Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Helen, is this the best you could do for your old buddy? A war zone, a batshit crazy, holy war, stone queers..to death.. war zone? WTF did he do wrong
Carter. Kabul. Taliban. Corruption
On so many levels and in spite of the fact that this weapons grade troughpig, blame it on the haters, dickhead is probably going to trouser the thick end of 250,000 US dollars a year plus expenses.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....
Not much of a lifestyle from your guarded, barricaded compound over there buddy.
Cue the left wing scumatariat screeching to bring him back like they do our troops? No? Why not?
Enjoy the spiral landings, bowel loosening drive to the compound and being too scared to open a window lifestyle Chris. You deserve it.
Here is a handy google search for the "scene" buddy. The first answer is a doozy.
On another note. Helen, is this the best you could do for your old buddy? A war zone, a batshit crazy, holy war, stone queers.. to death... war zone?
WTF did he do wrong?
I hope the ginga Hughes thinks long and hard before he grovels for some crumbs. Poor bugger might end up working in Mogadishu.
Or is this Helen's way of telling all her old mates to stop calling?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....
Not much of a lifestyle from your guarded, barricaded compound over there buddy.
Cue the left wing scumatariat screeching to bring him back like they do our troops? No? Why not?
Enjoy the spiral landings, bowel loosening drive to the compound and being too scared to open a window lifestyle Chris. You deserve it.
Here is a handy google search for the "scene" buddy. The first answer is a doozy.
On another note. Helen, is this the best you could do for your old buddy? A war zone, a batshit crazy, holy war, stone queers.. to death... war zone?
WTF did he do wrong?
I hope the ginga Hughes thinks long and hard before he grovels for some crumbs. Poor bugger might end up working in Mogadishu.
Or is this Helen's way of telling all her old mates to stop calling?
Stephan Dujarric, former spokesman for Ban Ki Moon says "the salary raise was a bad idea" - thinking to donate his monthly portion of raise
StephDujarric Stephane Dujarric
Hoped the NY Sun had set 4 good. That being said, these raises are NOT a good idea. bit.ly/qJ4NI8 bit.ly/pVEK2Z @columlynch @bennyavni
@undpwatchundpwatch
@StephDujarric @columlynch @bennyavni hope that #Dujarricwould return his $208.64 increase he received at end of August as ethical gesture
@RichardGrenellRichard Grenell
Donate it to Ros-Lehtinen's campaign? ;) MT: @undpwatch @StephDujarric @columlynch @bennyavni $208.64 increase donated?
Goooooood Morning Kabul ! Finally UNDP has a GAY solution to Hamid Kharzai's corruption problem! Allahu Akbar !
God does have a sense of humour!
Maybe what is in the second page of secret briefing at Nr.10 which was accidentally revealed by Andrew Mitchell yesterday, was the proposed British solution to Kharzai's sickness.
The only thing though is that maybe the New Zealanders doesn't understand the United Nations rules that clearly state that: - "anyone who is hired by United Nations at any capacity has to give up all his public or private functions and opt out of any political party prior to engage into UN business".
But hey if Helen Clark is still a member of International Socialist what the heck - who cares about a NZ MP from Te Atatu.
“Uncle Helen turning UNDP into a cove of corrupt NZ labour politicians”
Click here to read this on FAIRFACTSMEDIA.COM
I am sure the good folk at UNDP Watch are looking forward to the arrival of uncle’s close confidant Chris Carter.
Above is a headline I noted on their most excellent blog, complete with the delightful picture on the left.
At the weekend, UNDP Watch linked to a couple of stories noting the prospective arrival of former Liarbour MP , the credit card abusing Chris Carter.
The blog also linked to a post from here. There was a fair debate in the comments underneath.
Thank you guys, you are welcome. They asked:
Is Helen Clark turning U.N.D.P. into a ultra left wing cove for NZ Communists??
Well, who knows? But now that Darren Hughes was had the police inquiries concerning the sex allegations against him dropped, it does raise the prospect of him making a threesome with Clark and fellow gay Chris Carter. Unlike the allegations of certain others close to Uncle, there won’t be any travel restrictions against him!
In the meantime, Chris Carter continues to provide much entertainment. I am sure he will provide much copy for UN Watch and UNDP Watch when he makes it to New York.
Hat Tip: Whale Oil, UNDP Watch
Popularity: 1% [?]
