Qatar Operations all Over the United States

Posted on March 27, 2019March 27, 2019 by Denise Simon

File:Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani with Obamas.jpg ...

Back in 2014, I wrote about Qatar, sounding the alarm due to the very close relationship between Hamad bin Thamer al Thani and Barack Obama. In fact when Obama showed up to West Point for a speech and graduation, the son of al Thani was in that graduating class. Wut you say?

Obama: US will work to up support for Syria rebels | The ...

I wrote again about Qatar in 2017 funding Hamas in Gaza. A few months later, I published an item about Qatar hiring lobbying organizations in DC, that other part of the swamp. Then there was the piece about Qatar buying off teachers and American education.

It continues as Qatar has an investment fund worth an estimated $260 billion. The forecast is to spend $35 billion in the United States and they are well underway.

Since, 2015, Qatar spent $8 billion in a Manhattan West real estate project that is mixed use located very near Penn Station. While Qatar is buying off lawyers and lobbyists in DC, even the very buildings are part of the Qatari real estate portfolio including the CityCenterDC. Oh yeah, remember former AG Eric Holder? Well he is of the law firm Covington & Burling. The law firm has a lucrative consulting contract with Qatar. In fact, Covington & Burling has an office in Doha. Perhaps because Qatar owns CityCenter in DC, they needed a tenant, they got one…Covington & Burling.

The spending continues. The Qatar Investment Authority has committed another $45 billion to be spent in Europe and the United States. The operations in the United States include more real estate, technology and U.S. exchanges. They already completed a deal buying Gigamon, Inc., which is a networking software company. That deal was worth a mere $1.6 billion.

Qatar has been funding terrorism for decades hence the reason several countries have terminated relationships with Qatar including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and even the Maldives. But have they really cut ties? No. Is Qatar still funding terrorism? Yes. Hamas enjoys Qatari money as Hamas is currently lobbying rockets into Israel. Oh yeah, remember Jamal Khashoggi? As he was on the payroll of the Washington Post, which was just a cover, Khashoggi was a long-term member of the Muslim Brotherhood which has a headquarters facility in Qatar. If anyone paid attention, the Washington Post admitted the Qatari Foundation shaped news stories the paper published, directed by Khashoggi. Simply put, Qatar enjoys a great reach into U.S. media as Khashoggi was a Qatari intelligence asset.

Khashoggi was handled on behalf of the Qataris by former U.S. foreign service officer Maggie Mitchell Salem, an executive at the Qatar Foundation International. In WhatsApp messages that, as Salem explained in a tweet, she shared with the Post, she urged him “to take a harder line against the Saudi government.” In brief, she used Khashoggi’s byline to run an anti-Saudi campaign through the Washington Post. The Qatar Foundation International did not respond by press time to an email asking whether Qatari officials directed Salem to assist Khashoggi or if any were aware she was assisting him.

Why was the murder of Khashoggi such a big deal in reality? Because of the robust connective tissue in Washington DC of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, competing money and objectives, meaning lobbying. Remember too that Khashoggi was NOT a U.S. citizen or a green cardholder. He was in our country under an 0-1 visa, granted to people with ‘extraordinary ability’ and owned an apartment in Virginia.

Living outside of DC, we dont see how that hidden international machines work in DC….above describes much of it. In case you need more, enjoy this video.

Hat tip to the Securities Studies Group:

BLOOD MONEY: How Qatar Bought Off the Entire DC Establishment

Where did Some of Venezuela’s Gold Show up?

Posted on March 18, 2019March 18, 2019 by Denise Simon

Uganda?

Remember that Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro is a virtual puppet of Cuba. Going back years, during the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, Chavez hosted President Yoweri Museveni, then president of Uganda. Cuba was known over the years to give scholarships to Ugandans. The relationship is long and deep.

Then as recently as February of 2019, the Kampala is allegedly investigating that top Venezuelan politicians are using Ugandan passports to smuggle key people out of Venezuela into China and possibly other countries that stand with the Maduro regime.

Further, Venezuela attempted to removed some of their gold reserves parked in Britain, worth an estimated $1.2 billion, were denied at the behest of the United States. The 8 tons gold residing in Venezuela was in fact removed this past February to an unknown location. However, in 2018, at least 23 tonnes of mined gold was transported from Venezuela to Turkey by plane.

