Belgian drug seizures overload incinerators

Customs has intercepted so much cocaine that it is unable to destroy it

Customs agents in Belgium have seized more cocaine than they are able to dispose of in a timely manner, officials told local outlet VRT News on Saturday. It is estimated that more than 100 tons of the drug – valued at about €5 billion – will have been intercepted at the Port of Antwerp this year. This comes after a record-setting 90 tons were seized in 2021. 

“There has been something of a bottleneck as there have been so many seizures and also because just one incinerator was in use,” Federal Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne told the outlet. “Moreover, you cannot burn these batches in bulk, in one go, in large quantities as this would cause issues with the filters at the incineration plant.” Only 1,000kg or at most 1,500kg of the drug can be destroyed in a single session, he said. 

A representative of FPS Finance, the parent agency of Belgium’s customs service, agreed. “The rapid destruction of confiscated goods is an ongoing challenge,” spokesperson Francis Adyns told local outlet Gazet van Antwerpen. “Due to the technical limitation of the licensed incinerators and environmental standards, we have to use several incinerators.” 

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While the department managed to secure enough additional capacity to destroy “several tons” more of the illicit substance, putting a dent in what prosecutor Franky de Keyser has called “the mountain of cocaine,” Van Quickenborne told VRT that his agency only learned on Thursday that this was not sufficient.  

Additionally, one has to request an appointment to use the incinerator, the minister explained. “The more cocaine you seize, the more time you need. And there is a lot of cocaine.” The location of the incinerators is reportedly kept secret so as not to tempt criminals to raid the facility. 

Van Quickenborne said that customs officials are negotiating with Environment Minister Zuhal Demir, who oversees the incinerators, adding that the talks are “going well.” Demir’s office has reached out to the Public Waste Agency of Flanders (OVAM), which is also looking for additional incineration capacity, a spokesperson told VRT. 

Customs discovered nearly eight tons of cocaine in a single container in the Port of Antwerp last month. The drugs, valued at over €200 million, were hidden in a shipment of bananas from Ecuador. Authorities allowed the delivery to continue to its final destination in the Netherlands, leading to the arrest of four people.

The port of Antwerp was the site of Belgium’s largest-ever cocaine bust in 2020, when five containers of scrap metal from Guyana were found to be concealing 11.5 tons of cocaine valued at €900 million. Police and port officials were among those arrested.

Istanbul terror attack may prompt Turkish invasion and deportations

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator

On November 13, a blast ripped through Istiklal street, a busy pedestrian area in the Beyoglu neighborhood of Istanbul.  The explosion killed six people and wounded 81 at about 4:30 pm local time.

Among the dead were Arzu Ozsoy and her 15-year-old daughter Yagmur Ucar, a nine-year-old girl and her father, and a married couple. All were Turkish citizens.

Later, politicians visited the site where a reported 1,200 Turkish flags were displayed along with flower memorials to the victims.

On November 15, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 58 of those injured had been discharged after being treated, while 17 were still in hospital, with six more in intensive care.

The suspect

According to state-run news agency Anadolu, the suspect is a Syrian woman Ahlam Albasir, who after being detained by police had confessed to the bombing and having acted on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist group. She is claimed to have been trained by the PKK and its Syrian affiliate, the People’s Defense Units (YPG), and she is claimed to have entered Turkey illegally from Afrin, Syria.

The police conducted a raid in the Istanbul suburb of Kucukcekmerce early on November 14, while visiting 21 addresses, and had taken at least 46 people into custody in the course of the investigation into the attack.

The police released on November 16 security footage of a woman wearing a headscarf, camouflage pants, a backpack, and carrying a plastic bag walking across Taksim square on her way to the scene of the blast.  In another security footage, the same woman sits on a bench at 3:30 pm, leaves her backpack at 4:11 pm, walks away towards Taksim square, and when the explosion occurs she runs away from the scene.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu said that police have a phone/audio tape that indicates the PKK had ordered her killing to prevent her capture.

However, on November 14, the PKK and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is comprised chiefly of YPG fighters, denied responsibility for the attack.

