Vladimir Putin is merely posing as a lieutenant colonel.
The Russian president also oversaw war crimes in Chechnya and helped frame a prosecutor-general to derail a probe into massive Kremlin corruption.
These are some of the claims made by Oleg Kalugin, a former high-ranking KGB officer and fierce critic of Putin in an interview with RFE/RL.
According to Kalugin, Putin was "just a major" in the KGB, which he resigned from in 1991. "He could have become a lieutenant colonel a year later but he didn't," he tells RFE/RL.
Kalugin, who lives in the United States and has been sentenced by Russia to 15 years in prison for treason, says Putin's 1998 appointment as director of the KGB's main successor agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), actually violated guidelines stipulating that only a general can hold this post.
He also confirms speculation that the FSB was behind a sex-tape scandal that ended the career of Yury Skuratov, Russia's combative prosecutor-general in the late 1990s.
[DAWN] HAD there been any hesitation in recognising that the constitutionally empowered military courts system hastily set up in the wake of December's Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. school massacre is one that is abhorrent and in violation of the most basic principles of justice, then the revelation that six accused have been sentenced to death and a seventh sentenced to life imprisonment should extinguish even that vestige of doubt. That's what happens when judges and prosecutors and sometimes defense attorneys are subject to threats...
Consider first the form as announced over the DG ISPR's Twitter account -- "#Mil Courts: Army Chief confirms death sentence of 6 hard core murderous Moslems tried by the recently established mil courts."
There is surely something terribly wrong with a judicial system in which the first time the public learns about death sentences for six individuals is via a press officer of a non-judicial head of a military institution. Are judges no longer allowed to speak via their judgements in even the most solemn of cases?
There are then the substantive issues. Who are these men? What crimes have they been accused of and now convicted for? What evidence was presented? What kind of legal representation was available to the accused? And what is the appeals process that is available to the convicted men?
All that is known, via an ISPR blurb, is that "In view of the nature and gravity of offences preferred against each, 6 murderous Moslems have been awarded death sentences and one life imprisonment by the military courts".
Even that vague offering has a serious flaw. How were six of the accused deemed deserving of death, but one given life imprisonment for the same category of crimes?
From a sceptical point of view, could it be that one of the first batch of convicts was 'only' sentenced to life imprisonment to try and dispel the notion that the new military courts are little more than execution chambers?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] AS the MQM continues to suffer from death by a thousand cuts, many reasonable voices are offering sane advice to the party to save it from itself.
Two recurrent themes are discernible: separate the party from its top leadership (read Altaf Hussain ...think of the head of the Barzini clan, only in Urdu... ); and secondly, weed out the criminal elements from its ranks so it functions like a political party.
The idea that Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... might replace Altaf Hussain has been floated, but this overlooks the fact that the ex-general would never agree to lead an urban, 'ethnic' party. His large ego would never fit this role, and he still nurses national aspirations. Also, why would the MQM accept him?
To his supporters, Altaf Hussain is the MQM, and his removal from the scene, one way or another, would see the party splinter. In all his years as the MQM supremo, he has never allowed a second-tier leadership to emerge. Critics point to the list of senior party officials who have met untimely, violent deaths.
Although he recently named three possible successors, a party front man swiftly clarified that Altaf Hussain had actually referred to them as 'senior members' of the party. Clearly, a designated successor would be the target of much envy and possible violence.
Then there is the suggestion to somehow wean the party away from its alleged holy warrior wing. People who don't know Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... or the MQM have no idea how closely politics, money and crime are interwoven. When it was founded in 1984 as a successor to the student party APMSO, it was as a secular, ethnic party. However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... following Mohajir-Pakhtun violence after an accident in which a Mohajir girl was killed by a bus driven by a Pakhtun driver, the party's reputation for using strong-arm tactics was established.
Mohajirs responded to the young Altaf Hussain in large numbers as he affirmed Mohajir pride and dignity. Gen Zia spotted an opportunity to use this new group to cut the PPP down to size, and allegedly helped the party establish itself. The Zia period also saw Pakhtuns, Punjabis and Sindhis form 'ethnic' parties, while established parties acquired holy warrior wings.
Although it became a political player, the MQM's city-wide 'sector' system was pivotal to its hold over the metropolis. I lived in Karachi through most of the MQM's first two decades, and witnessed its grip tighten. Young followers swaggered around, demanding protection money and 'donations' for the party.
Nothing changed when Altaf Hussain, claiming his life was in danger, fled to London to become a British citizen. His network reported directly to him though trusted intermediaries, bypassing the Rabita Committee.
