Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Bio Weapons, Bechtel National, Mountain of Cute Dead Bunnies Flying the Stars and Strips!!!

Bechtel National, Cute Dead Bunnies, and Bio Weapons Lab in Georgia

"But all of this is open source stuff and currently in line with known US policy. It's easy to argue that because Georgia is amok with chem-bio nasties makes it the ideal place to spend billions soaking up all those idle brains and empty labs and putting them to (good/bad) OUR use.  What's the proof, is it DoD?"

Please forgive the devil's advocate approach here but unless you've got a lab flying the stars and stripes next to a mountain of cute dead bunnies then this story will be hard to sell.  

Did you see the latest funny PR?

U.S.-Funded 100 mln Bio Lab Opens in Tbilisi

http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23257

"They say that the lab will not be used for bio weapons research". Now I am interesting in getting to know the rest of the story.

However, let's first review the history and a few questions to get started.

1) Dr Abdul Hassan, what became of him, former head of the As Salam Hospital in Pankisi?
2) How has the fall of Shevardnadze impacted Russian networks of influence in politics, business, and intelligence services
3) Bechel has a deal with Georigan Technology Management Company (TMC) on biological non--proliferation
  • Who are the researchers involved in this program?
  • What are their countries of orgins?
  • More about TMC (4 Liberty Square
Its relations with civilian and military structures (names, telephone numbers, locations and so on);
Its staff (how many, which kind of science backgrounds, relations with other research centres, in the US and UK, especially, etc);
Its connections to Plant Virus Lab near Batumi, and UK Ministry of Defense.

NB: Bechtel National, Georgian Technology Management Company (TMC) on bio non-proliferation
NB: Why even mention in the planted Georgian article that bio weapons research will not be carried out, especially if this was not the case and unless they wanted the people to believe otherwise.  Is live weapons grade bio ingredients available in Georgia?

One source wrote, I have a new investigation about bio weapons and have inside information - "biologiuri iaragi -  am sakitxs vidzieb ukve ramdenime welia da natelia , rom amerikis sheertebuli shtatebis mtavroba iyenebs saqartvelos biologiuri iaragis kvleva-ganvitarebisatvis. sakmaod saxifato situacia, iqidan gamomdinare, rom es shenoba da konteinerebi (biulogiuri komponentebis shesanaxi da dasamushavebeli), aris sheqmnili da ashenebuli turkebis mier da aris dzalian dabali xarisxis, rac safrtxes uqmnis mosaxleobas. aseve laboratoria iqna ashenebuli Kutaisshi da Batumshic."

More about the bio storage  - weapons labs, as already written:

Highlights -

Now may be a bad time as not that many people are looking, however, if the war effort in the Arab World and PR machine is slowed down, there may be no choice but to get nasty - anything is possible, even anthrax type attacks, and naturally one of the crazy Arabs that had a weapons program has a few petri dishes that got overlooked.  As you so well noted, to buld conter-agents you must first have the weaponized grade material or "infecting agent" which means that they have to predict or know what someone might use (so the storage vats they have in Georgia is important for this) and then the next step is to build a counter-agent. The quesiton is if the counter agent is already prepared and not it is just a matter of timing.

Subject: Re: Coincidence or not, bio lab and white rabbits.

Date: Monday, 18 October, 2010, 5:29

Yeah - but no one is going to put it in the middle of a city - the Soviets didn't even do that.


On 18 October 2010 13:24,
Can you tell me anyplace better - in your backyard - or in the US? The Georgians will do anything for money, and this would be a nice country without Georgians, at least for the US government.

One journalist was attacked for going and digging, from Europe, be careful, you are digging deeper than he was able to willing to go.

Projects
 

 

 

 

# Customer Name Work Description Location dates
1 GPC
124 Aghmashenebeli ave, Tbilisi
Trenching, electric cable installation Mandeeti,Saqasria 1999
2 GPC
124 Aghmashenebeli ave, Tbilisi
Drain systems and parking area arrangement Mandeeti 2000
3 GPC
124 Aghmashenebeli ave, Tbilisi
Concrete road construction Supsa terminal and marine base 2001
4 Tyco engineering services
2nd Prodolnaya Str, 2 Moscow ave, Baku, Azerbaijan
Cable trenching and concrete foundation preparation and column instillations Supsa 2004
5 Bechtel In Sys. Inc.
4, Freedom square Tbilisi,
Incinerator and generator installation for the epidemiology laboratory Kutaisi 2006
6 Bechtel In Sys. Inc.
4, Freedom square Tbilisi,
Sewer, gas and water line system installation outside CRL territory Tbilisi 2006
7 Bechtel In Sys. Inc.
4, Freedom square Tbilisi,
Temporary office building installation on CRL site Tbilisi 2006
8 Bechtel In Sys. Inc.
4, Freedom square Tbilisi,
CRL onsite gas and sewer line installation Tbilisi 2007
9 Bechtel In Sys. Inc.
4, Freedom square, Tbilisis
CRL bulk excavation Tbilisi 2007
10 Bechtel In Sys. Inc.
4, Freedom square, Tbilisis
Maintenance Services at the Central Reference Laboratory Site in Georgia Tbilisi ONGOING
11 Bechtel In Sys. Inc. 4 Freedom square, Tbilisi Renovation of Eliava BACTERIOFAG Institute Tbilisi 2008
12 Bechtel In Sys. Inc. 4, Freedom square, Tbilisi Construction of Transshipping Building at the Central Reference Laboratory in Georgia Tbilisi ONGOING
13 Bechtel in Sys. Inc. 4 Freedom square, Tbiliisi CRL Undergound Utilities Tbilisi ONGOING
14 Bechtel In Sys. Inc. 4, Freedom square, Tbilisi CRL Site Works Tbilisi

ONGOING

15 Bechtel In. Sys. Inc. 4, Freedom Square, Tbilisi. Procurement Services for BTRP project

Subject: Re: Still ongoing - and what did I tell you!!!
Date: Monday, 18 October, 2010, 5:20

What am I looking at?

