In all the excitement, it was easy to miss the fact that there were two very high level visitors to Iran late last week and then over the weekend: Turkish President Gul and German Foreign Minister Westerwelle. The sequence was not accidental.
Gul went first, and stayed for four days. The Turks and Iranians are constructing a very complex network of deals and schemes, from coordinating action against Israel, to making the two currencies interchangeable, to making commerce virtually unregulated, to building and maintaining oil and gas pipelines, enabling Turkey to buy Iranian product at bargain prices, and granting exploration and development concessions to Gul’s people.
And there is more, above all Turkey’s role as an enabler for the Iranians’ malevolent programs, from obtaining military technology to funneling cash to terrorists, to getting top euro for Iran’s stash of Western hostages. FOOTNOTE: hostages in Iran are never released unless ransom is paid. When you see hostages coming out, the only questions are 1)how much was paid? and 2) who paid it and how??
Gul was a middleman between the Germans and the Iranians in the matter of the release of two German journalists, whom Westerwelle collected in Tehran and accompanied back home. We need not rely on inside sources to assert a Turkish role. Gul bragged about it in public just today. However, we do need good sources to know what the deal was.
There’s lots of dual-use technology (stuff that can be used for weapons systems or for “civilian” projects) that the Germans want to sell to Iran, but they can’t because of sanctions. So the deal was a classic sanctions-busting maneuver. Germans will sell the stuff to the Turks. The Turks will send it on to the Iranians. And the Iranians toss in two hostages.
‘The Germans’ — who exactly do you mean?
Look a little deeper and you’ll find that almost every company that has something relevant to sell in Germany is actually not German anymore but simply an international business that bought a German company — much of Germany that is worthwhile to own in a portfolio is actually foreign owned.
Much like the US and any other Western country really…
Btw, don’t you find it a little strange that no western politicians is ever nailed for corruption and backhanders? (…)
Have to agree.
Multi-national corps are a far bigger problem to free people than is the worst form of islam.
I would go that far, but there should be significant criminal penalties for any company and it’s officers from any country that sells products or knowledge with military applications to any Islamic country not on our approved list.
Like GE up until a year or so ago.
But Germany has her Say for any sales made to acknoledged “rogue” states.
Also it’s not such international companies financement, German prefer to control every thing themselves, but probably that the stuff they sell is manufactured in her proxy eastern neighbours countries
Germany doesn’t feel that she ought to respect moral rules when she makes businesses, she did too with the Soviets, then with Putin, with who ever wants to buy “german made”
She has a go alone policy, like for the money crisis, things must be made the german way
Would you care to give me some examples of these internationally owned German corporations?
Reminds me of the monsters that carved Danny Pearl’s head off after freed for hijacking Indian Flt 814. The pragmatic west will probably sell nukes to Cuba if it’ll buy them another mile down the welfare road. Our leaders can’t see beyond the range of the moment.
Also reminds me of the apparent impotence of the navy in dealing with lightly armed punks in puny boats in the Aden; better to negotiate with ‘em – says the enlightened contemporaries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Airlines_Flight_814
Lenin was famous for saying that the Capitalists will fight to the death for the right to sell the Bolsheviks the rope they need to hang the Capitalists.
Given that a lot of people think that the Stuxnet virus couldn’t have been made without the active help of Siemans (who made the targeted centrifuges) perhaps we wanted the Germans to sell the Iranians carefully sabaotoged prohibited tech.
We used that tactic against both the Soviets and Saddam. The bad guys think they’ve scored a big secret/forbidden tech when really they’ve just paid a lot of money for malware.
On the other hand, the German’s are wimps and unable to do anything to protect their citizens by any other means than selling out.
We’ll probably never know.
The Siemens equipment wasn’t sabotaged. It wasn’t even compromised. The SCADA computers connected to them were. And the method of attack used against the Siemens PLCs could also be used against PLCs made by Rockwell, Modicon, or pretty much any other manufacturer with an always connected SCADA computer. It wasn’t the PLC that was compromised, it was the connected computer whispering bogus little nothings into the PLC’s serial port.
And as far as anyone knows, that was just a generic IBM PC running Windows.
Shannon;
I have to agree.
We can’t afford to miss the chance to take advantage of the opportunity.
