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TBR News August 22, 2008

The Voice of the White House

Washington, D.C., August 21, 2008: “Such heart-warming news! High level Republican associates here are talking about the latest ploy on the part of the State of Israel to gain complete control of the United States government. Their idea is to offer the diseased McCain unlimited support from their papers and television stations in return for his putting Joe Lieberman on the ticket as vice president. As McCain is known to be seriously ill and will soon be unable to function, the plan will be for him to retire “for reasons of health” and then Joe Lieberman, loud and persistent Israeli supporter, will step into the Oval Office and America will have her first (unelected) Jewish president. And a firmly dedicated Zionist at that! Many GOP people say putting Lieberman on the ticket will ruin any chance McCain has at the White House. Why? His obvious mental confusion? No, the American public is becoming seriously anti-Semitic and anti-Israel and if McCain attempts to support a universal draft (as he is dead set on doing) and has a rabid Zionist as a running mate, his fall will be great and he will drag the shattered remnants of the Republican Party with him. Thank God!”

Israel and the Tehran Attack

August 21, 2008

by Brian Harring

www.brianharring@yahoo.com

I understand that a number of readers of TBR News are terribly upset at my comments about Israel planning to attack Iran from Georgian airfields. Of course, since this would imply that the United States would be complicit in such an attack, the usual supporters of the government (generally employees) have expressed their shopworn objections to any negativity about Israel or the United States. ‘Shopworn’ is probably too mild a word The neocons and garbage like Joe Lieberman jump up and down and squeal like outraged pigs if anyone dares to question not only the right of Israel to exist but to torment and kill large numbers of the detested Palestinians; and make every effort to control American foreign policy. An loot our Treasury.

Russian Deputy Chief of General Staff, Colonel General. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said Israel had supplied arms to Georgia, delivering weapons systems including eight types of unmanned aircraft and about 100 anti-tank mines. The Israeli presence consisted of IDF special forces, Israeli Air Force personnel, detachments of the Mossad and other Israeli groups, to include mercenaries, were all working, in complete cooperation with American forces, to train and equip the new Georgian armed forces. At the same time, Israel was preparing to move some of its attack aircraft into Georgia, base them on Israeli-controlled airfields in southern Georgia and arm and equip them for a strike on Tehran. It should be noted that the distance from Tel Aviv to Tehran is 1,600km one way, and the distance from Southern Georgia is 1,149 km one way. Slip tanks add 600-800 miles to the overall range

The aircraft designated for the attack were the Israeli Air Force's (IAF) F-16I Sufa (Storm), a two seater, designed and built solely for Israel by Lockheed Martin. The F-16I has a 23,600-kilogram [52,000 pound] take-off weight, considerably more than the earlier F-16s in IAF service, and may be is armed with the AMRAAM air-to-air missile. The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, and the AIM-9 Sidewinder or the AGM-65 Maverick which are air-to-ground tactical missile (AGM) designed for close air support. These missiles are effective against a wide range of tactical targets, including armor, air defenses, ships, ground transportation, and fuel storage facilities. There were to be twelve units belonging to the Israeli Air Force 107 Squadron, the so-called ‘Knights of the Orange Tail’ which was nominaly stationed at Hatzerin AFP (LLHB) .

F-16I Sufa (Storm)

107sq ‘Knights of the Orange Tail’ Hatzerin AFB (LLHB)HaHa tzerim

The air strike was to be aimed at Iranian government buildings with one Israeli group striking where top Iranian officials were known to be working, at housing for the top leadership, at any identified laboratory where nuclear work was being carried on and a second flight was to strike at Iranian oil wells, pipelines and Persian Gulf oil erminals. Once the dual strike was completed, the aircraft would head towards Israel and then were slated to be refueled in mid-air by an American tanker aircraft.

That Putin was aware of the pending Georgian attack on South Ossetia is certain and the strong probability is that someone connected with the CIA’s Russia desk gave sensitive material on this subject to the Russians and an Israeli IDF member is positively known to have given very specific information to the Russian GRU.

After the Russian invasion of Georgia and the disintegration of the Georgian army, a Russian spy satellite spotted a convoy of U.S. Hummers heading down the highway towards the Georgian port of Poti, which happened to be occupied by Russian troops, and the convoy, filled with a group of Georgian special troops, was captured. The vehicles were loaded with plastic explosives, silenced firearms and, to the pleased surprise of Russian military intelligence, a large trove of top-secret NATO documents concerning their highly secret satellite technology

The U.S. equipped the Georgian army with these Hummers.

One of the captured Hummers

There were three Arab nationals among the twenty Georgians, all of whom were blindfolded, handcuffed and taken off for interrogation by the Russian GRU (Military Intelligence) One of the senior interrogators, having started a review of the papers, immediately had them sent off by an army helicopter to higher headquarters. It appears that the Georgians commandeered the U.S. vehicles, totally unaware of their contents, in an effort to escape.

The incredible earlier security leaks from both U.S. and Israeli sources, were sent to Moscow for evaluation and eventually, Putin then saw an excellent chance to wreak havoc on his Georgian enemies, crush their military, capture the vast stocks of American military equipment stored in Georgia, force both the Americans and the detested Israelis out of the country under humiliating circumstances. Russian units also took over a part of the vital trans-Caucasus pipeline, secured the former Russian break-away provinces and drew a strong line in the sand.

Following the total debacle, which resulted in the hasty withdrawal of all American and Israeli military and intelligence units and the subsequent capture by the Russians of huge quantities of American weapons, technical signals equipment, unmanned drones and trucks full of secret documents, the American press was filled with statements of ‘stunned shock’ by American military personnel, denying they had any knowledge of the Georgian attack but common sense would dictate that with over two thousand active American military personnel closely involved with each and every Georgian army unit, the preparations for, and the actual logistics of, the massed Georgian army artillery attack on South Ossetia could simply not have passed totally unnoticed. That Bush was fully aware of the Israeli- planned strike on Tehran can be seen in a 2006 document, copies of which, containing his signature, have been posted on the internet and emailed across the globe.

