Dangerous Cuba-Iran Kinship

[American Patriot]

Dangerous Cuba-Iran Kinship
The Miami Herald ^ | Nov 1, 2007 | Chris Simmons



Scott Carmichael, a senior counterintelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency, recently confirmed continued intelligence sharing between Iran and Cuba. Additionally, Israeli sources report that during last year's meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana, Iranian and Cuban intelligence officers discussed increased collaboration in targeting the United States.


Close ties between Tehran and Havana have reportedly existed since Iran's revolutionary leadership came to power in 1979. Given both nations' sponsorship of terrorism, their continued collaboration imperils U.S. national security. In the past, Havana provided training and material to selected terrorist groups, some of which are Iranian allies.


Today, Cuba remains a safe haven for some international terrorist groups and it allows safe transit to others. Furthermore, Iran's Interests Section and its Mission to the United Nations appear inadequately staffed for significant intelligence collection.


In 2006, Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz -- a career officer in Cuba's premier foreign intelligence service, the Directorate of Intelligence (DI) -- visited with senior Iranian government officials. This meeting followed his October 2003 meeting with President Mohammad Khatami on expanded ties between Havana and Tehran.


-snip-


Acting on behalf of Tehran, in July 2003, Cuban intelligence jammed the transmissions of the National Iranian Television (NITV), the Voice of America and three other Iran-bound broadcasts. The extended jamming coincided with Tehran's crackdown on the dissident commemoration of the historic 1999 student uprising.


Loral Skynet, owners of the targeted satellite, quickly traced the source of the jamming to a spot several miles outside of Havana. The location identified was the Cuban military intelligence's Bejucal Signals Intelligence site, which intercepts and jams radio and television signals with equal ease. NITV first broadcast from its Los Angeles-based station in March 2000. However, Iran promptly jammed the Hot Bird 5 satellite in its static orbit over France.


-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...

[American Patriot]

This bears WATCHING!!!!!!!!!

World at War threads, because... this will lead to a new "Cuban Missile Crisis"

[Ryan Ruck]

I would add significant Chinese and Russian tie ins to that jamming considering that both Russia and China are largely responsible for the SIGINT/ELINT facilities in Bejucal and Lourdes.

[American Patriot]

Yeah. Ryan... things are happening pretty quickly in the world. What's YOUR prognosis?

[Ryan Ruck]

To be honest Rick, my take is that in large part chess pieces are still being moved into place.

I do think that there exists the potential for big events to occur (i.e. striking Iran) but, I just don't think that everything is in place for Russia and China to jump.

[American Patriot]

Yeah. I'm thinking they aren't either.

Remember "Red Dawn" though? When one of the kids asked the pilot, "Well who IS on our side" -- after Powers Booth explained Europe was sitting this one out, he said "300 million screaming Chinese".

Of course, the kids said he thought there were a billion, and the pilot replied "There were," and threw his whiskey into the fire to emphasize what happened to them.

So, one wonders really, who WILL be on OUR side.

[American Patriot]

What were you saying about Russia-China?

Analysis: SCO military or economic pact?
UPI ^ | Nov. 2, 2007 | JOHN C.K. DALY

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is holding a four-day meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, starting Friday. While the summit will doubtless end with the usual flurry of statements emphasizing peace and prosperity for member states, the gathering will be most notable for what is absent from the declarations, a vision of what the grouping actually entails, particularly as regards energy exports.

Within the SCO, both the Russian Federation and China have security concerns; they share a commonality with their fellow SCO members about rising Islamic militancy in Eurasia, but after that their security concerns diverge, with Russia primarily looking westward toward NATO’s relentless eastward expansion and the possible basing of U.S. anti-ballistic missile defenses in Eastern Europe; China’s security concerns are largely to the east, most notably over U.S. policy toward Taiwan and possible disruptions of Chinese maritime energy imports from the Middle East.

