Moscow Police Arrest Two IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) Recruiters

Militant Recruiter Suspects Held in Moscow Region

ria novosti

Militant Recruiter Suspects Held in Moscow Region

Militant Recruiter Suspects Held in Moscow Region

© RIA Novosti.

MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow Region police have detained two Uzbekistan nationals suspected of recruiting militants and sending them to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, the Russian Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

“In 2012 alone, they sent from Moscow and Moscow region 38 Uzbek nationals and at least 18 citizens from [other] Central Asian countries, as well as Russians, to militant training camps,” the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

The two men are believed to be members of an international terrorist organization and have been on an international wanted list, the ministry said, without specifying which one.

It did not say when they were detained or exactly in what part of the Moscow region.

A large number of mobile phones as well as religious extremist and terrorist literature were seized from the suspects during the search, the ministry said.

The detainees will be extradited to Uzbekistan.

Govt. Paramilitary Forces Begin Major Operation Against LeJ In Balochistan, Hazara End Protest, Bury Their Martyred

A Pakistani Shiite girl takes part in a sit-in protest with others to condemn the Saturday bombing which killed scores of people, in Quetta, Pakistan on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. The families of the bombing victims have refused to bury their loved ones until authorities take action against the militants who were responsible. Mispelled and partially shown writing reads, “don’t kill me. I am Shia.” Arshad Butt / AP Photo

Pakistan targets militants, Shiites end protest

BY ABDUL SATTAR

ASSOCIATED PRESS

QUETTA, Pakistan — Thousands of Shiite Muslims ended three days of protests in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday after the government launched a paramilitary operation against militants responsible for a weekend bombing targeting the minority sect that killed 89 people.

The protesters in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, began preparations to bury the bombing victims after Shiite leaders announced an end to the demonstration. Relatives had refused to bury their loved ones until the army took control of Quetta and launched a targeted operation against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the group that claimed responsibility for Saturday’s bombing.

Shiites have criticized police and paramilitary forces under control of the Interior Ministry in Quetta for failing to protect the minority sect, which comprises up to 20 percent of the country’s population of 180 million.

There was no indication the army would take control of the city. But the government announced that paramilitary forces began an operation against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and other militant groups Monday night.

Four members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, including a senior commander, were killed in a shootout Tuesday, and over 170 other suspected militants were arrested, said Baluchistan’s home secretary, Akbar Hussain Durrani.

The government also replaced the top police officer in Baluchistan on Tuesday, said Fayaz Sumbal, deputy police chief in Quetta. Sumbal has also been ordered to replace the chief of police operations in Quetta, he said.

“Our demands have been accepted,” a top Shiite leader in Quetta, Amin Shaheedi, told reporters after holding talks with a government delegation sent from Islamabad. “We appeal to our people to go to their homes in a peaceful manner.”

It remains to be seen what impact the government’s actions will have on the problem of sectarian violence in Quetta. Suspected militants are notoriously difficult to prosecute in Pakistan, and it’s unclear if the operation against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and others will be sustained.

Radical Sunni militants have stepped up attacks against Shiites over the past year because they do not consider them to be real Muslims. Violence has been especially bad in Baluchistan province, which has the highest concentration of Shiites in the country. A double bombing at a billiards hall in January in Quetta killed 86 people.

Pakistan has launched numerous military operations against militants in recent years, but the focus has been on the Pakistani Taliban, who have been waging a bloody insurgency against the state that has killed thousands of people.

Rights organizations have criticized the government for not doing enough to target militant groups attacking Shiites. They explain this apathy by pointing to past connections between the country’s military and anti-Shiite militants, and also allege the sectarian groups are seen as less of a threat than the Taliban because they are not targeting the state. Political parties have also relied on banned sectarian groups to deliver votes in elections.

