Articles by John Robles II as Columnist for VOR: Volume II
JANUARY 2013
Depardieu is a friend - Putin January, 20:58
As part of
France's austerity measures an attempt was made to introduce a 75% tax on
the richest French citizens. One target of this tax was famous French actor
Gerard Depardieu who was then embroiled in a row with the French
authorities. In the end Depardieu renounced his French citizenship and was
granted Russian citizenship by President Putin. Is this the beginning of a
mass-migration of wealthy Europeans to Russia? The President of
the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to
French actor Gerard Xavier Depardieu under Article 89 of the Russian
Constitution according to a brief statement issued on the Official
Site of the President of Russia. Under Article
89, point (a) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation the President of
the Russian Federation has the right to grant citizenship and political
asylum to Russian nationals, foreign citizens and stateless individuals. Further powers
and more specific laws defining the president’s authority come under a
November 28, 1991 “Federal Law On Citizenship of the Russian Federation",
amended by the Judiciary on the 17th of June 1993 and a Federal Law dated
February 6th 1995. Article 33 of the Act defines the specific powers of the
President and states that the President decides on: granting Russian
citizenship to foreign nationals, citizens of the former Soviet Union and
stateless persons. The President also decides on the restoration of Russian
citizenship, the revocation of citizenship, permission to have dual
citizenship and the issuing of honorary citizenship. The President exercises
these powers by issuing Presidential Decrees. Presidential
spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has stated that the decision by President Putin
to grant Mr. Depardieu Russian Citizenship was due to his substantial
contributions to the development of Russian culture and cinema. Mr. Peskov
stated that Depardieu played in a number of very famous feature films about
Russian history and performed many roles depicting important Russian
historical figures, including work depicting Grigory Rasputin. A promise to
grant the French actor Russian citizenship was made during a recent press
conference given by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said the promise
was made due to the significant contributions to Russia’s national culture
by Depardieu and his films. After being
granted citizenship the Depardieu camp has not yet issued an official
statement but the story began with attempts by France to institute a 75% tax
on the super-rich. Russia’s flat rate of 13% tax for all citizens was then
seen as an attractive option for Depardieu who has stated publically that
during his life he has paid over $191 million in taxes to the French state
over the past 45 years. Something the state apparently does not value. The new French
tax which was to target people making more than €1 million a year was thrown
out by France’s highest constitutional authority because it was to only
target individuals and not households, meaning the law would only apply to
1,500 people and not affect those making just under €1 million a year. Mr. Depardieu’s
problems with the French authorities came to a boil when after announcing
his plans to renounce French citizenship, his only recourse in the row,
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault publically called Mr. Depardieu's
actions "pathetic." To which Mr. Depardieu answered "I've no place to
complain or to boast, but I refuse to be described as pathetic." During a press
conference that was covered by the VOR in December, President Putin called
Mr. Depardieu a “friend” and said that "If Gérard really wants to have
either a residency permit in Russia or a Russian passport, we will assume
that this matter is settled and settled positively.” Mr. Depardieu is
very well known and loved in Russia and appears on billboards around Moscow
and in ads forSovetsky
Bank. His films are
some of the most popular in Russia and he has been very active in the
Russian cultural scene over the years. Russian media
reports that Mr. Depardieu will soon begin working on several projects where
he will star in adaptations Russian literary classics including the Brothers
Karamazov, Crime and Punishment and The Captain's Daughter by Alexander
Pushkin. In related news, upon hearing that Mr. Depardieu received Russian Citizenship, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin predicted the beginning of the migration of wealthy Europeans to the Russian Federation. Mr. Rogozin stated on his Twitter page that “In the West people have very poor knowledge of the Russian tax system but when they learn about it we can expect the mass migration of wealthy Europeans to Russia".
Israel supporting al-Qaeda terrorists - Asafari 4 January, 16:51 In a little
publicized statement Mohammad Hassan Asafari, a Member of the Iranian
Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, blasted Israel
and the United States for supporting and providing intelligence to
terrorists groups who are destroying the countries in the region. The fact
that the West is arming and supporting al-Qaeda terrorists should be setting
off alarms, but sadly no one is listening. Last Tuesday a
Member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy
Commission Mohammad Hassan Asafari blasted the West for supporting
terrorists and providing them with training and operational intelligence
support. He
stated that such
support has turned countries in the region, such as Syria, into what can be
described as war zones, namely the scenes of military clashes. Mr. Asafari
blames Israel for allowing terrorists to use the country as a base of
operations and for providing them with intelligence that is being used to
launch attacks: "The Zionist regime,” he says, “has become the largest
training base for active terrorists in the Middle-East region and the
footprint of this sinister regime can be easily traced in recent terrorist
operations." With regards to Syria the official stated that al-Qaeda’s
presence in Syria and their terrorist activities there are evidence of their
close relationship to the United States. Asafari stated
that thousands (not hundreds but thousands) of terrorists with links to
al-Qaeda have recently entered Syria from Saudi Arabia, Libya, Jordan and
other countries to wage war against the Syrian Government. He also states
that they are receiving intelligence support from Israel. Mr. Asafari’s
statements have of course gotten extremely little if any press attention by
the West but they should be setting off alarms. We know that
al-Qaeda was created by the CIA to help them fight their war against the
Soviet Union in Afghanistan that is an open secret. What should be alarming,
especially in light of the events of 9-11, a crime no one has been punished
for yet, is that while continuing to wage an illegitimate war against
“terror” (a methodology) the West continues to fund, support, train, arm and
even provide intelligence to the very al-Qaeda terrorist organization, and
those linked to it, that they claim was responsible for 9-11. The American
people have given up so many of their liberties and freedoms and have been
bankrupted by their government until the end of time in the fight against
terrorists who are lurking behind every light post, that any hint that what
should be rogue elements in their government are in bed with the very
terrorists that apparently want to destroy America, should be causing the
people to take to the streets demanding answers. Will they? Not possible. In the name of
terror, thanks to al-Qaeda, the US “security” apparatus is so brutal and
ever present that apart from an all out revolt, the American people are
powerless to do anything. In the name of security the majority of Americans
have become slaves to a “government” that was supposed to be of the people
by the people and for the people. The US
Government is no longer there to serve the people, the people are there to
serve the government. Call it fascism, enslavement, a police state what have
you, that is the reality. What can you do about it? In reality, like I said,
nothing. It is too late. 9-11 was the
catalyst the Project for a New American Century needed to crack on down on
liberties and launch their endless war of global domination, there is no way
they are going to give up on that now, not after it has been raging on for
more than a decade. If the so-called black operations community in the US
actually trained al-Qaeda terrorists to be able to carry out the most
precision demolition in the history of mankind and have been funding and
cooperating with them ever since, there is nothing any of us can do. On January 1st four Saudi and Kuwaiti terrorists were killed on the outskirts of Damascus, and that is just a drop in the pan. The Syrian Regular Army has captured everything from al-Qaeda terrorists to insurgents with British accents, to Turkish high-level officers, to Libyan “freedom-fighters” and everything in between. Even a recent report by the United Nations states that extremists from 29 countries have infiltrated Syria to fight against the Government of Damascus. The fact that the U.S. is using funding and arming al-Qaeda terrorists should also set off alarm bells in Israel because if the US is willing to fund and arm the very same terrorists who supposedly carried out 9-11, what would stop them from stabbing Israel in the back in the pursuit of their military and geopolitical goals?
Saudi Arabia joins US in drone war, Obama obfuscates 5 January, 21:50 http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Saudi_Arabia.html Although the US
has not officially declared war on any country, this time Yemen, drone
attacks are on the rise and in Yemen went from eight in 2011 to 53 in
2012. The new US policy of prosecuting their “war on Terror” in now “kill or
kill” as it is inconvenient to deal with “combatants” if they are captured.
In Yemen Saudi Arabia has been pulled in and their air-force is assisting in
attacks within Yemen, and now, it is their “problem”. The latest
reports on the global US drone war again raise the subject to the forefront
and more questions as to the legality of the use of drones. The Times
recently reported that eternal US ally Saudi Arabia is now assisting the US
in “prosecuting
an undeclared aerial war against al-Qaeda in Yemen.”
Saudi Arabia is now providing its fighter jets to assist Washington in
perpetuating its illegal covert drone war in the sovereign territory of
Yemen. The Times quoted
a source in the US Intelligence Community as saying that "some of the
so-called drone missions are actually Saudi Air Force missions". Saudi
Arabia has also not officially declared war on Yemen.
According to the Australian the
new interventionist war by the United States in Yemen is connected with the
illegality and the “legal problems” associated with capturing foreign
nationals and indefinitely detaining them in the illegal prison at
Guantanamo Bay Cuba. The Times cites
an unnamed US official as saying "There is no kill or capture anymore. It's
kill or kill”, meaning the US policy of carrying out extra-judicial
execution and targeted assassinations, even of US citizens, is apparently
justified by the US Government and Barrack Hussein Obama, because of the
“legal problems” involved in actually allowing their targets due process and
Geneva Convention rights. The Australian
reports that Bruce Riedel, an ex-CIA officer stated: "There's a part of our
policy that goes back to Saudi Arabia. We outsource this problem of Al-Qaeda
in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) to the Saudis, make it their problem. It is
their problem." The reason that
al-Qaeda (created by the US to fight the USSR in Afghanistan) or more
particularly AQAP, has gained force in Yemen is due to the US’ own meddling
in the country and the US instigated Arab-Spring. After the 2011 uprising
AQAP seized expansive territories in the south of Yemen. Underlining once
again the illegality of the “War on Terror” and the highly illegal nature of
the US’ extra-judicial execution program (droning), are continued attempts
by Obama and the US Government to obfuscate and use the tenet of secrecy to
successfully avoid responsibility for the assassinations and murders that
they are carrying out. Many have been
up in arms about the US use of drones since day one yet the fleet has grown
from approximately 40 in 2001 to over 7,000 today. Outspoken critics have
included the United Nations Special Envoy for Extrajudicial Killings, the
ACLU, Amnesty International, dozens of peace groups such as Code Pink, law
scholars and experts from a plethora of disciplines and institutions, and a
list that is too long to list here, yet Obama and the US Government have not
listened and have instead obfuscated, stone-walled and re-written laws to
justify their criminal conduct. At the heart of
the illegality of the use of drones is the fact that the combatants, if the
targets of an illegal war can be called that, have no chance to face their
accusers or surrender, as they would in a normal battlefield scenario.
A June 2011 report issued by
the Oxford Research Group in London stated, as did Paul Rogers, an Oxford
Research Group consultant and professor at Bradford University's Peace
Studies Department in England, that "Drone users cannot escape a legal
responsibility to expose the human consequences of their attacks”, which I
would argue is exactly what Obama and the US are doing (escaping
responsibility). In a more recent
related ruling United States District Court Judge Colleen McMahon issued a
75-page ruling declaring that the US Justice Department does not have a
legal obligation to explain the rationale behind killing Americans with
targeted drone strikes. She wrote: "There are indeed legitimate reasons,
historical and legal, to question the legality of killings unilaterally
authorized by the Executive that take place otherwise than on a 'hot' field
of battle". Her decision was
dealing the Obama Administration’s continued rejection of FOIA requests in
particular regarding drone strikes which assassinated American citizens. Judge McMahon
further stated: "The Alice-in-Wonderland nature of this pronouncement is not
lost on me; but after careful consideration, I find myself stuck in a
paradoxical situation in which I cannot solve a problem because of
contradictory constraints and rules — a veritable Catch-22,” she writes. She continued:
“I can find no way around the thicket of laws and precedents that
effectively allow the Executive Branch of our Government to proclaim as
perfectly lawful certain actions that seem on their face incompatible with
our Constitution and laws, while keeping the reason for their conclusion a
secret.” Regardless of
whether drones are a “legal” instrument on the battlefield under the rules
of war or whether extra-judicial executions and daily kill lists being used
to carry them out are offenses that demand immediate international sanctions
and prosecution, the US and Barrack Hussein Obama will continue to use them
and expand their drone programs. We do not have
to be enslaved to the idea that we are helpless as humans to do anything
against the US in their drone war. There are steps that can be taken. For
one, and this is a question for scientists to take up, we can develop the
means and the electronic counter-measures to render drones useless. What has been
lost on many is that simple electronic noise and electromagnetic
interference can render a drone useless. All that has to be done is
disconnect the electronic link they have with their command centers, if the
US will continue to ignore international law and continue to engage in
illegal extra-judicial executions. Today it may be a “terrorist” and
everyone around him in the middle of nowhere, tomorrow it may be the head of
state of an “unfriendly” country.
Reasons for teen crime in America, or of murderous teenagers and torturing cops 6 January, 19:55 Cases of
violence and horrific acts carried out by youth who have been influenced by
the internet and computer games continues to grow as the first generation of
children “raised by the net” come of age and are able to turn their virtual
playrooms into real and tangible mayhem. Are they to blame? Or is the
society that raised them to blame? In Russia there
was an old saying that said we must protect and cherish our children because
they are the future. This saying is just as topical today as it was hundreds
of years ago but who is responsible for raising our children? Of course the
immediate family unit is the primary structure responsible for raising
children, and this is more or less true until the age when the child is
given to a state or other educational facility to begin their education. The
family unit carries the responsibility of shaping the basis for the future
adult. This includes moral values, ethical behavior, sexual orientation,
respect for life and fellow humans, and a host of other areas that the
person then bases their world view and future behavior on. When economic,
moral and other factors, in anyway, cause a disruption in, or the
destruction of, the primary family unit this has a negative effect on the
development of the child, and once that damage is done it is almost
impossible to undo it. When we look at
societal models from around the world with regard to the support of the
primary family unit there are many factors which have to be taken into
account, these include economic, educational, religious, moral guidance,
health care and other kinds of support which most often have to take place
at the local level and be easily accessible to the family unit. The role of the
state and the church in many regards has a huge effect on the preservation
and support of the family unit. If overall society does not support the
family unit or does not provide adequate conditions for it to thrive then
there is a qualitative deterioration in the quality of the guidance provided
to the child who is helpless and totally dependent on those around him or
her. If we look at
the US capitalist model and that of states which seek to emulate the
societal norms and conditions prevalent in that country we see many complete
and utter failings and a dysfunctional state and societal structure unable
to properly carry out the task of properly raising children who enter its
citizenry. One of the most
basic needs of all humans, if not arguably the most basic need, in
particular in a capitalist system, is the need for employment that is able
to allow the individual to support him or herself and support the family
unit. Employment is of
utmost importance in other regards as well in allowing the individual to
realize and fulfill their potential and be a productive and contributing
member of the society where he or she finds themselves and those factors are
no less important, but we are focusing on family. The failing
capitalist system in the US is an example we will look at since its eventual
collapse will have severe consequences around the world. Almost any
American will agree the “American Dream” is dead, buried and almost
forgotten. That dream of having a home, a family and rewarding education and
employment has long ago become out of reach for the larger part of society. The American
economy is devastated and will never recover, it was hi-jacked and gutted by
a few who continue to profiteer from an endless illegal war not even
allowing the populace the industrial and manufacturing boon that may be
found in a “war economy” as most of the jobs have been outsourced to third
countries and manufacturing profits stay in the hands of an elite few. The resulting
“natural escalation of capitalism” and move into fascism, where corporations
run the state, has meant that the American populace and in particular the
family unit has been devastated. The primary
necessities of the family unit have become almost unattainable, these
include health care, education, housing, transportation and even basic
sustenance. Under such conditions the first and foremost societal structure,
the family unit, has become unsustainable, leading to irreparable damage to
the children dependent on the family. Factors which have destroyed the
family unit include both parents working, inadequate health and dental care,
poor living conditions, poor life conditions and overall poverty. A state run by
corporations where even basic healthcare is the object of corporate
profiteering can not be expected to solve any of these problems, although it
is in the power of the state to do so and one might argue their most
important responsibility. We could thus conclude that a healthy state and
societal model can be determined by simply analyzing the health of the
family unit, for as the old Russian saying goes: children are out future. In the US the
breakdown of the family unit has been coupled with a police state that has
cracked down on all marginalized segments of society including parents,
teens and children. In order to compensate for the societal breakdown caused
by its own destructive self-serving policies the US state is dealing with
the problems through the use of force and attempting to control the populace
with an iron-fist. One of the
results of the breakdown of the family unit and the move to an information
based society is the fact that children and teens who once spent free time
doing homework, playing, reading or even watching endless hours of
mind-numbing television are now spending their time on the internet. With both
parents working, less societal support for youth and advances in technology
this dependence on the internet is a logical transition that has been
promoted and allowed to grow despite warning by educators, psychologists and
analysts as to the harm that could be caused to children. We are beginning
to see the results of such developments. Since the advent of the internet
there has been a qualitative change in the youth of the world and in their
lives. In most cases this has been a change for the worst. The fault is not
that of the internet but lies in the destruction of the family unit and the
lowering levels of education, lack of supervision and absence of positive
constructive activities for youth. These factors apply to the US societal
model. If we look at
the Japanese model for example, where there is a concerted societal attempt
to keep youth busy in positive productive and socially acceptable activities
we might cite the old adage: idle hands are a devil’s plaything. Although I have
said the family unit is the most important factor in raising children, the
second most important factor, the societal unit, can not be ignored. Parents
have their role in the early formation and development of the child but once
school starts they are then exposed to the societal component and this
continues for the rest of their lives. Hence we as
members of society teach the children and youth in society what is
acceptable and normal. Any society that does not take that responsibility
seriously does so at its own imminent peril. In the US this
societal factor is largely to blame for the acute rise in youth crime. This
is largely due to the amoral nature of the signals that yuth receive on a
daily basis namely with regard to the continued glorification of violence,
crime, force and sex in the media and in the things that are marketed for
their consumption. The victims of
society are then demonized as the victimizers when they succumb to
hopelessness and an endless diet of violence and go out and emulate what
they see on a daily basis. Some examples
include the autistic youth in Connecticut who recently gunned down over 20
people was an isolated child who spent most of his time playing violent
computer games. Recently two
teenage girls drugged the parents of one of them so they
could get on the internet after ten pm,
tyhey were hence turned into the police by the very parents who were
supposed to protect and care for them. Another case
has five
teens being arrested for
attempting to steal the shoes of a 13-year-old Chicago boy. Five teens
attempting to steal shoes seems like a pretty grim statement on society to
me. Then we have the
case of the 18 year-old from Astoria Oregon who was so influenced by
Facebook that he posted the fact that he was drunk driving as a status
update and was
arrested.
Apparently he thought he was being cool. Another poor
young man whose life was destroyed by the glorification and perceived
acceptability of guns was an 18 year old who was evicted by his girlfriend
and her new boyfriend and decided to threaten them with a gun, he is now a
felon and will enter the US
for profit prison system before even starting out in life.
There are many reasons for teen crime in America, another is the endless sex
and pornography available to youth, a factor no doubt leading to cases such
as a recent home invasion and rape by a
17-year-old boy near
Seattle and another
in Tulsa. The
response by the authorities only serves to escalate the violence and rather
than attempting to consul and rehabilitate these youth they are turned into
criminals and subjected to more brutality by a merciless system. Bycops
who torture, arrest
parents for letting kids
play outside,
attempt to make an example of an honor student
working two jobs,
and the list goes on. Sure some youth
may do horrible things, but it is the responsibility of societal structures
that helped to steer them to these deeds that must also be looked at and
reformed and restructured so that such events are not allowed to happen
again. It is also the responsibility of society to stop allowing the
glorification of violence and to demand from those who can affect change to
do so, in a positive direction. Without our children, we have no future.
Media-bias, Syria and Russia - an Arab spin 7 January, 21:31 Syria and
Russia will go to war, the US is not doing enough to funnel weapons into the
area of the Syrian conflict, the US is giving the Russian Federation
assignments, Brahimi and Russia intentionally railroaded their own peace
plan and finally “Washington has always looked for a political solution… ”
These are just some of the false statements that appear in the world’s press
with regard to the Syrian conflict, but having them all in one place makes
one really wonder who is pulling the strings. What is
intentionally being left out by the West in any debate concerning Syria is
the fact that Syria is a sovereign nation and no matter how much one country
might not like the leader of any nation and how badly the leader’s removal
may be desired, it is, for lack of better phraseology “illegal” to bring
about the forceful removal of a leader from the outside and it is also
illegal to extra-judicially execute a head of state. The continued
vilification of Russia due to the position it has maintained from day one
with regards to Syria is so patently transparent and self-serving that one
wonders how dumbed down the writers believe the readership must be to be
buying into it. A recent article
regarding Syria by Abdul Wahab Badrakhan in Al-Arabiya
News reflects the
blatant bias against Russia and Syria and the adage “if you repeat a lie
long enough it becomes true”, but what makes the work in question stand out
other than the Fox News style of repeating mindless talking points, is the
fact that it chides the US for not doing enough and attempts to portray some
sort of conspiracy between Russia and the US.
The Western reaction to a recent speech by Bashsar
Assad was also
indicative of the policy that the West is maintaining, namely if something
does not fit into their pre-planned scenario, it has to be vilified. The Clinton
State Department either did not actually listen to Assad’s speech or chose
to ignore all of the points made by Assad. The statement released after
Assad’s speech is what we have heard all along: "… another attempt by the
regime to cling to power and does nothing to advance the Syrian people's
goal of a political transition… His initiative is detached from reality,
undermines the efforts of Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi …”
and of course the ever repeated calls for Assad to step down. Back to the
previous article in question by Mr. Badrakhan who would appear to be a
serious expert on Lebanon and the Arab World, writes some things that seem
at odds with reality and like empty talking points when it comes to Syria.
He states that Russia which has promoted a political solution to the crisis
from the beginning and Lakhdar Brahimi deliberately caused such a solution
to fail. He also says that Russia and the US have some sort of secret
agreement, which might be indicative of the real Arab attitude to the US,
which has long believed the Arab World is supportive of their geopolitical
plans for the entire Arab World. Here are some
more talking points from the article: “The Americans
are clear about their willingness to dismantle any situation that might drag
them later into direct intervention.” This statement is so patently false as
to be laughable for anyone who has even briefly followed US war policies
over the last several decades. The US quite frankly, does the opposite as it
has been doing in Syria, perpetually looking for a pretext to invade. “The regime got
the message that it’s free to use the chemical weapons within specified
geographical limitations…” There is no evidence that Assad or anyone in the
government has ordered or allowed the use of any form of chemical weapons
whatsoever. “It seems now
that the promises of the U.S. to the Syrian opposition, that it can count on
U.S. financial and armed support… were merely words.” Amid constant reports
of mercenaries and western backed foreign fighters in Syria this statement
seems ridiculous. The writer also takes no issue with the fact that funding
an armed opposition to over-throw a government by force is not in keeping
with internationally accepted norms. “Washington had
always looked for a political solution, with an ideal scenario consisting of
keeping the “acceptable” part of the regime and the immediate departure of
Bashar Al-Assad, as it just cannot deal with him”, another completely false
statement and the unbelievable arrogance in saying “Assad must go because
the US “just cannot deal with him” is stunning. “… the U.S.
commissioned the Russians with the assignment, so they can deal with their
favorable regime.” Apparently the writer believes that the Russian
Federation which is one of the few countries in the world with a robust and
independent foreign policy is another lap-dog for the US. The writer then
continues to demonize Russia for attempting to mediate a peaceful resolution
to the crisis by saying things like: “Moscow sends an invitation to the
opposition coalition to visit the Russian city for dialogue. What dialogue?
With who? How will it be discussed? According to which agenda and upon which
conditions?” Maybe he should answer these questions before demonizing Russia
for attempting to hold talks. And he says:”….
not offering them more than a chair at the negotiation table…” We are
talking about armed insurgents and terrorist groups attempting to overthrow
a legitimate government by force, they should be grateful that they are
allowed a seat. “In the imminent
days, the regime will battle with Russia, which supports its reliance on
Iran’s and Hezbollah’s experience…” I have no idea where he got such
information but Russia and the “regime” have had and continue to have a
normal relationship. “And while the
opposition was waiting to be supplied with advanced weapons…” The writer
contradicts his own statement made above. If this is the Arab position then what we can see is that they want more bloodshed and more weapons and money to be flowing into Syria so that the endless cycle of violence continues. If we take into account the Sunni-Alawite animosity then the reason for this is understandable, but to vilify and twist the facts in an already muddled situation, in reality, helps no one.
Correa was to be assassinated by CIA before elections 8 January, 20:48 http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Rafael_Correa.html
Ecuadorian
President Rafael Correa says that he is being targeted for assassination by
the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and judging from all available
information it is almost a given that he is right. The reasons are many:
oil, trade, exploitation of resources, geopolitical ambitions, military and
strategic positioning, foreign policy objectives, regional alliances and
once again that name comes up: Julian Assange. If Correa knows everything
Assange does he is definitely walking around with crosshairs on his head. Ecuadorian
President Rafael Correa has stated that a plot to assassinate him has been
uncovered and that the timeline calls for him to be killed prior to the
upcoming elections. His assassination is part of a CIA plot to destabilize
the entire region. Given the long
and sordid history of the CIA in Latin America and the almost countless
cases of assassination, regime changes and propping up dictators throughout
Latin America, Correa’s claim is not only believable but also almost a given
when we look at a few of the things he has and has not done for and against
the all powerful US interests. When I began
investigating for this article I was surprised at the number of witnesses
and sources that have disappeared or had “strange” problems preventing them
from getting evidence to the public, but of course that is not unusual, what
is unusual here is the sheer number. The most
egregious “sins” Correa is guilty of are the closing of the US Manta
Military Base and the eviction of all US forces and the subsequent offering
of the base to China and the granting of political asylum to WikiLeaks
co-founder Julian Assange. For Correa, if
he is right, the clock is ticking. Ecuadorians go to the polls on February
17 less than a month and a half from now. Reportedly his life will be at
greatest risk when campaigning begins and after he registers to run, on
January 15th until the actual election, unless of course Correa becomes
afraid and decides to not run and hides in the shadows, something which is
highly unlikely. The latest
information about a plot to assassinate Correa came from a Chilean
journalist named Patricio Mery Bell who was investigating an alleged
$88-million drug-money-funded CIA plot to destabilize the Ecuadorian
government and the region. Correa has also
become a pain in the neck for the US as he often maintains the same stance
on issues as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, currently battling with a
strangely coincidental case of cancer. Another huge sin
by Correa is that, just like Muammar Gaddafi, he has reduced poverty in his
country, increased the standard of living for all citizens, expanded
democracy and while doing all of this has maintained an independent
political and economic stance. Like Libya, Cuba, Iraq before the invasion
and other countries where social democratic and socialist systems were
growing and prospering, Ecuador’s societal model can not be allowed to stand
as it contradicts US propaganda and capitalist interests. Ecuador is also
one of Latin America’s largest oil exporters and rejoined OPEC in 2007, and
like Iraq and Libya is diversifying its trade and hard currency reserves
away from the dollar. Something both Hussein and Gaddafi did days before
their countries were invaded. So the reasons
for the CIA assassinating Correa are many and obvious, if he can be replaced
by a US leaning puppet, the US can exploit Ecuador’s oil, enable the
exploitation of the population by US corporate and business interests,
further undermine other countries and leaders in the region, expand its
influence, regain its lost military position and bases, important for
logistical support for covert missions and illicit trade, and lastly evict
Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
Syria must be defenseless for America to illegally invade, Rated:XXX 9 January, 20:31
Poised and
ready to invade Syria and continue its plans for complete global military
and political domination at any cost, the US is faltering and has yet to
invade Syria. Most likely stopped by the fact that Syrian defenses are
robust enough to effectively deal with the invader's forces and that Russian
troops are on the ground, the US is stuck in a holding pattern. The next
illegal US act of aggressive war is Syria. Coming soon! Rated: XXX. The West
continues to debate what the United States should do in Syria and the US
what options it has to bring about another interventionist invasion yet is
continuing to have problems in bringing about the conditions it needs to
give the green light to military forces staged and waiting to pounce. The arrogance of
those debating the fate of Syria from thousands of miles away, as if they
even have a right to in the first place, is mind boggling. Who told the
United States that they are responsible for deciding the fate of Syria or
the Syrian people? No one. Who told the United States that they have some
right or some mandate under international law to “intervene” wherever they
desire? No one. Yet that is what they are doing. Some pundits and
analysts are saying: Use the Kosovo model, or the Libyan scenario, or the
Afghanistan example, or don’t repeat the mistakes in Iraq. However each and
every one of them is missing the whole point and that being from Yugoslavia
to Iraq, from Afghanistan to Libya, from the Arab Spring to Syria, US
intervention is not wanted or asked for. The US
understands this and knows the real reason it is going after these
countries, that being resources and geo-political plans, yet it can not
openly state such to the world. Yugoslavia
worked because the right propaganda was spread at the right time and the
world was not ready nor did it have reason to believe that the US’
intentions were anything more than what they were publically touting. Since
then every pretext for invading Yugoslavia has been found and proven to have
been false and self-created by the US whose real goal was to carry out the
geo-political redesigning of the Balkans. It became clear
in Yugoslavia and in what has taken place since then in that region that the
United States has one thing in mind when carrying out their interventionist
invasions and that is control of resources and the advancement of
geopolitical ambitions and position. If anyone doubts
look at who they supported and continue to support in Serbia and in Kosovo,
Muslim extremists, drug traffickers and black-market organ traders. Why?
