Meanwhile there is Rosneft, Deeper Russian Terror

Primer: From January 2015

Foreign Firm Funding U.S. Green Groups Tied to State-Owned Russian Oil Company

Executives at a Bermudan firm funneling money to U.S. environmentalists run investment funds with Russian tycoons, a shadowy Bermudan company that has funneled tens of millions of dollars to anti-fracking environmentalist groups in the United States is run by executives with deep ties to Russian oil interests and offshore money laundering schemes involving members of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. One of those executives, Nicholas Hoskins, is a director at a hedge fund management firm that has invested heavily in Russian oil and gas. He is also senior counsel at the Bermudan law firm Wakefield Quin and the vice president of a London-based investment firm whose president until recently chaired the board of the state-owned Russian oil company Rosneft.In addition to those roles, Hoskins is a director at a company called Klein Ltd. No one knows where that firm’s money comes from. Its only publicly documented activities have been transfers of $23 million to U.S. environmentalist groups that push policies that would hamstring surging American oil and gas production, which has hurt Russia’s energy-reliant economy.

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Why is this important? Arms trafficking….there is always a darker side including people. Anyone remember the name Viktor Bout?

 Photo: CNN

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Notorious Russian arms dealer ‘refused US offer for lighter sentence’

FITSANAKIS: The wife of Viktor Bout, the imprisoned Russian arms dealer dubbed ‘the merchant of death’, said he rejected an offer by his American captors who asked him to testify against a senior Russian government official. Born in Soviet Tajikistan, Bout was a former translator for the Soviet military. After the end of the Cold War, he set up several low-profile international air transport companies and used them to transfer large shipments of weapons that fueled wars in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. He made millions in the process and acquired international notoriety, which inspired the Hollywood blockbuster Lord of War. But his business ventures ceased in 2008, when he was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, with the cooperation of the Royal Thai Police. He was eventually extradited to the US and given a 25-year prison term for supplying weapons to the Afghan Taliban, and for trying to sell arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Bout is currently serving his sentence at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in New York.

In a newspaper interview on Tuesday, Bout’s wife, Alla Bout, said her husband could have gotten away with a considerably lighter sentence had he agreed to testify against a senior Russian government official. Speaking to Moscow-based daily Izvestia, Alla Bout said her husband had been approached by American authorities after being extradited to the United States from Thailand. He was told that US authorities wanted him to testify against Igor Sechin, a powerful Russian government official, whom American prosecutors believed was Bout’s boss. In return for his testimony, US prosecutors allegedly promised a jail sentence that would not exceed two years, as well as political asylum for him and his family following his release from prison. Alla Bout added that her husband’s American lawyers were told by the prosecution that the ‘merchant of death’ “would be able to live in the US comfortably, along with his wife and daughter”, and that his family could stay in America during his trial “under conditions”. Alla Bout claimed she was told this by Bout himself and by members of his American legal team.

From 2008 to 2012, Sechin, who has military background, served as Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister. Today he heads the Board of Directors of Rosneft, a government-owned oil extraction and refinement company, which is considered one of the world’s most powerful business ventures. Many observers see Sechin as the most formidable man in Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is also believed to be a senior member of the Siloviki, a secretive group of government officials in the Putin government who have prior careers in national security or intelligence. Although Bout and Sechin have never acknowledged having met each other, some investigators of Bout’s weapons-trading activities believe that the two were close allies. It is believed that the two men first met in Angola and Mozambique in the 1980s, where they were stationed while serving in the Soviet military. But the two men deny they knowing each other. According to Alla Bout, Viktor told his American captors that he “never worked for Sechin and did not know him in person”. He therefore turned down the prosecution’s offer and was handed a 25-year sentence. When asked by the Izvestia reporters whether Bout was simply protecting the powerful Russian government official, Alla Bout insisted that the two “have never even met, not once”.

**** Igor Sechin

Forbes: Igor Sechin may be the left hand man to the World’s Most Powerful Man, but that didn’t stop him or his giant oil company, Rosneft, from landing on a U.S. visa and financial sanctions list announced after the Russian military intervention in the Ukraine. “Putin trusts him more than anyone else,” says Russian expert Mark Galeotti of NYU. “And if Putin trusts you, power and wealth always follow.” Suffice it to say that the Kremlin is one of Rosneft’s major stockholders.

 

The Mercenaries Secretly Hired by the Kremlin

First Putin launched this operation years ago with the Chechens and now with any others they can recruit. The most recent secret group was recruited and deployed to Syria and the survival rate of the ‘Wagner’ cell is less than 50%.

