Saturday, May 02, 2009

Iran and Venezuela, sitting in a tree.....

Iraq Better, Pakistan Worse, Iran the Most Active Terror Sponsor, Report Says
Friday, May 01, 2009
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

(CNSNews.com) - Along with a drop in terror attacks worldwide – significantly so in the case of Iraq – 2008 saw a dramatic rise in attacks in Pakistan and deterioration in Afghanistan, while Iran continued to facilitate terror. India was among countries hardest hit, and the situation in Yemen and Venezuela remained worrisome, according to a new State Department report.

Al-Qaeda and related networks, while losing ground, continued to pose “the greatest terrorist threat to the United States and its partners in 2008,” the annual report on terrorism said.

Overall, the number of terror attacks recorded around the world declined during 2008 by 20 percent, with 30 percent fewer fatalities, Russell Travers of the National Counterterrorism Center told a press briefing on the report’s release Thursday.

As it has for well over a decade, Iran continues to top the list of state sponsors of terrorism, where it has been since 1984.

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“Iran has long employed terrorism to advance its key national security and foreign policy interests, which include regime survival, regional dominance, opposition to Arab-Israeli peace, and countering western influence, particularly in the Middle East,” the report said.

It cited Tehran’s support for the Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah in Lebanon, militant Shia groups in Iraq, and select Taliban members in Afghanistan. Iran’s main tool for cultivating and sponsoring terrorism abroad, it said, was the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qods Force.

The Qods Force’s involvement in Iraq included the provision of “lethal support, including weapons, training, funding, and guidance, to Iraqi militant groups that targeted coalition and Iraqi forces and killed innocent Iraqi civilians.”

Among other things, Iran supplied insurgents with especially lethal improvised explosive devices (IEDs), designed to overcome armored vehicle protection. The Qods Force, along with Hezbollah in Lebanon, also provided weapons training inside and outside Iraq for insurgents, the report said.

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Pakistan brought less promising news, however. Travers reported 1,839 incidents, which killed 2,293 people in Pakistan in 2008, a jump from 890 incidents in 2007 that cost 1,340 lives.

Pakistan was both a major target of terrorism last year and a terrorist safe haven. The report said al-Qaeda and allies had moved into “the remote areas of the Pakistani frontier, where they have used this terrain as a safe haven to hide, train terrorists, communicate with the followers, plot attacks and send fighters to support the insurgency in Afghanistan.”

The report said the Pakistan government’s authority in the areas near the border with Afghanistan continued to be challenged.

It identified the Taliban umbrella group, Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP), active in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas, as “the most public signal of broad local militant coordination aimed at attacking Pakistani security forces.”

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Another government identified as uncooperative in counter-terror efforts was that of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The report noted Chavez’ “ideological sympathy” for Colombia’s FARC rebels and said his government had not systematically policed its border with Colombia to prevent the movement of armed terrorists or to interdict weapons or narcotics.

It also highlighted concerns about Hezbollah activity in Venezuela, noting the U.S. Treasury Department’s designation in June of a Venezuelan diplomat and a travel agency owner as Venezuelan Hezbollah supporters.

The report said passengers on weekly flights connecting Caracas with Tehran and Damascus “were reportedly subject to only cursory immigration and customs controls” on arrival in Venezuela.

“Venezuelan citizenship, identity, and travel documents remained easy to obtain, making Venezuela a potentially attractive way station for terrorists.”

In May 2008, Venezuela was re-certified as a country “not cooperating fully” with American antiterrorism efforts under U.S. arms export legislation



On the topic of Venezuela,

Does any of that come to the mind of Obama's administration? Apparently not, according to Hillary Clinton,

"We buy a lot of their oil,"
"Let's see if we can begin to turn that relationship."
After witnessing Obama's obviously entertaining (to them) powwow, Venezuela's escalating domestic repression, harboring of Hezbollah and building relationship with Iran, was not a deal breaker either.

And now, Iran and Venezuela have brokered a deal to make Venezuela even more dangerous:

Iran Stresses Aid to Venezuelan Army

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar Thursday underlined Tehran's all-out efforts to help Venezuela promote its defense capabilities and bolster its power of deterrence through bilateral Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) on military cooperation.

Speaking in a meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during his three-day visit to Caracas, Najjar presented a report on the process of defense cooperation between the two countries.

He also conveyed the best regards of the Iranian nation and government to the president and people of Venezuela.