Because the US is able to manipulate and “work” with these elements, whereas
Christian Serbians who lean geopolitically towards Russia are a bit more
difficult to manipulate and bend to the American will. We can see this
same kind of thinking all over the world and in particular in the Middle
East. The United States has no real interest in human rights or in oppressed
peoples, that is a proven given, what it does care about is resources, ease
of manipulation and geo-political clout. Yugoslavia was a
watershed moment for NATO and the US and the more or less success of the
operation emboldened the US to attempt to do more. To launch a war, reshape
part of Europe, devastate a people and do so all on the whim of a president
who wanted to distract the electorate from a sex-scandal, seemed bold and
dangerous, but it more or less worked. There were
doubters and there were detractors and the destruction of Yugoslavia did not
have the broad support that the planners in Washington had hoped for. So a
group of Neo-Conservatives was tasked with studying the issue of how to
bring about the pre-text for a global war of domination. Those in power were
tired of the United Nations and the international community and even the
American electorate always sticking their noses into everything and asking
for reasons and justifications, they wanted free-reign. So those
Neo-Conservatives, calling themselves the Project for the New American
Century came up with a plan for complete and total world domination. The
only problem as they saw it was that to allow for the implementation of the
plan, after all what they were doing was illegal, would require a catalyst,
and as the called it themselves, “A new Pearl Harbor!”. The carefully
planned and orchestrated events of 9-11 were the catalyst that they needed
to launch an open ended and endless “War on Terror” that had no borders and
allowed for anyone to become a target. First on the list was the invasion of
Iraq and second Afghanistan, Hussein was the first target because he had
changed all oil trade in Iraq to the Euro the day before the invasion and
the United Nations and International inspectors already knew that Hussein
had no weapons with which to fight back. Afghanistan was
another story but it did not really matter because the Taliban, like
al-Qaeda had always been on the US payroll and wiping out that little
backward country, as the US military planners thought, would be no problem.
That little invasion took place over ten years ago and the US is still in
Afghanistan and has been completely defeated. Then we have the
case of Libya, another country that had agreed to US inspections for those
evil WMDs and had proven it did not possess weapons and then was invaded
after changing its oil trade to the Euro. Libya had long been on the US wish
list of countries to invade but the problem was that by then the US had
pretty much lost of the capital it had gained from the orchestrated events
of 9-11, and people started questioning. Now we have the
Syrian “intervention”, and everything that the United States now does is
being questioned. The world has seen one act of aggressive invasion after
the other carried out by the US and NATO and has quite frankly had enough. Why hasn’t the
US invaded Syria yet? One reason is you and I. Every false flag plan they
come up with, we are there to expose it. Every false and sanctimonious move
they make to allow them to invade and rape another country we are there to
document. We know they are funding terrorists and mercenaries and that the
Syrian people themselves do not want America. Lastly Russia is stopping it,
by giving the Syrian people what Libya and Iraq did not have, the tools and
the ways and means to defend themselves and defend their country.
Who was behind PKK assassination in Paris? 10 January, 18:54
As peace talks
got under way between the Kurdistan Workers Party (Parti Karkerani Kurdistan
or PKK) and the Turkish Government three women associated with the PKK
including a co-founder were found assassinated in Paris France. The heinous
crime is currently being investigated but there is speculation, mostly from
the Turkish side that the executions have to do with the fact the PKK and
the Turkish authorities have begun peace talks to end the decades old
conflict. Sakine Cansiz a
female co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (Parti Karkerani Kurdistan
or PKK) militant group and two other women have been found dead in Paris.
All three of the women were shot in the head execution style with one of the
victims also being shot in the stomach. Other than
Cansiz, according to The Firat News Agency, the victims include Fidan Dogan,
a representative of the Brussels based National Congress of Kurdistan and
Leyla Soylemez who is described as a young activist. Shortly after
midnight on Thursday morning, when the women were reportedly missed, several
workers went to the Information Centre of Kurdistan, an institute located in
the 10th district of Paris, near the center of the city, where the women had
last been seen. According to the
website of the institute it is “… an independent, non-political, secular
organization, embracing Kurdish intellectuals and artists from different
horizons as well as Western specialists on Kurdish Studies.” When the
employees arrived and noticed blood on the locked doors of the
establishment, the workers broke in and discovered the three bodies of the
women who had all been shot in the head. The Firat News
Agency reports that the murder weapon was believed to have been fitted with
a silencer. However did not elaborate on whether it was found at the scene
or not. Leon Edart, a
spokesperson for The Federation of Kurdish Associations in France (FEYKA)
told the French BFM news channel that there were no surveillance cameras in
building where the crime took place. Currently there
are no suspects but Turkish authorities are saying that the executions were
an internal PKK issue. There is speculation, mostly from the Turkish side,
that the executions have to do with the fact the PKK and the Turkish
authorities have begun peace talks to end the decades old conflict. Recently the
Turkish Government began peace talks with imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah
Ocalan, who is being held by the Turkish authorities on the prison island of
Imrali located off the coast from Istanbul. On Wednesday
there were reports in the Turkish media that an agreement had been reached
on a plan to end the conflict which has raged on since 1984 and has claimed
over 40,000 lives. There are many
on all sides to the conflict that are against any kind of a peace
settlement. These include Turkish elements who do not want to see the Kurds
receive any kind of recognition or autonomy and among radical elements of
the PKK itself who do not want to see any concessions made to Ankara and who
believe that any kind of a peace plan will include giving up certain
demands. Police have so
far not announced any leads, theories or suspects. According to the AFP a
police source sated: “The scene [of the crime] could give rise to the idea
that this was an execution, but the investigation will have to establish the
exact circumstances of this incident." French Interior
Minister Manuel Valls who arrived on the scene shortly after the bodies were
discovered said the killings were "intolerable". “The three women
were undoubtedly executed", Valls said. Valls said the
French authorities would get to the bottom of the crime and that he had come
to express his sympathy to the relatives and close friends of the three
murdered women. It is important
to recall that Turkey recently authorized military incursions into Iran,
supposedly for operations where the Turkish Regular Army is in hot pursuit
of PKK militants. With military
build ups by NATO and the US in the region and the constant search for a
pretext to invade Iran and Syria, there are many of those actors who would
also see any kind of peace as detrimental to planned provocations and
optional scenarios which will allow for an invasion of either Iran or Syria. According to
Reuters Remzi Kartal, a Kurdistan National Congress leader, said: "This is a
political crime, there is no doubt about it. Ocalan and the Turkish
government have started a peace process, they want to engage in dialogue,
but there are parties that are against resolving the Kurdish question and
want to sabotage the peace process."
Kurdish PKK Party co-founder, 2 activists
murdered in Paris A co-founder of
the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) and two female activists were murdered today
in downtown Paris, police report. PKK’s Sakine
Cansiz, Kurdish National Congress Paris representative Fidan Doğan and a
young Kurdish activist, Leyla Söylemez, were found dead late on Wednesday
night by their friends who became concerned after no one picked up the
receiver in the Center’s office. The women were
found outside the Kurdish institute in the French capital. All the victims
appear to have been shot in the head by a gun with a silencer. Police say
the murder took place about 3pm on Wednesday. Kurdish
community has referred to the triple assassination as an “execution.” Agence
France-Presse quoted an unidentified police official as saying the
circumstances of the killings “could lead to the conclusion that this was an
execution but inquiries will determine the precise nature of this drama.” Police officials
said a murder investigation had been opened. The bodies and three shell
casings were found in a room at the institute. The women were all said to
hold Turkish passports. French Interior
Minister Manuel Valls called the killings "intolerable". In the meantime,
hundreds have taken to the streets of the French capital, after the
Federation of Kurdish Associations in France (Feyka) called for a
demonstration in Paris. The motive for
the shootings is unclear. Some 40,000 people have died in the 25-year
conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK. However, Turkey
has recently begun talks with the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, with
the aim of persuading the group to disarm.
Paris: 3 Kurdish women shot in head Three Kurdish
women were found killed with a gunshot to the head early Thursday inside the
Kurdish Institute of Paris, a police source said. The women were
found outside the Kurdish institute in the French capital, and one of the
victims’ names has already been disclosed: 32-year-old Fidan Dogan
reportedly worked for the institute. One of the women
was 32-year-old Fidan Dogan who worked in the institute's information
centre, according to its director, Leon Edart. The identities
of the other two women, who were reportedly Kurdish activists but did not
work at the Institute, were not immediately available. The three were
last seen mid-day on Wednesday at the centre, which was found locked by late
afternoon, according to Edart.
“Anonymous” petitions Obama to decriminalize DDos attacks 11 January, 22:13 http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Anonymous.html
The Anonymous
hactivist group, or someone posing as a member of the group, recently posted
a petition on the US White House web-site attempting to gather signatures to
force Obama to consider making DDoS attacks a legal form of protest.
Although Obama himself signs off on an illegal extra-judicial “kill list”
everyday, there is to be no mercy for hacktivists and no such petition will
be allowed to stand, or will it? Read on… The hacktivist
group Anonymous, or someone claiming to be associated with them named Dylan
K., has taken the unusual step of petitioning the Obama Administration to
make Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDoS) legal. At the time of
writing the petition has gathered 2,043 signatures but there have been
reports that it
was taken downas
was supposedly the
Anonymous Twitter feed.
Whether taken over by the government or generously reinstated is up to
debate. The number of
signatures required for the matter to be taken up by Obama is 25,000, which
have to be collected by February 6th, 2013. However even if they required
number is reached there is no guarantee Obama will do anything to fulfill
the wishes of the petitioners. A YouTube.ru
post is
still active but
has broken links to another Twitter feed and the White House petition. Whether
Anonymous intended the move to be a serious one or not, the fact that the
petition has not been taken down, despite the U.S. Government’s stance on
hactivism and Anonymous, is surprising if not commendable. Anonymous is
hoping to make the legalization of DDoS attacks retroactive so that the
slate would be cleaned, so to speak, something we have seen the US
Government do very often in the past decade or so, with water-boarding,
torture, warrantless wiretapping, Guantanamo, secret arrests, rendition,
unauthorized aggressive wars, extra-judicial executions, droning and Obama’s
daily kill list, to name a few, but alas it may not be meant to be. A government
that brands information activists, hacktivists, Occupiers, whistle-blowers
and others as “terrorists” and “enemies of the state” is very unlikely to
allow anyone other than themselves to have the benefit of the doubt. Anonymous,
hacktivists and many others, share the thinking that a DDoS attack is the
equivalent of a sit in, only it takes place in cyber-space. The following
message was posted by Anonymous on several forums and someone has been nice
enough to provide the audio. Unfortunately I doubt Obama will even consider
such a petition. "Greetings Obama
and fellow Americans, This is
Anonymous. At the time this message was sent to you, Distributed Denial of
Service Attacks (DDoS) are illegal. This is not hacking, it's the equivalent
of hitting the refresh button on a webpage, which every one of us has done
at least one time in life. Should we be sent to jail if we push that button
a thousand times a second? No! When we start this kind of attack it's just
the same as a sit-in. If we "refresh" a thousand times a second it will slow
down the website, which is a type of protest or a sit-in at work. Both of
those are completely legal. The only difference is that we are doing it on
the internet, at home, at school, at a coffee shop or at a library. Why are
people protesting? They do it because they want to see changes, positive
ones. We Anonymous,
are calling upon not only fellow anonymous. We are calling on Americans to
rise up for the change. There is a petition on the White House website
asking President Obama to make denial of service attacks a legal way of
protesting, release and clear all criminal records of those who have been
jailed for DDoS attacks. Remember, when president Obama was first elected he
wanted change. So does Anonymous. We Are Anonymous In a fair world
the virtual sit-ins would not be prosecuted, after all they do no real harm,
but the US Government is at war with anyone who threatens their secrecy. We
have seen this with Jeremy Hammond who is facing life in prison for the
Stratfor e-mail release, Julian Assange who has been declared a terrorist
and enemy of the state and many other hacktivists who are wanted or doing
serious prison time for DDoS attacks and other forms of cyber “hactivities.” Anonymous, or
those posting the “petition,” are hoping that by legalizing the DDoS attacks
the criminal records of past offenders would also be wiped clean but alas I
seriously doubt that will happen. As Anonymous is
a highly decentralized and anonymous organization, pinning down the
petitioner “Dylan K.” is impossible as is ascertaining the seriousness with
which the petition will be received. One might note that the White House
petition site has been used for some strange things recently and its
credibility may be suffering for it. Some argue that
a sit in or demonstration is not the same as a DDoS attack as they involve
thousands of people and a DDoS attack could be carried out by one sick
individual who has a bone to pick or aXe to grind, but regardless, the DDoS
attack may have no real tangible effect, except for whatever exists in cyber
space. Certain
Anonymous members said that no one really knows who filed the petition and
it was perhaps a single Anon, or a small group, pretending to speak for the
group as has happened many times in the past. Anonymous or not, the
petition, a legitimate way to seek justice and make positive change is not
to be allowed to stand by an administration that treasures escalation, shuns
“change we can believe in” and wishes to brand anything and anyone it can an
“enemy-of-the-state.” On another note,
since the petition site of the White House requires the giving of personal
information and the creation of an account, the whole thing may be just
another fishing expedition by federal authorities trying to collect names of
individuals sympathetic to Anonymous, something that may be stopping the
petition from going viral. We don’t know and the White House has not
returned our requests for comment. The views and opinions expressed here are my own. I can be reached at [email protected]. The statement and audio were provided by Anonymous, maybe.
Mubarak retrial ordered amid spreading unrest in Egypt 13 January, 16:40
A judge in
Cairo has granted an appeal by former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and
the defense and ordered a retrial in the case which found Mubarak sentenced
Mubarak to life in prison for not preventing the deaths of 900 protestors
during last year’s Arab Spring uprising. In a related development Mubarak’s
sons who were found not guilty on corruption charges in the same trial, will
also be re-tried. "The retrial will be based on the same evidence used in
the previous trial. No new evidence will be added to the case." In a short
hearing in a court in Egypt, judge Ahmed Ali Abdel-Rahman, has ordered a
retrial in the case of 84-year-old former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,
who is currently serving a life sentence for not preventing the killing of
approximately 900 protestors during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. The decision by
the court also applies to Mubarak’s former security head, Habib al Adli, who
was tried along with Mubarak and also sentenced to life in prison on the
same charges. The decision by
the court came in response to an appeal request that was earlier filed by
Mubarak and the defendants in the case. Reports say that
there will be no new evidence presented at the re-trial for which a date has
not been currently sent. Sky news quotes Mohamed Abdel Razek, a lawyer for
Mubarak as saying: "The retrial will be based on the same evidence used in
the previous trial. No new evidence will be added to the case." Sky news also
quotes the lawyer as saying the panel of judges will take into consideration
Mubarak’s deteriorating health when reaching their new decision. Mubarak’s health
has steadily deteriorated since he was overthrown, even being pronounced
dead at one point by the state news agency when he went into a coma
following a stroke he had while in custody. Mubarak is
currently in a Cairo hospital after he apparently slipped and injured
himself while in prison recently. The ruling comes
amid intensified protests and violence in the country and a day after a
public funds prosecutor filed another detention warrant against Mubarak in
connection with gifts Mubarak and other officials received during Mubarak’s
time in power. The prosecutors allege Mubarak and other officials received
gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from one of Egypt’s most
influential news organizations. On the other
side of the equation: Mubarak’s two sons, Gamal who was seen as the
successor to Mubarak and Alaa a businessman, who were both acquitted of
corruption charges in the same trail as Mubarak, will be retried. On Sunday
Judge Abdel Rahman granted a prosecution appeal against the not-guilty
verdicts of the two sons. As Mubarak
supporters were cheering the decision in the court, the streets of Cairo
were erupting with new violence. On Saturday
Radical Islamists attacked the offices of the Newspaper of the opposition
Wafd Party as the country was voting on a new constitution which is hoped
will heal the wounds in the country and bring an end to the unrest. Polls closed at
11pm on Saturday and as officials began the process of vote-counting the
Islamists attacked the offices of the publication. The results of the
national referendum will not be announced until a second round of voting is
complete in other areas of Egypt next Saturday but both sides are claiming
victory and battling each other in the streets. Protestors
against the new constitution say it is too “Islamist” and discriminates
against minorities. In particular it does not guarantee the rights of
minority members of thy Egyptian population or of women. Protestors who
had been staging an “Occupy style” sit-in outside of the presidential palace
in Cairo, complete with tents, where they have been camping since December
4, 2012, were attacked by unknown assailants with approximately 30 receiving
varying degrees of injuries. Itar-Tass
reports that 27 people were injured in total including 7 members of the
security forces who were present at the site of the protest. The attackers,
who numbered approximately two dozen and wore masks, are assumed to be
Islamic extremist elements with some reports saying they are connected to
the Muslim Brotherhood. They attacked the protestors with Molotov cocktails
and burned down at least for tents. In a similar
attack on December 5, 2012 ten protestors were killed at the same location.
Supporters of current Egyptian President Morsi were blamed for that attack.
Egypt court orders Mubarak retrial Egypt's Court of
Cassation on Sunday accepted an appeal for a retrial by former president
Hosni Mubarak who was sentenced to life for his involvement in the deaths of
protesters in 2011. Mubarak, his two
sons Alaa and Gamal, his former interior minister and top security chiefs
will now face a new trial, the court said after a very brief hearing. The former
leader was convicted and sentenced to life behind bars in June for failing
to prevent the killing of some 900 protesters during the 2011 uprising. He
spent nearly a month in hospital having fallen unconscious shortly after his
transfer to prison, with state media declaring him clinically dead on
arrival. But medical sources said he appeared to have suffered a temporary
coma. Since then,
there were numerous scares connected with the ex-leader’s health. The last
time Mubarak was taken to hospital was in mid-December. Voice of Russia,
AFP, RT, AP
Mubarak better stay in hospital: lawyer Former Egypt’s
President Hosni Mubarak should stay in a military hospital where he was
transferred after a recent fall, his lawyer Farid El Deeb told reporters
Friday. Doctors found
fractures in Mubarak’s ribs. "I have warned
many times that the prison hospital conditions are not suitable," he said. The 84-year-old
is serving a life sentence in a Cairo prison for his role in the deaths of
protesters during last year's uprising.
Egypt's ex-Presdent hospitalized Egypt's ousted
president Hosni Mubarak was moved to an army hospital on Thursday after
falling in prison, sparking fresh concerns about his fragile health. Mubarak, 84, is
serving a life sentence for his role in killing protesters during last
year’s uprising. Mubarak's health
has been the subject of intense speculation in Egypt and he has spent much
of the time before and after his trial in the prison hospital. His lawyer said
he was transferred to the military hospital after fracturing a rib in the
fall in his prison clinic. He said Mubarak
also suffered from lung complications and dizziness.
Orwellian methods cyber control: DDoS, Greensboro sit-ins, Anonymous comment 13 January, 19:42
http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Cyber_Ops_Computer_Security.html
When there is
tyranny free people must fight back, when the tyrants try to take away that
right, they must be removed. The United States of America is attempting to
implement and exercise tyranny on the world-wide-web, this is evidenced by
unproportionate fines and prison sentences for anything they deem they do
not like. Cyber space should be free space not a prison planet. Anonymous
commented on DDoS and the Greensboro sit-ins to the Voice of Russia. The recent
petition by supporters of Anonymous to the Obama Administration to
decriminalize DDoS attacks has now received 3,649 signatures, as of time of
writing. One of my
sources in Anonymous contacted me with some interesting facts that show the
ridiculous over kill possessed by the US authorities. If you are not
convinced that ten year felony sentences for a temporary slowdown of a
location in cyber-space which then remains undamaged is over-kill perhaps
these facts will change your mind. According to my
anonymous source: “The severity of the sentences the government seeks for
those who have participated in denial of service protests are dangerously
out of line with the harm caused.” The source says
that according
to the US’ own data rapists
serve on average 65 months in prison, yet the government seeks sentences of
ten years, 120 months, for the nonviolent act of participating in a denial
of serviceprotest.
Liking DDoS in the virtual world to denial of service in the real world is
an astute argument but in reality the virtual kind is so much less tangible
and in reality does not even exist in the real world that it should not even
need to be compared, let alone prosecuted. One might argue
if the people do not have the right to protest and freely express themselves
in cyber space, then the government which is supposed to be of the people
has absolutely no business attempting to regulate it or control it. Attempting to
control the masses and information with such Orwellian methods and such an
iron-hand is nothing if not complete and total tyranny on the part of the US
Government and the out of control police state. The source goes
on to say: “Denial of service actions have been instrumental in the pursuit
and protection of civil rights in America. Recall that the touchstone moment
of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement was the Greensboro
sit-in where
isolated and vulnerable blacks occupied the "whites-only" lunch counter at
Woolworth's.The protest spanned days, rather than the hours typical of a
DDoS protest, and the Woolworth's lunch business was blocked entirely, while
sales dropped by more than a third. Yet for all of this disruption,
protesters were largely unmolested by the police. In fact, the police even
protected a protester by arresting an angry assailant! Ultimately,
Woolworth's changed their policy of segregation to end the protest, allowing
blacks and whites to enjoy equal treatment.” Comparing the
Civil Rights Movement to cyber sit-ins may be a little bit of a stretch but
the question here is the methodology to bring about peaceful change. Again
to contrast, the Greensboro sit-ins required dozens if not hundreds of
people putting their lives on the line and risking real world blowback. So
logically the penalty should be more severe than doing something in cyber
space. Again DDoS attacks do not damage and just slow things down for a
while. So why is the US so heavy-handed on cyber activists? Our source says:
“Yet in recent times, the story does not end so happily. When Paypal, Visa,
and Mastercard blocked and confiscated donations intended for Wikileaks,
protesters flooded the companies' sites to demand that Wikileaks receive the
same service that all other customers enjoy. So much internet traffic was
generated by protesters that, effectively, all of the seats at the lunch
counters of these financial companies were occupied, temporarily closing
their websites. Within hours rather than weeks, the protesters dispersed
peacefully and normal operations resumed for Paypal, Visa, and Mastercard.” The US
government is desperate to control the internet and terrify anyone who
attempts to exercise any sort of freedom on it, just like they attempt to
stifle the freedom of speech in the real world, for several reasons. The
main reason being their own criminal conduct and the fact that the internet
has done more to show the evil and illegality of government and corrupt
officials than anything else in the history of mankind, another secondary
but nonetheless important reason is the financial motivations of the
corporations which not control the Fascist States of America. The source said:
“Today's powerful federal police, however, no longer exercise the restraint
shown by the local police of 1960s. In the following two months, the FBI
served more than 40 warrants and
released the famous press statement calling for 10-year felony sentences for
all involved.” In reality DDoS
attacks are a temporary headache and when addressing legitimate complaints
they should not be prosecuted at all. Prosecuting personal or damaging
material, launching personal cyber attacks or cracking into systems and
defacing or stealing information is another topic entirely. For the out of
control police state however prosecuting DDoS attacks in such a heavy handed
way is just another way to make the for-profit-prison-system more
profitable, terrorize anyone with a dissenting view into silence and protect
the government’s corporate controllers. Source finished
with the following statement: “Anonymous stands by the example of the brave
men and women of Greensboro. History shows that the bravery of protesters
results in a more just society for all, and the public interest is not
served by 10-year sentences for peaceful resistance.”
Every move you make, we’ll be watching you - US Hyper Security REX84 State 15 January, 21:27 http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Cyber_Ops_Computer_Security.html 30,000 drones
flying over the United States in the next 20 years is just one of the things
Americans have to look forward too as their government continues to turn
their country into a 100% total security state. Americans have long ago
traded their “freedom” for security, so drones over Kansas should be no real
big deal. The US Government and even the local sheriff are counting on your
support, and support you will because you have no choice. According to the
US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) within 20 years there will be
approximately 30,000 drones flying over the United States. This month alone
the FAA approved the usage of another 348 drones to be used within the
United States. The latest
drone-hungry law enforcement body in the US to publically declare they will
be using drones is the Sherriff’s Department of Orange County Florida, which
has stated it intends to use 2 drones this summer over the metropolitan
Orlando area. LINK 1 Proponents of
drone usage are attempting to justify yet another intrusion into the privacy
of Americans and another tool that will strip away personal freedom and
assist in creating a 100% secure-total-control-hyper-security state, by
saying they will be used to catch illegal immigrants, criminals, and you
guessed it terrorists. The problem here
is that most Americans are buying into these false flag hyped-up arguments
based on media-spin and false propaganda being spread by their own
government. Saying that some
poor Mexican (or other illegal) who picks their tomatoes, lives in a room
with seven other illegals during the picking season only to be deported
before he can be paid when the farmer who hired him turns him in to the
Immigration and Naturalization Service because, lo’ and behold, unbeknownst
to him they were illegal, is a threat to America’s national security, is the
most disingenuous xenophobic argument one can possibly imagine. People
conveniently forget that illegal-immigrants are exploited to no end in the
United States and then blamed for every problem under the sun. They also
forget that without them the price for most fruits and vegetables, for
example, would sky-rocket beyond affordability if union-wage paid hands were
sent out to the fields to pick the harvests. But of course for the US
Government it is easy to blame marginalized and vulnerable members of the
population for any problem they wish. As for
criminals, the US for-profit-prison-system is holding more prisoners than
other country on earth and the US also has a larger percentage of the
population in prison than any other country on the planet. Does a country
that can put a person in prison for life for stealing a Mars bar on three
occasions (California’s 3 strikes law) really need to be able to spy on
anyone anytime they want? And that is assuming the drones will be used for
surveillance. The next step will be arming them, again in the name of
security to facilitate arrests and stop criminals. Does the US law
enforcement establishment need to be this militarized? The answer is no. Do
they wish to be? The answer is they absolutely and without a do. What about the
terrorist claim? Well, to be frank the entire US terrorist threat is pure
hype. Unless of course we take into account the self-created terrorist
threat that has existed since 9-11. However even after more than a decade of
slaughtering supposed “terrorists” their families and everyone around them,
perhaps in the hope of creating real terrorists and thousands who will seek
revenge for the killing of their families, there has yet to be a real
terrorist attack in the United States of America. So there you go
American populace, you have been duped and the real planners of 9-11 have
been rolling over and laughing at you since day one. Here you were asked to
believe that some ex-CIA agent (Osama bin-Laden a.k.a. Tom Ossman) organized
the most precision demolition in the history of mankind and staged it to
look like a terrorist attack using pilotless “drone” aircraft from a cave in
Afghanistan, and you believed it. Then you were asked to believe that behind
every tree and lamp-post there lurked an al-Qaeda terrorist from the local
“cell” that exists in every “hometown” American city, and you believed that
too. So they stripped
you of one right after the other and you agreed because you felt afraid and
terrorized and trusted your government, yet who in fact was terrorizing you?
