This article is about the Albanian intelligence service. For other meanings of shish, go to Shish (disambiguation).

The State Intelligence Service (Albanian: Sherbimi Informativ Shteteror), commonly known by its acronym SHISH, is the primary intelligence agency of Albania. It was preceded by the SHIK.

History[link]

The National Informative Service (Albanian: Shërbimi Informativ Kombëtar, SHIK) was created by the Albanian parliament in 1991. The agency has been used to manage internal dissent and protect the interests of the individual members of the regime.

On April 1, 1997, Bashkim Fino announced that SHIK activity would be suspended effective from March 31. SHIK Director Bashkim Gazidede and his deputy, Bujar Rama, resigned. On May 30, the President, named Arben Karkini as the new head of SHIK. He was succeeded by Fatos Klosi after the Socialists won the July 1997 parliamentary elections. In October 1997, the United States Central Intelligence Agency sent a team of experts to assist the government in restructuring the SHIK. In November 1999, SHIK was renamed SHISH. The current director is Bahri Shaqiri.

Mission and Function[link]

The State Intelligence Service has the following duties:

• collect information from abroad for the purpose of national security;
• undertake intelligence activities for the purpose of the protection of integrity, independence and constitutional order;
• collect information regarding terrorist activity, the production and trafficking of narcotics, the production of weapons of mass destruction and crimes against the environment;
• collect information regarding organized crime that endangers national security.

Relationship with other state entities[link]

Institutional Position of the State Intelligence Service and relationship with other state bodies:

The State Intelligence Service falls under the authority of the Prime Minister. Its Head is appointed and dismissed by the President of the Republic on the advice of the Prime Minister.

SHISH operates within this context and while it has been identified as being "generally under effective civilian control" (U.S. Department of State, 2004) the agency has still been associated with various abuses within the country and continues to play a significant role in domestic politics. The Albanian government has received support from the U.S. and European countries in working to establish or reform national institutions, including its intelligence and security services.

References[link]

External links[link]

• SHISH Homepage

Vasily Shish
Born	(1982-08-07) August 7, 1982 (age 29)
Other names	Torero
Nationality	Belarus
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	70 kg (150 lb; 11 st)
Division	Middleweight Welterweight Super Lightweight
Style	Muay Thai
Stance	Orthodox
Fighting out of	Minsk, Belarus
Team	Chinuk Gym (2004-present) Gym "Kick Fighter" (1996-2003)
Trainer	D.Pyastski
Kickboxing record
Total	51
Wins	37
By knockout	17
Losses	12
Draws	2
Mixed martial arts record
Total	1
Wins	0
Losses	1
Amateur career
Total	71
Wins	60
Losses	11
last updated on: June 4, 2011

Vasily "Torero" Shish (born 7 August 1982) is a Belarusian Muay Thai middleweight kickboxer fighting out of Minsk, Belarus for the Chinuk Gym. He is a five time world and five time European Muaythai and kickboxing champion who has won titles at both amateur and professional level.^[1] Vasily has fought for several notable promotions such as K-1 MAX and (the now defunct) Thai & Kickbox SuperLeague.^[2]

Career/Biography[link]

Growing up in Minsk, Vasily joined the famous Gym "Kick Fighter" in 1996 where he studied Muay Thai alongside future world champions such as Andrei Kulebin, Aliaksei Pekarchyk and Dmitry Shakuta. In 1998 he won his first title as an amateur at the I.A.M.T.F. European Championships in Spain, winning a gold medal in the -51 kg category aged just 15 years old, also winning the honour of "best technique".^[3] The next year he went to the world championships in Bangkok where he won a bronze medal competing against much more experienced fighters. In 1999 he was part of the Belarus team which won an incredible eight gold medals (out of twelve) in the Thai-boxing section at the W.A.K.O. world championships. What was even more impressive was that seven of the winners came from Vasily's Kick Fighter gym.^[4]

In 2000 Vasily won his first pro title (I.K.F. world) by defeating American Richard Kostuck in less than 40 seconds in Minsk. He carried on in an excellent year by winning a gold medal at the amateur European Muaythai championships before finishing the year with a gold medal in Sydney at the World Cup in Martial Arts event. Between 2001 and 2003 Vasily won more amateur and pro world and European titles with the I.A.M.T.F., I.S.S/Brute Force, W.A.K.O. and W.K.N. organizations, moving up in weight and relinquishing his I.K.F. world title as he did so. By 2003 Vasily sought more competitive matches joining the newly created Thai & Kickbox SuperLeague where he would be given the chance to fight world champions every event. Things did not go exactly as planned for Vasily and he only had two fights with the organization – losing both.^[5]