Russia marks its red lines
August 13, 200

by F William Engdahl

Asia Times

            What is playing out in the Caucasus is being reported in the United States media in an alarmingly misleading light, making Moscow appear the lone aggressor after it sent troops into the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia following a Georgian offensive on that territory.

                The question is whether President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are encouraging Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to force the next US president to back the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military agenda of the current Bush administration. Washington may have badly misjudged the possibilities, as it did in Iraq, and there are evenpossible nuclear consequences.

                The underlying issue is the fact that since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, one after another former member as well as former states of the Soviet Union have been coaxed and in many cases bribed with false promises by Washington into joining the counter organization, NATO.

                Rather than initiate discussions after the 1991 dissolution of the Warsaw Pact about a systematic dissolution of NATO, Washington has steadily converted NATO into what can only be called the military vehicle of an American global imperial rule, linked by a network of military bases from Kosovo to Poland to Turkey to Iraq and Afghanistan.

                In 1999, former Warsaw Pact members Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined NATO. Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia followed suit in March 2004. Now Washington is putting immense pressure on the European Union members of NATO, especially Germany and France, that they vote in December to admit Georgia and Ukraine.

The roots of the conflict

            The specific conflict between Georgia and the two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has its roots in the following. First, the Southern Ossetes, who until 1990 formed an autonomous region of the Georgian Soviet Republic, seek to unite in one state with their co-ethnics in North Ossetia, an autonomous republic of the Russian Soviet Republic and now the Russian Federation.

                There is an historically grounded Ossete fear of violent Georgian nationalism and the experience of Georgian hatred of ethnic minorities under then-Georgian leader Zviad Gamsakhurdia, which the Ossetes see again under Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili was brought to power with US financing and US covert regime-change activities in December 2003 in what was called the "Rose Revolution". Now, the thorns of that rose are causing blood to spill.

                Abkhazia and South Ossetia - the first a traditional Black Sea resort area, the second an impoverished, sparsely populated region that borders Russia to the north - each has its own language, culture and history. When the Soviet Union collapsed, both regions sought to separate themselves from Georgia in bloody conflicts - South Ossetia in 1990-91, Abkhazia in 1992-94.

            In December 1990, Georgia under Gamsakhurdia sent troops into South Ossetia after the region declared sovereignty. This Georgian move was defeated by Soviet Interior Ministry troops. Then Georgia declared the abolition of the South Ossete autonomous region and its incorporation into Georgia proper. Both wars ended with ceasefires that were negotiated by Russia and policed by peacekeeping forces under the aegis of the recently established Commonwealth of Independent States.

                The situation hardened into "frozen conflicts", like that over Cyprus between Greece and Turkey. By late 2005, Georgia signed an agreement that it would not use force, and the Abkhaz would allow the gradual return of 200,000-plus ethnic Georgians who had fled the violence. But the agreement collapsed in early 2006, when Saakashvili sent troops to retake the Kodori Valley in Abkhazia. Since then, Saakashvili has escalated preparations for military action.

                Critical is Russia's support for the Southern Ossetes. Russia is unwilling to see Georgia join NATO. In addition, the Ossetes are the oldest Russian allies in the Caucasus who have provided troops to the Russian army in many wars. Russia does not wish to abandon them and the Abkhaz, and fuel yet more ethnic unrest among their compatriots in the Russian North Caucasus.

                In a November 2006 referendum, 99% of South Ossetians voted for independence from Georgia, at a time when most of them had long held Russian passports. This enabled Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to justify his military's counter-attack of Georgia on Friday as an effort to "protect the lives and dignity of Russian citizens, wherever they may be".

                For Russia, Ossetia has been an important strategic base near the Turkish and Iranian frontiers since the days of the czars. Georgia is also an important transit country for oil being pumped from the Caspian Sea to the Turkish port of Ceyhan and a potential base for Washington efforts to encircle Tehran.

                As far as the Georgians are concerned, South Ossetia and Abkhazia are simply part of their national territory, to be recovered at all costs. Promises by NATO leaders to bring Georgia into the alliance, and ostentatious declarations of support from Washington, have emboldened Saakashvili to launch his military offensive against the two provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

                Saakashvili and likely Cheney's office in Washington appear to have miscalculated very badly. Russia has made it clear that it has no intention of ceding its support for South Ossetia or Abkhazia.

Proxy war

In March, as Washington went ahead to recognize the independence of Kosovo in former Yugoslavia, making Kosovo a de facto NATO-run territory against the will of the United Nations Security Council and especially against Russian protest, then president (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin responded with Russian Duma (parliament) hearings on recognition of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway republic in Moldova.

                Moscow argued that the West's logic on Kosovo should apply as well to these ethnic communities seeking to free themselves from the control of a hostile state. In mid-April, Putin held out the possibility of recognition for the breakaway republics. It was a geopolitical chess game in the strategic Caucasus for the highest stakes - the future of Russia itself.

                Saakashvili called Putin to demand he reverse the decision. He reminded Putin that the West had taken Georgia's side. This past April at the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, US President George W Bush proposed accepting Georgia into NATO's "Action Plan for Membership", a precursor to full NATO membership. To Washington's surprise, 10 NATO member states refused to support his plan, including Germany, France and Italy.

                They argued that accepting the Georgians was problematic, because of the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. They were in reality saying that they would not be willing to back Georgia as, under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which mandates that an armed attack against any NATO member country must be considered an attack against them all and consequently requires use of collective armed force of all NATO members, it would mean that Europe could be faced with war against Russia over the tiny Caucasus Republic of Georgia, with its incalculable dictator, Saakashvili. That would mean the troubled Caucasus would be on a hair-trigger to detonate World War III.

                Russia threatens Georgia, but Georgia threatens Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia looks like a crocodile to Georgia, but Georgia looks to Russia like the cat's paw of the West. Since Saakashvili took power in late 2003, the Pentagon has been in Georgia giving military aid and training. Not only are US military personnel active in Georgia today, according to an Israeli-intelligence source, Debkafile, in 2007 Saakashvili "commissioned from private Israeli security firms several hundred military advisers, estimated at up to 1,000, to train the Georgian armed forces in commando, air, sea, armored and artillery combat tactics".

