of Somalis have demonstrated in the capital Mogadishu
against the presence of Ethiopian troops and a disarmament drive.
Protesters hurled stones and burnt tyres, and witnesses said
Ethiopian troops fired into the air to disperse the crowds. At least
one person was reported killed, and several others were wounded.
The protests came as the interim government indefinitely postponed a
disarmament programme in the capital. The original deadline for
Mogadishu residents to hand in their weapons was Thursday, but few
people have done so. Somalia's interim government wants to install
itself in Mogadishu after ousting the Islamists last week with the
help of Ethiopian forces.
Suicide bomb attack on Sri Lanka bus
At least 11 people have been killed and more than 40 others wounded
in a suicide bomb attack on a bus in southern Sri Lanka. Earlier
reports had put the number of dead at 15. The suicide bomber was
believed to be a woman, who carried explosives onboard the crowded
vehicle. The attack followed another bus blast late Friday when six
passengers were killed and another 70 wounded near Colombo.
Authorities blamed both attacks on Tamil Tiger rebels, who are
fighting for an independent Tamil homeland. The Tamil Tigers denied
involvement in the blasts.
Rebels kill 48 people in India's Assam
Suspected separatist rebels in India's restive north-eastern state
of Assam have killed 48 people in a series of coordinated overnight
attacks. Most of the victims are said to be Hindi-speaking migrant
labourers and traders. No one has claimed responsibility for the
attacks, but authorities say the United Liberation Front of Assam
(ULFA) is likely to be responsible. Eight of the 10 separate attacks
took place near India's border with Burma, and a bomb exploded on a
major railway line on Friday. The insurgency in Assam has left more
than 20,000 people dead since it began in 1979.
Russia slams US weapons sanctions
Russia has accused the United States of illegally imposing sanctions
on some Russian military firms which Washington says cooperate with
Iran and Syria. Washington announced sanctions Friday against 24
foreign entities, including Russian, Chinese and North Korean firms,
for allegedly selling banned weapons to Iran and Syria. Russia's
state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport was among the highest
profile firms hit by the measures. Russia is one of the world's
leading arms exporters. In 2005, it sold weapons to 61 countries for
a record total of more than six billion dollars.
Rice warns North Korea off nukes
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned North Korea not to
pursue a second nuclear test. She said another test would only serve
to deepen Pyongyang's isolation from the rest of the international
community. Rice made the comment during a press conference in
Washington with visiting South Korean Foreign Minister Song
Min-soon. The meeting was part of what Rice called "intensive"
efforts to resume nuclear disarmament negotiations with North Korea.
Responding to American media reports that North Korea was preparing
a follow-up to its October 9 atomic test, Song said there were no
signs that a second test was imminent. Six-nation talks on the
North's nuclear programme ended in December in Beijing without
progress.
Germany's SDP discusses future plans
The leadership of Germany's Social Democrats is meeting in Bremen
today to discuss the direction of future policy. The party, which is
currently part of a Grand Coalition with the conservatives led by
Chancellor Angela Merkel, has been under increasing pressure from
those who say it's losing its political profile. The central issues
being discussed at the two-day SPD conference are health reforms and
the labour market.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Need a good laugh? Then check out DW-WORLD.DE'S From the Fringe
Special,
which regularly brings you quirky stories from and about Germany. To
find out more, go to
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evu79cIfwf2zzI1&req=l%3Devu79bIfwf2zzI1
http://community.livejournal.com/quicknews/
An investigative trail littered with gold-colored AK-47s, documents labeled "CLASSIFIED" and pistols purported to have been given as gifts to Saddam Hussein led federal investigators here: a Manassas storage center.
Atlantic Self Storage, nestled between Interstate 66 and Route 234, sits across from a Super 8 Motel and is little more than rows of rust-colored garage doors leading to individual units. But according to court documents filed recently in Prince William County, one of the storage units may hold clues for a federal investigation spanning the country.