Your own government and your government-and-corporate-controlled-mass-media,
who have worked hand in hand in creating the corporate-controlled fascist
state you live in today. So Americans,
you have video cameras on every corner, you have bar codes and computers
that record your purchases and upload them to your “file” when you use your
credit card, you have dentists who record and upload your data to central
data-bases, you have AGPS devices with internet connect-ability that record
your every move and can now even determine what floor you are on, cell
phones that can be used remotely to listen and even watch you through the
camera and which can track your every move, you have traffic cams that
record your license number and can ticket you by mail, laser radar that can
record your speed from three miles out, auto-mounted transmitters that can
help track your vehicle no matter where you might be, satellite cams that
can read the title of that paperback you are reading while you try to fall
asleep, cameras that can see through walls, acoustic, microwave and other
weapons that can cook you alive from the inside from a distance, data-bases
of your every move from a doctor’s visit to a late electrical bill, facial
identification software being used in public places, retinal scans, brain
scanning devices that can supposedly pick up the “abnormal” brain activity
of a terrorist, and that is not all. They want to put RFID chips under your
skin with all of your information stored on them that can be activated
remotely, they already have RFID chips used to track consumer goods and cars
and even students (Texas), warrantless wire tapping and surveillance to
listen to every word you say and to watch you whenever they want, you have
data bases that record all your activities on the internet and Carnivore
which saves and records every e-mail and fax you send, there are even tiny
micro-chips in your money which record every bank where that money has been,
and then there are the lists: the black lists, no-fly lists, watch lists,
secret police lists which might contain such information as the fact that
you keep a shot gun under the bed in the right corner, etc. etc., so with
all that America what is a drone? If you were to
enter the “secret” DHS or CIA or NSA rooms where there are huge screens that
they use to track and record everything and anything they want and can bring
you up with a few key-strokes and see where you are and what you have been
up to, including what you had for dinner last night, you would understand
that you are no longer free. I personally
don’t feel too bad for Americans, they have blindly allowed all of this to
come about and unfortunately for them it is too late. Meanwhile, is
Russia we have traffic cams, registration stamps with our addresses, and
very competent security services who actually prevent real terrorists from
attacking. Without demanding the enslavement of the people. The views and
opinions expressed here are my own. I may be reached at [email protected] The public interest is not, but the corporate and police state’s interests are. If the people no longer have the right to protest, then they are slaves of the system, and that is exactly what those in power in America want.
Under the Radar-3: RFID chips being used to track students and US and al-Qaeda working hand in hand 21 January, 11:55 http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Media_Operations.html
The
surveillance of Americans by their government continues unabated, the US was
in Mali long before the French arrived supposedly working with al-Qaeda, and
Germany is withdrawing its gold reserves worldwide. All of these events are
currently taking place “Under the Radar”. Every week
hundreds of important events occur that are important to all of us but which
do not get enough media attention, either because they are over-shadowed by
other major news or because they do not fit the pre-planned message that
many of the world’s media are trying to promote, there is a journalistic
responsibility to tell the whole story which we always attempt to do.
Although we keep our eyes on the world this week’s most pressing issues that
have been suppressed come from the US. 1. FBI
and secret surveillance techniques Have you hear of
an IMSI catcher or Stingray? Neither did I until I read this story. The
device is being used by the FBI and is basically a fake cell phone tower
that is used to determine the location of all cells phones in a certain area
and intercept all phone calls and texts. It is just one of the US FBI’s new
tools to spy on you and one they do not want you to know about. “Currently, EFF
is suing the government for its secret interpretation of the Patriot Act
Section 215, and for secret FISA court opinions that could shed light on the
NSA warrantless wiretapping program. In addition, the ACLU has sued the
Obama administration for its legal opinion stating it can kill US citizens
overseas, away from the battlefield.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation 2. Maybe it is
not surprising anymore that the US and al-Qaeda are working hand in
hand to spread war and terror and keep the endless global “war on
Terror” alive, but it may be a little known fact that they were operating in
Mali when the Tuareg took over the country. “… there was
already a US presence in Mali in the summer of 2012. What they were doing
there remains a mystery, as it is a mystery if the ever co-present flip
flops on the ground were there inciting the perpetual scapegoat Al Qaeda to
do this, or that. Or maybe it was not the CIA. Maybe it was the Army's
"little-known and secretive" branch known as the Intelligence and Security
Command.” 3. Germany
has recently pulled all of its gold from the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York and is in the process of testing all of its gold worldwide. Why?
This articles claims that “they” now have a TEMPEST style device that can
locate and analyze gold emanations. “News that
Germany will remove 300 tons of gold from the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York gold vault repeats the oft-made claim the vault is 80 feet below
ground." 4. MOSSAD
agents rarely get caught but when they do it should not be
ignored, especially when they are hand-picked and trained from
prisoners held at Guantanamo. “For the first
time in history, an Israeli agent of Pakistani origin has been arrested from
Lahore, who is reportedly from the Seraiki belt region. Sources have
revealed that the culprit was held at Guantanamo Bay for two and a half
years, during the course of which he was subjected to brainwashing. After
that, he was sent to Afghanistan where he was specially trained to plan
terrorism. And finally, he was sent back to Pakistan.” 5. Well
Americans, you were warned and you allowed it to happen. Now if you protest
what your government does or do anything that appears to be aimed at
“coercing” the populace in any way, you may be labeled a terrorist and
secretly arrested and disappeared. “A written exam
administered by the Pentagon labels “protests” as a form of “low-level
terrorism” — enraging civil
liberties advocates and activist groups who say it shows blatant disregard
of the First Amendment.” 6. The fact
that American students are now being required to wear RFID tracking
devices like cattle is something I wrote about before but the
fact that the state is able to win the right to do such a thing in court is
something that should be making the headlines worldwide. “Hernandez, who
has been threatened with expulsion for refusing to wear a chipless RFID
tracking badge, had her request for a preliminary injunction denied by the
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Western District of Texas.” 7. Riding
your bike and arguing with a police officer are crimes in California.
This has been going on for decades but the idiocy of it has as far as I know
never been filmed until now. “As a result of
the man ‘arguing’ with him, the criminal in uniform insists on adding a made
up charge for ‘speeding’ to add on top of the made up charge of biking on
the wrong side of a bike path.” 8. Right
wing propaganda tool called out for calling Americans “stupid” US media
watchdog, Media Matters for America calls out fearmongering gasbag Bill
O’Reilly as he insults ALL Americans and calls them “stupid”. “So, I have to
play Paul Revere here. I have to continue to tell you the truth. But I also
believe many Americans simply will not listen. And even worse, they are not
smart enough -- not smart enough to even care. Disaster could be coming.” 9. The
death of Aaron Swartz is something the mass media may not want
you to know about, especially as many are claiming his death was a
murder disguised as a suicide. If you are interested in some of
the writings of Mr. Swartz please visit Cryptome which is keeping a large
archive of Mr. Swartz’s writings and work. 10. Al-Qaeda,
created, funded and backed by the US is expanding their role in Syria and
the Syrians they claim to be fighting for are not happy. Surprise, surprise! "They see
stealing things that used to belong to the government, like copper
factories, or any factory, as no problem," said the rebel commander. "They
are selling it to the Turks and using the money for themselves. This is
wrong. This is money for the people."
Foreign child adoption as sound “investment” and business for Americans, or why Dima Yakovlev Law is necessary to protect Russian children 23 January, 21:44 As the media
and the public debate the Dima Yakovlev Law the real reasons for the law are
being lost in the debate, namely the abuse of Russian adoptees by American
adoptive parents and the fact that American officials are not allowing
Russian officials access to children who are Russian citizens in order to
verify that they are being cared for in an appropriate manner. Russia seeks
to protect its most defenseless citizens, it is as simple as that. With the passing
of the Dima Yakovlev law many Russians are debating the issue of adoptions
and sadly another rift, albeit small has appeared in Russian society due to
America’s actions. What is being lost in the debate here in Russia as sides
point fingers at each other, namely the Western backed “opposition” who come
out on every occasion to belittle any decision are action that protects
Russia’s sovereignty and those who are interested in the well being of
Russian children, is the real reason for the Dima Yakovlev law: the deaths
and murders of Russian adoptees at the hands of their American foster
parents.
Pseudo political correctness western style and
Russian orphans Many have said
the law was in answer to the U.S. Magnitsky Act, however this is far from
the case. The real reason was the continued abuse of Russian adoptees by
American adoptive parents and the obfuscation and interference by the US
authorities in granting Russian Officials access to Russian adoptees in
order to check their well-being. It is important to recall that all Russian
adoptees are Russian citizens until their 18th birthday and Russia is simply
seeking to protect the rights of its smallest and most defenseless citizens. Why Americans
adopt foreign children To start off I
think it is important to look at why Americans want to adopt Russian
children in the first place. One reason is because they did not have to go
through the extensive background checks and even the US checks that exist
are more lenient when it comes foreign adoptions. Another and
perhaps more significant reason is the simple fact that most American
adoptive parents are white and many openly state of their dream to have a
blonde blue-eyed white child, problematic in the US where parents may have
only children from other race groups to choose from or where the competition
for the child of their choice is too great or the wait could take years. “Parents” such
as these are not interested in charity or providing a child with a good life
but are in reality simply engaged in the act of “buying goods” to fulfill
whatever motivations they have for pursuing the “purchase” in the first
place. The argument
they may use that a white child is easier to integrate into a white family
may seem valid on the surface but true familial harmony has nothing to do
with racial make-up, unless you are a racist of course. For adoptions
agencies and child “brokers” engaged in the business of selling and buying
children for their clients, having a source of cheap white children was a
“God-send”. Like anything where there is a demand there is always someone
ready to capitalize on that demand and fill it, and for them Russia was
ideal. One “Christian”
organization in Russia openly states that the cost of a Russian child was
$5,000, almost nothing when Americans are ready to pay from $35,000 to
$120,000 for a white blue-eyed child. The profits to be had are huge. Of course it is
distasteful to call the process what it is; “the buying and selling of
children”, especially for the parents, so the agencies and those involved
have to come up with mountains of supportive arguments and self-satisfying
reasoning to make their business palatable to the world at large. The constant
propaganda against Russia and the “deplorable conditions in Russian
orphanages”, etc etc ad-nauseum by people who have never set foot in a
Russian orphanage or even in the Russian Federation is necessary to assist
them in selling their product and placating the consciences of people who
are uprooting a child from the child’s natural surrounding and attempting to
recreate the child in whatever image they desire on the other side of the
planet. Another reason
Americans seek to adopt children from overseas is the fear that the birth
mother may show up and “interfere” in the upbringing of the child or take
the child away altogether, something which may happen in the US if for
example; a mother had her child taken away due to substance abuse issues and
has since reformed her behavior. All of these
reasons; the long waiting lists, the stricter internal US controls, the fact
that the birth mother may show up at any moment, the fact that the child
itself may seek out its mother or father, make adopting children from a
foreign country attractive to Americans. There are also issues with parents
who may have an affinity for a country or possess imperialistic sentiments
assuaged by the fact that they “possess” a person from a certain country and
can make them “American”. Another fact
that few pay attention to but is also important is the tax breaks that
Americans may receive for adopting foreign children, there is the primary
tax break for having a dependent child (applicable to all adoptions) and
then tax breaks for foreign travel and “charitable contributions” if the
adoption is done for example through a “Christian” organization. Again, from
a “business” viewpoint a very sound “investment”, and from an oversight
viewpoint such organizations enjoy almost no oversight by the authorities. Unfortunately no
serious studies on the subject have been done and data is extremely
difficult to find as to the primary driving motivations so what you have
just read are the results of my own research on the matter at hand. Adoptions and
adoptees in the US Most of the
information about adoptions in the US is almost impossible to find and even
the number of actual children eligible for adoption is a fact that is not
available to the public. As an example; in one state an adoptive parent, who
went through all of the steps to be allowed to adopt a child and was finally
allowed to “choose” a child, was shocked to learn that apart from the 30
children she was at first told were available, there were in fact more than
500 more in her state. According to
official data; in the US the figures regarding international as opposed to
internal adoptions stands at roughly 20% international and 40% from the
foster care system and 40% from private adoptions. Currently there
are officially about 129,000 children in the US in the foster care system
ready for adoption and the number from private adoptions may be far greater
bringing the number of children in the US waiting to be adopted to what
could be close to half a million or more, this does not include children who
the states are waiting to take parental rights away from. The US does not
officially list children as being eligible for adoption until the parents
have lost all parental rights and states intentionally refrain from taking
this final step until there are adoptive parents, making the number of
children eligible for adoption but not on official lists possibly ten times
greater. Child homicide
and abuse in the US: stats and figures In 2008, a year
I was able to find data on, there were approximately 1,494 child homicides
in the United States. Of those killed 1,035 were male, while 453 were
female, these figures are more or less average with reports seeing an
increase in the past few years. Indeed, even the
19 Russian-born children who died while in the care of their adoptive
parents are a tiny minority of the 60,000 Russian children who have been
adopted in the United States since 1991. Using this number, the death rate
of Russian adoptees is 1.5 per 100,000 per year. By comparison, the general
child fatality rate due to neglect and abuse has hovered around 2.2 deaths
per 100,000 children per year over the past few years in the US. One might
argue from the facts that Americans kill more of their own children than
Russian children, but the point is moot when even one death is unacceptable. Some more
figures: in the US in 2011 an estimated 1,570 children died of abuse and
neglect, making the numbers: 2.1 per 100,000, and in the past 6 years the
number has fluctuated between a high of 1,608 in 2007 and a low of 1,494 in
2008. By age the
number of children killed in the US is disproportionately high when it comes
to children under 3. In 2011: 98 3-year-olds were murdered, 166 2-year-olds,
229 1-year-olds and 534 children under the age of one were murdered by their
caregivers, making almost 82% of all murdered children in America under the
age of 4. According to US
Government statistics for 2011 the race of parents who murdered their
children is as follows: 490 children were killed by white parents (40.5%),
341 by black parents (28.2%) and 215 by Hispanic parents (17.8%), figures
from which any number of conclusions could be reached. The figures for
those killed by neglect stand at 895 deaths (71.1%), from abuse 602 dead
(47.9%) with the rest dying from other causes. An argument in
defense of adoptive parents might be had from the fact that there were
617,858 cases of abuse reported by parents in 2011 and by adoptive parents
only 5,108. This could be attributed to the fact that adoptive parents are
generally better educated and more well-off than the majority of the
population. How do Americans
abuse their children? According to US Government figures for 2011 61% of
parents abusing their children were guilty of neglect, 9.7% physically
abused their children and a whopping 6.2% sexually abused their own children
or those in their care. Crime and
Punishment Sadly, in a
country where rapists get an average of 65 months in prison before they are
prowling the streets again (according to figures by the FBI), hackers get
approximately 10 years for DDoS attacks, and anyone the state deems a
“terrorist” can be disappeared for life, parents who murder their own
children, and in particular those who murder Russian orphans, get away with
nothing more than a slap on the wrist if they are repentant. Moral
low-ground The United
States has long ago lost its self-perceived position as the world’s moral
compass for many reasons, one being the situation surrounding adopted
children, others being all of the war crimes, aggressive wars, droning,
torture and human rights violations that have existed and come to light
since 9-11. Yet another no
less important indicator is the Official US refusal to sign and comply with
international treaties and norms including: the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention for the
Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Mine Ban Treaty,
the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against
Torture. The US is the
only country in the world, other than Somalia, that has not ratified the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely and rapidly ratified
human rights treaty in history. As for the CEDAW, it is one of only seven
countries including: Iran, Nauru, Palau, Somalia, Sudan and Tonga that has
failed to ratify the convention. One might argue
that the US has ratified the Hague Conventions on International Adoptions,
however there is no recourse for violations to the conventions and they are
largely ignored. Despite all of
the above many Americans feel that, while dictating to the world what to do
and meddling into the affairs of any nation they choose to, any “foreign”
oversight or monitoring is somehow an attack on their sovereignty. Hence the
obfuscation faced by Russian Officials when it comes to checking on the
welfare of Russian adoptees. US Society As I said
before: having lived in both Russia and the U.S. for decades I can honestly
say that any Russian travelling to the U.S. would be shocked at the number
of stories and cases of child abuse and atrocities against children that
exist in the United States and that no one hears about in the filtered
international U.S. media. Societal
violence, sexual deviation and the mentality of Americans in seeing every
country in the world as being beneath their own contempt make it dangerous
for children from other countries to be adopted by Americans. Predators see
isolated foreign children as prime targets as they are defenseless and in
most cases too afraid to fight back or speak out, which leads to an
escalation of the violence against themselves. For decades few
people have understood the reality that in America it is not all milk and
honey, yet Russians are beginning to wake up. The Russian Government in
particular, with the expulsion of USAID, which was heavily involved in
subverting the Russian state, and also in the whole children’s care sphere,
has finally begun to take measures against the carefully planned and subtle
encroachment on Russia’s sovereignty. Russians must
congratulate the government and President Putin for having the courage and
foresight to take measures to protect the Russian Federation and the Russian
people and most importantly protect Russia’s defenseless children who were
being “sold” to America. Unfortunately after decades of pro-US propaganda
many in Russia still believe the lies they have been fed and unfortunately
do not know the real motives behind organizations such USAID. With higher
education almost out of reach for the majority of Americans the overall
population is one of the worst educated in the world. The societal
glorification of violence and force is exacerbated by lack of education,
resulting in a situation where many see violence as the only solution,
including when it comes to resolving issues with children. America’s own
problems concerning unwanted children are also not helped and possibly
driven by the church and the whole anti-abortion craze which has caused
millions of unwanted children that no one really cares about adopting. Economic
concerns and the breakdown down in the family, the primary societal unit,
also have led to a situation where children are paying the price in America. Despite all of
this the US Media is continuously biased against Russia, and any other
country in the world for that matter, and continues to perpetuate the myth
that most Americans themselves refuse to part with, that America is the land
of milk and honey and everywhere else is “third world”. Russian
falacies One of these
myths is the argument by the Russian opposition that disabled Russian
orphans have nowhere to go. According to the Pavel Astakhov, the Russian
President’s Ombudsman on Children’s Rights, there are more Russian parents
ready to adopt Russian orphans than there are children. There are also
hundreds of thousands of disabled American children for Americans to adopt
and if there were really charitable motivations behind the actions of these
adoptive parents, they would adopt their own disabled children first, but
they don’t. Americans who want to adopt Russian children, as I said above,
are not interested in charity, they are interested in obtaining a cheap
white blue-eyed Russian baby. I can not say
there are no Americans who are driven by charity, there are some and they
must be applauded, but they are few and generally they are overburdened and
run group homes which attempt to deal with the needs of these special
children in an environment where there is minimal support. As for Russia
and I can say this honestly and with the insight of an educator, the respect
for children is much higher than in the U.S. and the level of crimes and
cases of inhumane acts against children are so much lower as to almost be
non-existent if one compares them to the U.S. In the better
part of two decades here there have been less than a dozen high profile
cases of crimes against children and once again I cannot help but to compare
that with the almost daily onslaught in the U.S. media of cases of child
abuse, kidnappings, child murders and pedophilia. Not only Russia Russia is not
the only country that has put a halt to American adoptions. One important
source for children used by those in the child trade business was Guatemala.
In 2008 it was the leading country providing children for Americans with
4,123 children being adopted by Americans. Several countries have also
drastically cut back on the number of adoptions to America or increased the
requirements on those wishing to adopt, these include: Ethiopia, Vietnam,
South Korea and even China. Murdered
Children Since the ‘90s
19 Russian children have died at the hands of their American adopted
parents. 1. Ivan
Skorobogatov “Nathaniel Craver” aged 7, died August 25, 2009 after being
taken off life support in Hershey Pennsylvania. The autopsy revealed Vanya
suffered 80 external injuries, including 20 to the head and had been abused
for an extended period of time. His killers Michael and Nannette Craver were
released after time served. 2. Dmitry
Yakovlev, “Chase Harrison” aged 21 months, died July 8, 2008 in Herndon,
Virginia. Child was baked alive in the back of the car of adopted “father”
Miles Harrison, who “forgot” the child and was acquitted of any wrongdoing
in the murder of the infant. His killer was released. 3. Nickolai
(Kolya ) Emelyantsev, 14-months-old, died on March 7, 2008 in Tooele Utah.
He was murdered by his adoptive mother Kimberly Emelyantsev, he died of a
fractured skull after being repeatedly bashed on a concrete floor and had
cuts and bruises to over 90% percent of his little body. His killer has
already been released. 4. Denis Uritsky
“Dennis Gene Merryman” 8-years-old. Died January 22, 2005 in Harford County,
Maryland of cardiac arrest brought on by starvation. At 3 he weighed 40
pounds, at the time of death he weighed 37. His killers were released then
received 22 years each. 5. Victoria
Bazhenova “Nina Hilt”. 2.5-years-old. Died July 2, 2005 in Manassas,
Virginia of blows and internal injuries to the abdominal area after being
repeatedly kick and punched in the stomach and back. Murdered by Peggy Sue
Hilt. Killer sentenced to approximately 20 years. 6. Konstantin
Shlepin “David Polreis Jr” aged 2. Died February 9, 1996 in Greeley,
Colorado after being beaten to death. Had cuts and bruises over 90% of his
body. Killed by Renee Polreis. Killer was released in 2005. 7. Logan
Higginbotham aged 3. Died November 25, 1998 in Shelburne, Vermont of massive
head injuries after being slammed into a wall. Killer Laura Higginbotham was
sentenced to 1 year and has been released. 8. Viktor
Sergeivich Tulimov “Viktor Matthey” aged 6. Died October 31, 2000 in
Hunterdon County, New Jersey of hypothermia after being locked in an
unheated service room overnight. Had over 40 cuts and bruises on his body as
well as untreated bone fractures. Killers Robert and Brenda Matthey were
released in 2008. 9. Luke Evans
aged 1.5 years. Died November 30, 2001 in Lowell, Indiana of massive head
injuries and shaken baby syndrome. His killer Natalie Fabian Evans was found
not guilty and released. 10. Alexei
Vasilovich Geiko “Alex Pavlis” 6-years-old. Died December 18, 2003 in
Schaumburg, Illinois of massive injuries after going into a coma. His killer
Iram Pavlis was sentenced to 12 years in prison but was released in 2008. 11. Ilya
Kargyntsev “Isaac Jonathan Dykstra” aged 21 months. Died August 14, 2005 in
Iowa City, Iowa of massive internal injuries. Killer Brian Dykstra was
charged with 2nd degree murder then acquitted. Free 12. Jacob Lindroff aged
5. Died December 14, 2001 in Gloucester Township, New Jersey of a blunt
force trauma to the head. Jacob has 2nd degree burns on his feet. Killers
James and Heather Lindroff have been released. They were later charged with
conspiracy to commit murder after attempting to hire a someone to kill a
witness in the case. They are free after those charges as well. 13. Jessica
Albina Hagmann age 2 years 7 months. Died August 11, 2003 in Prince William
County, Virginia of mechanical asphyxia due to compression against an adult:
lack of blood and oxygen. Jessica weighed only 27 pounds when she died and
was covered with bruises including multiple bruises and cuts to her face and
head. Killer Patrice Lynn Hagmann received 2 suspended sentences and has
been released. 14. Dmitry
Sergeyevich Ishlankulov “Liam Dmitry Thompson” aged 3. Died October 16, 2003
in Columbus, Ohio of burns to his entire body after being boiled alive in a
bathtub in 140 degree water and placed in a crib in a freezing basement for
five days. Killers Gary Allen Thompson received 15 years. Will probably be
released in 2018. Killer Amy Thompson will be released in 2017. 15. Maria
Anastasia Bennett aged 2. Died October 23, 2002 in Columbus Ohio of fatal
head wounds and eye injuries. Her killer Susan Jane Bennett received 3 years
with release after 2 years and the probation. She has been released. 16. Sacha Vallée
aged 4. Died October 9, 2002 in Verdun, Quebec, Canada after being beaten
for 4 days, dropped on his face, punched in the stomach and left outside in
the Canadian winter. His killer Eric Grenier was found guilty of
non-premeditated homicide and sentenced to life in prison with no
possiblility of parole for 12 years( by Canada). 17. Nikita
Khoryakovont “Zachary Higier” aged 2. Died August 15, 2002 in Braintree,
Massachusetts of a bilateral skull fracture, a massive stroke on the right
side of his brain, a smaller stroke on left side, brain swelling and
detached retinas consistent with a fall from a 3 storey building. Killer
Natalia Higier was sentenced to 2 1/2 years. Has been released 18 and19 Yana
and Anatoly Kolenda. Both aged 11. Died on October 21, 2002 in Westfield,
Massachusetts after being brutally murdered by the Richard Kolenda who then
killed the adoptive mother and later shot himself in the head. Then there are
multiple cases of abuse such as: Kuzma Cochran,
4-years-old. Abused by Jane and Timothy Cochran. Kuzma was tortured, had
bruises over 90% of his body, was beaten and had a piece of his ear cut off.
Abusers received 3 and 2 months. Were released. Kelsey Hyre,
aged 2, living in Akron Ohio and permanently paralyzed on September 26, 2002
when her spine severed by Gerald Hyre after he slammed her on the floor. Russian
children should be cared for and looked after by Russian parents or
caregivers, especially in light of the lack of access allowed Russian
Officials to Russian children abroad, in reality that is in the best
interest of the children. As for America they should take more steps to
solve their own internal issues with regards to child abuse and child
homicide before dragging in the international community and asking it to
accept the atrocious conditions faced by adoptees in America. In short
America should be banned from all international adoptions until they can
take care of their own children.
Taking apart and rebuilding government policy is hacktivism – interview 24 January, 17:57
Craig Rouskey,
micro-biologist, citizen scientist and organizer with Occupy San Francisco
spoke about his move from activism into Hacktivism and explained some of the
principles involved in Hacktivism and why it may be more effective in the
changing world. Robles: You
decided to move away a little bit from the Occupy activism and into
Hacktivism. What are some of the reasons for your decision to do that? And
is that a sign that the Occupy Movement is in decline? Rouskey: No,
I would say first a couple of things. First, the Occupy Movement is still
going pretty strong. We still have a huge number of people participating in
a housing justice and other issues. I myself, I’m still continuing the
on-the-ground activism in the community with a group which is a rights
focused group where we are working on local community issues in San
Francisco, in the community. So, there’s been a lot of spin-out groups of
the Occupy that are focused on specific communities. Robles: A
little bit about the Hacktivism,Now you are moving a little bit away from
the normal activism into Hacktivism. In your opinion, what are some of the
ways you can be more effective in that arena? And are you afraid of the
severe consequences that Hacktivists face even for doing simple things like
a DDoS attack? Rouskey: I
want to be very clear about some things. First of all, Hacktivism is an
iterative concept, it changes whatever iteration. In its first iteration,
Hacktivism was a lot of computer work, where people were breaking into
systems to liberate information, which I think is a noble goal. I think it
is important that information that people paid for up front, especially like
scientific research, I believe that that should be liberated. I think everyone
should have access to that, especially the tax payer. We paid for that
information and that research up front and we should have access to it
downstream. With that said, the kind of Hacktivism I do, is actually taking
apart systems, whether that’s actual physical tools or whatever, and
rebuilding them in ways that are more advantageous for people. So, some of the
Hacktivism that I would consider Hacktivism is the evaluation of public
policy, breaking down public policy and reforming it in a way that is
actually useful and more advantageous to the community. So, it is not all
computer work. I’m horrible at coding, I could never be like a computer
hacker. Robles: I
think a Hacktivist can just be someone who has a blog and speaks out and
gets information out to people, I mean… I think I agree with you there are
different levels. You don’t have to be a cracker or a hacker to be a
Hacktivist. Rouskey: Right,
exactly! I would say that the general principles of Hacktivism or the people
who call themselves Hacktivists generally focus on freeing up information. I
think they believe that having access to information or the tools to acquire
information is a goal that we have been working towards. I would also say
that there is a general theme of decentralization which was also a main
theme in the Occupy Movement, and it remains a central theme in the Occupy
Movement. And I think the
other important thing is that there is like a lack of hierarchy among
hacktivists. It is not about your degree, it is not about your age, your sex
but anarchist decentralized principle to it, which I think is beautiful and
important. Robles: Craig,
thanks a lot. I really appreciate it.
