TELEGRAPH.co.uk: "REVEALED: RUSSIA SPIED ON BLAIR FOR SADDAM" by David Harrison (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Top secret documents obtained by The Telegraph in Baghdad show that Russia provided Saddam Hussein's regime with wide-ranging assistance in the months leading up to the war, including intelligence on private conversations between Tony Blair and other Western leaders. Moscow also provided Saddam with lists of assassins available for "hits" in the West and details of arms deals to neighbouring countries. The two countries also signed agreements to share intelligence, help each other to "obtain" visas for agents to go to other countries and to exchange information on the activities of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qa'eda leader. The documents detailing the extent of the links between Russia and Saddam were obtained from the heavily bombed headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence service in Baghdad yesterday.") (April 13, 2003) (Read More...)
INA TODAY.com - INTERNATIONAL NEWS ANALYSIS -- TODAY: "RUSSIA IN IRAQ -- THE HIDDEN PRESENCE" -Analysis by Toby Westerman (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "More than 3,000 Muslim congregations with a combined membership of 20 million believers belong to the Central Islamic Leadership. The chairman of the organization, Grand Mufti Talgat Tadschuddin, is urging his followers to use their money to buy weapons and supplies for use against the U.S. and in support of Iraq, according to a report in the German newsmagazine, Der Spiegel. Although the Russian Federation is currently fighting against Islamic militants within its borders, Moscow has close relations with "established" Muslim organizations throughout Russia.") (April 4, 2003) (Read More...)
WASHINGTON TIMES.com (AFP): "STALINIST STATE TO BUY MISSILES FROM RUSSIA" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "TOKYO (Agence France-Presse) -- North Korea, locked in a nuclear standoff with the United States, plans to import leading-edge Russian missile and rocket systems via Syria to upgrade its ballistic missiles, a newspaper reported yesterday. The Stalinist state is expected to use the hardware, including the high-tech tactical missile Iskandar-E and the multiple-launch rocket system Smerch, to upgrade the guidance system and other functions of its long-range missiles, the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun said. North Korea and Syria have a secret deal on the trade, possibly based on an agreement on scientific and technological cooperation, the conservative daily quoted military sources as saying. The science and technology accord was signed when North Korea's No. 2 official, Kim Yong-nam, the head of the Supreme People's Assembly, visited Syria in July last year.") (April 4, 2003) (Read More...)