Tanzania - radar - bribery - BAe- Blair & Hewitt - stealing aid money - and Barclays Bank's African re-birth

We had a little story on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - Aiding Africa - Tony, Barclays and BAE - a curious tale of President Kikwete and kickbacks which has erupted yet again. "BAE in new corruption probe as Tanzanian minister resigns over £500,000 bribery claim"

Andrew Chenge, who was attorney general at the time of the crooked £28Mn. deal (Now ex Minister of Infrastructure) has been found to have 1/2 Million pounds in an Jersey offshore account related to the 2002 radar deal which was un anted , over priced and the result of bribery ochestrated by Tony Blair and Patricia Hewitt who overruled Gordon Brown and Clare Short to grant BAE a government export licence for a military air traffic control system to Tanzania. Clare said the deals was was corrupt and "stank".

Commissions on the sale were made to a local agent in Tanzania to promote the radar sale, through an elaborate chain of offshore companies and a Swiss bank. The agent has now (apparently) left the country and is wanted by Interpol.

Apparently Barclays - who of course are rowing back in Africa from contempt for their support for South Africa's apartheid regime - provided in 1999 a £40 million loan - which subsequently was paid from aid given to Tanzania by Britain to assist sustainable development, including primary education.

Cosily and coincidentally Barclays were granted in October 2000 Barclays a banking licence to open branches in Tanzania. Their website baldly states ...

Barclays opened a new business in Tanzania in October 2000.

A lengthy SFO and painfully slow investigation in the UK has discovered that 31% of the deal's contract price had been diverted via Switzerland.

BAE transferred the money to a subsidiary, Red Diamond Trading, registered anonymously in the British Virgin Islands in February 1998 with accounts in banks London, Switzerland and New York who made payments to " agents" in South America, Tanzania, Romania, South Africa, Qatar, Chile and the Czech Republic.Red Diamond was also used to make payments to UK citizens who were working as consultants for BAE. These included the mysterious David Hart, who advised Thatcher during the miners' strike of the 1980s.

BAE have never exlained how or why this company , never revealed in the company accounts was set up and why. "Poseidon Trading Investments Ltd" was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands on June 25 1999 hich handled payments on the Saudi contracts.

Red Diamond then moved the cash to a Swiss account in the name of a Panama company, Envers Trading Corporation.

This outfit sported the 2 required Panamanian nominee directors but was under the control of a Tanzanian middleman, Shailesh Vithlani,(who had at the time a British passport) according to Dar es Salaam court papers



Sir Richard Evans, who lives at Freckleton in Lancashire was MD and later chairman of BAE and was responsible for the al Yamamah deal. He now works for the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Sir Richard is chairman of Samruk, the oil and gas-rich central Asian country's state holding company. It was formed earlier this year to control a collection of state / Nazarbayev family enterprises. They include KazMunaiGas; Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (railways); Kazakhtelekom; KEGOC (Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company), and Kazpost (postal services).

Sign up to Plod's Face Book

The objective of Common Purpose UK is to destroy the national identity of Britain - says the masthead of the Stop Common Purpose website.

This is a (so far) anonymous site that wants to focus attention on the insidious way that the Commpn Purpose organisation is infiltrating many parts of public services. One of their major claims is ..."One of the main targets of Common Purpose is the police because CP wants to create a police state in Britain."

Well somebody does, as the last ten years have seen the massive transfer of powers not only to the Police but as the recent case in Poole chasing parents for registration of their children at school but also other civil arms of the state.

Where for example does the Suffolk Police get the titles "Head of Protective Services", "Head of Citizen Focus", "Director of Criminal Justice Change" and "Director of Knowledge Architecture".... these suggest a mindset going beyond nabbing car thieves and burglars.

Today ,Greater Manchester Police has announced they have become the first police force in the country to use the social networking website Facebook. This will they claim will help them fight crime.

A special application has been developed by the Force's Web Unit to raise awareness of local incidents, operations and appeal for information, allowing members of Facebook to install it on to their profile for regular updates.

"Facebook has 59 million users, 7 million of which live in the UK, so we realised that this was an excellent way of spreading our messages to people on a more personal basis", says Assistant Chief Constable Rob Taylor .

Around 750 people have installed the application since it's official launch yesterday and can be shared amongst a user's friends or can be added directly from htttp://apps.facebook.com/gmpupdates.

Just look what they would like you to sign up to ..

If you are unwise enough to sign up and accept their Platform Application Terms of Use this is just one item you sign up to ..

II. Consent Regarding Use of Facebook Site Information

(b) Examples of Facebook Site Information. The Facebook Site Information may include, without limitation, the following information, to the extent visible on the Facebook Site: your name, your profile picture, your gender, your birthday, your hometown location (city/state/country), your current location (city/state/country), your political view, your activities, your interests, your musical preferences, television shows in which you are interested, movies in which you are interested, books in which you are interested, your favorite quotes, the text of your "About Me" section, your relationship status, your dating interests, your relationship interests, your summer plans, your Facebook user network affiliations, your education history, your work history, your course information, copies of photos in your Facebook Site photo albums, metadata associated with your Facebook Site photo albums (e.g., time of upload, album name, comments on your photos, etc.), the total number of messages sent and/or received by you, the total number of unread messages in your Facebook in-box, the total number of "pokes" you have sent and/or received, the total number of wall posts on your Wall™, a list of user IDs mapped to your Facebook friends, your social timeline, and events associated with your Facebook profile.

A Police state doesn't need the help of Common Purpose.

Peter Andreas Thiel who helped invent PayPal put in the first US$500,000 that got Mr Zuckerman and his pals off the ground to build up Face Book. Not only a Board Director of Face Book he is also an activist with TheVanguard.Org which is an offshoot of the Soros funded MoveOn (as is Grover Norquist) ....."We empower regular people to exercise their rights and fulfill their civic responsibilities, by organizing with them for effective action; by training candidates and citizens in the nuts and bolts of how to win; and by promoting policy ideas calculated to reshape America and the globe."

Many of TheVanguard's staff and advisors are members of the secretive conservative group the Council for National Policy.
Peter Thiel is also involved with the strange Singularity Institute...

Another Dead Bhutto, General Gul, Hekmatyr, ...the ISI and the CIA - tangling the web and practising deceit.

It is early days to ascribe responsibility forBenazir Bhutto's assassination ...but .... the first guy that Pervez put behind bars when he declared what was effectively martial law was ...

Former ISI chief Hamid Gul arrested
Updated at Sunday, November 04, 2007 1305 PST
ISLAMABAD: The police on Sunday arrested Hamid Gul,(Urdū: لیفٹننٹ جنرل حمید گل) an outspoken former chief of Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's premier spy agency, during a small public gathering.

I am going to break a news that Former ISI chief Lt General (Retd) Hamid Gul has been arrested,� said, the senior analyst of Geo Television Network Dr. Shahid Masood.

"It is not an emergency, it's martial law. One man has put the country at stake to save his rule," Gul said before he was pushed into a police van and whisked off.

Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, PML-Q politician and chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, and Ijaz Shah, the director general of the Intelligence Bureau, another of the country’s intelligence agencies.

... are names to watch ..General Gul a favorite of CIA Station Chief Milt Bearden and US ambassador to Pakistan Arnie Raphel, (who died in the crash that killed President Zia ul Haq) who view him as an ally and a potential national leader of Pakistan.

