Friday, June 05, 2009
Turkish Volcano: the Islamist Challenge and the EU
By W. Julian Korab-Karpowicz
A short tour of Europe can show us that that the core states of the European Union—such as France, Germany, Belgium, or Holland—where most of the European politics is today decided, are predominantly flat. A tour of Turkey gives us a different picture. Steep hills and mountains border much of the country’s shoreline. Once we leave Istanbul, the way to Ankara moves high to the elevation of almost 1000m above the sea level at which the capitol of Turkey is located. It is of course true that there are mountain areas in the core European states, but since the article’s aim is not to describe a physical but rather a political topography, these states can be modeled as flat lands. It is also true that although we find in Turkey volcanic foundations, not all Turkish mountains are volcanoes. However, for the sake of a theoretical model, we will refer to Turkey as a volcanic land.
In my picture of Turkey as a volcano, Islamic fundamentalism is represented by the hot lava at the bottom always ready for eruption. The strongest protective layer against this eruption is represented by the Turkish Armed Forces that have always acted in defense of the state’s secular character. Whenever anti-secularism and its institutionalization in government or in society, or any other serious threat, have been in question, the military have intervened in a more or less direct way, but never with the intention of ruling the country or keeping power for too long. They have traditionally spearheaded the process of modernization in the Republic of Turkey, initiated by its founder Kemal Atatürk, and interfered in political affairs only in situations of a serious potential or actual disorder. As a result, as public opinion polls show, the army is still “the most trusted public institution,” achieving a level of trust going far beyond any political parties. Furthermore, in contrast to the second protective layer, which consists of the country’s bureaucratic class and professional elite, it has been relatively unaffected by Islamist infiltration. It has never accepted into its ranks graduates of the Imam Hatip schools. These religious schools, which have helped to nurture new, more religiously oriented country’s elites, exert today a considerable political influence. Many prominent members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), including the party’s head and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are graduates of those schools.
Period of Ambiguity
The recent years are a period of a great ambiguity in Turkish politics. On the one hand, they have been marked by accession negotiations with the European Union, which can be regarded as a clear indication of Turkey’s intention of becoming a part of the West, or even as the culmination of Kemal Atatürk’s policy of modernization and Westernization. On the other hand, they have also witnessed some symbolic acts that can be perceived as signals of Turkey’s departure from the secular, Kemalist or Atatürk’s heritage. Most paradoxically, both sides of this ambiguity stem from actions of the same party, the AKP, which in the 2007 elections achieved a clear victory for the second time. The party supports Turkey’s integration with the EU, foreign investments, and privatization, but at the same time it undermines secularism, the fundamental constitutional principle of the Turkish Republic.
An offshoot of the Welfare Party (RP), which was closed down for Islamist activities in 1997, the AKP is a broad political coalition, including liberals and religious conservatives, and is sometimes described by political analysis as pragmatic and even as post-Islamist. The extent of its electoral success can be largely explained by the rapid economic growth that Turkey has recently enjoyed. Nevertheless, the criticism of AKP focuses not so much on its guidance of the economy but rather on its non-secular practices. The party’s opposition to the law prohibiting women wearing the Islamic headscarf in governmental institutions and other areas, including universities that are considered part of the “public sphere” is a paradigmatic example.
Islamist Headscarf
Unlike the traditional headscarf that is still used by some rural or urban women not only in Turkey but in other places all over the world, the türban or the Islamic headscarf that got popularized the in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, completely covers a woman’s neck and shoulders. Like other forms of veiling, such as burka, that virtually covers all of the body with the exception of the eyes, it is not associated by the Turkish secularists with traditional religiosity or with freedom of self-expression, but regarded as a political manifestation; a challenge to the modern distinction between religion and state. In Iran, Iraq, and Palestine and other areas where Islamic fundamentalism is gaining in strength, veiling is forcibly imposed on women and is part of a larger phenomenon of gender discrimination. It has become identified with pro-Islamist revolutionary movements. Therefore, the AKP’s attempts to remove the prohibition on the headscarf, both implicitly through the example of the party leaders’ wives wearing türban during the official ceremonies and explicitly through the legislative process, have been perceived as undermining secularism and have stirred up a highly publicized controversy. Because of this and other issues, on March 14, 2008, the country’s chief public prosecutor made an appeal to the Constitutional Court with a demand to close the AKP and to ban seventy-one senior party members, including the President Abdullah Gül and the Prime Minister Erdogan, from political life for five years. This has been met by many unsympathetic comments by the Western press, and has invited critical remarks from EU politicians. As a result of the Court’s decision, the party was not closed.