Assange Running for Office May Affect his Asylum 30 January, 23:04 Julian Assange
has decided to run for public office in his native Australia. This
information came out in a Tweet by WikiLeaks and has been confirmed in
statements to the press by Kristinn Hrafnsson, the official spokesperson for
WikiLeaks, and Christine Assange, mother of Julian Assange. According to the
WikiLeaks Twitter page and media reports Mr. Assange will be running for
Senate on a WikiLeaks Party ticket. According to Australian media Assange
stated that plans to register a WikiLeaks Party are ''significantly
advanced,'' and that "… a number of very worthy people admired by the
Australian public have indicated their availability to stand for election on
a party ticket.”
In an interview with Australia’s Fairfax Media Assange
said he meets the Australian requirements to “register as an overseas
elector in either New South Wales or Victoria and will soon be making a
strategic decision about which state he would be a senate candidate for.”
Whether the public will support his candidacy is another question altogether
but according to Assange he is encouraged by a number of Australian polls,
which had been conducted over the previous years and which he says show a
high-level of unwavering support for himself and WikiLeaks. The key question
will be if that support can be translated into actual votes in the polling
booth from an Australian Electorate that has been fed a steady stream of
anti-Assange propaganda for years. Some might argue
that this is just another media stunt by Assange to cause another media
frenzy, with the very important question be raised as to how he will be able
to serve the Australian people, if elected, and he is unable to return to
Australia. According to Fairfax Media Assange said if that is the case a
nominee would occupy his Senate seat. Other questions
arise as to how running for political office in Australia might affect his
political asylum claims under international treaties and how Ecuador will
react to the fact that someone who they are protecting wishes to run for
public office in a country where he is supposedly unwelcome and would be in
danger. The level of
danger to Ecuador and to the Ecuadorian President, caused by their
sheltering Assange, was once again underlined by Mr. William Blum, a famous
American writer and academic, in an interview I conducted with him forthe
Voice of Russia.
Mr. Blum said he was not surprised by President Correa’s claims that the CIA
was planning to assassinate him before the presidential elections next month
and that sheltering Assange was by itself enough reason for the CIA to
assassinate him. Mr. Blum said:
“The CIA attempts to assassinate people for much less reasons than that.
Assange is the public enemy No. 1 in America. The U.S. is obsessed with him
and they are afraid that he will be issuing the release of more classified
documents so they’d really like to put him out of the way, if they can.” There are
further questions that arise with the fact that Assange and WikiLeaks
associates have stated in the past that; Australia has done nothing to
protect Assange and that he would be handed over to the Americans for
prosecution if he set foot on Australian soil. Whether him
winning a seat to public office will provide him with immunity from
persecution and prosecution is also questionable and one might contend that
Assange would be better of concentrating his efforts on perhaps running for
office in the country that has granted him asylum and has been protecting
him even though it has put that country’s president in the proverbial
“cross-hairs of a CIA drone”. According to
Fairfax Media, Assange's biological father, John Shipton, is the person on
the ground organizing the formation of the Australian WikiLeaks Party, and
has already drafted the party's constitution which is now under legal
review. For the party to
be registered with the Australian Electoral Commission they would need "...
the confirmation of 500 members who are listed on the electoral roll", says
Fairfax Media. As Assange
remains holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London it is not clear how he
would be able to carry out his plans but perhaps he has several cards up his
sleeve. According to Mr.
Blum Mr. Assange might prefer to be cautious and avoid open spaces as:
“There is a drone somewhere with his name on it, and if he walks around in
the world and he is not in the midst of a big city, he’s a marked man.
There’s a rocket with his name on it inside of a drone with his name on it.” Whether refugee
Assange becomes Senator Assange, only time will tell.
‘The US Government has no right to take away guns’ – interview 30 January, 16:37 In an interview
for the Voice of Russia, Bill Wilson, talks about why Americans have the
right to stay armed. He says a small percentage of the population is
responsible for gun violence in America and that these people must be
aggressively dealt with. According to Mr. Wilson US law enforcement in
incapable of protecting the American people and it is time for the people to
stand up and take their liberty back. Robles: My
first question is regarding violence and guns in America. And what you and
you organization propose to do to solve the problem? Wilson: Well,
if you look at the country as a whole, obviously we have high numbers of gun
crimes and murders committed with a fire arm. So it strikes us as kind of
counter-productive or almost disingenuous to attempt to disarm the mass of
the public which are law-abiding and are not using fire arms for crimes. Robles: What
about these… and this is a phenomenon that is pretty much only going on, in
the world, in the United States: these repeated mass
shootings! Wilson: First
off, the incidents of mass shootings in the United States are no greater
today “mass acts of violence” than they were 20, 30 or 50, 60 years ago. And
in point of fact the incidents have actually become less! The idea that
somehow the United States is uniquely a violent country is absurd
propaganda. You don’t see Americans killing people of a different ethnic
group just for the hell of it! Robles: I
don’t know of any other country in the world with so many mass killings. As
far as racial murders, I mean, we could argue about that, but. What does
your organization propose? Now, I understand from what you’re saying, you
are against gun control and disarming America. Wilson: We’re
100% opposed to anything that reduces the right of an individual to have a
fire arm. And that the government: they don’t have the right, period, to
take guns away from the American people. That right was put in the
Constitution for a reason. And that reason was that an armed citizen was the
best defense from the government itself! Robles: That
was at a time when there was actually… I mean, they could call up militias! Wilson: You
have the police chiefs now of major cities admitting that they can’t
possibly help citizens in time. By the time you call 9-11 and if someone is
beating on your door, or you’re in a high crime area: you better be able to
defend yourself. Now! That’s the police chief of Milwaukee! Robles: What
if you take the guns away from everybody, so nobody has them? Wilson: You
have these single most egregious, strict gun control laws in the country in
Chicago and in Washington D.C., and it makes no difference. The criminals
have no problem getting guns. The only thing you do with your laws is you
disarm law-abiding citizens and you make them dependent on the state for
their own protection. We believe that all of the facts prove, and
inherently, that an individual depending on the state, we have another name
for that: it’s called “victim”, that the state is unable to defend, and can
not, in fact has proven it cannot. Robles: The
U.S. government, the police services: they are incapable of protecting the
population, in your words. Wilson: I
believe that the state is incapable of defending the people. American
philosophy is that if we’re free individuals, we take care of ourselves.
Only look to government when either: we have to or we’re forced to. Robles: The
U.S. has the most militarized aggressive police apparatus anywhere on the
planet. And you’re saying that they’re not capable of protecting Americans.
Why? Is crime so high? I mean: are there so many guns that average people
can’t protect themselves? Wilson: The
large number of guns in the United States is directly attributable, I think,
to the safety of most neighborhoods. Robles: So,
okay, your answer to the problem? Wilson: My
answer to the problem is an aggressive all-out confrontation of gangs and of
people who are already barred by law from owning a firearm. Robles: And
these are mostly blacks and Latinos? Wilson: Felons:
they’re not allowed to have guns! Reminder Robles: Now.
You are for less government. Now, who should be carrying out this crackdown? Wilson: I
would contend that it is a proper role for government to provide for the
common defense to go after those gangs and those elements in society that
are perpetrating 80% of the gun violence. Robles: And
if they don’t? Wilson: What
do you mean, “If they don’t?” Then their reaction is to take away rights
from everyone else. I think that’s the height of insanity and collectivist
goal. Robles: Why
are they doing that then? Wilson: Why? Robles: Yeah. Wilson: Because
they fear the American people and they want to disarm the American public. Robles: Why
do they fear the American people? Wilson: Because
I don’t think they believe the American people will fall for the
collectivist totalitarian crap that they’re spreading. Robles: Are
you saying that the government is afraid of an uprising or something like
that? Wilson: I
think the government is afraid of an armed populace. I think that is the key
of it, yeah. That was the purpose to the Second Amendment. That individuals,
an armed citizenry could defend its freedom from those that would take it
away. That was what the founders wrote. Robles: Would
you say that the American government, in the last say, couple of decades,
has been taking away your freedoms? Wilson: I
think government has been taking away individual liberty for the past 50
years, yeah. Robles: For
the past 50 years. Do you think it’s time that people stood up, or? Wilson: If
you think you’ll get me to call for an armed uprising that will never
happen. Do I want to the see the American people take back their liberties?
Yeah, I do! Robles: Okay,
not “armed”! Just stand up and say; “We’ve had it! That’s enough!” Wilson: Yeah.
I do! Robles: You
think it’s time? Wilson: You
know? The interesting thing John is the disconnect between the elites in
this country, the political elites, regardless of party, and the average
citizen has never been greater. And I’m not talking about NBC polls that are
manipulated by the question. All you have to do is to go to neighborhoods,
go out around the country and talk to people and you can see that there’s a
total disconnect. Robles: They’re
afraid of? Wilson: I
think they’re afraid of the American people being in a position to not
accept their rules or orders. Why else would the act this way? Why else
would you have people talking about disarming the public, in a total sense? Robles: So
you think they have manipulated and blown out proportion: gun violence, to
give them a reason to take away everybody’s guns right? Wilson: Well.
The events in Connecticut were not 72-hours-old, and what you had was a
well-orchestrated campaign from the White House on gun control. Nowhere was
there a discussion of the fact of addressing the mental health systems in
the country. Nowhere was there a discussion of school security. Nowhere was
there a discussion of the incidents of psychotropic drugs and shooters.
There was none of that! Robles: Sure,
I hear you! Of course. Wilson:But
there was certainly a push for “We have to take guns away from the American
people! Robles: From
everybody right? Wilson:Yeah! Robles: I
see. Wilson: Somehow
that was the instant solution. And so you’re left with the question: Why was
the immediate knee-jerk reaction backed up with a very major propaganda
campaign aimed at one thing: Let’s take guns! Let’s take them! Bill Wilson is
the President for Americans for Limited Government Bill Wilson (http://getliberty.org/), a Maryland native born in 1953, is a limited government activist, referred to by one New York Times article as, “a member of Washington’s permanent class of ideological activists.” Wilson currently presides as the president of Americans for Limited Government; a Virginia based non-profit group promoting small government. He has been active in the limited government movement for more than 30 years, working with various groups pushing right-to-work laws, term limits and school choice.
FEBRUARY 2013
Israel Preemptively Strikes Syria Why Can’t Syria Do the Same? Rick Rozoff 1 February, 23:24 Audio File Voice of Russia
regulars Rick Rozoff and Alon Ben-Meir, NATO and Middle East experts
respectively, both gave their views on the air-strike by Israel on the
sovereign territory of Syria near the capitol Damascus. Their views on the
matter are almost diametrically opposed with both giving solid arguments. Hello! I’m John
Robles, I’m speaking with Mr. Rick Rozoff. He is the
manager and the owner of the stop NATO website and mailing list. John Robles: Can
you give us your views on the strike by Israel inside of Syria, supposedly
on a convoy, supposedly supplying Hezbollah, with supposed weapons? Mr. Rick Rozoff:
Yes, those supposeds are all the warranted. The fact to the matter is what
we know from the Syrian Government sources: is that an Israeli war plane
launched an attack against a military research center within Syria, on the
outskirts of the capital city of Damascus. So, this marks a dramatic
escalation of the conflict, not so much in Syria, but against Syria. And what it does
is confirm, the suspicions and the statements made, not only by governmental
officials in Iran but by a lot of us throughout the world, that part of what
is going on inside Syria right now is a warm-up exercise, if you will, a
miniature version or a preview of what is intended for Iran. So, the fact
that an Israeli war plane could strike near the capital-city of Syria is
clearly I think an indication that Israel might harbor both the intent and
the means to try something similar within Iran. That’s the first thing. The second of
all, the brazen unprovoked attack within the borders of a sovereign nation,
is, as I believe the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned over
the last 24 hours since the Israeli attack, a crude and flagrant violation
of international law and should be condemned as such. And what is necessary
is for there to be an international investigation to substantiate the Syrian
Government’s claim of the Israeli attack and it needs to be taken up in the
United Nations Security Council. If the situation
were reversed, I can promise you that the United States and its allies would
not hesitate a second to take the case up, to demand that a hearing be held
in the United Nations. And this is what has to happen NOWbecause
what this is, is more than just a blatant criminal violation of the national
sovereignty of Syria, but it is clearly an escalation of the conflict to the
point where if you are sitting in Tehran, as well as Damascus, you are
wondering what the next move is going to be and this is why it think it is
so dangerous. Robles: What
would you say to people on the Israeli side, who were claiming and who will
claim that Israel was defending itself? Mr. Rick Rozoff:
To believe for a moment that the Syrian Government was arming Hezbollah
fighters with weaponry for use against Israel when the Government of Syria
itself is under siege from foreign supported insurgents, including
terrorists, defies one’s credibility. It is very difficult to believe that
could have been the case. And again the
Syrian Government’s case is that Israel bombed well inside Syrian borders.
This is comparable to for example the deployment by Turkey of a war plane
inside Syrian air space, summer of last year. But I think also what needs to
be seen here, is the fact that Israel has now exposed itself as being on the
very same side as extremist elements, that is Wahhabi and Salafi elements,
backed by the likes of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Persian Gulf monarchies
in their attack against the Government in Damascus, against the Syrian
Government. So, you have
this interesting motley medley of forces arrayed against Syria at the
moment, you have the US and its NATO allies, you have Israel, you have the
most backwards and benighted governments on the face of the earth in the
Persian Gulf all operating in tandem. So, when the
United States talks about democracy or praises Israel as being the only
democracy in the Middle East and so forth, we have to understand with the
military attack of yesterday that it is aiding and abetting, it is
supporting, it is complementing other efforts by the likes of governments in
Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Politics Covering Up the Ultimate Crime of Aggressive War - John Robles 1 February, 17:00
http://www.jar2.com/Topics/US_International_Crimes.html When is it
acceptable for a country to engage in an act of aggressive war? Can it be
justified to engage in an act that has been recognized by the world
community and laid down in international law as a crime against humanity?
Not just my humanity but all humanity? These are
questions the world community should have been asking itself everyday for
approximately the past two decades, but it has not. For it was approximately
that long ago that one of the world’s superpowers began engaging in acts of
aggression wherever it saw fit in order to show its strength, military might
and terrorize the world into bending to its will. Suppose for a
minute you and I are that power. We are righteous, rich and powerful and
control much of the planet through our economic manipulations and massive
media and political know how. We also have bombs and weapons all over the
planet ready to wipe out any adversary and the adversaries of our friends.
We are righteous, our God is the proper god and our people are beautiful,
fairly well educated and created in our god’s image. We have more of
a right to exist on earth and consume the world’s resources than any of the
other nations, because we are the chosen, the beautiful and the strong. They
are weak, poor, envious of our power, and worth almost nothing compared to
us. What is more their god is the wrong god and they are not as beautiful
and tall and proud as we are. The world is ours, we own it and everyone else
has to bow down before us. We take what we want, from where we want, when we
want. Above all else
is our moral superiority, we have been victimized in the past and the world
must side with us and allow us to seek revenge on our enemies who want to
destroy us because we are powerful, beautiful, free and our god is better
and more righteous than their god. Our word must be good enough for
everyone. If we say someone wants to destroy us, that is the way it is. We
do not need to provide proof or receive permission from anyone to destroy
whoever we decide is our enemy. We know that one
of us is worth thousands of them because we are the chosen and live in God’s
land, a land given to us by our God. A land we cleansed of the savages and
animals that had claimed it was theirs. We also know we are worth more than
them because we were persecuted for our God and our god has chosen us over
other false gods. Since we are the
chosen, if we have the idea that you are not worthy of life and are a
useless eater, we can kill you, we can bomb you and we can take your lands.
After all you are less worthy than us, we are the beautiful and strong and
we were created in our god’s image. So if we have
“intelligence” that your country is arming my enemies we can, at our
discretion and when we please, enter any country’s territory, including
yours, and murder the people and destroy their facilities. Sure we can.
After all we are the righteous and you are a bad guy in the eyes of me and
my friends. And what is more we control the international courts and all of
the international bodies that you could use to complain against us. What is more if
we decide we don’t like your ruler we will replace him, assassinate him or
publically execute him before your eyes. But you will
never complain or do anything against us because what is more we control
you, and if we decide you are a threat we will come to you, and destroy you.
Or cripple you, or torture you, or take you to a secret prison and make you
disappear forever. We can even kill you without leaving our own bunker on
the other side of the world. Do you doubt our
power? We have satellites, internet, cameras and even tracking devices set
up in your cell phone. We know where you are every minute. We record your
every move, we know what you watch and what you buy at the shop and we know
where your children are and we can kill them if you get out of line. For you
are nothing. You are the mud people and we are your masters. Did you imagine
you and I were that power? Did you feel the righteousness and superiority?
Do you understand who we are dealing with? If you feel a little uneasy,
queasy or even nauseous that is okay. It means you are still human and there
is still hope, if you feel rage and feel you are being mocked it is time you
took off your blinders and imagined you were the “lesser” people and your
lands were being taken and your women and children were being murdered
before your eyes and there was nothing you could do about it. Wake up!
Israeli Attack on Syria was an Unprovoked Act of Aggression 2 February, 2013 23:03 The recent attack
by Israel on Syria has escalated the situation in the Middle East and has
now pulled even more players into the conflict which was and has been from
the very beginning an internal Syria conflict. Syria has been torn apart by
internal strife fueled by outside terrorists and mercenaries and to attempt
to paint a picture that in its embattled state it poses a military threat to
its neighbors is both disingenuous and moreover an outright fabrication. The United
States of America has geopolitical plans for the entire Middle East and
pre-determined objectives for all countries in the region. The simplest and
most obvious objective is the bringing about the conditions needed to assure
stable and permanent access to the resources in the region, namely oil,
which the U.S. cannot exist without. The others motivations include
everything from societal manipulation, access to markets, the opening of
resource transit corridors and even religious based domination.The United
States of America has geopolitical plans for the entire Middle East and
pre-determined objectives for all countries in the region. The simplest and
most obvious objective is the bringing about the conditions needed to assure
stable and permanent access to the resources in the region, namely oil,
which the U.S. cannot exist without. The others motivations include
everything from societal manipulation, access to markets, the opening of
resource transit corridors and even religious based domination. Experts,
observers, diplomats and almost anyone who has followed the Syrian situation
would agree that it is a given that the U.S. plans for Syria include first
and foremost the removal from power of elected President Bashar al-Assad.
What the real nefarious reasons the U.S. has for its desire to remove Assad
may never be known but it is crystal clear that the aim to remove him and
even go so far as assassinate him regardless of whether he leaves office. No matter what
happens in the region or within Syria itself the mission is the same and has
not changed since day one. Just as the goal in Yugoslavia was to get Serbia
and the facts were constructed around that goa, the goal in Syria is to get
Assad, remove the Alawites and replace them with a pliable western puppet
regime. The initial
script was organizing public unrest, destabilizing the country, blaming the
authorities for civilian deaths and for the ensuing predictable crackdown,
and the demonizing of Assad either until the people themselves removed him
or until he could be removed by outside forces and “tried” in an
international court. The problem for
the U.S. from the beginning has been that cannot just go in openly and
assassinate Assad or invade Syria. There has to be a pretext, a credible
pretext that the international community and the world will support and
believe. The problem for the U.S. is that the pretexts is has tried to
create have not panned out. The first
pretext to allow for intervention and the removal of Assad was to have been
the deaths of civilians but that did not work out. In reality the civilians
being killed in the country are a secondary problem and are of no real
concern for the West, again their deaths were to be the reason for the
removal of Assad as had been initially planned. The next major
pretext was the shooting down of a Turkish warplane which had violated
Syrian airspace, but as we saw for several reasons that also did not go the
way the West wanted. After that came
the chemical weapons claim, from the tired old Iraqi script, but once again
the West failed to convince the world community of the threat posed by Assad
and the supposed chemical weapons he was said to have amassed. Now we have a
new pretext being tested out by the West, not exactly a new one but an old
one with yet another actor. Last summer we saw Turkey being pulled in as the
world was supposed to be convinced that Syria was a threat to Turkey, now
the country under threat is Israel.
In an interview with the Voice of Russia Rick
Rozoff said: “To
believe for a moment that the Syrian Government was arming Hezbollah
fighters with weaponry for use against Israel when the Government of Syria
itself is under siege from foreign supported insurgents, including
terrorists, defies one’s credibility.” Further: “… but I think also what
needs to be seen here, is the fact that Israel has now exposed itself as
being on the very same side as extremist elements, that is Wahhabi and
Salafi elements, backed by the likes of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other
Persian Gulf monarchies in their attack against the Government in Damascus,
against the Syrian Government.” And finally: “… it is the aggressor who is
claiming they are being threatened and have to launch “so called” preventive
attacks, it is a complete inversion of the truth.” Yes the new
invasion scenario and the reason to remove the Assad “regime” is that Syria
is now a threat to Israel and warrants a preventive invasion. The problem is
once again indicative of a disease that has hit the United States, one where
intelligence is not used to determine policy but where intelligence is
manufactured to support and make policies possible. As we have seen
time and time again and objective is pre-determined and a goal is set, then
the facts are fabricated to make that goal possible. So the script changes,
the reasons change, but the goal remains the same. Israel is the
perfect surrogate for beginning a military operation against Syria. Israel
is a country surrounded by Islamic countries, supported by the United States
at every level, and is almost untouchable politically in most of the world,
as it has been since World War II. A policy of
preventive war was evident in Israel’s attack on Syria, an unprovoked
aggressive military attack carried out to guarantee their own security. Preventive war
was first initially practiced by the Nazis at the beginning of WWII. A
preventive war is nothing more than an aggressive war under the pretext of
guaranteeing the aggressors own security. The Russian
Federation has officially condemned the Israeli attack(s) and called them
what they were; “… an unprovoked attack against a sovereign state and a
gross violation of the United Nations Charter and unacceptable, whatever the
motives are." Israel must
answer for this act of aggression; no matter how “bad” the Western
propaganda machine says the target of their attack may be and hopefully
Syria will be wise enough and exercise restraint and not launch a counter
attack in response to the provocation, something which they are justified in
doing, but which is what the architects want in order start an operation
involving an all out invasion of Syria so their ultimate goal may be
attained: the removal of Bashar al-Assad.
Assange Receives Yoko Ono Lennon Courage Award for the Arts 4 February, 10:52 In New York on
Sunday, in absentia, Julian Assange, the co-founder of the whistleblower
web-site WikiLeaks, received the Yoko Ono Lennon Courage Award for the Arts
2013. Mr. Assange received the award for his work, which according to a
WikiLeaks press release, is awarded to people who have displayed
extraordinary courage and whose work has changed the world. On Sunday
February 3rd 2013, in an event attended by approximately 150 invited guests,
WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange was awarded the Yoko Ono Lennon Courage
Award for the Arts. The guests included the Honorable Judge Baltasar Garzon
Real and the Foreign Minister of Ecuador, the Honorable Ricardo Patino
Aroca. From the Ecuadorian Embassy in London Julain Assange delivered a
speech thanking those who support him and WikiLeaks. Although Mr.
Assange could not attend the event as he remains trapped in the Ecuadorian
Embassy in London, England, he did provide a speech for the over 150 people
who attended the event. Receiving the
award for Mr. Assange were the Honorable Judge Baltasar Garzon Real, one of
Assange’s lawyers and Michael Ratner the President Emeritus of the Centre
for Constitutional Rights. According to the
press release the Ecuadorian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honorable
Ricardo Patino Aroca and Daniel Ellsberg, the famous source of the Pentagaon
Paper, were also in attendance and gave speeches at the event. Julian's speech
in absentia was as follows: “First of all, I want to thank Yoko Ono Lennon
for her courage and spirit in granting me this award. A fine woman whose
many actions define her. The test for all of us.” “People often
ask me how I keep going. They ask as if my work was some kind of burden to
me. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no greater pleasure
than fighting for your principles. There is no greater pleasure than in
fighting for those who have risked all to share your vision. And there is no
greater pleasure than seeing those who you admire, in turn, move to fight
for you.” “And while the
embassy that shelters me is still surrounded by armed police, my voice is
free. Within the constraints of the UK surveillance operation outside, I am
free to see my staff and my friends. Many have fought and continue to fight
to permit this basic liberty and I am grateful to them.” Mr. Assange then
made a rare comment to the Ecuadorian people: “I want to thank the
Ecuadorian people. I want to thank President Rafael Correa and Foreign
Minister Patino for their courageous and unyielding support. Their stance
strengthens, not just my rights, but the rights of political refugees
everywhere. Support them. “ He commented on
the award and thank those who work for the WikiLeaks organization said,
quote: “I dedicate this award to our courageous sources, supporters and to
my staff. Through their courage and wit they are revealing the true nature
of our global human civilisation. This is how we may reform it. Elevate it -
and make it just, beyond its humble origins. Their courage in documenting
war crimes, gross human rights violations, and the corruption of our
societies is unequaled.” Assange was
gracious enough not to forget to thank some of those who have paid the
biggest price and have provided material that has exposed more evil than
anyone else in recent history: “I want to thank all our anonymous volunteers
and all those volunteers from Anonymous. You are unseen in your work but
your work far from unseen. But I want to specifically name some. Volunteer,
Aaron Swartz, aged 26. Political activist, hounded to death, right here in
New York last month as part of the broader political crackdown against our
ideals. Alleged source, now political prisoner Bradley Manning. Bradley is
now two weeks away from 1,000 days in prison. The longest pre-trail
detention in US military history. Alleged source, now political prisoner
Jeremy Hammond, detained without trial, right here in New York, for the last
336 days as of today. Volunteer and alleged source, now political prisoner,
Gottfrid Svartholm, detained in Sweden for almost five months. WikiLeaks
banking blockade protestors Christopher Weatherhead, aged 22 and Ashley
Rhodes aged 28. Sentenced in the UK last week to 18 months and 7 months in
prison respectively.” In closing
Assange thanked his lawyers Baltasar Garzon and Michael Ratner who are
accepted the award for him, and said that along with other lawyers in the
US, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Ecuador they would fight to make sure
that the rights of WikiLeaks are respected and that they can continue their
mission. Regarding WikiLeaks being silenced Assange said this was a fantasy due to the courage, tenacity, love and support of friends. He said they would continue the fight to: “document the world, understand its institutions and hold our civilisation to a higher standard.”
Nobel-Peace-Prize-Winning “Assassination Incorporated”: White Paper Justifies Even the Killings of US Citizens 6 February, 12:03 A US
Department of Justice white paper ,
justifying the killing US citizens is currently in the spotlight worldwide.
