Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Man stopped at Swiss border with €2mln of gold bars
Police detained a grocer and his 20-year-old daughter Monday in the northern city of Como as he attempted to cross the border into Switzerland with 50 kilos of gold ingots worth two million euros hidden in his car.
The 18-karat gold bars were wrapped in newspaper and hidden in false-bottomed compartment beneath the driver's seat, police said.
The 50-year-old grocery store owner and his daughter declined to tell police where the ingots came from.
Adnkronos
Iran threatens to break off nuclear talks if West does not lift oil sanctions
Iran warned on Tuesday that Western sanctions against the country's oil exports must be lifted and that their right to a civilian nuclear program recognized, or else Tehran could break off negotiations.
Iran's delegation said a negative response from EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is leading six-power group talking with Iran, would mean "the end of the negotiations in its current configuration.
The ultimatum came as the second day of talks on Iran's disputed nuclear program got under way in Moscow, after little progress was achieved on Monday.
Ashton has said the EU will not budge on an oil embargo set to go into effect July 1 unless Tehran agrees to limit its uranium enrichment to 20 percent.
Even as Iran was threatening to end talks, plans for another meeting in China in a few weeks time were under discussion.
Haaretz
Russia, China, Iran plan to stage in Syria “biggest Mid East maneuver”
Middle East military tensions around Syria shot up again Monday, June 18, with the news reported by the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars that a joint Russian-Chinese-Iranian exercise is to take place in Syria.
It was described as “the biggest of its kind ever staged in the Middle East” with 90,000 personnel, 400 air planes and 900 tanks taking part.
As part of its preparations, Beijing is reported to have asked Egyptian authorities to permit the passage through the Suez Canal in late June of 12 naval ships heading for the Syrian port of Tartus, where Moscow maintains a naval and marine base. DEBKAfile reported earlier this week that Russian naval vessels with marines on board were heading for Tartus. The Iranian media did not itemize their contribution to the joint exercise.
DEBKAfile stresses that this would be the first time that substantial Russian and Chinese military strength has ever been deployed in Syria or anywhere else in the Middle East. It means that the two powers are prepared to parade their unabashed partnership with the Iranian and Syrian armies for the shared purpose of obstructing US-European-Arab military intervention in Syria. A large-scale Russian and Chinese military presence in the embattled country would expect to deter the United States from leading a military operation against Bashar Assad and his regime.
No date was attached to the report but the exercise may possibly take place before the end of the month
The large-scale maneuver was announced in Tehran on the first day of the nuclear crisis talks in Moscow between Iran and the six world powers, their third attempt to resolve the crisis by diplomacy. However, Russian and Iranian sources close to the talks were pessimistic about progress. An Iranian delegation member complained the atmosphere was harsh and unconstructive. A Russian source saw no way of bridging US-led Western differences with Tehran when the parties reconvene Monday.
DEBKAfile also notes that the big joint Russian-Chinese-Iranian exercise “at sea, air and land on Syrian soil,” ws released for publication shortly before US President Barack Obama was due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit in Mexico.
Debkafile
Volcano Nevado del Ruiz spews ash and rumbles with strange noises
Plumes of smoke and ash are continuing to rise from Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano. People living on its slopes said they had heard “strong, strange noises” coming from the summit of the 5,346m-high mountain on Friday and Saturday. Officials say an orange alert first declared three weeks ago is still in place for areas near the summit.
More than 25,000 people died in a mudslide caused by Nevado del Ruiz in its last eruption in 1985. Officials have distributed 30,000 face masks to residents living in areas affected by ash from the volcano.
The airport in the nearby town of Manizales, in central Colombia, has been closed since the end of May, and will remain so until the volcano ceases to emit ash, officials said. The Volcanic Observatory in Manizales said the plume of ash and gas had risen to a height of 2,000m (6,500ft) on Sunday. Scientists at the observatory warned there was a risk of an eruption “within days or weeks.”
The extintion Protocol
America may face cataclysmic collapse in the not-too distant future.
At a time of skyrocketing federal debt, declining morality and growing spiritual apathy and apostasy, New York Times bestselling author Joel C. Rosenberg – known as a “modern-day Nostradamus” – says America may face cataclysmic collapse in the not-too distant future.