Maduro is attempting to sell gold on the international market to pay for basic needs for his country’s elite. Last February, an Abu Dhabi company known as Noor Capital bought 3 tons of Venezuelan gold. Since oil production in Venezuela has dropped significantly and sales on the global market have dropped, gold is the next avenue to generate immediate funds.

Venezuela Gold Reserves

China and Russia are looking for exclusive oil deals from Venezuela due to the US sanctions. In fact, PDVSA, the Venezuelan oil operation is opening an office in Russia.

Ugandan authorities are investigating unexplained imports of 7.4 tonnes of gold worth US$300 million that is suspected of originating with President Maduro’s regime in Venezuela.

Analysts claim Uganda is a gold smuggling hub (Photo: Agnico-Eagle, CC-Zero)The investigation is centred on African Gold Refinery (AGR), the country’s largest refinery, Reuters reported on Wednesday. AGR confirmed that the gold arrived from South America but rejected claims of smuggling.

“All our transactions are legal and well documented,” the company said in a statement to OCCRP, dismissing the allegations as “fake news.”

Fred Enanga, a spokesman for Uganda’s police, told Reuters that AGR received two shipments of 3.8 and 3.6 tonnes at the beginning of March however neither passed through official customs entry points.

Police raided AGR premises on March 7 but found the lighter batch had disappeared.

Flights this month from Caracas to Entebbe have raised suspicions that Nicolas Maduro’s government is smuggling gold out of the country and selling it to traders in Africa and the Middle East in an attempt to prop up its sanctions-hit economy.

An airline source told The Times that a European charter company was contracted to fly four tonnes of gold from Caracas to Entebbe early this year.

The Venezuelan opposition previously claimed a jet owned by Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza transported gold to Greece. Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s prime minister, is one of the few European leaders still supporting Maduro.

Venezuela’s ambassador to Greece, Freddy Fernández, denied the reports.

“It is foolish to believe that the Venezuelan foreign minister himself was taking the gold out of the country. The story is part of a concerted attack against our country,” he told the Greek news outlet Efimerida ton Syntakton.

Investigators are looking to establish where the gold came from, who owns it and how it was shipped into the country, he said.

Uganda has become a regional smuggling hub for gold with corruption and widespread mismanagement proving profitable for officials and international investors, a report from Global Witness claims.

AGR was accused of facilitating gold smuggling from conflict regions in the Democratic Republic of Congo in an investigation by The Sentry, an African financial investigations organization co-founded by actor George Clooney.

AGR Chief Executive Officer, Alain Goetz denied the accusations, calling it “yet another pathetic attempt to destroy the much-needed reforms and changes needed in the African gold industry.”

Meet Maduro’s Gang: the Colectivos

Posted on March 18, 2019March 18, 2019 by Denise Simon

Not only does Maduro while struggling to hold on to power in Venezuela make full use of 25,000 Cuban military forces along with a security team provided by Putin known as the Wagner Group, but Maduro terrorizes his own citizens by deploying his ‘colectivos’.

¿Los llamamos colectivos armados? por @atilanolinares – El ...

Really?

Yes, they are rather like his own armada on motorcycles. And they too patrol the border between Venezuela and Columbia. The colectivos have been around for quite a while, in fact they were salaried going back to the Chavez regime. They have cell or branch operations in and around Caracas. They tell the media and citizens their job is to clean up corruption, enforce laws and to assist the police. Yeah….SURE.

It is likely that the colectivos also coordinate with the FAES, that is supposed to be the Venezuelan police but actually most of them come from the Bolivian government under orders. Nonetheless, all of these groups continue to believe in and carry on the Chavez revolution.

5 Realities Of Reporting The News In A Brutal Dictatorship ...

Negotiating with Maduro to get him to leave power and move to a sunny island as John Bolton suggested hardly means there will be peace after his departure given the marxist/communist operations that will remain. The interim president, Guido with the help of almost 80 countries will hardly have an easy transition to any new government.

