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"Lord of War" Victor Bout to continue court case in November...By dj blendz(dj blendz)
MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - A Thai court will hold its next hearings in the trial of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, accused of conspiracy to sell arms to Colombian left-wing rebels, on November 4-8, a Russian lawyer said on
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Showing posts with label Arms Dealing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arms Dealing. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Viktor Bout in Tailand Hearings for Extradition to the US
Thailand's criminal court must decide whether there is enough evidence to extradite the man dubbed the "Merchant of Death" to the United States, where he could face life in prison.
Bout, arrested in Bangkok in March after a sting operation conducted by US agents and Thai police, entered the courtroom Friday in leg shackles and an orange prison-issue outfit.
He looked on as his lawyers cross-examined a witness from Thailand's interior ministry about the legality of his detention and extradition.
"This afternoon, we will continue to question witnesses to prove that Mr. Bout is illegally detained," Thai defence lawyer Chamroen Panompakakorn said.
During an undercover operation, Bout allegedly agreed to supply surface-to-air missiles to US anti-drug agents posing as rebels from Colombia's Marxist FARC group, which Washington considers a terrorist organisation.
The Rest @ AFP Google
Bout, arrested in Bangkok in March after a sting operation conducted by US agents and Thai police, entered the courtroom Friday in leg shackles and an orange prison-issue outfit.
He looked on as his lawyers cross-examined a witness from Thailand's interior ministry about the legality of his detention and extradition.
"This afternoon, we will continue to question witnesses to prove that Mr. Bout is illegally detained," Thai defence lawyer Chamroen Panompakakorn said.
During an undercover operation, Bout allegedly agreed to supply surface-to-air missiles to US anti-drug agents posing as rebels from Colombia's Marxist FARC group, which Washington considers a terrorist organisation.
The Rest @ AFP Google
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Richard Chichakli Still Denying that he is Viktor Bout's Accountant
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Litigation against OFAC, Connection to Viktor Bout had been Alleged
Editor's Note: Mr. Chichakli maintains a http://www.chichakli.com information about his case.
On September 26 the Fifth Circuit vacated in part an Order freezing the assets of Richard A Chichakli by the Office of Foreign Asset Control.
[ Keep in Mind that the original source for the following Information is Richard A Chichakli's personal website. It is his habit to deny the truth, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. An Italian Journalist, published in a local paper reported that Richard A Chichakli set up his interview with Viktor Bout, and told him that he handled his finances. While this is hearsay evidence, it is true that the Italian author actually did interview Viktor Bout at a time when he was living underground.
-Shimron]
"Richard Chichakli had challenged a “Blocking Notice” issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). He asserts the Blocking Notice was unconstitutional and the evidence was insufficient to support entry of the Notice against him. The district court granted summary judgment on all claims in favor of Defendants. We affirm the district court except for the ruling regarding a taking. We vacate that part of the judgment, as explained below."
In July 2004, President Bush issued an Executive Order, which declared a national emergency with respect to Liberia. The Order authorized the freezing of the assets of 28 individuals, including Viktor Bout, who were deemed to be contributing to the unstable situation in Liberia as well as anyone found “acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.”
OFAC later claimed that Chichakli was acting on behalf of Bout. A Blocking Notice was issued, subjecting Chichakli to the sanctions set out in the Executive Order. After OFAC denied reconsideration of the denial, Chichakli filed this suit, asserting violations of his due process rights, of the Takings Clause, and of the Administrative Procedures Act.
The Fifth Circuit did not find any violation of due process for having been denied an opportunity to challenge the freeze prior to its having gone into effect.
The district court had held (1) that the pre-notice deprivation was necessary to secure an important government interest as demonstrated by the Executive Order that declared conditions in Liberia to be a serious threat to the foreign policy of the United States, (2) that there was a special need for prompt action to protect against the transfer of the assets that were subject to the Executive Order, and (3) that the Executive Order narrowly set out the criteria that the Treasury Department could use to identify affected individuals to ensure that the deprivation was not baseless.
Chichakli's also claimed that the Government's actions in freezing his assets constituted an unconstitutional taking without compensation in violation of the Fifth Amendment. The district court held that OFAC's blocking action was not a taking within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment because title to the property never vested in the government.
