Upcoming Events

International | Miscellaneous

no events match your query!

New Events

International

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Net Zero is the New Brexit Tue Apr 22, 2025 11:10 | Will Jones
Net Zero is the new Brexit, "where Parliament is so hopelessly out of touch with the country", Nigel Farage has said. Michael Deacon agrees: as people realise the true cost of eco-zealotry they are turning against it.
The post Net Zero is the New Brexit appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Massive Wind Turbine Expansion Puts Golden Eagle on Path to Possible American Extinction as Annual D... Tue Apr 22, 2025 09:00 | Chris Morrison
Shocking new statistical evidence has emerged that suggests the golden eagle could be on a wind turbine-induced glide path to extinction in the United States, as the annual death rate increase leaps nearly 50% since 2020.
The post Massive Wind Turbine Expansion Puts Golden Eagle on Path to Possible American Extinction as Annual Death Rate Increase Leaps by 50% appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Implosion of ?Green Ethics? Tue Apr 22, 2025 07:00 | Ben Pile
'Green ethics' are imploding, says Ben Pile. Economic realities are forcing the question: is it 'ethical' to bankrupt yourself? Is it 'ethical' to make energy too expensive for people to use?
The post The Implosion of ‘Green Ethics’ appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Tue Apr 22, 2025 01:05 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Schools Tell 14 Year-Old Boys How to ?Safely Choke Their Girlfriends During Sex? Mon Apr 21, 2025 19:00 | Will Jones
A council-funded sex education presentation shown in schools to teenagers as young as 14 has told them how to 'safely' choking their girlfriends during sex, saying it must always be done "with consent".
The post Schools Tell 14 Year-Old Boys How to “Safely Choke Their Girlfriends During Sex” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Betancourt 'Rescue' was Set Up

category international | miscellaneous | other press author Tuesday July 08, 2008 23:50author by Bazooka Joe Report this post to the editors

On Friday, Swiss public station Radio Suisse Romande quoted a reliable source as saying that $20 million had been paid to the FARC commander known as “Cesar” (real name, Gerardo Aguilar Ramirez). Ramirez delivered the hostages to Colombian soldiers posing as humanitarian aid workers. Geneva-based academic Jean Pierre Gontard is suspected of being the source of the leak but he denies this. Swiss Radio said the hostages “were in reality bought for a high price, and the whole operation afterwards was a set-up”.
Jean-Pierre Gontard
Jean-Pierre Gontard

On March 1st 2008 the Colombian Government killed FARC spokesman Raúl Reyes (real name,Luis Edgar Devia Silva) and 16 others two miles inside Ecuador. Three laptop computers were found which Interpol concluded belonged to FARC. The laptops were found to hold extensive information about the FARC, their operations, connections and electronic communications to Jean Pierre Gontard regarding him being the "transporter" of US$480,000 which was delivered to FARC by him and French diplomat Noel Saez on June 30th. Gontard denies he handed over money to the FARC but Interpol claims the computers were not tampered with and the information in the electronic communications is unaltered.

The Swiss federal Department of Foreign affairs (DFAE) remains silent on the entire matter except to say they support Gontard for the work he has done to date. The DFAE justify their silence by saying 24 hostages remain in the hands of the FARC. Novartis CEO Daniel Lucius Vasella said on Monday that Jean-Pierre Gontard did a very good job negotiating and paying ransom in 2000 for two Novartis employees held by the FARC. Also on Monday, Betancourt thanked Switzerland for its mediation work.

http://www.genios.de/r_profisuche/BBC.htx
http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/itsonlyfair/latimes0....html
http://www.reuters.com/article/americasCrisis/idUSN07382455
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/07/content_85...8.htm
http://www.letemps.ch/template/international.asp?page=4...35612
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Swiss_negotiator_in_C...ty=st
http://www.france24.com/en/20080705-ingrid-betancourt-c...tages
http://info.rsr.ch/fr/rsr.html?siteSect=201&playerMode=...play=

© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy