World Affairs Brief, September 1, 2017 Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.

Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com).

This Week’s Analysis:

US Arms Pipeline to Terrorists Uncovered

NK Continues to Provoke

Nevada Jury Refuses to Convict 4 Bundy Defendants

Hurricane Harvey and Government Bailouts

Judges Blocking Trump when Congress Can’t

Preparedness Tip: The Basics of Sprouting

US ARMS PIPELINE TO TERRORISTS UNCOVERED

I and others have long claimed that the US secretly armed ISIS along with other falsely labeled “moderates” in Syria and elsewhere. Now, we know how they do it. The Deep State took advantage of the phoney fall of the Soviet Union to make deals with former Soviet states to buy Soviet-era arms and ship them to terrorist organizations under Deep State control. The Russian arms made sure it wasn’t obvious that terrorists were being armed by the West. The dark side of the CIA bought weapons from Bulgaria and other former Soviet states and then shipped them to terrorist destinations using the little known national airline of Azerbaijan–Silk Way Airlines. To make sure the arms were not traceable, Azerbaijan agreed to put each flight under the cover of diplomatic immunity—a violation of international law. Now, due to the heroic efforts of one investigative journalist from Bulgaria, a woman, this complex scheme has been uncovered. For her efforts she has now been fired as a reporter.

Dilyana Gaytandzhieva was a Bulgarian investigative journalist working in Syria were she uncovered and filmed nine underground warehouses “full of heavy weapons with Bulgaria as their country of origin.” After investigating she was shocked to find they were transported under diplomatic cover. Not only were arms being shipped to Syria, but also Afghanistan, Pakistan (to arm the Taliban) and even African countries like the Congo.

The only other US-based news source that is covering this story besides the WAB is 21st CenturyWire. Now RT, and the Activist Post have also picked it up. 21stCentury Wire gave this introduction and they had a few interesting points to make:

It’s no secret that the governments of the US, UK and France, along with other EU member states, have been involved in training and equipping what used to be known as ‘moderate rebels’ in Syria [the big secret is that this includes ISIS]. We now know that the bulk of the arms that get into opposition areas in Syria have gone to terrorist groups, much of which has been paid for by their wealthy benefactors in the Gulf, namely Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

What we didn’t know however, was the method of delivery, until now… back in April, 21WIRE reported how Trud Newspaper, based in Sofia, Bulgaria, broke the story of a ship called “Marianne Danica” arriving in the biggest port of Saudi Arabia in Jeddah under the flag of Denmark, after it left the port of Burgas on March 28th – loaded with tons of weapons heading for conflict zones. This was part of a trail that led Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva to East Aleppo in December 2016 where she discovered a massive Bulgarian arms cache that had made it into the hands of western and gulf-backed terrorists groups operating in Syria.

This week, Trud released the latest chapter of their investigation which details exactly how Silk Way Airlines (an Azerbaijani state-run company) conducted at least 350 diplomatic charter flights transporting weapons destined for war conflict areas across the world over the last 3 years. The key to this story is that the Azeri firm appears to have exploited a loop-hole in the international aviation and transport regulations by requesting a diplomatic exemption for aircrafts and their cargo, in effect allowing the Azeri airline to carry on-board tens of tons of heavy weapons and ammunition under the color of diplomatic immunity – with much of the cargo heading for known terrorist enclaves in Syria, but also to other conflict zones including Central Asia and Africa.

“Leaked files include correspondence between the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Bulgaria, with attached documents for weapons deals and diplomatic clearance for overflight and/or landing in Bulgaria and many other European countries, USA, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, to name a few,” said Gaytandzhieva.

Documents implicating Silk Way Airlines were sent to the journalist via an ‘Anonymous’ Twitter account – Anonymous Bulgaria.

It should be noted that Incirlik Air Base in Turkey is a shared US-NATO facility. From the days of the Vietnam War, we also learned about a covert program known as Air America which became one of the most clandestine operations in CIA history involving gun-running and possible narcotics too.

The US still runs its own secret airlines and does rendition flights (which Trump doesn’t know about) but the size of this operation dictated that it use another country’s airline and diplomatic cover.

In the past, 21WIRE has reported on how registered CIA chartered aircraft used in Rendition flights were also used to transport narcotics internationally. Certainly, one could also ask the question here – what cargo was on the flights returning from Afghanistan to Europe chartered by Silk Way?

As it turns out, Silk Way Airlines has a history of work with NATO. On 6 July 2011, a Silk Way Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft crashed into a hillside short of landing at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, killing all nine people on board. The aircraft was said to have been transporting 20 short tons of “fuel” for the International Security Assistance Force at the NATO base.

In total, the US portion of this particular part of the weapons operation over the last 3 years is estimated at $1 billion under a special US government program for “non-US standard weapon supplies.”