In a 10-page affidavit for a search warrant, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service details how about 100 U.S. government and Iraqi weapons, along with secret documents, may have been stolen and ended up in storage units in California and Manassas. A Marine gunnery sergeant who once lived in Fairfax County and rented storage units in both locations was placed in pretrial confinement at Camp Pendleton because, the agent wrote, "reasonable grounds exist that he poses a serious threat to the national security of the Unites States."
The gunnery sergeant, Gary Maziarz, is charged with larceny of computer and camera equipment, larceny of weaponry and possession of steroids, according to officials at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego. He is scheduled for an Article 32 investigation, similar to arraignment, Jan. 17. Maziarz's attorney, David Brahms, said that his client maintains his innocence. Maziarz had worked in an intelligence center in Fallujah, Iraq, from February to May 2006, according to the documents. He was also assigned to a program administered by the National Security Agency and had access to information classified as the " 'Top Secret' level and higher," the papers said.
Investigators reportedly found the weapons: gold-colored Russian Dragunov sniper rifles, gold-colored and nickel-plated AK-47s, four Iraqi swords, radios with Arabic writing, foreign helmets and Iraqi plaques. More than a hundred items are listed. Authorities then searched another unit and an apartment Maziarz rented in Carlsbad. In his apartment, they found steroids and three commemorative Colt 1911 .45-caliber pistols "reputed to have been presented to Saddam Hussein," the agent wrote. In the storage units, they found more foreign weapons, digital cameras, computers and suspicious documents, according to the affidavit.
"Of note, two folders containing approximately 250 pages of material marked 'SECRET' were also discovered in one of the storage units," the agent wrote. When investigators reviewed the material, they found that most concerned a 2004 "surveillance report of a suspected terrorist by a United States Government Agency."
"In order to avoid declassification of this document, I am intentionally avoiding any further description," the special agent writes, but he adds that these documents are believed "to be genuine and appropriately classified."
According to the search warrant, agents removed 43 items, including foreign and domestic military gear. They also collected objects that would require further scrutiny, including 74 floppy disks and a locked black briefcase.
```..~~~....
Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman has fired the head of the nation's nuclear weapons program, Linton F. Brooks, because of security breaches last year at weapons facilities, including Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The dismissal comes after embarrassing security lapses, including the Oct. 17 discovery of drug paraphernalia and computer flash drives containing highly classified information in the trailer home of a contractor. The items were found by Los Alamos County, N.M., police officers responding to a domestic dispute call. That led to a harshly critical report in late November by the Energy Department's inspector general, Gregory H. Friedman, who said that security procedures in key areas at Los Alamos were "nonexistent, applied inconsistently, or not followed."
I knew you would see the truth of that one, but thought you should have the opportunity to react, as I did.
Meshaal admitted that the Hamas-Fatah talks for a unity PA government have "encountered difficulties," but said they have not yet hit a dead end.<<<
How many dead Jews does it take to make a dead end?
I do not understand, this "kill a few, but not too many" way of fighting a war.
All the articles say that Palestine and Lebanon are rearming and getting ready to fight.
I am beginning to think the wrong party is in control of Israel and is too busy being P.C., to solve it all.
Kinda reminds me of the U.S., and I do not think that 'wimmenn' can fight a good war, so we are also in trouble.
We nned some real men as leaders.
In my opinion of course.
Linvinenkno was in some pretty heady company.
This writer would of course, have to bring in the CIA, they always do, due to the fact that the CIA busts, raised the price of dope, (in my opinion)for many of the kerry type crowd.
Still, all those names, some will connect.
And it is interesting to read.
So who did Linvinenkno work for? All of those mentioned?