One thing the party leadership has learned over the years is that to be a player at the national level, it has to have seats in the National Assembly. But while it has a lock on most urban Sindh constituencies, it has largely failed in its efforts to win support elsewhere.
However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... these seats -- usually around 20 -- have allowed it to be a junior partner in coalition governments through much of the 1990s till the 2013 elections when the PML-N won a near outright majority and no longer needed the MQM. Suddenly, with no leverage at the centre, the MQM has become vulnerable to the kind of operation we saw recently at Nine Zero, its party headquarters.
Throughout its years as a junior partner in government when it enjoyed the perks of power, it continued to behave like an opposition party. So nobody really trusts the MQM: ever since it stabbed the PPP in the back with a no-confidence motion in 1989 when the two were in coalition, it has been viewed as an unreliable partner. The party leader's erratic behaviour has not helped.
In order to be sure of its parliamentary seats, it has resorted to many questionable means in every election. One common technique is to reportedly gather the ID cards of its supporters in each sector, and vote in their names. But to get this level of compliance takes muscle, and the MQM has never been reluctant to use it.
The suggestion that somehow, magically, the party's political wing can be separated from the criminal elements is to ignore reality. As a party of lower-middle class urban dwellers, it has no access to funds except from the cash that its workers allegedly obtain from shaking down businessmen. In short, it cannot exist without bhatta.
None of this is intended to suggest that Altaf Hussain is a spent force. He still commands the fanatical loyalty of a core group of committed supporters. For them, he has given Mohajirs a sense of dignity, and has enriched thousands of youths who earlier had no prospects.
So whenever Altaf Hussain leaves the scene, the fallout for Karachi will be violent, with area commanders fighting it out for control.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A WAR-TORN world heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday night after success was declared at the Iran nuclear talks in Lausanne, Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... . Months of tortuous negotiations have ended for now, while a fuller agreement is to be finalised by the end of June. This is huge cause for celebration -- peace has been given a chance.
But there is gloom in the capitals of Washington's two closest allies -- Israel and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... . They would much rather have seen Iran bombed, and now this is only a remote possibility. Worried at the possibility of an Iran-US rapprochement, and claiming that Iran will cheat along its nuclear path, both had strongly denounced the talks. But the United States, still licking its wounds after its Iraq debacle, is in no mood to start another war.
US-Israeli relations are unusually frosty these days. Last month's address to the US Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a calculated insult to President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... . Manipulating the deep divide within American domestic politics, and backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee together with other powerful Jewish groups, he brazenly called for obstructing US policy. To Obama's chagrin, Netanyahu's anti-Iran rant received thunderous applause with several Democrats joining in. Then, last Sunday, denouncing the talks yet again, Netanyahu told his cabinet, "The Iran-Lausanne-Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... axis is very dangerous to humanity, and must be stopped."
Anti-Obama forces in the US teamed up with their Israeli counterparts to obstruct a deal. On March 24, the head of the Senate Armed Forces Committee and a former presidential candidate, Senator John Maverick McCain ... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution... , suggested that Israel "go rogue" -- meaning it should bomb Iran without US support. Else, he said, Israel's security would remain threatened for the remaining 22 months of the Obama presidency. Earlier, 47 Republican senators sent a letter to the Iranian leadership that the nuclear agreement will not outlast President B.O..
Saudi Arabia, for its own reasons, is even more gung-ho. While expressing token opposition to Israel's stash of nuclear weapons, it has long concentrated its fire on Iran's nuclear programme. Thanks to WikiLeaks, it is now well known that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had repeatedly urged the US to destroy Iran's nuclear programme and launch military strikes to "cut off the head of the snake". In 2011, the influential former head of Saudi intelligence and ambassador in London and Washington, Prince Turki bin Faisal, described Iran as a "paper tiger with steel claws", which used these claws for meddling and destabilising efforts in countries with Shia minorities. Saudi Arabia has reportedly given tacit assent to overflights by Israeli bombers en route to the Persian Gulf.
And what of Pakistain? A former supplier of centrifuges to Iran via the covert A.Q. Khan network, and formerly its friendly neighbour, it has maintained a studious silence. For long a Saudi client state, Pakistain is now rushing to defend Saudi interests in Yemen, implausibly claiming that Saudi Arabia's territorial integrity is threatened by Yemen's impoverished Houthis. Which side Pakistain would have taken if the nuclear talks had failed, and if Iran had been attacked, is not in doubt.
While the Israeli-Saudi cause has received a terrific setback, a determined campaign to derail the agreement may well have just begun. At the core, Iran and the United States have widely divergent interests. Therefore many fears and fault lines are just waiting to be exploited.
