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
[history]
http://www.strategycenter.net/research/pubID.102/pub_detail.asp
The Little Explored Offshore Empire of the International Muslim Brotherhood
by Douglas Farah
Published on April 18th, 2006
ARTICLES
Almost from the inception of the modern Islamic banking structure (early 1980s), the international Muslim Brotherhood set up a parallel and far-flung offshore structure that has become an integral part of its ability to hide and move money around the world. This network is little understood and has, so far, garnered little attention from the intelligence and law enforcement communities tracking terrorist financial structures.
The fundamental premise of the Brotherhood in setting up this structure was that it is necessary to build a clandestine structure that was hidden from non-Muslims and even Muslims who do not share the Brotherhood’s fundamental objective of recreating the Islamic caliphate and spreading Islam, by force and persuasion, across the globe.
To this end, the Brotherhood’s strategy, including the construction of its financial network, is built on the pillars of “clandestinity, duplicity, exclusion, violence, pragmatism and opportunism.”[1]
Among the leaders of the Brotherhood’s financial efforts, based on early Brotherhood documents and public records, are Ibrahim Kamel a founder of Dar al Maal al Islami Bank (DMI ) and its offshore structure in Nassau, Bahamas; Yousef Nada, Ghalib Himmat and Yusuf al-Qaradawi and the Bank al Taqwa structure, in Nassau; and Idriss Nasreddin, with Akida Bank International in Nassau.[2]
Mapping the network of bank, insurance (takofol) companies and offshore corporations -- which are often used as covers to open bank accounts and move money in difficult-to-trace paths protected by bank secrecy laws -- should be the focus of far more attention because the network provides a mechanism for funding the Brotherhood’s licit and illicit activities around the globe.
This is of fundamental importance because the Brotherhood has played a central role in “providing both the ideological and technical capacities for supporting terrorist finance on a global basis… the Brotherhood has spread both the ideology of militant pan-Islamicism and became the spine upon which the funding operations for militant pan-Islamicism was built, taking funds largely generated from wealthy Gulf state elites and distributing them for terrorist education, recruitment and operations widely dispersed throughout the world, especially in areas where Muslims hoped to displace non-Muslim or secular governments.”[3]
Almost every major Islamist group can trace its roots to the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928 by the Hassan al-Banna, a pan-Islamicist who opposed the secular tendencies in Islamic nations. Hamas is a direct offshoot of the Brotherhood. Hassan al-Turabi, who offered sanctuary in Sudan to Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda allies, is a leader of the Brotherhood. He also sat on the boards of several of the most important Islamic financial institutions, such as DMI.[4]
Bin Laden’s mentor Abdullah Azzam was a stalwart of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood. Ayman Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s chief strategist, was arrested at age 15 in Egypt for belonging to the Brotherhood. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ayman al-Zawahiri, “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdul-Rahman, and chief 9-11 hijacker Mohamed Atta, were members of the Brotherhood.
There has been some understanding of the Brotherhood’s relationship to Islamist groups, and of those ties even in the United States. In 2003 Richard Clarke said “the issue of terrorist financing in the United States is a fundamental example of the shared infrastructure levered by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al Qaeda, all of which enjoy a significant degree of cooperation and coordination within our borders. The common link here is the extremist Muslim Brotherhood—all these organizations are descendants of the membership and ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.”[5] However, this understanding has not taken root in the intelligence, law enforcement and policy communities, nor has the financial network of the Brotherhood come under intense scrutiny.
Public records show the Brotherhood’s financial network of holding companies, subsidiaries, shell banks and real financial institutions stretches to Panama, Liberia, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Cyprus, Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and beyond. Many of the entities are in the names of individuals who, like Nada, Nasreddin, al-Qaradawi and Himmat, have publicly identified themselves as Brotherhood leaders.
A senior U.S. government official estimates the total assets of the international Brotherhood to be between $5 billion and $10 billion.[6] It is a difficult thing to assess because some individual members, such as Nada and Nasreddin, have great individual wealth. They also jointly own dozens of enterprises, both real and offshore, with Ghalib Himmat and other Brotherhood leaders. Discerning what is personal wealth, legitimate business operations, and Brotherhood wealth is difficult if not impossible. It is clear not all the money is intended to finance terror or even radical Islam. But it is equally clear that this network provides the ways and means to move significant sums of cash for those operations.
One indication of a company or corporation being a Brotherhood activity, rather than part of individual assets and wealth, is the overlap of the same people on the directorships of the financial institutions and companies. For example, the Brotherhood network entities established in Nassau, Bahamas, all registered their address as that of the law firm --Arthur Hanna and Sons -- which incorporated their businesses and banking institutions.[7] Members of the Hanna family served on the boards of the banks and companies, handled legal correspondence and represented the companies in legal cases. Many of the directors of the myriad companies served as directors of several companies simultaneously. In turn, many of those same people served simultaneously on the governing boards or sharia boards of DMI and other important Brotherhood-dominated financial institutions. The overlap of directorships and shareholders strongly indicates the tight-knit nature of the organization and the inter-connectedness of the financial network.
The most visible part of the network, offshore shell banks in the Bahamas, did merit some investigation immediately after 9-11. The Treasury Department publicly stated that Bank al Taqwa and Akida Bank International were “involved in financing radical groups such as the Palestinian Hamas, Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front and Armed Islamic Group, Tunisia's An-Nahda, and Usama bin Laden and his al-Qaida organization.”[8]
The primary shareholders in al Taqwa Bank were Nada, Nasreddin, members of the Binladen family and dozens of other Brotherhood leaders, including Yousef al-Qaradawi, the grand mufti of the United Arab Emirates.[9]
A cluster of charities based in Herndon, Va., where many leaders had ties to Nada and his banking activities, is under active investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Two of the leaders of the cluster, called the “Safa Group,” incorporated the al Taqwa Bank in Nassau, and other leaders worked for Nada’s banks and had extensive financial dealing with him. Many of the Safa Group’s leaders are also members of the Brotherhood.[10]
Unfortunately, while the Treasury Department designated Bank al Taqwa and Akida Bank with great fanfare in the immediate aftermath of 9-11, it was largely theater. The government of the Bahamas had already shut both banks down in April 2001.[11] The investigations subsequent to 9-11 revealed the terrorist ties that had been suspected, but never acted on. Earlier intelligence operations by the CIA found Bank al-Taqwa and other structures of the business empire were used not only to funnel money to al Qaeda, but also provided the terrorist organization with access to Internet services and encrypted telephones, and helped arrange arms shipments.[12] The Treasury Department, citing intelligence sources, said that “As of October 2000, Bank Al Taqwa appeared to be providing a clandestine line of credit to a close associate of Usama bin Laden and as of late September 2001, Usama bin Laden and his al-Qaida organization received financial assistance from Youssef M. Nada.”[13]
The structure of Bank al Taqwa and Akida Bank in Nassau follow the pattern of other offshore endeavors. The bank was a virtual bank, with only a handful of employees in Nassau manning computers and telephones. The bank was affiliated with the al Taqwa Management Organization, owned by another Nada entity in Switzerland. Nada owned a controlling interest in the bank, and Nasreddin was a director. At the same address, Nasreddin’s Akida Bank Private Ltd, operated as a subsidiary of the Nasreddin Foundation. Nasreddin was the president, and Nada served on the board. The real banking activity, however, was carried out through correspondent relationships with European banks.[14]
Nada and Nasreddin, along with their banks, were designated by the U.S. and the U.N. as terrorist financiers in November 2001. In August 2002, the United States and Italy jointly designated 14 more joint Nada/Nasreddin entities for supporting terrorism.[15] But that was not the end of the use of shell companies and off-shore havens by the Nada/Nasreddin group. An examination of these activities point to serious shortfalls in the efforts to combat terrorist financing.