I am glad that the Hero of the subway, has gotten rewards, for what he did.
to me, nothing he gets, takes away from the fact that he acted, without thought of being rewarded....granny
http://community.livejournal.com/quicknews/
Feature story: A man's daring rescue of a teen who fell on the subway tracks earned him the unique title "the hero of Harlem" on Thursday, plus $10,000 from Donald Trump and a trip to Disney World.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg bestowed the title upon Wesley Autrey as he presented him with the city's highest award for civic achievement, calling the 50-year-old construction worker "a great man — a man who makes us all proud to be New Yorkers."
On Tuesday, Autrey saw Cameron Hollopeter, a 19-year-old film student, suffering a seizure while waiting for a train. After stumbling down the platform, Hollopeter, of Littleton, Mass., fell onto the tracks with a train on its way into the station. Autrey, traveling with his two young daughters, said something needed to be done and he thought: "I'm the only one to do it."
He jumped down to the tracks, a few feet below platform level, and rolled with the young man into a drainage trough between the rails as the southbound No. 1 train came into the 137th Street/City College station. Some train cars passed over Autrey and Hollopeter with only a couple of inches to spare, but neither man suffered any harm from the incident. Hollopeter, hospitalized for his medical condition, was in stable condition Thursday.
Khuzestan important for Iran, Islam in many ways - Ahmadinejad
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0701052751183638.htm
Khuzestan important for Iran, Islam in many ways - Ahmadinejad
Ahvaz, Khuzestan Prov, Jan 5, IRNA
Iran-Khuzestan-Ahmadinejad
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Friday that Khuzestan
Province is dear and important for Islam and Iran from various points
of
view and its people have always been good Muslims.
President Ahmadinejad said at the beginning of his Friday cabinet
session in Ahvaz, "Some people measure the level of importance of
Khuzestan based on its underground resorts, it people's talents, and
its
natural wealth, but I believe the most important characteristic of
Khuzestan is its people's rich culture."
The president referred to the brave resistance of Khuzestan residents
in
confrontation with invaders during the Iraqi-imposed war, adding, "This
land dedicated 15,000 martyrs in a bid to prove that it is faithful to
the blood-soaked line of loving the infallible household of Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) and authentic Islam." Ahmadinejad reiterated, "We can
in
other words state that all of us are indebted for our independence, our
freedom, and our prestige to the brave resistance of Khuzestan
residents."
The President added, "In Khuzestan there are various moving tribes,
clans, and races that live side by side one another amicably like
brothers and they are all pursuing the shared objective of safeguarding
Islamic Iran's grandeur, and the establishment of a global Islamic
government."
Ahmadinejad also referred to Khuzestan as "A safe haven for friends of
the Prophet's Holy Household, from where they propagated authentic
Islam."
He appreciated the provincial people for the warm welcome they had
rendered to him and his cabinet, arguing, "In all cities and townships
where we entered the people were widely at the scene and they loudly
let
the world nations know their righteous stands."
President Ahmadinejad finally recalled his cabinet's late Judiciary
Minister Jamal Karimi-Rad, who lost his life in a road accident last
week, saying, "This is the first cabinet session in his absence."
Still, all those names, some will connect.
And it is interesting to read.
So who did Linvinenkno work for? All of those mentioned?
i THINK that there are layers and layers of terrorists
including George Soros, Shrillery Klintoon etc.
Number of Germans embracing Islam increasing persistently -- Koehler
http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=939610
Number of Germans embracing Islam increasing persistently -- Koehler
REL-GERMANY-MUSLIMS
Number of Germans embracing Islam increasing persistently -- Koehler
By Sudqi Hamdan (With photos) BERLIN, Jan 5 (KUNA) -- The lenient Islam
faith finds an appropriate ground in Germany and the number of Germans
embracing the faith is persistently increasing, according to head of
the
Supreme Muslims Council in Germany Axel Koehler.
Koehler told KUNA on Friday that according to many researches conducted
by the council, the Germans are uniquely attracted to the Islamic
faith.
He said that more than 1,000 Germans embraced Islam last year, adding
that the number of those feeling sympathy with Islam is also
increasing.
