December , 2010 --SPECIAL REPORT. Suspicious and alarming nexus of CIA-MOSSAD interests emerges from selectively leaked State Dept. cables.
In further proof that the so-called Wikileaks leaked State Department cables are being selectively cherry-picked to advance a number of agendas, including those that benefit Israel and neocon policy makers in Washington, one particular U.S. diplomat has emerged as a key in stirring up problems and reporting back to Washington on the activities of members of the British royal family, including heir apparent Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. The diplomat in question is Tatiana Gfoeller, who authorized cables reporting negatively on members of the British royal family from her diplomatic perches as U.S. ambassador to Kyrgyzstan and Consul General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
WMR in the past has reported on the funding of and support for Julian Assange, the head of Wikileaks, and George Soros, the international financier who capitalizes on global crises, wars, and rumors of wars. Soros is despised by Buckingham Palace, most notable for his repeated attempts to short pound sterling in the early 1990s and as recently as this year. Soros, in turn, has made it a goal to embarrass the British royal family in retaliation and the roles of Assange and Gfoeller in exposing royal secrets in the selective leak of State Department cables is helping to advance Soros's agenda against the British royals.
Who are the Gfoellers?
The names of Tatiana Gfoeller and her diplomat husband, Michael Gfoeller, feature prominently in cables dealing with Ms. Gfoeller's tattling on Prince Andrew during a visit to Kyrgyzstan and on Prince Charles and his dealings with the Saudis....
The Gfoellers in their "Indian Jones" garb on an "archaeological" trip to southern Saudi Arabia. Michael Gfoeller was deputy chief of mission in Riyadh while his wife Tatiana was U.S. Consul General in Jeddah.....
Michael Gfoeller's name popped up in relation to damage control by the neocons this past summer after General David Petraeus, then the head of the US Central Command, had earlier testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee about how the "The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests... Israeli-Palestinian tensions often flare into violence and large-scale armed confrontations. The conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the [region] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world." M. J. Rosenberg wrote in a July 6, 2010, column titled: "Obama Showers Bibi With Love, Plus Me & General Petraeus," how State Department official Michael Gfoeller sent an e-mail to Petraeus appending another Rosenberg column for the Media Matters website titled "On the Middle East, It's Palin vs Petraeus" concerning Petraeus's testimony with the salutation, "Sir: FYI. Mike." Rosenberg's column had praised Petreaus for "testifying that the continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict threatens all US interests in the Middle East, including our troops."
Rosenberg reports that 19 minutes after receiving the e-mail from Gfoeller that the CENTCOM commander, clearly worried about the feelings of the Israel Lobby and its hip-pocketed media, sent the following e-mail to the neocon Wall Street Journal columnist Max Boot, an infamous neocon, stating:
From: Petraeus, David H GEN MIL USA USCENTCOM CCCC/CCCC To: Max Boot Subject: FW: On the Middle East: It's Palin vs Petraeus As you know, I didn't say that. It's in a written submission for the record...
Rosenberg pointed out that while Petreaus did not say what was ascribed to him in the column he did write the statement in his 56-page statement for the record, the "Statement of General David H. Petraeus, U.S. Army Commander, US Central Command before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the posture of US Central Command, 16 Mar 2010."
Four minutes later, Boot comforted a rattled Petraeus with the following e-mail:
Oh brother. Luckily it's only media matters [sic] which has no credibility but I think I will do another short item pointing people to what you actually said as opposed to what's in the posture statement.
Petraeus, who was obviously concerned more about his standing among the AIPAC and Israel loyalist community than in prosecuting the "war on terror" in the CENTCOM area of responsibility, sent an e-mail back to Boot six minutes later:
From: Petraeus, David H GEN MIL USA USCENTCOM CCCC/CCCC 2:37
Thx, Max. (Does it help if folks know that I hosted Elie Wiesel and his wife at our quarters last Sunday night?! And that I will be the speaker at the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps in mid-Apr at the Capitol Dome...)
The mighty General Petraeus, darling of neocons like Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman, wanted to set the record straight that he was no anti-Semite, and that, in fact, some of his best friends, like Elie Wiesel, were Jewish.....
Boot, on March 18, 2010, penned an article for the Jewish magazine Commentary titled: "A Lie: David Petraeus, Anti-Israel." Boot, ignoring Petraeus's written statement completely, wrote: "General Petraeus obviously doesn’t see the Israeli-Arab 'peace process' as a top issue for his command, because he didn’t even raise it in his opening statement. When he was pressed on it, he made a fairly anodyne statement about the need to encourage negotiations to help moderate Arab regimes. That’s it. He didn’t say that all settlements had to be stopped or that Israel is to blame for the lack of progress in negotiations. And he definitely didn’t say that the administration should engineer a crisis in Israeli-U.S. relations in order to end the construction of new housing for Jews in East Jerusalem.
With Boot, Commentary, and the Wall Street Journal at his back, Petraeus was able to breathe easy. However, the affair showed to what extent Israel and its minions are willing to alter history. Which now brings us to the issue of the leaked Wikileaks State Department cables and the role of the Gfoellers who appear to be key members of a neocon cell operating within the ranks of the State Department....