Here's the problem: Iran currently does not have an active programme to convert its fissile material into bombs. But it does want a capacity to make nuclear weapons as insurance against an American (or Israeli) effort at regime change. It cannot forget that a 1953 CIA coup had removed Mohammed Mossadegh and installed Reza Shah Pahlavi as head of state. Also, as an ideological state, Iran seeks to extend its influence beyond its borders. So if it could become a nuclear state, its punch and prestige would increase dramatically.
The world, in fact, has long suspected that, contrary to official denials, the Iranian programme had a bomb component. In 1998, Iran was delighted by Pakistain's successful nuclear tests. Just five days later, foreign minister Kamal Kharazi arrived in Islamabad to congratulate Pakistain. Iran had hoped at that time to benefit from Pakistain's expertise and eventually purchased the Chinese nuclear weapon design from the A.Q. Khan network. From the economic point of view, moreover, Iran's massive investment in nuclear infrastructure makes no economic sense.
The United States interests are diametrically opposite. It is Iranophobic and will strain every muscle to prevent Iran from ever getting a nuclear weapon. It realises, however, that eliminating the Iranian nuclear programme is impossible. Therefore, its immediate objective is reducing Iran's 'break-out' capacity to at least one year. So, if someday Iran tries to race for a bomb, the US wants enough time to detect and destroy it.
At Lausanne the US got some of what it wanted. Iran agreed to increased access by the IAEA to its nuclear facilities; no enrichment beyond that needed for nuclear power production; sharply reduced stockpiling of fissile material stockpiles; far fewer centrifuges; reconstruction of the Arak reactor (so that it cannot produce weapons-grade plutonium); and close monitoring of weapons-related issues. If implemented, these will drastically curtail Iran's ability for a break-out. In exchange Iran got some of what it wants: sanctions relief from the US and EU, a transparent procurement channel for its civilian nuclear development, and international cooperation to help Iran in R&D.
The triumph of Iranian pragmatism has left Israel and Saudi Arabia deeply dismayed. Their diplomats and lobbyists will now be assigned the task of destroying the Lausanne agreement. They must so wish the easily discreditable firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... , Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad, rather than the moderate Hassan Rouhani, was their adversary. But now Iran may well be on its way towards ending its international isolation. Could this also lead to a more normal, and less interventionist, Iran? My Iranian physicist friends across the border tell me that they are delighted at the agreement for this reason more than any other.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Refresh my memory which one of whatshisname's spin doctors wrote this pile of crap.
Huge cause for celebration? Where? Teheran?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/04/2015 0:31 Comments ||
Top||
#2
In the neighborhood, Bill---Pakistan.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/04/2015 2:17 Comments ||
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such a big country, so few grown-ups
If one more person asks me how I would like it if an Indiana business refused to serve me because I'm black, I'm going to lose what's left of my mind
#2
It has the vibe of someone with local demi fame fed up with her social interactions, no not being disparaging. On the contrary, as someone who was stereotyped by (former) associates, I get it, and it is frustrating.
I grew up There, hell even played 4-square with some, eventually moved Here, and after about only a year, I became the Other to them though I was still the same person (on observation of others, a year is not long enough to lose Core Behavior and Belief).
I can tell you how the air smelled that morning - shitty beer and football. Dude tried to convince me that suicide bombers were on the correct. I lost it, or perhaps more correctly, found it.
See, the problem the fraggles have is they are not a pack, they are a herd. Breaking the herd trot allows a hierarchy play of who has the stuff to shame the runaway.
But its really like this: ever drive by a feed lot, and there is a big pile of shit and on top of it is a steer, usually with a few around the mound? It really had not much to do with me or my opinion, but an opportunity to be the steer on the top of the pile. It was quite embarassing to watch. It was the day I discovered my shit eating grin.
#3
Gay friends, just don’t buy pizza from a pizzeria that doesn’t want to cater your event. Black friends, just don’t buy wedding cakes from a bakery that doesn’t think you should be marrying that white person you fell in love with. Put away your wallet, write a nasty review on Yelp and holler “Bye, Felicia!” as you walk out the door to patronize a more accepting (and probably more successful) enterprise.
Well, that's the problem. When you're such a small demographic in the overall population, it has little or no effect. So, you hire the SJW pols and media to corrupt the marketplace, to rig the game, to punish which are tools available in an oligarchy or autocracy or dictatorship. In other words, you become just as corrupt and intolerant as anything you denounce. It comes down to the imposition of power not justice, not fairness, not civility. In searching for perfection you only corrupt yourself and fail just a miserably has those you claim to detest.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Pervez 
John 
