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Francis Report 10-23 Dave Francis Back from Moscow, in place in St. Petersburg. Communisms is trying to make a comeback here in Russia, with Zyuganov, the leftist hardliner in the Duma (Their version of the Senate.) pushing hard to keep Russia from involving itself too much in the war effort with it’s former foe, the USA. Communists have been sent to the streets carrying the old red flag, armbands, pictures of everyone from Karl Marx, Stalin, and of course, the ever present Lenin. The average Russian considers these people an anachronism, and more of a comedy than any serious threat to the countries stability, but they did get over 20% of the vote in the last election. This is NOT the same as the communist party in the USA. These people have had power, wielded power, and had it wrenched from their little red palms about a decade ago. They could be a dangerous lot. All the more reason to respect the brave job Vladimir Putin is doing in supporting the US in the war effort. Putin understands this enemy. He is former KGB, and besides knowing where the bodies are buried, he may have buried a few. Incidentally, he strongly advised President Bush against allowing any moderates from the Taliban to have a hand in the new government in Afghanistan. “There are no moderates in the Taliban.” Putin explained simply. It is very important that the US not get stuck in a long, drawn out affair in Afghanistan. If the war on terrorism is going to last a long time, it needs to be a war with ever-changing fronts, filled with fresh victories to make people feel secure in our resolve. It is because of the danger that governments like Vladimir Putin’s face that we need to make this war one where there is an obvious victor. Anything less could lead to some horrible consequences. Lest we forget, a lot of large conflicts have started over small, insignificant areas. Does anyone remember World War 1? With instability all over, and hostility breaking out even worse in Israel, Malaysia, the Philippines, and maybe even China, decisive action is needed on the part of the US to let people know they can find safety in our camp. On the Russian mafia front; I was laughed at the other day in a closed door meeting with 4 members of different Russian mafia groups. The four, all ethnic Russians explained to me I was wrong about Iraq. “Iraq couldn’t make anthrax that good. They could barely produce liquid form.” Said one tall Russian who I will call Ivan as he waved his cigarette across the table as he spoke. “The Iraqis are idiots. They would all die from exposure if they tried to produce high quality anthrax. This anthrax is Russian!” Now, I have lived in Russia, and I have lived in Texas, and there is a certain similarity. Russians have that same, ‘Everything is bigger….’ Attitude that Texans often…. No, ALWAYS exhibit. Knowing this, I was skeptical. I assumed he was bragging. (What a world, huh? Bragging about good anthrax….) “Maybe the Iraqis produced it with the help of the Russian scientists that went to work there after ‘91?” I asked. “No. This anthrax is from a supply bought by bin Ladin several years ago in Kazakhstan.” He explained, leaning forward. “The anthrax is the same they were making in Sverdlovsk.” In 1979, there was an accident at a chemical weapons plant in Sverdlovsk and 66 people died of anthrax exposure. Vodka was poured, Ivan sat back, eyed, then downed his glass with a couple of hard swallows. I followed suit. Munching a cucumber, Ivan explained, “It goes all the way up to the top. Do you know who was the top man in Sverdlovsk?” “No,” I replied, “who?” Pouring another round of vodka for the five of us, Ivan looked conspiratorially at the others, then at me and said, “Boris Yeltsin. He was the main contact. Everything went through him. Your mafia had your mayors and governors, we had our president.” “How did it work?” I asked. “Easy. After the accident at Sverdlovsk, they closed down the plant. They said they took all the anthrax to Vozrozhdeniye Island, but they didn’t. The plant moved to Kazakhstan, and so did the anthrax. In sealed containers. Bin Ladin bought it there, through an intermediary in Kazakhstan.” ‘That’s that?” I asked? “Business” responded Igor, shrugging his shoulders in a way I have learned to recognize. “Don’t forget, Tarzan was selling a submarine, why couldn’t Mogilovich sell some germs?” Tarzan,(Ludwig Fainberg) is the nickname of a Russian mobster in jail in Miami who was caught while attempting to sell a submarine to a Colombian crime cartel. A real, honest to goodness submarine. He had ‘acquired’ it through channels with the Russian military. In my conversations, these guys bragged that it was the mafia running Russia, since Putin is former KGB, and most of the muscle-men in the current Russian mafia are also ex-KGB. “The truth is,” I was told, “there is no such thing as retirement from our business. If you are KGB, or Mafia, you don’t retire. You are always KGB or Mafia.” If you ever wonder how good a friends the Saudis really are, there is a report out of South Africa that bin Ladin and the former head of Saudi security. Turki al-Faycal was ousted last month as head of Saudi security, and sources say that one of the reasons are his contacts with bin Ladin. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia has recently become convinced that instead of actively looking for bin Ladin, Turki was actually feeding him information from the Saudi intelligence services to help him maintain himself, and his al Qaida network. These same Saudi’s won’t allow us to use the command and control center we built there to help defend their country. Well, the good news is, Russia is now selling 500,000 barrels of oil a day more than they were before all this happened. Anyone look at your gas prices lately? They have fallen since this war started. The Saudis may find that we don’t need them as much as we used to. That would make them the REAL loser in all this. Contacts with Mossad tell me that the Israeli’s are expecting a biological attack, probably in western Europe, and it should come soon. The same day I got that news, I was informed by the State Dept. that there is an alert put out in Russia for a possible biological attack. Part of the long-term information apparently came from telephone taps in Milan on a Tunisian national, Essid Sami Ben Khemais. Khemis has lived in Milan since March 1998 after completing two years of training at camps run by bin Ladin. Iran has pulled it’s troops out of Lebanon, ending 15 years of military support to the area. Some in the intelligence community take this action to mean that Iran may be expecting US marines to move into the area in order to destroy some of the terrorist training camps there. This quiet withdrawal on the part of the normally boisterous Iran has the intelligence community thinking that Iran may be convinced that Uncle Sam is serious this time. If so, it is widely believed that the Iranians want to do all they can to avoid armed conflict with armed US soldiers. DJF |