Michael Gfoeller has a long history of involvement with major neocon operations within the Coalition Provisional Authority, as a political adviser to Petraeus in Pakistan, and as a diplomat, including a stint as chargé d'affaires in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tatiana Gfoeller, who, after 2006, dropped the name Tatiana Volkoff-Gfoeller, served as U.S. Consul General in Jeddah. Saudi King Abdullah asked for the U.S. to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, which is very convenient and advantageous for the neocons and Israelis, who are strongly backing a military assault on Iran.
Previously serving twice at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, USSR, once as a labor attaché, and in Brussels between stints in Moscow, Michael Gfoeller was a top adviser to Paul "Jerry" Bremer, the head of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in occupied Iraq. Gfoeller's familiarity with Arab culture and fluency in Arabic stems largely from his past State Department postings in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Bahrain. He learned Arabic in college and while on a Fulbright fellowship in Egypt.In a National Public Radio interview aired on August 6, 2003, Gfoeller's major priority was the restoration and preservation of the shrine of the Jewish prophet Ezekiel at al-Kifl, south of Baghdad.
Gfoeller in Iraq using his Arabic skills to write "Fuck Saddam!!" in English and Arabic on a whiteboard on the day Saddam Hussein was captured.
NPR reported that the shrine had received little attention after Iraqi Jews migrated to Israel in 1948 and that the shrine had been attended to since by members of al-Kifl's Bani Hassan tribe. Interviewed by NPR, Gfoeller, speaking for the CPA, said: "It's [Ezekiel's shrine] a symbol of co-existence between the two faiths and a place of co-existence between the two faiths . . . There's always been a synagogue there, apparently for the last 2,600 years, from the sixth century BC until, if you believe the tradition, down until 1948. Back in 1948, it probably would have been one of the oldest continuously functioning synagogues in the world." Gfoeller added that one of his responsibilities was to encourage international experts to study and preserve the site, with the local mayor, Sheik Ahmed Habib Habut el-Abbasi, adding that tourists were what he looked forward to the most.
Gfoeller, whose links to Israeli causes and the neocon are well-documented, has also played a primary role in the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif coming in for rough treatment in the obviously selectively leaked cables. One cable quotes Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed as saying Zardari is “dirty but not dangerous" and that Sharif is "dangerous but not dirty." A February 11, 2010, cable from the U.S. embassy in Riyadh quotes Saudi King Abdullah saying of Zardari, "When the head is rotten, it affects the whole body." A 2009 cable states that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak considers Pakistan “as his ‘private nightmare."
In another cable, Karzai is portrayed as paranoid and as a person who sees "plots everywhere." Perhaps Karzai has reasons to be paranoid since Michael Gfoeller served as an adviser to Petraeus in dealing with Afghan, as well as Pakistani matters. In November 2008, Gfoeller accompanied Petraeus to Islamabad for a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gillani. Other participants in the meeting, also attended by Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiyani and National Security Adviser Mehmood Ali Durrani,included Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Ambassador Richard Boucher; U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson (who also, according to leaked cables, accused Pakistan of being lax on nuclear security); Chief of U.S. Office of the Defense Representative Admiral Michael Lefebvre; Major General Mile Jones; Candace Putnam, and Colonel Michael Bell.
The Saudi revelations
It was not the first time that Gfoeller had attended a high-level meeting with other U.S. officials. On August 1, 2007, Gfoeller was present, in his role as chargé d'affaires in Riyadh, at a meeting between U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Saudi King Abdullah. Also present were Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faysal; General Intelligence chief Prince Muqrin Bin-Abd-al-Aziz; Prince Khalid Bin-Sultan Bin-Abd-al-Aziz, assistant to the defense minister and aviation minister for military affairs; and Saudi ambassador to the United States Adil Bin-Ahmad al-Jubayr.
Gfoeller also figures in the 2008 cable from Riyadh covering King Abdullah's feelings on the Iraq situation but in which he interjected that the king favored a military attack on Iran. Cable follows:
Sunday, 20 April 2008, 08:47
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 RIYADH 000649
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
WHITE HOUSE FOR OVP, DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP AND S/I
SATTERFIELD
EO 12958 DECL: 04/19/2018
TAGS EAID, ECON, EFIN, IZ, PGOV, PREL, MOPS, SA, IR
SUBJECT: SAUDI KING ABDULLAH AND SENIOR PRINCES ON SAUDI
POLICY TOWARD IRAQ
Classified By: CDA Michael Gfoeller, Reasons 1.4 (b,d)
1. (S) Summary: US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus met with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, General Presidency of Intelligence Chief Prince Muqrin bin Abd al-Aziz, and Interior Minister Nayif bin Abd al-Aziz during their April 14-15 visit to Riyadh. The Saudi King and senior Princes reviewed Saudi policy toward Iraq in detail, all making essentially the same points. They said that the Kingdom will not send an ambassador to Baghdad or open an embassy until the King and senior Saudi officials are satisfied that the security situation has improved and the Iraqi government has implemented policies that benefit all Iraqis, reinforce Iraq's Arab identity, and resist Iranian influence. The Saudis evinced somewhat greater flexibility regarding the issues of economic and humanitarian assistance for Iraq and debt forgiveness. In a conversation with the Charge' on April 17, Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir indicated that the King had been very impressed by the visit of Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus, and al-Jubeir hinted that the Saudi government might announce changes to its Iraq policy before the President's visit to Riyadh in mid-May. End Summary.
