Well, I have been busy with trying to find the unique stories and angles out there that no one is covering, and I think I may have found one. Who has heard of the Israeli companies Global CST or Defensive Shield? I have never heard of them, but I tell you what, they are certainly making a splash now!
For the Georgia deal, as you can see below, the work these security firms did there was significant. The Syrians are using that work as propaganda to rub it in the face of Israel as ‘another loss’. This to me is amazing, because it is a sign of how significant the roll of security companies can have on the world stage. And for the record, I tend to agree with the Israeli side, that Georgia was no match for Russia, no matter who trained them. It’s a numbers game.
And this idea of security companies getting involved with highly volatile and political situations, reminds me of the US private security company Steele Foundation and their contract to protect Aristide in Haiti several years ago. This was a prime example of a security company getting thrown into the middle of a sticky situation, while just trying to do their job.
With that deal, the State Dept. was using Steele Foundation security teams to protect Aristide, and then later run him out of Haiti towards the end of his crumbling Presidency. The funny thing about this, is that I guess Aristide had no idea that he was stepping down, according to him. And that the State Dept. blocked his request for more security guys to reinforce his current detail. Very interesting time period for the Steele Foundation guys and kudos to them for working through a complex deal like that.
But back to these Israeli Security Firms. They were also involved with the training of Colombia’s forces and rumored to have influenced the planning for Operation Jacque(hostage rescue). This was a huge deal and very complex. It looks like Global CST was involved with that one too–and was once again thrust onto the world stage in a highly public rescue. Even Ingrid Betencourte, one of the rescued hostages, commented that it was run like a ‘Israeli commando operation’.
So I guess this is an indicator that we will probably see more of these companies in the future? I know I am paying attention now. Here is a link to their website. Interesting stuff. –Head Jundi
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Major General (res.) Israel Ziv, owner of Global CST.
2 Israeli firms say they left Georgia before fighting
By Amos Harel
Two Israeli security companies, Defensive Shield and Global CST, announced yesterday that they had completed their projects in Georgia before fighting between that country and Russia broke out on Friday. The two are among several Israeli companies advising Georgia on security matters, training its army and occasionally supplying it with weapons.
Defensive Shield, owned by Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, said all its employees, including its subcontractors, are no longer in Georgia. It said it completed the work it had been contracted to do, and that all its contracts with Georgia had been approved by Israel’s Defense Ministry. Security systems services company Global CST, managed by Maj. Gen. (res.) Israel Ziv, said it finished its work in Georgia at the end of July.
Russia expanded its bombing blitz against neighboring Georgia yesterday, targeting the country’s capital for the first time, while Georgian troops pulled out of the breakaway province of South Ossetia, as Russia demanded, the Associated Press reported.
Georgia launched a major offensive to regain control over South Ossetia overnight Friday, and some 1,500 people have reportedly been killed there since then, with the death toll rising. South Ossetia split from Georgia in the early 1990s and has since built up ties with Moscow.
A retired senior Israeli officer who recently trained troops in Georgia said yesterday he was surprised that the Georgians faced off against Russia, since they have a much smaller army.
“They got into an adventure that I wouldn’t have chosen to get into, based on the level of professionalism I saw in my visits to the Georgian army,” the officer said. “Who knows where this will end.”
“This is an army that was in the process of disintegrating over 15 or 16 years,” the officer added. “This process required reconstruction, and that’s where the Israelis entered the picture, along with companies from other countries. But everything was very, very basic. We dealt mainly with basic training for the units. It will take a long time until the military forces there will advance to a high professional level. The Georgian army cannot under any circumstances be a serious rival to the Russians at present.”
The officer also stressed the difference in military might: “Georgia is a small country, with barely 4.5 million people,” he said. “They have a small army – to be honest, not much different from that of a Third World country.”
The Georgians began reorganizing their army in 2002, with American assistance. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the Georgian army has primarily been comprised of remnants of Red Army units.
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From Times Online
August 20, 2008
Fear of new Mid East ‘Cold War’ as Syria strengthens military alliance with Russia
Bashar al-Assad
James Hider, Middle East Correspondent
Syria sought to revive its security alliance with Russia today, when President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Moscow to clinch a series of military agreements, raising fears that the new Cold War that has erupted in the Caucasus will spill over into the Middle East.
“Our position is that we are ready to co-operate with Russia in any project that can strengthen its security,” the Syrian leader told Russian newspapers at the start of his two-day trip. “I think Russia really has to think of the response it will make when it finds itself closed in a circle.”
Mr al-Assad said that he would be discussing the deployment of Russian missiles on Syrian territory, possibly the Iskander system. Syrians is also interested in buying Russian anti-aircraft and tanks missiles.
In return, Moscow is expected to propose a revival of its Cold War era naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean. Some Russian reports even suggest that Moscow is deepening the port it to accommodate a fleet of warships. Russia may have similar ambitions for Latakia. Either port would give the Russian Navy its foothold in the Mediterranean for two decades.
“In order to have a base you need a decent navy. Ours is weak,” said Alexei Malashenko, an expert at the Carnegie Centre in Moscow. “A base is expensive to keep. Is it just to have a flag there . . . a show of strength to scare.”