Milt Bearden is now retired (?) from the CIA and is a frequent contributor to the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and has contributed to Foreign Affairs and to the book on September 11, 2001, How Did This Happen?, published by Public Affairs. He is a consultant for CBS News.

The BBC reported in January this year that a captured Taliban spokesman, Muhammad Hanif, said their leader Mullah Omar is living in the border town of Quetta in Pakistan under the protection of its ISI intelligence agency. He also claimed former ISI head Hamid Gul is supporting the Taleban against Afghan and foreign troops.

The ISI was instrumental claimed the BBC in backing the Taleban after civil war swept Afghanistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989.



Wit and Wisdom of General Gul

"We are not afraid of the Americans; they can't fight on the ground. We are only concerned about their high-altitude bombers."
"I turned against America because they betrayed the Afghan nation." (rediff.com Feb 2004)

"Mossad and its accomplices [are the 9/11 culprits]. The U.S. spends $40 billion a year on its 11 intelligence agencies. That's $400 billion in 10 years. Yet the Bush Administration says it was taken by surprise. I don't believe it. Within 10 minutes of the second twin tower being hit in the World Trade Center CNN said Osama bin Laden had done it. That was a planned piece of disinformation by the real perpetrators." (UPI United Press International, Sep. 26, 2001).

"The Muslim world must stand united to confront the U.S. in its so-called war against terror which is in reality a war against Muslims. Let’s destroy America wherever its troops are trapped." PBS

My Enemy;s enemy is my enemy ?

US Is Said to Be Relying on ISI for Intelligence in Afghan War The US, lacking local agents and intelligence in Afghanistan, is said to be heavily reliant on the ISI for information about the Taliban. The US is said to be confident in the ISI, even though the ISI was the main supporter of the Taliban up until 9/11. Knight Ridder Newspapers comments, “Anti-Taliban Afghans, foreign diplomats, and Pakistani government security officials say that pro-Taliban officers remain deeply embedded within ISI and might still be helping America’s enemies inside Afghanistan.” A leader of the resistance to the Taliban says, “There are lots of (ISI) officers who are fully committed to the way of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.” Former ISI Director Hamid Gul says, “It is a foolish commander who depends on someone else’s intelligence, especially when that someone doesn’t like him and was once friendly with the enemy.” [Knight Ridder, 11/3/2001] Later in the month another article notes that the CIA continues to rely on the ISI for covert actions against the Taliban. One CIA agent says, “The same Pakistani case officers who built up the Taliban are doing the translating for the CIA. Our biggest mistake is allowing the ISI to be our eyes and ears.”

PS :

Nov 15 2007 : Dawn newspaper reported ... Former ISI Chief Gen (retired) Hameed Gul, his son and two other detained people were released after government withdrew detention orders here on Thursday.

Earlier, there was a report that Saudi government has intervened to secure the release of former ISI chief. The report was not denied by the Pakistani government.

On Wednesday, Gen Hameed Gul and his son were shifted to their Chaklala residence, which had been declared as sub-jail. However, the personnel of law enforcement agencies were removed from his house on Thursday after the withdrawal of the detention order.

A senior officer of Islamabad administration confirmed to Dawn that the city management had withdrawn the detention orders of Gen (retired) Gul, his son Abdullah Gul, a political activist and a lawyer of Islamabad Bar Association.

Matthew Ryecroft ... busy man at the Secret "Bomb Al Jazeera, Qatar" memo trial

This is Tariq Ayoub. He was the Jordanian al-Jazeera journalist killed in a US missile strike on al-Jazeera's Baghdad office on 8 April 2003. That was the same day that two other journalists were killed in the city's Palestine hotel, which was shelled by a US tank.

It didn't seem exactly coincidental then. Particularly as al-Jazeera's offices in Kabul, Afghanistan, were destroyed by a US missile in November 2001.

This is put here to remind you that journalists die. Killed by politicians. Deliberately.

That was then, this is now

Matthew Rycroft CBE ,39 is now (appt 31st March 2005) Her Majesty's Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. He was at one time (from 2002 - 2004) Mr Blair's private secretary on foreign affairs, and it was in this capacity he took notes of a conversation that took place over 2 hours in the White House Oval Office between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W Bush in April 2004. The meeting was also attended, on the British side, by Sir Nigel Sheinwald, the Prime Minister’s foreign policy adviser, and Jonathan Powell, his chief of staff. Bush was accompanied by Colin Powell, then US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, (also the name of a Chevron oil tanker) then his National Security Adviser, and Dan Freed, special assistant to the President.

Rycroft prepared a series of memos focusing on the different areas they covered during their conversation , including Iraq. He had stipulated at the top of his letter from Washington (a letter from Rycroft to Geoffrey Adams, then private secretary to Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary at that time, and "close" friend of the lady named after the oil tanker)) that it was only supposed to be circulated to those "dealing directly with British policy in Iraq".

He designated the letter as "personal" and "secret", adding a comment at the top of the memo that it was "extremely sensitive" and should only be seen by those "with a really need to know". When asked in court on Friday why he described the letter in these precise terms Rycroft said: "To make the same point but even more so and to make it absolutely clear to each of the people that I was sending the letter to, the sensitivity of this particular discussion and the subject matter that the Prime Minister discussed with President Bush." You bet.

He added "Parts of it had a direct bearing on the British military presence in Iraq and the overall policy context of Iraq."

The court was told that there were 33 named recipients of the memo and 87 who eventually saw it. 2 of the recipients were Mr Blair's director of communications David Hill and his official spokesman, Tom Kelly.

Rycroft was asked why a copy was sent to MI6. He paused. "It was relevant to their function in and about Iraq." ***

Mr Farmer (on behalf of defendant Leo O'Connor) asked Rycroft : "Was it in your contemplation in April 2004 for any part of this document to be made public?"

"Absolutely not," Mr Rycroft replied and added that he did not believe that the Prime Minister intended the document to be made public.

David Keogh, 50, a civil servant who worked in a Cabinet Office communications centre and Leo O'Connor, 44, a political reasearcher are accused of leaking Rycroft's memo and deny three charges under the Official Secrets Act 1989. The prosecution accuses Keogh of making an unlawful copy of the document, which had been faxed to the communications centre where he was on duty, and passing it to O’Connor in the hope that it would end up in the public domain. O’Connor slipped the document into a pile of papers belonging to Anthony Clarke, Labour MP for Northampton South (he voted against the illegal Iraqi invasion) . The MP handed it to Special Branch.

The court was earlier told civil servant Mr Keogh gave the memo to political researcher Mr O'Connor at a dining club in Northampton. It was subsequently passed to Northampton South MP Anthony Clarke, amongst other documents , who then called the police.

The amusing paradox is that the world and his wife know now that the memo referred to the suggestion by President Bush to bomb Al Jazeera's office in Qatar - which seeing the US had a successful missile strike on al-Jazeera's Baghdad office on 8 April 2003 which killed Tariq Ayoub (having smashed the Kabul office in 2001) and on the same day a US tank had hit journalists in their hotel in Baghdad.