WSJ: - Iran's Hong Kong Shipping Shell Game
CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY ON WALL-STREET JOURNAL
A Chinese state-owned firm has been helping Iranian ships get around U.S. sanctions
By CLAUDIA ROSETT
This June, a merchant ship flying the Hong Kong flag and sailing under the name of the Atlantic called at the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas—the southern end of a trade corridor to the U.S., advertised as "the fastest route to the heart of North America." That might be unremarkable, except the Atlantic, formerly called the Dreamland, and before that the Iran Saeidi, belongs to a curious network of 19 bulk carriers, all flagged to Hong Kong and all blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury for their links to Iran.
According to a recent transcript of Hong Kong's Marine Department Shipping Register, the Atlantic is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company called Harvest Supreme Limited. Scratch the surface and Harvest Supreme tracks back to an Iranian address, as do 18 other obscure and interlinked Hong Kong ship-owning companies with names such as Grand Trinity Limited and Sparkle Brilliant Development Limited. These are the hallmarks of the global shell game with which Iran continues to dodge U.S. and U.N. sanctions.
This shell game began around 2008, when the U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran's state shipping company, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, or IRISL, for its role in provisioning Iran's rogue missile and nuclear programs. The U.S. Treasury also blacklisted a slew of IRISL affiliates and 123 of its ships, including all 19 of these merchant ships now flagged to Hong Kong, making it potentially a crime under U.S. law to do business with them. Treasury also began pressuring players outside U.S. jurisdiction to shun Iran's proliferators, or risk being cut off from commerce with the U.S.
IRISL responded by camouflaging much of its fleet, reflagging and renaming scores of its blacklisted ships. It parceled out some to newly minted affiliates and created shell companies abroad to serve as nominal owners. Behind the scenes, IRISL retained control.
The ships themselves remain easy to identify via their permanent hull numbers, or IMO numbers, which the International Maritime Organization issues to all cargo vessels over 300 gross tonnage. Treasury posts blacklisted or "blocked" IMO numbers on its website, and these lists are the basis for identifying the ships described in this article—all designated by Treasury for their links to IRISL. But these numbers don't always appear on cargo-shipping documentation. This can make it difficult for people to understand with whom they're doing business.
This has sparked a game of whack-a-hull. Treasury over the past year alone has added to its blacklist more than 100 additional IRISL-affiliated individuals, companies and ships, in places from Germany to Malta, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The game continues, or so it appears from information uncovered by my recent inquiries at Hong Kong's corporate and shipping registries, combined with interviews and information from a leading global shipping information database, IHS Fairplay, formerly Lloyd's Register-Fairplay (the source for shipping movements cited in this article).
Associated Press
In 2008, the Delight, now the Adrian, docked in Germany.
Since Iran launched its shipping shell game in 2008, Hong Kong has become the corporate home to 19 ships blackballed by Treasury as affiliated with IRISL and listed by IHS Fairplay as formerly flagged to Iran and owned by IRISL. Before these ships were reflagged to Hong Kong, they had names, according to IHS Fairplay, such as Iran Mufateh and Iran Navab. In their initial Hong Kong incarnation, most were given new names starting with "D," such as the Diplomat and Destiny. In 2009, they were renamed again. Currently, all 19 of these IRISL-affiliated ships reflagged to Hong Kong have names starting with the letter "A." These include, along with the Atlantic, such monikers as the Admiral, Adventist, Amplify, Angel, Ajax, Apollo, Agile, Alameda and-my favorite—the Alias.
By early this year, all 19 ships had gone through two rounds of nominal ownership by shell-companies registered in Hong Kong, as detailed at the time by the South China Morning Post. The U.S. Treasury has blacklisted the shell companies involved in these past two iterations, issuing the most recent bout of designations in January.
But as of late July, Hong Kong shipping registry transcripts showed that all 19 vessels had already come under new ownership, by 19 new companies not on public watch lists, one ship per company. These companies, unreported until now, have grandly generic names, e.g., Modern Elegant Development Limited (owner of Amplify) and Eternal Expert Limited (owner of Alias).
All 19 of these new ship-owning companies share the same Hong Kong address, that of their shared corporate secretary, Honorway Secretaries Limited—one of many Hong Kong companies offering incorporation services to a wide array of clients. At Honorway's small office, the only sign of these 19 companies is a lineup of green file boxes in a cramped back room. Honorway director David So Kam Hung says he has never set eyes on the actual owners. "Is anything wrong?" he asks.