Despite the clear and compelling evidence that the offshore network of the Brotherhood provided vital financial and logistical support to a variety of Islamic terrorist operations, the only action taken so far has been to freeze a few more of the companies owned by Nada and Nasreddin. There has been little or no coordinated, concerted effort to map out, identify and understand the rest of the Brotherhood structure. One possible exception is the NATO project on the Muslim Brotherhood, which focused on the Brotherhood’s activities in Europe and has sought to identify the different Brotherhood entities.
Many Brotherhood businesses were registered as offshore companies through local trusts in Liechtenstein, where there is no requirement to identify companies’ owners, and no record is kept regarding activities or transactions. On Jan. 28, 2002, Nada, in violation of the U.N. travel ban he is subject to, traveled from his home in Campione d’Italia, Switzerland, to Vaduz, Liechtenstein. While in Vaduz, he sought to change the names of several of the designated companies. At the same time, he applied to put the new companies in liquidation, and had himself appointed as liquidator. As offshore entities, the newly-named companies maintained no records in Liechtenstein.[16]
Attempts by designated terrorist financiers to switch company registrations, or establish new companies without their visible participation, is a pattern discovered by U.N. and European investigators. While some entities have been detected, many others are believed to have transpired without being detected or blocked. The United Nations Monitoring Group, which wrote a series of well-documented reports based on months of investigations around the world by a team of financial experts, uncovered the Nada movements in Liechtenstein. The group concluded that “The Nada and Nasreddin examples reflect continued serious weaknesses regarding the control of business activities and assets other than bank accounts.” The group cited the difficulties in identifying beneficial ownerships and shared assets, and the weakness of the travel ban.[17] In fact, the panel found the whereabouts of the vast majority of the 272 individuals named as terrorist financiers by the United Nations, remained unknown.[18]
The modus operandi of Nada and Nasreddin is visible elsewhere. Dozens of companies of designated individuals remain active despite the ostensible international commitment to shutting them down. In some cases, such as Panama, companies under the names of designated individuals remain untouched.[19] This does not include the many dozens of companies and other corporate entities belonging to designated individuals, either outright or through nominee shareholders, registered in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and elsewhere in the Caribbean. While the Brotherhood registered dozens of companies in the 1980’s and 1990’s using Brotherhood leaders as identified directors, this changed over time, making it more difficult to trace the ownership of the entities. Beginning in the late 1990’s, perhaps in response to the few intelligence probes that were carried out, many offshore companies have been shut down. Many appear to be re-opened under the direction of nominee shareholders, making the direct tie to the Brotherhood more difficult to detect.
However, it is often not necessary to take any precautions at all because the international sanctions regime aimed at designated terrorist financiers is so weak. For example, Nigeria is in flagrant violation of the UN sanctions regime by refusing to freeze the functioning businesses of Nasreddin. Nasreddin has done nothing to hide his ownership of the enterprises. The primary company is Nasco Investment & Property Ltd., owned by Amana Holdings and Management Inc., a still-functioning offshore company registered in Panama.[20] The company lists Nasreddin as its president.[21]
These issues -- offshore and shell companies, front companies and the inability to account for the vast majority of the designated al Qaeda financiers or their billions -- make it difficult to ascertain how much of al Qaeda’s financial flow has been impaired in the 4 1/2 years since 9-11. While the 9-11 Commission’s Monograph on Terrorist Financing states that al Qaeda’s operating budget is now reduced to a few million dollars a year and its financial needs are minimal[22], this assessment is not universally shared. The U.N. Monitoring Group estimated the value of al Qaeda’s financial portfolio “at around $30 million,” including its “large portfolio of ostensibly legitimate businesses.”[23] Whatever the amount in the direct portfolio of al Qaeda may be, it is only a small fraction of the portfolio of the Muslim Brotherhood. If al Qaeda were to run into serious financial difficulty, its coffers could easily be quietly replenished through the Brotherhood’s offshore structure with very little danger of being interdicted.
If the flow of money to Islamist terrorist groups is to be cut off, and the funding for the Muslim Brotherhood’s announced intention of recreating the Islamic caliphate and the eventual domination of the world by a radical Islam is to be slowed, then the offshore structure must be understood and steps must be taken to shut it down. It will be necessary to undertake the tedious task of digging up corporate and financial records and mapping the complex and secretive relationships among individuals, corporations and financial institutions. A first, and relatively easy step, would be to reinvigorate the U.N. sanctions regime by putting pressure on the most flagrant violators. A second would be to dedicate more US government resources to the mission of identifying and tracking Brotherhood financiers and assets. This would raise the Brotherhood’s cost of doing business and force the members to move away from the easiest, most profitable ways of doing business, while also affording democratic governments a clearer picture of their enemies’ capabilities.
[1] Alain Chouet, “The Association of Muslim Brothers: Chronicle of a Barbarism Foretold,” European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, April 6, 2006.
[2] Corporate records and Muslim Brotherhood writings in possession of the author.
[3] Testimony of Jonathan Winer, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Law Enforcement, before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, July 31, 2003.
[4] Documents on al Turabi’s leadership of DMI in possession of the author.
[5] Testimony of Richard A. Clarke before the Senate Banking Committee, Oct. 22, 2003.
[6] Confidential author interview.
[7] Documents in possession of the author.
[8] The United States and Italy Designate Twenty-Five New Financiers of Terror,” U.S. Treasury Department, Aug. 29, 2002.
[9] 1999 List of Bank al Taqwa shareholders, obtained by author.
[10] Douglas Farah, Blood From Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror, Broadway Book, New York, 2004, pp. 155, 209.
[11] Notice of closures in possession of the author.
[12] Hosenball, Perain and Skipp, op cit.
