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Third Party Logistics Knowledge Base

What are some of the GOOD third-party logistics provider besides CH Robinson and FreightQuote.com? What are some of the GOOD third-party logistics provider besides CH Robinson and FreightQuote.com, who can provide domestic Rail service as well as domestic ground trucking? Preferably out of California. Thank you.
What is the difference between a third party logistics provider and a transportation/freight broker? As I understand it, companies outsource their logistics activities to a 3PL provider which takes care of all of that clients logistics functions. But what is a transportation/freight broker? Are they just a company that will match a carrier with a shipper for the lowest price, but not necessarily take over the entire logistics process? Are they just a quick fix while a 3PL provider is a long term deal?
Who is the best third party logistics provider in India? We are looking for a well experienced 3PL provider in India for both imports & exports, the service that we seek is totally integrated door to door logistics between the us and the buyer. Their service by air, sea and land should be feasible especially from most of the major sea ports / airports in India and abroad at very competitive rates. Please suggest only if they can handle very large volumes... Thanks in advance..
What does "third party" mean? in "AGILITY Logistics is the largest Third Party Logistics and Distribution Company"
How much does outsourced warehousing usually cost? I admit I'm new to this, but I was hoping someone could give me an idea how much it costs on average for space & service with a 3PL (third party logistics provider) in a shared warehouse environment. I've looked up several, but I'm not ready to talk to anyone about it yet (planning is still in early stages), and none of their websites list pricing information..... Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Non Compete Contract in Logistics? I worked as an account manager for a third party logistics company for 5 years. During those 5 years, I inherited small accounts that I made profitable, cold called for accounts that were profitable, and earned referalls thru these methods where I became very successful and earned great money as a commissioned employee. I was terminated back in January and have a job that doesnt pay near what I was making now. It says I cant go to work with another third party logistics company or even a trucking company and shipper that we have never done business with. I think this is way too stern and feel that even if I am not in sales on the brokerage side and want to be a fleet manager or do dispatch, I should be able to. This is causing me to not make what I should. I have been doing this job since college, and really want to keep these skills and still stay in the transportation business in some way. Can someone who has experience in this matter please please advise me.I am calling lawyers asap Meant to say I am not making near what I was making when I was an account manager.
Why let another company performs a large and critical distribution function? When retailers accept delivery of merchandise from whirlpool, a large multinational producer of electrical appliances, the driver pulls up in a Whirlpool truck. When the appliance id unloaded, it sometimes has a blemish. The driver (delivery agent) immediately becomes a claims adjuster and commits whirlpool to offer a markdown as an inducement to the retailer to keep the goods and repair them. It is invisible to the customer (and to Whirlpool's own sales force) that the negotiator actually works for a third-party logistics provider, Kenco, which manages every aspect of Whirlpool's inventory and owns all the trucks. Whirlpool appears to be vertically integrated into logistics but is not and has not been for decades. Whirlpool can afford to do its own logistics in house and certainly has the scale of business to do so. Why let another company performs such a large and critical distribution function?
I'm starting work tomorrow, but they haven't said how much I'll be paid? I hate bringing up the money topic. All I know is that somehow I managed to get a great internship at a small but extremely profitable third party logistics company. The office is beautiful. The 5 other employees at this branch were dressed to impress. As an MBA student with experience in this industry, I feel I deserve at least $15/hour. Shouldn't they have told me what they'll pay me when they offered the job to me? If no one brings it up in the morning, should I? How?
Companies who move products in the US? Can someone please help me find companies in the US who maufacture goods, and outsource beyond their company to move their products, using a freight brokerage company... I work for a third party logistics company and I am trying to research and find some new accounts to add to our list. Thank you!
buying a car and using yahoo as a third party? hello, I am confuse because I am planning to buy a car though craigslist but i am not sure if its true or fake. I send an email to a seller and they responded back saying this: "Please take a few moments and read my email carefully, I know it is long, but because I received too many emails, I will explain all the details about the car and the transaction. For pictures and details please visit my site: jeepwra (dot) page (dot) tl To view the pictures please replace (dot ) with . At the moment I'm stationed at Hancock Field AGS an US Military AFB in Syracuse, NY. making final preparations before deploying to Iraq with the U.S. Convoy The car is already at our Military Logistic Department form Fort Belvoir, U.S. Army base near Bethesda, MD, crated and ready to go. The Logistic Department will deliver the car to your home. Since the car is in a military base, with no access you can not go there and take it, only the Logistics Department can deliver it, because the car is in their custody. Shipping may take anywhere between 1-2 business days depending on the destination.. All documents you need for ownership, loog book , manuals and bill of sale will be provided along with the vehicle. For the payment I would like to use Yahoo as a third party. They will keep your money into a protection account until you get the vehicle and will release it to me after inspection period is over and you agree to keep the car. So, this is not a blind transaction, you can see the car before committing to buy and to eliminate any concerns you will have 3 days to inspect it. If you decide not to keep it Yahoo will refund you the money, no questions asked, and shipping back will be my concern. I think this is more than fair for both of us. I'll start the official procedure, and Yahoo will contact you about this. If you are interested in buying it just mail me back with: - Your Full Name - Required by Yahoo (You'll receive important guidelines + instructions from them.) - Your Shipping Address and Phone Number - Required by the Logistics Department (They will call you with delivery/pickup instructions 1 day ahead so you can communicate what time schedule work best for your to receive the car) Again I want to point out that because I am going to Iraq this sale is my top priority and I am looking after a fast transaction, with no delays. That is why I decided to lower the price, to avoid wasting time with negotiations and find a buyer as soon as possible. Thanks, hope to do business with you soon!" So please can someone answer my question, saying if its true or not. Thank You
Latin America Ocean Freight Carriers? Looking for a reference site with a list of ocean freight carriers (not third party logistics or freight forwarders, but the shipping lines themselves) based in and serving Latin America and the Caribbean.
