Syrian ‘scams’ have a Nigerian ‘flavour’

 

Aid Worker retrieving a Syrian child from debris following a Syrian Air Force attack  - Scammers are cashing in on the plight of innocents!

 For many years now, we have become accustomed to being seduced by what have become known as Nigerian Scams. The writer first became so acquainted with these in about 1990 via the medium of a fax (remember faxes?) and more closely so when actually in Lagos, probably the most hostile city ever encountered by this columnist during an excess of 30 years travelling experience. Since then, as communications technology has advanced, such solicitations are transmitted via email, SMS, Skype and a whole variety of online media. In November 2013, this column produced an article entitled “Nigerian Scams from Iran?” which has been extensively read in many parts of the world subsequently. The latest such attempt has been made via Facebook but this time, perhaps topically it comes from someone claiming to be in a military establishment in Syria. This is what the ‘poor widow’ has to say after much preliminary platitudes:

“I am so happy being your friend after so much talks today I came to a conclusion to open up to you because I understand you are someone with a good heart and may not betray me. So i have to have the confidence in you and i want to tell you everything and all the secrets that i have here. My dear before my husband was killed he was a wealthy man because he served as a top military with his Rank up to (فريق أول Feriq awwal) before he died, on that day he was bleeding to death he revealed to me that he had hid some 1.3 million Dollars in a security box with Red Cross Diplomatic Agency in Michigan city Indiana State 46360 USA and wants me to start a new life with our kids with it outside Syria."

"The attack on that fateful day destroy everything we had and I lost my husband, family members and valuables. I have written to Red Cross Diplomat and they have confirmed box with them and they do not have idea on the content. Here, we do not have money to run the expenses on our travel, and our lives so much depend on the box of money. "

"I have so much confidence in you and I want to send the money (box) to you through a diplomat so that you will receive the box and i tell you the security code to open the box. You will collect your delivery expenses money and send us some money through the Red Cross agency to plan our travel arrangement to your place. On our arrival, we plan for establishment and settlement. I know you will not regret helping a poor widow in a war center gain freedom and peace with her two kids. In reciprocating for your kind human gesture on securing the box, we will release to you 30% of the total money. Please write me in confirmation." (SIC)

Needless to say one has not exactly rushed to the aid of our Syrian ‘war-widow’ whose given name and email address do not appear to have much connection with that troubled land! “Leslie Biggs” with the initial part of his/her email address being ‘erickbiselela’ does not give the impression of originating in Raqqa, Alleppo or Damascus but is more likely to arise from some flea-pit internet café in Lagos, where historically so many of these vile scams have originated from, milking as they do upon the genuine concerns the real victims of situations that we have witnessed in Syria these past five years.

 

These types of scams, as they are known, are really the work of criminal gangs and let us be in no doubt as to this reality as there have been a number of cases where people who have been so duped, they have been enticed to fly to Lagos or wherever, ostensibly to sign documentation and have found themselves taken hostage or worse; but irritating though it is to have ones intelligence impugned by such approaches, the writer believes it to be more than deplorable to indulge in the use of sacred religious text in an attempt to add weight to their solicitation, deeply insulting you would have to think, to those who might be offended in this way. Equally, to come up with a spin involving the loss of a loved one is as nauseous as the former tactic.

Just as the scam mail received by this column arrived via the internet, this article will be similarly transmitted around the world and throughout the various networks in an attempt to highlight this type of crime and to urge all due caution in internet transactions. Beware of scams, wheresoever they derive from!

By

Chris Green 

Beşparmak Media Services

The World at War Act III, Part II.

Paris - the aftermath!

In the aftermath of the atrocious acts of war that were visited upon France on Friday 13^th November, 2015 the wider world has been animated in a response of a mixed nature ever since.  For example, the British government have rightly thrown their support towards the French and have furthermore expressed their determination to strike Daesh (An Arabic word for ‘Bigotted One’) at their apparent heart, in Syria but they are prevented from doing so by parliamentary opposition and the current Labour leader seems to oppose even possessing military capability, much less so actually deploying such forces effectively.

What though, is Daesh and do we understand them enough? The following text gives us a unique insight into this vile, Godless organisation from someone who knows from first hand experience:

I'm a French journalist and former Isis hostage. I receive emails from The Syria Campaign just like you, but this time they have asked to share an article I wrote in the Guardian recently. It has been shared over 20,000 times. I have given Chris Green my permission to reproduce my words in this article.

As a proud Frenchman I am as distressed as anyone about the events in Paris. But I am not shocked or incredulous. I know Islamic State. I spent 10 months as an Isis hostage, and I know for sure that our pain, our grief, our hopes, our lives do not touch them. Theirs is a world apart: Most people only know them from their propaganda material, but I have seen behind that. In my time as their captive, I met perhaps a dozen of them, including Mohammed Emwazi: Jihadi John was one of my jailers. He nicknamed me “Baldy”.

Even now I sometimes chat with them on social media, and can tell you that much of what you think of them results from their brand of marketing and public relations. They present themselves to the public as superheroes, but away from the camera are a bit pathetic in many ways: street kids drunk on ideology and power. In France we have a saying – stupid and evil. I found them more stupid than evil. That is not to understate the murderous potential of stupidity.

