Saturday, December 7, 2013

12.7.13: Saudi Arabia – Israel’s New BFF? | North Korea releases 85-year-old American



» Times Minute: Mandela's Family; Jobs Report Implications; 'Inside Llewyn Davis' Opens
07/12/13 00:34 from Uploads by TheNewYorkTimes
Times Minute: Mandela's Family; Jobs Report Implications; 'Inside Llewyn Davis' Opens Subscribe on YouTube: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7n The New York Times Minute for Dec. 6, 2013. NYT on Google Plus: http://bit.ly/WnAshF Watch more ...


» North Korea releases 85-year-old American
08/12/13 01:04 from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post
SEOUL — North Korea said Saturday it had released an elderly U.S. citizen it had held for more than a month, having taken into account his “sincere” apology for crimes against the state and his “advanced age and health condition.” Read f...

» North Korea frees U.S. Korean War veteran after seven weeks
07/12/13 07:19 from Reuters: International
BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea freed an 85-year-old retired American soldier on Saturday after detaining him for more than a month for crimes it said he committed during the Korean War six decades ago.


» North Korea Frees U.S. Tourist
07/12/13 06:53 from WSJ.com: World News
North Korea freed U.S. citizen and war veteran Merrill E. Newman, citing his "sincere repentance" for alleged "hostile acts" against the country.


» Korean War Veteran Arrives in Beijing After Being Released from North Korea
07/12/13 01:00 from Voice of America
A U.S. Korean War veteran has arrived in China after being released from custody and deported from North Korea.Officials from the U.S. Embassy greeted 85-year-old Merrill Newman at the airport in Beijing Saturday.He had been visiting Nor...




» Air traffic computer fault hits flights from England
07/12/13 07:28 from Reuters: International
LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of travelers were delayed at major airports across England on Saturday because of a technical problem at an air traffic control center.

» Glitch Snarls British Air Traffic
07/12/13 07:34 from Voice of America
Hundreds of flights have been delayed or canceled at Britain's busiest airports because of a technical problem at a main air traffic control center.National Air Traffic Service, which controls the crowded airspace over Britain, said Satu...


» U.S. Offers Missile Defense to Gulf
07/12/13 01:58 from WSJ.com: World News
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Saturday will announce an initiative designed to improve cooperation among Persian Gulf kingdoms and beef up the region's missile defenses.
» World Briefing | Europe: Britain: Royal Marine Sentenced for Killing an Afghan Insurgent
07/12/13 01:51 from NYT > International
The marine, Sgt. Alexander Blackman, and two others were charged after military authorities found footage of the episode on a helmet camera belonging to one of the men.
» Mandela Leaves Divided Legacy in Africa
07/12/13 05:46 from WSJ.com: World News
Nelson Mandela's moral sway on the continent was unrivaled and, some democracy activists say, underutilized.
» US President to Pay Respects to Nelson Mandela
07/12/13 05:39 from Voice of America
The White House says President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will travel to South Africa next week to pay respects to late anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Friday the Obamas wil...

» US Jobless Rate Lowest Since 2008
07/12/13 01:00 from Voice of America
The U.S. unemployment rate fell last month to 7 percent, its lowest point in five years.The government said Friday that employers added another 203,000 workers to their payrolls in November - more than some economists predicted, and a si...

» Is Vladimir Putin rewriting Russia's history books? - NBCNews.com
28/11/13 19:45 from Russia - Google News
NBCNews.com Is Vladimir Putin rewriting Russia's history books? NBCNews.com Russian history books have long come under fire for their murky coverage of the dark period of Soviet terror under Communist leaders like Josef Stalin, who w...




» Russia Investigates Fake Pilot Licenses
06/12/13 23:44 from WSJ.com: World News
Pilots working for small regional airlines in Russia may be flying with licenses fraudulently obtained from flight schools they never attended, according to investigators. 



Michael Kammen, Historian of U.S. Psyche, Dies at 77 - NYT



Professor Kammen (pronounced KAY-man) received the 1973 Pulitzer for history for “People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization,” published the previous year. That book sought to describe the national character from the country’s earliest days to the 20th century.