Some of the court proceedings are being held in camera

**** Matthew Rycroft was also the author of a secret memo to British Ambassador to the United States David Manning, summarizing a July 23, 2002 meeting with Blair and other government officials "to discuss Iraq". The memo was leaked to The Sunday Times, who printed it on May 1, 2005. (Cached copy by Al Jazeera of the Memo here) and here and is also available here

He has also been named in a list available at Cryptome as an MI6 officer - he also won't have to walk far in Srajevo to meet another MI6 asset Jeremy John Durham Ashdown (Paddy Ashdown - or Paddy Pantsdown (c) The Sun -also Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon GCMG KBE PC - He took up his duties as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina on 27 May 2002.). If Cryptome's list is correct there has been an MI6 asset in the Sarajevo Embassy since at least 1994.

See also here. He was also involved in preparing the "dodgy dossier" see here

Craig Murray's Diplomacy lessons for Tony Blair : 101

We can soon expect to see Craig on bended knee receiving some sort of glittering honour from Her Majesty for the (free) part he played in demonstrating how diplomacy actually works.

The next Showbiz award goes to Mr Ahmendinejad for leaving his last, final and stunning trick to the end, afer days of tension sedulously built up by the world wide media - built up whilst his Press Conferences were continually called and cancelled, whilst Dubya threw in his three pennorth, as did Blessed Margaret. Lord Patel did however hint last week at the possibility that ace showman Ahm in a Dinner Jacket might upstage Tony and return the useless semen.

I think we can safely assume that that is the end of that, the hostages will be recovering in the bosom of their families, undergoing a deep de-briefing, medicals, respect their privacy, simply doing their job, brave lads and lassie.Royal |Navy enquiry , months to report (like the Comet/Nimrod that fell out of the sky- the strange case of the suicidal MP investigating the strange case of the 2 SAS men in Basra - the short life of Commanding officers in Afghanistan....)

No questions about how they were captured, why they happily admitted they had transgressed Iranian territory. What was the name of the Indian vessel, the owners , why the Missing Lynx was ... er .. missing, why the Iranian vessels (4 - 5 ?) didn't show on the radar, exactly how does the Royal Navy navigate ?

And certainly NO questions about the tourists(?) from the Embassy in Sudan whose bullet riddled vehicles attested to a violent atack but have been miraculously returned to us by the Grace of God. Struck dumb by their horrifying ordeal.

Well. No questions. OK ? Who was the guy missing in the pic above - vanished into thin air ?

PS UPDATE Jon Snow's office called to ask for his contribution in having a fireside chat live on national TV to the influential Dr Ali Larijani of Irans National Security council to be mentioned. This appeared to put a banger up the bum of Sir Nigel Sheinwald, Tony Blair's urbane to the point of narcolepsy,foreign affairs private secretary, spoke (eventiually) to Dr Larijani by phone. (perhaps the No 10 staff were explainig to him how it worked)

Not a good day for Tony and Vaughan is out for 1 against Sri Lanka. Now England have lost by two runs. Anyone murdered yet ?

Russian Roulette in the Middle East - Putin stirs up the hornet's nest

Lord Patel revealed the establishment of LUKSAR the Lukoil Saudi Arabia Energy company 80% owned by LUKOIL in March 2004 when my old friend Vagit signed the 40 year deal with Ali al-Naimi, who acting on behalf of the government.

This you will remember was after he signed a deal on March 11th 2004 in Baghdad to train Iraqi oil industry employees and students. 40 Iraqi students will study in Russia's I.M. Gubkin Oil and Gas University... which ,despite all the problems today still going.

Anyway Vagit tells me that he was back in Saudi last month, this time with President Putin (the 1st ever visit by a Russian leader) and stirring the ordure for Washington as usual, during the visit he signed a co-operation agreement with Qatar Petroleum's chairman Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah covering possible participation in oil and gas projects including GTL, LNG and petrochemicals ventures.

Whilst that was going on Putin was offering Crown Prince and Defence Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz nuclear power stations , military helicopters, to build rocket propelled grenade (RPG) factories, provide sophisticated anti-aircraft systems-the Carapace (Pantsyr), TOR M1 and Strelets. To top all that he offered the Saudis expanded satellite launches and an opportunity to join the Russian satellite navigation system, GLONASS.

Diplomatic gossip says there is a "verbal understanding" on the sale of about 150 Russian T-90 battle tanks to Saudi Arabia, which is seeking to diversify its defence systems.Tests were carried out on the T-90 in Saudi Arabia last year to determine the tank's suitability for harsh desert conditions, and Russia is also looking to sell Mi-17 helicopters.

Gas OPEC - the first steps

He also hinted about future logistical co-operation involving LNG supply swaps for each country's global gas customers. This is what anxious observers in the US call a new OPEC - and they don't like it. At present there is a loose association called the Gas Exporting Country Forum (GECF). This was founded in 2001 by Algeria, Iran and Russia also includes Libya, Qatar, Oman the UAE, Egypt, Bolivia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela as well as Norway as an observer.

Of course anything that keeps up prices for oil and gas rich Russia is a good thing - also the implied anti British and anti U.S. presence in the Middle East by playing to anti-Western sentiment in the "street" and among the elites plays well. Mr. Putin also solidified the high profile diplomatic stance of ther new kremlin, emphasizing their differences with Washington.

To date this group has not attempted to control prices - which would require a change in a market which involves large, lengthy (40years in some) contracts. With LNG demand growing at 12% a year thins may change.

Anyway when the gas exporting countries meeting in Doha in April they will have the development of an OPEC-like group. This is anidea being forcefully put forward by Iran's oil minister Kazem Vazeri-Hamaneh and Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni has called for Russia and other natural gas producers to establish a gas cartel. Iran is looking for new customers in Europe and Swiss traders have been buying heavily to supply customers in Italy and eslewhere via Turkey.

Fellow Muslim state Malaysia's independent power developer SKS agreed a $16 billion, 25-year programme to exploit the Ferdos and Golshan offshore gas fields in south-eastern Iran with the the National Iranian Oil Company in January. ...a dn a Pakistan / Iran pipleine project is nearing agreement - despite pressure from Washington.

LUKoil developments in Rub Al-Khali

Anyway, Vagit says LUKSAR is still on target with development of the 30,000 sq. mile block in the northern part of the Rub Al-Khali (Empty Quarter) south of the giant Al-Ghawar oil field. The Rub' Al-Khali is the biggest active sand sea in the world (between 500,00 and 600,00 km² - roughly the size of France).

Lukoil say that 15 months ago the first exploration well was spudded in the central area of the block and they expect to invest $2 billion to exploit the deposits found there and expect commercial production of gas and condensate by 2014.

Saudi Aramco will have the right to buy all the gas produced at $22.7 per 1,000 cubic metres if annual production reaches an agreed level. The next stage of development involves building pipelines and other infrastructure development

Gazprom's were kept busy on the trip and their engineering subsidiary Stroytransgaz had talks with Saudi Oger on possible collaboration for energy and water pipeline work in the Kingdom.

Vagit told me that , 'Lukoil views the Middle East as a region of high priority. The Saudi project perfectly fits in the company's development strategy and matches all economic and competitive criteria the company applies to projects.'

He went quiet when asked about Iraq and simply said he hopes to restore oil extraction rights agreed before Saddam's downfall in 1997 to the vast West Qurna-2 oilfield (industry estimates 15 Mn barrels). Talk in St Petersburg is of $4 billion being invested in the field through to 2020.

