PHI Names Major General James E. Livingston, USMC to Board of Directors - Ret

LAFAYETTE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 2000

Carroll W. Suggs, Chairman, President and CEO of Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. (PHI) (Nasdaq:PHEL) (Nasdaq:PHELK) announced today the election of Major General James E. Livingston to the PHI Board of Directors.

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The LYRF hosted the 2001 Young Republican National Convention which attracted hundreds of delegates from the across the nation and national speakers such as Marc Racicot, Asa Hutchinson, Ralph Reed, Wayne LaPierre and David Horowitz.

The Louisiana Young Republican Federation and Greater New Orleans Republicans hosted the 2001 Young Republican National Convention from Wednesday, June 13, through Sunday, June 17, 2001. Young Republicans from over 40 states met at the Hyatt Regency to elect new leaders for the Young Republican National Federation and hear from an array of Republican speakers, including: NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre, former Christian Coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed, National Review Editor Rich Lowry, David Horowitz, Taylor Energy CEO Patrick F. Taylor, Congressmen David Vitter, John Cooksey, Billy Tauzin, Asa Hutchinson, Ron Paul, Curt Weldon, and Saxby Chambliss, State Representatives Hunt Downer and Steve Scalise and Elections Commissioner Suzanne Terrell.

...Later Congressmen David Vitter, Saxby Chambliss, and Curt Weldon, as well as Major General James Livingston discussed national defense.

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THE LIVINGSTON GROUP ADDS US MARINE MAJOR GENERAL AS AFFILIATE.
For Immediate Release
October 29, 2004

Washington, DC – The Livingston Group (TLG) of Washington, DC announced today the affiliation of Major General James E. Livingston, USMC (Ret). General Livingston, a Medal of Honor recipient and former real estate finance executive in New Orleans, will open an office in Charleston, SC, where he will work with TLGclients at the local, state and federal levels.General Livingston retired from the military in 1995 following a career of over 34 years of active duty withthe US Marine Corps. His commands have included the Marine Corp Air Ground Combat Center, the First MarineExpeditionary Brigade, the Fourth Marine Division and - in 1992 - the newly created Marine Reserve Force.He is a graduate of Auburn University, as well as the Amphibious Warfare School, the Marine CorpsCommand and Staff College and the Air War College. His decorations include the Medal of Honor, DistinguishedService Medal, Silver Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart with three awards. He is also aqualified military parachutist.Bob Livingston, founding partner and Chief Executive Officer of TLG, offered a warm welcome to thenewest of TLG’s affiliates. Said former Congressman Livingston: “I have known the General for many years andhave a deep respect for his integrity, his drive and his judgment. His network in the defense community, as well ashis business experience, brings unique advantages to existing and future clients.”Before joining TLG, General Livingston enjoyed a successful career in commercial real estate andfinancial services in the Greater New Orleans area. While working as Executive Vice President of ColumbusProperties, he also served on a number of boards: First Bank and Trust (Vice Chairman), Peoples Bank of Amiteand Innovus Incorporated. He is a current Presidential appointee to the Committee to Review Veteran Benefitsand was a member of a number of voluntary boards: National D-Day Museum (Chairman), Boy Scouts, Red Crossand the Louisiana State University Medical Foundation.“I appreciate the opportunity to join a great team at TLG”, said General Livingston. “Bob has built a worldclass organization with an attractive base of clients, and I look forward to working on projects throughout theSoutheast and at the national level.”The Livingston Group, LLC was started in 1999 with four partners, including former House AppropriationsChairman Bob Livingston. The firm now has over 30 professionals covering seven distinct practice areas.Recognized as one of the fastest growing government relations firms in Washington, DC, TLG also providesmarketing services and public affairs counsel in the areas of coalition building, media outreach and crisiscommunications. A complete overview of their practice areas, personnel and performance, including arepresentative client list, is available at www.livingstongroupdc.com.* Editors Note - General Livingston and former Congressman Livingston are not related *Contact: Jim Pruitt 202-289-9881

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FORMER THOMPSON NATIONAL VETERANS CO-CHAIR, MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT MAJOR GENERAL JAMES E. LIVINGSTON, JOINS TEAM MCCAIN

For Immediate Release
Contact: Press Office
Friday, January 25, 2008
703-650-5550

ARLINGTON, VA U.S. Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign today announced that Major General James E. Livingston, USMC (ret.), recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor and former National Veterans Co-Chairman for Fred Thompson, joined over 100 former general and flag officers to endorse John McCain for President of the United States.

Rep. William L. Gray III, a Democrat representing a district in Philadelphia, was first elected to Congress in 1978 and served until 1991. In his last term, Gray was the majority whip and he became the highest ranking black member of Congress in history.

After a 13-year term as president of the United Negro College Fund, Gray joined the Pittsburgh law firm of Buchanan Ingersoll last year. He also serves on the board of directors of Pfizer and several other corporations.

In 1989, Attorney General Richard Thornburgh made a what has been described as "unusual" announcement that Rep. Gray was not a target of an investigation. Thornburgh then proceeded to investigate Gray for the next two years. Apparently, the investigation ended when Gray decided not to run again in 1991.

At the same time he was investigating Gray, Thornburgh decided to run for US senator in Pennsylvania.

Neil Godick was Gray's personal accountant who had set up some sort of accounting system for Gray. He agreed to be a cooperating witness in the Gray investigation. Godick's subsequent conviction for bank fraud in 1991 was based on a fraudulent 1984 bank loan application and had nothing to do with Gray. Gray was never charged with a crime.

Godick, a former partner with Ernst & Young, must have had friends in high places. His career flourished after he cooperated with Thornburgh and his conviction for fraud apparently attached no stigma to him.

In 1994, Neil Godick was still on probation when he was running around Russia looking at weapons technology with nuclear physicists.

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From an 11/20/94 St Louis Dispatch story, "US Navy Experts Bring Back Bargains After Visit To Russia":

"A delegation of U.S. naval experts is taking home bags bulging with little-known technologies after an unprecedented shopping trip to St. Petersburg, Russia's shipbuilding capital.

The haul from the weeklong spree this month down the aisles of institutes once strictly off-limits to outsiders "exceeded our expectations," said Neil Godick, president of PhLburg Technologies, based in Pennsylvania.

Godick's delegation included retired Adm. Wayne Meyer; Patrick Parker, a former assistant secretary of defense; and Reuven Leopold, who designed most of the U.S warships afloat today.

The Americans met with Russian scientists and naval officials under the auspices of St. Petersburg's Marine Technologies Conversion Fund, which has about 450,000 specialists at its disposal. During the Soviet era, 60 percent to 80 percent of the city's industry was military-related.

Godick said his group aimed to:

- Identify "unique" or "more efficient" technologies with a "clear commercial use either in the consumer or defense area."

- Obtain contracts to represent the technologies.

- Find licenses to manufacture and market them.

He said his group had been most impressed by a "cold welding" technique that uses pressure instead of heat. "We all looked at it, looked at it again and said, 'It works. But how is it done?' "

Other items that aroused particular interest included a submersible scooter, an electrostatic oil filtration process allowing recycling, a substance that binds spilled oil and rocket fuel, superhard coatings, non-Freon refrigeration, an all-fuel internal combustion engine, a large hovercraft and a new rock-fracturing technique.

Arseny Berezin, vice president of the conversion fund, said: "There was a time when we thought of each other as mutual enemies. Now we're looking for mutual cooperation." He is a nuclear physicist who worked on the Soviets' atomic bomb program.

He stressed that Russia, under severe financial strain in its transformation to market economics and lacking venture capital, also had much to gain from the sale of its technology. "This is not a one-way street. The products will be used here as well, jobs will be created for Russians and cooperation will promote development.

"If we relied on our government structures, all of this intellectual wealth would die. This is the beginning of real cooperation in heavy industry. Pepsi is good, but it isn't everything."

Godick said he was offering his Russian partners a 50-50 split of all the profits. Berezin noted that Russian scientists "turn to America first" for joint projects. "Americans can get excited at crazy ideas just like the Russians. We both like to make something big, to challenge the gods."

05.06.2008

Ukraine's Fast-Emerging Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals Market Is Open For Business

Ukraine's fast-growing healthcare and pharmaceuticals market (20%+ growth in 2006-2007) took center stage at the "21st Century Pharmaceutical Production and Health Care Research & Delivery in the Commonwealth of Independent States" symposium on May 28, 2008. Held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., this first annual international conference explored the many medical and pharmaceutical business opportunities now emerging in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

MaxWell USA, LLC organized and hosted the all-day event. MaxWell USA is the chief American subsidiary of MaxWell Biocorporation, an international medical and pharmaceutical company based in Washington, D.C. MaxWell is dedicated to increasing the life expectancy and improving the quality of life in Ukraine and other underserved emerging healthcare markets in the former Soviet Union.

