Was Heritage Foundation Chief on the Take?

In fallout from the Tom DeLay investigation, Tom Edsall, in today's Washington Post reports that payments to a Hong Kong based consulting firm co-founded by Ed Feulner, Heritage's president, led to a change in thinking about Malaysia at the Washington think-tank. The story appears to be based on documents from the Jack Abramoff Indian tribes investigation:

For years, the Heritage Foundation sharply criticized the autocratic rule of former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, denouncing his anti-Semitism, his jailing of political opponents and his 'anti-free market currency controls.'

Then, late in the summer of 2001, the conservative nonprofit Washington think tank began to change its assessment: Heritage financed an Aug. 30-Sept. 4, 2001, trip to Malaysia for three House members and their spouses. Heritage put on briefings for the congressional delegation titled 'Malaysia: Standing Up for Democracy' and 'U.S. and Malaysia: Ways to Cooperate in Order to Influence Peace and Stability in Southeast Asia.'

Is think-tank work funding-driven across the political spectrum? You betcha. On the other hand, this story is interesting because it implies personal business ventures affected policy priorities for a non-profit.

Agustin Blazquez on Senator Dodd's Cuban Connections

by Agustin Blazquez with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton

"Senator Dodd is not concerned about the hardship of the Cuban people, he is just interested in business." This quote does not come from the Cuban American exiles but from the Human Rights Lawton Foundation in Havana last May 11, 1999, after Christopher Dodd's visit to the communist ruled island.

In a document replying to Senator Dodd‚s recommendations for the lifting of the US embargo signed by Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, Migdalia Rosado Hernandez and Rolando Muñoz Yyobre addressed to the people of the US --but not reported in the US media -- the directors of the human rights foundation expressed their consternation about Dodd's statements.

The document says "the lifting of the embargo has to be conditioned to respect the human rights of the Cuban people, the freedom of all political prisoners, a multi-party system and free elections, because these principles must take precedence over business."

What the Lawton Foundation expresses is the overwhelming desire of all pro-democracy organizations inside Cuba and the majority of the Cubans, as well as the exiles not only in the US but in other countries.

While opinions differ as to the means to achieve the goal, it is unquestionable that the vast majority of Cubans are united in their democratic desires. After all, four decades ago Castro stole what many believed to be a renaissance of democracy in Cuba.

Cubans in general --based on their first hand experience--are better informed about the Cuban reality and can make a better assessment than a foreigner who, quite naturally, is not as well acquainted with the history and the mechanisms at work within Castro's Cuba. The opinion of the ordinary Cubans should be the primary consideration before adding mistakes to the many already made by the US during this 40-year example of the failure of communism.

According to the Lawton Foundation and the judgement of better-informed Cuban sources, Senator Dodd twisted the Cuban reality to favor US businessmen who are willing to exploit the cheap semi-slave labor that Castro is offering in order to enrich themselves. They stated that Dodd's intention as well as the ones of other US politicians recalls those of the "Nazi-communist pact signed by Ribbentrop and Molotov."

Dodd said that the lifting of the US embargo would be "good business" for Americans. But the human rights foundation says, "Christopher Dodd and his followers are showing their disdain for the principles of freedom. The communist system is the origin and cause of the dire situation of the Cubans."

Echoing what others on the island have been saying for years, the Lawton Foundation states, "the humanitarian aid donated to relieve the Cuban people is being sold at the stores and pharmacies for US dollars only," to benefit Castro‚s regime.

"The Cuban people are hostages of the Castro-communist dictatorship," and they urge the "support and solidarity of the American people and the international community." The document points out that "Castro voted in favor of the embargo against the government of South Africa," and question, "Why lift the US embargo of Castro while in Cuba there reigns an ethnic, political, economic, social and informational apartheid?"

The Lawton Foundation document was not newsworthy to the US media, and was obviously ignored by Dodd and his followers who treat Cubans as a nuisance to be dismissed.

Senator Dodd - who later claimed he only was responsible for the reservation of the room - was involved in the reception to honor Maria de Ia Luz B‚Hamel, the Director of Trade Policy for North America from Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Igor Montero Britto, the Vice President and Chief Commodity Buyer for ALIMPORT, both agencies of Castro's regime. This "people-to-people" contact with Castro's cronies was shamefully held on July 21, 1999, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill and was sponsored by the anti-US embargo Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy, the American Farm Bureau Federation and several grain commodity groups.

This inflammatory action by Senator Dodd and the American farmers prompted protests from Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Bob Menendez, the three Cuban American members of the House of Representatives and a demonstration championed by Cuban Americans in front of the Dirksen Senate Office Building held on July 21, 1999.

