by Sibel Edmonds
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
March 7, 2013
Image by J McDowell via Flickr
Azerbaijan in Operation Gladio-Plan B
Over the last few weeks James Corbett and I have been discussing US-NATO Gladio Operations in the Islamization and Terrorization of Central Asia- Caucasus, and the real lords of the booming Afghan heroin business. If you haven’t already, watch our video interview series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.
During our interview series I have been emphasizing history and context as the two most important prerequisites in understanding the current developments in the region, and of course, in connecting the dots that lay in plain sight. I have also talked about our weeknight news roundup that highlights these dots. Today, as I was researching and preparing our nightly news roundup, I extracted several such ‘dots’ that directly relate to our Gladio reports. For those of you who have been following our recent coverage the following dots (not covered by the mainstream media; but of course!) will be highly interesting and ultra-revealing. Are you ready? Okay, then, let’s lay out the recent dots from our coming news coverage this evening, put that together with all that has been already revealed and discussed, and see how easy it is to understand the ‘real happenings’ and their significance in light of what we know.
During our Gladio interviews we discussed the Afghan heroin business as one of Turkey’s major roles in the Gladio Operations under the United States and NATO. We also discussed how major aspects of heroin operations were moved from Turkey to Azerbaijan-both in terms of labs and transit, after 1997, and intensified after Azerbaijan’s addition to NATO.
Let’s use a report from a couple of years ago to highlight what we covered during our Gladio series:
Azerbaijan is a major transit link of trafficking in heroin and other drugs transported from Afghanistan to Europe, a UN body claims. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime says the so-called “northern Balkan route”, a relatively recent variant on the Balkan route which transits the Caucasus rather than Turkey, crosses Azerbaijan.
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Heroin crosses from the Azerbaijan-e-Khavari province of Iran into Turkey and traverses Turkey’s Hakkari and/or Van districts. An estimated 95 mt of heroin are shipped across Turkey’s borders every year, says the UN report, adding that Bulgaria is a link in one of those routes: Hakkari/Van – south-eastern cities – central Anatolian cities – Istanbul – Edirne to Bulgaria/Greece.
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All right, we have several past mainstream official reports and our Gladio interview series on Azerbaijan’s major role in the booming Afghan heroin business. Now, the following report-article came out today:
Azerbaijan is significant transit country for illicit drug trafficking, and through its territory 11 tons of heroin transfer
Azerbaijan is a significant transit country for heroin and other narcotics, as it is situated along major drug trafficking routes from Afghanistan and Iran to Europe and Russia, the annual report of the US State Department on “2013 International Narcotics Control Strategy (INCSR)” says. In the previous report of the State Department was mentioned that Azerbaijan is a transit country for transporting drugs from Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran to Russia and Europe.
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Please stay with me since this fact about Azerbaijan has been known for a while and is not too significant by itself. Also, keep in mind, Turkey-Azerbaijan-Bulgaria happen to be major NATO fields of operations. In fact, when the importance of the Balkans as the major transit hub since the late 1990s is emphasized, I want you to think about our NATO wars and operations to break up and take over the region – ending in mid to late 1990s – the beginning of the formation of the Balkan hub as a ‘major’ transit hub. Okay?
Next, another significant related news item from today:
U.S. Praises Azerbaijan’s Role in Cargo Transportation to Afghanistan
The United States highly appreciate the role of Azerbaijan in the international efforts for provision of security in Afghanistan. According to AzerTAj, the statement came from commander of the Transport Command of the United States, general William Freizer speaking at the hearings in the US Congress, 1news.az reports.
He said the successful direct transportation of cargo via the airspace of Azerbaijan represent special importance in this context.
Earlier Azerbaijani Deputy FM Araz Azimov announced that Azerbaijan is a transit on the way of cargo transportation to Afghanistan and our country provides different services within the framework of ISAF operation held by NATO… According to him, these cargoes will return from Afghanistan to Europe and other countries via Azerbaijan.