[13] The United States and Italy Designate Twenty-Five New Financiers of Terror,” U.S. Treasury Department, Aug. 29, 2002.
[14] Corporate records obtained by author and “The United States and Italy Designate Twenty-Five New Financiers of Terror,” U.S. Treasury Department, Aug. 29, 2002.
[15] “The United States and Italy Designate Twenty-Five New Financiers of Terror,” U.S. Treasury Department, Aug. 29, 2002.
[16] Second report of the Monitoring Group Established Pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1363 (2001) and to Resolution 1455 (2003) on Sanctions Against al Qaeda, Dec. 3, 2003, paragraphs 77-80.
[17] Ibid, paragraphs 81-82.
[18] Ibid, executive summary, pg. 3.
[19] Documentation of currently registered companies by SDIs in possession of the author.
[20] Lisa Myers, “Alleged Terrorist Financier Operates in Plain Sight,” NBC, June 30, 2005.
[21] Registro Publico de Panama, ficha 271559, rollo 38428.
[22] National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Monograph on Terrorist Financing, p. 28.
[23] Second report of the Monitoring Group Established Pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1390 (2002) on Sanctions Against al Qaeda, December 2002, paragraph 48.
http://www.strategycenter.net/research/pubID.148/pub_detail.asp
Briefly: China Heats Up Dispute with Japan, But Why Now?
by Arthur Waldron, Ph.D
Published on February 10th, 2007
ARTICLES
China and Japan have long disputed sovereignty over the uninhabited Senkaku Islands, about 105 miles northeast of Taiwan’s northern port of Keelung, and known in Chinese as the Diaoyutai islands.
But the issue has been largely moot since Japan formally annexed the islands about two years ago, dispatching coast guard vessels to watch them, and requiring foreign vessels entering Japanese territorial waters there to give prior notification.
On 4 February, however, the Chinese "maritime survey vessel" Dongfanghong ["East is Red"] No. 2 entered the zone without giving the required notification.
Some indication of the seriousness with which Tokyo views this was suggested by the fact that he repeatedly demanded an explanation, point blank, from China’s envoy—but got nothing in return.
The question all of this poses is "why now?" The quarrel over the Senkakus has been going on since the middle of the last century. Even when Japan formally annexed and secured the islands, China’s protests were muted and perfunctory,
In the last few months, however, China’s attitude would seem to have been changing. She has come down very hard on the Koreas, for claiming Paektu mountain. Now she is refusing to calm this incident with Japan.
Is Beijing simply feeling stronger, now that she has a fleet of submarines, a variety of nuclear missiles, advanced fighter planes, and anti-satellite capabilities—recently demonstrated? Does she seek now to resume the plucking off of island territories—as she did thirty years ago with the Paracel Islands, taken from Vietnam, as the South was collapsing? Or Mischief Reef, taken from the Philippines?
If so, one may expect that Japan’s response will be rather more robust than Saigon’s, Hanoi’s, or Manila’s.
OR can it be, as one Chinese informant suggests, that internal politics in the People’s Republic are driving this new aggressive foreign policy?
My informant suggests that when Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao took office, they sincerely intended to end corruption, close the yawning income gaps, deal with the environment, and create the "harmonious" society of which they spoke.
The attempt to do these things, however, convinced them that they were simply impossible. To reform China would require measures beyond the power or the willingness of the communist party to carry out. In effect, nearly every official and communist party member would have to be arrested and imprisoned, as all are corrupt, including perhaps the standing committee of the politburo and the leadership itself.
Reform was therefore abandoned. But people remained angry. How to mollify them? A standard tactic is to stir up nationalistic fervor—although when one stirs up China, one tends to get score settling over local issues, criminal violence, and crude anti-foreignism, rather than any coherent nationalist sentiment. But at least the spears held by the people may be directed outward rather than against local officials and the leadership.
Does this explain the current abrasive foreign policy?
Or must we search even more deeply, for example, into the People’s Liberation Army itself and its factions and ambitions? That will not be easy. Even for China’s leadership, the party’s Army is, as Churchill said of the Soviet Union, a Riddle wrapped in a Mystery inside an Enigma.
http://www.strategycenter.net/research/pubID.147/pub_detail.asp
Briefly: China Unsettled By Shifts in Korean Peninsula
by Arthur Waldron, Ph.D
Published on February 7th, 2007
ARTICLES
The latest sign that things are not going Beijing’s way in the Korean peninsula came on Friday February 2 at the Winter Asian Games in Changchun, China. During the awards ceremony, five South Korean female skaters held up seven placards proclaiming" Mount Paektu Is Our Territory."
This was a shock, since China has long claimed the mountain, which it calls Changbai, as its own territory. And has assumed that its Korean vassals would go along.
Neither North nor South Korea has ever agreed with that—the mountain has traditionally had great nationalistic significance for Koreans, and the area near it in China is full of ethnic Koreans.The gesture was undoubtedly spontaneous but no Korean has disowned it.
This is a significant straw in the wind.
China seems to have assumed for some time that neither Korea posed a threat to her. Far from it. North Korea and its nuclear program were a "borrowed knife" with which to threaten Japan and the United States.
The danger, as Beijing saw it, was the collapse of North Korea—against which she made provision by claiming that the ancient kingdom of Goguryo, which scholars have traditionally thought of as proto-Korean, was in fact Chinese.
That claim was evidently designed to legitimize a Chinese operation to occupy the North when it did collapse.
But now things have taken a very different turn. Both North and South Koreans are becoming more nationalistic and less patient with China. South Korea is still deeply suspicious of the North, and vice versa, but both sides may be coming to understand that they had better hang together, or China may annex half their country.
China has always assumed she could simply turn off food aid and shut the oil tap if North Korea got too far out of line. My own suspicion is that under such circumstances South Korea would make up the shortfall. And such a hostile action by China would alienate both Koreas, without coercing either of them.
Furthermore, the United States may be moving toward simply recognizing North Korea. We still nourish the dream that somehow North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons in return for such recognition. That is impossible. But recognition is still a good idea.
It would let us talk directly to the North Koreans, without Chinese intermediation, instantly producing leverage in Beijing.
Now suppose that as a result of talks, U.S. tensions with Pyongyang fall. Suppose further that North and South Korea slowly draw closer together. A frightening but convenient flashpoint begins to cool.
Convenient because the danger of war in Korea distracts the United States and Japan from other dangers in Asia, and having the two Koreas opposing one another means neither can fully serve Korean national interests.
The United States and Japan would be able to relax a bit. Communications among them and the two Koreas would increase. The Chinese would no longer be the indispensable go between.
Forces now assigned to the defense of Korea could move elsewhere. What had been a buffer, North Korea, would become a pressure point.
