Turkmenbashi's Nukes and the Return of the Madhi

Iran's quest for nuclear weapons may have been helped by the recent and suspicious demise of the president of Turkmenistan. Prophecy that the Mahdi will return has combined with Russian profit motives and political deadlines to create a situation far more dangerous than analysts realize.

Written by Dagny D'Anconia

Friday 31 January 2007

The president of Turkmenistan was quite a character. Saparmurat Niyazov was in many ways the Kim Jong Ill of Central Asia. His image is everywhere - statues and murals extolled his wisdom and courage. Brutal, violent and cruel, he ran a tight Stalinist state. Like Kim Jong Ill, he developed a megalomaniacal presidency for life and a entrenched personality cult.

After the Soviet collapse he renamed himself Serdar Turkmenbashi which means “Great Leader of all Turkmen”. He named the days of the week and the month of April after his mother. He named the month of January after himself. By his decree no one in Turkmenistan can mention AIDS or perform ballet. A book of his thoughts was required reading for all schoolchildren.

The president of Turkmenistan (Turkmenbashi) supposedly died of a "heart attack" on Dec. 21st. He was pretty fat, so it would be plausible. Of course it is also possible to induce a heart attack with small external of well known poison.

The Chairman of the Majlis (Ovezgeldy Atayev) was supposed to take control after Turkmenbashi’s death, but instead he was suddenly the subject of an criminal investigation. The deputy prime minister took the top position instead. Thus the death appears to be under somewhat suspicious circumstances. Little information is available from the obsessively secretive Turkmenistan government.

Turkmenbashi did not get on well with the Russians, having arrested several late in 2002 for some role in an attempted assassination in a military style ambush. Pravda said disparaging things about him regularly, so the powers that be in Russia were also down on the guy.

While the Russians said that all nuclear materials were removed by 1992, it is likely that Turkmenistan still had tactical nukes left over from the USSR on premises. With the personality of Turkmenbashi, and the friction with Russian leaders, it seems unlikely Turkmenbashi would have simply turned them over to the Russians. There was bad blood there, and the megalomaniacal personality of Turkmenbashi, like that of Kim Jong Ill, naturally leads to the hoarding of nuclear weapons, not giving them up.

Back in late July Turkmenbashi had a visit from his neighbor to the south: Ahmadinejad of Iran. The visit was during the height of the recent Lebanon war. Publicly the two kooky leaders were talking trade and cooperation - including a gas pipeline that would bypass the Russians. However, the conversation probably also involved the urgent issues of the Lebanon war and Iran’s desperate search for nuclear weapons.

The July meeting between Ahmadinejad and the now dead Turkmenbashi (on the right). Plausible conversation: "I don't understand why you won't just sell me a nuke? You don't need them and I do!”

Earlier that year, Turkmenbashi had signed an agreement to send natural gas in a pipeline to China. Up until then the vast majority of gas has been piped out through Russia. Recent heavy-handedness of Russia regarding energy has also affected Turkmenistan: “...the recent discord between Ashgabat [The Turkmenistan Gas company] and Moscow over the price of gas has encouraged Turkmenistan to seek export routes that bypass Russia.”

In effect, Turkmenistan is a potential competitor with Russia in the supplying of nuclear weapons to Iran, as well as gas. The Russians had more than ever, an incentive to take out the Turkmenistan president.

When Turkmenbashi died, the world had an additional surprise: within a day Ahmadinejad made a major speech saying "Iran is now a nuclear power". It was out of the blue and unexpected at the time. Nuclear authorities were focusing on the Iranian centrifuges, and estimating the day of reckoning with a “nuclear power” as months to years away.

Ahmadinejad made the speech during a three day tour with his cabinet in Javanroud Iran. This happens to be near the Ravansar rock tombs. This is on the west side of Iran, not far from Iraqi border and midway between Kirkuk and Baghdad. (The numerous caves and tombs would be a nice place to hide something, for later use on Baghdad, Kirkuk, or the front lines in a war with Iraq.)

Had Ahmadinejad procured a nuclear weapon as a result of the death of Turkmenbashi? The Russians, or some branch of the Russian mafia might have helped Iran get a tactical nuke from Turkmenistan to protect their Iranian nuclear investment. If Iran had a nuke from Turkmenistan, it could deter the Israelis et al from taking out Bushehr etc. Iran still owes Russia money for it.

Iran has been in a desperate search for nuclear weapons, whether slowly built in Iran, or quickly bought from any foreign power that would agree. There is nuclear cooperation between Iran and North Korea. North Koreans have been in Iran advising on how to set up a nuclear test. Iranians have also been present in North Korea for missile launches.

There is some evidence the North Koreans sent a ship carrying something suspicious to Iran last November: A ship traveling to Iran from North Korea was intercepted by the Indian authorities and brought to shore. The North Korean crew was unable to explain why there was nothing on board. The ship had been maintaining radio silence in spite of a mechanical failure, causing it to drift into Indian waters where it was finally discovered and towed into port.

