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Archive for category Putin

a resurrected post from december

Feb 7

Posted by A. Peasant in Afghanistan, Censorship, China, Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Minerals, Mr. Bibi N. & Friends, Oil, Putin, Russia, Terrorism, The West | No Comments

here are some links i had gathered together on 12/13/09, and posted at my news blog, which has since been quarantined as a spam blog by google. somebody in india reviews it about once a week and puts it back in quarantine. this particular page has also been erased from the google cache, for some unknown reason.

1. Kazakh uranium boss trial to proceed - 12/10/09

Prosecutor’s office spokesman Nurdaulet Suindikov commented, “The investigation charges former Kazatomprom president Mukhtar Dzhakishev with theft by way of embezzling a state company’s property.” Suindikov added that Dzhakishev would be charged with embezzling 100 million tenge ($600,000) from Kazatomprom.

Dzhakishev, who was earlier credited with making Kazakhstan a top global uranium producer while overseeing Kazatomprom, has denied all charges against him.

Kazakhstan contains the world’s second-largest uranium reserves, estimated at 1.5 million tons. The country in 2006 produced 5,279 tons of uranium, but as part of its plans to increase output boosted uranium output in January-September to 9,535 tons.

upi asia

2. Chinese president to visit Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan - 12/9/09

BEIJING, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay a working visit to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan from Dec. 12 to14 at the invitation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said here Wednesday.

chinaview

3. Kazakhstan urged to lift visa requirement for Iranian traders - 12/8/09

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran called on Kazakhstan to lift visa requirements for those Iranian businessmen willing to run trade activities in the Central Asian country.

“…if lifting visa requirements comes on both countries’ agenda, then visits by traders and businessmen will be facilitated and the ground will be prepared for the expansion of cooperation,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman Parast said at a round table dubbed as ‘Trade Opportunities of Iran and Kazakhstan’ here in Tehran on Tuesday.

Mehman Parast reiterated that the Iranian foreign ministry is striving to prepare the necessary grounds and conditions for those traders interested in making investments in target markets.

Noting that the trade volume between Iran and Kazakhstan has increased in recent years, he stressed that in case existing problems are resolved, the two countries can boost the volume of annual trade to $10 bln.

Mehman Parast also referred to the strategic situation of Iran and Kazakhstan in the region, and said today the world supplies its needs through importing either the goods and products manufactured by Iran and Kazakhstan or the other countries’ products which should again pass through Iran or Kazakhstan.

fars

4. International Space Station astronauts land safely on Kazakhstan steppes - 12/1/09

BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhuanet) — Three astronauts landed safely on the Kazakhstan steppes Tuesday after spending six months on the International Space Station.

The Russian Soyuz TMA-15 capsule landed as planned at 10:17 a.m. Moscow time (07:17 GMT) about 85 km north of the town of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan.

chinaview

5. Yunnan Copper mulls buy in Kazakhstan - 12/1/09

BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) — Yunnan Copper Co., China’s third-largest copper producer, is thinking of acquiring a copper mine in Kazakhstan next year, China Daily reported Tuesday.

The company is also considering investing in Southeast and South Asian countries including Laos and Indonesia, the newspaper said, quoting the company’s general manager Yang Chao.

Besides investment in the overseas market, the copper producer is also scouting for more copper reserves in the Inner Mongolia and Tibet autonomous regions. The company’s copper reserves would touch 9 million tonnes by 2012, according to Yang.

He predicted that copper prices might even surpass 70,000 yuan (10,294 U.S. dollars) per tonne in 2010, although prices are likely to remain volatile over the next year, and copper demand will increase next year

Copper is widely used in home appliances, wires and cables; it can also be used in water pipes, largely increasing the need for copper in the future, Yang said.

chinaview

6. Kazakhstan: Israel’s Partner in Eurasia by Ariel Cohen in Jerusalem Viewpoints Sept-Oct 2009

http://tinyurl.com/yfw6d8h

The June 2009 visit by Israeli President Shimon Peres to Kazakhstan once again focused Israel’s attention on energy-rich, secular Muslim states of the Caspian and Central Asia: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. This was not Peres’ first visit to the steppe country in the heart of Eurasia: he visited Kazakhstan several times before as foreign minister and deputy prime minister. This was a good long-term investment:

Kazakhstan is as large as the entirety of Western Europe, but with a population only 1.5 times larger than the population of the city of Moscow. It is one of the most sparsely populated countries on Earth.

7. 11/16/09 - Germans ID convert, 27, as terrorist suspect

BERLIN — Authorities have identified a 27-year-old German convert to Islam as an al-Qaida associate suspected of traveling to Afghanistan and planning to attack German targets. The report could fuel concerns about European converts being recruited by Islamist terrorist groups for attacks. The Federal Criminal Police Office confirmed a Spiegel Online report Sunday that it had posted notices across Afghanistan warning that Jan Schneider, a Kazakhstan-born ethnic German, may plan attacks on German military or civilian institutions in Afghanistan.

…Schneider, who is also known as Hamza, has recently traveled to the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Spiegel reported. He left Germany in 2004 to study Arabic in Saudi Arabia. He was seen in his hometown of Saarbruecken several times after his departure from Germany.

…Spiegel also wrote that the criminal office has warned of several other German extremists who supposedly have traveled to Afghanistan in recent months. More than five million ethnic Germans have immigrated to the country from the former Soviet Union, Poland, Romania and other Eastern European countries since the 1950s under a special migration law for persons who can prove German ancestry.

