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WhiteWing- Seeing any Predator Drones Circling Overhead?

A

Anonymous

Guest
U.S. May Face 9/11-Scale Threat from Venezuela

Sunday, September 13, 2009 6:42 PM

By: Kenneth R. Timmerman Article Font Size

The government of Andorra has frozen “billions of dollars” in bank accounts linked to Iran, Venezuela, and a variety of terrorist groups, according to the daily Diairi d’Andorra, which publishes in Catalan.


The Andorran move, announced on Thursday, was carried out in conjunction with a top secret U.S. Treasury investigation in Miami involving money laundered through Venezuelan banks that was transferred to corresponding banks in the United States.


From Miami, the funds were then wired to accounts in Andorra that were controlled by Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, members of his family and his regime. But the funds were also used by terrorist groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaida, and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), according to Diairi d’Andorra, which quoted unnamed Andorran government officials.


Treasury’s move into the tiny principality nestled in the eastern Pyrenees between Spain and France is just the latest move in an international effort to crack down on Iranian money-laundering, with the goal of shutting Iran out of international financial markets.


Treasury has focused increasingly on Iran’s deepening ties to Venezuela, where strongman Hugo Chavez has openly embraced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.


Those ties came to international prominence earlier this week, when Chavez pledged during his eight official visits to Tehran to deliver 20,000 barrels a day of gasoline to Iran, a move aimed at helping Iran to deflect efforts by the=2 0U.S. Congress to stop gasoline sales to Iran.


On October 22, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls imposed sanctions on the Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI) and its newly-created Venezuelan subsidiary, Banco Internacional de Desarrollo C.A. (BID).


Treasury cited the two banks for “providing or attempting to provide financial services to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.” OFAC also alleged that EDBI “has facilitated the ongoing procurement activities of various front companies” associated with clandestine Iranian weapons purchases.


“The ostensible reason the Iranian-owned bank Banco Internacional de Desarrollo (BID) was opened in Caracas was to expand economic ties with Venezuela,” Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told an audience at the left-leaning Brookings Institution on Sept. 8.


“Our sources and experiences lead me to suspect an ulterior motive. A foothold into the Venezuelan banking system is a perfect ‘sanctions-busting’ method - the main motivator for Iran in its banking relationship with Venezuela,” he added.


The 90-year old Morgenthau, who will retire in December, is a legendary figure in New York who has prosecuted everything from securities fraud to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).


Morgenthau has unveiled a series of Iran-related prosecutions in recent months, including a massive case against Lloyds TSB bank, which agreed to pay the United States more than $300 million in fines for illegally processing wire transfers on behalf of Iranian banks and their customers.


In a separate case, he indicted a company called Limmt and its manager, Li Fang Wei, who used aliases and shell companies to purchased banned missile, nuclear, and dual use materials for Iranian military entities.


Morgenthau predicted this week that Iran and Venezuela, “two of the world’s most dangerous regimes… will be acting together in our backyard on the development of nuclear and missile technology.”


He said it reminded him of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, “when a leftist populist leader with a strong anti-American streak joined forces with the Soviet Union to bring nuclear weapons in close proximity to our borders.”


“Although the same threat level does not yet exist in Venezuela, the United States needs to be focused on Iran’s expansionism wherever it occurs,” he added.


Morgenthau said he suspected the BID of using correspondent banking relationships with Venezuelan banks and banks in Panama in a scheme known as “nesting.” Nesting is a means for a banned foreign financial institution to gain access to the U.S. financial system by operating through a U.S. correspondent account belonging to another foreign financial institution, Morgenthau explained.


For example, while BID is prohibited from establishing a relationship with a U.S. bank, it could open an account with a Venezuelan or Panamanian bank that has such a relationship and “effectively gain anonymous access to the U.S. financial system” through them.


Morgenthau said that he expected Treasury to act against other Venezuelan banks within the next thirty days, but declined to name any suspect entities.


But Newsmax has learned from independent researchers who specialize in investigating financial crime in Latin America, that the Iranian regime is using several other banks in Venezuela to clear financial transactions.


These include Banco Occidental de Desevento (BANESCO), which has banking ties to Bank Saderat in Iran (also sanctioned by OFAC), the Banco Caroni, and the Banco Guyana.


