The independent Israeli intelligence site Debka's military and intelligence sources report
that Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, in
a single 70-minute conversation on September 23,
eleven days after the terrorist assaults in New York
and Washington, agreed on the deployment of tactical
weapons. This is an epic shift in the global balance
of strength.



Putin gave the nod for US forces poised in Central
Asia to jump into Afghanistan to be armed with
tactical nuclear weapons, such as small neutron bombs,
which emit strong radiation, nuclear mines, shells,
and other nuclear ammunition suited to commando
warfare in mountainous terrain.



In return, Bush assented to Russia deploying tactical
nuclear weapons units around Chechnya after Moscow's
ultimatum to the rebels, some of whom are backed by
Osama Bin Laden, to surrender, went by without
response. DEBKAfile's military sources place the US
nuclear weapons in four former Soviet Central Asian
bases: the military air facility at Tuzel, 15 km (10
miles) northwest of the Uzbek capital of Tashkent; at
Kagady in the Termez region; in Khandabad, near the
city of Karshi; and at the military air base in
Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.



In addition to the nuclear weapons units, Russian
bombers carrying small neutron bombs were moved to
Russian military air bases around the border of the
breakaway province, in Stavropol northwest of
Chechnya, the Godowta base in Georgia to the south,
and Mozdok in northern Osetia, northwest of Chechnya.



Russian and U.S. military sources refuse to take
questions on these startling events.

Louis Lingg writes: "Do they know something we don't? Or is it just a mad, mad, mad capitalist world?

Pakistan's Frontier Post is reporting that despite all the tension, fear and uncertainty, foreign investors helped lift the Karachi stock exchange on Thursday; despite lower volume, market capitalization rose. Also, the Pakistani rupee rose relative to the dollar.

This in the face of anticipated massive, bellicose and probably violent demonstrations by Jehadi militants and Taliban sympathizers on Friday in Quetta, Peshawar, Karachi and other Pak cities? Masters of the dismal science--please explain!"

hydrarchist writes: ".....check out this interview with Chomsky by Greg Ruggiero of Seven Stories Press .

INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY | October 5, 2001

Q: In order to shape an international alliance, the U.S. has suddenly shifted positions
with a number of countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, offering a variety of
political, military and monetary packages in exchange for forms of support. How
might these sudden moves be affecting the political dynamics in those regions?

CHOMSKY: Washington is stepping very delicately. We have to remember what is
at stake: the world’s major energy reserves, primarily in Saudi Arabia but
throughout the Gulf region, along with not-inconsiderable resources in Central Asia.
Though a minor factor, Afghanistan has been discussed for years as a possible site
for pipelines that will aid the U.S. in the complex maneuvering over control of
Central Asian resources. North of Afghanistan, the states are fragile and violent.
Uzbekistan is the most important. It has been condemned by Human Rights Watch
for serious atrocities, and is fighting its own internal Islamic insurgency. Tajikistan is
similar, and is also a major drug trafficking outlet to Europe, primarily in connection
with the Northern Alliance, which controls most of the Afghan-Tajikistan border and
has apparently been the major source of drugs since the Taliban virtually eliminated
poppy production. Flight of Afghans to the north could lead to all sorts of internal
problems. Pakistan, which has been the main supporter of the Taliban, has a strong
internal radical Islamic movement. Its reaction is unpredictable, and potentially
dangerous, if Pakistan is visibly used as a base for U.S. operations in Afghanistan;
and there is much well-advised concern over the fact that Pakistan has nuclear
weapons. The Pakistani military, while eager to obtain military aid from the U.S.
(already promised), is wary, because of stormy past relations, and is also concerned
over a potentially hostile Afghanistan allied with its enemy to the East, India. They
are not pleased that the Northern Alliance is led by Tajiks, Uzbeks, and other
Afghan minorities hostile to Pakistan and supported by India, Iran and Russia, now
the U.S. as well.