DEFUNCT LINK: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gRbmVOhddpRWJo-KpO06aa6sHQRwD9C03L2O1

alternate link (cache): http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:hJxPAOZqPHsJ:www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33949307/ns/world_news-europe/+BERLIN+%E2%80%94+Authorities+have+identified+a+27-year-old+German+convert+to+Islam+as+an+al-Qaida+associate&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

8. 10/12/09 - Avigdor Lieberman visits Kazakhstan among other countries to discuss Iran

By Roni SoferY Net NewsOctober 12, 2009

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is set to leave for a round of visits abroad this week, after recently returning from Africa, South America, and the Balkans. This time Lieberman will visit Austria, Kazakhstan, Holland, and Denmark, mainly in order to discuss the topic of Iran.

Lieberman says he wants to “invest effort in nations that have not received attention from Israel until now”….The foreign minister is also scheduled to meet with his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, following the latter’s request. Lieberman has clarified that the object of this meeting, as well as those in Holland and Denmark, is “to bolster Israel’s status by widening the wingspan of its foreign policy”.

Lieberman will also meet with Israeli ambassadors to Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, as well as the ambassador to the EU.

via aletho news - LINK DEFUNCT


9. 9/10/09 - Caspian sea states shut Iran out of summit

Iran is peeved at its northern neighbors over a decision to exclude the Islamic Republic from a meeting ofCaspian Sea states on Thursday.
Iran’s top diplomat, Manouchehr Mottaki, said today he was outraged that Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan plan to meet in the Kazakh city of Aktau without Iran, according to the website of Iran’s state-owned English-language Press TV satellite news channel.
“In our view the meeting runs contrary to Iran’s national interests,” Mottaki said.
Iran has stewed for years as Russia and its former Soviet satellite states gobble up more and more of the Caspian Sea’s resources.
The four countries attending the Aktau meeting, described as an “informal” summit to discuss “subregional cooperation,” say they don’t plan to make any decisions on the status of the sea or the division of the seabed, an official representative of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry told Azerbaijan’s Trend news agency.

there are no sunglasses

10. 12/2008: Michael Parenti

“While claiming to be fighting terrorism, US leaders have found other compelling but less advertised reasons for plunging deeper into Afghanistan. The Central Asian region is rich in oil and gas reserves. A decade before 9/11, Time magazine (18 March 1991) reported that US policy elites were contemplating a military presence in Central Asia. The discovery of vast oil and gas reserves in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan provided the lure, while the dissolution of the USSR removed the one major barrier against pursuing an aggressive interventionist policy in that part of the world. US oil companies acquired the rights to some 75 percent of these new reserves. A major problem was how to transport the oil and gas from the landlocked region. US officials opposed using the Russian pipeline or the most direct route across Iran to the Persian Gulf. Instead, they and the corporate oil contractors explored a number of alternative pipeline routes, across Azerbaijan and Turkey to the Mediterranean or across China to the Pacific.”

11. 11/3/08 - Putin: we must end monopoly in world finance

The Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, has called for a complete overhaul of the world’s financial system in order to guarantee stability and ensure progress. He was speaking in Astana in Kazakhstan, where the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is meeting to in discuss the global financial crisis.
The organisation, which comprises Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is widely seen as a counter-weight to NATO’s influence in Eurasia. It is primarily concerned with security issues. This time, however, the sides are discussing how to develop social and economic cooperation.
At the beginning of his speech at the SCO Council of Prime Ministers, Vladimir Putin stressed the role the SCO countries should play in the changing world political and economic landscape.
“We now clearly see the defectiveness of the monopoly in world finance and the policy of economic selfishness. To solve the current problem Russia will to take part in changing the global financial structure so that it will be able to guarantee stability and prosperity in the world and to ensure progress,” he said.
He also named projects in transportation, telecommunications and modern technology as priorities of the SCO and spoke in favour of mutual space programmes.
While in Kasakhstan, the Russian prime minister is also expected to discuss the formation of a customs union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan with Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.

russia today

12. 11/13/08 - Kazakhstan and the financial crisis

The financial crisis that began in the United States has made its presence felt around the globe and Central Asia is no exception. How is Central Asia’s greatest economic power, Kazakhstan, handling this economic crisis and how is the economic downturn effecting the stability, security, and development of the region. These were the main topics of a conference between many regional experts in Astana last month called “New Challenges and Kazakhstan’s Contribution to Stability and Security.” [link defunct]
Muriel Mirak-Weissbach, a scholar of the region’s economic and strategic outlook attended the conference and not only summarizes the major issues and policies discussed, but also provides a historical perspective of past economic crisis’s in Kazakhstan. Here is an excerpt of what Nurbakh Rustemov, the keynotespeaker and Chairman of the hosting parliamentary committee, had to say of the economic downturn and its consequences:

