Export credits, drugs and international weapons, “wheeling and dealing" in Georgia and Azerbaijan `
The real breaking news is already know, and it has nothing to do with petty traders and the latest headlines, “Alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout whisked to America Viktor Bout, a former Russian Air Force officer accused of being one of the world's biggest illicit arms traffickers, was handed over to the US by Thai officials. It is more likely at attempt at damage control and to keep under wraps the extent of the involvement of various US government agencies and friendly governments in the tangle network of arms trafficking – and arms for drug swaps that make the wheeling of dealing of Lt. Col Oliver North and Iran-Contra look like small potatoes in comparison. We must not forget the nexus to another friend of America and those hounds that run with the likes of KBR and other defense contractors, as North had a very close relationship with Noriega, and the same mechanism works today in Georgia and Azerbaijan.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110706/165056469.html Russian Information Agency Novosti
July 6, 2011 Azeri cargo plane with 9 crew crashes in Afghanistan Baku: Fragments of a crashed Azerbaijani cargo plane were found on Wednesday to the north of Kabul, the Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Administration said. The Soviet-designed Ilyushin Il-76, which Afghan television said was carrying fuel intended for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), an international U.S.-led coalition fighting the Taliban, crashed late on Tuesday while preparing for landing at the airport of the northern Afghan town of Bagram. The plane, operated by Azerbaijan's Silk Way Airlines, with 9 crew members on board, ripped into many pieces after crashing. Investigators believe the aircraft collided with an unspecified object, probably a mountain [or loaded]. The plane took off from the Geidat Aliyev Airport in Baku at 9:26 p.m. local time (16:26 GMT) on Tuesday, the Azerbaijani aviation agency said. At around 21:10 GMT, it disappeared from radars, the report said, adding that its crew had not sent any warning signals. The plane fragments were found some 50 kilometers to the north of Kabul, in the Parwan Province. The crashed Il-76 plane was produced in 2005, with the latest inspections carried out in June. Planes of this kind are capable of carrying up to 40 tons of cargo. Export credits, drugs and international weapons “wheeling and dealing”, not Victor Bout
The real breaking news is already know, and it has nothing to do with petty traders and the latest headlines, “Alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout whisked to America Viktor Bout, a former Russian Air Force officer accused of being one of the world's biggest illicit arms traffickers, was handed over to the US by Thai officials earlier this. It is more likely at attempt at damage control and to keep under wraps the extent of the involvement of various US government agencies and friendly governments in the tangle network of arms trafficking – and arms for drug swaps that make the wheeling of dealing of Lt. Col Oliver North and Iran-Contra look like small potatoes in comparison.
We must not forget the nexus to another friend of America, and those hounds that run with the likes of KBR and other defense contractors, as North had a very close relationship with Noriega. The same can be said of the US Ambassador to Georgia, John Bass, and his connections – prior and current to KBR and US Vice President Dick Chaney, and then Mathew Bryza, US Ambassador that was appointed under dodgy circumstances to the top post in Azerbiajan during a recess, not subject to normal confirmation, that is another rabbit to chase.
However, looking at the bigger picture of things, a turn of a shovel on the Internet put today’s extradition of Viktor Bout, the poster child weapons trafficker in proper perspective. North emerged as the central figure in the infamous Iran-contra affair. Under a grant of immunity he testified before Congress in July, 1987. He was convicted (1989) on criminal charges arising from the affair, but his conviction was later reversed on the grounds that immunized testimony had been used at his trial. It is definately necessary to know a bit of such history in order to see the big picture of US speical operations, and logistical support, both on and off the books.
In 1994, North was the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Virginia, but he lost the election. Since 1995 he has hosted radio and television programs. North has written Mission Compromised (2002), a semiautobiographical novel of Washington intrigue. It makes you wonder what lies ahead for Viktor Bout and if he has so many friends in such high places. Victor might even end up as a delegate to the UN. The real Merchants of Death are those that are the closest of friends, NATO, US and the UK, and why are we not hearing about them in the news. Take for information what was being said just a few years ago, BAe uses export import credits and moves to DC. The EXIM Bank of White House vicinity fame is like giving fire to a pyromaniac!
