Author: Babajanian Karo

98EME ANNIVERSAIRE DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN: L’ALLOCUTION DE FRANCOIS ROCHEBLOINE

Publie le : 29-04-2013

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
invite a lire l’allocution que Monsieur Francois Rochebloine, Depute
de la Loire, a prononce a Saint-Chamond ce 24 avril dans le cadre de
la commemoration du 98ème anniversaire du genocide armenien.

24 avril 2013 – Saint-Chamond Ceremonie commemorative – Square du
24 Avril

Allocution de M. Francois ROCHEBLOINE, Depute de la Loire,
Vice-President du Groupe d’amitie France-Armenie a l’Assemblee
nationale

M. le Maire, Mme la Presidente de l’Union des Associations Armeniennes,
Pères, MM. les Conseillers generaux, Mesdames, Messieurs les elus,
Mesdames, Messieurs, chers amis,

En repondant ce matin a l’invitation du Comite du 24 Avril,
a commemorer le 98ème anniversaire des premiers evenements qui
marquèrent le debut du Genocide Armenien de 1915, nous accomplissons
un geste symbolique. Nous remplissons certes, le devoir de memoire,
mais aussi, et peut-etre surtout, nous exprimons notre attachement
a une certaine idee de l’Homme. Nous disons ” plus jamais ca ” !

Il nous faut rappeler que le genocide Armenien fut le premier des
genocides du 20ème siècle. Aussi, nous devons faire le lien avec
la Journee de la Deportation, une journee du souvenir destinees a
rappeler les lecons des tragedies du siècle passe.

Souvenons-nous des heures sombres, ces jours de honte et de larmes
qui, a l’image de la rafle du Vel’d’hiv, entre autres exemples,
doivent interpeller durablement les consciences.

La correspondance est terrible entre la tragedie du Genocide de 1915
perpetre par le Gouvernement Jeune Turc de l’epoque et la Shoah.

* *

Il nous faut trouver les mots justes pour dire simplement, que nous
sommes la pour rendre justice et preserver la memoire de tous ces
martyrs, dont le nombre ne sera jamais connu, mais laissons la cette
comptabilite de l’horreur ! Car ce sont par millions que se denombrent
les victimes de la folie destructrice et planifiee qui s’est abattue
en 1915 sur le peuple Armenien.

” Qui se souvient des Armeniens ? ”

Cette phrase bien connue, helas, resonne encore aujourd’hui avec une
etrange actualite. Car après les crimes, est venu le temps, supreme
deni de justice, d’etre plonges dans la fosse commune de l’oubli et
de la negation.

De la meme manière, si l’on ne fait rien, si l’on ne dit rien, qui se
souviendra des Cambodgiens, des Tutsis ou encore des Tibetains ? A
l’heure de la mondialisation, pouvons-nous rester sourds aux appels
des peuples opprimes, des minorites. Francais, nous sommes depositaires
d’une longue tradition de defense des Droits de l’Homme : pouvons-nous
ignorer que ce sont les valeurs fondamentales qui sont bafouees ?

Evidemment non ! Le silence doit etre brise, la verite clamee et mise
en lumière, a chaque fois que cela est necessaire. Inlassablement, nous
devons intervenir et rappeler l’actualite de la question Armenienne,
demander que soient garanties la securite de la Republique d’Armenie
et celle du Haut-Karabagh, ~uvrer enfin pour la reconnaissance du
Genocide de 1915.

A ce titre, j’ai pris l’initiative avec plusieurs parlementaires
de creer au niveau national, le Cercle d’amitie de la Republique
du Haut-Karabagh, afin de rompre l’isolement politique dans lequel
tentent de l’enfermer sur la scène internationale la Turquie et
l’Azerbaïdjan, Seul le dialogue entre les peuples peut permettre de
trouver les voies d’une paix durable pour cette region du Sud Caucase.

Le Groupe de Minsk est le seul lieu qui convienne aujourd’hui a
l’organisation diplomatique de ce dialogue. C’est pourquoi, il n’y
a pas d’autres choix que de soutenir son action.

Nous souhaitons tous l’apaisement entre les communautes et entre
les peuples. Dès lors, notre devoir est d’aider a la reconciliation,
comme nous l’avons fait entre Europeens, entre Allemands et Francais,
tirant en cela les lecons de la tragedie des deux Guerres mondiales.