Since 2013, A commander from the Russian Caucasus known as Omar al Chechen is a key leader in the Muhajireen Brigade, a jihadist group that fights alongside the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant against the regime of President Bashir al Assad. More here.

There is yet more as noted below, from the Ukraine to Syria?

Revealed: Russia’s ‘Secret Syria Mercenaries’

Sky News speaks to men who claim they were trained and flown on Russian military planes to assist troops loyal to Bashar al Assad.

If Russia is a nation at war, the Kremlin has always been careful to frame its campaign in Syria as an aerial operation.

Other than a limited number of ‘instructors and military advisers’, Russian officials have repeatedly stated that they do not need to put ‘boots on the ground’.

The Russian narrative of low-cost conflict has been seriously challenged however by a group of young Russian men who claim that their country’s involvement in Syria is far more extensive – and more costly – than anyone in President Putin’s administration is prepared to admit.

These individuals told Sky News that they were recruited by a highly secretive private military company called ‘Wagner’ and flown to Syria aboard Russian military transport planes.

For the equivalent of £3,000 a month, they say they were thrown into pitch battles and firefights with rebel factions – including Islamic State.

Two of the group, Alexander and Dmitry, told Sky News they felt lucky to be alive.

“It’s 50-50,” said Alexander (not his real name). “Most people who go there for the money end up dead. Those who fight for ideals, to fight against the Americans, American special-forces, some ideology – they have a better chance of survival.”

“Approximately 500 to 600 people have died there,” claimed Dmitry. “No one will ever find out about them…. that’s the scariest thing. No one will ever know.”

Russian mercenaries are alleged to have fought in eastern Ukraine

Russian mercenaries are alleged to have fought in eastern Ukraine

The country’s Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, warned in February that the deployment of ground troops by foreign powers could result in a “world war”.

He seems to have excluded the use of Russian mercenaries from that calculation, however – although analysts are not surprised.

The deployment of military contractors is consistent with the Russian take on ‘hybrid-war’, according to military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer.

He said: “Obviously (Wagner) does exist. These kind of ‘volunteers’ do appear in different war zones, where the Russian government wants them to appear. So first in Crimea, then in Donbass, now in Syria. But they have not been legalised up till now.”

Private military companies are banned under the Russian constitution – but that is not something that seems to trouble the man who runs the operation.

The only known image of the shadowy head of Wagner Nikolai Utkin. Pic: Fontanka

The only known image of the shadowy head of Wagner Nikolai Utkin. Pic: Fontanka

A former special forces soldier, he is known to his men as Nikolai Utkin.

The only known picture of Mr Utkin was published earlier this year by St Petersburg-based newspaper ‘Fontanka’.

The paper described him as an aficionado of the aesthetics and ideology of the Nazi German Third Reich.

His nom-de-guerre – Wagner – is thought to be a tribute to Hitler’s favourite composer.

The company has recruited hundreds of men online, by posting temporary advertisements in military-themed chat rooms on one popular Russian website.

The men say they were taken from Russia to Syria on Russian military aircraft

The men say they were taken from Russia to Syria on Russian military aircraft

Sky News obtained a record of a conversation between one recruit and a Wagner agent. It read:

Recruit: I heard that Wagner is looking for guys. I was in the army in ….. division.
Wagner: What sort of physical shape are you in?
Recruit: I can run 10km. I can do 20 chin ups.
Wagner: Can you do 3km in 13 minutes?
Recruit: For sure! In the army I was doing 11km in 40 minutes.
Wagner: Do you have any problems with the law, debts?
Recruit: I have a problem with money. I want to buy an apartment.
Wagner: Do you have a valid passport for travelling?
Recruit: Yes, sure.
Wagner: Ok, come to Molkino. You have a high chance of being selected.

Molkino is a small village in southern Russia that is home to a Ministry of Defence special forces base. Part of the base has been handed over to Wagner for the selection and training of recruits.

Alexander, who has conducted a number of missions to Syria, said he was aware of men of all abilities being accepted for training – even those who had never fired a gun.

He said the training – which generally lasts from one to two months – was intense.

He added: “If the person hasn’t been the army, he is trained from level zero. They’re taught to be infantrymen – the usual cannon fodder. If the person has served in the artillery, reconnaissance, assault brigades – his skills are polished…. they teach you how to drive and use absolutely all the equipment they have.”

Dmitry said recruits were given ‘NATO-standard’ kit to practise with.