“He bluntly stated that the world financial crisis was leading to a “misunderstanding” among geopolitical forces, and carried the danger of a direct threat to humanity, through hunger and poverty.(1) He called for uniting forces internationally, to overcome the financial-economic crisis, which he dubbed the “number one priority.” Rustemov mentioned the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of which Kazakhstan is a founding member, as well as the OSCE, which Kazakhstan will chair beginning 2010, as bodies his government would like to utilize to find solutions to the crisis. Two concrete means that his country could use to impact the crisis, would be in securing energy resources, and providing grain and meat exports to alleviate food shortages.”
Rustemov is correct in stating that this economic crisis may lead to following and connected geopolitical disruptions and he’s also right in arguing that regional and multilateral groups, such as the SCO and OSCE, will be crucial in helping the world get through this mess in one stable piece. Another important aspect of his comments is the positive role Kazakhstan can play in impacting the crisis in a productive way and that is in securing energy resources and in providing food stuffs to alleviate shortages in other countries, specifically in harder hit CA states, such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan.
Kazakhstan’s abundance of energy supplies, combined with President Nazarbayev’s prudent planning, have left the nation in good condition despite the tough times. Nazarbayev announced last month that the government would spend $2 billion to stimulate the economy, mainly targeting banks and the construction industry, funds drawn from the nation’s oil fund. Unfortunately, not all CA or world states have an oil fund to fall back on.
What the whole of Central Asia can hope for is sturdy economic stewardship by its regional leader,Kazakhstan, and help from regional bodies, both from the East and West to weather what will most likely be a lengthy recession. During this time, it will be vital to keep the region from falling into disrepair as poverty and extremism would both be on the rise and this may lead to conflict. The US, Russia, China, and the EU all have roles to play in mitigating negative ramifications of this crisis in the region, but a strong and active Kazakhstan is crucial. As Muriel Mirak-Weissbach concludes:
“Kazakhstan has become the foremost interlocutor in Central Asia, not only for Eurasian giants Russia and China, but also for the two major economies of western Europe, Germany and France. If the current world crisis can be overcome through participation of major Eurasian nations, Kazakhstan can become the linchpin in the region for stability and security.”
In addition, the US State Department announced a nuclear safety cooperation with Kazakhstan. Read Below. [link defunct]
The United States and the Republic of Kazakhstan reached a new milestone in a multiyear joint project to irreversibly decommission the Soviet-era BN-350 fast breeder reactor located at the Kazakhstani port of Aktau on the Caspian Sea. The participating governments completed a sodium processing facility that will be used to dispose of coolant from the reactor core. This action demonstrates and reinforces the strength of the U.S.-Kazakhstani strategic relationship, and our joint commitment to preventing the proliferation of nuclear materials.

source: foreign policy blogs

http://centralasia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2008/11/13/kazakhstan-and-the-financial-crisis/

rich and famous

Jan 5

Posted by A. Peasant in 9-11, CIA, Kuwait, Oligarchs, Putin, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand | No Comments

1. dying to escape: the desperation of Kuwait’s abused maids

KUWAIT: Thirteen suicides of migrant workers were documented in Kuwait in November 2009 alone by Migrant Rights, an international organization for migrant workers. According to the Migrant Rights webpage, not a week goes by in Kuwait without a report about a maid setting herself on fire, hanging herself, drinking detergent, or mysteriously ‘falling’ from a roof or balcony.

…Elena, who sustained multiple bone fractures, in her hands, hips and legs in the fall, is scheduled to undergo a major operation today. Her sponsors, meanwhile, turned up at the hospital not out of concern for her, but to tell her that they had filed a case against her for attempted suicide and for stealing valuables, although the few goods that Elena has are inside her suitcase - which they packed and brought to the hospital with them for her.

My sponsor gave the bag to me; it’s in my [hospital] locker right now, but I haven’t opened it yet,” Elena said. “My madam told me that I took valuable things from their house and that she has filed a case with the police against me. I’m not worried because I don’t do such things. There is a [security] camera inside their house anyway, so how could I steal valuables?

read more @ kuwait times

2. Johnson and Johnson heiress dead at 30 from suspected drug overdose

The heiress to one of the world’s largest business empires has died of a suspected drugs overdose aged just 30. Casey Johnson, whose family founded the £110 billion Johnson and Johnson pharmaceuticals giant, was found dead at her Los Angeles home.

…’It appears to be a natural death. There’s no evidence of foul play. A toxicology report from the coroner’s office will proceed next,’ she said…Ms Johnson was known to have a history of drug abuse, and reports in the US say she may have been dead for a number of days before her body was found.

3. CIA reportedly ordered murder of 911 suspect in Hamburg
A CIA assassination team reportedly targeted a Syrian-German man living in Hamburg after he was connected to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. According to the latest edition of Vanity Fair magazine, the US spy agency wanted to liquidate Mamoun Darkazanli, who is thought to have been a financier for the Islamist terror network Al-Qaida. Intelligence officials in Washington even farmed out the hit to a squad of contract killers, but the deed was never carried out.

“The CIA team supposedly went in ‘dark,’ meaning they did not notify their own station – much less the German government – of their presence,” the magazine wrote in article about Erik Prince, the founder of the notorious security firm Blackwater. “They then followed Darkazanli for weeks and worked through the logistics of how and where they would take him down.”

read more @ the local

4. Saudi envoy to see Thai PM — prolly wants the family jewels back

Saudi charge d’affaires to Thailand Nabil Hussein Ashri will pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at Government House next Monday to ask about progress made in the investigation of the disappearance of Saudi businessmen Mohammad al-Ruwaili, acting government spokesman Panithan Wattanayagorn said on Tuesday.

Mr Panithan said the meeting between the Saudi envoy and Mr Abhisit was a good sign that Thai-Saudi relations might be about to improve because much progress has been made in the investigation into the disappearance of al-Ruwaili, a relative of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia.

read more @ bangkok post

5. Boris Berezovsky deep in hot water - docs seized in Brazil being sent to Russia

Minister Celso de Mello, of the Supreme Court, confirmed the decision that authorized federal courts to deliver justice to Russia which are documents and equipment of Boris Abramovich Berezovsky seized in Brazil in 2006. A partner of Media Sports Investment (MSI) in the Sport Club Corinthians Paulista 2004 to 2007, Boris Berezovsky is accused of the crimes of money laundering and conspiracy in Brazil which is also being investigated in Russia.