The MaxWell symposium featured concurrent research and business tracks and a keynote address by former Member of Congress and veteran Ukraine proponent Curt Weldon. It drew nearly 150 attendees and speakers from the medical, business, legal, and NGO communities in the United States, Ukraine, and Russia.

"Given the acumen and enthusiasm of the many scientists and business professionals who contributed to our symposium, I am optimistic that our work in Ukraine and beyond will progress rapidly," said MaxWell Biocorporation founder, President and CEO Dr. Kenneth Alibek. "As we work to increase life expectancy and improve quality of life across Ukraine and the CIS, the dedication of these and many other professionals, who are also fine humanitarians, will add a priceless component to these efforts."

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LA Times

FEAR INC. – A TIMES INVESTIGATION - Selling the threat of bioterrorism - A scientist defected, warned of epidemics, helped shape policy and sought to profit.

By David Willman
July 01, 2007

In the fall of 1992, Kanatjan Alibekov defected from Russia to the United States, bringing detailed, and chilling, descriptions of his role in making biological weapons for the former Soviet Union.

As a doctor of microbiology, a physician and a colonel in the Red Army, he helped lead the Soviet effort. He told U.S. intelligence agencies that the Soviets had devoted at least 30,000 scientists, working at dozens of sites, to develop bioweapons, despite a 1972 international ban on such work.

He said that emigrating Russian scientists and others posed imminent threats. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, he said, several specialists went to Iraq and North Korea. Both countries, he said, may have obtained anthrax and smallpox. The transfer of smallpox would be especially ominous because the Russians, he said, had sought to genetically modify the virus, posing lethal risk even to those who had been vaccinated.

His expertise, combined with his dire pronouncements, solidified his cachet in Washington. He simplified his name to Ken Alibek, became a familiar figure on Capitol Hill, and emerged as one of the most important voices in U.S. decisions to spend billions of dollars to counter anthrax, smallpox and other potential bioterrorism agents.

“It was Alibek’s revelations, when he defected, that really provided the first information about the scope” of both the Soviet program and the possible proliferation to Iran and Iraq, said Dr. Thomas Monath, who was a top biodefense specialist for the U.S. Army.

Monath, who later led a group of experts that advised the Central Intelligence Agency on ways to counter biological attacks, said Alibek’s information resonated at high levels of the U.S. government and was “amplified by 9/11.”

“I think he influenced many people who were in position to make some decisions about response,” Monath said, adding, “Concern about smallpox, in particular, was driven by Alibek.”

Dr. Kenneth W. Bernard, who served President Bush as a special assistant for biodefense, agreed, saying that Alibek “had a substantial and profound effect.”

Having raised the prospect that Iraq had acquired the ability to wield smallpox or anthrax, Alibek also was outspoken as the U.S. went to war in early 2003, saying there was “no doubt” that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction....

Per FEC:

Contributions to Rep. David Vitter:

10/03 - John J. Gallagher, PA

Due to Signatures Restaurant: $1,846

11/29/06 - Winston Churchill High School newspaper:

"For English teacher Sherrill Caso, serving in the Navy gave her discipline, which assisted her in becoming a more successful teacher and allowing her to efficiently run an orderly classroom."

7-8 2007 Churchill PTA bulletin:

Sherrill Caso returning to law school.

Spring 2003 SE LSU Dean's List:

Sherrill B. Caso of Sidell

1/18/04 Natchez Democrat:

...Survivors include her husband, George S. Comer; two daughters, Carolyn C. Boydstun and her husband, David of Shreveport and Von C. Britt of Slidell; three grandchildren, David H. Boydstun, Jr. and his wife, Kristie, of Ferriday, Sherrill B. Caso and her husband, Russ, of North Potomac, Md., and Jennifer B. Herring and her husband, Kelly of Aurora, Ill.; two great-grandchildren, Russell J. "Trey" Caso III and Andrew Comer Caso; her brother Victor Henry Sevier, Jr. and his wife Dot of Houma.

Pallbearers will be David Boydstun, Jr., Russ Caso, Kelly Herring, Victor H. Sevier III and Matthew B. Sevier.

Sherrill Caso's Facebook friends:

Laura Whelan - DC
John Tomaszewski - DC
Gabriella Borovsky - DC
Yevgeny Bendersky - DC (Weldon Staffer)

Russia Profile.org
September 5, 2007

ZAO KREMLIN: The Chemezov Code
By Graham Stack

Sergei Chemezov, head of the state-controlled arms export agency Rosoboronexport and chief of the shadowy Siloviki Kremlin securities clan, carries a copy of Dan Brown's conspiracy thriller "The Da Vinci Code" whenever he flies.

"A very useful book," says maybe the most powerful man in Russia after President Vladimir Putin. But then adds, in case anyone gets the wrong impression, "sends me to sleep in two minutes."

Over the last two years, Rosoboronexport has transformed itself from a government office handling Russia's trade in weapons into a state-owned corporate raider that has launched a string of hostile takeover bids.

Rosoboronexport is now considered to be the key holding in ZAO Kremlin, the financial-industrial-military conglomerate that the Kremlin is building. It owns carmaker AvtoVAZ, helicopter plants, steel mills, engine builders, investment funds and metallurgical plants, among other things. Altogether, Rosoboronexport is represented on the board of directors of more than 20 export-oriented concerns, including Sukhoi, Almaz-Antei, Tactical Rocket Weapons, Ulan Ude Aviation Plant, OAO Moscow Helicopter Plant Milya and others.

The man in the shadows

Sergei Chemezov was born in 1952 in Irkutsk, and with training in the special services, arrived in Dresden, East Germany in 1983 as representative of an industrial association. Shortly afterwards, a young KGB agent from Leningrad moved into the same house. That young man's name was Vladimir Putin, and over a period of four years they were neighbors and friends as well as colleagues.

When Putin was hired by the late-president Boris Yeltsin to work in the presidential administration in 1996, Putin got a job for his Dresden-days buddy in the same department.

Chemezov's career in arms exports started with Putin's appointment as prime minister in 1999 and a year later the now President Putin appointed Chemezov deputy head of Rosoboronexport. One of Putin's very first actions as president was to take control of the state arms export agency, a nest of corruption and influence peddling. By April 2004, a month after Putin began his second term as president, Chemezov was promoted to head of the agency. It was as if the last four years were a preparation for this point and Chemezov's appointment marked the start of a new direction for Russia and a changing of the guard, as Yeltsin's team was eased out of the Kremlin and replaced by loyal Putin-ites.

Immediately Rosoboronexport subsidiaries started snapping up shares of lucrative enterprises - and not only in the defense sector, but right across the industrial spectrum. Chemezov claims there is nothing sinister going on. He quips that, "one man's de-privatization conspiracy is another's quest for diversificatio

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Anyone watching Chemezov in action will soon start to feel like Robert Langdon, Brown's hero of "The Da Vinci Code", who believed he was surrounded by an intricate and powerful cabal that wields enormous unseen power. Clearly the leading state enterprises are closely interwoven. Take for example the appointment of Sergei Makarov as Rosneft's chief financial officer in June. Makarov was the CEO of helicopter-maker Oboronprom in 2003, but moved to state-owned VTB Bank in 2005 before landing at Rosneft - all these firms are closely associated with the Siloviki and represent their main interests in defense, finance and energy.

The Oboronprom holding has proven to be highly successful hybrid that marries both the state and commercial aspects of Chemezov's vision for how Russia's economy should be developed. Also in June, Rosoboronexport said it was considering a move into yet another sector with a new huge electronics holding using the same template.

"We are going to found holdings similar with Oboronprom in structure. For instance, we are developing a concept of a large electronics producing holding jointly with the Russian Agency for Industry now," Chemezov said on the sidelines of the Paris Airshow earlier this year.

Chemezov denies that Rosoboronexport is just looking to pile up property. "We set up Oboronprom to restructure the defense sector in a civilized manner, within the framework of the law and under state control. Our aim is not to exercise control over the capital of defense enterprises. We don't even have a controlling share packet in Oboronprom. In order to exert influence, it is often enough for us to manage the state's share packets." But he adds that Rosoboronexport invests its profits in acquiring additional shares.

Chemezov believes the state should supervise key branches of the economy and the role of foreigners should be limited, but this does not mean Chemezov is against foreign participation. The opposite is true: Chemezov believes it to be, "absolutely obvious" that international collaboration is vital for the defense sector, pointing out, for instance that Sukhoi and the Italian Finmeccanica subsidiary Alenia Aeronautica have signed an agreement on strategic partnership in creating the Russian Regional Jet, with Alenia gaining a 25% share in the project.

But the Russian state will take the lead in all these projects. Rosoboronexport and Oboronprom have been successful in handing control to the state and at the same time making money. Rosoboronexport's exports have grown from about $3bn a year in 2000 when Putin took over to the $6bn the agency is expect to earn for the Treasury this year.

