Porkins Great Game ep 2 Crisis in the Caucasus and Mysterious Crashes

♪ [ Terrence Parker - “Candyman”
(TP’s sweet vocal mix) ] ♪

(Pearse) OK, everybody,

and welcome back to another episode

of Porkins Great Game.

I am Pearse Redmond,

and joining me as always to discuss
the geopolitics

of Central Asia, the Caucasus,
and the Global War on Terror

is Boiling Frogs Post contributor

and author of The New Great Game Round-up

Christoph Germann.

Christoph, how are you?

(Christoph) Thanks, Pearse, I'm fine.
Great to be here.

Excellent. And just a quick reminder:

you can find this podcast and
all the other podcasts

by going to
PorkinsPolicyReview.WordPress.com,

and you can also find it
on Christoph's site,

which is of course
ChristophGermann.BlogSpot.com.

Well, we've got quite a bit of stuff
to cover on this episode,

and so I guess we'll just
jump right into it.

And I think perhaps we'll start
with something

that happened, literally, after we ended
recording last month,

there was quite a bit of new stuff,

but the most new thing that happened
just after that, of course,

was the changing of the guard at NATO.

And we no longer have Anders Fogh
Rasmussen to point our rage at,

and instead we have a new person,

and this is, of course, Jens Stoltenberg,

who is a former Prime Minister of Norway.

He was Prime Minister, first,
in 2000-2001,

and then later from 2005-2013.

And this is important
to focus on, obviously,

anytime we have somebody
new coming in

to such a powerful position.

And Jens Stoltenberg, for anyone
who doesn't know,

is a pretty big globalist insider.

He was the leader of the
Labor Party in Norway

from 2002 to 2013.

He was also Finance Minister
from '96 to '97,

Minister of Industry and Energy
from '93 to '96,

and was also the leader of the Workers'
Youth League from '85 to '89.

And Stoltenberg, like I said, has
been around for a while.

He was very instrumental in
the 2008 financial crash.

He's a big fan of Bill Gates
and his vaccine program,

climate change at the UN,

things such as that.

And he's also noted as
being pretty hawkish

in terms of defense spending
and the defense of Norway,

and he has been instrumental
in increasing expenditures,

in terms of defense spending,

within all of the NATO countries.

Norway is now one of the
top defense spenders.

But anyway, Christoph, who is
Jens Stoltenberg?

How will this be changing NATO?

I know that when he was first appointed,

back on October 1st of this year,

he was... there was this idea
that he would be

more conciliatory or friendly
towards Russia.

But I'd like to see your take on this.

(Christoph) Yes, he is a very interesting character.

As you mentioned, he was portrayed
as some kind of (xx)

when he was appointed in March.

He's probably best known for his response

to the terrorist attacks
in 2011 in Norway,

when the right-wing extremist
Anders Breivik

killed 77 people and wounded
more than 300.

At a memorial service for the victims,

Stoltenberg pledged to combat the atrocity

with more democracy, more openness,
and more humanity;

and he shot to prominence on the
international stage after this statement.

That's not exactly the words
you would expect

from a man who went on to become
Secretary-General of NATO

and replaced the warmonger Rasmussen.

But statements like this, and his youth
as an anti-war activist,

were picked up by the media

to portray him as a more conciliatory
Secretary-General.

His ties with Russia were also
highlighted in this regard.

During his time in office,

Stoltenberg managed to negotiate
a deal with Russia

that ended a four-decade dispute

over the Arctic marine border
of the two countries,

and he built a personal friendship with
then-President Medvedev during the time.

And after his appointment
as Secretary-General

became public in March of this year,

rumors about his KGB past began
to surface in the press.

The Norwegian intelligence officials
commenting on these rumors

even admitted that there had been
some attempts by KGB

to recruit Stoltenberg in the early 1990s,

but that the attempts had failed.

And despite all the talk about
Stoltenberg's close Russia ties

and his mediating skills,

one of his first actions
as Secretary-General

was to declare that NATO could deploy
its forces wherever it wants,

and that NATO's plans to beef up its
military presence in Eastern Europe

with this new Rapid Reaction Force

don't violate the 1997
NATO-Russian Founding Act,

which prohibits NATO from basing large
numbers of troops in Eastern Europe.

Some NATO members,

in particular (xx) Poland
and the Baltic states,

have recently been pushing to abolish

the NATO-Russian Founding Act
altogether,

and Germany and a few other countries

are opposing this vehemently.

Russia wasn't happy about
Stoltenberg's first statement

as Secretary-General,

and said that these comments
caused no optimism.

But the Russians knew, of course,
what they had to expect:

just because a new Secretary-General
arrives,

NATO won't change its policies.

And I think it's also important
to keep in mind

that the Secretary-General is just
the public face of NATO.

(Pearse) Yes.

(Christoph) He's the one traveling around the globe,

and representing the military alliance
in the media,

and therefore he's always...

the Secretary-General is
always European

to create a false impression

that NATO is a European organization

led by Europeans.

Recently we had, for example, Jaap de
Hoop Scheffer from The Netherlands,

followed by Rasmussen from Denmark,

and now Stoltenberg from Norway.

But although the Secretary-General
gets most of the attention,

the person really in charge of NATO

is the Supreme Allied Commander,
SACEUR;

and this post is always filled
by an American

to ensure that NATO serves
its true purpose, which is,

as the first Secretary-General of NATO
once famously said,

"To keep the Russians out, the
Americans in, and the Germans down."

(laughs)

And the current SACEUR of NATO
is, of course, Phillip Breedlove.

He and Rasmusen made a perfect team:

both warmongering; both
very good warmongers.

And Breedlove showed, during
the Ukraine crisis,

time and time again that he is trying
to create a confrontation with Russia.

He has been hyping the Russian threat

and talking about an imminent
Russian invasion.

