By Jim W. Dean, Managing Editor on February 18, 2016
To the professional
working in the arena of intelligence “fusion,” unrelated stories can, and often
do, support threat hypotheses, occasionally of global import.
by Seth Ferris, …with New
Eastern Outlook, Moscow
The seven golden domes of
St. Petersburg
[ Editor’s Note: We have another investigative journalism report
from Seth Ferris in the Republic of Georgia, that 21st century “Casablanca” in
terms of it being a backwater crossroads of international intrigue.
Reporting on such
activity is dangerous, but often having a high profile and an American patron
can add a level of protection, as such a person cannot be quietly disposed of
without attracting more press attention than gangsters used to operating in the
shadows (and their foreign government sponsors) prefer to have.
Georgia is small enough
for many people to be unaware of what is going on. And with Western media
generally disinterested, that makes it easier for someone who is interested to
get interviews — particularly if they live there and are exposing themselves.
There is not much competition for such work. It does not pay well and chances
for a Pulitzer Prize are slim.
But Seth Ferris was the
classic hook up for VT. We made the decision some years ago to pull back from
the over-fished blogging phenomena and begin looking for people doing real
investigative journalism versus those doing opinion, because research is
involved. VT’s interest does not rest in those who rewrite condensations of the
news, because they have no academic, career, or active sources for information.
Like Seth, we wanted to
take a step further and offer what the others were not because it was too much
work for them. Our rewards potential is slim, but there is a hell of a lot less
competition. One of our big rewards is our virtual corporate media blackout.
The is our Reverse Pulitzer Prize of sorts, and we continue to get it every day
when none of our major stories are ever picked up, like our nuclear 9-11 series… Jim W. Dean ]
____________
Syrian insurgents’ use of
gas shell artillery was never condemned by their Western and Gulf supporters
Introduction by Gordon
Duff, Senior Editor, Veterans Today
– First published
… February 16, 2016 –
To the casual
observer, seemingly unrelated stories do not interrelate, nor do they support
the scenario of a global threat. To the professional working in the arena of
intelligence “fusion,” unrelated stories can, and often do, support threat
hypotheses, occasionally of global import. This is the purpose of
“intelligence” as a scientific discipline.
This story began in 2009,
when the air forces of Turkey and Israel undertook joint air attack training
scenarios presupposing the “enemies” to be Armenia and Iran. Soon thereafter,
an American exploration ship leased to Germany but crewed by Israelis, the USS
Grapple, landed in Georgia at the port of Poti, heavily guarded by fast torpedo
boats.
This ship offloaded
bunker buster and cluster “runway denial” munitions, which were soon trucked
into Azerbaijan to a secret air base, home to a “lost” Israeli F15 squadron and
drone unit.
Soon thereafter, as
a next step according to our hypothesis, the US spent $100m for a $30m public
health facility in Tbilisi which was soon turned over to a combined CIA and
Georgian secret services unit. Reports begin to spread, backed by considerable
hard evidence, that the production of biological and chemical weapons was
underway.
This was followed by
Bechtel and British Petroleum, and their private security forces, partnering
with Ukrainian and Turkish special operations groups and contractors from the
shadowy and very obscure “Google Ideas Group” while Sarin moved south through
Turkey into Syria and thousands died.
These false flag
attacks were intended to bring about an American “no fly zone” and ensuing air attacks on
Syria, a response to an American “red line” but also a violation of a Russian
“red line” as well, intended to bring the world to the brink of world war and,
just perhaps, beyond the brink.
By July 2014, we were
being told that a missile had shot down Malaysian Airlines flight 17 over
Ukraine. However, we noted that Kiev-backed fighters were within weapons range
when the plane was brought down, a task that would have required the assistance
of a radar capability only found in the region on one of the “lost squadron” F
15E Israeli aircraft hiding in Azerbaijan.
In late 2015,
workers from the Tbilisi “research facility” – the Lugar Lab, begin getting
sick, being sent home with cases of Swine Flu, one of the diseases the facility
was studying. Soon thereafter, a massive outbreak of Swine Flu hit
Novorussia/Eastern Ukraine and spread into Russia, hitting Moscow. In Ukraine
alone, 3.6 million were reported sick with hundreds dying.
Behind each of these
events are a thousand facts, all of which needed to be sifted and investigated
on the ground, sometimes at great personal danger to the journalists
involved. The story below is part of this tale, a piece in the mosaic of
what may well end up being the tinderbox that lights the fire that burns us all…
Gordon
Duff
____________________
The US has been spreading
freedom and democracy via its terrorist training bases in places like the
Pankisi Gorge
The Georgian
Connection – A Country Caught between Two Fires
The illegal supply
of weapons from Ukraine and
former Eastern Bloc Countries, such as Serbia, is nothing new to political
observers and those involved with organised crime and military intelligence.
