Financing ISIS Below the Rio Grande

August 3, 2016 ...   RED FLAG [WARNING]

"Worse Than Ransom: $400 Million in Cash from U.S. to top state TERROR sponsor"

• Cash makes tracing proceeds to end receivers extremely difficult.  

• "What will IRAN do with $400 Millions in euros, Swiss francs and other currencies flown to Tehran on a cargo plane?"  ANS: Whatever Iran wishes.
  

• P.O.T.U.S. and his State Department will have plausible deniability if some portion of it is sent to Venezuela under the guise of sorely needed "food assistance", then funneled off to support Latin American versions of ISIS.

 December 28, 2016 ... 

"Spanish Military Report: Islamic Terrorists Operate, Raise Cash in Latin America to Attack U.S."

• "Venezuela, Mexico, Peru and Chile also have large and rapidly growing Muslim populations. Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean islands on the northern edge of Latin America, are identified as “especially worrisome” because local authorities reported that 70 of their citizens traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS."

• The report cites a 2012 article in a military publication from Trinidad that compares the growth of radical Islam in the country to a group of violent Muslims that tried to overthrow the government in 1990. 
  

•  "The top Al Qaeda leader in Mexico was identified in the State Department records, via a September 2004 cable from the American consulate in Ciudad Juárez, as Adnan G. El Shurkrjumah. ...  [B]efore he died Shukrijumah helped plan several U.S. attacks, including plots to bomb Oprah Winfrey’s studio and detonate nuclear devices in multiple American cities."

Submarines are always silent and strange. 

Prediction of the Next 5 Years

Background

The final sentence summarized our previous post:

"In other words, POTUS and his State Department will have plausible deniability if some portion of  it [the $400 Million in Cash from U.S. to top state TERROR sponsor] is sent to Venezuela under the guise of sorely needed "food assistance", then funneled off to support Latin American versions of ISIS." 

Conflicted Analyses

Administration's Opinion

US Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN on Sunday that recent terror attacks by Islamist extremists were a result of ISIS being “on the run”.

Contrarian View 

“These guys have all the energy and unpredictability of a populist movement.”   - Michael Hayden, retired Air Force general who led the CIA from 2006 to 2009.  Analysts expect further attacks are likely to continue and are likely to become worse.  source

Our Analysis 

The current Washington administration has habitually employed public deception (lies), incentivization (bribery) and threats (extortion) to hide fecklessness in affairs of state. Even the former head of our U.S. State Department often lied publicly according to details confirmed by FBI Director Comey.   

Barack Obama wishes above all else to preserve his presidential legacy.  Did payment of $400 Million to Iran require a commitment from Hassan Rouhani to assure no part of the $400 Million reaches Ansar al-Khilafah #Brazil until Brazil's Summer Olympic games are over? 
No, that promise had to be even longer, at least until a year when Obama will have had not a single day in office (plausible deniability) --- 2018 at the earliest. 

M.E.'s Prediction

"Millions will be sent to Venezuela under the guise of sorely needed "food assistance", then funneled off to support Latin American versions of ISIS."  

Will the Latin American recipient of Iran's $Millions via Venezuela be Ansar al-Khilafah #Brazil?  Not Brazil for two reasons:

1. Brazil's huge off-shore oil deposits are uneconomical in the current economy.  After Brazil'z Summer Olympics Ansar al-Khilafah #Brazil could become a terrorist relic, but...
2. ISIS affiliated groups rejoice in spreading geographically as much as in dealing fear. South America offers more lucrative sources of ongoing terror financing than Brazilian oil.  By 2019 the names of new ISIS groups in countries such as Argentina and Chile may be as familiar to North Americans as Nigeria's Boko Haram, which  pledged allegiance to ISIS in March 2015, and then expanded its attacks to neighboring countries. 

Will North Americans remember what Islamist apologist Obama did to help ISIS grow and spread?

Such memories are irrelevant to the media (never again to be mentioned) when plausible deniability created by lawyers has been approved by more lawyers. 

A recent example of plausible deniability is what has prevented Hillary Clinton's prosecution for intentional violation of U.S. secrecy laws which could not be proven to the satisfaction of Director Comey's FBI.  Instead, Clinton was branded as grossly negligent, which for any Republican would instantly signal incompetence. 

Think how much better U.S. leadership will become if the public consciously prevents crafty, scheming, ambitious attorneys from winning so over half of elected offices.    

Submarines are always silent and strange.