However the paper does more, it gives “high-level officials” the right to
order the killing of anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances and frees
them of any responsibility as long as they have determined the person
assassinated posed an imminent threat. Meaning the US can now kill anyone,
if they think they “might” do something, and it will be in justifiable
“self-defense”. Normally self
defense, especially when lethal force is applied, requires an imminent and
real physical threat. If you throw a punch I have the right to punch you
back or if you point a gun at me, I have the right to shoot you. The US has
now decided if an official “thinks” you are “planning” to throw a punch,
they can kill you, in self-defense, before you even make a fist. It is therefore
a stretch of logic to say that an imminent threat exists when there is no
real or tangible physical evidence to back that threat up. According to the
US Department of Justice, any person deemed to be a “senior leader” of
al-Qaeda or an “associated organization” is constantly planning to attack
America and is a target, but soon, if this is allowed to stand, anyone
deemed to be in any way connected to al-Qaeda, or an associate, will be
deemed an “imminent threat” and subject to extra-judicial execution. So basically, on
a personal level, if you follow their logic: if you merely “believe” someone
is planning to commit an act of violence against you or is an imminent
threat to your safety, you can kill them and it’s okay. The first
paragraph of the DOJ white
paper attempts to convince the reader that the scope of the findings and the
paper itself only applies to “senior operational leaders of al-Qaeda or an
associated force”. It also lays out the three conditions which must be met
to consider the assassination of an American legal, “in a foreign country,
outside the area of active hostilities”. The attempt to
explain that the paper relates to only senior leaders is obviously a
distraction from the fact that such a finding can and will be easily updated
and expanded to include other categories once such conditions are adopted
and legalized. The use of the
words “associated force” is troubling because possibilities for interpreting
that term are many and so far reaching that it could, if one wanted to,
include almost anyone. For example: a journalist sympathetic to al-Qaeda, a
banker who inadvertently transferred al-Qaeda funds or even a doctor who
treated a supposed al-Qaeda operative. The DOJ attempts to define that term
as co-belligerents under the laws of war. In practice it
would be more likely that any US citizen associated with any group anywhere
in the world that the US does not like and that the US brands as “al-Qaeda
associated” will be targeted for assassination. The language and conditions
are so broad that almost anyone could be deemed to meet the criteria. The three
criteria that must be met for the US to carry out what is no more than an
extra-judicial execution of an American citizen are as follows: 1. An
informed high-level official must make the determination, 2. Capture is
infeasible but the US continues to monitor whether it becomes feasible 3.
The operation is carried out under applicable law of war principles. Again problems,
first of all an “informed high-level official” could be anyone from the
Attorney General to the president. This is also a problem because it grants
single individuals the right to issue assassination orders as opposed to a
court or another body. The term “capture is infeasible” can be, again, used
so broadly that almost any circumstance could fall within that category and
defining such is subjective. The last is telling and troubling, troubling
because there has never been a formal declaration of war against al-Qaeda
and telling because the authors know the “rules or laws of war” do not
apply, so they use the word “principles”. Lastly the term
“… outside the area of active hostilities” makes it legal to target
Americans anywhere in the world, including in the U.S. Paragraph 2 states
the President has the authority to defend the country and that there exists
an armed conflict “with” al-Qaeda under international law. Therefore they
argue the assassination of a US citizen who has joined al-Qaeda is “not
unlawful”. The DOJ states that such an operation would be “consistent with
international legal principles of sovereignty and neutrality” with the host
nation’s consent or after “a determination that the host nation is unable or
unwilling to suppress the threat…” Again the DOJ
does not use the word “war” to describe its al-Qaeda-based “War on Terror”
and they give the President complete authority to kill whoever he deems is a
threat. The DOJ says assassinating a US citizen is “not unlawful” again
avoiding the word “legal” because in reality such an act of extra judicial
execution is illegal. The DOJ stating
“consistent with international legal principles” again is disingenuous and
eschews the use of the term “international law”. Stating that with the
consent or without if the host nation does not want to allow it, basically
allows the US to now “legally” violate the sovereignty of any country
(something they are already doing) in order to assassinate anyone they view
as a threat. Paragraph 3 states
that citizenship and due process are not factors when they are “balanced
against the United States’ interest in forestalling the threat of violence
and death to other Amerticans… That arises from an individual… who is
plotting against the United States. Basically if the
government says you are a threat, even if you are a citizen, they can kill
you and there is nothing you can do about it. The next paragraph continues
along the same vein stating that the killing of US citizens who are “senior
operational leaders” is neither illegal under laws barring the killing of US
citizens abroad nor a war crime. Section I,
paragraph 5 starts out by
repeating “… the US is in an armed conflict with al-Qaeda and its associated
forces” again the words “at war” are not used and as throughout the document
the term: “The US is in an armed conflict “WITH” al-Qaeda and its associated
forces” is repeated. In a cursory reading the use of the word “with” instead
of, for example: “against”, might not seem important, but when one dwells on
the fact that the US has been “secretly” working “with” and funding al-Qaeda
in places such as Libya and Syria, as they did in Afghanistan against the
Soviet Union when the USSR was asked to assist the government of
Afghanistan, the term is indeed important. 9-11 is of course mentioned. Paragraph 6 attempts
to classify someone who is connected to al-Qaeda as a “part of enemy forces”
and thus is subject to death. Paragraph 7 is
interesting because it seems to contradict paragraph 2 and say the US is a
“non-international conflict with al-Qaeda”. Paragraph two said: “the
conflict exists under international law”. But as we see it is not an
international conflict. The reason for this is because the US is supposedly
at war with a “transnational non-state actor”, the whole basis for the
“Global War on Terror”, which means the US can attack and strike in any
country where there exists the threat of al-Qaeda. Paragraphs 8 to
10 justify the US launching
attacks in any country being used as a base by al-Qaeda, which by the way,
means “The Base”. Section II Part
A, paragraphs 12 to 14 give
justification why assassination targets do not have the right to due process
and state that if the government determines a threat and the three criteria
that are stated in the beginning are met, then killing Americans is okay. Paragraph 15 repeats
the events 9-11 in detail and further seeks to justify the endless and
worldwide nature of the “War on Terror” and pre-emptive assassinations by
stating that terrorists plan and move and it is impossible to predict when
an attack will occur. So according to the US Department of Justice, it is
okay to kill them before they commit their “crime” as it is to kill
Americans, “who may pose an imminent threat”. Paragraph 16 claims
al-Qaeda is “constantly planning attacks” thus they are always fair game. Paragraph 17 says
if al-Qaeda is a threat then any associate or member is a threat. Paragraph 19 justifies
the use of drones and smart bombs by saying there are no rules against them. Part B,
Paragraph 21 gives the
justification for assassination when someone is attempting to escape, in
short, allowing the US to shoot you in the back. Part C
Paragraph 23 states that there
is no proper judicial forum to evaluate the considerations. In other words
there is nowhere for the people to redress the government. Section III,
Parts A, B and C, Paragraphs 24 to 34 are
sickening to read as they attempt to provide the legal justification for the
government and officials to commit murder and assassinations under any
circumstances when they deem necessary. The way the Department of Justice
has twisted the act of cold-blooded unprovoked murder into something lawful
and in self-defense is chilling and completely and totally morally
reprehensible. The conclusion
of section III is that under the “public authority doctrine” and if the
murder is committed “in a manner consistent with the fundamental law of war
principles” such murders are “not unlawful” and do not “violate the
assassination ban” and that if the person is deemed a “threat” even if they
have not actually done anything “yet” then killing them is in “self-defense”
and the murder is a “lawful killing” and does “not violate the assassination
ban.” The paper also
concludes that even if someone is not in active combat or has removed
themselves from operations but is still considered a “senior operational
leader” they can be assumed to be actively planning and thus are subject to
being killed, and even in this case the murder cannot be called illegal or
fall under the category of assassination.
In
conclusion the paper allows the United States of America to murder anyone
they want, anywhere they want, whenever they want, under any circumstances,
and whether the person is guilty of aggression or not. And no one who takes
part in the murder will be guilty of a crime, provided of course that they
deemed those murdered, to be a threat.
Heightened Tensions in the DPRK as War of Words Escalates: Pyongyang to Respond Aggressively 6 February, 12:59 Surrounded by
enemy forces, besieged by sanctions, demonized by the Western propaganda
machine, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea says it
will fight back and
that anyone who encroaches upon its dignity and sovereignty with any form of
"sanctions" will not be able to avoid deadly retaliation. The media is rife
with speculation as to what that retaliation may be but one thing is
certain, unless pushed into a corner, the DPRK will never launch a first
strike. That would be literal suicide. In response to
new sanctions and more threats from the West North Korea has said that they
would be forced to take more serious measures than a simple nuclear test.
Although there was no exact description what those measures would be, the
West has ramped up the anti-Korean propaganda to new levels, forcing the
North to issue numerous responses. The Russian
Federation has urged North Korea to show restraint despite the heightened
level of confrontation evident in the latest escalation of tensions between
North Korea and South Korea, the United States and their allies. North Korea
continues to be pushed into a corner with dozens of statements being
released by various officials and committees of the People’s Republic of
North Korea. The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification
of Korea (CPRK) issued a press
release on the
second of February full of extremely strong language against the South and
the United States. The language of
the CPRK’s statement titled, “DPRK Will Retaliate against Provokers: CPRK
Secretariat” was unusually strong. In the statement they called Chon Yong U,
chief of Diplomacy and Security in Chongwadae, Ryu U Ik, the Minister of
Unification, confrontation maniacs of South Korea who along with others had
said that "the north should choose one, either survival or nuclear weapons"
and "stronger sanctions that the north can hardly hold off have to be
imposed". The almost open
threat by the South to destroy the DPRK was a sign of the increasing
assertiveness of the South, something that has been stoked by the US Forces
in the region and the new sanctions that have been imposed on North Korea by
the United Nations. With regards to
the statements made by Official Seoul the CPRK stated the following: “The
U.S. and the south Korean regime do not hesitate to make such outbursts as
calling for not ruling out even military ‘sanctions’. Warmongers are
inciting war fever while touring units in the forefront areas.” The CPRK called
intensified confrontation a “racket on the part of the U.S., the Lee group
and other hostile forces” and that, “… the UN "resolution on sanctions"
against the DPRK is a product of the deliberate and planned intrigues to
escalate the hostile steps against it to bar it from building an economic
giant, and to isolate and stifle it. But they are seriously mistaken.” In equally
threatening language the CPRK echoed calls made by other official
representatives for unspecified moves in response to what it sees as
deliberate actions to destroy the DPRK and a hint at just how bad the new
sanctions may be affecting the North Korean people: “The "sanctions" of the
enemies further hardened the will and strength of all service personnel and
people of the DPRK to defend their just cause and build the most powerful
nation, a highly-civilized socialist nation under the banner of justice.” “The DPRK is
fully ready for both economic and military "sanctions", and anyone who
encroaches upon its dignity and sovereignty even a bit with any form of
"sanctions" will not be able to avoid deadly retaliation.” Again what that
retaliation is, is not clear. According to
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, citing media
reports from the
DPRK: “North Korea will "ruthlessly strike" back if the United States
launches preemptive attacks on its nuclear facilities.” Yonhap quoted
the Minju Chosun, a newspaper published by the North's Cabinet and the
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying: "If the United States and
warmongers attack and try to weaken us, such expectations will be a huge
miscalculation…” and “…if North Korea is attacked, its military and people
will rise up and mercilessly repel the perpetrators and start a victorious
war of national unification." Meanwhile amid
reports that a third North Korean nuclear test is soon to take place Sky
News reported that
a strange video appeared on You Tube, showing a North Korean dreaming of an
attack on the United States of America. According to Sky News “The video was
released via a website linked to the North Korean state news agency.” The official
DPRK news agency KCNA issued a statement which read: "The DPRK has drawn a
final conclusion that it will have to take a measure stronger than a nuclear
test to cope with the hostile forces' nuclear war moves that have become
ever more undisguised." The South has
reported that the DPRK may stage a double nuclear test but has not provided
details to support the claim and the South Korean Ambassador to the United
Nations said a North Korean nuclear test "seems to be imminent." North Korea
which is struggling under intense sanctions and whose people are paying the
price for, the “sanctions” imposed on the country, sees the development of
its nuclear program as a right and a necessity. A right, the same as any
country has, to develop cheap and efficient nuclear power, and a necessity,
to protect its sovereignty and its territory from attack and invasion by the
South and the United States, two countries who continually hound and provoke
it. North Korea
knows that one of the few things stopping the West and the South from
launching a full scale invasion is the fact that they are afraid that the
DPRK may in fact have a nuclear weapon which it may use to defend itself.
After the disarming or Iraq, Libya and other countries which were then
invaded, the DPRK knows that it cannot afford to stop its nuclear program,
it is the main deterrent they have. The DPRK also
knows and has been very careful in not making initial provocative statements
but continues to respond aggressively to threats from the South, it is also
aware that any first strike would be suicide as it has seen the US building
up its forces all over the region. In the latest
scandal the West is following the same old script we have seen time and time
again, namely: while provoking and carrying out aggressive in-your-face-
policies, imposing sanctions and building up military forces near a
country’s borders, this time the DPRK, the West claims the DPRK is the
aggressor and must be dealt with. North Korea is
wise enough and mature enough to refrain from any act of aggression against
the South and the West, but it must walk a fine line between showing it has
might and can defend itself and making sure it does nothing that can provoke
an open military confrontation, hence the aggressive statements in its own
defense. While South
Korea enjoys a relatively prosperous existence and is comfortable that it
has the United States to defend it, the North sees itself as more and more
being pushed into the corner and the people as well as the sate are ready to
fight to the end in what for them is a do or die situation. Sanctions are
not softening the resolve of the DPRK, but the opposite is quite true. The
DPRK is growing harder as South Korea is growing softer. With the United
States attempting to consolidate its power and bring the entire region under
its sphere of military and economic influence, the DPRK is country that they
believe has to go. As does any country that follows independent and robust
foreign and internal polices and as with any communist country. The DPRK has the right to defend itself and to defend its sovereignty, but it is complete nonsense to believe that they would launch any kind of a first strike.
Want to be a US diplomat? Got a million dollars? Call Obama 8 February, 22:27 If it happened
in Russia or any other country the U.S. Government and the western mass
media would be screaming corruption, foul, nepotism, cronyism, bribes, and
transparency! What I am talking about is the “selling” of top diplomatic
posts by none other than the U.S. president. Although the U.S. does not
“sell” such postings openly, “wink-wink,” two respected researches at the
University of Pennsylvania have very carefully compiled a “price list” for
diplomatic postings. In their report
titled: “What Price the Court of St. James’s? Political Influences on
Ambassadorial Postings of the United States of America” the authors of the
study, Johannes W. Fedderke and Dennis C. Jett, looked into the issues
surrounding the appointment of career diplomats as opposed to political
appointees to ambassadorial positions worldwide. Their conclusion is that
the price for obtaining the juiciest postings, such as London U.K. or “The
Court of St. James,” in terms of political “campaign” contributions is
between a whopping $650,000 and a staggering $2.3 million. Other than the
facts that selling diplomatic positions is an obvious act of cronyism and
bribery is supposed to be illegal, the main problem here is that for the
over 30% of such diplomatic postings held by current and past political
appointees chosen in this manner, no experience was, nor is, necessary.
That’s right. You don’t have to have had one day of diplomatic training to
be the head of a US mission abroad, as long as you are a “political”
appointee chosen by the president: which might explain a lot about people
who are in such posts worldwide, including here. The American
mass media has reported on the findings of the reports but are reporting it
as if it just another normal occurrence and par-for-the-course rather than
expressing outrage and calling for an investigation. According to most US
mass media, this is pretty much normal and has been done by all “modern
presidents before Obama”, this said the New York Times. In the report
the authors state that they did not have access to all US Presidential
Campaign contributions, but, and this is an important “but,” they did have
access to the campaign contributions of all political appointees to
diplomatic posts. It was on this data that they formed the basis for their
findings. The authors stated that they could not formulate figures on over
all correlations between contributions and postings, something which is
worthy of further research due to this lack of “all” data. The authors
suggest the US State Department carry out oversight on the qualifications
and training of such appointees, however this is unlikely to take place. As
we also know many of these overseas posts are not only filled by political
appointees but by CIA undercover operatives and the like as well. Something
that career Foreign Service employees must find insulting and demeaning as
well. According to the
authors of the report the most sought after posts are in Western Europe and
in the Caribbean and most of these are filled by presidential appointees. We
could then assume that other postings, in countries of strategic or military
interest, or “hot spots” if you will (such as Russia), are filled by CIA or
other intelligence or military specialists, leaving those qualified,
dedicated, trained and experienced foreign service personnel, who have
worked most of their lives to obtain high level positions, to bake in places
in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia or any other God-forsaken-hell-hole no
one else would want to be posted in. Not to say certain places on Earth are
hell holes, every place is wonderful in its own way, but there are places
one might prefer over others. The authors
argue that “standard models of rational institutional design posit that
appointments to public administrative office should be on the basis of merit
related to the deliverables associated with the post,” something that I am
sure the American taxpayer would want as well, especially in places such as
Moscow, where people have been posted who have had “no” diplomatic
experience or training whatsoever. However Russia is not a location the
authors would consider attractive. The report is
very well laid out and the rationale behind the conclusion is very well
thought out, researched and backed up with solid data and analysis. In
conclusion the authors state that “… political appointees are more likely to
obtain posts in high- income countries that are members of The Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), that popular tourist
destinations, are located in Western Europe, and that carry lower hardship
allowances, than are career diplomats. We have also shown that the greater t
he personal or bundled campaign contributions to a presidential campaign,
the more lucrative the posting the contributor can expect in terms of per
capita GDP, tourist volumes, hardship allowances, and the more likely the
posting will be in Western Europe, and the less likely it will be in Central
and South Asia or Sub- Saharan Africa. Finally, we have established an
implicit price list for a range of ambassadorial postings. The price for the
Court of St. James appears to lie between $650,000 and $2.3 million.” If this were to
be said of any other country in the world the international outrage would be
profound, but in America, hypocrisy is par-for-the-course and every office,
including that of the President is for sale, if the price is right.
Under the Radar 4: More Al-Qaeda/ U.S. links, more drones and a "new" New World Order 11 February, 22:53
According to
some reports Al-Qaeda is not only working with the United States but
assisting in carrying out attacks to blame and frame other entities that the
West wants to target. The entire War on Terror is a pretext to invade for
resources and advance geopolitical goals. Meanwhile while the U.S. is
assassinating people worldwide with drones, they are also expanding their
usage with the U.S. All of these events are currently taking place "Under
the Radar". Every week hundreds of important
events occur that are important to all of us but which do not get enough
media attention, either because they are over-shadowed by other major news
or because they do not fit the pre-planned message that many of the world's
media are trying to promote, there is a journalistic responsibility to tell
the whole story which we always attempt to do. Although we keep our eyes on
the world this week's most pressing issues that have been suppressed come
from the US. 1. Bulgaria Last summer’s terrorist bombing
of a bus full of tourists was immediately attributed to being carrying out
by Hezbollah, however now there is evidence that the attack was actually
carried out by Al-Qaeda, an organization with a history of attacks on
Israeli civilian targets, and the Hezbollah connection may have been stated
under pressure by Israel and the United States. “Bulgarian Interior Minister
Tsvetan Tsvetanov’s dramatic announcement Tuesday on the Bulgarian
investigation of the July 2012 terror bombing of an Israeli tourist bus was
initially reported by Western news media as suggesting clear evidence of
Hezbollah’s responsibility for the killings.” “But more accurate reports on the
minister’s statement and the only details he provided reveal that the
alleged link between the bomb suspects and Hezbollah was merely an
“assumption” rather than a conclusion based on specific evidence.” 2. Germany According to a report by the
website Phantom News a former member of the German Parliament has exposed
the West’s Alliance with al-Qaeda. The report is one of hundreds that have
appeared in the last few years connecting U.S. Government activities to
those Al-Qaeda adding to the almost universally known fact that Al-Qaeda and
the U.S. are working hand in hand, just as they did from the start in
Afghanistan. This article lays out some of the reasons for supposed “War on
Terror” operations worldwide. “The Syrian rebels receive money
and weapons predominantly from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Saudi Arabia is
mainly supplying Al Qaeda, with the U.S.A. knowing about it. The West is
providing political cover for the entire rebellion, including al-Qaeda. It
is de facto an ally of al-Qaeda. In Mali against, in Syria for al-Qaeda—it
can’t be more cynical.” “Whenever the western war on
terror leads or calls, it’s about completely different things. In
Afghanistan, the central geostrategic position in Asia, in Iraq for oil, in
conflict with the alleged nuclear addicted “terrorist state” Iran for
dominance in the Middle East and Mali to uranium in neighboring Niger.” 3. World Apparently the New World Order
has nothing to do with nation states but everything to do with bankers and
money and according to this report the West and all its war and violence are
nothing but killing for the sake of killing. Judging from the current
economic state of the West, this may be completely and totally true. “The real new world order has
emerged–the world’s downtrodden against the West and its puppet, surrogate
colonial governments. These non-state but similarly minded actors will
determine the course of future world history. There is now a new world order
that the West cannot control, that military force cannot subdue, and that
concessions cannot placate. Ancien régimes relied on military power to
influence events. The true new world order renders military power effete.
All it can now accomplish is kill for killing’s sake. Pure barbarity is what
the promise of Western Civilization has been reduced to. What a wonderful
world we have made!” 4. China It may be propaganda being used
to advance an agenda or it may be that China is preparing for a military
confrontation with Japan over territory that is rightfully China’s but which
Japan, desperate for territory, has claimed as its own. “If that is indeed the case, and
its story of major troop movements and mobilization of various types of
military vehicles and artillery into the Fujian and Zhejian provinces,
bordering the East China Sea and closest to the Diaoyu islands, is accurate,
then hostilities between China and Japan may be about to take a major turn
for the worse.” 5. United States U.S. drone usage is spreading
worldwide but it is also spreading within the United States itself, with
everything from mining companies to universities being licensed to operate
drones. Will Americans tolerate yet another tool to strip them of their
“freedoms”? Most likely, in the name of security, the answer to that
question is yes.
Electronic Frontier Foundation “The Federal Aviation
Administration has finally released a new drone authorization list. This
list, released in response to EFF’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
lawsuit, includes law enforcement agencies and universities across the
country, and—for the first time—an Indian tribal agency. In all, the list
includes more than 20 new entities over the FAA’s original list, bringing to
81 the total number of public entities that have applied for FAA drone
authorizations through October 2012.”
Cashing in on Osama: SEAL Promotes the Dead Osama Story 12 February, 21:16
A Navy SEAL who
claims to have been the one who killed Osama Bin Laden has told the press
that he has been forgotten by the U.S. Government, however there are so many
holes in his story that it is hard to believe. Has he been forgotten, or is
he just trying to cash in on the killing of an unarmed Osama Bin Laden.
Whatever the case may be, the world’s press is all abuzz with speculation,
and the Armed Forces are none to happy for the unjustified bad publicity.
In an article for Esquire magazine a supposed Navy SEAL
Team 6 member who claims to have been the one who shot Bin Laden three times
in the forehead, once as he was already dead, states that he is forgotten
and has been treated unfairly by the military after his voluntary
retirement. Among the allegations of the SEAL,
who Esquire calls “The Shooter”, are that he will not receive his pension,
that he and his family have no healthcare and that the government has
offered him no protection. The problem is that all of his
allegations are not true and judging from the article the ex-Seal is
disgruntled because he cannot cash in on his “service” to America. The claim that he has no healthcare
has been refuted and proven to be false: according
to Stars and Stripes: “All combat veterans, including the SEAL,
are eligible for five years of free health care through the Department of
Veterans Affairs. And no service member who does less than 20 years gets a
pension, unless he or she has to medically retire.” According to the Center for
Investigative Reporting: “…in
an interview, Col. Tim Nye, spokesman for the U.S. Special
Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., said that the Shooter was treated
according to military regulations. He did not deserve a pension, Nye said,
because he served for 16 years, not the required 20. Those are the rules
that are in place, and he was well aware of those.” The article also states that
“Shooter” has a disability claim that has been slightly slowed down by a
backlog of claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Stars and Stripes says; “… the
story’s claims are getting a lot of buzz… … disconcerting veteran advocates
like Brandon Friedman, who served as an Army infantry officer in Iraq and
Afghanistan and used to be a VA public affairs officer. “Misinformation like
this doesn’t help veterans,” he said. “When one veteran hears in a
high-profile story that another veteran was denied care, it makes him or her
less likely to enroll in the VA system.’” According to the author of the
article we are supposed to believe that “Shooter”, after serving 16 in the
U.S. Military and taking part in “Secret” operations, was not aware that he
had benefits. As for protection, while “Shooter”
claims none was offered, in particular he wanted free fortifications done on
his home, the government did offer to place him in a witness protection
program which apparently did not meet the standards of “Shooter” who told
Esquire: “The best he was offered was a witness-protection program similar
to that provided for Mafia snitches – he could be given a new identity
driving a beer truck in Milwaukee.” Apparently “driving a beer truck” is not
good enough. Nye, the spokesman for U.S. Special
Operation’s Command, said that if the Shooter was concerned for his safety,
he should have not spoken to the media. “He’s made himself a public figure,”
Nye said. “That doesn’t track that well.” The noise generated by the article
surrounding the claims that he is forgotten are overshadowing the fact that
according to quotes by “Shooter” himself, the Seals trained to kill Osama,
and not capture him, and that Osama was unarmed when shot in the head.
However these facts are being ignored by the western media. Human rights
defenders made a point of this right after the execution, when it was clear
that no contingency had been made for capturing Osama. The “Shooter” stated in the article:
“For me, it was a snapshot of a target ID, definitely him. Even in our kill
houses where we train, there are targets with his face on them. This was
repetition and muscle memory. That's him, boom, done.” “I'm just looking at him from right
here [he moves his hand out from his face about ten inches]. He's got a gun
on a shelf right there, the short AK he's famous for. And he's moving
forward. I don't know if she's got a vest and she's being pushed to martyr
them both. He's got a gun within reach. He's a threat. I need to get a head
shot so he won't have a chance to clack himself off [blow himself up].” “Shooter” did not dispute another
account which stated that two more SEALS entered the third-floor room after
bin Laden was already dead, and “continued to fire shots into the al-Qaida
leader until his body was torn apart.” Despite the fact that his granting
an interview with Esquire violates his disclosure agreements, as all of
those involved in the “operation” were sworn to secrecy, Esquire quite
openly published details concerning the entire operation. A fact in and of
itself that might question the credibility of the story and the motivations
of the “Shooter” who is obviously in need of finances, although Esquire says
he was not paid anything for the story. Whether the whole thing is a ploy
organized to support the official version of the Obama/Osama extra-judicial
execution and to take away credibility from those who say Osama died at a
location very far from away from Abbottabad a long time before, is yet to be
seen. As for “Shooter” being mistreated,
all I can say is that the US Armed Forces are probably the best paid and
have the most benefits of any in the world. For soldiers worldwide who live
hard while serving their countries and who know this fact, it seems
ludicrous for “Shooter” to be complaining. Unlike most countries where soldiers
are required to serve, the US Army pays and aims to make the lives of
soldiers comfortable, they state: “… we offer money for education,
comprehensive health care, generous vacation time, family services and
support groups, special pay for special duties and cash allowances to cover
the cost of living.” However that is not all, they do not
say that soldiers do not pay taxes, have access to credit programs at low
rates and are given food and other allowances which allow a soldier to live
and not spend a dime of their salary. If “Shooter” claims he cannot find a
job, according to the Guardian,
this is disputed by “Zach Iscol, a former marine captain who runs Hire
Purpose, a group that matches military veterans with civilian companies, and
who said the department of defense had made strides in recent years in
improving its help for veterans. Iscol predicted that the Shooter's doubts
about his ability to find a meaningful role in civvy street would prove to
be unfounded. As an operator in the Navy Seals he has incredibly marketable
leadership skills that countless companies would be delighted to benefit
from." If this were a court of law then
“Shooter’s” credibility may have just been compromised, so much so that
perhaps we can doubt the rest of the “story”. Or is it that he just wants to
cash in on the “Execution of the Century” and become a star? Rather than
being like everybody else who quietly serves their respective countries.