The one point on which both Moscow and Beijing concur is to limit or end U.S. military influence in Central Asia, and the SCO scored a notable triumph towards that end when in late 2005 Uzbekistan unilaterally ended U.S. access to its airbase facilities in Karshi-Khanabad in the aftermath of the May Andijan uprising.

Last month Nezavisimaya Gazeta opined, “Up until now, the United States has persistently promoted the ideas of a neo-liberal industrial-consumerist system in Central Asia.” Prepare for discussants in Tashkent to spend a great deal of time discussing what comes next.

The issue is now whether the SCO summit will hearken its benevolent colleagues in Moscow and Beijing or continue to listen to the dulcet siren songs of the West’s persistent “neo-liberal industrial-consumerist system.”

Despite soothing noises from both Moscow and Beijing, given geographical realities, it would seem more than likely that Central Asia will use the SCO seminar to advance heretical naked capitalist agendas, i.e., boosting remuneration rates for its energy exports, flipping Russia and China into a nasty bidding war for Central Asian energy.

Security has been heightened in Tashkent for the event. Among those attending are Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Kyrgyz acting Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov, Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyayev, SCO General Secretary Bolat Nurgaliyev and Myrzakan Subanov, director of the Executive Committee of the SCO's regional anti-terror agency, along with observers from India, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

According to the Chinese media, Mirziyayev, Zubkov, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko were behind Wen’s invitation.

At carefully papered-over polar opposites on the issue are Russia and China, the dominant SCO members. While Moscow views the alliance primarily as a loose military grouping designed to combat outside (read: U.S.) military influence in the region, Beijing, while ostensibly supporting Russia’s opposition to "hegemony," is even more interested in SCO junior members’ energy assets.

The SCO was founded in Shanghai in 2001 and comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. SCO observer countries include India, Mongolia and Pakistan as well as Iran. In a pointed rebuff to the Bush administration, Washington’s request for observer status was rebuffed.

While none of the SCO’s energy discussions are likely to be made public, Moscow and Beijing’s differing interpretations of how best to develop the hydrocarbon assets of their Central Asian colleagues is bound to be the focus of many “frank and candid” diplomatic discussions.

In advance of the meeting, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov is offering bland assurances that Russia’s colonialist policy is a thing of the past and that Moscow is willing to deal with its SCO Central Asian partners as equals.

"The long-term friendship and cooperation agreement signed by the SCO leaders in August will be a contributing factor,” he said. “At the same time, Russia intends to adjust the program of economic cooperation between the SCO members until the year 2020 -- which was approved in 2003 -- in order to ensure a more active and effective implementation of the designated projects."

In a sop to his colleagues from Beijing, Zubkov added: "The building of energy infrastructure and transmission lines which will allow for meeting China's growing demand for electricity is one of the priority and promising projects."

What is of interest in Zubkov’s remarks is that they pointedly lack any reference to Central Asian hydrocarbons but instead discuss electrical exports, hardly a gift to Beijing, as Central Asian states, Kyrgyzstan in particular, already generate surplus amounts of electricity.

Amid the upcoming SCO air-kisses in Tashkent, the only question is how Moscow and Beijing will resolve their mutual interest in Central Asian energy reserves; while Moscow controls export routes, China is offering financing for 4,000-mile pipelines and 30-year contracts. For Central Asians, isolated as they are from the global market, the choice seems to be between the devil you know and the devils with contracts lasting for decades.

[Luke]

I have often wondered why we have allowed Cuba to exsist as long as it has. Luckily I will never be in control of United States government. My 1st order would be to invade Cuba. 90 miles from the shores of our country is too close for us to allow a communist government to exsist. Piss off Russia, probably. Piss off Venezula, so what. If they want to go to war, bring it on. They won't.

It appears to me that the stragety has been to wait for Castro to die, then every thing would be wonderful. That is crap. When Fidel passes look for another dictating communist puppet to take his place.

Even if we were to use Cuba as a large version of Las Vegas, or Alcatraz it would matter not to me as long as it were under our control.