Nous en appelons a la normalisation des relations entre l’Armenie
et la Turquie. C’est une necessite. Nous la souhaitons. Mais, il est
evident que cette normalisation ne peut etre obtenue que si chacune
des parties fait un pas. L’Armenie l’avait fait en signant en 2009
” les protocoles ” sans aucun prealable, ce que malheureusement la
Turquie n’a pas respecte en emettant après signature des prealables
et ce, a l’invitation de l’Azerbaïdjan. La Turquie doit renoncer au
negationnisme d’Etat et assumer son passe, comme l’Allemagne l’a fait
en son temps.

En cette periode d’incertitudes et d’inquietudes pour l’avenir,
souhaitons que l’Europe puisse encore inspirer un message de
stabilite et de cohesion pour l’ensemble du continent et les regions
peripheriques. Dans ce contexte, l’Europe doit etre solide sur ses
bases, avoir la capacite de preserver ses valeurs et de les faire
partager. C’est d’ailleurs a partir de ce bloc de convictions que
nous avons obtenu en 2001 la reconnaissance officielle par la France
du genocide armenien. Je suis fier, a titre personnel, d’avoir ete
l’un des contributeurs et le rapporteur de cette première loi de
reconnaissance au plan international.

* *

Tel est le second message de cette journee du souvenir : rappelons
la portee universelle des grands principes et la reconnaissance des
crimes contre l’Humanite.

Et cela passe par une lutte sans concession contre le negationnisme,
veritable crime contre la memoire, prolongement du crime lui-meme
car il en appelle d’autres.

” Plus jamais ca ! ” Qui cautionne le genocide, le perpetue !

L’absence de sanction a l’egard du negationnisme est inacceptable.

Personnellement, je considère qu’une reponse penale doit etre opposee
a la negation de tous les genocides et crimes contre l’humanite. J’ai
d’ailleurs depose a plusieurs reprises une proposition de loi en ce
sens. Il faut sortir de l’impasse dans laquelle le juge constitutionnel
nous a places avec l’annulation de la loi Boyer.

Peut-on se satisfaire du vide juridique actuel, alors que le racisme
et le negationnisme sous des formes très insidieuses et tout aussi
dangereuses pour notre pacte republicain se developpent ? Il n’est
jamais sain d’opposer les cultures, d’opposer les communautes,
de diviser en agitant les peurs, en soufflant sur les braises des
passions. Nous savons d’experience quel doit etre le prix a payer
ensuite. Il ne faut pas s’etonner alors d’avoir a constater des
profanations, des atteintes a la memoire. Face a ces derives, il y
a lieu de faire preuve d’une extreme vigilance collective.

La Republique Francaise doit etre intransigeante sur ses principes ;
rejetons les miserables compromissions que l’on nous propose sur fond
de transactions commerciales. Quand aux provocations, la betise, elle
n’excuse pas tout, surtout lorsque l’on sait que derrière ces actes,
il y a manipulation, instrumentalisation, conditionnement des esprits.

* *

Je ne peux terminer sans avoir une pensee toute particulière pour tous
les Armeniens qui se rendront aujourd’hui au Memorial du Genocide a
Erevan, pour deposer un ~illet a la memoire de toutes les victimes
du 1er genocide du 20ème siècle.

Nous sommes tous appeles a participer a ce travail de memoire,
a ce juste et legitime combat pour la verite. Notre responsabilite
collective est engagee pour faire progresser cette grande cause, dans
le respect des valeurs humanistes, de la Democratie et de l’Amitie
entre les peuples. Il en va ainsi de la paix.

Je vous remercie.

Schnolagaloutioun.

————————

Lire aussi:

Reconnaissance du genocide armenien : quand la Turquie s’eveillera

Le Collectif VAN a Istanbul : un 24 avril historique

Genocide armenien : delegation europeenne a Istanbul et Erevan

24 avril 2013 a Istanbul

Genocide armenien en Turquie : une initiative historique

Retour a la rubrique

TELECHARGER : Allocution de Francois Rochebloine

AREVA POURRAIT FOURNIR 4 REACTEURS NUCLEAIRES A LA TURQUIE

Après la mega vente de 117 avions Airbus a la compagnie Turkish
Airlines, consistant en 25 A320ceo, 4 A320neo, 53 A321neo, assortie
d’options pour 35 A321neo supplementaires pour la somme de 13 milliards
de dollars et une livraison prevue a partir de 2015, c’est au tour
d’Areva, associee a Mitsubishi, de rever d’un marche de 20 milliards
de dollars pour une vente de 4 reacteurs au gouvernement turc, selon
une information publiee dans le magazine Capital du mois de Mai.