And it's going to be interesting to see

if Stoltenberg picks up where
Rasmussen left off

and follows in his footsteps
and joins Breedlove,

or if he actually tries to mediate.

But I don't think that we can expect
anything like that from him.

(Pearse) Yeah, I would not hold your
breath on that.

This seems simply like a cosmetic change,

to reintroduce somebody that's not quite
as abrasive as Rasmussen was.

who certainly was very hawkish;

very, very... like you said,
a big warmonger.

And before we completely leave this,

I think it's interesting with some of
these appointments by NATO.

And like you said, obviously,
the real power

lies with the Supreme Allied Commander,

who is, of course, American.

And the real power within NATO,
to some degree

is the American power.

And it's interesting that Rasmussen
was such a big cheerleader

for George W. Bush's invasion
of Afghanistan

and his Global War on Terror

And it was seen by many that
Rasmussen's appointment

was sort of a "thank you"
for all of his work.

And of course, the terrorist attack that
Breivik was involved in Utøya island

was... he was attacking the
Youth League of the party

that Jens Stoltenberg is a member of.

And of course, I think there is
a much larger story

behind what actually transpired
in July in 2011.

And of course, as you said,

Stoltenberg played an
integral part in that,

at least in the media representation
of what was going on.

So it's interesting:

perhaps this was a sort of "thank you"
for all of that.

I don't really think were gonna
see much of a change.

NATO seems pretty locked into some
sort of confrontation with Russia,

and of course Stoltenberg is
kind of a figurehead.

But there was also some other big news,

and something which I think
we should really

be paying much more attention to.

And this was something that happened

just a few days after Stoltenberg

was appointed the new head of NATO,

and that was on October 5th,

when a suicide bomber in Grozny,

which is the capital of Chechnya
in Russia,

a suicide bomber exploded a vest

and killed five police officers

at the Grozny Day celebrations,

which also coincided this year

with the leader of Chechnya,
Kadyrov's, birthday.

Now, as I said, this is pretty shocking,

because Chechnya, for better or worse,

has had a very relative-calm security
situation going on there,

Especially within recent years.

And while other areas near it
such as Dagestan

and some of the other small areas

have seen a spike in violence,

Grozny and Chechnya have not, really.

So this is a pretty big deal.

Now, the suspect, allegedly

is a man called Apti Mudarov,

who is 19 years old, who

-- according to Russian news services --

disappeared about two months ago

and then went on to implement
this bombing.

And I read an interesting article
in Radio Free Europe

which was called "Who Was Behind
the Grozny Suicide Bombing?"

And we'll, of course, link up to this.

And in this, they sort of made
mention of the fact

that the new leader of the
Chechen militant movement,

I believe his name is Kebekov,

has come out against suicide bombings;

which is not really, exactly...

if you read what he actually said,

that's not really true.

He said that they can be negative
in terms of tactics,

not in terms of morality,

because you're losing a fighter.

But the Radio Free Europe article

had a very interesting take-away
at the end

where they said that there
are two possibilities

for what transpired in Grozny

the first being that this was a lone wolf

-- which we love: every terrorist
seems to be just a lone wolf --

but of course, then, they pose
the question:

where did he get the bomb?

Interesting.

But the second possibility,

which might be a wink and a nod
to the type of people

that read Radio Free Europe
and Radio Liberty

was that he was the "unwitting victim
of a false-flag recruitment"

"by somebody out to spoil
Kadyrov's birthday."

Now, very interesting:

first off, using the term false-flag;

and of course, they're not saying
who would have done this.

And in the days following this,

there was a lot of conjecture

over who this person was,

who was helping him.

There is another individual
who was later shot.

I know that there were
some reports that JMWA

-- which is the Jaish al-Muhajireen
wal-Ansar,

which is a Chechen terrorist group
which operates in Syria --

had taken credit for this.

But Christoph, maybe you can
break down what happened in Grozny

and, perhaps, contextualize it.

Because it is a very...

I spent like an hour and a half

just going through all of these
different articles.

And at the end of the day, you can't
really make heads or tails

over what's going on.

So, what is your take on
the Grozny bombing,

and how should we really be viewing this

in terms of the conflict going on
in the Caucasus?

(Christoph) Yes, as you mentioned, it's a
very important event,

and it sends a very strong message

to the Chechen and the Russian authorities

because the date and the place,
I think, are very significant.

On October 5th, police who were
manning metal detectors

at the entrance hall of the local
concert hall in Grozny

noticed a suspicious young man,

and when they attempted
to search him,

the man detonated an explosive device,

killing himself and five policemen,

and wounding twelve others.

Given that the incident happened ahead
of a concert dedicated to Grozny Day,

the police most likely prevented
a far more devastating attack.

And since the attack took place, not only
on Kadyrov's birthday and Grozny Day,

but also on Eid Al-Adha,
the Feast of the Sacrifice,

which is one of the most important
celebrations in the Muslim calendar,

I think that the date
was not coincidental.

And that it took place in Grozny

is, of course, also a strong message,

because, as you mentioned,

most people still think of (xx) and
jihadist gangs and terrorist attacks

when they hear the word "Chechnya,"

but this isn't the case anymore.

By 2000, the republic was
completely in ruins.

Many Chechens had been killed

and Grozny was completely destroyed.

Even plans to abandon the city

and build a new capital elsewhere

were made at the time.

But now, 14 years later,

both the Chechen capital
and the Chechen republic

are almost unrecognizable.

Traditional Islam has completely
replaced Wahhabism and (xx)

and Chechen terrorists have been
eliminated one by one.

The Chechens are now increasingly seen

as tough and reliable allies of Russia,

and it can be argued that Chechnya

is the single most important
factor of stability

in the entire Caucasus region,

while the insurgency has moved on

to neighboring Dagestan.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the head
of the Chechen Republic,

blamed the North Caucasus insurgency
for the attack,

and as you mentioned,

Radio Free Europe has tried to suggest

that the leader of the group
of the Caucasus Emirate,

-- the leading group of the
North Caucasus insurgency --

had nothing to do with the attack.