Boris Berezovsky’s defense attorney filed a Habeas Corpus in the Supreme Court to try to prevent the delivery of the documents and computers seized from the businessman to Russian authorities. The order to deliver the documents and equipment came from Judge Fausto de Sanctis, of the 6th Federal Vara of São Paulo, at the behest of the Prosecutor of the Russian Federation.

read more @ pravda


6. October 2007: Berezovsky is arch-rival of Roman Abramovich, who lately has been very complimentary of Putin kiss kiss hug hug

It was a modern-day clash of the Titans - two of the richest men in the world locking horns in a bitter row over their huge egos and even bigger fortunes. Shoppers in London’s exclusive Sloane Street watched in amazement as Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and his deadliest business rival Boris Berezovsky played out a scene more reminiscent of a gangster movie.

Berezovsky, a one-time business partner of Abramovich in three major Russian companies, had been trying for six months to serve a £5 billion writ on him - and yesterday he finally got his chance. Flanked by three bodyguards, Berezovsky - who was granted political asylum in Britain four years ago after fleeing Russia in the face of embezzlement charges - had been shopping in the designer store Dolce & Gabbana. And as he was leaving, he spotted his sworn enemy in the Hermes store two doors away. Berezovsky, 61, immediately ordered one of his burly bodyguards to fetch the writ from his £300,000 Maybach limousine parked nearby. But as he tried to enter the shop with the document, his path was blocked by Abramovich’s three SAS-trained security men. As a scuffle ensued between the two sets of rival bodyguards, Berezovsky forced open the door and barged his way in to confront an ashen-faced Abramovich.

yes he was ‘born in Russia.’ we got that part.

Nov 12

Posted by A. Peasant in Germany, Identities, Israel, Psychopaths, Putin, Russia | No Comments

[Note: The use of the term "Russian Organized Crime" is misleading since over 70 of the top Russian crime oligarchs also carry Israeli passports].

What has got me off on the Russians? I don’t know. I have hope for the Russians, they are tough people. The Russian must be admired. They have endured so much and I admire them, I really do. There is something to be said for persevering, for raw survival, and they possess that trait in the same way Americans collectively possess the ability to persist in denial, apparently against all truthful assaults. Equally impressive in a disturbing sort of way. Maybe we’re looking at two sides of the same coin. Maybe we need more vodka. Anyway, I like to think that Vladimir Putin is the one who escaped the mind-control matrix and plays along still because in this game of sudden death one has little choice, but we shall see. I’ve made mistakes about pinning my not-insubstantial hopes on mere mortals before, but I’ve read he broke free and that stuck in that place in my psyche where I preserve miniscule and even microscopic shreds of hope.

It bothers me that Alex W., who killed Marwa El-Sherbini, has received so much protection of his identity. Why should he? He’s a vicious Russian who moved to Germany, that’s about all we’re supposed to know. For Some Reason.

Alex W’s real name is Aleksandr Igorevich Nelsin.

There had been fears that a decision in the case could have been delayed by last-minute evidence that Wiens had a history of schizophrenia before he moved to Germany in 2003.

The suggestion of schizophrenia came in a faxed statement to the Dresden court earlier this week from the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office.

The statement said that Wiens, at the time known as Aleksandr Igorevich Nelsin, had been exempted from compulsory military service in Russia and was diagnosed in 2000 with “undifferentiated schizophrenia” occurring in worsening episodes.

Up until then, Wiens had been adjudged by German psychiatrists as sane and competent to stand trial.

Here you can read just about everything, including these details about his background:

…W stared impassively at the ground, with a hood pulled over his head, as the state prosecutor called for the maximum murder penalty. ‘His guilt is especially great,’ the prosecutor told the Dresden court, a different panel from that which tried the insult case. ‘In the sight on her 3-year-old son, he butchered this mother as if he were a hired assassin,’ said Heinrich, who said that the attempt to kill her husband, who tried to rescue her, was also intentional.[23] Heinrich said W had continued to speak insultingly about al-Shirbini to the psychologist long after the killing. “That leaves me almost speechless,” said Heinrich. W, who admitted last week that he hated non-Germans and Muslims in general, was born and raised in Russia.

…Prosecutor Heinrich said a statement from W, read aloud last week in court, had not even been an admission of guilt, but aired anew W’s belief that he had been treated unfairly by the court in the criminal-insult case and had been in a “funny mood.” In the statement, W had only said he was sorry because he faced consequences. “There was not one word about the tragedy he caused,” said the prosecutor, adding that W had never even apologized to al-Shirbini’s family which shows “he still does not grasp the harm he did.” The prosecutor rejected the view of the defence that W had acted in the heat of the moment, saying, “He knew what he was doing and acted with the coldness of ice.”[4]

…Judge Wiegand said Alex W., who was unemployed, had regarded life in Germany as “multicultural shit” and believed foreigners were depriving him of work. She said he despised Muslims in particular and ignored the fact that he himself was not of German origin, she said.[3] Werner Wendel, from the Dresden-based Foreigner’s Council of Saxony, said that Alex W.’ s sentiments were well known in the area. He was jobless and didn’t think he could lead a prosperous life in Germany. “He didn’t get a chance to become integrated in Germany. He didn’t get a chance to be a member of this society. It’s bad, but in the end one might say he became a loser under the German system of integration,” Wendel said.