The Court also ruled that Chichakli's claims were in excess of $10,000 and therefore falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims. Because the district court did not have jurisdiction to decide this issue, we vacate the district court's judgment as it relates to Chichakli's takings claim under the Fifth Amendment.
Chichakli's also challenged the sufficiency of the evidence that he was purporting to act on behalf of Viktor Bout. We review OFAC's designation of him as someone who was assisting Bout for whether the determination was “arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”
Chichakli's specific challenge is to the relevance and reliability of certain information utilized by OFAC to justify the blocking order. The district court pointed out that the evidence supports the conclusions that Chichakli held senior level positions in several businesses connected with Bout, that Chichakli had a close relationship with Bout, and that he had intimate knowledge of Bout's businesses. Therefore, the district court correctly held that OFAC did not act in an arbitrary and capricious manner in determining that Chichakli acted for or on behalf of Viktor Bout.
Posted by Linda Friedman Ramirez at 5:31 AM
The Rest @ The Extradition and Foreign Evidance Web site
You can read more about him here at the center for public integrity and the Dallas Morning News
Litigation against OFAC, Connection to Viktor Bout had been Alleged
Editor's Note: Mr. Chichakli maintains a http://www.chichakli.com information about his case.
On September 26 the Fifth Circuit vacated in part an Order freezing the assets of Richard A Chichakli by the Office of Foreign Asset Control.
[ Keep in Mind that the original source for the following Information is Richard A Chichakli's personal website. It is his habit to deny the truth, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. An Italian Journalist, published in a local paper reported that Richard A Chichakli set up his interview with Viktor Bout, and told him that he handled his finances. While this is hearsay evidence, it is true that the Italian author actually did interview Viktor Bout at a time when he was living underground.
-Shimron]
"Richard Chichakli had challenged a “Blocking Notice” issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). He asserts the Blocking Notice was unconstitutional and the evidence was insufficient to support entry of the Notice against him. The district court granted summary judgment on all claims in favor of Defendants. We affirm the district court except for the ruling regarding a taking. We vacate that part of the judgment, as explained below."
In July 2004, President Bush issued an Executive Order, which declared a national emergency with respect to Liberia. The Order authorized the freezing of the assets of 28 individuals, including Viktor Bout, who were deemed to be contributing to the unstable situation in Liberia as well as anyone found “acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.”
OFAC later claimed that Chichakli was acting on behalf of Bout. A Blocking Notice was issued, subjecting Chichakli to the sanctions set out in the Executive Order. After OFAC denied reconsideration of the denial, Chichakli filed this suit, asserting violations of his due process rights, of the Takings Clause, and of the Administrative Procedures Act.
The Fifth Circuit did not find any violation of due process for having been denied an opportunity to challenge the freeze prior to its having gone into effect.
The district court had held (1) that the pre-notice deprivation was necessary to secure an important government interest as demonstrated by the Executive Order that declared conditions in Liberia to be a serious threat to the foreign policy of the United States, (2) that there was a special need for prompt action to protect against the transfer of the assets that were subject to the Executive Order, and (3) that the Executive Order narrowly set out the criteria that the Treasury Department could use to identify affected individuals to ensure that the deprivation was not baseless.
Chichakli's also claimed that the Government's actions in freezing his assets constituted an unconstitutional taking without compensation in violation of the Fifth Amendment. The district court held that OFAC's blocking action was not a taking within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment because title to the property never vested in the government.
The Court also ruled that Chichakli's claims were in excess of $10,000 and therefore falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims. Because the district court did not have jurisdiction to decide this issue, we vacate the district court's judgment as it relates to Chichakli's takings claim under the Fifth Amendment.
Chichakli's also challenged the sufficiency of the evidence that he was purporting to act on behalf of Viktor Bout. We review OFAC's designation of him as someone who was assisting Bout for whether the determination was “arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”
Chichakli's specific challenge is to the relevance and reliability of certain information utilized by OFAC to justify the blocking order. The district court pointed out that the evidence supports the conclusions that Chichakli held senior level positions in several businesses connected with Bout, that Chichakli had a close relationship with Bout, and that he had intimate knowledge of Bout's businesses. Therefore, the district court correctly held that OFAC did not act in an arbitrary and capricious manner in determining that Chichakli acted for or on behalf of Viktor Bout.