Positive Signs in Iraq
2. (S) In all their meetings with the Saudi royals, both Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus conveyed the progress in Iraq and confirmed the negative role Iran is playing in Iraq. They characterized the recent ISF-led operations in Basra and Baghdad as having a striking effect against the Shia militias, most importantly turning Iraqi public opinion away from the militias. While Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's decision to take action against the militias was described as hasty and not well-planned, Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus emphasized that any tactical shortfalls were overshadowed by the greater positive effect of unifying Iraq and demonstrating the GOI's, and most specifically al-Maliki's, determined resolve to take on the Shia militias, especially Jaysh al-Madhi. Concurrently, these operations unequivocally demonstrated Iran's subversive activities in Iraq and its broader regional ambitions. Throughout all their discussions, Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus stressed the importance and urgent need for the Saudis to join us in supporting Iraq.
The Saudi Embassy Issue.
3. (S) King Abdullah, the Foreign Minister, and Prince Muqrin all stated that the Saudi government would not send an ambassador to Baghdad or open an embassy there in the near future, citing both security and political grounds in support of this position. The Foreign Minister stated that he had considered dispatching an ambassador and had sent Saudi diplomats to Baghdad to identify a site for the Saudi embassy. However, he said. "the King simply forbade us to go any further." King Abdullah confirmed this account in a separate meeting with Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus. The King asserted that the security situation in Baghdad was too dangerous for him to risk sending a Saudi ambassador there. "He would immediately become a target for the terrorists and the militias," he said.
4. (S) The King also rejected the suggestion that by sending a Saudi ambassador to Baghdad he could give essential political support to the Iraqi government as it struggles to resist Iranian influence and subversion. He expressed lingering doubt on the Iraqi government's willingness to resist Iran. He also repeated his frequently voiced doubts about Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki himself by alluding to his "Iranian connections." The Saudi monarch stated that he does not trust al-Maliki because the Iraqi Prime Minister had "lied" to him in the past by promising to take certain actions and then failing to do so.The King did not say precisely what these allegedly broken promises might have been. He repeated his often heard view that al-Maliki rules Iraq on behalf of his Shiite sect instead of all Iraqis.
5. (S) However, in a potentially significant move, the King did not reject the idea of dispatching a Saudi ambassador to Baghdad completely. Instead, he said that he would consider...
RIYADH 00000649 002 OF 003
doing so after the Iraqi provincial elections are held in the autumn. The conduct of these elections would indicate whether or not the Iraqi government is truly interested in ruling on behalf of all Iraqis or merely in support of the Shia, King Abdullah asserted.
Grudging Acknowledgment of Change in Iraq
6. (S) The Foreign Minister signaled another potential softening in Saudi policy by saying that the Kingdom's problem was not with al-Maliki as a person but rather with the conduct of the Iraqi government. The King himself admitted that the Iraqi government's performance has improved in recent months and grudgingly accepted the point that al-Maliki and his security forces have indeed been fighting extremists, specifically Shia extremists in both Basra and Baghdad and Sunni extremists and Al Qaeda in Mosul. However, the King and the senior Princes argued that more time would be required to judge whether the recent change in Iraqi behavior was lasting and sincere. The King suggested that much of the Iraqi government's improved performance is attributable to US prodding rather than change in Iraqi attitudes.
7. (S) The Foreign Minister also suggested that the USG should prod Ayatollah Sistani to speak out in favor of a unified Iraq and national reconciliation among different Iraqi sects and groups. "You have paid a heavy price in blood and treasure, and Sistani and his people have benefited directly. You have every right to ask this of him," Prince Saud al-Faisal said.
Possible Saudi Economic Assistance
8. (S) The King, Prince Muqrin, and the Foreign Minister all suggested that the Saudi government might be willing to consider the provision of economic and humanitarian assistance to Iraq. Prince Muqrin asked Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus to send him a list of the kinds of assistance that the US government would like to see the Kingdom provide Iraq. Al-Jubeir later told the Charge' that this assistance would be separate from the USD 1 billion in aid that the Saudi government had promised at the Madrid Conference but still not delivered due to security worries. He said that the Madrid commitment consisted of $500 million in trade credits and $500 million in project assistance with strict conditionally, along the lines of what the World Bank would require. Al-Jubeir added that the assistance the Saudi government might provide via Prince Muqrin would initially be in the range of $75-$300 million.
Possible Debt Relief
9. (S) The King noted that Saudi debt relief for Iraq "will come at some point," although he did not say when. Al-Jubeir told the Charge' that debt relief is a real possibility. He also noted that the Saudi government might make changes to its Iraq policy, perhaps including both assistance and debt relief, prior to the President's visit to Riyadh.
The Need to Resist Iran
10. (S) The King, Foreign Minister, Prince Muqrin, and Prince Nayif all agreed that the Kingdom needs to cooperate with the US on resisting and rolling back Iranian influence and subversion in Iraq. The King was particularly adamant on this point, and it was echoed by the senior princes as well. Al-Jubeir recalled the King's frequent exhortations to the US to attack Iran and so put an end to its nuclear weapons program. "He told you to cut off the head of the snake," he recalled to the Charge', adding that working with the US to roll back Iranian influence in Iraq is a strategic priority for the King and his government.
