Hastert, Helicopters, Textron, Turkey, Cash…
Sun Aug 14, 2005
Posted by: Christopher Deliso on Aug 14, 05 | 7:24 am |
First of all, my new interview with former FBI translator turned
whistleblower Sibel Edmonds- a very interesting read- will be out soon on
Antiwar.com. If you aren’t familiar with her case, read last year’s
interview, as well as this and this.
Corruption in high places was alleged in a recent Vanity Fair article that
surveyed government whistleblowers, including Edmonds, and unnamed
congressional sources. The most sensational one was that House Speaker
Dennis Hastert was paid up to $500,000 five years ago by the Turkish lobby
to derail a bill that would have recognized the Armenian genocide carried
out in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.
While it cited FBI wiretapped phone conversations from 2000 mentioning
Hastert, the magazine conceded that there was no way of proving this
allegation.
For his part, Hastert had always claimed that his eleventh-hour decision to
quash the bill in October, 2000 owed directly to the intercesson of
then-President Clinton, who sent a letter to him personally requesting that
maintaining good relations with Turkey were more important than Armenian
heritage: “We have significant interests in this troubled region of the
world: containing the threat posed by East and Central Asia, stabilizing the
Balkans and developing new sources of energy.”
Indeed, the potential ill effects of irritating Turkey were vocally stated,
not least of all by the Turkish authorities themselves. And this pressure
probably meant the end regardless. But if Hastert was able to bluff the
Turkish lobby into giving him 500G unnecessarily, hey, more power to him.
But the tale is more complex. Consider this contemporary report on human
rights and military sales to Turkey:
“…Once House leaders decided to move the resolution, it easily passed in
committee and headed to the House floor. Outraged representatives of
Turkey’s government threatened to halt negotiations with Textron and instead
buy helicopters from a Russian-Israeli consortium, according to Bloomberg
News Service. Worried that the $4.5 billion deal might collapse, Textron
lobbied the congressmen who represent the area surrounding the company’s
Fort Worth plant to kill the resolution. ‘We felt it was important to
support Turkey,’ explains [Textron Spokesman Gene] Kozicharow.”
It’s also very interesting to look at the context, five years ago. From the
same article:
“…President Bill Clinton warned earlier this year that angering Turkey
could have ‘far-reaching negative consequences for the United States.’
Eager to bolster its stock price, which has lost more than half its value in
the last 18 months, Textron is using Clinton’s views to its advantage. ‘We
agree with the State Department,’ says Gene Kozicharow, Textron’s
Washington-based director of public affairs, referring to Clinton’s warning.
But when asked whether Textron agrees with the State Department’s damning
assessment of human-rights abuses in Turkey, Kozicharow responded, ‘I think
I’m going to cut this off, Steve [the journalist]. Talk to you later,’ and
hung up.”
Another contemporary report put the deal in context- and raised further
serious questions about whether it would result in short-term profit and
long-term loss:
“…In July 2000, the Turkish government chose Bell Helicopter Textron’s
AH-1Z KingCobra over the other four finalists: Boeing, Kamov Helicopter
(Russian-Israeli consortium), Agusta, (Italy), and the Europcopter
(Franco-German). But to maintain pressure to receive a U.S. export license
and the best possible contract terms, Turkey is keeping the Russian-Israeli
model in the competition until the deal is signed, sealed, and delivered. At
issue is the amount of local production and technology transfer that Turkey
will receive. Ankara has plans to become an independent producer of attack
helicopters, just as it used to manufacture and export F-16s under license
in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Anxious to seal this lucrative deal, Bell Textron
may be willing to give away the store, including not just a license to
produce the exterior of the aircraft, but access to the technology needed to
build, alter and improve upon the software operating the gunships’ high-tech
instruments. While the loss of jobs to overseas production is deemed an
unavoidable cost of doing weapons business today, the U.S. government has
refused in the past to allow the transfer of software “source codes” and
other sensitive technology for reasons of national security.
Turkey’s negotiations with Bell Textron are scheduled to conclude in March
2001, at which time the State Department will need to decide whether to
issue an export license. The new administration has signaled that it will
look favorable upon this sale, paying less attention to human rights
considerations than its predecessor. However, the sale might still be held
up in the administration over the question of technology transfers, which
has prompted concern by both Republicans and Democrats in similar past
cases. Certain members of Congress are also likely to raise questions about
the sale based on questions of regional stability, U.S. security, and the
protection of human rights. Because the deal involves a NATO member,
however, Congress will have only 15 days to officially review the sale.”
A massive corporation active in a variety of industries, Textron is also a
top-tier “Golden Horn” donor to the American-Turkish Council, the lobbying
giant that has repeatedly come up in the Sibel Edmonds case. The ATC figures
prominently in the Vanity Fair article which mentions Hastert and other
unnamed officials in the pay of the Turkish lobby.
So in other words, looks like Textron is looking forward to the
“international competition” that Turkey’s Undersecretariat for the Defense
Industry announced on August 9, preliminary to “…the purchase of 32
military helicopters and 20 fire fighters worth around $700 million.”
Textron’s subsidiary, Bell Helicopters, was at the time of the Armenian
resolution embroiled in controversy, as an US Customs undercover operation
had concluded two months earlier that the company had laundered hundreds of
thousands of dollars of drug money in order to sell a copter to a Colombian
emerald mogul, Victor Carranza, who according to PBS “…has links to the
drug trade and the right wing paramilitary groups in Colombia.” Whoops!
The PBS report provides a good example of the kind of cooperation between
business, politics and the more sordid spheres of free enterprise- and why
Textron had such headaches throughout Clinton’s second term.
However, with the ascension of Bush II, happy days were here again. And
indeed, there seem to be no existential problems these days for Textron. On
July 29, Bloomberg reported that
“…Textron Inc.’s Bell Helicopter unit beat Boeing Co. in a contest worth
as much as $3 billion to build a new class of armed reconnaissance
helicopters for the U.S. Army, according to people familiar with the award.
Bell will develop and build the first installment of what could be 368
helicopters from largely commercial parts so they can be fielded as early as
2008 to replace aircraft lost in Iraq.”