Rosoboronexport has intervened in non-defense sectors to effectively de-privatize key enterprises. The case of the troubled car-maker AvtoVAZ, of which Rosoboronexport now aims to own 75%-plus-1 share on completing its takeover, attracted hostile international attention. This is Chemezov's version of events: "In December 2005, we started an operation to rescue AvtoVAZ. In one year we achieved a lot. Most of all, we eliminated criminality, which was sucking the plant dry like a cancer, and threatening to bring about its complete collapse. Remember that only recently full-scale criminal wars were being waged in Tolyatti, costing hundreds of lives. I don't want to dwell on this topic. I believe that organized crime has been driven from the factory for good."

"However outlandish it might seem, the significant growth in profits we achieved was mostly just a result of eradicating crime and theft at the plant. We cut costs by almost a third in one year, and growth in profit was up 40% year on year."

Rosoboronexport's acquisition of 66% of Russian titanium producer VSMPO-Avisma in 2006 was a similar story. The plant provides a third of Boeing's titanium needs and half of Airbus requirements, and demand for titanium is due to double in the coming years. "Sooner or later," argues Chemezov, "VSMPO-Avisma would have ended up dependent on foreign investors. And together with it, the entire Russia aerospace sector. If the state had not intervened, then Russian companies, and not Boeing or Airbus, would have been queuing up for Russian titanium."

A joint venture has been set up with Boeing to manufacture titanium components in Russia rather than exporting it as raw material.

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Moscow Times
3/19/08

Arms Chief in Race to Grab Assets
By Max Delany
Staff Writer

With his balding head and benign air, Sergei Chemezov seems more like a small-town shopkeeper than the man in charge of one of the world's largest arms exporters.

Since the turn of the year, the usually publicity-shy Chemezov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin's who heads the newly formed state corporation Russian Technologies, has been at the center of the media spotlight.

The reason for all the attention is Chemezov's seemingly insatiable ambition to grab state assets in up to 250 companies -- from passenger airlines to Mongolian coal mines -- as Russian Technologies, dubbed a new "industrial Gazprom," looks to carve out its startup capital.

Set up late last year on the foundations of state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, which Chemezov also headed, Russian Technologies was given a broad remit to boost the country's ailing technology sector by attracting much-needed investment. But the corporation's mandate has now become so vague that Interfax has simply started referring to it as "consolidating various assets in various economic sectors."

In December, Chemezov submitted a list of nearly 250 state assets that Russian Technologies was seeking to control, Kommersant reported. Analysts see the current wrangles, and the publicity they have attracted, as part of a wider tussle for control going on among the country's ruling elite ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Dmitry Medvedev in May.

Chemezov has previously said he hopes to see the state corporation fully formed by the end of this month.

Although Russian Technologies' acquisition efforts have been one of the most talked-about business stories this year, the corporation itself, the companies on its hit list and the government bodies involved have been reluctant to talk about the specifics on the record.

Chief among the state corporation's goals appears to be an ambitious plan to create a competitor to the country's leading airline, Aeroflot, by claiming the government's stakes in a range of passenger carriers, including consortium AirUnion, S7 (formerly Sibir), Rossia and Vladivostok Avia.

Last week, Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov hosted a meeting with Economic Development and Trade Minister Elvira Nabiullina, Transportation Minister Igor Levitin and Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko to discuss handing over the assets, Interfax reported, citing unnamed sources from the meeting. A government spokesman said later, however, that the meeting did not appear on Zubkov's schedule, while spokespeople for the ministries declined to comment.

Although Nabiullina raised objections over damaging competition in the sector and the fact that Russian Technologies "has not yet presented an intelligible consolidation program," the government is inclined to give the green light to the project, Interfax reported.

Russian Technologies will present a proposal to the government on incorporating the assets this week, Interfax said.

Officials at Russian Technologies have refused repeated requests over the past month to reveal the full list of assets that the company is eyeing up, and interview requests for this article with senior managers at Russian Technologies and Rosoboronexport have been similarly declined.

A steady series of leaks to the media from people close to both companies have given some indication, however, of the possible takeover targets.

Curiously, Atlas, the company that created the EGAIS system for monitoring the country's alcohol sales, figures on Russian Technologies' purported hit list. A spokeswoman for Atlas said the company's management backed Russian Technologies' efforts to take control of the firm.

Russian media have also said stakes in truck maker KamAZ, power station builder Technopromexport and UralVagonZavod, which makes tanks and train wagons, are all on Chemezov's hit list.

Currently valued at about $25 billion, the Rosoboronexport empire already includes car giant AvtoVAZ, the world's largest titanium producer, VSMPO-Avisma, specialist steelmaker RusSpetsStal and helicopter maker Oboronprom. Now all these assets will be transferred to Russian Technologies.

Once it is fully established, the state corporation will essentially act as a giant holding company with the right to float its subsidiaries. Government control will be reduced dramatically and financial oversight will be slashed, analysts said.

"The essence of a state corporation is that they give considerable room for maneuver and increase the influence of the group that controls them," said Dmitry Abzalov, an analyst at the Center for Contemporary Russian Politics.

"Russian Technologies is one of the [biggest] and strongest of these state corporations," Abzalov said. Last year, the center ranked Chemezov's Rosoboronexport empire as one of the seven most powerful business and political groupings in the country.

As part of a metals joint venture with billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, to be called Rusinvestpartner, Russian Technologies is looking to scoop up the state's stakes in a hydropower project near Lake Baikal and in a Mongolian coal mining concern, Erednet, Kommersant reported. The joint venture is also looking to work with East-Siberian Metals Corp. to mine precious metals in Buryatia, the newspaper said.

"The objective seems to be acquisitions for size rather than integration," said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib. "Size does matter in Russia today."

But Chemezov's empire-building seems to fly in the face of the liberal-leaning economic policies of President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, who has said he sees limits on state control over the economy.

Speaking to an audience of ministers, state officials and business leaders at the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum last month, Medvedev called for state companies to bring in executives from the private sector, rather than fill boards with state officials.

"[A] significant share of the functions carried out by state organs should be given over to the private sector," said Medvedev, who heads the board at Gazprom, the only company other than Rosoboronexport to hold an export monopoly.

Russian Technologies' efforts to gain control of the airline stakes also seem to some analysts to make little commercial sense and could seriously disrupt the plans by AirUnion's major stakeholders, twin brothers Boris and Alexander Abramovich.

"I don't see any logic in it. For AirUnion there was a very clear strategy and that is [in doubt] now," said Eduard Faritov, an aviation and automotive analyst at Renaissance Capital.

"What is happening is that you have a very competitive market, and now everything at AirUnion is being put on hold," Faritov said.

The attempts to claim assets in airlines such as S7 might be intended to help artificially bolster demand for domestically manufactured aircraft, Faritov said.

"The only way it makes sense is if Russian Technologies wants to make sufficient demand for aircraft such as the Sukhoi [Superjet-100], but that depends on market forces."

Beyond the government's economic liberals, it seems that Chemezov's industrial ambitions might be upsetting some of the country's other powerful groups.

"The problem now is that Chemezov wants to get so many assets and other influential groups want some of them too," said Abzalov, of the Center for Contemporary Russian Politics.

The Federal Tax Service is thought to be interested in taking control of Atlas, while the government of Tatarstan has been linked to KamAZ, Gazprombank has reportedly moved for Mongolian miner Erednet and any attempts to take over UralVagonZavod could adversely affect Russian Railways.

Yet Dmitry Pertsev, a spokesman for Russian Railways, said by telephone that the company would have no problem if Russian Technologies took over the factory.

Earlier this month, it also emerged that the country's military has become worried by Russian Technologies' potential consolidation of the country's defense industry, with the government's Military-Industrial Committee, headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, drawing up alternative plans to lessen the military's dependence on the state corporation, Kommersant reported.

Chemezov has been actively lobbying for the creation of a state corporation since 2005. Currently, there are five other state corporations, including Rosatom, the state nuclear industry giant run by former Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, the Nanotechnology Corporation and Olympstroi, the company charged with preparing Sochi for the 2014 Olympics.

These steps have encouraged other state-run organizations to push for state corporation status. One of these is Russian Post, the country's ailing postal service, whose new chief, Andrei Kazmin, was sent from his post as chief executive at Sberbank in last fall's reshuffle of senior state officials.

Already in 2005, Chemezov publicly said he hoped to see Ivanov appointed as head of Russian Technologies' supervisory board.

But jockeying between various powerful factions has seen Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov put his man, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, in that post instead.

"One of Chemezov's major opponents has been Viktor Zubkov, and he managed to make his protege and son-in-law head of the supervisory board," Abzalov said.

Other members of Russian Technologies' supervisory board include Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation chief Mikhail Dmitriyev, Regional Development Minister Dmitry Kozak, Economic Development and Trade Minister Elvira Nabiullina and Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko.

Although he may be little known in the West, Chemezov's career profile certainly gives him all the grandeur, contacts and shady history of the other so-called state oligarchs, such as Russian Railways head Vladimir Yakunin and Transneft boss Nikolai Tokarev.

