Badawi, if you still insist on appointing Ghazali Sheikh, think again!

The Russian-Israeli Mafia: Off-limits to FBI, US intelligence By Wayne Madsen Online Journal Contributing Writer July 11, 2008

(WMR) — The same cancer that bankrupted the Soviet Union and the early Russian Federation, namely the Russian-Israeli Mafia — the global organized crime syndicate that uses Israeli government protection and passports to cover their illegal worldwide activities — has so thoroughly permeated the American political and business system that the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies are virtually powerless to bring the major perpetrators to justice.

Across the United States, FBI agents have been hamstrung by the Justice and Homeland Security Departments, led by two individuals, Michael Mukasey and Michael Chertoff, whose close links to the Russian-Israeli Mafia in New York and New Jersey have seen case after case involving Russian-Israeli mobsters going un-investigated and virtually ignored.

In fact, the National Security Agency (NSA), FBI, and the military intelligence services have seen their ranks of Russian linguists slashed by the Bush administration. In most cases, Russian-Israeli mobsters use their native Russian language in their telephone conversations and email communications. Only recently, perhaps owing to a shift within the Defense Department led by Robert Gates, has the NSA began re-hiring Russian linguists, although at a very slow pace.

Neo-con outlets such as The Daily Telegraph in Great Britain, which has also witnessed an infiltration of its government, law enforcement, and intelligence services by individuals linked to the Russian-Israeli mob, are now complaining that there are so many Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) agents in Britain that MI-6, MI-5, and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) are finding it difficult to battle “Islamist terrorists.” However, the FSB is primarily a law enforcement agency that has been waging battle against the Russian-Israeli Mafia, particularly its major backers like exiled Russian-Israeli oligarch Boris Berezovsky who have been granted protection by the British government while they plan subversive activities against Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

In fact, as seen in the poisoning of Russian ex-FSB and KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London, there are solid links between Berezovsky, the Russian-Israeli Mafia, and Islamist guerrillas in Chechnya and abroad. However, British intelligence, which recently suffered a major blow with the strange illness that struck the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), Alex Allan, who was found in a coma and covered with blood in his Hammersmith apartment in the London suburbs, has been unable to crack down on the Russian-Israeli Mafia infiltration of Britain since the billions of pounds in dirty money has made its way into the coffers of top Labor and Conservative politicians.

Allan reportedly had plans to return to Freemantle, Australia, where he lived with his Australian-born wife before she died of cancer. Allan had been the British High Commissioner in Canberra before moving back to London to serve as JIC Chairman. As JIC Chairman, Allan coordinated the activities of MI5, MI6, and GCHQ. The last high-ranking British spy to take up residence in Australia was the late Peter Wright, whose book “Spycatcher,” detailed past secret activities of MI6 and MI5. Attempts by the Margaret Thatcher government to have the book’s publication banned in Australia were unsuccessful.

The United States is only second to Britain in infiltration by the Russian-Israeli gangsters in the highest echelons of government. The Bush administration has ignored INTERPOL arrest warrants and requests for information issued on behalf of Russia for wanted Russian-Israeli billionaires like Leonid Nevzlin, Boris Berezovsky, aka Platon Elenin (suspected by Russian authorities of links to the assassinations of Litvinenko and Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya), Arkady Gaydamak, Semyon “Sam” Kislin, Michael Chernoy, and others.

The Russian-Israeli interference in the law enforcement activities of the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have hobbled major investigations to the detriment of the national security of the United States. The FBI investigation of the assassination of retired CIA Houston station chief Roland “Tony” Carnaby, who was investigating Israeli Mossad and Russian-Israeli mob activities in the Houston area, has been relegated to a low-level and non-descript national security investigation by FBI higher ups. The DEA and FBI investigations of the activities of Israeli “art students” and “movers” in the months leading up to the 9/11 attacks were similarly stymied by the direct orders of then-FBI director Louis Freeh and Attorney General John Ashcroft, according to a major wire service journalist who covered the Justice Department. The Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), funded by wealthy Jewish American private contributors and the Israeli government, “threatened” media outlets, including the Associated Press, who continued to report on the activities of the Israeli art students and movers.

The FBI has also ignored the massive thefts of personal data of American citizens. WMR has previously reported that most of the major thefts are part of a covert operation by the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security to pick up where Iran-contra felon Admiral John Poindexter left off with his aborted Total Information Awareness (TIA) system, designed to collect the most personal details of American citizens in a massive database. A February 27, 2008, truck theft of backup data tapes from Bank of New York Mellon Corporation’s Jersey City Shareholder Services unit has the hallmarks of an organized crime heist. Shareholders of the Walt Disney Company, John Hancock Financial Services (a division of Manulife Financial Corporation), People’s United Bank of Connecticut, and the Bank of New York were informed that their stock sale transactions may have been compromised. WMR has learned that Disney stock holders were not officially informed of the theft of their data until June 13, 2008, four months later. Perhaps not coincidentally, a number of Israeli-owned computer services companies are now offering protection against data theft to potential customers. In addition, Kislin was linked to a money laundering scandal involving the Bank of New York, now Bank of New York Mellon. WMR previously reported on the Bank of New York (BONY) scandal and the Russian-Israeli mob:

“Forest Hills has been identified by the FBI as a major center for both the Russian-Israeli Mafia and Mossad and it is a place where the two interests often cooperate. In 2002, OPERATION SPIDERWEB, a joint FBI-EUROPOL operation, resulted in the arrest of 20 Russian-Israeli dual citizens on charges of money laundering. The laundering primarily involved the Bank of New York (BONY), the Russian bank Menatep, and an ‘Internet bank’ called the European Union Bank. More importantly, the money laundering network also included Benex, a firm connected to Bill Clinton-pardoned Mossad figure Marc Rich, who still resides primarily in Switzerland. . . . Benex’s office was located on Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills in the same building where Grigori Loutchansky headquartered two of his companies. Loutchansky is a Latvian-born Israeli who laundered billions through his Vienna-based NORDEX firm. National Security Agency (NSA) signals intercepts have reportedly yielded intelligence on Loutchansky’s role in the smuggling of nuclear materials. Loutchansky also was closely linked to Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign through New York real estate magnate and Democratic donor Sam Dombs. . . . Forest Hills was also the hometown of international diamond dealer Yehuda Abraham, convicted in a plot to smuggle surface-to-air missile launchers from Russia into the United States, mere four months after 9/11, and launder the proceeds from the deal through Malaysia. The network was discovered to have links with the Viktor Bout weapons smuggling network and money laundering facilities linked to ‘Al Qaeda’ Southeast Asia affiliate Jemaah Islamiyah. Abraham, an Afghan Jew, was linked not only to Mossad but to the Saudi Royal Family.”

It is now being reported that John McCain has a severe gambling addiction, evidenced by his long bouts with the craps tables in Las Vegas. There are reports that convicted GOP lobbyist and Russian-Israeli mob money launderer Jack Abramoff traded favors with McCain and Alabama Governor Bob Riley, who, through election malfeasance, cost Democratic Governor Don Siegelman his governorship in 2002 and then proceeded to engage in a criminal conspiracy to indict and convict Siegelman on trumped up charges.

A set of emails sent between Abramoff and Tom DeLay’s Communications Director in December 2002, emails that were never produced by McCain’s Indian Affairs Committee, show that Abramoff was conspiring with Riley, a casino gambling opponent, to keep gambling from the Poarch Creek Indian Reservation to benefit gambling on the Coushatta Indian Reservations in Mississippi. The email also describes efforts between Mississippi Republican Governor Haley Barbour and Maryland Republican Governor Bob Ehrlich to bring casino gambling to Indian reservations in their states. Ehrlich and his staff were targets of a federal investigation linking them to a prostitution ring involving Pamela Martin & Associates escorts and Shirlington Limousine, which ferried escorts on behalf of individuals and lobbyists linked to Abramoff in the Washington, DC and Baltimore areas. That investigation was shut down after George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004.