Underpinned by exhaustive research and abundant documentation, Professor Kammen’s books, essays and criticism — he was a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review and other publications — were noteworthy for remaining accessible to the general reader.

His work, which stood at the nexus of history, folklore, psychology and sociology, helped cast the form of the modern scholarly field known as memory studies.

Professor Kammen displayed a passion for paradox and an affection for contradiction, and in “People of Paradox” he uncovered no shortage of either. The American sensibility, he argued, was rooted in a simultaneous opposition: the continuity of Old World traditions juxtaposed with the discontinuity of New World innovations.

“We should understand, as William James did, that Americanism is a volatile mixture of hopeful good and curable bad,” he wrote.

Reviewing the volume in The Times Book Review, the historian Marcus Cunliffe wrote of Professor Kammen, “I pay him the sincere tribute of envy: I wish I had written ‘People of Paradox’ even though I do not agree with him in every instance.”

If the historian’s essential task is to answer the question “What happened?” Professor Kammen sought to answer further questions: How do we as a people construct what happened? How do we remember — or misremember — it long afterward?

» Ahmed Fouad Negm, Dissident Poet of Egypt’s Underclass, Dies at 84
06/12/13 23:27 from NYT > International
Mr. Negm’s fearless and often bawdy critiques of power made him a folk hero, but also earned him a total of 18 years in jail.




His personality was as diverting as his poems: He cursed and teased, extolled the virtues of hashish and boasted about his many marriages. On a wall of his home he painted a line of poetry: “Glory to the crazy people in this dull life.” 
...
Mr. Negm started writing in the late 1950s, during a three-year prison sentence on a forgery charge. After he was released in 1962, he published his first book, “Images From Life and Prison.” 

ahmed fouad negm poems - GS


Images From Life and Prison  Ahmed Fouad Negm


  1. Ahmed Fouad Negm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Fouad_Negm

    Jump to Early life - Ahmed Fouad Negm was born in Sharqia, Egypt, to a family of ...first collection “Pictures from Life and Prison” in vernacular Egyptian ...
Ahmed Fouad Negm - YT



Erect your Forts (English Subtitled) شيّد قصورك


Published on Jun 10, 2012

Imam Mohammad Ahmad Eissa or Sheikh Imam (July 2, 1918 -- June 7, 1995) was a famous Egyptian composer and singer. For most of his life, he formed a duo with the famous Egyptian colloquial poet Ahmed Fouad Negm. Together, they were known for their political songs in favor of the poor and the working classes.


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Spat between Netanyahu, ex-Shin Bet head turns snarky 

Yuval Diskin snipes that the prime minister’s inflated expenses are necessary so he can concentrate on the Iranian threat 
BY GAVRIEL FISKE December 5, 2013, 3:19 pm

Yuval Diskin, ex-head of the Shin Bet. (photo credit: Miriam Alster/ Flash90)

On Wednesday Diskin, a long-time Netanyahu critic, said that the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians posed more of an existential danger to Israel than Iran’s renegade nuclear program, comments dismissed by sources close to Netanyahu.

“The alternative to the vision of a two-state solution is one state,” Diskin said Wednesday, speaking at a Geneva Initiative conference in Tel Aviv. He criticized the way the government has handled the most recent round of negotiations and warned that the longer the conflict persisted, the harder it would be to find a solution.

“The implications of a lack of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are more existential than the Iranian nuclear [program],” he said, noting that the current state of affairs in the West Bank was like a powder keg.


