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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

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Human Rights in Ireland
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offsite link UEFA Accused of Promoting Jewish ?Blood Libel? With ?Stop Killing Children? Banner Thu Aug 14, 2025 13:20 | Richard Eldred
UEFA has been blasted for rolling out a "Stop Killing Children" banner before the Super Cup, with Jewish groups saying it plays into an age-old antisemitic slur and breaches its own rules on political messaging.
The post UEFA Accused of Promoting Jewish ?Blood Libel? With ?Stop Killing Children? Banner appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link How an Essex Grocer Became Britain?s Most Influential Political Figure Thu Aug 14, 2025 11:00 | Toby Young
Tom Skinner, a former Apprentice contestant and all-round Essex man, is enjoying a moment in the political limelight after being invited to a barbecue in the Cotswolds by JD Vance.
The post How an Essex Grocer Became Britain?s Most Influential Political Figure appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Sharron Davies Among Three New Conservative Peers Thu Aug 14, 2025 09:00 | Toby Young
The Olympic medal-winning swimmer and outspoken critic of transwomen competing in women's sports is one of three new peers put forward by Kemi Badenoch.
The post Sharron Davies Among Three New Conservative Peers appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Folly of Climate Leadership: Britain?s Net Zero Masochism and the China Mirage Thu Aug 14, 2025 07:00 | Tilak Doshi
Britain's Net Zero crusade is economic self-sabotage built on the delusion the rest of the world will follow its lead, says the Daily Sceptic's Energy Editor.
The post The Folly of Climate Leadership: Britain?s Net Zero Masochism and the China Mirage appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Thu Aug 14, 2025 00:48 | 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.

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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

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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=

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