Hot Lava of Fundamentalism
The hot lava of Islamic fundamentalism can relatively easily penetrate the lower layers of Turkey’s volcanic structure, which are composed of relatively uneducated and low-income social groups that remain strongly influenced by traditional Islam. It will encounter some resistance in the middle layers, which include the fast growing bodies of Turkey’s secularized civil society and of the business elites. But since these bodies do not have means of self-defense, Islamic fundamentalism, which ultimately relies on coercion and the use of force, will pass through this stratum undisturbed. The well-educated and pro-Western professional elites cannot stop the Islamic movement either. The only real challenge for this movement are the traditionally Kemalist state bureaucracy, which has already been penetrated by the politicized religious element, and the impenetrable Turkish Armed Forces. To weaken the position of the military in society is thus a logical Islamist goal. It would perhaps be cynical but not completely improbable to conclude that the primary reason why the so called “post-Islamist” leadership of the AKP has pressed for Turkey’s accession to the EU is in order, by means of European assistance, to erode the position of the military and to put bring it under civilian control. Similarly, it would not be without some justification to say that it shows complete political naiveté or even utter foolishness on the part of European politicians to in effect undermine the basis of secularization in Turkey by calling, as EU Enlargement Commissioner Rehn has done, for limitations on the Turkish military’s political power.
Political Islam, or its more extreme expression, Islamic fundamentalism, in Turkey, as elsewhere, is related to an opposition towards the West, to Western ideas and models. In particular it offers a criticism of the culture of modernity which is committed to the ascendance of reason and science, and is based on secular approach to social relations; the worldview which lies at the foundation of Kemalism, the political doctrine of Kemal Atatürk. However, fundamentalism is not traditionalism. While critical of modernity, Islamic fundamentalist can embrace it on instrumental grounds. As Prof. Ihsan Daği, who is by no means is unsympathetic the Justice and Development Party, bluntly says: “pro-Islamic politicians of the 1990s [the most of whom subsequently joined the AKP] realized that they need the West and modern/Western values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in order to build a broader front against the Kemalist/secularist center, and to acquire legitimacy through this new discourse in their confrontation with the Kemalist/secularist center.” The pro-Western attitude of the AKP—their support of European integration, privatization, and the market economy—has thus been adopted on purely instrumental grounds. The leadership of the AKP has realized that having a democratic and European agenda would open a new path for transforming Turkish domestic politics. It could restrain the political influence of the military.
Islamic Political Party
Consequently, in spite of its pro-European makeup and rhetoric, the AKP cannot truly be regarded as a post-Islamic, but rather as an Islamic political party. The real party’s goal is not Westernization, but its nature can be inferred from the AKP’s concept of “conservative democracy,” as contrasted with liberal democracy. The conservative/local (Islamic) values are combined there with democratic (modern) values into a new synthesis. The end product is Islamic democracy, a contradiction in terms. Still, it is possible to interpret “conservative democracy” in a different way, and indeed this concept has been the subject of a debate. Nevertheless, to make this point fully clear, whatever the AKP’s self-declared identity with “conservative democracy” can mean, and whatever the intensions of the party’s leadership can be, what counts in politics are not ideas but forces; for ideas can play only if they are backed by force, and force forms a realm of its own. The erosion of secularism in Turkey by the AKP will invoke the force which is Islamic fundamentalism, independently of what the party leaders or their supporters actually think, and of whether the party is in fact Islamic or not.