Se pourrait-il que cette eventuelle dernière commande de la Turquie
soit remise en question après les declarations du ministre de
l’Education nationale Vincent Peillon qui, le 24 avril, lors de la
98ème commemoration du genocide des Armeniens, a nettement indique, au
grand dam d’Ankara – qui a immediatement proteste- que les evenements
de 1915 correspondaient bien a la definition du mot genocide. De
meme que sa negation etait une insulte au peuple armenien et pour
laquelle le gouvernement francais travaillerait actuellement aux
“moyens de droit pour que nul ne puisse impunement minimiser ou
refuter les souffrances du peuple armenien. Pour que nul ne puisse
nier ce qui s’est passe”. La question reste posee et la promesse de
la presidence francaise impatiemment attendue.

cliquer sur l’image pour agrandir

lundi 29 avril 2013, Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

200 000 NOMS DES VICTIMES PUBLIES EN 2015

À la suite d’une depeche publiee par l’agence de presse armenienne
Mediamax, selon laquelle la direction des Archives nationales rendra
publique en 2015 la liste de plus de 100 000 noms d’Armeniens massacres
en Asie Mineure sur ordre du gouvernement des jeunes Turcs, nous avons
voulu obtenir des precisions sur les sources ayant pu permettre de
reunir un tel listing.

C’est avec diligence qu’Amatouni Virabian, historien et directeur
des Archives nationales de la Republique d’Armenie, a bien voulu nous
renseigner en exclusivite pour armenews :

A propos de l’information Mediamax, j’ai indique en realite qu’il
n’est plus possible d’obtenir les noms de 1.5 million Armeniens,
c’est trop tard. Mais nous avons l’espoir d’obtenir 200 000 noms
d’ici a l’an 2015. Nous avons obtenu 30 000 noms après avoir interroge
les enfants a propos de leurs parents – ce qui nous a permis d’avoir
60,000 noms. Nous avons egalement ceux de 29 000 migrants – refugies,
et de par leur parente un total de 50 000 noms. Le reste nous provient
des archives. Des documents… memoires, journaux et autres sources…

donc nous atteindrons 200 000 noms. Actuellement nous avons de par le
“shtemaran-restrum” ( ?) 10 000 noms depuis le mois de janvier dernier.

Cordialement Amatuni Virabyan

Par ailleurs, toujours dans la vision des evenements devant se derouler
a l’occasion de la centième commemoration du genocide des Armeniens,
nous attirons avec insistance l’attention de la communaute armenienne
de France et de genereux donateurs dans le but de faire traduire en
langue francaise le considerable travail de l’etnographe Verjine
Svazlian qui a recueilli tout au long de sa vie près d’un millier
de temoignages des survivants du genocide en un ouvrage imposant
de 800 pages au format 21 X 29,7 faisant etat des recits de 700
temoins occulaires, non seulement de ceux ayant migres vers l’Armenie
orientale, mais aussi ceux deportes vers les deserts syriens, jusqu’a
la calamite d’Izmir en 1922.

Lors de sa visite en Armenie, l’ancien president Nicolas Sarkozy lui
avait dit C’est dommage que le livre ne soit pas traduit en francais.

J’ai personnellement informe un important organisme international sur
la necessite d’un investissement pour couvrir les frais de traduction
en langue francaise de ce qui represente la memoire de ceux qui
avaient pu rechapper a l’indicible, notre propre memoire. A ce jour
aucune reponse satisfaisante ne nous est parvenue de l’organisme
en question. Il faut aussi savoir que cet ouvrage sera egalement un
veritable appui pour la presse francaise en mal de materiel authentique
a divulguer.

Si vous souhaitez participer financièrement (quelle que soit la somme)
a la traduction du livre de Verjine Svazlian, merci de vous manifester
d’urgence en envoyant un mail a armenews qui transmettra.

Jean Eckian

lundi 29 avril 2013, Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

AT LEAST 500 PEOPLE LEAVE ARMENIA EVERY DAY – OPPOSITION

April 30, 2013 | 17:42

YEREVAN.- At least 500 people leave Armenia every day through
Bagratashen checkpoint on the border with Georgia, MP Aram Manukyan
said.