And it's still not entirely clear
who perpetrated it.

The only group which allegedly
claimed responsibility

was JMWA, the Syria-based group
of Chechen mercenaries.

But this was later denied,

and the only connection to
the 19-year-old Mudarov

who perpetrated the attack

was another insurgent
who was later killed.

Interestingly enough, Kadyrov,

who usually boasts about
any such things

-- for example, Syria connections
to terror attacks in Chechnya,

or when some important
terrorists are killed --

has mentioned neither of those things.

And it's very interesting
that JMWA came up

in regard to the attack,

because it's, of course...

it was led by our friend
Tarkhan Batirashvili

until he joined ISIS,

and Batirashvili and Kadyrov

have their own little personal
battle going on.

Bloomberg reported, for example,
a few weeks ago

that Batirashvili had called
his father in Georgia

after ISIS had taken Mosul,

and he told his father that Russia
would be next.

He reportedly said,

"I have many thousands following me now,"

"and I'll have more."

"We'll have our revenge against Russia."

He's apparently driven by
an intense hatred of Russia,

which reminds me somewhat
of Greg MacPherson,

the Gladio B operative in Sibel's
new novel, The Lone Gladio.

(Pearse) Yes.

(Christoph) Perhaps it's not
the only parallel

between those two characters.

As I mentioned earlier,

Moscow cannot count on a reliable ally
in the Northern Caucasus

to deal with ISIS,

and when ISIS released a video

threatening to liberate Chechnya
and the whole Caucasus,

Chechen president Kadyrov responded

by posting a photo of himself
in a Putin t-shirt to Instagram

with a lengthy caption calling the
fighter's words a "childish threat,"

and accusing the Islamic State
of being bandits,

trained and armed by the
United States and the West,

to destroy strong and resourceful
Islamic countries.

And this prompted ISIS commander
Batirashvili

to put a $5 million bounty
on Kadyrov's head.

And last week, the battle entered
the next round,

and Kadyrov claimed that he
was trying to hunt down

the leader of ISIS, of the ISIS bandits,
as he called them,

saying, "My people are looking
for Abu Bhakar al-Baghdadi"

"but he's nowhere to be found."

And Kadyrov also offered
an explanation for that:

the support of Western
intelligence agencies.

And he urged al-Baghdadi
to take off his mask

and admit that he's a CIA agent.

And much to the dismay
of the CIA and ISIS,

most Chechens actually share
Kadyrov's opinion.

A recent survey of Chechens

by the Caucasus-based news outlet
Caucasian Knot

found that most respondents believed

that ISIS fighters and other
so-called Syrian rebels

are just fighting for Western influence,

and they are opposed to the
ongoing conflict in Syria.

(Pearse) Mm. And I know... when I was
looking at this story,

instantly you're trying to figure out

who could possibly be behind this.

And of course, the first
knee-jerk reaction

is that this must be NATO

and this type of Gladio operations
that we see all over.

But then, of course, certain things
don't really add up.

Again, like you said, where
could these people

have gotten the materials to do this?

Who... everybody is dead:

of course there's no one
to question anymore.

And then, like you mentioned,

Kadyrov is quite quiet about this,

which is sort of strange.

At the same time, though, it seems like

outlets like Radio Free Europe /
Radio Liberty,

other people...

I was reading an article in
the Caucasian Knot

where they quoted two people,

one of whom works at the
Russian Academy of Sciences,

and the other is a board member
of the Moscow Carnegie Center,

so take that with a grain of salt.

But both of them are skeptical

of JMWA's involvement in any of this.

And of course, now, we're seeing
police raids all over the region,

in (xx) and Dagestan and elsewhere.

And so, if this is just some sort of
lone wolf attack,

what does that mean for the region?

But could this be the beginning of a new
type of insurgency movement there?

Or are we just seeing a blip on the radar?

Because it does seem to be happening

at a time when you can't turn on the news

or go to a website

without hearing about ISIS this,
ISIS that,

the Islamic State is gonna come and
implement sharia law everywhere.

So, what is it?

Is this just the beginning of something,

or is this another hype tactic?

(Christoph) Yes, you're of course
right to point out

that the Russian authorities and Kadyrov

have been using the ISIS hype

to implement harsh anti-terror measures,
for example.

But we also have to take into account

that there has been a lot of military
and political activity

in the South Caucasus in recent months.

For example, Georgia's alleged offer

to host a training camp for Syrian rebels.

And this caused a great stir in Russia,

and some elements are now saying

that a second Russian front
is now being created

in the South Caucasus.

And as Sibel Edmonds has pointed out

during her recent interviews,

we are probably going to see

more operations and activities
in this area

in the not-too-distant future,

with Abkhazia again, now,
also hitting the headlines.

(Pearse) Well, and maybe with that,

we can move to Abkhazia.

That was another topic that we
were going to discuss today.

And in my...

maybe, in my opinion,

this seems to be the actual, kind of,

ramping up of tensions in the
Caucasus right now.

I mean, the Grozny bombing is one thing,

but what's going on in Abkhazia right now

we have a new treaty between Abkhazia
and this breakaway region,

and for anyone who doesn't know,

Abkhazia is a small strip

of what was once Georgian territory

in the northwest.

They fought a very brutal, brutal,
nasty war

in the mid-early 1990s

with, I mean, just slaughter
on both sides,

claims of ethnic cleansing going on.

But essentially, the Abkhaz people,

with the tacit support of Russia,

expelled the Georgian people

and essentially created a de facto state

within this former region within Georgia.

Now, since the '90s,

Abkhazia has been backed by Russia

both militarily and economically.

And they've just recently signed
this new treaty.

And essentially, the treaty is just
more of the same old stuff.

They're talking about integrating
the region more into Russia.