BANESCO owns a correspondent bank in the United States.


But the money ties between Iran and Venezuela are just the beginning of a deep relationship that has some U.S. lawmakers worried.


Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R, FL, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Newsmax that Iran has found “a receptive audience in Chavez who has been positioning Venezuela as a satellite of the Iranian regime.”


The two have been working “hand-in-hand… on everything from joint banking schemes, to oil and gas ventures, to military and security agreements, to technological partnerships,”
she said.


“This Iran-Chavez-Castro axis, which is expanding to Ecuador, Nicaragua, and other enemies of freedom in the region, helps the Iranian regime project its deadly agenda in the Hemisphere,” she said. “It brings the threat closer to the U.S. and directly undermines critical U.S. security interests."


Latin America experts for the Menges’ Americas Report at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC tell Newsmax that Iran has built a vast network of commercial, financial, industrial, and military ties with Venezeula in recent years.


These include massive Iranian government investments in Venezuela targeting new uranium mines, manufacturing facilities, and food processing plants. Iran has also opened up direct air and sea links to Venezuela.


The commercial ties appear innocent on the surface. Iran has built factories to assemble tractors and bicycles in Venezuela, and regularly ships large amounts of spare parts to them.


But those shipments can disguise more sinister objectives.


In December 2008, Turkish Customs inspectors seized 22 shipping containers bound for Venezuela on board=2 0an Iranian cargo ship at the port of Mersin.


The contents were labeled as “tractor parts.” But when the Turks opened them up, they components for bombs, lab equipment, and chemical weapons components.


The tractor plant, Veneiran, is operated by the Venezuelan Military Industries. Several of its buildings are closed to the public and heavily guarded by Iranian security personnel, the Menges’ Americas Report experts said.


Iran air flies Boeing 747s weekly to Caracas via Damascus. Although the flights are nearly empty, it is virtually impossible to book a seat, because the flights are reserved for military cargo and to transport military and intelligence officials who are whisked away into a VIP lounge without ever clearing Customs, sources tell Newsmax.


The Venezuelan military has tossed out the U.S. Army Field Manual they used for training and has now turned to Iranian Revolutionary Guards troops to train Venezuelan forces in asymmetrical warfare similar to those used by Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Menges’ America’s Report experts said.


Also of concern to U.S. officials is an April 2008 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) involving military and nuclear cooperation between the two countries.


Chavez alluded to the nuclear deal while in Tehran last week, saying that with Iran’s help he planned to build a “nuclear village” in Venezuela.


According to the Canadian-based U308 Corporation, 70% of the gigantic Roraima Basin - the second largest uranium reserve in the world – is located in Venezuela. Initial estimates show reserves of 5.8=2 0million pounds of uranium ore just in the company’s leasehold area, according to the company’s website.


Iran is operating a gold mine at the very center of the uranium-mining basin that intelligence analysts believe could be used as a base for clandestine uranium exports to Iran.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hypocrit-- still waiting for an answer from your clone about how great the Venezuelan country and government is- and all the great things they do for folks.... :???:

I was sure you will fill in- in his absence :wink:
 

Ben H

Well-known member
Why don't you tell us how great Hugo is OT, he must be the model President for where this country needs to go judging by the opinions you have expressed. Not everyone in Venezuela buys into the guy, I occasionally talk with someone down there who isn't too fond of him.

How about Hugo telling Castro, "Hey Castro, watch out or we're going to end up on Obama's right."
 

Steve

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
U.S. May Face 9/11-Scale Threat from Venezuela

Sunday, September 13, 2009 6:42 PM

By: Kenneth R. Timmerman Article Font Size

The government of Andorra has frozen “billions of dollars” in bank accounts linked to Iran, Venezuela, and a variety of terrorist groups, according to the daily Diairi d’Andorra, which publishes in Catalan.


The Andorran move, announced on Thursday, was carried out in conjunction with a top secret U.S. Treasury investigation in Miami involving money laundered through Venezuelan banks that was transferred to corresponding banks in the United States.


From Miami, the funds were then wired to accounts in Andorra that were controlled by Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, members of his family and his regime. But the funds were also used by terrorist groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaida, and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), according to Diairi d’Andorra, which quoted unnamed Andorran government officials.