Manukyan, member of the opposition ANC faction, said he had visited the
checkpoint together with his colleague Hrant Bagratyan. Around 300-400
young people formed a queue at a checkpoint to leave the country.

He said they are leaving for Russia to find a job and earn their
living. Opposition member noted that migration is not only a result
of corruption and the ruling regime.

THEY WILL GO TO SARGSYAN

06:02 PM | TODAY | SOCIAL

Residents of 33rd block were assuring near the President’s Office
that they had not come there for making noise or quarrelling.

They just want to have houses but they already do not believe the
promises received by President’s Office.

“They do not give us a certain answer. They say they will give us
flats, but there is not even an apartment block at the place they say.

How long shall we still wait? How long must we still rent flats? We
cannot go on like this any more”, says Laura Aloyan, former resident
of 33rd block.

It is 6 years that the residents of 33rd block have given their flats
for compensation, yet they rent flats for already 6 years.

They assure, that this time they have paid money to receive new flats,
but even after that there has not been any change.

The residents were indignant today after coming out of President’s
Office and decided to take a new stance.

They assure that they will go and settle near Serj Sargsyan’s house
and stay there for the night hoping that maybe this will solve their
problem.

RESIDENTS OF OUDJAN BLOCK ROADS TO PROTEST MINI-HYDRO PLANTS

17:23, April 30, 2013

Some 1,000 residents of the Oudjan village in Aragatzotn barricaded
roadways today to protest the on-going construction of a number of
mini-hydro electric plants in the area.

As a result, the community has been deprived of both potable and
irrigation water.

RPA MEMBER: SOME MEMBERS OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS WHO FORMERLY WERE PART OF THE RULING ARMENIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT GOT RICH SHORTLY AFTER COMING INTO POWER

ARMINFO
Tuesday, April 30, 18:07

The head of the parliamentary group of the Republican Party of
Armenia Galust Sahakyan says that before accusing Mayor of Yerevan
Taron Margaryan of corruption some members of the Armenian National
Congress better remember the times when they were in power as part
of the Armenian National Movement.

“Having come into power with just slippers on their feet, they very
quickly got rich at the expense of the country and now they are trying
to shift responsibility onto people like Margaryan,” Sahakyan said.

He said that the huge incomes declared by the mayor are the result
of his hard work. “He did not mention the sources because they are
not registered to his name but he specified how much he has earned
from those businesses,” Sahakyan said.

The opposition’s charge followed Margaryan’s property declaration
saying that he has a capital of $6mln though his monthly wage is just
130,000 AMD.

ARF CALLS ON OPPOSITION FORCES TO JOIN EFFORTS TO APPOINT A MAYOR

April 30, 2013 | 15:45

YEREVAN. – Nothing will change unless we join the efforts and work
together, ARF member said during the public debate on municipal
elections organized by Civilitas Foundation.

Armen Rustamyan noted that political forces failed to unite ahead of
the presidential vote and during the Yerevan Council election campaign.

“However, the opposition forces can accumulate votes and put forward
a mayor from the opposition camp,” he said, offering not to unite
with the ruling party if elected to the Council of Elders.

In his turn, Prosperous Armenia party’s Vartan Oskanian said if we
put before ourselves the task of creating a political counterbalance,
this will be possible only in case ruling party does not form a
majority in the Council.

“Our task must be not to let the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
to form a majority,” he said.

Candidate from the Armenian National Congress Vahagn Khachatryan is
confident that RPA cannot get more than 40 percent of votes.

Six political parties and one bloc have submitted formal applications
to run in the Yerevan Council elections. The latter are slated for
May 5, and the participating political forces will vie for 65 Council
seats. The election campaign will come to an end on May 3. The Yerevan
Council election will be held with proportional lists only.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

Reconnaissance du génocide arménien : quand la Turquie s’éveillera

Publié le : 26-04-2013

Collectif VAN [Vigilance Arménienne contre le Négationnisme] –
Communiqué de Presse ` 26 avril 2013 ` 19:15

Pour la première fois depuis le génocide de 1915 qui a conduit Ã
l’extermination de 1 500 000 Arméniens de l’Empire ottoman, une
délégation officielle composée de membres de la société civile de la
diaspora arménienne d’Europe et d’associations antiracistes
européennes, s’est rendue en Turquie pour commémorer le génocide
arménien, à l’appel de deux ONG turques, l’IHD (Ä°nsan Hakları DerneÄ?i
– Human Rights Association) et DürDe ! (Say Stop to Racism and
Nationalism), ainsi que de l’UGAB (Union Générale Arménienne de
Bienfaisance) – représentée par Nicolas Tavitian – et de l’EGAM
(European Grassroots Antiracist Movement) mené par Benjamin Abtan,
ancien Président de l’UEJF.