By 2004 Vasily had parted from his long time gym "Kick Fighter" after seven years and joined the rival Chinuk Gym in Minsk. With his new gym he had the opportunity to make up for his disappointing SuperLeague performances after being called up by the then world's biggest kickboxing organization K-1 to take part in an elimination match for the 2005 K-1 MAX final. Vasily faced a daunting task in Tokyo, with the reigning champion Buakaw Por.Pramuk standing in the way of a place of the final 8. After three rounds it was clear that Vasily had no chance of upsetting the odds on favorite, losing every round in a third round unanimous decision loss.

Since his K-1 MAX appearance Vasily has been on the fringes of the kickboxing scene, taking many fights across the border in Russia with the highlight being holding the W.B.K.F. European title between 2006 and 2007. He has also made a number of appearances on smaller European promotions such as Klash and Janus Fight with limited success, wins against Paolo Balicha and Michal Hansgut being nullified by defeats against Aalviar Lima, Paulo Balicha and Fadi Merza.

Titles[link]

Professional

• 2006-07 W.B.K.F. European champion (0 title defences)
• 2003 W.K.N. Muaythai super lightweight world champion -66.7 kg
• 2002 I.S.S./Brute Force world champion
• 2000 I.K.F. Pro Muaythai super lightweight world champion -62.2 kg (0 title defences - vacated)

Amateur

• 2002 W.A.K.O. European championships in Jesolo, Italy -67 kg
• 2002 I.A.M.T.F. European championships in Cyprus -67 kg^[6]
• 2001 I.A.M.T.F. World Muaythai Championships in Bangkok, Thailand -63.5 kg^[7]
• 2000 World Cup in Martial Arts in Sydney, Australia -63.5 kg^[8]
• 2000 I.A.M.T.F. European championships in Athens, Greece -63.5 kg^[9]
• 1999 W.A.K.O. World Championships in Caorle, Italy -63.5 kg
• 1999 I.A.M.T.F. World Muaythai Championships in Bangkok, Thailand -63.5 kg^[10]
• 1998 I.A.M.T.F. European championships in Calafell, Spain -51 kg^[11]

Professional Kickboxing Record[link]

Professional Kickboxing Record

37 Wins (17 (T)KO's), 12 Losses, 2 Draws[12] Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time 2008-04-20 Loss Fadi Merza Fight Night Vienna[13] Vienna, Austria Decision 3 3:00 2007-12-15 Loss Paulo Balicha Swiss Las Vegas II[14] Basel, Switzerland Decision 3 3:00 Fight was for W.F.C. junior middleweight world title -69.85 kg. 2007-10-26 Loss Aalviar Lima KlasH III "Show of No Mercy"[15] Sibiu, Romania Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 2007-03-21 Loss Konstantin Sbitov Fight Club Arbat[16] Moscow, Russia TKO Loses W.B.K.F. European title -71 kg. 2006-11-06 Win Nikolai Koreneev BARS - European Welterweight Championship '06[17] Moscow, Russia Decision (Majority) 8 3:00 Wins W.B.K.F. European title -71 kg. 2006-11-06 Win Artur Shamkhalov Ufa Fight Night[18] Ufa, Russia KO 5 2006-07-21 Loss Petr Nakonechnyi S-1 European Elimination - Round 1 Russia Decision 3 3:00 2006-06-21 Draw Kumar Zhaliev Fight Club Arbat[19] Moscow, Russia Decision Draw 3 3:00 2006-03-10 Loss Petr Nakonechnyi K-1 East Europe MAX 2006, Super Fight Vilnius, Lithuania Ext.R Decision (Majority) 4 3:00 2005-11-19 Loss Yassine Benhadj Janus Fight 2005, Semi Final[20] Padova, Italy Decision 3 3:00 2005-11-19 Win Michal Hansgut Janus Fight 2005, Quarter Final Padova, Italy KO (High Kick) 2 2005-10-26 Draw Alen Ofoyo Fight Club Arbat[21] Moscow, Russia Decision Draw 3 3:00 2005-09-30 Loss Farid Khider Kings of Muaythai: Belarus vs Europe[22] Minsk, Belarus Decision 5 3:00 Fight was for W.K.N. Muay Thai super lightweight European title -66.7 kg. 2005-09-24 Win Paulo Balicha Fight Night Winterthur[23] Winterthur, Switzerland TKO 4 2005-06-15 Loss Alexei Krasko Fight Club Arbat[24] Moscow, Russia Decision 3 3:00 2005-05-04 Loss Buakaw Por. Pramuk K-1 World MAX 2005 World Tournament Open Tokyo, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 Fails to qualify for K-1 World MAX 2005 Championship Final. 2004-10-27 Win Alexandr Demchenko Fight Club Arbat[25] Moscow, Russia KO 2004-10-26 Win Elbrus Dzhumakov Russian Muaythai League[26] Moscow, Russia KO 3 2004-05-19 Win Sergey Zemnevich Fight Club Arbat[27] Moscow, Russia Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 2003-09-27 Loss Chris van Venrooij SuperLeague Germany 2003 Wuppertal, Germany Decision 5 3:00 2003-05-10 Loss Eddy Saban SuperLeague Austria 2003 Vienna, Austria Decision 5 3:00 2002-12-19 Win Petr Nakonechnyi Belarus vs Ukraine[28] Bilohirsk, Ukraine Decision 5 3:00 2002-00-00 Win Brute Force Challenge[29] Pattaya, Thailand Decision 5 3:00 Wins I.S.S/Brute Force Muaythai world title. 2002-09-14 Win Bakar Barakat Night of KO[30] Sopot, Poland KO 3 Wins W.K.N. Muaythai super lightweight world title -66.7 kg. 2002-00-00 Win James Cook Belarus vs USA[31] New York, NY, USA Decision 5 3:00 2000-00-00 Win Belarus vs Australia[32] Sydney, Australia KO 2000-06-29 Win Kongdej Ratanachot Russia vs Thailand[33][34] Novosibirsk, Russia Decision 5 3:00 2000-00-00 Win Parynya Dongtiamsee Belarus vs Thailand[35] Minsk, Belarus Decision 5 3:00 2000-01-14 Win Richard Kostuck USA vs Belarus[36] Minsk, Belarus TKO (Doc Stop/Cut by Elbow) 1 0:38 Wins I.K.F. Pro Muaythai super lightweight world title -62.2 kg. Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest       Notes