Treasury’s move into the tiny principality nestled in the eastern Pyrenees between Spain and France is just the latest move in an international effort to crack down on Iranian money-laundering, with the goal of shutting Iran out of international financial markets.


Treasury has focused increasingly on Iran’s deepening ties to Venezuela, where strongman Hugo Chavez has openly embraced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.


Those ties came to international prominence earlier this week, when Chavez pledged during his eight official visits to Tehran to deliver 20,000 barrels a day of gasoline to Iran, a move aimed at helping Iran to deflect efforts by the=2 0U.S. Congress to stop gasoline sales to Iran.


On October 22, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls imposed sanctions on the Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI) and its newly-created Venezuelan subsidiary, Banco Internacional de Desarrollo C.A. (BID).


Treasury cited the two banks for “providing or attempting to provide financial services to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.” OFAC also alleged that EDBI “has facilitated the ongoing procurement activities of various front companies” associated with clandestine Iranian weapons purchases.


“The ostensible reason the Iranian-owned bank Banco Internacional de Desarrollo (BID) was opened in Caracas was to expand economic ties with Venezuela,” Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told an audience at the left-leaning Brookings Institution on Sept. 8.


“Our sources and experiences lead me to suspect an ulterior motive. A foothold into the Venezuelan banking system is a perfect ‘sanctions-busting’ method - the main motivator for Iran in its banking relationship with Venezuela,” he added.


The 90-year old Morgenthau, who will retire in December, is a legendary figure in New York who has prosecuted everything from securities fraud to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).


Morgenthau has unveiled a series of Iran-related prosecutions in recent months, including a massive case against Lloyds TSB bank, which agreed to pay the United States more than $300 million in fines for illegally processing wire transfers on behalf of Iranian banks and their customers.


In a separate case, he indicted a company called Limmt and its manager, Li Fang Wei, who used aliases and shell companies to purchased banned missile, nuclear, and dual use materials for Iranian military entities.


Morgenthau predicted this week that Iran and Venezuela, “two of the world’s most dangerous regimes… will be acting together in our backyard on the development of nuclear and missile technology.”


He said it reminded him of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, “when a leftist populist leader with a strong anti-American streak joined forces with the Soviet Union to bring nuclear weapons in close proximity to our borders.”


“Although the same threat level does not yet exist in Venezuela, the United States needs to be focused on Iran’s expansionism wherever it occurs,” he added.


Morgenthau said he suspected the BID of using correspondent banking relationships with Venezuelan banks and banks in Panama in a scheme known as “nesting.” Nesting is a means for a banned foreign financial institution to gain access to the U.S. financial system by operating through a U.S. correspondent account belonging to another foreign financial institution, Morgenthau explained.


For example, while BID is prohibited from establishing a relationship with a U.S. bank, it could open an account with a Venezuelan or Panamanian bank that has such a relationship and “effectively gain anonymous access to the U.S. financial system” through them.


Morgenthau said that he expected Treasury to act against other Venezuelan banks within the next thirty days, but declined to name any suspect entities.


But Newsmax has learned from independent researchers who specialize in investigating financial crime in Latin America, that the Iranian regime is using several other banks in Venezuela to clear financial transactions.


These include Banco Occidental de Desevento (BANESCO), which has banking ties to Bank Saderat in Iran (also sanctioned by OFAC), the Banco Caroni, and the Banco Guyana.


BANESCO owns a correspondent bank in the United States.


But the money ties between Iran and Venezuela are just the beginning of a deep relationship that has some U.S. lawmakers worried.


Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R, FL, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Newsmax that Iran has found “a receptive audience in Chavez who has been positioning Venezuela as a satellite of the Iranian regime.”


The two have been working “hand-in-hand… on everything from joint banking schemes, to oil and gas ventures, to military and security agreements, to technological partnerships,”
she said.


“This Iran-Chavez-Castro axis, which is expanding to Ecuador, Nicaragua, and other enemies of freedom in the region, helps the Iranian regime project its deadly agenda in the Hemisphere,” she said. “It brings the threat closer to the U.S. and directly undermines critical U.S. security interests."