Ce sont au total 23 responsables de divers mouvements citoyens (dont,
pour la France, Hadrien Lenoir et Aline Le Bail-Kremer, représentants
de SOS Racisme, Elie Petit, Vice-Président de l’UEJF (Union des
Etudiants Juifs de France) ainsi que de l’European Union of Jewish
Students, et Séta Papazian, Présidente du Collectif VAN [Vigilance
Arménienne contre le Négationnisme]) qui ont participé Ã Istanbul du
21 au 24 avril 2013 Ã des rencontres avec des étudiants et des
intellectuels turcs, kurdes et arméniens.

La délégation a assisté Ã l’ensemble des cérémonies organisées le 24
avril, date qui symbolise le déclenchement du génocide arménien.
Chaque année, en Turquie, le nombre de participants (Ã 90% des
non-Arméniens) de la commémoration du 24 avril évolue à la hausse :
cette année, 2500 Ã 3000 citoyens ont, selon la police, répondu Ã
l’appel de DürDe sur la place Taksim à Istanbul. Auparavant, la
manifestation de l’IHD à Sultanahmet avait, quant à elle, réuni 200
personnes contre une poignée de téméraires seulement l’année dernière.
Les deux rassemblements ont bénéficié de la protection des forces de
police (en civil à Sultanahmet, et de type « anti-émeutes » à Taksim)
qui ont dégagé ou tenu à distance les rares mais virulents
contre-manifestants négationnistes.

De toutes parts, les prises de position deviennent plus claires et
s’alignent sur celles de l’IHD et de personnalités de la trempe de
Ragip Zarakolu : grce à ces précurseurs qui ont tracé le sillon et
n’ont pas accepté de compromissions, les démocrates turcs qui
continuent à utiliser la terminologie « sentimentale » de “Grande
Catastrophe”, sont de plus en plus isolés. L’heure n’est plus ` du
moins dans les mots choisis – à la « peine » et à la « souffrance »
mais à des discours sans ambiguïté : le thème des spoliations a même
été maintes fois abordé par les intellectuels turcs au cours de notre
séjour.

Lors de chaque conférence, de chaque rencontre avec des associations
et des étudiants turcs, kurdes et arméniens, ainsi que durant ses
multiples déclarations à la presse, Benjamin Abtan, Président de
l’EGAM, a porté un message fort contre le racisme, les crimes de haine
et la perpétuation du génocide arménien par le négationnisme.

Accompagné de Séta Papazian, Présidente du Collectif VAN, il s’est
rendu le 24 avril à 14h au Cimetière arménien de Sisli où est enterré
Sevag Balikçi. Le Président de l’EGAM a exprimé le soutien de la
délégation civile européenne aux parents du jeune homme assassiné le
24 avril 2011 dans la caserne de Batman où il effectuait son service
militaire.

98 ans après le génocide de 1915, les Arméniens de Turquie, en proie
aux discriminations, intimidations, menaces et meurtres, vivent
toujours dans la peur. Il n’est d’ailleurs pas anodin de noter que des
mots d’ordre auraient circulé dans la communauté stambouliote pour
dissuader ses membres de prendre part aux commémorations du 24 avril.
Toute la violence exercée par l’Etat profond turc à travers ses
réseaux extrémistes est illustrée dans cette autocensure que
s’appliquent les minorités chrétiennes de Turquie.

Le mouvement solidaire auquel le Collectif VAN a participé ce 24 avril
en Turquie, pour historique qu’il soit, est encore malheureusement
très minoritaire. Néanmoins, en Turquie, tout devient possible.
L’Histoire nous a habitués au pire. Se pourrait-il que le processus
positif enclenché depuis ces dernières années se développe de façon
plus rapide et plus massive que prévu ?

Plutôt que de faire siens les messages de haine de Talaat Pacha, le «
Hitler » turc, souhaitons que la jeunesse de Turquie et de diaspora
soit de plus en plus nombreuse à s’identifier au Juste turc Faik Ali
Bey : ce dernier, gouverneur de Kütahya, avait refusé en 1915 d’obéir
aux ordres de déportation de la population arménienne. Un hommage lui
a été rendu le 24 avril en fin de matinée dans le cimetière de
Zincirlikuyu, Ã l’initiative de l’IHD et de l’historien londonien Ara
Sarafian.