The four Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants killed Tuesday in a suburb of Quetta included Shah Wali, a senior commander involved in attacking Shiites and police officials, said Durrani, the home secretary. Others included Abdul Wahab, a key planner and recruiter; Naeem Khan, a logistics expert who provided explosives; and Anwar Khan, a rank and file militant, said Durrani.

Seven other Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants were arrested in the operation Tuesday, said Durrani. The more than 170 suspected militants arrested earlier included Haji Mohammed Rafiq, a prominent member of another Sunni extremist organization, Ahle Sunnat Waljamaat, said the home secretary.

Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf first announced the operation in a statement issued by his office Tuesday that said it “aimed at eliminating those responsible for playing with lives of innocent civilians and restoring peace and security in Quetta.”

Last year was the bloodiest in history for Pakistan’s Shiites, according to Human Rights Watch. Over 400 were killed in targeted attacks across the country, at least 125 of whom were died in Baluchistan.

With two massive bombings targeting Shiites in as many months this year already, 2013 looks like it could be even worse.

The government promised to take action against sectarian militants following protests in January against the billiards hall bombing. Shiites brought the bodies of the victims into the street at the time and refused to bury them unless the government took steps to protect them.

After four days, Islamabad decided to dissolve the provincial government and put a federally-appointed governor in charge. The government said paramilitary forces would receive police powers and launch an operation against the militants behind the billiards hall attack. But officials refused to put the army in control of the city, as they have done this time around.

Around 15,000 Shiites took to the streets to protest near the site of the recent attack Tuesday, before their leaders called an end to the demonstration. Others stayed beside the bodies of the bombing victims inside a nearby mosque. Some chanted “God is great.” Others held placards that said “Stop killing Shiites.”

Shiite leaders made speeches to the crowd saying their demands had been accepted and urged them to disperse peacefully after the talks with the government delegation. They also urged Shiites in other parts of the country, such as Karachi and Islamabad, to end smaller protests held over the past few days.

Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed, Zarar Khan, Asif Shahzad and Sebastian Abbot contributed to this report from Islamabad.

Mossad’s Debka File Reports Assad Withdrawal from Golan An Invitation To Syrian “al-Qaeda”

[SEE:  French Army Reports To UN That Israeli Sub Doing Recon Along Coastal Road Between Sidon and Tyre]

Assad’s troops retreat from Golan, leaving Islamist rebels to confront Israel

debka_elt

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

Syrian rebels occupy Golan

Syrian rebels occupy Golan

President Bashar Assad has evacuated most of the troops of his 5th Army Division from their permanent bases on the Golan opposite Israeli forces and transferred the unit along with its artillery to Damascus,DEBKAfile’s military sources report.
The Syrian ruler’s step had three purposes:

1. To reinforce his Damascus defenses;

2. To carve out a buffer zone along the Israeli border and leave it under rebel control.

3. To provide the jihadists fighting in rebel ranks with access to the Israeli border fence. Senior officers in the IDF’s northern command believe it is just a matter of time before these al Qaeda-associated fighters hurl themselves at the border fence to break through, or target Israeli military targets from across the Syrian border.

Assad first practiced this stratagem on Syria’s northern frontier with Turkey.

Six months ago, he opened the door of his border region to let armed bands of the separatist PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) through from Iraq and set up new strike bases opposite Turkey’s back door, to which they could flee after attacks.
The PKK took full advantage of this opportunity. Indeed, to curb the Kurdish offensive, Ankara was forced to enter into negotiations with PKK leaders for a settlement of their claims, although they are still poised in Syria to resume their attacks.
Israel does not have that option because most of the Islamists fighting with the Syrian rebels are associated with al Qaeda and committed to jihad against the Jewish state.
DEBKAfile reports that Saturday, Feb. 16, Israeli government and military leaders were at odds over whether to extend medical treatment to seven Syrians injured in battle on the Golan. In the event, they were allowed to cross the border and transferred to hospital in Safed.