All their current projects seem to be in Tbilisi - not the ideal place to produce any nasty weapons. They are prepared for bio-war; and even have the capacity to cremate bodies, one only needs to look into the history and the kind of work that Bechtel National is involved with.

"Global Service + Ltd. was founded in 1999 in Georgia. The company provides engineering, construction, design, installation, procurement&logistics, maintenance services, sanitary and hygienic services (disinfection,disinsection, pest control), tender documents preparation, follow-up and document control.

Global Service + deals with business, cultural and recreation trip arrangements, meet and greet services, conference and business meeting arrangements with interpret and publishing services, accommodation, sightseeing tours, wine degustation and gourmand tours, excursions to the protected areas and transportation services. Since its establishment it is involved in various international projects including Baku - Supsa and Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan pipelines and Biological Threat Reduction Program, along with the local projects. Global Service + is your best source and partner for construction, document and tourism services in Georgia

Sounds like a Command and Control Center to me.

Summary:

Bio weapons production in Georgia - plain and simple - there may be a connection to what is going on in Baku but hard to connect the dots.

It is necessary to chase down the subcontactors and get some human intel on what is global services and why are they doing so much digging in the area, and I think you will be able to connect all the dots. However, be careful as a person getting too close can be taken out.

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Monday, March 28, 2011

Tortured to Death in Georgian Prisons, Routine Event

Excellent Artcile - too bad the world turns a blind eye to such human rights violations

Tortured to Death in Georgian Prisons, Routine Event,

“Two more prisoners died this last week from torture”

By Sopho Gelashvili

Two prisoners died last week from torture in Tbilisi Georgia. Death of prisoners has become a routine event in the country’s penitentiary system. Georgian prisons have never experienced such a high incarceration rate; however, this problem is minor in comparison with the fact that the prisoners are being killed in the same facilities that have been brought in-line with so-called European standards.

Many NGOs and human rights defenders speak loudly about the alarming statistics of prison death but no reaction or resolution follows.

It is already obvious that many prisoners provide benefits for the Georgians Government; they are a source of revenue from prison industries and incarceration serves as a money-making racket for the government. Moreover, families of prisoners are ready to collect thousands of the votes to support the Government during elections in securing their relative’s release or more humane treatment. This is the reason that the law-enforcement agencies are keen to lock so many people up. They are so busy that there is often no space left in isolator cells of preliminary detention centers to accommodate new arrivals. The situation that exists in Georgian prisons is obvious but it is hard to understand why inmates are being killed at the hands of prison staff.  

Just last week, two young men who were tortured to death were buried. The death of one of them, 31-years-old Temur Petriashvili, was announced by Nugzar Nachkebia a former high ranking official, who himself had been persecuted because he didn’t agree with fabricated accusations against Bidzina Giorgobiani, the Head of the Forests Department at the time. Nachkebia preferred to go public about the prisoner’s death, even after family members of the deceased chose to remain silent.

Nugzar Nachkebia:

- My neighbor, Temur Nodari Petriashvili, born in 1980, who was serving his sentence in the 6th zone of Rustavi, was tortured to death on March 10. I have this information from his wife and mother. He was ill and was taking medicine. He had a conflict with a member of the prison administration and as a result he was taken out of the prison cell and beaten up cruelly and was taken somewhere. Later Temur Petriashvili was transferred to the Gldani Hospital. When contact was lost with the prisoner, his wife and sister began searching for him but couldn’t find him. One of the prisoners informed them about what happened and his current situation. Petriashvili’s mother, who went to Italy to earn a living, returned to Georgia and began searching for her son and found him clinging on to life (nearly dead). He lay in the Gldani Hospital for approximately 10 days and his family wasn’t even informed of his condition.

The parents of the dead are against divulging into these facts but they cannot hide this dreadful reality. They dare not even mention the name of the attorney in order to access related documents. SOD, KUD – they all run after us to keep from leaking the information or to keep anyone from taking a photo of the dead body.  Now a completely healthy 31-year old man lies in a coffin, leaving behind his wife and 12-year old daughter.

As mentioned above, this was not an isolated case. One of the leaders of “Common People Resistance Movement”, Irma Inashvili has spoken out publicly about another victim who also died from torture: 31-year old prisoner, Malkhaz Muzashvili.

Irma Inashvili:

- We have a video camera recording of Malkhaz Muzashvili’s dead body. He had very serious injuries all over his body: a broken a leg; the nose damaged, as well as his wrist and veins of his neck, all clear signs that he had been tortured. It is known from a person close to him that Muzashvili was transferred from the Ksani Colony to the 8th prison of Gldani where he was cruelly beaten up. He died after being admitted to the Khudadovi Hospital. The family members confirmed that Muzashvili had requested to meet with his family but the doctors at the hospital refused. The nurse which notified his mother about the condition of her son was immediately fired. We have information that 12 more prisoners were also cruelly beaten up, together with Muzashvili. Based on information provided from Muzashvili’s sister, three of these prisoners were treated at the Khudadov Hospital. We also have information that two more prisoners were tortured to death but unfortunately we still have not been able to identify them.

- What are these beatings connected to? Was Muzashvili imprisonment politically motivated?

- No, he had no contact with politics. This is a rhetorical question as to why prisoners are tortured? We asked the question, especially prisoners who are protected by all international conventions, what are the reasons for their torture? In real life the reason for being beaten and tortured may be because that the prisoner simply does not kiss the photo of Mikheil Saakashvili, or does not salute the jailer, etc.

- Are these the prison requirements?

