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| Fine small arms are expressive gifts of Czech national pride |
The first round of reports about the death of Palestinian Ambassador al-Jamar in Prague mentioned that local police found some firearms inside the safe in his residence. Czech police spokesmen at first declined to give any details about the weapons but, after rumors of up to 70 weapons began to circulate, the national police chief today confirmed for a Czech daily newspaper that there were twelve weapons, and that they consisted of both pistols and sub-machineguns.
The police say they are investigating where the weapons came from. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Deputy Foreign Minister said they were gifts to the Palestinian mission from the former Czechoslovakian government.
Deputy Palestinian Foreign Minister Taysir Jaradat said Sunday he met with his Czech counterpart and was asked about the weapons.
"We told them that these guns have been in the embassy for a long time — going back to the former regime of Czechoslovakia — and these guns were either licensed in the embassy or were given as gifts to the ambassador," he told Voice of Palestine radio station Sunday.
I can see how that might happen in the normal course of diplomatic pleasantries. Some Czech tchotchkes got exchanged in the ceremonial climate of toasts, banquets, speeches, and formal greetings? Okay, no big thing.
But I do wonder what diplomatic occasion it was that called for the gift of guns. Maybe a Palestinian National Day celebration? No, I seem to recall that Semtex was the Czechoslovakian gift of choice for those.
More likely it was a visit to Prague by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. I'm sure he always needed another gun to accessorize his faux guerrilla fighter outfits, and his favorite ones came from the Warsaw Pact countries.
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| That one looks like a Polish PM-63 |
There will be more to come on this after the Czech police run down the serial numbers on those old pistols and sub-machineguns. The StB did turn over its records to the post-Communist government, I assume?
29 comments:
Well the dance of the numbers and excuses has begun. TSB do you have any idea, even roughly, of the size of these safes? To knock off someone this way takes some pretty formidable abilities I would think. I bet Palestinian counter espionage is going nuts.
James: While safes come in all sizes, the most common office-type safe in the USG's inventory would use up at least 25% of its capacity to store 12 pistols and sub-machine guns. The Ambo's safe might have had a separate drawer or locked interior compartment for that old arms stash.
I don't doubt his death was an accident. There might have been an anti-handling device on that drawer/compartment, or maybe the arms stash included a grenade, and the Ambassador's arms handling expertise had gotten rusty since his PLO days.
"I don't doubt his death was an accident" may very well be the case, but I'm going to wait a little on this one. My rule of thumb is to wait seven days for tidbits of the truth to come out in the press. I figured the the answer on the safe would be depend on where it was, whose it was and what it was used for.
OK guys.. This looks like a hit to me. Who wouldn't want an ex PLO terrorist dead and who is better at making it look like an accident than the Isrealis? Plus it's time to scuttle those peace talks that Kerry is so excited about. gwb
PS. I would check out the phone call he got just before he went in to check out the safe. gwb
In response to the revelation that the NSA spies on Congress, Congressman Peter King says that the NSA should spy on Congress, to make sure congress members don’t call Al Qaeda.
TSB: I hope we can get an 'upperdown
vote' on Mr. King's assertion. Wouldn't you love to see a showdown on this one? gwb
Rep. King is into a 'who will guard the guards?' dilemma, I think. I can see some Congressmen wanting to know who'll eavesdrop on NSA while NSA eavesdrops on them, and who eavesdrops on the guy who eavesdrops on NSA, and which Committee does the oversight hearing on the finding for all of this.
How much more telephone monitoring can we possibly do before there is no bandwidth left?
James: Can you follow TSB's logic on this? TSB: I can't find a price for that Polish PM-63. What would your guess be? gwb
GWB: Apparently the PM-63 has been defunct for decades, except maybe for Chinese knock-offs, so I couldn't guess at a price. Arafat would probably have gotten his as a freebie, most likely from some country that trained his bodyguards.
Until a couple years ago, the Czech Skorpion was sold in the U.S. in a semi-auto version. It was short enough to be defined as a pistol under U.S. law, whereas most of the good weapons in that class are defined as Short Barrel Rifles and need special permits. You would spend well over $1,000 for the closest legal equivalent to a Skorpion-type weapon. For my money, I'd rather have another Glock for maybe one third of the cost.