In his new book, Implosion: Can America Recover from its Economic & Spiritual Challenges in Time? (Tyndale House Publishers),Rosenberg explores the question a growing number of politicians, academics, authors and others are asking about the future of the United States.
“My concern is we are experiencing an epic failure of leadership at almost every level of American society right now,” Rosenberg told WND. “Something has gone terribly wrong with the American experiment. Our families are imploding, our national debt is exploding, experts on the left and right are warning us that we need to change our direction because we’re on an unsustainable trajectory economically, socially and culturally.
“Unfortunately, too many leaders in our country are stuck in business as usual mode and Americans are getting anxious that the ice is cracking under our feet.”
The book, released this week, comes as people at nearly 300 locations nationwide are set to listen to Rosenberg on Saturday morning discuss whether America is headed for implosion or revival during a live, three-hour “Implosion Simulcast” from First Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. Details have been posted at JoelRosenberg.com.
Rosenberg is a bestselling author with more than 2.5 million copies of his books in print. One of his books – “The Last Jihad’ – put readers in the cockpit of a hijacked jet on a kamikaze mission into an American city. It was written nine months before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Afterward, U.S. News & World Report described him as a “modern-day Nostradamus.” He also wrote about the U.S. at war in Iraq four months before the war began.
The son of a Jewish father and a Gentile mother and an evangelical Christian, Rosenberg has served as a communications adviser for a number of U.S. and Israeli leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Forbes magazine Publisher Steve Forbes.
A front-page Sunday New York Times profile called him a “force in the capital.” He has been profiled by the Washington Times and the Jerusalem Post, has been interviewed on ABC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC and the History Channel, and has addressed audiences all over the world, including the White House, the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol and the European Union Parliament.
WND
Spain pleads for ECB rescue as bond markets slam shut
Yields on 10-year Spanish bonds surged to a record high of almost 7.3pc as investors ignored the victory of pro-bailout parties in Greece's elections.
The closely-watched two-year yield rocketed by 65 basis points in a matter of hours, signalling a near-total collapse of confidence in Spain's €100bn (£80.3bn) rescue from the EU last week to shore up its banking system.
Bank of America said Spain may need a second rescue to tide it through the next three years, pushing the total loan package towards €450bn – a sum that would test the EU bail-out machinery and cause serious knock-on effects for Italy. A draft communique from the summit of G20 leaders in Mexico said Europe will take "all necessary measures" to hold the eurozone together and break the "feedback loop" between sovereign states and banks.
A separate text for next week's EU summit vowed to "mobilise all levers and instruments", though details were thin. Italy said it would push for a "semi-automatic mechanism" – probably involving the ECB – to cap the bond yields of states in trouble.
Bill Gross, head of the world's biggest bond fund Pimco, told Bloomberg TV that Spanish bonds were no longer a "safe environment" and warned that Germany itself had become a "credit risk" as the crisis metastasises. Spain's economy is twice the size of Greece, Portugal, and Ireland combined.
Spain's financial daily Cinco Dias said the bond rout had been a "massacre". The IBEX share index in Madrid fell 3pc and Italy's MIB dropped 2.8pc.
Angel Gurria, the head of the OECD club of rich states, predicted action from the ECB within a week, saying it was "high time" for leadership from Frankfurt. "We have run out of options. The Europeans have to display their awesome firepower," he said.
Mr Gurria urged the ECB to force down yields on Spanish and Italian bonds and deploy "every instrument, tool, and asset" in its arsenal, saying it would longer be enough to cut interests rates.
He warned that the crisis had been allowed to fester for so long that Spain and Italy may need soft debt-restructuring – perhaps by extending debt maturities – since public opinion in these nations will no longer tolerate ruinous debt service costs.
The ECB has not purchased any bonds for almost four months and continued to hold fire last week, but the mood is shifting within the governing council.
Austria's central bank governor Ewald Nowotny issued a thinly veiled rebuke to the ECB’s hawks yesterday, reminding them that deflation policies led to havoc in the 1930s.
“Due to misleading theories, a single-minded concentration on austerity led to mass unemployment, a breakdown of democratic systems and in the end to the catastrophe of Nazism. We must avoid the mistakes of the 1930s,” he said.
Spain’s woes are mounting relentlessly. Suki Mann from Societe Generale said the collapse of confidence has at last begun to infect blue-chip companies, with groups such as Iberdrola, Red Electrica, and Gas Natural facing a jump in borrowing costs of 30 to 50 basis points since Friday.