                It was reported further, "They also have been giving instruction on military intelligence and security for the central regime. Tbilisi also purchased weapons, intelligence and electronic warfare systems from Israel. These advisers were undoubtedly deeply involved in the Georgian army's preparations to conquer the South Ossetian capital Friday."

                Debkafile also reported, "Moscow has repeatedly demanded that Jerusalem halt its military assistance to Georgia, finally threatening a crisis in bilateral relations. Israel responded by saying that the only assistance rendered to Tbilisi was 'defensive'."

                The Israeli news source added that Israel's interest in Georgia had to do as well with Caspian oil pipeline geopolitics. "Jerusalem has a strong interest in having Caspian oil and gas pipelines reach the Turkish terminal port of Ceyhan, rather than the Russian network. Intense negotiations are afoot between Israel, Turkey, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan for pipelines to reach Turkey and thence to Israel's oil terminal at Ashkelon and on to its Red Sea port of Eilat. From there, supertankers can carry the gas and oil to the Far East through the Indian Ocean."

                This means that the attack on South Ossetia is the first battle in a new proxy warfare between Anglo-American-Israeli led interests and Russia. The only question is whether Washington miscalculated the swiftness and intensity of the Russian response to the Georgian attacks of August 8.

                So far, each step in the Caucasus drama has put the conflict on a yet higher plane of danger. The next step will no longer be just about the Caucasus, or even Europe. In 1914 it was the "Guns of August" that initiated the Great War. This time, the Guns of August 2008 could be the detonator of World War III and a nuclear holocaust of unspeakable horror.

                Most in the West are unaware how dangerous the conflict over two tiny provinces in a remote part of Eurasia has become. What is left out of most media coverage is the strategic military security context of the Caucasus dispute.

                Since the end of the Cold War in the beginning of the 1990s, NATO and most directly Washington have systematically pursued what military strategists call nuclear primacy. Put simply, if one of two opposing nuclear powers is able to first develop an operational anti-missile defense, even primitive, that can dramatically weaken a potential counter-strike by the opposing side's nuclear arsenal, the side with missile defense has "won" the nuclear war.

                As questionable as this sounds, it has been explicit Pentagon policy through the last three presidents from father H W Bush in 1990, to Bill Clinton and most aggressively, George W Bush. This is the issue over which Russia has drawn a deep line in the sand, understandably so. The forceful US effort to push Georgia as well as Ukraine into NATO would present Russia with the specter of NATO literally coming to its doorstep, a military threat that is aggressive in the extreme, and untenable for Russian national security.

                This is what gives the seemingly obscure fight over two provinces the size of Luxembourg the potential to become the 1914 Sarajevo trigger to a new nuclear war by miscalculation. The trigger for such a war is not Georgia's right to annex South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Rather, it is US insistence on pushing NATO and its missile defense right up to Russia's door.

                F William Engdahl is author of A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order (Pluto Press) and Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation (www.globalresearch.ca. He may be reached through his website, www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net.

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2008, Issue No. 81
August 19, 2008

NATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTIVE ON SPACE EXPLORATION POLICY (2004)

                A newly disclosed National Security Presidential Directive on space exploration illustrates the broad topical scope of such directives, as well as their practical limitations.

                The Bush Administration directive, issued in 2004, ambitiously called for "a sustained and affordable human and robotic program to explore the solar system and beyond" and even a "human presence across the solar system."

                The document has not been formally released to the public, and multiple requests for its disclosure have been rebuffed by the National Security Council. It was obtained and released by Wikileaks.org, a website that publishes confidential documents.

                See "U.S. Space Exploration Policy," National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) 31, January 14, 2004: http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/nspd-31.pdf

                The National Security Presidential Directive largely replicates the contents of the Bush Administration's Vision for Space Exploration, which was announced on the same day the Directive was signed. But it has some remarkable features of its own.

                For one thing, it has nothing at all to do with national security as the term is commonly understood. Although space exploration was also addressed in national security directives in previous administrations, such as the Clinton Administration's PDD-49, in such cases it was considered along with intelligence and national security space. NSPD-31 by contrast is purely a statement of science and technology policy with no national security component. This raises the possibility that other Bush Directives, yet undisclosed, also address topics outside of the usual national security framework.

                Aside from that, the Bush Directive serves as a reminder that just because a President orders an agency to perform a certain action, that doesn't guarantee compliance. Thus, in 2004 the President directed NASA to undertake a series of robotic missions to the Moon "starting no later than 2008." But that is not going to happen. Instead, NASA may launch the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter "no earlier than" February
2009.

Some other Bush Administration National Security Presidential Directives are available here: http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/index.html

RUSSIA-GEORGIA CONFLICT, AND MORE FROM CRS

                Noteworthy new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following.

                "Russia-Georgia Conflict in South Ossetia: Context and Implications for U.S. Interests," August 13, 2008: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34618.pdf

                "Stability in Russia's Chechnya and Other Regions of the North Caucasus: Recent Developments," August 12, 2008: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34613.pdf

                "Russian Political, Economic, and Security Issues and U.S. Interests," updated July 28, 2008:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33407.pdf

                "Enemy Combatant Detainees: Habeas Corpus Challenges in Federal Court," updated July 29, 2008: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33180.pdf

                "Journalists' Privilege: Overview of the Law and Legislation in the 109th and 110th Congresses," updated July 29, 2008: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/RL34193.pdf

`              "U.S.-China Counterterrorism Cooperation: Issues for U.S. Policy," updated August 6, 2008:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RL33001.pdf

                "National Security Strategy: Legislative Mandates, Execution to Date, and Considerations for Congress," updated July 28, 2008: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34505.pdf

"              Nanotechnology and Environmental, Health, and Safety: Issues for Consideration," August 6, 2008: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34614.pdf

                "Nuclear Cooperation with Other Countries: A Primer," August 12, 2008 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RS22937.pdf

SOURCEBOOK ON THE AEROSPACE DATA FACILITY

                A new documentary collection provides a glimpse of the Aerospace Data Facility at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, which is an operational hub for intelligence support to the U.S. military.