Latin America experts for the Menges’ Americas Report at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC tell Newsmax that Iran has built a vast network of commercial, financial, industrial, and military ties with Venezeula in recent years.


These include massive Iranian government investments in Venezuela targeting new uranium mines, manufacturing facilities, and food processing plants. Iran has also opened up direct air and sea links to Venezuela.


The commercial ties appear innocent on the surface. Iran has built factories to assemble tractors and bicycles in Venezuela, and regularly ships large amounts of spare parts to them.


But those shipments can disguise more sinister objectives.


In December 2008, Turkish Customs inspectors seized 22 shipping containers bound for Venezuela on board=2 0an Iranian cargo ship at the port of Mersin.


The contents were labeled as “tractor parts.” But when the Turks opened them up, they components for bombs, lab equipment, and chemical weapons components.


The tractor plant, Veneiran, is operated by the Venezuelan Military Industries. Several of its buildings are closed to the public and heavily guarded by Iranian security personnel, the Menges’ Americas Report experts said.


Iran air flies Boeing 747s weekly to Caracas via Damascus. Although the flights are nearly empty, it is virtually impossible to book a seat, because the flights are reserved for military cargo and to transport military and intelligence officials who are whisked away into a VIP lounge without ever clearing Customs, sources tell Newsmax.


The Venezuelan military has tossed out the U.S. Army Field Manual they used for training and has now turned to Iranian Revolutionary Guards troops to train Venezuelan forces in asymmetrical warfare similar to those used by Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Menges’ America’s Report experts said.


Also of concern to U.S. officials is an April 2008 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) involving military and nuclear cooperation between the two countries.


Chavez alluded to the nuclear deal while in Tehran last week, saying that with Iran’s help he planned to build a “nuclear village” in Venezuela.


According to the Canadian-based U308 Corporation, 70% of the gigantic Roraima Basin - the second largest uranium reserve in the world – is located in Venezuela. Initial estimates show reserves of 5.8=2 0million pounds of uranium ore just in the company’s leasehold area, according to the company’s website.


Iran is operating a gold mine at the very center of the uranium-mining basin that intelligence analysts believe could be used as a base for clandestine uranium exports to Iran.

It might be a ploy to gin up some intelligence so we can go to war and over oil.... :roll: :roll: :wink:
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Ben H said:
Why don't you tell us how great Hugo is OT, he must be the model President for where this country needs to go judging by the opinions you have expressed. Not everyone in Venezuela buys into the guy, I occasionally talk with someone down there who isn't too fond of him.

How about Hugo telling Castro, "Hey Castro, watch out or we're going to end up on Obama's right."

BUT-BUT-BUT-- your backslapping buddy and Hypocrits alter ego has told us that Chavez is not a communist- nor a dictator- and is the freely elected President of a Democracy thats helping set him up in ranching....
Are you saying you disagree with Hypocrits alter ego :???: :wink: :p
 

Ben H

Well-known member
I didn't hear him say that but I'm not sure if I consider Hugo as a full fledge communist, there's a lot of fascism in there as well. The question is, who owns the land? If the government owns it, and WhiteWing manages it, you have communism. If he gets to own it and the Government gets to have a huge say on how he does everything, and increases that over time, then it's Fascism. He was freely elected, he promised to take from some and give to others, that made him pretty popular in a very poor country. He has seized banks, oil production, closed down radio stations, sounds like a dictator to me. It also shows the problem with a DEMOCRACY. However you look at it, there is one label that can be put on him, TYRANT!

"Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything" ~Vladimir Lenin.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Whitewing- since the pig farmer and the hypocrit have buried most comments with their 100 posts supporting anarchy- I saw you were back from the wilds of the whatever fields you grow in the Venezuelan Mountains to make such a profit off less than 100 cows :???: - and thought maybe you would like to comment about your adopted countries and adopted Democratic leaders actions-- and especially the plan you have if Chavez pulls any sh*t and Obama comes hunting all these Chavez folks down..... :???:
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Whitewing- since the pig farmer and the hypocrit have buried most comments with their 100 posts supporting anarchy- I saw you were back from the wilds of the whatever fields you grow in the Venezuelan Mountains to make such a profit off less than 100 cows :???: - and thought maybe you would like to comment about your adopted countries and adopted Democratic leaders actions-- and especially the plan you have if Chavez pulls any sh*t and Obama comes hunting all these Chavez folks down..... :???:

Are you now claiming that I'm growing cocaine or something similar? I guess I should look on the bright side and realize that it appears you've at least come to accept the fact that I'm not someone's "sock puppet" or alt.