There will be more regulations
in terms of tax and customs,

getting them closer to the
Eurasian Customs Union,

which is a grouping of several
former Soviet satellite states.

But there was such a hubbub about this

when the story first broke

about the actual text of this draft.

So, Christoph, what is actually
in this treaty,

and is it really all that different

from what we've already seen,

vis-a-vis the relationship

between Abkhazia and Russia?

(Christoph) Yes, the treaty
is very significant,

and they haven't signed it yet.

They are still talking about it,

and I would have to go back a few months

and mention, first, that this summer

there was a small revolution in Abkhazia,

where one pro-Russian leader
replaced another one

and a new Abkhaz President

-- Raul Khajimba is his name --

he's a former KGB agent

and also a sharp opponent of unification
with Georgia.

Georgia hopes to regain control

over its lost territories eventually

but the people in Abkhazia

and also in South Ossetia,

oppose this vehemently.

And a few weeks ago, Khajimba stated

that he wants to eliminate
all crossing points but one

into Georgian-controlled territory.

Currently there are about
five crossing points,

but Khajimba said that there
should be only one

for reasons of national security.

And predictably, this was criticized
by Georgian government,

which was afraid of losing the
breakaway region once and for all.

And shortly thereafter, Russia offered
this treaty that you mentioned,

which proposes a merger
of military forces,

(xx) national police in alignment
with the customs...

with the Eurasian Economic Union.

And despite already being heavily
dependent on Russia,

Abkhazia is actually serious

about its claim to independence.

And some people are now concerned

that signing the treaty would lead
to a loss of sovereignty.

The cornerstone of the treaty

is the formation of a collective
military force,

which is supposed to repel
any attempt by Georgia

to retake the territory.

And many Abkhaz believe that
the Ukraine crisis

has increased the likelihood
of such an attack,

but they don't want to curtail

the powers of their own army,

which many Abkhaz regard

as one of the pillars
of national identity.

And given that there are also objections

to several other points
in the draft treaty,

it's unlikely that Abkhazia will
sign the proposed treaty

as it's currently, now, being discussed.

It's still a matter of debate,

but even Abkhaz leader Khajimba,

who had already called for the signing
of exactly such a treaty

before he came to power
in summer of this year,

has admitted that he, too disagrees

with some articles of the draft treaty.

Georgia didn't really notice
the differences

between Russia and Abkhazia

and is completely freaking out
over the treaty

and has condemned this as an attempt

to annex occupied Abkhazia.

And at the same time, of course,
not mentioning

the NATO military build-up in Georgia

is pretty funny.

(Pearse) And I think that that's
a great way

to introduce that whole idea.

Because, like you said, the response
from Georgia

was just very angry.

The Defense Minister was quoted as saying,

that very aggressive foreign policy steps

were going to have to be taken.

Both the Presidents and
Prime Ministers of Georgia

have been completely livid
about all of this,

while all the time ignoring the fact

that Georgia, for all intents
and purposes,

is no longer a sovereign nation,

when you think about how much NATO

controls everything related to Georgia.

And of course, Phillip Breedlove,

who we mentioned earlier
in the podcast,

recently spoke in Tbilisi,

and talked about how Georgia was going

to be more integrated within NATO
for future warfare.

Who knows what that means?

And as you said again,

Georgia will be hosting a
new NATO training base.

We spoke last month on the idea

that Georgia might even be
training these Syrian rebels.

And all along, every time that
this happens,

Russia has been very up-front about...

that, the more Georgia becomes
integrated with NATO,

the more issues we're going
to see in that region:

in South Ossetia, in North Ossetia:

that type of border.

So of course, I find it
kind of ridiculous,

because, again, for all intents
and purposes,

Abkhazia would not exist
without Russian backing.

If Russia left, Georgia could
probably march in.

And on the same token,

Georgia talking about this as
being occupied territory

is a little silly,

because they have no power
over anything that goes there.

The government-in-exile,
as they call them,

just sits in Tbilisi.

They have no power over what
goes on in Abkhazia.

But I know that you wrote recently
in The New Great Game

that we were really seeing the situation
in the Caucasus is heating up.

And... yeah: how should we
be interpreting

what's going on in Abkhazia

say, in the near future?

How is this going to change
the situation there?

(Christoph) That's difficult to say.

I don't think Abkhazia and Russia will
sign this treaty anytime soon.

And so there's really no reason

for Georgia to be freaking out

and to make a fuss about it.

But they will probably use this
as a pretext

to push the integration with NATO

and to conduct a more aggressive
foreign policy.

As you mentioned, Defense Minister
Janelidze

has already threatened Russia to do this,

which makes you wonder how Janelidze

would describe Georgia's
foreign policy so far.

Yes. (laughs)

But I think that the United States
and its allies

are planning to up the pressure
on Russia

in the Caucasus region,

and that Abkhazia could be a point

where they're trying to stage
some kind of provocation.

(Pearse) Hmm, yeah.

And I think that's how we should
be viewing what's going on,

both in Abkhazia, and perhaps
even what's going on in Grozny.

We're starting to see the
build-up to something.

And you were mentioning before...

-- and Sibel has said this
several times --

but yes, that region,

particularly Georgia, and also Dagestan

-- we've got the Boston Bombing
connection there --

we're going to see that resurface again.

And I think it's very important

to pick up on these issues

because it's very easy
for them to disappear.

And as you mention, the Caucasus

and all of these little tiny regions
within Russia,

it's very difficult.

But, again, we need to keep
looking at this.

So I think maybe now we can move on

to two extremely important and
mysterious vehicular deaths

which took place days apart
from one another...

-- I believe, actually, it was
just one day.

Now, one of these received
wall-to-wall coverage,

while the other was just
a little tiny blurb

in the Western media.

And I am, of course, talking
about the deaths

of the CEO of French oil giant Total,

Christophe de Margerie,

and the death of Press TV journalist
Serena Shim.