Not only that, a new economic and military power a bit smaller in area than the British isles, would emerge. The two Koreas would, between them, possess nuclear weapons sufficient to place Beijing and much of north China at risk, a variety of missiles, modern fighters, naval vessels, and stealthy conventional submarines.
This new state would share a contested border with China, and to the north connect directly to Russia. To the south its coast would completely overshadow and dominate all maritime approach routes to Tianjin, the port of Beijing, and to Qingdao, a major Chinese naval base. Korea’s position is of extraordinary strategic significance. From it, all maritime access to north China can be cut off.
China is protesting, to be sure, but in their usual ham-handed way. Having said nothing about the North Korean bomb, they are now raising hell about some skaters—and renaming schools in China [!!] after Mount Paektu/Changbai—a clear attempt to stir up nationalist passions.
Koreans have nationalist passions too, however. Until now they have been directed against Japan, a cruel colonial master from 1910 to 1945, and against the United States (which saved freedom in South Korea at the cost of 50,000 American dead].
But Korean history has shown repeatedly that China has always been the real problem.
As this fact becomes more clearly recognized in both Koreas, then we may expect, for once, that what has been a problem for us may begin to turn into an (intractable) problem for China.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/02/14/report_missing_iraqi_american_in_video/
Report: Missing Iraqi-American in Video
Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old reserve U.S. soldier from Ann Arbor, Michigan, is seen in this undated handout photograph provided by his family, in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday Oct. 30, 2006 . A Shiite militant group has released a video of al-Taayie who was kidnapped nearly four months ago while visiting his wife in downtown Baghdad, an American television network reported Wednesday Feb. 14, 2007. The U.S. government has offered a US$50,000 (euro38,400) reward leading to the recovery of Iraqi-born American Army translator Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, who was abducted by gunmen on Oct. 23. Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old reserve U.S. soldier from Ann Arbor, Michigan, is seen in this undated handout photograph provided by his family, in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday Oct. 30, 2006 . A Shiite militant group has released a video of al-Taayie who was kidnapped nearly four months ago while visiting his wife in downtown Baghdad, an American television network reported Wednesday Feb. 14, 2007. The U.S. government has offered a US$50,000 (euro38,400) reward leading to the recovery of Iraqi-born American Army translator Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, who was abducted by gunmen on Oct. 23. (AP Photo/Family HO)
[history]
[has hidden urls]
http://www.terrorfinance.org/the_terror_finance_blog/2006/10/a_swiss_intelli
A Swiss intelligence informant confirms links between Ayman Al Zawahiri and the Ramadan brothers
According to a former informant for the Swiss intelligence who claims to have been recruited to infiltrate the Islamic Center of Geneva, managed by members of the Ramadan family, including Hani and Tariq, Ayman Al Zawahiri attended two meetings there in Geneva in March 1991.
The information was revealed this week in a Swiss German newspaper quoting the spy's own memos after a trip to Egypt he made in 2005 at the request of Hani Ramadan. His records show he was able to confirm at least one contact between Hani Ramadan and Ayman Al Zawahiri in March 1991; his information indicates "several trips" of Zawahiri in Geneva. It also mentions the fact that the Al Qaeda leader was holding a Swiss passport under the name of Amin Othan (one of Zawahiri known aliases is Amin Othman).
We first published the information about the Geneva meetings on September 13, 2006 on this blog ( Tariq Ramadan new links to terror).
Posted by jc brisard on October 17, 2006
http://www.terrorfinance.org/the_terror_finance_blog/
Soon on your mobile phone- money transfers to al Qaeda
Al Qaeda, Hizbollah, Hamas members and their ilks the world over are delighted. Soon, they and other criminals can use cell phones to transfer money around the globe.
The GSM Association, the mobile telephone operator trade body, announced that 19 mobile phone companies will allow more than “600 million customers in over 100 countries,” to use their cell phones to transfer money internationally. “The system will allow a person to put cash onto their mobile, and order it to be sent to a mobile phone number abroad, where the recipient receives a text message saying that money has arrived.”
“The system will allow a person to put cash onto their mobile, and order it to be sent to a mobile phone number abroad, where the recipient receives a text message saying that money has arrived… the initiative could double the number of recipients of international remittances to more than 1.5 billion." This new initiative, which is said to help migrant workers to send money to their families, would undoubtedly defeat most efforts to identify the users and follow the money trail. A terrorist dream comes true.
Posted by Rachel Ehrenfeld on February 12, 2007 at 20:26 | Permalink |
[in my opinion, this is our real terror basis]
http://www.terrorfinance.org/the_terror_finance_blog/
Clinton-Dubai connection ; comments by former Clinton adviser on Australian TV
The following is an excerpt from an interview between Bill Clinton's former political consultant, Dick Morris, and Tony Jones of the Australian ABC's Lateline programme:
TONY JONES: I think you've given us a pretty fair idea of what the Republican attack ads might focus on if she(Hillary Clinton) does run but do you think there's anything else beyond her past activities that the public doesn't yet know about?
DICK MORRIS: There is one. Bill has been very involved with Dubai, the capital city of the UAE, the United Arab Emirates, and the Amir of Dubai, who took power this past February, is the second or third richest man in the world, and first he invited President Clinton to come and speak in Dubai and Bill Clinton was paid $300,000 for each of those speeches. But then the Amir gave to a company in the United States control over all of his investment portfolio, to make his investment decisions and set up a subsidiary of that company to invest all of his money and Bill Clinton was the go-between in that deal and is being paid a brokerage fee for that deal having been happened. Neither Hillary or Bill have disclosed how much that fee is but it may well be in the millions, even tens of millions of dollars. She's on her ethics form, said it's more than $1,000, but that's all she's required to say. And after five years, Bill may be eligible for as much as $100 million.
Dubai is a difficult country for the United States. Recently the Amir was named in a class action suit for importing two year old boys, who were then raised with stunted growth to be jockeys on camels and then when they reach pubity they're let go and have no way of making a living, have no education and in many cases are physically disformed. He?s announced that he?s curbing that practice but he?s put up with it for 20 years.
Dubai refines all of Iran's gasoline and without Dubai Iran couldn't have any gasoline - resists US pressure to cut back on that to pressure Iran not to develop nuclear weapons.
So there are a host of issues where an Arab country paying the husband of the president of the United States a vast amount of money that goes into their joint chequing account could really be raised in the campaign, and I'm going to spend some time raising them.
(full transcript at http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1841851.htm)
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Posted by Ganesh Sahathevan on February 06, 2007 at 17:22 | P
Northern Nevada to build anti-terrorism network
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070214/NEWS10/702140338
Northern Nevada to build anti-terrorism network
--STAFF REPORTS
Using $1.58 million in federal money, the Washoe County Commission on
Tuesday approved the creation of an intelligence network for Northern
Nevada to fight terrorism.