In the mid-1980s, Chemezov met Putin while both were working in the East German town of Dresden -- Putin for the KGB and Chemezov for an obscure Soviet experimental trade organization, Luch, which some analysts have said was a KGB cover. Living in the same apartment block, the two men became firm friends.

After returning from East Germany in 1988, Chemezov was appointed deputy head at Sovintersport, a state firm with the import monopoly for bringing sporting goods into the Soviet Union, where he worked for the next seven years.

While Putin worked as deputy to St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, he and Chemezov kept in regular contact, and when Putin later landed a job in Boris Yeltsin's presidential administration, Chemezov was one of the first wave of the future president's acquaintances to join him in the Kremlin. On Putin's recommendation, Chemezov was appointed head of the foreign economic relations at the presidential property department.

In 1999, Chemezov was made head of Promexport, one of several state-run arms export agencies at the time. Soon after his appointment, Chemezov set about uniting the arms export industry and bringing it under his control.

In early 2000, Promexport gobbled up an earlier company called Russian Technologies, and later that year Promexport and Rosvooruzheniye were merged to form Rosoboronexport.

Chemezov became deputy director in the new organization. In 2004 he replaced his boss, Andrei Belyaninov, who according to some reports also served as a KGB agent in East Germany, as head of Rosoboronexport. Belyaninov now heads the Federal Customs Service.

Chemezov's ability to bundle everything together soon earned him the nickname "the Grand Integrator" among industry insiders, Kommersant-Vlast reported.

Thus the current expansionist ethos of Russian Technologies is typical of the way that Rosoboronexport and its predecessors worked under Chemezov. In the seven years since its formation, Rosoboronexport has come to directly or indirectly own businesses in myriad and unconnected sectors of the economy from house construction to warehouse insurance and computer retail.

"We give total freedom to our subsidiary companies and that includes their subsidiaries as well," Chemezov said in an interview with Forbes Russia magazine last year. "No business is forbidden and our companies can work in any sector."

The sprawling nature of Chemezov's empire is characteristic of the way state firms work under Putin, analysts said.

Under this model, a close ally is given a key role to play -- in Chemezov's case boosting the flagging arms industry and rescuing ailing car giant AvtoVAZ -- and then allowed, in turn, to bring his allies onboard to run subsidiary firms and expand their business interests under the central company's protective banner.

Chemezov's record at Rosoboronexport has, on paper at least, been impressive. The agency reported a post-Soviet record of over $6 billion in arms exports last year and $25 billion of orders on its books, and has struck major deals with foreign industrial giants.

French carmaker Renault last month signed off on a deal to pay at least $1 billion for a 25 percent stake in AvtoVAZ, bringing to an end the Tolyatti giant's long-running search for a foreign partner. In aircraft construction, U.S. giant Boeing and its European rival Airbus both buy titanium from VSMPO-Avisma.

Chief among Chemezov's group of loyal lieutenants are Anatoly Isaikin, who replaced him as head of Rosoboronexport when Chemezov moved to lead Russian Technologies, former Federal Industry Agency chief Boris Alyoshin, who was appointed AvtoVAZ chief executive last year, and Mikhail Shelkov, head of Oboronimpex, which runs VSMPO-Avisma.

But when asked to justify their most impressive acquisitions, Rosoboronexport officials have sometimes floundered for an answer.

Pushed at a recent news conference to explain why Rosoboronexport had taken over AvtoVAZ, Isaikin seemed slightly at a loss.

"What made us become the major shareholders in AvtoVAZ was, I think, our overall concern for the, shall we say, automotive production and leadership in Russia," Isaikin said hesitantly.

Despite widespread skepticism about the wisdom of some Rosoboronexport acquisitions, buying titanium producer VSMPO-Avisma appears to have turned out well. A talked-about public offering of the company has been put on the back burner, however.

"All the development plans from the time when it was an independent company are still continuing," said Alexander Yakubov, a metals analyst at Trust investment bank. "The Rosoboronexport purchase changed only the ownership structure -- the management is the same."

"Rosoboronexport's expansion into heavy industry is not so good from the strategic point of view, but if we talk about specific companies then nothing bad has happened," Yakubov said. "They are quite reasonable."

While being absorbed into Russian Technologies could be good for some companies, others should be wary, said Yevgeny Shago, an analyst at Ingosstrakh.

For a company riddled with internal conflicts among the major stakeholders, such as AirUnion, a takeover could help iron out problems, Shago said. "But when Russian Technologies takes over a company that is working well it can be a negative event for the shareholders."

---------

Chemezov's Empire

Company Sector

Rosoboronexport Arms producer and exporter

AvtoVAZ Automaker

Oboronprom Helicopter maker

VSMPO-Avisma Titanium producer

RusSpetsStal Specialist steel manufacturer

---------

Resume

Sergei Viktorovich Chemezov

Born: Aug. 20, 1952

Place of Birth: Cheremkhovo, Irkutsk region

Education: Irkutsk Institute for National Economy, specializing in engineering and economics

1975-1980 -- Worked in the Irkutsk Science Research Institute for Rare and Nonferrous Metals

1980-1983 -- Deputy head of the Luch industrial research venture

1983-1988 -- Luch representative in Dresden, East Germany

1988-1996 -- Deputy managing director, Sovintersport, Moscow

1996-1999 -- Head of foreign economic relations at Presidential Property Department

1999-2000 -- General director, Promexport

2000-2004 -- First deputy general director, Rosoboronexport

2004-2007 -- General director, Rosoboronexport

December 2007 -- General director, Russian Technologies

Member of the Academy of Military Science

Notable Quotes: "We lived in the same building and got to know each other through serving together and by being neighbors. ... When you are posted abroad you are always drawn to your compatriots." Interview with Itogi, October 2005, about life with Putin in Dresden. "I don't understand how you can't get excited by the technical perfection, the harmony and the design of an automatic rifle or handgun." -- Itogi, 2005 "We don't need to compete between ourselves, but to compete with the international giants abroad." -- Interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta, February 2008, on establishing state corporations. "The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown is a very useful book! After reading a few pages, I turn off the lights and sleep." -- Itogi, 2005

Marital status: Divorced, with three sons and a dog.

Hobbies: Hunting and reading Dan Brown novels.

Favorite weapon: Makarov pistol.

Link,/a> to US-Russian Council listing of members of Russian government.

AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group

Management Board

Dr. Heinz C. Schimmelbusch
Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Schimmelbusch was appointed chairman of the Management Board on 21 November 2006, the date of incorporation of the Company. In November 2002 he was appointed chief executive officer of Metallurg, and since 1998 he has served as chairman of the board of Metallurg and Metallurg Holdings. Presently, Dr. Schimmelbusch also serves as non-executive chairman of the board of various companies, including Allied Resource Corporation, Wayne, Pennsylvania, United States; and PFW Aerospace, Speyer, Germany; and is a member of the board of directors of Norilsk, Moscow, Russia. Dr. Schimmelbusch is also a Managing Director and a founder of Safeguard International Fund, L.P. In the past, Dr. Schimmelbusch served as chairman of Metallgesellschaft AG from 1989 until he resigned in 1993. His directorships have included Allianz Versicherung AG, Mobil Oil AG, Teck Cominco Limited, and Methanex Corporation. Dr. Schimmelbusch received his graduate degree (with distinction) and his doctorate (magna cum laude) from the University of Tübingen, Germany.

Barry Critchley
Financial Post
Friday, April 25, 2008

Timminco, Ceramic overlap

Investors in Timminco Ltd. are hoping for a different ending from that experienced by shareholders of Ceramic Protection Corp.

Why relate those two? Here are some connections:

Management Timminco's chairman and chief executive is Heinz Schimmelbusch, the former chief executive of Metallgesselschaft, who was fired in 1993 after the company experienced US$1.2-billion in trading losses.

Back in September, 2004, Schimmelbusch was the chairman of board of Allied Resource when that company sold Alanx Wear Solutions to Alberta-based Ceramic Protection. Based in Delaware, Alanx was described as "a leading manufacturer of advanced ballistic ceramics and wear management materials." It cost Ceramic about $35.8-million to purchase Alanx. It paid $17.5-million in cash and issued 1.5 million shares.

At the time, John Walsh was Alanx's chief executive. As part of the deal, he joined CEP and about eight months later, in May, 2005, Walsh became president at Ceramic. In December, 2006, Walsh moved on to became president and chief executive of Timminco. That appointment was announced by Schimmelbusch, who at the time was Timminco's chairman. In August, 2007, Walsh became president of Timminco's magnesium division. Two weeks ago, Timminco said Walsh "had resigned to pursue other opportunities."

Analysts In December, 2004, or three months after Ceramic purchased Alanx, it did a bought-deal financing at $22 per share through Clarus Securities. The deal was increased to $17.25-million from $15-million. At the time, David Tomljenovic was the analyst at Clarus. In November he had a $24 target on the stock and one month later he upped it to $30.50.

