Firm founded by ex-Blackwater boss to operate in China’s Xinjiang province

 

A security firm founded by Erik Prince, the former boss of the private military company Blackwater, has announced a deal with the Chinese state to operate a training facility in China’s largely Muslim Xinjiang province. In the months following the United States invasion of Iraq, Blackwater was hired by the Department of State to provide diplomatic security at several locations throughout the Middle Eastern country. By 2010, when the company was abruptly sold to a group of private investors, its tactics in Iraq had prompted international controversy. Prince went on to help found Frontier Services Group (FSG), another private security firm registered in Hong Kong. The company provides security training to personnel working for Chinese companies. Its specialization is training personnel of Chinese firms based abroad, mainly in regions of Africa.

China Plans to Launch Its Own ‘Blackwater’

(Photo Credit: BrokenSphere via Creative Commons 3.0)

 

Not surprisingly, Erik Prince is involved in those discussions.

As its sprawling, trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative is struggling with security concerns, the Chinese government is now reportedly turning to an American who is an expert in those matters to meet those needs.

US Strikes Kill 100 Russian Fighters In Syria

 

Following up to last night’s bombshell report  that at least two Russian mercenary fighters in Syria had been killed by US-led coalition forces, this morning Bloomberg is out with an exclusive, according to which the body count is far greater than had been disclosed: U.S. forces reportedly killed “scores” of Russian contract soldiers in Syria last week “in what may be the deadliest clash between citizens of the former foes since the Cold War“, Bloomberg reported.

According to the unnamed US and Russian sources, “more than 200 mercenaries, mostly Russians fighting on behalf of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, died in a failed attack on a base and refinery held by U.S. and U.S.-backed forces in the oil-rich Deir Ezzor region” In terms of total body count, the U.S. official put the death toll at about 100, with 200 to 300 injured.

Retired CIA Agent Working With Blackwater Founder Claims H.R. McMaster Approved NSA Spy Job On Trump Family

 

A retired CIA officer reportedly working with Blackwater founder Erik Prince to pitch the White House on a global, private spy networkwhich as we reported yesterday would allow the White House to circumvent and counter “deep state enemies” within U.S. intelligence agencies, is said to have made the stunning claim that National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster worked with the NSA to perform surveillance on Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump, Steve Bannon and others, according to a report in The Intercept.

Private Spies: White House Considering Contractors

President Donald Trump is reportedly considering a “private spies” proposal offered by Blackwater founder Erik Prince that would counter the Deep State’s influence over U.S. national security and foreign policy.

 

According to a new report, President Donald Trump is weighing a proposal by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North (ret.) that would involve the use of a “global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies.”

The Intercept is reporting the proposal has already made its way to the president’s desk, citing sources it says are well versed in its contents. The report says the plan was pitched as a way to counter “deep state” enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Trump’s presidency.

Russia flies 2,000 mercenary troops into Syria

 

Russia is engaged in a major buildup in Syria, both in support of the de-escalation zones established in conjunction with the United States, and in order to solidify its military control of the country.

debkafile’s military and intelligence sources reported exclusively on Wednesday, August 2, that 2,000 mercenaries had just been airlifted into the country, boosting to a total of 5,000 the number of mercenaries on hire from the Wagner Group private contractors for service under the Russian flag in Syria. They are all retirees from elite units of the Russian ground forces, air force or navy.

ISIS’ new top military commander was trained in U.S. by Blackwater & State Department

@EngageState/Twitter

 

 

Washington considers Khalimov a particular threat due to his counter-terrorism training

Mosul, Iraq – Former Tajikistan Special Forces colonel Gulmurod Khalimov, defected to the ranks of ISIS last year and publicly declared jihad against the West.  After being trained in the United States by private military contractor Blackwater, Khalimov has reportedly been promoted from within the Islamic State organization and has been named the new chief military commander for the global terror group.

“There’s information in the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) that Tajik Gulmurod Khalimov was named the new chief military commander of ISIS, after the murder of the previous leader Abu Omar al-Shishani,” a source in Nineveh province, where ISIS stronghold of Mosul is located, told Iraqi Al Sumaria.

My life as a pro-Putin propagandist in Russia’s secret ‘troll factory’

When Lyudmila Savchuk heard about the assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov earlier this year she was shocked and saddened.

“I felt the bullets between my own shoulders,” she said, recalling how the Kremlin critic was gunned down near Moscow’s Red Square in February.

Yet within hours of Mr Nemtsov’s death, Ms Savchuk and her colleagues were going online to pour bile on the former deputy prime minister and claim he was killed by his own friends rather than by government hitmen, as many suspect.

Blackwater.ru: The Future of Russian Private Military Companies

In Soviet times, Russian military professionals worked across the globe from Cuba to Vietnam, teaching, advising and sometimes just pointing Kalashnikov muzzles at the enemy for the sake of the proletariat.

Now Russian authorities want them to do so again, but this time, for profit — and, just possibly, as a governmental proxy.

A bill filed with the State Duma late last month would legalize private military and security companies (PMSCs) in Russia, an idea endorsed in 2012 by President Vladimir Putin.

Blackwater Founder Advising Chinese Firms On Risk In Africa

Blackwater founder and Navy SEAL Erik Prince is helping Chinese firms “take the drama out of Africa” by consulting on how they should do business on the continent, according to a report in FireDogLake.com.

Formed in 1997 to provide training support to military and law enforcement, Blackwater USA worked with SEAL and SWAT teams. The security firm won its first U.S. government contract after the bombing of the USS Cole off of the coast of Yemen in October 2000. Blackwater subsequently trained more than 100,000 sailors.

400 US mercenaries ‘deployed on ground’ in Ukraine military op

From the state-owned (FSB/KGB) Russian propaganda outlet:

About 400 elite mercenaries from the notorious US private security firm Academi (formerly Blackwater) are taking part in the Ukrainian military operation against anti-government protesters in southeastern regions of the country, German media reports.

The Bild am Sonntag newspaper, citing a source in intelligence circles, wrote Sunday that Academi employees are involved in the Kiev military crackdown on pro-autonomy activists in near the town of Slavyansk, in the Donetsk region.

Has Blackwater been deployed to Ukraine? Notorious U.S. mercenaries ‘seen on the streets of flashpoint city’ as Russia claims 300 hired guns have arrived in country

As Russians are masters of propaganda, this is highly likely to be the case. During World War II, for example, the Russians put on Polish military uniforms and created a fifth column.

• Unidentified armed men seen on the streets of Donetsk in east Ukraine
• Russian diplomat claims 300 mercenaries had arrived in Kiev this week
• Mercenaries in the region could give Putin pretext for military action
• Donetsk has been the scene of big pro-Russian demonstrations this week

Speculation was growing last night that American mercenaries had been deployed to Donetsk after videos emerged of unidentified armed men in the streets of the eastern Ukrainian city.