Meanwhile Vagit is having a very close look at Oman's promising Khazzan and Makarem gas fields which the Sultanate wants to develop...he also has been having a chat with Abdullah Nasser Hawaileel of some outfit called Dana gas who had a wildly oversunscribed IPO in 2005 in Abu Dhabi.

Algerian Salafist rebels adopt Al Quaeda role - bombings kill foreign workers

Mind you, Vagit reminds me , there are problems in dealing in these zones, a Russian engineer, 3 Ukrainians and three Algerians were killed and five other people wounded in the bomb attack on their bus on March 5th at Hayoun, near Ain Defla in southern Algeria.The bus was carrying employees of tStroytransgaz , who were laying gas mains between Ain Defla, in the region of Medea, and Tiaret, 340 kilometers southwest of Algiers.

The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has, since last September, taken on the name of Osama bin Laden's terror network for North Africa and they claimed responsibility for the attack.

"We dedicate this modest conquest to our Muslim brothers in Chechnya ... victims of the criminal (Russian President Vladimir) Putin," it said in the statement posted on an Islamist site often used by Al-Qaeda.

In December one person was killed and nine injured in an attack on a bus carrying staff of the Brown and Root Condor (BRC) company, a subsidiary of the Algerian Sonatrach oil company and Halliburton.

And all this, even when Putin to establish his credentials in the Muslim world had brought along with him to Saudi , Mintimir Shaimiyev, the Muslim head of the predominantly Muslim republic of Tatarstan. Tickled pink with this gesture, King Abdullah had responded in kind, and awarded Shaimiyev the King Faisal award for service to Islam, praising Putin as , "a statesman, a man of peace, and a man of justice" despite Putin's brutal treatment of the Chechen Muslims.

Russia and Algeria, recently signed an agrement to coordinate investment and marketing and the transfer of technology - then they get their buses and workers bombed . No wonder Vagit sighed and headed for the casino.

Look out - the Russkis are back . Back in business.

General Nizar al-Khazraji / Naji Sabri al-Hadithi pop up into view again - Iraqi Gvt to change ?

Ali al-Fadhily, in Electronic Iraq, 15 March 2007 has an interesting article about the failed Government of Iraq entitled "Iraqis place hope in local politics" which includes a very interesting note ....

Rumors run of "shadow governments" being formed abroad, but Iraqis have little faith in people who fled and left them to face the situation.

General Nizar al-Khazraji, former chief of staff in the previous army, former minister for foreign affairs Naji al-Hadithi (see pic) and some others are said to have formed such 'governments' abroad to replace the current government when the time comes.

Today is of course the grim anniversary of the day when the Iraqi Army under the command of General Nizar al-Khazraji bombed Halabja (BBC Caversham monitoring report) with cyanide gas - the man who the BBC went to Copenhagen to interview in September 2002, the man who the CIA got excited about as the successor to Saddam. And he has raised his head.

Naji Sabri Al-Hadithi, 59 was of course the Foreign Minister of Saddam's regime who stole US$15 Mn from the Foreign Ministry's treasury before Bagdhad fell. He smuggled it with him abroad, according to the Austrian Der Standard newspaper at the time . The newspaper quoted the Foreign Ministry's workers in Baghdad, as saying that the sum confiscated by Al-Hadithi was transported abroad on April 7, before the US entered Baghdad.

Al-Hadithi might currently be with his friend, the far-rightist leader Joerg Haider, in southern Austria, said the newspaper." The newspaper also said his mobile phone is registered in the name of a member of the Iraqi embassy in Vienna. (see BBC Online report)

Jorg Haider told Lord Patel at the time that "He is in safety." The former leader of the far-right Freedom Party and Governer then of Carinthia also told the radio station Krone Hit, describing Mr Sabri as a "personal friend". "He has good connections the world over. We don't need to worry about him," he said. Naji Sabri was made Iraqi Ambassador to Austria in 1998 where he gotto know Haider. He was also named as Permanent Representative to the International AtomicEnergy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations Industrial DevelopmentOrganization (UNIDO) and to the United Nations Office (Vienna) during1999-2001. He was only made Foreign Minister on Augest 4, 2001.

There is a fascinating report by BBC's Mark Doyle of interviews that he had with Naji Sabri in Cairo dated March 29th 2003."The invaders" , he proceeded to say with absolute certainty,..." will be beaten. They will die and be buried in the deserts of Iraq."

It is intriguing to remember that there were 3 prominent Iraqi ministers also do not appear on the list of 55 most wanted after the occupation who appeared on those ridiculous playing cards.

They are Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Sahaf, (Comical Ali) Health Minister Umid Mubarak and Foreign Minister Naji Sabri. U.S. officials at the time said the three ministers were not regarded as key members of the Saddam regime. He also does not feature on the Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Blocked Persons List. So no doubt his US$15 MN loot is safe.

There is a report from October 2002 by BBC monitoring at Caversham that he was "Described by commentators as "smooth and sophisticated", "suave" and"a type that appeals to Westerners", he is said to have relished his renewed contact with the West." He was also said to be CIA director George Tenet's "source who had direct access to Saddam and his inner circle." He politely but firmly declined the oportunity to defect however.

A PBS report in 2002 states he is a member of a historically powerful family, and holds a doctorate in English literature from Baghdad University. During the Gulf War, he was Deputy Information Minister and, at one time, ran Iraq's Press office in London.

In the days immediately prior to the illegal invasion of Iraq when Tony Blair had accepted that Saddam could leave the country unharmed - Naji Sabra said..."(BBC)

"The only option [to avoid war] is the departure of the number one warmonger in the world [US President George W Bush]. "His policy has brought disaster to the United States. This crazy man should go and also his subject, disciple and follower [UK Prime Minister Tony] Blair."

OF course it seems unlikely that the Coalition of the totally useless and fed up would engage the services of General Nizar al-Khazraji and Naji al-Hadithi, but as we are never tired of hearing ..."My enemies enmy is my friend".. the very recent accomodation with a tribal leader in Anbar suggests that there sre some forces at play to give the Sunni a stronger hand.

Lord Patel did have some interesting correspondence with Prime Minister Tony Blair in February 2005 prior to the General Election, about General Nizar al-Khazraji and his military friends such as Head of Military Intelligence Wafiq Samarra'i. There is an interesting report here at Investigating New Imperialism
prime Minister Tony Blair did say .... inter alia

“I was concerned to hear about these reports and asked for them to be investigated. It is clear that general al-Khazraji did indeed have an appalling record of human rights abuses in Iraq. For this reason, the Government’s only interest in General al-Khazraji is to see him brought to justice. We continue to support the efforts underway in Iraq to establish a fair and transparent system for prosecuting those suspected of human rights abuses under Saddam.“The reports of General al-Khazraji’s association with the Iraqi Government appear to be the result of unfounded media speculation in the region. We have seen no evidence of any connection between General al-Khazraji and the Iraqi Government.

We have reason to believe that, far from working in support of the Iraqi Government, General Khazraji is actively engaged in opposing it.”

So it would be strange, funny even, if these guys popped up in the Government of Iraq ... but it wouldn't be unexpected.