Diskin called for the replacement of the current Israeli government with “a new coalition based on parties that support two states for two peoples.” He asserted that due to infighting, Netanyahu’s coalition had wasted a tremendous opportunity to inject hope into the peace process when it chose to forgo a settlement construction freeze in favor of a prisoner release.
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Russia's then-prime minister Vladimir Putin, right, greets the head of Saudi Arabia's National Security Council, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, in Moscow, July 14, 2008 (photo credit: AP/RIA-Novosti)

Russians and Saudis ‘aren’t discussing philosophy’


Arab media analyze the new alliance between Moscow and Riyadh since Morsi’s ouster in Egypt; Syria: Islamic Front leaves FSA

“Syria is the next ‘secret’ deal between Saudi Arabia and Russia,” reads the headline of Friday’s editorial in London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi.
The paper ridicules a statement by Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which described talks in Moscow this week with the head of Saudi intelligence Prince Bandar bin Sultan as “philosophical in nature.”
“Of course, the Russian and Saudi intelligence agencies are studying philosophy, respect for human rights, Budhism and Yoga and not cutting deals,” the editorial sates ironically.
“Prince Bandar’s second visit to Moscow in four months follows two major changes in the region: the first is the ouster of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi on July 3, and the second is the Iranian nuclear deal signed on November 24. If the ‘philosophical’ deliberations lead to an agreement, this will entail a third regional change: Syria.”
The military coup in Egypt, argues the editorial, has forged a new unlikely alliance between two rival parties: Russia and Saudi Arabia.
“Both Moscow and Riyadh lead a political strategy that opposes Islamic political parties, each for their own reasons.”
“The unexpected alliance between Saudi Arabia and Russia over Egypt has opened the door to another possible agreement between them on the Syrian issue. But a deal in Syria would not be possible without the agreement of Iran, Russia’s ally and the greatest protector of the Syrian regime.”  
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Former Shin Bet chief: Ending internal conflict key for Israel

An unbridled public debate erupted this week on Dec. 4 in Israel between two main approaches dividing the Israeli public in connection with the peace process, diplomatic isolation and the Jewish state’s other geostrategic struggles.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/12/yuval-diskin-benjamin-netanyahu-two-state-solution-mandela.html#ixzz2moMEEXWo 
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Tehran: Mossad and Saudi intelligence are designing super-Stuxnet to destroy Iran’s nuclear program
DEBKAfile Special Report December 3, 2013, 9:31 AM (IDT)



Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency “reveals” that Saudi Arabia and Israel’s Mossad are “co-conspiring to produce a computer worm more destructive than the Stuxnet malware to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program.” The report appeared Monday, Dec. 2, during foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s tour of Arabian Gulf capitals,with the object of easing tensions between the emirates and Tehran. Riyadh was not on his itinerary.
In 2010, Stuxnet, reputed to have been developed by the US and Israel, was the malworm which attacked the software of Iran’s uranium enrichment program and caused a major slowdown, as well as disrupting its only nuclear reactor at Bushehr.
The Iranian agency now claims that Saudi intelligence director Prince Bandar Bin Sultan and the head of Israel’s Mossad Tamir Pardo met in Vienna on Nov. 24, shortly after the six world powers signed their first interim nuclear agreement with Iran in Geneva.  
The two spy chiefs brought with them teams of Israeli and Saudi cyber specialists to discuss “the production of a malware worse than Stuxnet to spy on and destroy the software structure of Iran’s nuclear program,” according to Fars. Riyadh was willing to put up the funding estimated roughly at $1 million.
This plan was approved after the Geneva deal was roundly castigated by Saudi Arabia for acknowledging Iran’s rights to enrich uranium as “Western treachery,” while Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called it “a historic mistake” and a danger to the world.  
Without spelling this out, the Iranian source suggested that President Barack Obama, who in 2010 was ready to go along with the Stuxnet attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, had changed course and opted out of further cyber war after deciding to make Iran his strategic partner in the Middle East.
Israeli intelligence had therefore turned to Saudi intelligence, said the Iranian source.
The same source “disclosed,” without citing dates, that the Saudi prince and the Israeli spy chief had rendezvoused a number of times in the Jordanian port of Aqaba. When those meetings became an open secret in the Middle East, Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz is said to have warned Bandar that the close direct collaboration between the two agencies was causing concern in the royal house.
In another “revelation,” Fars claimed that Prince Bandar secretly visited Israel under cover of French President Francois Hollande’s state visit on Nov. 17-18, ahead of the Geneva meeting on Iran’s nuclear program. This source said the Saudi prince took part in the high-powered Franco-Israeli discussions in Tel Aviv on ways to halt Iran’s nuclear progress.
DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources infer four motives from the manner and timing of the Iranian news agency’s story:
1.  To draw the Crown Prince into reprimanding Bandar for being over-zealous in his partnership with an Israeli head of intelligence and so embarrass him at home. This fits into the context of the succession struggle which our Gulf sources report is afoot in Riyadh. A group of princes is campaigning for Salman’s removal as Crown Prince. Bandar is one of them.
By highlighting his association with Pardo, the Fars publication seeks to discredit Bandar and stir up trouble to sharpen the infighting in Riyadh, with a view to weakening Saudi Arabia’s hand against Iran.
2.  Tehran is getting seriously worried about the Saudi-Israeli intelligence partnership and the prospect of them acting together for covert operations, including cyber warfare, against their nuclear projects. Going public on this partnership is intended to show the Iranian people that the regime is on top of these dangers and well prepared to forestall them.
3. Detractors of the Geneva accord in Tehran are being warned by the regime that formidable external threats lie in wait for the national nuclear program and they would be well advised to desist from their opposition to the deal with the six powers, because it weakens the country’s defenses.
4. The Fars disclosures were picked up and run by Russian media on Dec. 2 - albeit shunned by Western publications – evidence of the close cooperation between Iranian and Russian intelligence services.
No part of these reports is confirmed from any other sources.