- Yes, I have information from the prisoners that there are such requirements; very humiliating and abusive. They are beaten up cruelly when they do not obey; the most disobedient first go to the Khudadovi Hospital and the next stop is the cemetery.

- Is it known who has beaten him up?

- His family members told us that prison guards beat Muzashvili up.

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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Bio Weapons/Reference Lab in Tbilisi Georgia, Bechtel Secret Ops!!!

Bio Weapons or Bio Health Reference Lab in Tbilisi Georgia?

Joni Simonishvili, Tbilisi Georgia

Officially the Central Public Health Reference Laboratory in Tbilisi, Georgia, opened on 18 March 2011. With a price tag of 100 million USD, facility is designed to promote public and animal health through infectious disease detection and epidemiological surveillance. The facility was built by the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a part of the U.S. Department of Defense, and it has both Georgian and American staff. [1]http://civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23257

Despite its official designation, however, locals and other consider the impressive facility to be a bio-weapons lab that has been strategically located near the Tbilisi International Airport for quick deployments. The stakeholders in the lab are especially disturbing, and include the likes of Bechtel National and its various subcontractors. One only needs to look at who was selling a cocktail of poisonous chemicals to Iraq in the 1980s which were gas the Kurds. There have been some serious safety concerns in Georgia because of shoddy workmanship, and especially as the facility warehouses weapons grade bio materials – as in bio warfare. This information is based on a long-term investigation carried out by Georgian, American and European journalists. They have carefully research the history of Anthrax for Export – and how Bechtel and other US companies sold Iraq the ingredients for a witches brew (The Progressive, April 1998)
http://www.progressive.org/0901/anth0498.html)

Bechtel had another finger in the Iraqi pie during the 1980’s. They sought, without success as it turned out, to build an oil pipeline via Jordan to Aqaba, intended to carry a million barrels per day of Iraqi exports. The deal was to be financed through the US Exim Bank. The former Secretary Donald Rumsfield lobbied Saddam for permission while the White House pressured the Exim Bank. Details were given in a report from the Institute for Policy Studies, which “reveals that the diplomatic pressure from Rumsfeld and the Reagan administration happened during and despite Hussein’s use of chemical weapons. Behind the scenes, these officials worked for two years attempting to secure the billion dollar pipeline scheme for the Bechtel Corporation.”

As for Georgia, the IMMEDIATE threat is real. A female Turkish safety engineer was fired after it became obvious that leaks in welds in the stainless steel tubing (bio stew vats) had formed and the steel structure of the entire building had to be reworked. In response to this disaster waiting to happen,  a Bechtel hired a Bio-Maintenance Engineer to backstop the so-called Technology Management Company (a front, 4 Tavisuplebis Moedani), which was initially responsible for facilities to safety. His job description includes performing certification, preventive and corrective maintenance on laboratory equipment. All of this has been kept secret – including the hidden cost overruns. Why has all this information been concealed from the public and “real” public health experts in both Georgia and abroad?

The wider public may never know what was the actual price tag of what is a flimsy disguised bio weapons facility, and in a country that only performs rapid test on blood donations, why a reference lab – I doubt if one false negative or false positive will be checked and the workers don’t even know the difference between HIV and HHV-8.
It does appear that this lab is more a public health threat than anything funded to “promote public and animal health through infectious disease detection and epidemiological surveillance.” Such a statement of its intended “real purpose” is but carefully crafted PR in what can be best described as a flat out lie – and pulling the wool over the eyes of Georgian and American Taxpayers.
Why is the  Ministry of Defense responsible for this project and not the Ministry of Health, and why is the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta Georgia not involved in backstopping what would otherwise “appear” as a worthy project – especially to the naïve and uninformed .
  • What kind of lab is it really, and why has there been so much speculation about it?
  • It is located in a place called Alekseevka, an abandoned Soviet military base, today a suburb with a few thousand people living within a mile of the new building.
  • Locals protested against it in 2004, some fearing the risk of a leak, while others suspected that the new lab will produce biological weapons.
  • The leader of the Georgian Green party, Giorgi Gachechiladze, was one of the leaders of the demonstrations.
  • He argued strongly against building the lab, and pointed to all the secrecy and misinformation.
  • Both the American staff and the Georgian government have denied foreign journalist access to the new facility; they have given misleading information over the course of this investigation, so much so that it would be hard even to write the story they want to get across, or writing about it from a popular science perspective, without hard facts.
  • For instance, the Health Minister (who is formally responsible for the project) told that the new lab has nothing to do with non-proliferation, all the while in the old pathogen storage room there were big posters made by the United States' Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) explaining how the DTRA had secured the pathogens, preventing proliferation.
  • You can also find articles on the Internet which show that during the early stage of this project it was run by the U.S.  Department of Defense (DoD), whilst now it's under the control of the Georgian Ministry of Defense.
  • U.S. Senator Richard Lugar - a significant player in non-proliferation work - called it a storage lab for biological weapons in one of his US Senate trip reports after visiting Georgia.
  • The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a branch of the United States DoD, is a key stakeholder in the building and oversight of the project and similar facilities located in the Caucasus, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The stated aim is to rapidly detect disease outbreaks, whether accidental, natural or deliberate (terrorism).
  • The DTRA - better known as Nunn-Lugar - started out with dismantling weapons of mass destruction (WMB) capability in former Soviet countries, but it is now building up preparedness against outbreaks of disease, whether natural or as a consequence of terrorism.
  • The US has been striving to integrate the two areas. The new bio-shield is a countermeasure in the developmental stage, the details of which remain obscured.
Why in Georgia?

The new lab in Alekseevka, Tbilisi, will be housing a large collection of dangerous pathogens - a remnant of the so-called anti plague system from the Soviet years. It played an important part in the defense side of the biological weapons research, according to Raymond Zilinskas, a researcher at Center for Non-Proliferation Studies in Monterrey, California.

One reason for this is that Tbilisi once had one of the largest primate research facilities, used for testing pathogens. There was also a vaccine factory called "Biokombinat", which could be converted into weapons production in a matter of hours. That was dismantled by the American agency, but on the defense side the Tbilisi anti-plague station's large pathogen collection is still being kept alive and has recently been moved to the new biolab, whose official designation is a 'central reference laboratory' - a term familiar to health workers and microbiologists. However, that is not the case - a bio stew may be more appropriate to describe its function.

This term designates a laboratory which keeps alive samples of important viruses and bacteria which occur naturally in a particular area, so that doctors and health workers can compare a patient's blood sample with the pathogens already known. This type of lab forms an important part of the counter-measures against rapid outbreaks of disease, such as a global pandemic, and it is important to keep the lab with the live samples in close proximity to where they will be needed.

From the scientists who will be using the central reference lab, there are indications that there will also be some research done there. Non-proliferation experts would in that case want to know: what kind of research? If, for instance, the lab will be working on genetically modifying one of the weaponizeable agents, there will be reason for alarm.

The Alekseevka lab is not the only one in Georgia; there are other smaller ones. Actual construction of these is carried out by Bechtel National, (total price tag in spring 2009 was estimated to 180 million USD). Bechtel refuses to speak about the project, but the Georgia chief of the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency, was willing to talk and was concerned with trying to dispel any idea that the new lab will do anything ill-intended.

The agency he represents, DTRA, started out with an ambitious plan to dismantle the Soviet Union's weapons of mass destruction: Nunn-Lugar. This grew into a broad program for what is called Cooperative Threat Reduction in former Soviet countries - securing potentially dangerous technologies and putting the scientists to work doing something useful, so as to not let them fall into the wrong hands.

Many pathogens which were weaponized by the US and USSR live naturally in the environment in the Caucasus, such as tularemia and plague. There is also a plant bio facility not far from Georgian seaside resort city of Batumi that was tasked during the Soviet period with destroying the American Corn Crop (that facility is currently being funded by the British Ministry of Defense). The pathogens harvested in the Tbilisi plague station over a century were essential in the Soviet program for biological weapons.

It's difficult to get information about the whole project, and the US has – as being the only signatory country - fought against any verification system for policing the ban on biological weapons. Verification would have let the world community know what kind of research will be carried out at the Alekseyevka facility, and dispel fears that the US is up to anything dangerous. Many locals are convinced that the Americans will develop biological weapons, and hide it behind a facade of inconspicuous research; they remember well that this was how the Soviet Union did it.

Anti-proliferation

It is surprising that not more has been written about this lab, especially since Russia and the U.S. have tried to find a new arrangement in this field, as the START treaty for reducing nuclear stockpiles expired two years ago. As for Russian biological weapons they were dismantled by the U.S. DTRA, and today Russia states it does not possess biological weapons. But the non-proliferation work continues, exactly because of the inherent dangers arising from the nature of this technology. In recent years, the cooperation with Russia has been downsized, partly due to a growing suspicion in the Kremlin that the US has strategic interests it seeks to realize through the cooperative threat reduction.
As one interesting stakeholder wrote, "I think for something like this the only place is a news service looking for a feature or a documentary, such as AJ.”
I have been asking around and the story is that while they have 'archived' the weapons stuff, the facility - as all such research is about counter/response to biological/chemical agents, so getting ready for anthrax type attacks and the angle is counter terrorism preparedness. However, and here is the interesting catch, to build counter-agents you have to first have the weaponized or 'infecting' agent, which means they have to predict what someone might use (so the bio ingredient archive that Bechtel has is important for this) and then to build a counter-agent."
I think for something like this the only place is a news service looking for a feature or a documentary. I have been asking around and the story is that while they have 'archived' the weapons stuff, the facility - as all such research is about counter/response to biological/chemical agents, so getting ready for anthrax type attacks and the angle is counter terrorism preparedness. However, and here is the interesting catch, to build counter-agents you have to first have the weaponized or 'infecting' agent, which means they have to predict what someone might use (so the archive they got is important for this) and then build a counter-agent.
Making an Analogy
So to make an analogy, you need cobra venom before you can manufacture the anti-venom. I so as is the case with all dual-use technology there is the potential here, and in developing wider defense strategy such 'capacity' is taken into account. I - and friends - however believe that there is little chance that the US would keep such high security information as would be contained in the archive in such a precarious location. Maybe they do some research as a part of the wider program and maybe it’s a place to set up early warning, or something that needs a lab close to Russian or Central Asian territory - what link might there be to Iraq here, or Afghanistan? However, in government circles this is not considered exceptionally sinister or clandestine either. But the public might feel different I suspect....! There is the important caveat though, as you well know the geni is out of the bottle with this stuff so I personally would expect a government to prepare for an attack. Lots of nutters around who would love to hit the US or UK, etc, talk about panic if they were able to pull it off!
Just a general question: “don't we kinda think that this lab might be a 'good' thing. I understand the potential scare value that might sell the story but is not mopping up scientists, their know-how and resources and putting it under a watchful eye the right thing to do? I'm slightly confused as to the thrust of the story.