Posted by Linda Friedman Ramirez at 5:31 AM
The Rest @ The Extradition and Foreign Evidance Web site
You can read more about him here at the center for public integrity and the Dallas Morning News
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Biote replaces Dabo as Entrior Minister in Guinea-Bissau shake up
BISSAU, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira, who faces international pressure to crack down on drug-trafficking gangs in his small, impoverished West African country, has replaced his interior minister.
Baciro Dabo, who had served only six months in the post, was substituted by Certorio Biote as internal administration minister, according to a presidential decree issued late on Tuesday and published by local media on Wednesday.
Dabo, seen as one of the few close allies of Vieira in the government formed in April after weeks of political crisis, was appointed an adviser to the president.
No reason was given for the change but Vieira had recently faced intense political pressure from within the ruling government coalition to replace Dabo.
The Social Renewal Party (PRS), which with the United Social Democratic Party (PUSD) and the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) had formed the April government, insisted that by rights it should be given the interior ministry post as part of a power-sharing agreement.
The new minister Biote is a leading PRS member.
Although observers attributed the change to internal politics, the interior ministry job is seen as crucial to efforts to fight drug-smuggling by Latin American cartels using Guinea-Bissau as a staging post for trafficking.
The Rest @ Reuters Africa
Baciro Dabo, who had served only six months in the post, was substituted by Certorio Biote as internal administration minister, according to a presidential decree issued late on Tuesday and published by local media on Wednesday.
Dabo, seen as one of the few close allies of Vieira in the government formed in April after weeks of political crisis, was appointed an adviser to the president.
No reason was given for the change but Vieira had recently faced intense political pressure from within the ruling government coalition to replace Dabo.
The Social Renewal Party (PRS), which with the United Social Democratic Party (PUSD) and the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) had formed the April government, insisted that by rights it should be given the interior ministry post as part of a power-sharing agreement.
The new minister Biote is a leading PRS member.
Although observers attributed the change to internal politics, the interior ministry job is seen as crucial to efforts to fight drug-smuggling by Latin American cartels using Guinea-Bissau as a staging post for trafficking.
The Rest @ Reuters Africa
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Civil War in the East covering International Conflict Diamond Activity in the West?
I have not commented in detail to date about DR Congo's current Civil war, because it is not clear to me yet the real objectives of the war. The government does not seem to have any real solutions except the status-quo. The rebels seem to not have any real idea about what they want to do or accomplish.
So the usually suspects are likely to be supplying the arms and logistics to both sides.
-I suspect the real story in the Congos is what is going on in the diamond mines...
so, back to the Civil War....
-Shimron
BULENGO, Congo, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Civilians in Congo's conflict-torn North Kivu province are bearing the brunt of instability there as warring factions step up forced recruitment and a humanitarian crisis deepens.
Jean-Paul Kakuti was attending his village school when he was kidnapped by fighters loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda, who are battling Democratic Republic of Congo's army in the lawless eastern province.
"When they took me, I was with about 30 others. They took lots of school children and teachers," Kakuti said as he waited in a U.N. refugee agency tent in Bulengo, just west of the provincial capital, Goma. "They wanted us to fight alongside them, to become rebels like them."
A tense stalemate reigns in North Kivu after an informal U.N.-brokered ceasefire helped end heavy fighting last month. Intermittent skirmishes continue between Nkunda's fighters, government forces, local militia, and Rwandan rebels.
With no concrete efforts under way to negotiate a settlement to the current situation, North Kivu's civilian population is suffering an intensifying humanitarian crisis.
More than 90,000 people were displaced by last month's fighting and there are worrying signs the situation could soon worsen.
The Congolese army, considered by human rights groups as the country's worst human rights abuser, has poured thousands of extra troops into the province to battle Nkunda.
Congo's U.N. peacekeeping mission accuses Nkunda, local militia, and Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels of forcibly recruiting fighters, in some cases minors. The indications point towards preparations for the next round of fighting.