Major Taliban leader killed .... or not killed

Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, (AKA Usmani) the Taliban treasurer, chief of military operations in the provinces of Uruzgan, Nimroz, Kandahar, Farah, Herat and Helm and a chap played a central role in facilitating operations involving Taliban, al-Qaeda and a group led by Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani (also chum of Mr Hekmatyr) was on his satellite telephone when an RAF R1 monitoring aircraft tracking him down. Working with an elite US special operations team, including members of the elite Delta Force, plus elite intelligence specialists from an elite unit known as elite Task Force Orange were able to call in a US elite plane (A-1o, Predator drone ?) to drop a smart bomb (missile?) onto his 4 x 4 as it left a village in the Zahre area.

This killed him, and 2 deputies with him.

The Kuwait News Agency say Coalition spokesman in Kabul Colonel Tom Collins claimed Usmani was a senior member of the Taliban inner circle,a member of the Taliban's Shura Majlis, or executive council, and the former foreign minister for the Taliban. He said, this was ,"a major achievement in the fight against extremists and their terrorist networks". CNN report that The military is "very sure" it killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani although it can't provide visual proof as his body was "obliterated" in Tuesday's attack on the vehicle .

"He was hit by a precision air strike. The vehicle was destroyed and all the occupants were obliterated," Tim Collins said. "We had him under observation for a good while, we knew he was in the vehicle. When that vehicle moved out of that built up area he was in, that's when we hit it."

Collins said Osmani was identified through forensic analysis, but not through DNA tests. He said the type of analysis performed was classified information.

Confusingly al Jazeera report that "Taliban leader Akhtar Mohammad Osmani was really killed with his companion Maulavi Abdul Zahir Baloushi and a third unidentified person."

The Taliban through Qari Yousef Ahmadi deny reports of Osmani's death but not the incident, when they claim a low-ranking commander Mullah Abdul Zahir had been killed with 3 other Taliban fighters.

Osmani was captured in 2002 but was released by "mistake" 4 weeks later.

Osmani is from from the Taleban spiritual capital Kandahar, and taught in the same madrassa that Mullah Mohammed Omar used to teach in before the emergence of Taliban in 1994.

Mullah Akhtar Usmani appeared (see pic) on Pakistani television, on June 15th, 2005 and claimed he was in touch with Mullah Omar and he said bin Laden was, "thanks be to God … absolutely fine, in good health and fit," Usmani also said the Taliban is reorganized and it,

"is in all areas [of Afghanistan]. In some areas, it is working more; in some areas, it is working less. However, it is present and working in all provinces… Almost 80 percent of the [Afghan] people are with us; they were not in the past, but now they are because when they consider U.S. atrocities and actions, they come to understand the United States is their enemy… Now our fighting is increasing. It may increase manifold this year... We also have weapons. We do not need anything."

His aide Abdul Latif Hakimi frequently gives interviews from the Pakistani city of Quetta. This has caused the US Ambassador in Kabul Zalmay Khalilzad to ask rhetorically why , “If GEO TV can get in touch with them, how can the intelligence service of a country, which has nuclear bombs and a lot of security and military forces, not find them?” [Reuters, 6/18/2005]





Students of the writings of Osama bin Laden will recall his words published in the Al-Jihaad Newsletter, Issue No. 4, 22 June 2000.

"Any aggression by the United States today against Afghanistan would not be against Afghanistan itself, but against the Afghanistan that hoists the banner of Islam in the world, the true, mujahid Islam, which fights for the sake of God… Allah has blessed Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan… They were able to unify the country under the Taliban and under the leadership of Amir ul-Mu'mineen [Commander of the Faithful] Mulanna [our Mullah] Omar. So today, Afghanistan is the only country in the world that has the Shari'ah. Therefore, it is compulsory upon Muslims all over the world to help Afghanistan. And to make hijra to this land, because it is from this land that we will dispatch our armies to smash all kuffar all over the world."

bin Ladin said Afghanistan would be the site of "one of Islam's immortal battles." "Under the leadership of our mujahid Amir … Mullah Muhammad Omar," bin Laden wrote, "we are firm on the path of jihad for the cause of God. The United States was(is) not against me. It was not even against the Taliban. It was(is) against Islam."(see PBS interview......)

Do you have a message for the American people?

"I say to them that they have put themselves at the mercy of a disloyal government, and this is most evident in Clinton's administration ... . We believe that this administration represents Israel inside America."

Earlier this week the French government announced that it would withdraw its 200 special (elite?) forces (FFL) from Afghanistan at the start of 2007 . This coincides with the announcement of a TV documentary,"Bin Laden, the failings of a manhunt", by Emmanuel Razavi and Eric de Lavarene to be aired on cable TV in March 2007. It is claimed this film shows French special forces in Afghanistan had al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in their sights twice about three years ago, but their U.S. superiors never ordered them to fire.

French armed forces spokesman Christophe Prazuck said "that never happened" when asked about the bin Laden sightings.

Emmanuel Razavi is French (pere) / Iranian and left Teheran with the Shah, he published by Paris Match,(pic) "Afghanistan, the French on the track of Bin Laden" for which he was nominated for the prestigious Prix Bayeux Calvados of the War Correspondents in 2004. He has also published "Moslem Brothers: the threat " Editions Jean Cyril Godefroy December 31, 2004

Pic of FFL Para regiment with camouflage painted M82A2 Barrett specially adapted sniper rifles which use 1/2 " BMG (12.7 x 99mm)rounds and is lethal over 1800 metres.

UPDATE 27/12

Robert Lindsay has more information here but the proof of Osmani's death still relies on unconfirme claims by US forces.

The Great Game - Colonel Mustard in the woodshed with the cipher clerk

Corporal Daniel James, 44, a military intelligence officer has been charged under section one (1) (C), of the Official Secrets Act 1911 - that on 2 November this year, for a purpose prejudicial to the safety of the state, he “communicated to another person information calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy”. (Check how many 44yr old Cpls in Army ?)

In his official capacity Mr James is an interpreter for Lieutenant General David Richards, (pic)(currently) the commander of the British contingent of Nato forces in Afghanistan. Danny J is apparently a skilled and fluent Pashtun Dari speaker and has Iranian family connections, possibly with Brighton in sunny Sussex by the Sea where his Farsi speaking mum lives and there is a lively club scene.

Senior District Judge (what used to be called Stipendary Magistrates) Timothy Workman at Westminster Magistrates Court, remanded him in custody until Wednesday December 27, he had been arrested on Tuesday after the court was cleared and proceedings were held in camera for 2 hours.

Wholly inaccurate diplomatic tittle - tattle claims that this is related to UK inspired surrender of Musa Qala to the Taliban earlier this year. (Update - Maj. Luke Knittig, U.S. Army / chief NATO spokesman in Kabul said "Musa Qala has proved to be a very good deal," said "After the agreement, there were 34 days of calm, which led us to believe the elders had made good on their word." However, he added: "We have our eyes closely on Musa Qala. If we see it being used as a launching pad for attacks, we will go back and address that.")

This resulted in allied squabbling (Update - relying on tribal elders to control the Taliban,) and the sacking of Mohammed Daud as governor of Helmand by President Karzai on 7th December, which was engineered by US forces - some claim the foul hand of the CIA was involved. Daud was instrumental in UK inspired surrender of Musa Qala to the Taliban which Richards was involved in - and some say Welsh Rentagob Howell was anxious to pursue, whilst newly installed GMILF Margaret Beckett (Described variously as Foreign Secretary) looked the other way... did her knitting, planned her next trip to Albi ....