Koehler pointed out that the majority of those embracing Islam come for
the educated female's category whereas males who convert to Islam
represent the category of the elites.
He said the number of Muslims in Germany stands at nearly 3.2 million
including 15,000 Germans who had recently converted to Islam.
He added that the Germans become attracted to the Islam because of its
lenient teachings, solidarity, social harmony and its call for
anti-racism.
Asked about the hardships facing the Muslims in Germany, Koehler said
that many of the Muslims do not speak the German language, thus,
finding
a hard time integrating in the society.
He urged the concerned German circles to treat the Muslim community
according to the constitution saying this would ensure a mutual
understanding and would alleviate all obstacles facing Muslims in t he
country.(end) sh.
tg
KUNA 051008 Jan 07NNNN
This is not consistent with what I read and hear from Germany. I believe this is muzzie propoganda. I also think that between Germany, France and England, Germany will be the last to fall.
http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/010507BM.shtml
Bigotry Monitor: Volume 7, Number 1
(January 5, 2007)
Volume 7, Number 1
Friday, January 5, 2007
BIGOTRY MONITOR
A Weekly Human Rights Newsletter on Antisemitism, Xenophobia, and Religious Persecution in the Former Communist World and Western Europe
EDITOR: CHARLES FENYVESI
(News and Editorial Policy within the sole discretion of the editor)
Published by UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union
__________________________________________________________
RUSSIAN ‘NATIONALISM GONE MAINSTREAM.’ “Nationalism has been on the rise in Russia, and now it appears it's out on patrol,” correspondent Alex Rodriguez wrote in the “Chicago Tribune” of December 31, 2006. On a recent Sunday morning, he reported, “three busloads of Russian teenagers wearing green armbands emblazoned with the word ‘Locals’ stormed into a bustling produce market in this Moscow suburb, screaming ‘Down with migrants!’ They stalked past aisles of dried fruit and pickled garlic, singling out traders with non-Slavic faces and demanding to see passports and proof that their produce was safe. Some of the teens looked to be as young as 14. Though they had no authority, they carried on like immigration agents, barking out demands and commandeering the market for nearly two hours.” The correspondent quoted Zoya Abdullayeva, 40, a native of Chechnya who sells cabbage at the market: “They were humiliating us, and I don't know why. They looked for anyone with dark hair and dark skin. It was a circus.”
Rodriguez interviewed Sergei Fateyev, 35, who a year and a half ago quit his job as an economist at a quasi-governmental firm and formed the organization called Mestnye, Russian for “locals.” The group takes aim at migrants who “violate our laws and traditions,” Fateyev told the correspondent. From an initial membership of 250, it has grown to 150,000 and enjoys the backing of Moscow Region Governor Boris Gromov. “The raids carried out by Mestnye on November 26 involved 6,500 members descending on 20 suburban Moscow markets,” Rodriguez reported. “Traders at the Reutov market said some Mestnye teenagers took over trading stalls, shouting, ‘Don't buy goods from migrants -- buy from Russian traders!’”
“Russia is in the throes of its worst wave of xenophobia since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union,” correspondent Rodriguez summed up. “Ethnic violence is on the rise, nationalist movements are picking up steam, and the government has passed anti-migrant laws aimed at placating a nation warier than ever about foreigners’ place in society.” He predicted that with parliamentary elections next December and a presidential election in March 2008, “the anti-migrant measures are sure to garner favor among Russians who argue that foreigners take away jobs and raise crime rates. Those sentiments are no longer harbored only by Russia's disgruntled and poorly educated; in many ways, nationalism has gone mainstream.”
Rodriguez finds nationalism “especially prevalent among Russia's youth, who did not grow up in a Soviet system where Tajiks, Armenians, Georgians, Uzbeks, and Kyrgyz were all Soviet citizens.” Today’s Russian youth identify “with ethnic Russia, with Russian culture, and the Russian Orthodox Church” -- a sentiment “kick-started” recently by President Vladimir Putin's push for Russians to regain their national pride.
