Tuesday, February 24, 2015

The Intersection of Three Crises

By Reva Bhalla

Within the past two weeks, a cease-fire roadmap was agreed upon in Minsk, a temporary deal to keep Greece in the eurozone was reached in Brussels, and U.S. and Iranian negotiators advanced a potential nuclear deal in Geneva. Squadrons of diplomats have forestalled one geopolitical crisis after another. Yet it would be premature, even reckless, to assume that the fault lines defining these issues are effectively stable. Understanding how these crises are linked inextricably is the first step toward assessing when and where the next flare-up is likely to occur.

Germany and the Eurozone Crisis

Germany has once again become the victim of its own power. As Europe's largest creditor, Germany has considerable political leverage over debtor nations like Greece, whose entire livelihood now depends on whether Chancellor Angela Merkel is willing to sign another bailout check. Lest we forget, Germany is exporting more than half of its GDP, and most of those exports are consumed within Europe. Thus, the institutions that Germany relies on to protect its export markets are the very institutions that Berlin must battle to protect German national wealth.

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Sunday, February 22, 2015

North American Infidels Proudly Makes the ISIS Twitter “Block List”!

Loganswarning

North American Infidels Proudly Makes the ISIS Twitter “Block List”!

Posted: 21 Feb 2015 02:54 PM PST

While it is a long list that contains a lot of good people, the truthful information we supply against Islam is clearly being heard.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Only the truth will win us this war!

Here's the secret code a Mexican drug cartel allegedly uses to communicate ...

Borderland Beat

Badiraguato Mayor talks: Chapo's replacement, El Azul's "death", the whereabouts of Rafael Caro Quintero

Posted: 22 Feb 2015 12:31 AM PST

Lucio for Borderland Beat-translated from El Pais and posted by siskiyoukid

Driving along the road we happen upon cows and men with cowboy hats riding on the back of old mares. We journeyed until in the distance, we saw the giant letters written on a hill, Hollywood-style, they read ‘BADIRAGUATO’. In this town of 32,000 inhabitants, located in the foothills of the Sierra in Sinaloa, where more savvy farmers grow marijuana instead of beans, the most famous drug traffickers in Mexico's history were born.

The mayor is one of those ever present politicians. The municipality comprises a town and many villages scattered through the mountains, some seven hours away up the mountain.

This winter, Mario Valenzuela is touring all of them handing out blankets, wheelchairs and messages like this to residents: "I come to ask them to be responsible citizens. In Spain or United States they have the same laws, but there they are enforced. That is the problem we have in Badiraguato and in Mexico in general."

Valenzuela endures the midday sun at El Sitio de Arriba, a village which can be reached after crossing El Sitio de Abajo and El Sitio de Enmedio. His audience waited on the field where they are having the rally: women with children and the elderly. Before the interview in which Valenzuela (PRI, the ruling party) will talk about El Chapo, the mother of El Chapo, the flight of Caro Quintero, the cousin of Caro Quintero and the non-death of El Azul, play a guessing game with voters:

" What is the name of the animal that flies with legs? ".

“Duck!", someone among the public shouts.

Q:What is the situation of Badiraguato a year after the arrest of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán?

R:The problem is in the State (Sinaloa). An arrest of someone of the caliber of Chapo Guzman

leaves many people unemployed, at least temporarily. While things are transitioned, there are new controls, new hierarchies, resulting in new problems. Robberies have increased, also there are more assaults...

Q. A year ago, you told me that you had a relationship with the mother of El Chapo.

R.La señora (María Consuelo Loera) is thinner. On Wednesday of last week I was in La Tuna (a village of the municipality where EL Chapo was born).

She is quiet, stable.

Today I did not see her, but the time before I went to a first stone ceremony (first stone laid commemorating a construction start) and to the Churchof which she belongs, (built by El Chapo, although he is Catholic, the church is Evangelical) and I was with her for a while. She invited me to join her for breakfast and I did so with much pleasure. It is not her fault what her child does.

Q. Do you believe that the successor of El Chapo may be Dámaso López Nuñez, El Licenciado?

A. I don't know. What is certain is that El Chapo has a son, who is Ivan, also his brother, who is Aureliano [El Mudo], and I think that they would be in control before El Licenciado.

Q.Have you seen presence of other criminal groups that want to take this plaza that belongs to the Sinaloa cartel?

R.No. The hierarchy of these people isn’t local, it is essentially international.

Q.They have detected methamphetamine laboratories in Badiraguato?

R.They already produce synthetic drugs here. And that's bad, because in the end it is more harmful than marijuana. Synthetic drugs are the trend, as the plebes (young) say.

Is Badiraguato the cradle of drug trafficking? Yes, here were born many drug traffickers. The Lord of the Skies (Amado Carrillo, who died in 1997 in a cosmetic surgery operation), El Azul (José Juan Esparragoza, historic capo whose children say died), is supposed to be dead, but it is not certain.

