Twelfth Bough

i run my own damn think tank

Archive for February 12th, 2010

messages

Feb 12

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, Corruption & Crime, FBI, India, Mumbai, Pakistan, Terrorism | No Comments

A lawyer representing one of the three accused 26/11 terrorists has been assassinated. Shahid Azmi was representing Fahim Ansari, an Indian national. Ansari, Ahmed Sabauddin (Indian national) and Ajmad Kasab (Pakistani) stand accused of helping to plot and carry out the Mumbai attacks.

Azmi also represented over fifty other young Muslim terror suspects. People describe him as honest and courageous.

New Delhi: Advocate Shahid Azmi, who was defence lawyer for about 50 Muslim youths languishing in jails in terror cases, was shot dead about one hour ago by unknown people in his chamber near Taximen’s Colony in Kurla East, Mumbai. Five people pretending as clients entered in his office and fired five rounds at Adv Azmi from pointblank range. He was rushed hosiptal but declared dead at arrival.

…”He was a brave, humble, intelligent and efficient lawyer who charged minimum from the innocent victims,” added Dr Rahmani. Who could be behind the killing? “Those who have conspired for putting hundreds of innocent Muslim youth in terror cases, could be behind his murder,” said Dr Rahmani.

Malegaon-based Ummid.com says: Shahid Azmi came to the limelight after he began handling the 7/11 Mumbai blast case and other terror related cases in which Muslim youths were detained. His petition filed on behalf of Jamiatul Ulema challenging the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) is pending for judgment in Supreme Court.

A commenter notes: This is not simply a murder of a lawyer but a symbolism and message to all those who are fighting for the rights of innocent people. The murderer and their mentors/bosses want to send a message to the lawyers community that if you try to fight for the cases of Muslim youth arrested under the pretext of Terrorism, you will have the same fate as Adv. Shahid Azmi.

^^^^^^

About a year ago, on February 10, 2009, The Hindu reported that Ansari accused a female FBI agent of sexually harrassing him during interrogations.

Faheem has moved the court, with his lawyer Ejaz Naqvi filing an application before an Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate alleging that a lady FBI officer, who had interrogated the accused, had “sexually harassed him all through the night.”...The application also made a plea for Faheem to be sent for medical check-up as he has developed “itches and wounds in his private parts and all over his body.”

“Faheem had been interrogated by three FBI officers out of which one of them, a lady officer, had sexually abused him,” Mr. Naqvi told the court. Faheem had earlier filed an application seeking action against the city police for allegedly allowing the FBI to interrogate him. The Crime Branch will have to file their reply on whether any foreign investigating agencies like the FBI had been allowed to interrogate the accused in the terror attacks case. “According to Indian law, no foreign agency can be allowed to interrogate an Indian suspect and we have sought relief from the court,” Mr. Naqvi said.

Ansari alleged that the female FBI agent removed all his clothes and showed him pornographic films while in Mumbai police custody.

Ansari has made claims similar to Kasab’s — essentially, that he had been framed by corrupt police officers.

Denying his involvement in 26/11 terror attacks, accused Faheem Ansari today alleged in the trial court that he was forced by police to prepare a map of target locations after he was arrested in this case….Ansari rubbished the witness account that he had handed over maps of 26/11 terror targets to co-accused Sabauddin Ahmed in Nepal and that the latter had forwarded them to Lashker-e-Taiba to carry out the attacks. The accused also denied the police claim that they had found a map of terror targets from the pocket of slain terrorist Abu Ismael and said it was not drawn by him.

Regarding the timing of this murder, the court had completed recording statements of the three accused and final arguments had been set for February 20th. Azmi’s killers escaped. Azmi had told colleagues not to discuss the case over the phone because he thought his calls were tapped. Despite the high profile case, the government had not provided any protection to the defense teams.

Unidentified men fired four rounds at Shahid Azmi from close range at his office in Kurla’s Taximen’s Colony, central Mumbai, around 7.40pm, police said, adding the assailants escaped in the darkness. The spot is behind the upscale Bandra-Kurla Complex, which houses the headquarters of several banks and business houses.
…The killing shocked Mumbai’s legal fraternity, with some blaming the government for failing to provide security. “I met Shahid over lunch just yesterday. He told me not to discuss the 26/11 case details on the phone as he feared the police could tap our calls. The government had not provided any protection to both of us,” said Ejaz Naqvi, the lawyer who is representing Sabahuddin. Ansari’s wife Yasmin said the incident had shocked her and left her worried about her husband’s safety and his fate in the trial.