But because of the argument, the official communiqué said only that the decision was taken on humanitarian grounds but omitted to specify whether the injured Syrians were soldiers or rebels.
However, there was never any doubt that they were in fact Syrian conscripts wounded in the course of their unit’s withdrawal from the Golan. The argument against giving the soldiers medical treatment was that they were Bashar Assad’s troops and looking after them was tantamount to endorsing Assad’s hostile schemes and therefore unacceptable. It was settled by avoiding identifying the wounded men.

French Army Reports To UN That Israeli Sub Doing Recon Along Coastal Road Between Sidon and Tyre

Israeli submarines between Sidon and Tyre

charles ayoub

Through devices not owned by the Lebanese army, but owned by the French army were identified every day and there is an Israeli submarine patrols of Naqoura Tyre to Sidon and fro like studying the road and places the possibility of cutting the road and get off by helicopter or air bombardment. Thus the French troops did not inform the Party of God this topic but informed the UN.

Prime Minister Ashraf Orders Targeted Operation Against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) In Quetta

PM orders targeted operation in Quetta

dawn

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.—File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has ordered on Tuesday the security forces to begin targeted operations in Quetta, DawnNews reported.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s spokesperson, Prime Minister Raja ordered for the initiation of targeted operations in Quetta adding that those responsible for the Quetta carnage should be targeted.

The statement further said that immediate action should be taken in those areas where information indicates presence of terrorist elements and that security forces should conduct targeted operations.

The spokesman further said that the prime minister would monitor the Quetta operation.

Moreover Prime Minister also ordered for the removal of Balochistan’s Inspector General of Police, Tariq Umer Khatab, and replaced him with Mushtaq Sukhera media channels reported. The prime minister also ordered the transfer of various other police officials posted in Balochistan.

Meanwhile, thousands of Shia protested for a third day in Quetta, demanding the army take control of the city and launch a targeted operation against sectarian militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).

The group claimed responsibility for the bombing Saturday that killed 87 people and one in January that killed at least 93.

States join battle over drone flights

 

States join battle over drone flights

the hill

By Megan R. Wilson

The nascent drone industry is coming under threat from lawmakers on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures who are weighing restrictions on their use in the United States.

Eighteen states have considered bills that would limit the use of unmanned aerial systems, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and more are likely to follow suit.

In Washington, meanwhile, lawmakers are pushing for new civil liberties and privacy protections to ease fears about invasive surveillance from the skies.

Manufacturers of unmanned aerial systems say there is vast potential for police departments and law enforcement officials to use drones in their work. But the idea is being met with strong resistance in some states, including Virginia, which last week sent a bill to Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) that would create a two-year moratorium on police work with unmanned aircraft.

Several states — including California, Florida, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Missouri — are considering a moratorium similar to Virginia’s.

The drone industry fears lawmakers will enact overly restrictive regulations that prevent law enforcement from taking advantage of the technology.

“It would really deny law enforcement agencies this extra tool they can use to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively,” said Gretchen West, the executive vice president of Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), “They’re not just used arbitrarily, they are used for specific missions.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) encouraged the passage of the moratorium in Virginia, and hopes other state-level actions will put pressure on Congress to act.

“There has been an organic interest in regulating these things,” said Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the ACLU. “State-level legislation always helps spur federal action, but we’ve already seen independent interest in doing this at the federal level.”

Congress approved legislation last year that ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to begin the process of opening U.S. airspace to more drone flights. The agency moved Thursday to create six test sites around the country, and also put forward a draft plan for privacy protections at the sites.

West said the privacy push is misguided. Unmanned aircraft, she said, “shouldn’t be singled out as more dangerous” than the airplanes and helicopters that have long been used in police work.

But a number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill disagree.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) last month said drones “could pose a significant threat to the privacy and civil liberties of millions of American,” and he has put the issue on his committee’s agenda for the year.