How much of the British arms race and British Aerospace [BAE] military global is made possible through the Exim Bank loans? THE GUARDIAN newspaper of London has written much on the export certification and bank loan scandals they have had the misfortune of bringing heaps of attention upon themselves. BAE is now more a presence near the Pentagon in the weapons loop around Washington DC than a member of the Airbus Consortium of Europe!
US EXPORT-IMPORT BANK (EXIM) and Georgian Scams, Rest of the Story
To read the press releases, as in Georgian Journal and government website, it would seem that the US is helping Georgia go green and improve trade relations, which may be the same stuff that globalization is made of – but that not be the case, albeit better crafted and more responsible PR.
The US and Georgian have signed yet another memorandum of understanding on November 5, 2010 which “implies” – and an article in Georgian Journal, November 11-17 issue states.
However, one only needs to read a bit between the lines, aside from the Georgian English to understand that this is but a Red Herring for something much bigger and much more insidious – especially considering the track record on the International level and the US Export-Import banks connections to Merchants of Death. There is little if any proof based on the claims being made in the press, and the intentional dearth of information on its official website of the media claims of will make loans “collaborate” in the4 spheres of green technologies, tourism, health care, and agriculture.
Does the Georgian media and US government really think people are so naïve to take that story line – hook, line and sinker? One only needs to do a bit of research into the Bank’s sorted history:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) and Georgia back in the late 90’s provided a Project Incentive Agreement (PIA) laying the foundation for financing of U.S. exports to the former Soviet republic. Ex-Im Bank also agreed to finance the $15.6 million sale by Northrop Grumman Corp., Baltimore, MD of an air traffic control system to Georgia. This first transaction under the PIA will support U.S. jobs at Northrop Grumman and its sub-suppliers in Massachusetts, New York and Texas. It is Ex-Im Bank`s first transaction in Georgia.
Harmon hailed the innovative financing arrangements of the Northrop Grumman transaction. An Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed loan by Citicorp, New York, NY, will be repaid from revenues Georgia receives from international aircraft crossing its air space. The revenues will be deposited in an account with the International Air Transport Association in Switzerland, from which repayments will be made. James S. Cox, Director, Project and Trade Finance, Northrop Grumman, said: "Northrop Grumman is particularly pleased to see our joint efforts with Ex-Im Bank culminate in the opportunity to provide this state-of-the-art country-wide air traffic control system to Georgia. We are delighted to be involved in a transaction that will help sustain high quality U.S. jobs."
Was any of this money ever repaid and how was it used? Northrop Grumman was to have provided Georgia with radars, an airspace management system that provides radar and flight data processing, microwave communications, generators and uninterruptable power supplies. Ex-Im Bank is an independent government agency that promotes and finances the sale of U.S. goods and services around the world.”
Here's how it really works and the major players---- the infamous Exim Bank, Export Import Bank, gets to make loans that the World Bank and IMF only dream about, “and no structural adjustment or strings attached, only do as you are told as a conduit for illegal arms and other instruments of US foreign policy. It is not hard to connect the dots, and that’s why most of these loans are hidden and concern themselves with global weapons, including software for space and satellite warfare, and not just jets for banana republic’s to buy from us and destroy their next door neighbors, or breakaway regions!
It will blow your mind ... and also your bank account! FFB --- Federal Finance Bank, the real funding agency set up as part of a larger shell game that not even the best of bean counters can keep up with, which was created by Richard Nixon in 1974 and is able to loan money to federal agencies without being held accountable to the public. It history is so sorted, and even the U.S. Post Office, when the FFB threatened to cut off the USPS from this trillions of dollars of fun money in our U.S. Treasury, and even the Post Office screamed "foul," and was deeply offended that they were no longer on the same tier of access to the trillions of dollars that are not even in the Congressional National Budget. The DoD, the Department of Defense [War], is not and never will be cut out of the FFB, Federal Finance Bank gravy train loop! So here we have the nexus to Georgia and a possible link to how the US government will support business. The timing of such news cannot be worst, as the US prints billions more to keep its own economy at float “beggar thy neighbor” style and conducting illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with plans for new wars in Iran and Pakistan.