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Without being insulting, and for those with insufficient consumption levels of Omega-3 Fatty Acids needed by our brains, let’s add up the dots to this point: 1-After the US invasion of Afghanistan and under US-NATO control heroin production and sales boom. 2- Azerbaijan has become one of the most strategically important heroin transit hubs since the beginning of Gladio Operation B, and since it has joined and come under NATO. 3- Just like Turkey, nations with airfields under US command, such as Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Airbase and Azerbaijan’s NATO Air Fields, have become the most important transit-Transportation hubs for heroin.
Now you see the significance of the two related news reports above? Afghan Heroin, NATO Operations Fields, Heroin Transit Hubs, and the CARGO business? Are you having a ‘Duh’ moment? Good!
Again, please recall my discussion of the Balkans, especially Albania, from our Gladio series. Pair that thought with US-NATO Balkan operations, and then take a look at another related news item today:
“Balkans main route for drugs from Afghanistan”
In a meeting with members of the regional program for Southeast Europe, he noted that around 60 tons of heroin, worth USD 13 billion, have reached Western and Central Europe via the Balkan route, said a release on the UNODC website.
The program, established last year at the request of regional governments, is aimed at suppressing drug trafficking through the Balkans and combating transnational organized crime, corruption and money laundering. Fedotov warns that trafficking in narcotics could have a destabilizing effect on the region’s economy and social development.
According to the UNODC chief, the program has already been very effective. Albania and Montenegro have launched a program of control of shipping containers and Albania has set up a control unit in the port of Durres. Montenegro has drafted a new anti-drug strategy and a new anti-terrorism action plan, and carried out training for the treatment of drug addicts.
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Well, this is what I was referring to in the Gladio Video Series: Know the history, understand the bigger context, and then watch or read the news, and you’ll have tons of dots being connected before your own eyes. See you in a few hours in our BFP Nighty News & Editorials.
Sibel Edmonds is the Publisher & Editor of Boiling Frogs Post and the author of the Memoir Classified Woman: The Sibel Edmonds Story. She is the recipient of the 2006 PEN Newman’s Own First Amendment Award for her “commitment to preserving the free flow of information in the United States in a time of growing international isolation and increasing government secrecy” Ms. Edmonds has a MA in Public Policy and International Commerce from George Mason University, a BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology from George Washington University.
from the archives:
Sibel Edmonds on NATO, Terrorism, 9/11 and Drug Running (Part 1)
Sibel Edmonds on Gladio B, Protected Terrorists and Stifled Investigations (Parts 2-5)
Timewatch: Operation Gladio – Behind False Flag Terrorism & 9/11 (1992)
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Listening to part 5 of Sibel’s conversation with James Corbett, I found her description of the swarms of Saudi “princes” getting their rubber-stamp accreditation at G Washington quite hilarious.
What she said about the UK approach to (former colonial) foreign policy was also extremely insightful and perceptive. Two salient examples spring to mind, the inscrutable MI6 mole Kim Philby’s father Jack (St John) Philby ~ who advised Ibn Saud; & Bernard Lewis who cut his teeth in British wartime intelligence, studied in Turkey, strongly supports Israel and is still acknowledged as the most prominent academic scholar of Islamic history in Washington circles.
Given Albion’s history, nowadays it is almost inevitable that the synergy generated by large numbers of foreign residents in an extremely rich university system with exceptional intellectual resources and an eclectic culture, would produce a surfeit of productive values. Having limited application or the pragmatic space to find adequate expression here in the UK, these must of necessity eventually be exported world-wide.
In my estimation this is Britain’s real strength, since we are not averse to self-scrutiny and moral accountability for previous mistakes. Also our court system is far more robust and ethical than in the US, and still differs markedly from European practice. Even within the Union, Scottish law is distinct from traditional English precedent. I am no legal scholar, but have a healthy interest in due process. I see it evolving substantially, especially with the growth of environmental law and progress with the concept of international criminal jurisdiction.
How this all pans out in the City of London with its Inner Temple and worldwide financial connections and big business (NATO linked) power-brokerage remains to be seen. We certainly have our work cut out.
I see these legal indicators as extremely positive, but regrettably the US is way behind, fearing the implications so much it refuses to become a signatory to global criminal conventions and binding environmental treaties. Too often the UN gets the blame and is written off as an effete irrelevance, when in fact it is the pseudo-exemptions of corporate power and the naive exceptionalism claimed by secret state interests, that is the root of our world problem.