“We make a tragic mistake thinking that merely giving up more and more of our privacy will make us safer. It will not. Security and liberty are both essential in a free society, and we cannot forsake one for the other,” Leahy said in a speech at Georgetown University.

Officials with AUVSI, the largest trade group for unmanned aircraft companies, are reaching out to lawmakers to correct what they say are misperceptions about the capabilities of drones. Fears about an Orwellian police state, they say, are overblown.

“They’re not capable of persistent surveillance,” West said.

“We’ve been very active on Capitol Hill to try and talk to lawmakers to make sure they understand the benefits of the technology,” West said. “If there does need to be some sort of legislation, we need to make sure it’s the right legislation that wouldn’t unnecessarily restrict the use of this technology and its benefits.”

West said she doesn’t use the word “drone” when talking about the domestic variety because it only feeds the idea that the military versions of the aircraft are coming to America.

“There really is a sensationalism connected to the word ‘drone,’ so we don’t use it,” she said.

The FAA has been issuing permits for some unmanned aircraft to select private individuals and public agencies — such as law enforcement — since 2008.

The unmanned systems that are being used by law enforcement, West said, weigh an average of 25 pounds and only have 30 minutes to an hour of flight time. The cost is a fraction of what a police department would pay for a helicopter.

West said the FAA puts requirements on how the domestic unmanned aerial systems can be used. They may not be flown more than 400 feet in the air, for example, or out of the operator’s line of sight.

The drone industry says the FAA permits are difficult to obtain and wants the process to be streamlined, but an electronic privacy group says the FAA needs to toughen the regulations.

“As drone licenses become more common, the FAA needs to bake in provisions for privacy and accountability,” said Amie Stepanovich, the associate legal counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). “AUVSI put forward some voluntary guidelines for drone operators saying they have to respect privacy,” she adds, “but they are not sufficient to address the threat drones pose. Privacy is mentioned only one time, and it’s not a clear standard.”

Several court cases have upheld law enforcement agencies’ rights to aerially surveil citizens, but privacy advocates say drone flights will reopen the debate.

“Drones are going to cause people to take on a privacy renaissance,” Stepanovich said. “They’re going to want to take their privacy back.”

Slippery FM Davutoğlu Claims “That There Is No Jihad (spoon),” Even Though He Facilitates A Jihadi Army In Syria

Jihad not related to terrorism, Turkish FM Davutoğlu says

hurriyet

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

Hurryiet

 

‘For us, jihad is a sacred notion; let us not taint this notion by using it like neocons and pro-Israelis in America,’ Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoğlu says. AA photo

Erdem Güneş
Erdem Güneşerdem.gunes@hdn.com.tr

There is no connection between jihad and terrorism, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlusaid yesterday, adding that suggestions to the contrary come from American neo-cons and Israelis.

“Jihad is the name of fighting for our honor if required but firstly it means fighting against our own self’s limits, according to us,” Davutoğlu said yesterday in Istanbul at the headquarters of the Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSİAD), where he attended the conference “Turkey in the light of international developments, 2013.”

“For us, jihad is a sacred notion; let us not taint this notion by using it like neo-cons and pro-Israelis in America,” Davutoğlu said while condemning an opposition party deputy who asked the Turkish government on its policy regarding the jihadist movement in Syria at a Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission meeting on Feb. 15.

Davutoğlu also criticized the particular deputy for asking question in English instead of Turkish since the session was held in the Turkish Assembly, albeit with EU officials.

“A mentality has appeared now that is tainting these notions [of jihad]; they have introduced [this usage] into our culture, and they even use it in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which was founded with help that came from a jihad fatwa [during Turkey’s Liberation War],” Davutoğlu said.

Davutoğlu also told an anecdote about a Turkish diplomat named Cihad Erginay – who is Turkey’s envoy to the Czech Republic – in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

“His name is also jihad; the ones who greeted him in the airport were walking behind and yelled at him ‘Cihat,’ then everybody hits the deck,” Davutoğlu said, adding that this was part of the outcome of the misunderstanding of the word jihad.