"It's really an explosive situation that can change overnight," said Philippe Havet, a doctor at a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in the isolated town of Masisi. "We don't know what will happen tomorrow. That much is completely clear."
HUMANITARIAN WOES
Even before the latest round of fighting, more than 270,000 civilians had fled fighting in North Kivu since the beginning of the year. Few dare return home, causing camps to balloon and placing a strain on local communities that have welcomed them.
Uncounted thousands more have been cut off from assistance, as transport routes have been transformed into frontlines.
"Access to people has become a real challenge. North Kivu is divided," said Aya Shneerson, the U.N. World Food Programme's director in North Kivu. "No one is going home, because the situation is unclear. There are places where people urgently need help that we can't get to."
At the hospital in Masisi, one of the few operating in the area, a team from the Belgian chapter of MSF carries out an average of 1,000 consultations per week. The 73-bed facility currently houses 130 patients and medical supplies must be flown in by helicopter to avoid ambushes on the road from Goma.
"They come walking sometimes from 20 km (12 miles) away," Havet told Reuters by phone from Masisi. "There are some who have to wait two days to be treated."
Congo's U.N. peacekeeping mission has been pushing for negotiations to end the crisis and former colonial ruler Belgium is calling for the appointment of a special outside mediator for North Kivu.
"It's clear that a political solution is needed, and quickly. The humanitarian consequences of drawn-out instability in North Kivu are pretty dire, maybe a million displaced by the end of the year," said one western diplomat.
"There seems to be a lack of political will from both sides to have meaningful talks.
The Rest @ Reuters Africa
So the usually suspects are likely to be supplying the arms and logistics to both sides.
-I suspect the real story in the Congos is what is going on in the diamond mines...
- Who is mining, them?
- where are they going to get "Kimberly-ized"?
- Are they just being sold to an emerging non-DeBeers diamond trade being run by the Russians?
so, back to the Civil War....
-Shimron
BULENGO, Congo, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Civilians in Congo's conflict-torn North Kivu province are bearing the brunt of instability there as warring factions step up forced recruitment and a humanitarian crisis deepens.
Jean-Paul Kakuti was attending his village school when he was kidnapped by fighters loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda, who are battling Democratic Republic of Congo's army in the lawless eastern province.
"When they took me, I was with about 30 others. They took lots of school children and teachers," Kakuti said as he waited in a U.N. refugee agency tent in Bulengo, just west of the provincial capital, Goma. "They wanted us to fight alongside them, to become rebels like them."
A tense stalemate reigns in North Kivu after an informal U.N.-brokered ceasefire helped end heavy fighting last month. Intermittent skirmishes continue between Nkunda's fighters, government forces, local militia, and Rwandan rebels.
With no concrete efforts under way to negotiate a settlement to the current situation, North Kivu's civilian population is suffering an intensifying humanitarian crisis.
More than 90,000 people were displaced by last month's fighting and there are worrying signs the situation could soon worsen.
The Congolese army, considered by human rights groups as the country's worst human rights abuser, has poured thousands of extra troops into the province to battle Nkunda.
Congo's U.N. peacekeeping mission accuses Nkunda, local militia, and Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels of forcibly recruiting fighters, in some cases minors. The indications point towards preparations for the next round of fighting.
"It's really an explosive situation that can change overnight," said Philippe Havet, a doctor at a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in the isolated town of Masisi. "We don't know what will happen tomorrow. That much is completely clear."
HUMANITARIAN WOES
Even before the latest round of fighting, more than 270,000 civilians had fled fighting in North Kivu since the beginning of the year. Few dare return home, causing camps to balloon and placing a strain on local communities that have welcomed them.
Uncounted thousands more have been cut off from assistance, as transport routes have been transformed into frontlines.
"Access to people has become a real challenge. North Kivu is divided," said Aya Shneerson, the U.N. World Food Programme's director in North Kivu. "No one is going home, because the situation is unclear. There are places where people urgently need help that we can't get to."
At the hospital in Masisi, one of the few operating in the area, a team from the Belgian chapter of MSF carries out an average of 1,000 consultations per week. The 73-bed facility currently houses 130 patients and medical supplies must be flown in by helicopter to avoid ambushes on the road from Goma.
