Category Archives: Espionage

Arab Revolutions, Espionage, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon

Faces of Hezbollah: Syria and the Nuclear Briefcase……

      

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“Hezbollah forces will remain in Syria fighting alongside the troops of Syrian President Bashar Assad for the foreseeable future, the leader of the Lebanese group said Thursday. “As long as the reasons are present, we are staying” in Syria, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s general secretary, said in a speech to supporters here marking the Shiite Muslim holiday of Ashura…………”

See the photo up there? I bet every Western and Arab, and maybe some Asian and other intelligence services are poring over these guys standing around Hassan Nasrallah. I bet even NGOs, AIPAC, the NRA, and the Tea Party are poring over the photo, trying to identify the persons. Especially the man with the gun, but maybe more so the man with the ominous-looking brief case.
Actually there is no need: the fact that they showed the photo means that Hezbollah knows that these guys are already known to diligent foreign intelligence services. Or maybe they are just in a playful mood, teasing the foreign spooks. About the brief case: could it be Nasrallah’s laptop and iPad? His own Lebanese version of the “nuclear” briefcase (oh, oh: now Ben Netanyahu will start screaming wolf and that Lebanon has also gone nuclear).

That photo was taken during Nasrallah’s recent speech this week. It was inevitable that he would decide to stay in Syria, given all the new proxy ‘rebel’ armies being formed and financed to the north (Turkey), south (Jordan) and east (Iraq). All financed by the rebellious and revolutionary democratic regimes of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, humorless Jordan, and assorted Western mercenary groups. Hezbollah has already taken a big hit in its popularity among Arabs for being involved in Syria. Only another victory against another foolish Israeli attack, like the invasion of 2006, could change that.

Cheers
mhg

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Espionage, USA

A Washington Victory for Edward Snowden?…………

      

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“Barack Obama announced the first public review of US surveillance programs since 9/11 on Friday, in what amounts to the president’s first concession that the mounting public concern in response to disclosures by whistleblower Edward Snowden justifies reform. After weeks in which the Obama and senior intelligence officials have insisted that the privacy of US citizens was sufficiently protected, the president announced a series of measures aimed at containing the controversy prompted by the Guardian’s revelations. At a White House press conference – his first full question-and-answer session in three months – Obama said that revelations about the National Security Agency’s activities had led Americans to question their trust in government and damaged the country’s reputation abroad. But he made it clear that the programs themselves would remain in place………………”

There is only one question that matters here: would Mr. Obama have started reform of the NSA surveillance system without the actions taken by Edward Snowden? Probably not.

Cheers
mhg

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Espionage, Iran, Israel

Espionage in Jerusalem: From Tehran with Love……………

      

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“Yitzchak Bergel, 46, of the Meah Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem allegedly spied for Iran and offered to kill Zionists. The man has six children, three sons and three daughters. His sons attend the Talmud Torah Torah V’yirah religious school and his daughters attend the Bnos Ruchel religious school. Bergel attends prayer services at the Toldos Aharon synagogue in Jerusalem. As we reported earlier, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man was arrested after he was caught spying for Iran, according to a report by the Tazpit News Agency. Israel Police said that an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man, a member of the radical Neturei Karta sect in Jerusalem, has been arrested in July on charges of attempting to spy on Israel for Iran…………….”

An unusual story. This man was like the Israeli equivalent of the Mujahideen Khalq, the Iranian group that does Israel and Mossad’s bidding inside Iran.
Cheers
mhg

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Anti-Semitism, Espionage, Iran, Israel, Jews

Rabbi Nejad of Iran, President Flower of Turkey: Iranian Rabbis vs. Israeli Rabbis…………..

   

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“After former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni disclosed personal details of her former career in Mossad, Rabbi Ari Shvat, one of the most famous rabbis of Israel, allowed Israeli women to have sex with the enemy in exchange for information, but Iran’s Grand Rabbi Mashallah Golestaninejad described adultery as forbidden in Judaism, and stressed that Shvat should be stoned to death. In an interview given 14 years ago but published in full for the first time last Friday in a pro-Livni newspaper and then cited by the British Sunday Times weekly, she described working undercover for Bayonet, Mossad’s elite hit squad, where she answered the question if she had ever had sex to get information. “If I’d been asked to do it, I don’t know what I’d have said. In the office (Mossad’s term for itself) there is a job tailored for everyone.” After the release of Livni’s remarks, Rabbi Ari Shvat, one of the most famous rabbis of Israel, allowed Israeli women to have sex with the enemy in exchange for important information, claiming that Jewish law permits this type of action. His remarks created chaos in the Jewish world and the Rabbis from different parts of the world reacted to Shvat’s comments. “The sources of Judaism have not allowed such a deed at all and it (adultery) is forbidden in our religion and based on the explicit instruction of the Ten Commandments, no one can embark on adultery at all,” Iranian Grand Rabbi Mashallah Golestaninejad said……………”

Iran’s Chief Rabbi is named Golestan-Nejad: Golestan means some kind of flower garden in Persian. Gol or Gul also means flower in Persian and Urdu and Turkish (Turkey’s President Gul is Mr. Flower). But the Rabbi is presumably no relation of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad. Although the semi-official Saudi Alarabiya network has tried for some years to spread in the Arab world the story that the Iranian president is a converted Jew. The idea is to “discredit” him by their standards. Most Iranians and Arabs don’t pay any attention to these Anti-Semitic stories; it only excites the Wahhabi clerics and their Salafi base.
Frankly Ahmadinejad doesn’t look THAT smart, although he is smarter than the folks at Alarabiya. No doubt.
Cheers
mhg

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Espionage, Humor, Iran, Middle East

More on Iran’s Qassem Suleimani: Solving the Mystery………………

   

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I wrote yesterday about Qassem Suleimani, the elusive chief of the Iranian Quds Brigade (of the IRGC). It turns out he has been traveling around the world in disguise: that may explain why he can travel freely and so quickly, and be at so many places at almost the same time. These following conflicting reports may shed more light on the man, perhaps eventually unveiling his true identity:

  • My unreliable al-Qaeda source reports that Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani has another incarnation that is, in fact, none other than Ayman al-Zawahiri, better dressed and on steroids.
  • A Syrian source suggested the ridiculous idea that Suleimani is often disguised as Colonel Riyadh al-As’ad, head of the Free Syrian Salafi Army. Perhaps thinned out and beardless.
  • My equally unreliable Bahrain source, right in one of the royal dens palaces at al-Rifa’ enclave, that in fact he is known in Bahrain as Shaikh Ali Salman. Suleimani is none other than head of the al-Wefaq main opposition bloc. (My source rejected the competing notion, pushed by Shaikh Nasser the younger son of Shaikh King Hamad, that Suleimani might be occasionally disguised as either Nabeel Rajab or Sameera Rajab).
  • My Saudi source mentioned something about Shaik Nimr al-Nimr, the opposition cleric who was shot and arrested by al-Saud security forces last month. I explained that Nimr is smaller in size, and he would need a new set of attire. He retorted angrily: “How about the Mufti Shaikh Al Al Al Shaikh as an Iranian mole?” I think he was being sarcastic, but I am not so sure.
  • A Gulf Salafi source, close to the Society for Revival of Islamic Heritage, told me that Suleimani is in fact hanging out in the GCC states, that he moves between Kuwait and Bahrain, with stopovers in Qatar to coordinate with Emir Shaikh Hamad al-Thani (cattily adding “and his wife”). The Salafi, having a Salafi’s usual priorities, added that Suleimani avails himself of both the Shi’a temporary Mut’a marriages and the Wahhabi part-time bedroom-only Misyar marriages on his travels.
  • My Israeli source sent me a terse cryptic message saying: “I know what Netahyahu will come up with, but World War II has been long over.…”
  • I was also told by a GOP source that Sheldon Adelson, the family values Las Vegas and Tel Aviv man, tried to insert an item in the Republican Party platform about Suleimani, to make killing him a national goal more worthy than Killing Osama Bin Laden. It got nowhere.
  • Another source told me something unsettling: that Qassem Suleimani is everywhere, in image if not in body and soul. He pointed out something I did not know: that he is the favorite dartboard image in places as far flung as Riyadh, Manama, Tel Aviv, Washington, Arlington, and Omaha pubs (not sure about that last one). He added that some princes and potentates (both Saudi and Bahraini) in fact end up staring at the general’s image whenever they demurely excuse themselves to go and “powder their noses”.


Cheers
mhg
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Espionage, Middle East Women, religious police, Saudi Arabia

Propagation of Vice: Saudi Religious Police, the Ten Commandments, and Spying on Women…….

    

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“An official within the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice [CPVPV] acknowledged that the organization is having trouble monitoring female-only gatherings, particularly in light of reports that illicit and illegal activities are taking place at such gatherings. The source attributed the CPVPV’s failure to get to the bottom of what is happening at female-only gatherings to the absence of female CPVPV operatives. The CPVPV official, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, said that “we have received unconfirmed reports that behaviour contrary to Islamic Sharia law is taking place at closed female-only gatherings. These reports are unconfirmed due to the absence of female CPVPV operatives who can transfer credible information on this issue.” He added “in addition to this, some people may be providing the CPVPV with inaccurate or false reports.” The CPVPV official stressed that “in this regard, the CPVPV relies on other means [to uncover what is happening at female-only gatherings], including receiving reports from sources close to those taking part in such gatherings, as well as contacting the sites where such gatherings take place.”………….”