…Wiegand, the presiding judge, had abandoned her appeals to the defendant to behave properly out of respect for al-Sherbini and the court. Despite his insistence that Germany is his home, the defendant appeared to be unfamiliar with the laws and values of his adopted country. W. was born in 1980 in Perm, a city of a million people near the Ural Mountains, and spent his childhood in Russia. His parents were divorced when he was two years old. His mother, who worked as an architect and later as a goldsmith, spent many years living in Kazakhstan with the boy, who was already inclined to be unruly and defiant. He only stayed with his father in Perm for isolated periods. As a result of constantly being shuttled back and forth between his parents, the boy never experienced the kind of relationship that would help him develop his own identity.[7]

…When asked about Russia today, W. frequently uses words like “hate” and “shit.” A Russian of German descent, [sic?] W. has been living in Germany with his mother and other relatives since 2003. He obtained a German passport and changed his first name from Aleksandr to the more German-sounding Alex. He has considered himself a German, which apparently fills him with a strong sense of pride. His outlandish ideas, steeped in Nazi racial fanaticism, seen to stem from a time when people were granted or denied the right to live on the basis of their race.[7]

…The document from a Russian prosecutor confirmed reports that W had been exempted from Russian military service in 2000 on the grounds of schizophrenia, though there was no record between 1998 and 2001 of him being in treatment for this mental illness. Presiding judge Birgit Wiegand urged W to reveal fast if he had had a schizophrenic episode when he stabbed al-Shirbini.[23]

And this detail:

A self-avowed racist who stabbed to death a pregnant Egyptian pharmacist was diagnosed with schizophrenia and exempted from Russian military service in the year 2000, according to a statement read out in his trial on Tuesday. Alexander Igorevich Nelsin, born November 12, 1980, was treated for “undifferentiated schizophrenia,” occurring in worsening episodes, according to the statement, faxed to Dresden by the Russian Attorney General.

The 28-year-old had ended his treatment by 2004, when his medical records were destroyed. In 2003, Alex W moved from Russia to Germany, where he took on his German mother’s surname.

You still have to read between the lines to understand.

intersecting circles

Nov 4

Posted by A. Peasant in Africa, Corruption & Crime, Israel, Minerals, Oligarchs, Putin, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand | No Comments

Bearing in mind yesterday’s post about Dmitry Karlik, the Russian immigrant who murdered a family of six that lived across from the Chabad Lubavitch shul in Rishon Letzion, Israel, a case which has “rocked the entire nation” of Israel although good luck finding any news about it, and which is now under the personal jurisdiction of Benjamin Netanyahu and Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch…..

I am going to show you some other things in the news. I don’t know if these things are connected. I’m just showing them to you. Circles intersect. Big circles, little circles. They intersect and if you keep looking you can start to see patterns and people in the intersecting circles.

First some background on Chabad Lubavitch and Russia:

While ordinary Chabadniks often describe Vladimir Putin as an evil thug, the Chabad leadership basks in its relationship with him. This contradiction has complex roots.

…In order to assure the choice of Lubavitcher Berel Lazar as Russian Chief Rabbi, Putin worked closely with wealthy Russian Jewish baal tshuvah Lev Leviev and with the Putin-friendly Russian Jewish oligarch Roman Abramovich, who was close to Georgian Jewish Oligarch Badri Patarkatsishvili, who until his death led the opposition to the Neocon-supported Saakashvili regime in Georgia.

…Lubavitchers like many Jewish groups are totally convinced of their moral superiority to non-Jews and rarely feel any remorse or connection to anti-Gentile crimes that arise out of Jewish politics and business practices…

There’s much there to read so go take a look. Anyway, the Lev Leviev and diamonds angle gets further pursued here:

Leviev built his enormous fortune trading diamonds with Apartheid-era South Africa. His company mines diamonds in partnership with the repressive Angolan government. New York Magazine reported in 2007 that in Angola, “A security company contracted by Leviev was accused… of participating in practices of ‘humiliation, whipping, torture, sexual abuse, and, in some cases, assassinations.’” Also, according to the diamond industry watchdog Partnership Africa Canada, Angola and Leviev have failed to fully comply with the Kimberley Process.

…Leviev runs a global commercial empire that includes: Leviev Group of Companies; Lev Leviev Diamonds; Africa-Israel (commercial real estate in Prague and London); Gottex (swimwear) Company; 1,700 Fina gas stations in the Southwest U.S.; 173 7-Elevens in New Mexico and Texas; a 33% stake in Cross Israel Highway (Israel’s first toll road); and more. Leviev partner Arcady Gaydamak, an arms dealer, also reportedly works with Danny Yatom, a former MOSSAD (Israeli secret service) chief and security advisor to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Leviev is connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and to Sandline International, a U.K./South African mercenary firm operating in the war-torn areas of Eastern Congo and Uganda.

…Diamonds are Israel’s top export. In 2005 figures, exports to the EU totaled $10.7 billion in 2004, including $2.5 billion in diamonds (23.3%); exports to the US totaled $14.2 billion in 2004, including $7.3 billion in diamonds (51.4%); exports to Asia totaled $7.1 billion in 2004, including $3.2 billion in diamonds (45.0%); exports to the rest of the world totaled $6.6 billion in 2004, including $800 million in diamonds (12.1%).

…Millions of blood diamonds from past and current wars remain locked in the vaults of the Belgian, Russian, New York, London and Israeli diamond bourses to insure the artificially high, monopoly-fixed, prices of diamonds.

And, of course, Lev Leviev and the Chabad Lubavitch are connected, too. In fact he was the guest speaker at the International Conference of Chabad Shluchim in November 2007.

http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2021012/Interview-Lev-Leviev-Guest-Speaker-at-International-Conference-of-Chabad-Shluchim.html

Israel takes the long vision and stakes its claim on the next generation of Forbes millionaires if it ensures that the Jewish child in Rio or in Rome has a healthy Jewish identity, says the Chairman of Africa Israel Investments, an international holding and investment company valued in the billions. When this child later succeeds in business, chances are he’ll invest in Israel before he does so anywhere else.