Anyway, see what you can dig up. There is actually a lot out there about this facility, it is in a few books as well, that cover biological weapons and terrorism and historical writing about the Cold War. The history goes back, and even New York Times article have been written about how Georgia was always an integral part of bio research, even during the Soviet period and not only for bio weapons but medical purposes:  A Stalinist Antibiotic Alternative: A hoary Soviet method for fighting infections may prove invaluable in an age of antibiotic resistance.  Maybe that's why pharmaceutical companies are flocking to a remote laboratory in Tbilisi, and too … defense contractors.  As one source wrote of looking into possible links, “I researched many hours my first week here living in Tbilisi, the virology technology here. I had nothing else to do.  My drunken American friend was always passed out and took me nowhere when I first arrived to Tbilisi. I spent a lot of time in October rains 2006 on his computer.  You spend a lot of time talking about investigations and publishing, and running around meeting transient contacts in bars and getting your ass beat. However, from hardly ever have sources you can officially quote ... from hard journalistic investigations. Four years ago I made the connection between Eliava Institute, Tbilisi, and Evergreen State Univ. Washington State, and dark sides of U.S. NATO operations, not so connected to EU NATO operations.

All your conspiracy energy and I have not seen even two names like this in any of your many emails on Bechtel secret ops.”

Digging up diry
Many questions remain, especially kind of lab is it, and why has there been so much speculation about it?
-
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Friday, March 25, 2011

Is it worse than Chernobyl and WWIII

A lot worse than Chernobyl

WW III seems to be going well. Syria next - wonder what Iran will have to say about that as I think they have a mutual defence pact. I wonder what Russia would say about that - I suspect they're busy studying the chessboard at the moment and considering how to blow a whole in the US strategy.

Things are going very badly in Japan - they can't stop the radiation (they don't know where the leak is) and they're currently trying to fix 5 reactors at once.

The Japs have just advised anyone living within 30km of Fukushima to move away, and their tone is quite serious. It's already as bad as Chernobyl but they can't simply encase this thing in concrete quite so simply (mind you, it took 6 months to design and build the sarcophagus there - and was shored up by a crumbling wall - they're about to replace the "temporary" one they built at Chernobyl). Because Fukushima in on the coast the water table is so high that radiation will leak away into the Pacific.

Three workers are being treated for radiation poisoning - and all of the guys working there will probably get sick and die from it later in life. I think there's 3 crews of 50 working round the clock. The basement is flooded and all the valves and things are covered in salt from all the seawater they've dumped on it. Smoke or steam is still pouring out of the reactors, and now the police who are in the vacinity are saying they're infected and need better protection. Radiation has been detected in the water in Tokyo and infants need to avoid tap water there. There are various reports of radiation being detected on prople and foodstuffs arriving in other countries from Japan. I doubt we import much here direct from Japan but it would be interesting if the border guards could turn their geiger counters on and check for any unusual readings - the actual "cloud" of radiation from Japan traversed the US/Caribbean a week ago and was in the western Atlantic - very weak by that point (the French - who are the real nuclear experts - detected it).

Of the reactors themselves number 3 seems to be causing the greatest concern - this was fuelled using MOX (Mixed OXide) which is a waste weapons grade material. Its use is shrouded in controversy and apparently it burn hotter and faster than normal nuclear fuel.

All of the reactors are controlled by Siemens SCADA software - their cooling systems, everything. This is the same as used by the Iranians and the Germans. Merkel has effectively signalled the end of the nuclear industry in Germany - 7 reactors are being shut down. Her helicopter crashed after she'd been using it earlier in the same day, just after she announced they were pulling back from nuclear power - imagine, there is so much invested in the nuclear industry they are trying to keep a lid on the fact that this incident in Japan could signal the end of the industry.

Some big players will be mighty mad at Ms Merkel. Iran suffered an attack by the Stuxnet worm late last year which destroyed a significant number of their enrichment centrifuges. Stuxnet is a highly developed computer work which was developed by a nation state - possibly two - and is designed to specifically target the Siemens software - more specifically to target the Itanian nuclear program, and Israel is widely acknowledged to be one of the two countries who developed it. Like any worm it can be planted on a USB stick and will spread itself to any computer once inserted - but it will sit there and do nothing unless is meets up with the Siemens software at which point it will proceed to wreak havoc by speeding up and slowing down motors, wearing bearings out, etc. - physically destroying equipment. I've seen a video of a huge generator being destroyed by remotely controlling it - so it can be done. This is what happened to the Iranian centrifuges - Stuxnet blew the bearings or something like that.

There is s suspicion that the Stuxnet worm may have found its way into the Fukishima plant - law of unintended consequences, and all that jazz. We'll probably never know - all we know is they they laid new an auxilliary power cable in last weekend and can't get the cooling systems to function, possibly because of all that salt, possibly simply because all the control gear is flooded, possibly because of Stuxnet, or possibly because have of the system blew up. In the past week radiation levels have been up and down and they've had smoke and steam and neutrons coming out of the reactors. There's a suspicion that the reactor core containment is cracked on at least one of the reactors but all of the spent fuel was stored in water pools outside of that containment, so were impacted by the explosions and that's what they've been hosing and dumpning as much water as possible in there for - to stop those rods heating up.

They've got huge problems. I looked at the BBC website this morning and there wasn't ONE SINGLE BIT of news about Japan on the main page. I was so shocked I copied the page for posterity. They're covering up the scale of this disaster - it's bigger news than the tired old shoot outs they're covering.

Part of Japan is now uninhabitable - and not too far from one of the most populous cities in the world (which is already affected). More than 35 million people live the Tokyo metro area.

This could be a lot worse than even Chernobyl.

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Prision Deaths and Torture in Georgia, I am a prisoner too!!!

Death  penaltiy alive in well in Georgia: death by torture and TB

The campaign 'I am a prisoner too' continued today in front of the prison ministry. After protesters blocked the busy Kazbegi avenue, police intervened, and there was a few brief violent episodes. Two people were brought in by police, as far as a foreign reporter could see.

"You are fascists!" one middle aged woman shouted in the direction of the ministry building.

"You are all fascists! All of you!"

A woman said she is worried about the fate of her son, who has contracted tuberculosis in prison.