Can I get another job in transportation if i have a non compete agreement with last job as account manager? I worked as an account manager for a third party logistics company for 5 years. During those 5 years, I inherited small accounts that I made profitable, cold called for accounts that were profitable, and earned referalls thru these methods where I became very successful and earned great money as a commissioned employee. I was terminated back in January and have a job that doesnt pay near what I was making then. It says I cant go to work with another third party logistics company or even a trucking company and shipper that we have never done business with. I think this is way too stern and feel that even if I am not in sales on the brokerage side and want to be a fleet manager or do dispatch, I should be able to. This is causing me to not make what I should. I have been doing this job since college, and really want to keep these skills and still stay in the transportation business in some way. Can someone who has experience in this matter please please advise me.I am calling lawyer asap Range is Nationwide. Time is 18 Months. What I am asking is cant I get a different type of job that is in transportation, where I wont be in sales with customers?
lists of manufacturers and their distributors? I have an interview TOMORROW, and it is for a Third party Logistics company. For this position you have to do an assignment... Compile a list of 20 manufacturers. The list must consist of 10 dry goods, 5 frozen items, and 5 refrigerated items. • Specify the product and provide the manufacturer’s name • Identify if the manufacturer is also the distributor, if not a distributor, find out who the distributor is • Provide the address and phone number of the distributor I am just having trouble, They called me a 4 o'clock to schedule my 9 am interview and I had to work til 10 tonight, so I am stressed and not able to find what I am looking for, I am sure the info is out there, just need a little assistance... any help is greatly appreciated. I already did the other parts of the assignment, this one just isnt a clear as the others were... Thanks in advance!
List of 10 dry good manufacturers, 5 frozen goods, and 5 refrigerated goods? I have an interview TOMORROW, and it is for a Third party Logistics company. For this position you have to do an assignment... Compile a list of 20 manufacturers. The list must consist of 10 dry goods, 5 frozen items, and 5 refrigerated items. • Specify the product and provide the manufacturer’s name • Identify if the manufacturer is also the distributor, if not a distributor, find out who the distributor is • Provide the address and phone number of the distributor I am just having trouble, They called me a 4 o'clock to schedule my 9 am interview and I had to work til 10 tonight, so I am stressed and not able to find what I am looking for, I am sure the info is out there, just need a little assistance... any help is greatly appreciated. I already did the other parts of the assignment, this one just isnt a clear as the others were... Thanks in advance!
Young daughter on birth control pills....? My 14yr. old daughter lives with her father in N.Y. I live in FL. She called me last night asking if I would give parental consent for her to get on the pill. While I don't care at all for the idea of her having sex at such a young age, but I DO want her to be protected. I don't look at it as "giving her permission to have sex"....kids, especially nowadays, are going to "do it" whether we as parents approve or not. She has asked her father and he has said no. I believe that he's in denial that "his little princess" could even consider such a thing. As her mother, I know differently. My question: Is there anyway to do this for her despite the distance between us? I've already considered that for logistics purposes a third-party adult will probably need to be involved. Also, is it wrong to do this behind her father's back? Remember, I'm not asking if you think it's right for a 14 yr. old girl to be on the pill.... Thank you all.
Birth control pills for young daughter....? My 14yr. old daughter lives with her father in N.Y. I live in FL. She called me last night asking if I would give parental consent for her to get on the pill. While I don't care at all for the idea of her having sex at such a young age, but I DO want her to be protected. I don't look at it as "giving her permission to have sex"....kids, especially nowadays, are going to "do it" whether we as parents approve or not. She has asked her father and he has said no. I believe that he's in denial that "his little princess" could even consider such a thing. As her mother, I know differently. My question: Is there anyway to do this for her despite the distance between us? I've already considered that for logistics purposes a third-party adult will probably need to be involved. Also, is it wrong to do this behind her father's back? Remember, I'm not asking if you think it's right for a 14 yr. old girl to be on the pill.... Thank you all. I THOUGHT that I said that I wasn't asking if you all agreed with whether she should, or should not be on the pill! I AM a good mother....and for those of you that have your f'ing head in the sand concerning what kids will and will not do hopefully DO NOT have kids. Yes, 14 IS too young to have sex. I agree with that. BUT DO NOT, DO NOT, IMPLY THAT I'M NOT A GOOD PARENT BECAUSE I'M CONSIDERING DOING THIS FOR MY DAUGHTER. It's parents like some of you that contribute heartily to our teen-age pregnancy rate, thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!!!
How to explain a resume gap? I worked for seven years at a Fortune 500 company. I left in 2007, while holding the position of Supply Chain Manager (Project Manager), via a voluntary buyout (the entire logistics division was sold to a third-party vendor.) I enrolled in an Ivy League law school and completed two of the three years. After completing my second year, I was involved in a motor-vehicle accident. The subsequent recovery and rehab left me unable to work for almost a year. Sadly, the wrangling over hospital bills with my insurance carrier and compensation for my injuries left me less than pleased with the entire legal system. I have no desire to resume my schooling. Also, with medical expenses, my financial situation does not allow me the luxury to become a full-time student again. In general, I understand it is not a good idea to list incomplete schooling on a resume. If I don't list something, I have a resume gap stretching to 2007. What to do? In a perfect world, I could indicate I spent the second half of 2009 and first half of 2010 in the hospital and physical therapy. However, writing anything about the accident on my resume strikes me as unprofessional and a bit desperate. How do I explain three years? I suppose I can include this information in a cover letter, but many online sites have no place for a cover letter and I've been told that more than one page of an resume does not work well (engineers and CVs excluded.) Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
Is this fraud??? I need to find out where I can research a company called alpine logistics inc. They offered my girlfriend a work at home oppurtunity. They said she would be receiving packages from the states, asia and europe. Then shipping them to a third party to the same locations. Is this legal? She has received one package that contains a Ipod and was shipped directly to her from Apple Corp. Alpine logistics inc will provide her with us postal labels (they were sent Fedex to her) They also said they would pay her $30 for each package using Paypal ...what do you think ? How can I check if this is legit???? oh and they are not a member of the Better Business Bureau
Does this seem like a legitimate deal? I found this deal on Craigslist for a 2008 Toyota Tacoma. The seller has included several photos of a Toyota Tacoma to the exact specs that were specified in his description in front of a suburban house. I contacted the seller via email and he stated that he was in the US army and was currently stationed in Madrid and that his vehicle was located at the Military Logistics Department at Fort Lewis, Washington. He said: "For the payment I would like to use Google Checkout as a third party. They will keep your money into a protection account until you get the truck and will release it to me after inspection period is over and you agree to keep it. So, this is not a blind transaction, you can see the truck before committing to buy and to eliminate any concerns you will have 10 days to inspect it. If you decide not to keep it Google Checkout will refund you the money, no questions asked, and shipping back will be my concern" He also said that the truck would be shipped down from Fort Lewis to my location (Sacramento, CA) free of charge. It seems like a slightly sketchy but OK deal. My biggest concern is the price which is only $2,200.