I've yet to figure out what I've done to you OldTimer. Could you please explain it to me?

Why all the hostility towards me? Is it because I consider myself to be generally conservative? Is that how I'm judged? Is that how you judge everyone, by their politics? I've been conservative all my life so the "neocon" label doesn't really apply to me. And I think from what I've read in some of your posts, you once were a staunch republican (conservative) but now you're disillusioned with the party for a variety of reasons. Hey, that's cool. I'm disillusioned with my party too for a variety of reasons, but not ever enough to vote for the average candidate the national dems run for office.

And you keep going on and on about Chavez as though Chavez is the focus of my life. He's not. No politician is.

This may come as a surprise to you OT, but it's possible that I didn't decide to live here because of Chavez. It's even possible that I got to know and enjoy the country before Chavez ran for President the first time. Actually, if my memory serves me right, I think he and his buddies shot up the presidential palace about a month before my first visit here in 1992.

Anyway, keep taking the cheap shots at me if that's what makes you feel like a man. Heck, here's an inspirational poster for you.

Inspirational%20Photos%20Picture%209.jpg
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Whitewing- after your Hypocrit similar attack on me- you still didn't answer any of the questions brought up by this conservatives written article - that don't believe you live in a Democracy- nor the fact that your self proclaimed financier/benefactor Chavez is not a Communist Dictator....
Good thing he's laying out your ranching investment money because you may have to be fleeing to keep your hair--unless you and him have other "financially beneficial" arrangements... :wink:

U.S. May Face 9/11-Scale Threat from Venezuela

Sunday, September 13, 2009 6:42 PM

By: Kenneth R. Timmerman Article Font Size

The government of Andorra has frozen “billions of dollars” in bank accounts linked to Iran, Venezuela, and a variety of terrorist groups, according to the daily Diairi d’Andorra, which publishes in Catalan.


The Andorran move, announced on Thursday, was carried out in conjunction with a top secret U.S. Treasury investigation in Miami involving money laundered through Venezuelan banks that was transferred to corresponding banks in the United States.


From Miami, the funds were then wired to accounts in Andorra that were controlled by Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, members of his family and his regime. But the funds were also used by terrorist groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaida, and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), according to Diairi d’Andorra, which quoted unnamed Andorran government officials.


Treasury’s move into the tiny principality nestled in the eastern Pyrenees between Spain and France is just the latest move in an international effort to crack down on Iranian money-laundering, with the goal of shutting Iran out of international financial markets.


Treasury has focused increasingly on Iran’s deepening ties to Venezuela, where strongman Hugo Chavez has openly embraced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.


Those ties came to international prominence earlier this week, when Chavez pledged during his eight official visits to Tehran to deliver 20,000 barrels a day of gasoline to Iran, a move aimed at helping Iran to deflect efforts by the=2 0U.S. Congress to stop gasoline sales to Iran.


On October 22, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls imposed sanctions on the Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI) and its newly-created Venezuelan subsidiary, Banco Internacional de Desarrollo C.A. (BID).


Treasury cited the two banks for “providing or attempting to provide financial services to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.” OFAC also alleged that EDBI “has facilitated the ongoing procurement activities of various front companies” associated with clandestine Iranian weapons purchases.


“The ostensible reason the Iranian-owned bank Banco Internacional de Desarrollo (BID) was opened in Caracas was to expand economic ties with Venezuela,” Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told an audience at the left-leaning Brookings Institution on Sept. 8.


“Our sources and experiences lead me to suspect an ulterior motive. A foothold into the Venezuelan banking system is a perfect ‘sanctions-busting’ method - the main motivator for Iran in its banking relationship with Venezuela,” he added.


The 90-year old Morgenthau, who will retire in December, is a legendary figure in New York who has prosecuted everything from securities fraud to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).


Morgenthau has unveiled a series of Iran-related prosecutions in recent months, including a massive case against Lloyds TSB bank, which agreed to pay the United States more than $300 million in fines for illegally processing wire transfers on behalf of Iranian banks and their customers.