The loop-hole in question deals with a strict regulatory clause in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations, whereby air operators transporting “dangerous goods” are forbidden to transport items on civil aircrafts, and may apply to obtain an official exemption for the international transportation of dangerous goods by air. Here we see how partnering governments simply placed the flights under diplomatic cover to avoid any problems moving the cargo.

The Israeli Leg: A number of seemingly unlikely partner countries have turned-up in this investigation. One of those is Israel – a nation who constantly claims to be fighting terrorism despite the fact that numerous reports have implicated Israel in their involvement in aiding and abetting “rebels” like Al Nusra terrorists in Syria. In 2015, the Wall Street Journal also revealed Israeli links to Al Nusra in Syria. This latest report by Trud shows an even more damning side of this dark alliance.

The following is the original report from the Bulgarian online news site “Trud”:

In December of 2016 Dilyana Gaytandzhieva found and filmed 9 underground warehouses full of heavy weapons with Bulgaria as their country of origin in Eastern Aleppo.

At least 350 diplomatic Silk Way Airlines (an Azerbaijani state-run company) flights transported weapons for war conflicts across the world over the last 3 years. The state aircraft of Azerbaijan carried tens of tons of heavy weapons and ammunition headed to terrorists under the cover of diplomatic flights.

The leaked files include correspondence between the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Bulgaria with attached documents for weapons deals and diplomatic clearance for overflight and/or landing in Bulgaria and many other European countries, USA, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, to name a few.

According to these documents, Silk Way Airlines offered diplomatic flights to private companies and arms manufacturers from the US, Balkans, and Israel, as well as to the militaries of Saudi Arabia, UAE, and US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), and the military forces of Germany and Denmark in Afghanistan and of Sweden in Iraq.

This shows how the US Deep State has been able to get many other NATO countries involved so that no one country gets the blame, and to make things more difficult to trace.

Diplomatic flights are exempt of checks, air bills, and taxes, meaning that Silk Way airplanes freely transported hundreds of tons of weapons to different locations around the world without regulation. They made technical landings with stays varying from a few hours to up to a day in intermediary locations without any logical reasons such as needing to refuel the planes.

According to the documents, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has sent instructions to its embassies in Bulgaria and many other European countries to request diplomatic clearance for Silk Way Airlines flights. The embassies sent diplomatic notes to the Foreign Ministry of the relevant country to request such exemption. The Foreign Ministry sent back a note signed by the local civil aviation authorities giving exemption for the transportation of dangerous goods.

The requests for diplomatic clearance included information about the type and quantity of the dangerous goods – heavy weapons and ammunition.. Under IATA regulations, the transport of military cargo by civil aircrafts is not allowed. To get around this legality, Silk Way Airlines applied for diplomatic exemption through local agencies.

U.S. sends $1 billion worth of weapons: Among the main customers of the “diplomatic flights for weapons” service provided by Silk Way Airlines are American companies, which supply weapons to the US army and US Special Operations Command. The common element in these cases is that they all supply non-US standard weapons; hence, the weapons are not used by the US forces.

According to the register of federal contracts, over the last 3 years American companies were awarded $1 billion contracts in total under a special US government program for non-US standard weapon supplies. All of them used Silk Way Airlines for the transport of weapons. In some cases when Silk Way was short of aircrafts due to a busy schedule, Azerbaijan Air Force aircrafts transported the military cargo, although the weapons never reached Azerbaijan.

The documents leaked from the Embassy include shocking examples of weapon transport. A case in point: on 12th May 2015 an aircraft of Azerbaijan Air Forces carried 7.9 tons of PG-7V and 10 tons of PG-9V [anti-tank grenade launchers] to the supposed destination via the route Burgas (Bulgaria)-Incirlik (Turkey)-Burgas-Nasosny (Azerbaijan). The consignor was the American company Purple Shovel, and the consignee – the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan. According to the documents, however, the military cargo was offloaded at Incirlik military base [In Turkey – ed.] and never reached the consignee. The weapons were sold to Purple Shovel by Alguns, Bulgaria, and manufactured by Bulgaria’s VMZ military plant.

In December of last year while reporting on the battle of Aleppo as a correspondent for Bulgarian media I found and filmed 9 underground warehouses full of heavy weapons with Bulgaria as their country of origin. They were used by Al Nusra Front (Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria designated as a terrorist organization by the UN).

Another U.S. contractor involved in the same program for non-US standard military supplies is Orbital ATK. This company received $250 million over just the past two years. Information as to what type of weapons and to whom those weapons were supplied is classified.

According to the documents, Orbital ATK transported weapons on 6 diplomatic Silk Way Airlines flights in July and August of 2015 flying the route Baku (Azerbaijan)-Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina)-Baku-Kabul (Afghanistan). The consignee was the National Police of Afghanistan. Interestingly, all these diplomatic flights with weapons had technical landings and a 7 h 30 min stop at Baku before their final destination – Afghanistan.

