Uncle Sam's Glove puppets come - and Uncle Sam's Glove puppets go

General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (محمد ضياء الحق) - whose brother was Lord Patel's GP for many years - died 20 years ago today in a suspicious (and still unexplained ) crash of a Lockheed C-130 , accompanied by several high ranking officers and , surprisingly the then United States Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Lewis Raphel. Many theories abound about the causes of the C-130's crash - General Hameed Gul, head of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency at the time, has recently suggested that the United States was responsible for murdering their Cold War ally.

Zia had overthrown Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a military coup d'état on July 5, 1977 who was eventually judicially killed. His daughter was extra judicially killed.

Starting out as a martial leader he became President of Pakistan in September 1978. A year later Russia invaded Afghanistan and the US invaded the upper reaches of the Pakistan Government - ending up unde President Reagan pouring billions of dollars into supporting the mujahadeen and a a rich and rum Arab playboy fight their proxy war for the US against the Russian Bear.

Which sounds familiar this weekend as 2 more US Glove puppets fighting proxy wars for their paymasters are due to meet their Nemesis.

Pervez Musharrif another General who seized power, like it and stayed on too long, is expected to quietly slink away before Pakistan's Parliament impeach him. Intense jockeying and negotiations are going on today to guarantee his safe passage and cast iron immunity from prosecution.

Mikhail Sakashvalli's fall from grace started only 6 years ago. In May 2002, Gazprom signed a deal to manage natural-gas routes in Georgia without disclosing many contract terms. American diplomats were so alarmed that US President George W. Bush’s top Caspian adviser hastily flew to Tbilisi to warn that the deal could harm American-backed efforts to develop natural gas resources in Azerbaijan. "These negotiations between Gazprom and the Georgian Ministry of Fuel and Energy are not, in my opinion, sufficiently transparent," said Steven Mann, Bush’s Caspian-energy envoy, told Rustavi-2 television. He also cautioned that the Gazprom agreement could "significantly weaken Georgia’s position along East-West energy transportation routes."

Mann’s visit a few days after Richard Miles the US Ambassador’s expression of "concern" that Gazprom’s plans for piping gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to Erzurum, at the Georgian-Turkish border. would hamper the development of the Shah Deniz BP/Statoil pipeline. On October 18th , Russian wunderkind Anatoly Chubais - head of RAO (Unified Energy Systems) which controls more than 70% of the CIS electric power capacities, and output of more than 70% of electricity in the country.was in Yerevan signing up a deal with Armenia.

These diplomatic developments highlight the geopolitical motives behind energy-sector deals in the Caucasus. Gazprom was closely allied with the Kremlin. Russian leaders had long sought to increase their economic leverage in former CIS states, including Georgia, in the belief that stronger commercial ties enhance Moscow’s political influence. Conversely, the United States has long sought to reduce Russia’s economic dominance of countries on the Caspian Basin.

After his meeting with Shevardnadze, Mann stressed that the Gazprom deal is "not yet final."

However, elsewhere things were moving. After the collapse of Enron, AES who had bought into the Georgian electricity industry saw their shares plummet from US$73 to a little over a dollar. On May 1st 2003 AES announced Richard Darman as new Non Executive Chairman. A busy man. Ex-manager of the Office of the Budget, famous for saying that George Bush as Presidential candidate did not say "No more Taxes", it was "just something he read in a speech". MD of the shade loving Carlyle group whom he joined in 1993, Darman (who died aged 64 of lukaemia on Lord Patel's birthday this year) was also on the hugely influential and secretive Council of Foreign Relations, as was Philip Odeen, ex-chairman of huge DoD contractor TRW who joined AES at the same time (also one time aide of Henry Kissinger).

On May 8th 2003, PA Government Services Inc. (PA), part of the PA Consulting Group, (We are proud that our clients say 'PA makes it happen') announced in a little noticed Press release, an interim management contract with the Republic of Georgia, to manage the United Distribution Company for a period of approximately 18 months, with funding to be provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The United Distribution Company (UDC), they said, was formed in 2002, as an amalgamation of several regional electricity companies. It is estimated to have approximately 660,000 customers, close to 5,000 employees and a service area covering 70% of the country, much of it being rural. It was also a company in very serious difficulty, characterized by dismal financial performance, huge payables, inadequate business systems, all of which combined to make the UDC unable to provide reliable electricity supplies to its customers.