Is there a way to make the UN more efficient AND effective in peacekeeping? For my finial politics essay I wrote about UN peacekeeping and why it has failed in areas such as Rwanda, Bosnia, Somalia. Three big problems that kept reoccurring: lack on money (and a lot of times lack of proper logistics), getting the international community on the same page and have them agree and acknowledge that there is a problem, and then there is a lack of legal power (which occurs because of the disagreement by the international community). Most of these problems are internal problems that are rooted in the UN. We like to think that the UN is some god-like third party that will restore 'peace' but obviously not so. But can it be improved, while still keeping the culture/philosophical differences between nations? Or is that part of what is stopping the UN from working at greater efficiency? I'm asking b/c I'm watching this Channel 4 doc on the killing fields in Sri Lanka. It makes me so mad, but mostly disappointed. I learned so much about violence and corruption in my politics class this yr. So sad that when you spot it, you can't stop it, and when it ends, you can't bring justice... Yeah I know they've been successful. I did a lot of research on what has been going on in Sierra Leone and the UN pretty much achieved it's goals there. And I've looked into Sudan too. I guess I was just wondering whether there is some common problem present in all the failures the UN has had and how detrimental that problem is to the organization and proper facilitation of UN peacekeeping missions. I guess it's consensus that's the problem... Yeah I know they've been successful. I did a lot of research on what has been going on in Sierra Leone and the UN pretty much achieved it's goals there. And I've looked into Sudan too. I guess I was just wondering whether there is some common problem present in all the failures the UN has had and how detrimental that problem is to the organization and proper facilitation of UN peacekeeping missions. I guess it's consensus that's the problem...
Could this be a scam? Doing Freelance Ebay Selling? I found a website called feelancer.com and on there people can look for jobs doing data entry, research, selling on ebay etc. There is an ad that I responded to and he tells me he has a warehouse full of items that need to be sold. However, he does not want to deal with the logistics of listing the items on ebay and the correspondence and all that. He says he is located in California and would forward me the product info and pictures for me to post. Then after the auction is over and if there is a winner, the payment would go directly into my paypal account from the winning bidder and then I would forward this guy his amount less the commission. He would be paying all the fees that ebay charges. I'm slightly hesitant as I have been close to being scammed before. I know there have been some people in the past who have listed products, got payment for them and then never shipped or had the product available to begin with. I'm thinking that the "seller" listed on ebay would be held responsible, not the third party person that wanted the items listed. Any advice? thank you all! I just sent this guy an email requesting a picture of his "warehouse" and products in it....we'll see if he responds.
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A mail came in parash.nath.rai@gmail.com from this board Yahoo/Msn & Microsoft Windows that i have won a lott? The Msn/Yahoo Lottery Incorporation PO Box 1010,Liverpool L70 1NL,United Kingdom. ==================================== Ref: XYL /26510460037/05 Batch: 24/00319/IPD Dear Lucky winner , We wish to congratulate you once again on this note,for being part of the 5 winners selected for the Annual Lottery Promotions.The Microsoft Windows Live felicitate with you and your family. This promotion was set-up to encourage the active users of the Internet Microsoft Windows. Hence we do believe with your winning prize ,you will continue to be active and patronage to the Yahoo/Msn & Microsoft Windows. I wish to formally announce to you that you have successfully passed the requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report Test conducted for all on line winners. A winning cheque has been issued in your name by the Yahoo/Msn Lottery Incoperation board and also a certificate of prize claims will be sent along side your winnings cheque. Our affiliated delivery company(TRANS WORLD COURIER SERVICE LTD) department in which your winnings cheque of Seven Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pound Sterlings{750,000.00GBP}has been sent to for delivery to your residence. Do contact the TRANS WORLD COURIER SERVICE LTD with the contact information below for further instructions on how to send the consignment to your location. The YAHOO MSN lottery board have already paid for your delivery. Contact Courier With This Email Below: TRANSWORLD COURIERS LTD DISPATCH OFFICER: Mr. Rox Kings COMPANY EMAIL: transworldcourierdeliveryservices@hotmail.co.ukTel: (+44) 871 237 0641 The Yahoo/Msn & Microsoft Windows lottery has discovered a huge number of double claims due to winners informing close friends relatives and third parties about their winning and also sharing their pin numbers. As a result of this, this friends try to claim the lottery on behalf of the real winners. The Microsoft lottery has reached a decision from headquarters that any double claim discovered by the Lottery Board will result to the cancelling of that particular winning, making a loss for both the double claimer and the real winner, as it is taken that the real winner was the informer to the double claimer about the lottery. So you are hereby strongly advised once more to keep your winnings strictly confidential until you claim your prize. Have it in mind that your won prize cannot be deducted from your winning amount , this is because the total amount has been insured to the real value .This is to protect winners and to avoid misappropriation of funds.. Its is Expected that you add your IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS{PARCEL/NUM/1090}as the subject of any correspondence with the courier company to ensure they respond in a timely manner. NAME: ADDRESS: PHONE NUMBER: AGE: SEX: I will require a concise update on proceedings with the firm as soon as you are in contact with them.If you need any assistance whatsoever, please do not hesitate to let me know. Do have a nice day. NOTE: Please be informed that the Yahoo/Msn & Microsoft Windows lottery has taken care of all the logistics and delivery charges which includes Insurance, Delivery Fee and Taxes. You are to therefore contact Our affiliated delivery company(TRANS WORLD COURIER SERVICE LTD) office immediately to deliver your parcel containing your cheque to you at once. Best Regards, Mrs. Sarah Donalds. (Events Manager) Payment and Release Order Dept it is true ya froad
Hitler was Austrian, is there a correlation with Austria's latest horror? ""The tone politically was set in the 1920s by the feuding Austro-Marxists, national and Christian socialists, and then in the 1930s by the sense of relief — enthusiasm even — felt by many Austrians when Nazi Germany incorporated Austria into the Third Reich. The ignoble fact is that 40 per cent of the staff and three quarters of the commandants of concentration camps were of Austrian origin. It was Austrians largely who organised the deportation of the Jews: 80 per cent of the staff of Adolf Eichmann, the logistics planner of the Holocaust, were from Austria. After the war many Nazis were swallowed up into democratic party structure. Heinrich Gross, who supervised experiments on child euthanasia victims, joined the Nazi party in 1932, the post-war Social Democrats in 1950 and for decades had a seamless career as a neurologist and expert witness in hundreds of court cases. Far longer than in Germany, Waffen SS veterans met to chat about old times. Hitler was born
Young daughter on birth control pills....? My 14yr. old daughter lives with her father in N.Y. I live in FL. She called me last night asking if I would give parental consent for her to get on the pill. While I don't care at all for the idea of her having sex at such a young age, but I DO want her to be protected. I don't look at it as "giving her permission to have sex"....kids, especially nowadays, are going to "do it" whether we as parents approve or not. She has asked her father and he has said no. I believe that he's in denial that "his little princess" could even consider such a thing. As her mother, I know differently. My question: Is there anyway to do this for her despite the distance between us? I've already considered that for logistics purposes a third-party adult will probably need to be involved. Also, is it wrong to do this behind her father's back? Remember, I'm not asking if you think it's right for a 14 yr. old girl to be on the pill.... Thank you all.
