Putin’s Expulsion of Americans in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok

Posted on July 31, 2017July 31, 2017 by Denise Simon

After Tuesday, they will be locked out.

The order — which affects the US Embassy in Moscow and consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok — would reduce US diplomatic and technical staff to 455, the same number Russia has in the United States, by September 1.

Russia’s state television, First Channel, reported Saturday that 745 of 1,200 people employed at the US embassy and consulates would have to leave the country.

WPSU

US embassy dacha, Serebryany Bor, 28 Jul 17

Image copyrightEPAImage captionRussia has banned US diplomats from this dacha at Serebryany Bor on Moscow’s outskirts

A US diplomatic source told CNN on Saturday they are seeking to clarify who will be affected by the order.

“We’re evaluating the Russian notification and considering various options at this time,” a State Department official told CNN.

Russia also is suspending the use of a US storage facility in Moscow and a country house, or dacha, outside Moscow by Tuesday.

In December of 2016, Obama expelled more than three dozen Russians and closed two dachas from the United States due to Russian intrusion into the U.S.election system. Further, Obama set a limit of 455 Russians as the cap allowed in the United States.

During the G20, Trump and Putin covered the topic of returning the two dachas to Russian possession where the response was fine but with conditions. Those conditions are unknown. Russia has sent a delegation to the State Department to resolve the matter and to date there has been no solution.

Meanwhile, Congress had been in committee drafting a sanctions architecture legislative process that included not only Russia but Iran and North Korea were also contained in the legislation which passed with overwhelming approval in both houses.

Putin watched this cautiously and due to the bill sitting on the Trump desk in the Oval Office waiting for his signature, Putin took action over the weekend with closing at least three facilities. They include a home, a country retreat and a warehouse. 25 U.S. Marines also stand guard at the U.S. embassy.

Image copyrightEPAImage captionAnd Russia is seizing this US diplomatic warehouse in Moscow

The State Department refuses to list or quantify how many Americans or local employees are on the U.S. diplomatic payroll, the number is close to 2000 including an estimate 80 working for USAID.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The U.S. embassy in Moscow accused Russian authorities on Monday of barring diplomatic staff from a property on the outskirts of Moscow, after having earlier granted access until midday on Tuesday for them to retrieve belongings.

The Russian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The property, in a picturesque spot on a bend in the Moskva river north-west of the Russian capital, is leased by the U.S. embassy for its staff to use for recreation.

Moscow has said it is taking it back as part of retaliatory measures after Washington approved a fresh round of sanctions against Russia.

A Reuters TV cameraman outside the country residence, known in Russian as a dacha, saw five vehicles with diplomatic license plates, including a truck, arrive at the site. He said they were denied entry.

An embassy spokeswoman said: “In line with the Russian government notification, the U.S. Mission to Russia was supposed to have access to our dacha until noon on Aug. 1.

“We have not had access all day today or yesterday,” she said. “We refer you to the Russian government to explain why not.”

The Military Spooling of Countries Due to N. Korea

Posted on July 30, 2017July 30, 2017 by Denise Simon

At present, there are 8 B-1B bombers at the Andersen AFB, Guam (6 from Dyess AFB). This includes in theater 192 conventional 1,200-km range JASSM-ER cruise missiles for as many aim points. In addition deployed are Tomahawk SLCMs on ships, SSNs, SSGNs.

At the UN, Nikki Haley said that China must now condemn North Korea for its repeated missile tests.

“China must decide whether it is finally willing to take this vital step,” she said.

“The time for talk is over. The danger the North Korean regime poses to international peace is now clear to all.”

Earlier on Saturday the US flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula.

The B-1 bombers were escorted by South Korean fighter jets as they performed a low-pass over an air base near the South Korean capital of Seoul before returning to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.

Admiral Scott Swift of the Pacific fleets says he would launch a nuclear attack if ordered to do so.