Q. Was his death a sham for the authorities to stop pursuing him?

R.We have checked with his relatives and those who are close and they say no. Moreover, supposedly, the remains were transferred up here, I imagine, ashes or whatever.

Q.Mexican intelligence believes that Caro Quintero - who spent 30 years in prison for the murder of a DEA agent and came out last year through a legal gimmick - freely hides in his village, La Noria, near here.

R.It would be difficult to say, too bold.. They say yes. In February the Navy came with 18 helicopters. They badly beat the commissioner of the community, a first cousin of Caro Quintero.

He is not guilty of anything just because he is his cousin. He told the marines that yes; it is true that Caro had been here; he came and they (the people) made a roast (BBQ). They went to greet him in La Noria, with much pleasure. When he was free Caro helped a lot on this road: he installed lights, he built a beautiful church, generated employment for the people. Of course, they treated him like a family member who had been in prison for 30 years.

There are many hypotheses concerning Caro: he is working in the mines, that he is helping people, or that he is in control of the cartel. They say that he prefers to be eaten by the mosquitoes of the Sierra, than to return to prison.

Q.in the mural of illustrious characters of Badiraguato that you are building will it include...?

R. N’ombre! (Contraction of "no hombre" used like "no way") I will not put El Chapo there. I would say Peña Nieto is going up.

Mora Hipólito candidacy for federal deputy is still 'viable'

Posted: 21 Feb 2015 09:02 PM PST

Borderland Beat posted by DD from material at Red Politica and Movimiento Cuidano

The ex-leader of the AUC, Hipolito Mora seeks political contest in the upcoming elections on June 7 despite being imprisoned.

Dante Delgado , National Citizens Movement coordinator said a bid by Hipólito Mora,former leader of the AUC is "viable".

Mora at this time is imprisoned after the confrontation in Apatzingán that occurred in December 2014, with elements of the Rural Force commanded by Luis Antonio Torres, El Americano.

Last year before the confrontation on Dec. 16 which resulted in 11 people dead, Mora expressed his desire to contend as a candidate for deputyship in the elections of 2015, however he did not indicate what party he would prefer to represent.

Different versions pointed to the Labor Party (PT) or National Regeneration Movement(Morena) as a possibility, however Citizens Movement (DD; a registered political party) gave to understand that they are with the ex-leader of the AUC as he seeks a seat on the federal council.

Despite the legal situation and incarceration in which he was placed in 2014 , his lawyer Eduardo Quintero pointed out that amparos (legal protections) are available so that he is not deprived of his political and electoral rights and can seek election as a federal deputy.

Here's the secret code a Mexican drug cartel allegedly uses to communicate

Posted: 21 Feb 2015 09:01 PM PST

Borderland Beat posted by DD republished from Business Insider

By Christina Sterbenz.

To sell drugs and transport their profits, Mexican cartels need to stay off the grid. That means using ultra-secret communications.

In a recent money-laundering case in Chicago, special agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Jill Dennewitz testified against 32 members of various Mexican drug cartels.

A cell phone and charger hooked up to a battery (not shown) and a solar generator are seen following the arrest of eight men accused of serving as scouts for Mexican drug cartels in Pinal County, Arizona

The cartel members often used blackberry messenger, or BBM, according to prosecutors. In one instance, Carlos Parra-Pedroza, also known as "Walt Disney" or "Don Walt," allegedly emailed a confidential HSI informant a list of codes to use while they talked.

When they communicate, cartels likely spend a lot of time discussing shipment amounts and prices. Therefore, they created a system of codes that correlated with numbers.

62 = 0
83 = 1
71 = 2
49 = 3
57 = 4
66 = 5
35 = 6
21 = 7
18 = 8
96 = 9

The cartel members also used coded phrases that pertained more to scheduling.

Make an appointment = let's go to the beach
Appointment was made = it's warm
Which day = [depends on the day]
I am on my way = the beer are cold
I am on my way back = I'm with my wife
I am verifying = I have diarrhea
Mercedes = ticket is complete
Hamburger = is missing/short
It's f***ed up = I like your sister
They are following me and I have money with me = let's go to the movie theater
Monday = Red
Tuesday = Yellow
Wednesday = Green
Thursday = White
Friday = Blue
Saturday = Black
Sunday = Purple

During one conversation on Aug. 21, 2014, for example, Para-Pedroza told the informant: "The red one we'll start with 2 orders .... One is of 66 62 62 and the other of 96 62 62 .... Let's see if we can work all the colors. [Name redacted] and his brother go to the beach the whole week."

That most likely means: On Monday (August 25, 2014), Looks like we'll start with two orders .... One is 500 (probably meaning $500,000) and the other one of 900 (probably meaning $900,000) .... Let's see if we can pick up the narcotics proceeds every day of the week. [Name redacted] and his brother make an appointment the whole week.

The lawsuit claims that "Walt Disney" and his brethren laundered more than $100 million in drug profits using these methods

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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

McConnell Plans to End DHS Funding Impasse by Splitting Bill | CNS News

MAILBAG - The News-Press