Tomljenovic is now with Sprott Asset Management (SAM) and is credited with bringing Timminco to the attention of the money manager. SAM is now the second-largest shareholder in Timminco after AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group, which has a 50.6% stake. Schimmelbusch is also AMG's chairman and chief executive.

The ceramic slide Ceramic's problems started in September, 2006, when Arizona-based ArmorWorks, a customer of Alanx, cancelled a supply agreement. Ceramic filed a lawsuit alleging "breach of contract as a result of wrongful termination and non-payment of monies owing." ArmorWorks then filed a complaint alleging "breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of warranty, fraud ... and unfair competition." The suit made a claim for US$60-million in damages.

Thirteen months later, Ceramic announced it had resolved "all claims and actions in litigation" between itself and ArmorWorks. No financial details were released but Ceramic said a "great burden in terms of expense and management time" had been removed.

During that period, Ceramic's shares traded downwards from a high of $23.98 the day before the announcement to $6.50 the day before the resolution was announced. (The shares' record high was $29.90, reached on Dec. 31, 2004.)

Last month, a few days after it closed its $4.25-a-share equity financing, Ceramic was hit when ArmorWorks filed a statement of claim against it. The stock plunged 30% and closed yesterday at $2.35.

FEC:

WALLIS, ANNE
RIVER RIDGE, LA 70123
HOMEMAKER

David Vitter
10/10/2003 2000.00
10/10/2003 2000.00

------------------------------------------------

STATE OF LOUISIANA
v.
MICHAEL THOMAS.

No. 08-KA-113

PAUL D. CONNICK, JR., District Attorney, TERRY M. BOUDREAUX (Appellate Counsel), ANNE WALLIS (Appellate Counsel), JAY ADAIR (Trial Counsel), Assistant District Attorneys, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee, The State of Louisiana.

--------------------------------------------------
The Times-Picayune
January 26, 1990

....But as quickly as prosecutors Jim Marchand and Anne Wallis began building a case against Williams, public defender Jeffrey Smith began tearing it down.

Per Weldon's Defense Solutions Libya trip report:

"Weldon’s 3rd visit to Libya was held in July 2005 when Weldon organized and Co-Chaired an International Conference in Tripoli with Saif Ghadaffi. Representatives from 25 nations (over 200 delegates) participated in the Conference along with Weldon’s bi-partisan Congressional delegation. Again, Weldon met with every senior leader in Libya as well as a 2 hour private meeting with Leader Ghadaffi in his hometown of Sirte."

Per Itera website:

005-08-18 [8/18/05] Опубликовано: Business Petroleum (VPS)

"Mr. Sergey Vorobyov, Deputy Chairman of ITERA Management Board, said the company planned to participate in tenders on exploration and development of oil and gas blocks in Libya.

According to Mr. Vorobyov, the company has qualified for the tenders, and ITERA is now in the process of choosing oil and gas blocks of interest to it. Mr. S. Vorobyov pointed out that ITERA planned to participate in tenders independently. Earlier, the company considered participation in the tenders together with Tatneft, because the two companies had signed a strategic partnership agreement. New Libyan tenders may take place in October. The second Libyan tender on 40 contracts is underway for oil and gas blocks to be explored and developed by foreign companies. Winners in development tenders on 15 oil and gas blocks have been announced in Tripoli. Most of them were American companies. The total number of 120 companies, including 17 American ones, applied for the tenders. LUKOIL was interested in Libyan tenders as well.

Foreign participation in on Libyan hydrocarbon resources development became possible after the UN sanctions were lifted in April of 2004. Libya, an OPEC member, was going to raise about USD 30 billion of investments for its oil production industry and to double its production capacity from 1.6 to 3 million barrels of oil per day. "

Defense Solutions website:

...In March 2007, representatives of Defense Solutions visited Bangladesh with the purpose of exploring business development opportunities in that country with entities in both the private and public market segments. Subsequent to this visit, Defense Solutions established an office in Dhaka where it is represented by Major General (retired) A. N. M. Muniruzzaman, a former infantry division commander in the Bangladesh Army and a graduate of the US Naval War College. General Munir served as the Chief of Staff to the President of Bangladesh and was also his principal military advisor.

Defense Solutions’ efforts in Bangladesh include re-equipping the Bangladesh military to support its participation in United Nations peace keeping missions; upgrading port infrastructure and security; and assisting US companies in gaining access to the Bangladesh market.

This sure explains a lot.

AFO Research Inc.

Curt Weldon
Senior Advisor

The Honorable Curt Weldon
Member of Congress 1987-2007
CEO – Jenkins Hill International
Chairman – Kronos Fund
Vice Chairman – Dynamic Defense Materials Corporation
Chief Strategic Officer – Defense Solutions
Strategic Officer – New Star Technologies

"...Congressman Weldon was also a member or a co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, Armenian Caucus, Azerbaijan Caucus, Baltic Caucus, Korea Caucus, Hellenic Caucus, Serbia Caucus, Romania Caucus, United Kingdom Caucus, and Pakistan Caucus, amongst others...."

------------------------------------------------
Howard Butcher
Senior Advisor

"...Currently Mr. Butcher serves as President & Director of Jenkins Hill International LL, a privately owned company founded by former U.S Congressman Curt Weldon which specializes in developing international & national projects of several types, helping relatively young technology companies take their technologies to market & grow and various representations of companies locally and overseas for marketing, finance and government relations purposes. Jenkins Hill also is involved in the creation and management of managed pooled funds which invest in growing technology companies. The emphasis here is on companies which have very large addressable markets, transformational technologies and are inexpensively valued relative to their potential upside valuations. Mr. Butcher also serves as Secretary and a director of Butcher Energy, Inc., (Butcher family owned energy investment firm focused on oil & gas exploration & development and a large wind farm in Texas) the Philadelphia Bourse, Inc. (family owned holding company which owns operating companies) and as a Director of JMJ Technologies, LLC. He is a past chairman & director of DRX, Inc., (precious metals exploration and development) and formerly a director of Coopersburg Handle & Tool Company, Distribix, Inc. (eighth largest U.S. paper distribution company), Harrison Industries, PLC (small British conglomerate), Alexandra Mining, Ltd. (precious metals mining holding company), Holmes Protection of Philadelphia (commercial & residential security), Frances Denny, Inc. (cosmetics & fragrances), Chadds Ford Capital LLC (asset management firm) and International Light & Power, Limited..."

-------------------------------------------------
Anahit Kouradjian, M.Sc.
Senior Advisor

"Ms. Kouradjian is a senior scientific advisor to AFO. She has over 30 years of experience as an inorganic chemist, physical chemist, and research and development specialist. Ms. Kouradjian has managed numerous government projects and research teams over her career. She received her Masters of Science from the Polytechnic Institute of Yerevan in Armenia, USSR."

-------------------------------------------------
Bill Townsend
Senior Advisor

Bill Townsend is an advisor on licensing, mergers and acquisitions. He has over 16 years of experience in the technology industry and more than 20 years in the advertising sector. He has co-founded 2 publicly-held companies. Mr. Townsend was part of the founding management team at Internet search engine, Lycos Inc; and was a co-founder of CommonPlaces (now Alloy). Mr. Townsend has been involved in the launch and management of over 14 companies including: Arbor Austin, GeoCities (now Yahoo!), Deja.com (now ebay and Google), ClearHeart LP, Dorio Inc., Interminds LLC, PayByTouch, and NewsAlert (now Marketwatch.com).

Defense Solutions sets up Israeli office ;Defense Solutions Israel will represent Israeli companies participating in USdefense tenders.

BYLINE: Hadas Manor

Defense Solutions LLC has set up an office in Israel headed by businessmen Michael "Mickey" Flint and IDF Col. (res.) Avi Oren.

Defense Solutions is a professional services firm offering government relations and business consulting to clients in the US armed forces and homeland security markets at the federal, state, and local levels. Defense Solutions is a private company owned by CEO Timothy D. Ringgold, Colonel, US Army (Ret.). Hefounded the company with senior US Army officers and former administration and Congressional officials.

Flint plans to represent Israeli companies participating in US defense tenders. Defense Solutions will handle the process from the product presentation through the order and US market penetration stages. The estimated time period for such a breakthrough is 18 months. Flint says the window of opportunity will last until mid-2005, by which time the US market will be networked and hard to penetrate.

Published by Globes [online]- www.globes.co.il - on January 14, 2004

-------------------------------------------------

12/20/02 PR News Wire

Government Internet Systems, Inc. Retains Defense Solutions to Market Products to Government Entities in the United States

Government Internet Systems, Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: VCSY), today announced that it has retained Defense Solutions, L.L.C., to assist in the marketing of its emergency communication management product (ResponseFlash(TM)) to federal, state, andl ocal governments of the United States. Vertical has licensed ResponseFlash(TM)to Government Internet Systems, Inc.

