Kushner Middle East Peace Plan – United front between N Africa against Iran-Turkish power alliance bordering Southern former Soviet Bloc-(The “-Stans”) Middle East EyeMarch 19, 2018 “Nader said this group of states could become a force in the region “that the US government could depend on” to counter the influence of Turkey and Iran, according to two sources briefed on the meeting. Nader brought togetherMohammed bin Salman, who was then deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia; Mohammed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi; Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, president of Egypt; Prince Salman, crown prince of Bahrain; and King Abdullah of Jordan onto the yacht. Their respective states, plus Libya which was not represented at the secret summit, would form the nucleus of pro-US and pro-Israeli states.”
Subsea and onshore gas pipeline running 2,000- 2,200 km for Israeli and Cypriot gas from the existing fields and future discoveries to Greece and Italy for European Markets.
“The new solidarity rule in the European Union, that is due to ensure the proper division of gas in case of a crisis, could promote the ambitious offshore gas pipeline project to Italy.” Gina Cohen argues that Israel will offer a more flexible pricing mechanism in Hebrew Energy. http://www.hebrewenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Israeli-gas-to-Europe-–-a-project-with-a-difference-–-By-Gina-Cohen-15.10.2017.pdf. ”
The Leviathan gas field has business with an international consortium including Israeli Ratio Oil Exploration
Israeli Minister of Energy Yuval Steinitz, George Papadopoulos and many others promote the project
November 10, 2017 “In September, the Wall Street Journal reported a meeting about the plan, in which former CIA director James Woolsey is said to have participated. Friday’s report describes a second meeting involving both Flynns at the 21 Club restaurant, a prohibition-era New York speakeasy patronised by Trump, in mid-December. According to “people familiar with the investigation”, it was at this encounter that the $15m payment was discussed. One source said Gülen would be seized and flown by private jet to the Turkish prison island of Imrali. It is not clear if any money changed hands or if any preparatory steps were taken. The timing of the 21 Club meeting is significant. The White House has distanced itself from the men charged by Mueller – Papadopoulos, former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates. But by mid-December Trump had namedFlynnnational security adviser and he was playing a central role in the transition.” The Guardian
“Last year, while serving as a Trump foreign policy adviser,Papadopoulos appeared on an Israeli energy conference panel that included Yigal Landau, CEO of Ratio Oil Exploration, one of several Israeli and US firms that are part of the consortium exploiting Leviathan.
Documents obtained and reviewed by BuzzFeed News earlier this year showedRatio had a business relationship with Kamil Ekim Alptekin. The Dutch-Turkish businessman has been subpoenaed by Mueller’s investigators in connection to his hiring of Flynn’s consulting firm.
Alptekin attended a November 2016 energy conference in Tel Aviv as a guest of Ratio, but a source close to Alptekin denied he had any ties to Papadopoulos, and described both men’s connection to the Leviathan project as coincidental.
The connection may add to the growing picture of Papadopoulos, who has become a subject of scrutiny since his plea deal was unsealed on Monday. Although The Daily Caller reported that former Trump campaign official Sam Clovis approved of his joining the Trump camp in March 2016 — he also appears in a photo of the March 2016 meeting with Trump, Clovis and now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions among others — it remains unclear how he was brought into the Trump camp’s orbit.