                "The Aerospace Data Facility is a DoD information processing, analysis, relay, and test facility supporting the U.S. Government and its allies," according to one official document.

                Among other things, the ADF represents "the major U.S.-based technical downlink for intelligence satellites operated by the military, the National Security Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office."

                See "Aerospace Data Facility / Denver Security Operations Center, Buckley AFB, Colorado," compiled by Allen Thomson, August 2008: http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/aedf.pdf

The Russian Black Sea Fleet

Russia ready to negotiate with Ukraine on Black Sea Fleet

August 18, 2008

RIA Novosti

VLADIKAVKAZ, August 18 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow is ready to negotiate with Ukraine on the use of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea, but will not let Kiev dictate terms, the Russian president said on Monday.

Last Friday Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he had presented Russia with "an urgent proposition to launch talks and draw up an agreement to regulate bilateral relations during military operations" such as those in Georgia over the past week.

Dmitry Medvedev said: "The Russian Black Sea Fleet will be under particular attention, and let us not be given orders on how we must act. We will be acting in line with international agreements and directives issued by me as commander-in-chief."

Ships from Russia's Black Sea Fleet patrolled the waters off the Georgian coast during Russia's "peace enforcement" operation that began after Georgia launched an offensive in breakaway South Ossetia on August 8.

Yushchenko signed a decree last Wednesday stating that Russia was required to notify the Ukrainian authorities of all movements by naval vessels and aircraft from its Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet.

Medvedev said Russia is ready to negotiate on the issue, but that "everything should be based on our international agreements."

Yushchenko signed the document last week after returning from Tbilisi, where he took part in a mass rally in support of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili amid fighting with Russia. Both leaders have pursued pro-Western policies, seeking to join NATO and the European Union and reduce Russian influence.

Ukraine even threatened to refuse to allow the Russian vessels to return to the Sevastopol naval base. Russia's Defense Ministry earlier said that the Russian Navy had sunk a Georgian vessel transporting missile launchers.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet uses the Sevastopol base under agreements signed in 1997. Yushchenko announced earlier this year that Ukraine would not extend the lease beyond 2017.

Comment: And by 2017, the Ukraine will once more be a part of the Russian Republic! Yet another CIA pet project gone with the wind! BH

The Russian Black Sea Fleet

Commander Vice-Admiral Alexander Kletskov.
Chief of staff Vice-Admiral Alexander Trojan

Kletskov Alexander Dmitrievich
Commander of the Black Sea Fleet (since July 17, 2007). Vice-admiral.

Born on August 16, 1955 in Bryansk region. Graduated from the Kaliningrad Highest Naval School in 1978, the Naval Academy in 1989, and the General Staff Academy in 2003.

Served in the Baltic Fleet: assistant commander of a ship, commander of navigation battle unit (BCh-1) of base type trawler “Altaisky Komsomolets” of the Tallinn Naval Base. Commander of “Komsomolets Estonii” trawler. Chief of staff, commander of trawler division of the Baltiysk Naval Base. In the early 90s, chief of staff, commander of the 64th patrol ship brigade of water region (Baltiysk), chief of staff of the Leningrad Naval Base’s ship formation.

From 1998, chief of staff, commander of the Baltic Naval Base. From October 2005, the Baltic.

Fleet’s chief of staff

.The 30th division of surface ships (Sevastopol)
Commander Rear-Admiral Oleg Garamov.

The 11th brigade of anti-submarine ships (Sevastopol)
Commander 1st-Class Captain Oleg Krivorog.

“Moskva”— Project 1164 guard missile cruiser. Board number 121, in the fleet since 1982. Guard commander 1st-Class Captain Igor Smolyak.

“Kerch” — Project 1134B large anti-submarine ship. Board number 713, in the fleet since 1974. Commander 1st-Class Captain Oleg Peshkurov.

“Ochakov” — Project 1134B large anti-submarine ship. Board number 707, in the fleet since 1973. Commander 1st-Class Captain Evgeny Shevchenko. In repair.

“Smetlivy” — Project 01090 patrol ship. Board number 810, in the fleet since 1969. Commander 2nd-Class Captain Konstantin Alexeev.

“Ladny” — Project 1135 patrol ship. Board number 801, in the fleet since 1980. Commander 2nd-Class Captain Alexander Shvarts.

“Pytlivy” — Project 1135M patrol ship. Board number 808, in the fleet since 1981. Commander 2nd-Class Captain Vitaly Vasilenko.

The 197th brigade of landing ships (Sevastopol)
Commander 1st-Class Captain Evgeny Krylov.

“Nikolai Filchenkov” — Project 1171 large landing ship. Board number 152, in the fleet since 1975. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Evgeny Myasoedov.

BDK-65 “Saratov” — Project 1171 large landing ship. Board number 150, in the fleet since 1966. Commander 2nd-Class Captain Oleg Pochinov.

BDK-69 “Orsk” — Project 1171 large landing ship. Board number 148, in the fleet since 1968. Commander 2nd-Class Captain Vadim Bolsun. In repair.

BDK-46 “Novocherkassk” — Project 775 large landing ship. Board number 142, in the fleet since 1987. Commander 2nd-Class Captain Sergei Zvyagin.

BDK-54 “Azov” — Project 775M guard large landing ship. Board number 151, in the fleet since 1990. Guard commander 2nd-Class Captain Dmitry Khudoba.

BDK-64 “Tsezar Kunikov” — Project 775 large landing ship. Board number 158, in the fleet since 1984. Commander 2nd-Class Captain Sergei Larchuk.

BDK-67 “Yamal” — Project 775 large landing ship. Board number 156, in the fleet since 1988. Commander 2nd-Class Captain Alexander Kononenko.

The 41st brigade of missile boats (Sevastopol)
Commander 1st-Class Captain Yuri Zemskoi.

The 166th division of small missile ships (Novorossiysk)
Commander 2nd-Class Captain Alexei Lisenkov.

“Bora” — Project 1239 missile ship on air cushion. Board number 615, in the fleet since 1997. Commander 1st-Class Captain Nikolai Goncharov.