What i should do to take money out of Paypal account ? I send money by Paypal to my China supplier via a third party which is a logistic agent because China supplier does not use Paypal. Paypal requires my logistic agent to prove them but she doesnt know how to do it so that she can take the money i sent to her out of account. Do you know how to prove it ? Thanks
What should we do? It's dangerous.? HOW, WHY AND WHEN TO DESTROY THE UNITED STATES Is this interview a hoax as the "powers-that-be" want us to believe? When you read it, you will see why it has been suppressed, especially to citizens in the United States... Yes, it is a hoax, to the extent the masses continue to believe in the reality of Al Queda, rather than its creators-worldwide intelligence agencies funding the whole show, and in the case of the Mossad, its actual participation at strategic intervals. December 1, 2002 - The following interview was conducted by a reporter for the Al- Jazeera network with the third-in-command of the Al Queda organization, Mr. Mohammed Al-Asuquf. Al-Asuquf's background is impressive; a doctorate in physics and masters in international economics. In the interview, he talks of Al Queda's plans with total detachment, with deep knowledge and an unshakeable commitment to his cause. This interview was sent to Abel-Bari Atwan, chief editor of Al Quds, an Arabic-language newspaper published in London, but was never printed, due to its highly revealing [inflammatory?] contents. A copy of the interview came to Foz-do-Iguaçu, and was translated into Portuguese by a university professor in the city's Arab community. This is probably the only existing version of this interview not in Arabic. Al-Jazeera: What is the objective of the Al Queda network? Al-Asuquf: To destroy the Great Satan, that is, the United States and Israel. Incorrect, the Great Satan is the reptilian/Illuminati cabal manipulating the world's power positions. Al-Jazeera: Why? Al-Asuquf: The USA over the past 60 years has been impregnating [infecting] the world with its arrogance, greed and malfeasance. It is the incarnation of all that is evil. The people of this planet don't deserve this torture. There is no USA per se; the satanically controlled leadership marches to the drumbeat of the long planned agenda for singular global control, currently in its final stages. The destruction of the US, via the Trojan horse of terrorism, is the created problem, while also serving as a final catalyst for global governance. Al-Jazeera: Isn't this view somewhat one-sided? Of course it is, how else could conflict be elevated unless both sides created reasons to do so. Al-Asuquf: No; one only has to observe recent events. The disrespect of the Kyoto treaty; the case of the Permanent Court of International Justice, their inaction with regards to our Palestinian brothers; the financial greed and absurd speculations in Third World countries; the complete indifference to other oppressed people and countless other situations which all of the world's leaders well know. And on top of all that, the Bush doctrine of "shoot first and ask questions later." This is an unacceptable abuse and will therefore have very grave consequences. Who can argue with those statements? Al-Jazeera: But the isn't the development and influence of America the fruit of its own competence? Al-Asuquf: Competence in extortion, competence in subjugation, competence in lying. After the Second World War, the USA was the only industrialized country with its manufacturing infrastructure intact. Loaning money like a good loan shark, it ended up becoming a very rich and powerful country; however, its greed remained undiminished. Today, Americans live like maharajas [?], wasting more than any other people, spending more than $80 billion per year just on gambling. They've lost any notion of spirituality and live in constant sin. With each passing day the USA demonstrates that it doesn't know how to live with other peoples; for this, it deserves destruction. Yes, this is true, but the U.S. change of character is simply the movie being played out, regardless of whether Al-Asuquf is a willing pawn or not. Al-Jazeera: Wouldn't it be easier to simply assassinate President George Bush? Al-Asuquf: In the first place, it would do no good, other than turning him into a martyr. When you face a powerful enemy, the best strategy is not to kill him, but to make him lose his leadership due to his incompetence, and let him live to watch this unfold. He removal is immaterial. Al-Jazeera: Does the Al Queda network have the military capacity to make war on the United States? Al-Asuquf: If we analyze history, we will see that all great wars, before they were started, were based on previously established concepts [of war]. But if we observe well, we will see that these concepts and strategies came to nothing, since a new type of war was ultimately waged. An example is the construction of the Maginot line by the French before the First World War, which, in reality proved to be completely useless against the invading forces. Aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and spy satellites will be useless in the next war. Al-Jazeera: American authorities hold more than 1,000 people suspected of terrorism since September 11th. Won't this compromise Al Queda's plans? Al-Asuquf: Of those imprisoned, perhaps 20 to 30 percent belong to Al Queda. Moreover, they are from the second echelon. We have more than 500 members of the first echelon and 800 from the second, inside the United States. Al-Jazeera: What do you mean by first and second echelons? Al-Asuquf: In the first echelon are Al Queda members who have been in the United States for more than 10 years, many married with children. They have detailed knowledge of our plans and are just waiting for a phone call. They are also known as "sleepers." Those of the second echelon have arrived in the last five years and have no idea of our plans. Al-Jazeera: Are even those who are married, with children, ready to die with their families? Al-Asuquf: Yes. All of them are ready to die. Long live September 11th. Yes, it was the kickoff to the big party. Al-Jazeera: What was September 11th to Al Queda's overall plans? Al-Asuquf: As a general step, it was just the beginning. It was a way of calling the world's attention to what is still to come. Al-Jazeera: How many members does Al Queda have? Al-Asuquf: In the first echelon, about 5,000; in the second, about 20,000, all over the world. Al-Jazeera: In the detention camp at Guantanamo, are there any members of the first echelon? Al-Asuquf: No, in fact, many of those there are not even Al Queda members. Al-Jazeera: How does Al Queda intend to destroy the most powerful nation in history? Al-Asuquf: It's a question of logistics. Using its own poison, that is, attacking the heart of what they consider the most important thing in the world: money. Al-Jazeera: How so? Al-Asuquf: The American economy is an economy of false appearances. There is no real economic ballast to the American economy. The American GDP of is something around $10 trillion, of which just 1 percent represents agriculture, and just 24 percent represents industry. Therefore, 75 percent of the American GDP is