Russian arms merchant funnels money, guns, and dope through the UAE

[kpete]

Mondo Washington
Ports: All 'Bout a Dealer Named Bout
A Russian arms merchant funnels money, guns, and dope through the United Arab Emirates

by James Ridgeway
February 23rd, 2006 11:09 AM


The UAE is not only the center of financial dealings in the Persian Gulf, it is switching central for dope and arms dealing. The dope comes out of Afghanistan into the UAE where tax monies are collected and used to buy arms, which were sent back in for the Taliban. Some of this money is thought to have helped finance the 9-11 attacks. A money trail is set forth in the government's filings in the Moussaoui case.

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In fact, the United Arab Emirates have been viewed as hub for trade going and coming to Afghanistan, with drugs coming from Afghanistan on their way to the West, and weapons from Bout, going back. While transportation was via Bout's different air cargo interests, it also involved the Afghan state airlines, called Ariana Airlines. The airline was controlled by Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda agents masquerading as Ariana employees flew out of Afghanistan, through Sharjah, one of the emirates, and on to points west.

During the late 1990s Bout's center of operations was Ostend, Belgium, but when he came under pressure there, he left Belgium. The UAE office grew in importance.

Bout used various air cargo outfits. One of them was called Flying Dolphin, which in the early 2000s was owned by Sheikh Adbullah bin Zayed bin Saqr al Nayhan, a former UAE ambassador to the United States and member of the ruling family in Abu Dhabi. He was described by the United Nations as a "close business associate of Bout." According to the December 20, 2000, U.N. report, Zayed's company is registered in Liberia, but its operations office is in Dubai.

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more at:
http://villagevoice.com/news/0609,ridgeway,72294,2.html

[Trevelyan]

1. Sounds made to order for Poppy Bush's major drug trafficking ops

Very important - keep digging on UAE.

[KharmaTrain]

2. Speaking Of Russia...We Get An Abramoff Bonus...

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007737.php

Abramoff's work on Russian affairs began in the mid-1990s, according to J. Michael Waller, the former editor of a Washington-based newsletter, Russia Reform Monitor. Waller said he was contacted by two Abramoff associates in 1997, and was asked to help organize Abramoff's trip with DeLay to Russia.
"I was told by two of Abramoff's colleagues that he wanted to represent the Russian government," Waller said. He said Abramoff's colleagues explained that Abramoff was working for Naftasib, the Russian energy company, and that "if he performed well on Naftasib then the Russian government would retain him."

That made Waller uncomfortable, he added, because he had read Russian documents that said Naftasib supplied oil to the Russian military, so he declined to help Abramoff plan the trip.

"I was concerned that Abramoff was going to become an agent of influence for the Russian government and that he would mask that relationship," Waller said.

Just a lot of interesting coincidences between this connection, the infamous Contra and BCCI scandals of the 80s and a lot inbetween. Many of the same names seem to be popping up.

Maybe the person who noted that this was a deal that was supposed to have been snuck under the radar and really has caught this regime by surprise has some validity to it...and that this regime's complete corruption and need for greed and power has really make them jump the shark and no longer hide their criminal activities.