Continues with actual incidents:
http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/010406Russia.shtml
Berdsk Skinheads Sentenced for Multiple Racist Assaults
(January 4, 2007)
Three neo-Nazis have been sentenced to prison in Berdsk, Russia (Novosibirsk region) after being found guilty of hate crimes against non-Russian migrants, according to a December 28, 2006 report by the Regions.ru news web site. The sentences ranged from five and a half to eight years in prison, with a fourth defendant sentenced to a fine. They were found guilty of attacking two Tajiks in 2005 and in participating in a massive raid on a factory during which around 30 youths beat up several Uzbeks, sending four to the hospital, and painted racist slogans on the walls. The remaining suspects were never identified by the investigators. Both the prosecution and the defense plan to appeal the verdict.
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/printf.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=199&NrSection=2&NrArticle=18030&ST1=ad&ST_T1=job&ST_AS1=1&ST2=body&ST_T2=letter&ST_AS2=1&ST3=text&ST_T3=aatol&ST_PS3=1&ST_AS3=1&ST_max=3
TRANSITIONS ONLINE: Under Assault: Russia's Anti-Fascists Fight Back
by Nickolai Butkevich
3 January 2007
Attacks by Russian right-wing extremists appear to be picking up at an alarming pace.
Russians are often accused of being politically apathetic. In the face of the stifling political conformity and media censorship of the Putin era, most have reacted with a shrug, seemingly content that at least the chaos and privations of the 1990s have been put firmly behind them.
The main exceptions to this rule are the politically active segments of the country’s youth, dominated largely by extremists of both the left wing and nationalist right. Both extremes appear to be growing in both membership and political clout – witness the unconscionable inclusion of the National Bolsheviks in the “Other Russia” coalition and the growing flirtation between certain State Duma deputies and neo-Nazi groups.
But there are also healthier trends at work in Russia's youth culture, specifically the small but growing ranks of anti-fascists. Unfortunately, this fledgling movement has come under increasing attack by neo-Nazis and is subject to indifference and often outright hostility from the police.
In 2006, neo-Nazi youth groups escalated their campaign of murders and assaults against anti-fascists in an organized effort to squash the only segment of Russian society that actively opposes their plans to create a "Russia for the Russians."
MERE HOOLIGANISM?
Several recent reports illustrate the extent of the problem.
The most recent of these incidents took place on 22 December when neighbors discovered a bomb placed outside the home of anti-fascist activist Tigran Babadzhanian in Moscow. According to articles published in the national daily Komsomolskaya Pravda on 23 and 25 December, a poster attached to the bomb had a swastika drawn on it along with racist threats against the Babadzhanian family, who are ethnic Armenians. Babadzhanian regularly attends anti-fascist events and visits neo-Nazi Internet forums to argue against their extremist ideology. A police source told the newspaper that neo-Nazis regularly harassed him and painted threats on the walls of his building.
Police tried to disarm the explosive device, but it went off and injured four officers and a police dog. Despite the evidence pointing to a hate crime – three suspects identified by police allegedly belong to an extremist nationalist gang – investigators are treating the incident as a case of simple "hooliganism."
Russian police often appear to take this approach when faced with racially-motivated violent crime. Take, for example, the murder of the Moscow-based anti-fascist activist Aleksandr Ryukhin. Last 16 April, Ryukhin and a friend who managed to escape were stabbed by six youths. In the apartments of the three suspects apprehended thus far in the case, police found nationalist literature and leaflets as well as video recordings of attacks on other victims. Moreover, the suspects have been linked to extremist neo-Nazi groups including the infamous Slavic Union (SS in Russian).
Nevertheless, according to a 30 November posting on the Russian human rights website hro.org, the three will be charged with "hooliganism." Investigators, however, have indicated that the three suspects who are still at large will be charged with murder – if they are ever caught.