It is wonder that the American people and US Treasury is being bilked out of most of its money holdings, even more than through extremely foolish and unwise selling of T-bonds to China in relation to bad Fannie Mae mortgage loans, [now being repurchased with question fresh green banks in the amount of 650 billion USD], is through contracts and loans via DoD, Pentagon and military & federal "contractors".
However, the official story line, as repeated by US support think tanks and 4-hire Russian baiting journalists claim that projects will be such as green loans, “Georgia, U.S. Export-Import Bank in Talks on $200 Million Green Car Plan”. Georgia is in talks with the US EXPORT IMPORT BANK on plans to spend as much as $200 million on electric and hybrid cars in a bid to create the first “green government” among the former Soviet republics. The government plans to buy about 4,000 cars in the next three to four years from producers such as General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., said the Georgian Economy Minister, Vera Kobalia. Well, YES, well yes if it is carried out under the direction of the Department of Defense [DOD] through the Federal Finance Bank [FFB], and a lot of it through loans to buy our weapons hardware and software over in foreign countries with GIANT loans handed out like regime savers by our Export Import Bank [Exim] to them, so they can afford our death-delivery manufactured goods, and these loans are guaranteed by our FFB and there is ABSOLUTELY NO ACCOUNTABILITY!!! And then you wonder why some people with little if any education and cannot even speak their own language on a high level are being placed in high positions in the Georgian government. Meanwhile, American taxpayers are being ROBBED BLIND, Georgians being forced to flee their own country out of fear or inability to survive. A major exponent of EXIM deals in Europe is the consultancy agency, MCKINSEY COMPANY [much like Goldman Sachs but about power more than money], which close CIA and DOD connection in Azerbaijan and other countries, especially Afghanistan. Aircraft, aerospace, satellites, telecommunications and its infrastructure, weapons, nuclear power plants, hydroelectric dams, jet fuel production [especially the world king of high quality hi speed jet fuel for aerospace and commercial jet planes, NIGERIA, the king of kings of jet fuel], aluminum processing complexes, etc., are the domain of Exim loans. How CBOs [Certificates of Beneficial Ownership] play a role in this dreadful sacrifice of our national treasury: [1982], and that is yet another can of worms to open up [to be continued]. http://ftp.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/53xx/doc5329/doc01b-Entire.pdf "Financing--To finance its purchases of agency debt and loan assets and its direct loans to guaranteed borrowers, the FFB may either sell its own securities directly to the public or it may borrow from the Treasury. Although, according to the bank's charter, the FFB may borrow only $15 billion from the public at any time, it may, with the Secretary's approval, borrow without limits from the Treasury. Originally, it was thought that the FFB would borrow from the Treasury on an interim basis, repaying these borrowings periodically through the sale of its own securities in the market. It was assumed that the bank's securities would pay the same low interest rates paid by the Treasury on its own obligations." Consider the following two examples. The Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) has the authority to borrow to finance direct loans to promote exports of American goods. Eximbank may borrow from the FFB, by selling a bond to it, and then use the funds to make a direct loan to the national airline of a foreign country to assist it to buy a U.S.-built commercial jetliner. The loan from the FFB to Eximbank is treated as a means of financing, and has no effects on the unified budget. The direct loan by Eximbank to the foreign airline, however, is recorded as an outlay in the Eximbank budget and in the unified budget totals. Contrast that transaction to the following one. The Department of Defense issues a guarantee to the same foreign government for a loan to finance the purchase by that nation's armed forces of U.S.