Meanwhile: U.S.-South Korea Conduct Training in Response to North Korean Missile Launch

Eighth Army Public Affairs

HUMPHREYS GARRISON, Pyeongtaek, South Korea, July 28, 2017 — U.S. Eighth Army and South Korean army personnel today conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets in view of today’s North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile launch, Eighth Army officials here announced today.

This exercise once again utilized the Army Tactical Missile System and South Korea’s Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the country’s eastern coast July 5.

The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the U.S.-South Korean alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

It is scheduled that one more operational test launch of an AFGSC Minuteman III IBM is slated for Aug. 2 – Aug. 4 from Vandenberg AFB.

WASHINGTON, July 30, 2017 — The Missile Defense Agency and soldiers of the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade from Fort Bliss, Texas, conducted a successful missile defense test today using the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, according to a Missile Defense Agency news release.

A medium-range target ballistic missile was air-launched by an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III over the Pacific Ocean. The THAAD weapon system, located at Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska in Kodiak, detected, tracked and intercepted the target.

The test, designated Flight Experiment THAAD (FET)-01, was conducted to gather threat data from a THAAD interceptor in flight, the release said.

“In addition to successfully intercepting the target, the data collected will allow MDA to enhance the THAAD weapon system, our modeling and simulation capabilities, and our ability to stay ahead of the evolving threat,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves, Missile Defense Agency director.

Soldiers from the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade conducted launcher, fire control and radar operations using the same procedures they would use in an actual combat scenario. Soldiers operating the equipment were not aware of the actual target launch time, the release said.

15th Successful Intercept

This was the 15th successful intercept in 15 tests for the THAAD weapon system.

The THAAD element provides a globally-transportable, rapidly-deployable capability to intercept ballistic missiles inside or outside the atmosphere during their final, or terminal, phase of flight. THAAD is strictly a defensive weapon system. The system uses hit-to-kill technology where kinetic energy destroys the incoming target, according to the release.

The mission of the Missile Defense Agency is to develop and deploy a layered ballistic missile defense system to defend the United States, its deployed forces, allies and friends from ballistic missile attacks of all ranges in all phases of flight, the release said.

***

Additionally, the U.S. Delivered Two C-208B Aircraft to Philippine Air Force. They are ntelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. The delivery of the aircraft is part of a $33 million package through the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act Building Partnership Capacity Program to provide equipment and training to improve Philippine counterterrorism response capability. The Philippines has been fighting for months a terror group known as Abu Sayyaf.

Blame Obama and Brennan for Venezuela, Maduro

Posted on July 29, 2017July 29, 2017 by Denise Simon

Some facts on Venezuela under Chavez and now Maduro. When it comes to blame on why the country is in a tailspin and on the way to be a failed state where people are suffering beyond measure, rogue foreign leaders flock together and Obama/Brennan knew this was coming.

VIR

Venezuela is part of SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. SWIFT knows precisely all the global transactions into and out of Venezuela including the country’s dealings with Syria, Iran, and Russia.

Venezuela has received at least $36 billion in loans from China that have helped finance two economic development funds focused largely on infrastructure projects. Five people in raids that we carried out in Caracas linked to the embezzlement of $84 million from the Chinese Fund and Bandes. Maduro pledged to stop the corruption. Right huh? What about $300 billion?

Oops, there is more: How about the loan for oil program?

Under Chavez, several global oil deals were signed that included India, China and Russia. Under Maduro, the production has failed to meet contractual agreements. Caracas needs the oil to pay debts to China and Russia, key political allies that have together lent Venezuela at least $50 billion in exchange for promised crude and fuel deliveries.

According to Reuters, former ministers Héctor Navarro and Jorge Giordani are accusing government workers of pocketing more than $300 billion in crude oil revenue over the past decade. They are demanding the government account for these funds and investigate into whose hands they went. Navarro has personally requested that “a state ethics council review the operations of the 13-year-old exchange control mechanism that opposition leaders have described as a ‘corruption machine.’”