“Samum” — Project 1239 missile ship on air cushion. Board number 616, in the fleet since 2000. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Dmitry Dyskin. In repair.

“Mirazh” — Project 12341 small missile ship. Board number 617, in the fleet since 1986. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Ivan Dubik.

“Shtil” — Project 12341 small missile ship. Board number 620, in the fleet since 1978. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Valery Trankovsky.

The 295th division of missile boats (Sevastopol)
Commander 2nd-Class Captain Dmitry Kuzmenko.

R-44 — Project 2066 missile boat. Board number 966, in the fleet since 1978. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Gennady Krasnoperov.

R-60 — Project 12411 missile boat. Board number 955, in the fleet since 1987. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Vadim Lopatko.

R-71 — Project 12417 missile boat. Board number 962, in the fleet since 1985. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Yuri Kravets.

R-109— Project 12411 missile boat. Board number 952, in the fleet since 1990. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Igor Vorobiev.

R-239 — Project 12411 missile boat. Board number 953, in the fleet since 1989. Commander Captain-Lieutenant Sergei Shevchenko. In repair.

R-334 “Ivanovets” — Project 12411M missile boat. Board number 954, in the fleet since 1989. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Sergei Kipor.

The 247th independent division of submarines (Sevastopol)
Commander 1st-Class Captain Anatoly Varochkin.

B-871 “Alrosa” — Project 877V diesel submarine. In the fleet since 1990. Commander 2nd-Class Captain Dmitry Paramonov.

B-380 — Project 641B diesel submarine. In the fleet since 1982. Commander 2nd-Class Captain Konstantin Tabachny. In repair.

The 68th brigade of water region patrol ships (Sevastopol)
Commander 1st-Class Captain Valery Zubkov.

The 400th division of anti-submarine ships (Sevastopol)
Commander 2nd-Class Captain Roman Meipariani.

MPK-49 “Alexandrovets” — Project 1124 small anti-submarine ship. Board number 059, in the fleet since 1982. Commander Captain-Lieutenant Alexei Melenteev.

MPK-118 “Suzdalets” — Project 1124M small anti-submarine ship. Board number 071, in the fleet since 1983. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Vadim Djanunts.

MPK-134 “Muromets” — Project 1124M small anti-submarine ship. Board number 064, in the fleet since 1982. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Andrei Mikheev.

MPK-220 “Vladimirets” — Project 11451 small anti-submarine ship. Board number 060, in the fleet since 1990. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Denis Bergs. In repair.

The 418th division of trawlers (Sevastopol)
Commander 2nd-Class Captain Alexei Kashlak.

“Ivan Golubets” — Project 266M sea mine-sweeper. Board number 911, in the fleet since 1973. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Alexei Petrachkov.

“Vice-Admiral Zhukov” — Project 266M sea mine-sweeper. Board number 909, in the fleet since 1978. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Igor Evdochenko.

“Turbinist” — Project 266M sea mine-sweeper. Board number 912, in the fleet since 1972. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Dmitry Chizhik. In repair.

“Kovrovets” — Project 266M sea mine-sweeper. Board number 913, in the fleet since 1974. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Alexander Alkhovik. In repair.

The 63rd brigade of ships in repair (Sevastopol)

The 519th independent division of scout ships (Sevastopol)

The 9th brigade of sea supply vessels (Sevastopol)
Commander 1st-Class Captain Stanislav Stepanov.

The 37th brigade of rescue vessels (Sevastopol)
Commander 1st-Class Captain Damir Shaihutdinov.

The 810th independent regiment of marines (Sevastopol)
Commander Colonel Eduard Zhivaev.

The 43rd independent naval storm air regiment (Gvardeiskoe)
Commander Colonel Mikhail Bagaev.

The 25th independent naval anti-submarine helicopter regiment (Kacha)
Commander Colonel Vladimir Kim.

The 917th independent mixed air regiment (Kacha)
Commander Colonel Yuri Bondarev.

The 219th independent regiment of radio-electric counteraction (Otradnoe)

Novorossiysk naval base
Commander Vice-Admiral Sergei Menyailo.

The 184th brigade of water region patrol ships (Novorossiysk)
Commander 1st-Class Captain Andrei Zabroda.

The 181st division of small anti-submarine ships (Novorossiysk)

MPK-199 “Kasimov” — Project 1124M small anti-submarine ship. Board number 055, in the fleet since 1986. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Dmitry Karpenko.

MPK-207 “Povorino” — Project 1124M small anti-submarine ship. Board number 053, in the fleet since 1989. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Alexander Klepanchuk. In repair.

MPK-217 “Eisk” — Project 1124M small anti-submarine ship. Board number 054, in the fleet since 1989. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Maxim Litkovets. In repair.

The 170th division of trawlers (Novorossiysk)
Commander 2nd-Class Captain Sergei Mishanov.

BT-40 “Lieutenant Ilyin” — Project 12650 base type trawler. Board number 438, in the fleet since 1982. Commander Captain-Lieutenant Vadim Smirnov. In repair.

BT-241 “Mineralnye Vody” — Project 12650 base type trawler. Board number 426, in the fleet since 1990.

“Zheleznyakov” — Project 12660 sea mine-sweeper. Board number 901, in the fleet since 1988. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Vsevolod Bobrikov. In repair.

“Valentin Pikul” — Project 266ME sea mine-sweeper. Board number 770, in the fleet since 2001. Commander 3rd-Class Captain Alexander Boiko.

The 97th independent division of surface ships (Temryuk)

The 382th independent battalion of marines (Temryuk)
Commander Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Kovalev.

The 11th coast missile-artillery brigade (Anapa)
Commander Colonel Vitaly Shevchenko.

Conversations with the Crow: Part 25

Editor’s note: When we ran the first conversation in this series, there was the question of reader interest and acceptability. It is pleasant to report that our server was jammed with viewers and the only other tbrnews story that has had more viewers was our Forward Base Falcon story that had a half a million viewers in less that two days. We are now going to reprint all of the Crowley conversations, including a very interesting one on John McCain, in chronological sequence. It is also pleasant to note that two publishers and three reporters have all expressed concrete interest in the Crowley conversations. It is even more pleasurable to note that a number of people inside the Beltway and in McLean, Virginia, have been screaming with rage!

