Day: November 4, 2023

I served in Norway 🇳🇴 for three years (2012-2015). When I first arrived there, I read the book “When the Robbers Came to Cardamom Town”, by Thorbjorn Egner.
It’s a story about three robbers, Casper, Jasper and Jonathan, in the Norwegian Pastoral town of Cardamom.
How does the…

— George Deek (@GeorgeDeek) November 4, 2023

Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) submitted the following testimony to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs during the annual Member Day Hearing:

“Chairman McCaul and Ranking Member Meeks, thank you for this opportunity to share several of my priorities that are under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. As Co-Chair of the Armenia Caucus, I would like to highlight the grave and urgent need for humanitarian assistance for more than 100,000 refugees who were forced to abandon their homeland in response to Azerbaijan’s violent military aggression against the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh. I would also like to highlight the need to counter the destabilizing actions of autocrats and support our democratic allies and partners around the world.

First, I would like to highlight legislation I introduced in September that is under your Committee’s jurisdiction, the Supporting Armenians Against Azerbaijani Aggression Act of 2023 (H.R. 5683). Sadly, after I introduced this legislation, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive to ethnically cleanse the area of its native Armenian population that dates back thousands of years. There are aspects of this bill that I believe the Committee should take up. This includes sanctions against the autocratic Azeri regime that rules the country and those responsible for human rights abuses and war crimes. My legislation also includes $30 million in humanitarian aid, $10 million in assistance for Armenia through the foreign military financing program at the Department of State, $650 million in annual assistance to the Armenian energy sector for fiscal years 2024 through 2026, and $50 million for fiscal years 2024 through 2028 to promote United States-Armenian cooperation on science and technology.

However, given the situation on the ground after the most recent aggression by Azerbaijan, I would recommend the following:

First, given the dire plights of the refugees from Nagorno Karabakh, Congress and the Biden Administration must provide as much humanitarian support as possible. The Armenian government has identified $1 billion in urgent housing needs for the over 100,000 refugees who were forced to abandon their homeland. These people have lost almost everything, from their basic possessions to their family homes.

Second, these refugees also require assistance with educational, medical, social protection, and other needs, which is estimated to cost $360 million annually for at least the next two years. Since the United States was unable to stop this humanitarian disaster from unfolding, we must and should do our part to help these refugees during this vulnerable time.

Finally, Congress must repeal the waiver of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act of 1992. This section of my legislation prohibits United States assistance to Azerbaijan until the President determines and notifies Congress that “the Government of Azerbaijan is taking demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.” In the wake of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan, Congress gave the President the authority to waive Section 907 and issue annual extensions for the provision of assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan if the President determines and certifies that certain criteria are met. For years this extension has been granted and the Aliyev regime has become more emboldened and repressive. Given the continued military assaults on Armenia and the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh, we must take a stand.

Furthermore, we must work to counter autocrats who have been destabilizing so much of the world. We have rightfully confronted Putin with sanctions and support for Ukraine. There are other autocrats, like Azerbaijan’s Aliyev or Turkey’s Erdogan, who have caused havoc in the lives of ordinary people around the world. These relationships should be examined, especially our relationship with the Republic of Turkey, whose President has declared Putin a friend, has said our SDF partners in the war against ISIS are terrorists, and most recently declared that Hamas, the organization responsible for the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, are not terrorists but in fact freedom fighters. I can find no reason why we should continue to enable and offer military equipment to an autocrat so opposed to our nation’s values.

As a founding member and co-chair of the Armenia Caucus, as well as a committed supporter of democracies around the world, I believe we should send a clear message to our friends and adversaries by taking the measures outlined above. The United States must be a partner to all those who share common values, including upholding democracy, human rights, and the sovereignty of all nations. I look forward to working with the Committee and its members and staff on increasing and sustaining U.S. engagement with fledgling and established democracies.

  Trend News Agency

  Trend News Agency

 My Opinion: FBI: Investigate the Menendez case from Counterintelligence perspectives: Cui bono? Who benefited from this scandal and Menendez resignation as the Senate Foreign Committee Chair? Answer: Israel, Turkey, Azerbaijan.

My Opinion: FBI: Investigate the Menendez case from Counterintelligence perspectives: Cui bono? Who benefited from this scandal and Menendez resignation as the Senate Foreign Committee Chair? Answer: Israel, Turkey, Azerbaijan. 

1. Israel’s Netanyahu and his far-right ally Ben-Gvir: Menedez warned harshly against this alliance, and Netanyahu was “pissed off”, and Ben-Gvir was “deeply concerned”, whatever it means. Egypt was used as a cover, sustained a reputational damage, and stands to potentially lose the US military assistance, serving as the backdrop to the much touted “Saudi spring”. 

2. Turkey’s Erdogan, who said openly and directly that this event will help him to buy F-16-s ($20B deal). 

3. Azerbaijan got rid of its most vehement and persistent critic. 

Consider the anti-Armenian sentiment around Menendez’ new Armenian wife and other co-defendants. 

It is known that these three countries are in alliance directed against Iran. 

As Craig Unger said, why do I see all this, and the FBI does not? 

“In the course of writing two books on Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, the same question occurred to me again and again: How is it possible that I knew all sorts of stuff about Donald Trump, and the FBI didn’t seem to have a clue? Or if they did, why weren’t they doing anything with it?

…

One reason for that may have been that on far too many occasions, FBI men in sensitive positions ended up on the take from the very people they were supposed to be investigating.” 

I am not ready to agree with this explanation above, but the very fact that it was voiced by one of the best US journalists is very troubling. 

I wrote 2 books showing 1) how Trump laundered $$ for the Russian Mafia & 2)how he was cultivated by and became an asset for the KGB. Maybe this explains why I was able to find such incriminating material and the FBI didn’t. https://t.co/tmMIyZfvqX

— Craig Unger (@craigunger) January 24, 2023 

Methinks, humbly, from the non-professional perspectives, that in the Counterintelligence investigations the legal aspects (the urge to try and to convict) are the secondary considerations. 

The primary ones are TO UNDERSTAND WHAT REALLY HAPPENED or is happening, especially when the truth is buried under the mountains of the carefully constructed covers, lies, and disinformation. 

Michael Novakhov | 8:40 AM 9/29/2023

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