All of those beheaded last year were my cellmates, and my jailers would play childish games with us – mental torture – saying one day that we would be released and then two weeks later observing blithely, “Tomorrow we will kill one of you.” The first couple of times we believed them but after that we came to realise that for the most part they were bullshitters having fun with us. (SIC)

They would play mock executions. Once they used chloroform with me. Another time it was a beheading scene. A bunch of French-speaking jihadis were shouting, “We’re going to cut your head off and put it on to your arse and upload it to YouTube.” They had a sword from an antique shop. They were laughing and I played the game by screaming, but they just wanted fun. As soon as they left I turned to another of the French hostages and just laughed. It was so ridiculous.

It struck me forcefully how technologically connected they are; they follow the news obsessively, but everything they see goes through their own filter. They are totally indoctrinated, clinging to all manner of conspiracy theories, never acknowledging the contradictions.

Everything convinces them that they are on the right path and, specifically, that there is a kind of apocalyptic process under way that will lead to a confrontation between an army of Muslims from all over the world and others, the crusaders, the Romans. They see everything as moving us down that road. Consequently, everything is a blessing from Allah.

With their news and social media interest, they will be noting everything that follows their murderous assault on Paris, and my guess is that right now the chant among them will be “We are winning”. They will be heartened by every sign of overreaction, of division, of fear, of racism, of xenophobia; they will be drawn to any examples of ugliness on social media.

Central to their world view is the belief that communities cannot live together with Muslims, and every day their antennae will be tuned towards finding supporting evidence. The pictures from Germany of people welcoming migrants will have been particularly troubling to them. Cohesion, tolerance – it is not what they want to see.

Why France? For many reasons perhaps, but I think they identified my country as a weak link in Europe – as a place where divisions could be sown easily. That’s why, when I am asked how we should respond, I say that we must act responsibly.

And yet more bombs will be our response. I am no apologist for Isis. How could I be? But everything I know tells me this is a mistake. The bombardment will be huge, a symbol of righteous anger. Within 48 hours of the atrocity, fighter planes conducted their most spectacular munitions raid yet in Syria, dropping more than 20 bombs on Raqqa, an Isis stronghold. Revenge was perhaps inevitable, but what’s needed is deliberation. My fear is that this reaction will make a bad situation worse.

While we are trying to destroy Isis, what of the 500,000 civilians still living and trapped in Raqqa? What of their safety? What of the very real prospect that by failing to think this through, we turn many of them into extremists? The priority must be to protect these people, not to take more bombs to Syria. We need no-fly zones – zones closed to Russians, the regime, the coalition. The Syrian people need security or they themselves will turn to groups such as Isis.

Canada withdrew from the air war after the election of Justin Trudeau. I desperately want France to do the same, and rationality tells me it could happen. But pragmatism tells me it won’t. The fact is we are trapped: Isis has trapped us. They came to Paris with Kalashnikovs, claiming that they wanted to stop the bombing, but knowing all too well that the attack would force us to keep bombing or even to intensify these counterproductive attacks. That is what is happening.

Emwazi is gone now, killed in a coalition air strike, his death celebrated in parliament. I do not mourn him. But during his murder spree, he too followed this double bluff strategy. After murdering the American journalist James Foley, he pointed his knife at the camera and, turning to the next intended victim, said: “Obama, you must stop intervening in the Middle East or I will kill him.” He knew very well what the hostage’s fate would be. He knew very well what the American reaction would be – more bombing. It’s what Isis wants, but should we be giving it to them?

The group is wicked, of that there is no doubt. But after all that happened to me, I still don’t feel Isis is the priority. To my mind, Bashar al-Assad is the priority. The Syrian president is responsible for the rise of Isis in Syria, and so long as his regime is in place, Isis cannot be eradicated. Nor can we stop the attacks on our streets. When people say “Isis first, and then Assad”, I say don’t believe them. They just want to keep Assad in place.

At the moment there is no political road map and no plan to engage the Arab Sunni community. Isis will collapse, but politics will make that happen. In the meantime there is much we can achieve in the aftermath of this atrocity, and the key is strong hearts and resilience, for that is what they fear. I know them: bombing they expect. What they fear is unity.

~ Nicolas Henin, French Journalist & ISIS Hostage.

Highly compelling words indeed and however the instincts of some – including this columnist – are inclined towards the concentrated and merciless destruction of Daesh, Msr Henin’s unique insight cannot be ignored. As for Syria and life in its capital Damascus, again we can read the views from one who is there. A former colleague of the writer re-established contact recently; we had worked together in Damascus in 1999. He tells in a succinct manner what day to day life is like there now:

“Here as you maybe heard Damascus in common safe city. From time by time the schools and hospitals and homes even peoples in street hit and killed with the mortar and katiusha by the armed groups at Damascus Country side . There shortage of water and electricity, but it's war , hard war Chris and life become very hard and expensive, but Damascus safe [for now] .” (SIC)

Our former colleague has followed up with his take on the recent incident between Turkish and Russian aircraft, but that perhaps is something that we can look at as things develop in that region.