Corporate documents for all 19 ship-owning companies show that each has as sole shareholder the same corporate nominee, a firm in the British Virgin Islands called Nominee Director & Shareholder Limited. For each of the 19 companies, this BVI shareholder has appointed the same sole director. That director is yet another new Hong Kong company, incorporated last November: King Power Holdings Limited.
And King Power Holdings, the linchpin of this ship-owning portfolio, leads to an address in Iran. According to Hong Kong corporate registry papers, King Power's sole director is an outfit called Kish Roaring Ocean Shipping Company (Private Joint Stock). The address for Kish Roaring is given as Unit 3, 3rd Floor, Sadaf Tower, P.O. Box 112, Kish Island, Islamic Republic of Iran. Kish Roaring Ocean Shipping Company is not on Treasury's blacklist. As far as I could discover, it has no publicly available records, history, email address or phone number.
For the 19 ships at the Hong Kong end of Kish Roaring's interests, there are two more common threads. Shipping data from IHS Fairplay shows that all have called at Iran within the past 18 months—13 of them within the past five months, four within the past four weeks. For all 19 vessels, the Hong Kong shipping registry lists as their agent a company called H&T International Transportation Limited, which according to a Jan. 15, 2011, article in the South China Morning Post served as agent for the same ships under their previous, now U.S.-sanctioned, nominal owners.
H&T is majority-owned by China's state-owned China Hualian International Trading Company, with offices in Hong Kong run by one of H&T's directors, David Mak Chi-ming. Until three weeks ago, H&T had been describing itself on its website, since at least last year, as an agent for IRISL. Earlier this month, I emailed H&T's Mr. Mak, asking if H&T is still doing business with IRISL. He ducked the question, writing back: "We are working with different principle from many years ago when we are welcome." A few days later, the paragraph advertising H&T as IRISL's agent vanished from H&T's website. But on one of its web pages, under the heading "Vessel Schedule," H&T continues to host a live link to IRISL's website. Mr. Mak did not respond to my further emailed questions and phone calls.
For Hong Kong companies to do business with IRISL and its network is not illegal under Hong Kong law. But the U.S. Treasury suggests it is risky if they also wish to do business with the U.S.
For at least the past three years, H&T's Mr. Mak has been working with the Texas foreign trade complex of Port San Antonio, to beef up shipping and air freight traffic between Asia and the trade corridor connecting San Antonio with the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas. In 2008, as noted in an article posted on the Port San Antonio website, Mr. Mak joined a delegation of business leaders organized by Port San Antonio to visit Lazaro Cardenas and cultivate business ties.
In a recent phone interview, Port San Antonio's vice president for business development, Jorge Canavati, said the Port San Antonio authorities have continued to work with H&T's Mr. Mak: "We're developing projects together." He said Mr. Mak had not informed him that H&T in Hong Kong has been serving as an agent for 19 ships on Treasury's Iran sanctions blacklist.
Meanwhile, at least seven of these 19 Iran-linked, Hong Kong-flagged, U.S.-blacklisted ships have visited Lazaro Cardenas in the past 15 months: the Agean, Agile, Apollo and Attribute; plus the Aquarian and Atrium this April, and the Atlantic in June. Perhaps it's time the world's sanctions enforcers took a closer look at this setup.
Ms. Rosett is a journalist-in-residence with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
This is how Ban Ki Moon helps the environment - riding only 1/4 mile from his home to work in a 12 cylinder Mercedes-Benz @ $400,000
@undpwatchundpwatch
#bankimoon is "dedicated" 2 climate change -he drives his $400K 12 cylinder #mercedes 2 work only 1/4mile away from@UN pic.twitter.com/nFczyjp
@undpwatchundpwatch
@secgen is saving the environment by driving everyday 2 work (1/4 mile) in a 400,000 mercedes 12 cilinder - nice..;)pic.twitter.com/Pg9WtpE
Bloomberg.com: Republican Bill to Force Major Changes at the UN
Click here to read this story on Bloomberg.com
House Republicans introduced legislation today that seeks to force major changes at the United Nations, using as leverage the threat to withhold some of the U.S.’s 22 percent contribution to the world body’s operating budget.
The bill by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, would demand that the UN let countries decide how much to pay and which programs they will support, rather than assessing payments based on a formula. It would end funding for Palestinian refugees, limit use of U.S. funds to only purposes outlined by Congress and put a hold on creating or expanding peacekeeping operations until management changes are made.