 
 

 

Worse Than Ransom: $400 Million in Cash from U.S. to top state TERROR sponsor

Background

April 9, 2013 - "Hugo Chávez’s Death: Implications for Venezuela and U.S. Relations" - Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov [pdf],  Mark P. Sullivan, Specialist in Latin American Affairs

"Some observers have criticized the Obama Administration for making overtures to engage with Maduro, contending that U.S. policy should focus on attempting to ensure that the upcoming election is free and fair. A Washington Post editorial from early March 2013 contended that 'further wooing of Mr. Maduro should wait until he survives the scrum in his own party, wins a free vote and demonstrates that he is more than a Castro puppet.' ”

April 24, 2013 - U.S. News & World Report  | Iranian-Sponsored Narco-Terrorism in Venezuela: How Will Maduro Respond?
New Venezuelan president at a crossroads for burgeoning threat to U.S.

According to a 2015 study by the Financial Action Task Force, ISIL's primary sources of revenue are (in order decreasing significance):

• proceeds from the occupation of territory (including control of banks, oil and gas reservoirs, taxation, extortion, and robbery of economic assets)

• kidnapping for ransom

• state donations  ... often disguised as meant for "humanitarian charity." 

• material support provided by foreign fighters

• fundraising through modern communication networks

Jan 10, 2015 - IRAN NEWS AGENCY | Nicolas Maduro visits Tehran: Iran, Venezuela stress expansion of all-out relations  

March 17, 2015 - The Washington Times |  Lawmakers warn of links between Cuba, Iran, Venezuela
[M]embers of the Senate panel said further action must be taken against Venezuelan leftist President Nicolas Maduro for suppressing anti-government protesters.

June 2, 2016 | Washington (CNN) - "The State Department on Thursday released its annual report on global terrorist activity, listing Iran as the top state sponsor of terrorism and labeling ISIS "the greatest threat globally." 

Current News

AUG. 3, 2016   WASHINGTON —  $400 Million Cash Payment to Iran Fuels Latest Campaign Dispute ... On Wednesday, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said that the news reports noting that the payments were made in cash did not bolster claims by critics that they amounted to a ransom payment.

RED FLAG [WARNING]

Cash payment as opposed to a routine wire transfer implies far worse than a U.S. ransom payment, which invites more kidnapping and is poor policy.  Wire transfers entail interbank transactions and allow traceability by account numbers, amounts, and eventual outflows. Cash, on the other hand, makes tracing proceeds to end receivers extremely difficult. 
 
What will IRAN do with $400 Millions in euros, Swiss francs and other currencies flown to Tehran on a cargo plane?  Future distributions of the $400 Millions will be very difficult to trace without IRAN's cooperation.  In other words, P.O.T.U.S. and his State Department will have plausible deniability if some portion of it is sent to Venezuela under the guise of sorely needed "food assistance", then funneled off to support Latin American versions of ISIS.

Submarines are always silent and strange.

UPDATE: Brazil's Coming Used Submarine Sale

BACKGROUND (from August 28, 2009)

Brazil intended to build five submarines by 2021 with France (Scorpene class subs), of which one would be nuclear. Construction was slated to commence in 2016.

The original $160M estimate (for the n-sub) to $9.5 billion U.S. dollars for all, will be paid in 2026, five years after launch. [Former President Luiz Inacio da Silva's government agreed in 2008 to purchase five submarines, including a nuclear-powered one, from France for 6.7 billion euros].

If Hugo Chavez is still in power, Venezueula would like to buy 1 or 2, depending upon condition, and immediately sell the HDW 209 to Iran. Ahmadinejad (if still in power) plans to upgrade the HDW 209 using Russian assistance.

UPDATES

Brazilian police to probe nuclear submarine programme - Folha - Reuters, TodaySAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian federal police are investigating potential irregularities in a military programme that aims to build a nuclear-powered submarine in partnership with France by 2023, newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported on Wednesday.

The investigation that began in March of 2014 has jailed some of Brazil's most senior engineering executives and caused Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as Petrobras is formally known, to write off more than $2 billion in corruption-related losses. 

Dozens of lawmakers, mostly from President Dilma Rousseff's governing coalition, have also been implicated for allegedly taking bribes in the kickback scheme, which has spiralled into Brazil's largest-ever corruption scandal.