Statistics about the number of deaths in the prisons last years are delayed, but are expected to be significantly higher, as 2010 saw a number of controversial prison deaths the cause of which is yet not fully explained by the government. Officially tuberculosis was the prime cause, but victims are in many cases proven to bear visible signs of having been subjected to violence, and possible toruture, before they died.

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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Prision Torture in Tbilisi Georgia, I am a prisoner too!!!

Prison Torture in Tbilisi Georgia

Mrs. Eka Kobesashvili, the lawyer of the HRIDC Legal Aid Centre stresses that beatings are widespread in prisons. According to her there are certain patterns together with isolated cases of beatings. Prisoners are always beaten when transferred to the different penal institution. This phenomenon is so inevitable that is nicknamed the “hospitality gesture” - welcoming  both by inmates and reportedly prison administration.

From the most recent report from Human Rights Center, http://tinyurl.com/696cnlv

Here are some photos from last Friday's protest rally in Tbilisi, posted by someone called Nino. It started at 18:00 and lasted for about one and a half hour. Unusual for such rallies, most people stayed until it was over. The campaign is called "I am a prisoner too" - "mets patimari var".

A thousand people gather to express their objection against the systematic beating of prisoners by Georgian authorites, and there is nothing in the news outside, the international media.

What do you call that?

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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

More protesters killed in hard crack down in Bahrain - Georgia may be next in line

More protesters killed in harsh crack down in Bahrain.

Why no calls for a "no fly zone" there?

They're having to treat the wounded in Mosques because the army won't let anyone in or out of the hospitals...
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20110316/twl-more-deaths-as-bahrain-protest-is-cr-...

I see Nino B has again been up on her soapbox and announced that the revolution starts here the first week in May - sounds like they're going to be better organised this time and have stated that they aren't going to take any shit from the police this time
around...

http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23245

Time change and people do too, if not, the world stops spinning.

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Monday, March 14, 2011

"Russian makes very bad cars but very good weapons"

Georgian-Russian Border Crossing Requires Closer Scrutiny

Russia makes very bad cars, but very good weapons”

Joni Simonshvili/Jeffrey K. Silverman

Follow to earlier work, and feedback, in RE: "drugs for weapons swaps:

"Keep up the good work. Everyone in Georgia knows that the government is co-operating with the drugs smugglers. It is frequently reported in the news, but for some reason the international media refuse to tell the rest of the world about it.

The sad truth is that Western governments, and Western media, are willing to let the Saakashvili regime get away with massive crimes to assure the geopolitical status quo."

Background:

On February 20, 2011, American investigative journalist Jeffrey Silverman was attacked for the fourth time in Tbilisi, Georgia. The independent TV station Maestro reported on the attack in their evening 9 o'clock news on tne 28th of February.

In the Georgian voiceover Mr Silverman is quoted as saying the attack might have been related to his investigations into the Georgian government's role in the transit of Afghan heroin through Georgia.

The TV station tried all day to get a comment from the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs's press service, but they did not answer the journalists' calls.

Transcript:

Maka Tsintsadze, news presenter:

...accuses the Georgian and American government of physically interfering in his investigative cases. He has lived in Georgia for nearly 20 years and during this time been beaten four times. Jeffrey Silverman has over the years published articles about the US  and Georigan governments's participation in the weapons trade and drug trafficking.

What is the American accusing the American Embassy of, and why does he want political asylum?

Nanuka Iordanishvili, journalist:

U.S. citizen, journalist Jeffrey Silverman has lived in Georgia for 20 years. During this time they have physically beaten him four times. However, it's only after the latest incident that the police have opened an investigation.

Jeffrey Silverman was severly beaten early evening on the 22. February on Akhvlediani Street.

Jeffrey Silverman:

I was in one of the bars on Akhvlediani Street with a friend when some unknown people appeared and attacked me. At 20 p.m. I arrived at the hospital. I can't remember the details. I'm convinced that it's connected with my activities recently and an article I published about corrupt deals between the Georgian government and American non-governmental organizations [on the same day of the attack].

I have no faith in any police investigation. This is the fourth time I've been harassed physically.

Nanuka Iordanishvili:

Jeffrey Silverman publishes articles on the web portal Human Rights Center, mainly about weapons trade and drug trafficking. He says the Georgian government is implicated in this business. He talks about journalistic issues, physical intimidation and reveals that some years ago he was held at the "Moduli" building (Ministry of Internal Affairs)...

Early information - background - weapons for drug swaps and big picture of things:

Update: http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/cable/2009/03/09BAKU226.html

“Abiyev told the Ambassador about his late-January trip to Moscow to discuss Azerbaijan’s allegations that Russia had made extensive weapons transfers to Armenia throughout 2008. In formal meetings, Abiyev said, his Russian counterpart stuck to the talking points and denied any involvement. However, “after the second bottle of vodka,” that evening, he said, the Russians opened up and admitted to having transferred weapons to Armenia. In an interesting side note, Abiyev quoted Serdyukov as saying: “Do you follow the orders of your President?...Well, I follow the orders of two Presidents.”

As posted earlier, [snip]

In late July I took time off to check out allegations of weapons from the Russian Federation crossing into Georgian territory for use in Armenia, and even perhaps for resale to Iran. Even though I live in Georgia, getting to see unforgettable scenery and gaining a bit of insight into the “bigger picture” of Russian-Georgian-political-economic relations is eye-opening.  

The timing for this article may be important as it comes on the day when Azerbaijan told three Armenian and two Azerbaijani soldiers have been killed in fighting on the flashpoint border of Azerbaijan’s pro-Armenian breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, as provided by various media sources.  As always, the other side is guilty and nobody even starts a war.  It is said that the account providing by each of the conflicting sides has not been independently verified.