What this means is that the US is supplying Eastern bloc weapons to non-US forces in Afghanistan. Afghani forces trained by the US use US weapons, so these could only have been meant for US-supplied “ISIS in Afghanistan” forces.

Chemring Military Products is another main contractor in the program for non-US standard weapon supplies to the US army through diplomatic Silk Way Airlines flights. This military supplier has 4 contracts for $302.8 million in total. The weapons were purchased from local manufacturers in Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania and according to documents transported to Iraq and Afghanistan via diplomatic flights.

One of those flights in particular, on 18 October 2016, carrying 15.5 tons of 122 mm rockets bought by Chemring in Belgrade, Serbia, was diverted from its destination – Kabul, and instead landed in Lahore, Pakistan. After a 2-hour stop, the aircraft took off to Afghanistan. The only possible explanation for the extension of the flight by a thousand kilometers is offloading in Pakistan, even though documents stated that the cargo was destined for Afghanistan.

So, while the Pentagon is pushing Trump to sanction Pakistan for its support of the Taliban, it looks like the Deep State is complicit in arming the Taliban out of Pakistan. Pakistani officials may or may not be aware of this since often the CIA uses the Pakistani ISI (Pakistani CIA) to funnel secret shipments through. Pakistani politicians may be as unaware of this secret trade as our own Congressmen are about the Deep State.

The largest non-US standard weapons supplier to the US army is Alliant Techsystems Operations-USA with contracts totalling $490.4 million. In December of 2016, this company transported tons of grenades (API 23×115 mm, HE 23×115 mm, GSH 23×115 mm) from Yugoimport, Serbia to the Afghani Defense Ministry on diplomatic flights to the destination Baku-Belgrade-Kabul.

This may not be the only weapons pipeline the US and Israel are operating, but it tells you something about their methods that use other nations. Gaytandzhieva also confirms my long-held claims that Saudi Arabia is a main sponsor and arms distributor for terrorist groups:

Besides the USA, another country that has purchased huge quantities of Eastern-European weapons and exported them on Silk Way Airlines diplomatic flights is Saudi Arabia. In 2016 and 2017, there were 23 diplomatic flights carrying weapons from Bulgaria, Serbia and Azerbaijan to Jeddah and Riyadh [in Saudi Arabia – ed.]. The consignees were VMZ military plant and Transmobile from Bulgaria, Yugoimport from Serbia, and CIHAZ from Azerbaijan.

The Kingdom does not buy those weapons for itself, as the Saudi army uses only western weapons and those weapons are not compatible with its military standard. Therefore, the weapons transported on diplomatic flights end up in the hands of the terrorist militants in Syria and Yemen that Saudi Arabia officially admits supporting.

The Arab Kingdom also distributes military cargo to South Africa [controlled by the communist ANC] – a region plagued by wars over the control of the wealth in gold and diamonds found in African countries.

On 28 April and 12 May this year, Silk Way carried out two diplomatic flights from Baku to Burgas-Jeddah-Brazzaville (Republic of Congo). The military cargo on-board of both flights was paid for by Saudi Arabia, according to the documents leaked from Azerbaijan’s Embassy to Bulgarian sources. The aircraft made a technical landing at Jeddah airport with a 12 h 30 min stop for the first flight and 14 h stop for the second one.

The aircraft was loaded with mortars and anti-tank grenades including SPG-9 and GP-25. These very same weapons were discovered by the Iraqi army a month ago in an Islamic State warehouse in Mosul [proving the link between these shipments and ISIS]. Islamic State jihadists are also seen using those heavy weapons in propaganda videos posted online by the terrorist group. Interestingly, the consignee on the transport documents, however, is the Republican Guards of Congo.

In February and March of 2017, Saudi Arabia received 350 tons of weapons on Silk Way diplomatic flights flying to the route Baku-Belgrade-Prince Sultan-Baku. The cargo included 27,350 psc. 128-mm Plamen-a rockets and 10,000 pcs. 122 mm Grad rockets.

UAE is another Arab country that has purchased Eastern European weapons which are not compatible with its military standards and were apparently re-supplied to a third party... Although the ultimate consignee is the UAE army, the documents of the flight reveal that the sponsoring party is Saudi Arabia.

Cash Payments: On 26 February 2016, an Azerbaijan Air Force aircraft took off from Baku and landed in UAE, where it loaded two armored vehicles and one Lexus car. The request for diplomatic clearance indicated the payment as cash – US dollars. The aircraft landed in North Sudan and, the next day, in the Republic of Congo. The exporter was Safe Cage Armour Works, and the receiving party was the Republican Guards of Congo. The sponsoring party, however, was Saudi Arabia.