-made military equipment. The loan is financed by the FFB. In this case no outlays are recorded in the unified budget, although the transaction was initiated by the Defense Department." Since the FFB borrows all its funds from the Treasury, it has practically unlimited available funds. This has enabled the FFB to increase greatly the scope of its operations without having to seek Congressional approval for increases in borrowing authority. For example, at the end of fiscal year 1981, all but $10,000 of the FFB's total holdings of $107.3 billion of agency debt, loan assets, and direct loans to guaranteed borrowers had been financed by borrowing from the Treasury. This is over seven times what the FFB could have financed if it had been limited to its initial $15 billion of authority to borrow from the public." My, how the FFB-Exim Bank matrix has grown! Far back in 2001 the following was written: http://www.ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/economics/econ-114.pdf "When it was initially established, the Bank was capitalized by an appropriation of $1 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The Bank also is authorized to borrow up to $6 billion directly from the Treasury, and it may draw upon a substantial line of credit with the Federal Financing Bank (FFB). (The Federal Financing Bank is a part of the Department of the Treasury and obtains its funds from regular Treasury issues.) Eximbank uses its Treasury borrowings to finance its short-term needs, and repays the Treasury quarterly from loan repayments and by borrowing from the FFB on a medium- and long-term basis. The Bank’s authority to lend, guarantee, and insure is limited to a total of $75 billion. Eximbank’s direct loans are charged at their full value against the $75 billion limitation. When it was initially established, the Bank was capitalized by an appropriation of $1billion from the U.S. Treasury. The Bank also is authorized to borrow up to $6 billion directly from the Treasury, and it may draw upon a substantial [unlimited] line of credit with the Federal Financing Bank (FFB). (The Federal Financing Bank is a part of the Department of the Treasury and obtains its funds from regular Treasury issues.) "As part of its direct lending program, the Bank has a tied aid “war chest” it uses to counter specific projects that are receiving foreign officially subsidized export financing. Tied aid credits and mixed credits are two of the primary methods whereby governments provide their exporters with official assistance to promote exports. Tied aid credits include loans and grants which reduce financing costs below market rates for exporters and which are tied to the procurement of goods and services from the donor country. Mixed credits combine concessional government financing (funds at below market rates or terms) with commercial or near-commercial funds to produce an overall rate that is lower than market-based interest rates and carries more lenient loan terms. The United States does tie substantial amounts of its agricultural and military aid to U.S. goods, but it generally has avoided using such financing to promote American capital goods exports." How much of the British arms race and British Aerospace [BAE] military global trading focus is on this slush fund of FFB Bank goodies funneled through the Exim Bank loans? THE GUARDIAN newspaper of London has written much on the export certification and bank loan scandals they have had the misfortune of bringing heaps of attention upon themselves. BAE is now more a presence near the Pentagon in the weapons loop around Washington DC than a member of the Airbus Consortium of Europe! ] The Exim Bank and the FFB can drain our Treasury with no checks or balances and without virtually any public accountability, if they deem it necessary to do so. Of course, they have many methods of putting their inconsequential loans on the public record for their integrity to appear intact. The FFB Bank, aka Federal Finance Bank, is the best darned tool the Department of Defense could ever have wished for, it is like weapons of war paradise for the killer class! Good reading material, Becker & McClenahan, two experts on the Exim Bank, about the EXPORT IMPORT BANK 1934-2000, published by Cambridge Books in 2000. * 1938 -- ITT, International Telephone and Telegraph, became a big part of Exim Bank and got yet another $10 million loan to provide phone lines to nearly all the South American countries, since they [ITT] controlled all the knowhow at the time. ITT controlled and owned the phone lines and brain centers for North and South America at this time, as well as for half of Mexico, all of Romania, Shanghai, and many many others. * Exim Bank's role in WWII was massive and no one could have foretold such a development beforehand! This led to Exim Bank playing a major leading role in the MARSHALL PLAN for the Reconstruction of Europe. 