^^^^^^^

The government’s case might hew closely to this line of reasoning, in which Ansari plays a key role conducting reconnaissance for the Mumbai attacks. In fact, the police hung quite a lot on Ansari, back in January 2009, before David Coleman Headley came into the picture. If it weren’t for Ansari’s maps, the theory goes, the attacks could not have been carried out.

Investigations have revealed that the terrorists had not been to the city before the 26/11 attacks. They identified the four targets-CST station, Taj Hotel, and Nariman House-based on an earlier survey carried out by Faheem Ansari, a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, the police claimed. Ansari, who is originally from Goregaon, was caught by the special task force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh in February last year along with co-accused Sabahuddin Ahmed alias Sabah and four others LeT operatives for allegedly attacking a CRPF camp at Rampur in UP on January 1, 2008.

…Though the UP’s police report does not mention Ansari carrying out a survey of Nariman House, a senior crime branch officer said, “He had walked through the lanes and bylanes of Colaba and noted down minute details about Nariman House, its location, building and the surrounding areas.”

Presumably, Azmi, the now-slain attorney, was going to challenge this line of reasoning….

^^^^^^^

…in light of other evidence which has come forth in the meanwhile.

Were the Mumbai Attacks of 2008 an inside-job, involving the CIA, Mossad and corrupt elements of the Indian security services?

Recent news suggests that the Indian military is corrupt.

Four top Indian generals are currently ‘involved in a land scandal’. (Indian land scandal spotlights military corruption.)
41 officers in the Indian military allegedly sold military weapons on the black market.

An army colonel was sacked after he was caught ‘faking gun battles with militants by sprinkling tomato ketchup on civilians, who were made to lie still on the ground’.

Between 2000 and 2006, the Indian military had more than 7,000 court martial proceedings.

In June 2009, India blacklisted state-run Israeli Military Industries after police accused a defense ministry bureaucrat of taking bribes. (Indian land scandal.)

The alleged Mumbai Attacks mastermind, the American David Headley, claimed to know the names and titles of senior Defence personnel in Mumbai and New Delhi. (HEADLEY-GATE)

On 8 February 2009, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi revealed that the Mumbai terror attacks could not have been carried out without internal help from India. (Indian Non Cooperation in the Mumbai Investigations)

Clicking through that last link, dated August 20, 2009, we learn more:

Confused statements by the Indian high officials show that New Delhi has been making deliberate efforts to entangle Pakistan in the Mumbai tragedy through fabricated stories and India is not serious in Mumbai probe. The aim is to conceal the involvement of Indian terrorists and the role of its secret agency RAW which is behind Mumbai drama. During attacks in Mumbai, the death of Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare left sufficient proof that Indian intelligence agencies had themselves planned the scheme. Narayan Rane, an Indian-Hindu leader of the Congress, disclosed on December 16, 2008 that Hindu politicians provided logistical and financial support to Hindutva terrorists for killing Karkare. While, Indian Minority Affairs Minister Abdul Rahman Antulay who had changed his statement after pressure from Congress had clearly revealed in the Lok Sabha that the killing of Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Karkare in Mumbai was a conspiracy, saying that Karkare was assassinated owing to his leading role in the investigation against Hindus regarding the 2006 Malegaon bombings which killed eight people outside a mosque. He further elaborated, “Anyone trying to go to the roots of terror has always been a target”, calling for a separate inquiry into Karkare’s death.

That’s particularly interesting, because, in addition to representing Ansari,

32-year-old Shahid Azmi was the defence counsel on behalf of Jamit Ulema Maharashtra for more than 50 Muslim terror suspects languishing in jails in connection with Malegaon blasts and train bombings.

So now Azmi is dead. How convenient is that?

one ring to rule them all

Feb 12

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, Children, Corruption & Crime, Haiti, Human Trafficking, Identities, Israel | No Comments

Well, a curious turn of events in the corporate news world…this is from the New York Times, and it also made it right up to teevee news, straight away. I’m not sure what that means, but it might mean that some big things are getting exposed and somebody needs to fall on a sword and make a big bloody mess to distract people. Quickly.

^^^^^^^

El Salvador police suspect Jorge Puello (also Jorge Aaron Bentath Puello) of leading a trafficking ring in the Caribbean and Central America. Interpol has an arrest warrant out for a Jorge Anibal Torres Puello.