Restons vigilants. Une chose est certaine : il nous appartient
d’accompagner ce travail que des Turcs mènent avec courage pour
l’acceptation de leur passé.

Collectif VAN [Vigilance Arménienne contre le Négationnisme]
BP 20083, 92133 Issy-les-Moulineaux – France
Boîte vocale : +33 1 77 62 70 77 – Email: [email protected]

Lire aussi :

Le Collectif VAN Ã Istanbul : un 24 avril historique

Génocide arménien en Turquie : une initiative historique

24 avril 2013 Ã Istanbul

Génocide arménien : délégation européenne à Istanbul et Erevan

Retour à la rubrique

Finding Misha: Could the mystery man who radicalized Tamerlan Tsarnaev
have been an FBI informant?

The Week
Thu, Apr 25, 2013

By Walter Katz

There is hardly definitive evidence. But when you break down what we
do know, this idea isn’t nearly as far-fetched as other conspiracy
theories circulating the web.

Earlier this week, Andrew Kaczynski, @BuzzFeedAndrew, posted “6
Mind-blowingly Ridiculous Conspiracy Theories Surrounding the Boston
Bombing.” They were for the most part what one finds at Infowars or
Reddit. One theory intrigued me: #2 – “The Tsarnaev brothers were
double agents.” It was as unsubstantiated as the others but it just
missed the mark of a far more plausible theory which didn’t come to me
until Wednesday morning as I drove into work.

During closed door Congressional testimony on Tuesday, authorities
fleshed out what they knew about Tamerlan Tsarnaev before the Boston
marathon bombings:

Attention has turned to whether U.S. security officials paid enough
heed to Tamerlan Tsarnaev having been flagged as a possible Islamist
radical by Russia. The FBI interviewed him in 2011 but did not find
enough cause to continue investigating.

His name was listed on the U.S. government’s highly classified central
database of people it views as potential terrorists, sources close to
the bombing investigation said. The list is vast, including about
500,000 people, which means that not everyone on the list is closely
monitored.

Members of Congress briefed by law enforcement and media reports
citing unidentified sources indicate Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has told
investigators from his hospital bed that the brothers grew radical
from anti-U.S. material on the internet and acted without assistance
from any foreign or domestic militant groups.

A disclosure which came later in the day revealed that Tamerlan was
listed in the federal government’s Terrorist Identities Datamart
Environment (TIDE) database. The list contains 540,000 names of known
or potential terrorists from around the world. Only about 5 percent
the targets, according to Reuters, are U.S. citizens or legal
residents. According to the United States federal government, Russia
advised the U.S. of the concerns it had about Tamerlan, as a result
the FBI interviewed him in 2011, and that was it. Other than two trips
to Dagestan, his family life and his boxing career, nothing much has
been known publicly about Tamerlan.

Then I read a lengthy article by Adam Goldman, and others, at the
Associated Press, “Bomb Suspect Influenced by Mysterious Radical,”
which attempted to piece together what it knew. It took me a little
while to get a handle on its significance.

In the years before the Boston Marathon bombings, Tamerlan Tsarnaev
fell under the influence of a new friend, a Muslim convert who steered
the religiously apathetic young man toward a strict strain of Islam,
family members said.

Under the tutelage of a friend known to the Tsarnaev family only as
Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing and stopped studying music, his family
said. He began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He turned to
websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Jews controlled the world.

“Somehow, he just took his brain,” said Tamerlan’s uncle, Ruslan
Tsarni, who recalled conversations with Tamerlan’s worried father
about Misha’s influence. Efforts over several days by The Associated
Press to identify and interview Misha have been unsuccessful.

Tamerlan’s relationship with Misha could be a clue in understanding
the motives behind his religious transformation and, ultimately, the
attack itself. Two U.S. officials say he had no tie to terrorist
groups.

Throughout his religious makeover, Tamerlan maintained a strong
influence over his siblings, including Dzhokhar, who investigators say
carried out the deadly attack by his older brother’s side, killing
three and injuring 264 people. [Associated Press]

The article goes on to explore the developing relationship between
Tamerlan and the mysterious Misha: Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met
Misha, a slightly older, heavyset bald man with a long reddish
beard. Khozhugov didn’t know where they’d met but believed they
attended a Boston-area mosque together. Misha was an Armenian native
and a convert to Islam and quickly began influencing his new friend,
family members said.