Now, we wanted to talk about these,

because in many ways they are
intimately related to what is going on

both in the Caucasus and Central Asia

as well as in this greater conflict
that we're seeing going on

in Syria right now,

which, of course, again,
is intimately related

with the type of Gladio network
that is operating in the region

that you write about, Christoph.

But let's take a look, first,

at Christophe de Margerie,

and let's talk a little bit about
why this is important,

and how this relates to
what we're talking about.

And for anyone who doesn't know,

de Margerie, as I said,
was the CEO of Total,

which is one of the six... what they
call "super-major" oil companies

the others being BP, Chevron,

Exxon-Mobil, Dutch Royal Shell,
and Conaco-Phillips.

So you can see how big this company is.

He was extremely close with Russia.

Lots of investment and business there.

And I guess I should mention,
if I haven't already,

but he died on October 20th,

when his plane flew into a snowplow

or the snowplow crashed into the plane.

There is a little bit of conjecture

about what actually went on there.

But anyway, de Margerie and three
other passengers on the plane all died.

And the man driving the plow lived.

And as I was saying before,

de Margerie was very close with Russia.

Putin remarked on his death

that they had lost "a true friend
of our country."

And de Margerie was also a
very big outspoken opponent

of sanctions against Russia.

So, well, Christoph,

what's your take on this?

Because I know a lot of people
in the alt-media

sort of jumped on this

as, "Oh, he was assassinated,"

or that there was foul play involved.

And I am very willing to
go down that route,

and indeed, there are some
strange circumstances

surrounding who was in the
air traffic control unit,

who was this snowplow operator.

But how should we view the death

of Christophe de Margerie

in this larger picture of
The New Great Game?

(Christoph) Yes, the accident
was very weird.

As you mentioned, a snowplow...

the plane hitting the snowplow,

and the driver has been blamed
for the incident.

He was, reportedly, drunk.

His name is Vladimir Martinenko.

He was detained,

and his lawyer dismissed accusations

that his client had been drunk

as groundless.

But according to a Moscow court,

Martinenko had a blood alcohol content
of 0.06 percent,

and Interfax news agency reported

that he had admitted drinking
coffee with liquor.

he is now being kept in custody,

and some airport employees

who were accused of criminal negligence

were also detained.

A few top airport officials have resigned,

and it's safe to say that
more heads will roll for this.

Apparently, the runway had been clear

when the Total plane was given
clearance to take off,

but after the plane started moving,

the crew noticed an object

identified by them as a car
crossing the road.

And shortly thereafter,

they collided with the snowplow.

Interestingly enough,

the incident will be investigated
by Mikhail Gurevich,

the same man who led a probe

into the 2010 plane crash
of top Polish officials,

including then-President
Lech Kaczyński, in Russia.

(Pearse) Mm.

(Cristoph) For more information
on this crash,

I would refer people to James Corbett's
"Crashes of Convenience,"

(xx) also very interesting accident.

But, in contrast to Kaczynski's
plane crash,

which was convenient for many different
players for different reasons,

the plane crash of de Margerie

was only convenient for
Russia's adversaries.

As you mentioned, he was one

of Russia's most important
allies in the West,

and just hours before the deadly crash,

he was said to have met with Medvedev

to discuss new investments in Russia.

In a speech shortly before
he boarded the plane,

he once again stressed that
the sanctions against Russia

were unfair and unproductive,

and that the opposed efforts

to render Russia isolated

from the major global economic
and political process.

Of course, economic interests played

a major role in this regard.

Under his leadership, Total expanded

its activities in Russia,

and teamed up with Russian companies

such as the country's second-largest
gas producer Novatek.

In 2013, Russia became Total's
biggest source of production,

aside from Nigeria, the United
Arab Emirates, and Norway.

Lately, de Margerie was doing everything

to keep his signature Russian project
on track,

the 27 billion Yamal LNG project,

which is supposed to export
liquified natural gas to China.

Yamal is developed by Novatek,
China's CNPC, and Total.

The project was, therefore,
targeted by the sanctions,

and US sanctions barred the project
from receiving loans in dollars,

which prompted de Margerie to say
that Total and its partners

would turn to Chinese banks.

Especially, de Margerie's comments

regarding the role of the dollar
in oil purchases

have attracted a lot of attention
in the aftermath of his death,

as many people on Twitter
pointed out.

Bloomberg published an article in July

with the title, "Total's de Margerie Sees
No Need for Dollars in Oil Purchases."

Thereby, de Margerie committed
the mortal sin

by arguing that there's no reason

for oil purchases to be made in dollars.

He was quoted as saying,

"Nothing prevents anyone
from paying for oil in Euros."

(Pearse) Yes.

(Christoph ) But he made a statement,
of course,

in response to the $9 million fine

for the French bank BNP Paribas,

which caused a great stir
in France at the time.

The fine was seen as an attempt

to pressure the French government

to cancel the Mistral deal with Russia.

And Putin accused the US, even,

of seeking to blackmail France
at the time.

And France's political and
business establishment

hit out against the hegemony of the dollar

in international transactions,

and the French Finance Minister

even called for a re-balancing
of the currencies.

And I think de Margerie's comments

have to be seen in this context.

(Pearse) Yes.

(Christoph) And not necessarily
as a way of saying

that they are going to abandon the dollar

But regardless of whether he was serious

about dropping the dollar or not,

I think he was a thorn
in Washington's side,

and a plane crash was definitely
convenient for the United States

but it remains to be seen if there was
some foul play involved,

and so far I haven't seen
any evidence for this.

(Pearse) Yeah, and I think that's
something important,

because I know a lot of people
will jump on stories like this

and nitpick every little detail.

I will say: I found interesting

that you mentioned the
snowplow driver Martinenko.

His lawyers are now claiming

that pro-Kremlin media

have stonewalled them
for press conferences,

and no one will show up to report

on what they have to say.

And they have been saying

that Martinenko was not drunk,

that he was forced to sign a confession.