11. (S) The Foreign Minister, on the other hand, called instead for much more severe US and international sanctions on Iran, including a travel ban and further restrictions on bank lending. Prince Muqrin echoed these views, emphasizing that some sanctions could be implemented without UN approval. The Foreign Minister also stated that the use of military pressure against Iran should not be ruled out.
RIYADH 00000649 003 OF 003
12. (S) Comment: Saudi attitudes toward Iraq, from the King on down, remain marked by skepticism and suspicion. That said, the Saudis have noticed recent events in Iraq and are eager to work with the US to resist and reverse Iranian encroachment in Iraq. The King was impressed by Ambassador Crocker's and General Petraeus' visit, as were the Foreign Minister, GPI Chief, and Interior Minister. Cautious as ever, the Saudis may nevertheless be willing to consider new measures in the areas of assistance and debt relief, although further discussions will be required to make these ideas a reality. End Comment. 13. (U) This cable was reviewed and cleared by Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus. GFOELLER
Gfoeller, who, along with his wife, are members of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) attended a meeting of the CFR in Washington on December 3, 2009. Gfoeller, in a question for the speaker, Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), pressed his concerns for how Arab names are spelled in the National Security Entry/Exit Registration System (NSEERS) that is designed to screen travelers to the United States. Moderator David Aaron from Rand called on Gfoeller, who represented CENTCOM. Gfoeller told Ryan: "There are some specific changes you could make that would make it much easier to administer the [NSEERS] system, even in its current form, while doing much less damage to our foreign relations with the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries, which at this point, if I'm not mistaken, actually hold more in U.S. Treasury bills than China does collectively. So it's an important thing . . . One of the big problems is that there's at least a dozen ways to write any Arabic name in English letters."
Gfoeller was interested in streamlining the database for certain individuals and stated: "Our NSEERS database is conducted in the Latin alphabet. So we have an enormous number of false positive hits when we do terrorist screening on names abroad, and this causes us to stop for secondary screening, which can last as long as ten hours. Individuals, like the president of Aramco, for example, who moved the annual Aramco meeting to Indonesia after being held up at the -- Houston at one point for ten hours because of a false hit -- you know, the people from TSA who stopped him at the airport have no idea what Aramco is, I'm sure, let alone who the president of Aramco might be. So they can hardly complain. They just look at the computer screen . . . But a relatively small investment in Arabic name recognition software, which is available out on the market, could improve the accuracy of the database enormously because there's only way in Arabic to write a given person's name, 12, as I say, if you lose Latin letters, because you just can't represent about half the sounds in the Arabic alphabet with Latin letters. I'm sure my friends down at the end of the table would agree with that. That would remove maybe 80 percent of the false hits. The other problem with the database is that there are -- there's no lead agency in administering it. About a dozen agencies feed names into it. There are bureaucratic incentives for adding names but you get no bureaucratic points on your annual efficiency report for removing names. We need to re-look at the incentive structure, 'cause as I'm sure you'd agree with me -- life is all about incentives, and people working in the bureaucracy have no incentive to slim the database down to something that might actually be useful. So we end up stopping a lot of people who don't need to be stopped." To which Aaron added, "It would be helpful if the Pentagon were supportive of this."
Tatiana and the Kyrgyz branch of the Russo-Israeli Mafia
After serving in Jeddah where she made less-than-complementary remarks about Prince Charles in a cable to the State Department, the other half of Team Gfoeller, Tatiana, was posted to the U.S. embassy in Bishkek, where her primary job appears to have been to convince the Kyrgyz government to maintain the U.S. Manas airbase by providing all sorts of aid and incentives to the corrupt regime of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his equally-corrupt son, Maxim Bakiyev. Then-opposition leader Roza Otunbaeva complained that Gfoeller rarely met with her or other opposition leaders and after she took over power as interim leader after Bakiyev's overthrow, the new Kyrgyz government let it be known to Washington that they wanted Gfoeller pulled from Bishkek before her scheduled departure in the Fall of 2011. Gfoeller was seen as ignoring the opposition and supporting Bakiyev only for the interests of keeping the Manas airbase in operation.
WMR has learned from informed sources that Gfoeller worked closely with operatives of George Soros's Open Society Institute and one major CFR figure in New York who fronts for Soros. The Soros/CFR operatives were behind Gfoeller's original appointment to Bishkek in order to protect Soros's interests and agenda, which included denying Russia an enhanced presence in the former Soviet republic and guarantee U.S. military access to Manas and other potential bases in the country.
Gfoeller appears to have other reasons for supporting Bakiyev. On April 29, 2010, WMR reported: "After his father Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted as president in a popular uprising in Kyrgyzstan, Maxim Bakiyev hightailed it for Latvia, where his business partner, Valeri Belakon, co-owns Belaton Manas Bank, along with Maxim.
In many ways, Latvia has become a favorite locale for Russian-Israeli mobsters who continue to cause financial and political problems within the sphere of the former Soviet Union. Although Kyrgyzstan is a primarily Muslim country and Maxim Bakiyev is a Muslim, Valeri Belaton's business partner in Belakon Holdings is former chairman of the Latvian Jewish community, Grigori Krupnikov. Belakon is also reportedly linked to George Soros's Quantum activities.