Once, Khozhugov said, Misha came to the family home outside Boston and
sat in the kitchen, chatting with Tamerlan for hours.

“Misha was telling him what is Islam, what is good in Islam, what is
bad in Islam,” said Khozhugov, who said he was present for the
conversation. “This is the best religion and that’s it. Mohammed said
this and Mohammed said that.”

The conversation continued until Tamerlan’s father, Anzor, came home
from work.

“It was late, like midnight,” Khozhugov said. “His father comes in and
says, ‘Why is Misha here so late and still in our house?’ He asked it
politely. Tamerlan was so much into the conversation he didn’t
listen.”

Khozhugov said Tamerlan’s mother, Zubeidat, told him not to worry.

“‘Don’t interrupt them,'” Khozhugov recalled the mother
saying. “‘They’re talking about religion and good things. Misha is
teaching him to be good and nice.'”

As time went on, Tamerlan and his father argued about the young man’s
new beliefs.

“When Misha would start talking, Tamerlan would stop talking and
listen. It upset his father because Tamerlan wouldn’t listen to him as
much,” Khozhugov said. “He would listen to this guy from the mosque
who was preaching to him.”

Anzor became so concerned that he called his brother, worried about
Misha’s effects.

“I heard about nobody else but this convert,” Tsarni said. “The seed
for changing his views was planted right there in Cambridge.”

It was not immediately clear whether the FBI has spoken to Misha or
was attempting to.

Tsarnaev became an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist
propaganda, two U.S. officials said. He read Inspire magazine, an
English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida’s Yemen
affiliate. [Associated Press] Let’s go back to what I view as the most
important line: “Efforts over several days by the Associated Press to
identify and interview Misha have been unsuccessful.” So here is a
distinctive looking guy that Tamerlan may or may not have met in a
Boston-area mosque. He befriends Tamerlan, fills his head with radical
ideas over a period of time, and now no one knows who he is?

If the FBI was doing its job, how is it that they could learn of
Tamerlan, interview him, conclude he is not a threat and place him in
TIDE and the entire time have no clue about Misha? Natural questions
would be: “How long have you held such strong beliefs?” “Really, that
recently?” “Who gave you these ideas?”

Those were my thoughts rather unformed thoughts when I recalled
Miami. In 2006, the feds famously arrested seven young men, five
Americans and two Haitian nationals, in Miami and charged them with
plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago:

The group pledged allegiance to al Qaeda and were provided money to
prepare the bombing plan. But the young men, who became known as the
Liberty City 7, did not operate on their own. According to NBC’s
reporting, the Department of Justice claimed:

[Nasreal]
Batiste met several times in December 2005 with a person purporting to
be an al-Qaida member and asked for boots, uniforms, machine guns,
radios, vehicles and $50,000 in cash to help him build an “‘Islamic
Army’ to wage jihad’,” the indictment said. It said that Batiste said
he would use his ‘soldiers’ to destroy the Sears Tower.

Gonzales said “the individual they thought was a member of al-Qaida
was present at their meetings and in actuality he was working with the
South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force.”
[NBC]

Walter Pincus writing for the Washington Post captured how the federal
government has pursued terrorism plots:

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, separating serious terrorist
plotters from delusional dreamers has proved one of the FBI’s most
challenging tasks. The effort is complicated by the bureau’s frequent
use of informants who sometimes play active roles in the
plotting. [Washington Post]

Following two mistrials, Batiste, the alleged leader of a rather sorry
band, was convicted of all charges, one defendant was acquitted, and
the government secured guilty verdicts for providing material support
against the other five.

As Mother Jones explained, though, the case against the seven could
hardly have gotten off the ground without the ready assistance of the
federal government’s informants, Abbas al-Saidi and Elie Assad, who
had worked for the FBI on other cases:

A few of the Seas of David men did recon the FBI field office in
Miami. But the mission had been conceived by Assad, the van and a
digital camera both provided by Assad – that is, the FBI.

When Assad failed to deliver the cash and with the Seas of David
growing increasingly skeptical about his claims, he tried to assuage
them by swearing them into Al Qaeda, which he did – in a warehouse
rented and wired for video by the FBI.