Another former Chávez minister, Ana Elisa Osorio, petitioned the Republican National Council, a government watchdog group, to investigate the case. “In the last two years, we have found missing $20 billion from the Republic’s funds. This is why we resort here to calling for a meeting of regulators, the treasury, and the national attorney’s office,” Osorio said. More here.

Oh yeah, we cant leave out Goldman Sachs. In 2016, Goldman Sachs confirmed its asset management arm had bought $2.8 billion of another bond issued by Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA at a steep discount.

SantiagoTimes

So on to some other facts that rogue leaders overlook, including the United States when it comes to heading off the tailspin and eventual failure of a state resulting in disgusting human rights violations.

2011: Iran began building intermediate-range missile launch pads on the Paraguaná Peninsula, and engineers from a construction firm – Khatam al-Anbia – owned by the Revolutionary Guards visited Paraguaná in February. Amir al-Hadschisadeh, the head of the Guard’s Air Force, approved the visit, according to the report. Die Welt cited information from “Western security insiders.”

In 2015: Drug smuggling is thought to be on the rise in Venezuela, with many public officials complicit. According to the BBC, the US has already sanctioned at least 50 whom it accuses of human rights abuses and drug trafficking.

Pressure on the drug trade in neighbouring Colombia appears to have forced many narco-traffickers over the border. While Venezuela does not grow the coca plant or manufacture cocaine, estimates in the US State Department’s annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports suggest that between 161 and 212 metric tons of cocaine are shipped from the country each year, although data is scarce.

In its most recent such report, published in March 2015, the US State Department reported that “public corruption is a major problem in Venezuela that makes it easier for drug-trafficking organizations to move and smuggle illegal drugs”. More here.

IBTimes

2017: Maduro named Tareck El Aissami as the Vice President.

That means that, in a country of complete and utter chaos — where people are starving, healthcare is nonexistent, electricity is scarce, and vigilante justice is becoming a norm — a suspected terrorist is one heartbeat away from the highest office in the land.

El Aissami is a known entity in the world of US intelligence. He is allegedly a part of Venezuela’s state drug-trafficking network and has ties to Iran, Syria, and Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.

Joseph Humire, coauthor of “Iran’s Strategic Penetration in Latin America” and founder of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS) think tank, testified to the same effect before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs last year.

“Over the years, El Aissami developed a sophisticated, multi-layered financial network that functions as a criminal-terrorist pipeline bringing militant Islamists into Venezuela and surrounding countries, and sending illicit funds and drugs from Latin America to the Middle East.

“His financial network consists of close to 40 front companies that own over 20 properties with cash, vehicles, real estate and other assets sitting in 36 bank accounts spread throughout Venezuela, Panama, Curacao, St. Lucia, Southern Florida and Lebanon. This network became integrated with the larger Ayman Joumaa moneylaundering network that used the Lebanese Canadian Bank to launder hundreds of million of dollars and move multi-ton shipments of cocaine on behalf of Colombian and Mexican drug cartels as well as Hezbollah.

“This immigration scheme is suspected to also be in place in Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia, as well as some Caribbean countries.”

In 2016: A jury in New York found two relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro guilty on Friday of attempting to import 800 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, both nephews of Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores, were arrested in November 2015 in Haiti in an investigation that saw Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) informants pose as Mexican traffickers and meet with the nephews. More here.

Further on that case during trial it was revealed that Flores and Campo are the nephews of Cilia Flores, the wife of President Maduro and a politician in her own right. According to trial testimony, they were planning to move cocaine for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) through Venezuela via the president’s private hangar at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas.

They expected the deal to bring them as much as $11 million, some of which was to be used to help fund Cilia Flores’ re-election campaign.

