Rediff, 16 Nov 09: Who controlled the activities of David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the two key Lashkar-e-Tayiba operators arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Chicago early this month? Was it Hafiz Saeed, the Lashkar supremo still roaming free in Pakistan? Or were there more than one handler? Some important keys to these puzzles lie in Bangladesh and Pakistan . . . . . . .
A new book by Russian historian Yuri Felshtinsky alleges that former IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, was a member of the Soviet Union’s infamous spy network, the KGB. German journalist Jens Weinreich, an expert in sports politics, takes a look at the evidence for Play the Game.
Did IOC Honorary President Juan Antonio Samaranch once work as an agent of the Soviet secret service KGB? This is one of the most intriguing questions in the Olympic world right now. The answer to this question may give some more answers to other important questions: How could the Russian resort Sochi win the Olympic Winter Games 2014? Which role did the Spaniard Samaranch, IOC President between 1980 and 2001, play in the highly controversial IOC decision for Sochi two years ago alongside famous ex-KGB spy, Vladimir Putin? Do members and ex-members of the KGB and its replacement organisation FSB still make Olympic history?
Russian historian Yuri Felshtinsky and former KGB lieutenant colonel Vladimir Popov both claim that Samaranch was hired by the KGB in the late 1970s. Juan Antonio Samaranch, a strong supporter of Spain’s fascist dictator Franco and former secretary for sport, was sent to Moscow in 1977. He served as Spain’s ambassador in the Soviet Union and Mongolia. At this time, Samaranch was IOC Vice President and head of Olympic protocol.
“Samaranch developed an interest in Russian history and culture. He grew particularly fond of Russian antiques, which he collected with the love of a genuine connoisseur and shipped to his home in Spain. The USSR prohibited taking objects of cultural and historic value out of the country” writes Felshtinsky in his book The Corporation: Russia and the KGB in the Age of President Putin which was published in late 2008.
“In Soviet times, all antiques were closely monitored by the KGB; so ambassador Samaranch, a frequent buyer of increasingly valuable rarities, was taken note of. After a while, an agent from the KGB’s Second Main Directorate, which monitored the Spanish embassy, met with Samaranch and gently explained to him that his actions were subject to prosecution in accordance with the RSFRS’s Criminal Code and were classified by Soviet law as the smuggling of contraband goods. Samaranch was offered a choice: he could either be compromised through the publication of articles in the Soviet and foreign press detailing his activities, which would undoubtedly have put an end to his diplomatic career, or he could collaborate with the KGB as a secret agent. Samaranch chose the latter option,” alleges Felshtinsky.
And, it is claimed, the KGB promised to help Samaranch becoming IOC President. It is at least documented that Viktor Chebrikov, then KGB deputy head who become later KGB’s number one, has written encrypted information to his secret service comrades in the Eastern Bloc to support Samaranch in any way to get the required votes. As the result of the collaboration “Samaranch was elected President of the IOC”, writes Feshtinsky, “where for many years he loyally served the country to which he was connected by his work as an agent and by his gratitude for its help in getting him a high international position”. . . . . .
Nottingham Evening Post, 16 Nov 09: . . . . . Historian Roger Grimes has now, however, found out more about just what went on behind the Iron Curtain. Mr Grimes, 66, of Kimberley, has compiled a collection of former Soviet military maps, which for the first time make public details of Soviet Cold War target sites across Nottingham. The maps act as a ghostly reminder of exactly how well prepared the Soviet military was for war.
. . . . . The maps show landmarks such as Nottingham Castle and highlight a host of other strategic sites across the north of the city. Soviet targets included Babbington Colliery, Cinderhill, the Rolls-Royce factory in Hucknall, Basford Gas Works and Nottingham Prison. The Government buildings in Chalfont Drive, Aspley, were also highlighted, as were police stations in Bestwood, Strelley and Hyson Green.
. . . . . The maps also contain details not shown on normal Ordnance Survey maps – including the width of the roads, the height of the bridges and the depth of the rivers. Mr Grimes believes the information would have been used to assess how suitable it was to drive Soviet tanks into the area if war had broken out.
A colour coded key was also drawn up for local targets – industrial sites in black, administrative buildings purple and military installations green. . . . .
Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov 09: One by one, recruits from Pakistan’s Punjab heartland would make the seven-hour drive to Waziristan, where they would pull up to an office that made no secret of its mission. The signboard above the office door read “Tehrik-e-Taliban.” In a largely ungoverned city like Miram Shah, there was no reason to hide its identity.
The trainees from Sargodha would arrive, grab some sleep at the Taliban office and afterward head into Waziristan’s rugged mountains for instruction in skills including karate and handling explosives and automatic rifles.
“Someone recruits them, then someone else takes them to Miram Shah, and then someone in Miram Shah greets them and takes them in,” said Sargodha Police Chief Usman Anwar, whose officers this summer arrested a cell of returning Punjabi militants before they could allegedly carry out a plan to blow up a cellphone tower in this city of 700,000. “It’s an assembly line, like Ford Motors has.”
The arrests of six Punjabi militants in Sargodha in two raids Aug. 24 illustrated a burgeoning collaboration between Punjabi militants and northwestern Pakistan’s Taliban that has Pakistanis increasingly concerned as the government focuses its military resources on Taliban and Al Qaeda militants in South Waziristan. . . . .
Bangladesh Independent: The government is planning to form a ‘counter-intelligence force’ to monitor the activities of the members of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the backdrop of intelligence failure over BDR mutiny and other national tragedies.
The National Committee for intelligence Coordination (NCIC), which was formed recently, will control the force to provide necessary information to the government before any crisis arises, sources in the home ministry said yesterday.
A high official of the home ministry yesterday told The Independent on condition of anonymity that the counter intelligence force would be formed as per the recommendations of the inquiry committee on the BDR mutiny. “The concerned higher authorities including some members of the NCIC, held several meetings to form the counter intelligence force,” he said.
According to the sources, there is no counter intelligence force in most of the intelligence and law enforcement agencies that’s why the government failed to get any warning by these agencies before tackling any crisis.
The Awami League-led grand alliance government recently formed an eight-member ‘National Committee for Intelligence Coordination (NCIC) with the prime minister as its chairman to coordinate intelligence activities of different agencies, remove limitations and bring about dynamism in their work.
The prime minister’s security adviser is acting as the chief coordinator of the committee. The cabinet secretary, principal secretary, prime minister’s office, director general of forces intelligence (DGFI), director general of national security intelligence (NSI), director general of special security force (SSF) and inspector general of police (IGP) will serve as the members of the committee.
In addition, director general of rapid action battalion (RAB), additional inspector general of special branch (SB) and the additional inspector general of criminal investigation department (CID) will assist the committee.
Home Minister Sahara Khatun, earlier, blamed intelligence failure for the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, jail killings of four national leaders, grenade attack of August 21 on Sheikh Hasina and the BDR mutiny.