The oath became the government’s piéce de rèsistance. [Mother Jones]

Trevor Aaronson wrote an excellent article in Mother Jones in 2011 in
which he dug into the FBI’s counter-terrorism operation, which relies
on “Domain Management” to use informants to seek out potential
terrorists:

Once someone has signed on as an informant, the first assignment is
often a fishing expedition. Informants have said in court testimony
that FBI handlers have tasked them with infiltrating mosques without a
specific target or “predicate” – the term of art for the reason why
someone is investigated. They were, they say, directed to surveil
law-abiding Americans with no indication of criminal intent. [Mother
Jones]

Aaronson delves into the Liberty City 7, and gives plenty of other
examples from Portland to Maryland where informants developed a
one-on-one relationship with targets and then encouraged and molded
their burgeoning radicalism.

According to Aaronson, the FBI “maintains a roster of 15,000 spies –
many of them tasked… with infiltrating Muslim communities.” In
addition, for every officially recognized informant there are three
unofficial informants. During the Mother Jones investigation with the
University of California, Berkeley, they examined 508
terrorism-related cases. Of those, “nearly half the prosecutions
involved the use of informants.” Sting operations were used in cases
brought against 158 defendants. The upshot is that “with three
exceptions, all of the high-profile domestic terror plots of the last
decade were actually FBI stings”

Aaronson described how the sting is typically started with the FBI
assigning an informant to approach “the target posing as a radical.”
As the relationship develops, “the operative will propose a plot,
provide, explosives, even lead the target in a fake oath to Al
Qaeda. Once enough incriminating information has been gathered,
there’s an arrest – and a press conference announcing another foiled
plot.” The question always remains, though, to what degree the plots
come about from the target’s own mind rather than through the
machinations of the informant/agent provocateur.

This is a methodology which the FBI has used consistently since
9/11. Is it far-fetched to surmise that Misha was another al-Saidi or
Assad – used by the government to cozy up to Tamerlan and put ideas in
his head? Suppose Tamerlan, though growing sympathetic, never got to
the point of wanting to formulate a plot or wanting to take an oath
because he was busy boxing, or buying nice scarves or converting a
college girl from Rhode Island? Did the FBI determine that Tamerlan
was unlikely to adopt Misha’s proposals and decided to move on to a
riper target? We don’t know, but remember, we never hear of the secret
operations that don’t lead to arrests.

When Misha, or whatever his real name was, got nowhere did he slip
back into the night without the FBI knowing that the seeds of
destruction had now been planted in Tamerlan’s head? Was it only
later, once Tamerlan had gone back another time to Dagestan, or began
steering his little brother towards radicalism, that the plot was
hatched? After all, unlike the Liberty City 7, they didn’t need
$50,000 to bomb the Sears Tower. Al that was needed was a $100 for a
pressure cooker and fireworks from New Hampshire.

This is not to lay claim to a certain “conspiracy” theory. I am a
lawyer, so I take the facts as they are known rather than as I would
like them to be. These are serious concerns, though, which merit
further explanation because of what the public has recently learned:

1. The FBI did know about Tamerlan years ago thanks to Russia’s security services.
2. The FBI contacted Tamerlan and put him on the terrorism watch list.
3. Tamerlan, like the Liberty City 7, fell under the spell of a foreigner who behaved as if he had his best spiritual interests at heart.
4. The government was aware Tamerlan traveled back and forth to Dagestan.
5. Now no one seems to be able to identify or place Misha anywhere.

With all those factors, why wouldn’t the government have attempted to
target Tamerlan?

In the experience I had as a criminal defense attorney, federal
informants are moved around the country at will. They are like
ghosts. Their names aren’t real. They are from nowhere. They aren’t
very accountable for their actions as long they get their man.

It would be disturbing if Tamerlan Tsarnaev – and by extension his
brother – was the product of an abandoned government sting operation,
for we will never know if Tamerlan would have set on down the path of
radicalism without the guiding hand of the red-bearded Misha.

On the other hand, if Tamerlan was targeted by the FBI through Misha
with the belief he was already vulnerable to developing into an active
terrorist and then moved on, they forgot what one FBI agent told
Aaronson: “Sometimes, that step takes 10 years. Other times, it takes
10 minutes.” To have targeted and molded and then forgotten would be
negligence of the highest degree.

(I asked the FBI about my theory. Here’s what they said: “Per long
standing policy, the FBI does not provide information on who may or
may not be an informant. All public statements regarding the Boston
Bombing investigation are located on “)