Lev Leviev, one of eight children, was born in 1956, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to Avner and Chana Leviev, prominent members of the Bukharan Jewish community.

In 1971 his family emigrated from Uzbekistan to Israel, where Lev attended the Chabad yeshiva, and soon turned to polishing diamonds. Today, he is on Forbes’s richest in-the-world list, and one of the leading philanthropists of Jewish education through the worldwide Chabad network.

And from the Q&A:

Q. What, in your opinion, is the greatest problem that plagues the Jewish people today?

Assimilation.

So here are the main circles: Chabad, Russia, Israel, Lev Leviev, diamonds…

Now other topics of interest lately around here have included Saudi Arabia and Thailand, and those circles intersect with other circles, among them Israel, intelligence agencies, corruption, and child trafficking. But meanwhile it turns out that Saudi Arabia and Thailand intersect very specifically: they have been in a diplomatic kerfuffle over some stolen jewelry, particularly a blue diamond, and a few dead diplomats, for about 20 years now. Allright???

Does any of this link back to Russia, Chabad and diamonds? Who knows. But if it did, do you think anyone with any authority will point that out? Ha haahahahahah. That’s the trouble. The circles might intersect but unless somebody takes the time to lay the circles on top of each other so you can see where they overlap, or even just touch, it’s all just random coincidences, in isolation, signifying nothing. And furthermore, anyone pointing out such suspicious coincidences is known as a “conspiracy theorist.” hahahhahahaha. Too much fun. With a little money and power, you can get away with murder!

Let’s take a look. Today the Bangkok Post reported:

The South Bangkok Criminal Court on Wednesday rejected the prosecution’s application that declare a Saudi businessman who has not been seen since 1990 a legally missing person.

The petition was filed with the court on Sept 2 this year at the request of the Department of Special Investigation to clear the way for the businessman’s family to manage his assets.

The court denied the request on the grounds the prosecution had only one witness, Pol Lt-Col Benjapol Chanthawan, a DSI expert on special cases, who testified that Mohammad al-Ruwaili came to live in Thailand to run a business in 1985 and had disappeared on Feb 12, 1990.

…The petitioner also did not produce any important witnesses, such as the missing man’s wife or relatives, to confirm to the court that al-Ruwaili had disappeared.

…Also, there were no documents to confirm that al-Ruwaili had not left the country. The only document submitted to the court was a copy of the police complaint that the businessman was missing.

Additional details from September:

Mohammad al-Ruwaili, a shareholder in the job placement firm Sincere International Recruitment Co, has been presumed dead since February 1990.

The man and his wife came to Thailand five years before he went missing. They rented a room at Sriwattana Apartment in soi Yen Akas, in Yannawa district of Bangkok, and ran the job placement firm.

The missing man was seen in a car with Saudi consul Abdullah al-Besri on Feb 12, 1990, and was reported missing three days later.

His car was found abandoned in the Bangkok Christian Hospital’s parking lot.

The consul was murdered after he was seen with al-Ruwaili.

It was widely suspected that al-Ruwaili was kidnapped by police investigating the Saudi consul’s murder, and that he was tortured and later killed by his captors to cover up their brutal actions.

The businessman’s disappearance and the consul’s murder followed the killing of three other Saudi diplomats were in separate shootings on Feb 1, 1989. One of the diplomats, Saleh Abdullah al-Maliki, third secretary at the Saudi embassy in Bangkok, was shot dead in front of his home in soi Pipat 1.

And before that, in August, a new lead all of a sudden:

Abu Ali, where are you? The “Arab man” - the description given by the Department of Special Investigation - is being sought by the DSI for suspected involvement in shooting to death a Saudi Arabian diplomat 19 years ago.

Less than a year before the cases hit the 20-year statute of limitations on investigations, the name of Abu Ali came out of nowhere on Wednesday as a new suspect. [This important development was also reported in The Nation. -ed.]

…Since the murder case, Thailand has had 12 prime ministers, starting with Gen Prem Tinsulanonda at the time to Abhisit Vejjajiva, and 11 police chiefs (make it 12 in October after police commander Pol Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwon retires next month). For Saudi Arabia, the name of the interior minister has not changed over the past two decades. Back then it was Prince Nayef. Today it is till the same prince.

Thailand officials…elevating foot-dragging to an art form. Perhaps the only people better at foot-dragging are the Israelis working on “peace” with the Palestinians. But that is just an observation that Thailand and Israel seem to share certain characteristics like brazen corruption and insularity.

This is what happened to kick the whole thing off:

In 1989, Kriangkrai Techamong, a Thai employee working in a Saudi Royal household, stole about US$20 million worth of jewelry, including an infamous Blue Diamond, and shipped the goods to Bangkok [in a crate of apples - ed.] before boarding his own flight back home.

When three Saudi diplomats were sent to Thailand to solve the case, they were gunned down, and a Saudi businessman was kidnapped and killed. The Saudis had enough and banished all Thai workers.

That did not deter Thai authorities or the league of involved officials in the theft, distribution, resale and subsequent shipment of the jewels after they were recovered – sort of, back to Saudi Arabia. However, 75 percent of the returned jewelry turned out fake including the Blue Diamond.