service and most of this is financial speculation. For those who understand economics, and it appears that the American Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neil, doesn't or doesn't see it, it's enough to say that the USA acts like a huge "dot-com," and dollars, strictly speaking, are its shares. Al-Jazeera: Can you explain that? Al-Asuquf: The value of a company's shares is directly proportional to the profitability of the enterprise. When a business is just a service provider and doesn't produce any durable goods, the value of its shares depends on its credibility. Which is to say that if the credibility of the USA were shaken, its shares (the dollar) would fall with incredible rapidity and the entire American economy would begin to collapse. Al-Jazeera: How can you be so sure of this? Al-Asuquf: On a smaller scale, it's exactly what large financial groups do to the countries of the third world to reap profits in one month that Swiss banks couldn't get in four or five years. Al-Jazeera: So how will Al Queda shock the American economy to this point? Al-Asuquf: By provoking a deficit of between $50 and $70 trillion dollars, the equivalent of the United States' GDP for five to seven years. Al-Jazeera: How will this be done? Al-Asuquf: With the destruction of the seven largest American cities, along with other measures. Al-Jazeera: By what means will this be done? Al-Asuquf: Using atomic bombs. Nothing new here. Sollog has warned for three years now to leave all western cities due to the danger of nuclear attacks, which he says, will destroy major cities and with it the global power of the U.S. as well. Al-Jazeera: With all of the security in the USA, how, hypothetically, will these bombs be smuggled onto American soil? Al-Asuquf: They won't be smuggled in, they're already there. Al-Jazeera: What are you saying? Al-Asuquf: There are already seven nuclear devices on American soil which were put in place before September 11th and are ready to be detonated. Al-Jazeera: How did they get in to the USA? Al-Asuquf: Before September 11, American security was a fiasco, and even after, were it necessary, we could manage to smuggle bombs into the United States. They entered through seaports, as normal cargo. Previously reported during the past few years. Al-Jazeera: How is that possible? Al-Asuquf: A nuclear device is no bigger than a refrigerator; therefore, it can be easily camouflaged as one. Millions of cargo containers arrive in seaports each day, and no matter how efficient security is, it's impossible to check, search through and examine each container. Al-Jazeera: Where did these atomic bombs come from? Al-Asuquf: They were purchased on the black market. Al-Jazeera: From whom? Al-Asuquf: We bought five from the defunct Soviet Union and two more from Pakistan. Previously reported as well. Al-Jazeera: How is it possible to buy an atomic bomb? Isn't there security? Al-Asuquf: Before 1989 it was practically impossible, however after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Russian army began a process of self destruction, and some high generals began to lose their privileges, and therefore, highly susceptible to corruption. Even General Lebeb, now deceased, and Hans Blix, the head of the arms inspection commission of the United Nations, have stated this, notwithstanding denials by Russian Defense Minister Seguey Ivanov. Al-Jazeera: How much does a nuclear bomb cost? Al-Asuquf: Somewhere around $200 million. Al-Jazeera: How did Al Queda get this money? Al-Asuquf: We have numerous sponsors. Yes, quite accurate. All Illuminati front organizations. Al-Jazeera: Who are they? Al-Asuquf: There are a number of countries, which support us, and also numerous wealthy individuals. Al-Jazeera: Are all of these countries Arab? Al-Asuquf: No, there are some European countries as well which have an interest in the fall of the USA. Al-Jazeera: Who are these wealthy individuals? Al-Asuquf: People who are also tired of watching the USA suck the wealth out of the rest of the world. Not exactly. First of all they are not exactly people, secondly, they intend to take it all for themselves. Al-Jazeera: Is Saddam Hussein one of them? Al-Asuquf: You could say that he's just one of the collaborators, through Abdul Tawab Mullah Hawaish, his vice-prime minister and the person responsible for Iraq's arms program. Al-Jazeera: Are these atomic bombs powerful ones? Al-Asuquf: The five Russian devices are from the old T-3 missiles, also known as RD-107s, and their potency is something around 100 kilotons each, that is, 5 times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb. The Pakistani bombs are less powerful, somewhere around 10 kilotons. This is new. My information, passed on three years ago, indicated only lower yield suitcase devices. Al-Jazeera: Can't the bombs be detected and disarmed by American authorities? Al-Asuquf: No, in spite of their age they've undergone modernization and are well hidden. Even if they were found, they have auto detonation provisions should anything get close to them. Even electromagnetic pulses would be incapable of deactivating them. Al-Jazeera: Don't they emit radiation? Can't they be detected? Al-Asuquf: No. They are wrapped in thick leaden cases. Al-Jazeera: A suspected Pakistani ship was recently searched and all that was found were lead bars. Does this have anything to do with the bombs? Al-Asuquf: Yes, however that lead was just an extra layer, and was not essentially necessary. Al-Jazeera: How will the bombs be detonated? Al-Asuquf: There are numerous methods, a cell-phone call, radio frequency, seismic shocks or by timer. Al-Jazeera: Once detonated, how many deaths will be caused by these bombs? Al-Asuquf: It depends, since our plans are very malleable. Al-Jazeera: So what is the entire plan? Al-Asuquf: The beginning will be the detonation of a nuclear device, which will cause the death of between 800 thousand and one million people and create chaos on a scale never seen before. During this chaos, two or three crop sprayers that are now dismantled and stored in granaries [silos?] close to little-used highways in the countryside will take off on suicide missions to spray two or three large American cities with smallpox. That means that once the smallpox has been identified, all airports and seaports will be closed by quarantine. Land borders will likewise be shut down. Not one airplane, ship or vehicle will enter or leave the United States. This will cause total chaos. White House Press secretary Ari Fleischman will be very busy. Al-Jazeera: But the American government has guaranteed that within five days it could produce enough smallpox vaccine to inoculate the entire population. Al-Asuquf: There will be simultaneous suicide attacks against the vaccine production plants. Al-Jazeera: Which will be the first city? Al-Asuquf: The first city will be that in which optimal conditions present themselves, for example, clear skies, and winds of eight miles-per-hour or less in the direction of the country's center so that radioactive dust can contaminate the maximum possible area. Al-Jazeera: Will this attack annihilate the USA? Al-Asuquf: No. But the process will have begun. Who will buy food products from