The Washoe County sheriff would oversee the Northern Nevada
Information Center and work in partnership with the Las Vegas
Metropolitan Police Department, Clark County and Nevada emergency
management agencies to gather intelligence on potential terrorism and
major crimes.
The sheriff also would join Las Vegas in overseeing a StateWatch
program to protect critical infrastructure across the state. Assistant
Sheriff Jim Lopey said the grants will cover expenses for at least two
years and expected other grants could be obtained for two more years.
County Manager Katy Singlaub said she expects rural Nevada counties
could be asked to help pay for the network, which also would be used
in case of a major disaster or emergency.
The money would be used to hire a program director, four intelligence
analysts, a liaison with rural counties, equipment, training and
travel.
Arab press roundup for Feb. 14
http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20070214-071813-4047r
Review of the Arab press
AMMAN, Jordan, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Feb. 14:
Lebanon's as-Safir Wednesday ran an article by Hezbollah
Secretary-General Seyed Hassan Nasrallah marking the second anniversary
of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination. Nasrallah wrote
in the independent mass-circulation daily the serious repercussions
still echoing from Hariri's assassination shows the importance of the
man, whom he described as a "martyr." He said he became close to the
late premier in the last year of his life, meeting with him privately
once a week, despite their political differences, stressing that all
the
Lebanese people had lost a great man who was the only figure who
constituted a bridge between the rivals. Nasrallah added that finding
the truth behind Hariri's murder and bringing his killers to justice is
a national demand, warning that his blood should not have been spilled
in vain. "We all know that Prime Minister Hariri looked towards a
strong
state based on the rule of law and real institutions; a sovereign and
independent state," he wrote. "We all know he was very keen on the
identity of Lebanon and his position on the Arab-Israeli conflict; we
all know his position towards the resistance and his relentless Arab
and
international efforts to push away the aggression, and protecting and
maintaining the resistance." The Hezbollah chief insisted that the
anniversary of Hariri's murder should not be turned into calls for
vengeance against "supposed suspects, without waiting for the
investigation results or trial."
Lebanon's Daily Star said Tuesday's bus bombings in Lebanon, in which
three people were killed and 20 others injured, previews the
"inevitable
result of unsolved murders and uninspired politics since the slaying"
of
Hariri two years ago. The independent English-language daily added in
its editorial the perpetrators of the bus attack arose from conditions
created by bickering political rivals. It blasted politicians from both
camps, the government and opposition, for disrespecting the public by
failing to reach a compromise, saying an attack against innocent
civilians was eventual and predictable. "The next stage that so many
Lebanese fear, though, is entirely avoidable: We don't have to see
tit-for-tat massacres that spiral into civil war if the political class
realizes at last that its pride is not justified, that its status is
not
earned, and that its priorities are indefensible," the paper stressed.
It complained the people who took to the streets of Beirut after
Hariri's assassination have been betrayed, and blamed the politicians
for having "subjugated the interests of an entire country to their
personal foibles, their determined inactivity, their wishful thinking,
their rash actions, and most of all, their wholly undeserved sense of
entitlement." The daily said while all the political leaders condemned
Tuesday's bombings, there was no indication that "an appropriate sense
of urgency had been instilled in them" to resolve their differences.
The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi said the Lebanon bus bombings are a
clear message that the country is on the verge of a new phase of
instability, saying they targeted civilians, not politicians or public
figures, for the first time since Hariri's assassination. The
independent Palestinian-owned daily suggested those responsible for the
bombings in Lebanon seem to have changed their strategy by shifting the
explosions to the street, especially the Christian one, "in the hope of
fueling the fire of the struggle" that could turn into another civil
war. The timing of the bombings on the eve of the second anniversary of
Hariri's assassination indicates the identity of the parties involved,
it said. "A number of outside forces exploited the Lebanese
polarization" in the aftermath of Hariri's murder, the daily argued,
which led the country to become a field for a "war of various Arab and
international intelligence services, and that's why it is difficult to
pinpoint who is behind these explosions." It added when the British
government warns its citizens against traveling to Lebanon and when
some
Lebanese start packing their bags to find a safe haven elsewhere, "it
is
not hard to read the dark future of this beautiful country with its
pioneering people."
Qatar's al-Rayah said in its editorial the first reading of the Lebanon
bombings indicate external intentions are seeking to fuel the fire of
sedition in the country after a relative calm in the past several
weeks.
The pro-government daily added the rivals' insistence on refusing to
clash shows that "hidden hands are tampering with the future of the
different Lebanese sects." It said the timing of the bombing has
"malicious intentions seeking to deepen the differences on the eve" of
Hariri's assassination anniversary, especially that the attack targeted
innocent civilians that does not seem to have a political objective.
"All the Lebanese know that no party, except the enemies of Lebanon, is
benefiting from the bloody events that only lead to the destruction of
Lebanon," the daily argued. It urged the Lebanese to unite around their
national principles to build an independent state able to face the
external challenges and to realize these crimes are intended to spread
sedition and more divisions. "The only response to these crimes should
be for the Lebanese rivals to return to dialogue, being the only
solution...towards rearranging the internal house," it said.
Jordan's independent al-Ghad published a cartoon indicating that
explosions in the Arab world have become a daily occurrence. The
cartoon
shows an Arab newspaper, called "Every Day News," with a large
front-page headline that says: "Explosion rocks..." Under the headline
is a list, "Baghdad, Beirut, Gaza," with a small square next to each
one. A tick is checked next to Beirut.
http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/
[has hidden urls]
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico: The woven web becomes more tangled.
This article caught my eye and I read it, did a little Google action on it which led to more links which led to, well, you know the drill. It concerns one Jesús Argüelles Mandujano, aka Felipe de Jesús Argüelles Mandujano, aka "El Rayo", former Chief of Police of Cancún.
In November of 2003, 5 agents of the AFI (kind of like our FBI) were executed in Cancún. In December of 2004, just over 1 year later, Chief of Police Argüelles Mandujano -- "El Rayo" -- along with some other city, state and federal officials, were taken into custody and sent off to a federal prison in Mexico state. Their arrests were propogated based on information obtained from four "protected witnesses", known by code names as "María", "Rosendo", "Arturo" and "Samantha". The first three appeared in court yesterday in a "careo" against ex-chief Argüelles Mandujano who had just been flown back to Cancún to face a criminal court judge. I don't know what happened to "Samantha".
A "careo" is, literally, a face-to-face confrontation between an accused and his/her accuser(s) in front of a judge. The judge gets to use this faceoff as a means to determine which side is most likely telling the truth. These "careos" are a good reason why sex crimes go unreported here or, if reported, un-prosecuted. A lady knows she is going to have to face her attacker, in close proximity, in front of a judge who has the power to declare the accused innocent on the spot, depending upon how much the judge has been paid by the lawyer and family of the accused, and allow him to walk out of the courtroom along with his accuser. An uncomfortable thought for most ladies, I'm sure.