This unseemly row amongst the allies led to the American supreme commander of Nato, General Jim Jones, letting it be known, that Lieutenant-General David Richards "would have been sacked if he had been an American officer". and that he was "too political".

Some claim James got caught as piggy in the middle.

Lord Patel's impeccable sources in Islamabad say nothing will happen and it will all be quietly forgotten as tempers die down. However other sources make a connection to the arrest of an employee of the Afghan Ministry of Defence on suspicion of espionage for the Pakistani secret service ISI, which has not been denied by President Karzai's office. (Pic Danny Boy in shadow of General Richards)

UPDATE 21/12/06 9.00am
BBC peddling 3rd rate 3rd hand "official leaks" that this relates to Iran. Now saying James speaks Dari not Pashtun and re-iterating that information leaked to Iran claiming that this could be a "potential disaster" for NATO - BBC correspondent Gardner on BBC Radio 4 News / PM program "Iran has a highly developed network of informers in Afghanistan"

The Registrar General for Scotland shows that James is the most popular name for baby boys in Scotland in 2006 , Daniel was 4th, boosted by the performance of Daniel Craig in the new James Bond movie .... apparently.

VERY interesting article Afghanistan close to anarchy, warns general by the well informed Richard Norton-Taylor Saturday July 22, 2006
The Guradian concerning what General Richards told a conference at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London.
----------
Anyone noticed that the Prime Minister took his old pal, tennis partner and midget Karaoke King of Brent, Lord Levy with him on his drive by, tour d'horizon of the Gulf but left his ace caravanner behind ? Minding the shop .. or told to mind her own business ?

On September 8th the first suicide bombers hit at US forces in Kabul, the following day Coca Cola opened their bottling plant in Kabul (see Lord Patel post here Sept 11th) it is clear that the NATO / US / UK alliance stated unravelling from that date. No wonder they don't want that all discussed in court in Westminster.

We must however make absoluteley certain that it is the fault entirely, completely, totally, 100% of Iran.

Who Murdered Dr David Kelly ? Was it Msr Scarlett in the wood with ......

MP NORMAN BAKER MP will be discussing the latest aspects of his investigation in to Dr David kelly's Death on GMTV's "THE SUNDAY PROGRAMME", 10 DECEMBER 2006, 6 - 7.25 AM

Before watching the program and deciding it was Professor Plum in the Paddock with the Poison read all the latest information the team investigating what Lord Patel is convinced was his murder have assembled. @ Dr David Kelly and also @ Death of Truth

Anyone who has local information or personal contact with Dr Kelly, the investigation into his death or any contact with the players in his murder should contact:
RowenaThursby@onetel.com

or Norman Baker MP , 23 EAST STREET,LEWES, EAST SUSSEX, BN7 2LJ Tel: 01273 480268

This is what two local people have said ....

Anonymous 1 said...

Keep up the good work. Ed Vaizey and Norman Baker have been busy, but it's not enough.

So the BBC are doing an hour-long programme in Jan, re. the David Kelly 'suicide' - that's sure to be an even bigger whitewash. The answers are right here, locally, on our door-steps but no-one will listen. Interview all those present, before his body was found, and immediately afterwards.

Someone is living with a huge lie on his conscience.


Anonymous 2 said...
I knew David Kelly - he was a very clever but stubborn man, and I think the 'authorities' thought he knew too much for his own good. An independant Inquest should be called for, and an answer sought to the question 'who killed Dr David Kelly?' We (locals) didn't believe the stories in the papers, not for one second. This Government is trying to brain-wash us. Norman Baker MP, and Ed Vaizey MP, have voiced their thoughts, but who will listen? Who is in the position to call for an Inquest? In other words, what authoritative figure is there who isn't corrupt and is held in great esteem and total unbiased respect? Who is there? (The 1998 50th Anniversary Edition of Cluedo only, included POISON as the weapon)

Who Murdered Dr David Kelly ? Was it Colonel Mustard on the JIC with ......

Mr John Scarlett was chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, (and "mate" of the deeply unpleasant, dishonest, devious, duplicitous and truly diabolical and part time pornographer, Alastair Campbell) a body which includes all the chiefs of all the intelligence agencies, and was responsible for the September "Dodgy" dossier of lies about Iraqi WMD's . A spook for 30 years who ended up as one of 5 Directors in the SIS he retired in September 2001 to take up his JIC post. Was this scion of Magdelen College one of the people who decided Dr David Kelly had to be finally and terminally silenced ?

It was Mr John Scarlett who sent a "note" to Sir David Omand, the Cabinet Office security and intelligence co-ordinator, in which he said that Dr Kelly needed "a proper security-style interview" to clarify apparent inconsistencies in his statement about his meeting with Gilligan.

Just what is a "a proper security-style interview" ? Does it mean lying / sitting up, with a wrist cut byba blunt pen-knife, having swallowed 2 or a bottle full of painkillers, whose discoverers all have differing tales of times, places, positions, identities.

Does a "a proper security-style interview" mean ending up dead. Arranged in a grisly palimpsest of suicide ?

Who Murdered Dr David Kelly ? Was it Miss Whiter than White on the TV with ......

Glamorous, well dressed, stylish and elegant, with a winsome style and disarming charm, Pauline Neville Jones (DCMG) was a previous chairman of the JIC , and of Qinetiq (which WAS the Defence & Research Establishment (DRE) until sold for song to the shadowy Carlyle Group. A website page of theirs says ...""... Although information operations are traditionally considered a military activity QinetiQ also develops information campaign strategies that can benefit governments, businesses and other organisations." She also worked for Natwest Capital Markets with Douglas Hurd helping to enrich Slobodan Milosevic in a deal over mobile telcoms. BBC Governor Jan 1998 - Dec 2004.

Shares being student of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and spook with with Ann Widdecombe, Benazir Buttho (whose father was murdered by the State and who has been called a murderer - and who Lord Patel was surprised to bump into in Pyongyang in 1994 - she is technically still prime Minister of Pakistan having been the last elected leader), Antonia Fraser who has written a lot about murdered Queens, Michael Gove (who despite vicious rumours from Newsnight review closet Queens is not ), Lord Patel's close friend, soul mate and the corsetiéres friend, Eliza Manningham Buller, and the frighteningly clever, or totally barmy Mary Warnock.

Member of the very curious Bilderberg setup, group, collective. (Confidential list of Members - probably incomplete)

Our colourful Pauline with a remarkable social circle is said to be close to fellow Bilderberger the Russian Think tankist (Carnegie) , unmarried Ms Lilia Shevtsova - who said in a broadcast PBS interview...." We are moving towards a new savior. We are creating a new myth and illusion. And unfortunately,when Putin is talking about so-called dictatorship of law, what he's doing in reality is just a little bit different. He's using a politicized and selective approach to everything.He creates rules of the game that are much more equal for somebody. He's attacking Vladimir Gusinsky and Boris Berezovsky because these oligarchs and tycoons are his own personal enemy, but he creates a favorable zone for other oligarchs. And perhaps very soon you'll understand that this selective approach to justice will result in the emergence of new injustice."