This sounds oh too much like the plot of Forsyth’s The Odessa File, with a German industrialist (and “ex” Nazi) covertly selling guidance electronics to Egypt to use in weapons against Israel (in 1963-67). We shouldn’t expect Germany’s interests to be the same as ours, or even close, then or now. “We taught them a lesson in 1918, and they’ve hardly bothered us since then.”
Duplicitous Turks!
The clique of evil savages who are ruling Iran don’t know how NOT to take hostages.
and while we’re at it (slightly OT), isn’t it time for the world’s navies to indefinitely blockade the pirate ports of Somalia and Puntland?
I’m sorry, but when I hear about hostages it always begs the question, “how?”
The condition of the world as it stands leads me to admonish ANYONE against travel to these places (Michael Totten notwithstanding)or even close to their borders. I know, I know, how naive…
I’m suggesting that we can’t protect people from their own terrible judgement after they’ve been informed that “such-and-such is a terrible place and you’re taking your life in your hands if you go there,” and they go anyway.
Not to be confused with the notion that hostages have it coming or that there are no justifiable circumstances under which Americans might be in a hostile place, far from it. I just wish we’d act like we mean it when we demand the release of Americans…and put the lever down.
Thanks for this very insightful and important analysis, helping to place Westerwelle’s (whose Free Democratic party was completely eliminated in the Hamburg voting yesterday) untimely visit to Teheran in proper perspective. The unwillingness of the Americans to speak out against the likelihood of German involvement in sanction-busting is deeply troubling, though as you point out the Americans themselves may be engaged in deals with Teheran. You often call Obama and his henchmen “feckless.” But perhaps you are being too generous. Isn’t it about time to start calling them complicit with the Mullocracy?
MHL: actually i wrote a whole book on complicity with the mullahs, including Obama. http://www.amazon.com/Accomplice-Evil-Iran-Against-West/dp/0312570694/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298341955&sr=1-1
What gets me is how so many people ignore or play down the Turkish turn to Islamism. Some of this is also the fault of Israeli leaders like Barak or the lamentable ‘Fuad’ Ben Eliezer making the Marmara incident seem like a big snafu. This impression is then furthered by acceptance of American pressure for a UN commission to investigate Israel for Erdogan’s use of terrorists to try and break the Gaza blockade (and open up weapons transfers to Hamas).
I understand that Pam Geller is unpopular with many for her skewering of Islam. Nonetheless, she traced all sorts of links regarding those ‘flotillas’ to or near Obama. Ayers, Dohrn, Khalidi, Imam Rauf’s Malaysian organization, all tied to the flotilla stuff. The State Dept sent Rauf on a goodwill tour regarding the GZM.
Now the Iranian ships are actually transiting the Canal. Back to the main point, Turkey is a major threat to ‘world peace’ now. But the topic always gets changed. The Turkish-Iranian cooperation is a huge threat.
Not much we can do to stem Turkey’s slide into Islamism. They, Anatolian Turkey, are out-breeding Ataturk’s secularist Rumelian Turkey to a large degree.
I believe you have probably hit the key point. So, let them descend into the muck and become Iran. Agreed.
I read this twice and can’t find any factual evidence for the allegation that the Germans are selling controlled technology to Iran through Turkey.
Perhaps SISMI will find and reveal a bill of lading, signed by Merkel, Erdogan and Ahmedinejad.
try reading it a third time and you’ll find a reference to “sources.”
Westerwelle is perhaps the worst and the most spineless “Foreign Minister” in Germany’s history.
The most puzzling is why an open homosexual would be so enthusiastic about visiting the very country that is hanging gays; The Iranian barbarians will not show him any open hostility at such a venue but behind his back they are for sure experiencing an limitless contempt and revulsion for the fella.
Westerwelle is one of the Western politicians who project their political courage by denigrating their ally and defender the US while bending backwards, forwards and in any other imaginable direction for the enemies that would in a matter of a second castrate him before executing him in a most cruel way.
It is worthy to remaind our American friends that the Germans along with French, British and Russians have been for years promising Bush that in the event the sanctions against Iran failed to stop Mullahs from obtaining the nukes, they would full-heartedly support the military action.
As it came out, they broke any promise and will, for sure stab America in the back at the nearest opportunity.
But they shall and that is a 100% certainty, sallivate themselves in the presence of the PRESIDENT SARAH PALIN…
And that gives us a little hope that not all is lost.
P.S: I have once been a great germanophile but now I feel nothing but contempt for the Krauts.
However, an intellectual honesty demands from us to acknowledge that some 35% of Germans are very staunchly pro American.
