The latest batch of classified U.S. government documents released by WikiLeaks appears to be very different from the others. Like the last two large groups of documents , this one also was allegedly downloaded by a U.S. Army soldier, Pfc. Bradley Manning, from the U.S.
A US Congressional investigation into the operations of Mina Corp, a Gibraltar-registered company that holds the Pentagon’s fuel-delivery contract at Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan, is drawing to a close, having found no evidence of wrongdoing. But US officials are not ruling out the possibility of a follow-up investigation at a future date.
The United States intends to expand security cooperation with Central Asian states, US diplomats say. One means to do so, they add, is increasing the capacity of the Northern Distribution Network, which ships military cargo bound for US and NATO forces overland through Central Asia to Afghanistan.
For over three decades, the US Helsinki Commission has promoted the former Soviet states’ compliance with international human rights norms. Now the commission appears to be expanding the scope of its mission to include economic affairs.
It seems the $315 million contract awarded by the Pentagon to a controversial and secretive fuel-supplier is only part of the story about future operations at Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Transit Center.
Mina Corp, the controversial supplier of jet fuel at the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan, is getting a double-dose of good news. Not only has the company secured a new supply contract worth over $315 million, a Kyrgyz government investigation into possible improper business practices concerning Manas fuel operations has stalled.
In a move that could strain Washington’s relationship with Kyrgyzstan, a key Central Asian ally, the Pentagon opted November 3 to award a new fuel-supply contract to a company that is already at the center of a US congressional probe.
A US Embassy statement in late October doesn’t seem to have defused tensions in Armenia over a controversial YouTube video clip that shows US Vice-President Joe Biden claiming that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan asked him not to push the issue of genocide recognition with Turkey.
The holder of the main fuel-supply contract at the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan, a critical logistics hub for the US and NATO war effort in Afghanistan, operates in a “thick fog of mystery,” according to a report published by the Washington Post.
The president of Armenia has all but accused the vice president of the United States of lying about a phone conversation the two men had, reigniting a controversy about the Armenian government's motivations in pursuing a rapprochement with Turkey.