By one of those strange paradoxical coincidences, our colourfully costumed and carefully coiffed Pauline appeared on Newsnight this week talking about another death, another curious death, an unexplained and unexplainable death, in mysterious circumstances - of a friend, servant and employee of Boris Berezovsky - Alekszandr Litvinyenko.

Mrs Peacock in the House with a cup of coffee .... ?

Cosmopolitan cooking - Russian salad, Italian Pizzas and Japanese sushi.......Matzot ?

Leonid Nevzlin

When things got hot for Yukos and some colleagues were arrested for tax, murder, and other crimes against the state CEO Leonid Nevzlin (45)(pic 2003 outside Prosecutors office) very sensibly fled to Israel. In November 2003, he was granted Israeli citizenship, which is not difficult because he arrived there and is a Jew - it also means he cannot be extradited - well not very easily - and as he has at least US$1.1 Bn stashed away he can bring modest influence to bear and he has 2 delightful children.

A computer prgrammer he teamed up with jailbird and tax avoider Mikhail Khodorkovsky and founded Menatep which led on to greater things as Russia fell apart - In 2000, he was elected president of the Russian Jewish Congress; in 2001 was elected senator in the Federation Council of Russia.Menatep became Menatep Bank, the corporate ancestor of what became Yukos and his personal piggy Bank.

On the 4th July 2004 however the Russian authorities asked for him back on charges he organized a double contract killing and a string of attempted murders. He has also been charged with "entering into a criminal plot with Yukos' internal and economic security chief Alexander Pichugin to kill certain individuals who posed a ... danger to the company, and to Nevzlin and Pichugin," the Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement at the time. (Aleksey Pichugin, an employee of YUKOS's security division,has been sentenced already to 20 years in prison) He was wanted on suspicion of evading 26.7 million rubles ($930,000 according to the current exchange rate) in taxes in 1999-2000 and also allegedly appropriated shares in two Eastern Oil Company (VNK) subsidiaries, oil producer Tomskneft and the Achinsk refinery

Isolated in Israel he maintains a turgid blog in which he tries amongst deep ersatz philosophy which Pushkin wouldn't recognise - for example for today we have ;

Мы не рабы. Рабы немы.Это не только скороговорка.
We are not slaves. Slaves are silent. This is not only a tongue twister.

..... to explain how he brought civilisation to Moscow. He also expresses the views that Russia is run by KGB-FSB officers to anyone who will listen. He has also called upon high-ranking US officials to exclude Russia from the Group of Eight. In addition, Mr. Nevzlin has reportedly urged American officials not to make Russia a member of the World Trade Organization - the point of discussion in Latvia and Poland so recently. Nevzlin (who evidently has a high opinion of his powers of diplomacy) went to Washington in Mid 2005 to tell this to a group of US congressmen. (the Russian Embassy asked to have achat with him and to find a comfortable seat on a plane back to Moscow but the USA would not play ball - rendition is a one way game)

From his self imposed exile he underwrote opposition candidate Irina Khakamada, who finished with less than 4 % of the vote in the 2002 Presidential elections.For the forthcoming elections he offered to support the Russian Chess Grandmaster Gary Kasparov who told him to fuck off.

Now why did Mr Litvinenko travel to Israel immediately before his meetings in London with his ex KGB chums and the shady Scaramella to have a chinwag and a latke or three with Leonid Nezvin ?

It may be worth testing the very comfortable seating of the first class areas of Heathrow bound Boeing 777 El Al flight LY 315 from Tel Aviv on October 30th - or even the aircon filters which are so easily accessible ?

Or it may not. The El Al cleaners are VERY thorough.

IT was the SUN wot did it

This is the front page of the Sun today - which readers might think bears a strong resemblance to Lord Patel's story LAST Saturday. It does, the lame attention grabbing headline is the same but last Saturday's story was more informative, but is also accurate.


The Italian Job - Spaghetti Trails
Postman Patel November 25th

Mario Scaramella a professor at the University of Naples, was a consultant to the Mitrokhin commission (1)an Italian Parliamentary commission of inquiry into KGB spy recruitment which was was headed by journalist Paolo Guzzanti - and remarkably (?) a senator from former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and fount of wisdom and icon of probity and Truth.A surprising view of commission members was that Romano Prodi was the "Kremlin's man in the EU and Rome"...........

Read on ....Comments on the Mitrokhin commission and most interestingly the connections between Mr Blair, Mrs Blair and Mr Berezovsky....with pictures.

The circumstances in which the ex President of Chechynya, Mr and Mrs Litvinyenko and indeed Mr B, plus his many other pals , henchmen, football fans, drivers, obtained UK citizenship would probably bear (or probably not) very close examination.


Pic C/o the the soaraway week behind Sun. This is a pic of the disarmingly beautiful Mrs Anna Livityenko who appears to have, not only alluring eyes but also emits alpha radiation.

As does Mr Scaramella, various seats on certain BA planes and now possibly an Easy Jet plane upon which Mr Scaramella plopped his bottom as he has been shuttling (scuttling) back and forth from London to Milan.

It is beginning to sound as though the initial smuggled samples of Polonium were carried in a container used originally for Dust'n'Vac.

Lord Patel has updated the story and has a lot of travel advice for those intending to visit Russia and an amusing comment here

Meanwhile Lord Patel who has written previously about the quasi State Armies of Aegis and Erinys (not fogetting Hakluyt) , who obtain stunning contracts in Iraq and have over 20,000 employees in that poor country have only figured very briefly in this tale, so far , is still following some fascinating (and possibly futile) trails. The radioactive HQ of Erinys is handy for Mr Berezovsky ( and employee Litvinosky who "popped" in (and many would have us beleive left a trail of Polonium) but their registered office is the charming Wiltshire farmouse of their founder and friend of .... well quite a few very interesting ex British Armed Forces officers who regularly are trotted out at Royal United Service INstitute (RUSI) "conferences".

e.g General Sir Roger Wheeler , Knight Grand Cross of the Bath , CBE was CGS1997 and 2000. Sir Roger is the current 'Constable of the Tower of London'. He also joined the Aegis Board at the same time as Lord Inge .. and is also a Board member of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (AKA National Police Service in embryo) . Another chap who makes his own modest contribution is Fatty Soames, MP happily joining Aegis at the same time who is also a member of Council of the RUSI.

Want to know more? Simply search Lord Patel's dominion by inserting "RUSI" in the top left search box - keep a spook happy for weeks.

Carlyle Group - Gadaffi and Monkey Business

As Lord Patel has previously noted, on 1st October it was announced that the shady Carlyle Group had bought Tamoil for US$3Bn from the even shadier lady, Gadaffi and Libyan Gubment Oilinvest, Libya's foreign oil investment arm. Tamoil was acquired by Oilinvest (Netherlands) B.V. part of Oilinvest, in 1988.

Tamoil refines, markets and sells the country's oil, and has around 3,000 petrol stations in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain, with a further 150 in Africa where they have a presence in Egypt, Chad,Niger,Burkina Faso,Mali and Eritrea. Tamoil famously has a Euro 110 Mn ( a year) sponsorship deal with Italian Football club, Juventus until 2010 - Gadaffi's son was until recently a Director of Juventus.