Why were weapons cached in Russia by the West? - Rozoff 12 February, 22:55
Voice of Russia
regular contributor Rick Rozoff continues with the story of the Polar Bear
Expedition or what was also called the American North-Russia Expeditionary
Force. The operation took place between 1918 and 1919 and saw at least 5,000
US troops sent into Russian territory to kill Bolsheviks in the North of
Russia and to secure weapons that had been cached there. To this day it
remains a mystery why exactly the weapons were there and sadly the killing
of Russians continues to be something to be proud of for certain American
polticians.
First part of the interview with Rick Rozoff Rick Rozoff Hello! This is John Robles, I’m
speaking with Mr. Rick Rozoff. He is the manager and the
owner of the stop NATO website and mailing list, and a regular contributor
to the Voice of Russia. Robles: And
this was actually US troops on Russian territory killing Russians? Rozoff: The
people defending their soil, you know, their territory. Robles: Why
were they placed under the UK Command? Rozoff: I
suspect because the fact that British soldiers had been sent to the same
area, the Archangel-Murmansk region, a month earlier to prepare, it was
easier for them to get there I guess. But we know that Britain had played a
role in the interim period between the February Revolution in 1917 in Russia
and the October one, that is during the provisional Government of the
Kerensky period, in trying to secure the continued involvement of the
Russian Government, whatever it was, whatever it turned out to be, in the
war. And the Kerensky Government indeed,
I’m sure under the pressure and perhaps no little bribery from Britain,
France and the United States did continue the Russian involvement in the
war, one which cost several million Russian lives. And with the accession to
power of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution the first thing they did
was withdrawal from the war. I would suspect that the British
military and intelligence personnel were already situated in northern Russia
with the intent of not only continuing the Russian war efforts while Russia
was in the war during the tsar’s period, but also to ensure that no Russian
government would come to and maintain itself in power, that would withdraw
from the fighting. Robles: Murmansk
is very-very far from the center of power, from Moscow and from what was
Leningrad. For the listeners one more time, can you clarify why they were
deployed in such a remote location? Rozoff: I
can’t honesty give you an explanation for that, except that the their
official reason for the deployment were to secure ammunitions that have been
shipped there by the British, I’m not sure for whom. Robles: Geographically,
if you would picture it like Washington DC and troops fighting in northern
Maine for example…. Rozoff: Murmansk
is not that terribly far north from St. Petersburg which was the capital
until October 1917 when the capital was shifted to Moscow. So, I mean if
they wanted to advance on the Russian capital, let’s say, with the Czech and
other foreign fighters commanded by the British and French, and American
troops. I don’t think it would have been out of the question to have
launched an offensive from the north on the capital. Robles: And
that would have been totally unexpected I think. Rozoff: Possibly!
This is beyond my expertise, I have to confess. Robles: Ok,
so no real reason other than that there were possible weapons there. Why
would that they’ve been storing weapons that far north in the first place? Rozoff: What
I’ve read doesn’t really give me a definitive answer to that question.
Rather for example, these were weapons that have been shipped there earlier
in the war for using by the tsarist Russian government. Or it seems likely
that these were weapons shipped by Britain and perhaps France after the…
well, of course you know the deployment of September 1918 predates the
Armistice actually at that time which didn’t occur until November. It is possible, because of the
revolution in February and in the subsequent October Revolution, which I
guess could not have been anticipated but it occurred, that these weapons
may have been intended precisely for Czech and other fighters, either White
Russian fighters or foreign fighters inside Russia to be used against the
new government in Moscow when it came to power in October, and perhaps as a
safeguard against the Kerensky Provisional Government. But again, this is
something that is completely beyond my expertise. Robles: This
is a real mystery. What became of the weapons? Rozoff: The
weapons, according to the accounts that I’m familiar with, the Russian
forces anticipated the American move and moved them upstream on the Dvina
River and out of reach for the American soldiers who were sent to seize
them, which led as I alluded to earlier to the fact that the American forces
actually somehow managed to move up river in pursuit of both the weapons and
the Russian forces that had removed them, and in my understanding
successfully, but along the way engaged in fighting that resulted in the
deaths not only of 110 troops but I would assume an equal, if not a larger
number of Russian forces. Robles: Has
there ever been an official apology or exchange of notes, or anything on
these operations and this incident? Rozoff: No,
to the best of my knowledge. And the fact that a senior senator, one of the
longest serving senators in the country, Carl Levin as I mentioned, almost
four years ago applauded this military operation and stated that it is a
lesson for the future and so forth, which suggests that far from there being
any remorse or misgivings by the US Government, they seem to be particularly
proud of what they’ve done. Interestingly enough, my paternal
grandfather had been born in Russia, as my last name might suggest, and he
came to the US before World War I. And my maternal grandfather was born in
the US and was sent on the Polar Bear Expedition. So, in 1918-1919 I had one
grandfather who was born in Russia who was in the US and one who was born in
the US who was in Russia. That’s an interesting twist of fate. Robles: Was
your Russian grandfather battling American forces? Rozoff: My
Russian grandfather was working at steel mill and not even making munitions
to the best of my knowledge. Robles: Well,
maybe you just don’t know that. Rozoff: That’s
true, he died when I was very young I’m afraid. Robles: That’s
sad to hear. Rick thank you very much for this bit of history and this bit
of a mystery, I think. Rozoff: Well
put! History and mystery, it may be the beginning of further research into
the subject. Robles: Very interesting subject I think. Thanks for sharing that with us and sharing your insights. That was an interview with Mr. Rick Rozoff – the manager and the owner of the stop NATO website and mailing list.
Mossad Kills Again: Australian Prisoner X commits ‘suicide’ in Israeli prison 14 February, 12:45
Threatening an
all out diplomatic storm between Australia and Israel, the details
surrounding the death in 2010 in a prison in Israel of the now famous,
Prisoner X are just now starting to come out, sending the Israeli Government
into panic mode and even causing them to ban the reporting of information
about the case. He died on December 12, 2010 in
solitary confinement in a top-security cell of the Ayalon Prison prison in
the same cell which had previously held and been designed for Yigal Amir the
assassin of Yitzhak Rabin. Dual Israeli-Australian Ben Zygier, also known by
his Israeli name of Ben Alon, reportedly committed suicide by hanging
himself on Dec. 15, 2010 at the age of 34. Although the death occurred over two
years ago details about the case are just now coming to light as the veil of
secrecy has been partially lifted amid a growing diplomatic storm between
Israel and Australia. Up until now the man was only known as “Prisoner X”,
whose identity was vigorously guarded. One of the facts that have recently
emerged is that Prisoner X was an Australian citizen working for Mossad, the
Israeli Secret Intelligence Service, although in what exact capacity has not
been reported. Another fact that has come to light
is that he was already under surveillance by the Australian Security
Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) who was investigating him on suspicion of
espionage and for being one of three citizens reported to have been using
Australian passports to fulfill missions for Mossad. According to various media reports
Mr Alon was also known by the name of Ben Allen, among others, and had
changed his name four times in just as many years, which initially caught
the attention of the ASIO. According to the Guardian under
Australian law citizens can change their name every year and Mr. Alon did so
at least four times. This would have allowed him to put together several
sets of documents, including Australian passports, which may have been used
by Mossad, either as cover for Alon “X”, or passed along to other
operatives. The publication The Age reported
that Ben Zygier had held or applied for Australian passports using the names
Ben Alon, Ben Allen and Benjamin Burrows. The case is particularly
embarrassing for Mossad because it exposes one of the ways that they produce
or obtain false identities for their operatives. This is not the first time
that Australian passports have been linked to Mossad operations, nor is it
the first time they have bungled operations or been exposed using foreign
passports as cover for their agents. According to media reports and other
sources the assassination in January 2010 of Hamas operative Mahmoud
al-Mabhouh in Dubai was the responsibility of MOSSAD. At the time Israel
received strong condemnation from Australia and Britain because apparently
Mossad had use passports from their countries to carry out the hit. There are not many details that have
emerged about what Alon was really doing for Mossad, or even if he was in
fact an agent, but what has is potentially damaging for Israel and the
Israeli intelligence service if one is to judge by the official reaction.
The potential fallout is apparently so great that Israel has effectively
issued a complete bans on publishing details about the case. After calling an emergency meeting
between the editors and owners of major Israeli media outlets and Israeli
security officials the government instructed them not to publish any new
material or details on the case, however according to RT Israeli media are
still allowed to cite reports from foreign sources. There is speculation that Alon was
providing passports for Mossad, however this is unlikely due to his military
service for Israel and the way he was imprisoned and mysteriously committed
suicide, in a cell with cameras and sensors which monitored heart rate and
the physical condition of the prisoner. Another clue as to the seriousness
of the operations that Alon may have been involved with along with the
mysterious other tow Australians was reported by Haartz, which quotes one
Tzvika Levy, who heads the Lone Soldier Project: “Suddenly I made the
connection, and realized that Ben Zygier arrived to Kibbutz Gazit as a lone
soldier about 13 years ago, along with two other young men from Australia. I
remember his friends went to serve in the Armored Corps, and he wanted me to
help him get into the paratroopers. He served for two and a half years, even
though his age required him to serve only six months. For that, he had to
sign a form, agreeing to lengthen his service." So who were the other two
Australians? Why did Alon enlist for extended service? And why was it that
he died in an Israeli prison without the proper Australian authorities being
informed? There is speculation that he was a double or triple agent, and
that his end was the obvious one for anyone playing both sides of the fence. If he was working for the Australians as well as Mossad, his death is perfectly in keeping with what a former intelligence officer once told me, “Mossad always gets their man”, even if he is one of their own.
Burned by AISO, suicided by MOSSAD 18 February, 18:40
The details in
the case of MOSSAD agent Ben Zygier, the Australian-Israeli national who
reportedly committed suicide in a high security Israeli prison cell continue
to come out, thanks in large part to the Australian side in this case,
something that has occurred while Israel has asked for their media to not
report on the matter. By leaking news about Mr. Zygier to the press and
continuing to do so, Australia’s AISO effectively burned him. Or did they?
Perhaps they were protecting their own asset? Had it not been finally loudly
leaked to the press by the Australian last week we may have never heard
about Israel’s now infamous Prisoner “X”. Prisoner “X” whose real name is
reported to have been Ben Zygier, as we had reported earlier, had held or
applied for Australian passports using the names Ben Alon, Ben Allen and
Benjamin Burrows. As more and more details surrounding
the case and the “suicide” of Prisoner “X” begin to come out the web of
intrigue and double-crossings grows in magnitude. The biggest revelations
that have come out in the past 24 hours are that “X” was not only working
for Israel’s Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations “MOSSAD” but
also for the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO). There are
also reports that he had contact with the Intelligence Services of the
United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is this last that most likely led to his
death. According to media reports and open
source intelligence Mr. Zygier approached the UAE in order to obtain their
protection after he supposedly took part in the operation to assassinate
Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mahbouh in Dubai. Whether he did in fact take
part is not clear. According to reports one of Zygier’s Australian passports
may have been used by one of the MOSSAD assassins sent to exterminate
Al-Mahbouh. Regardless of Zygier’s involvement
in the plot, and if he did have details on the operation, he is more likely
than not to have been involved in the plot, as it is not likely MOSSAD gave
him operational information if they were just simply borrowing his passport
for the mission, this would have amounted to treason for the Israelis. The fact that he contacted the UAE
Intelligence Services coupled with the fact that he was already working for
MOSSAD, explains why the Australian authorities and namely the AISO, whom he
was reportedly passing detailed information about MOSSAD to, did nothing to
intervene after Zygier was arrested. There is even speculation that he
was burned by the AISO itself for several reasons, one
might be due to the illegal use of Australian passports by MOSSAD,
as he was the main suspect in the investigation and AISO was getting nowhere
in the case. According to media reports it was the AISO which “used” the
media to put pressure on Zygier in order to get more information out of him
during ASIO’s investigation of Zygier and two other Australian nationals who
had been recruited by MOSSAD. It has come out that Australia knew
from day one that Zygier had been arrested on National Security grounds, yet
did nothing to secure the release or protect their national. According to
Ron Ben-Yishai at ynet.com, not only was official Canberra not willing to
make waves with Israel, but the Australian Secret Intelligence Agency (ASIS)
which operates overseas, unlike the AISO which is responsible for internal
Australian security, did nothing because of their close working relationship
with MOSSAD. The portrayal of Zygier as an
innocent victim is partially valid, he was a young idealistic man who found
himself way in over his head, playing different sides amongst the most
ruthless spies on the planet, but it is also disingenuous in some regards.
Namely in that he knew what he was doing and he repeatedly broke the most
sacred rule of all that governs life and death in the “secret” world. He did
not keep his “secret” life a secret. According to Haaretz and RT Zygier
told two friends that he had been recruited by MOSSAD. Haaretz reports that
a close friend of Zygier admitted that he had bragged about the MOSSAD
recruitment immediately after it had taken place: “He told me he’d just been
recruited, I was in shock. It’s the sort of thing people usually joke about
but I had no reason to doubt him at all.” Perhaps the key to unraveling the
case may lie with Jason Katsoukis, the journalist from Australian who first
investigated charges that Ben Zygier was a Mossad agent. Only Mr. Katsoukis
knows who his “anonymous source with connections to the intelligence world”
is. Given that the story was leaked in Australia by an Australian
intelligence operative and many clues in the article on the matter by Mr.
Katsoukis, it is plausible that indeed the AISO burned Mr. Zygier after
questioning him and getting nowhere. If one is to believe that Mr. Zygier
committed suicide of his own will, then he may have done so in order to
protect those he was truly working for, if he was a hardened operative. If
he was not then he may have been pushed into it by the Israelis, who
threatened him with lengthy prison time and even his being separated from
his family and the Jewish people. His being a “passionate Zionist” as Mr.
Ben-Yishai says in his article may have caused him to feel shamed and to
kill himself out of disgrace. There is also the very real
possibility that Mr. Zygier was suicided by MOSSAD for violating his secret
oath and passing secrets to the ASIS or AISO or even worse the UAE. After
all simply being burned is usually not enough to grant a lethal finding by
intelligence agencies, which also points to the fact that Zygier was perhaps
involved in something much darker than we have so far been made privy too. More questions still remain for the
Australian side in this case. Why did Australia do nothing when they knew
their citizen was arrested? Why did Australia not negotiate to free Zygier
or arrange an exchange when they found out? Why did Australian Intelligence
provide details to the press about Mr. Zygier, in short, burning him? Why do
they continue to do so when MOSSAD is a “friendly” agency to Australia?
Could it be that Zygier was working for the Australians all along and they
have done everything possible to distance themselves from him, even to the
point of burning him, to protect him as their own source? For the Israeli side the questions
are perhaps less, but nonetheless important. What was it that Zygier knew
that was vital to Israeli security and warranted a “national security
arrest”? The mere fact that MOSSAD used genuine foreign passports was well
known before Zygier. What exactly did he do for them and what exactly did he
tell the UAE? What did they accuse him of that would have caused him to be
banished from his family and the Jewish people? And most pressing perhaps,
how is it possible he committed suicide under 24 hour surveillance? Perhaps we will never know the truth
behind Mr. Zygier’s death. Maybe the truth should not be sought in the web
of lies spread by the intelligence services but in the simple truth adorning
Mr. Zygier’s tombstone: the Jewish Star of David and the words “In loving
memory”. A final declaration of whose side he was on.
Ugly Gorilla and Chinese Unit 61398 to replace Osama's Al-Qaeda as the new global threat, or “How do we sell our overpriced product?” 20 February, 11:46
A company
selling network security services has issued an extremely detailed report on
how the Chinese Army is relentlessly attacking Western computer networks and
companies. With the war on terror not really producing enough terrorists to
justify the hyper security state of America, they need a new focus to
justify cracking down on the last bit of freedom Americans have, namely the
Internet. The threat to the world is now from the Chinese Army and the evil
hacker UglyGorilla, and they will get you. Really! Run for the hills! When a message is being delivered by
a messenger whose self interests are served by the message, one must always
be wary.
A cyber security firm named Mandiant, based in Alexandria,
Virginia, 26 minutes from the unincorporated community of Langley (the
metonym for the CIA) in McLean, Virginia, has come out with a much
publicized and self-serving report detailing the evil and dangerous threat
posed by relentless Chinese hackers. The report claims that advanced
threat “actors”, or the more ominous sounding “Advanced Persistent Threat”
(APT), operating in China and with the blessing of the Chinese Government,
have been conducting, quote: “… a cyber espionage campaign against a wide
range of victims since 2006” unquote. The experts at Mandiant have no
doubt done a huge amount of hacking themselves because they have, according
to their own claims, “discovered” a mountain of information about that these
evil Chinese “hackers” who are a part of the 2nd Bureau of the People’s
Liberation Army, General Staff Department Unit 61398. Mandiant claims their
information is from “open source observations” yet they make many claims
that, if they are true, point to a concentrated attack on a very well
defined location and the accessing of information that for China would be
considered secret. The hackers at Mandiant, or as the
West would call them “cybersecurity personnel”, (U.K. Guardian calls
Western hackers who attack China “cybersecurity forces”), have apparently
discovered that Unit 61398 is involved in work that for China is a “state
secret” and that they are involved in “harmful Computer Network Operations”. The spying that the hackers at
Mandiant have done on China does not stop there, they have named the exact
building where Unit 61398 is apparently located, its physical address, the
layout of the compound and the buildings, its square footage, when it was
built, how many people work there, the kind of wiring and infrastructure at
the facility, the training requirements of the personnel, how many networks
they use, the exact data they have “stolen”, the tools the Chinese
supposedly use, the exact length of time they have accessed a “victims”
network (example 1,764 days), the number of victims, exactly how many
terabytes of data were stolen and even three individuals who are guilty of
“following orders”. Mandiant’s hacking is superb, (Oh I
am sorry when they do it, it is called “cyber security”), and they even give
names to these evil Chinese “hackers”: UglyGorilla, DOTA and SuperHard!
(Very Chinese sounding names of course) They even claim to have: “… videos
showing actual attacker sessions and their intrusion activities”! They state
this on page 5 of their report, right above a paragraph detailing their
“security” products and which ones you can buy. On page 6 Mandiant does say they
are: quite possibly, perhaps a little, maybe a wee bit: mistaken, and the
operations may be taking place not in the headquarters of Unit 61398 itself
but quote: “… right outside of Unit 61398’s gates.” The rest of the 74 page report gives
details about the structure of the Communist Party of China and includes
many pages detailing how the information was obtained, what the threats are
and how you can purchase their products. According to Mandiant’s website the
threat is dire and the only one who can save you is Mandiant. Their site
says, quote: “Mandiant is the ONLY information security company that can
both: A) TELL A COMPANY WHEN IT HAS BEEN COMPROMISED AND B) TELL WHAT THE
MATERIAL IMPACT OF THE BREECH WAS!!! They call this an “extraordinary
statement” but personally I would go with a company that could STOP THE
THREAT BEFORE IT HAPPENED! Not tell me about it afterwards. Mandiant is in the business of
selling threats, (well okay in the business of responding to attacks), so
the entire report may only be a self-serving marketing gimmick and it would
seem China is the great (APT). This assessment can only be further backed up
by their own gratuitous plugging of their products and the exaggerated
language present on their site. Some examples: “makes us the go-to
company for organizations that are looking to protect their most valuable
assets”, “advanced persistent threat (APT) and other targeted attackers that
are attempting to compromise your most valuable assets”, “known nefarious
domains to perform malicious activity”, “persistent attackers execute a
series of activities to entrench themselves and compromise your systems. If
you manage to kick them out, rest assured they will be back”, “Skilled,
determined attackers can break, enter and succeed within minutes. Other
times, they spend days plotting, establishing backdoors and fortifying their
positions inside your company” and “There is no such thing as perfect
security. Attackers get smarter and change tactics all of the time.” But
with all this they will help you, for a price of course. According to SC
Magazine “Mandiant Intelligent Response”, the only thing to
protect you from the Chinese super hackers will only cost you a mere
$86,000.00. Yes that’s right ONLY $86,000.00. (Mandiant was too modest to
post pricing anywhere on their site hence SC’s price quote and no other
prices were found).
The Guardian seems to agree and so does Obama, the threat
is real and you are a target and China is everywhere, just like Al-Qaeda:
behind every tree. $86,000.00. No problem. OR if you
only have $80,000 and can’t seem to find that other $6,000 measly bucks, I
will give you John’s security advice for free, two simple and cheap things
any organization handling sensitive information knows: NEVER connect a
sensitive and/or secure network to the Internet and ALWAYS hire people you
know you can trust. As for China, I think they might
have grounds to file a complaint as it seems that they have been hacked. Or
then again, maybe Obama needs to target UglyGorilla with a drone. Imminent threats! Evil plots and
relentless Communist attack! That is what has made (Langley) Virginia great
and the profiteers rich! Is that UglyGorrila in your server?
Anonymous, LULSEC and TylerSec continue fighting back, U.S. State Department hacked 20 February, 23:02
The internet
activist group Anonymous has released statements saying they have penetrated
the U.S. State Department's website and gained access to information which
they have published. This is just another in what is a growing series of
attacks in retribution for the "suicide" of Reddit co-founder and internet
activist Aaron Swartz who was being persecuted by the US and facing over
three decades in prison for apparently hoping to release research papers and
scientific documents that were paid for by taxpayer money. Many people
worldwide agree, the US security state is out of control, and when pushed,
Anonymous is pushing back. Anonymous is continuing to strike
back as mercilessly as those who they are after, those who pursue anyone who
seeks to make a positive change in the world by bring knowledge to the
people, and those responsible for the death of one of the world’s most
brilliant and promising young internet activists. The latest “victim” of
Anonymous, or the last organization they have “owned,” is the US State
Department, and there is little likelihood that they will back down anytime
soon. On January 11, 2013, as many of us
were recovering in way or another after celebrating the New Year’s holidays,
26 year-old Aaron Swartz, an accomplished internet activist, apparently
committed suicide after being literally hounded to death by the overzealous
and the brutal US Federal Authorities and in particular U.S. Federal
Prosecutor Carmen Ortiz. Young Mr. Swartz’s crime? An act of
terrorism? Exposing war crimes? Blowing the whistle on war profiteers? No
dear reader, he merely downloaded too many free articles from the Internet according
to blogger Daniel Wright, who obtained and published 21 pages of
a 23 page FBI file on Mr. Swartz. In particular the FBI was after Mr. Swartz
for accessing what are called “Public Access to Court Electronic Records”
(PACER) documents. Where these secret documents? No.
Did he hack a government site to get them? No. Did he use the information in
the documents to commit a crime? Again no. Did he commit any crime
whatsoever? Even the FBI decided that NO! No crime had been committed and
they closed the case, but it did not end there. Once they had decided to make an
example of young Mr. Aaron Swartzthe ruthlessly pursued him until the end,
until they effectively killed him. The Federal Government and the US
Authorities apparently have to prove to the world by force that you and I
will do what they say or we will pay the price, including the ultimate price
paid by Mr. Swartz. They continued the persecution. For the alleged gathering of
Scientific material and research from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) paid for by US taxpayers, and technically belonging to
them, material that the US Government alleges Mr. Swartz was going to
release to the public, he was facing 35 years in prison. Is this excessive? Of course? Is
this an exception? No. Has the United States of America become a murderous
torturing brutal hyper security state? Ready to kill, maim and destroy
anyone who voices an opinion against theirs? Ask Julian Assange, Bradley
Manning, Jeremy Hammond and millions of others whose lives have been quietly
destroyed for believing in freedom and justice. You could have asked young
Mr. Swartz too, but they killed him. The “authorities”, in particular Ms.
Ortiz, see nothing wrong and congratulate themselves, believing they have
now terrorized everyone into submission perhaps, but quite the opposite is
taking place. Anonymous, LULZSEC and TylerSec are
continuing their attacks and their activism in honor of Mr. Swartz attacking
those who brought about his death. So far they have attacked, hacked,
defaced and taken down such sites as those of MIT, the State Department,
George K. Baum & Company, the US Sentencing Commission and many others in
what they are calling round “five” of “Operation Last Resort.” The groups
attempted to interrupt the State of the Union Address by Obama as well, as
Obama was continuing his calls for even more crackdowns and heightened Cyber
Security. Something which would
have been symbolic. Anonymous and TylerSec released a
joint pastebin statement which reads
as follows: Hello there Attorney Carmen Ortiz,
Stephen Heymann and MIT corporate “expletive” HIS NAME IS Aaron Swartz and he is
twenty-six years old. His name is Aaron Swartz, and Aaron Swartz will be
twenty-six years old forever because you killed him. HIS NAME IS Aaron Swartz. He is
twenty-six years old,and he was part of the fight for internet freedom
against people like you. HIS NAME IS Aaron Swartz. He is
twenty-six years old, and you wanted to use him to prove that the state
always wins and that resistance is futile. HIS NAME IS Aaron Swartz. He is
twenty-six years old, and you wanted to divide us so that we will turn on
each other rather than stand up for our rights. The people you are after are the
people that society depends on: we write songs, we create art, we build, we
invent, we feel love and laugh, we will defend our freedom to our last
breath. Do not “expletive” with us. The First leak from the Anonymous
Tyler Network: 33 GB of the JSTOR files that Aaron Swartz died to bring to
the world. The U.S. Government appears to be
growing more and more desperate and continues cracking down and using more
and more force. Recently I reported about Anonymous
and their petition to U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration to
make DDoS attacks the equivalent of a simple sit-in protest. A completely
reasonable proposal which will never take place, apparently reason has long
ago left the room and will not be returning. Anonymous placed the following
message on MIT’s site: In Memoriam, Aaron Swartz, November
8, 1986 – January 11, 2013, Requiescat in pace. A brief message from Anonymous. Whether or not the government
contributed to his suicide, the government's prosecution of Swartz was a
grotesque miscarriage of justice, a distorted and perverse shadow of the
justice that Aaron died fighting for — freeing the publicly-funded
scientific literature from a publishing system that makes it inaccessible to
most of those who paid for it — enabling the collective betterment of the
world through the facilitation of sharing — an ideal that we should all
support. Moreover, the situation Aaron found
himself in highlights the injustice of U.S. computer crime laws,
particularly their punishment regimes, and the highly-questionable justice
of pre-trial bargaining. Aaron's act was undoubtedly
political activism; it had tragic consequences. Our wishes We call for this tragedy to be a
basis for reform of computer crime laws, and the overzealous prosecutors who
use them. We call for this tragedy to be a basis for reform of copyright and
intellectual property law, returning it to the proper principles of common
good to the many, rather than private gain to the few. We call for this
tragedy to be a basis for greater recognition of the oppression and
injustices heaped daily by certain persons and institutions of authority
upon anyone who dares to stand up and be counted for their beliefs, and for
greater solidarity and mutual aid in response. We call for this tragedy to
be a basis for a renewed and unwavering commitment to a free and unfettered
internet, spared from censorship with equality of access and franchise for
all. For in the end, we will not be
judged according to what we give, but according to what we keep to
ourselves. Aaron, we will sorely miss your friendship, and your help in
building a better world. May you read in peace. Anonymous is in currently in hyper
security mode so they would not comment on continuing operations.
New York Times promotion of tired old cold war clichés 21 February, 19:23
In an “Op-Docs”
video the New York Times published, a “KGB Agent” endorses and congratulates
the stripping away of Americans’ rights and freedoms, the authorization to
kill Americans and the out of control spread of drones in the United States.