Anyone can flip up the popular online video site YouTube and see where at least someone thinks the Blue Diamond is, but Thai authorities claim not to know. It may be gone forever. But the case lingers on. [I can't find the video. -ed]

The Saudi gems, diplomats and murdered businessman cases take an even more bizarre tone when one engages in conjecture over why Saudi Arabia has mellowed a bit over time even though the jewels have not been located nor the murderers caught. One theory is the Gulf rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, wherein the Saudi kingdom finds Iran’s growing influence in Thailand a disadvantage to its relations with Thailand.

So it seems that corrupt police in Thailand got the jewels, transferred them to safer hands, and murdered the Saudis sent to investigate. Serious business.

One person believed to know what happened is Chalor Kerdthes. This story is from April 2008:

Justice Minister Sompong Amornwiwat on Thursday paid a visit to Bangkok’s Klong Prem Prison, where Police Lieutenant General Chalor Kerdthes, a key player in the Saudi jewelry case, has been an inmate for the past 14 years.

Chalor, a former deputy commissioner of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) who was put in charge of the Saudi case in 1990, is serving a life-sentence for the abduction and murder of the wife of Santi Srithanakhan, a Thai gem trader who was believed to be involved in the disappearance of Saudi Prince Faisal’s jewelry including a “priceless” Blue Diamond in 1989.

Apparently that didn’t pan out. Last month a Chalor received a death sentence:

Thailand’s Supreme Court yesterday upheld a death sentence for a former senior policeman who abducted and murdered a gem merchant’s wife and son as he investigated the theft of Saudi royal jewellery. Ex-police commissioner Chalor Kerdthes was convicted of the abduction and murder in 1994 of the family members of Santi Srithanakhan, who had bought some of the jewellery stolen in a notorious heist from a Saudi prince’s palace. The prosecution argued that Chalor abducted the pair to pressure the merchant into revealing the whereabouts of the lavish gems, worth $20 million.

Now for some circles:

Thailand belongs – beside Israel – to the few countries on earth that can afford to have no full diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. Most readers won’t be aware why Thailand ostracizes Saudi Arabia. Wait, it’s the other way round. Saudi Arabia is still waiting for justice. Prime Minister Abhisit wants to draw a line under the decades old case and normalize relations with the Saudis. After 19 years – finally? – an arrest warrant is issued. The whole saga began in 1989, in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

More precisely, in the palace of Prince Faisal, son of King Fahd. The palace employed a Thai house servant, Kriangkrai Taechamong, whose job included cleaning the room where the Prince and his family stored their jewels. Well, those jewels went missing and soon it turned out that they had been distributed among some influential people at the top of Thai society. At parties and receptions some of those missing jewels were seen in Thai cleavages. And many of these people would not stop at killing to protect themselves.

Riiight. So they’re not missing, exactly. It’s just that whoever has them does not want to return them. And they are not too worried seeing that this has gone on for twenty years. Who are these “influential people at the top of Thai society” who can wear the notorious stolen jewels in public and thumb their noses at Saudi Arabia? And how could it be that Saudi Arabia couldn’t do a workaround in all these years. I mean it’s not like the Saudis are little lambs. There’s got to be something else going on here in the power equation. And wouldn’t we love to know. Here are some tidbits from a timeline:

1990 - “At a gala dinner in Bangkok soon after the incident, wives of the Thai generals and leading politicians fiercely competed in showing off their jewelry. The Thai newspapers’ photographers caught pictures showing diamond necklaces belonging to the Saudi royal family. The pictures were shown to Saudi officials who also confirmed its similarity. The Thai ladies, however, denied their authenticity.” (Another?) sighting of the jewels is alleged to have occurred at a Red Cross event (date unspecified).

3/2008 - “Two Muslim experts” who have a good relationship with Saudi Arabia appointed to serve as advisors to DSI investigators in charge of the cases.

late 2008 - SDI Director Thawee reports that 90 percent of the investigation has been completed.

anonymous comment - The timeline is missing the various instances where XXX XXXXX wore the Blue Diamond in public.

Somebody has to hold the bag while the ladies wear those jewels.

Staff at the Saudi embassy and some outsiders were suspects but the court dropped all charges against them. Pol Col Tawee said DSI officials believed the murders could have resulted from conflicts between Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East.

Judging by their “theories,” the DSI investigators would appear to have ruled out the possibility that the murders of the Saudi diplomats had some connection with the efforts of the Saudi diplomats to investigate the theft of the jewels (There is little doubt that the jewels were stolen by the police). By the sound of it, the Thai police are off the hook for these murders.

I’ve read several comments on discussion boards, etc. to the effect that “everyone” knows who has the blue diamond but amazingly nobody will speak the name. Allegedly the former prime minister’s wife has been seen wearing it. Yet the cone of silence surrounds it.

And the circles continue intersecting. They connect to the economic crisis, to Iran, to the WTO…. they just go on and on like ripples across a festering swamp.

decision tree from hell

Sep 21

Posted by A. Peasant in Iran, Israel, NATO, Nuclear Weapons, Putin, Russia | No Comments

Really good summary here from Damian Lataan, trying to answer the question on many people’s minds right now, which is WTF? Do we *really* have to let Israel start WW III over Iran’s non-existent nookular weapons? And why is that…exactly?

The answer lies in Zionism’s long term objectives of creating a Greater Israel. The main forces that stand between the Zionists and their objectives are Hezbollah in Lebanon who have defended their country against attack from the Israelis on several different occasions, and Hamas who have struggled to defend and regain the Palestinian lands that have been taken from them by the Israelis. Both of these Arab and Palestinian entities are supported by Iran via Syria. Without Iran’s support, both Hezbollah and Hamas would not be able to sustain their resistance to Israel’s aggression and ultimate aims.