The Turkish liberals that support the AKP see in it a proponent of European integration and the voice of the majority of the people. Without, of course, wanting to lose the country’s secular character, they want to see it more pluralistic and do not oppose the practice of wearing religious headscarves. They believe that the authoritarian secularism imposed by the bureaucracy and the army should be replaced by a liberal secularism that comes from people’s convictions. Yet liberals, so often engaged in wishful thinking, have never had the reputation of being good at calculating political forces. Although power can have many different dimensions, it can be successfully confronted only by another power. Islamic fundamentalism is a powerful force that, once awaked, cannot be stopped by voluntary civic associations. It may take a long time indeed until this lava finally cools down and is sealed under the solid cover of a well-developed civil society. To insist that the military lessens its grip is thus a fundamental political mistake on the part of those who really want to have secular liberal democracy in Turkey. If this protective shield is weakened and finally penetrated, the eruption will certainly occur, and liberals will suddenly find themselves in a political grave, buried under the thick, hardened lava of Islamic fundamentalism.
Turkey is a fast-growing economy. As a well-developed state and a democracy, Turkey could be a model for other countries in the Middle East region. The problem is, however, that through its irresponsible demands, the EU weakens Turkey’s secular and pro-Western foundations. The repeated European requests for the lessening of the political role of the military, and for greater realization of such values as human rights and democracy, are often perceived in Turkey as harmful and disrespectful to the country. The statements of some prominent European politicians, such as Angela Merkel and Nikolas Sarkozy, regarding Turkey’s unsuitability for full EU membership creates a similar negative reaction. The formerly pro-European parties that defend secularization and stand in opposition to the AKP, especially the Republican People’s Party (CHP), have become largely disillusioned about Turkish prospects for European integration and no longer support the accession process. As for the general public, support for accession has decreased from 67.5 percent in 2004 to 32.5 percent in 2006. The rate of those who do no longer trust the EU is 78.1 percent.
Born in the flat lands of Europe, the European politicians apply their correspondingly flat measures, incapable of accommodating historical and cultural differences, to the EU member and candidate states. However, a misapplied measure can produce only bad results. It would be a great disaster indeed, if the measures imposed on the Turkish Republic were to help to turn the country away from a secular to an Islamist state. The prominent place of Turkey in today’s world, its strength and development, is a consequence of the idea of secularism that lies at its foundations.
W. Julian Korab-Karpowicz is a Professor of International Relations and a former diplomat. He is presently on the faculty of Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea. He previously taught at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. The text is an abbreviated version of an article published in the PSM International Affairs Review. Iranian Islamist Apologist Advising US
A leading apologist for Iranian Islamism is advising the Obama administration with regard to its engagement of Tehran's turbaned tyranny.
In fact, Vali Reza Nasr, a special assistant to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, is the chief tactician behind the administration's Iranian engagement (appeasement) policy.
The accomplished academician advocates entering into an alliance--or "Grand Bargain"-- with Iran in order to pacify Afghanistan and prevent Pakistan's nuclear arms from falling into the hands of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Early last month, Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said Nasr was welcome to visit Tehran because the American is of Iranian descent.China Blocking New Sanctions on North Korea
China is still opposed to inspecting North Korean ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.
China Confidential diplomatic sources say China has warned the United States that North Korea is likely to retaliate if its ships are interdicted on the high seas.
The New York Times reports:Negotiations over toughening sanctions against North Korea in the wake of its underground nuclear test last month have stalled over the issue of inspecting cargo ships on the high seas, according to two Security Council diplomats. China has yet to sign off on the idea that North Korean vessels could be stopped and searched, the diplomats said. Ambassadors from the five permanent members of the Security Council — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — plus Japan and South Korea, locked in intensive bargaining sessions all week, have agreed on other issues, including widening an arms embargo and financial restrictions, the diplomats said. Until a draft text is approved, all provisions remain open for discussion. North Korea has declared cargo inspections an act of war.
More About North Korea's Spy Master
Washington and Seoul are focusing on the mysterious Mr. O.Gen. O Kuk-ryol, the vice chairman of North Korea's National Defense Commission, has emerged as a common target for both U.S. and South Korean authorities. Citing U.S. intelligence officials, the Washington Times on Tuesday said the general and several of his family members play key roles in the production and distribution of so-called "supernotes," which are high-quality counterfeit US$100 bills. South Korean intelligence officials, meanwhile, point to O as the chief of the recently overhauled North Korean apparatus in charge of spying on the South. A South Korean official said O is therefore being closely monitored by both sides.