Mixed Martial Arts Record[link]

MMA Record
0 Wins, 1 Loss Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time 2006-08-23 Loss Dzhabar Askerov Belorechensk Fight Night 2[37] Belorechensk, Russia Submission 1 Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest       Notes

See also[link]

• List of WAKO Amateur World Championships
• List of WAKO Amateur European Championships
• List of male kickboxers

References[link]

External links[link]

• Chinuk Gym Official Website
• Gym "Kick Fighter" Official Website

Ali Baba by Maxfield Parrish (1909)

Ali Baba (Arabic: علي بابا‎ ʿAli Bāba) is a fictional character from medieval Arabic literature. He is described in the adventure tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

This story has been used as a popular pantomime plot such as in the pantomime/musical Chu Chin Chow (1916). Like many other folk tales frequently adapted for children, the original tale is darker and more violent than the more familiar bowdlerised versions. Popular perception of Ali Baba, and the way he is treated in popular media, sometimes implies that he was the leader of the "Forty Thieves": in the story he is actually an "honest man"^[1] whom fortune enables to take advantage of the thieves' robberies.

Textual history[link]

Some critics believe that this story was added to One Thousand and One Nights by one of its European translators, Antoine Galland, an 18th-century French orientalist who may have heard it in oral form from a Middle Eastern story-teller from Aleppo, in modern day Syria. In any case, the first known text of the story is Galland's French version. Richard F. Burton, however, claimed it to be part of the original One Thousand and One Nights.

The American Orientalist Duncan Black MacDonald discovered an Arabic-language manuscript of the legend at the Bodleian Library;^[2] however, this was later found to be a counterfeit.

Story[link]

Ali Baba and his elder brother Cassim are the sons of a merchant. After the death of their father, the greedy Cassim marries a wealthy woman and becomes well-to-do, building on their father's business—but Ali Baba marries a poor woman and settles into the trade of a woodcutter.

One day Ali Baba is at work collecting and cutting firewood in the forest, and he happens to overhear a group of forty thieves visiting their treasure store. The treasure is in a cave, the mouth of which is sealed by magic. It opens on the words "iftah ya simsim" (commonly written as "Open Sesame" in English), and seals itself on the words "Close, Simsim" ("Close Sesame"). When the thieves are gone, Ali Baba enters the cave himself, and takes some of the treasure home.