In any event, I Googled 'ol Jesús, or Felipe de Jesús, or "El Rayo" and guess whose name also popped up? Remember this guy?
That's right, it's Raúl Luis Martins Coggiola, pimp king of Cancun
Three months ago, the Cancún offices of the daily Por Esto!, out of Mérida, Yucatan, were bombed, or rather, hand-grenaded. Por Esto! says that it was the work of Martíns and a group of narco traffickers known as "Grupo Tabasco". The daily charges that the bombing was planned in Martíns night club/whorehouse "The One" and carried out by Martíns personal chief of security, one "Edgar", aka "La Guacha". The newspaper further alleges that Martíns helped Edgar, La Guacha, escape Cancún on the night of the bombing and moved him to the USA where he is currently in hiding. Calling all CIA and DEA!!
But, oh my, the newpaper doesn't stop there. Por Esto! says that its facility in Cancún was bombed because the newspaper has in its possession documents and a list of local businessmen and politicians who have been benefiting from drug proceeds by laundering the money through their hotels, restaurants, night clubs, tourist docks and piers, salons, boutiques etc..
And who handles all that cash -- we're talking tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of Yankee dollars here? Why, our old buddy, pimp Raúl Martíns. Need a gigantic loan that a bank won't touch? See Raúl at The One. Need a politician or group of politicians bought off and you're just a bit short of the necessary cash? See Raúl at The One. Or, on the other hand, if you've got a dozen suitcases stuffed with several millions in hundred dollar bills and need someplace to "invest" it all, see Raúl at The One. "We washee weely kleen."
Grupo Tabasco, according to Por Esto!, is headed by Clemente Soto Peña aka "Jesús Canchola" and Joel Montoya Félix aka "El JR". These guys, along with Edgar "El Guacho", make their money dealing cocaine out of some 600 drug houses throughout Cancún and Quintana Roo's gold coast. In other words, they cater to tourists as well as rich Mexicans who have homes, villas and condos in the area. This is the high end retail end of the drug business in Mexico.
The newspaper charges that former governor Joaquin Hendricks "covered up" the formation of Grupo Tabasco during his reign. It is alleged that "El Rayo", now on trial for the murder of the 5 AFI agents, became chief of police after working his way up through the ranks by means of murder. This gave Grupo Tabasco control of the police force in Cancún and carte blanche for both their drug distribution/sales operations as well as the money laundering operation which was spearheaded by Martíns along with his businessmen and politician buddies.
A retired Mexican army colonel managed to get himself appointed chief if staff of the local police force. What he found horrified him. He went public with the information that he personally knew of at least 167 drug houses in Cancún. He further stated that "organized crime in Cancún is a 'floating business' that changes location all the time." Col. Wilfrido Flores Saucedo and his bodyguard, Alejandro Morales Xicoténcatl, were found machine-gunned to death in their car last June in downtown Cancún.
Add into the mix the secret videos that Martíns is known to have made of local businessmen and politicians playing with Martíns imported Argentine beauties, bombed Jewish social centers and Israeli embassies in Argentina, and it's a real cesspool. By "secret videos" I mean that one doesn't know they exist until one refuses to go along with some sleazy scheme or another. Then, out pops the weasel. And one usually just decides to go along so as to, uh, get along.
Por Esto! charges that the bombing of its Cancún offices was planned during a meeting in The One by Martíns, "El JR", "Jesús Canchola", "El Guacho" and a guy named Mariano Galué Ancona, an ex-assistant police chief to "El Rayo". Now, how do you suppose that the newspaper Por Esto! would come by all of that information? The girls are talkin', Raul, and they'll burn you yet.
We hope.
http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/
Friday, February 09, 2007
Lansing, Michigan: Gov. Granholm to release 5000 criminals because she's not "mad at them" anymore.
Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/, Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to release 5000 parole-eligible prisoners in one fell swoop because, we're not 'mad at them' anymore.
PARTEEE!
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, already riding the crest of unpopularity in her state, has proposed releasing 5000 parole-eligible prison inmates, er, immediately. State Corrrections Commissioner Patricia Caruso says,
We need to decide who we're afraid of and who we're mad at.
We need to be sure the people we're afraid of are locked up. Are we mad enough to spend an average of $33,000 a year to lock them up until they die or until they finish every last day of their sentence?
Note that Michigan is a matriarchal society. Other examples of matriarchal societies would be the US House of Representives as well as hyena clans, but I repeat myself.
Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/, Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to release 5000 parole-eligible prisoners in one fell swoop because, we're not 'mad at them' anymore.
Charles Manson sings,
"Slide, ride, fly to Michigan
Stomp, romp, hop to Michigan"
Manson has been eligible for parole sine 1978. Under Granholm's grand plan, he would have been loose on the streets for the past 29 years. Think about that.
Manson, imprisoned, unfortunately, in California back when they could get a conviction there, described Governor Granholm and the other Michigan matriarchs quite well during his 1998 parole hearing:
So don't blame me and say I'm taking over your minds,
because you didn't have any to start with.
end manson quote.
[file under 'beware' and prayers for child.]
http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070213/News01/70213047/0/NEWS
Article published Feb 13, 2007
Mother dies, leaving 5-year-old daughter with her body for days
FRUITLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- A 5-year-old girl fended for herself for days while she was left home alone with the body of her mother, who was found dead on her couch after apparently succumbing to bacterial meningitis, authorities said.
The body of Tina Tietz, 39, was discovered Sunday afternoon after a concerned longtime friend called 911.
Police had to force their way into her rural home in Muskegon County's Fruitland Township, about 45 miles northwest of Grand Rapids. There they also found the woman's daughter, Marissa, who had rummaged the house for food for an unknown number of days, and the family dog, which had been tied up inside.
Police found the cupboards open, rice and cereal spilled all over and the bathroom sink overflowing.
Mother and child lived alone at the address. Tietz's teenage daughter stays with the woman's ex-husband, police said.
Marissa was examined at a hospital and now is in the care of her maternal grandparents, who live in Oceana County, Muskegon County Undersheriff Dean Roesler told The Muskegon Chronicle for a story published Tuesday. The Tietz's mixed-breed dog was taken to a nearby animal-rescue organization.
A preliminary autopsy finding indicates that Tietz likely died of bacterial meningitis, although laboratory tests will be conducted to confirm the cause of death, Roesler said.
Bacterial meningitis is a serious infection of the fluid in the spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain, and can cause brain damage and death. Symptoms include fever, headache and a stiff neck.