The colectivos are not a gang but rather a Maduro/Chavez sanctioned paramilitary unit. They operate in every part of Venezuelan society, including schools, courts, retail stores and in hospitals. They control sports, provide food and humanitarian needs, television and radio and control community centers. Sounds rather like al Qaeda or Islamic State, doesn’t it? Many of the colectivos received training from FARC. That was/is the terror group that Obama and John Kerry negotiated with that was/is based in Columbia. (they still operate today, by the way)

The Venezuelan colectivo known as "La Piedrita" does not hide its admiration for the FARC or Raúl Reyes.

The colectivos have direct access to the government resources including intelligence, money and weapons and tear gas. Many of them work during various shifts for the Maduro and the Bolivian government. Under approval of Maduro, the colectivos deal in the sale and distribution of drugs, gambling and extort anyone they can.

The Creation of a Failed Venezuela due to Maduro

Posted on February 25, 2019February 25, 2019 by Denise Simon

Last year, Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal published a major warning about malaria in Venezuela. In spite of 3 million people fleeing their home country since 2014, the economic condition in Venezuela continues in a financial tail-spin. Treatment of malaria, measles and diphtheria as well as dengue and Zika are just not being treated. Further, the infant mortality rate is skyrocketing. The most recent population with malaria is estimated to be 411, 586.

Maduro has called on Russia, Cuba and Bolivia to help with military action, police action and even his personal security. Cuba denies there are forces in Venezuela. Hold on Cuba….

Informal information published by Foresightcuba, which is dedicated to presenting statistics about the island, counts Cuba’s military presence in Venezuela as follows: 4,500 Cuban infantrymen organized in 8 battalions of 500 troops, plus a battalion stationed in Fuerte Tiuna; 2 Brigade Generals (Herminio Hernández Rodríguez and Alejandro Ronda Marrero, one stationed in Fuerte Tiuna, another in Barquisimeto); 4 colonels (Rodrigo Hernández Maite, Rufino Zabaleta Corvino, Jaime Freitas Sambrano, and Simon Guillermo Senior); 8 lieutenant colonels; 6 frigate captains, and 25 junior officers.

This information details who they are with name and surname, their functions, where they are based, the weapons they use, and notes that they wear Venezuelan military insignia.

A long-standing situation

According to an article published in February 2010 by journalist Leandro Dario, international assistant editor of the newspaper Dario Perfi, by that time the then president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, had incorporated the Cuban military into the Armed Forces of the country with the aim of inserting the high command of Cuba into Venezuelan military forces, to ensure their control in the barracks and project socialism. More here.

This certainly now speaks to the humanitarian aid several countries are working to get to the desperate Venezuelan people that Maduro has cut off completely. Just two days ago:

Grave situation developing right now inside of #Colombia. @freddysuperlano a member of the National Assembly of #Venezuela was poisoned this morning at breakfast inside of Colombia & is in serious condition at the hospital. His assistant Carlos Salinas has died from poisoning.

#ATENCIÓN Ciudadanos intentan salvar parte de la ayuda humanitaria que fue incendiada por funcionarios de la PNB en el puente Santander, Ureña #23Feb pic.twitter.com/tIyJiaJ8Vb

— NTN24 Venezuela (@NTN24ve) February 23, 2019

Enter Senator Marco Rubio, he has been right on top of the conditions for many months sounding all the alarms as VP Mike Pence is presently in Columbia meeting with the interim Venezuelan President Guido and The Lima Group.

There are 5 naturalized American citizens still being jailed in Venezuela. And China deployed a tech envoy to Caracas to in many cases terminate the internet and other telecom services.

Meanwhile, here is more.

In part:

Due to Russia’s support for President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war, the Kremlin has been given significant more control over Syria’s oil and gas industry. In 2017, Syria signed a deal giving Russia sole rights to its oil and gas production. In return for saving desperate regimes, Russia has gained significant control over global resource markets on top of its own large reserves.

But Assad has also given Russia a permanent air base and an expansion of Russian naval facilities in the country. The Kremlin is banking on mirroring such agreements in Venezuela. Joint Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises were held in 2008, while two nuclear-capable bombers flew to Venezuela’s La Orchila island in December 2018.

Though Venezuelan law prohibits permanent foreign military bases, Russia and Venezuela announced the creation of a ‘temporary’ long-term Russian airbase on La Orchila soon after the flight demonstration. Together with Venezuela’s Russian weapons imports, the two militaries will find it easier to coordinate Russian power projection in the Caribbean.