In a separate case, he indicted a company called Limmt and its manager, Li Fang Wei, who used aliases and shell companies to purchased banned missile, nuclear, and dual use materials for Iranian military entities.


Morgenthau predicted this week that Iran and Venezuela, “two of the world’s most dangerous regimes… will be acting together in our backyard on the development of nuclear and missile technology.”


He said it reminded him of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, “when a leftist populist leader with a strong anti-American streak joined forces with the Soviet Union to bring nuclear weapons in close proximity to our borders.”


“Although the same threat level does not yet exist in Venezuela, the United States needs to be focused on Iran’s expansionism wherever it occurs,” he added.


Morgenthau said he suspected the BID of using correspondent banking relationships with Venezuelan banks and banks in Panama in a scheme known as “nesting.” Nesting is a means for a banned foreign financial institution to gain access to the U.S. financial system by operating through a U.S. correspondent account belonging to another foreign financial institution, Morgenthau explained.


For example, while BID is prohibited from establishing a relationship with a U.S. bank, it could open an account with a Venezuelan or Panamanian bank that has such a relationship and “effectively gain anonymous access to the U.S. financial system” through them.


Morgenthau said that he expected Treasury to act against other Venezuelan banks within the next thirty days, but declined to name any suspect entities.


But Newsmax has learned from independent researchers who specialize in investigating financial crime in Latin America, that the Iranian regime is using several other banks in Venezuela to clear financial transactions.


These include Banco Occidental de Desevento (BANESCO), which has banking ties to Bank Saderat in Iran (also sanctioned by OFAC), the Banco Caroni, and the Banco Guyana.


BANESCO owns a correspondent bank in the United States.


But the money ties between Iran and Venezuela are just the beginning of a deep relationship that has some U.S. lawmakers worried.


Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R, FL, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Newsmax that Iran has found “a receptive audience in Chavez who has been positioning Venezuela as a satellite of the Iranian regime.”


The two have been working “hand-in-hand… on everything from joint banking schemes, to oil and gas ventures, to military and security agreements, to technological partnerships,”
she said.


“This Iran-Chavez-Castro axis, which is expanding to Ecuador, Nicaragua, and other enemies of freedom in the region, helps the Iranian regime project its deadly agenda in the Hemisphere,” she said. “It brings the threat closer to the U.S. and directly undermines critical U.S. security interests."


Latin America experts for the Menges’ Americas Report at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC tell Newsmax that Iran has built a vast network of commercial, financial, industrial, and military ties with Venezeula in recent years.


These include massive Iranian government investments in Venezuela targeting new uranium mines, manufacturing facilities, and food processing plants. Iran has also opened up direct air and sea links to Venezuela.


The commercial ties appear innocent on the surface. Iran has built factories to assemble tractors and bicycles in Venezuela, and regularly ships large amounts of spare parts to them.


But those shipments can disguise more sinister objectives.


In December 2008, Turkish Customs inspectors seized 22 shipping containers bound for Venezuela on board=2 0an Iranian cargo ship at the port of Mersin.


The contents were labeled as “tractor parts.” But when the Turks opened them up, they components for bombs, lab equipment, and chemical weapons components.


The tractor plant, Veneiran, is operated by the Venezuelan Military Industries. Several of its buildings are closed to the public and heavily guarded by Iranian security personnel, the Menges’ Americas Report experts said.


Iran air flies Boeing 747s weekly to Caracas via Damascus. Although the flights are nearly empty, it is virtually impossible to book a seat, because the flights are reserved for military cargo and to transport military and intelligence officials who are whisked away into a VIP lounge without ever clearing Customs, sources tell Newsmax.


The Venezuelan military has tossed out the U.S. Army Field Manual they used for training and has now turned to Iranian Revolutionary Guards troops to train Venezuelan forces in asymmetrical warfare similar to those used by Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Menges’ America’s Report experts said.


Also of concern to U.S. officials is an April 2008 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) involving military and nuclear cooperation between the two countries.


Chavez alluded to the nuclear deal while in Tehran last week, saying that with Iran’s help he planned to build a “nuclear village” in Venezuela.