Continue here.
And click here for the Washington Times story.US Afraid to End Aid to Hezbollah-Ruled Lebanon
Heil Hezbollah!
The United States will only reduce aid to Lebanon if Iran's Islamist terrorist proxy--Hitlerian Hezbollah--comes to power in the Arab country that was once known for its vibrant, secular culture and ancient Christian community. Reuters reports:Chances are low that the United States would totally cut off military funding to Lebanon if Hezbollah and its allies win Sunday's election because both sides will want to avoid a confrontation, analysts said.
But a victory by the militant Shi'ite group, viewed as a "terrorist organization" by Washington, and its allies could lead to a reduction in what has been burgeoning U.S. assistance to the Lebanese armed forces in recent years.
Pollsters expect the "March 8" alliance that includes Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah to gain a slight edge in the election and to erase the governing Western-backed, anti-Syrian "March 14" coalition's slender majority.
American taxpayer dollars will be funneled to Hezbollah. How wonderful!
Not! U.S. foreign policy is apparently in the grip of Islamist supporters, sympathizers, and appeasers. Heaven help us.On Axis of Evil Defiance and US Deterrence
John Hughes' analysis of the North Korean nuclear issue is must reading. A former assistant Secretary of State in the Reagan administration and a former editor of the Christian Science Monitor, Hughes writes:If the world has to live with a nuclear-armed North Korea, the Obama administration should make one thing explicitly clear: A North Korean nuclear attack on the US, its allies, or its military forces, or a secondhand attack on the same targets by terrorists supplied with a North Korean nuclear weapon, would trigger a US nuclear response.
Click here to read the article. It is in line with our May 16 piece, "The Obama Speech that Could Save Millions of Lives," republished below:
My fellow Americans....
It has come to my attention that Iran and North Korea have developed and tested systems for firing ballistic missiles from sea-based platforms and cargo ships.
Some of these launch systems, which can be hidden in innocent looking shipping containers, are designed to strike coastal cities.
Other systems are designed to detonate nuclear warheads high above their targets in what are known as Electro-Magnetic Pulse, or EMP, attacks. An EMP attack produces a massive pulse of ionized particles that could wipe out our electrical and information systems. Such an attack would disrupt telecommunications, banking and finance, fuel and energy, food and water supplies, and emergency and government services, threatening millions of lives.
Even a small nuclear warhead placed at the right spot over the East Coast could destroy 75 percent of the nation's electrical grid, plunging most of the United States into the 19th century. It could take decades to come out of the crisis, during which time, chaos would be the order of the day, and millions of Americans would die.
There is no defense against these kinds of sea-based attacks.
At the same time, Communist North Korea continues to threaten South Korea and Japan--and the United States itself--with nuclear war.
And Islamist Iran and its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, continue to threaten Israel with annihilation.
Intelligence about the North Korean and Iranian threats coincides with news that the Taliban and Al Qaeda--the enemies that attacked us on 9/11--are escalating their offensive in Pakistan in order to take control of the country and its nuclear arsenal.
We cannot and will not allow this to happen. The United States will make every effort possible--we will do whatever it takes--to secure Pakistan's nuclear arms and prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists and fanatics who plot and plan our doom.
As for the threats from North Korea and Iran, rogue states that have been cooperating closely for years with respect to their nuclear and missile programs, they and their partners in proliferation and terror must know this: if the United States or its allies are ever struck by a nuclear weapon of any kind, in any way, we will not hesitate to strike back with the utmost fury. We will not take time to look for a return address on the weapon of mass destruction. We will not send the FBI to investigate. Instead, we will automaticallyobliterate a short list of suspect countries, including North Korea and Iran.
Harsh words? Yes. But the seriousness of the threats we face calls for blunt language. We must say what we mean--and mean what we say.
The late United States Senator from the State of Washington, Henry M. Jackson, once said: "I'm not a hawk or a dove. I just don't want my country to be a pigeon."