Expanding a military presence in Venezuela will bring up uncomfortable memories from the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 2017, Igor Sechin held talks with Cuban President Raul Castro and agreed to expand oil and gas ties. The potential for a Russian base in Venezuela came after steady integration through natural resource industries, a formula that Cuba appears intent on replicating.

Stakes have risen in Venezuela since Russia allegedly sent hundreds of personnel from its most notorious private military company, Wagner, in January. Deploying Wagner will allow Russia to mask its presence in Venezuela, similar to recent conflicts.

Many of Wagner’s personnel are ex-Russian soldiers. They have worked with rebel elements in Ukraine and been granted partial control of re-captured oil and gas fields in Syria. Wagner has also been deployed across Africa to safeguard regimes under scrutiny from the West and international institutions, as well as protect their lucrative mining operations.

Wagner represents a privatization of security backed by the power of the Russian military. Rosneft and Gazprom, Russia’s other resource crown jewels, operate their own security forces, and together could be the force that takes over from the Russian military in Syria and potentially in Venezuela.

Russia’s ability to safeguard desperate regimes has made other ‘rogue states’ increasingly look to Russia as a guarantor of their security. Keeping Maduro in power represents part of a wider policy of assisting other states hostile to wider US foreign policy.

The Kremlin often offers diplomatic support to North Korea and relieved most of its debt obligations to Russia in 2014. In the years that followed, Korean rocket tests increased dramatically, drawing the attention of the U.S. More recently, not only has Russia aided the Syrian government in the civil war, it has done so in tandem with Iranian forces after decades of Iranian military isolation.

Backed by the U.S., Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Gaido declared himself acting president on January 23, ushering in the latest escalation of Venezuela’s political crisis. He was soon recognized as interim president by the U.S., Canada, the EU, and most Latin American countries. China, Russia, Turkey, Iran and others continue to recognize Maduro, who still has the broad support of the Venezuelan military.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Maduro and individuals associated with him, as well as PVSDA, which is now stacked with Maduro allies. But the ability of Maduro and the Venezuelan economy to withstand the pressure suggests that, though the sanctions may damage his administration, they may not be enough to force him out.

Chavez fought to gain control over Venezuela’s oil supply and push out the U.S. and the West, only to have Maduro establish a new reliance on Russia. With the Kremlin’s help, his administration may survive, in return for Russian control over Venezuela’s oil industry and the establishment of a military footprint in the United States’ backyard. For the full summary, go here.

Chicago: Judge Halts Construction of Obama Presidential Library

Posted on February 19, 2019February 19, 2019 by Denise Simon

This is beginning to sound like all the corrupt land/mortgage deals during the mission to bring the Olympics to Chicago…remember that?

Chicago Park Board Approves Obama Library Land Transfer ...

About the Library

The Barack Obama Presidential Library is the 14th presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), a federal agency.

Unlike other Presidential Libraries administered by NARA, the Barack Obama Presidential Library will be a fully digital library. After the records are digitized, NARA will store and preserve the original materials in an existing NARA facility that meets NARA’s standards for archival storage. A staff at that location will be responsible for caring for the records and artifacts.

Currently, the Obama administration materials are housed in a temporary facility in Hoffman Estates, IL, which is not open to the public. Obama presidential records are administered in accordance with the requirements of the Presidential Records Act (PRA) and will not be subject to public Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests until January 20, 2022.

About the Obama Presidential Center

The Obama Foundation is constructing the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side in Jackson Park. The Center will be a privately operated, non-federal organization. For the most current information on the Obama Presidential Center, visit their website at www.obama.org.

*** The judge nominated by former President Obama dealt a blow Tuesday to the former president’s efforts to build his presidential library in Chicago with a ruling that a lawsuit challenging the facility’s planned construction can go forward.

The Obamas just revealed a first look at the new Presidential Center in Chicago | Inhabitat ...

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge gave the green light Tuesday to a parks-advocacy group’s lawsuit that aims to stop for good the delayed construction of former President Barack Obama’s $500 million presidential center in a Chicago park beside Lake Michigan.

Supporters of the project had hoped the court would grant a city motion to throw out the lawsuit by Protect Our Parks, some fearing any drawn out litigation might lead Obama to decide to build the Obama Presidential Center somewhere other than his hometown.