“We need a UN which will advance the noble goals for which it was founded,” Ros-Lehtinen of Florida said in a statement. “The current UN continues to be plagued by scandal, mismanagement and inaction, and its agenda is frequently hijacked by rogue regimes which protect each other while targeting free democracies like the U.S. and Israel.”
Republicans are moving against the world body at a time when the Obama administration is increasingly building its foreign policy around multilateral institutions, such as the alliance-based approach on Libya.
The bill, which has 57 co-sponsors who are all Republicans, may advance in the Republican-controlled House. It is likely to face opposition in the Senate and from President Barack Obama.
Administration Opposition
“We oppose this legislation,” said Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokeswoman, at a press briefing today. She said the measure would cut by half U.S. funding for the U.N and “dangerously weaken the UN.”
“We believe in UN reform,” she said. “We just don’t think this is the right way to go about it.”
The U.S. pays 22 percent of the UN’s regular operations budget and is assessed 27 percent of the peacekeeping budget. U.S. payments totaled $3.35 billion in 2010, of which $2.67 billion was dedicated to the 16 peacekeeping operations worldwide, from South Sudan to Haiti.
“After two years of the closest and most productive cooperation in decades at the UN betweenWashington and the rest of the international community, it is hard to understand why Republicans in the House of Representatives are determined to poison the well,” Jeffrey Laurenti, a UN analyst at the Century Foundation, a New York-based research group, wrote in a blog post yesterday.
International Cooperation
Laurenti cites UN support for the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, the world body’s move to authorize limited military action in Libya at U.S. urging and its successful work in handing power over to the legitimate winner of Ivory Coast’s presidential election.
Brett Schaefer, a UN analyst at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation that supports many Republican initiatives, said that Ros-Lehtinen’s goals dovetail with the administration’s interests in seeing more UN accountability, improvements in peacekeeping and an end to policies that single out Israel for criticism.
“The real point of divergence is how do you achieve these policy goals,” Schaeffer said in a telephone interview.
Representative Howard Berman, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the bill would hurt Israel and undermine U.S. leadership.
“At a time when efforts to isolate and delegitimize Israel in the General Assembly and elsewhere are gaining steam, I can’t see how a bill that will undoubtedly weaken our influence at the UN and make it harder to counter Palestinian attempts to unilaterally declare statehood is inJerusalem’s interest, let alone our own,” Berman said in a statement.
Percentage of Contribution
If passed into law, Ros-Lehtinen’s bill would have the U.S. withhold a percentage of its contributions until at least 80 percent of the UN budget was voluntary.
The legislation also would limit the use of U.S. contributions to only the specific purposes outlined by Congress and would withhold U.S. funding for any UN agency that upgrades the status of the Palestinian observer mission or any agency that helps Palestinian refugees.
The bill would also withhold funding for the UN Human Rights Council until the State Department can certify that it doesn’t include members subject to Security Council sanctions, under Security Council-mandated investigations for human rights abuses or are state sponsors of terrorism.
Last month, Ros-Lehtinen’s committee approved an authorization bill that would cut by almost 10 percent U.S. funding for peacekeeping operations, which are assessed based on each member nation’s relative share of the global economy.
Peacekeeping Bills
U.S. law limits the peacekeeping funding to 25 percent of the cost of operations, but Congress has given an annual waiver to permit payment of the full 27 percent assessment for peacekeeping. Ros-Lehtinen wants to bring that amount down, in line with the law, the House aide said.
Ros-Lehtinen’s bill would direct the president to have his UN ambassador use the U.S. veto power in the Security Council to block the creation of new peacekeeping operations or the expansion of existing ones until reforms are made.
Groups that promote strong U.S.-UN relations, such as the Washington-based Better World Initiative, said the bill would undermine U.S. influence at the UN.
“We are hard-pressed to find a moment in history where the UN has had a greater role in promoting American interests,” said Executive Director Peter Yeo in an e-mail. The bill would “severely erode America’s leadership role at the United Nations and undermine our nation’s security.”
Tensions between the UN and the U.S. over management and funding are not new. A push for improvements in UN management came during the administration of President Bill Clinton, who signed the Helms-Biden United Nations Reform Act of 1999. It tied U.S. payments to specified steps to improve management.
In 2006, President George W. Bush’s ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, said the U.S. might push to make contributions to the UN budget voluntary, as Ros-Lehtinen is doing.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington atngaouette@bloomberg.net; Bill Varner in New York at wvarner@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
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