Then, unexpectedly on August 6 2003 (surprisingly Anatoly Chubais was in Tblisi that day) RAO/UES announced the purchase of a 75 percent stake in Georgia’s AES-Telasi joint venture from AES Silk Road, a subsidiary of the US-Arlington based AES Corp. for an undisclosed purchase price (AES paid US$35Mn in 1999 and claim to have spent a further US$250 since). "The Georgian government will take all the steps necessary to convince AES to stay," Georgian Energy Minister David Mirtskhulava Business Week quoted as saying. "AES's presence is important for the future investment climate. This gave Russian UES a virtual lock on Georgia’s domestic electricity market.

On July 31, 2003 the US Embassy made a public statement, "The US is sorry that AES Corporation of Arlington, Virginia, has decided to sell its assets in Georgia". A brilliant film by Paul Devlin "Powertrip" shown at the Berlin Film Festival Feb 2003 detailed the problems AES had, including machine gunning of their Georgian executives.

On August 18th there was a complete power blackout throughout Georgia – unremarked in the West and whose causes are still subject to wild speculation. Fuel and Energy Minister Mamuka Nikolaishvili, enjoying his first day in office said "We know only that an emergency shutdown occurred. Power was off from 7.00 am to 10.00pm." Prior to this there had been some surprising and influential visitors to President’s Shevardnadze's office. US frustration with Georgia has been mounting, as second largest per capita recipient of US aid after Israel, the US has given US$778 Mn roughly 5 times that of neighbouring Azerbaijan.

So in early July, interrupting his Independence Day weekend celebrations, in flew former US Secretary of State, James Baker, acting as a special Bush Administration envoy, to discuss the problems of the president's cronies ponying up the proceeds of the sale amongst themselves and to seek assurances about the conduct of the forthcoming elections.

On September 24, a US State Department official responsible for aid-related issues in the former Soviet Union, Thomas Adams, announced that Washington’s assistance to Tbilisi would decline in 2004 from the roughly $100 million that Georgia was currently receiving . This is known diplomatically as removing the carrot.

This was followed by another high powered US delegation -- including John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the US military’s joint chiefs of staff, along with Strobe Talbott, a former deputy secretary of state during the Clinton administration and head of the Brookings Policy Research Institute to monitor developments after Baker’s plan and attempt to defuse the confrontational mood then enveloping domestic politics. Even Republican Arizonan Senator John McCain turned up to put the heat on the most famous Georgian after Stalin – but with no success.

A letter from the US President on October 31st when his fellow countrymen were celebrating Hallowe’en failed to win Shevardnadze to control the excesses expected in the election 2 days away.

It’s evident that after the shambles of the election with missing ballots, dead voters and all the other paraphernalia of fraudulent elections (something the US President is intimately acquainted with), that Russia and the United States, rivals for control over the Caspian Sea's enormous oil wealth, set up a pragmatic deal to protect their joint interests and ensure a smooth transfer of power.

Half Georgian Igor Ivanov, Putin’s representative flew in and saw Shevardnadze and eventually spoke to Colin Powell after Shevardnadze had twice refused to take calls from Jim Baker. In a move which could exaggerate tensions over the former Soviet state between the US and Georgia's neighbour, Russia, US national security adviser Condoleeza Rice rang her Georgian counterpart and previously Georgia's ambassador to Washington Tedo Japaridze (who had six aides paid for by USAID) after the election confirming that the US was "ready to help Georgia, and support it in transition". Senior western diplomats confirmed separately that the US and EU were" keen to assist."

Evidently Moscow and Washington saw their own interests were best met by engineering a peaceful exit for long-time and mortally weakened President Eduard Shevardnadze.

Russia didn't need more problems on its sensitive southern border to allow militants to step up attacks on Russian forces in rebel Chechnya.

The US, whose main interests were then elsewhere didn't want local political unrest to disrupt construction of oil and gas pipelines that cross Georgia to bring Azerbaijan's huge energy reserves to Western markets via Turkey.

So fast forward. The "velvet" revolution (nice sound bite PR bullshit line from the Czech revolution ) ripped a few doors off the parliament building, Shevardnadze has gone home, (spurning fleeing to Germany where Gerhardt Schroeder had invited him to spend his retirement at his $11Mn villa) Nino Burdzhanadze , smart, tough and classy lady who was the last elected speaker of the country's parliament (and still is) , was made temporary President until elections early in January 2003 and the opposition was then led by ambitious and well connected Harvard educated lawyer and ex-Justice Minister Mikhail Saakashvili. "We feel like a plane taken over by hijackers," he said at the time.

The White House did not express a preference for the incoming President, but said it would support "free and fair elections."

The rest, is, as they say. History.

Georgian attacks on South Ossetia intensify as civilians flee under bombardment and shelling

Handy map to help understand geography from Lord Patel's Cartographic sectionS ee also a handy bit o history 24/11/03 Georgia, Velvet Underground in Overdrive ."This was followed by another high powered US delegation -- including John Shalikashvili (in Georgianჯონ მალხაზ შალიკაშვილი ), the former chairman of the US military’s joint chiefs of staff, along with Strobe Talbott (Rhodes cholar at Oxford with Mr Clintonan), a former deputy secretary of state during the Clinton administration and head of the Brookings Policy Research Institute to monitor developments after Baker’s plan and attempt to defuse the confrontational mood then enveloping domestic politics. Even Republican Arizonan Senator John McCain turned up to put the heat on the most famous Georgian after Stalin – but with no success."


US educated US puppet, Saakashvilli addressses the nation



It appears the Georgians have called up reservists.

For United Nations response see AFP report midnight BST UN Security Council resume bid for South Ossetia ceasefire

Part time pianist and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Russia to halt aircraft and missile attacks and withdraw combat forces from Georgian territory. Rice said in a statement the United States wants Russia to respect Georgian sovereignty and agree to international mediation.

The leader of South Ossetia's rebel government, Eduard Kokoity, said about 1,400 people were killed in the onslaught, the Interfax news agency reported. The toll could not be independently confirmed. From AP report - Georgia to let civilians flee South Ossetia - International Herald Tribune

The History of Tibet - by the BBC - missing out the fascinating part the CIA have played and continue to do so

Rob Gifford has just presentd a brief history of Tibet on BBC 4 (1.30 Rpt. Thursday 9.00) entitled "Tibet the Story of a Feud" without once mentioning the role of the CIA in the post which we brought to your attention on Thursday, March 27, 2008 Olympic Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay 2008 - join in the fun organised by your local branch of the CIA .

The CIA who have organised and sponsored riots in Lhasa and elsewhere erupted in the heart of London as a jolly Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay 2008 on 6th April, when the "Official" torch took it's 31 mile route through London.

We asked you, if you don't think the CIA should organise street marches / protests in London to write to your MP.

In a spirit of public goodwill we organised a No 10 online petition "CIA-Tibet" ..."We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Take the necessary steps to prevent the Central Intelligence Agency to organise a Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay 2008 on 6th April, when the official Olympic Torch will proceed through London." has been submitted to the No 10 petition site regrettably Gordon said it wasn't within his powers to stop it. Nor did he and 3,000 of London's finest failed to as well.

However if you or Rob Gifford want to learn more about the role of the CIA In the recent history of Tibet we throughly recommend ...again ...

Obtain a copy of "The CIA's Secret War in Tibet" , Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison April 2002 - 320 pages, 24 photographs, 9 maps, 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 - Modern War Studies Cloth ISBN 978-0-7006-1159-1, $34.95 (Amazon) from blurb,"how America's Central Intelligence Agency encouraged Tibet's revolt against China - and eventually came to control its fledgling resistance movement"

"A masterful account of how the CIA sought to play the 'new great game' on the roof of the world."--David F. Rudgers, author of Creating the Secret State: Origins of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1943–1947 (Amazon)