The peaceful demonstration was organized by Israel Moya of NoCastro.com and the Mothers & Women Against Repression for Cuba (M.A.R.) based in Miami. A delegation of women dressed in black for the event flew from Miami, headed by its president, Sylvia G. Iriondo. Also present were members of the Alliance of Young Cubans.

What is phony about the rush to establish business arrangements with Castro‚s regime at the end of the Clinton Administration is that the ordinary Cubans are left out. This is not free enterprise. Ordinary citizens are forbidden to participate in business ventures with foreigners.

The supposedly non-governmental companies in Cuba that are authorized to make business are front companies owned and operated by Castro's regime and his cronies from the army and security forces. in charge of repressing the people. Therefore, all business that Dodd and his followers want to do in Cuba directly benefits Castro's regime helping him to stay in power against the will of the people. In fact, they would be supporting a tyranny. Ordinary Cuban citizens stand to gain more repression from these business deals. Nothing more.

Anybody who really knows the mechanisms at work in Castro's Cuba knows that fact. But Dodd and his followers apparently are playing with the ignorance of the misinformed American people. And who is responsible for this ignorance? The US media, who for decades has been avoiding to expose the reality of Castro's regime. Cubans and their suffering seem to be inconsequential to many.

Rolando Muñoz Yyobre, one of the signatories of the Havana-based Human Rights Lawton Foundation‚s document says, "The embargo is not against people, but against the government." Also Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet added that, "the embargo is one of the arms of non-violent civic resistance" against Castro's tyranny.

On June 7, 1999, Dr. Biscet and five others began a 40-day hunger strike "one for each year of tyranny" at Migdalia Rosado Hernandez‚ humble apartment at Tamarindo 34 in Havana asking for the respect of human rights and the liberation of all political prisoners in Cuba. Hundreds of people throughout Cuba and abroad joined in that effort.

Unfortunately, silence was the rule of the US media and Cubans once more were deprived of the solidarity that would have helped to make a difference. Also, the publicity would have served to alert Dodd and his followers that business with Castro‚s Cuba would not be morally acceptable. Those politicians and businessmen who play in the uncharted muddy waters with the tyrant, eventually will pay a price.

© 2005 ABIP Agustin Blazquez is producer/director of the documentaries COVERING CUBA, CUBA: The Pearl of the Antilles, COVERING CUBA 2: The Next Generation & COVERING CUBA 3: Elian presented at the 2003 Miami Latin Film Festival and the 2004 American Film Renaissance Film Festival in Dallas, Texas and the upcoming COVERING CUBA 4: The Rats Below and Dan Rather--60 Minutes:an inside view.

A Sign of Hope in Northern Virginia

A Surprise Russian Landing in Manassas (washingtonpost.com):

As science star Ricky Yezzi took the stage in the Osbourne Park High School auditorium yesterday morning, 400 of his schoolmates cheered and whistled as if he had just come home victorious from a big game. The shaggy-haired 18-year-old quelled the noise long enough to introduce his two new acquaintances: one of Russia's premier cosmonauts and a top Russian space scientist.

For the next 90 minutes, Yury Usachev and Alexander Martynov talked about the U.S.-Russian partnership on the international space station, a possible manned mission to Mars and the physics of doing somersaults in space. The rare in-school field trip was made possible by Yezzi.

The Man Who Brought Down President Nixon

Justice really is blind. The man who brought down President Richard M. Nixon was William Reckert, a blind federal transcriber who discoverd the 18 1/2 minute gap in the Watergate tapes that led to Nixon's impeachment. Here's Reckert's obituary from today's Washington Post.

Another Pathetic Attack on John Bolton

Today The Washington Post actually made fun of his haircut and glasses. No, they're not Daniel Ortega's Ray-Bans...

Britain's Music Manifesto

In my Russian class last night, the instructor talked about how important music is to Russian culture and education--and how backwards the West can seem in comparison. Then he noted that Tony Blair is a convert to this view, and announced a movement to bring music education to the center of British education. I googled the reference, and found there's actually a whole movement in the UK, centered around this Music Manifesto.

William Kristol on "Pathetic" Attacks on John Bolton

Kristol says he's not even a "screamer." From The Weekly Standard:

THE ASSAULT ON JOHN BOLTON--a collaborative effort of Senate Democrats, the liberal media, and some quasi-Republicans resentful of his success--has now degenerated from an earnest (if misguided) critique of his views to a pathetic attempt at character assassination.

