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June 17th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
The helicopters Mrs Clinton was referring to are believed to be part of a
36-strong consignment ordered by the Syrian government at the end of the
Soviet era, some of which were transferred back to Russia recently for
routine maintenance. They are understood to have been serviced by the
state-owned helicopter manufacturer, Mil, at their premises at Factory 150
in Kaliningrad.
While the Kremlin, which has so far vetoed calls for a United Nations arms
embargo against Syria, insists that Mil is merely honouring the terms of an
existing business contract, critics point that such helicopters have helped
spearhead President Bashar al-Assad’s attempts to suppress the uprising
against him. Last week it was reported that helicopters had repeatedly fired
rockets at a hospital in a rebel enclave outside Aleppo in northern Syria.
Shipping records show that on Thursday – the most recent date for which data
is available – the Alaed was off the north-west coast of Denmark, apparently
heading south towards the entrance to the English Channel. It is insured by
Standard P and I Club, which is managed by Charles Taylor and Co Ltd of
London, whose offshore syndicate director, Robert Dorey, confirmed on
Saturday that they were investigating claims that the ship was carrying
arms.
“We were informed on Friday evening that the ship might be carrying
weapons, in particular attack helicopters, missiles and non-specific
munitions, and we are making inquiries to establish what their side of the
story is,” said Mr Dorey. “There are exclusion clauses in our
cover, and for anyone involved in improper or unlawful trade, we can cancel
cover. We are investigating whether or not to do so in this case.”
Like most international cargo ships, the Alaed has a complex ownership and
management structure. Its registered owner is Volcano Shipping on the island
of Curacao in the Dutch Antilles, but it is listed as part of a fleet
belonging to a Russian company, FEMCO, which was unavailable for comment
last night. According to FEMCO’s website, the ship’s commercial management
and chartering is carried out by United Nordic Shipping, a Danish company
based in Copenhagen, but yesterday, United Nordic shipping said that the
management agreement had never actually been finalised, and that FEMCO’s
website was wrong.
“To the best of our knowledge the vessel is managed and operated by FEMCO
in Russia,” said Soeren Andersen, United Nordic Shipping’s managing
director. “We have no knowledge of or involvement in the vessel’s
current charter or trading – a fact we have also satisfactorily accounted
for to the Danish authorities.”
A source close to United Nordic added: “The Danish authorities contacted
us a few days ago to ask about the ship, and said it was related to possible
shipments of weapons to Syria.”
The claims about the Alaed’s cargo will fuel the growing row over Russian
involvement in supplying arms to Syria, which Moscow has long seen as a
strategic partner because of the Russian naval base in the Syrian port city
of Tartus.
Last week, The Sunday Telegraph disclosed how the Professor Katsman, a
ship belonging to a firm owned by a Russian billionaire, Vladimir Lisin,
docked in Syria with a suspected weapons cache on May 26, one day after the
massacre of more than 100 people in the Syrian village of Houla.
Dr Lisin, a steel magnate who is also vice-president of the Russian Olympic
Committee, now faces calls from British MPs to have his invitation to London
2012 withdrawn. Sources close the Games organisers have said, however, that
accredited Olympic representatives of foreign countries enjoy an effective “diplomatic
immunity” that would be revoked only in the most serious of
circumstances.
On Saturday, Dr Lisin said that the accusations against him were “groundless”
and said an internal investigation he ordered at his transport firm,
Universal Cargo Logistics (UCL) had found no evidence that the cargo was
dangerous or violated international law.
“The evidence I was presented with indicates that according to the
documentation the company was not transporting arms for either side of the
Syrian conflict,” Dr Lisin said in emailed comments.
“To date, I have not received a single [piece of] evidence to the
contrary. If at some point someone does bring such evidence to my attention,
I shall be grateful and will take all the possible measures available to me.”
UCL said that as part of its investigation it requested information on the
Professor Katsman’s cargo from the owner, which it named as another Russian
company. The company told UCL that the containers the Professor Katsman
delivered to Syria “was a general cargo of non-military purpose
featuring electrical equipment and repair parts (rotor blades) in containers
and wooden crates”, he said.
Dr Lisin is reported to be one of Russia’s richest men and is well-connected
to the country’s political elite. Victor Olersky, a former board member of
Dr Lisin’s shipping firm, North Western Shipping Company, is now a Russian
deputy transport minister, while Dr Lisin himself has been photographed
meeting both the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Russian prime
minister, Dmitry Medvedev.
Dr Lisin also described calls to bar him from the Olympic Games as
opportunistic “self promotion.”
“I am against armed conflict in any region of the world, including Syria,”
he said. “Sadly, there are those who try to use the tragedy of the
Syrian people for self-promotion… At the same time, I would like to ask
those who consider themselves to be reasonable and responsible to refrain
from groundless accusations that will do nothing more than aggravate the
relations between people, businesses, and states.