Senator Jackson was right. Were he alive today, I believe he would want me to remind our foes that America's emblem is the eagle--full of the boundless spirit of freedom, living above the valleys, strong and powerful in his might. The eagle adorns our coins and currency and the Great Seal of the United States. In his right talon, the eagle holds an olive branch, in his left, a bundle of thirteen arrows. He looks toward the olive branch, signifying our nation's peaceful intentions. But he holds the arrows--just in case.
On behalf of all Americans, I pray that our enemies never make the mistake of misinterpreting our love of peace, our appreciation for dialogue and diplomacy, our generosity and kindness ... for weakness.
I pray that we never have to shoot our deadliest arrows.
Good night, and God bless America.Former State Department Official and Wife Charged With Spying for Cuba for Nearly 30 Years
A former State Department official and his wife have been arrested on charges of serving as illegal agents of the Cuban government for nearly 30 years and conspiring to provide classified U.S. information to the Cuban government.
The arrests were announced today by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Channing D. Phillips, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director for the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Ambassador Eric J. Boswell, Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security.
An indictment and criminal complaint unsealed today in the District of Columbia charge Walter Kendall Myers, 72, a.k.a. "Agent 202," and his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 71, a.k.a. "Agent 123," and "Agent E-634," with conspiracy to act as illegal agents of the Cuban government and to communicate classified information to the Cuban government. Each of the defendants is also charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Cuban government and with wire fraud.
The Myers, both residents of Washington, D.C., were arrested yesterday afternoon by FBI agents. They made their initial appearances today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while serving as an illegal agent of a foreign government carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and conspiracy carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
"The clandestine activity alleged in the charging documents, which spanned nearly three decades, is incredibly serious and should serve as a warning to any others in the U.S. government who would betray America's trust by serving as illegal agents of a foreign government. We remain vigilant in protecting our nation's secrets and in bringing to justice those who compromise them," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. "These arrests are the culmination of an outstanding counterespionage effort by many agents, analysts and prosecutors who deserve special thanks for their extraordinary work."
"This case demonstrates the care we must take in protecting our nation’s valuable secrets, and shows the dedication and perseverance of the men and women investigating this crime who never tired in finding those now charged with betraying our country," said Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips.
"Intelligence services from around the globe continue to steal what information they can from the United States," said Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director for the FBI's Washington Field Office. "Vigilance must be matched with patience to successfully bring their agents to trial. I would particularly like to thank the men and women in my office who worked on this case and who work on other espionage investigations. They work without accolades; silently protecting the safety and security of the United States and its citizens."
Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric J. Boswell stated, "The U.S. Department of State is jointly investigating this matter with the FBI, and will continue to aggressively pursue any and all breaches of national security. The Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security works closely with its law enforcement colleagues in the FBI and other agencies to uncover and prosecute any breath of security within its ranks. Any compromise of classified information is a serious threat to the security of our nation, and the State Department will aggressively investigate any such activity to the fullest extent possible."
U.S. Government Employment
According to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Kendall Myers began his work at the State Department in 1977, initially serving as a contract instructor at the Department’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in Arlington, Va. After living briefly in South Dakota, he returned to Washington, D.C., and resumed employment as an instructor with FSI. From 1988 to 1999, in addition to his FSI duties, he performed periodic work for the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR).
Kendall Myers later began working full-time at the INR and, from July 2001 until his retirement in October 2007, he was a senior analyst for Europe for INR, where he specialized in intelligence analysis on European matters and had daily access to classified information through computer databases and otherwise. He received a Top Secret security clearance in 1985 and, in 1999, his clearance was upgraded to Top Secret / SCI.
Gwendolyn Myers moved to Washington, D.C., in 1980 and married Kendall Myers in May 1982. She later obtained employment with a local bank as an administrative analyst and later as a special assistant. Gwendolyn Myers was never granted a security clearance by the U.S. government.
Recruitment
According to the affidavit, Kendall Myers traveled to Cuba in December 1978 after receiving an invitation from an official who served at the Cuban Mission to the United States in New York City. His guide while in Cuba was an official with Cuba’s Foreign Service Institute. This trip provided the Cuban Intelligence Service (CuIS) with the opportunity to assess or develop Myers as a Cuban agent, according to the affidavit.