“Istanbul terror attack suspect would have fled to Greece today if she had not been caught,” said Soylu on November 14.  He was referring to the PKK training camp in Lavrio, south-east Attica, in Greece.  The camp in Lavrio began as a Kurdish refugee camp but evolved into a self-governed camp where even the Greek police and authorities are afraid to enter.

Questions abound concerning if the captured suspect is the same woman in the video.  To wrap up the deadly attack, did the police find the right suspect?  Terrorist attacks in Turkey have come from the PKK for decades, but there is a possibility of other groups such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State (IS).

Kurds

From 2015 to 2017 the PKK and IS carried out attacks across Turkey.  One such attack also occurred on the same Istiklal street in March 2016, which was carried out by an IS suicide bomber that killed four people.

While the PKK is deemed a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, Washington allied with the YPG against IS in the conflict in Syria.  The fiercest fighting group in the SDF is the YPG, and they were the fighting partners with the US military, and remain so in the northeast of Syria where the US maintains several illegal military occupation bases.

Turkish President Erdogan and US President Trump, and now President Biden, have long strongly disagreed on the support and alliance given by the US to the separatist Kurdish in Syria, who are administered by the communist ideology founded by Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK. 

The PKK has carried out terrorist attacks in Turkey for the last three decades and has killed more than 40,000 people.  The YPG in Syria is directly linked to the PKK.  The Syrian government has control of most of Syria, except the Al Qaeda enclave in Idlib, and the northeast region under the occupation of the SDF and YPG.

Turkey has conducted three invasions into northern Syria against the YPG. Erdogan has long threatened another incursion into Syria to pursue Kurdish targets, and the recent attack in Istanbul may prompt a decision to carry out a new attack into Syria.  The Syrian military cannot attack Turkey for fear of invoking Article 5 of NATO.   Additionally, the Russians are attempting to keep the peace in the northeast region of Syria while negotiating with Turkey on shared interests.

Syrian refugees

Syrian refugees in Turkey are afraid of the response of the Turkish government to the blast.  Since the prime suspect is claimed to be Syrian, what will that do to the Syrians who are law-abiding refugees inside Turkey?  

Turkish political parties have listened to the Turkish citizens who feel that the poor economy is to blame on the Syrian refugees.  The Syrians feel they are no longer welcome as violence and racism against the refugees have become increasingly common.

IS

When Trump asked Erdogan for help in the fight against IS, it was noted by the US and its western allies that Turkey was not forthcoming.  Trump commented publically to the effect that everyone is against IS, but Turkey didn’t share that enthusiasm.

Turkish elections

“This attack, if followed by others, could result in the electorate swinging to the right and consolidating around the security candidate,” said Soner Cagaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, to Al Jazeera.

Cagaptay said, “This is what happened the last time Turkey went through a series of terror attacks in 2015.”  A wave of bombings and other attacks began nationwide when a ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK broke down in mid-2015, ahead of elections that year.

Turkish elections are set for June 2023; polls suggest Erdogan could lose after two decades in power.  Erdogan’s opposition has said they will deport the Syrian refugees if elected.  Erdogan has matched that promise to gain the voter’s waning support ahead of the elections. 

Erdogan’s failed policies

Turkish foreign policy towards Syria was ordered by US President Obama ahead of the March 2011 attack on Syria for ‘regime change’.  Erdogan and his AKP party are aligned with the global organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, which stands on the same political platform as Al Qaeda and IS.  This is the political ideology known as Radical Islam, which French President Macron has declared war on.

At the time the US ordered Turkish support of terrorists against Syria, the Turkish exports to Syria equaled all of the combined Turkish exports globally.  Syria later banned all business with Turkey and that began the descent of the Turkish economy.  It is now at its lowest point, with hyperinflation and currency devaluation.

After supporting the international terrorists flowing through Turkey for ‘boots on the ground’ in Syria, Trump cut off in 2017 the CIA and Pentagon programs begun by Obama to support the terrorists fighting for Syrian ‘regime change’. 

Recently, Erdogan and his senior officials have voiced publicly their overtures toward Damascus, and their willingness to repair their broken relationship with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  

Syria became a national security problem for Turkey because Erdogan supported Radical Islamic terrorists who were successful in creating chaos inside Syria which prompted the Kurds to take advantage of the security vacuum to establish a communist administration in the northeast region, which has come back full circle to haunt Erdogan.