RESEARCH ALERT-Wachovia starts Hovnanian with “market perform”
BANGALORE, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Wachovia Capital Markets on Friday
initiated coverage of Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. <_HOV.N_>
with a “market perform” rating.
In a research note, the brokerage firm said the eighth largest home
builder in the U.S. has a strategic focus on return on invested
capital (ROIC) and a strong land position in the supply-constrained
Northeast and California. However, 2006 growth will likely be largely
driven by 2005’s acquisitions.
It also said the company shares are traded at a slight 3 percent
premium to the group. It is a higher-risk, higher-reward concern and
the shares are fairly valued.
Shares in the New Jersey-based company closed at $61.51 on Thursday on
the New York Stock Exchange.
08/12/05 12:25 ET

Russian Withdrawal

August 13, 2005
Batumi, Georgia

Russian self-propelled surface-to-air missiles systems Kub (SA-6
Gainful according to the western classification), without missiles,
were loaded onto Russian landing ships at a Russian military base in
the Black Sea port of Batumi in Georgia, Friday, Aug. 12, 2005.

After long and tense negotiations, Russia this year agreed to close
the two bases by the end of 2008.

The long-awaited withdrawal that is to take several years began
Saturday when the vehicles left a Russian base in the Black Sea port
of Batumi _ one of two Soviet-era bases remaining in Georgia.

(AP Photo/Seiran Baroyan)
The Associated Press.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES PROGRAM ON REDUCTION OF AIR POLLUTION IN CITIES
YEREVAN, AUGUST 12, NOYAN TAPAN. At the August 12 sitting, the
Armenian government approved the program on the development of a
mechanism for introducing technological and territorial regulation of
harmful emissions from stationary sources of pollution. According to
the RA Government Information and PR Department, the program is aimed
at reducing air pollution in the Armenian cities, including the
reduction of emmissions per unit of production and the elimination of
excessive air pollution in the cities.