Steve Rossetti, of Government Internet Systems, stated, "We are very excited about our relationship with Defense Solutions. The ResponseFlash(TM) technologyis well suited for fast implementation to assist Federal and local entities in addressing their communication needs in the homeland security environment byproviding a coherent communications grid for fast response to emergencies.Defense Solutions knows what the nation needs in this area and has the experience and know-how to advise on improvements to our products to ensure continued relevancy. They will make our products known to key decision makers. We are proud to be associated with them."

According to the Tim Ringgold, CEO of Defense Solutions, LLC,"ResponseFlash is the mechanism for government agencies to rapidly deploy alarge number of emergency response web sites with advanced communication capabilities where each agency can operate as a fully autonomous site or as a component of a larger network. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to represent the best product of its type currently available."

About GOVERNMENT INTERNET SYSTEMS, Inc. Government Internet Systems, Inc. (GIS), a Nevada corporation, is a majority-owned subsidiary of Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. GIS was formed to market and distribute the proprietary software and technology of Vertical Computer Systems to government entities of the United States, beginning initially with ResponseFlash. GIS was formerly known as Emily Solutions, Inc.

About VERTICAL COMPUTER SYSTEMS, Inc
Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. (VCSY) is a multinational provider of Webservices, underpinning Web technologies, and administrative software services through its Global Partners System, a worldwide distribution network. Vertical provides Web applications and services targeted at specific market needs inbusiness and government organizations, such as emergency response, news media,procurement, education, e-commerce, and human resources. Vertical also provides underpinning Web and Internet technologies that can be leveraged across all of its target markets. Vertical's software products include the Emily(R) XMLEnabler Agent, ResponseFlash(TM), SiteFlash(TM), UniversityFlash(TM),Newsflash(TM), and the Focal Point Search Engine(TM).

Website: www.vcsy.com .

------------------------------------------------

11/23/03 Ascribe Wire

New Blue Ribbon Commission to Estimate Cost of 'Don't Ask,Don't Tell'; Commission Includes Distinguished MilitaryExperts, Former Senior Officials

SANTA BARBARA, March 23 [AScribe Newswire] -- In response to the release of aGAO study titled, "Financial Costs And Loss Of Critical Skills Due to DOD'sHomosexual Conduct Policy Cannot Be Completely Estimated," a Blue Ribbon Commission has been assembled to attempt to estimate the financial costs of "don't ask, don't tell." The GAO report was requested by Congressman Marty Meehan [D-Mass], a member of the House Armed Services Committee who recently introduced legislation to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."

The new Blue Ribbon Commission is made up of distinguished experts including former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, professors from the U.S. MilitaryAcademy at West Point and the Naval Postgraduate School, and a former Assistant Secretary of Defense. It is being organized by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara....

University of California Blue Ribbon Commission members:

Professor Frank Barrett, Naval Postgraduate School

Professor Coit D. Blacker, Director, Stanford Institute for International Studies

Dr. Ralph Carney, Defense Personnel Security Research Center

Professor Don Campbell, US Military Academy at West Point

Professor Kathleen Campbell, US Military Academy at West Point

Professor Mark Eitelberg, Naval Postgraduate School

Admiral John D. Hutson, [Ret.], former JAG, US Navy, 1997-2000

Dr. Lawrence J. Korb, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, 1981-85

Honorable William J. Perry, former Secretary of Defense, 1994-97

Col. Timothy Ringgold, US Army [Ret.] [see note]

Glenn T. Ware, Esq [military law expert]

Professor Aaron Belkin, University of California, Santa Barbara [Chair]

Note: Col. Ringgold is CEO of Defense Solutions, a consulting firm whose clients include University of California.

CONTACT: Dr. Nathaniel Frank, Senior Research Fellow, Center for the Study ofSexual Minorities in the Military, 805-893-5664

More on Dynamic Defense Materials LLC now known as Dynamic Defense Holdings LLC.

3/27/08 press release:

SCHOTT and Dynamic Defense Holdings LLC Form Joint Venture, DiamondView

ARLINGTON, Va., March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- SCHOTT North America (SCHOTT) and Dynamic Defense Holdings LLC (DDH), of Boothwyn, Pa., have formed a joint venture company, DiamondView(TM) Armor Products LLC (DAP), which will produce
glass-ceramic armor materials and systems. DDH will be the 51% majority shareholder of the new company.

SCHOTT will supply its high-quality glass-ceramic products to the joint venture. DDH will use its proprietary lamination and design technology to produce cutting-edge armor systems for the defense and security industries.
The products produced by the joint venture will provide transparent and opaque armor systems for personal, vehicular, architectural and other applications.

John Carberry, CEO of DDH, said, "We are humbled and excited by the opportunity we have to improve vehicle survivability with DiamondView
products. These products offer the armed forces dramatically improved night vision visibility, superior multi-hit capacity with reduced weight, and lower life cycle cost, and will provide our soldiers with a less dangerous way to accomplish their important missions."

Glass-ceramic armor produced by the joint venture offers several unique benefits, including a significant reduction in weight for transparent vehicular armor as compared to standard windows used today. Additionally, the
product offers UV filtering and a resistance to thermal cycling and will be produced by the joint venture as a 'ready to install' system for each unique vehicle type.

"DiamondView is positioned to become a market-leader in armor systems. We are proud to be able to play a part in creating products that will make it safer for our armed forces to operate," said Scott Custer, Executive Vice President, SCHOTT Defense.

About SCHOTT
SCHOTT is a technology-driven, international group that sees its core purpose as the lasting improvement of living and working conditions through special materials and high-tech solutions. Its main areas of focus are
defense, household appliance industry, pharmaceutical packaging, optics and
opto-electronics, information technology, consumer electronics, lighting,
automotive engineering and solar energy.

SCHOTT has a presence in close proximity to its customers through highly efficient production and sales companies in all of its major markets. The company has approximately 17,000 employees producing worldwide sales of approximately $3 billion. In North America, SCHOTT's holding company SCHOTT Corporation and its subsidiary SCHOTT North America, Inc. and their affiliates
employ about 2,500 people in 13 production operations with 4 sales offices.

The company's technological and economic expertise is closely linked with its social and ecological responsibilities.

About DDH
Dynamic Defense Holdings' six operating companies focus on technologies whose purpose is to provide solutions to make our world less dangerous and safer. These technologies include Evaloch, the portable armored wall; DiamondView armor systems, which employ advanced ceramic technologies; Wave Armor, a high performance glass ceramic armor SAPI plate; advanced nano-tech material technologies; advanced fiber optic technologies as well as new silicon solar wafer technology.

SOURCE SCHOTT North America

Katie MacIntyre of SCHOTT North America, Inc., +1-703-418-1409,
Fax: +1-703-473-4404, katie.macintyre@us.schott.com

#1
DEFENSE SOLUTIONS, LLC
Entity Number: 3138624
Status: Active
Entity Creation Date: 4/21/2003
State of Business.: PA
Registered Office Address:
559 CRICKET LANE
DOWNINGTOWN PA 19335

#2
Defense Solutions, Inc.
Entity Number: 3773236
Status: Active
Entity Creation Date: 12/5/2007
State of Business.: DE
Registered Office Address:
707 Eagelview Boulevard, Suite 100
Exton PA 19341

Delco Times
Timothy Logue
2/6/07

...Just a month removed from office, the 10-term Republican has signed on as chief strategic officer with Defense Solutions Inc., an Exton-based firm that specializes in defense and homeland security consulting and sales.

"We don't think anyone is more qualified than the congressman to define the strategic direction of the defense and homeland security markets," said Defense Solutions Program Manager Joseph Angelilli. "Congressman Weldon was a phenomenal public servant for Delaware County and the district throughout his 20 years and this is a continuation of the work that he loves."

Angelilli said Weldon was traveling overseas on personal business Monday and unavailable for comment. He would not discuss Weldon's salary or benefits.

In addition to running large programs with the Army and Department of Defense, Angelilli said Defense Solutions is involved in the direct sale and marketing of its own security products and assists other companies that work with the government. The company also specializes in executive consulting.

Angelilli said some Defense Solutions employees and clients have known Weldon for decades, "going back to his days when he was fire chief of Marcus Hook."...

99–821PDF
2005
DEVELOPMENTS IN U.S.–RUSSIA RELATIONS

HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON EUROPE AND
EMERGING THREATS OF THE COMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

MARCH 9, 2005

Mr. WELDON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Wexler, both of you for your tireless work in this region of the world, which is so important. And thank you for letting me share a few thoughts with you.

I don't have a written statement so I am just going to speak from the heart about my concerns, and you have two outstanding witnesses coming in who will give you, I think, very professional opinions. Mine is an opinion developed through the last 30 years of personal interaction with the former Soviet States.