Alptekin told BuzzFeed News he hired the now-defunct Flynn Intelligence Group in part to advise him on the Ratio contract, but later clarified that he also asked Flynn to research the activities of the movement led by Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Islamic scholar wanted by the Turkish government for his alleged role in a 2016 coup attempt.” BuzzFeed
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL Expiring October 2020: Trump left the accord in 2018 and Iran breached parts of the deals in response. The US could resume, although several international diplomats advise that it would be illegal, the UN Sanctions against Iran under “snapback”, so Iran’s ally in the Syrian civil war, Putin, led a vote of the UN Security Council (backed by China) to oppose extending an Obama-era 2015 nuclear weapons ban between Iran & UN and de-escalate tensions. The US and Dominican Republic were the only YES votes to extend the ban, France, Germany and the UK abstained. US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft, Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi, China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun U.S. loses Iran arms embargo bid as Putin pushes summit to avoid nuclear deal showdown ReutersAugust 14, 2020 Michelle Nichols, Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber. While Putin backed Iran at the UN, the same day:
PRESSURE ON IRAN, CARACAS, AND VENEZUELA– US SEIZED 1.116 million barrels VENEZUELAN OIL from IRAN & SIMULTANEOUSLY COST MADURO $3 Billion In DRUG BUSTS: U.S. says seized four Iranian fuel shipments en route to Venezuela Reuters August 14, 2020 Humeyra Pamuk, Mark Hosenball. The US DOJ led by “Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook, was able to both halt these shipments and assist the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security in executing a U.S. seizure order,” confiscated 1.116 million barrels of Iranian fuel, the largest US seizure of Iran’s fuel from Greek ship owners. The action hurts desperately poor Venezuela, who paid for the fuel (WSJ reported), and whose president, Nicolás Maduro, the US has opposed since he “illegally assumed” the office on January 10, 2019 (US State Dept position including Sanctions).
Trump Removed Inspectors General conducting investigations, providing oversight and lawful Congressional approval
US Special Rep. for Iran & Sr. Policy Advisor to Sec. of State Pompeo Brian Hook(September 2018 to August 2020. He previously served as the Director of Policy Planning under Secretary of State Rex Tillerson) resigned from the State Dept. on August 6, 2020, replaced by Special Rep. for Venezuela Elliott Abrams, 2 days after Pence ally Acting Inspector General (IG) Stephen Akard resigned (Politico; Bush Neocons).
Akard replaced Obama 2103 appointed State Dept. IGSteve Linick on May 15, 2020
Message from Deputy Secretary Sullivan and Inspector General Linick onWhistleblowing On July 20, 2018, whosent this Department-wide email]; In the final stages of an investigation of legal actions in the Saudi arms sale and other deals, Trump ousts State Department watchdog Democrats blasted the Friday-night dismissal as an assault on the rule of law.Politico By MERIDITH MCGRAW and NAHAL TOOSI; “Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, called Linick’s dismissal an “outrageous act of a president trying to protect one of his most loyal supporters, the secretary of State, from accountability.” Engel claimed: “I have learned that the Office of the Inspector General had opened an investigation into Secretary Pompeo. Mr. Linick’s firing amid such a probe strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of retaliation.” A Democratic congressional aide said Linick had launched an investigation into Pompeo’s alleged misuse of a political appointee to perform personal tasks for him and Mrs. Pompeo. The State Department did not respond to an inquiry about the allegation. Linick played a minor role in the House of Representatives’ impeachment proceedings against Trump, ferrying a trove of documents to lawmakers that had been provided to the State Department by Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer.”
August 14, 2020: On the same day as the US seized the Venezuela-bound Iranian oil, Trump National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien published a biased editorial on the subject by referring to CoVid-19 as the “Wuhan virus,” reinforcing the Republican scare of the threat of Socialism/Marxism associated with drugs and the Democratic Party in the context of the 2020 campaign, and the “thug” verbiage which had been recently used in association with Black Lives Matter protests. Nevertheless it contained information about military action. The US has cost Maduro $3 billion in four months per this article: How the US is shutting down Venezuela’s socialist-thug drug biz New York PostBy Robert O’Brien August 14, 2020 “On April 1, [2020] President Trump launched a historic counternarcotics operation to target drug traffickers and disrupt the flow of illicit drugs to the United States. The narco-traffickers targeted include members of the illegitimate, thuggish regime of Nicolás Maduroand the Cartel de los Soles (“Cartel of the Suns”) in Venezuela. Adm. Craig Faller, head of US Southern Command, called the country a “paradise” for drug traffickers.” USSouthern Command (SoCom) devoted 16 ships and 19 aircraft, increasing “surveillance aircraft and patrol ships by 60 percent and 78 percent, respectively.” Agencies Employed: Departments of Defense (DOD), Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS), as well as the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). JOINT EFFORT of 22 NATIONS: Notably, Operation ORION V with Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras and El Salvador; SEIZED: “more than 84 metric tons of cocaine and marijuana..50 metric tons of illicit drugs were seized and 72 labs in Colombia were destroyed” Honduras: “800 kilograms of cocaine loaded on a private jet from Venezuela. On July 26, in Guatemala, ICE and Homeland Security Investigations seized more than 2,100 kilograms of cocaine and a Gulfstream III jet from Venezuela.”; ARRESTED: more than 1,000 drug traffickers “several of them were pulled from cartel-built mini-submarines.”