When LLC Means Lies, Laundering and Coverups in New York

Posted on July 28, 2017July 28, 2017 by Denise Simon

It festers in New York and New Jersey. LLC’s, Limited Liability Company is a corporate structure where members are not held personally liable, a legal characteristic that actually has major abuse components.

Yesterday, my buddy Bill Browder gave chilling testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He included one remarkable response to a question on the abuse of FARA, Foreign Agent Registration Act whereby there is a huge hole in the law that you could drive a truck through. That whole is, if you are a corporation, you don’t have to register, giving rise to the massive trend of lies, money laundering and coverups.

Photo of Chaika and Medvedev: (Dmitry Medvedev in 2013 at Davos, declared he wanted Bill Browder dead)

Senator Durbin mentioned Yuri Chaika in the hearing. Chaika, a Russian prosecutor who employs Natalia Veselnitskaya, the woman who met with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower in June of 2016. Yuri Chaika is connected to Avilon Automotive Group.

About 90 percent of Avilon Automotive Group is equally split between Alexander Varshavsky and Kamo Avagumyan.

Varshavsky is a naturalized American. He lives in Holmdel, New Jersey, an upscale enclave southwest of Manhattan, and owns a number of US companies which control assets in Russia with well over US$ 1 billion dollars in turnover, including Avilon. Huge detailed summary here.

The extended case includes corruption totaling more than $1 billion in the hole, citing bad loans made for fake assets, among other offenses. The lawsuit regarding Avilon Automotive Group and New York Motors and the Russian operation is described here.

When bribes are paid, some include Daimler, Mercedes Benz and Russia.

“Avilon” is an official dealer of «Mercedes-Benz RUS “. The company “New York Motors Moscow” is the dealer of Ford, but this does not stop it from entering into large contracts to supply Mercedes cars. Forbes magazine has included “New York Motors Moscow” into its list of top 200 private companies in Russia. According to the database SKRIN, the founder of one of the major suppliers of “Mercedes” for special services is the company New York Motors Corp, incorporated in the State of New Jersey. American business registers show that one of the owners of the company is Alexander Varshavsky.

Going further, below, are further examples supporting Browder’s declaration that include more Russians and other foreigners.

NYT

There is a large condo building in New York by the name of the Time Warner Center. Yup, Alexander Varshavsky lives there. Who are his neighbors? Many of the same corruptocrats. The full study performed by the NYT’s is here.

These residents buy these condos using cash and under secret names or shell operations like the condo in the official name of “25CC ST74B L.L.C”, which belongs to Vitaly Malkin tied to organized crime.

Andrey Vavilov bought a $37.5 million condo in Time Warner Center in 2009. The former Russian senator and businessman has been tied to a series of crooked deals, including government kickbacks, and accused of masterminding a “media blitz … involving a longtime adversary” and starting programs that accrued him (and his friends) a massive amount of wealth during the foundering first years of the Russian Federation, according to The Times.

(Vavilov is also close friends with Rinat Akhmetshin who was a director of the Washington think tank Eurasia Democracy Initiative. Akhmetshin was also in the Donald Trump Jr. meeting at Trump Tower in June of 2016. Akhmetshin is a former Soviet intelligence officer and remains employed by the SVR, the Russian external intelligence agency for civilian affairs. The SVR is responsible for espionage activity outside of the Russian Federation.)

Kabul Chawla is the likely owner a $19.4 million, 4,050-square-foot condo with five bedrooms in the Time Warner Center, according to The Times. A New Delhi developer, Chawla is accused of pre-selling homes to residents and failing to finish them. Of the homes his company does finish, many are allegedly shoddily done.

José Murat Casab owns two condos that he bought for $5.44 million in the Time Warner Center through the shell company Nivea Management, according to The Times. He is the former governor of Oaxaca and a well-connected, controversial Mexican politician who is rumored to have staged an assassination attempt on his own life to gain public favor.