Perhaps the reason why nothing was on board was because what was on board was thrown over the side when the authorities approached. Perhaps it was a nuclear package from North Korea. Why else would the ship be found empty?

The ship was seized on November 9th of 2006. Having a nuclear shipment from Korea fail to arrive would have given additional impetus to getting one from Turkmenistan. Turkmenbashi died on the 20th of December - 41 days later.

Why the big hurry to get a nuke now? A second American carrier battle group is enroute to the Persian Gulf and set to arrive in less than a month. The leader of Iran is dying or dead as reported by Dr. Ledeen. With his demise, the apparent power of Ahmadinejad has been reduced. His reelection was moved up to within a year now. Ahmadinejad is losing power as his patron Ayatollah Khamenei dies. If Ahmadinejad is going to be the one to bring back the Mahdi, he will have to act before his power is lost.

Official Iranian radio recently completed broadcasted a series to prepare people for the return of the Mahdi. According to WND’s translation “The Mahdi will lead a cataclysmic battle against a descendant of Muhammad’s arch enemy Abu Sofyan, culminating in the cities of Kufa and Najaf. His enemy, though, is destroyed later in Jerusalem.” This series was completed around the 26th of January. Thus the people of Iran have just now been prepared for the imminent return of the Mahdi.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the next day there was heavy fighting in Najaf, and in or nearby Kufa. Hundreds of members of the Soldiers of Heaven were well armed including Russian rockets. In two days 600 to 700 of them planned to massacre Shiites at the Ashoura, which is the most holy Shiite celebration of the year. The Soldiers of Heaven believed they would help to bring back the hidden imam Mahdi by causing a bloodbath in accordance with the prophecy. They share the Mahdi return ideology with Ahmadinejad.

Thus there was heavy fighting in Najaf as the Iranian people were told to expect before the return of the Mahdi. That leaves the other part of the prophecy to fulfill: that the Mahdi’s “enemy... is destroyed later in Jerusalem.” One prophecy down, and one to go...

On January 29th in Aviation Week & Space Technology it was announced that Iran was preparing to launch a satellite into orbit. Experts noted that this missile may be a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and “could strike anywhere in Israel, Saudi Arabia, the entire Persian Gulf region. That includes Jerusalem. This peaceful “satellite” launch would be allowed to lift off, and only after the trajectory curved over toward Israel would it become apparent that there was more malign mission.

Global Security.org has quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that the Iranians have big plans:

“On 14 November 2006 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that two major technological achievements of the government will be made public during the Ten-Day Dawn (February 1-11) of 2007. He said this year's Ten-Day Dawn will the ten-day celebration of Iranian nation for its nuclear and technological achievements. "This year's Ten-Day Dawn period will mark the Iranian nation's success in mastering fuel cycle as well as its achievements in other fields," Ahmadinejad said. He said Iran possesses the “full nuclear fuel cycle and time is completely running in our favor in terms of diplomacy.” On 18 December 2006 Government Spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said that Iran will be announced as an established nuclear state during the 2007 Ten Day Dawn ceremonies. “

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iran-timeline.htm#070201

How much more clear could they be about their intentions? The Russians are also supposed to start delivering nuclear fuel to the Bushehr power plant by March. Thus the 10 Day Dawn (Daheh-ye Fajr) occurs with less than a month left before that occurs. Thus several prophecies, military plans and timing pressures are coming together between now and the end of the Ten Day Dawn on the 11th of February. Perhaps the “two major technological achievements” to be announced then are a nuclear weapon and the missile to deliver it to Jerusalem.

It sounds crazy. Would Ahmadinejad and the other true believers in the return of the Mahdi do such a thing?

One has to wonder...

References:

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/IRAN01257

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53964

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16839573

http://rapidrecon.threatswatch.org/2006/11/iranbound-north-korean-ship-de/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,248078,00.html

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/IRAN01257.xml

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iran-timeline.htm#070201

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53964

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16839573/

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2831177&page=1

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=

2006-11-09T075848Z_01_B442693_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-NORTH-INDIA.xml&src=rss

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,248078,00.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,248078,00.html

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=2831846&page=1

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3342489,00.html

http://www.kermanshahmiras.ir/la_site/Gallery.asp?t=0&pn=0

http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Javanroud

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,248078,00.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6660540

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/21/news/turkmen.php?page=1

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/07/efde2475-a5d7-440c-a028-9e46c10c082c.html

http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/139251/1/

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2006/12/23/2950963-ap.html

http://newsfromrussia.com/cis/2003/01/16/42119.html

http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/11/25/39952.html

http://www.abc.net.au/abccontentsales/s1514988.htm

http://www.thebulletin.org/article_nn.php?art_ofn=mj97norris

http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/9580.pdf

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/07/efde2475-a5d7-440c-a028-9e46c10c082c.html

http://www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=357723

http://www.payvand.com/news/06/jul/1234.html

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20061220-064327-5457r

http://www.kermanshahmiras.ir/la_site/PicPreview.asp?t=2&ID=124