“Any resilience has been washed away. There are no buyers,” he said. Companies deemed rock-solid weeks ago risk a downgrade to junk status, with grim implications for the real economy. The blistering rally in corporate debt after the ECB’s €1 trillion lending blitz to banks has completely dissipated.
Spain’s central bank said that the ratio of bad debts had jumped to 8.7pc in April, a figure certain to rise if house price fall another 25pc as expected. El Confidencial reported that an outside bank audit had uncovered a shortfall of up €150bn, though not all of that sum has to be covered by fresh capital.
Spanish banks must repay or roll-over €540bn on the capital markets – mostly over the next three years – a burden that may fall heavily on the Spanish state if the economy fails to recover soon.
There has been fierce criticism of the EU for making matters worse by forcing lenders to raise core tier one capital ratios to 9pc by the end of this month, a move widely blamed for tipping the eurozone back into slump.
Telegraph
Iranian Missile Engineer Oversees Venezuela’s Drones
The manager of Venezuela’s drone program is an engineer who helped build ballistic missiles for Iran. The engineer’s identity raises new questions about the purposes behind Venezuela’s drone program. But it’s also only one part of a mystery involving drones shipped from Iran to Venezuela while hidden in secret cargo containing possibly more military hardware than just ‘bots.
According to El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language sister paper of The Miami Herald, US officials believe Iran shipped drones to Venezuela hidden in cargo containers. The date and specific port are not known, but Venezuela only received six drones — in a shipment of 70 containers carrying each more than 24,000 pounds of cargo. The cargo was camouflaged as material “from Venirauto (Venezuelan-Iranian Automotive) through a Chilean company,” a source told the newspaper.
The containers were headed for a Venezuelan air base and the location for the M2 drone project, named after the Mohajer, a light surveillance drone manufactured by Iran. The supervisor, Ramin Keshavarz, is member of the Revolutionary Guards and former employee of Iran’s Defense Industry Organization, a firm embargoed by the United States for overseeing Iran’s ballistic missile program. The stealthy cargo, the Iranian missile engineer, and more than a million pounds of unaccounted weight, was not all. “Excessively high” amounts of money are paid for the drone program, much higher than the total cost of the ‘bots.
Also under investigation is a Parchin Industries site in Morón, Venezuela. Parchin is believed to make fuel for Iran’s mid-range missiles and has been accused by the International Atomic Energy Agency of conducting explosive tests inside a containment chamber located in Iran. Morón also houses a joint Iranian-Venezuelan gunpowder factory. Venezuela is also testing six Iranian drone models, with three under “special suspicion” for being not what they seem: the Justiciero, Vengador and Venezolano drones. In other words, US officials believe these drones could be more than just drones.
Last week, Venezuela’s president and potentate Hugo Chavez acknowledged the drone program. “Of course we’re doing it, and we have the right to. We are a free and independent country,” Chavez said. He added that Venezuela does not “have any plans to harm anyone,” and that it is just one of many programs built “with the help of different countries including China, Russia, Iran, and other allied countries,” he said.
The drones also appear to be primarily used for surveillance, with limited — if any — ability to carry weapons. The Mohajer, which is used by Venezuela, does not carry weapons but can guide missiles by laser. And drones are meant to loiter, not travel long distances, which means it’s exceedingly unlikely that Venezuela and Iran will be able to team up and invade the United States with a fleet of robotic aircraft any time soon.
Or even reach Florida. The maximum range — about 1,200 miles — of an (unnamed) Venezuelan drone revealed in March might reach Florida, but no further, and even the former possibility is theoretical. Chavez also weighed in on the concerns. “Pretty soon someone is probably going to say there’s an atomic bomb on the tip of it,” he joked.
To understand Chavez’s comment, and to whom it’s directed, it’s important to note one common but poorly supported explanation for why Venezuela and Iran cooperate with each other. The explanation has Iran using Venezuela as a forward base against the United States. In this view, Venezuela is a location to store Iranian military assets, possibly even missiles. Therefore, it’s just a matter of time before Iran either lets loose with the hidden nukes, or provokes another Cuban Missile Crisis.
But the evidence for any military relationship — beyond defense projects like drones — is circumstantial, at best.