Ali Baba borrows his sister-in-law's scales to weigh this new wealth of gold coins. Unbeknownst to Ali, she puts a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali is using them for, as she is curious to know what kind of grain her impoverished brother-in-law needs to measure. To her shock, she finds a gold coin sticking to the scales and tells her husband, Ali Baba's rich and greedy brother, Cassim. Under pressure from his brother, Ali Baba is forced to reveal the secret of the cave. Cassim goes to the cave and enters with the magic words, but in his greed and excitement over the treasures forgets the magic words to get back out again. The thieves find him there, and kill him. When his brother does not come back, Ali Baba goes to the cave to look for him, and finds the body, quartered and with each piece displayed just inside the entrance of the cave to discourage any similar attempts in the future.

Ali Baba brings the body home, where he entrusts Morgiana, a clever slave-girl in Cassim's household, with the task of making others believe that Cassim has died a natural death. First, Morgiana purchases medicines from an apothecary, telling him that Cassim is gravely ill. Then, she finds an old tailor known as Baba Mustafa whom she pays, blindfolds, and leads to Cassim's house. There, overnight, the tailor stitches the pieces of Cassim's body back together, so that no one will be suspicious. Ali and his family are able to give Cassim a proper burial without anyone asking awkward questions.

The thieves, finding the body gone, realize that yet another person must know their secret, and set out to track him down. One of the thieves goes down to the town and comes across Baba Mustafa, who mentions that he has just sewn a dead man's body back together. Realizing that the dead man must have been the thieves' victim, the thief asks Baba Mustafa to lead the way to the house where the deed was performed. The tailor is blindfolded again, and in this state he is able to retrace his steps and find the house. The thief marks the door with a symbol. The plan is for the other thieves to come back that night and kill everyone in the house. However, the thief has been seen by Morgiana and she, loyal to her master, foils his plan by marking all the houses in the neighborhood with a similar marking. When the 40 thieves return that night, they cannot identify the correct house and the head thief kills the lesser thief. The next day, another thief revisits Baba Mustafa and tries again, only this time, a chunk is chipped out of the stone step at Ali Baba's front door. Again Morgiana foils the plan by making similar chips in all the other doorsteps. The second thief is killed for his stupidity as well. At last, the head thief goes and looks for himself. This time, he memorizes every detail he can of the exterior of Ali Baba's house.

The chief of the thieves pretends to be an oil merchant in need of Ali Baba's hospitality, bringing with him mules loaded with thirty-eight oil jars, one filled with oil, the other thirty-seven hiding the other remaining thieves. Once Ali Baba is asleep, the thieves plan to kill him. Again, Morgiana discovers and foils the plan, killing the thirty-seven thieves in their oil jars by pouring boiling oil on them. When their leader comes to rouse his men, he discovers that they are dead, and escapes.

To exact revenge, after some time the thief establishes himself as a merchant, befriends Ali Baba's son (who is now in charge of the late Cassim's business), and is invited to dinner at Ali Baba's house. The thief is recognized by Morgiana, who performs a dance with a dagger for the diners and plunges it into the heart of the thief when he is off his guard. Ali Baba is at first angry with Morgiana, but when he finds out the thief tried to kill him, he gives Morgiana her freedom and marries her to his son. Ali Baba is then left as the only one knowing the secret of the treasure in the cave and how to access it. Thus, the story ends happily for everyone except the forty thieves and Cassim.

Classification[link]

The story has been classified in the Aarne–Thompson classification system as AT 676.^[3]

Adaptations[link]

• The story was made into an Egyptian movie in 1942 as "Ali Baba We El Arbeen Haramy" (Alibaba and the Forty Thieves), with Ali AlKassar playing the lead as Ali Baba, and the comedian actor Ismail Yasin as his assistant.
• An 1878 British pantomime version was The Forty Thieves.
• A French film Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs starring Fernandel and Samia Gamal (1954).
• A French telefilm starring Gérard Jugnot and Catherine Zeta-Jones (2007).
• In 1970s Alibaba story was adapted in a Bengali film called 'Morgiana Abdulla'.
• A Soviet-Indian joint film of 1979 Ali Baba aur 40 Chor, starring Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Rolan Bykov and Zeenat Aman, was largely based on this adventure tale.
• A Malaysian comedy film, Ali Baba Bujang Lapok (1960) which quite faithfully adhered to the tale's plot details, but introduced a number of anachronisms for humour, for example the usage of a truck by Kassim Baba to steal the robbers' loot.
• There are two Tamil films under the title Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum ("Alibaba and Forty Thieves"). The first film starring N. S. Krishnan as Ali Baba released in 1941, the second film starring M. G. Ramachandran, released in 1956.
• The story was adapted in the 1971 anime Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (アリババと４０匹の盗賊, Aribaba to Yonjuppiki no Tozoku^?), storyboarded by Hayao Miyazaki.
• The concept of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was used for the last installment of Disney's Aladdin series, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, released in 1996, introducing Cassim the King of Thieves as Aladdin's father.
• In the television mini-series Arabian Nights, the story is told faithfully with two major changes. The first is that when Morgiana discovers the thieves in the oil jars, she alerts Ali Baba and together with a friend, they release the jars on a street with a steep incline and allow them roll down to break open. Furthermore, the city guard is alerted and arrest the disoriented thieves as they emerge from their containers. Later when Morgiana defeats the thief leader, Ali Baba, who is young and has no children, marries the heroine himself.
• A film adaption Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was made in 1944. The film was remade in 1965 as The Sword of Ali Baba. Frank Puglia portrayed the character named Kassim in both versions.
• At the United States Air Force Academy, Cadet Squadron 40 was originally nicknamed "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" before eventually changing its name to the "P-40 Warhawks"
• A mythopoeic novel by Tom Holt, 'Open Sesame', is based on characters from the story of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"