 I saw only Armenian and Ukrainian trucks crossing the border during my short visit, as relations are still soured between Georgia and the Russian Federation, at least on an official level.  One Armenian truck coming from Russia, after being custom cleared, was under escort of the Georgian police. How friendly?  I now have greater degree of insight as to the possible reason why the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs refused a US contactor, NORC, University of Chicago, permission to conduct road and cross border transit research at this border crossing, as it might prove too revealing.  However, the same permission was granted for all other international road border crossings.  No official explanation was given, only a blank refusal. It is not difficult to understand why and this is linked to the highest authority in Georigan State Security, and this poses a threat to regiona and US National Security.

Let’s speculate.

It would be curious to know what was inside this and other trucks, especially as this is an important crossing point for Armenia, and Armenian borders Iran.  I could only speculate the worst and from an Armenian website I learned about Gagik Aghajanyan, Executive Director of National Cargo Services Company Apaven, dismissing any allegations of illicit goods passing the border during a press conference held earlier this year.

Quoting, “earlier Georgian experts said that the opening of the Upper Lars Kazbegi checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border is beneficial neither for Georgia nor for Armenia but rather for Russia to supply weaponry to its military base in Armenia's second-largest town of Gyumri.” 

The only official viewpoint has been represented by Georgia's ambassador to Armenia, as quoted in the Armenian press. Naturally there might be some real concerns as to the utility of the Upper Lars Kazbeki checkpoint, and is the transit more beneficial for Georgia or Armenia. The title of one article in Armenian was that “We-should-politicize-the-operation-of-the-Upper-Lars-Checkpoint.” It is highly possible that it could be closed down should it serve a third purpose. http://www.armenians.net/news/view/article/10216/We-Should-Better-Not-Politicize-the-Operation-of-Upper-Lars-Checkpoint/11

His comments are worrying, and because Georgia has long been recognized as a transit point for illegal trade and relations between its neighbors are tensed.  I would think that it would be in the direct interest of Western law enforcement and intelligence services to understand such possible conduits.  Aside from possible ‘other purposes’, the dire state of cross border trade with Georgia can be easily seen by an empty trade terminal in Kabegi that had once been overflowing with petty traders.  

In short, it is going difficult to rectify open borders with the current level of recriminations between both Georgia and the Russian Federation, and especially considering that Georgia is playing a double game with its friendly/dirty relations with Iran.  It’s also difficult to ignore the unbridled antagonism which the government of Georgia seems to persist in showing towards their northern neighbor, and how this border does not appear to benefit Georgia, at least officially. Moreover, unoffically it benefits many members of the Georigan govenment and those in the security agencies.

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Very Naughty, Saudi is sitting on the edge, house of Saud/house of cards

Very Naughty, Saudi is sitting-on-edge, of a ticking time bomb

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12729786>

That was a bit naughty - wonder what will happen next?

They are only adding fuel to the fire and the bonfire is going to be huge. Iran must be laughing now, and now is the time for paybacks. The US is too preoccupied with Egypt - and they must be working overtime back on the Virginia farm.

This is a war between American, its failed foreign policies, and Islam - those who want to occupy and those who want freedom and democracy in their own lands. At the time President Bush's  speech was considered as "wishy washy, flimsy, as shallow speech"—but now we can look back and use other words, "eloquent, even graceful, albeit  the use of clichés and slogans, not ideas or real policies. Times change and his words were actually taken to heart by the Muslim world.

The US must learn that the support of  tyranny and tin horn dictactors spawns resentment, hatred, and violence; freedom is the force of history that breaks tyranny and ushers in freedom and democracy. Therefore:

"The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."

George W. Bush Jr.  was so "clever" and what he started with two illegal wars joined the Muslim people as a force against tyranny outsourced by the United States, NATO, and the UK.

Jeffrey K. Silverman, Tbilisi Georgia

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Sunday, March 13, 2011

Georgia has become a boiling pot for revolution - "Rose Thorn Tea"

Revolution of "Rose Thorn" tea brewing in Georgia

Quote of the week

"Another portion of the opposition categorically rejects the potentially violent revolutionary strategy of the radicals."

Radical may be an overstatement but sounds nicer than opposition - as there is no opposition other than the pseudo ones, those either being funded by Moscow or Washington. Potekim democracy is alive and well in Georgia, and are the tin horn politicians.

One only need to consider the messenger - and the rate of inflation in Georgia, hopelessness, brain drain, and even the state within a state is failed and morally bankrupt. The next thing for pundits to do is plot that to economic indicators in prime revolution minded countries where “real” upraising revolutions have or are taking place. They need not be imported based on the play book of NED, National Endowment for Democracy, and its well-funded NGO network. A country that sells off its agriculture land in time of a world food crisis is one that has no sustainability. It is as as a father pimping his own daughter, selling her virginity to the highest bidder.

 

Much more can be read between the lines in this article, by Gia Nodia, and he shows that he see the writing on the wall. It is not overt. even between the words; Georgia under Saakashivli has witnessed a new level of corruption never even thought of by previous administrations, and its smiling face does not disguise it well. It even shames what is found in other corrupt countries, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Whereas junior bureaucrats often face the wrath of the law once they implicated in corruption, senior government officials close to President openly steal taxpayers’ money with impunity, boozing it up, whore chasing and putting it all on their expense account. Some observers say that the ‘big fish’ go untouched because the head himself is a role model, fully aware and even probably approves of their misconducts; it is his minions are showing solidarity in  a "gang bang" of the nation and its culture. 

 

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Donald Trump NO FOOL, Beware Fox New and Georgian Pipedreams

  Donald Trump NO FOOL, Beware Fox New and Georgian Pipedreams

At a recent press conference the PR men had put a big banner up saying "Trump Invests in Georgia", only he's done nothing of the sort. This is the same stuff that fake McDonald hamburgers and Cola Cola is made of in Georgia.  “We’ll decide whether or not we want to invest,” Trump said. Trump will license his name in Georgia and his company will manage the two properties, but so far he has no plans to put his own investment into the deal, The New York Times reported.