I just took my 41st delegation to Moscow as a response to a trip I took to Beslan, 2 weeks after the attack on the school. I stood in the school with the North Ossetians, the Duma Chairman from North Osseti, and the regional leaders; and as a teacher, it was probably the most emotional experience I have had since I was at the World Trade Center. I went there to show solidarity with the Russian people in the fight again terrorism, because they have the same common enemy that we have.

What happened to that school and the 170 children and the 370 some people that were killed is beyond description, but at the time, I committed to them that we would do a joint homeland security conference.

We did that conference a month ago in Moscow. We had 10,000 Russians attend for 4 days. The Chairman of the Duma Security Committee Facility spoke and I invited him to Washington last week, where he spoke at a conference at the Convention Center on joint homeland security efforts.

There are many in this city and in this country that are advocating that we move away from Russia. That because of the concerns of the Khodorkovsky case, because of the clamp down on public information and the media, because of some of the reforms that perhaps we don't understand and we don't like—relative to the way the governors are put into office—that we should not deal with Russia, because of Russia's involvement with the Bashir Nuclear Reactor in Iran.

I take the opposite approach. I think now is the time to more aggressively engage with Russia. In fact, Mr. Chairman, I am a very strong supporter of our military, as you know, as the Vice Chairman of both the Arms Services and Homeland Security Committees, but I think some of the decisions that we have made over the past 13 years, by both Republican and Democrat Administrations have put us in the position we are in today.

If I were a Russian, I would wonder what America's real intentions were, as much as I would wonder what my own leaders are doing.

I mean if I listen to people like Zhirinovsy and Zyuganov, back when Russia became a free democracy, they were saying, ''You can't trust America. They are going to bring NATO up to our borders. They are going to abrogate the ABM Treaty. They are going to do things without our involvement.''

Now I supported getting out of the ABM Treaty. I supported expanding NATO, but I think we handled those actions miserably. I did not support the way we bombed Serbia, Russia's closest partner, without explaining to the Russians why they could not play a legitimate role in getting Milosevic out, which in the end they had to do as a part of the G–8 settlement. We had to bring Russia in and they played that role.

I think back to America sitting back while Yeltsin handpicked oligarchs, in some cases with the blessing of the United States, that would later rip off the Russian people, steal billions of dollars, in some cases with the cooperation of United States financial institutions, like the Bank of New York scandal. Five billion dollars. Bank of New York officials indicted because of their cooperation in taking Russian money out of Russia.

Then I look at the Presidents, both Clinton and Bush, promising elevating Russia out of the embarrassing Jackson-Vanik limitation. We still have not taken action on that.

So if you are a Russian, you look at the relationship with America and say, ''They don't really want to be our friend. They really don't respect us.'' And perhaps that is one of the reasons, in my opinion at least, why Putin is taken to closing in the Government with those people he trusts the most, which are basically former KGB.

In that regard, in 2001, we submitted this document, which you were a signatory to, one-third of the Congress, Lugar, Levin and Biden on the front page, one-third of the Congress, to take a new approach with Russia—108 recommendations in 11 different areas.

Unfortunately, on the American side, this document sat on the shelf at the White House. The Russians took it seriously. Their Academy of Science has embraced us unanimously. On the American side, we didn't take the steps to embrace a deep relationship with Russia, beyond a personal friendship of Putin and Bush.

Right now, we find ourselves in a difficult situation. Khodorkovsky is in jail, even though he didn't pay his taxes and that is a reason, and we are also concerned that it is a political action on the part of Putin, which it obviously is.

We are concerned about Putin's other actions, but we also need Russia. If you look at the two primary problem areas that we have in the world—Iran, the Middle East and North Korea—in each of those cases, I would argue that we need Russia to be a partner with us. No country has more access to Iran than Russia does. It was Russia who supplied the technology to develop and build the Bashir Nuclear Power Plant, which right now dramatically scares the Israeli's, because if Iran continues to receive the fuel that Russia has promised and that agreement was signed right after the recent summit, then Israel's concern is that Iran will next produce nuclear weapons and I would agree with that assessment.

I want to say to you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, 2 years ago the minister of atomic energy from Russia, Rumyantsev, and the leading nuclear scientists in Russia, my good friend Velikhov, who runs the Kurchatov Institute, told me that they could work on an arrangement where the United States and Russia would have joint ownership of any fuel going into Bashir. Why didn't we take advantage of that?

Those are the kind of questions we have to ask. I mean instead of that, we have gotten assurances from Russia, but now we have Russia supplying energy. So over the past 2 years, what we have tried to do with a group of Members of Congress, is establish a new relationship into the inner-circle of Putin's leadership team. It would be like dealing with Carl Rove and Andy Card.

>b>I will leave for the record documents from the International Exchange Group, established by Putin's Plenipotentiary representative to the Duma and the Federation Council. His name is Alexander Kotenkov.

That relationship includes on its board the Deputy Director of the FSB, the Chairman of the Security Committee of the Federation Council, Aleksei Alexandrov, the Chairman of the Security Council of the Duma, Vladimir Vasilyev, and it includes the key people who are personally friendly with Putin.

Through that effort, I have proposed to the Administration that we take two of four actions, which I would like to outline briefly for you today, that I think can bring Russia back into the fold.

The first is we need to terminate Jackson-Vanik immediately. Every major Jewish group has come out and written me letters: National Council of Soviet Jewry, AIPAC, and Jinsa.

They have all come out, because I am a big supporter of Russia Jewry back in the Soviet era and they have written me letters saying, ''It is time to end Jackson-Vanik for Russia, for Ukraine and for the other former Soviet States.''

It is time we do that and why we haven't done that, to me, is just mind boggling. It has nothing to do with other trade issues. It was simply an initiative put into place, because of the Soviet Union's persecution of Jews. That has ended.

If we have other trade issues with Russia, deal with them separately, but let's get rid of Jackson-Vanik. It sends a strong signal to Russia that we respect her.

The second is, expand cooperative threat reduction. Nunn-Lugar is not enough. We need to go beyond Nunn-Lugar to get at sites that Russia has not been willing to give us access to in the past, both biological sites and nuclear sites.

Through this effort that I just outlined to you—the International Exchange Group—I took a delegation of two democrats, Soloman Ortiz and Silvestre Reyes, a year ago in August, to Krasnyarsk 26.

We went into the mountain in Siberia and went down to the site of the three largest plutonium-producing reactors. We had no help from the State Department, no help from the Energy Department, no help from the Defense Department. We did it directly with this Russian group that is close to Putin.

We need a new approach to getting access to sites that Russia has not been willing to give us access to. Right now in the Pentagon and the State Department, there is a proposal to do two pilot programs through the IEG.

One of them is to access six biological sites, some of which we have not been given access to in the past, out of 79 that Russia has identified to us.

We need to proceed and this Committee could help move that process along within the State Department. It is a low dollar item.

The second is—and that is the third initiative that I have in my document—expand cooperation with Russia on missile defense. When we moved out of the ABM Treaty, I was the author of that bill that passed the House. My statements were that we should do this only by cooperating with Russia to allay their concerns about trying to achieve a strategic superiority over them.

Do you know that today for the first time, since Russia became a free nation, we have no joint missile defense cooperation with Russia? That is in spite of President Bush and President Putin both saying we want it. What kind of a signal has that sent?

In fact, a year ago General Ron Kadish, our four-star general in charge of missile defense, came to me and he said, ''Congressman Weldon, I can't get the Russians to sit down at the table and work out a follow-on.''

So I said, ''Would you come over with me to Moscow?'' In May of last year, Mr. Chairman, I took General Kadish's replacement, three-star General Obering to Moscow with me.

Now I shouldn't have to do this, but because our relationship wasn't strong enough to get that meeting with the Missile Defense Agency, I took General Obering and three of his staffers to Starya Plashad, which is the equivalent of the West Wing of the White House and we sat down with Kotenkov and in walks General Baluevsky in a business suit.

That was the first meeting between our three-star general and the guy who is today the Commander-in-Chief of all Western military forces. He was elevated 3 weeks after we left. He is the equivalent of the Chairman of our Joint Chiefs.

There is something wrong in our relationship when the two Presidents get along well, but below that there is nothing. It is hollow.

The fourth initiative I think is the most exciting. I proposed, and this Committee could be a big help here, that we empower our President and the Russian President to do something that is similar to the old Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission. Do you remember that in the Clinton era?

Now the current Administration doesn't like to talk about Gore-Chernomyrdin because it is not the in thing to talk about, but I think the model is a good model and what I have proposed is that we announce and establish a United States-Russian free energy trade agreement.

Russia has tons of energy. We have tons of need. Russia can't get their energy to the marketplace. We have the technology to get it to the marketplace and to help them extract it.

The Russian private energy industry is already investing in America. Lukoil, chaired by Alexperov, bought 2,000 Getty gas stations. When I was in Moscow in the fall, they cut a deal with Conoco Phillips to buy another 1,800 gas stations.