But now others are asking
about the rat line of weapons transport to Turkey and Syria via Georgia, which
they have heard about time and again but are now taking seriously. Questions
are being posed about the possibility of weapons being transshipped by trawler
from Odessa in the Ukraine into Turkey and Syria.
Unraveling this story has
been a project dating back years, to when one of the weapons storage sites was
accessed during an off period. But one reason it has taken so long is because
those who are supposed to be interested in such subjects are only too willing
to turn a blind eye.
For example, the European
Union Monitoring Mission, EUMM, is responsible by mandate to monitor the
situation between Georgia proper and the breakaway region of Abkhazia,
including the weapons complements held by both sides. Therefore it should be
very interested in the discovery of arms storage sites near that very
administrative border, as they may well not be registered, and therefore not be
checked by the EUMM.
When I informed the
EUMM that such a site existed, and apparently belonged to a par of known arms
traffickers, twin brothers, Revaz and Murtaz who work with US and Turkish
intelligence, its response was: “It is not in our EUMM mandate to check this.”I
asked for a copy of this mandate, but of course did not receive one, although
it is in fact public
information.
But now a joint
investigation is underway involving Veterans Today, an American-based
intelligence journal/network, and a major British news organisation –which
won’t name itself, but is a surprising partner for VT to say the least.
Finally the
compliant mainstream media is
interested in opening eyes about what has been happening in Georgia, and how
that mechanism is now being used to not only support terrorists in Syria but
assist the Turkish regime in its dirty war against its own citizens—the ethnic
Kurds.
__________
Air America
Air America C-123 on ramp
at Long Tieng, 1970. (Photo courtesy of D. Williams)
Some of us are old
enough to remember Air
America from the Vietnam era –or at least old enough to remember the movie
about it. The role US corporation Jeppesen played in the illegal Rendition
Program and many other covert operations is a matter of public record.
It provided crucial
flight planning and logistical support services to the aircraft and crew, including
filing flight plans, planning itineraries, obtaining landing permits, and
arranging for fuel and ground handling to take place.
All this is traceable in
flight plans and other documents filed with national and inter-governmental
aviation authorities in the United States and across Europe. It can also be
demonstrated that Jeppeson has been involved in CIA torture sites. Most
unusually, some of the clients of its travel service cannot be sued in US
Courts as a matter of US National Security.
Jeppeson has now
established a flight and ground logistics school in — you’ve guessed it — Georgia. If it wanted to choose a country to base a school
for training people in the logistics of covert operations, this would be
it.
Not only does
Georgia have a long history of being involved in such operations, it is smack
in the middle of all the current conflict zones, making it the logical place to
transport weapons and other materials in and out of – which is one of the
reasons places like Syria became conflict zones to begin with.
The alleged weapons
warehouses controlled by Revaz and Murtaz, often protected by armed guards, are
in the village of Natsuluku, which is in the Zugdidi region, not far from the
administrative border with Abkhazia.
As an unfailingly
reliable source wrote,
“The twins
(family name Khurchulava or Kharchilava) hold the key to understanding what is
going on with Turkey and Syria, at least in terms of the supply of military
hardware for alleged freedom fighters. They are most likely supplying the Kurds
too, and it is all about money and not about who is right or wrong.”
Port of Poti
Of course
trafficking weapons is not their
official business. Murtaz deals in spoiled meat, Revaz ran the tea factory in
Natsuluku. They are very well-known at local level, but for the wrong reasons,
as they are tied up with the local enforcers and have done corrupt deals with
the Georgian Ministry of Defence.
Few outside the region
know much about them, but what can be verified is that one twin was once the
Nikora supermarket food product manager in Poti, an arms trading hub for at
least 20 years, the other connected with some elements of the Russian military
when the Soviet Union collapsed and Soviet designed and manufactured weapons
began showing up throughout the world.
Georgia had a lot of
internal trouble as a result of these exports and the need for the West to
control them. They continue today, the trade being linked with certain members
of the Georgia-based International Chamber of Commerce and of the previous
Georgian government, who most probably initially obtained their positions
through this untouchable Western-run connection, as most people would if they
could.
A few years ago some
torture sites were discovered in the same region that the twins’ arms storage
depot is in, which is still controlled by criminal elements supportive of the
previous Georgian government, whose members stand for election on its ticket.
It has yet to be proven,
but it is probable that these were constructed on the basis of plans provided
by the School of the Americas. Jeppeson has longstanding connections with this
school.
__________
Paperwork is
everything
These connections,
though damning, do not constitute proof of an illegal US arms supply operation supplying
Turkey. So here is a summary of the documents I possess, which are in the
process of translation to English where appropriate, which spell things out a
little more clearly.
- Documents 1 and 2 say that Ukraine was sending
weapons to Georgia during the war in South Ossetia in 2008. They give the
dates of sending, the names and quantity of the weapons and the receiving
companies. Among these weapons were the following: 35 T-72 Main Battle
Tanks and the technology to shoot down SU-25’s, exact quantity unknown. In
the majority of cases, the receiving company is UKREXPORT in Georgia.