One person who has publicly taken issue with the tendency to charge assailants of anti-fascists and ethnic minorities with hooliganism is Irina Kacharava, the mother of St. Petersburg anti-fascist leader Timur Kacharava, who was killed in November 2005.
In a 1 December interview on hro.org, Irina Kacharava gives police credit for arresting seven suspects in her son's murder. But she said the official explanation that Timur was killed "as a result of hooliganistic actions" both defames her son by implying that he was a common street brawler who got what was coming to him, and plays down the planned nature of the killing.
Timur Kacharava, a vegetarian and a pacifist, was killed after distributing food to homeless people, his mother said, activity that would hardly be of interest to a "typical hooligan." He had been attacked before, on the metro and on the street. As they beat Kacharava, his assailants taunted him by asking: "What do you think, is it good to be an anti-fascist?"
THE BACKLASH
As 2006 drew to a close, assaults on anti-fascists appeared to pick up at an alarming pace. According to a 27 November article in the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, police covered up a brawl involving an estimated 200 neo-Nazis and anti-fascists on 18 November at Moscow's Baumanskaya metro station. Dozens were injured in the fight and several arrests were made on both sides.
St. Petersburg was the scene of two violent attacks in December. As dozens of anti-fascist demonstrators gathered for an anti-war rally on 3 December, some 30 neo-Nazis assaulted them, screaming "Forward Russia!" Then, on 10 December, skinheads attacked a group of anti-fascists who were handing out food to homeless people.
The problem is not confined to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Similar attacks occurred in 2006 in Lipetsk, Ryazan, Syktyvkar, Oryol, and Vladivostok.
Disgracefully, the Russian government has mostly ignored this issue. Several attacks against anti-fascists remain unsolved and top officials have consistently failed to condemn them. This may have something to do with the political views of these activists. Many – with the exception of the ersatz anti-fascists from the pro-Putin "Nashi" movement – embrace a brand of far-left politics that is extremely critical of the Kremlin. Additionally, some elements in the anti-fascist movement have become increasingly violent. They justify their readiness to fight back by saying that the government is not doing enough to suppress skinhead violence.
This is not, I’m afraid, a hollow argument. If law enforcement officials continue to cover up reports of neo-Nazi violence while at the same time the government caters to nationalists by banning foreigners from trading in markets and launching police sweeps against ethnic Georgians, the counter-reaction from anti-fascists and many other victims of nationalist violence in Russia will only grow fiercer. If the cliché about young people being the nation’s future has any merit, it’s clear that the country can ill afford to lose such politically active and well-intentioned youths to the temptations of extremism.
Nickolai Butkevich is research director at the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union.
Polonium-210 found in restaurant
The radioactive element believed to have killed ex-Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko has been detected in another central London restaurant.
Polonium-210 was found at the Pescatori Restaurant in Mayfair and staff are being tested, health officials said.
The police had asked the Health Protection Agency to monitor the establishment as it was "linked to the Litvinenko police investigation".
A total of 12 people in London have now tested positive for radioactivity.
In a statement, the agency said there was no reason for public health concern over the latest discovery.
"Remediation measures have been carried out successfully at the restaurant which is now open for business," the statement said.
Official reassurance
Restaurant manager Luigi Lavarini told BBC News he was happy with the way health officials had dealt with the contamination.
"We're being reassured very much by the good work of the Health Protection Agency.
"They have been very reassuring that none of us should have any problems because of this.
"The only precaution they are asking us to take is to do this urine test which we will be undergoing in the next few hours."
Mr Litvinenko died in London on 23 November and his body was found to contain a massive dose of the radioactive isotope polonium-210.
Since then, traces of the element have been discovered in several restaurants and hotels.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/6234855.stm
Published: 2007/01/05 15:10:57 GMT
© BBC MMVII
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