Some of the men Sky News spoke to say they took part in the battle for Palmyra

Some of the men Sky News spoke to say they took part in the battle for Palmyra

Both men soon found themselves deployed to the main Russian base on the Syrian coast.

Alexander said he was joined by more than 500 men.

“There were 564 soldiers with me and we were put up at the base,” he added. “We had two reconnaissance companies, one air defence company, two assault groups and foot troops, plus heavy artillery, tanks and so on.”

Dmitry said he was joined by 900 others – but had second thoughts on arrival.

He previously worked as an office secretary and had little military experience.

“We arrived at night at the airport,” he said. “What is it called? Hmay? Hymeem? Hhmemeen? (Khmeimim). Then we were put in trucks. To be honest I was scared. I don’t have a strong build and I wasn’t very good at the drills.”

The Wagner fighters accused their commanders of sending them on ‘suicide missions’ designed to ‘soften-up’ the opposition before Syrian Army troops were sent in.

Alexander recounted the battle for the city of Palmyra, conducted earlier this year.

He said: “During the storming of Palmyra, we were used as cannon fodder. You could say that. Reconnaissance went forward first so they could observe and report. I knew three in that group – two died before they got to the city. From my assault company, 18 died. After us, those chickens from Assad’s army followed and finished the job but we did most of the work.”

The official number of Russians killed in Syria stands at 19. However, the Wagner fighters told Sky News they believed hundreds of their fellow employees have been killed.

They accuse the authorities of covering it up.

“Who will ever tell you about this? Sometimes the bodies are cremated but the papers say ‘they’re missing’. Sometimes the documents say the soldier was killed in Donbass (eastern Ukraine). Sometimes they say ‘car accident’ and so on,” claimed Alexander.

Photos apparently captured by Islamic State fighters during the battle for Palmyra appear to show Russian mercenaries in Ukraine
Photos apparently captured by IS fighters appear to show Russian mercenaries

Dmitry claimed hundreds of men have been left in Syria.

“Sometimes they are buried, sometimes they are not,” he said. “Sometimes they just dig a hole. It depends on how the commanders feel towards the person.”

He is back in Moscow now but says the experience still stalks him. When he signed on with Wagner, Dmitry handed over his personal identification papers – an essential part of life in Russia. Upon his return, he went back to the training base to retrieve his documents but found himself arrested by police. An officer told him, unequivocally, that Wagner “does not exist”.

Dmitry told Sky News that there are 50 other men – Wagner survivors – now walking the streets of Moscow, traumatised and without papers.

“No one knows me,” he said. “They just threw me away.”

:: For more of the accounts of the battlefield experiences of the two Russian Wagner soldiers, watch Sky News’ exclusive report.

Hillary’s State Dept Access to Donors, Marc Rich Still Resonates

Bill Clinton’s pardon of fugitive Marc Rich continues to pay big/Gilbert Chagoury in a new scandal

Seems like the whole Lincoln bedroom playbooks was used at the State Department and perhaps even Hezbollah supporters like Michel Aoun of Lebanon had access.

Secret emails reveal how Hillary’s closest aide Huma was ordered by Clinton Foundation to open State Department doors to donors

  • Yet more emails from Hillary Clinton’s secret server are revealed and show how Huma Abedin took orders from outside the State Department 
  • Clinton’s closest aide was told by Doug Band, of the Clinton foundation, to set up access to an ambassador for a billionaire donor
  • She was told to ‘take care of’ another unnamed person by Band
  • Another Clinton fundraiser emailed Hillary to push for someone to get a job at the State Department – and she told Abedin to ‘help’
  • Judicial Watch which sued for the emails says they raise questions over whether Clinton was ‘in violation of the law’ as Secretary of State

DailyMail: A Clinton Foundation official pressed Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin to give special State Department access to a major donor who was accused of laundering money from Nigeria, according to emails released on Tuesday.

Doug Band, a top official at the Clinton Foundation, emailed Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin in April 2009 and asked her to connect Gilbert Chagoury, a billionaire Lebanese businessman who pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative, with the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman.

Ties: Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigeria-born Lebanese billionaire who was convicted of money-laundering, was asked to be given access to a US ambassador 
Ties: Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigeria-born Lebanese billionaire who was convicted of money-laundering, was asked to be given access to a US ambassador

Chagoury, a former confidante of brutal Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha, was convicted in 2000 of laundering Nigerian money to Switzerland in connection with the Abacha regime. Under a plea deal, he agreed to pay Nigeria $66 million, and the Swiss government later expunged his conviction.

According to U.S. diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks, Chagoury has also been a key financial backer of pro-Hezbollah Lebanese politician Michel Aoun. At the time of Band’s request to connect Chagoury with the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Aoun was running for parliament in Lebanon on the Hezbollah-aligned bloc.

In an October 2007 cable, the prime minister of Lebanon noted Chagoury’s ties to Aoun and ‘suggested that the U.S. deliver to Chagoury a stern message about the possibility of financial sanctions and travel bans against those who undermine Lebanon’s legitimate institutions.’

In 2010, it was discovered that Chagoury had been added to the U.S. No-Fly terror list and barred from boarding a private jet in New Jersey. He was able to obtain a ‘waiver’ to fly, and was later removed from the list and received a written apology from the U.S. government.

Chagoury pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative in 2009 and has contributed between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation.

In another email released by Judicial Watch, Band asked Abedin to help look for job openings for an ‘important’ associate, whose name is redacted from the message.

Band forwarded an email to Abedin from the unnamed individual that was headlined ‘A favor…’

‘Hi Doug,’ said the April 22, 2009 email. ‘I really appreciated the opportunity to go on the Haiti trip; it was an eye-opening experiences seeing both the depravity and promise of that island.’ The rest of the email is redacted.

Order: Doug Band emailed Huma Abedin to tell her that it was 'very imp' for the billionaire Clinton Foundation donor to get access to Jeffrey Feltman, the ambassador to Lebanon (pictured) Order: Doug Band (pictured) emailed Huma Abedin to tell her that it was 'very imp' for the billionaire Clinton Foundation donor to get access to Jeffrey Feltman, the ambassador to Lebanon (right)
 Order: Doug Band (left) emailed Huma Abedin to tell her that it was ‘very imp’ for the billionaire Clinton Foundation donor to get access to Jeffrey Feltman, the ambassador to Lebanon (right)

Band passed on the message to Abedin with the noted ‘Important to take care of [redacted name].’

Abedin responded that the individual was ‘on our radar’ and ‘Personnel has been sending him options.’

In a third email, Clinton fundraiser Lana Moresky emailed Hillary Clinton and asked her about finding a State Department job for an individual whose name is redacted.

‘[Redacted] is looking for an opportunity to meet with a knowledgeable [Department of State] person to learn more about the structure and positions available,’ wrote Moresky in the April 29, 2009 email.

Clinton forwarded the message to Abedin with the note ‘Can you pls followup and help [redacted]?’

Judicial Watch said in a press release that the State Department favors ‘seem in violation of the ethics agreements that Hillary Clinton agreed to in order to be appointed and confirmed as Secretary of State.’

‘No wonder Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin hid emails from the American people, the courts and Congress,’ said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton in a statement. ‘They show the Clinton Foundation, Clinton donors, and operatives worked with Hillary Clinton in potential violation of the law.’

SOME OF THE SECRET EMAILS 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3732075/Secret-emails-reveal-Hillary-s-closest-aide-took-orders-Clinton-Foundation-open-State-Department-doors-one-biggest-donors.html#ixzz4Gsf3Nxrc
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Is your Church Targeted for Terror?

Yazidis, Jews, Apostate Muslims and Christians have all been part of the genocide in the Middle East and terror has arrived in Europe.

The Director of the FBI, James Comey has already sounded the alarm speaking to a terror diaspora…anyone listening?

Churches take new security measures in face of terror threats

FNC: As Father Josiah Trenham prepared to read the Gospel, several parishioners discreetly scooped up their babies, retreated up the aisles of St. Andrew Orthodox Church and out into the spring air, so as not to allow the crying of little ones to disturb the divine liturgy.

The time-honored tradition was shattered when a car passed by the Riverside, Calif., church, slowing down as the front passenger leaned out of his window and bellowed menacingly through a bullhorn, according to witnesses.

“Allahu Akbar!” the unidentified man repeated several times as the unnerved parents drew their infants close and exchanged worried glances.

Witnesses were able to give Riverside police a description of the green Honda Civic, but not of the three occupants. Some told police they believed one or more of the men may have been taking photographs, according to Officer Ryan Railsback. Although Trenham insisted multiple congregants heard the Arabic phrase, Railsback noted no mention of it was in the police report.

Whatever the case, no law was broken – even if an unmistakable message was sent and received.

“Be calm and to keep a special vigilance over the property and our children while we are at church,” Trenham wrote in an email to parishioners in which he recounted the disturbing event. “Pray that these provocative young men might repent of their intimidation and be saved.”

Trenham told FoxNews.com last week the situation remains “tense and tenuous,” and said the church now has security officers on hand for all regular services.

“It is a deep sorrow to live this way in the ‘new America,’” he said.

The incident took place on April 12, some four months after a terror attack left 14 dead in nearby San Bernardino, and just over three months before a French priest was killed by ISIS-linked jihadists in his church. The events, whether far or near, underscore a grim new reality for pastors such as Trenham: Instead of offering sanctuary from evil, churches could in fact be attractive targets for terror.

“Many churches are now hiring self-defense instructors for classes or security guards that include off-duty police,” said Ryan Mauro, a professor of Homeland Security at Liberty University and national security analyst for the Clarion Project. “If you are an Islamist terrorist seeking self-glory, executing a priest will bring you more attention than executing an average civilian.”

While no lethal terror attacks have occurred inside a U.S. church to date, experts like Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern, notes the threat tally is growing.

“I’m pretty sure there will be attacks in the future,” King said. “Until [radical Islam is defeated], we can expect Christians, including in the West, to rationally tighten security measures and try to protect themselves from attack.”

In February, Khial Abu-Rayyan, 21, of Dearborn Heights, Mich., was arrested after he told an undercover FBI agent he was preparing to “shoot up” a major church near his home on behalf of ISIS. A month earlier, the Rev. Roger Spradlin of Valley Baptist Church – one of the biggest congregations in Bakersfield, Calif. – told attendees that they had received a threat written in Arabic.

“Undercover officers were then placed during worship services,” Valley Baptist spokesman Dave Kalahar said. “The FBI continues to investigate along with the local task force.”

Last September, an Islamic man clad in combat gear was charged with making a terrorist threat after entering Corinth Missionary Baptist Church, in Bullard, Tex., and claiming that God had instructed him to kill Christians and “other infidels.” A year earlier, police were called to Saint Bartholomew’s Catholic Church in Columbus, Ind., after the house of worship was vandalized with the word “Infidels!” along with a Koranic verse sanctioning death for nonbelievers. Similar graffiti was found that same night at nearby Lakeview Church of Christ and East Columbus Christian Church.

St. Bartholomew Pastor Clem Davis said he doesn’t know if the threat was legitimate, but said little can be done to harden a target whose mission is to welcome all.

“I don’t know that there is any real protection against the ‘lone wolf’ mentality, not without infringing on everybody’s freedoms,” Davis said. “We don’t have metal detectors, people go in and out. Churches are family-orientated, public, tax-supported spaces; so they may appeal to some as a target.”

Synagogues have faced increasing threats in recent years, too. Earlier this year, the FBI disrupted a plot by a Muslim convert to blow up the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center, in Aventura, Fla. A 2014 audit by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found that anti-Semitic incidents rose 21 percent across the country that year.

Eastern Orthodox Christians, who in many cases suffered persecution at the hands of radical Muslims in their Middle Eastern homelands, believe they may be singled out because of their heritage. Mass at St. Andrew typically attracts up to 400 worshippers with roots in Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Russia and Greece.

“We have guards now; we never used to have guards,” said St. Andrew attendee Solomon Saddi, a Syrian-American Christian. “They keep an eye on everyone and talk to the faces that aren’t familiar,” he continued, referring to the aftermath of the April incident. “It is a very dangerous time for us even in America.”

In San Diego’s Iraqi-Christian community, known as Chaldeans, many local churches have had to dip into their collection baskets to hire security.

“There is a concern over attacks,” said a parishioner at St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Church. “Everyone knows that a church, especially like St. Peter, is a risk. But everyone tries not to let their fear get in the way of their faith.”

The July 26 murder of the Rev. Jacques Hamel, in the Normandy town of St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray sent shock waves around the world, and signaled to U.S. law enforcement that it could happen here, said Horace Frank, assistant commanding officer of the Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau of the Los Angeles Police Department.

“We see things happen in other countries and worry about them happening here,” Frank said. “You always have to be worried about copycats. That’s why we focus on prevention, trying to look ahead.”

Frank’s division works with Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh groups to discuss such topics as terrorist reporting, suspicious activity and active shooter training.

“We reach out to churches and they reach out to us. You have to be aware, you have to be vigilant,” Frank said. “It’s a concern not just in Christian communities, but all faith communities.”

The Field for the Oval Office is Expanding

Evan McMullin for President

Photo published for About Evan McMullin

My Letter To America

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