Inspector Generals Fired & Replaced April 2020
Amb. Stephen Akardfrom a career State Dept. Foreign Service Officer and then-Gov. Pence‘s CoS for Indiana Economic Development Corp. to IG of the State Department.
Acting Inspector General for the Department of Defense Glenn A. Fine from the Obama administration that “was set to become the chairman of a new Pandemic Response Accountability Committee to police how the government carries out the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill. But Mr. Trump replaced Mr. Fine in his Pentagon job, disqualifying him from serving on the new oversight panel.” April 7, 2020 Trump Ousts Pandemic Spending Watchdog Known for Independence New York Times By Charlie Savage and Peter BakerThe official had been leading the office of the inspector general for the Pentagon. In removing him from that role, the president stripped him of his pandemic relief oversight duties as well.
ReplacingAtkinson, Peter M. Thomson of Louisiana’s Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann, LLC, to be Inspector General, Central Intelligence Agency, Fmr. DOJ prosecutor 23 years, NSA special assignment (CIA Dir. Gina Haspel)
Katherine A. Crytzerof Tennessee, to be Inspector General, Tennessee Valley Authority from being the Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy and reporting to Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim who was confirmed on September 27, 2017 (Delrahim was Formerly Chief Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee). Crytzer was an Assistant was United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and before that, Crytzer was an Associate at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP,George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law. April 3, 2020 Trump Announcement(Coal)
Andrew A. De Melloof Massachusetts, to be Inspector General, Department of Education from being on “detail to the Inspector General’s Office at the Department of Homeland Security as a Senior Special Counsel since October 2019” a DOJ Tax Division Trial Attorney(Sec. Betsy DeVos; Trump Tax Return Lawsuits– Deutsche Bank & Mazars). April 3, 2020 Trump Announcement
Jason Abendof Virginia, to be Inspector General, Department of Defense from serving as Senior Policy Advisor, United States Customs and Border Protection, Special Agent for the IG of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Department of Housing and Urban Development (mortgage and reverse mortgage fraud, civil fraud, public housing assistance fraud, and internal agency personnel cases), Secret Service, and as an Intelligence Research Specialist at the FBI. April 3, 2020 Trump Announcement
Papadopoulos And Flynn Client Both Tied To Israeli Energy Consortium Buzzfeed November 3, 2017 by Borzou Daragahi “Last year, while serving as a Trump foreign policy adviser,Papadopoulos appeared on an Israeli energy conference panel that included Yigal Landau, CEO of Ratio Oil Exploration, one of several Israeli and US firms that are part of the consortium exploiting Leviathan. Documents obtained and reviewed by BuzzFeed News earlier this year showedRatio had a business relationship with Kamil Ekim Alptekin. The Dutch-Turkish businessman has been subpoenaed by Mueller’s investigators in connection to his hiring of Flynn’s consulting firm.”