Armenian Officials Tour N.Y. Courts
John Caher
New York Law Journal
08-15-2005
After spending a year helping the Armenian government set up a modern legal
system, Joseph J. Traficanti Jr. figured he would show his foreign friends a
truly balkanized court structure. So he brought them to Albany on August 2.
The former deputy chief administrative judge led a delegation of Armenian
court officials on a study tour of the New York courts and the state
Legislature. They visited the Albany County Family Court and the state Court
of Appeals, chatted with the lieutenant governor’s counsel, discussed the
transition from decentralized to centralized court administration and
examined the judiciary’s computer operations across the Hudson River in the
city of Rensselaer. And they got a chance to view an antiquated court
structure that is far more fragmented than anything at home.
“I learned [in Armenia] that you can have a very nice, simple structure for
your court system and you don’t have to have a complicated one like ours to
have a good one,” Traficanti said. “They have a streamlined system that
would be the envy of anyone here in New York who is interested in reform.”
Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye and all of her recent predecessors have sought a
constitutional amendment that would modernize a court structure designed in
and for a far different era. But the effort fails (largely for political
reasons) as often as it comes up, which is about every year.
Traficanti retired last year from state court administration and headed to
Armenia, where he led a World Bank project to modernize court operations
there. He experienced court administration on a shoe-string. The annual
budget for the entire Republic of Armenia — the whole government, not just
the courts — is about half of the New York court system’s.
“They are struggling to build a good democracy, a strong democracy, and
included in that is a good court system,” Traficanti said. “There are very
difficult hurdles, especially in terms of resources. The budget of the New
York state court system is about $1.2 billion. The budget for the entire
Republic of Armenia is a little over $500 million.”
This week, nine of the Armenian court officials with whom Traficanti worked
came to New York State, thanks to a grant from the U.S. Agency for
International Development and logistical support from the New York State
Judicial Institute in White Plains, N.Y. On August 1, they spent the day
with court administrators at the institute. On August 2, they took a road
trip to Albany. Before returning to Armenia on August 6, the delegation
planned to tour the commercial and criminal courts in Manhattan.
At the Capitol, the group received a brief civics lesson from John R.
Watson, counsel to Lieutenant Governor Mary O. Donohue, on the workings of a
two-house legislature.
LESSONS FOR NEW YORK
But the visitors were mainly interested in the structure of the courts, both
from a hierarchical standpoint and from the perspective of day-to-day
operations. Structurally, Traficanti said, the system that evolved after
Armenia won its independence 12 years ago offers much for New York to
imitate.
“The structure of their court system is what we should have in New York — a
court of first instance, an appellate court and a high court, and that’s
it,” Traficanti said.
Arsen Lazarian, a representative of the Armenian chief judicial officer,
said through an interpreter, that as a rule, there is not much difference
between the courts of his country and New York — except that in Armenia
there is more centralization.
“Here the structure is more decentralized,” Lazarian said. “But we must
take into consideration how small is our country and how big is New York
State. We have only 21 courts, so centralized management is more easy.”
Arman Khachatryan, director of the Republic of Armenia Council of Court
Chairmen — a judicial training center — said training methods employed in
Armenia were borrowed from the National Judicial College in Reno, Nev. But
he is also picking up tips from the New York Judicial Training Institute.
“I can see that we have to do more work,” Khachatryan said, partially in
English and partially through a translator. “This is one of the benefits, to
see how it is implemented, court management in this state. We hope after our
return we can organize the training of the staff to try to use the
experience, our American experience, for the modernization of the Armenian
courts.”
The delegation included representatives of four groups: three pilot courts,
the Court of Appeals for Military and Criminal Matters, the Community First
Instance Court and the Economic Court, which is similar to New York’s
commercial courts. Also included were representatives of the Armenian
Council of Court Chairmen, a court-system administrative agency.
Traficanti’s participation in the project began with a World Bank rule of
law project administered by DPK Consulting, a California-based business
consultancy. DPK is working with a local Armenian partner, Ameria
Consulting, to re-engineer courts in the capital city of Yerevan. The
structural form that evolves is expected to be replicated nationwide.
Karine Nikoghosyan, management advisory services assistant for Ameria, said
she hopes to harvest from this trip some of New York’s technical
innovations. She said the courts in Armenia have a long road to travel in
terms of achieving technological parity.
“It is rather interesting,” Nikoghosyan said of the court system’s use of
even such basic technology as electronic recording of proceedings. “We do
not have that much automation.”
A similar but more extensive court modernization project is under way in
Macedonia, and Traficanti hopes to take part in that effort as well.