It is claimed that less than a third of Libya has been explored for oil. The country’s estimated reserves of 37 billion barrels put it among the top ten potential oil exporters. Current output is said to be 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) which could dvelop to over 3.0 million bpd by 2010.

Details of the deal (or confirmation that it has happened) have not been divulged by either party although the private equity world is full of gossip. This deal (and the need some say to seal it) has resulted in a sign of a major shift in the Carlyle Group investment policy . The D.C.-based private equity firm has hired Walid Musallam, former CEO of the Abu Dhabi Investment, to lead a new Middle East and North Africa (MENA) team as managing director.

The group will operate from offices in Cairo, Egypt; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Istanbul, Turkey, Carlyle will invest in a variety of sectors, including energy, financial services, health care, industrial, technology and transportation.

"Carlyle's global network and industry expertise are great differentiators that will benefit growing Middle Eastern and North African companies," Musallam says.

Musallam is a heavy mover and has also been CEO of Middle East Capital Group, a merchant bank based in Beirut, Lebanon (their website still shows him as CEO) He also was founder and CEO of D.C.-based Infrastructure Finance Group, with wide expereince on financing, acquisitions and dealing with governments on restructuring and privatizing state-owned facilities.He has also managed several construction projects in the Middle East.

Mr Musallam served as senior investment officer at the International Finance Corp. in D.C. and a vice president at Lehman Bros. in New York. He has managed several construction projects in the Middle East.

The very well connected and secretive outfit evidently senses a change in investment opportunities in the area - changes and opportunities that seem fairly remote to some observers.

It is interesting to read Mr Musallam in the Daily Star , Beirut 5/7/03 on the Al Jazeerah website "Why Americans support the war on Iraq" ...for example

"...how does it (the US Gubment) justify the war for Iraq where the regime was known for its antagonism toward fundamental Islam and there was no proof of a link with Al-Qaeda or the events of Sept. 11 let alone the failure to find any weapons of mass destruction? "

Popular views on the Beltway - from a man who it says was working for the World Bank.

Maryoshka Part 2 Muddy Waters and dangerous coffee

Beria with Svetlana, Stalin's daughter, whose son Serge, she fell in love with.

Red Army high commanders were scared shitless of Lavrenti Beria ; the phrase they had for being purged was "going to have coffee with Beria".

Stalin's death agonies were grotesque. When he was breathing his last, Beria's face shone with sweat and delight. When Stalin regained consciousness, Beria dropped to his knees and lovingly kissed his hands.

After Stalin's funeral, Beria was the first to set about discrediting him in the eyes of the supreme communist leadership. Secret tapes of Stalin's conversations were played to the central committee. The "cult of the individual" was denounced.

Beria wanted a basic revision of Soviet policies at home and abroad. He was in a powerful position to become the single successor. His luck and lack of supporters failed him. In June 1953, his colleagues Nikita Khrushchev (who had himself filled lakes of blood in the Great Terror) and Georgi Malenkov had him arrested, suspecting (reasonably) that he was planning a coup d'état.

Having resumed control of the security agencies, he certainly had the institutional opportunity, and his career showed he had the ruthless ambition. Beria's dual nature as killer and reformer was not understood.

A secret military trial followed. In December 1953, despite his pleas for forgiveness, he was shot.

Is there a Beria in the Kremlin today?

Whatever (and we still have had no post mortem) killed Alexander Litvinenko we are still uncertain - forensic scientists who talked of ricin factories without ricin, who cannot now tell us what explosive the 7/7 bombs were made of , who talk nonsense about making peroxide based bombs in aircraft toilets plainly cannit be relied upon. Nor would any sane commentator.

Whoever killed Alexander Litvinenko had a dual ambition - the death of a traitorous turncoat and the desire to squarely place the blame on Putin ... perhaps Litvinenko had, " a coffee with Beria ?"

There are many players in this carefully constructed,staged and prolonged death - a cipher for a struggle of wider dimensions and deeper struggles than we can yet imagine. It would be foolish to think that Putin rides the tiger without threats to his positiomn when the Russian economy is bringing (and has brought) enormous riches to sworn foes - of whom Berezovsky is only one.

It is too soon to make a judgement. Of one thing you may be certain, Plod will make a fucking mess of the investigation .... this is way beyond them.

First thing is, find out what killed Alexander Litvinenko.

Plod pounce's .. Polonium plot to be exposed ....?

There is huge relief in the fear factory, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, of Scotland Yard's Terrorism Department is on the job.... according to a report in the Sunday Torygraph..."focussing on when, where and how Mr Litvinenko received the lethal dose of polonium 210."

You can sense the Rolls Royce minds of the Met at work on this one....there is more, as the challenging intellect of Peter "The Sphinx" Clarke addresses the problem ....lights his pipe, picks up his violin maybe....

"We will trace possible witnesses, examine Mr Litvinenko's movements at relevant times, including when he first became ill, and identify people he may have met. There will also be an extensive examination of CCTV footage."

Well, cannot fault him there ... but CCTV ? Hundreds, nay thousands of hours looking for the 7/7 bombers and we have one dodgy still ? ( ..and lots of overtime Sarge. Luvvly jubbly) ...... Lord Patel's confidence is ebbing away. Already.

The urgent need to fly to Italy to interview the Italian spaghetti munchers must be forming in the recessses of the mind of London's finest, our bulwark against ... er ... world terrism ? (See pic of the indefatigable detective with his lunch box).

Plod might like to pursue these interesting titbits. Mr Litvinenko (now a British citizen) lives on one side of the road, with his wife and son (who joined him via Turkey) opposite is Akhmed Zakayev, who was one deputy prime minister of Chechnya and he like BB has been granted political asylum here.

Companies registered in the British Virgin islands associated with Mr Berezovsky are shown onthe Land Registry as owning both houses.

Plod might wish to cast his eyes over the current news from Chechyna - always assuming he can find it.

PS Paul William Hampel was arrested by border security officers at Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau airport last week, carrying $7,800 in five currencies, several cellphones and a shortwave radio. The Canadian Security Intelligence Agency seek to deport him as they allege he is agent with the SVR and has lived in Canada for more than a decade under a false identity and that he used a fraudulent Ontario birth certificate to get three Canadian passports. He will appear in court again on Tuesday. A national security certificate has been issued which provides for his immediate deportation.

He travelled frequently to the Balkans and produced a book of photographs "My Beautiful Balkans" which can be seen here.They are very good.

This has echoes a case over 10 years ago when a married couple in Toronto ,known as Ian Mackenzie Lambert and Laurie Brodie were discovered to be Russian spies named Dmitriy Vladimirovoch Olshevskiy and Yelena Borisovna Olshevskaya.

The real Laurie Catherine Mary Brodie was born in Quebec on Sept. 8, 1963, and died in Toronto before her second birthday, Canada's Security Intelligence Service said.

Her (then) husband called himself Ian Mackenzie Lambert, the name of an Ontario child who died Feb. 17, 1966, before he was three months old.

In a curious twist to the story the Russian lady in the case married Canadian doctor Peter Miller in December 1996 and applied to return to Canada in August this year, claiming to have quit the spy agency in October 1996. She was refused.

She had met the British-born doctor and Oxford graduate who worked in Canada's medical insurance industry, at a scotch-tasting party before her deportation. Her (new) husband has tried to have the attractive spouse imported for several years. With no success.