Israel: Convicted PM Netanyahu reversed promises and agreed to Suspend West Bank annexation,where 450,000 Jewish settlers and 3 million Palestinians live. “The U.N. Security Council has said settlements are illegal…UAE would join Egypt and Jordan as only the third Arab nation in the region with normalized ties. The UAE and Israel have held informal ties for years. Speaking from the White House, President Trump took credit for the accord, which followed a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed [MBZ] of the UAE” Full Story: UAE, Israel Move To Normalize Relations As Israel Halts Planned West Bank AnnexationsAug. 13, 2020
Israel-UAE deal could open up U.S. weapons sales to Gulf kingdom, experts say ReutersAugust 14, 2020 “David Makovsky, director of the Project on Arab-Israel Relations at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, told Reuters the deal is “a win for the Emirates, which will undoubtedly be eligible for military sales that it could not obtain due to ‘qualitative military edge’ restrictions due to fear certain technologies could be used against Israel.” In May, the U.S. State Department approved a possible sale of up to 4,569 used Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles to the UAE for $556 million. U.S. lawmakers have tried to rein in Trump administration plans for arms sales, particularly to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to pressure them to improve their human rights record and do more to avoid civilian casualties in an air campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the war in Yemen. A U.S. government watchdog report released on Tuesday said the State Department did not fully evaluate the risk of civilian casualties in Yemen when it pushed through a huge 2019 sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE…David Makovsky, director of the Project on Arab-Israel Relations at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, told Reuters the deal is “a win for the Emirates, which will undoubtedly be eligible for military sales that it could not obtain due to ‘qualitative military edge’ restrictions due to fear certain technologies could be used against Israel.”
ChinaAugust 14, 2020-While the US seized 1.116 million barrels of Venezuelan oil and $3 billion worth of drugs, denting future income because of the 1,000+ arrests as well), the US Navy’s USS Ronald Reagan nuclear-powered aircraft carrier conducted exercises around Hong Kong, an area that China has been colonizing as it has built islands in the Sea to claim it as Chinese territory to control shipping. U.S. Navy carrier conducted exercises in South China Sea on Aug. 14 Reuters
S. Korean “consortium is currently building four reactors in the UAE. But Saudi Arabia has insisted that it be allowed to enrich its own supplies of uranium as a matter of national sovereignty.” Washington Post February 26, 2018
Trump Officials Consider Defying Congress to Sell More Weapons to Saudi Arabia New York Times May 28, 2020 The administration has informed lawmakers that it intends to allow the sale of munitions worth $478 million to the kingdom, setting up a potential clash with Congress. “The new proposal would effectively build off the sale pushed through over Congress’s objections last year, sending an additional 7,500 precision-guided missiles from Raytheon to Riyadh on top of the 60,000 bombs Saudi officials bought last summer, according to a congressional aide who described it on the condition of anonymity because it had not yet been officially turned over to Congress. As of December, roughly a third of those munitions had been delivered.”
Trump cites Iran to bypass Congress on Saudi arms sales AP By MATTHEW LEE and SUSANNAH GEORGE May 24, 2019 “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Congress of the decision to use an emergency loophole in the Arms Export Control Act to move ahead with sales of $7 billion in precision guided munitions, other bombs and ammunition and aircraft maintenance support to Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, without lawmakers’ approval. In his notification, Pompeo said he had made the determination “that an emergency exists which requires the immediate sale” of the weapons “in order to deter further the malign influence of the government of Iran throughout the Middle East region.” He said the transfers “must occur as quickly as possible in order to deter further Iranian adventurism in the Gulf and throughout the Middle East…Khashoggi’s slaying, coupled with increasing concerns about civilian casualties resulting from a Saudi-led coalition’s military operation againstIran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, prompted lawmakers to block about $2 billion in arms sales to the kingdom for more than a year. Last month [April 2019], Trump vetoed legislation that would have ended U.S. military assistance for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. “President Trump is only using this loophole because he knows Congress would disapprove of this sale,” [Sen. Chris Murphy, D-CT] Murphy said. “There is no new ‘emergency’ reason to sell bombs to the Saudis. There is precedent for using the emergency exemption for arms sales to Saudi Arabia. President Ronald Reagan invoked it in the 1980s and both Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush used it for sales before the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq war.”