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From: Israel News Review

» Obama speaking at the SABAN Forum, says US commitment to Israel's security 'sacrosanct'
07/12/13 15:11 from JPost.com - Front Page
US President hails efficacy of sanctions against Iran but says a diplomatic resolution of nuclear issue must be tested; on Israeli-Palestinian peace says could be restricted to W. Bank and Gaza could follow.
» Obama: Iran can have a peaceful nuclear program, including enrichment - The Times of Israel
07/12/13 15:08 from benjamin netanyahu - Google News
The Times of Israel Obama: Iran can have a peaceful nuclear program, including enrichment The Times of Israel Ilan Ben Zion Ilan Ben Zion is a news editor at The Times of Israel. He holds a Masters degree in Diplomacy from … [More] Tel A...
» Obama: Israeli-Palestinian deal possible, will be implemented in stages - Haaretz
07/12/13 15:03 from benjamin netanyahu - Google News
Haaretz Obama: Israeli-Palestinian deal possible, will be implemented in stages Haaretz This year's forum, which began on Friday, is titled “Power Shifts: U.S.-Israel Relations in a Dynamic Middle East.” Other key speakers include Pr...

» Why Saudi-Israeli Team Hates Iran Deal - Consortium News
07/12/13 14:55 from benjamin netanyahu - Google News
Why Saudi-Israeli Team Hates Iran Deal Consortium News The Saudi-Israeli alliance opposes a diplomatic settlement with Iran over its nuclear program because the deal could kill hopes for enlisting the U.S. military in one more violent re...

» Saudi Arabia – Israel’s New BFF?
07/12/13 08:33 from The Times of Israel
There is a strong convergence of interests with the Saudis who, like Israel, fear a US tilt toward Iran


» Kerry Moves to Ease Tensions With Israel - Wall Street Journal
06/12/13 18:57 from Mossad - Google News
Kerry Moves to Ease Tensions With Israel Wall Street Journal TEL AVIV—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tried to ease tensions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the recent deal on Iran's nuclear program, asserting ...


» Kerry: Mideast Peace Deal Closest in Years - Voice of America
06/12/13 16:10 from Mossad - Google News
Kerry: Mideast Peace Deal Closest in Years Voice of America JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he believes Israel and the Palestinians are closer to a peace agreement than they have been in years at the end of a three-da...



» LIVE WEBCAST: President Barack Obama at Saban Forum 2013—Power Shifts: U.S.-Israel Relations in a Dynamic Middle East
06/12/13 22:00 from Brookings: Topics - Arab-Israeli Relations
Event Information December 6-8, 2013 Online Only Live Webcast Watch a live webcast of Secretary of State John Kerry here at 4:00pm today, December 7 --> A Conversation with President Barack Obama Moderated by Forum Chairman Haim Saban Lo...
» LIVE WEBCAST: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at Saban Forum 2013—Power Shifts: U.S.-Israel Relations in a Dynamic Middle East
06/12/13 22:00 from Brookings: Topics - Israel
Event Information December 6-8, 2013 Online Only Live Webcast Watch a live webcast of Secretary of State John Kerry here at 4:00pm today, December 7 --> Keynote Address by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Loading the player... jwplayer...
» Saban Forum 2013—Power Shifts: U.S.-Israel Relations in a Dynamic Middle East
06/12/13 22:00 from Brookings: Topics - Israel
Event Information December 6-8, 2013 Online Only Live Webcast Watch a live webcast of Secretary of State John Kerry here at 4:00pm today, December 7 Video Archive: A Conversation with President Barack Obama Moderated by Forum Chairman Ha...

Israel News Review

Friday, December 6, 2013

Global illegal drugs trafficking 06/12/13 08:23 from Uploads by AFP



» London's Trafalgar Square Christmas tree lights up
06/12/13 15:07 from Uploads by AFP
London's Trafalgar Square Christmas tree lights up The lights of London's Trafalgar Square Christmas tree were switched on Thursday, with a ceremony involving music and carols. Duration: 0:44. From: AFP news agency Views: 0 0 rat...


» Global illegal drugs trafficking
06/12/13 08:23 from Uploads by AFP
Global illegal drugs trafficking Uruguay's Senate is due to vote on a controversial bill allowing for the legalisation of marijuana. According to the United Nation's 2013 World Drug Report, cannabis was still the most commonly......

» Kerry Moves to Ease Tensions With Israel
06/12/13 20:53 from WSJ.com: World News
Kerry tried to ease tensions with Netanyahu over the recent deal on Iran's nuclear program, asserting that the agreement is contributing to Israeli security.


» Israel shifts tactics over Iran talks
06/12/13 07:40 from FT.com - World
Israeli government is now looking to use its influence with Washington to shape the administration’s negotiating position on a final agreement


» Sinosphere Blog: Homosexuality ‘Against Spiritual Civilization,’ Hunan Government Says
06/12/13 04:54 from NYT > International
Hoping to set up an organization to promote understanding of gays, Xiang Yuhan was told by the local government homosexuality was “against spiritual civilization,” in a rare expression of usually silent opposition to homosexuality in China.


» Surfer's Mystery Cuts Found To Be Shark Bite
06/12/13 04:02 from Sky News | World News | First For Breaking News
An Australian surfer says he felt something hit his hand - but was totally unaware of the gravity of the moment.


» British Marine Sentenced to Life for Murder in Afghanistan
06/12/13 18:27 from Voice of America
A British military court has given a life prison sentence to a marine convicted of killing a man in Afghanistan in 2011.Sergeant Alexander Blackman was found guilty at a court martial last month of murdering an Afghan man while deployed ...


» 6 Detained in Mexico Theft of Radioactive Material
06/12/13 18:08 from NYT > International
Six people being tested for possible radiation exposure in a hospital in central Mexico are suspects in the theft of highly radioactive cobalt-60, a government official said Friday.


» Mexico Hospital Admits 6 with Radiation Exposure
06/12/13 17:29 from Voice of America
A Mexican official and state-run media say a hospital in central Mexico has admitted six people with radiation exposure.   Friday's news comes hours after authorities said they had recovered all of a stolen shipment of highly radioactive...


» WorldViews: This alarming map shows dozens of nuclear materials thefts and losses every year
06/12/13 11:30 from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post
This week's incident in Mexico, in which highly lethal cobalt-60 was stolen in a truck theft and not recovered for two days, may have been unusually disquieting, but it was not unusual. Nuclear material is stolen or lost two to four doze...


» U.N., U.S. call for investigations into Thai trafficking of Rohingya
06/12/13 18:06 from Reuters: International
BANGKOK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United Nations and the United States called Friday for investigations into the findings of a Reuters report that Thai immigration officials moved Myanmar refugees into human trafficking rings.