Perhaps the most prominent of them is Herr Mathias Doepfner, the Chief Publisher of Spriger Empire with its flagship, Die Welt.
He has been always defending America and Geeorge Bush and his most famous article was “Europe, Thy Name Is COWARDICE” in which he labasted his Europeans fellows for their back-stabbing of America.
Those 35% are worthy of protecting and support by Yanks.
“I have once been a great germanophile but now I feel nothing but contempt for the Krauts”. A rather contradictory sentence somehow. The term “Krauts” expresses contempt and nothing else. By the way, Germans tend to back-stab nobody. In general, most of us are very direct and honest people. Some call us impolite, okay.
So why did Germany vote “Yes” on the Lebanon-supported Security Council resolution slamming Israel despite their claimed “special relationship”?
Because that “special relationship” is a sham, though Germany is still one of the most pro-Israel countries in Europe due to its History. But in the end thats not much of a standard…
@Bogdan: Westerwelle is actually very typical for a German Foreign Minister. Genscher for example was quite a crook and their party is deeply entrenched in all kinds of institutions that foster und support the arab-german relationship.
Let’s not forget Obama signed a deal to sell fighter jets and smart missile tech. to Mubarak – the ally left to the buzzards.
There are an awful lot of Turks in Germany. Lord, forbid; they may become “radicalized” and start bombing bratwurst stands. That whole radicalization dare, which is all it is, should be countered with “if y’all start tearing stuff up, someones going to get their ass busted!
Gee, and then you have a current American State Department official with diplomatic immunity held hostage by the Pakies, supposedly our allies. Maybe it’s time we take hostages too? Two can tango; it’s just a matter of what to trade and not to trade, bodies or money or technology. I always thought we should’ve bombed our embassy in Teheran in ’79: in other words, practiced a “no hostage policy” for keeps. At least the hostage takers would have died with the hostages, which definitely demonstrates some national fortitude. We may want to escalate and start with carpet bombing those thriving Pakie towns where the Taliban hang out with herd immunity for their rest and relaxation between campaigns in Afghanistan. Since they have no issues with blowing up non-combatants, I fail to see why we should be so finicky; war is hell. And “war crimes” are just an after thought by the victors, but first you have to have a victory to enjoy that judicial contradiction in terms.
Facts: A company owned by Siemens in China received an order from a Chinese company. Siemens should deliver industrial computers to the address of the other company (in China too). The computers have been delivered, the money paid, everything seemed o.k. What Siemens did not know: The Chinese company planned to ship the computers to Iran via Dubai. The Iranian company involved might have been Kalaye Electric Company( nobody seems to be absolutely sure). Seen in this context, a company will never be sure to whom the goods will be delivered in the end. What about the company that shipped the goods? It seems that only German companies are in the focus. What about Russian, Chinese, Indian, South American or even US ones? Source: Welt online Wikileads- Enthüllungen. By the way, Peter Löscher, the Austrian GM of Siemens is a man of high integrity and morality. Furthermore, Welt online is a product of the Springer publishing house. Axel Springer, the late founder only accepted journalists who did write pro-American and pro-Israel. Therefore, when Welt online sees the incident as a chain of unfortunate circumstances, it has to be accepted. Somehow Germans never seem to have a sound grasp of contemporary developments. Perhaps, the US should speak to German officials more often and not only about Germans.
hope you like it:
http://imgur.com/t8ldc
Its a puzzle of interest.Hows’s it going to end?
Iranian warships crossed the Suez Canal.
A new emirate forming on the borders Libya-Egipt.
And the Persian people,with not much cover in the mass media.
Salvo Internet.Por ahora.Excuse me in spanish,but here in Argentina we have two deals with the iranian regime:The two bombings on Buenos Aires.
Go Germany, go!
germans have every right to do their own and not US-biased foreign policy and business.
US dictate is harming the interests of every single european state, cause the EU is the middle east neighbour, and they always been interested to have good relations to turkey and iran.
in the same way the US was not able to do anything against iran, they wont be able to change something in germany.
be aware: it is not the merkel government making problems, no, those are already washingtons darling. it is the german economy and business companies who totally reject the US/UN-sanctions.
nobody can convince them that US-policy will benefit their status. what the germans rcognized is, how to do diplomacy with iran via the back door.
and they will continue. the US should stay out of europe and the middle east and care about mexico, canada or cuba.