During the Bakiyev regime, Maxim was the head of the State Development and Innovation Agency, which directed the privatization of state sectors of the economy. Belakon co-owns with Maxim Bakiyev, Blackpool (UK) football club, which is believed by law enforcement to operate as a money laundering operation. Belakon also owns Baltic International Bank, which saw its credit downgraded in June 2009 by Moody's. After fleeing Kyrgyzstan for Kazakhstan, there were rumors that Kurmanbek Bakiyev might join his son in Latvia. However, the elder Bakiyev ended up in Minsk, the Belarusian capital.
Before heading to Riga, Maxim was due to attend an economic investment conference in Washington, DC on April 8, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Kyrgyz-North America Trade Council. However, the uprising in Bishkek changed Bakiyev's plans. WMR has learned that the Kyrgyz-US seminar was a mere cover designed to mask Maxim Bakiyev's meetings with top CIA officials to explain the entire Italian-Russian mafia operation, the popular Kyrgyz outrage over which, led to the U.S. airbase at Manas being put into jeopardy."
The WMR report continued: "Belakon and Kyrgyzstan's Jewish community are closely linked to the dodgy Chabad-Lubavitch movement, which uses a network of Chabad Houses around the world for illicit activities, including drug and weapons smuggling. After Bakiyev's ouster in Bishkek, the Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue in Bishkek was firebombed and posters appeared throughout Bishkek that read: "Dirty Jews and all those like Maxim Bakiyev have no place in Kyrgyzstan."
The new Kyrgyz government points to the connection of Maxim Bakiyev's financial adviser, U.S. citizen Eugene Gourevitch, the director of MGN Capital, and an Italian probe into the siphoning off by Gourevitch and his friends of $2.7 billion from divisions of Telecom Italia SpA and Fastweb SpA from 2003 to 2006. It was also MGN Capital that advised the Kyrgyz government on the privatization and sale of Kyrgyztelecom and Severelectro. Maxim appointed Gourevitch, a Russian-born American Jew, to run the Kyrgyz Development Fund.
Gourevitch also served on the boards of Manas International Airport, where the United States maintains the Manas Transit Center for U.S. troops and logistics, and Electricheskie Stancii, the Kyrgyz state electricity production monopoly.
Gourevitch was implicated in a money laundering scandal involving Asiauniversalbank (AUB), run by Mikhail Nadel. Serving on AUB's board undet its chairman, Nadel, were two former U.S. senators, Bob Dole (R-KS) and J. Bennett Johnston (D-LA). In addition, it was discovered that Gourevitch had contributed to the failed U.S. Senate re-election campaign of Elizabeth, Dole's wife. The donations to Mrs. Dole were made by Gourevitch's Virage Consulting Ltd. of Long Island City, New York. Gourevitch also served on the board of AUB.
MGN Capital was also heavily involved in the corrupt Vancouver Stock Exchange and Kyrgyz gold shares, particularly those of Centerra Gold, which operates in Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Turkey, Russia, and the United States.
After the recent Kyrgyz uprising, Gourevitch was arrested in Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan. The Kazakhs were operating pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by Kyrgyzstan's new government. Gourevitch also has an Italian arrest warrant hanging over his head after his conviction in Italy in March of this year for March 2010 for ties with criminal syndicates and involvement in the fraud involving Telecom Italia and Fastweb. On April 12, the Kyrgyz police also arrested Vugar Khalilov, the CEO of Flexi Communication and Gourevitch's representative in Bishkek who is also a UK citizen. It is noteworthy that Kyrgyzstan's National Security Service picked Khalilov up just after he had a meeting with David Moran, the British ambassador to Kyrgyzstan. Khalilov maintains he worked for 20 years for the BBC and Radio Liberty, the latter's operations now overseen by Soros."
Badmouthing Buckingham Palace
It was while posted in Jeddah and Bishkek, Tatiana Gfoeller, who is fluent in Arabic and Russian, appeared to have an interest in tattling on the two British princes, Andrew and Charles. One cable discussed a conversation between Amitav Banerji, the Commonwealth Secretariat's director of political affairs, and a U.S. diplomat in London that Prince Charles was not as respected by the Commonwealth as Queen Elizabeth II. Another cable stated that Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara, in conversations with Jordanian officials, said Prince Charles would soon be implicated by Scottish authorities in an investigation of the Paris automobile accident death of Princess Diana. Another cable from Gfoeller in Jeddah said that she was told by a Western businessman in Saudi Arabiahow Prince Khalid bin Faisal, the governor of Asir, who was described as cheap, gave the businessman three weeks to spruce up part of the late King Faisal's run-down palace so a party could be thrown for Prince Charles. Gfoeller reported the juicy gossip on Charles to the State Department.
Gfoeller's 2006 cable, with redactions performed by unknown parties, from Jeddah concerning Prince Charles follows:
Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 14:37
S E C R E T JEDDAH 000700
SIPDIS t
EO 12958 DECL: 11/08/2016
TAGS PGOV, PINR, SCUL
SUBJECT: TALES OF A PRINCE: CG MEETS WITH GOVERNOR OF
ASIR'S FIXER
Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller,for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (S) On November 7 the CG met with a prominent Western businessman who is close to the Governor of Asir, Prince Khalid bin Faisal. The businessman is known as a "fixer" for Prince Khalid. During their conversation, he recounted to the CG a number of his interactions with the Prince.