» US VP Biden issues warning to N. Korea on visit to South
06/12/13 14:41 from Uploads by AFP
US VP Biden issues warning to N. Korea on visit to South US Vice President Joe Biden says there should be no doubt about US commitment to its strategic shift to Asia as he wound up a regional tour dominated by security concerns. Duration...


» No Stranger to Asia, Biden Deploys Political Experience
06/12/13 10:56 from NYT > International
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. honed his political instincts over the decades, and they came in handy on a trip to Asia this week.


» Biden Says China Must Loosen Its Grip on Foreign Journalists
06/12/13 10:43 from WSJ.com: World News
Vice President Joe Biden criticized China's treatment of foreign journalists and pushed its leaders to loosen control over society.


» Train Engineer 'Out Of Service' After Crash
06/12/13 14:39 from Sky News | World News | First For Breaking News
The man experienced a momentary loss of awareness, his lawyer said, before the train went off the tracks.










Train Engineer 'Out Of Service' After Crash

The man experienced a momentary loss of awareness, his lawyer said, before the train went off the tracks.










Derailed train in the Bronx
The train went off the tracks near a river in the Bronx

The engineer driving the speeding commuter train that derailed in New York City last weekend, killing four people, has been suspended without pay, a railroad spokesman has said.
William Rockefeller is "out of service, and not being paid", the spokesman for Metro-North Railroad said.
According to his lawyer and union representative, Mr Rockefeller experienced a momentary loss of awareness as he zoomed down the tracks. They called the episode a "nod", a "daze" or highway hypnosis.
Their accounts raised questions about just how widespread the problem is in the transportation industry and what can be done to combat it.
At the time of the crash, the train was going 82mph (132kph) into a sharp turn where the speed limit drops to 30mph (48kph). That's when the engineer says he snapped out of it and hit the brakes, but it was too late.
The train hurtled off the tracks, leaving a chain of twisted cars just inches from a river in the Bronx. Four people died and more than 60 were injured.
While the term highway hypnosis has been around for decades, there's no technical definition of it and scant specific medical study of it, although multiple studies have found that long driving times on straight roads can cause people to lose focus.
Some experts equate highway hypnosis with a sort of autopilot state - performing a task, usually competently, without awareness of it. Sleep experts say the daze could really be a doze, especially if a driver has undiagnosed sleep problems.
Nearly every bus or train driver has experienced the feeling of being momentarily unaware while driving long hours, said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which has yet to determine the cause of the crash, concluded talking with the engineer on Tuesday. Investigators continued interviewing the train's other crew members.
Investigators have said Mr Rockefeller had enough time off for a full night's rest before the crash, but they were looking at his activities in the previous days.
















































































» Cyprus 'Island of love' lures foreigners to tie the knot
06/12/13 14:22 from Uploads by AFP
Cyprus 'Island of love' lures foreigners to tie the knot Cyprus, birthplace of Aphrodite, the mythical goddess of love, is a magnate for a wide range of couples from Isarel all the way to the UK and Russia to tie t... From: AFP n...


» Afghanistan won't bow to U.S. 'pressure' over security pact: official
06/12/13 13:57 from Reuters: International
KABUL (Reuters) - A senior aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused the United States on Friday of trying to pressure elements of his government to accept a security deal that would shape the post-2014 U.S. military presence in the ...


» Russia Investigates Fake Pilot Licenses
06/12/13 13:33 from WSJ.com: World News
Pilots working for small regional airlines in Russia may be flying with licenses fraudulently obtained from flight schools they never attended, according to investigators.


» Putin's former defense chief threatened with more severe charges
06/12/13 12:51 from Reuters: International
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A former Russian defense minister was charged with negligence on Friday and threatened with tougher charges in a case seen as a test of President Vladimir Putin's stated determination to fight corruption but also a sig...


» Kerry Discusses U.S. Proposals to Bridge Israeli-Palestinian Differences
06/12/13 11:22 from WSJ.com: World News
Secretary of State Kerry is discussing with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu a series of U.S. proposals to offset threats to Israeli security after pulling back from the West Bank under an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.


» US Jobless Rate Lowest Since 2008
06/12/13 10:53 from Voice of America
The U.S. unemployment rate fell last month to 7 percent, its lowest point in five years.The government said Friday that employers added another 203,000 workers to their payrolls in November - more than some economists predicted, and a si...


