Month: March 2017

Curious case of Flynn, Woolsey & meeting at the Essex with ISIS’ alleged oil distributor to plan a kidnapping.

~ Tim Hogan ~ 1 Comment

Rupert Murdoch, the Australian billionaire owner of FoxNews, the Wall Street Journal and many other right wing news organizations, apparently authorized his reporters to disclose the facts relating a meeting attended by the former Director of Central Intelligence James Woolsey and the former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency retired Lt. General Michael Flynn.  The meeting is reported to have taken place on September 19, 2016, at the Essex House Hotel in New York.  Accounts confirm that the meeting was attended by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s Energy Minister Berat Albayrakto Turkish President Erdogan’s son in law.  In its reporting the Wall Street Journal reports that the “owner” of the Dutch firm Inovo BV, also Turkish, Akim Alptekin and Flynn Intel Group’s chairman and president Bijan Kian were also present.

In a Friday March 24, 2017 CNN interview, Woolsey claims that he came late to the meeting and says what he heard was a discussion of what I might describe as “spit-balling” on how one might kidnap a U.S. permanent resident who Turkey’s President Erdogan blames for the coup that nearly overthrew his regime and who Turkey has been unable to obtain through a lawful extradition process. One fact that Woolsey conveys in the first Don Lemon interview was that he told Joe Biden about it.  That CNN interview appears to have been scrubbed from the internet.

In that interview James Grimaldi, one of the three WSJ reporters credited for the story,  breaks in at about 2:10 minutes into the video and cuts Woolsey off when he was about to name who else was present and directs the conversation to Flynn’s FARA registration that Flynn made on March 9, 2017 where a meeting is referenced.  It is apparent to anyone who takes witness statements for a living that Grimaldi was taking over the interview much like a defense attorney might with a client who was about to get too chatty.  Then On March 26, 2017, Don Lemon conducted a  Second Woolsey interview without Grimaldi.   The WSJ clean up continued in a third Woolsey Interview on March 27, 2017 pitching a different story.  Here is the link and in it Woolsey fixes his lie about telling Joe Biden. IMO Woolsey is dirty and will be a target with Flynn and the Erdogan associates.

At the time of the meeting, Flynn and Flynn Intel Group, Inc. (“FIG”) were registered lobbyist for Inovo BV, a Dutch company that Flynn later disclosed in his FARA registration was likely actually connected to the Turkish government.  On March 7, 2017, FIG made a startling disclosure:  Flynn was not only engaged in “lobbying” as previously disclosed, but was attempting to retroactively register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (“FARA”).

Noteworthy, the law firm that represented Flynn in his clean up FARA work is Covington & Burling, LLP, former Attorney General Eric Holder’s past and present law firm. A quick glance at the letterhead of the cover-letter that was attached to Flynn’s FARA filing shows something unique about the firm beyond the fact that it has the former Attorney General in its white collar defense team: No offices in Russia or Turkey. Perhaps just a coincidence.  FARA Form NSD-1

The registration statement was accompanied by other FARA forms one of which is worth noting.  In his Supplement Statement, FARA form NSD-2 Flynn dropped the bombshell that, for most observers (not yours truly) went unnoticed at the time. Flynn Supplemental Statement Form NSD-2

Here are selected excerpts from FIG’s NSD-2 that I have highlighted :

Under the contract, Flynn Intel Group conducted open-source research for Inovo and at Inovo’s direction. The research, which was conducted by independent contractors retained for this purpose, focused on Mr. Fethullah Gulen and charter schools in the United States that are associated with, or allegedly associated with, Mr. Gulen. The results of Flynn Intel Group’s research were provided to Inovo, and to S.G.R. LLC Government Relations and Lobbying, the public relations firm engaged by Flynn Intel Group. Flynn Intel Group and the public relations firm developed various materials and documents related to this research for potential dissemination. Because the project was terminated early, the full scope of the contract was not performed, and to the best of Flynn Intel Group’s knowledge, none ofthe research materials prepared by the Flynn Intel Group were disseminated to third parties.

In early September 2016, Flynn Intel Group was invited by Mr. Alptekin to meet with a group of government officials from Turkey for the purpose of understanding better the political climate in Turkey at the time, as background for the project. Officials of the Republic of Turkey attending this meeting on September 19, 2016, in New York, were the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Energy, to the best of Flynn Intel Group’s current understanding.