McCain has also been linked to Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska, another member of the Russian Mafia who has been denied an entry visa to the United States. Deripaska, unlike his Russian Jewish comrades, has maintained good links to Putin. Deripaska has also figured prominently as a supplier of aluminum to the European Airbus aircraft frames to be used in the production of the US Air Force tanker plane, a contract pushed hard by McCain and his top campaign advisers, some of whom were lobbyists for Airbus.

The Russian-Israeli mob infiltration of the McCain campaign is only the continuation of a cancerous infiltration of the American body politic that began with the takeover of the Senate office of Washington’s Henry “Scoop” Jackson by anti-Soviet Jewish “neo-conservatives” in the early 1970s and blossomed into the full scale coup witnessed in the presidential election of 2000.

Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.

Copyright © 2008 WayneMadenReport.com

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report.

Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal
Email Online Journal Editor

Comment by a reader of this blog:

“Mahathir paid US $1.2 million to a Washington lobbyist in 2002 so he could get a photo shoot with President Bush in the White House. There were reports of a copy of a check in the custody of the U.S. government which investigated the matter, linking the Malaysian Embassy in Washington D.C. and the involvement of a top Malaysian diplomat (Ambassador Ghazali Sheikh Khalid). Incidentally, Jack Abramoff who entered into a plea agreement earlier with the U.S. government, was jailed yesterday for corruption and money laundering for four years.” There is more to this man that is Jack Abramoff. He is one of those Mafia…

From Mr. Bean QC, New York:

source: Los Angeles Times

Archive for Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Abramoff Bragged of Ties to Rove

By Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten
February 15, 2006 in print edition A-1

When the government of Malaysia sought to repair its tarnished image in the U.S. by arranging a meeting between President Bush and its controversial prime minister in 2002, it followed the same strategy as many other well-heeled interests in Washington: It called on lobbyist Jack Abramoff for help.

It was a tall order. The then-prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, had been chastised by the Clinton administration for repeated anti-Semitic statements and for jailing political opponents. But it was important to the Malaysians, according to a former Abramoff associate who attended meetings with the Malaysian ambassador and the lobbyist.

Abramoff contacted presidential advisor Karl Rove on at least four occasions to help arrange a meeting, the witness said.

Finally, the former associate said, Rove’s office called to tell Abramoff that the Malaysian leader soon would be getting an official White House invitation.

Neither the former Abramoff associate nor any others who spoke about the Malaysian contacts wanted their names used, out of fear they might damage future business opportunities.

In May 2002, Mahathir met with Bush in the Oval Office; his photograph with the president was beamed around the world.

Abramoff received $1.2 million from the Malaysian government for his lobbying services in 2001 and 2002, the former associate said. Documents obtained by Senate investigators appear to confirm at least $900,000 of that amount.

It’s not clear how central Abramoff was in arranging the Oval Office session. The White House says the meeting was arranged through normal channels.

But it was clear, the former associate said, that Abramoff took credit for it. His reputation for close relationships with the White House and congressional officials enabled him to charge stratospheric fees from his lobbying clients – and the president’s meeting with Malaysia’s Prime Minister enhanced that reputation.

The Malaysia episode sheds new light on the practices of Abramoff, the man at the center of a burgeoning corruption scandal, and suggests closer ties than previously acknowledged between the disgraced lobbyist and the highest levels of the Bush White House.

Abramoff has pleaded guilty to improperly influencing members of Congress and their aides – offering foreign travel and other benefits and later seeking favors from some of them. He often routed lobbying fees through nonprofit organizations to evade taxes or hide the sources of the funds.

The Malaysian payments were made to the American International Center, a bogus think tank that an Abramoff partner, Michael P.S. Scanlon, set up at a Delaware beach house. Abramoff and Scanlon have admitted using the center to collect millions from their lobbying clients.