UK born and raised with a BA in Chinese Studies from Durham University, UK, and an MA in Regional Studies (East Asia) from Harvard University., Rob Gifford is the US based National Public Radio's London correspondent . He arrived in London after a six year stint as NPR's correspondent in Beijing and speaks fluent Mandarin. He has also spent time with BBC World News, and was flown out from Washington to cover Pakistan in the immediate wake of 9/11/. His first book, CHINA ROAD: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power was published in 2007 by Random House. CHINA ROAD tells of his 3,000 mile odyssey across China, following the country's equivalent of the US Route 66 –- called Route 312 — all the way from Shanghai to the Kazakh border. Amazon

He was interviwed by the formidable Diane Rehm on her morning NPR show on 3rd September 2007. A podcast (40 mins)with text notes is available of him discussing the book at the Shanghai Festival Mar 15th 2008. Highly recommended he provides a tantalising view of China's fture post the Olympic AND the Expo as they face having "held in" any rebellious forces.

Another Balkan tragedy in the making

The Daily Telegraph report on the Serbian Presidential elections ;

Serbs are flocking to polling stations to vote in a knife-edge presidential election that has effectively become a referendum on whether the country should choose the European Union or Russia as its closest ally.

Which is total bollocks. resident Boris Tadic, and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica have thrown in their lot with the Russians with the South Stream agreement and vice versa.

Tomislav Nikolic, the leader of the nationalist Serbian Radical Party, may want much closer links with Moscow. Moscow is not anxious to have such a maverick, militaristic war monger as an ally.

Neither do the vast bulk of Serbians, who whatever their grievances are fed up with war and see no benefits with alliance with the West, EU, NATO who spent 79 days bombing the shit out of them from 20,000 feet.

Tadic will win. (UPDATE Monday He did by 51%) Which is what both Russia and EU / NATO / USUK want. The result will be very close and the SRS will hit the streets complaining of vote rigging. theer will be claim and counterclaim.

If after this the Western allies and the EU allow the Kosovan Albanians to declare independence and the EU / NATO / USUK send in troops to hold the ring, we will find another continuing bitter, bloody struggle which will soak up men , material and treasure in which Srpska radikalna stranka, (SRS), Српска радикална странка will foment ethnic conflict which will undoubtedly spread. We may even catch fleeting glimpses of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic again as they rally their bloodthirsty soldiery, funded from god knows where.

To send in their troops EU / NATO / USUK must obtain a UN Security Council resolution - although they didn't bother when they held Milosevic at Rambouillet and failed to force him to sign his death warrant.

Russia (and it's placemen in NY) have however played their energy cards very shrewdly and there is little chance of an early or satisfactory resolution. Ditto Iran.

UPDATE Monday : See der Spiegel article "Kostunica is in coalition with Tadic's Democratic Party (DS) yet he refused to back Tadic in the presidential election, and he has insisted that if Kosovo declares independence, and this is recognized by the EU, then Belgrade should abandon its bid for EU membership."...".some analysts predicting that a snap election will be called as soon as Kosovo declares independence."

German combat forces get ready to invade Afghanistan

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has, very sensibly not visited Afghanistan recently, but she was in Kabul in November shortly after the Bundestag renewed the mandate for 3,500 German troops in Afghanistan, combining two previous mandates.

Some 3,000 Bundeswehr troops are currently deployed in a strictly non-combat , training, reconstruction and security role in the relatively peaceful north under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) . There are also 6 German Tornado reconnaissance jets and their back-up units based in the country although it doesn't appear they get to bomb anything or anybody...yet.

But German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, swept through Kabul yesterday meeting President Hamid Karzai and Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak He also stopped for a chat with ISAF commander Dan McNeill.

NATO has formally asked for up to 250 German soldiers to take over from the Norwegian Quick Reaction Force, in N. Afghanistan and is due to end its mission at the beginning of the summer and all the signs are that a decision to ready German troops for combat (the first time since WWII) had already been made.

In an interview with Der Spiegel in September McNeill had politely danced around Germany's contribution to NATO forces..