Chavez, for his part, referred to the goals and ideals of the Bolivarian Revolution, and said, "The Bolivarian and the Islamic Revolutions have a lot in common and these commonalities have consolidated the two countries' bonds."

Stressing that Iran has a special place in Venezuela's foreign policy, Chavez referred to the two countries' armies, and underlined that armed forces of the two countries should be reinforced in a bid to help strengthen sustainable security.

The Iranian defense minister, heading a high-ranking military delegation, arrived in Caracas on Monday to promote ties between Iran and Venezuela.


Guess Obama will file that one away too.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Consider the following in light of this thread:

Defence: Turkey and Germany to Sign Strategic Agreement(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 24 — A German delegation is set to participate in an international defense fair next week, Anatolia news agency reports today quoting a statement from the German Embassy in Ankara. The delegation headed by German Defense Ministry Undersecretary Thomas Kossendey is set to arrive in Turkey for the IDEF-2009, which will take place in Istanbul. On the sidelines of the fair, Turkish and German defense officials are expected to sign a cooperation agreement, which is seen as groundwork to set out “a strategic partnership” between the two countries. (ANSAmed).

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Defence: Lockheed Signs Contracts With 3 Turkish Companies*************

Turkish Regime Courts Another Anti-American RadicalHaving developed good relations with Iran, which are expanding steadily on the economic front despite international sanctions; backing Hamas and Hizballah, and doing a joint military exercise with Syria (albeit small in scale) the Turkish regime is now playing host to Moqtada al-Sadr, whose forces repeatedly attacked U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Even though he holds no official post and is a client of Iran and Syria, Sadr held personal meetings with Turkey’s prime minister and president. This is another of many steps showing the Ankara regime’s moves closer to the Iran-led alliance.

In last months’ local elections, the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) suffered some setback but remained the most popular party by a large margin. The opposition remains deeply divided and largely ineffective.

Having been honored by a special visit by President Barack Obama and warmly praised, one might think that the regime—if Obama’s style of diplomacy was going to work in such situations—would have refrained from inviting a stridently anti-American militia leader a few weeks later. One more piece of evidence showing the administration that it might be taking a wrong approach to regional powers.

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 30 — When the Turkish Defense Ministry made the decision to introduce Lockheed Martin’s new F-35 Lightning II onto its list of next-generation fighter jets, Turkey set the goal of increasing its domestic input in the production of these new jets to 50% of the total project. The target amounts to about $5.5 billion in domestic contracts and has resulted in a number of Turkish companies vying to ensure that they will have their share of the billions that will be flowing. On Tuesday, as Today’s Zaman reports, Lockheed Martin signed contracts with three Turkish companies — Alp Aviation, ASELSAN and Kale Aero — during a formal signing ceremony at the 9th International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF’09). Kale Aero won the contract as supplier of machined parts for the forward fuselage and wings of the F-35, having provided parts for the very first test aircraft. As an emerging partner and strategic supplier of mission systems avionics technology, ASELSAN will produce optics for the electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) of the F-35 Lightning II. Alp Aviation won a competitive contract with Lockheed Martin to provide machined parts associated with the forward fuselage. (ANSAmed).

Christine said...

These countries are making deals with the devil. When we have WWIII, which alliances will be broken and which will be our enemy?

Travis, Family Resources (is a link) said...

From my view of these events, (Obama is playing the role of wolf in sheep skin, or patsy for those controlling US policy) I have concluded that if a nation has the backing of the corporally controlled UN, it is called a "Liberator" when it hijacks a country, via military action in order for the corporatism to incorporate the countries resources.

But when a group of the peoples form groups to stave off, or fight to retain their countries resources, these are deemed "Terrorists" by the corporately controlled medias.

From my perspective Great Brittan, Is-Ra-El, The US and other so called "Democracies" have been hijacked, thus countries such as Venezuela, Iran, China and Russia, have and will exercise their right to defend themselves from corporate take over.

I believe what the seer of The Book of Revelation saw was these countries forming an alliance to liberate the peoples from the democracies that have been under the control of the aristocracy for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Who, or what is this aristocracy? Many speculate that they are the Illuminati from The Book of Enoch, the Freemasons from the time of Salomon and the like. But is it possible that they, this "Family", or social memory complex that calls itself "Lucifer" are the testers of our resolve found in The Book of Job, The Law of One, The Apocrypha and many other sources?

It appears that the truth is often more difficult to reckon than the many illusions fed to us by corporate medias.

Namasté,

Travis, from Family Resources