By routing the money in that way, Abramoff identified his client on federal lobbying disclosure forms as the Delaware-based center and avoided having to register with the Justice Department as an agent of a foreign government.

After the Malaysian Leader’s White House meeting, the former associate said, Abramoff was invited to a dinner honoring the Prime Minister at the Malaysian Embassy and was given a seat near the head table.

At least one other Washington lobbying firm – Alexander Strategies, which was run by an Abramoff friend and former chief of staff to then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) – was compensated during this period for helping boost Malaysia’s reputation in Washington. That firm was also given credit in some circles for helping to arrange the White House meeting and separate trips for leading members of Congress, including DeLay and several Democrats, to Malaysia.

The former associate was the only person to observe Abramoff’s direct contacts with Rove, and he heard only Abramoff’s end of the conversation. He recalled Abramoff picking up his ringing cellphone, looking at the caller identification and saying, “It’s Karl.” Abramoff listened for a few seconds and gave the former associate the thumbs-up sign. Abramoff then closed his phone and said the official invitation was forthcoming. “Call the Ambassador,” he said.

Apart from the direct contacts between Rove and Abramoff, the former associate’s description of the Malaysia episode was backed by another former Abramoff associate and by documents released last year by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Both said Abramoff talked of his access to Rove and cited his relationship with Susan Ralston, Rove’s administrative assistant. Before joining the White House staff, Ralston was an assistant to Abramoff.

One of the former associates said Abramoff referred to Ralston as his “implant” in the White House.

A White House spokeswoman, Erin Healy, said Tuesday that Rove had “no recollection” of any conversations with Abramoff regarding the Malaysian meeting. She said the meeting was arranged through “normal staffing channels.”

The meeting took place as Malaysian and U.S. officials were discussing that nation’s participation in the post-Sept. 11 campaign against terrorism. Malaysia is a heavily Muslim country.

“At the time [Mahathir] was Asia’s longest-serving Prime Minister and an influential Islamic leader,” Healy said. “The President met with him to discuss Malaysia’s role in the war on terrorism.”

Healy said Rove considered Abramoff a “casual acquaintance.”

White House officials said Ralston’s hiring had nothing to do with her prior association with Abramoff. Healy said she was a “valued member of the White House team.”

Although White House officials have taken pains to distance Bush and his aides from Abramoff, hoping to shield the president from the scandal’s political fallout, former associates say Abramoff often bragged of his ties to the highest levels of the administration.

One lobbyist recalls Abramoff’s frequent refrain when confronting important legislative issues: “I’ll call Karl on that.”

The Malaysian Embassy did not respond to requests for comment on Abramoff’s work.

Bills from the American International Center to the Malaysian Embassy have been turned over to a Senate committee investigating Abramoff’s representation of Indian tribes, which he has admitted to defrauding.

Lobbying records show that Abramoff’s firm, Greenberg Traurig, received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the center but did not disclose that the funds originated with the government of Malaysia.

According to one of Abramoff’s former associates, Abramoff said he did not need to disclose Malaysia as a client on federal lobbying disclosure forms – or to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department – because the money had come from the American International Center.

Abramoff’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, declined to comment on any aspect of Abramoff’s work for Malaysia.

The failure of Abramoff and his colleagues at Greenberg Traurig to register as foreign agents was initially a topic of interest to the Justice Department, which is investigating Abramoff’s contacts with lawmakers and executive branch officials as part of an ongoing fraud and bribery case. Abramoff has pleaded guilty in that case and is helping federal prosecutors. But a person familiar with that inquiry said the issue had not been pursued recently, perhaps because the law had many loopholes.

This person, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation, said Abramoff’s relationship with Rove had “not been a matter of any great significance” in the Justice Department inquiry.

The Oval Office meeting with Mahathir, on May 14, 2002, was publicly warm, with Bush praising Mahathir for his “friendship” and “strong support” in the war on terrorism.