The Saudi Commission for the Propagation of Vice is worried that “behavior contrary to Islamic Sharia” may be taking place in gatherings where there are only women in the Kingdom of Segregation. Hence there are hints they might hire women to spy on gatherings of women. Now what kind of immoral behavior can there be in gatherings of women? There are no men at such gatherings, and the Saudi shaikhs probably cringe at the thought that some of them might be lesbians (some of the women not some of their shaikhs). The only “immoral” behavior possible is that they might discuss politics.
Now gatherings of Saudi men are monitored, spied upon, and if necessary banned. The one major weak spot in this police state are women and their gatherings. The hairy perverts of the religious police can’t sneak into women gatherings, not unless they shave their beards (which, by their beliefs, might send them to hell), and don an abaya and a burqa (or niqab), plus some black kohl around their spying Wahhabi eyes.
Hence the idea of  looking into hiring women spies. The official media and semi-official media (like Asharq Alawsat of Prince Salman) are trying to make it seem like a “progressive” step; spying on women at their tea parties.

Speaking of “behavior contrary to Islamic Sharia”, have they tried spying on the princes and potentates? Besides the usual “immoral” behavior, there are a lot of “financial” irregularities that would have them condemned in the days of early Islam. Stealing and corruption are also against Islamic Sharia. Hell, they are even against the Ten Commandments of Moses.
Cheers
mhg


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Espionage, Hezbollah, Iran, Lebanon, Terrorism, U.S. Congress, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

New Iranian Terror Plot Uncovered by, You Guessed it, NYPD………..

    

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“A senior New York police official disclosed that at least 13 suspects with ties to the Iranian government had been questioned by authorities in the last seven years after conducting surveillance of possible attack sites. Mitchell Silber, the New York Police Department’s director of intelligence analysis, said the city’s large Jewish population and international significance as a terror target made it ripe for a strike by either Iran or Hizbollah, the Lebanon-based militant group it sometimes uses as a proxy. Testifying before the House of Representative’s Homeland Security Committee, he said the suspects included six people on a sightseeing cruise who were taking photographs and film of well-known New York landmarks such as the Brooklyn Bridge in 2005. And in September 2010, federal air marshals detained four people taking pictures and films at a heliport in the city. During questioning, all 13 people admitted that they were associated with the Iranian government, but they were ultimately released without charge…………”

I wonder if it is still legal to take pictures of the Empire State building. That used to be my favorite landmark in New York when I was a teenage student back east, it still is, along with the Statue of Liberty. I used to take photos of it, then climb on top and take more amazing photos.
I don’t know about this. They haven’t been able to catch any Iranian terrorists yet (just a few weapon and technology smugglers). Even with Hezbollah agents, the best they could find was some hapless Lebanese trying to smuggle bullets for pistols to Lebanon. Bullets for pistols! I guess he didn’t realize that Hezbollah has missiles and anti-aircraft guns and drones and is waiting for the first Iranian nuclear bomb.
I am near despair that they ever will catch a genuine Iranian or Hezbollah terrorist in the US: unless they can revive that old Cheney idea of a meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta and Iranian intelligence. Woops, that was Iraqi intelligence, allegedly. Then there is Jack the Texas used-car dealer who conspired with Ali Khamenei and the Quds Force and Hezbollah and the Mexican Cartel and FARC to blow to smithereens an Arab yes-man ambassador in Washington. I am beginning to suspect that there
probably are no such thing as “Iranian terrorists” in the United States,
none in New Jersey-NYC, none in Westwood. Not even any hiding under the bed of the Saudi ambassador or Representative
Peter King or, heaven forbid, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl).


More seriously: it pays to be vigilant these days. If there is a new war, all bets are off. Terrorism may become a reality instead of just an opportunity for some ambitious or overeager cop or agent or East Coast DA.
Cheers
mhg


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CIA, Espionage, Iran, Israel, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Iranian Nuclear issue, American Nuclear Issue, Conventional Strategic Issue…..

    

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“Intercepted communications of Iranian officials discussing their nuclear program raised concerns that the country’s leaders had decided to revive efforts to develop a weapon, intelligence officials said. That, along with a stream of other information, set off an intensive review and delayed publication of the 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, a classified report reflecting the consensus of analysts from 16 agencies. But in the end, they deemed the intercepts and other evidence unpersuasive, and they stuck to their longstanding conclusion……… As a result, officials caution that they cannot offer certainty. “I’d say that I have about 75 percent confidence in the assessment that they haven’t restarted the program,”…………….”

““There is not a lot of dispute between the U.S. and Israeli intelligence communities on the facts,” the former official said. The Times reported last month that U.S. intelligence analysts continue to believe there was no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb. The latest assessments by U.S. spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program …….….”