The use of Russia and the KGB to somehow imply any connection between the
hyper-security state paradigm that exists in America is an affront to
Russia. The New York Times recently
published a very odd and provocative
video on its web-site which seriously brings into question, once
again, the editorial policies of the publication, its journalistic ethics,
its independence and the hidden motivations behind its editorial decisions. Who the New York Times truly serves
has been a matter for debate for a very long time with an almost endless
list of scandals ranging from outing CIA agents to charges of fabrication
and plagiarism to libeling the Premier
of China Wen Jiabao. Do they serve the right-wing, the US
Government, commercial interests or as some Americans call it, the “liberal”
mass media establishment? Perhaps all of the above, but more likely than
not, at the end of the day the true masters of the New York Times are
extremely powerful right-wing hawks with deep pockets and with an agenda,
which does not include the betterment of the American people, world peace or
respect for the international community but which does include the
advancement of their own goals: those being global domination, continued
militarization and aggression and the economic takeover of the entire globe.
You can call them neo-conservatives or members of America’s “black”
government or what have you, that is not of primary import. What is important is that these
individuals and those who serve them, in regard to Russia, are continuously
maintaining the old tired cliché’s of the “evil Soviet Union” and “Reds
under the bed” and perpetually demonizing the Russian Federation, President
Vladimir Putin, the Russian people in general, and any parties who promote
Russian interests or strive to rid the world of these old stereo types,
which were fabricated to begin with, but that is another story. Sometimes the New York Times’ bias
towards Russia and anything Russian is not so easy to spot and sometimes you
might miss it unless you are looking for it and know the key words, just
like American racism, but it has been the subject of my work in the past and
a continuous affront to myself, my colleagues and many other Russians in all
spheres including those in diplomatic and commercial circles, and those who
are trying to build relations and end the tired old stereotypical
“profiling” and bias that the West continues to hold and promote. This time the biased promotion of
outdated cold war thinking by the New York Times is so blatant and patently
fabricated that it demands an answer. Under the “Op-Docs” video the author,
Drew Christie, writes: “When I began thinking of this animated Op-Docs
video, I had two things in mind. The first was the adoption of drones by the
Seattle Police Department. (The program has since been scuttled.) The second
was Yevgeny Zamyatin’s 1924 novel ‘We,’ which was a forerunner to dystopian
novels including George Orwell’s ‘1984,’ Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’
and Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Player Piano.’” Fair enough I suppose. The problem that we have with it,
and by we I mean my humble self most of the Russian people, my colleagues
and fair thinking reasonably intelligent people everywhere, is the fact that
Mr. Christie chose to portray a KGB General as one applauding the U.S.
obsession with drones and the hyper-security state. First off I would like to underline
this fact for the entire planet to read, in particular those who do not know
this at the New York Times, and please, if you need to repeat it three times
to make sure it sets in your memory do so: “THE KGB NO LONGER EXISTS.” The portrayal by Mr. Christie and
the New York Times of a KGB General, that is if we are to assume his uniform
is pre 1974 since his epaulettes had four stars, is disingenuous and offense
on many levels and in many ways. The most obvious I mentioned above. The
next is that it attempts to portray Russia, Russian Intelligence and the
Russian people by proxy as somehow being behind or supporting the stripping
away of the rights and freedoms of Americans by their own government. In all fairness if the New York
Times had wanted to make a statement on the stripping away of the civil
rights, liberties and freedoms of the American people, they could and should
have portrayed the Director of the CIA, a “Black Operations” General, Obama,
Petraeus, Bush, Cheney, Bin-Laden or any of the other architects of the
entire hyper-security state paradigm that has existed in the US and brought
suffering to the entire planet since 9-11. If you are a regular reader or
listener of the Voice of Russia, then you know that we, my colleagues and I,
do not personally, nor as an Official State Broadcaster, support the
paradigm that has come into existence in the United States since the tragic
events of 9-11 and the Neo-Conservative takeover over a decade ago. If I
dare to speak for all of “us”, my colleagues, myself, Russian Officials,
Russian Diplomats, Russia’s business professionals, Academics, and so on
down the line, and even Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, for decades “we”
have done nothing but attempt to improve relations between our two
countries, improve economic and diplomatic cooperation, end cold war stereo
types and the unnecessary heightened militarization between our countries
and fight for the rule of law and liberty and justice. The Voice of Russia and I personally
have been and continue to document and report on the illegality of drones
(the subject of the video) and the close to 5,000 human beings they have
eradicated, the stripping away of Americans’ rights and the continuation of
cold war stereo types by the West and in no way do we support or endorse the
American Government’s unregulated use of drones, or their illegal use to
assassinate or further commit activities that further unjustly cause harm to
the American people or take away their liberties, wherever they may be. Fortunately, the Russian people are intelligent and mature enough to take this and every other previous affront, with a grain of salt and not to go out and burn embassies and such and we will continue to work to better understand each other so that we may all live in peace.
Freedom House Crackdown: Subversion Operations by the CIA-Inc 25 February, 22:34
Bringing the
problem to center stage again is a U.S. taxpayer funded NGO called Freedom
House, which has gathered an all star cast of U.S. backed and funded Russian
“opposition” members, U.S. Congressmen, NGO representatives from the United
States and Russia as well as European Officials for an upcoming forum
titled: “New Approach or Business As Usual? US-EU-Russia Relations After
Putin's Crackdown.” The United States of America does
not even try to hide the fact anymore that it is actively attempting to
subvert the Russian Government and funding and supporting those within the
Russian Federation who would attempt to do so for their own selfish gains. American backed Russian
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and their American colleagues continue
to push for “tougher measures” against the Russian Federation, many even
calling for the U.S. and the West to implement a policy of “containment,”
something Washington did during Soviet times to “stop the spread of
Communism.” One has to wonder as to the real
motivations of these organizations and individuals as they are on the U.S.
payroll and are funded by U.S. taxpayer monies routed to them by hawkish
mainly right-wing organizations and individuals who seek to propagate
out-dated cold war clichés and Russo-phobic hysteria. Their reasoning is
also to question: contain what? Some sort of undefined “evil” ideology or
some non-existent military expansionism? Utterly ludicrous. The continuing activities of most
of these bodies, many of whom only exist for the sole reason of subverting
(in this case) the Russian Government, weakening the Russian Federation
internationally on all fronts and giving reason and justification to U.S.
expansionism, military buildup, meddling and interference in the internal
and external affairs of the Russian Federation have proven the wisdom and
the necessity for the recently passed Russian legislation requiring all
members of foreign funded NGOs to register with the government as foreign
agents. Bringing the problem to center
stage again is a U.S. taxpayer funded NGO called Freedom House, which has
gathered an all star cast of U.S. backed and funded Russian “opposition”
members, U.S. Congressmen, NGO representatives from the United States and
Russia as well as European Officials for an upcoming forum titled: “New
Approach or Business As Usual? US-EU-Russia Relations After Putin's
Crackdown." I am still wondering what
“crackdown” they are talking about, but I would suppose they are referring
to the recent law mentioned above and perhaps to the recently adopted Dima
Yakovlev law which protects Russian children, or perhaps the expulsion of
USAID for their questionable activities throughout the country. The real
reason I believe is that Russia is strengthening ties and increasing trade
with Europe, especially in the energy sector, and this has not pleased
Washington who sees Europe as their subordinate. The adeptness with which the U.S.
continues to demonize Russia is daunting due to the level and the massive
scale it has attained, as well as increasingly more obvious, this time the
more so, especially in light of the fact that the two above mentioned laws
were enacted because there were and continue to be clear and present threats
against the sovereignty of Russia and against the Russia people. We know the following is true for
the United States: Russia must be kept weak politically, militarily,
economically and socially. This is for the sole reason that Russia must be
brought under the control of the United States of America and that control
must permanent and complete. A strong Democracy and civil
society are bad for the U.S. because a well off and satisfied citizenry are
not as pliable and less subject to go against the state. Hence the funding
of NGOs and the Russian opposition to sow discontent and strife with false
flag arguments, straw man evils and phantom wrongs and injustices. Just ask any member of the so
called “opposition:” what would you change, give me an example of what is
wrong with Russia? Like brainwashed hypnotized people just waking from a
sleep they will probably answer something to the effect: “Putin bad. America
good!” I oversimplify but that is basically what it boils down too. America
does not want a strong leader in Russia, they need someone they can
manipulate. The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin,
unfortunately for the U.S., is not that man. Keeping a country economically
weak is also good for the U.S. as a country that is weak economically is
easy to manipulate, its markets are easier to access for the dumping of
goods and for exploitation, its workforce is easier to exploit, its citizens
are easier to manipulate and direct against the state, and its officials are
easier to bribe and buy. Any country, such as Russia,
which has an assertive and independent foreign policy is also bad for the
obvious reason that it is not under the control of the U.S. This is
particularly bad when such countries form alliances, groupings,
organizations, treaties and cooperate independently and without the control
of the U.S. or the cow-towing to Washington. In a recent analysis for the
Voice of Russia Edward Lozansky, President of the American University in
Moscow gave some insights into Freedom House. According to Mr. Lozansky
Freedom House is damaging the national interests of the United States while
being paid for by taxpayers. He said: “This organization has already wasted
enormous amounts of taxpayers' money on supporting the color revolutions in
the post-Soviet space, which ended in total fiascoes… Now they want America
not only to "stand in solidarity with Russian activists… but also to
"challenge the various authoritarian groupings in which Russia plays a
prominent role, such as the Eurasian Union, the Collective Security Treaty
Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO)." Calling these groups
“authoritarian” I am sure was a tongue-in-cheek stab at the ridiculousness
of the classification. He continued: “one item on that
agenda is particularly laughable: the call to challenge the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization, where China plays a key role. In other words,
Freedom House expects China, a top foreign U.S. lender, to provide more
funds to the U.S. Treasury to finance the challenge against itself.” As for the Russian division of
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, he says: “… one of its
senior associates, (a U.S. paid Russian) finds the Freedom House challenge
approach too modest; she calls for a "new way to contain Russia," no more
and no less.” Of course we are all used to U.S.
hypocrisy but they are growing bolder and bolder with every passing day. If
the shoe were on the other foot, as I love to point out, things would be
entirely different. Were a group of American
politicians and civic “leaders” to appear before the Federation Council or
the Federal Duma and plea to the Russian Government to expand sanctions,
implement harsher measures against the elected government of the U.S. and
continue to isolate and “contain” the United States of America, those
involved would surely be charged with treason and put in front of a firing
squad. But when it comes to Russia, this is supposed to be okay and any move
against these individuals, whose sole aim is to assist an increasingly
hostile foreign power to harm their own country, should be called a
“crackdown.” As for the shoe being on the other foot, Russia would have far more justifiable and legitimate reasons to take such actions as I detailed above. Russia would have the moral high ground in areas such as droning, the unbelievable numbers of civilians killed in the war on terror, the meddling into the affairs of countries worldwide, the expansion of NATO and the U.S. military presence all over the planet and even in the deaths of so many Russian orphans. Yet as always it is the kettle calling…
MARCH 2013
Horse meat is safe, microbial pathogens are the danger - Dr. Clare Narrod 1 March, 22:50
While Europe is gripped by a wave of hysteria over horsemeat, an issue that involves mostly consumer's right to know what they are eating, we are reminded that horsemeat is, overall, safe to eat and the real danger to all of us in the spread of microbial pathogens and micro toxins. The debate also continues over genetically modified foods, but in many case these modifications may have benefits. Dr. Clare Narrod, from the University of Maryland's Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition spoke with the Voice of Russia on food related issues against the backdrop of the current horse meat scandals and stated the above and more. Robles: Europe
is an ongoing uproar over horsemeat. How dangerous horsemeat is? Is it
dangerous at all? Narrod: I
wouldn’t consider dangerous, I think it’s more of an issue people not being
happy that the product was labeled correctly. Consumers get very upset when
they think something is one type of product and it turns out it has
adulteration in it and that upsets them. The issue that people should be
more concerned with the issue of whether or not it has any microbial
pathogens in it, such as Ecoli, Salmonella, those are the things that from a
health standpoint, a food safety issue, that can result in food-borne
disease, people should be worried about. Robles: How
concerned should people be about viruses and things like that? Narrod: Well,
in terms of microbial pathogens, basically, what is happening on farms,
dictates often what’s happening once the animal goes into the slaughterhouse
and goes through the fabrication process, at that time if there are any
microbial pathogens, on the carcass, growth and decline can occur, but most
slaughterhouses in industrialized world have decontamination processes in
place to ensure that they have a safe product coming out. Often what happens when the
product leaves the processor and goes into the retail, then other things can
occur and once it leaves retail and goes to the consumer if things aren’t
kept and checked, growth and decline can occur, of microbial pathogens.
Consumers can cross contaminate a product by just not having a clean cutting
board or using a dirty knife at home or having a poor refrigeration or ones
that are not turned to the right temperature. Robles: What
are some things that common people can do to safeguard themselves? Narrod: One
thing is to ensure that they don’t allow for cross contamination to occur,
make sure that they don’t cut lettuce and meat or fish, or chicken on the
same cutting board, make sure that they washed their knife, make sure they
don’t keep raw products out of the refrigeration process. Robles: Say
they are going to eat some contaminated meat, I mean, what’s the difference
if they then eat contaminated lettuce, I mean they are going to be you’ll
anyway, aren’t they? Narrod: Well,
with meat, you can cook and kill the pathogen, but with your
ready-to-eat-products, such as vegetables, if you come across contamination
with a dirty knife, then individuals can be sick from that. Robles: Is
that common, like, to have something harmful in meat that is then cooked
away? Narrod: No,
I think safeguards are in process to prevent that but that is why there are
a lot of campaigns. There is a “Thermi-under” campaign to try to get people
to get to certain temperatures so that you are not just relying on a color
of meet being brown or such, like that, or white. You’re trying to get to
the correct temperatures. A lot of people consume meat
products in different ways. The concern is making sure you cook it
thoroughly to kill any type of pathogen. But that being said, usually by the
time the individual gets it, it shouldn’t be contaminated. It’s only when…
It can occur that you may have something that results in growth that occurs
once it leaves the retail center. You would hope that it would be caught at
the retail centre before. Robles: I
see. Is this more of a danger with meat products or, are there similar
dangers with fruits and vegetables? Narrod: You
can have the microbial pathogens on fruit and vegetables. How it is grown
for instance: if you are using manures that have not been composted
properly, they may have microbial pathogens in them that leafy greens are
grown on, and that can be a problem also. Robles: Sounds
a little scary! Narrod: I
think there is a lot of work currently being done to try to ensure that
that’s part of what the research is doing with the produce rules, as such
trying to make sure that we get the right risk-mitigation-measures in place
to ensure that this microbial pathogens aren’t on these vegetable products
and such. Reminder Robles: What
are some of the dangers in genetically modified foods? Can you tell us
anything about that? Narrod: There
is a perception of risk out there. I think it’s more, people are worried
about eating something that is not labeled being genetically modified. I
don’t think there is a demonstrated real risk. In fact for some places and
parts of the world where you have crops that can’t grow under certain
conditions or there are pests associated with that, there may be some real
benefit. Robles: Do
believe it’s true that maybe we don’t know the risks yet because this is
kind of a new science and a new technology? Narrod: There’s
been a lot of research on the bio-tech area trying to show if there is a
real risk associated with that. And I think when people use genetically
modified crops they are trying to contain them to make sure that there won’t
be any gene flow. But I think, again it’s a similar thing people more being
concerned about mis-labeling and not being told correctly what was the
product that they were consuming. Robles: I
see. I know a lot of people in Europe and here in Russia, they are concerned
about genetically modified chicken that is grown with additives and other
things to make it grow quicker. Are there dangers to that process? Narrod: You
have your chickens and your beef cattle, over the years the genes have been
manipulated to produce a uniform product. That’s been done, and that’s the
demand for a certain product, like white breast or something occurs people
are breeding for those traits. A marble piece of meat they bred for that,
the demand has changed from the marble to more leaner over the years and
that’s more what consumer is demanding. I don’t think that’s a big risk. You
have the dietary issues, but otherwise there is a demand for this product. Robles: What
are some real dangers that people should be worried about, as opposed to
horsemeat? Narrod: I
think it is the food borne safety hazards associated with any type of
high-value agricultural product where you can have microbial pathogens or in
some cases you might have a toxin, like a micro toxin. Those are things that people
should be worried about, but you have in all these countries in Europe and
in the developed world, you do have processes in place to measure the levels
that are allowed to be in there, and I think the system works, pretty well! Robles: So,
we’re the Voice of Russia World Service, so a lot of people that listen to
us, they may be in the developing world. What are some of the other dangers
that people in developing countries may face? And what advice would you have
for them to make sure they are eating safely? Narrod: Well,
I think in the developing world you have a situation where you might have
laws and rules and limits on the books, but there is very limited capacity
to actually measure the levels of a particular toxin in the country or
people are measuring the levels of a microbial pathogen at the market place.
I think that rarely it’s done, even though that might be on the books, so
increasing the capacity at the Ministry level or through private labs to do
that type of monitoring would be really important. Robles: Is
there anything that the common people can do? Narrod: I
think in the developing world you see people cook products quite thoroughly
to get rid of the some microbial pathogens and stuff like that. And I think
that there many methods to try to do that. But as people move more to
ready-to-eat products and high-value agriculture, it is harder to control
some of those things, so I think testing is becoming more and more important
throughout the world. Robles: Are
there any additives or anything that you can add to food to lessen the
risks? Narrod: There
are some experiments with clays associated with some of the micro toxins so
that people don’t absorb in their gut. On the microbial pathogens it would
be making sure you don’t have cross contamination, but also making sure the
product gets cooked properly. You were
listening to an interview with Dr. Clare Narrod. She is an assistant
research scientist at the University of Maryland’s Joint Institute for Food
Safety in Applied Nutrition. Update: Robles
writes: After
the interview Dr. Narrod e-mailed me and asked me to add the following
information. Quote:“Basically with meats some organisms are tolerated
at low levels because of the "kill-step" of cooking. One of the safety
issues for horsemeat is that the antibiotics used in horses are not approved
for human food and residues are not measured, but the main issue for the
public is the concern over mislabeling.”
Manning pleads guilty to ten counts, Kangaroo Trial continues
2 March, 13:18 Although Bradley
Manning exposed war
crimes, the malfeasance of US Government officials in a plethora of
situations, the inherent hypocrisy and illegality of the entire paradigm US
foreign policy is trapped in as well as the flawed and illegal nature of the
entire "War on Terror", he has been illegally detained, persecuted,
tortured, prosecuted and demonized by the very people and the very
government he was attempting to assist. On Thursday in a US military
court room at Fort Meade, Maryland, US Private First Class Bradley Manning
pleaded guilty to providing the WikiLeaks Organization (WLO) with expansive
archives of US battlefield reports, military incident logs, hundreds of
thousands of sensitive US State Department diplomatic cables, detainee
assessment files from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba and videos documenting
air-strikes, the killings of civilians and war crimes. The sheer volume of
information released by Manning makes it the largest leak of sensitive and
classified information in the history of the United States. Although Mr. Manning did plead
guilty to 10 charges involved in providing the information to the WLO he did
not plead guilty to 12 more serious charges related to the aiding the enemy
accusation, apparently in this case Al-Qaeda. If Manning is found guilty of
aiding the enemy charges he faces life in prison or potentially the death
penalty. However the possibility of the death penalty has been played down
in the press. For the 10 charges he did plead
guilty to Mr. Manning is facing approximately 20 years behind bars. Mr.
Manning has the right to withdraw the guilty pleas any time before the
actual trial begins if he chooses to.. Earlier motions by the defense to
have the case thrown out or dismissed, due to the illegality of Mr.
Manning’s treatment under US and international law (treatment which has
amounted to torture), the denial by the court of the right to a speedy
trial, the fact that evidence against Mr. Manning was not being provided by
prosecutors and the fact that he was not charged with any crime within the
time frame guidelines set by US law, were ignored and it was decided by the
court that the trial would go on regardless of all of the violations by the
prosecution and the government against the rights of Mr. Manning. During the pretrial hearing,
taking place after a mind-boggling 1,000 days since his arrest, Mr. Manning
read a 35-page statement for over an hour detailing the reasoning behind his
actions. Mr. Manning admitted to misusing
classified information and breaking the law but justified his actions
because they were done for the greater good and they were an act of
conscience. Looking pale, diminutive, gaunt
and like an individual under intense pressure after close to three years of
arbitrary “pretrial” punishment, torture and egregious treatment, Mr.
Manning addressed the court and read his statement in clear polite tones
showing little emotion and a herculean amount of self-control. He stated that the first material
that he had wanted to release to the public were the battlefield reports but
that his initial efforts to contact The Washington Post and The New York
Times were rebuffed leading him to approach the WLO, which he added did not
pressure him in any way to provide information. In court he took full
responsibility for the release of the information. With regards to the battlefield
reports Mr. Manning detailed how he had had to store them on a disc because
they were needed on a daily basis by his colleagues and himself in military
intelligence and the base’s Internet connection kept failing. He also stated
some of his reasons for deciding to release them first including the fact
that they showed the illegality and the blood lust of the US forces and
flaws in US policies in executing its War on Terror. He said files were a testament to
the fact that the US military were: “…obsessed with capturing or killing
people…” who appeared on US kill lists and were in no way concerned with the
“collateral” killing that was taking place at an alarming rate. Regarding the files, which he had
stored on his camera’s memory card and then uploaded to WikiLeaks from a
Barnes and Noble bookstore in Maryland while on leave, he said: “I believed
if the public, in particular the American public, had access to the
information, this could spark a debate about foreign policy in relation to
Iraq and Afghanistan”. Mr. Manning also said: “I
believed and still believe these are some of most important documents of our
time…” and added that he; “… only wanted docs I was absolutely sure wouldn’t
cause harm to the United States.” In particular Mr. Manning made
mention of a video called “Collateral Murder” which showed the crew of an
Apache Gunship gunning down journalists from the Reuters News Agency and
people who had driven up in a van to assist the fallen. His characterization
of the U.S. gunner in the “Collateral Murder” video was stunning, “… he
seemed similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass.” With all of the violations with
regards to the rights of Bradley Manning and the fact that he exposed war
crimes and the blatant illegality of many of the actions of the US
Government in their execution of the “War on Terror”, the entire case and
the proceedings seem like a poorly orchestrated farce thinly disguised to,
obfuscate from and cover up, crimes committed by the government itself. To
give legitimacy to what can only be described as a US Kangaroo Court seems
absurd but unfortunately for Mr. Manning he is trapped by the very criminals
he was attempting to expose. Given the nature of the material
and the way it was released and sifted through by first Manning and then the
WLO makes the Government’s charge of aiding the enemy seems even more
ridiculous than it already is and begs one to ask the question: who exactly
is the enemy? Are the American people the enemy, or perhaps journalists,
maybe WikiLeaks (after all Julian Assange has been declared an enemy of the
state), or is the enemy journalists like us or the Reuters reporters who
were mercilessly gunned down? The case against Manning just
like the US hysteria over WikiLeaks continues to go far to underline the
hypocrisy and the illegality of the US Government and the lengths they will
go hide and cover up their own crimes. When the facts that were
uncovered and exposed to the world by Mr. Manning came to light, those
involved in the crimes he uncovered should have been prosecuted, there
should have been an explosion of public outcry and calls for investigations
to be initiated but the US public were largely quiet, like sheep to the
slaughter, and the US Government instead went after Manning and WikiLeaks.
In a country where the true rule of law is the most
important factor which governs it, the persecution of Manning would never
have happened. The conditions under which Manning has been held and the
behavior of the state in prosecuting his case have contained so many
unconstitutionally egregious violations that if the US followed its own laws
the entire show trial would have been dismissed long ago, and Bradley
Manning would be a free man receiving reparations.
Persecution of Manning to continue
4 March, 16:11 Bradley
Manning took full responsibility for the information he has pleaded guilty
to releasing and has bravely faced the 20 year sentence he could have been
handed down, yet for US prosecutors this is not enough, they wish to show
that Manning aided the enemy, a charge for which they have the option of
executing him. Despite the importance the US Government has placed on the
information he released, to date no one has been prosecuted for the crimes
exposed by Manning, making the whole process appear to be the workings of a
Kangaroo Court. After Bradley Manning pleaded
guilty to 10 charges and stoically faced the fact that he may be imprisoned
for 20 years, the US prosecutors decided to continue with his prosecution on
12 more charges including the rarely used charge of aiding the enemy which
carries with it the possibility of the death sentence, something the
prosecution has said they will not pursue. Mr. Manning’s plea was not part
of a deal to have other charges dropped but the prosecution could have
proven its wisdom and used the option it presented them to drop the other
charges and move directly to the sentencing phase of the trial. In a statement released to the
public the prosecution stated the following: “Given the scope of the alleged
misconduct, the seriousness of the charged offenses, and the evidence and
testimony available, the United States intends to proceed with the
court-martial to prove Manning committed the charged offenses beyond the
lesser charges to which he has already pled guilty.” The case of Bradley Manning has
proven beyond all doubt that real justice is not of real importance to the
US, and perhaps in the world if we are to judge the world by the corrupt and
illegal rogue country that the United States of America has proven itself to
have become and the way they continue to be blindly followed by subservient
states and their allies. According to media reports the
prosecutors intend to call 141 witnesses to Manning’s court martial which is
scheduled to begin on June 13, 2013, and show that some of the open source
documents released by Manning were found in the former compound of Osama Bin
Laden. Whether they will provide evidence that the information was used in
the planning of any terrorist acts against the United States by Al-Qaeda is
yet to be known, but apparently for US prosecutors, at this point, mere
possession is enough. Despite the fact that Mr. Manning
exposed war crimes and the illegality of the US execution of the “War on
Terror”, despite the fact that he was detained without trial or charges for
over 1,000 days and his egregious treatment and pre-trial punishment has
been in contradiction of US and international law, US prosecutors plan to
continue his trial on charges of aiding Al-Qaeda and the enemy, rather than
doing the correct and legal thing and dismissing the charges against him and
giving Mr. Manning the right that many feel he he has earned more than most,
to be a free man and a hero. Unfortunately the treatment of
Mr. Manning, rather than being an abomination or an egregious exception
triggering massive protests and the widespread questioning by the general
public of the real motivations behind the actions of their government, a
government which is supposed to serve them, for the majority of the
misinformed, fearful and subservient population in the United States, it is
something that they have become accustomed to, and which in their continuing
silence, they support with no import being given to freedom of the press,
accountability and the very principles of democracy. Private Manning is the embodiment
of what is wrong with America, and if what he did, did not trigger an
internal US debate, it has surely triggered a massive international debate.
Mr. Manning is what those hiding behind a veil of secrecy and committing
crimes against all humanity fear most, that being an individual with access
to information proving their criminal conduct with a conscience and higher
moral ideals willing to sacrifice themselves, and his case has exposed that
fact to the world. Whether anything will change or
whether anyone will ever be prosecuted for the crimes exposed by Manning is
highly doubtful as those who committed and ordered them and their support
network are still in power, yet his actions did expose the illegality and
the hypocrisy of the US to the entire world, and showed that it is possible
for one person to effect, if not change, then at least embarrassment. It is that embarrassment and the
attempt to bring those guilty into account as well as the fact that Mr.