The meeting rehabilitated the Malaysian leader’s reputation only temporarily, and the appearance of friendliness between the two emerged as a political headache for Bush.

Eight months after the meeting, Mahathir surprised the opening session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by warning the U.S. against its looming invasion of Iraq – “out-terrorizing the terrorists,” he called it. Later that year, he said the U.S. was fighting terrorism “through attacking Muslim countries and Muslims, whether they are guilty or not.”

He went on to make anti-Semitic comments, charging that “Jews rule this world” and get “others to fight and die for them.” Democrats charged that Bush was slow to rebuke the prime minister.

In October 2003, he pulled Mahathir aside at an international economic conference to express his disapproval, calling the remarks “wrong” and “divisive,” according to a White House spokesman.

Mahathir later emerged as an issue in Bush’s reelection campaign, as Republicans aggressively courted Jewish voters.

One such GOP outreach featured Mahathir pictured beside Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kerry and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat above a Kerry quote in which he said “foreign leaders” wanted him to win the election. The campaign mailer suggested Mahathir and Arafat, “renowned for their hatred of the Jewish people,” supported Kerry.

On one occasion, Abramoff – an orthodox Jew and a supporter of Israel – was asked whether he was comfortable representing a country led by a man known for anti-Semitic comments.

Abramoff responded, “They pay their bills on time.”

Times staff writer Stephen Braun contributed to this report.

Related Articles

• The Nation – Marianas gov. says he’s complying in Abramoff case – Benigno R. Fitial also says his government is trying to retrieve money paid to the firms of his onetime ally. Jul 20, 2007
• Lobbying Plan Was Central to GOP’s Political Strategy Jan 04, 2006
• The Heat Is Now on Ohio Rep. Ney Jan 04, 2006
• Abramoff Says He Met Bush `Almost a Dozen’ Times Feb 10, 2006
• Lobbyist Charged in Fraud Inquiry Nov 19, 2005

More articles by Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten

____________________________

Wicker’s Special Interest-Paid Travel, Resort Stays, Massages Exposed By New Website

2008-08-13

Matthew Miller, DSCC

Senator with links to jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff took overseas trip investigated by FBI; view at www.theRealWicker.com

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee unveiled a new version of the web site www.theRealWicker.com highlighting Roger Wicker’s special interest connections, adding new information on his ties to now-jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff and facts on thousands of dollars worth of travel paid by special interests. The FBI has already investigated two lobbyist-connected groups that funded a trip during which Wicker got massages at a plush resort rather than touring tsunami damage.

“From relaxing on lobbyist-paid vacations to shielding jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff from public accountability, Roger Wicker seems to be busy in Washington taking care of everyone except the people who elected him,” DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said. “Getting free massages at fancy resorts when you’re supposed to be on a fact finding mission does not pass the smell test for most Mississippians.  Mississippians deserve to know the truth about Roger Wicker and his special interest loyalties, and the more they learn about his record, the more they’ll want Wicker out of office.”

To view the website, visit: www.theRealWicker.com

Wicker And His Wife Went on a Privately-Funded $37,000 Trip That One Expert Said “Broke the Rules.” In 2005, Wicker, his wife and his Chief of Staff took a 10-day trip to South Korea and Malaysia in February 2005 sponsored by the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council and U.S.-Malaysia Exchange Association. The trip cost nearly $37,000 for all three, including more than $350 on flowers, recreation, phones and laundry. Under House rules, only reasonable expenses for transportation, food and refreshments are allowed. University of Baltimore law professor Charles Tiefer, a former deputy general counsel for the House, said, “I believe this congressman (Wicker) broke the rules.” [ Biloxi Sun Herald, 6/8/06]