Question over al-Nusra Front

Meanwhile, Aykan Erdemir, a main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy told the Daily News on the phone yesterday that he was the one to ask Davutoğlu if Turkey considered the al-Nusra Front in Syria, which identifies itself a jihadist movement, as a terrorist organization like the U.S. and NATO do.

“It was a yes or no question; in not answering it, he called me an Orientalist, which is total defamation. Does he also blame al-Nusra for Orientalism? Do you count this organization as a terrorist organization or not, that was the question. The Turkish public must be informed about Turkey’s position,” Erdemir said.

February/18/2013

Obama To Map the Human Brain for Improved Behavioral Control

UNL brain mapping

specialized MRI scan

Obama to propose project to map human brain

usa_today_long

David Jackson

USA TODAY

The Obama administration is preparing to unveil a decades-long project to map the inner workings of the brain.

As The New York Times points out, the project is designed “to do for the brain what the Human Genome Project did for genetics.”

The Times said the “Brain Activity Map” project could be part of a budget proposal to be released in March, though details — including the costs — are still being worked out.

Obama referenced the brain-mapping project during his State of the Union speech while advocating federal spending on research and development.

“Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy — every dollar,” Obama said on Feb. 12. “Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s.”

From the Times:

“The project, which the administration has been looking to unveil as early as March, will include federal agencies, private foundations and teams of neuroscientists and nanoscientists in a concerted effort to advance the knowledge of the brain’s billions of neurons and gain greater insights into perception, actions and, ultimately, consciousness.

“Scientists with the highest hopes for the project also see it as a way to develop the technology essential to understanding diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as to find new therapies for a variety of mental illnesses.

“Moreover, the project holds the potential of paving the way for advances in artificial intelligence.”

US-Saudi funded terrorists sowing chaos in Pakistan

US-Saudi funded terrorists sowing chaos in Pakistan

PressTV

Quetta Feb 18

Pakistani Shia Muslims gather around the coffins of bomb attack victims as they demonstrate in Quetta on February 18, 2013.

Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwest Baluchistan province, bordering both US-occupied Afghanistan as well as Iran, was the site of a grisly market bombing that has killed over 80 people.

According to reports, the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the attack. Billed as a “Sunni extremist group,” it instead fits the pattern of global terrorism sponsored by the US, Israel, and their Arab partners Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The terrorist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group was in fact created, according to the BBC, to counter Iran’s Islamic Revolution in the 1980’s, and is still active today. Considering the openly admitted US-Israeli-Saudi plot to use Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups across the Middle East to counter Iran’s influence, it begs the question whether these same interests are funding terrorism in Pakistan to not only counter Iranian-sympathetic Pakistani communities, but to undermine and destabilize Pakistan itself.

The US-Saudi Global Terror Network

While the United States is close allies with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, it is well established that the chief financier of extremist militant groups for the past 3 decades, including al-Qaeda, are in fact Saudi Arabia and Qatar. While Qatari state-owned propaganda like Al Jazeera apply a veneer of progressive pro-democracy to its narratives, Qatar itself is involved in arming, funding, and even providing direct military support for sectarian extremists from northern Mali, to Libya, to Syria and beyond.

France 24’s report “Is Qatar fuelling the crisis in north Mali?” provides a useful vignette of Saudi-Qatari terror sponsorship, stating:

“The MNLA [secular Tuareg separatists], al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine and MUJAO [movement for unity and Jihad in West Africa] have all received cash from Doha.”

A month later Sadou Diallo, the mayor of the north Malian city of Gao [which had fallen to the Islamists] told RTL radio: “The French government knows perfectly well who is supporting these terrorists. Qatar, for example, continues to send so-called aid and food every day to the airports of Gao and Timbuktu.”

The report also stated:

“Qatar has an established a network of institutions it funds in Mali, including madrassas, schools and charities that it has been funding from the 1980s,” he wrote, adding that Qatar would be expecting a return on this investment.