A lawsuit brought by another group in 2016 helped to scuttle a $400 million plan by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas to build a museum on public land on Chicago’s lakefront. That museum is now under construction in Los Angeles .

Judge John Robert Blakey heard arguments last week on the city’s motion to dismiss. Blakey did toss parts of the suit in his Tuesday ruling, but concluded the group has standing to sue because it represent taxpayers with concerns that providing parkland in the public trust to the Obama center violates their due-process rights.

Blakey’s ruling doesn’t mean the group will necessarily prevail in the end, but confirms that the suit poses a formidable threat to the project. The judge indicated that he doesn’t want the litigation to drag out, and that he would strictly limit any fact gathering leading up to trial to 45 days.

“We are pleased that the court dismissed some of the claims and made clear that the proceedings will move forward expeditiously,” said Chicago corporation counsel Ed Siskel. It was also the view of the Obama Foundation in its one-sentence reaction to Blakey’s ruling.

Blakey tossed the plaintiffs’ claim that their First Amendment rights would be violated if tax money is used to construct a building to promote former President Barack Obama’s political interests.

He also found no merit in the plaintiffs’ claim they would suffer because of aesthetic and environmental harm to Jackson Park.

Blakey says his ruling “does not address the true facts of this case.”

Plans call for the center to be built in Jackson Park, which was named after President Andrew Jackson and was a site for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. The site 7 miles (11 kilometers) south of downtown Chicago is near low-income neighborhoods where Obama worked as a community organizer and is just blocks from the University of Chicago where Obama was a law professor. It is also close to the home where the Obamas lived until he won the presidency in 2008.

The center was originally slated to open in 2021, though ground hasn’t yet broken because of the lingering litigation.

In its 2018 suit , Protect Our Parks accused the city of illegally transferring park land to a private entity, The Obama Foundation, effectively “gifting” prized land to a Chicago favorite son. The group said city officials manipulated the approval process and tinkered with legislation to skirt long-standing laws designed to ensure residents have unobstructed access to lakeside parks.

“Defendants have chosen to deal with it in a classic Chicago political way … to deceive and seemingly legitimize an illegal land grab,” the lawsuit says.

To make the park available for the project, the Chicago Park District first sold the land to the city for $1. Illinois legislators amended the state’s Illinois Aquarium and Museum Act to include presidential libraries as an exception to the no-development rules if there’s a compelling public interest. The Chicago City Council approved the project by a 47-to-1 vote last May.

The Obama Foundation, a private nonprofit, would pay $10 to the city for use of the park land for 99 years, cover the costs of building the complex and be responsible for covering operating costs for 99 years. Once built, the Obama Presidential Center’s physical structures would be transferred to the city for free, meaning the city would formally own the center but not control what happens there.

“They are essentially giving (property) to Obama … for 10 cents a year for 99 years,” parks advocacy lawyer Mark Roth said Thursday.

In a friend-of-the-court brief , legal scholar Richard Epstein said public-trust doctrine places an extra burden on authorities to prove overwhelming public benefit when they offer the use of public parks to such well-connected figures as Obama, who remains hugely popular in the heavily Democratic city. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel once served as Obama’s White House chief of staff.

One claim Blakey tossed Tuesday was that taxpayers’ First Amendment rights would be infringed upon because tax money would be spent to reconfigure roads and traffic. The suit argued that taxpayers would thus subsidize any partisan political activity by Obama at the center.

City lawyers conceded Thursday that Chicago would pay an estimated $175 million to reconfigure roads to manage traffic around the center.

The lawsuit also claims that the center would interfere with migrating butterflies and birds.

City lawyers said Protect Our Parks misread the law, misrepresented how the approval process played out and exaggerated potential environmental disruptions.

The center would comprise 20 acres (8 hectares) of the 500-acre (202-hectare) park. Its centerpiece would be a 225-foot (69-meter) museum tower, surrounded by a cluster of smaller buildings, including a 300-seat auditorium.

City lawyers said it would bring a major economic boost to poor local minority communities. Backers estimate it would create 5,000 jobs during construction and over 2,500 permanent jobs. An estimated 760,000 people could visit each year.