Sticky Notes

UPDATE - Now N Korea has turned to Russia, opening up 10 new bank accounts in order to get around the other banking sanctions the US has imposed. If you've kept up, you know we have succeeded in shutting down numerous banking relationships all over Asia, in part because of the N Korean Supernotes counterfeiting of US $100-dollar bills.

We are applying pressure. Russia hasn't said no.  "With billions of dollars in oil revenue flowing through a banking system that could suffer severely from any sanctions, it shouldn't be too difficult to persuade Russia that its own interests lie in ending its role of Kim's banker of last resort."  WSJ

In The Jewish Week, out of NYC, there's this interesting perspective from inside Israel. 

 "Mordechai Kedar, a research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, said ... said the speed with which Hezbollah began handing out American dollars to Lebanese who claimed their homes were destroyed in the war is a sign that “Lebanon is becoming more and more dependent” on the Iran-sponsored group.

Asked about reports that the money appeared to be counterfeit, Kedar said: “Iran is known to print American money to undermine the American economy. But if the money can cover the work in Lebanon in order to bring the houses back in shape, what does it matter if it is forged?”

Hello? 

From the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies website: Dr. Mordechai Kedar (Ph.D. Bar-Ilan U.) Served for 25 years in IDF Military Intelligence specializing in Arab political discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups and the Syrian domestic arena. A lecturer in Arabic at Bar-Ilan U., he is also an expert on Israeli Arabs.

The article talks a little more about the fragile cease-fire.  Snapped Shot picks it up from there on the lifting of the Lebanese  blockade. 

    Former Chicago Mayor Eugene Sawyer  (1987-89) got into the wholesale tobacco business back in '99. And now some former associates have been convicted for their parts in a smuggling ring that "trafficked in counterfeit cigarettes, forged currency, high-powered guns and drugs. "  The smugglers "were supplied by an Asian crime syndicate and by North Korean government agents who provided nearly flawless replicas of $100 bills."  Chicago Tribune

Chosun Ilbo reports this morning that the counterfeit money distribution out of N Korea started in Russia, at a meeting  between "Irish Workers Party leader Sean Garland and North Korean officials."  I reported this possible link on Aug 26. 

Banks all over the world have been pressured to stop banking with N Korea. "Peter Beck, a North Korea expert at the International Crisis Group in Seoul, says the next target of U.S. investigations will be North Korea's accounts in Russia."

Also covered are the movements of biological and nuclear weapons components with N Korea as the destination. 

An absolute must read on "The web of the supernote" pulls together a detailed picture on the flow of money and the participants.