Thanks TSB! That thing on Arafat's desk looks real spendy.
GWB: In answer to your question on TSB's logic. It's pretty clear really, a demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lErlHLCNM_s
Well TSB, obviously Arafat is pictured with on of the early Desktop models, but for UN speeches and the many social function he had simple but elegant portable hip born model.
A desktop model, exactly! I think Chairman Arafat was shrinking in his old age, because that gun looks disproportionately large. Anyway, it was definitely a plus-up from the .38 he waved around in the UN General Assembly, which, by the way, is my favorite image of the UN.
Thanks James! That is really advanced
and with a twist of humor! gwb
You 'Lions In Winter' guys might enjoy checking out these really cheap castles in France. They cost less than NYC apartments!Take a look at these expensive NYC dumps! gwb
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-07/6-castles-cost-less-apartment-nyc
You're welcome GWB. Now that I know that TSB knows you know that he knows that we know, I can sleep soundly tonight.
GWB: "You 'Lions In Winter' guys might enjoy checking out these really cheap castles in France" that's pretty cool. The thing they don't tell you though is once you've moved in all sorts of people start showing up such as:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=A8yjNbcKkNY
TSB: "I think Chairman Arafat was shrinking in his old age" it's rumored that Acai-polonium diet he was on went terrible wrong.
TSB; James: In diplomatic news Robert Fisk calls Sec State Kerry the funniest to ever hold the job: (This is the only paragraph I could follow!)
'Meanwhile Kerry – who has not invited the Iranians to the Geneva 2 talks on Syria – says Iran might play a valuable role “on the sidelines” (has ever an invitation to Iran appeared more insulting?) while the main Syrian opposition forces have no intention of taking part in the Swiss conference. Geneva 2, in other words, is a dead duck; just like the Palestinian-Israeli talks of which Kerry still speaks with optimism – a sure sign that this particular duck is also
dying.' gwb
James: My wife cracked up over that video which made me crack up a second time! Here is an interesting letter from a bunch of former senior analysts at NSA about how NSA had the goods before 9/11 but blew it. gwb
http://rt.com/usa/nsa-obama-whistleblowers-letter-337/1
TSB: P J O'Rourke nominated William Christopher for funniest some years back. He claimed that Christopher's initials on doors, brief cases, etc secured the prize.
James: You don't think 'JFK' on everything represents some aspirational humor? gwboneverything
TSB: WELL..that is good to know! Maybe that's why we started all those rumors that Karzai was a loon?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/10/us-hamid-karzai-afghan-elections-robert-gates
Looks like Gates has some hard feelings towards Obama. gwb
Sorry GWB, I'm being a little dense, a little help on the JFK. The WC I got, but JFK? You'll have to understand that for past behaviour even the mention of Kerry makes me furious beyond description. His current acts are of a deluded old fool.
James: JFK is what John Kerry has on his cuff links, shirt cuffs, briefcase, suitcase, toilet handle on his boat, It's his initials given to him by his parents and also the initials of one of our Presidents..and one of our greatest Senators...and Um Harpf..he was from um Matchachusits. Just sayin he has a 'Kennedyesque' quality or two. Did I mention war hero? lol gwb
"Did I mention war hero?" You cannot imagine how angry this subject makes me.
James: The JFK-ization of John Kerry is pathetic in a Great Gatsby kind of way. The young Kerry was self-fashioning himself the way Jay Gatz did, only focusing on a politician-hero.
In his earliest campaign appearances, Kerry used to arrive at events with one hand casually stuck in a suit coat pocket, a typical John Kennedy gesture. When he ran for President, he tossed a football around with John Edwards (playing the part of Robert Kennedy, except he couldn't catch the ball) in another JFK gesture. He probably studied those images of JFK in old Life Magazines.
TSB: Oh, I recognize and agree with everything you and GWB say about Kerry. As you know I'm rather light hearted about most things, but the betrayals committed by a young Kerry hit very close and I will never forgive him ever. Sorry for the downer.
James! Stay light hearted!! You get a pass on Kerry. gwb
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