"They come walking sometimes from 20 km (12 miles) away," Havet told Reuters by phone from Masisi. "There are some who have to wait two days to be treated."
Congo's U.N. peacekeeping mission has been pushing for negotiations to end the crisis and former colonial ruler Belgium is calling for the appointment of a special outside mediator for North Kivu.
"It's clear that a political solution is needed, and quickly. The humanitarian consequences of drawn-out instability in North Kivu are pretty dire, maybe a million displaced by the end of the year," said one western diplomat.
"There seems to be a lack of political will from both sides to have meaningful talks.
The Rest @ Reuters Africa
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
UN Warns Guinea Bissau Could Become a Narco-Arms Traffic Base
DAKAR (AFP) — Guinea Bissau, a key transit point for international drug traffickers, could pose the greatest threat to stability in west Africa unless the international community steps in to quickly crackdown on the cartels setting up base there, a UN expert warned on Tuesday.
Amado Philip de Andres, deputy representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in west Africa, told reporters on the sidelines of a regional anti-terrorism workshop that cash-strapped and poorly policed Guinea urgently needed help to safeguard regional peace.
"Guinea Bissau is going to explode unless we do something now. It is not a problem of Guinea Bissau, it's a problem of Europe and Latin America," he said.
Andres said international traffickers are exploiting Guinea Bissau's weak self-defence capabilities to ship their contraband from Latin American countries via the nation's Bijagos islands to Europe.
If unchecked they could soon take control of the archipelago and set up a stockpiling and distribution centre before they sponsor civil conflicts in the region in a bid to create chaos to enable them to easily push their illicit trade, he warned.
Guinea "can explode in any direction, civil war, regional destabilisation and it can trigger a domino effect against post-conflict countries which are recovering like Liberia and Sierra Leone," he warned.
"If they create conflict in different parts of the countries and fund activities there then they can move freely because there will be no control," he added.
"I am extremely worried," because the cartels "have the potential to destabilise some post-conflict countries, through specific states which do not have the means to fight terrorism," he said.
He said the desperately impoverished country needs 15 million dollars to beef up its security and fight trafficking through its territory. Donors have been approved but it is yet to be freed.
Plans are that there be a permament international law enforcement force working with the locals and help build vital communications systems.
He said the lack of communications facilities are so desperate that even the justice cabinet minister has to go to a public cyber cafe to recharge her mobile phone because government offices lack electricity.
He insisted the country needs help now because "it will cost more if it explodes, to have peace keeping force" there.
The small former Portuguese colony in west Africa and the world's fifth poorest nation has in recent years become a transit hub for European-bound cocaine originating from Latin America.
Its Prime Minister Martinho Ndafa Cabi has also admitted that his country cannot tackle the drug trafficking problem alone.
Human rights activists have, however, denounced alleged military and government complicity in drug trafficking in the country.
Andres said West African has become such a critical point of departure for drugs that of all the drugs seized at European airports last year, 21 percent came from Africa and of that more than 90 percent landed in through west Africa.
Experts from the UN and 23 central and western African countries are holding a three-day workshop here to thrash out ways to counter terrorism in the region.
The Rest @ Goolge News
Amado Philip de Andres, deputy representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in west Africa, told reporters on the sidelines of a regional anti-terrorism workshop that cash-strapped and poorly policed Guinea urgently needed help to safeguard regional peace.
"Guinea Bissau is going to explode unless we do something now. It is not a problem of Guinea Bissau, it's a problem of Europe and Latin America," he said.
Andres said international traffickers are exploiting Guinea Bissau's weak self-defence capabilities to ship their contraband from Latin American countries via the nation's Bijagos islands to Europe.
If unchecked they could soon take control of the archipelago and set up a stockpiling and distribution centre before they sponsor civil conflicts in the region in a bid to create chaos to enable them to easily push their illicit trade, he warned.
Guinea "can explode in any direction, civil war, regional destabilisation and it can trigger a domino effect against post-conflict countries which are recovering like Liberia and Sierra Leone," he warned.
"If they create conflict in different parts of the countries and fund activities there then they can move freely because there will be no control," he added.