“I have no doubt that the International Olympic Committee, the National
Olympic Committee of the United Kingdom, and the Organising Committee of the
2012 Olympics will preserve the traditions of the Olympic movement that has
always been above political gambling.”
Meanwhile, Russia and the West are at further loggerheads over Moscow’s plans to
press ahead with a deal to supply President Assad’s regime with state-of-the
art attack jets.
In a move that US intelligence officials fear could plunge the Syrian conflict
into even greater long-term bloodshed, the Kremlin is pushing on with an
existing 2007 contract to provide two dozen Mig-29M2 fighter aircraft,
estimated to be worth £250 million to the Russian defence industry.
While the aircraft may not be ready for delivery for many months, Washington
fears if President Assad’s regime is still intact it could use them to
devastating effect against the country’s rebel enclaves. They could also be
used to hinder any Western plans for a no-fly zone, which some analysts
believe may eventually prove the only way to provide Syria’s rebel movement
with a safe haven.
“Delivery of the Migs will helps prop Assad up and give him some
credibility, which is not the message the US wants to see,” said
Washington-based national security analyst John Pike. “The Migs would
make it more difficult to enforce a no fly zone, and would increase the
amount of time that the Syrian air force could survive, although possibly
only by a matter of a few days.”
Rafif Jouejati, spokeswoman for the Free Syria Foundation, a US-based Syrian
activist group, said: “Russian arms are flooding into Syria. If Assad
gets these new and advanced Migs it will be terrible – a fearful thing.”
She dismissed Russian claims that the aircraft were largely to provide
strategic air defences against Syria’s historic enemy, Israel. “It is
preposterous to argue that Assad needs them as a defence against Israel with
everything else that is happening right now.”
She also claimed Mr Lisin ought to have ordered his shipping firms be more
proactive in finding out what any ships heading to Syria contained.
“When your ship is taking a cargo to Syria – a country embroiled in civil
war – it is your duty to know what that cargo contains. You can’t hide
behind a lack of knowledge when little children are being slaughtered.”
The Kremlin has dismissed Western criticisms of its arms policy to Syria as
hypocritical, saying that other governments are also fuelling the conflict
by arming anti-Assad guerrillas. The Daily Telegraph disclosed
yesterday that representatives of the main rebel group, the Free Syrian
Army, had held meetings with US government officials to discuss getting them
to authorise shipments of heavy weapons, including missiles.
British MPs are calling for Rosoboronexport, the Kremlin-owned arms export
firm that has a monopoly on Russian arms exports, to be banned from
exhibiting at the trade section of next month’s Farnborough Airshow. Last
week, Rosoboronexport had a stall at the Eurosatory 2012 arms exhibition in
Paris, where videos of Russian attack helicopters were on display. Igor
Sevastyanov, the company’s deputy CEO, said: “No-one can ever accuse
Russia of violating the rules of armaments trade set by the international
community.
“The contract (with Syria) was signed long ago and we supply armaments
that are self-defence rather than attack weapons.”
On Monday Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton, raised the issue of
Rosoboronexport’s attendance at Farnborough with the Foreign Secretary,
William Hague, in Parliament. She said: “It is deeply alarming that
while the Russian state-owned company Rosoboronexport continues to sell
weapons to the Syrian government – despite appalling state-sponsored
atrocities in the country – it will nevertheless be allowed to exhibit its
wares on UK soil at Farnborough International Airshow.
“The Foreign Secretary has assured me in Parliament that he will look
into the matter, but with the air show only a few weeks away, I would urge
him to act now to prevent Rosoboronexport from entering altogether.”
She added: “By taking measures to ban Rosoboronexport from Farnborough
and revoke Mr Lisin’s invitation to the Olympics, the United Kingdom can
lead by example in showing that it is prepared to take a moral stand against
all of those foreign companies accused of involvement in the sale of weapons
to deadly and undemocratic regimes.”
An FCO spokesman said that Mr Hague was still considering the matter, but
added: “Farnborough International Air Show is a commercial event run by
Farnborough International Ltd. The British Government plays no part in
deciding which companies are invited to the event.”
Asked about the Alaed last night, a spokesman for the Foreign Office said it
was “urgently looking into any possible breaches of the EU arms embargo on
Syria.”
“We are aware of reports that a ship carrying a consignment of refurbished
Russian-made attack helicopters is heading to Syria and that it is
travelling in international waters near the UK,” the spokesman added. “The
Foreign Secretary made clear to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov when they
met on 14 June that all defence shipments to Syria must stop. We are working
closely with international partners to ensure that we are doing all we can
to stop the Syrian regime’s ability to slaughter civilians being reinforced
through assistance from other countries.”
Additional reporting by Bill Lowther in Washington, Peter Allen in Paris,
and Justin Stares in Brussels
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