| The Hunt for Red October (1990) |
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Posted on 07/28/2002 12:58:46 PM PDT by LarryLied
LEADING American diamond merchant Maurice Tempelsman has offered to arrange a secret payment for Government if it entrenches the right of the De Beers cartel to buy all Namibia's diamonds.
Tempelsman has written to President Sam Nujoma proposing that a secret loan of N$500 million or more be raised to cover Government's projected national Budget deficit, but the money will only be paid if Government drops plans to independently check the prices De Beers pays Namibia for diamond exports.
If it goes ahead, the move will retard plans to open up the diamond market and will further delay the implementation of two dormant sections of the Diamond Act of 1999.
It is not known if Government has accepted Tempelsman's offer.
In an extraordinary seven-page letter, dated May 27 2002, Tempelsman, who visited Nujoma three weeks earlier, thanked President Nujoma "for taking me into your confidence" on Namibia's national Budget deficit.
The diamond dealer's visit came at a time when Government was planning to invoke two sections of the Diamond Act that had been dormant since the law was passed. These concern the selling of Namibian diamonds on the open market and allowing locals direct participation.
Mines Minister Jesaya Nyamu confirmed yesterday that Government had "some time ago proposed" that Namibia should begin selling diamonds on the open market. He did not say when, but pointed out that the proposal was not "well-received by diamond producers".
In fact, Nyamu said: "There was a hysterical reaction from some quarters."
Asked whether Namdeb was among the companies that objected, Nyamu said the semi-state company "maybe wasn't opposed" but De Beers "had some problems with the idea".
De Beers is the sole marketer of Namibia's diamonds through the Diamond Trading Company, which sells them with mixed gems from other countries. The actual value of Namibian diamonds is, as a result, not known.
It is widely known in the diamond trade that Namibian diamonds are of the highest quality and used as sweeteners in consignments for De Beers' customers. Some of the diamonds are then sold back to Namibian polishers.
Tempelsman is a major De Beers sight-holder. A sight-holder is a merchant who is invited by De Beers every five weeks to pick up a box of specially selected stones for re-sale.
On learning about Government's plans to open up the trade, Tempelsman visited Namibia in May to meet with the President. Three weeks later he wrote to raise the secret off-shore loan idea.
Nyamu would "neither confirm nor deny" that the American merchant was among people trying to convince Government not to open up the industry.
Tempelsman proposed raising an offshore loan of US$80 million to be made to the purchaser of Namibia's diamonds (De Beers) which it would use to pre-buy Namibia's diamonds. From this, US$50 million (N$500m) would flow to the Government.
Further conditions set by Tempelsman include a Government legal guarantee that De Beers will get exclusive rights to Namibia's diamonds.
"Mr President," said the letter, "whether we wish it or not, the proposal above cannot bear fruit without the co-operation at several levels of your partner in Namdeb, De Beers, and thus some acknowledgement of their interests.
"They have every incentive to extend such co-operation, and I firmly believe they will. But both they and the bank lenders will, as part of this process, undoubtedly seek formal assurances that during the term of the financing facility there will be no disruption of the delivery for sale through De Beers of Namdeb's entire production.
"To accommodate the repayment schedule that is envisioned, the Sales Agreement and arrangements that have prevailed over the past decade would predictably have to be extended through 2008 [three years beyond their currently scheduled renegotiation date]."
Tempelsman stated that the loan would entail no borrowing, guarantees, or other financial undertakings by Government and thus, among others, could be accomplished on an entirely confidential basis. But Namdeb will pay up through diamond exports.
He drew Nujoma's attention to guarantees that Government had made on Air Namibia and other parastatals as unfortunate deals, and said he hoped such budgetary burdens would be cleared through the reorganisation of State companies.
Tempelsman does not specify any fees to be paid for organising the deal.
At State House, Joseph Kashea, who is acting Secretary to the President, and spokesperson Daniel Smith both said they were not aware of the existence of the letter. They, therefore, declined to comment.
Efforts to obtain comment from Tempelsman yesterday proved fruitless. His spokeswoman in New York said he was not available at the time of going to press.
COMMITTEE FOR CONGRESSMAN RONALD V. DELLUMS
TEMPELSMAN, MAURICE
10/6/92 $20,000.00
NEW YORK, NY 10017
LEON TEMPELSMAN/SON
"I am going to totally dismantle every intelligence agency in this country piece by piece, nail by nail, brick by brick..."- Ron Dellums (D-CA) Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, 1993
Maurice Tempelsman, a diamond broker who served as an agent of influence for the Angolan Communist regime, secured the companionship of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who, for a number of years served as his mistress. Tempelsman was able to use this relationship, in combination with the Angolan oil payoffs to the Kennedy family to secure a completely pro-Communist Angolan policy by the new administration of Bill Clinton, which arranged for U.N. sanctions and follow-up U.S. sanctions on the anti-Communist UNITA freedom fighters led by Jonas Savimbi.