Vitaly Malkin reportedly owns a $15.65 million condo in the Time Warner Center through an LLC. He is a Russian-Israeli businessman and politician who was denied entry into Canada by the Canadian government amid accusations of money laundering and international arms deals (accusations his lawyer vehemently denies).

Dimitrios Contominas owned a condo on the 74th floor of the Time Warner Center until he sold it for $21.4 million 2014. He is the owner of one of Greece’s biggest TV stations and is a well-known businessman who was arrested on fraud and corruption charges last year.

Wang Wenliang’s shell company Columbus Skyline LLC owns three condos in Time Warner Center. The Chinese businessman and contractor owns a construction company that was accused of “housing workers in New Jersey in hazardous, unsanitary conditions,” according to Times reporters.

Anil Agarwal owns not one but two condos in Time Warner Center through the shell company Amanita Corporation. He is an Indian business magnate who has been fined for dumping chemical waste, poisoning nearby communities as well as the environment in both India and Zambia.

Former ambassador to the US Prince Bandar bin Sultan and his wife (and daughter of a former Saudi king) Princess Haifa bint Faisal were also tied to a Time Warner Center unit. Princess Haifa was accused in certain press outlets of funding the 9/11 hijackers, though no evidence was found by the United States Commission that linked back to her.

James Nicholson owned an $8.5 million Time Warner condo until it was frozen by law enforcement. He was charged with stealing more than $100 million from investors in one of the worst Ponzi Schemes in American history. He is now in jail.

Pablo Ardila bought a $4 million condo in Time Warner Center back in 2004. According to The Times, the former Colombian official sold it after being arrested for “enriching himself illicitly.” He was released in Colombia without being convicted.

Stewart Ford bought a $6 million condo in the building before eventually transferring it to a shell company, according to the Times report. His firm was under investigation for fraud at the time and was “at the center of one of the biggest financial collapses in Britain with an estimated 30,000 victims,” the reporters wrote.

Qatar Hires DC Lobby Part of the Swamp

Posted on July 27, 2017July 27, 2017 by Denise Simon

At least there is a FARA filing.

Qatar is a hub for harboring terrorists and funding terror organizations. Recently, Gulf States with Saudi Arabia in the lead have isolated Qatar for these exact reasons.

Yesterday, this site published an article about the historical details of Qatar’s relationship with manifesting global terror.

Avenue Strategies was founded by former Trump campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski. The first clients were Citgo and Puerto Rico were among their first clients. He has since left the company, but the placeholder remaining are opportunists that apparently are dismissing the terror facts for money in their own pockets. Citgo is headquartered in Houston, Texas, but is “owned by the leftist government of Venezuela.” Citgo took out a loan from Russian state-owned oil giant, Rosneft in December 2016 that it has been unable to pay. It is under threat of a takeover by Rosneft.

(Not all the items in the dossier were false)

At Avenue Strategies, there are names like Barry Bennett who previously worked for Ben Carson and Rick Perry. Then there is George Birnbaum who worked for Alfonse D’Amato, Charlie Crist and top leaders in Israel. Add in Ed Brookover, who worked for Ben Carson, John Boehner and Michelle Bachmann as well as leaders from various foreign countries. Bud Cummins is the last strategist who worked for Mike Huckabee’s campaign.

As you continue reading, remember, Qatar has a nasty historical connection to terror and has no plan to prosecute terrorists or to stop funding them including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, much less the Taliban. Testimony on the Hill regarding Qatar was hosted on July 27, 2017 and much of that testimony summary is found here.

Additionally, there is pressure and discussions underway where the possibility of moving the U.S. base in Qatar is ongoing.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar has hired a Washington influence firm founded by President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager and another specialized in digging up dirt on U.S. politicians, signaling it wants to challenge Saudi Arabia’s massive lobbying efforts in America’s capital amid a diplomatic dispute among Arab nations.

The Gulf rift already has seen slogan-plastered taxicabs in London, television attack ads in the U.S. and competing messages flooding the internet and state-linked media on both sides since the crisis began June 5.