Venezuela and Iran have other reasons to cooperate. For one, it suits rhetoric from both Venezuela and Iranian leaders. Chavez’s political identity is partly defined by a demagogic opposition to the United States. Iran does not share Chavez’s socialist policy goals, but there is a common foe. And Iran uses Chavez as means to build international support against the sanctions.
But could the drone program also be a way to subvert the sanctions? Venezuela doesn’t have to be housing materials directly related to Iran’s nuclear program. Relocating ballistic missile development, which indirectly ties into a potential nuclear weapon, could bypass the embargo. It’s also another way to avoid the prying eyes of IAEA inspectors.
It’s also possible the secret, unaccounted cargo is not so subversive after all. A Venirauto office is reportedly located next to the air base where the containers were first spotted. In January 2011, a nearby arms depot exploded. But there is also speculation the site could be the location of a sensitive military project. But it couldn’t be a drone project, or could it? Adding to the mystery, a drone factory built at the site was never put into operation.
Wired
Britain stops Russian ship carrying attack helicopters for Syria
The British marine insurer Standard Club said it had withdrawn cover from all the ships owned by Femco, a Russian cargo line, including the MV Alaed.
"We were made aware of the allegations that the Alaed was carrying munitions destined for Syria," the company said in a statement. "We have already informed the ship owner that their insurance cover ceased automatically in view of the nature of the voyage."
British security officials confirmed they had told Standard Club that providing insurance to the shipment was likely to be a breach of European Union sanctions against the Syrian regime.
They said they were continuing to monitor the ship, which has been the subject of a fierce international row since US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week revealed it was adding to the arsenal of weaponry available for Mr Assad to use against rebellious Syrian towns.
"We have various ways of keeping track of this ship and that is what we are doing," a source told The Daily Telegraph.
The MV Alaed picked up its cargo of Mi25 helicopters – known as "flying tanks" – from the Russian port of Kaliningrad, where they had been sent to the state-owned manufacturer Mil's "Factory 150" for servicing and repairs.
They were originally sold to the Syrian government by Moscow, its major arms supplier, at the end of the Soviet era.
The ship headed south through the North Sea towards the English Channel on its way to the Mediterranean and, most likely, the Syrian port of Tartous, also home to a Russian naval base.
But under sanctions announced last year, the EU has banned not only exporting arms to Syria but also providing related services such as insurance.
As first revealed by The Sunday Telegraph at the weekend, the US notified the UK government that the insurance was British last week.
As it neared the Dutch coast, the authorities there also hailed the ship, the security sources said, and it made an abrupt turn, heading towards Scotland. It was last night now off the coast of the Hebrides but with no insurance covering the ship security sources say it may now have to return to port.
In their attempts to bombard rebel towns into submission, Assad regime forces have increasingly brought up helicopters, strafing the towns of Haffa and Rastan last week.
Their use, condemned by Kofi Annan, the UN peace envoy, has not stopped Russia's continued insistence on providing arms to the Syrians. Moscow is continuing with a 2007 contract to provide more than 20 MiG-29 M2 fighter aircraft, according to the Americans.
Russia also announced it was preparing to send an elite unit of marines to Tartous, a move which a Western defence source said was intended as a powerful signal that Russia would not tolerate foreign military intervention.
Classified US satellite images last week indicated that loading work had begun on two amphibious landing vessels, the Nikolai Filchenkov and the Caesar Kunikov, at the Crimean naval base of Sebastopol.
A Russian officer quoted by the Interfax news agency said they would carry marines charged with protecting the security of Russian citizens and evacuating a part of the base, marking the first time Moscow has sent troops to Syria since the uprising against Mr Assad began more than 15 months ago.
If fully loaded, the two vessels could carry as many as 600 troops and 24 tanks.
Russia's Nezavisimaya Gazeta, citing anonymous military sources, suggested that the soldiers would be drawn from the elite Pskov airborne brigades and special forces units stationed in Chechnya.
Russia was particularly unnerved after William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, and other Western officials compared the slaughter in Syria to the civil war in Bosnia in the 1990s, the Western defence source said.
They believed the comparisons amounted to a coded signal that the West was preparing to authorise a Nato mission to Syria similar to the peacekeeping operation mounted in Bosnia and later in Kosovo.
