Free Republic

AN Iranian general who defected to the West last month had been spying on Iran since 2003 when he was recruited on an overseas business trip, according to Iranian sources. This weekend Brigadier General Ali Reza Asgari, 63, the former deputy defence minister, is understood to be undergoing debriefing at a Nato base in Germany after he escaped from Iran, followed by his family. A daring getaway via Damascus was organised by western intelligence agencies after it became clear that his cover was about to be blown. Iran’s notorious secret service, the Vavak, is believed to have suspected that he...

Russia is pressing Turkey for access to a key airbase used by the US as it tries to extend its influence in the Middle East. The American-built Incirlik base, about 65 miles from the Syrian border, is used by Nato and has about 50 US nuclear warheads stored on site. A senior Russian politician said that allowing Russian jets and bombers to use it would be a logical continuation of President Erdogan’s efforts to rebuild Turkey’s relations with the Kremlin. “It just remains to come to an agreement with Erdogan that we get the Nato base Incirlik as [our] primary…

AMSTERDAM - According the Dutch justice department a group of muslim-extremists arrested in Rotterdam plotted an attack on a nuclear target, just across the Belgian border with the Netherlands. It looks that they were not able to plan much of the operation, but for the justice department this information could be of great importance in the case against this group. A French and an Algerian man that were arrested two days after September 11 in Rotterdam, and an Algerian ex-roommate that was later arrested in Canada, planned an attack on the NATO-base 'Kleine Brogel' in Flamish Limburg. At that base,...