                On October 8th, 2000, Robert Trumbull Crowley, once a leader of the CIA's Clandestine Operations Division, died in a Washington hospital of heart failure and the end effects of Alzheimer's Disease. Before the late Assistant Director Crowley was cold, Joseph Trento, a writer of light-weight books on the CIA, descended on Crowley's widow at her town house on Cathedral Hill Drive in Washington and hauled away over fifty boxes of Crowley's CIA files.

                Once Trento had his new find secure in his house in Front Royal , Virginia, he called a well-known Washington fix lawyer with the news of his success in securing what the CIA had always considered to be a potential major embarrassment. Three months before, July 20th of that year, retired Marine Corps colonel William R. Corson, and an associate of Crowley, died of emphysema and lung cancer at a hospital in Bethesda, Md.

                After Corson's death, Trento and a well-known Washington fix-lawyer went to Corson's bank, got into his safe deposit box and removed a manuscript entitled 'Zipper.' This manuscript, which dealt with Crowley's involvement in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, vanished into a CIA burn-bag and the matter was considered to be closed forever.

                The small group of CIA officials gathered at Trento's house to search through the Crowley papers, looking for documents that must not become public. A few were found but, to their consternation, a significant number of files Crowley was known to have had in his possession had simply vanished.

                When published material concerning the CIA's actions against Kennedy became public in 2002, it was discovered to the CIA's horror, that the missing documents had been sent by an increasingly erratic Crowley to another person and these missing papers included devastating material on the CIA's activities in South East Asia to include drug running, money laundering and the maintenance of the notorious 'Regional Interrogation Centers' in Viet Nam and, worse still, the Zipper files proving the CIA’s active organization of the assassination of President John Kennedy..

A massive, preemptive disinformation campaign was readied, using government-friendly bloggers, CIA-paid "historians" and others, in the event that anything from this file ever surfaced. The best-laid plans often go astray and in this case, one of the compliant historians, a former government librarian who fancied himself a serious writer, began to tell his friends about the CIA plan to kill Kennedy and eventually, word of this began to leak out into the outside world.

The originals had vanished and an extensive search was conducted by the FBI and CIA operatives but without success. Crowley's survivors, his aged wife and son, were interviewed extensively by the FBI and instructed to minimize any discussion of highly damaging CIA files that Crowley had, illegally, removed from Langley when he retired. Crowley had been a close friend of James Jesus Angleton, the CIA’s notorious head of Counterintelligence. When Angleton was sacked by DCI William Colby in December of 1974, Crowley and Angleton conspired to secretly remove Angleton’s most sensitive secret files our of the agency. Crowley did the same thing right before his own retirement , secretly removing thousands of pages of classified information that covered his entire agency career.

Known as “The Crow” within the agency, Robert T. Crowley joined the CIA at its inception and spent his entire career in the Directorate of Plans, also know as the “Department of Dirty Tricks,”: Crowley was one of the tallest man ever to work at the CIA. Born in 1924 and raised in Chicago, Crowley grew to six and a half feet when he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in N.Y. as a cadet in 1943 in the class of 1946. He never graduated, having enlisted in the Army, serving in the Pacific during World War II. He retired from the Army Reserve in 1986 as a lieutenant colonel. According to a book he authored with his friend and colleague, William Corson, Crowley’s career included service in military intelligence and Naval Intelligence, before joining the CIA at inception in 1947. His entire career at the agency was spent within the Directorate of Plans in covert operations. Before his retirement, Bob Crowley became assistant deputy director for operations, the second-in-command in the Clandestine Directorate of Operations.

One of Crowley’s first major assignments within the agency was to assist in the recruitment and management of prominent World War II Nazis, especially those with advanced intelligence experience. One of the CIA’s major recruitment coups was Heinrich Mueller, once head of Hitler’s Gestapo who had fled to Switzerland after the collapse of the Third Reich and worked as an anti-Communist expert for Masson of Swiss counterintelligence. Mueller was initially hired by Colonel James Critchfield of the CIA, who was running the Gehlen Organization out of Pullach in southern Germany. Crowley eventually came to despise Critchfield but the colonel was totally unaware of this, to his later dismay.

Crowley’s real expertise within the agency was the Soviet KGB. One of his main jobs throughout his career was acting as the agency liaison with corporations like ITT, which the CIA often used as fronts for moving large amounts of cash off their books. He was deeply involved in the efforts by the U.S. to overthrow the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile, which eventually got him into legal problems with regard to investigations of the U.S. government’s grand jury where he has perjured himself in an agency cover-up

After his retirement, Crowley began to search for someone who might be able to write a competent history of his career. His first choice fell on British author John Costello (author of Ten Days to Destiny, The Pacific War and other works) but, discovering that Costello was a very aggressive homosexual, he dropped him and tentatively turned to Joseph Trento who had assisted Crowley and William Corson in writing a book on the KGB. When Crowley discovered that Trento had an ambiguous and probably cooperative relationship with the CIA, he began to distrust him and continued his search for an author.

Bob Crowley first contacted Gregory Douglas in 1993 when he found out from John Costello that Douglas was about to publish his first book on Heinrich Mueller, the former head of the Gestapo who had become a secret, long-time asset to the CIA. Crowley contacted Douglas and they began a series of long and often very informative telephone conversations that lasted for four years. . In 1996, Crowley , Crowley told Douglas that he believed him to be the person that should ultimately tell Crowley’s story but only after Crowley’s death. Douglas, for his part, became so entranced with some of the material that Crowley began to share with him that he secretly began to record their conversations, later transcribing them word for word, planning to incorporate some, or all, of the material in later publications.

In 1998, when Crowley was slated to go into the hospital for exploratory surgery, he had his son, Greg, ship two large foot lockers of documents to Douglas with the caveat that they were not to be opened until after Crowley’s death. These documents, totaled an astonishing 15,000 pages of CIA classified files involving many covert operations, both foreign and domestic, during the Cold War.