Hiring a firm associated with former Trump aide Corey Lewandowski shows Qatar wants access to a White House with close ties to Saudi Arabia.

But matching Saudi Arabia, which scored a diplomatic coup by hosting Trump’s first overseas trip, could be a tough battle for Qatar even if it does boast the world’s highest per-capita income due to its natural gas deposits.

“The Qataris are belatedly working up to the scale of the challenge they face,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University who lives in Seattle. “This whole crisis, now that it’s kind of settled down into a prolonged confrontation or standoff, it’s become almost a struggle to win the hearts and minds in D.C.”

Qatar, in the midst of building stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, isn’t afraid to spend its money. Since the crisis began, Qatar paid $2.5 million to the law firm of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to audit its efforts at stopping terrorism funding, among the allegations levied by the Saudi-led nations.

According to documents newly filed to the U.S. Justice Department, Qatar has hired Avenue Strategies Global for $150,000 a month to “provide research, government relations and strategic consulting services.” The contract also says that activity “may include communications with members of Congress and Congressional staff, executive branch officials, the media and other individuals.”

Lewandowski founded Avenue Strategies just after the November election that put Trump in the White House. Lewandowski resigned from the firm in May, saying he was troubled by a firm-related project he hadn’t sanctioned. Others tied to Avenue Strategies had started a firm of their own, pitching Eastern European clients with promises of access to Trump and high-ranking White House officials.

The firm, which includes a former chief of staff to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Qatar also signed a three-month, $1.1 million renewable contract with the opposition research firm Information Management Services, according to a Justice Department filing .

The firm, run by Jeff Klueter, a former researcher for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, did not respond to requests for comment. It advertises itself as doing so-called “oppo,” which includes digging into political opponents’ past and comments for incriminating or simply embarrassing material.

Qatar did not respond to a request for comment about the lobbying contracts. But it may serve as recognition that while Qatar has had success in speaking with the State Department and the Pentagon, it needs to make inroads to the Trump White House, Ulrichsen said.

Despite hosting a major U.S. military base, Qatar has been a target of Trump over its alleged funding of extremists, something Doha denies. Saudi Arabia enjoys close relations to Trump, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

In Washington, Saudi Arabia spends millions of dollars on lobbying, including a most-recent push to oppose a law allowing Sept. 11 victims’ families to sue the ultraconservative Muslim nation in U.S. courts . Its lobbying firms have been putting out memos on Qatar.

Meanwhile, an organization called the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee launched an online campaign called the Qatar Insider highlighting material critical of Doha. The committee also paid $138,000 to air an anti-Qatar attack ad on a local Washington television station, according to the Qatar-funded satellite news network Al-Jazeera.

“Our aim is to show the American people that Qatar has been employing a foreign policy that harms its neighbors and contributes to regional instability,” said Reem Daffa, the executive director of the committee, known by the acronym SAPRAC.

But while Daffa said SAPRAC does no lobbying, it has registered as a lobbying firm with Congress and tweeted a Qatar attack ad at Trump . It also has not filed paperwork with the Justice Department despite the committee being listed as entirely owned by a Saudi national .

The Foreign Agents Registration Act, first put in place over concerns about Nazi propagandists operating in the U.S. ahead of World War II, requires those working on behalf of other countries or their citizens to file regular reports to the Justice Department.

There aren’t similar rules in Britain, though the crisis recently could be seen on the streets of London. Pro-Qatar ads appeared on the city’s famous black taxis, bearing the message: “Lift the Blockade Against the People of Qatar.” Al-Jazeera Arabic even did a story about them.

But whether any of it will sway policy makers remains unclear.

“The prevailing view is that there are no perfect allies,” recently wrote Steven A. Cook, a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations. “So whatever money the Gulf countries are spending in Washington, they should know it is not very well spent.”