President Assad has said before, to be careful when you feed a monster because it can later turn to bite you.

Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist 

This article is originally published at www.mideastdiscourse.com

“The US is a paper tiger where Saudi Arabia is concerned”: interview with Ambassador Peter Ford

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator

 

Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey are neighbors in an increasingly unstable Middle East, in which Saudi Arabia plays a key role.  

The US has meddled in the Middle East for decades and is responsible for the destruction of several countries who have not recovered from failed American policies.  

Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Ambassador Peter Ford to take his expert analysis of important issues developing in the region.

Peter Ford served as the British ambassador to Bahrain from 1999 to 2003 and Syria from 2003 to 2006, and is currently the London-based Co-Chairman of the British Syrian Society. He is an Arabist with long established expertise in the Middle East.

Steven Sahiounie (SS):  Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies recently came back to power in “Israel”.  In your opinion what does this mean for the Palestinians?

Peter Ford (PF):   It makes no difference. Those who believe that one Israeli government is different from another are fools. Every Israeli government supports the occupation and practices repression. Any differences are purely optical.

That said, the participation of overt racists in Netanyahu’s government increases the chances that the US will distance itself from Israel in matters of secondary importance.

 

SS:  Lebanon is in the midst of a financial and social collapse. In your opinion, will the Israeli regime take advantage of the crisis and attack Lebanon?

PF:   Israel is already viciously attacking Lebanon – economically. The Israeli/US strategy is to avoid war, which they would lose, but instead to create enough suffering in Lebanon to make the Lebanese people turn against Hezbollah. In particular, they are trying to block oil reaching Lebanon from Iran. This is similar to their strategy towards Syria. 

 

SS:  The UN Special Rapporteur has called for the end of sanctions on Syria because of the continuing suffering. Do you think there is any hope in removing the sanctions which are crippling the daily life of Syrians?

PF:  Sadly I see no prospect of sanctions on Syria being lifted or eased in the foreseeable future. It costs the US nothing to apply them and the US against all evidence persists in believing that sanctions weaken popular support for the Syrian government, or pretending to believe they weaken the government simply because it would be embarrassing to lift them. Lifting sanctions would look like an admission of failure and a concession to Russia and Iran. 

 Sanctions on Syria cannot be analyzed without taking the geopolitical situation into account. To some degree Syria is paying part of the price for US mishandling of its relations with Russia and Iran.

 

SS:  Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has not bowed down to pressure by US President Joe Biden. In your opinion, what will be the cost that Saudi Arabia has to pay?

PF:  The cost will be zero. On the contrary, Saudi defiance of the US over oil prices shows that the balance of power between the two has shifted and that the US is a paper tiger where Saudi Arabia is concerned. Let us not forget that the US arms industry has become highly dependent on sales to the Gulf, and the US has invested heavily in keeping Saudi Arabia away from rapprochement with Iran. Its leverage is minimal. It was different when MBS was an international pariah over Khashoggi, but time has done its work of prompting amnesia if not forgiveness. I expect to see more Saudi defiance of the US.

SS:  For the past few months, we have been hearing reports from the Turkish side of overtures at repairing the relationship between Turkey and Syria. In your opinion, will this have an effect on ending terrorist control in Idlib?

PF:   I am more optimistic about Idlib today than I have been for ages. Time has also doing its work here – demonstrating to the Turks that their Syria policy has been a total failure. That policy has failed to remove the Syrian government, failed to establish stability on Turkey’s border and failed to create conditions for the return of Syrian refugees. The burden of those refugees is felt especially acutely with the approach of presidential elections in Turkey. Whether Erdogan is serious about rapprochement with Syria remains however to be seen.

 

Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.

This interview is originally published at Mideast Discourse

Kim Jong-un’s daughter makes public debut

The North Korean leader revealed the existence of the child by taking her to a missile test

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un brought along his daughter to the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday. He chose the occasion of a strategic weapon test to confirm the girl’s existence with her first appearance at a public event.