The head of the Salvadoran border police, Commissioner Jorge Callejas, said in a telephone interview that he was investigating accusations that a man with a Dominican passport that identified him as Jorge Anibal Torres Puello led a human trafficking ring that recruited Dominican women and under-age Nicaraguan girls by offering them jobs and then putting them to work as prostitutes in El Salvador.

Same guy? He says no, natch. But the head of the Salvadoran police says it’s the same guy, based on a photo. The judge agreed. Plus, the judge thought strange that Puello arrived with four bodyguards. The judge has turned to DHS for support. (sigh)

The Central Valley Baptist Church in Idaho hired Puello as a legal adviser for their detained colleagues in Haiti. The group had another lawyer, but Puello fired him — after he hired him in the first place to represent the Americans at Haitian legal proceedings. Puello accused Coq of bribing officials. He sort of threw him right under the bus, but it appears that Coq was putting in a lot of hours on the case.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The Haitian lawyer for 10 U.S. Baptists charged with child kidnapping tried to bribe the missionaries’ way out of jail and has been fired, the attorney who hired him said Saturday night.

The Haitian lawyer, Edwin Coq, denied the allegation. He said the $60,000 he requested from the Americans’ families was his fee. Jorge Puello, the attorney in the neighboring Dominican Republic retained by relatives of the 10 American missionaries after their arrest last week, told The Associated Press that he fired Coq on Friday night. He had hired Coq to represent the detainees at Haitian legal proceedings. Coq orchestrated “some kind of extortion with government officials” that would have led to the release of nine of the 10 missionaries, Puello charged.

…”I have worked for 10 people for four days working all hours,” he said. “Look at what hour I’m working now, responding to these calls. I have the right to this money.” On Friday, Coq had told the AP that he was working for no fee. Puello said Coq initially requested $10,000 but kept asking for bigger and bigger amounts. He said that when Coq reached $60,000, he said he could guarantee it would lead to the Americans’ release.

Puello’s accusations against Coq were a little bit vague. “Some kind of scheme…” … essentially waving it off, just like that.

Coq orchestrated “some kind of extortion with government officials” that would have led to the release of nine of the 10 missionaries, Puello charged. “He had some people inside the court that asked him for money, and he was part of this scheme,” Puello said.

I noticed reading the stories that this connection between Puello and Coq is not immediately clear. Puello hired Coq, and then he fired him and accused him, after Coq had done a bunch of work. According to Coq, one of the ten people being held knows more than the others… hold that thought.

^^^^^^^

Meanwhile, it’s not clear that Puello is even licensed to practice law in the Dominican Republic. Basically, he seems to have a credibility deficit. He claimed to work for a 45-person law firm, but that could not be confirmed. He claimed to provide his services pro bono, but that is not exactly true either. He claims to be president of the Sephardic Jewish community in the Dominican Republic. That may or may not be true. Certainly, the pictures of him floating around show him in a yarmulke. (NYT story, top link)

Mr. Puello said that he had been born in Yonkers, N.Y., and that his mother was Dominican. He said that his full name was Jorge Puello and that he had no other names. But then in a subsequent interview he said his name was Jorge Aaron Bentath Puello. He said he was born in October 1976, and not in October 1977, which the police report indicates is the birth date of the suspect in the Salvadoran case. The report said the police had found documents connected to the Sephardic Jewish community in a house in San Salvador where the traffickers had held women.

^^^^^^^

A case of mistaken identity? All a big misunderstanding? Everyone had the best intentions? Well, it may be that we have another bad apple here.

Coq said Thursday that the group’s leader, Laura Silsby of Meridian, Idaho, deceived the others by telling them she had the proper documents to remove the children from Haiti. The Dominican consul in Haiti, Carlos Castillo, has said he warned Silsby on Jan. 29, the day the group was detained at the border, that she lacked the required papers and risked being arrested for child trafficking. Asked if Silsby had deceived the other nine Baptists by assuring them she had the proper papers, Puello said Saturday, “I believe that is true.”

…NBC News reported Saturday that there are divisions within the jailed group. It said some of the missionaries handed an NBC producer a note through bars of their holding cell earlier in the day that listed the names of all of them but Silsby and her former nanny and partner in the orphanage, Charisa Coulter.

OK, here’s a mighty blogger, The Daily Bastardette, and she’s going to blow a few cannonballs through this thing right now.