"I am extremely worried," because the cartels "have the potential to destabilise some post-conflict countries, through specific states which do not have the means to fight terrorism," he said.
He said the desperately impoverished country needs 15 million dollars to beef up its security and fight trafficking through its territory. Donors have been approved but it is yet to be freed.
Plans are that there be a permament international law enforcement force working with the locals and help build vital communications systems.
He said the lack of communications facilities are so desperate that even the justice cabinet minister has to go to a public cyber cafe to recharge her mobile phone because government offices lack electricity.
He insisted the country needs help now because "it will cost more if it explodes, to have peace keeping force" there.
The small former Portuguese colony in west Africa and the world's fifth poorest nation has in recent years become a transit hub for European-bound cocaine originating from Latin America.
Its Prime Minister Martinho Ndafa Cabi has also admitted that his country cannot tackle the drug trafficking problem alone.
Human rights activists have, however, denounced alleged military and government complicity in drug trafficking in the country.
Andres said West African has become such a critical point of departure for drugs that of all the drugs seized at European airports last year, 21 percent came from Africa and of that more than 90 percent landed in through west Africa.
Experts from the UN and 23 central and western African countries are holding a three-day workshop here to thrash out ways to counter terrorism in the region.
The Rest @ Goolge News
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Beltechexport, Belarusian Arms Company, BelaPAN: Arms Dealer to Africa & the World
Beltech export, a Belarusian arms trade company, has released its sales figures for the first time ever.
In a report posted on its website, the company says that it has supplied foreign customers with more than 120 aircraft, over 3,000 air defense, automated control, radar and electronic warfare systems, hundreds artillery weapons and armored vehicles, tens thousand small arms units, as well as other pieces of military-purpose equipment.
Founded in 1993, Beltechexport is the country's largest military hardware export and import company.
The company supplies weaponry to customers across
In a report posted on its website, the company says that it has supplied foreign customers with more than 120 aircraft, over 3,000 air defense, automated control, radar and electronic warfare systems, hundreds artillery weapons and armored vehicles, tens thousand small arms units, as well as other pieces of military-purpose equipment.
Founded in 1993, Beltechexport is the country's largest military hardware export and import company.
The company supplies weaponry to customers across
- Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America.
- It has offices in Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Russia and France.
- Beltechexport awards arms repair and upgrade contracts to the 140th Tank Repair Works, the 2566th Electronic Weapons Repair Works, the 558th Aircraft Repair Works, the Minsk Wheeled Tractor Factory, the Minsk Automobile Factory, Ahat and other defense industry enterprises.
- Apart from offering foreign customers weapons and other military-purpose equipment and repair services, Beltechexport also provides training to foreign experts.
- BelaPAN
Friday, August 03, 2007
What does "the Leader" Kadaffi want with Anti-Tank Missiles?
Qaddafi is getting an enormous number of anti-tank missiles from France.
Lets Examine these Missiles:
Lets Examine these Missiles:
- This is a start-of-the-art missile
- Range: 3, 000 meters, or about 1.8 miles.
- Penetration: 3 Meters, or over 9 feet of reinforced concrete
- It can be carried without a vehicle, and fired by two people
- We hope it fires like this when they get it.
- Here is more data
When I look at Libya's enemies, who would they need to defend themselves from?
The only people that come to mind are:
- Egypt: No threat
- Chad: Fighting their own war No Threat
- Niger: Trouble near their borders, but nothing these Missiles will improve
- Algeria: AQIM is a threat, but mysteriously not focused on Libya
- Tunisia: No Threat
- Sudan: Best Chums
There are only four possible outcomes of this, all three are bad:
- This re-starts an Arms race in North Africa
- Libya deploys these missiles against Jihadis who capture them and use them elsewhere
- They are transferred either legally or illegally to al Qaeda
- Some international criminal group aquires them for resale...read that anyway you like.
This is a simple system, very easy to use, and in the hands of a small terrorist group of any kind it significantly increases their capacity to penetrate hard targets.
I wonder what is really going on here?
Libyan Arms Deal Tied to Nurse Prisoner Release?
By James Mackenzie
COMMISSION OF INQUIRY
Sarkozy clinched an accord on defence and signed a memorandum of understanding for a nuclear energy deal during his visit to Tripoli.