the United States knowing they may have been contaminated by radiation? Who will travel to the United States knowing the possibility of contracting smallpox? Who will continue to invest in American institutions? Just as with the World Trade Center, it will be simply a question of time before the entire economic structure collapses and turns to dust. If our objectives are reached with one bomb and the smallpox, probably we'll save the lives of others, however that's risky [unlikely?], and it's probable that six more bombs will be detonated, one per week, and other attacks with chemical weapons will be carried out. Al-Jazeera: How many innocent people will die? Al-Asuquf: According to estimates made by me and Ayman Al-Zawahiro, somewhere around 15 million due to the atomic bombs and their radiation. Of those exposed to smallpox, 25 percent will die, approximately five million, and many more due to the ensuing chaos and disorder. Al-Jazeera: What about the American military response? Al-Asuquf: There will practically be none. Even if five or ten cities were chosen at random to be destroyed, that would still be a small price to pay. The problem is the economic despair will be so great that even economizing by not using arms unnecessarily will occur, since the liquidity of American goods will be almost zero and at that point the United States will make more selling its Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, which cost about five billion dollars, to Turkey or Italy for one billion dollars, since the country will so urgently need to recapitalize, though it will be too late. Moreover, how will the morale of American soldiers be knowing that their entire families have died and their country no longer exists. Fight for what? Al-Jazeera: And won't the global economy also be ruined? Al-Asuquf: In the beginning it will be very difficult; a serious economic crisis will ensue. However, without the United States, the world will soon arise in a more just and fraternal manner. Al-Jazeera: And Israel? Al-Asuquf: As they say... it will be dessert. Al-Jazeera: Does bin Laden's spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Gheith, know that you are giving this interview? Al-Asuquf: It was he and bin Laden who suggested I give it. Al-Jazeera: Osama bin Laden is still alive? Al-Asuquf: He is quite healthy, alongside his commanders Mohammed Atef and Khalid Shaik Mohammed and Mullah Omar. Al-Jazeera: Aren't you fearful that Al Queda's plans will be discovered? No, just the link to the Illuminati. Al-Asuquf: The plan is already in its countdown, and nothing can stop it. Al-Jazeera: Not even if the United States asks forgiveness and changes its attitudes? Al-Asuquf: That won't happen, and even if it did, it's too late. Al-Jazeera: When will the attack begin? Al-Asuquf: I can't reveal that. Allah Akbar.
A new kind of politics? http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0704060020apr06,1,1855420.story?coll=chi-news-hed&?track=sto-topstory MEXICANS IN CHICAGO: A NEW KIND OF POLITICS Influence on both sides of the border Activists' political power is rising in Chicago and their homeland, as they seek reforms through marches and money Advertisement By Antonio Olivo and Oscar Avila Tribune staff reporters April 6, 2007 To outsiders, the men and women gathered inside a sleepy West Side restaurant may have seemed unlikely power brokers: a janitor, a real estate agent and others hardly known outside their circuit of neighborhood dances and back-yard barbecues. Jose Luis Gutierrez, who plotted strategy with the group as a soccer match flickered on a nearby TV, was himself a wholesale grocer until last year. But Gutierrez is now a top aide to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and he was joined at the table by leaders of Chicago-area Mexican immigrant clubs, the engines behind a new political movement that is making itself felt from Illinois to Michoacan. Gutierrez received smiling nods when he likened the political muscle of the region's 563,000 Mexican immigrants to the power of Irish-Americans in the 19th and 20th Centuries, who came to control the Chicago machine. In May, the strength of Mexicans will be on display when many of the region's 300 immigrant clubs -- known as "hometown associations" -- will help organize a march in downtown Chicago a year after their political coming-out party, demonstrations that flooded the Loop last spring and charged the national immigration debate. For decades Mexican hometown associations have functioned as social networks whose members pooled their money earned here to help build new schools or churches back in Mexico. But leaders in Chicago's largest immigrant group have a more ambitious worldview than their predecessors, even more than the ethnic blocs that preceded them decades ago. Some, like Gutierrez, wield growing influence in both countries. One morning, he's unveiling a blueprint for more immigrant services in Illinois as director of the state's Office of New Americans Policy and Advocacy. The next night, he's brainstorming with activists in his home state of Michoacan about a slate of candidates for Mexico's congress. An active role in Mexican politics might seem at odds with building political influence here. But Gutierrez and others say they form a budding new political consciousness among Mexican immigrants -- a "third nation" of sorts that transcends the border, advancing the community's cause on both sides. "The nation-state concept is changing," said Gutierrez, 46, who came to Chicago in 1986 and led one of the Midwest's largest federations of hometown associations. "You don't have to say, `I am Mexican,' or, `I am American.' You can be a good Mexican citizen and a good American citizen and not have that be a conflict of interest. Sovereignty is flexible." That concept worries some U.S. officials and scholars who see the dual loyalty as undermining the assimilation of Mexican immigrants. Irish, German and Polish immigrants eventually melded into Chicago's landscape, their ties to their native soil largely sentimental. But Mexican immigrants today are linked to their homeland like no group before, scholars say, connected by NAFTA, satellite TV, the Internet, cell phones and cheap non-stop flights. In Mexico, their power stems from the nearly $25 billion these immigrants send home every year, the country's second-highest source of income behind oil. Their political influence surfaces in places like Teloloapan, far up in the cactus-filled hills of the state of Guerrero, where a Chicago restaurateur helped build new roads and business. Grateful townspeople elected him mayor in a landslide. In the U.S., immigrants' power is driven by numbers and a growing deftness at the levers of this country's political machinery. That recently manifested itself in a fledgling political action committee called Mexicans for Political Progress, which raised $23,000 for Blagojevich's re-election and rallied volunteers to walk precincts during November's election. An unfolding movement Fabian Morales, a soft-spoken Realtor with a well-clipped mustache, stands at the center of the unfolding movement. He handled logistics for three massive immigration marches in Chicago last year -- including a four-day walk to suburban Batavia -- and co-founded Mexicans for Political Progress. After coming to Chicago in 1970, Morales helped launch one of the city's then-few hometown clubs, devoted to his tiny native village of Xonacatla, Guerrero. Back then, Xonacatla was without roads, potable water or electricity. It was a slow journey from other towns by foot or horseback, Morales said. The club members in Chicago resolved to change that. Collecting $50 to $100 at a time, Morales and others raised enough through barbecues and door-to-door soliciting to replace a house used for worship services with a towering marble church that rises from the green hillside. Morales has since helped develop CONFEMEX, an umbrella organization for most of the hometown clubs in the Midwest. Among other things, the group is a central voice in economic development in Mexico, representing an estimated $340 million in projects generated by U.S.