I worked with John Bolton in the first Bush administration. I know many people who have worked with him and for him in this administration. Carl Ford's characterization of Bolton as a 'kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy' is disingenuous. No, let's call a spade a spade--it's dishonest.

John Bolton is no 'kiss-up.' Quite the contrary. Over the last four years, he was famously willing to challenge his bosses, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage, at the daily 8:30 State Department senior staff meeting. He paid a price for this, especially by earning the enmity of Armitage. Carl Ford, the former State Department intelligence chief, was a close associate of Armitage.

Nor is Bolton a 'kick down sort of guy.' In fact, Bolton has always had a reputation as a straight shooter, a good boss, and not a screamer--unlike, say, Armitage. (Not that Armitage's screaming should disqualify him from a future appointment, either. Lots of able public officials have been screamers.) The fact is, John Bolton lost trust in a subordinate of Ford who had tried an end run around him and then asked, according to the subordinate's immediate boss in the intelligence shop, only that he be "moved to some other portfolio."

A Sign of Hope In Russia

Court Rules for Simpsons Cartoon - The St. Petersburg Times:

MOSCOW - After spending a day in court watching cartoons, a Moscow judge on Friday rejected a lawsuit brought against RenTV for broadcasting two American programs that the plaintiff said had piqued his young son's interest in cocaine and prompted the child to insult his mother.

The Khamovniki District Court judge rejected the claim by Igor Smykov, who filed the suit almost three years ago claiming that the cartoon series 'The Simpsons' and 'The Family Guy' were morally degenerate and promoted drugs, violence and homosexuality.

Smykov sued the channel in June 2002, asking for compensation of 50,000 rubles, which was eventually increased to 300,000 rubles ($10,770). He also demanded that the station be banned from airing the two programs or at least be required to show them.

Bolton Fight Really About Fidel Castro, Says Robert Novak

Robert Novak's column today makes the case that Senator Chris Dodd's opposition to Bolton is motivated by his support for the Cuban dictator:

Dodd renewed the fight when President Bush named Bolton to the UN, exposing grave disputes inside the national security bureaucracy. Bolton was accused of bullying State Department analyst Christian Westermann, who claimed Bolton exaggerated Cuba's germ warfare potentialities. Bolton has charged that Westermann went behind Bolton's back to undermine his case while his Heritage speech was being cleared by intelligence.

Bolton also came under fire from Dodd for questioning CIA officer Fulton Armstrong's assessment on Cuban arms. (The CIA had asked that Armstrong's name be kept secret because he now serves overseas, but his name was inadvertently divulged in the Foreign Relations Committee hearing by both Chairman Richard Lugar and Sen. John Kerry.) Dodd's theme that Bolton intimidated intelligence analysts was faithfully repeated by rote in questioning by other Democrats.

But should Armstrong have been free of criticism? During his tenure as assistant secretary of state, Reich on several occasions asked, without success, that Armstrong be removed. This CIA analyst was notorious inside the national security bureaucracy for faulty judgments on not only Cuba but also Haiti, Venezuela and Colombia. To his critics, Armstrong always favored positions of such anti-U.S. heads of state as Haiti's Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. It is doubtful that Democratic senators questioning Bolton, other than Dodd, knew about Armstrong's background.

It is also doubtful most senators knew much about former Assistant Secretary of State Carl Ford when he testified against Bolton Tuesday. Although he characterized himself as a faithful conservative Republican, former CIA analyst Ford worked for Democratic Sen. John Glenn for five years. Federal Election Commission filings indicate he contributed to both Democrats and Republicans, to both John Kerry and George W. Bush. Ford, as President Bush's appointee, was giving funds to Democrats Jane Harman, Charles Rangel and Daniel Inouye.

In his testimony Tuesday, Ford was hardly questioned about Bolton's actual assessment of Castro's germ warfare capability. Chris Dodd was able to drive Otto Reich out of the government because he was anti-Castro. It remains to be seen whether that also is John Bolton's fate.

There may be something to this theory. I think I remember meeting Senator Dodd, many years ago, at a Hollywood fundraiser for Nicaraguan Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega. Or maybe Ortega was at a fundraiser for Senator Dodd? I can't remember, exactly. In any case, I think the event took place at the home of actor Mike Farrell, at a real Hollywood movie-star mansion, on a big lawn, in a tent. What struck me at that time was that Ortega was wearing a pair of very expensive, high-fashion, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and appeared very "radical chic." Let's just put it this way--most of the people there were rooting for the Sandinistas -- and very much against Ronald Reagan.