“Mali has huge oil and gas potential and it needs help developing its infrastructure,” he said. “Qatar is well placed to help, and could also, on the back of good relations with an Islamist-ruled north Mali, exploit rich gold and uranium deposits in the country.”

These institutions are present not only in Mali, but around the world, and provide a nearly inexhaustible supply of militants for both the Persian Gulf monarchies and their Western allies to use both as a perpetual casus belli to invade and occupy foreign nations such as Mali and Afghanistan, as well as a sizable, persistent mercenary force, as seen in Libya and Syria. Such institutions jointly run by Western intelligence agencies across Europe and in America, fuel domestic fear-mongering and the resulting security state that allows Western governments to more closely control their populations as they pursue reckless, unpopular policies at home and abroad.

Since Saudi-Qatari geopolitical interests are entwined with Anglo-American interests, both the “investment” and “return on this investment” are clearly part of a joint venture. France’s involvement in Mali has demonstrably failed to curb such extremists, has instead, predictably left the nation occupied by Western interests while driving terrorists further north into the real target, Algeria.

Additionally, it should be noted, that France in particular, played a leading role along side Qatar and Saudi Arabia in handing Libya over to these very same extremists. French politicians were in Benghazi shaking hands with militants they would be “fighting” in the near future in northern Mali.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is Part of US-Saudi Terror Network

In terms of Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, as well as the infamous Lashkar-e-Taiba that carried out the 2008 Mumbai, India attack killing over 160, both are affiliates of Al Qaeda, and both have been linked financially, directly to Saudi Arabia. In the Guardian’s article, “WikiLeaks cables portray Saudi Arabia as a cash machine for terrorists,” the US State Department even acknowledges that Saudi Arabia is indeed funding terrorism in Pakistan:

Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups such as the Afghan Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba – but the Saudi government is reluctant to stem the flow of money, according to Hillary Clinton.

“More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaida, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups,” says a secret December 2009 paper signed by the US secretary of state. Her memo urged US diplomats to redouble their efforts to stop Gulf money reaching extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide,” she said.

Three other Arab countries are listed as sources of militant money: Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has also been financially linked to the Persian Gulf monarchies. Stanford University’s “Mapping Militant Organizations: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,” states under “External Influences:”

LeJ has received money from several Persian Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates[25] These countries funded LeJ and other Sunni militant groups primarily to counter the rising influence of Iran’s revolutionary Shiism.

Astonishingly, despite these admission, the US works politically, financially, economically, and even militarily in tandem with these very same state-sponsors of rampant, global terrorism. In Libya and Syria, the US has even assisted in the funding and arming of Al Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups, and had conspired with Saudi Arabia since at least 2007 to overthrow both Syria and Iran with these terrorist groups. And while Saudi Arabia funds terrorism in Pakistan, the US is well documented to be funding political subversion in the very areas where the most heinous attacks are being carried out.

US Political Subversion in Baluchistan, Pakistan

The US State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has been directly funding and supporting the work of the “Balochistan Institute for Development” (BIFD) which claims to be “the leading resource on democracy, development and human rights in Balochistan, Pakistan.” In addition to organizing the annual NED-BFID “Workshop on Media, Democracy & Human Rights” BFID reports that USAID had provided funding for a “media-center” for the Baluchistan Assembly to “provide better facilities to reporters who cover the proceedings of the Balochistan Assembly.” We must assume BFID meant reporters “trained” at NED-BFID workshops.

There is also Voice of Balochistan whose every top-story is US-funded propaganda drawn from foundation-funded Reporters Without Borders, Soros-funded Human Rights Watch, and even a direct message from the US State Department itself. Like other US State Department funded propaganda outfits around the world – such as Thailand’s Prachatai – funding is generally obfuscated in order to maintain “credibility” even when the front’s constant torrent of obvious propaganda more than exposes them.