Michelle Schnotala, 39, of Montague, drove to Tietz's home on Sunday to check on her friend. They last spoke to each other on Feb. 3, at which time Tietz complained of a headache and ear pain, Schnotala said.
When messages left on Tietz's cell phone during the ensuing week went unanswered, Schnotala became concerned and drove to her house, and found ''everything was all locked up. I heard the dog barking and Marissa crying.''
Schnotala peeked through a front door slot, saw her friend on the couch and called for help. She could not persuade Marissa to unlock the door.
''She just kept saying 'Mama's sleeping, Mama's sleeping,''' Schnotala said.
In March 2000, authorities in Kent County discovered that a 7-year-old boy dressed himself and got his own meals for up to three weeks while his 29-year-old mother lay dead on the floor of their Grand Rapids-area apartment.
Medical officials never determined the cause of her death but relatives said the woman had diabetes.
[photos]
http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Caracas, Venezuela: Chávez says, "Let'em eat . . . chicken feet?"
Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com,
Chicken feet soup is just one of the many ways Venezuelans are enjoying the only meat they can buy at the supermarkets these days.
Ooh, yummy!
Hugo Chávez's garden of Eden in Venezuela has run out of beef. And pork and chicken breasts, thighs, backs, legs and wings. All he's got left are chicken feet.
Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com, For gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, please visit Pale Horse Galleries, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/,
A supermarket meat counter employee explains to Mother Hubbard that Venezuela's cupboards are bare. Except, of course, for chicken feet.
Nobody here but us chicken's feets.
Could these people be any more stupid? Chávez and his government toadies are blaming "hoarders and speculators" for the shortages. The real problem is Chávez's price controls. Beef is artificially priced at $1.82 per pound when $2.41 per pound is required just to get it to the supermarket shelves. That means that the supermarkets have to sell it at cost, which they refuse to do, and the middlemen have to eat a $0.59 per pound loss, which they also refuse to do. Hence, no beef. Since the cattle raisers can't sell their beef to anyone, I guess that means they are hoarding it.
Chávez insituted price controls on over 400 basic items in 2003 in an effort to control inflation and help the poor. He successfully reduced the inflation rate from 25% where it was in 2003 to 78% where it stands today. And now the poor can't afford to buy even chicken feets. Nice job, Hugo!
The same problem exists for chicken parts (parts is parts, right?) of the more edible varieties, leaving nothing but chicken feets on the menu. As if this wasn't enough, the same thing is happening with sugar, so if you can manage to choke down your chicken feets, they'll go down bitterly, literally.
As a friend of mine once wisely remarked,
"I ain't eatin' nuthin' that's been stompin' around in chicken hit."
THE CAUCASUS BECOMES PART OF EUROPE;
The EU allocates 20 million euros for retraining specialists in
Chechnya and Ingushetia
Olga Pavlikova
European Union's aid for healthcare and education in the North
Caucasus; On February 15, the European Union will announce a
reconstruction and development program for the North Caucasus. Its
total budget is 20 million euros. The money will be spent on
developing healthcare, education, and small business in Chechnya and
Ingushetia.
On February 15, the European Union (EU) will announce a reconstruction
and development program for the North Caucasus. Its total budget is 20
million euros. The money will be spent on developing healthcare,
education, and small business in Chechnya and Ingushetia - between 5
million and 7.7 million euros for each program. The project is
scheduled to last two years, and it will be part of the existing
technical aid program for the North Caucasus.
The new EU project will be implemented with the assistance of the
World Health Organization and UNICEF, both of which have personnel
working in the North Caucasus. Ute Anderlein, WHO emergency medical
assistance coordinator: "We have been operating in Chechnya and
Ingushetia since the start of the second armed conflict in 1999.
Throughout this period, we have provided humanitarian aid only. Both
regions are now facing an acute problem: low skill levels among
medical personnel. None of them have had any additional training or
qualification programs since the war began." According to Anderlein,
the new program will enable over 3,000 health workers in Chechnya and
Ingushetia to take various training courses. Some will be sent to
Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol, Moscow, or St. Petersburg for training.
Others will attend lectures in their home regions: some of Russia's
leading doctors will visit them. Particular attention will be paid to
training specialists in maternal and infant care, primary care
(especially in rural districts), nurses and school dentists.
Five information centers for medical personnel will be opened in
Chechnya.
The second part of the program concerns education. Over 2,000
teachers, curriculum developers, and Education Ministry staff will be
able to take courses to improve their skills. By the end of this year,
the program will equip 62 classrooms at rural schools (for physics,
chemistry, foreign languages, biology, mathematics, and geography),
and open dozens of medical and dental care offices in schools.
The EU is allocating 5 million euros for small business, providing
direct funding and small loans via credit cooperatives.
Hans Skof, project manager for the European Commission office in
Russia: "The leaders of the North Caucasus prompted our decision to
fund healthcare, education, and small business. We held lengthy
negotiations with them, and decided that the EU's assistance was most
needed in these areas. Program organizers hope that the program,
coordinated with the Kremlin, will be supported by the governments of
Chechnya and Ingushetia.
Source: Gazeta, February 14, 2007, p. 2
Translated by Elena Leonova
Chechen President blocked from internet
Telecom Security
February 14, 2007
President of Chechnya Alu Alkhanov, his advisory staff and aids were
blocked from telecommunications, electricity and internet services in
Grozny on Wednesday. The National News Agency reported the disruption
took place after Alkhanov’s press-service once again denied information
that German Vok, Secretary of Chechnya's Economic and Social Security
Council resigned.
FSB and the Prosecutor’s office are now considering the incident.
Government, headed by Ramzan Kadirov explain the sudden cut by a
technical fault. However, there are talks in the President’s entourage
on an alleged sabotage and a “quite coup”. They say the organizers
feared more announcements on the current situation in the Republic.
http://eng.cnews.ru/news/line/indexEn.shtml?2007/02/14/235910
RFE/RL: NEW CASES OF MILITARY HAZING AND SUICIDE REPORTED
NEW CASES OF MILITARY HAZING AND SUICIDE REPORTED.
The prosecutor's office of the Moscow Military District is
investigating
the beating of a serviceman in a unit of Interior Ministry troops
deployed in the city of Reutov near Moscow, Interfax reported on
February 13. Andrei Baryshkin, a conscript from Vologda Oblast,
suffered
serious internal injuries after being beaten by a more senior soldier.
An aide to the Moscow Military District's military prosecutor, Natalya
Zemskova, told RIA Novosti on February 13 that that Lance Corporal
Yevgeny Kopytov kicked Baryshkin in the stomach on February 2, but that
the victim did not report the attack. After falling ill, Baryshkin was
rushed to the hospital and his spleen was removed. Separately,
authorities in Sverdlovsk Oblast are investigating the apparent suicide
of a 22-year-old serviceman, newsru.com reported on February 13.