Michelle Malkin on the "Kill Bush" phenomenon

CafePress has pulled it's "Kill Bush" t-shirts from the market, after Michelle Malkin published an oped column with this conclusion:

'Oh, but it's all in good fun,' the libs will shrug. Yeah, just like the Guardian's call last fall for someone to kill Bush. Just like the wave of campus attacks on conservatives. Just like the vicious anti-troops, anti-Bush slogans: 'We Support Our Troops, When They Shoot their Officers' and 'Bush is the disease. Death is the cure.'

'Where's your sense of humor?' the libs will ask.

Where's their decency? Their sanity?

Welcome to the sick world of the pro-assassination Left.

Update: Yes, thanks for all the e-mails on the assassination exhibit at Columbia College of Art in Chicago. Power Line and Jeff Quinton have more.

Update: 4/14. CafePress has yanked the 'Kill Bush' products.

Ironic that some of these same people simultaneously pretend to be opposed to the death penalty...

Texas CAIR Founder Convicted of Terrorism

Little Green Footballs notes that the founder of a Texas chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been convicted of all 21 federal counts of conspiracy, money laundering and dealing in property of a terrorist.

Ghassan Elashi, by the way, was the founder of the Texas chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations--CAIR. But that's obviously not a piece of information that mainstream media wants you to know, because not a single news or wire story mentions it.

Putin Brings Back Cossacks

I don't know if he's thought through the public relations aspect of this decision in the West, or not, but apparently Vladimir Putin is reviving the Russian Cossacks. He's already submitted a draft law to the State Duma defining a "Cossack society." These Cossacks will be available for Russian military and law enforcement purposes.

Until the Russian Revolution, there were some 4 million Cossacks. Abolished by Lenin in 1920, Stalin revived the Cossacks in 1936, and Cossack Units fought the Germans in World War II. After the war, the Cossacks were again disbanded. (Thanks to Siberian Light for the tip.)

More on Iraq from Roger L. Simon

Roger L. Simon: More Chalabi Wasabi

Report from Afghanistan

I noticed this Afghanistan story today on Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit.com:

INSTAPUNDIT'S AFGHANISTAN CORRESPONDENT, Maj. Robert Macaraeg, reports:

Guess who dropped in to Kanadahar Air Field (KAF)? Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Earlier he flew out to a Forward Operating Base, returned to KAF and then reenlisted 11 soldiers, gave a speech, did a question and answer session and then posed for photos with soldiers, airmen, marines and sailors.

He gave a 10 to 15 minute speech on why we are in Afghanistan. He mentioned after 2000 years Afghanistan had its first free election after the Soviets occupation and brutal rule of the Taliban. He was optimistic about the future of Afghanistan and said that the Afghan people wanted a bright future. Also he mentioned the devotion to duty that SFC Smith who was just awarded the Medal of Honor.

Then it was the question and answer session. He has a good sense of humor, but did not sugar coat his answers. The questions ranged from the new XM-8 rifle for the infantry, immigration and citizenship for foreigners who serve in the US military, shorter rotations for the US Army and why not military police can earn the new Close Combat Badge. One thing that struck me that he did not B.S. anybody. When he did not know the right answer, he said he would get back to you or deferred to one of Generals to give the straight answer.

One soldier asked the question on why America gets such a negative view of events here. Rumsfeld asked the soldier to repeat the question to make sure that he understood then smiled and laughed. He said "do you think I control the press?" That got a good laugh out of everybody; then he said if you look at any newspaper or TV news program all the headlines are negative. Negative headlines sell. He said with our (military) emails and letters that we send home, people in America will see the good that the military is accomplishing. Also Americans can sort through the news and see the truth. I totally agree with him.

After that he stood with service members for 30 minutes and took photos and shook hands. You can see that he enjoys meeting the troops. I have seen in the previous Sec Defs and Presidents who just did a five minute grip and grin, but Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld impressed the troops and in the dining facility (DFAC) comments were made that he should serve his full term.

I've noticed that Rumsfeld seems to be more popular with the troops than with the press. Perhaps that's because Rumsfeld seems to be counting on the Internet to bypass the press . . . .

Yukos Lawyer Targets Germany

The Moscow Times reports that Yukos' legal team has charged Germany as a co-conspirator against Mikhail Khodorkovsky:

Robert Amsterdam, an adviser to Mikhail Khodorkovsky's legal team, said Tuesday he would go to Berlin this week to call on German lawmakers to investigate Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's support for the Kremlin's legal onslaught against the former Yukos CEO.