Perhaps the most absurd operations being run to undermine Pakistan through the “Free Baluchistan” movement are the US and London-based organizations. The “Baloch Society of North America” almost appears to be a parody at first, but nonetheless serves as a useful aggregate and bellwether regarding US meddling in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. The group’s founder, Dr. Wahid. Baloch, openly admits he has met with US politicians in regards to Baluchistan independence. This includes Neo-Con warmonger, PNAC signatory, corporate-lobbyist, and National Endowment for Democracy director Zalmay Khalilzad.

Dr. Wahid Baloch considers Baluchistan province “occupied” by both the Iranian and Pakistani governments – he and his movement’s humanitarian hand-wringing gives Washington the perfect pretext to create an armed conflagration against either Iran or Pakistan, or both, as planned in detail by various US policy think-tanks.

There is also the Baloch Students Organisation-Azad, or BSO. While it maintains a presence in Pakistan, it has coordinators based in London. London-based BSO members include “information secretaries” that propagate their message via social media, just as US and British-funded youth organizations did during the West’s operations against other targeted nations during the US-engineered “Arab Spring.”

And while the US does not openly admit to funding and arming terrorists in Pakistan yet, many across established Western policy think-tanks have called for it.

Selig Harrison of the convicted criminal, George Soros-funded Center for International Policy, has published two pieces regarding the armed “liberation” of Baluchistan.

Harrison’s February 2011 piece, “Free Baluchistan,” calls to “aid the 6 million Baluch insurgents fighting for independence from Pakistan in the face of growing ISI repression.” He continues by explaining the various merits of such meddling by stating:

“Pakistan has given China a base at Gwadar in the heart of Baluch territory. So an independent Baluchistan would serve U.S. strategic interests in addition to the immediate goal of countering Islamist forces.”

Harrison would follow up his frank call to carve up Pakistan by addressing the issue of Chinese-Pakistani relations in a March 2011 piece titled, “The Chinese Cozy Up to the Pakistanis.” He states:

“China’s expanding reach is a natural and acceptable accompaniment of its growing power-but only up to a point. ”

He continues:

“To counter what China is doing in Pakistan, the United States should play hardball by supporting the movement for an independent Baluchistan along the Arabian Sea and working with Baluch insurgents to oust the Chinese from their budding naval base at Gwadar. Beijing wants its inroads into Gilgit and Baltistan to be the first step on its way to an Arabian Sea outlet at Gwadar.”

While aspirations of freedom and independence are used to sell Western meddling in Pakistan, the geopolitical interests couched behind this rhetoric is openly admitted to. The prophetic words of Harrison should ring loud in one’s ears today. It is in fact this month, that Pakistan officially hands over the port in Gwadar to China, and Harrison’s armed militants are creating bloodshed and chaos, attempting to trigger a destructive sectarian war that will indeed threaten to “oust the Chinese from their budding naval base at Gwadar.”

Like in Syria, we have a documented conspiracy years in the making being carried out before our very eyes. The people of Pakistan must not fall into the trap laid by the West who seeks to engulf Baluchistan in sectarian bloodshed with the aid of Saudi and Qatari-laundered cash and weapons. For the rest of the world, we must continue to uncover the corporate-financier special interests driving these insidious plots, boycott and permanently replace them on a local level.

The US-Saudi terror racket has spilled blood from New York City, across Northern Africa, throughout the Middle East, and as far as Pakistan and beyond. If we do not undermine and ultimately excise these special interests, their plans and double games will only get bolder and the inevitability of their engineered chaos effecting us individually will only grow.

TC/JR

Tony Cartalucci is a Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer. He has been published on many alternative media websites, including Alternative Thai News Network and LocalOrg. His writings deal with world events from a Southeast Asian perspective as well as promoting self-sufficiency as one of the keys to true freedom. His website is Land Destroyer Report. More articles by Tony Cartalucci