I’ve been curious about Jorge Puello since his name appeared about 10 days ago as the legal adviser for the New Lifers. Puello made a big splat on CNN when he complained about the severe conditions under which his clients were jailed: “No air conditioning! No Electricity! Very disturbing!”

According to news reports Puello was hired by Laura Silby’s church, Central Valley Baptist, after either the church or Laura Silsby and her gang rejected the attorney (or attorneys) recommended by American Consular Services. Puello, in turn, hired Haitian attorney Edwin Coq to represent the detainees, even though Coq speaks Creole and no English. What to make of that nonsense?

Last week, according to whose story you believe, Puello fired Coq, claiming that the Haitian had demanded a $60,000 fee and attempted to bribe the prisoners back to the US. Coq denied the accusation, and said he quit because the families back in Idaho never sent him the $60,000 he needed to take the case. Sources inside of Haiti who know Coq claim that he is an “honest young lawyer” and refused to believe Puello’s claim. Coq has complained to the press that Puello has ruined his reputation.

…Over the weekend I spent quite a bit of time looking for information on Jorge Puello. I could find no listing for him as a Dominican attorney. What I did find was Puello Consulting/Abogados Consultores, operated by Jorge Puello and his brother Alejandro, located at Avenida Duarte 359, in Santo Domingo….This intro is followed by a long laundry list of legal services: including acquisitions, mergers and alliances, banking and finance, consumer protection and antitrust, corporate services, collections, family law, immigration and naturalization, intellectual property, trade, investment, taxes, public and private contracting, real estate, and trust.

Not a word about criminal law–domestic or international. And no word anywhere of how CVBC hooked up with Puello, and why it would hire what appears to be a civil law outsourcer with no criminal law section to take on a high profile international incident. It only got curiouser and curiouser with the hiring of Coq and the dust-up that followed.

…Even if Puello is found to be the wrong man in the Salvadoran investigation, there are still questions:

  • Is Jorge Puello a lawyer?
  • Why did Central Valley Baptist Church reject consular recommendations and hire what appears to be a outsourcer with seeingly no criminal expertise to defend its members?
  • Why did Puello hire a Haitian lawyer who couldn’t communicate in any meaningful way with his clients and then accuse the lawyer of attempting to bribe the court,
  • Did Puello and Laura Silsby have a legal or personal pre-earthquake relationship, which led CVBC to hire him as legal adviser; possibly a relationship regarding the leasing of the Puerto Plata Diocese-owned Education and Training Center in Cabarete that was to be converted into the temporary New Life Children’s Refuge?
  • Was Puello involved in the attempt to move the “orphans” across the border?
  • Why is Puello lying about being paid by the New Lifers? (And I believe he is lying)
  • Who is paying Puello and who is funding the defense?

And, if Puello is the right man:

  • Did he plan to traffick the children?

Or…

  • is this a simple matter of scavengers scavenging scavengers?

Great questions.

^^^^^^^

So, might Chabad have anything to do with all this? Chabad has centers in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and Chabad has been very helpful in Haitian relief efforts, because Chabad has all these networks already in place. A “web of contacts” can give a person a “unique ability to push shipments through.” People tend to be very proud of who they know, of their ability to make things happen. Cause it’s all good, see? Sunshine and flowers and puppies, and drugs and weapons and kidneys and human slaves….

http://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/1096220/jewish/Agencies-Work-to-Strengthen-Supply-Lines.htm (January 17, 2010)

In the wake of anarchy, violence and looting taking rein in isolated pockets across the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, calls poured in from all corners for a Dominican Republic rabbi, whose web of contacts among local governments, foreign missions and American suppliers gave him a unique ability to push shipments through.
From S. Domingo, just hours, and a world away, from the destruction on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Shimon Pelman said that troops, doctors and diplomats from Israel, Mexico, South Africa and France, had all requested help in obtaining food and medical supplies. …Pelman, the Israeli-born director of Chabad-Lubavitch of the Dominican Republic, spent Friday in Port-au-Prince, compiling requests from United Nations personnel and members of the Israel Defense Force’s Home Front Command that had arrived that morning at the capital’s small airport.

…After consulting with members of his 300 family-strong Jewish community in S. Domingo, and Rabbi Mendel Zarchi, the Puerto Rico-based director of Chabad of the Caribbean, Pelman said that he will be dispatching a truck of supplies for the Haitian people each day. He said that a U.N. convoy would provide the necessary protection.

Interesting.