And it seems like this might be

nothing more than just complete negligence

on behalf of the Russian
airline administration.

Supposedly, it was a 24-year-old
trainee, who...

this was one of her first days,
really, on the job

in the air traffic control unit,

and she was the one who was overseeing

de Margerie's plane taking off.

So yeah, I mean, perhaps

not everything is necessarily orchestated.

But of course, as you were right
to point out,

de Margerie really was a thorn
in the side of the West

and really was seen as
a big friend of Russia,

and was very against these sanctions.

He was quoted as saying,

"Can we live without Russian gas?
Not at all."

(laughter)

But there was...

as I said at the beginning
of this segment,

there was another death.

And I think that this one

is, perhaps, a bit more important

and is a big more clear-cut

as to this not being an accident.

And as I said, this is Serena Shim,

who is a Lebanese-American, US citizen,

who worked for Press TV.

And she was killed in a very,
very mysterious car crash.

And this came after...

I mean, she has been in Turkey

and reporting on the conflict within Syria

for a little while now;

and she has done a lot of reporting

talking about Turkish intelligence

and their involvement in what is going on

in the conflict in Syria.

And she was just recently

in the town of Suruç in Turkey,

which is just north of Kobani,

where, of course, every day,

you can hear more and more about ISIS.

Now, Shim was on Press TV

just, I think, about a day or two

before this car crash that killed her,

where she was reporting on
two very important facts:

One, that ISIS was using NGO trucks,

including World Food Organization trucks,

to actually enter into Syria.

And she allegedly even had

some sort of photographic
or video evidence of this.

The other thing, an important note here,

is that she said that Turkish intelligence

-- the MIT --

was looking for her,

and that they had accused her
of being a spy.

Now, for who, they never
make mention of;

but nonetheless, she said that she
was nervous and scared about this.

She pointed out the correct fact

that Turkey is perhaps one of the
most dangerous places on the planet

for a journalist to be operating in.

And as I said, just a few days after this,

she was driving back to her hotel

with her camerawoman Judy Irish

when they collided with a cement mixer.

Now, Shim was killed instantly;

Irish was taken to a hospital.

And the driver, whose last...

Şükrü Salan

was either detained briefly

or left the scene entirely.

There are conflicting reports
about that,

and perhaps we'll get into those.

But this is a really huge story,

and I was actually kind of disappointed

that more people weren't really
focusing on this.

Obviously the mainstream media

is not going to pick up on a story

where a journalist from an
Iranian news broadcaster

is talking about the connections
between Turkey

and ISIS militants;

but I was surprised that more people

weren't really picking up on this story.

And Christoph, maybe you can kind of
take it from there,

and we can explore, first,
the actual death

and what happened with this individual

who was supposedly driving
the cement mixer.

And then, let's move on

to what Shim was actually saying.

(Christoph) Yes. Very, very,
suspicious death.

Serena Shim had already done a few
very good investigative reports

highlighting Turkey's role in supporting

the so-called Syrian rebels.

And I think she only returned recently
to Turkey,

which she mentioned in her last broadcast,
if I remember correctly,

and that the Turkish authorities...

that she thought that the Turkish
authorities

are now getting worried

because of her recent work,

and they didn't know what they had
to expect this time,

because she had already done
such good investigative work.

And they had, of course,

a very good reason to be worried.

As you mentioned, she has reportedly

received images of insurgents

being smuggled across the border
into Syria

in World Food Organization
and other NGO trucks.

And Vijay Prashad wrote
a very good piece

on the death of Serena Shim,

where she pointed out that Barzan Iso,

a Syrian-Kurdish journalist

had already reported that Qatari charities

have been using the Jarabulus crossing

to get into the Islamic State,

but nobody has mentioned so far

the trucks with logos from
international organizations

are being used for this purpose as well.

And Prashad likened Serena Shim's
death to the murder

of his friend and Asia Times colleague
Saleem Shahzad,

who had uncovered collusion between

al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Navy.

And there are a few interesting parallels

between Turkey and Pakistan,

and Prashad also cited one
Kurdish commander

as saying that the Islamic State
is to Turkey

as the Taliban is to Pakistan.

(Pearse) Yes.

And I think that's a very
apt comparison.

The Turkish city of Gaziantep

is increasingly resembling Peshawar
in the 1980s

during Operation Cyclone.

And some journalists have been warning

of Turkey's Pakistanization.

Without Turkey's strong support,

ISIS and other terrorist groups
in the region

wouldn't last very long.

And Turkish NGOs play a central role
in this regard,

and it's important to highlight this work.

And if Serena Shim had, really, evidence

of NGO trucks and World Food
Organization trucks,

-- I think she was meaning the World Food
Programme when she mentioned it --

(Pearse) Right.

That's, of course, a very strong motive

to get rid of her.

We have, for example, seen the role

of the humanitarian relief
organizations exposed

in supporting the so-called Syrian rebels.

Already, last year, the Iranians reported

that the humanitarian relief
organization IHAH

has recruited and transferred

hundreds of Albanians to Syria,

and at the beginning of this (xx)

was again being exposed

by the Gülen movement,
interestingly enough.

(Pearse) Yes.

(Christoph) With the power struggle
between Erdoğan really escalating,

Gülen's men and the police

stopped trucks carrying weapons

on their way to Syria.

Officially, the trucks were carrying aid

to Turkmens in Syria,

and the initial reports said that
they had been hired

by the Humanitarian Relief Foundation.

The Gülen Movement used its influence

in the police and media

to expose that the trucks were actually

carrying all kinds of weapons
to the Syrian rebels,

as part of an operation
by Turkish intelligence.

And Turkish intelligence
has been using NGOs

such as the Humanitarian
Relief Organization,

or İMKANDER, to organize terror
operations for years.

İMKANDER, for example, has supported
the Chechen terrorists,

and the Humanitarian Relief Foundation

is now heavily involved in Syria.