Damascus and Moscow were close allies during the Cold War but the Kremlin’s influence in the region waned after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today’s rapprochement, in the middle of the crisis in Georgia, raised the possibility that Moscow intends to recreate a global anti-Western alliance with former Soviet bloc allies from Latin America, to Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Middle East.
“Georgia began the crisis and the West accuses Russia. Syria suffered the same thing; attempts to destabilise the country, distortion of the facts and double standards,” said Mr al-Assad, only the third world leader to visit Moscow since the crisis began.
Israel, like its main sponsor America, has developed close military ties with Georgia in recent years, with defence contractors supplying training and equipment to the small, US-backed state
As Syria renews its Soviet-era close ties with Moscow, many in Israel fear that the region could once again become a theatre for the two great powers to exert their spheres of influence, militarily and politically.
Already, Israeli observers worry that the chaos in the Caucasus may disrupt gas supplies to Europe and Turkey from the Caspian Sea region, creating a greater energy reliance on Iran and its vast reserves. The crisis could in turn allow Tehran to exploit splits in the international community and use Russia as a powerful backer to advance its controversial nuclear programme.
Russia has wooed Syria, internationally isolated and weakened after its withdrawal from Lebanon, in recent years as it has tried to increase its influence in the Middle East and increase arms sales.
Syria and Israel recently confirmed that they had been holding indirect talks to reach a peace deal after decades of hostility. Part of Syria’s motivation was to break the international isolation that it has suffered for its strategic alliance with Tehran, and which has wrought serious damage on its economy.
A closer alliance with a resurgent Russia, flush with petro-dollars, could afford Mr al-Assad a way out of any binding commitment. Some Israeli analysts even fear it could encourage Syria to try to take back the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967, by force.
The conflict in Georgia has already sparked a mocking speech by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, over the performance of Israeli-trained Georgian forces. One of the main Israeli military advisers there was reserve Brigadier-General Gal Hirsch, who commanded a division in Israel’s inconclusive war with Hezbollah in 2006 and later resigned his commission.
“The entire front line of the army’s brass stepped down because of the war. Gal Hirsch, who was defeated in Lebanon, went to Georgia and they too lost because of him,” taunted the Shia leader. “Relying on Israeli experts and weapons, Georgia learnt why the Israeli generals failed . . . what happened in Georgia is a message to all those the Americans are seeking to entangle in dangerous adventures.”
That Cold War rhetoric was echoed by Mr al-Assad, who also used the Georgian crisis as a stick to beat Israel. “I think that in Russia and in the world everyone is now aware of Israel’s role and its military consultants in the Georgian crisis,” he told the Russian newspaper Kommersant. “And if before in Russia there were people who thought these forces can be friendly then now I think no one thinks that way.”
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Last update – 08:48 04/07/2008
Colombia hostage rescue: the Israeli angle
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies
Tags: Bentacourt, FARC, Colombia
Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who was released after six years in captivity on Wednesday, compared her “impeccable” rescue operation to Israeli commando operations.
Perhaps she did not know it, but Israel indeed contributed to the elaborately-planned, daring rescue mission.
Betancourt, who was kidnapped in 2002 by Marxist rebels in Colombia (FARC), was rescued without a shot being fired. Colombian military agents, who had penetrated FARC’s leadership, instructed her guards to transfer her to another rebel group.
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Her captors put her on a helicopter that arrived as scheduled, little knowing that their comrades-in-arms were undercover Colombian soldiers. Betancourt and 14 other hostages who had been held in the jungle, including three Americans, were freed.
Since word of the dramatic rescue spread, speculation in the world media has attributed the success to people trained by Israeli intelligence. But an Israeli figure familiar with the military aid to Colombia said there was “no need to exaggerate” Israel’s involvement in the operation.
The Israelis involved in the operation feel it is important to accord the credit to Colombia. The Israeli activity, involving dozens of Israeli security experts, was coordinated by Global CST, owned by former General Staff operations chief, Brigadier General (res.) Israel Ziv, and Brigadier (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser.
“It’s a Colombian Entebbe operation,” Ziv said Thursday when he returned from Bogota. “Both regarding its national and international importance. Betancourt has become a symbol of the struggle against international terror. This is an amazing operation that wouldn’t shame any army or special forces anywhere in the world.”
Asked about the Israeli involvement in it Ziv said there is “no need to exaggerate.”
“We don’t want to take credit for something we didn’t do,” a company source said. “We helped them prepare themselves to fight terror. We helped them to plan operations and strategies and develop intelligence sources. That’s quite a bit, but shouldn’t be taken too far.”
Israelis may not have taken part in the rescue, but they advised and guided, sold equipment and intelligence technology.
The Israeli involvement began a year and a half ago, when Colombia asked Israel for help in its struggle against FARC, which had become a militia specializing in kidnapping civilians and military figures for ransom and drug trading.
Israel has over the years sold Colombia planes, drones, weapons and intelligence systems. At the Defense Ministry’s suggestion, Global CST won the $10 million contract to work with Colombia.
Ziv and Kuperwasser did not take part in the fighting, at the Defense Ministry’s instructions. They hired experts who had worked for the Mossad, Shin Bet security service and IDF in various capacities.
“Well I have to say that this operation was exclusively carried out by the Colombian Army,” Colombian ambassador to Israel Juan Hurtado Cano said in an interview with Infolive TV, Jerusalem.
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