^^^^^^^

It takes networks. That’s the thing about rings — they’re networks. They include people from all points in the supply chain, lowest to highest. Here’s another one, uncovered by News of the World:

Admin boss Yis Jean Guerson is responsible for providing medical aid to victims of the January 12 disaster with respected local aid group AST (Association de la Santé Pour Tous - “health for all”). But, unknown to dedicated colleagues, Guerson secretly heads a child trafficking ring and exploits his position of trust scouring camps for a stock of orphaned, lost and homeless youngsters.

…On Wednesday he lined up eight youngsters ranging from a three-month-old baby to a 13-year old girl for our reporters to choose from. Not once in all our dealings did Guerson ask WHO we were or WHERE the children would end up. In fact he was eager to boost the price to £5,000 EACH by offering his gang’s services in SMUGGLING the kids out of the country. Warning of the danger of trying to do it without his help, Guerson said: “The big problem is you need papers.“Some American people have been caught because they tried to take the children out without having proper contacts. “But if you pay me I can get the children delivered across the border into the Dominican Republic by my man who will hand them over there WITH proper papers.“Only I have the contacts to do this for you because I was a candidate for magistrate in this area. I have lots of power.”

Networking for fun and profit.

above the law

Feb 12

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, Children, China, Corruption & Crime, Germany, Human Trafficking, Military, North Korea, Pedophilia, Philippines, Sweden, UK | No Comments

1. border guards ‘key to trafficking in N. Koreans’

North Korean and Chinese border guards play a vital part in the trafficking of North Korean women to China, the Asahi Shimbun reported on Thursday.  In a feature report, the Japanese daily quoted a Chinese border guard as testifying he caught a few female North Korean defectors in their teens and 20s crossing the Duman (or Tumen) River and handed them over to a Korean-Chinese human trafficker.

The Chinese border guard said he gets requests from a trafficker in China and informs his North Korean counterparts, who then ask a trafficker in the North to find suitable women. The North Korean guards then let the women pass in the area on the Chinese guard’s watch. This particular Chinese border guard alone had sold some 40 to 50 women per year this way.

Traffickers reportedly pay about 6,000 to 7, 000 yuan (approximately W1.02 million to W1.19 million) a head. Of the money, 4,000 yuan go to the Chinese border guard, who hands 1,000 yuan over to a North Korean guard. The Chinese guard added, “If they are told they can eat to their hearts’ content [in China], many North Korean women are happy to be on their way.” An estimated 150 human traffickers work in the border area.

source: chosun ilbo

2. Sweden: rape suspicions mount against ex-police chief — possible tie in to sex ring involving “well-known men in high positions”

The allegations directed at a former Swedish police chief suspected of rape continued to grow on Friday with at least five women and girls now thought to be involved in the case. Göran Lindberg, a respected law enforcement official who recently retired after a career spanning more than 20 years, is now suspected of rape and plotting to rape at least five women and girls.

On Friday Södertorn District Court appointed Caroline Rainer as the plaintiff assistant for the seventh woman or girl involved in the police investigation against Lindberg.

…Göran Lindberg, who as an active police officer developed an international reputation for giving talks on the importance of gender equality and the perils of sexual harassment, was arrested on January 25th on suspicion of raping a woman and attempting to rape several children. He was arrested at a hotel in Falun in northern Sweden, where he is suspected of having been in the course of plotting to rape a girl.

…The case against Lindberg has its origin in the investigation into a suspicious death in the suburb of Bredäng, in southern Stockholm, in July 2009 when a 60-year-old man mysteriously fell to his death from a balcony.  Lindberg’s name unexpectedly turned up after police launched a preliminary investigation into the suspected murder. During the investigation police confiscated a computer and a mobile phone which belonged to the deceased 60-year-old. When investigators examined the contents of the machines and found the names of several men, their suspicions were aroused and they handed the matter over to the Stockholm County police force.

After intense media speculation into Lindberg’s links to a purported sex ring, police leading the investigation issued a denial that there were further suspects under investigation. “There are no other suspects at the moment,” said Jonas Trolle, who is leading the 25-person police team investigating the case.  ”All the speculation about well-known men in high positions has nothing to do with our investigation,” said Trolle in a statement on January 31st, adding that it was important that the media exercises some restraint.

more @ the local

3. Germany: documents in Kunduz affair may have been destroyed

Military documents detailing the events surrounding a deadly bombardment in Afghanistan now under investigation by the German parliament have reportedly been destroyed.