Amsterdam accused Schroder of turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in Khodorkovsky's trial, in exchange for 'chips' for German companies in winning Russian contracts.
Schroder has been one of the few world leaders to openly back President Vladimir Putin over the case, which has resulted in the partial rena-tionalization of Yukos and Khodorkovsky facing up to 10 years in prison on charges of fraud and tax evasion.

After Yukos' main production unit, Yuganskneftegaz, was sold off last December, Schroder called the auction 'an internal affair,' in contrast to the reaction of the United States, which condemned it and earlier expressed concern over 'selective application' of the law in the Khodorkovsky trial. The Council of Europe has condemned the case as political.

Khodorkovsky's Final Statement

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, was sentenced to ten years in prison the other day. You can read his entire final statement on MOSNEWS.COM:

When somebody says that the Yukos case led to the strengthening of the state's role in the economy, it arouses in me nothing but bitter laughter. Those people, who are busy robbing Yukos' assets today, do not have any real relationship with the Russian state and its interests. They are merely dirty-handed and self-centered bureaucrats, nothing more.

The whole country knows why I was put in jail: so that I wouldn't prevent the company from being robbed. At the same time, the people who organized the prosecution against me personally, tried to scare the authorities and society with my mythical political ambitions. They openly deceived the president, as well as other representatives of the country's highest political authorities and Russian society as a whole. I am convinced that in our global and transparent world there are no secrets that won�t be revealed with time. And the judgment of history will put everything in its rightful place. It is not a secret to anyone that the fabricated criminal cases against me and against other Yukos executives were damaging to the Russian economy. The amount of Russia's lost capital has grown by six times, and Russian and foreign investors' trust in our Motherland as an object for investment has been undermined. Well, let the full responsibility be laid upon those who designed my arrest and are now trying to send me to jail.

The whole world knows that the “Khodorkovsky case”, planned by certain representatives of a homegrown criminal bureaucracy, brought a heavy blow to the reputation of Russia and of its authorities. But nothing could stop these greedy people, who decided to grab for themselves the main enterprises and assets of Yukos at any cost. Nothing could stop them — not even the direct loss, which they have brought and are still bringing everyday to our country, to our statehood.

All of Russia knows that the prosecutors were unable to prove any of the charges against me. The attempts to blame me for a variety of crimes have turned into an obvious joke. And even prosecution witnesses were, in fact, testifying on my behalf.

I still think President Bush could ask Putin to let Khodordovsky go, before he attends V-E celebrations in Russia this May. Putin has the power to pardon Khodorkovsky, and the US might ask him to do so. It would actually help Russia, by improving the climate for international investment, as well as the United States' commitment to rule of law.

Denver Post: Attacks on Bolton "Pathetic"

The Denver Post had the same reaction to the Bolton hearings that I did: "In the end, the attacks on him - based as they are on 16-year-old comments and a three-year-old intelligence dispute, seemed not only petty and personal, but pathetic." The question remains, do Democrats think such a stupid plan of attack on Bolton makes them look good? If there isn't anything more than this, why subject Bolton--and the American public--to such a waste of time?

BTW, the intelligence employee mentioned in yesterday's testimony was a GS-14. Any Washingtonian knows it is almost impossible to fire a civil servant at that level. It is highly doubtful that Bolton, an experienced Washingtonian, would not have known that. Which may mean that Mr. Ford may have been lying to Congress -- the crime Ollie North was convicted of -- when he told Senators that he had the impression that Bolton wanted him to fire the employee...

Who is ex-CIA Agent Carl W. Ford, Jr.?

He's apparently a Washington, DC lobbyist and consultant to arms dealers, as well as John Bolton's chief accuser in today's Senate hearing. Here's his online bio from the website of the lobbying company he works for:Cassidy & Associates. According to the bio, his clients have included Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon, helping them sell to the Japanese, South Korean, and Taiwanese military.

Who is CIA Agent Fulton Armstrong?

Little Green Footballs has some links about the man Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., both mentioned at John Bolton's confirmation hearing...(is "Fulton Armstrong" a real name?)

Are NGOs International Criminal Entrerprses?

In his interesting article, The U.N., Preying on the Weak, in today's Washington Post, Peter Dennis observes that the UN-affiliated NGOs were up to more than hanky-panky: "In fact, abuse at these camps went beyond sexual violations: Injustices of one sort or another were perpetrated by U.N. missions or their affiliated nongovernmental organizations every day in the camps I visited. Corruption was the norm, in particular the embezzlement of food and funds by NGO officials, which often left camp resources dangerously inadequate. Utterly arbitrary judicial systems in the camps subjected refugees to violent physical punishment or months in prison for trivial offenses -- all at the whim of officials and in the absence of any sort of hearing."