In other media[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

• A Merrie Melodies Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck cartoon, Ali Baba Bunny, has a similar premise to the concept of the treasure-filled magical cave.

• A Popeye cartoon, Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves, features Popeye meeting and defeating the titular group.

• In the Disney film Aladdin there are several references to the story. Also, in Aladdin and the King of Thieves the forty thieves play an integral part in the story. However the story is very different than the original Ali Baba story, particularly Cassim's new role as the King of Thieves.

• In the Simpsons episode Moe Goes From Rags To Riches, Lisa is Scheherazade and Nelson Muntz is King Shahryar, and Lisa tells him the story.

• The 1971 Japanese film, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (アリババと40匹の盗賊, Aribaba to Yonjūbiki no Tozuku^?), for which Hayao Miyazaki was key animator and organizer.

• A 1981 computer video game by Quality Software^[4]

• Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, a 1982 arcade video game by Taito

• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, a computer game for the Apple II published in 1982

• A version of Ali Baba appears in Sonic and the Secret Rings, where he is portrayed by the character Tails.

Iraq War[link]

• The name "Ali Baba" was often used as derogatory slang by American and Iraqi soldiers and their allies in the War in Iraq to describe individuals suspected of a variety of offenses related to theft and looting.^[5] British soldiers routinely used the term to refer to Iraqi civilians.^[6] In the subsequent occupation it is used as a general term for the insurgents, similar to Charlie for the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War.^[7]

• Due to interaction of the two peoples, the term "Ali Baba" was adopted by the Iraqis to describe foreign troops suspected of looting,^[8] and the English-speaking mainstream press mistakenly reported the slang to be native to the locals.^[9]

Gallery[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ali Baba

• "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" (e-text, in English)
• Waller Hastings, "Ali Baba and the forty Thieves": essay
• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Arabian Nights and The Sword of Ali Baba at the Internet Movie Database

Ralph Marterie (24 December 1914 - 10 October 1978) was a big-band leader born in Acerra (near Naples), Italy.

Marterie first played professionally at age 14 in Chicago.^[1] In the 1940s, he played trumpet for various bands. His first job as a bandleader was courtesy of the US Navy during World War 2.^[1] He was then hired by the ABC Radio network,^[1] and the reputation built from these broadcasts led to a recording contract with Mercury Records. His highest success in the U.S. charts was a cover of "Skokiaan" in 1954. In 1953 he recorded a version of Bill Haley's "Crazy, Man, Crazy", which is generally regarded as the first rock and roll song. His version of "Crazy, Man, Crazy" reached #13 on the Billboard jockey chart and #11 on Cashbox in June, 1953. His recordings of "Pretend" and "Caravan" also made the Top 10. "Caravan" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[2] In 1957, he hit #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Tricky", and in 1957 he hit #10 with "Shish-Kebab".^[3] His compositions included "Dancing Trumpet", "Dry Marterie", and "Carla".

Joel Whitburn's pop chart research books say that Marterie's version of "The Song Of Love" peaked at #84 for the week ending December 26, 1955. However, Billboard magazine did not put out an issue that week and Marterie never recorded this tune; the listing is in fact a copyright trap, to prevent others from stealing Whitburn's work.^{[citation needed]}

Partial Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Ralph Marterie (1955)
• Music for a Private Eye (1959)
• Marvelous Marterie (1959)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ralph Marterie on the Big Band database
• Ralph Marterie on Space Age
• Ralph Marterie on Oldies.com

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