Secret arms deals going to trial: French Toast!

by Barry ORegan | October 4, 2008 at 04:55 am
148 views | 2 Recommendations | 2 comments

Photos

Secret arms deals going to trial: French Toast!

Secret arms deals going to trial: French Toast!

see larger image

uploaded by Barry ORegan

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

One can envision US Screenwriters upon reading this over the wire, frantically trying to figure out how to get a hastily written action movie script to Brad and Angie to do a Movie on this story, in what seems like a weird combo Watergate - Iran Contra affair.

Bush must be relieved to know, if this Hits the Fan, it will deflect some attention away from him as the World Derides him as a warmonger, when the French are going to be literally French Toast, as the trial and World opinion develops.

The Rwanda Massacre had many French allies from France protecting those Government leaders complicit in the Rwanda Massacre by offering the Killers safe passage out of Rwanda with French officials. One can surmise this oil for arms is just the tip of the iceberg, now seen melting really, really fast as more info comes available in this French Soap Opera or Terror.

http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2008/10/04/6973936-sun.html

Secret arms deals going to trial

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS -- The 468-page French indictment makes seamy reading: Secret arms deals feeding bloodshed in an oil-rich African country.

Envelopes of cash changing hands in a Paris mansion. A cast of defendants ranging from a debt-ridden tycoon to a Chinese opera singer.

Piece by piece, judicial investigators have spent seven years assembling a searing accusation that penetrates the shadows of a dirty global trade. Kalashnikov rifles and Soviet-made land mines poured by the planeful into Angola as it fought a civil war.

In exchange, Angolan oil flowed to multinational companies. And a pair of savvy negotiators allegedly reaped millions of undeclared dollars in profits.

Their stacks of cash were then doled out to French and Angolan officials given secret code names, in exchange for political and commercial favours, according to the version laid out by French authorities. On Monday, the case goes to trial in a Paris court.

Advertisement
recommend This comment thread is now closed
BallyZACA
BallyZACA
flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:56 on October 4th, 2008

Barry Artiste, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Oh yeah, the French are big arms distributors, as are the Swedes.  But guess who just took the lead in arms sales to developing countries?

Russia, eager to bolster its economy with the hard currency it earns from the sale of everything from bullets to jet fighters, surpassed the United States and France last year as the largest arms seller to the developing world, according to a new Congressional report.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6DD1530F933A1575BC0A960958260

-END-

0
Barry ORegan

Apparently China is right up there with the rest of em. Thanks for the flag and input Bally

This story was created over 3 months ago, the comment thread is now closed.

NowPublic on Facebook

What is NowPublic?

NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.

Find out more

Crowd Power

BallyZACA
First Flagged at 12:54 PM, Oct 4, 2008 by BallyZACA
These members have powered this story:

Most Recommended Stories in World

 

closeSign in to NowPublic

is reporting from