It's reportedly the biggest
Turkish provider

of aid to Syria,

and I wouldn't be surprised if the trucks
that Serena Shim mentioned,

that some of the trucks that
Serena Shim mentioned,

actually belonged to this organization.

(Pearse) Yeah, and you had a really
great article on Boiling Frogs Post

called "Turkish Power Struggle
Impedes NATO Campaign in Syria,"

where you highlighted several
of these instances

where the IHH was involved

in all sorts of bizarre things.

And you just mentioned İMKANDER,

which is another Turkish charity.

And they, surprisingly enough,
sort of relate back to our original...

what we were talking about
before, in the Caucasus.

And after Dokka Umarov, who was
the Emir of the Islamic Caucaus, died,

supposedly of wounds he
received during fighting,

there were multiple rallies

with hundreds and hundreds,
if not thousands, of people

in Turkey, of all places,

organized by İMKANDER,

praising the deceased Emir.

And İMKANDER also celebrated,

in September of 2013,

a defeat of a Russian initiative

to ban the group within Russia.

So again, really interesting.

And I'd just like to point out

that this talk about NGOs operating
in Syria from Turkey

this is not new.

I know that when this Serean Shim
story broke,

a lot of people were talking:

"Oh my God! Oh my God!"

But again, Shim had
been reporting this

even a couple of months back.

But at the very beginning
of this conflict in Syria,

people might have forgotten this,

but there were multiple reports

about different aid groups and foundations

that were leaving from Turkey
and going into Syria.

And in fact, I believe even IHH

was accused of some sort of mass slaughter

of Syrian civilians,

or that they were somehow helping

to orchestrate all of this.

So again, these things sort of

go into the Memory Hole,

and we forget about them.

And just for a little bit more
evidence on this,

just around the same time that Shim
was -- probably -- murdered,

there was an article in The Daily Beast

from a reporter called Jamie Dettmer,

who was in Gaziantep,

which is just west of the city of Suruç
where Shim was killed.

And he was reporting that ISIS
was controlling

all of the humanitarian aid
that was going into Syria,

and he even quoted a bunch
of aid workers

as saying that ISIS makes
them appoint members,

sort of liaisons,

to these different NGOs.

And there was also a video

showing air-dropped weapons
that were meant for Kurds

falling into the hands of ISIS.

So this is not something that
is particularly new,

but this death is, as you say,
very mysterious.

And I also find it interesting,

not that they're necessarily related,

but we also have the Susurluk scandal,

which involved aspects of the
Turkish Deep State coming out,

and that also involved a
mysterious car crash,

where... were they dead,
were they not dead?

Who knows?

So, all very interesting.

But I don't know: I mean, Christoph,

do you have anything else
to say on this?

Because I do think it's
a really important story,

and IHH, as you've
mentioned previously,

is very instrumental in the
Deep State within Turkey.

(Christoph) Yes, as you mentioned,
IHH was implicated

in a massacre on Syrian civilians,

I think in January, 2014,

and the organization is, of course,
also the owner

of the Mavi Marmara,

which became famous for this
very interesting incident

which is, also, a huge topic.

Not exactly how it's been
portrayed in the media.

Yes, but the role of Turkish NGOs

used by (xx) charities

is very important,

and I think that's one thing
to keep an eye on.

And the report that you mentioned
by The Daily Beast

was also very interesting,

about US aid supporting ISIS

-- what a surprise! --

and actually bribing ISIS to take the aid.

And for all the talk about ISIS
being self-financed

and independent of any state support,

they are actually getting a lot of aid

from the United States and its allies,

and Saudi Arabia and Qatar, of course.

(Pearse) Mm. And just to kind of briefly
wrap up the Serena Shim story,

there is, as I said, some conjecture

about what actually happened

at the actual car crash incident.

Now, Press TV, of course, is reporting

that the alleged driver, Mr. Salan,
of the cement mixer

is... just disappeared.

Now, Turkey is reporting that
he was briefly detained

and then was released.

And this is all coming from one...

this is all coming from
the Hürriyet Daily,

which is a daily newspaper

that I believe is the largest
within Turkey.

And they're the only news source

reporting on any of this.

Now, as I said, they said the he was
briefly detained and then was released,

and they released a crash report
saying that Irish,

who was the camerawoman
and driver of the car,

is the sole culprit,

and that she entered a junction too fast,

she was violating traffic rules by turning
right and in the wrong lane,

blah-blah-blah.

So of course, they are trying

to wrap this story up very quickly.

And I would just like to note

that no one, when they're
looking at this...

of course they look and say,
"Oh, man: she was a spy."

They never allege who
she was spying for...

-- I guess they're assuming, perhaps,
the Iranians or whatnot --

but no one is trying to counter
what she was actually saying.

So of course, Turkish intelligence
is saying,

"Oh, well, she's a spy."

Well: let's, even, suppose
that she was

-- which I don't believe she was at all:

If she was a spy, what about ISIS
entering with NGO trucks?

So they're not...

That? "Oh, whatever." But,
"Oh, she was a spy."

So, very interesting,

and again, I think that this story ties in

with so many different angles

in this Global War on Terror

which stretches from Syria
to Afghanistan right now

and everywhere in between.

So yeah, something really
to focus on and pick up on.

And I guess we're reaching
the end of this conversation,

but I think we have time
for one little thing.

And last podcast, we kind of mentioned

something which was tangentially
related to all of this,

and we've got another little one,

and this one is sort of funny,
in a way, perhaps.

But Graham Fuller -- who I hope everybody
is somewhat familiar with --

he is a top Gladio B operative.

He is the man who helped
get Fethullah Gülen

to come to the United States,

and, I guess, in many ways, recruited him

within the Company, the Agency.

He, lately, seems to have been attempting

to alter his public image.

Now, I think this is in part

to his very close connection
to the Boston Bombers.