If you have the interest or time you should read up on the partner in this latest scam, Silk Road Group and this is well-connected to mafia links and high level money laundering operations, gun running; its real founders are the same ones that robbed the Georgian State after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its extended membership were involved in robbing and raping in South Ossetia and Abkhazia - and this is basically blood money being reinvested – washed, as what has been the case in Adjara. 

Already the Georgian government threatens a real US Developer in Abkhazia, - "high levelcontacts in GoG are involved in smear campaign" ... it appears to be those closest to Liberty Institute, NED, and president elect Saakashvili. The foreign minister has come out with a basically a pubic threat against an US citizen. Some of the same spin doctors over Khurcha Incident, David Smith, Potomac Institute - and high power PR companies in the US and Europe, Patrick Worms, etc.

All sides are involved to varying degrees, as based on a recent article, dancing in DC with PR firms, the 4-hire kind while the common people are hungry. “Doing the “K” Street Shuffle, and perhaps better to do the 15th Street hussle, at least these girls earn their money the old fashion way and with more dignity. http://www.tol.org/client/article/22175-look-whos-doing-the-k-street-shuffle....

There is gig nexus with Georgian Institute of Strategic Studies/Potomac Institute. Also, Gogi Meladze, and Gigi Bokeria, and see the kind of crap that is being spread about writes, and who really belives that the US supports territorial integrity after the reorganization of Kosova in violation of international law and its sorted track record in support clones educated at the Banana Republic Institute of the Americans and provided with fake diplomas.  

ACHTUNG!

“Bruce Talley: A Kremlin tool in Abkhazia The US government supports territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia. A US citizen, so called “developer”, Bruce Talley supports the Russian occupation and ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia. He’s not just a “developer” though. Primarily he’s a propagandi...st and an advocate of the Kremlin policies regarding the occupation of the internationally recognized Georgian territory. With political and ethic aspects of the question aside, this individual deliberately violates Georgian law, according to which any business activity on the occupied territories without an explicit approval and authorization by the Georgian government, is illegal. He certainly knows about it. He just doesn’t care. He’s got the Russian occupational forces to back him up and boost his entrepreneurial spirit. We need to bring this outrageous fact to the attention of the US government.  We need to get the US Embassy in Tbilisi involved. We need to stop this “developer”. Gigi Bokeria

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USG sponsored Black PR, Abkhazia and Georgia

USG sponsored black PR, Abkhazia and Georgia

http://blackseagalpt.blogspot.com/2011/03/exposing-kremlin-tools.html

All what interesting for those interested in real FDI investment in Georgia, and the US Trumping Georgia,

and yet he is contributing absolutely zero to the project in terms of FDI - and did you see those new figures?

Donald Trump, a man who is ridiculed in his own country heaps praise on a man who is ridiculed in most other places. Where is the next funding going to come from - the EBRD? They were already deeply concerned about the falling level of FDI and it's fallen dramatically yet again and, if last year's "preliminary" figures are anything to go by, we could see FDI having fallen to the lowest point since Saakashvili stole Shevardnadze's tea.

Those figures are worth plotting now we have the latest figures in. Geostat can cook them all they like but they still taste bad.

The lack of domestic investment adds insult upon injfury as FDI shows no sign of turning around.

On a side note - I've never known so many of my closest friends hurting like they are right now in Georgia.The money is drying up or being taken offshore.  I think I made the right decisions at the right time. New times are coming,  I think we're on the right track in so far as the coming new economy is concerned - whatever that turns out to be - governmentless and banker-free I hope).

I'm amazed that Israel never figures in the top investors listing, aren't you? Or do you think they just move money the other way, through their weapons dealing and banking activities?

Foreign media comment on Trump-Saakashvili meeting

-"I`m dealing with one of the great leaders of the world," Trump said. "I understand how the world works. I deal with the world," the story says.

Foreign media commented on the agreement signed between the Trump Organization and Georgia`s Silk Road Group in New York on Thursday.

"Trump praised Saakashvili for political and economic reform efforts in that country, suggesting the U.S. was lagging far behind.

"You see what`s happened with the Republic of Georgia and you see what`s happening to our country," Trump said, pointing to high unemployment, spiking gas and food prices and the weak U.S. dollar. "You see what can be done with the proper leadership. We in this country, we don`t have that leadership. We`re being badly decimated in this country. We`re like a whipping post," the Wall Street Journal writes.

The New York Times published a story titled "Trump`s foreign approach."

"The real estate mogul -- who says he`s flirting with running for president -- appeared with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili after announcing that he`s building a new luxury hotel and resort tower in the former Soviet republic.

"In terms of foreign relations I think this is really a great start because this is a country [Georgia] with amazing leadership," Trump said during a press conference yesterday at Trump Tower.

"I`m dealing with one of the great leaders of the world," Trump said. "I understand how the world works. I deal with the world," the story says.

"First made public last September, Trump’s decision to expand into Georgia – first, with a skyscraper complex in the Black Sea resort town of Batumi, followed by a second development in Tbilisi -- is being touted by the government as a breakthrough in its longstanding efforts to attract foreign investment," Eurasianet says.

Joni Simonishvili
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Monday, March 7, 2011

American Journalist Attacked in Georgia

On 20. February 2011, American investigative journalist Jeffrey Silverman was attacked for the fourth time in Tbilisi, Georgia. The independent TV station Maestro reported on the attack in their evening 9 o'clock news on 28. February.

In the Georgian voiceover Mr Silverman is quoted as saying the attack might have been related to his investigation into the Georgian government's role in the transit of Afghan heroin through Georgia.

The TV station tried all day to get a comment from the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs's press service, but they did not answer the journalists' calls.


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