With most of Europe and further a-field on the highest levels of alert, the world is at it’s most dangerous state since the height of the Cold War. A United Nations effort to destroy Daesh and stabilise Syria has never been more urgently needed.

By

Chris Green 

Besparmak Media Services

Peace is attacked in Ankara: After 10/10/15 what next for Turkey?

Ankara Terror Attacks 10/10/15

The smoke may have cleared in central Ankara following the 10/10/15 atrocity by persons and organisations as yet not revealed, but the pall of grief hangs atop the Turkish Capital as 97 families grieve their losses and many more will be fearful of the fate of those who cling to life in hospital as a result of the cowardly bombings that recently occurred. At the time of compiling this copy, the identities of the bombers even if known, are not yet in the public domain; speculation is rife but IS/Da’Esh seem to be the likely culprits. PKK have been implicated too, but such an operation would not seem to have their prints on it neither is the timing – ahead of the snap elections – helpful to their cause.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has suggested that Turkey has a list of would-be suicide bombers but that the authorities are disbarred from intervening and acting upon such intelligence until an action has been carried out! By definition, you would have to think that it is a bit late to act after a suicide bomber has ‘hit the button’ and furthermore, surely National Security interests would have primacy over the legal niceties of an individuals rights (or otherwise). You could be pretty sure that here in Britain, our Intel Services would be –and almost certainly are – taking a somewhat active interest in an individual or group that were linked to such deadly organisations and it beggars belief that M.I.T are not similarly inclined. Apparently though and according to Davutoğlu, if any legal action is taken against suicide bombing suspects before the criminal act, there may be another act committed in protest by other suspects, quid pro quo. So why not take out the other suspects too!?

The terrorist action on 10/10/15 was the largest single terrorist action to be meted out upon the people of Turkeyin the history of the Republic and people have reacted angrily as they emerge from the understandable shock that such a thing took place. Following a call from the Confederation of Public Sector Trades’ Unions (KESK), the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), a march was to be held on Oct. 13, starting at Cerrahpaşa and Sirkeci, two different venues in Istanbul’s Fatih district, before joining in Beyazıt Square, to protest the Ankara bombing and commemorate the 97 victims of the massacre. 

The governor’s office however said, at around 2 a.m. on Oct. 13 that the application filed for the demonstration had been rejected because “the places where the march was slated to be organized were places citizens use frequently,” because the route for the demonstration “was not among the places listed in the law on meetings and demonstrations” and because of “the sensibility of the current period.” Accordingly, police units were deployed to prevent people from reaching the planned demonstration routes. 

In the meantime, protests were held against the massacre across the country in multiple cities, varying from İzmir and Uşak in Turkey’s west to Malatya and Adana in the east and south and Giresun and Zonguldak in the north.  Among the cities in the south of the country where protests were held, police also used teargas to attack a group of around 30 lawyers and another 150 people who came to support them in front of the courthouse in the Alanya district of Antalya.

Many interested outside observers – this column being one - have been predicting an escalation of terrorist actions within Turkey as the Syrian crisis accelerates especially since Moscow initiated unilateral actions in support of the Assad Regime. Russia claims great success in neutralising IS/Da’Esh targets but we are not being shown evidence of these strikes whilst there is plenty of reason to believe that these ‘targets’ are actually those that are in direct conflict with the Syrian government which for some 40 years, have been supported by successive Russian governments. 

Turkey is more than ‘touched and concerned’ by this conflict; given that the shared border between Syria and Turkey is some 820 kilometres in length, it would be impossible to prevent some cross-over in the circumstances. Turkey’s geographical and strategic location is critical though for it has become an increasingly important conduit for the passage of many people onwards to Western Europe and many of these will be exceedingly dangerous groups ‘on a mission’.

Russia’s motives, opportunistic they so clearly have to be seen to be, are certainly not those to be interpreted as Moscow attempting to destroy IS; on the contrary, this is Russia taking an even more embedded position in Syria and, given their long pre-existing deep water naval facility there, they are looking further. Thanks to South Cyprus, Russian naval vessels are now able to use sea bases there too and perhaps air-bases may follow. Furthermore, for many years Russian influence has been steadily growing throughout the island of Cyprus. 

Divided Cyprus 'united' under Russia?

To conclude, the Cyprus Negotiations notwithstanding, what ever may be finally agreed it is quite possible these will count for nothing as a deep ‘red carpet’ is rolled out over Cyprus from the south northward. There have already been aerial incidents between Russian and Turkish aircraft recently and these may escalate; furthermore if Russian troops are based in Cyprus, the Turkic-Russo wars may launch again as they did in 1877/8.  

There is more than enough justification for Turkey to maintain and uphold her military presence in Cyprus irrespective of any deal that might be brokered in some sort of bi-federal, bi-zonal arrangement for the latter may count for nought as the Russian Bear's grip tightens. The strategic shape of the Eastern Mediterranean region could change dramatically during the next 5 years and Turkey has a right to defend her borders. The "Arab Spring" is becoming very 'wintery' indeed!

The Russians are coming!

By

Chris Green 

Besparmak Media Services