Approximately six months after the trip, the Myers were visited in South Dakota by the official from the Cuban Mission in New York and, according to the affidavit, Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers agreed to serve as clandestine agents of the Cuban government. Afterwards, the CuIS directed Kendall Myers to pursue a job at either the State Department or the CIA. Kendall Myers, accompanied by his wife, then returned to Washington, D.C., where he resumed contract work at the State Department and later obtained a State Department position that required a Top Secret security clearance.
According to the affidavit, during this time frame, the CuIS often communicated with its clandestine agents in the United States by broadcasting encrypted radio messages from Cuba on shortwave radio frequencies. Clandestine agents in the United States monitoring the frequency on shortwave radio could decode the messages using a decryption program provided by the CuIS. Such methods were employed by defendants previously convicted of espionage on behalf of Cuba. According to the affidavit, the Myers have an operable shortwave radio in their apartment and they told an FBI source that they have used it to receive messages from the CuIS.
Undercover Operation
According to the affidavit, in April 2009, the FBI launched an undercover operation to convince the couple that they had been contacted by a Cuban intelligence officer and to ascertain the scope of their activities for the CuIS. On April 15, 2009, an undercover FBI source posing as a Cuban intelligence officer approached Kendall Myers in Washington, D.C., stating that he had been sent to contact Myers by a named CuIS official in order to obtain information. The FBI source also congratulated Kendall Myers on his birthday and offered him a cigar. Myers agreed to meet the source later that day at a nearby hotel and volunteered to bring his wife along to the meeting.
During the meeting later that day, the couple agreed to meet the source again and to provide information on U.S. government personnel with responsibility for Latin America. According to the affidavit, the couple also made a series of statements about their past activities on behalf of the CuIS, including acknowledging having received coded messages from the CuIS via shortwave radio, meeting CuIS officials in Mexico, and being alert to surveillance. "We have been very cautious, careful with our moves and, uh, trying to be alert to any surveillance," Kendall Myers allegedly told the FBI source.
In subsequent meetings with the FBI source, the Myers allegedly agreed to provide information on the April 17-19, 2009 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as to use specified code words, signals and encryption programs to transmit information via email during future interactions with the source. They also asked the source to "send special greetings…and hugs" to certain CuIS officials.
In addition, the couple allegedly made further statements to the source about their past activities for the CuIS. According to the affidavit, the defendants discussed how they were first recruited by the CuIS and how codes had been used for each of them in messages, including "123" for Gwendolyn Myers and "202" for Kendall Myers. The Myers also stated that they had traveled to meet Cuban agents in Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Jamaica, New York City and other locations.
The Myers also discussed how they had passed information to CuIS agents, with both agreeing that the most secure way was "hand-to-hand." According to the affidavit, Gwendolyn Myers said her favorite way of passing information to CuIS agents involved the changing of shopping carts in a grocery store because it was "easy enough to do."
According to the affidavit, Kendall Myers told the source that he typically removed information from the State Department by memory or by taking notes, although he did occasionally take some documents home. "I was always pretty careful. I, I didn’t usually take documents out," he said. According to the affidavit, he also acknowledged delivering information to the CuIS that was classified beyond the "Secret" level. He further stated that he had received "lots of medals" from the Cuban government and that he and his wife had met and spent an evening with Fidel Castro in 1995.
Additional Evidence
According to the affidavit, the FBI collects high frequency messages broadcast by the CuIS to its agents and has identified messages that it has determined were broadcast to a handler of Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers. Furthermore, the FBI has confirmed trips by the couple to Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Jamaica that correspond to statements made by the defendants. In addition, the FBI has identified emails to the couple in 2008 and 2009 from a suspected representative of the CuIS in Mexico who was allegedly requesting that the couple travel to Mexico.
The affidavit further indicates that an analysis of Kendall Myers’ classified State Department work computer hard drive revealed that, from August 22, 2006, until his retirement on Oct. 31, 2007, he viewed more than 200 sensitive or classified intelligence reports concerning the subject of Cuba, while employed as an INR senior analyst for Europe. Of these reports concerning Cuba, the majority was classified and marked Secret or Top Secret, the affidavit alleges. An FBI review of Kendall Myers’ State Department security files further revealed numerous false statements by him to conceal the couple’s clandestine activities on behalf of the CuIS, the affidavit further alleges.