According to the Canadian-based U308 Corporation, 70% of the gigantic Roraima Basin - the second largest uranium reserve in the world – is located in Venezuela. Initial estimates show reserves of 5.8=2 0million pounds of uranium ore just in the company’s leasehold area, according to the company’s website.


Iran is operating a gold mine at the very center of the uranium-mining basin that intelligence analysts believe could be used as a base for clandestine uranium exports to Iran.
 

hopalong

Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:
What I'd like to know is whether you were in the National Guard under Chavez or before he came to power. I find this fact that you were in the army of a foreign country run by a socialist incongruous with your being a neoconservative.

Could you provide a post where whitewing said he was in the army of a foreign power please?
Pretty please, or is this another one of your attempts to attach guilt by your over stating or totally mis informing that you seem to do a lot of as of late!
 

hopalong

Well-known member
I believe that it says we were working for, that does not equate to being in the army!!!!!!~ :roll: :roll: :roll:
I have even worked for the some State and Federal agencies a few times that does not mean i was part of them!
Means I was a private contractor.
More misinformation by the illustrious reader!
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
OT, reader2, I'm going to state this one last time and I hope you guys can wrap your brains around the concept.

There are some things that Chavez does/has done for the country and its people that I agree with. There are some things that he does that I STRONGLY disagree with.....just as was the same with GWB and is the same today with Obama. When a politician does something I like, I have no problem pointing it out, regardless of his party affiliation.

I've yet in my life to find a politician who did exactly what I'd have liked to have seen them do 100% of the time.

Chavez is absolutely still popular with a majority of the population here. That's a fact of life right now. It might change, but today, he can hold an election and win just about every time. For that reason I do not try to make the claim that he's a communist dictator (and if I do, I post the little razz thingy emoticon). Others do claim he's a dictator, I'm aware of that, but it doesn't mean I have to defend them or attack them if they say so. They're entitled to their opinion, be it misinformed or not. Now, if someone asks me my opinion, as OT likes to do on this topic, I'll give ya my opinion. That's what I've done.

Okay, now the question of the National Guard (FAN) etc.

Due to an unfortunate event that took place in my life a few years ago, Francisco and I were thrust into close contact with an investigative team who work for the National Guard. Francisco, my body guard, driver, secretary, now good friend, once worked for the equivalent of the FBI here in Venezuela, the Federal Police. They were once called the PTJ, now they're known as the CICPC.

Anyway, working with these investigators and their leaders trying to help solve a crime that directly affected me AND Francisco, we were befriended by this group, and especially by its leader. Francisco is an excellent investigator, knows a number of cities extremely well, knows the content of all the local gangs, etc, and most importantly knows the culture.

We worked really hard trying to help solve this crime, did solve it, and helped bring one of the implicated to justice. The other was already in jail from practically the start.

As with all policial institutions here, there's a chronic lack of equipment, money, transportation, warm body help, etc. Because we had worked so well with this particular investigative group, our names were sent to the National Guard headquarters in Caracas with a recommendation that we be granted National Guard credentials so that we could continue to work at a national level on other cases. At the time, there were many such individuals working with the National Guard Division of Inelligence. That request was granted and I believe it was in February of 2008 that we were issued credentials. Since Francisco and I were both already licensed to carry handguns, that made our inclusion in this group an even easier decision since just having the credential does not authorize one to carry.

Though I personally helped with a number of high profile cases, I also stayed really busy working at the ranch. Francisco however, an employee of mine, stayed on-loan and worked really closely with this team out of Caracas and the local Guard and helped solve a kidnapping/murder (he actually discovered the girl's body), a number of other murders, participated in drugs busts, actually arrested a police officer involved in a narcotics crime, etc. Like I said, he's an excellent investigator who can read between the lines, smell a lie, spot a crime about to take place, and ID the perp in a heartbeat.

I believe it was in late 2008 that huge drug bust took place off the coast of Venezuela and one of the implicated was found to be carrying credentials for the National Guard Division of Intelligence. A new general had recently taken over the office and from what I understand he decided that he'd recall all the outstanding credentials in a phased process.

By late April or early May of this year, Francisco and I received our call to turn in our credentials, which we did at the local office. Francisco however, only had his "chapa" or badge as the actual credential had been stolen from him in an armed robbery.