The opposition Socialists called for a parliamentary commission of inquiry to establish whether the missiles sale was linked to the release of the medics.
"There's a further question, which doesn't have to do with a commission of inquiry, which is, should we have arms deals with a country like Libya, ruled by (Muammar) Gaddafi?"Socialist party leader Francois Hollande told France Inter radio.
Morin said criticism from the Socialists was intended to discredit Sarkozy's part in securing the release of the medics after a mission to Tripoli by his wife Cecilia.
"We're seeing a sort of systematic procedure to demolish a real French diplomatic success," he said.
The Rest @ Reuters
COMMISSION OF INQUIRY
Sarkozy clinched an accord on defence and signed a memorandum of understanding for a nuclear energy deal during his visit to Tripoli.
The opposition Socialists called for a parliamentary commission of inquiry to establish whether the missiles sale was linked to the release of the medics.
"There's a further question, which doesn't have to do with a commission of inquiry, which is, should we have arms deals with a country like Libya, ruled by (Muammar) Gaddafi?"Socialist party leader Francois Hollande told France Inter radio.
Morin said criticism from the Socialists was intended to discredit Sarkozy's part in securing the release of the medics after a mission to Tripoli by his wife Cecilia.
"We're seeing a sort of systematic procedure to demolish a real French diplomatic success," he said.
The Rest @ Reuters
Libya Getting Powerful Anti-Tank Missels from France
Libya close to arms deals with France
By James Mackenzie
PARIS (Reuters) - Libya is set to buy anti-tank missiles and radio systems from European aerospace and defence group EADS, days after a visit to Tripoli by President Nicolas Sarkozy, the French government said on Friday.
France repeated its denials that the sale had been agreed in exchange for the release of a group of foreign medics held in jail for eight years for allegedly infecting Libyan children with HIV, and freed hours before Sarkozy's visit.
Defence Minister Herve Morin said the groundwork had been laid under the previous French government which approved the sale of anti-tank missiles in February, before Sarkozy's victory in the May presidential election.
"Agreement has been granted in principle, so unless there is a technical disagreement of some kind, it will be done at any time now," he told France Info radio.
Other European countries including Britain have been working for defence deals with Tripoli but a Libyan source said the sale would be the first from a Western country since an EU arms embargo was lifted in 2004.
EADS said its MBDA joint venture with Britain's BAE Systems
and Italy's Finmeccanica had finalised an accord to sell Libya Milan missiles, a portable, medium-range anti-tank weapon. It was also in advanced talks on supplying radios.
"This (missile) contract is awaiting the signature of the Libyan client, and EADS is happy that the negotiations could be concluded," EADS said in a statement.
The company made no comment on the value of the deals. A Libyan source said earlier they were worth a total of 296 million euros.
The Rest @ Reuters
By James Mackenzie
PARIS (Reuters) - Libya is set to buy anti-tank missiles and radio systems from European aerospace and defence group EADS, days after a visit to Tripoli by President Nicolas Sarkozy, the French government said on Friday.
France repeated its denials that the sale had been agreed in exchange for the release of a group of foreign medics held in jail for eight years for allegedly infecting Libyan children with HIV, and freed hours before Sarkozy's visit.
Defence Minister Herve Morin said the groundwork had been laid under the previous French government which approved the sale of anti-tank missiles in February, before Sarkozy's victory in the May presidential election.
"Agreement has been granted in principle, so unless there is a technical disagreement of some kind, it will be done at any time now," he told France Info radio.
Other European countries including Britain have been working for defence deals with Tripoli but a Libyan source said the sale would be the first from a Western country since an EU arms embargo was lifted in 2004.
EADS said its MBDA joint venture with Britain's BAE Systems
and Italy's Finmeccanica had finalised an accord to sell Libya Milan missiles, a portable, medium-range anti-tank weapon. It was also in advanced talks on supplying radios.
"This (missile) contract is awaiting the signature of the Libyan client, and EADS is happy that the negotiations could be concluded," EADS said in a statement.
The company made no comment on the value of the deals. A Libyan source said earlier they were worth a total of 296 million euros.