Diplomatic Flights carry deadly white phosphorus: White Phosphorus is an incendiary weapon whose use is very controversial due to the deadly harms it can inflict. On 31 March 2015, Silk Way transported 26 tons of military cargo including white phosphorus from Serbia (exporter: Yugoimport) and 63 tons from Bulgaria (exporter: Arsenal). On 22 March, another 100 tons of white phosphorus were exported from Yugoimport, Belgrade to Kabul. No contract is attached to the documents of those flights.

Baku (Capital of Azerbaijan) – international hub for weapons: Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense was repeatedly the consignee of weapons which it actually did not receive. On 6 May 2015, an Azerbaijani military aircraft flew to Burgas (Bulgaria)-Incirlik (Turkey)-Burgas. It carried aviation equipment from Bulgaria to Turkey with the consigner: EMCO LTD, Sofia, and consignee – Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan. However, the cargo was offloaded in Turkey and never reached Azerbaijan.

Some of the weapons that Azerbaijan carries on diplomatic flights were used by its military in Nagorno-Karabakh against Armenia. In 2016, Azerbaijan accused Armenia of using white phosphorus. Armenia denied the allegations and in turn accused Azerbaijan of fabrication, as the only piece of evidence was based on a single unexploded grenade found by Azerbaijan’s soldiers. According to the documents from the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Sofia, white phosphorus munitions were carried on a diplomatic flight via Baku the previous year.

That’s typical of how false flag charges are concocted.

Baku plays the role of an international hub for weapons. Many of the flights make technical landings with stops of a few hours at Baku airport or other intermediary airports en-route to their final destinations. Moreover, these types of aircrafts flying to the same destinations do not typically make technical landings. Therefore, a landing for refueling is not actually required. Despite this, Silk Way aircrafts constantly made technical landings.

Isreali Involvement: In 2017, there were 5 flights from Nish (Serbia) via Ovda (Israel) to Nasosny (Azerbaijan). Each flight carried 44 tons of cargo – SPG Howitzer, RM-70/85. The consignor is MSM Martin, Serbia, the consignee: Elbit Systems, Israel, and the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan. All aircrafts landed in Israel and stayed for 2 hours en-route to Azerbaijan.

The same Israeli company Elbit Systems on a flight from Barno (the Czech Republic) via Tel Aviv (Israel) to Bratislava (Slovakia) re-exported armored vehicles (TATRA T-815 VP31, TATRA T-815 VPR9). They were sent by Real Trade, Prague to Elbit Systems. The ultimate consignee, however, was the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan. The aircraft landed in Tel Aviv and then in Bratislava, where the cargo was imported by another company – MSM Martin, Slovakia. It is not clear why the plane flew from Europe to Asia and then back to Europe with the same cargo on-board. Ultimately, it did not reach its final destination – Azerbaijan. This type of aircraft, IL 76TD, can carry cargo of up to 50 tons. This one carried only 30 tons according to the documentation provided. Therefore, it could carry additional cargo of 20 tons. Since the flight was diplomatic, it was not subjected to inspection.

Some diplomatic flights carry weapons for different conflict zones crossing Europe, Asia and Africa. These flights are sometimes related to the overthrow of a government, proving that they are of Deep State origins:

Interestingly, the aircraft that carried the same type of weapons landed in Diyarbakir (Turkey), 235 km away from the border with Syria. Another type of weapon, RBG 40 mm/6M11, which was from the same flight and supposedly destined for Congo too, appeared in a video of the Islamic Brigade of Al Safwa in Northern Aleppo. After Turkey, the aircraft landed in Saudi Arabia and remained there for a day. Afterwards it landed in Congo and Burkina Faso. A week later, there was an attempted military coup in Burkina Faso [West Africa – ed.].

There were also 300 tons of RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), machine guns and ammunition for the Kurds, which Turkey would not have known about even though they were a party to similar arms smuggling flights into Syria.

The Russian news organizations picked up another important story from a Syria rebel defector who said his commanders traded US weapons to ISIS, and US and Norwegian trainers knew about it but turned a blind eye. Here’s RT.com:

Not only were the US-backed ‘moderate’ militants in southern Syria never meant to fight ISIS, but their commanders actually traded US-made weapons and ammunition to terrorists, a rebel defector claimed in an interview with Rossiya-24.

Their US and Norwegian instructors, stationed at the base, taught the militants to fire US-made weapons, trained mortar squads and conducted courses on accident-free driving on the battlefield.

The reality, however, differed from the proclaimed goal of fighting terrorists, as the unit has never seen action against IS and its commander actually traded the US-supplied weapons with the terrorists – all while the American instructors, deployed at the base, turned a blind eye, the former militant claimed.