I
read in Israeli media that another high-ranking member of the Iran’s
Quds Force is said to have died:
AsgharPashapour, a senior member of the Revolutionary Guards’extraterritorial force, was killed Sunday in battle with Syrianopposition forces in Aleppo, the reports said.
Somehow
this name reminded me of North Korea - but why? Then I remembered:
APA, the Asian Parliamentary Assembly!
The
APA Tenth Plenary Session took place in Istanbul from November 20 to
25, 2017. Numerous interesting Iranians were present, including
Pashapour. Due to its members,
APA is an extremely important institution anyway, as shown by the
list of participating countries in 2017:
And
as for North Korea: They were there with some of their people:
In
my opinion, it is these meetings and gatherings that are important
for the exchange of information and agreements between the countries
that the Western Alliance is watching for good reasons. The problem
is that forums like APA are largely missed
by the Western media. A lot is said about the cooperation and
technology transfer from e.g.
Iran and North Korea. But the forums and institutions in which the
apparently fruitful exchange takes place - one reads less about that.
I mention this
problem in the chapter on North Korean intelligence
services, which will be published shortly.
Incidentally,
it should be clear that there are also forums and opportunities
here in Europe in which certain states and their institutions
meet
and exchange information and material discreetly but successfully. This is shown by the current espionage
cases, which unfortunately demonstrate how vulnerable a democracy is: Before
you take down
the subversive activities - you can also call it a betrayal - of
certain honorable people, these people have already done great damage
and established their network within democratic institutions!