Mr. Rafiekian met with Miles Taylor, National Security Advisor to the House Committee on Homeland Security, on two occasions in approximately October 2016, at Mr. Taylor’s office and at Flynn Intel Group’s office. A representative of S.G.R. LLC Government Relations and Lobbying attended the meeting at Flynn Intel Group’s office. Over the course of the discussions, Mr. Rafiekian raised the firm’s representation of Inovo and issues related to the research conducted for Inovo concerning Mr. Gulen and Turkey. Flynn Intel Group also oversaw outreach, which was conducted by the public relations firm, to a state government official in Arkansas.

Pursuant to its contract with Inovo, Flynn Intel Group informally engaged a group of individuals (independent contractors) to form a film and production crew for the purposes of producing a video documentary based on its research associated with Mr. Gulen. The activities included a couple of videotaped interviews and other initial development of content. Because the contract was not extended, the full scope of anticipated work was not performed and, to the best of Flynn Intel Group’s current knowledge, the video was neither finished nor disseminated to any third parties. S.G.R. LLC Government Relations and Lobbying created a Gulen-themed monopoly graphic at the direction of Flynn Intel Group. To the best of its knowledge, Flynn Intel Group did not disseminate this document or associated research (other than to Inovo).

What is apparent from the FIG disclosure is that on March 7 when the FARA filing was made the September 19, 2017 meeting was considered important and worth this lengthy explanation. In the light Woolsey’s revelations, the disclosure of FIG’s engagement to create an intelligence product fits what might be described as the work up for the Gulen kidnapping .

So what has this to do with ISIS?  Well, something that has been reported for a very long time, that the Obama administration would not address publicly, is the fact that evidence points to the Erdogan family engaged in smuggling of stolen Syrian and Iraqi oil. Oil stolen by ISIS and used to finance the so-called Caliphate to conduct terrorism in Syria, Iraq and the West.

Donald Trump’s beloved Wikileaks has published thousands of emails claimed to be the property of Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, President Erdogan’s son in law that detail the conduct of the ISIS oil smuggling and money laundering.  None of the emails have been authenticated and the access to the email dump is generally blocked from access by Turkish citizens. I have only read third party reports of the contents that, if they are correct, would evidence that the Erdogan family is presently members of the group of enemy combatants under the current AUMF.  But, as with all secrets related to ISIS, such email correspondence is likely in the possession of the NSA through the use of PRISM or other similar means, many of which Edward Snowden described in some detail.

So if you believe that the NSA would have a look at the ISIS – Erdogan family emails prior to the dump in early December 2016, you might also conclude that a meeting with two former intelligence service directors might raise the interest of the folks at Ft. Meade.

In September, Trump did not appear to be on the road to a victory.  But here we are.

Okay, what about Mr. Rafiekian? Mr Flynn’s partner in FIG?  What’s his story?

First he is often referred to as “Bijan Kian.” But his name is really Bijan Rafiekian. An Iranian American who, with Mr. Flynn formed FIG. Here is a Bloomberg article that describes how deep Mr. Flynn and his partner have burrowed in the Defense and Security complex.  Bloomberg: Dec. 15, 2016, Trump Security Aide Flynn Has Deep Ties to Defense Contractors. Within the Bloomberg piece, Mr Kian aka Rafiekian appears to value his privacy: “Kian didn’t respond to numerous attempts to reach him.”

So who is he?  Here is a business news article that shows Rafiekian and Kamil Ekim Alptekin forming EA Aviation Company.

Rafiekian

 

Who is Alptekin? Remember the Dutch firm Inovo BV that hired Flynn to spy on Gulen? Alptekin is Inovo’s principal. Here is a link to the  Huffington Post on Alptekin and INOVO BV

Ekim Alptekin is the son of Mustafa Sevinc Alpekin a close associate of Dogu Princek who is reported to be Russia’s man in Turkey.  A fascist secularist and racist enemy of the Kurds, Princek is reported to be a close associate of  Assad and a Kemalist.

Now that Gulen and his more moderate Islamists are on the run, purged from the military, the Kemalist similar to Assad’s Baathist are gaining control of Turkey’s military that, through people like Flynn and his partner with his connection to Princek, is now more aligned with Russia than with NATO.

So to sum it up, Flynn and Woolsey met with people associated with ISIS and Russia to plan a kidnapping. Nothing to see here. Keep moving folks.

Tim