He is the father-in-law of Uncle Ruslan,

who I hope people will be familiar with.

And I'll provide some links,

and including the first episode I did

of Porkins Policy Radio,

which dealt exclusively with
the Boston Bombing,

and we did quite a bit
on Graham Fuller.

But anyway, Graham Fuller
has been writing

a couple of interesting articles,

including one in The Huffington Post

-- of all places --

which is entitled,

"Embracing Assad is a Better
Strategy for the U.S."

"than Supporting the Least Bad Jihadis."

And we don't really... we're not gonna
spend too much time on this,

but it is really interesting that
this noted CIA agent,

close friend of Fethullah Gülen

and is alleged to be one
of the masterminds

behind using radical Islam

is now saying that we need
to support Assad,

and that he is better.

And Christoph, I'd just like to get
your quick take on this.

(Christoph) Yes. If some other former CIA
official had made this statement,

I wouldn't have wasted much
thought on it,

but considering that it's coming from
the man who was instrumental

in disseminating the idea of
manipulating Muslims

to use them as jihadi mercenaries

against enemies of the United States,

it's very, very interesting.

As you mentioned, Graham Fuller
is one of the main CIA handlers

of Fethullah Gülen,

besides Morton Abramowitz,

and he was target by the FBI Gladio B
counterintelligence investigation,

which has earned him a place in Sibel's
State Secrets Privilege Gallery.

So it's really noteworthy that he's
coming out with this statement.

At this point, nobody can deny

that the strategy is failing in Syria,

but the CIA knew this, of course,
from the beginning,

as The New York Times
recently reported,

and the Syrian rebels, the
so-called Syrian rebels

won't be able to topple Assad

unless NATO clears the way for them
with tons of bombs

as they did in Libya.

But since this isn't an option right now,

I think Washington is going with Plan B,

which is to prolong the conflict
in order to Balkanize Syria

and move step-by-step towards
the implementation

of the (xx) Plan.

And so I'm wondering why
Graham Fuller is now arguing

that the US should permit
or even assist Assad

in ending the war,

which makes absolutely no sense

from Washington's point of view.

What's your take on this?

(Pearse) Well, I mean, I guess
I just see this as...

he needs to, at this point, now,
address the public.

Because I will freely admit,

I knew very little, if anything,
about Graham Fuller.

I heard his name once before, I believe,

in an interview that Sibel Edmonds gave.

But it wasn't really until
the Boston Bombing

when I started to hear about this guy

and his connections with the family,

with the Tsarnaev family.

And I just sort of read...

when I saw that he wrote an article,

I was kind of...
my jaw dropped, initially.

Because this guy had been very, very quiet

about everything related to his life

and related to his connections

with international terrorism

and people like Fethullah Gülen.

So I think that right now, Graham Fuller

just doesn't want to have
this sort of notoriety,

and I think he's probably
Googled his own name

and seen quite a few pieces
in the alternative media

pointing out who this character really is

and what he does in his spare time.

So this is really...

He has actually started his own blog.

-- Christoph: He has his own website...
-- Really?

(Christoph) ...and he's gone to write
his own blog, yeah.

-- Nothing interesting,
--Pearse: No.

(Christoph) But he's, of course, trying to portray himself

as some kind of completely
innocent former CIA official.

(Pearse) Yes.

Oh, yeah: and I just...

there was even... I think this was in the
Fars News Agency in Iran recently:

they quoted Fuller as praising
a new book by Gareth Porter,

which goes into how the United States

manipulated evidence and whatnot
to punish the Iranians,

and there is no nuclear program.

So, again, for somebody who, as
you've pointed out, was instrumental

in radicalizing Muslims around the world

into becoming terrorists,

this is very interesting,

and something that we
should keep looking at.

Because these characters like Fuller

are probably still intimately involved

in Gladio B and the Deep State.

Even if... once you're in the CIA,
you're always in the CIA.

But anyway, I think we're gonna
leave it there for now.

And of course, there is so much else
going on in the region.

We've got all sorts of things
going on in Kyrgyzstan

with NGO crackdowns,

militants fighting in Syria,

al-Qaeda declaring war on China,

and lots of stuff going on
in Tajikistan between...

in their border region with Afghanistan.

So, of course, if you want to explore
some more of these topics,

then I would really suggest

that you go and check out
Christoph's work.

And of course,
The New Great Game Round-up

is published every week
on BoilingFrogs Post.com,

and you can also find his website

on ChristophGermann.BlogSpot.com.

So, Christoph, is there anything
else you want to point to us

that we should be looking out for
in the near future?

Anything like that?

(Christoph) No, except a situation along
the Afghan-Tajik border

and the Afghan-Turkmen border,

is, of course, very interesting,

with the Taliban making a comeback,

and even causing some trouble
along the border.

So we have to keep a close eye on that,

as well as the situation in the Caucasus.

(Pearse) Mm. Excellent.

And I'd like to thank everybody so much
for listening to this podcast.

We had a really great response
on the first one,

and I hope that you guys enjoy
this podcast as well.

And of course, if you want to hear
this and more,

then please visit
PorkinsPolicyReview.WordPress.com,

and please do follow both of us
on Twitter.

You can follow me
@porkinspolicy

and you can follow Christoph
@newgreatgame.

And if you have any suggestions,

if you have story ideas,

if you have topics... anything:

articles that you'd like us to discuss,

then please tweet us at Twitter

using the hashtag
#porkinsgreatgame .

So I think with...
there we're gonna leave it,

and we will be talking to you
in just about a month

with a whole new set of stories,
and topics, and talking points,

and all sorts of things related

to the New Great Game itself.

So thank you so much,

and Christoph, thank you
for joining me again.

(Christoph) Thanks, Pearse.

♪ [ Terrence Parker- “Something Here”
(Cerky Cakes edit ) ] ♪

[Subtitled by "Adjuvant"]
[CC-BY 4.0]