• Wicker’s Privately-Funded Trip to Asia Included Three Days With His Wife At A Resort Hotel “To Have a Little Downtime” and a Massage. On his 2005 trip sponsored by the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council and U.S.-Malaysia Exchange Association, Wicker and his wife and aide spent four days in Korea before flying to Kuala Lumpur for two days, where they met the Malaysian prime minister. Then, Wicker his wife and the aide “spent three days at a resort hotel in Langkawi, an island whose beaches are rated among the world’s 10 best by a National Geographic Society publication… Wicker, in an interview, acknowledged that the island visit was meant for relaxation. He said he and his wife also got massages.  The itinerary for Langkawi was to look at tsunami damage and ‘to have a little downtime,’ Wicker said. ‘But the logistics of getting to the tsunami became a problem. It did become a couple of days of downtime.’” The group stayed at the Berjaya Langkawi Beach & Spa Resort.  [ Washington Post, 11/3/06]

FBI Investigated Whether Sponsor of Wicker’s 2005 Trip Was A Front For Foreign Government or Corporation. The groups that sponsored Wicker’s South Korea-Malaysia trip were described as fronts for lobbying campaigns bankrolled by foreign entities and operated by the lobbying firm Alexander Strategy Group, which led the FBI to look into the trips for lawmakers. The Washington Post reported, “People associated with Alexander Strategy, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said federal investigators have asked them whether the groups were conduits for a foreign government and a foreign corporation to finance congressional junkets… Federal law prohibits members of Congress from knowingly accepting overseas travel from foreign governments except as part of a cultural interchange program approved by the State Department… House rules ban members from taking trips paid for by lobbyists or foreign agents.”  [ Washington Post, 11/3/06]

Tom DeLay’s Former Chief Of Staff and Head of Alexander Strategies, Founded Malaysian Exchange Association and Korean-US Exchange Council. In 2001 Ed Buckham, Tom DeLay’s former Chief of Staff and founder of the Alexander Strategy Group, created both the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council and U.S.-Malaysia Exchange Association (at the same time that Abramoff was also lobbying for Malaysia).  Together the two groups had a total budget more than $2.5 million that was controlled by Alexander Strategy, according to people affiliated with the firm at the time. Records also showed that the Korean group was funded by Hanwha group a South Korean conglomerate, and the Malaysian group was funded by a Malaysian energy firm, with much of the money funneled through a Hong Kong based consulting firm Belle Haven Consultants.  [ Washington Post, 11/3/06; USA Today, 6/22/05; Time, 4/25/05; Malaysia General News, 9/18/02]

• Grand Jury Subpoenaed Records from House of Representatives Connected to Buckham in Connection With Abramoff Probe. In September 2007, a federal grand jury issued a subpoena the House of Representative for record connected to Tom DeLay’s former Chief of Staff, and founder of Alexander Strategies, Ed Buckham.  The grand jury requested documents from the Chief Administrative Officer of the House from Buckham’s time as DeLay’s Chief of Staff.  [AP, 9/21/07]
• Abramoff Handled Malaysia Account For Greenburg Traurig. At the time of the trip, Mahathir was trying to mend relations with Washington.  According to Time, Jack Abramoff handled the Malaysia account for Greenberg Traurig. In September 2002, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Malaysia’s relations with the United States were improving during a visit to Washington, D.C.  Among other things he cited was his meeting with then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay during his trip to Washington as a signal of improving relations with the United States.   [Time, 4/25/05; Malaysia General News, 9/18/02]

Wicker Voted Against Congressional Abramoff Probe. In March 2006, Wicker voted against Rep. Pelosi’s resolution to require an ethics investigation “of all Members of Congress implicated in the criminal activities” of Jack Abramoff. Pelosi argued, “Republicans have shut down an ethics process that should hold Members accountable.  It is long past time for the Republican Congress to take the necessary steps to restore a high ethical standard in Congress and put the Ethics Committee back to work to investigate any misconduct of Members, including those involved with Jack Abramoff.  The American people deserve nothing less.” [Vote 76, 3/30/06; Pelosi Press Release, 3/30/06]