The news came a day after Colonel Georg Klein, the German commander who ordered the controversial air strike that killed more than 140 Afghans last year, appeared before a parliamentary inquiry to defend his actions. Daily Bild reportedly has obtained documents that prove special forces were involved reading: “Clearance to destroy and liquidate under terms of ZDv 2/30 hereby issued.” This number 2/30 central service command, abbreviated as “ZDv,” indicates that files are to be “shredded or cut up with the shredder so that the contents are neither recognisable nor could be made recognisable,” the paper said.  An inside source on the parliamentary investigative committee told the paper that they believed the documents had been destroyed.

more @ the local

4. and MI5 didn’t do anything wrong either

The head of MI5 has issued a strong defence of the security service, denying that his staff had withheld documents relating to Binyam Mohamed from the parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC) or sought to cover up its involvement in the torture of detainees.

The director general, Jonathan Evans, said claims by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, that there was a “culture of suppression” within the service were “the precise opposite of the truth”. He also contacted the ISC to deny that the service had withheld documents relating to Mohamed, a former Guantánamo Bay detainee, the ISC’s chairman, Kim Howells, said last night.

more @ guardian

also see aangirfan: MI5 and Shaker Aamer; deaths in Guantanamo

5. the modern day versions of Stella Capes, Mandy Rice Davies, Christine Keeler, etc. (see aangirfan: the classic sex scandal)

…When I move on to Boujis - Princes William and Harry’s favourite club - I find girls who are still pretty ordinary looking. Their particular targets are the wealthy men from landed families and the financial traders who flock to the club, and the only suggestion that these girls are classier than the Movida girls is that they wear tights with their six-inch skirts.

But wherever I go, whatever the club - famous, aristocratic, fashionable or discrete - one thing is the same: it’s shocking how shameless the girls are….They know they’re trading sex for drinks, and the chance of a footballer or a celebrity or a rich boy - depending on the club - taking them back to a hotel for a liaison which, if they’re lucky, that man might actually remember.  Because for these girls, with so many of them literally flinging themselves at the men with money, it’s all about being memorable.

more @ daily  mail

6. Philippines: military exec accuses top cop of complicity in Maguindanao massacre

MANILA, Philippines—A senior police commander of Maguindanao tried to cover up the abduction and brutal slay of 57 people in the province last November 23, a top military official told the court Friday. Taking the witness stand at the hearing of the rebellion case against the Ampatuans, Lieutenant General Raymundo Ferrer said Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay denied seeing the convoy of vehicles carrying the victims moments before they were held at gunpoint and executed by armed men allegedly led by Andal Ampatuan Jr.

Dicay, then the acting chief of the Maguindanao police office, had previously admitted in a sworn affidavit that he headed the setting up of a checkpoint near the massacre site in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town. Ferrer, the commander of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said Dicay’s attempt to hide the crime proved that there was a “breakdown of loyalty” of state forces in Maguindanao which later led to a “breakdown of law and order” in the province.

more @ inquirer

7. and just so you know, the only people who ever conduct child sacrifices are impoverished people from the deep back woods of third world countries. capice?

KATHMANDU - NEPALI police said on Thursday they had arrested four people in connection with the death of an eight-year-old girl believed to have been killed in a human sacrifice. Police said the child’s throat had been slit and her body pierced with a sharp weapon. Local media reported her blood was found inside a brick kiln along with religious offerings of money and food.

‘The circumstances of the killing in early December suggest the girl was sacrificed,’ local police official Narhari Adhikari told AFP from Rupandehi district in the south of Nepal. ‘We have arrested four people including the owner of the brick kiln on charges of murder. Two of those arrested confessed they killed the girl as an offering to the gods to bring good fortune to the business,’ he added.

Mainly Hindu Nepal is deeply traditional and religious rituals are a part of everyday life in the impoverished country. Around 80 percent of the 27 million-strong population are Hindu.