"Some governments, and I'm not talking about Germany specifically, find it easier to accommodate their constituency if they impose certain caveats, certain restrictions, on the forces they contribute to this effort, such as that they can only be deployed in certain areas. These restrictions make things difficult for me as ISAF commander. "

Ahead of the decision to beef up the Bundeswehr presence Mc Neill takes a hard headed approach to the international view of the Taliban and dscribes them in robust and bloodcurdling terms ..." These people kill more civilians than any force amongst the Alliance or the Afghan army. They are hard core extremists. They behead people that don't agree with their positions."

Which overlooks the massive aerial bombardment , and long distance shelling, by coalition / ISAF air forces which produces a long litany of missed targets, friendly fire, and disputed deaths, women, children, burnt out compounds, smashed mosques.

It is an impression that is very much at odds with the one presented by the President in his State of the Union message .." Afghanistan" , he described "a nation that was once a safe haven for al Qaeda" as "a young democracy where boys and girls are going to school, new roads and hospitals are being built, and people are looking to the future with new hope." (See also "he didn't mention the violence that has killed 147 students and teachers, and closed 590 schools in the last year." )

Having said that , he went of to sign a bill (H.R. 1585) prohibiting the Pentagon from selling leftover F-14 Tomcat fighter jet parts - the only country flying and buying F -14's - Iran. They ( and canny Chiese buyers) had been exploiting a loophole in military sales .. parts for Chinooks as well as Tomcats also found their way to Teheran, equipment bought in the heady days in the 70's when the Shah was the US's stooge.

This might of course add fuel to the argument that as Bush winds down the Presidency he has taken his eye off the ball... for example USAF ISAF air forces burn 575,000 gallons of fuel per day in Afghanistan (an F-16 Fighting Falcon, takes roughly 1,000 gallons of fuel per service) of which 80% comes from Pakistan refineries. Without this they have to rely on a a lengthy and precarious logistics line that extends more than 1,000 miles from northern Baku, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. e.g. From the 25th January 2008 Airpower Summary On Jan. 24, U.S. Air Force and RAF aerial refueling crews flew 42 sorties and off-loaded approximately 2.9 million pounds of fuel ( 1 US gallon = 6 lbs = 480,000 gals ) to 231 receiving aircraft.... and without the "close air support" the troops, be they German, British or US are fucked.

Putin and his gang extend energy interests and ownership

Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev (currently entertaining President Putin and his gang - including First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Gazprom's chairman and the man Putin has nominated to succeed him) will sign up today for a 50% share of the trans Bulgarian section 0f the The South Stream project (transit deals are definitely out) , proposed by Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom (GAZP.MM) and Italy's Eni (ENI.MI) . This is Moscow's challenge to a rival Nabucco plan to pipe Central Asian gas to the European Union and reduce the bloc's reliance on Russian energy. (Windows media video presentation)

The Russia-Bulgaria pipeline on the seabed of the Black Sea is designed to circumvent both Ukraine and Turkey. An option that strengthens Russia’s leverage in negotiations with those transit countries - with the Ukraine’s case, it will increase Putin's leverage to demand partial control of Ukraine’s transit pipelines in return for not reducing transit volumes through the Ukraine. It was at the “energy summit” on June 24 2007 in Zagreb, that President Putin held a bilateral meeting with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov to draw Bulgaria into the South Stream project. Russia’s account of the meeting claims that Georgi eagerly accepted.

This agreement will bring the EU member state 1.4 billion euros in cash and a role in a regional energy hub and probably other financial benefits to Bulgarian interests.

Bulgaria will also sign up for a Russsian built nuclear plant Sofia News Agency18 January 2008, Friday - Bulgaria, Russia Sign 8 Memoranda during Putin's Visit
See below for more on the nuclear deal.

South Stream will carry 30 billion cubic metres of gas 900 Km. under the Black Sea, emerging on the Bulgarian coast to continue through one of two routes - through Greece and reach Italy, or pass through Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria before arriving in Italy.



South Stream - which was a sealed deal from June 23 2007 when , ENI Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni and Gazprom Vice-Chairman Alexander Medvedev signed a memorandum in Rome of an understanding to build a gas pipeline from Russia to Italy , joined by Energy Ministers Pierluigi Bersani of Italy and Viktor Khristenko of Russia . Through this and other deals the Kremlin seeks to become the political manager of an energy supply system for Europe under conditions of tight or even deficit supplies in the medium / long term.