Which deserves a resounding: WTF?
This seems to confirm my long-held suspicions: the noise about Iran has little to do with a nuclear program. It has a lot to do with broader Middle East balance of power. It has to do with pressure from the Israeli/American right-wing (and perhaps the Saudi princes). It is part of a struggle for influence in the Middle East.
The Israelis want Iranian influence in Lebanon and Syria reduced, but without the risk of an Islamist Salafi resurgence (in Syria) that would actively reopen the Golan file. Syria is a focus target, with the potential of a complete break with Iran and an alliance with the Saudis and their  right-wing March 14 proxies in Lebanon. Lebanon can be partly affected, but it would be unrealistic for it to have a complete break with Iran and join the Saudi camp (the demographics are against it).

The Saudi princes want to consolidate their hegemony over the Gulf GCC states and to dominate the Arabs of the eastern Mediterranean. A tough, nay impossible, job. In the process, they want Iranian infrastructure and military power destroyed by the Americans and Israelis. That would open the door for their money to move into the vacuum in Syria and perhaps regain influence in Lebanon. The Saudi princes want to play the same role they tried in the 1980s, when they armed and financed Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran and urged the West to do the same. We all know what Saddam did in 1990 right after the West pulled his nuts out of the fire.

Everybody in America is making ‘appropriate’ noises about the “nuclear” issue; even Obama is being pushed to it by both his right-wing opponents and by Democrats in the U.S. Congress. Especially so with the Republican candidates vying to outdo each other in Likud-orchestrated crazy rhetoric, rhetoric that seems to embarrass some past and current Israeli officials (not Netanyahu and Lieberman).
Cheers
mhg


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Espionage, Iran, Israel, Mossad, Mujahideen Khalq, Terrorism

New Delhi Attack: Mossad Mujahideen or Iranian Agents?…………

   

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“A week after the terror attack in New Delhi, which seriously wounded Tal Yehoshua-Koren, the wife of an Israeli diplomat, the Indian government is still trying to brush over the accumulating evidence that the attack was part of a wider Iranian effort to orchestrate multiple attacks on Israeli targets in different countries. To date, no Indian official has referred to Iran’s involvement. Sources in New Delhi explain that the government is concerned that its close relationships with both Israel and Iran are becoming incompatible……….”

The Israeli media propaganda claims “accumulating evidence” of Iranian involvement. There is no such accumulating evidence, mostly speculation. Meanwhile the Israelis “brag’ about their role in terrorist killings of civilians on the streets of Tehran.
The Indians and Thais have not pointed the finger yet. If there are any Iranians involved, they are as likely to be Mujahideen Khalq agents of the Israeli Mossad as being agents of the Iranian regime. It is the Indians and Thais who are investigating the incident, yet Israeli and Western media have already decided what that evidence is. Either one can be responsible, but I am betting on the MEK and the Mossad as the most likely culprits. Helping the Mossad may be the price for getting the MEK Mujahideen off the U.S. terrorist list.

Cheers
mhg


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cyber war, Espionage, Iran, Israel, Muslims, Racism, Saudi Arabia

Israel and the West: only Arab and Muslim Hacking is Terrorism, Ours is Kosher………

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“Israel said on Saturday that it will respond to cyber-attacks in the same way it responds to violent “terrorist” acts, by striking back with force against hackers who threaten the Jewish state. The message from Deputy Foreign Minister Dany Ayalon came after a self-defined “Saudi hacker” from a cabal known as “group-xp” published details of more than 6,000 Israeli credit cards online. “It is necessary to send a message to everyone who attacks or tries to attack Israel, including in cyberspace,” Ayalon said in quotes published widely in Israeli media. Hackers stand warned, he said, “that they are putting themselves in danger and that they will not benefit from any immunity against reprisal actions from Israel.” Cyber-attacks amount to “terrorism that must be treated as such. In cyberspace, we have active capacities and we can hit those who try to hit us.” Ayalon also applauded the United States for declaring that “all attacks in their cyberspace will be considered as a declaration of war and they will react as if it had been a missile attack………..”

The great and very useful term of “chutzpah” must have been created for a situation like this. No wonder the Iranian officials always talk about arrogance and arrogant powers. I have thought they were being repetitive and self-righteous and boring. Now, I am see that the West and the Israelis are as repetitive and self-righteous and boring (almost more boring over the past year or two).
Western powers and Israel have been sending viruses and worms and hacking into computer systems all over the world in recent years, especially Iran. Just look up Stuxnet and Duqu and others. Western and Israeli media publicly brag about their hacking and worming prowess against other nations and their ability to disrupt industry and communications. Yet when they receive some of their own medicine, as some Saudis recently hacked into Israeli systems and published secret data, they threaten war. All I can say for now, very succinctly, is: WTF?
Cheers
mhg


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