Nepal outlawed human sacrifices in 1780 but experts say it is still practised by some communities in poor rural areas. ‘Some people still believe sacrificing human beings will appease the gods, improve their fortunes and raise their social status,’ said Chunda Bajracharya, professor of cultural studies at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan University. ‘Such beliefs are the outcome of extreme ignorance.’ – AFP

source: straits times

dibs on resources in the Western hemisphere

Feb 12

Posted by A. Peasant in Brazil, India, Minerals, Oil, Russia, Southeast Asia, The West, Venezuela | No Comments

1. Venezuela awards 2 blocks in massive oil region: India, Malaysia, Chevron (US), Japan, Spain

Venezuela assigned the rights to exploit the Carabobo 1 block to a consortium that included Repsol, India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp., Oil India Ltd. and Indian Oil Corp. and Malaysia’s Petronas, while another block, Carabobo 3, was awarded to a consortium led by Chevron and that also included Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. and Inpex Corp. and Venezuela’s Suelopetrol

…In both blocks, the winning consortium will have a 40 percent stake and the remaining 60 percent stake will be held by Venezuelan state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela. According to official Venezuelan figures, the blocks have the potential to produce a combined total of at least 800,000 barrels of crude per day by 2016 and will require $30 billion in investment.

“This is something historic,” President Hugo Chavez said of the auction. “It is extremely important” and is the product of “a transparent bidding process” that began on Oct. 30, 2008, with the participation of 19 foreign companies….He also stressed the importance of foreign investment in developing the potential of that region, which the U.S. Geological Survey recently said is the world’s largest petroleum reserve with more than 500 billion barels of recoverable crude.

more @ tribune

2. India moving faster to tie up mineral supplies

Thus the Indian government is reportedly moving to fast track deals to secure future supplies for its ever-growing industrial base. According to a report in today’s Hindustan Times The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has decided that the country’s state-owned corporations need to be supported in aggressively pursuing the acquisition of strategic mineral resources through a dedicated fund - and it has set a 30-day deadline for such plans to be in place. According to Hindustan Times, an unnamed  senior government official  told it “The PMO has asked the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission to work out the size and structure of the dedicated fund in 30 days.”

…The significance of the Indian move should not be underestimated. Indian growth is currently matching that of China and with the two Asian potential megapowers with enormous populations taking ever increasing volumes of raw materials from the global supply, the pressure on resources can only increase dramatically.

According to the report, India is also beginning to try and use diplomatic pressures to help secure supplies with the External Affairs Ministry tasked with a strategy to help acquire them, particularly in Africa which is seen as key area of potential supply with resources frequently directly controlled by government.

more @ mineweb

3. Brazil finds more oil, shallow water, low hanging fruit

RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian state-controlled energy giant Petrobras said Thursday that it has found oil at a well located in shallow waters of the Campos Basin. The find was made in waters just 200 meters (655 feet) deep and is near massive deposits in deeper areas of Campos, which is located off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state and is the basin where 80 percent of Brazil’s oil is extracted. Petrobras said the 4-PM-53 well contains an estimated 25 million barrels of recoverable heavy oil and is just 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the Pampo field, which is currently being developed.

…Petrobras, Brazil’s largest corporation and one of the world’s fastest-growing oil companies, produces an average of 2.5 million barrels of oil and natural gas equivalent in Brazil and abroad. An integrated energy company and a global leader in deepwater oil exploration and production, Petrobras operates in 27 countries in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. Shares of the company trade on the Sao Paulo, New York, Madrid and Buenos Aires stock exchanges, but the Brazilian government retains control through a golden share. EFE

more @ tribune

4. Cuba, Russia confirm “strategic” nature of their relationship

HAVANA – The Russian and Cuban foreign minister emphasized on Thursday the “enormous potential” and the “strategic” nature of relations between their two countries. Sergei Lavrov arrived in Cuba for a three-day visit and presided at a meeting with Bruno Rodriguez, after which they signed three accords.

…Lavrov said that the relationship had transformed itself into a “truly strategic association” and confirmed to the Cuban government Moscow’s “unchanging” stance against the economic embargo the United States has maintained against the communist-ruled island since 1962.

…Besides the foreign minister, the Russian delegation to the fair includes Culture Minister Alexandr Avdeev and more than 200 publishers, writers, artists, officials, translators and journalists. Lavrov’s trip to Havana continues the frequent visits made by top Russian government officials to Cuba in the last two years, including those by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who has traveled to the island on at least five occasions. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev traveled to Cuba in 2008 and Cuba’s president, Gen. Raul Castro, returned the visit in 2009. EFE

more @ tribune

news from Russia and the stans

Feb 12

Posted by A. Peasant in Censorship, Central Asia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Oligarchs, Russia, Thailand | No Comments

1. Bagapsh inaugurated as president of Abkhazia

Sergei Bagapsh was sworn in on Friday for his second term as president of Abkhazia, thanking Russia in his inaugural address for helping the republic achieve independence from Georgia. …Bagapsh was re-elected as Abkhazia’s president on December 12, 2009, winning with over 60% of the vote in the republic’s first presidential election since Russia recognized its independence in August 2008 after a brief war with Georgia..