- Document 3 says how much the infrastructure of
the Georgian Ministry of Defence was improved. It says that in 2007 the
MOD’s budget was 513,270,000 GEL, but it then received an extra
442,100,000 GEL (the rate then being around 1.65 to 1 USD). Among the
priorities these additional funds were allocated to meet were; the
modernisation of tanks, improvement of air defence systems, purchase of
night fighting technology and armaments, etc.
- The rest of the money was granted for the
following: salaries, social care, missions, air tickets, additional
equipment to be sent to Iraq and equipment for reserve group trainings.It
appears, however, that this money was spent on transiting fighters to
Turkey and Syria.
- Document 4 says that on the initiative of
then-Georgian President Saakashvili, based on a joint MOD and NATO
recommendation, salaries were being increased. In order to undertake this
reform the ministry needed an additional 3,600,000 GEL. The Georgian
government had also decided to send 1,150 soldiers to Iraq, increasing to
2,000 by the end of the year. In order to do all this and participate in
joint operations Georgia needed an extra 21,100,100 GEL.
- Documents 5,6,7 says how much money was spent
under various headings such as salaries, housing for military families and
infrastructure improvements including the reconstruction of the military
bases in Vashlijvari and Gori. These figures do not correspond
with the allocated sums.
- Document 8, which is an order made by a commander
in August 7, says that the commander of battalion II-s-60, Ormotsadze
(surname) was being sent to Gori. The reason is not given, but it is
thought that he was sent to get stocks of weapons out of the conflict
zone, the same weapons that were later alleged to have been lost to the
Russians. This document does not clarify whether the mission was completed
but it is believed to have been. It is signed “D.Lanchava.”
- Document 9 is a list of shipping companies, the
quantity of weapons sent and their destinations. A wide range of heavy
weapons, including APCs, transport air defence systems, artillery, etc.
were sent to UKREXPORT via the port of Illichevk.
- Document 10 is an organisational tree of offshore
companies registered in Seychelles. It shows how much was paid to, and how
much moved between, these front companies. Some of these companies are
registered with Georgian nationals, and their ID numbers are given,
meaning that they can be traced through the public register. One of the
companies named is Bel Trading, which was listed in the Wikileaks document
about arms trafficking which can be found on the Internet, which outlines
the trafficking mechanisms and a breakdown of various other shell
companies, both in Georgia and offshore.
___________
Conclusion
Even before the new
Georgian government came to power,
layers of competing and vested interests, with short term political agendas,
were shaping its policy; national security was not its guiding principle. The
evidence makes clear that many of the purchasing decisions of the Ministry of
Defence were economically and politically driven, especially in the run-up to
the 2008 Georgia-Russia war.
Georgian and
international media outlets have documented cases of corruption in arms and
food procurement, such as the case of Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), and the
scandal back in 2008 of substandard weapons and ammunition being supplied to
the Georgian Army.
It is clear that many of
the instances of corruption in the Georgian MoD were discussed when Robert
Muller, the former FBI Director, visited Georgia in early May 2010 and held
closed door meetings with the former Minister of Internal Affairs Vano
Merabishvili, now in prison, and Minister of Justice Zurab Adeishvili, a
current member of the Ukrainian government.
Muller’s visit only
lasted a few hours but still, to this day, the full details of how widespread
the corruption was have not been revealed. But the Georgian media has published
the names of specific individuals involved, and there are clear connections
between them, with people such as David Kezerashvili, the former Defence
Minister, and Temur Alasania, Saakashvili’s uncle, having many business
connections with the international military-industrial complex and with John
McCain, the former US president candidate.
The Georgians listed
above conducted a real power struggle, deriving from their respective positions
in government and their still-existing spheres of influence and networks of
patronage.
Corruption Kills
Even on a micro
level, an audit of the
Georgian MOD revealed many instances of corruption, notably the purchase of
3,000 bullet-proof vests costing a total of 2,800,000 USD from Ukraine. It was
determined that these were of low quality, totally unsuitable for military
purposes.
Another case was that of
the multi-launch systems which rained down tube-launched cluster M-85
Israeli-made cluster bombs on Georgian villages and troops, including Georgian
troops “friendly fire” near the front in 2008. There was also at least one case
of electronic warfare technology being junked, lost, and the unit which
operated it shut down two weeks before the Georgian-Russian war. The technology
of this “disappearance” is well-documented.
Now we are starting to
understand why these things happened. At what point will it be too late to stop
all the connections which are now appearing before our eyes? What is most
important in the final analysis is that we soon be able to a case for US military
aid to Ukraine being transshipped through Georgia and Turkey to Syria.
Seth Ferris,
investigative journalist and political scientist, expert on Middle Eastern
affairs, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
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