VARTAN OSKANIAN: ARMENIA IS COMMITTED TO MAKING PRACTICAL CONTRIBUTION
TO GLOBAL PROCESSES
YEREVAN, AUGUST 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia is committed to making
practical contribution to the global processes – democracy, human
rights defence and the establishment of a lawful state. Armenian
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated this at the August 12 meeting
with the newly appointed UN Resident Representative to Armenia
Consuelo Vidal Bruce. He noted that Armenia takes an active part in
the activities carried out within the framework of the UN and
cooperates with many bodies and links of this organization. According
to the RA MFA Press and Information Department, Consuelo Vidal Bruce
in his turn appreciated the efficiency of the UN-sponsored programs
implemented in Armenia. Consuelo Vidal Bruce was born in 1959, he is a
citizen of Peru, a graduate of the University of Sussex (England).
Fluent in Spanish and English. He has been working in the UN system
since 1992. In 1992-1994, he was UNDP program executive in Namibia. In
1994-1996, he worked as Assistant to UNDP Resident Representative to
Bolivia. In 1996-2002, C. Vidal Bruce held the position of UNDP Deputy
Resident Representative in Costa Rica, later in Salvador and
Belize. In 2002-2005, he was UNDP Deputy Resident Representative to
Macedonia.

YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS CALL FOR STRUGGLE AGAINST INCREASE OF MINIBUS FARE
YEREVAN, AUGUST 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Several youth organizations of
Armenia called upon citizens and students of Yerevan to struggle
against the recent 30% increase of the minibus fare, social oppression
and aggravation the already poor social conditions of the population.
The youth organizations of the party “Hanrapetutyun” (“Republic”), the
National Democratic Union, the Bloc of National Democrats, the Liberal
Progressive Party of Armenia, the party “Heritage”, the Union of
Armenian Aryans, the NGO “For Justice” and the People’s Party of
Armenia issued a joint statement on August 11. They demand that
Mayor’s Office of Yerevan declare its August 8 decision about
increasing the minibus fare invalid. The statement says that the fare
increase in inadmissible, taking into account the low standard of
living of Yerevan citizens, their low incomes (salaries, pensions,
benefits).

HAYFILM SOLD TO ARMENIASTUDIOUS FOR 350 MLN DRAMS
YEREVAN, AUGUST 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Armeniastudios CJSC, 100% of whose
shares belongs to the television company Armenia, was announced the
winner of the tender for alienating the property of the Hayfilm Studio
after Hamo Beknazarian. Summarizing the tender results on August 11,
Chairman of the Tender Commission, Head of the State Property
Management Department Ashot Markosian stated that that the company met
the tender requirements, in particular it offered 350 mln drams (795
thousand USD), which exceeds the minimum price by about 83 mln drams,
and pledged to make investments of 30 bln drams within the next 10
years. According to the president of the television company Armenia
Bagrat Sargsian who represented the company’s interests, major repairs
of the building and its furnishing, as well as installation of modern
equipment will be done over the next two years. It is also envisaged
to restore all the films kept in Hayfilm’s storehouses within a year.

MAXIMUM MONTLY USE OF WATER BY PRIVATE DWELLING HOUSES WITHOUT WATER
METERS TO BE CALCULATED IN AMOUNT OF UP TO 100 CUBIC METERS
YEREVAN, AUGUST 11, NOYAN TAPAN. At the August 11 sitting, the
Armenian government made a decision to calculate the maximum monthly
use of water by the inhabitants of the private dwelling houses, in
which water meters have not been installed, in the amount of up to 100
cubic meters – in order to mitigate to some extent the impact of the
tariff and prevent the accumulation of debts. According to the RA
Government Information and PR Department, it was noted at the sitting
that the decision is also meant as an additional incentive to install
water meters.

RA STATE COMMISSION ON PROTECTION OF ECONOMIC COMPETITION RECEIVES NO
COMPLAINTS IN CONNECTION WITH MINIBUS FARE RISE
YEREVAN, AUGUST 12, NOYAN TAPAN. In order to intiate proceedings in
connection with the fact of the 30% increase of the fare of Yerevan
minibuses, the RA State Commission on Protection of Economic
Competition must conduct studies based on written complaints. Yet, as
the Commission Chairman Ashot Shahnazarian told reporters on August
12, the Commission has received no such complaints. In the opinion of
A. Shajnazarian, if the fare rise was substantiated and necessary, it
would be more correct to increase it by 50% to 150 drams, since the
current fare of 130 drams causes problems when passengers give to and
get back small change from the driver.