Bagapsh, 60, has been president of the former Georgian republic since January 2005.

The U.S. Department of State said the elections were illegitimate, while Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili condemned the vote as an illegal Kremlin-backed gesture in an “occupied territory.”

Russia is the guarantor of Abkhazia’s security with several thousand troops in the region under bilateral security and cooperation agreements signed since August 2008. Abkhazia’s independence has been recognized by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru.

SUKHUMI, February 12 (RIA Novosti)

2. runaway journalist gathered shocking videos about South Ossetia

Vakhtang Komakhidze, a well-known Georgian journalist, who requested political asylum in Switzerland, has shocking materials about South Ossetia, received in the course of his journey to the region in December 2009.

He managed to record “scandalous interviews, videos that can shake”, and the government of Georgia doesn’t want these to be published, said Nana Kakabadze, the human rights activist, in her interview to the Alia newspaper.

She added Komakhidze made his decision to request a political asylum in the airport of Tbilisi, when realized he was watched by Interior Ministry representatives - the VZGLYAD.

The human rights activist explained that in Switzerland he must have interviewed one of the judges of the Hague Tribunal. Now he plans to complete his film in that country. Komakhidze stated he made this decision as he couldn’t perform his professional duties in Georgia. He also mentioned threat to health and lives of himself and his family. Komakhidze explains his decision by menaces from the authorities.

source: georgia times

3. photographer on trial for showing real life in Uzbekistan

TASHKENT (Uzbekistan) - AN AWARD-WINNING Uzbek photographer went on trial for slander Tuesday after her work documenting the daily struggles of ordinary people in the Central Asian state landed her in hot water.

Umida Akhmedova, 54, stands accused of portraying people in the ex-Soviet nation as backward and impoverished in a collection of her photographs and a documentary film, both financed by the Swiss embassy in Tashkent….Akhmedova put the blame for the trial not on the government, but on an expert panel it had convened to analyze her work. The panel concluded in its report that the ‘photo album does not conform to aesthetic demands,’ a throwback to Soviet jargon, and that it would damage the country’s ’spiritual values’. The trial sets a chilling precedent for artists, said Surat Ikramov, head of the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders of Uzbekistan. — AFP

source: straits times

see photos here and here

4. Russian court extends pretrial detention of oligarchs

A Moscow court ordered on Friday that Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev spend another three months in harsh pretrial detention rather than return to regular jail.

Khodorkovsky, 45, and Lebedev, 42, are already serving eight-year prison terms for tax evasion and fraud issued by a Moscow court in 2005 after a highly politicized trial seen by many in the West as part of a Kremlin drive to subdue politically ambitious business tycoons.

Both were moved in 2009 from prison in Siberia to Moscow’s notorious Matrosskaya Tishina jail to face new charges of embezzling 350 million tons of oil. Since then, their stay in the pretrial detention center has been repeatedly prolonged despite complaints from their lawyers.

Moscow’s Khamovniki District Court on Friday authorized keeping Khodorkovsky and Lebedev in pretrial detention until May 17.

“The court took into account the severity of the charges Khodorkovsky and Lebedev face when considering extending their detention,” presiding judge Viktor Danilkin said.

Russian officials have consistently denied any political motivation behind their convictions, but the fate of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev is still viewed by Russia-watchers abroad as an indicator of the state of Russia’s judicial system.

MOSCOW, February 12 (RIA Novosti)

5. Thailand drops arms case and releases Kazakhs — no decision on what to do with the seized weapons

BANGKOK - THAILAND said on Thursday it had decided to drop a case against the five member crew of a plane carrying sanctions-busting weapons from North Korea.

‘The trial here will not benefit Thailand so we have decided to drop the charges,’ said Thanapich Mulapruk, spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General, in a statement. ‘Their countries of origin want to try the men in their home countries,’ he said.

Another official from the attorney general’s office said the Belarussian pilot and four Kazakh crew would not be formally extradited. ‘(We) are sending an official to file a petition with the court to release all five men,’ Kayasit Pissawanprkan told reporters. ‘This is not an extradition but we consider them as having entered (Thailand) illegally.’

more @ straits times