The Rest @ Reuters
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Monzer al-Kassar Stung and arrested in Spain
International arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar was arrested by Spanish police June 7 after a federal indictment was issued against him in New York for conspiring to support terrorists and kill US soldiers. US officials said undercover agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had convinced al-Kassar that they represented the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a guerilla army classified by the US State Department as a terrorist group.
In a series of recorded phone calls, e-mails and meetings, al-Kassar and the DEA agents struck a fictitious $8 million deal for him to supply surface-to-air missile systems, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, thousands of machine guns and tons of explosives obtained in Romania and Bulgaria, officials said. About $400,000 was reportedly wired to Spain from New York as a down payment.
Al-Kassar and his cohorts were told the missile systems were "intended to take down US helicopters," said US Attorney Michael Garcia. Though no weapons exchanged hands, the defendants believed "the arms deal was absolutely real. They demonstrated their willingness to support a terrorist organization and their capacity to do so."
A longtime resident of Spain, the Syrian-born al-Kassar was apprehended at Madrid's Barajas airport after he arrived on a flight from the resort city of Malaga. Police have also searched his palatial home in Marbella, near Malaga. "Someone who considered himself untouchable is now sitting in a jail in Spain," said DEA administrator Karen Tandy.
Two others indicted on the same charges in Manhattan's federal District Court, Tareq Mousa al Ghazi and Luis Filipe Moreno Godoy, were arrested in Romania.
The indictment says al-Kassar has provided weapons to violent factions in Nicaragua, Brazil, Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, Somalia, Iran and Iraq.
His customers included known terrorist organizations determined to stage "attacks on United States interests and United States nationals." Al-Kassar also is reportedly on the Iraqi government's most-wanted list for arming insurgents.
Al-Kassar stood trial in Spain in 1995 on charges that he supplied assault rifles used by Palestinian militants in the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985, but he was acquitted for lack of evidence.
There have been no immediate details on extradition proceedings, though Spain and the United States do have an extradition treaty that applies in such cases. A court in Bucharest has ordered al Ghazi and Godoy held without bail pending extradition. Ghazi is identified as a Polish citizen of Palestinian origin, and Godoy as a Spanish citizen of Chilean origin.
If convicted, the three could face life sentences. (AP, June 8)
the Rest @ World War 4 Report
In a series of recorded phone calls, e-mails and meetings, al-Kassar and the DEA agents struck a fictitious $8 million deal for him to supply surface-to-air missile systems, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, thousands of machine guns and tons of explosives obtained in Romania and Bulgaria, officials said. About $400,000 was reportedly wired to Spain from New York as a down payment.
Al-Kassar and his cohorts were told the missile systems were "intended to take down US helicopters," said US Attorney Michael Garcia. Though no weapons exchanged hands, the defendants believed "the arms deal was absolutely real. They demonstrated their willingness to support a terrorist organization and their capacity to do so."
A longtime resident of Spain, the Syrian-born al-Kassar was apprehended at Madrid's Barajas airport after he arrived on a flight from the resort city of Malaga. Police have also searched his palatial home in Marbella, near Malaga. "Someone who considered himself untouchable is now sitting in a jail in Spain," said DEA administrator Karen Tandy.
Two others indicted on the same charges in Manhattan's federal District Court, Tareq Mousa al Ghazi and Luis Filipe Moreno Godoy, were arrested in Romania.
The indictment says al-Kassar has provided weapons to violent factions in Nicaragua, Brazil, Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, Somalia, Iran and Iraq.
His customers included known terrorist organizations determined to stage "attacks on United States interests and United States nationals." Al-Kassar also is reportedly on the Iraqi government's most-wanted list for arming insurgents.
Al-Kassar stood trial in Spain in 1995 on charges that he supplied assault rifles used by Palestinian militants in the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985, but he was acquitted for lack of evidence.
There have been no immediate details on extradition proceedings, though Spain and the United States do have an extradition treaty that applies in such cases. A court in Bucharest has ordered al Ghazi and Godoy held without bail pending extradition. Ghazi is identified as a Polish citizen of Palestinian origin, and Godoy as a Spanish citizen of Chilean origin.
If convicted, the three could face life sentences. (AP, June 8)
the Rest @ World War 4 Report
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