So Lukoil now owns 3,800 gas stations in America. They are already investing in our country. Atera, a Russian energy company, is based in Jacksonville, Florida, for 12 years.

What we need is a strategic Presidential-level task force on fossil fuel energy cooperation. That also sends a signal to Saudi Arabia and the Middle Eastern countries that we have alternative sources of energy that we can turn to, and it brings together a strategic relationship on energy that we can benefit from and that Russia can benefit from, but it has got to go beyond fossil fuels.

It has got to include nuclear energy. The peaceful use of nuclear power, bringing our energy ministry together with the Russian ministry of atomic energy and institutes like Kurchatov, linked up with Los Alamos and Sandias and Livermore and they are already doing some work, but in a strategic way so that we can do joint work on energy initiatives in the nuclear arena.

If we had that in place, we wouldn't have to worry about Bashir right now. I had conversations last week and I think it is doable that we could convince the Russians at this late date to abandon Bashir, but we are not going to do it through the current relationship. It is not going to happen.

If we put together an outline, a vision of a strategic energy relationship, if we take the other three steps I have advocated, expanding cooperative threat reduction, joint missile defense cooperation and elevating Russia out of Jackson-Vanik, you have just given Putin a political homerun back in Moscow.

Then there is additional leverage for President Bush to call Putin in and say, ''Now Vladimir, I have given you something that perhaps you have not had in the past 12 years. I have given the respect of our people. Now I need your help.

''I need your help in North Korea. I need your help in Iran and I need you to understand that the direction you are taking in going against democratic foundation principles is wrong and therefore, you need to be sensitive to that and have the leverage that we don't have today with Russia.''

Finally, North Korea. The ultimate solution for North Korea, because we are never going to go back to the Keto nuclear framework, is going to be to run pipelines from the Russian far east at Sakhalin down through North Korea, along the rail corridor into South Korea.

The South Koreans and the Russians will finance it. That will give North Korea a non-nuclear source of energy and will give them income from all the energy going through their country into South Korea and it creates a bond between the two nations.

This morning I hosted the Chairman of the Security Committee and the International Affairs Committee from the Korean Congress and both of them agreed.

So Russia becomes a key asset that we can't walk away from, even though we may be troubled, as I am. We need to be Russia's toughest critic, which I have been, but we need to be her best friend and I think now is a time for us to exert that influence and it is going to require some bold leadership that sometimes runs contrary to common thinking in this city.

[Material submitted for the record by Mr. Weldon follows:]

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY THE HONORABLE CURT WELDON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

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OMRI Daily Digest, No. 164, 23 Aug 96

HUNGARY BUYS TANKS FROM BELARUS.

The Hungarian Defense Ministry on 22 August revealed the terms of a previously announced deal to purchase 100
T-72 tanks from Belarus, Napi Gzdasag reported. Hungary has agreed to pay $130,000 each for the tanks, which are to be shipped from Belarus
later this year. Belarus would have had to destroy the tanks to meet its commitments under the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty. In a related matter, the Hungarian Defense and Finance ministries were reported to have agreed on a governmental guarantee for a 30 billion
forint tender to purchase new air defense missiles and radars. The tender is expected to be issued in two weeks. -- Doug Clarke

Per Ken Silverstein's 2004 LA Times story:

"...An earlier client for Grimes was FSI Energy Inc. of Bryn Mawr, Pa. The firm is developing an ambitious natural gas project linking gas fields in Russia to North and South Korea and Japan. The massive KoRus pipeline project is backed by Weldon.

The congressman was a leading advocate for the project before his real estate agent friend signed on to represent FSI in June 2003. Five months earlier, he and John Fetter, president of FSI, had promoted the project at an energy conference in Washington.Fetter said he was aware that Grimes knew Weldon and that "she has worked with him and done a lot of liaison work for companies doing business with the government, trying to help them get things through the system."He praised Grimes, saying she helped set up meetings for him in Washington. "I've paid people more than I paid Miss Grimes and got more out of her," he said. "She was able to set things up that were timely and productive."Fetter said he hired Grimes at the recommendation of Frank Rapoport, a Washington lobbyist also retained by FSI.Rapoport is a longtime political ally of Weldon's and a periodic contributor to the congressman's campaigns. Last year, the two traveled together to Moscow for the first U.S.-Russia Homeland Security Trade Mission.Rapoport declined to say why he recommended Grimes to Fetter, citing attorney-client privilege."

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Wilmington News Journal
8/06

Ethanol plant may be built in Claymont
Refinery faces hurdles; gas prices could be cut

A Pennsylvania energy company is eyeing a Claymont industrial site for Delaware's first ethanol plant, which would require changes to a key state environmental law.

Bryn Mawr, Pa.-based FSI Energy said the former General Chemical Corp. plant on the Delaware River is one of five sites around the country it is evaluating for a refinery that would turn corn into ethanol, an additive mixed with petroleum-based gasoline. An ethanol plant in Delaware could bring down prices at the pump and provide a local supply of ethanol for refiners, such as Valero, which operates the state's only refinery.

But FSI faces a hiccup in the form of the Coastal Zone Act, which was passed in 1971 to prevent construction of such plants near waterways like the Delaware River.

The company, which would need legislation passed to amend that law, is lobbying a group of prominent state officials, including House Speaker Terry Spence, who formed a task force this year to study bringing an ethanol plant to the state.

Company officials said they have not signed any agreements with General Chemical and details of the potential plant have not been revealed. But Tommie Little, a lawyer working on the ethanol task force, said FSI Energy already has discussed investing as much as $100 million in the plant.

"It was discussed by many people and we had a meeting as a result of that up in Claymont," said Little.

Company officials denied putting a dollar figure on the project but have met with task force members and politicians. General Chemical officials were unavailable for comment.

Laurel Ridge Republican Rep. Robert Valihura Jr., said estimates show construction of the plant would employ 500 people over a two-year period. He also said the plant would create about 50 permanent full-time jobs.

"It would make it one of Claymont's larger employers," said Valihura. "They would be good-paying jobs and jobs that would be open for all kinds of employees unlike certain jobs -- they would be jobs that most folks would be able to qualify for."

Hurdles on the horizon

Delaware's Coastal Zone Act explicitly prohibits any new heavy industries being built on former industrial sites, called brownfields. The General Chemical site, which was shut down in 2003, produced sulfuric acid, sulfur and related products for more than 90 years. In 2002, the state fined General Chemical $475,000 for environmental violations.

"As wonderful as the ethanol plant might in fact be, that is not a fact that we consider when assessing projects," said Phil Cherry, environmental program administrator for the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, who had been contacted by FSI in June. "The Coastal Zone Act prohibits heavy industry -- it's an outright prohibition."

In order to get a waiver, FSI Energy would have to get an exemption from the law. Only the General Assembly can grant such a waiver.

State Sen. Catherine L. Cloutier, R-Heatherbrooke, and Valihura said they would support legislation in favor of a waiver if the Claymont community supports an ethanol plant.

"When it comes down to it, we can't have an industry going in there that is going to add pollution and ruin the environment," said Cloutier. She said she wants more information on the environmental impact of such a plant.

Claymont resident Brett Saddler said the community needs more information on emissions from the ethanol plant and its impact on the environment.

Lower gas prices may result

In pushing for an ethanol plant, state officials have joined a bandwagon spreading across the country as higher gasoline prices pinch the wallets of Americans.

"I have an obligation as an elected official in the state of Delaware to explore and research other energy sources to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," said Spence.

Having an ethanol plant in Delaware may contribute to some reduction in the price of gas in the state for consumers. The closer an ethanol plant is to a refinery, the less the transportation costs that would be added to the cost of the fuel.

"All things being equal ... an ethanol plant in Delaware could mean lower local prices," said Cathy Rossi, spokeswoman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. "But ethanol is not the long-term solution of our fuel needs because of the energy it takes to produce it."

All gas refineries must use ethanol after federal legislation mandated they move away from a previous additive, MTBE.

Valero could benefit

While there are obvious hurdles to clear, an FSI plan could be furthered by several factors.

Valero Energy Corp., which owns the oil refinery near Delaware City, has expressed an interest in purchasing ethanol produced in Delaware, Little, the attorney, said.

"That creates an immediate market," he said.

Valero officials said they have not made any final decisions on purchasing ethanol from Delaware producers, but that they would consider it. FSI would not comment on any talks with Valero.

And Cloutier said there are federal funds available to help clean up the General Chemical site.

Next month, Spence's task force on ethanol is organizing a six-day hearing in front of the General Assembly on the benefits of bringing ethanol and other biofuel manufacturers into Delaware.

FSI, Valero and a variety of environmental experts are expected to testify at the hearings.

Spence plans to introduce legislation in January that would be based on recommendations from the hearings.

Check De Moss Foundation - $6 million to CIS ministries. De Moss sisters contributed regularly to Weldon. Possible office in Devon Park, Wayne.