Nexus - 1304 - New Times Magazine-pages

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The Far West Drug Meta-Group Continued from page 31 organised by Surikov in southern France Scott at the University of Melbourne. was called ta nromote the intentions of the A longer form of this essay, together Scott at the University of Melbourne. A longer form of this essay, together with endnotes, can be found at http://www. lobster-magazine.co.uk/ articles/global-drug.htm. organised by Surikov in southern France was called to promote the intentions of the Yeltsin "family". In the light of the Yasenev essay, it is more likely to have served the purposes of militant Islam and the drug traffic. The portraits of Saidov's and Surikov's connections with al-Zawahiri, Erbakan and Hizb ut-Tahrir con firm the criticisms by the Indian analyst B. Raman and others that American studies of Islamist jihadism err in their restrictive focus on al-Qaeda.* The full range of Islamic jihadism is far more complex. In my conclusion, I'll return to the possibility that the US government may share common goals with Hizb ut-Tahrir and the meta-group in Russia, even while combatting the Islamist terrorism of al- Qaeda in the Middle East and the West. The radicals believe that the US actively utilizes Turkish and Muslim elements... From Azerbaijan, radicals foresee a Strategic penetration which would irrevocably split the Federation. US influence would be distributed to the former Soviet Central Asian Republics, to Chechnya and the other North Caucasus Muslim autonomous republics of T[at]arstan and Bashkortostan. As a result Russian territorial integrity would be irreparably compromised.™) About the Author: Dr Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomat, has written extensively on US foreign policy and the international drug traffic. He has recently completed a book manuscript, The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America. His most recently published book is Drugs, Oil, and War: The United States in Afghanistan, Colombia, and Indochina (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). For additional background, see "A Ballad of Drugs and 9/11", FlashPoint, Spring 2006, at http://www. flashpointmag.com/scott2.htm. Dr Scott's article "Al-Qaeda, US Oil Companies and Central Asia" was published in NEXUS 13/03. For more details about Dr Scott and his work, visit his website http://www. peterdalescott.net. Yasenev also claims that, in the summer of 2004, the meta-group: ... Started a project in the Near-Volgian Federal District to train cadres for [the] Volga-Urals chapter of the international extremist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, banned by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in 2003. The project is financed by private philanthropic foundations of the Arabic Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Editor's Note: We are unable to publish the accompanying endnotes due to their extensive nature and our lack of space. This article has been abridged for a 2006 colloquium presentation by Dr In this context, we can further question Dunlop's assumption that the 1999 meeting 78 = NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2006 Continued next issue... www.nexusmagazine.com