South Stream significantly increases Russia’s options to play consumer countries and various national energy champions in Europe against each other. One element is that by planning to build surplus pipeline capacities as an element of export strategy - enabling the Russian bear to switch export directions for large hydrocarbon volumes ( euphemistically described as “flexibility,” ). These surplus pipeline capacities (if built as planned ) will enable Russia to switch supplies -- favoring one or another direction, country, or national champion -- according to a system centrally managed from Moscow.

The Nabucco proposals are central to EU efforts to diversify gas supplies away from Russia - On June 28, 2005, the five partner companies of the international Nabucco gas pipeline project - Botas, Bulgargaz, Transgaz, MOL and OMV Gas - signed a joint venture agreement for the full term of the project at their General Assembly in Vienna. But Bulgaria, torn between proving its EU credentials and maintaining its renewed ties with Russia, is eager to diversify its gas sources by being a partner in Nabucco but is also attracted by South Stream because of lucrative transit taxes.


The upstream sources for South Stream could be gas from Siberian and Central Asian. At the Rome meeting on June 23rd Medvedev spoke interchangeably of Russian gas and Gazprom-owned Central Asian . ENI , who opened direct access for Gazprom to distribution systems and end consumers in Italy, bought (was allowed to) ArcticGaz and Urengoil the Siberian gas-producing companies in April 2007, when the Russian government auctioned the last assets of Yukos.

Russia's state-owned Atomstroyexport are ready to design and build two twin 1000 MW units ready for use in 2014/5 - and Putin said "We have set aside EUR 3.8 Bn. for the needs of the Belene power plant in the Russian Federation budget and we are ready to make the funds available if they are needed," after meeting Georgi Parvanov.

Head of Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom, Sergey Kirienko, part of Putin's gang on his trip, said that Atomstroyexport expected to build 2 more reactors in the future.

Bulgaria plans to pick a strategic investor (Short-listed bidders - Czech CEZ, German E.ON and RWE, Belgian Electrabel and Italy's Enel) for 49% in the company that will operate Belene by mid-2008 and has said it would use the cash to fund part of the costs.

Bulgarian national power grid operator NEK, owning the remaining 51%, has to pick the bank that will arrange the financing for the construction of the power plant.

Currently the EUR 250 M bridge loan is with BNP Paribas any dealys will mean the need to fallback on up to EUR 600 M from EU's Euratom agency and the European Investment Bank (EIB), with the cabinet / Bulgarian state underwriting both loans.

Elswhere Vagit Alekperov's LUKoil who reported increased annual profits this week of US$8 Bn. will soon become the owner of TGK-8, one of the the largest power generation companies in southern Russia. The financial group IFD Kapital, which is co-owned by LUKoil Vice President Leonid Fedun, acquired the electricity company's shares placed during an additional offering and the sale of the state stake in TKG-8 in October. To pay for TGK-8 shares, the financial group sold $1.262bn worth of bonds convertible into LUKoil ADRs.

Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, spokesman for European energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs said when asked about the Russian / Bulgarian deal "... we consider Nabucco a priority project, rather than South Stream, because it will diversify not only the transport routes, but also the supply sources," .. who is currently up to his neck in proposed EU legislation to limit imports to the EU of biofuels.

You may not like the ruthless Mr Putin and his silovaki - but only a fool would not admire how he and his gang are relentlessly and entusiastically peforming an end run around EU energy planning.

UPDATE Tuesday 22nd Jan
The Guradian have a Reuters story today Caspian uncertainty biggest threat to EU gas scheme - Reuters Tuesday January 22 2008

It concludes ...

"The construction of a Trans-Caspian pipeline linking Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan that could provide an independent route to the West has been frozen by conflicting claims between the two over reserves in the Caspian.
Meanwhile Iranian gas, which Turkey has offered to supply for Nabucco, has been turned down by Brussels, as the Islamic Republic is subject to United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme. Iran has a poor track record as a supplier due to underdeveloped infrastructure. "

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.