After Crowley’s death and Trento’s raid on the Crowley files, huge gaps were subsequently discovered by horrified CIA officials and when Crowley’s friends mentioned Gregory Douglas, it was discovered that Crowley’s son had shipped two large boxes to Douglas. No one knew their contents but because Douglas was viewed as an uncontrollable loose cannon who had done considerable damage to the CIA’s reputation by his on-going publication of the history of Gestapo-Mueller, they bent every effort both to identify the missing files and make some effort to retrieve them before Douglas made any use of them.

All of this furor eventually came to the attention of Dr. Peter Janney, a Massachusetts clinical psychologist and son of Wistar Janney, another career senior CIA official, colleague of not only Bob Crowley but Cord Meyer, Richard Helms, Jim Angleton and others. Janney was working on a book concerning the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer, former wife of Cord Meyer, a high-level CIA official, and later the mistress of President John F. Kennedy. Douglas had authored a book, ‘Regicide’ which dealt with Crowley’s part in the Kennedy assassination and he obviously had access to at least some of Crowley’s papers. Janney was very well connected inside the CIA’s higher levels and when he discovered that Douglas had indeed known, and had often spoken with, Crowley and that after Crowley’s death, the FBI had descended on Crowley’s widow and son, warning them to never speak with Douglas about anything, he contacted Douglas and finally obtained from him a number of original documents, including the originals of the transcribed conversations with Robert Crowley.

In spite of the burn bags, the top secret safes and the vigilance of the CIA to keep its own secrets, the truth has an embarrassing and often very fatal habit of emerging, albeit decades later.

While CIA drug running , money-launderings and brutal assassinations are very often strongly rumored and suspected, it has so far not been possible to actually pin them down but it is more than possible that the publication of the transcribed and detailed Crowley-Douglas conversations will do a great deal towards accomplishing this.

These many transcribed conversations are relatively short because Crowley was a man who tired easily but they make excellent reading. There is an interesting admixture of shocking revelations on the part of the retired CIA official and often rampant anti-social (and very entertaining) activities on the part of Douglas but readers of this new and on-going series are gently reminded to always look for the truth in the jest!

Date: Saturday, November 16, 1996

Commenced: 9:48 AM CST

Concluded: 10:25 AM CST

RTC: Hello, Gregory. Are you getting ready to assault the turkey?

GD: Oh, no doubt. One of the few childhood practices remaining. I gave up Christmas some time ago. I haven’t sent a card out in years and last year, I got two. Times change, don’t they?

RTC: They do indeed. Christmas used to be a sort of magic time for children but now all it’s become is a chance to sell junk to frantic people.

GD: I’ve been working up the ZIPPER material and I must say, what surprises me is the extent of the plot. Half of Washington was in on it.

RTC: Actually, they weren’t. A handful of our top people, Hoover and one or two of his very close aides, a military representative here and there.

GD: The Russian report…do you have this? I can’t read Russian but I have friends who do.

RTC: No, I do not.

GD: This Driscoll fellow. Do you know him?

RTC: I did. He’s dead now. Was a specialist on the Warsaw Pact people and since I am a specialist on Russia and Russian intelligence, we met on several occasions. That’s why I got a copy of the report. Driscoll knew nothing about ZIPPER or at least my part in it.

GD: This might be a hard sell. I have tremendous competition from the nut fringe. They will rise up and smite me hip and thigh because I haven’t included their pet theories.

RTC: But that’s to be expected. We have a good in with them. At this point, there is little danger of embarrassing facts getting out but we kept our hand in. The Farrell woman is one of ours and she is a strong influence over the nutties.

GD: To accept this might be a problem.

RTC: Gregory, if you knew a half of what was actually planned, you would see that the ZIPPER business was nothing, just nothing. All right, for example there are some interesting matters for you. I just happen to be in an expansive mood today so I can run a few of the more wild ones past you. There was the Army plan to start bubonic plague in Soviet military units in the east zone of Germany to prevent an invasion of the west. We had a German military specialist working for us on that, plus, of course, many USAF people down in San Antonio. Never went anywhere. Then…by the way, do you know why Truman really sacked MacArthur?

GD: He was defying Truman as I recall.

RTC: Yes but it was his intention to infect the Chinese and North Korean armies with the plague as well. I told you MacArthur had set the Kempeitai Doctor Ishi up in Tokyo in a chemical and medical lab, didn’t I?

GD: Yes, you did.

RTC: Well, when the war in Korea broke out and we were in serious retreat, MacArthur wanted to nuke them. We didn’t have a hell of a lot of such weapons but he was serious. Truman said no so Mac decided to, as he said, ‘radically reduce their effective troop levels.’ For this, read the plague. I don’t know how this got back to Truman but a project like that is really hard to conceal and Mac took too long messing over the logistics of it. When Harry found out about this, he blew his top and sacked MacArthur on the spot. Mac was crazy, of course, but was such an idol here that Truman got reamed on this but it really had to be done. We hanged German and Japanese leaders after the war for far less, believe me. And then there was the Army plan to fake attacks on American soil, blame Castro and then attack him. On that project, which included blowing up a commercial aircraft with Americans on board and setting off bombs in major cities, Eisenhower was in full support. Kennedy found out about it by accident and pulled the plug. That wasn’t one of ours, by the way, and neither were the plague attacks. We were working on plans to destroy the Asian rice crop but that one was quietly put into the closet when too many people found out about it and our rice industry howled that it could easily spread over here and ruin their business. Not that they cared about the Chinese and others, just their own profits. This AIDS business was a legitimate project that got out of control but it was not planned at all. Of course there were plans to instigate a war between the Soviet Union and China but it proved to be too complicated and was dropped. One of our people read Malthus and went to Dulles with a plan to thin out the world’s population, after inoculating our citizens, or most of the non-colored ones. That is still in the active file somewhere. If you read of a national immunization day coming up, that will be a token sign.

GD: If the victims ever get wind of this, they might preempt you and start their own plagues and loose their own virus attackers. Müller told me that such actions were not only criminal and insane but would be bound for a certainty to come back on those who started it.