US moves to strengthen forces in Middle East to counter Iran AP SUSANNAH GEORGE and LOLITA C. BALDOR May 24, 2019“President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that the 1,500 troops would have a “mostly protective” role as part of a build-up that began this month in response to what the U.S said was a threat from Iran. And for the first time, Pentagon officials on Friday publicly blamed Iran and its proxies for recent tanker bombings near United Arab Emirates and a rocket attack in Iraq…Vice Admiral Michael Gildaytold Pentagon reporters that the U.S. has “very high confidence” that Iran’s Revolutionary Guardwas responsible for the explosions onfour tankers, and that Iranian proxies in Iraq fired rockets into Baghdad. He said Iran also tried to deploy modified small boats that were capable of launching cruise missiles. The deployments announced Friday include a squadron of 12 fighter jets, manned and unmanned surveillance aircraft, and a number of military engineers to beef up protection for forces. In addition a battalion of four Patriot missile batteries that was scheduled to leave the Middle East has been ordered to stay. The total number of troops involved is about 1,500, with roughly 600 included in the Patriot battalion. None of those troops will go to either Iraq or Syria.”
May 21, 2019Rick Perry Delegation to President Zelensky’s inauguration
June 4, 2019 Rick Perryand Pres. Zelensky US Mission to the European Union USEU Dinner
Democrats turn eye to Rick Perry in Ukrainian probe Politico October 1, 2019 By ANTHONY ADRAGNA and BEN LEFEBVRE “Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a Democrat on the Judiciary and Oversightcommittees, told POLITICO he thought it likely Perry would eventually be called to testify, though he is not aware of any committees ready to seek his testimony yet. “His Ukraine-related activities have drawn the interest of members and he almost certainly has relevant testimony to offer,” Raskin said. “He seems to have appeared and reappeared multiple times in the Ukrainian context, so he’s likely to have evidence that Congress would consider material.”
Lev Parnas October 9, 2019 Parnas & Igor Fruman arrested & Barrmet with Manhattan prosecutors,
Harry Sergeant III (Boca Raton, FL, oil $), Belarusian-American Igor Fruman and Ukrainian-American Parnasdonated $620,000 to Republicans and $325,000 to the Trump Super PAC America First Action.
“Remember when Parnas got arrested at a convenient time for Trump and his co-conspirator Giuliani skated?” @blakesmoustache.
Working with Poroshenko initially, he lost re-election to Zelensky April 30, 2019 AP
July 2019: No-Bid 50-Year drilling contract awarded from the Ukraine government’s Varvynska in joint venture with Ukrainian-American-Texan Michael Bleyzer’s firm SigmaBleyzer and Alex Cranberg’s Aspect Energy “Ukrainian Energy,” within weeks of Perry attending Zelensky’s May 27, 2019, inauguration in VP Pence‘s place.
Naftogaz-Energy Sec. encouraged replacing Obama-administration board member Amos Hochstein and other board members of the Ukrainian gas company with specialists or friendlier management, depending on whose account (Perry denies). Profit, not politics: Trump allies sought Ukraine gas deal AP By DESMOND BUTLER, MICHAEL BIESECKER and RICHARD LARDNER October 8, 2019
Burisma-Ukrainian gas co., Hunter Biden on the board for 5 years.
December 4, 2017- Rick Perry and Saudi Energy Minister Khaled al-Falih signed memo of understanding about carbon management between the US and Saudi Arabia in Riyadh
January 2020 Rick Perry joined the boards of LE GP, Energy Transfer‘s general partner
February 2020 Rick Perry re-joined the board of MCNA Dental as Chief Strategy Officer and Vice Chairman
Naftogaz-Ukraine gas company. Energy Sec. Rick Perry’s donors, Ukrainian-American Michael Bleyzer, awarded 50-year drilling no-bid contract within weeks of President Zelensky‘s inauguration