However, Israel is not able to simply attack Iran; world opinion simply would not support such a blatant act of aggression. In the past, whenever Israel has decided to launch an attack against its enemies, Israel has always managed to find a casus belli that Western governments have been able to accept. The Israelis have always been able to manipulate events in such a way as to allow the world to believe that Israel is the victim rather than the aggressor. With the careful use of propaganda distorting the true nature of events coupled with outright lies and the occasional false flag or ‘psychological’ operation, Israel has been able to control the Western mainstream medias presentation of news via its influence on the owners of the mainstream media so that it favours Israel.

The only way that Israel can effectively and permanently cut Iran’s influence on Hezbollah and Hamas is for Israel to bring about regime change in Iran. In order to bring about regime change one of two things need to happen; either the country needs to be invaded and its government toppled, as happened in Iraq, or the government toppled by internal forces. Since it would be logistically impossible for Iran to be invaded as Iraq was, the only alternative is to have the government toppled by other means.

…The US and Israel have only one option left and that is to attack Iran’s military and government institutions with such force that the government capitulates and bows to the demands of the US via the UN – demands that would include ‘regime change’. In order to make such an attack the Israelis and the US will require a casus belli that would be supported by public opinion. Iran’s so-called nuclear weapons program, it is hoped, will be that casus belli.

An alternative casus belli could be that evidence, manufactured or otherwise, shows that Iran is substantially supporting Hamas and/or Hezbollah to a level that is a threat to Israel….Since such a scenario could not be realised without a trigger casus belli such as a war with either Hamas and/or Hezbollah in which it can be shown that Iran is involved, Israel will first need to find some reason to launch an attack against one or the other or both.

It would appear that the first option — the nuclear weapons story — has been seriously compromised by the NIE findings coming up persistently and in really obvious places like Newsweek. You know, where people will actually see it. But that does seem to narrow things down to 1) war with Hamas/Hezbollah or possibly, 2) false flag 9/11-type event. And as Lataan points out, Israel and the US have some joint military exercises planned for next month in which they will simulate missile attacks on Israel from Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. What could possibly go wrong?

And he also addresses Brzezinski’s recent interview, where he suggests US planes would shoot Israeli planes out of the sky before letting them strike Iran. But Brzezinski also said this about Russia, his least favorite country:

The Russians have their own interests in Iran, which are far more complex than the simplistic notion that the Russians want to help us with Iran. The Russians have a complicated agenda with Iran. They also know in the back of their heads that if worse came to worse—and I am not saying they are deliberately promoting the worst—but if worse came to worse, which is an American-Iranian military collision, who would pay the highest price for that? First, America, whose success in ending the Cold War the Russians still bitterly resent. And we would also pay a high price in Iraq, Afghanistan, and massively so with regards to the price of oil. Second, who would suffer the most? The Chinese, who the Russians view as a long-range threat and of whom they are very envious, because the Chinese get much more of their oil from the Middle East than we do, and the skyrocketing price would hurt them even more than us. Third, who would then be totally dependent on the Russians? The West Europeans. And fourth, who would cash in like crazy? The Kremlin.

So looks to me that he is tilling the ground to blame things on Russia, should “worse come to worse.” I also noticed that somebody dragged old Gorbachev out of storage to talk about democracy and throw a few spitballs at Putin.

Gorbachev said: “I believe that Prime Minister Putin’s raising of the subject of 2012 is premature. Moreover, in this conversation, everything came down to ‘we’ll sit down and reach an agreement’. But if an agreement is to be reached with anyone, it is with the electorate, with the people. But the people were absent from this conversation. I do not think this is right.”

But hey, it’s not too early to talk about 2012 in *this* country.

It is beginning to look a lot like 2012 — or in some respects, like 2008 again — as potential Republican presidential contenders gathered in Washington this past weekend for the annual Values Voters Summit. The gathering is hosted by the political action arm of the conservative Family Research Council.

On Saturday, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee finished first among conservative voters in a straw poll ballot, winning 170 votes out of the 597 cast. Mitt Romney, Huckabee’s former rival for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, came in a distant second with 74 votes.

I mean, why would you even worry about Iran? We’re talking about Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney again, already. Aren’t you excited? Don’t worry about Iran. Don’t worry about Iran’s Advanced BioWar program. The future is all roses, kid.

The large number of Iranian/Syrian/Hezhollah/Hammas rockets and missiles, capable of delivering radiological, chemical, advanced biological, and fuel-air explosives on Israel and American forces in the Middle East is a check-mate or MAD designed to prevent the next stated goal of the neo-con agenda, the destruction of Iran and Syria, from taking place. It is designed to appeal to the logical mind of Israeli and American leaders ~ don’t try to destroy us because we can return the favor (perhaps using different technology but nevertheless horribly effective). The same type of MAD between NATO and the old Warsaw Pack that kept both from engaging in World War III for duration of the Cold War. So why is this MAD not working now?

Yeah, so, click through for his answer.

i put my stock in Vladimir

Sep 18

Posted by A. Peasant in Putin | No Comments




Space appears to have opened up between Medvedev and Putin. Medvedev has apparently come into alignment with “The West,” The West being a euphemism for “countries under Israel’s control.”

The careful smear campaign against Putin indicates that he has a different agenda from “The West” and also that he is feared and dangerous.

The visit by Netanyahu to Russia, combined with the Arctic Sea, confirm that Russia has tremendous power to deter Israel from striking Iran. But who really controls Russia, Putin or Medvedev? Presumably Putin. Is the split between Putin and Medvedev real? Is Medvedev zooming The West or Putin?

Who would *you* zoom if you were him?

I don’t think this is over yet.