According to the Volga-Urals Military District prosecutor's office, the
incident took place on the night of February 8-9 in a unit of airborne
troops located in the city of Asbest. The soldier, Yevgeny Malakhov,
shot himself in the chest while on sentry duty. The Committee of
Soldiers' Mothers said in St. Petersburg on February 12 that male
soldiers there claim they were forced into prostitution by senior
officers (see "RFE/RL Newsline," February 13, 2007). Meanwhile, Andrei
Sychyov, the private whose legs and genitals had to be amputated after
he was forced to squat for hours while being beaten and whose case
became emblematic of hazing in the Russian armed forces, told the
tabloid "Tvoi den" that he plans to write a book about his experiences,
"The Moscow Times" reported on February 14. JB
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 11, No. 29, Part I, 14 February 2007
MT: Jury to Be Picked in Klebnikov Retrial
Thursday, February 15, 2007. Issue 3597. Page 1.
Jury to Be Picked in Klebnikov Retrial
By Carl Schreck
Staff Writer
Jury selection is to begin Thursday in the retrial of two Chechens
accused of murdering U.S. journalist Paul Klebnikov, a Moscow City
Court spokeswoman said Wednesday.
While the selection process will be closed to the public, the trial of
Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev will likely be open, court
spokeswoman Tatyana Zubaryova said.
Klebnikov, 41, was the editor of the Russian edition of Forbes
magazine until he was shot dead on a Moscow street in July 2004.
In May, Dukuzov and Vakhayev were found not guilty of the killing.
Details about that trial were hard to come by because the Moscow City
Court closed the five-month proceedings after prosecutors said
classified information would be revealed.
That information apparently involved descriptions of the Federal
Security Service collecting evidence that was used against the
defendants.
The Supreme Court overturned the not guilty verdict in November,
forcing the former defendants back into court.
The Klebnikov family and media watchdog groups criticized the court's
decision to close the first trial to the public and have called for
the retrial to be open.
Still, it remains to be seen whether the public will actually get to
the see inside the courtroom.
Ruslan Khazanov, Dukuzov's lawyer, said he expected prosecutors would
ask, once again, for the trial to be closed. "They insisted on a
closed trial last time and were granted it," Khazanov said. "I don't
see why it would be any different this time around."
Khazanov insisted the two suspects were innocent but said he was "very
scared" the retrial would not be "fair and objective."
"We are placing our hopes with the Russian people," he said. "We hope
they won't give in."
Dukuzov and Vakhayev are charged with killing Klebnikov as he was
leaving his office. Prosecutors said the suspects had acted on behalf
of Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, a Chechen separatist who appeared in
Klebnikov's 2003 book "Conversation With a Barbarian."
The suspects were arrested in Belarus in November 2004 and extradited
to Russia in February 2005. Eight jurors on the 12-member panel voted
for acquittal. A simply majority is needed for a guilty verdict.
The Klebnikov family declined to comment on the retrial, a spokesman
for the family said Wednesday.
In a statement released in November, the family called the Supreme
Court move to override the acquittal "a hopeful sign for justice and
the rule of law in Russia."
Turning to the matter of future trials, the family said an open
proceeding was imperative. "Only in this way can the numerous failures
that characterized the first trial be avoided," it said.
Recent history does not bode well for the Klebnikov case.
No one has ever been convicted in the high-profile slayings of Russian
journalists Dmitry Kholodov, Vladislav Listyev and Larisa Yudina, who
were all killed in the 1990s. And no one has been convicted in
connection with the October 2006 killing of Anna Politkovskaya.
There has been one minor conviction tangentially related to
Klebnikov's killing.
Moscow notary Fail Sadretdinov was sentenced to nine years in prison
last month by the Preobrazhensky District Court for illegally
registering an apartment. In a separate case, Sadretdinov had been
tried -- and acquitted -- for purportedly ordering Dukuzov and
Vakhayev to kill a Moscow businessman.
Sadretdinov's lawyer, Ruslan Koblev, said his client had been framed
and the harsh sentence could prompt Dukuzov and Vakhayev to flee the
country to avoid the retrial.
Khazanov said both Dukuzov and Vakhayev were in Moscow as of earlier
this week and that there were no indications they had left the country.
Oleg Panfilov, director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme
Situations, said it was unlikely that prosecutors had unearthed any
new evidence. "This appears to be an attempt by prosecutors to save
some face," Panfilov said.
The Prosecutor General's Office, which oversaw the investigation,
declined to comment on the retrial.
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said the embassy would be closely
monitoring the trial.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/
Canada Mulls Withdrawal from Afghanistan (back)
February 13, 2007
Canada was Tuesday considering withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan after sustaining heavy losses in the volatile south, according to an interim report by the Canadian Senate committee on national security and defence.
Canada should consider its withdrawal, if it does not receive greater support from other NATO forces, the Senate committee recommended, according to the Globe and Mail.
In the 'frank interim 16-page report, the Senate committee on national security and defence says more troops, more money and a bigger commitment from other NATO countries must be gained within a year,' the Globe and Mail quoted the report as saying.
If these demands were not met, Ottawa should reconsider its mission, the head of the Senate committee Colin Kenny said when releasing the report Monday.
He asked, 'Are Canadians willing to commit themselves to decades of involvement in Afghanistan, which could cost hundreds of Canadian lives and billions of dollars with no guarantee of ending up with anything like the kind of society that makes sense to us?'
Canada presently has a 2,500-strong troop contingent which form the core of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the Afghan province of Kandahar .
Canadian troops have been involved in some of the worst fighting in southern Afghanistan and have sustained 42 fatalities.
The report's findings are based on a two-year investigation by the commission and includes observations made by senators during inspections and talks in Kabul and Kandahar .
The report comes at a time when more ISAF troop providers are focusing their missions in the relatively secure northern part of Afghanistan .
Source: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/ article_1263231.php/Canada_mulls_withdrawal_from_Afghanistan
Hardline Taliban Face Brits (back)
February 13, 2007
The largest Taliban force of 700 hardline fighters has flooded into Afghanistan to battle British commandos.
It is believed the fighters have been called up from al-Qaeda camps to attack an Afghan dam.
Rebels have repeatedly targeted the Kazaki dam in Helmand Province since British troops arrived last year.
More than 4000 British soldiers - mostly Royal Marines - are battling diehard Taliban fighters daily in Helmand .
Last night the governor of British-held Helmand , Asadullah Wafa, said: 'We have confirmed reports that they are Pakistani, Uzbek and Chechen nationals and have sneaked in.'
The dam has seen major fighting between the Taliban and NATO Brits and Dutch.
Source: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_headline=hardline -taliban-face-brits&method=full&objectid=18613891&sit eid=66633-name_page.html
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