Kim watched the launch alongside his wife and their “beloved daughter,” North Korean state-run KCNA press agency reported on Saturday, without specifying the girl’s name or age. 

Photos from the event show Kim and his daughter standing hand-in-hand while looking at the ICBM and then walking away together. Another shot shows them strolling while looking at each other with the upright missile towering on its launcher in the background.

Still more photos show Kim and his daughter watching from an observation shelter as the Hwasong-17 missile moves upwards in the distance. Another picture shows the leader sitting down and speaking as his wife and daughter look on from the side.

North Korean state media pictures of Kim Jong Un attending Friday’s launch of the Hwasong-17 ICBM: pic.twitter.com/A6DMsifz8h

— William Gallo (@GalloVOA) November 18, 2022

South Korean intelligence officials have speculated that Kim married Ri-Sol-ju in 2009 and that the couple has one son and two daughters, born in 2010, 2013 and 2017. Retired NBA star Dennis Rodman visited the Kim family in 2013 and later said that he held the North Korean leader’s baby girl, whom he claimed was named Ju-ae. Pyongyang hadn’t publicly confirmed the existence of Kim’s children until Friday’s missile launch.

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North Korea reveals missile used in ICBM test

The daughter’s public debut – taking place at a key missile test – suggests that Kim sees his family’s dynasty passing to a fourth generation at some point and that Pyongyang won’t give up its nuclear weaponry, analysts said. Jenny Town, a Korea specialist and senior fellow at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, called the scene of Kim and his daughter watching the ICBM launch “the optics of handing down a legacy.” She added that “this is her legacy too now.”

Other experts called the unveiling of Kim’s daughter at a missile test “highly significant.” RAND Corp. analyst Soo Kim, formerly of the CIA, told Agence France-Presse that the move showed “the permanence of the Kim regime’s weapons program because it is so integral to Kim’s own survival and the continuity of his family’s reign.”

Spy warning issued for World Cup

Fans traveling to Qatar should beware of cybercriminals, and, according to European regulators, the country’s government itself

Cybersecurity company Recorded Future claimed in a report on Thursday that state-sponsored hacking groups may view the World Cup in Qatar as a “target-rich environment” for spying and data theft. Meanwhile, European privacy commissioners have sounded the alarm over the host nation’s own data collection.

Travelers to the tournament should “take additional precautions,” including “using encrypted communications applications…exercising caution when connecting to unknown and public Wi-Fi networks…and considering the use of burner devices for the duration of the trip rather than personal or corporate devices,” the company stated.

Although the report put the risk of a disruptive cyberattack against the competition as low, it claimed that Chinese and Iranian intelligence operatives will likely view the World Cup as an opportunity to collect data from visiting dignitaries and businesspeople.

While Qatar hosts a US military base at Al Udeid and was named a “major non-NATO ally” by President Joe Biden in March, the sheikhdom is a member of China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative and hired a Chinese company to build its flagship stadium. Qatar also has a trade relationship with Iran, despite its membership in the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council.

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West can’t lecture Qatar, says FIFA chief

The report considers North Korea and Russia unlikely to target the World Cup, with Pyongyang having sent laborers to build tournament-related infrastructure, and Moscow occupied with the conflict in Ukraine. Russia has consistently denied Western allegations of malign cyber activity.

“Financially-motivated cybercriminals” are also listed as a threat, and could use “phishing attacks, fake mobile applications…counterfeit tickets, and threats of ransomware” to steal from fans, Recorded Future warned.

While the company advised attendees to only download World Cup apps created by FIFA or the Qatari government, European regulators have warned that the Qatari software isn’t safe either.

Germany’s data protection commissioner cautioned on Tuesday that Qatar’s ‘Ehteraz’ and ‘Hayya’ apps go “much further” in their data collection than advertised, with one tracking which numbers calls are made to, and the other preventing users’ phones from entering sleep mode and transmitting data to a central server.


READ MORE: Qatar imposes World Cup stadium beer ban

Regulators in Norway and France issued similar statements, with the Norwegians advising fans to wipe their phones blank before traveling to Qatar.

The World Cup kicks off when Qatar faces Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday, and runs until the final on December 18.