The 7.8 billion reais ($3.95 billion) program will turn out the first conventional submarine in 2015 and the nuclear-powered submarine will be commissioned in 2023 and enter operation in 2025, the Brazilian Navy said. -  Mar 1, 2013    

 [Now, even these June 24th 2015 (last month's) estimates are unlikely]:
The first Scorpene-class vessel is expected to be completed by 2016 and to be commissioned in 2018, while the other three SSKs are scheduled for completion in 2022. The construction of the first SSN is planned to end in 2023 with entry into service slated for 2025.  - June 24, 2015
Hugo Chavez is out of power, and Venezueula can no longer afford to buy 1 or 2 of Brazil's existing sub fleet (four Tupi-class and one HDW Type 209 subs) and immediately sell the HDW 209 to Iran, which probably had planned to upgrade the HDW 209 using Russian assistance. Now, Brazil may have to lease the Type 209 to Kim Jong-un.  [Sure, that is what will happen, NOT!]


Submarines are always silent and strange.

Latest Nuclear Sub Thriller or Flopper

Based on the very entertaining book Thunder in the Deep: A Novel of Undersea Military Action and Adventure by Joe Buff ...

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U.S.S. Challenger (SSN-803), a high-tech, 'ceramic hulled' submarine.
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Synopsis

After destroying a German weapons lab, U.S. submarine captain Jeffrey Fuller goes head to head with his archenemy, German sub commander Kurt Eberhard. Fuller is assisted by a team of Navy SEALs and a sexy South African woman named Ilse. link
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Publisher's Note

Coming off a tactical nuclear battle at Durban, South Africa, the crew of the damaged submarine USS Challenger, under the command of acting Captain Jeffrey Fuller, heads for the northern German coast to destroy a lab developing unstoppable Mach 8 cruise missiles and find themselves in a vicious duel with their nemesis Kurt Eberhard, captain of the SMS Deutschland. [ibid]

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Wikipedia

Tactical nuclear warheads are now the weapon of choice with a gentleman's agreement not to hit any civilians. link
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The Planned 3D Movie

Movie Negatives (4)

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from M.E.

Production is going to be delayed well beyond the tentative start (spring 2011) since little over 25 percent of the production budget has been raised and 65% of projected costs are needed for filming in CT. Lengthy production delays often result in serious cost escalations and extra promotional expenses. PREDICTION #1: Richard Meyer's film script will not result in a 3D-blockbuster, and, more likely than not, never be released nationwide.

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from Library Journal

Despite almost nonstop action, ... this novel fails at several levels. ...Thunder and its predecessor include premises that stretch plausibility. The first is that the fossilized Hohenzollerns could somehow regain control of Germany and reinstate both the monarchy and the militaristic Prussian aristocracy. The second is that both sides could explode tactical nukes like popcorn without any real concern about escalation toward mutually assured destruction. The book just doesn't work. link

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from Poten & Partners

Richard Meyer, the executive producer, ...is also the screenwriter and co-star,... Even though he'd never written a screenplay, ...Meyer then wrote the script, and plans to star as the villain. He has little movie experience, but has acted Off Broadway. link

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The film does not [bold added], however, have official cooperation of the U.S. Navy, which has a submarine base in Groton. The reason: Germany is a U.S. ally.

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Movie Positives (4)

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from Poten & Partners (cite to The Hartford Courant)
The big-budget production will be in 3-D. [ibid]

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The big-budget production [has] ...a storyline about a nuclear war... [ibid]

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The big-budget production ... [has a storyline] with German fascists in 2030,... [ibid]

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from M.E.
Movies about submarine ops have had little traditional appeal to a rather large segment of our population -- females. Even a blockbuster film like Tom Clancy's Hunt for Red October attracted females through casting Sam Neill in a leading role. Apart from that, there were only 3 female speaking roles credited (Ryan's wife, young daughter, and flight attendant). In Thunder in the Deep Meyer has an opportunity to cast and portray a leading female role (Ilse). If clever enough, Meyer's script and casting can make Ilse's role the movie icon for female submariners, the general image for which is being promoted, free of cost to the filmmaker by the U.S. Navy. In M.E.'s opinion, the actress Minnie Driver is a natural pick for the role of Ilse.

PREDICTION #2: If this ambitious film is ever produced, producers will force Meyer to cast a voluptuous, relatively unknown actress as Ilse, to attract a male audience.

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PREDICTION #3: Within the next 7 years or so we can expect a book and hollywood film about the one-way pioneers to the planet Mars, mentioned in the news for 2030 departure. Any related Mars movie would be released before Thunder in the Deep.

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Submarines are always silent and strange.