Aided by Maurice Tempelsman . . . the Kennedy family, operating through "next generation" representatives Joseph Kennedy and Michael Kennedy, was granted its own oil concession from the Marxist-Leninist government of Angola to something called the Citizens Energy Corporation.
International diamond dealer Maurice Tempelsman, a generous contributor to the Democratic Party, has won unusual support from high Clinton administration officials for a business proposal that could position him as a key marketer of billions of dollars worth of Angolan diamonds, interviews and classified government cables show . . .
Lazare Kaplan International, America's largest diamond cutter, is headed by Maurice Tempelsman, whose initial foray into diamonds came in Zaire, where he was a close friend of the tyrant Mobutu Sese Seko. In the 1960s Tempelsman hired as his business agent the CIA station chief in Kinshasa, Larry Devlin, who helped put Mobutu in power and afterward served as his personal adviser.
Tempelsman is best known as Jackie Onassis's longtime companion, but he's also a prominent player in Washington. He's doled out about $500,000 to the Democratic Party in the past decade, and during the Clinton years he was twice invited to state dinners and was one of a dozen executives who went on the President's 1998 trip to South Africa.
Lazare Kaplan has a long-term agreement to buy $ 100 million worth of gems per year from ALROSA, the Russian diamond monopoly that is rife with corruption and a fierce opponent of efforts to restrict the trade in conflict diamonds. In the mid-1990s the US Export-Import Bank issued a $62 million loan guarantee to underwrite ALROSA's acquisition of mining equipment from Caterpillar. In March, the Ex-Im confirmed that it has approved a new, $200 million loan guarantee that will benefit Lazare Kaplan's diamond-cutting factories in Russia. In January Lazare Kaplan announced that last year's second-quarter sales of polished diamonds increased by 108 percent. . .
". .. UNITA would have not survived as an armed group without the powerful diamond sale network established in Antwerp. "Belgians play a predominant role in the trafficking of arms, goods and diamonds for UNITA", the Belgian secret service report points out, adding that the funds for the purchase of UNITA's arms comes from the same source as that of the Lebanese Hezbollah and Amal terrorist organisations.
The Secret Intelligence Service report noted that illegal diamond trafficking goes hand in hand with drug trafficking and money laundering. It cites companies like De Beers and countries like Great Britain and Canada as beneficiaries of this illegal UNITA diamond trafficking. It also mentions people like Maurice Tempelsman whose company buys UNITA's diamonds which are then transported to London and Antwerp through Tel Aviv. . .
When senators of both parties questioned the special access granted big Democratic Party donors by the National Security Council, NSC boss TONY LAKE pooh-poohed the charges. But last week the NSC admitted that the month beore last year's presidential election, Lake did meet with MAURICE TEMPLESMAN, the deep-pocketed Democratic donor who was the companion of JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS.
Templesman, a diamond dealer with long experience in Africa, was seeking loans from the Export-Import Bank and loan guarantees from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation for a multimillion dollar diamond deal in Angola. After the meeting, a sympathetic Lake decided to intervene: he directed an NSC staff member, with approval from legal counsel, to call Ex-Im and OPIC. The message: Templesman's venture had "merit." But TIME has obtained the text of a recent letter from Angola's ambassador in Washington that bluntly asks the U.S. to stop attempts to broker a diamond deal and, in an apparent reference to Tempelsman, criticizes similiar attempts by "private companies." The Angolan letter, as well as Administration maneuvers on behalf of Tempelsman, have raised concerns among senior G.O.P. legislators--concerns discussed with the State Department . . .
The following is partial transcript of Representative Cynthia McKinney's recent brief:
Prepared Statement of Janine Farrell Roberts
The Secret Story Behind Blood Diamonds
May I first briefly introduce myself. I hold degrees in Sociology and Theology and have authored several books written about Australian Aborigines and their civil rights struggle, which were launched by their leaders. For many years I was funded by a coalition of US and European church to work on human rights frontiers internationally.
This work led me to De Beers - after it clashed with an Aboriginal community. The more I worked internationally the more I discovered about its human rights violations. I have now been researching and writing on De Beers and the diamond trade for twenty years during which time I have made several films - including: "The Diamond Empire", a feature length" Frontline" since suppressed by WGBH due to pressure from De Beers. The owners of Doubleday also commissioned a major work from me on diamonds - only to drop it at the very last moment as they wrote "rich and important people" did not want it to come out.
De Beers is nothing if not secretive. In the course of my investigation, De Beers banned me from its South African diamond mines where I was the guest of the National Union of Mineworkers (but I was smuggled in).
Here I witnessed in De Beers's mines horrific conditions with wages paid at one third of the official union minimum and in very hazardous conditions. I also witnessed considerable natural resources being hidden from the SA Government.
I went also to India and witnessed children as young as 8 cutting and polishing diamonds in workshops mostly supplied by De Beers through its favored merchants, working in what is defined as a form of slavery. The wages were slashed this year from 40c to 25c a diamond causing riots. Workers get one dollar a day for cutting romantic gems. India cuts 55% by value of the world's gem diamonds.