RTC: That’s the main reason why they never got started. Pragmatic, not moral.

GD: That sums it all up, doesn’t it?

RTC: In theory, Gregory, getting rid of the tired and huddled masses would not be impractical in the long view.

GD: In theory not but I wouldn’t be happy with the practice.

RTC: We would lay the blame on some other enemy and let them worry about defending themselves.

GD: It’s one thing for your people to off the head of the UN or blow up an inconvenient head of state or two but starting plagues is nothing less than psychotic mass murder and I, for one, can’t think of any kind of an excuse for it, pragmatic or not.

RTC: You can always make such an argument, Gregory, and it is not unbecoming for you to do this but when you have been where I have been, these objections fade away very quickly. Well, enough science fiction for today. I am indeed looking forward to your visit and so is Bill.

GD: Question? Why is Kimmel sitting in?

RTC: He has his own agenda. In spite of all the assistance you have given him and his family, he still despises you. You see, Tom saw that Bill and I were doing well in the writing business and we had, and have, a certain reputation in the professions. He will probably retire and wants to find a safe berth when he does. He sees you as a potential threat and you do not treat him with the unalloyed respect that people like Tom demand as their birthright.

GD: I don’t consider myself to be any kind of a threat to him.

RTC: You exist, Gregory, and he views you as a loose cannon, his very words to Bill, and for people like Tom, a loose cannon can’t be controlled. I don’t care what positive things you’ve done for him and his family. In the final cut, you are a potential intellectual threat to him so he dislikes you. And be careful at lunch not to let fly with one of your terrible remarks. I understand them and most often agree with them but Tom considers himself to be an establishment type and people like that don’t like people like you.

GD: My grandfather used to say that the reason some people could stand up without a spine is because their skin is so thick.

RTC:(Laughter) Ah, there you go again, Gregory. I would wager you’d say that right to Tom’s face, wouldn’t you?

GD: If I felt it was necessary.

RTC: He’d do the same thing, Gregory, but to your back, so at the table, watch yourself. Bill is neutral but Tom is not a friend and keep that in mind all the time.

GD: Speaking of back-stabbing, have you seen my good friend Wolfe lately?

RTC: No, I haven’t been over to the Archives lately so I have been spared his most unwelcome attentions. Now we can add Critchfield to your collection of loyal friends. Jim wants back that letter he sent you. The one you read to me. He thinks it might be misunderstood and wants me to try to get it out of you just to look at and then give it back to him. I told him I would try but of course that’s not my plan. If you would follow my advice, hide it in a safe place. It would bother me if you went out of town, say to come back here in December, and remember Kimmel knows the dates of your trip, and some burglar broke in and ran off with it and any other inconvenient and accusatory paperwork you might have lying around. Just a cautionary piece of advice from a friend.

GD: I appreciate it. I could leave a little surprise in a box marked ‘secret CIA documents,’ couldn’t I?

RTC: Now, now, Gregory, not on the phone.

GD: I’ll bet someone would make quite a report.

RTC: Probably hear it five miles away. Do let’s change the subject. How is the Müller book selling?

GD: Actually, I understand quite well. After it’s been out for about two years, I expect the usual run of paid rodents to start in squealing their objections to it. It will take that long for the rays of brilliant light to penetrate the Stygian gloom that packs their collective brain cases. I do hope they get nice checks for their pains. It beats public assistance or begging in railroad stations. Which, I suspect, is how most of these twits make their living.

RTC: I think most of them work in obscure community colleges in the wilds of Massachusetts or Ohio.

GD: Yes, and I’m told they eat once a day. A piece of salt pork on a long string which can be used over and over. I’ve heard about the dog returning to his own vomit but Robert, what happens when they are the vomit?

RTC: Now, now, and so close to Sunday and Thanksgiving. And what are you going to give thanks for, Gregory?

GD: The fact that almost all of my nasty relatives have passed away, Robert. It will be a matter of some satisfaction to me to have survived them all. When I feel my time is coming, I can travel around the country and urinate on their graves. At any rate, tenderly, tenderly Jesus is calling and my dog is making it very clear that she wants to go out and relive herself on the neighbor’s flower beds so let me beg off. And give my best to Emily, won’t you? You know, if I ever meet her face to face, I would be the soul of civility to her.

RTC: I would certainly hope so.

(Concluded at 10:25 AM CST)

Kriegs’ List

August 15, 2008

by Harold R. Krieg, Lt. Col, ret. AUS

kriegslist@hotmail.com

The NSDAP’s Golden Party Badge was initially instituted by Hitler on 13. November, 1933. It was originally intended for NSDAP members with the Party numbers from 1 to 100,000. To obtain this decoration, it was necessary for the Party member to have had unbroken membership. Termination date for presentation of the decoration was 1. May, 1935. On 30. January, 1938, Hitler permitted each Gauleiter the right to nominate five Party members to receive the decoration and on 1. December, 1939, membership was extended to NSDAP members in Austria or the Ostmark. Hitler also presented this decoration to non-Party members, and on 30.January, 1937, he presented the Golden Party Badge to Field Marshal von Blomberg, Colonel General Freiherr von Fritsch, General Admiral Raeder, and General Milch., Also presented to the CIC Army, Generaloberst, (later Field Marshal) Walter von Brauchitsch in March of 1939 as an honorarium for the performance of the German army during German occupation of Prague on March 15, 1939. The decoration was made of gilded bronze with the party insignia set in an oakleaf wreath. These decorations existed as a number of production pieces. Generally, the decoration with the broad, vertical pins were designed for military uniforms while the standard issue had thin horizontal pins. A smaller version of this decoration was designed to be worn on the lapel of civilian dress. The uniform decoration was 24 to 30 mm wide and the smaller version was 18 to 24 mm wide. Military decorations generally carried the recused marking GES GESCH just under the upper pin base and there was an inset bar running horizontally across the pin with a round hole in the center. The hole was designed to allow the enameled badge to be soldered to the brass gilded base. The number of the holder was hand-stamped onto the reverse just above the bottom catch of the pin..

The Presentation Gold Party Badge

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