» Diplomats Accused of Medicaid Fraud
06/12/13 10:37 from WSJ.com: World News
Federal prosecutors have accused current and former Russian diplomats and their spouses of participating in a scheme that garnered nearly $1.5 million in fraudulent Medicaid benefits.







U.S. NEWS

U.S. Accuses Russian Diplomats of Medicaid Fraud

Move May Pressure Relations With Moscow


Dec. 5, 2013 12:24 p.m. ET



Some alleged beneficiaries of Medicaid in New York might come as a surprise: Russian diplomats and their families.
In a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday that is likely to further pressure already sour relations between Moscow and Washington, the Manhattan U.S. attorney accused 49 current and former Russian diplomats and their spouses of participating in an alleged scheme that garnered nearly $1.5 million dollars in fraudulent Medicaid benefits.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said 49 Russian diplomats got Medicaid to pay for childbirths while spending lavishly on luxury goods. Associated Press
Prosecutors alleged the diplomats routinely underreported their incomes in order to qualify for Medicaid, the joint federal-state health-insurance program for the poor and disabled. Between 2004 and 2013, 92% of the childbirths to Russian diplomats in New York, or 58 of 63 births, were paid for by Medicaid, according to the complaint.
"The investigation has revealed the systematic fraudulent submission of falsified applications for Medicaid benefits associated with the medical costs for pregnancy, birth, and young children by Russian diplomats and the spouses of the diplomats," a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent wrote in an affidavit contained in the complaint.
To qualify for Medicaid benefits for births, noncitizens have to show proof of their immigration status and income.
During the time they were allegedly receiving the benefits, the defendants frequently bought luxury goods and took expensive vacations, according to prosecutors.
The diplomats and their spouses allegedly made purchases at Tiffany TIF 0.00% & Co., Bloomingdale's and Jimmy Choo, according to the complaint. They also allegedly spent money on lavish vacations and a chartered helicopter.
Prosecutors alleged the pattern of spending was "generally inconsistent with the grossly underreported incomes" the defendants claimed on their Medicaid applications.
It is unclear whether the complaint would result in actual prosecutions or if it was largely symbolic. All of the diplomats are currently or previously employed at the Russian Mission to the United Nations, the Russian Federation Consulate General in New York, or the New York office of the Trade Representation of the Russian Federation, according to prosecutors.
Requests for comment on Thursday to the Russian Consulate and U.N. Mission weren't immediately returned. A spokeswoman for the trade representation office declined to comment.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said his government was "bewildered" that the U.S. hadn't taken up the issue through diplomatic channels first, the Interfax news agency reported. "It's incomprehensible that the appropriate agencies chose to make these accusations public without discussing them through diplomatic channels," he said.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Thursday that none of the Russian nationals had been arrested because their status as diplomats confers immunity from prosecution in the U.S. Additionally, of the 49 charged, all but 11 are outside the U.S.
Mr. Bharara said that his office had been in close contact with the State Department about the probe. The U.S. and Russia don't have an extradition treaty.
According to Mr. Bharara, the State Department can ask a foreign country to waive diplomatic immunity for charges that would ordinarily result in prosecution. The State Department can then require the diplomats to leave the U.S. if the waiver isn't granted.
The State Department informed its Russian counterparts about the charges, a spokeswoman said. She declined to comment on whether or not it would ask Russia to waive immunity but added, "We don't think this should affect our bilateral relationship with Russia."
According to the complaint, the FBI has been investigating the diplomats for a year and a half. The complaint indicated that prosecutors had used a handful of cooperators involved in the alleged conspiracy to build their case.
Write to Christopher M. Matthews at christopher.matthews@wsj.com

» Russian diplomats charged in alleged Medicaid fraud scheme
06/12/13 09:02 from CNN.com - World
Dozens of current and former Russian diplomats and their spouses were charged with participating 
in a nine-year fraud scheme that allegedly bilked the U.S. government of more than $1.5 million in 
Medicaid benefits, according to a federal...