2. (S) Their first encounter was at the prince's majlis in Abha, the capital of Asir Province. The businessman described the majlis to the CG and spoke of its largesse, its lavish decor, and its eclectic makeup of people: tribesmen, mutawa, and others. During the proceedings, a waiter approached with coffee and tea. XXXXXXXXXXXX the businessman recalled, he knew that he and Prince Khalid would get along well.
3. (S) The businessman's second encounter with the prince was not actually with the prince. He had been invited to the prince's home to meet with his family. He recalled how surprised he had been at such a gesture. XXXXXXXXXXXX
4. (S) The businessman's third encounter with Prince Khalid coincided with the visit of Prince Charles of the United Kingdom. He informed the CG that Prince Khalid and Prince Charles share a love of painting. Khalid opened a "painters village" in Abha, the capital of Asir, called Al Muftah. People, including faces, as well as objects are painted by Al Muftah artists, just as Khalid does in his own works of art. (Note: This is very interesting since painting is frowned upon by many conservative Saudis, and painting people and faces is forbidden according to the Wahabi interpretation of Islam. End note.) The businessman told the CG about a call that he received from a nervous Prince Khalid because of the party that he had offered to host for Prince Charles. During that time Prince Khalid, who has since built a new palace, was living in his father, the deceased King Faisal's old palace. His mother, Queen Effet, lived upstairs on the second floor of the palace, but the first floor needed attention. The palace was described as aged and in dire need of renovation. The businessman recounted how he was called and asked by the Prince, to take care of renovating the ground floor of the palace for a party that would take place in three weeks from the time of the phone call. The businessman asked whether he had a choice, and when told an emphatic "no," then agreed to do it.
5. (S) According to the businessman, the first thing that he did was cut off all electricity so that no one would be able to turn on the lights and see what was taking place. Secondly, he inserted Styrofoam into the holes in the walls. Thirdly, he set up projectors to project colors and designs onto the walls. On the evening of the party candles were the only source of lighting throughout the house. The plan was successful as the Prince of Wales commented on how luxurious and beautiful the palace was, despite the fact that it was not. Prince Khalid was very happy and the relationship between the businessman and the prince was cemented. (Note: The prince's old palace has since become a university. End note.)
6. (S) The next day Prince Khalid phoned this businessman and invited him to meet the Prince of Wales. What the prince did not know was that while the businessman had sacrificed three weeks to renovate the palace, his sister had been visiting from out of the country and he had other obligations, which he disregarded. The businessman ultimately declined the invitation to meet with the two princes. When he received a phone call and a summons, the next day, from Prince Khalid, he was frightened. He did not know what to expect and he feared the worst.
6. (S) When the businessman arrived to meet Prince Khalid he was pleasantly surprised to receive a painting by each of the princes, as gifts. He was also shocked to receive, what Prince Khalid called, a "tip," in the amount of SR50,000 ($13,333). He confided to the CG that Prince Khalid is "known for being extremely cheap." The businessman concluded by reiterating how close his relationship is to Prince Khalid and sharing more fond memories of the "phony dinner" at the prince's palace.
GFOELLER
In another cable sent from Bishkek, Gfoeller was ratting on the royals again, only it was Prince Andrew, not Charles, who was the subject of Gfoeller's gossip. Gfoeller wrote that Andrew spoke -"cockily" at a Bishkek business conference in 2008. Gfoeller likely did not like Andrew mentioning that Maxim Bakiyev was involved in contract corruption in Kyrgyzstan, something that likely rankled Gfoeller's feathers since it hit close to her own shady deals over keeping the Manas airbase in the country.
Gfoeller's cable on Prince Andrew:
Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 12:07C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BISHKEK 001095
C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (ADDRESSEE)
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN (GORKOWSKI)
EO 12958 DECL: 10/29/2018
TAGS PREL, ECON, KG
SUBJECT: CANDID DISCUSSION WITH PRINCE ANDREW ON THE KYRGYZ
ECONOMY AND THE "GREAT GAME"
REF: BISHKEK 1059
BISHKEK 00001095 001.4 OF 004
Classified By: Amb. Tatiana Gfoeller, Reason 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (C) SUMMARY: On October 28, the Ambassador participated in a two-hour brunch to brief HRH the Duke of York ahead of his meetings with the Kyrgyz Prime Minister and other high-level officials. She was the only non-subject of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth invited to participate by the British Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic.Other participants included major British investors in Kyrgyzstan and the Canadian operator of the Kumtor mine. The discussion covered the investment climate for Western firms in the Kyrgyz Republic, the problem of corruption, the revival of the "Great Game," Russian and Chinese influence in the country, and the Prince's personal views on promoting British economic interests. Astonishingly candid, the discussion at times verged on the rude (from the British side). END SUMMARY.
2. (C) British Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic Paul Brummell invited the Ambassador to participate in briefing His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, ahead of his October 28 meetings with Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov and other high-level officials. The Prince was in Kyrgyzstan to promote British economic interests. Originally scheduled to last an hour over brunch, the briefing ended up lasting two hours, thanks to the super-engaged Prince's pointed questions. The Ambassador was the only participant who was not a British subject or linked to the Commonwealth. The absence of her French and German colleagues was notable; they were apparently not invited despite being fellow members of the European Union. Others included major British investors in Kyrgyzstan and the Canadian operator of the Kumtor mine.
"YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE ROUGH WITH THE SMOOTH"
--------------------------------------------
3. (C) The discussion was kicked off by the president of the Canadian-run Kumtor mine, who described at length his company's travails of trying to negotiate a revised mining concession that provides a greater stake in Kumtor's parent company to the Kyrgyz government in exchange for a simplified tax regime and an expanded concession. He was followed by the representative of the British owner of Kyrgyzneftigas, who explained his company's role in Kyrgyz oil exploration and production, as well as doing his share of complaining of being harassed and hounded by Kyrgyz tax authorities. One example he gave was that a Kyrgyz shareholder was now suing the company, saying that his "human rights" were being violated by the terms of his shareholders' agreement.
4. (C) The Prince reacted with unmitigated patriotic fervor. To his credit, he diligently tried to understand the Kyrgyz point view. However, when participants explained that some Kyrgyz feel that they were "unfairly" led in the 1990s to sign unfavorable contracts with Westerners, he evinced no sympathy. "A contract is a contract," he insisted. "You have to take the rough with the smooth."
"ALL OF THIS SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE FRANCE"
----------------------------------------
5. (C) After having half-heartedly danced around the topic for a bit, only mentioning "personal interests" in pointed fashion, the business representatives then plunged into describing what they see as the appallingly high state of corruption in the Kyrgyz economy. While claiming that all of them never participated in it and never gave out bribes, one representative of a middle-sized company stated that "It is sometimes an awful temptation." In an astonishing display of candor in a public hotel where the brunch was taking place, all of the businessmen then chorused that nothing gets done in Kyrgyzstan if President Bakiyev's son Maxim does not get "his cut." Prince Andrew took up the topic with gusto, saying that he keeps hearing Maxim's name "over and over again"whenever he discusses doing business in this country. Emboldened, one businessman said that doing business here is "like doing business in the Yukon" in the nineteenth century, i.e. only those willing to participate in local corrupt practices are able to make any money. His colleagues all heartily agreed, with one pointing out that "nothing ever changes here. Before all you heard was Akayev's son's name. Now it's Bakiyev's son's name." At this point the Duke of York laughed uproariously, saying that: "All of this sounds exactly like France."
6. (C) The Prince then turned to the Ambassador for an American take on the situation. The Ambassador described American business interests in the country, which range from large investments such as the Hyatt hotel and the Katel telecommunications company to smaller investments in a range of sectors. She stated that part of the problem with business conditions in Kyrgyzstan was the rapid turnover in government positions. Some reacted to their short tenures in a corrupt manner, wanting to "steal while they can" until they were turned out of office. While noting the need for greater transparency in doing business, she recounted that she had hosted the American Chamber of Commerce's Members Day last week (attended by the Foreign Minister and the Deputy Minister of Trade and Commerce) which had been widely attended and a resounding success (see reftel).She then described the beneficial impact on the Kyrgyz economy of the Coalition Air Base at Manas Airport.
"YOU HAVE TO CURE YOURSELF OF ANOREXIA"
---------------------------------------
7. (C) With a mock groan, the Duke of York then exclaimed: "My God, what am I supposed to tell these people?!" More seriously, he invited his guests to suggest ways Kyrgyzstan's economic prospects and attractiveness could be improved. Everyone agreed that in his talks with the Prime Minister and others, he should emphasize the rule of law, and long-term stability.
8. (C) Agreeing with the Ambassador's point about rapid government turnover, they urged him to impress upon his hosts the importance of predictability and the sanctity of contracts in order to attract more Western investment. At the same time, they pointed out that none of this was necessary to attract Russian, Kazakh, or Chinese investments. It appeared to them that the Kyrgyz were satisfied with their level and on the verge of "not bothering" with making the necessary improvements to attract Western investments. Returning to what is obviously a favorite theme, Prince Andrew cracked: "They won't need to make any changes to attract the French either!" Again turning thoughtful, the Prince mused that outsiders could do little to change the culture of corruption here. "They themselves have to have a change of heart. Just like you have to cure yourself of anorexia. No one else can do it for you."
PLAYING THE GREAT GAME (BY EXTENSION THE AMERICANS TOO)
--------------------------------------------- ----------
9. (C) Addressing the Ambassador directly, Prince Andrew then turned to regional politics. He stated baldly that "the United Kingdom, Western Europe (and by extension you Americans too") were now back in the thick of playing the Great Game. More animated than ever, he stated cockily: "And this time we aim to win!"Without contradicting him, the Ambassador gently reminded him that the United States does not see its presence in the region as a continuation of the Great Game. We support Kyrgyzstan's independence and sovereignty but also welcome good relations between it and all of its neighbors, including Russia.