According to the affidavit, neither Kendall Myers nor Gwendolyn Myers ever provided notification to the Attorney General that either of them was acting as an agent of a foreign government, as required by law.
Finally, the affidavit alleges that Kendall Myers engaged in a scheme to defraud the State Department and the United States by means of false pretenses and caused the U.S. government to lose property, specifically money in the form of salary payments. By not disclosing his clandestine activity on behalf of the CuIS and by making false statements to the State Department about his status, Kendall Myers allegedly defrauded the State Department whenever he received his government salary. Gwendolyn Myers is also criminally liable for this alleged wire fraud scheme.
This investigation was conducted jointly by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Harvey, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and Senior Trial Attorney Clifford I. Rones, from the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
Source: Department of Justice press release.Iran Making Dramatic Nuclear Progress; Regime Has Enough Material to Make at Least One Bomb
New uranium traces have been found in Syria, on the site of a North Korean/Iranian nuclear facility bombed by Israel. Click here for the story.
In a related development, Bloomberg reports "Iran increased its rate of uranium production during the last three months and continued to stonewall United Nations nuclear inspectors investigating whether the country is concealing an atomic weapons program." Click herefor the article.
Iran now has enough nuclear material to make at least one bomb.
The Obama administration's engagement (appeasement) policy is guaranteeing Iran's emergence as a rising, regional hegemon with global ambitions and an arsenal of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Knowing this, Iranian leaders are boasting about their new power.
MEMRI reports:During an April 18, 2009 Iranian Army Day ceremony at the tomb of the founder of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Ahmadinejad said, "Thanks to the dedication of the armed forces, Iran is ready to participate extensively in running the world and in establishing security and justice in various parts of the world."
At a conference of families of shahids (martyrs) in Qazvin, northern Iran, Ahmadinejad said that "as a major power, Iran is playing a leading role in the global decision-making process." He said that Iran is "the final victor in all topics on the agenda," and that as long as the Iranian nation obeys Islam and Islamic religious law, it will accomplish its goals.
During his April 2009 visit to China, Ahmadinejad's vice president Parviz Davoudi reiterated Ahmadinejad's statements, saying that in his estimation, "the U.S. is coming to terms with Iran being nuclear, since it already came to terms with Iran's nuclearization process, and [Iran is] now worthy to discuss important global issues together with the 5+1."
Basij commander Hossein Taab said that following the fall of the Soviet Union, only two powers remain in the world - the U.S. and Iran - and both want to lead the world. He added, "The U.S. has military strength, but cannot pull the trigger." Is Obama Abdullah's Surrogate?
A reader says our piece on Barack Obama aiming for leadership of the so-called Muslim world is just a little off the mark. The U.S. President, according to this veteran Middle East expert, is a surrogate of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who is locked in a struggle for Muslim world leadership with Osama Binladen and Iran's nuclear-arming, missile-mad mullahocracy.
Obama dined with the Saudi monarch and received an award from him before flying on to Cairo to make a landmark address to Muslims from the Egyptian capital. The White House said Obama sought the King's counsel.
China Confidential sources say the King advised Obama on sensitive portions of his speech.Why Did Flight 447 Disintegrate?
The jetliner's sudden disappearance was first attributed to lightning, then thunderstorms, then mechanical failure. Today's theory? Cosmic coincidence--meaning, a meteor strike. Click here for the story.
In the meantime, Brazil's defense ministry seems to be doing its level best to discourage speculation that the Airbus could have been destroyed in an explosion caused by a terrorist bomb ... following bomb threats to Air France.It Was 42 Years Ago Today ...
North Korea: Stalinist, Kimist and Criminal
North Korea represents a unique mix of totalitarian Communism and organized crime.
Saturday, 6 June 2009
INDICTMENT SAYS COUPLE MET WITH FIDEL CASTRO
Four decades ago, a pan-Arab leader and Third World icon set in motion a disastrous dynamic....
Bill Gertz's report on a North Korean general highlights the Stalinist/Kimist regime's reliance on illegal money-making schemes. Click here for the story.
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