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A Joint U.S.-Russian Weapons Company?
More from Sharon Weinberger over at Wired regarding former Rep. Curt Weldon's ties to Russia.
We learned earlier this week that Weldon's under investigation in what is "an element of a broader U.S. Justice Department probe into what officials suspect are efforts by Russian-backed firms to gain influence or gather information in Washington."
Now Weinberger, who co-wrote a book about nuclear weapons, found this nugget in her notes. In 2006, Weldon told her that he met with Sergey Chemezov, a former KGB officer and then the head of Rosoboronexport, which handles Russian weapons exports.
"Chemezov offers--it's an amazing offer with Putin's support... there are countries in the Middle East that are approaching Russia to buy replacement weapons and spare parts. Chemezov is here to say, "We want to work with America to either establish either a joint company, or even an American company that would act as a front for weapons these nations want to buy. So American would not think we're going behind their back."
Weldon thought it was a great idea.
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Could Weldon be supplying the people we claim to be fighting?
June 13, 2008 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is serious stuff. I've long suspected that the Bush administration staged the FBI raids before the election to keep Weldon out of Congress and warn anyone else involved in it.
The meeting between Weldon and Sergey Chemezov must have alarmed the FBI who was tapping Weldon's phone at the time. Weldon was collaborating with a foreign government on the sale of arms.
Chemezov and Putin have worked together since they were in the KGB together in Germany. Chemezov really did have Putin's blessing when he met with Weldon.
At the time, the Bush administration was either going to sanction Rosoboronexport or already had for selling arms to Iran, according to an 8/06 WaPo story.
At the same time, Chemezov was consolidating the $6 billion Russian arms industry under the Rosoboronexport umbrella, i.e. nationalizing it.
My guess is that Chemezov was looking to get the sanctions lifted and avoid future problems by offering Weldon and friends a piece of the action.
Who knows? Maybe the public part of the deal involved the US government financing capital improvements in exchange for Rosoboronexport's customer list. I'm sure somehow or another, the US taxpayer was going to be ripped off.
Chemezov is now busy creating a state-owned minig business which will be the biggest in the world.
Hmm...I wonder how Weldon fits in the picture.
June 14, 2008 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Chemezov is looking to nationalize Norilsk Nickel. Norilsk Nickel owns Stillwater Mining in Colorado which is the only US supplier of platinum metals used in fuel cells and car catalysts.
That deal was facilitated by James A. Baker III and Baker Botts. Craig Fuller, one of GHWB's chiefs of staff, is on the board as well as other Bush cronies.
I wonder how this is going to work out.
June 16, 2008 12:05 AM | Reply | Permalink