-based hometown associations in the last five years, according to Mexican federal officials. "We want to focus on creating more jobs there so they don't have to think about emigrating," Morales said. The rising activity of hometown associations caught the eye of the Mexican government, which eventually created a "3-for-1" matching project, where federal, state and local governments split the cost of a new bridge or computer center with the U.S.-based groups. Those projects have given Mexican immigrants "a great moral authority" in their homeland, as well as political cachet, said Carlos Gonzalez, executive director of the Institute for Mexicans in the Exterior, or IME, a Mexican federal government agency that fosters stronger ties with expatriates. "During the 1970s, [Mexicans] called the people who left Mexico and acclimated to the U.S. 'pocho,' which, if you look in the dictionary, means 'spoiled fruit,' " Gonzalez said. "The change we've seen in the public perception of Mexicans in the exterior has been 180 degrees." In 2006, citizens abroad were allowed to vote in Mexican presidential elections for the first time. Leaders are also pushing for changes that would allow expatriates to vote in local elections and even hold elective offices while residing abroad. Recently, Gutierrez and others persuaded Michoacan to become the first state in Mexico to extend voting rights to expatriates. Their rationale: Almost half of those born in Michoacan, Zacatecas and several other Mexican states now live in the U.S. Timoteo "Alex" Manjarrez, 44, is among a small but growing number of Mexican immigrants making a bolder claim in their motherland. Arriving from his native town of Teloloapan, Guerrero, in 1980, Manjarrez spent 19 years in Chicago. The stocky, boyish-looking immigrant worked for years as a dishwasher at the Columbia Yacht Club and, eventually, became owner of three Mexican restaurants in the city. Fulfilling a desire shared by many immigrants, Manjarrez moved back to his native town in 1999 with enough money for his family to live comfortably. But the place he had longed for all those years was still frustratingly poor, despite the investments Manjarrez's hometown club made in new roads and other improvements. Manjarrez, who holds both Mexican and U.S. citizenship, settled in and quickly built a new health club and a hacienda-style restaurant named La Condesa, after the three he still owns in Chicago. In 2004, he ran for mayor of Teloloapan. With long-distance backing from his hometown club friends in Chicago, who sent money and telephoned friends and local officials on his behalf, Manjarrez won handily. 'The city that works' Since taking office, the man who sees Mayor Richard M. Daley as a political role model has pushed to remake Teloloapan into a Mexican version of "the city that works." The effort includes newly paved streets, a recreation center that replaces a local swamp known as "black waters," and a towering hotel being built privately by Manjarrez's family. Next to a new medical clinic, a donated Chicago ambulance sits in the parking lot. Its emblem has been painted over, but it serves as a reminder of the continued links Manjarrez has to his former city, where he maintains a home near Midway Airport, votes in U.S. elections and checks in on his businesses. Aurelio Santamaria Bahena, mayor of a town near Manjarrez's called Tlapehuala, labeled such changes "a blessing" for an area of Mexico dominated by crumbling lean-to houses and children in bare feet pulling bone-thin donkeys. But, as with other parts of the country where the immigrant handprint is deepening, the introduction of U.S.-style governance has also bred resentment. Local leaders of Manjarrez's own Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) are trying to drum him out of office, arguing he is too brash and condescending. The mayor counters the fight is about his efforts to take away "a plate of corruption that they've been able to eat from for years." The conflict was an uncomfortable backdrop during a recent PRD strategy meeting at a restaurant in Chilpancingo, Guerrero's capital. Headlines that morning featured a march against Manjarrez, orchestrated by his opponents. "People see you as an outsider," a worried Santamaria cautioned Manjarrez. "People don't think you see things as they are here." Manjarrez, wearing a black "La Condesa" windbreaker, patted his friend on the back and smiled. He had a media plan, one that might have made Daley proud. "We'll publish photos of the streets of Teloloapan before and after I came into office," Manjarrez said. "And, we'll ask the people: `Which would you prefer?' " That same week, Mexican immigrants from the U.S. and Canada met in Mexico City, as members of an advisory council created by the Mexican government. With a brash American style, they soon escalated their advice to demands, the members' voices echoing through the meeting hall. Morales, the Chicago Realtor, and about 100 other council members pushed Mexico to lobby the U.S. harder on immigration reform. They chastised their hosts for not creating more jobs. Buttonholing federal legislators in hallways, they reminded elected officials how much their districts relied on money sent from the U.S. They want 'results now' Gregorio Luke, a blond member of the council from Los Angeles partial to designer suits, observed that this kind of behavior wouldn't exist in a purely Mexican forum, where deference toward authority guides nearly all dialogue. "These people come here speaking Spanish, but they're negotiating as Americans," said Luke, a museum director who once oversaw cultural affairs at the Los Angeles Mexican Consulate. "They want to see results now." The meeting of the advisory council also illustrated the provocative overlap of Mexican and American political action. In addition to all-day strategy sessions on how to improve Mexico, council members brainstormed over late-night drinks on next moves in the fight for U.S. immigration reform. Many members had used their existing e-mail network to coordinate simultaneous demonstrations in Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. Though not active participants in the U.S. immigrant movement, Mexican officials urged their compatriots to keep on fighting. "Let there be no