10. (C) The Prince pounced at the sound of that name. He told the Ambassador that he was a frequent visitor to Central Asia and the Caucasus and had noticed a marked increase in Russian pressure and concomitant anxiety among the locals post-August events in Georgia. He stated the following story related to him recently by Azerbaijan's President Aliyev. Aliyev had received a letter from President Medvedev telling him that if Azerbaijan supported the designation of the Bolshevik artificial famine in Ukraine as "genocide" at the United Nations, "then you can forget about seeing Nagorno-Karabakh ever again." Prince Andrew added that every single other regional President had told him of receiving similar "directive" letters from Medvedev except for Bakiyev. He asked the Ambassador if Bakiyev had received something similar as well. The Ambassador answered that she was not aware of any such letter.
11. (C) The Duke then stated that he was very worried about Russia's resurgence in the region. As an example, he cited the recent Central Asian energy and water-sharing deal (septel), which he claimed to know had been "engineered by Russia, who finally pounded her fist on the table and everyone fell into line." (NOTE: Interestingly, the Turkish Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic recently described her analysis of the deal to the Ambassador in strikingly similar language. END NOTE.)
12. (C) Showing that he is an equal-opportunity Great Game player, HRH then turned to the topic of China. He recounted that when he had recently asked the President of Tajikistan what he thought of growing Chinese influence in Central Asia, the President had responded "with language I won't use in front of ladies." His interlocutors told the Prince that while Russians are generally viewed sympathetically throughout the region, the Chinese are not. He nodded, terming Chinese economic and possibly other expansion in the region "probably inevitable, but a menace."
RUDE LANGUAGE A LA BRITISH
--------------------------
13. (C) The brunch had already lasted almost twice its allotted time, but the Prince looked like he was just getting started. Having exhausted the topic of Kyrgyzstan, he turned to the general issue of promoting British economic interests abroad. He railed at British anti-corruption investigators, who had had the "idiocy" of almost scuttling the Al-Yamama deal with Saudi Arabia. (NOTE: The Duke was referencing an investigation, subsequently closed, into alleged kickbacks a senior Saudi royal had received in exchange for the multi-year, lucrative BAE Systems contract to provide equipment and training to Saudi security forces. END NOTE.) His mother's subjects seated around the table roared their approval. He then went on to "these (expletive) journalists, especially from the National Guardian, who poke their noses everywhere" and (presumably) make it harder for British businessmen to do business. The crowd practically clapped. He then capped this off with a zinger: castigating "our stupid (sic) British and American governments which plan at best for ten years whereas people in this part of the world plan for centuries." There were calls of "hear, hear" in the private brunch hall. Unfortunately for the assembled British subjects, their cherished Prince was now late to the Prime Minister's. He regretfully tore himself away from them and they from him. On the way out, one of them confided to the Ambassador: "What a wonderful representative for the British people! We could not be prouder of our royal family!"
COMMENT
-------
14. (C) COMMENT: Prince Andrew reached out to the Ambassador with cordiality and respect, evidently valuing her insights. However, he reacted with almost neuralgic patriotism whenever any comparison between the United States and United Kingdom came up. For example, one British businessman noted that despite the "overwhelming might of the American economy compared to ours" the amount of American and British investment in Kyrgyzstan was similar. Snapped the Duke: "No surprise there. The Americans don't understand geography. Never have. In the U.K., we have the best geography teachers in the world!" END COMMENT. GFOELLER
=======
Tatiana Gfoeller, protector of corrupt Bakuiyev regime, speaking to Peace Corps/CIA volunteers in Kyrgyzstan....
Spying diplomats
Gfoeller was at the center of a December 2009 espionage scandal concerning a Kyrgyz employee of the U.S. embassy who was a former Bishkek police officer. Emil Chodronov was under investigation by the Kyrgyz State National Security Service's (SNSS). Chodronov was reportedly working directly for the head of the embassy's political section and carried out certain delicate tasks. It is likely that as with former police officers hired by U.S. embassies in Oslo, Copenhagen, and other capitals, Chodronov may have been working for the embassy's Surveillance Detection Unit, a surveillance arm maintained by every U.S. diplomatic mission abroad.
Gfoeller also confronted her Chinese counterpart in Bishkek about a report that China offered Kyrgyzstan $3 billion to close the Manas airbase. Apparently, Zhang Yannian, became so upset over the question he briefly lost his ability to respond to Gfoeller in Russian.
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The name Gfoeller appears in key cables that have resulted in much of the controversies surrounding the policies of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Considering Tatiana Gfoeller's ties to Soros and Michael Gfoeller's close links to leading neocons like Max Boot, as well as to General Petraeus, a nexus of interests emerges. In any criminal investigation, communality of interests and links are key to solving the case. If the United States was not under the iron boot of hostile interests, including Israeli intelligence, war hawk neocons, and the Israel Lobby, the Gfoellers would be appearing before a federal grand jury, answering questions under oath about their relationships with those who have benefitted the most by the selective, cherry-picked, release of classified State Department cables.
What is certain is that a lone Private First Class, like Bradley Manning, now imprisoned for suspicion that he was singly responsible for the leak of hundreds of thousand classified Pentagon and State Department documents and videos copied undetected on a single "Lady Gaga" compact disk and passed to Wikileaks, is a ruse to protect one or more persons at very high levels in the State Department who had the authority, means, and motive to release classified documents that paint dozens of nations in a bad light but leaves Israel and its leaders virtually unscathed.
A NEXUS OF PROPAGANDA WITHIN AND OUTSIDE STATE DEPT.
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