That's the story. We didn't work with Chavez to destablize the government of Colombia or the US. We worked with assorted NG groups across the country to solve local crimes that the police either don't want to bother with, were probably involved in themselves, or just didn't have the resources to handle.

OT and reader2. I've not lied about anything I've told you guys. I don't have to lie about anything. What I say I've done, what I say has happened in my life, where I live, what I do, etc, is all the truth.

If you want to disagree with me politically, by all means do so. I even disagree with myself sometimes as my logic and thinking change over time.

I do wish though you guys would stop what looked like a witch hunt as it related to me.

Your hatred of Hypo, deserved or not, is between you guys and Hypo IMHO. Take it up with him. :wink:
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:
Okay WW, I'm going to assume that you are a person of integrity who is not lying.

Correct, right?

How did you get to this site and did you know hypo before joining this site? Your level of buddy buddy with him from the first hours was quite striking.

Were you in law enforcement or Special Forces in the U.S.? I'm still confused about you becoming a trusted ally of Chavez's National Guard (FAN), that is, the Venezuelan Army.

In reverse order:

In order to answer the "trusted ally" part, you need to realize that what a politican says does not necessarily filter down to the minds of every citizen of that country. Most people, even Venezuelans, know that most politicians are full of crap and say things just for political gain. Yeah, as a gringo, many people are suspicious of me at first, and that doesn't bother me as it's logical to be suspicious of outsiders. However, once most people get to know me they realize I'm a generally decent guy who wants to earn an honest living and who loves his ranch. There's nothing more there. I enjoyed helping the NG, they needed additional help, and so it happened.

I was never in the military in the US though I was called up for my physical exam but was never drafted.

I got to this site by using google....typed in ranching forums.....and here I am.

I did not know hypo before coming here and if my memory is correct, did not have any detailed "buddy buddy" contact with him via posting or PM until you guys started busting my balls about being him.

It is logical, one would think, that if r2 showed up one day and everyone suddenly said r2 was a liar, was really OT, that r2 would write OT and ask, "who are these people and why do they think I'm you?". Would it not be logical?

As for the integrity question, I've done some things in my life that I'm not proud of today. I can't change those things, can only go forward. As for the "lying" part, I can say with 100% honesty that I've not lied about anything here. I have no reason to lie. I have indeed lived a very interesting life, done a lot of wild things, done some really stupid things and managed to survive. But here, no reader, I have not lied to you or anyone else about a single detail. And I'm not going to start now.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
reader (the Second) said:
So you and Buckeye showing up on this site was purely accidental? No one told you about it or suggested you join?

WW The libs view ranchers as their own playground and they are obsessed with any and every new poster. This goes back to my insecurity post. :wink:
 

Yanuck

Well-known member
so does this mean we have to explain how we came to Ranchers to be legit. posters? lets see, I think I Googled Pat Goggins and found it....am I who I say I am? :???:
 

hopalong

Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:
So you and Buckeye showing up on this site was purely accidental? No one told you about it or suggested you join?
How did you get here reader just showed up one day????????????????

How we got here is of no importance, or even relevant, we are here and that is that!!!!!!!

Any one got a beating a dead horse emotcon???
send it to reader her attitude seems to be that no one but her belongs here because she once drank a glass of milk and saw some cows as a child!!
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:
Yanuck, 90% of the folks here are exactly what they say. Including you. Including me.

But I have had to listen to claims that I am an agent of the pharmaceutical industry (very amusing) or of SEUI (which I had never heard of before) or of some branch of the U.S. Government (unspecified but evil).

This has gone on for the past five years. If I were really here on some nefarious mission, believe me I would have given up long ago :wink:

Who ever said you were an agent for SEIU?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
reader (the Second) said:
Yanuck, 90% of the folks here are exactly what they say. Including you. Including me.

But I have had to listen to claims that I am an agent of the pharmaceutical industry (very amusing) or of SEUI (which I had never heard of before) or of some branch of the U.S. Government (unspecified but evil).

This has gone on for the past five years. If I were really here on some nefarious mission, believe me I would have given up long ago :wink:

You and badax tossed a pittttty party yesterday for each other so one might say you have come close for sure.
 
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