barriers or walls between Mexicans here on the inside and the outside," former Mexican President Vicente Fox told the group, referring to a 2006 U.S. law that allows for a 700-mile fence to be built at the border. The audience stood and cheered. The idea that the Mexican government might be helping its nationals shape U.S. politics has raised red flags, both in the halls of academia and in the more volatile world of talk radio and the Internet. Robert Leiken, director of the immigration and national security program at the right-leaning Nixon Center in Washington, argued that binational activism among Mexican immigrants is bad for both countries. In the U.S., the meetings in Spanish and the often-passionate interest in Mexico's future hinder assimilation, he said. In Mexico, the relationship to hometown associations fosters an unhealthy economic dependence on U.S. remittances. "If I went out to Pilsen and spent some time with people from a hometown association, I'd think these are really cool people," Leiken said. But, "Standing back and looking at this from a social policy standpoint, I see some real problems." James McCann, a Purdue University political science professor, found that immigrants interested in Mexican affairs were more likely to participate in U.S. politics. He helped interview about 1,100 Mexican immigrants and found that hometown clubs promoted activism. "The conventional wisdom is that any transnational engagement is going to suck the oxygen out of your civic life in the States," McCann said. "But it seems that if you open a new avenue of expression in Mexico, that new avenue might pay some other dividends in the U.S." Some of those dividends went directly to the Blagojevich campaign last fall, when the governor found himself being serenaded by a trumpet-playing mariachi band inside the Hacienda Tecalitlan restaurant on the Near Northwest Side. Near a trickling courtyard fountain, Morales praised the governor in Spanish at the kickoff dinner for the Mexicans for Political Progress PAC. While Morales once raised money for his hometown with $1 tamales, the price here was as much as $500 a plate. "Let us demonstrate our political power by voting in the election, by voting for our friends interested in the prosperity of Mexicans. Friends like Gov. Rod Blagojevich!" Morales told the crowd. Blagojevich, who speaks a hint of Spanish, took the microphone and shouted: "Viva Chivas!" a reference to a popular Mexican soccer team. When the laughter and applause subsided, he switched to English and added: "By organizing, you are empowering a community. Your voice will be heard." The mood is darker in northwest suburban Carpentersville, where a growing Mexican community has rallied in large numbers in the face of a local backlash against undocumented immigrants. Last fall, about 3,000 Mexican immigrants and their supporters turned up outside Carpentersville's City Hall in an unexpected show of opposition to a proposed ordinance that would penalize landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and employers who hire them. The crowd was so riled a vote on the ordinance was postponed and has yet to be taken. The quick response came largely due to the hometown association representing the village of La Purisima, Michoacan, local activists said. The club turned to its telephone list of 400 families, said Salvador Balleno, the group's president. The turnout was a victory, but it has not deterred Carpentersville trustees from other proposals that would allow local police to trigger deportation proceedings against illegal immigrants and make English the village's official language. And as Balleno has struggled to register voters and rally volunteers for this month's village elections, even sympathetic politicians have seemed hesitant to link themselves too closely with the hometown association. Balleno now fears the village's hard-liners have the upper hand, intimidating some of the immigrants who protested last fall. "The [club] members know that if these people stay [in office] it is going to affect their kids," Balleno said, sounding anxious that an opportunity was slipping through his fingers. Jose Artemio Arreola, a key organizer of next month's march in Chicago, has been actively monitoring the battle in Carpentersville. He sees the activity there as part of a plan to create a political empire for Mexican immigrants, one linking hometown associations in Chicago and other cities to labor unions and Mexico's congress. His strategy includes moving back to his native state of Michoacan to run for congress there, something Arreola never imagined doing when he left a town overrun by poverty and ruled by local drug kingpins. He got his start in Chicago working in a plastics factory. Frustrated by the union representation there, he ran for shop steward and won. Unable to speak English, he relied on his bilingual co-workers to help him negotiate union contracts. He has since become a school janitor in Oak Park. The position pays little, but it has allowed Arreola to climb the ranks of the Service Employees International Union, where he has become key in that union's national efforts to tap further into the country's exploding Mexican immigrant workforce. All the while, Arreola has used the sharp elbows and old-school union tactics acquired in Chicago to become a power broker in his hometown of Acuitzio del Canje. He started in 2004 when the local mayor refused to back projects proposed by his hometown association. Arreola, a burly backslapper partial to gold neck chains, recalled thinking: "I need to take them out." He recruited a teacher to run for mayor in the Mexican town. Arreola then brought back a town phone book and, with others in Chicago, called voters one by one, promising a stream of U.S. investment if his candidate won. The incumbent opted for traditional rallies and car tours through town with a bullhorn. More than two years later, sitting in a Pilsen restaurant, Arreola opened a laptop computer and showed off the fruits of what proved to be an easy victory. Pictures of a new retirement home popped onto the screen, one featuring a grinning Arreola at a groundbreaking ceremony. Another showed a new computer lab with 40 computers for local schoolchildren, an investment in the future of Acuitzio del Canje. The town's name comes from an 1865 decision to make it the site for a "canje," or exchange of prisoners between warring Mexican and French troops. Sitting deep in the dusty mountains of Michoacan, it was neutral ground back then, Arreola explained, territory that didn't fully belong to either country but, in some ways, belonged to both. ---------- aolivo@tribune.com oavila@tribune.com - - - IN THE WEB EDITION Jose Artemio Arreola is one of several Mexican hometown association leaders in Chicago with multiple connections in Mexico and the U.S. From helping organize last year's massive immigration marches to slating political candidates in his home state, he wields influence on both sides of the border. To learn more about Arreola, watch videos and see photo galleries, go to chicagotribune.com/mexicansinchicago. Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
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