But the deployment also signalled that Russia was hedging its bets, according to the source.
"The purpose is threefold," he said. "First, they want to send a signal to the West about military intervention. Second, they want to demonstrate support for Assad.
"But they are also preparing for the worst and realise that the worsening situation may leave them no choice but to evacuate their nationals as a last resort. If that happens, it is game over for the Russians.
"They project strength, but know their position in Syria is actually a weak one. It may be this is a last throw of the dice."
At a meeting on the sides of the G20 summit in Mexico, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, agreed a political process was needed to "stop the bloodshed in Syria", according to a joint statement.
The Telegraph
"We were made aware of the allegations that the Alaed was carrying munitions destined for Syria," the company said in a statement. "We have already informed the ship owner that their insurance cover ceased automatically in view of the nature of the voyage."
British security officials confirmed they had told Standard Club that providing insurance to the shipment was likely to be a breach of European Union sanctions against the Syrian regime.
They said they were continuing to monitor the ship, which has been the subject of a fierce international row since US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week revealed it was adding to the arsenal of weaponry available for Mr Assad to use against rebellious Syrian towns.
"We have various ways of keeping track of this ship and that is what we are doing," a source told The Daily Telegraph.
The MV Alaed picked up its cargo of Mi25 helicopters – known as "flying tanks" – from the Russian port of Kaliningrad, where they had been sent to the state-owned manufacturer Mil's "Factory 150" for servicing and repairs.
They were originally sold to the Syrian government by Moscow, its major arms supplier, at the end of the Soviet era.
The ship headed south through the North Sea towards the English Channel on its way to the Mediterranean and, most likely, the Syrian port of Tartous, also home to a Russian naval base.
But under sanctions announced last year, the EU has banned not only exporting arms to Syria but also providing related services such as insurance.
As first revealed by The Sunday Telegraph at the weekend, the US notified the UK government that the insurance was British last week.
As it neared the Dutch coast, the authorities there also hailed the ship, the security sources said, and it made an abrupt turn, heading towards Scotland. It was last night now off the coast of the Hebrides but with no insurance covering the ship security sources say it may now have to return to port.
In their attempts to bombard rebel towns into submission, Assad regime forces have increasingly brought up helicopters, strafing the towns of Haffa and Rastan last week.
Their use, condemned by Kofi Annan, the UN peace envoy, has not stopped Russia's continued insistence on providing arms to the Syrians. Moscow is continuing with a 2007 contract to provide more than 20 MiG-29 M2 fighter aircraft, according to the Americans.
Russia also announced it was preparing to send an elite unit of marines to Tartous, a move which a Western defence source said was intended as a powerful signal that Russia would not tolerate foreign military intervention.
Classified US satellite images last week indicated that loading work had begun on two amphibious landing vessels, the Nikolai Filchenkov and the Caesar Kunikov, at the Crimean naval base of Sebastopol.
A Russian officer quoted by the Interfax news agency said they would carry marines charged with protecting the security of Russian citizens and evacuating a part of the base, marking the first time Moscow has sent troops to Syria since the uprising against Mr Assad began more than 15 months ago.
If fully loaded, the two vessels could carry as many as 600 troops and 24 tanks.
Russia's Nezavisimaya Gazeta, citing anonymous military sources, suggested that the soldiers would be drawn from the elite Pskov airborne brigades and special forces units stationed in Chechnya.
Russia was particularly unnerved after William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, and other Western officials compared the slaughter in Syria to the civil war in Bosnia in the 1990s, the Western defence source said.
They believed the comparisons amounted to a coded signal that the West was preparing to authorise a Nato mission to Syria similar to the peacekeeping operation mounted in Bosnia and later in Kosovo.
But the deployment also signalled that Russia was hedging its bets, according to the source.
"The purpose is threefold," he said. "First, they want to send a signal to the West about military intervention. Second, they want to demonstrate support for Assad.
"But they are also preparing for the worst and realise that the worsening situation may leave them no choice but to evacuate their nationals as a last resort. If that happens, it is game over for the Russians.
"They project strength, but know their position in Syria is actually a weak one. It may be this is a last throw of the dice."
At a meeting on the sides of the G20 summit in Mexico, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, agreed a political process was needed to "stop the bloodshed in Syria", according to a joint statement.
The Telegraph
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)