De Beers tried to stop my film in the Canadian NW Territories diamond fields - but the Sierra Club and the Unions had it happen. On 5th Avenue, merchants were phoned telling them not to speak to me "as I worked with Blacks in Australia to make life difficult for De Beers." I was also the keynote speaker at the first post apartheid conference of Southern African mineworkers where I was funded by the World Council of Churches.
I have been told that a major reason for some of my difficulties is the fear publishers have of a certain Maurice Tempelsman, the former companion of Jackie Onassis who in 1998 was reported to be developing a romantic relationship with Secretary of State Albright. He is a leading international diamond merchant of unique power and influence - often he has helped shaped US foreign policy in directions that favour De Beers. I have extensively researched his work. Much of this is in my forthcoming book "Blood Stained Diamonds" . . .
Inside Israel's diamond trade: a family affair
Liberian Diplomat to Israel in Mideast With "Blood Diamond"
Americans Finally Link Liberian president Taylor to Al Qaeda
Leonid Efirmovich Minin, Taylor Partner Arrested in Italy
"Why should Antwerp and Tel Aviv be built on the limbs and backs of Freetown, Luanda and Kinshasa?"
Israeli lobby sends wake-up call: Alabama race may come to haunt McKinney
| The Hunt for Red October (1990) |
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Was he in the picture? I was looking at the diamonds.
Sure you were. :))
Those are diamonds?
Yes, from DeBeers, a corrupt firm run by a Brit, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer (Jew).
Nice diamonds, though.
Notice none of those engaging in the personal attacks and diversion has mentioned the article from the Nambian?
You forgot the nose.
ATROCITY REPORTS MOUNT AS CIVIL WAR SEVERS LIBERIA
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER
Associated Press
7/21/2002
FASSANKONI, Guinea - With the number of civilians in flight from Liberia's war surging to 200,000, refugees reaching safety in neighboring Guinea speak of worsening atrocities by President Charles Taylor's forces - looting, raping, burning and killing trapped villagers.
Both sides - fighters for Taylor and the increasingly assertive rebels seeking to drive him out - also are forcing villagers as young as 6 into their ranks, escaped Liberians say.
"They both fighting, both suffering us," said Kolih Momo, a refugee who fled across the border from Liberia with his 3-year-old son in June to a now-teeming blue-tarped U.N. camp in Guinea.
Liberian soldiers caught his grandmother that month as they burned and pillaged his town, Momo says.
Six months earlier, Liberian rebels caught his brother, Momo said.
The rebels had been seeking a victim to supply blood for bullet-stopping magic charms at the time, Momo says.
The refugee makes the same gesture, twice, to show what Liberia's soldiers did to his 75-year-old grandmother and what Liberia's rebels did to his 46-year-old brother: He slashes his hand across his throat.
"So we don't like anybody," the onetime farmer, now in wartime exile, says, squatting in the mud surrounded by other recently arrived refugees telling their own tales of the killing, abducting and robbing.
"The government soldiers suffer us. The rebels suffer us."
Liberian civilians' testimonies at two U.N.-run refugee camps in Guinea provided some of the first direct accounts of a growing disaster playing out inside Liberia, a West African nation founded by freed American slaves.
Since April, rebels calling themselves Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy have been waging the fiercest offensives of their 3-year-old campaign. Many of them were Taylor's rivals in the vicious civil war that Taylor - then himself a warlord - launched in the 1990s. They are united chiefly by a desire to drive him out.
World Food Program officials estimate the number of Liberians seeking refuge in camps within Liberia now has exceeded 100,000. More than 25,000 are in a camp near Monrovia. Many adults there complain of shortages of shelter and food, and huddle in the rain with thin, half-naked children strapped to their backs.
Up to 100,000 more have fled to neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone, or are believed still hiding in the bush in Liberia - afraid even to flee.
I'm confused. I'm glad it's all you "need to know" but explain, what did you learn? Don't be embarassed.
Which color is missing? From the perps or the victims, or doesn't it matter?
Do hoods come in different colors now?
You must admit, those are virtually all sites which any American would despise, wouldn't you? If not, click the link again, tell us all which ones you like.
You ask, "do hoods come in different colors"? I'm not sure what that means. I can only say that hatred certainly does, and, yet, Weisenthal elects to focus on one color. Why?
As for your final question, I am sorry, but don't have the time. I can assure you that I would likely find all of those sites repulsive, excepting, possibly, American Reniassance, which is not my cup of tea, but not really much worse than what is considered mainstream if presented by "people of color". In that I suppose I agree with Weisenthal. I find NOI and Atzlan and similar sites repulsive as well. Apparantly, Weisenthal does not. Do you have an explanation?
THANK YOU for actually getting this element of LL's hard work! It will be fun to watch the outcome of the McKinney dilemma develop. Dead Dem. pol. walking???
McKinney's comments on Palestinians and her votes against Israel are meaningless. Israel has our support. She can't change that. But McKinney's little forum on blood diamonds strikes at the heart of the Democrat party and at the second largest business in Israel. Our media will not report that as the reason Jewish democrats are trying to unseat McKinney.
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