Manning is being used an example to scare away others who may be considering
blowing the whistle that are behind his persecution and rather than paying
proper attention to the message the system has gone after the messenger and
all conduits of that message, as they have with WikiLeaks, Assange, Hammond,
Swartz, and thousands of other journalists and truth seekers. Without a doubt those who have
subverted the US Government, propagated the whole “war on Terror” paradigm,
continue to conduct illegal wars against poor defenseless nations and who
remain in power are not interested in pursuing those who are committing
crimes in the process of executing their illegal policies, they are in fact
protecting them. The list of those who should have been prosecuted for war
crimes and crimes against humanity but are being protected, is too long to
list here, but includes everyone from Bush down to Lynndie England, and
hence the ongoing persecution of Manning. According to the military and the
hawks in power Manning was supposed to keep his mouth shut and follow
orders, just like every other soldier or tool of the US apparatus, that was
his sin and the most expeditious way to prosecute him is by saying he was
aiding terrorists and Al-Qaeda. What in fact Mr. Manning has
done, is aid the American people, the world’s populace, the rule of law and
true democracy. The fact that he did so knowing the risk he faced and the
fact that he has stood up in open court and took full responsibility for the
largest leak of sensitive information in US history is something that makes
him one of the greatest heroes of modern times. The US Government and those in
power have got it so terribly wrong on so many levels in the case of Manning
but above all his case has proven that soldiers and those who witness
horrendous acts and illegality being carried out under the color of power
have nowhere to go and no one to turn to, proving the true rule of law and
legal oversight in the United States have become nothing but a farce and
something that lip service is being paid to. In his almost two hour statement
to the court Manning detailed how he came to be an intelligence analyst, how
due to his diminutive stature he had a torturous time getting through basic
training, the nature and his views on the information he was processing, the
problems he had in the field and in carrying out his mission, how WikiLeaks
(WLO) came to his attention after they published 500,000 text messages
related to September 11, 2001 and the circumstances surrounding each
release. His most telling statement which
sheds light on his motivations was the following regarding the diplomatic
cable he had access to: “The more I read, the more I was fascinated with the
way that we dealt with other nations and organizations. I also began to
think the documented backdoor deals and seemingly criminal activity that
didn't seem characteristic of the de facto leader of the free world.”
Truly a prisoner of
conscience, Bradley Manning is a hero, and should be treated as such and
those responsible for the crimes he has revealed to the world should be gone
after, but in reality, this will never occur because in the paradigm that
the US is trapped in and our world is being pulled into, the messenger is of
more importance than the message, and anyone who goes against the
criminality of those in power must be eradicated with extreme prejudice.
Foreign actors must be removed from Syrian equation 5 March, 15:25
With the
internal Syrian conflict being fueled from the outside by U.S. backed
terrorists and insurgents appearing to escalate, perhaps it is time for the
international community to take measures to stop U.S. meddling in foreign
countries and, once and for all, respect the sovereignty of foreign nations.
Wishful thinking? Perhaps. Necessary? Absolutely. The danger of the internal Syria
conflict, which is being fueled from the outside, spreading to include other
regional actors is growing and is threatening to plunge the entire Middle
East region, already in chaos, into a state of all out war. With the continued meddling of
the West and the United States in other countries in the region the threat
of the conflict spreading to a global scale seems like more of a possibility
with each passing day. The irresponsibility of the West
in continuing to insist on installing its own regime in the country has
already reached the level of criminality on an international level. The most egregious crime in this
case being the arming, funding, recruiting, importation and support of
terrorist groups and elements into the country, something which is only
continuing and propagating the bloodshed and the misery of the Syrian
people. It is obvious to anyone who has
seen reports from within Syria and who has had any contact with the Syrian
people, that the conflict in the country is not an internally fueled one and
that there is no popular and widespread support amongst the Syrian people
for the ousting of their elected president Bashar Al-Assad. It is already
academic that had there been popular support among the Syrian people,
President Assad would have been gone long ago. Since the beginning of the
conflict there have been undisputed and verified reports of the U.S., the
West, regional allies and Israel, colluding with every sort of terrorist or
mercenary organization, including Al-Qaeda, to bring about the ouster of
President Assad and the government of Syria, one of the most secular in the
Middle East. This outside interference has in
no way “helped” the Syrian people, including the intelligent and peace
loving members of the opposition who have been willing to enter into
dialogue with President Assad and the elected leaders in the country. What it has done is help the most
extreme and violent criminal elements in the country, who support the West’s
position of no dialogue with President Assad and who steadfastly and
stubbornly insistent that Assad be forcibly removed from office. The accent
here should be on “forcibly”. President Assad and his
supporters have said themselves that they would step down if it would bring
peace to the country and if a peaceful transition could be made, but the
U.S. and the West have blindly insisted that he must be forced from power,
scoffing at and ignoring every attempt at intelligent dialogue and at
bringing about a peaceful resolution to the internal conflict. This includes
attempts not only by Assad himself but by international mediators, including
by the Russian Federation as well as reasonable opposition powers who have
announced they are ready to sit down at the negotiating table. The western media is also at
fault and effectively in disservice to the Syrian people. Watching the
western media coverage and their spin of the events in Syria is an exercise
in futility and an almost useless unless one is simply gathering certain
facts amidst an almost complete blackout of any news of Syrian origin. The western media report on
attack after attack, on terrorist act after terrorist act, yet take no issue
with the fact (and yes this is a fact) that the U.S. is actively working
with and supporting Al-Qaeda, terrorists of all colors, mercenaries and
every kind of killer under the sun to bring about its goal. Again I
underline: the goal of the “U.S.”, not the Syrian people and not even
regional actors, unless of course you take into account violent, extremist
U.S. allies, fanatical Shiites and even Israel. A recent report
by the BBC regarding the spreading of the conflict to the borders
of Syria attempts to detail the international character of the conflict, as
have many reports before, and goes into some of the international players
and terrorist groups operating in Syria but takes no issue with the reality
that they are being imported by the West itself. The BBC also tries to infer
that Kurdish supporters of Assad are connected with the PKK without offering
evidence of any such connection. They report that the terrorist
organization FSA (Free Syrian Army) is being assisted by Chechen, Ingush and
Kurdish terrorists and the Islamic terroritst groups: Ghuraba al-Sham, Ahrar
al-Sham, the al-Nusra front and Al-Qaeda. According to the BBC, hundreds of
other sources, witness statements and the accounts of people on the ground
in Syria, these groups are actively attempting to recruit anyone they can to
join them, again, if this were a popular uprising that would not be needed.
RT
reports that Iraq is attempting the assist Syria, the only
independent non-U.S. aligned country in the entire region other than Iran,
and has shelled FSA positions near the border and even moved in Iraqi
regular forces to regain a strategic border crossing that had been “seized
by the insurgency”. In an interview with the
Associated Press, RT reports, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave one
of his most serious warnings to date, stating that a Syrian rebel victory
could spark sectarian violence in his own country and the whole region.
“Neither the opposition nor the regime can finish each other off. If the
opposition is victorious, there will be a civil war in Lebanon, divisions in
Jordan and a sectarian war in Iraq.” Such a statement coming from
Iraq, a country recently invaded and decimated by the U.S. along with
Afghanistan, and the fact that Iraq is assisting Syria further underlines
the complete and utter failure of U.S. policy and meddling in the region and
on a broader scale the entire “War on Terror”. The New York Times has just reported that
the new U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is following lockstep in recently
departed Hillary Clinton’s footsteps and demonizing Russia and supporting
the insurgents in Syria. They report that officials have said: “The United
States has also been training a select cadre of Syrian rebels in Jordan
under a covert program run by the C.I.A.” With Israel’s entering into the
mix with the launching of an airstrike deep into Syrian territory, an attack
which killed a top Iranian General, the West has shown to what extremes it
will go to bring about regime change in countries that are not its allies,
are not aligned with it and pursue an independent stance. The amount of meddling even
brings into question the origins of the conflict to begin with. But we know
this and thousands of experts and reports bear this out; the West is
operating according to a plan. A plan which was brought into play using the
“events of 9-11” as a catalyst and which includes regime change and military
domination of every country in the world not pliable to U.S. interests. In
keeping with the plan, Syria must go, then Iran, then China and then Russia. The international community must
stand up to the U.S. and end this meddling and military takeover of the
planet by the West and the first step would be in no longer allowing the
U.S. to support insurgents and terrorists in Syria to overthrow the elected
president. The West must not be allowed to continue to fuel the war in Syria and must in fact be removed from the theater and it is the United Nations and perhaps their peacekeepers, who should be called into Syria, if of course a conflict remains once foreign actors are removed. Unfortunately the West continues to do what it pleases and for the time being, we are at their mercy.
Cancer: "epidemic" among anti-US Latin American leaders? 8 March, 01:26
Before his
death during many public speeches Hugo Chavez called cases of cancer among
presidents throughout Latin America an “epidemic” and a strange and alarming
phenomenon. Not only was cancer spreading with non-coincidental regularity
at approximately the same time to leaders in Latin America but it was
attacking Latin America’s leading left leaning anti-US Imperialists,
including Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo, the
former President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Argentinean
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. We might also add the mysterious
illness of Fidel Castro to the list. Was this possibly a coincidence? Is it possible in 2013 to deliver
and infect cancer in an individual? The CIA has been experimenting with just
such an assassination tool since at least the early 1960s, so the answer to
that question is an almost definite yes. On the same night that we were
informed about the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez we were also
informed by Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro that the was expelling
two American military attaches from the country. He stated that he was sure
that the cancer of the late President Hugo Chavez was caused and delivered
by “enemies”. A commission has been set up to investigate and we await its
findings. The claim may seem extreme but if
we look at the history of the CIA and secret US programs to deliver and
cause cancer in Latin American leaders and even attempts by Lee Harvey
Oswald to assassinate Fidel Castro using cancer causing biological agents,
the claim not only seems reasonable but also likely. In an address to the nation on
Venezuelan national radio the late Hugo Chavez stated: "I don't know but...
it is very odd that we have seen Lugo affected by cancer, Dilma when she was
a candidate, me, going into an election year, not long ago Lula and now
Cristina... It is very hard to explain, even with the law of probabilities,
what has been happening to some leaders in Latin America. It's at the very
least strange, very strange." It is obvious to anyone in the
world that all of these anti-US imperialist leaders were a problem for one
country, the USA and we also know they will do anything to advance their
policies, yet when dealing with super secret assassins delivering toxins and
untraceable viruses which cause cancer, even though it may have been obvious
who the beneficiary would be, Hugo Chavez never openly accused the United
States, he knew he had to have proof. If this were a court of law the
circumstantial evidence would be enough to convict the US but unfortunately
that is not the case. When I started researching for
this article and the subject of the spread and delivery of cancer causing
pathogens and viruses several old and well known names and CIA projects
began popping up including MKULTRA, Project PAPERCLIP, Program F, CIA agent
David Ferrie, Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, MKNAOMI, MKCHIKWIT, MKDELTA, MKOFTEN,
Dr. Charles F. Geschickter, Ethnic Weapons that attack DNA, the Kennedy
Assassination, Dr. Alton Ochsner Sr. and Dr. Mary Stults Sherman and her
research into delivering cancer to Fidel Castro in a secret operation
involving Lee Harvey Oswald. Although the MK designation
refers to mind control and many of the experiments and operations in the
MK-SERIES of programs were focused on mind control and behavioral
modification and creation experiments as well as the substances to bring
those changes about, they also focused on the development, transformation,
mutation, use and delivery of almost every kind of disease and illness known
to man. According to Dr. David Barret who
I spoke to last year regarding the “events” of 9-11, the CIA, according to
Fidel Castro’s bodyguard Fabian Escalante, has attempted to kill the Cuban
president an astonishing 638 times. Dr. Barret says, “The CIA's methods
included exploding cigars, biological warfare agents painted on Castro's
diving suit, deadly pills, toxic bacteria in coffee, an exploding speaker's
podium, snipers, poison-wielding female friends, and explosive underwater
sea shells.”
In an article on the matter of President Chavez’s assassination Dr.
Barret even names the possible assassins as being a group called the
Asteroids “the world's most expensive and accomplished professional killers”
who specialize in plane crashes and assassinating heads of state. Dr. Barret
does not go so far as blaming the US Government but he does say it was
probably the “Banksters” who truly run the United States who were
responsible for the assassination of Chavez. Vice President Nicolas Maduro’s
expulsion of US Air Force Attache Colonel David Delmonaco, and Assistant Air
Force Attache Major Devlin Kostal for attempting to coerce active Venezuelan
military officials to join in destabilization projects and for attempting to
instigate a military plot against the Venezuelan government, may be just the
tip of the iceberand no doubt the Venezuelan Security Services have more
information than they are letting out. Maduro has recently also lashed
out at what he called "the corrupt Venezuelan right" for engaging in a
psychological war seeking "scenarios of violence as a pretext for foreign
intervention," Meaning of course US intervention. Vice President Maduro has also
referred to the late leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization,
Yasser Arafat, as someone who was “inoculated with an illness” and another
victim of US secret assassination. In 2011 Chavez said: ““Wouldn't
it be weird if they had developed a technology for inducing cancer and
nobody knows up until now?” Some bacteria that cause cancer
are the following: Helicobacter Pylori can cause stomach cancer,
Streptococcus Bovis is associated with colorectal cancer, Chlamydia
Pneumoniea is connected to lung cancer, Salmonella Typhi can lead to
gallbladder cancer and Mychoplasma. There are also viruses that cause
cancer and they include: the most common Hepatitis viruses, including
hepatitis B and C, Human Papilloma viruses, the Human T-Lymphotropic virus,
Kaposi’s Herpesvirus, Merkel Cell Polyomavirus and the Epstein–Barr virus. The most common and widespread
and perhaps difficult to fight as it spreads throughout the tissues of the
stomach area is the Helicobacter Pylori virus. Media reports say Chavez was
in a great deal of pain and the repeated treatments he received may point to
this virus and we might postulate it was the one which may have infected the
late president. However as I am not an expert I am only speculating. Common means of delivering this
virus may be saliva, from a kiss for example, or through drinking water or
other liquid such as a soup. There are vaccines and cures for this kind of
virus meaning that if an assassin was infected and kissed the target, they
could be quickly cured. As this virus is so common and widespread,
especially in the developing world, it would be almost impossible to trace. If President Hugo Chavez was in
fact assassinated we do not know at this point. Was it possible? Yes. Was it
likely? Unfortunately the answer to that question may also be yes.
Class struggle in the microcosm of Southend-On-Sea 8 March, 2013 16:37
Fascism
begins on a local scale so the apology by the Southend-On-Sea Council to
peaceful protestors who had their clothing removed is like a ray of sunlight
through the dark cloud that has been overshadowing the world for the past
decades. Unfortunately the system in the UK is broken and people are
suffering and as the UK follows the US blindly down the road to
totalitarianism we may be seeing more of the same. But for now, they have
apologized. After we ran an interview with
Mike Smith regarding the strange cancellation of the Southend-On-Sea air
show, one of the largest free air shows in Europe and one that had brought
about 7 million people and 10 million pounds of revenue to the restive
English resort every year, and the fact that some protestors showed up at a
council meeting to protest, wearing t-shirts with benign slogans and were
forced to remove them, the council has apologized and called for an
investigation. Whether the publication of Mr.
Smith’s interview and his words in anyway had any influence on the council
is unknown to me but to see them do the right thing is something that must
be brought to attention and is in stark contrast to many of the things we
report on a daily basis. In particular the treatment by US authorities of
protestors, including the all but forgotten Occupy Movement, which regularly
sees police stripping, beating, gassing and arresting peaceful protestors on
a regular basis. What was alarming for Southend
residents and for myself was that such fascist behavior by the authorities
was taking place in such a restive and peaceful city as Southend and for
such a benign act of silent protest. The protestors showed up at a meeting
where they were supposed to be quiet with t-shirts merely stating “Scrap the
Council” and did not engage in yelling or screaming or in another way
bringing attention to themselves. As far as protest slogans go
“Scrap the Council”, in my opinion, is a very mild set of words and even
former Conservative cabinet member Mark Flewitt agrees that, Scrap the
Cabinet, is a legitimate point of view. In light of that and the
non-belligerent behavior of protestors Mark Sharp, Patsy Link and Sheena
Walker, yes two women were also forced to stand in the public gallery
half-naked, the actions of the authorities were way out of line.
The Echo, a local South End publication, reports that
several Councilors themselves have come out in support of the protestors
quoting Labor Councilor Julian Ware-Lane as having said: “Not only is it an
indignity to disrobe people, it is a suppression of free speech.” Yes, an
indignity indeed. The Echo quotes the Chief
Executive of the Council, Robert Tinlin as having said: “Please accept my
apologies for the situation you found yourselves in on Thursday evening….”
and “…“I have asked a senior member of my management group to deal with your
complaint. I will also be personally reviewing the guidance for our
facilities and security staff to avoid any similar circumstances in the
future.” The reason I find events such as
these alarming is because fascism begins on a small scale and such behavior
by elected officials and those in power against the very people they are
supposed to serve echoes and mirrors what has happened in the United States. That the UK, Australia, Canada
and many of their allies follow the US blindly down almost any road is a
given fact, but if the sensible Brits, who pride themselves on their
politeness and proper behavior, begin to spit on the rights of their own
citizens, then as they say, all is lost for the Western world. Such events are symptomatic and
point to the widespread and cancerous decline of Western civilization, for
no civilization based on democratic principles, freedom, rule of law and
respect for the individual can stand long when the rights of the individual
are so wantonly ignored and violated. Brits may see themselves trapped
in an economic mess and a “War on Terror” paradigm brought down upon them
from the outside without their permission or participation and may live with
that but such American style crackdowns on freedom of expression will most
likely not go down well with the population. Free thinking and progressive
Brits are living with a deep political and sociological crisis as are black
Americans who can not criticize the fascist policies of the black man in the
White House. The crisis is symbolized in Julian Assange who remains trapped
in the Ecuadorian Embassy unable to leave because the government of the UK
is not capable of doing the right thing, making an independent decision and
standing up to the descendants of British criminals across the water and
allowing him to leave unhindered to Ecuador. The man in the street knows that
Julian Assange is not a criminal, he is a fighter for truth and he is a hero
for all of us, but they see their leaders and government blindly and
subserviently toe the US line and sell off their very sovereignty every day
he remains trapped in the embassy. But Brits are a stoic lot and
will put their heads down and grit their teeth and bear it whether out of
respect, or politeness, or perhaps out of meek subservience, is not really
important. What is important is that they wake up before it is too late and
stand up to the people who are supposed to serve them when their interests
are no longer being served. The fact that the little drama in
Southend-On-Sea ended with an apology by the Council, this simple and minor
event in the grand scheme of things shows that perhaps goodness does have a
chance after all and the ugly face of fascism may not rear its head in
Europe once again.
Karzai accuses US of collusion to destabilize Afghanistan 11 March, 15:22
The President
of Afghanistan has made several statements of late and has taken a stance
against the American occupiers of his country that have many in Washington
bristling, with the latest being his statements that the US is in collusion
with the Taliban to further destabilize the country in order to justify a
continuing US presence and the prolongation of their “Security Assistance
Invasion” and occupation of the strategically important country. There have been hundreds, if not
thousands, of reports and articles written detailing US involvement and ties
with the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden but to finally hear President
Hamid Karzai, the acting head of state of Afghanistan, the country where all
of the above got their start with the support of the US in their “secret”
Afghan war against the Soviet Union, is another matter entirely. In statements made during a
speech celebrating the once Soviet holiday of Women’s Day on Sunday and
after the unannounced “secret” visit by the new US War Secretary Chuck
Hagel, President Karzai leveled harsh accusations at his American
benefactors in an obvious attempt to try to maintain support among the
Afghan people, save face and show that he is in control despite the fact,
and moreover, especially after the US refused to hand-over control of the
Bagram prison, despite Karzai’s claims before Parliament and the nation this
was soon to occur. The hand-over was promoted and seen as a sign that
Afghanistan was reasserting its sovereignty. Karzai’s harshest statement
accused the United States of America of being in collusion with the Taliban
and in fact working together with them to continue destabilizing the
country, a fact that is not surprising, given the proven US track record of
destabilizing countries to facilitate control over them, the US geopolitical
goals in the region, the strategic importance of Afghanistan for the
Americans and the US desire to stay in the country indefinitely further
underlined by Rick Rozoff in an interview with Press
TV. Karzai did not mince words when
he said the Taliban and the US were in bed together in Afghanistan after the
US bombed Kabul in the lead up to the visit by Hagel to Afghanistan.
According to Reuters Karzai
said: "Those bombs that went off in Kabul and Khost were not a show of force
to America. They were in service of America. It was in the service of the
2014 slogan to warn us if they (Americans) are not here then Taliban will
come. In fact those bombs, set off yesterday in the name of the Taliban,
were in the service of Americans to keep foreigners longer in Afghanistan."
In an interview I conducted with three time Nobel Peace Prize nominee
Kathy Kelly who has been on almost a dozen extended stays in Afghanistan for
the Voice of Russia she took it one step further and stated that
the US had even built Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden’s encampments in the
country. One has to wonder as to the
sincerity of Hamid Karzai however as he has proven in the past, and
continues to prove, that he is almost completely impotent in dealing with
the Americans who have invaded his country and continue to occupy it for
the13th year running. He has repeatedly made statements condemning the
slaughter of civilian women and children by US and ISAF forces, the non-stop
night raids that are designed to terrorize the Afghan civilian population
and the continuing US control of Afghan prisons where the US conducts
torture and arbitrary incarceration. Yet until now he has taken almost no
real concrete measures to end any of these abuses by the US invaders. To the chagrin of what many call
his US paymasters and “allies” Karzai has surprisingly taken steps recently,
if not to protect Afghan Sovereignty, then at least to show he is capable of
standing up to the American invaders and prohibited US commandos from
conducting “Special Operations” in the Wardak Province. He also came out in,
as the New York Times reports, “bristling” terms against the US insistence
on maintaining control over how Afghans, who are for the most part simply
defending their homeland, are detained, interrogated and released. Karzai’s new-found independence
caused the US to cancel plans to hand over Bagram Prison and Hagel to cancel
a joint photo opportunity and press conference that had been planned to show
Americans just how wonderful the US failure is going in Afghanistan. The American occupiers are of
course bristling themselves at Karzai’s independent and anti-US rhetoric,
withBloomberg quoting
a retired U.S. Army colonel David Maxwell as saying; “On the surface and to
this outside observer, it appears that Karzai has gone way off the
reservation, perhaps more so than he has in the past,” and “I cannot see how
we could work with such an apparently delusional leader much longer, but
unfortunately I do not know if we have any other good options.” Such arrogant rhetoric as well as
statements by Hagel himself and Western military commanders, point to
counted days for Karzai as president, yet have to be taken in the context of
the political theater that Karzai himself has been a leading actor in during
almost 13 years of US occupation after their aggressive invasion of the
country on false grounds. Using the American idiom derived
from the term used for Indians who left their prison-like reservations and
were murdered and calling Karzai delusional for saying anything against the
imperialist US occupiers further underlines the unbelievable arrogance, all
encompassing ignorance and unwavering self-righteous hypocrisy that US has
when dealing with foreign countries and anyone they want to control. President Karzai is in a
difficult position, on the one hand the Americans support him and guarantee
his safety as long as he is pliable and on the other he has to somehow
respond the Afghan people’s anger at the US occupiers who have brought
nothing but war and misery to the Afghan people, unlike the Soviets who came
in and built almost all of the infrastructure in the country and brought
peace, much of which has been destroyed by the Americans. A fact recently
underlined in an interview
with Afghan native and expert Dr. Zalmay Gulzad aired by the Voice of Russia. Knowing the US Geopolitical goals
in the region and Afghanistan’s strategic location bordering China, Iran and
former Soviet Republics, and against the backdrop of those goals which
require the Americans to maintain a huge military presence in Afghanistan,
makes everything the US does or says with regard to the nobility of their
invasion; hypocritical, laughable and an insult to every intelligent
independent thinking individual on the planet On Sunday in attacks killing at
least 19 people underlining the blood and carnage the Americans have brought
to Afghanistan, as Hagel was leaving a U.S. military compound in Kabul, a
Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Ministry of Defense and
another suicide bomber detonated his explosives in Khost province, prompting
Karzai to say: “There are ongoing daily talks between Taliban, American and
foreigners in Europe and in the Gulf states.” He also said the attacks show
that; “The Taliban want a longer presence of foreigners, not their departure
from Afghanistan." If we look at the US support of
Al-Qaeda in Syria and their close relationship with the Taliban in the past
and we know the US and Israel want to invade Iran and destabilize Iran and
China and through former Soviet Republics, Russia, where else will their
mercenaries and terrorists need to be based? In Afghanistan of course, and
perhaps at the US built fortifications at Tora-Bora. Further complicating Karzai’s and
the Afghan people’s predicament are Afghan resources. Sure they are many and
will be exploited by the US but the main reason for the US presence will be
to guarantee the security and the exploitation of pipelines delivering oil
and gas to the US’ main financial backer, China. For US planners once Iran
and Syria are “taken care of” this will open up the possibility of oil to
flow all the way from/to China to the Mediterranean and on to the ravenous
US market.
US says Syria will use chemical weapons again and again 13 March, 18:22
The US has
made the accusation that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is planning to use
chemical weapons on his own people, something that experts, Syria watchers
and the Government of Syria itself claim is a ludicrous accusation being
promoted by the West to justify the forceful removal of the country’s
elected leader. The chemical weapons lie has been used before, most notably
in Iraq, but the West continues to use the same old playbook. Will the world
listen again? Probably not. The United States of America has
once again accused the Syrian Government of Bashar al Assad of being
prepared to launch chemical weapons attacks on the Syrian people, which of
course if true would then give the US and its allies the reason it needs to
carry out yet another “humanitarian invasion” of yet another sovereign
country, to remove yet another elected leader who the US can not manipulate
and just simply, “Does not like.” Claims such as these have been
attempted in the recent past with regards to Syria but the world’s public
has not bought them or rallied behind the US and its allies in an invasion
scenario to forcibly remove the elected Syrian leader as had been hoped by
the US Government. The chemical weapons claim to
justify an invasion by the US was first shown to have been falsely made in
the run up to the Iraq war, when the American and the World populace were
lied to and deceived by US officials including the Minister of Defense Colin
Powell and the then Director of Central Intelligence Tenet, on that issue
and many other including Uranium yellowcake and the famous 4 minute Weapons
of Mass Destruction, that posed an imminent threat to the world and the
United States. At that point in history the
world was still naïve enough and believed the United States enough to
believe whatever they were told. Things have changed and the world’s
population has grown wiser. After it was seen that the entire
war against Iraq, an illegal act of aggressive war and an unprovoked
invasion on a sovereign nation staged to remove the leader Saddam Hussein
from power, was based on lies, with every claim made by the US Government
proven one after the other to have been completely fabricated, the world
began to question the motives and actions of the US. This questioning by intelligent
independent and free thinking people the world over has continued as we have
seen crime after crime committed by the United States of America in their
endless global War on Terror. A war which was properly named but has proven
that it is not a battle against the methodology of terrorism and those who
employ such methods, but a war which has time and again attempted to use
terror itself to pacify the US and the Earth’s population into allowing the
US to continue what in reality is a global war of domination with the end
goal of obtaining complete and total control of the world, and more
importantly the planet’s resources. We have continued to see with:
Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Libya, the Middle
East, the Arctic, the drone assassination program, secret indefinite
arrests, the war against whistle blowers, the clamping down on press
freedoms, the global expansion of NATO, the attempts to control the world’s
resources, financial manipulations, US meddling in countries all over the
world, the stifling of dissent, the escalation of the police state, the
deaths of foreign leaders, the attempts at starting color revolutions (in
Russia in order to remove President Putin from power), the surrounding of
Russia and China with American missiles, the military takeover of Africa and
expansion into Asia and more, a country that is bent on world domination at
any cost and has already successfully achieved much that goal. We have seen and the US has
itself proven that they will say and do absolutely anything imaginable to
bring about the fulfillment of their goals. The US goal in Syria has been
repeated time and time again to be the forceful removal from power of the
country’s elected leader Bashar al-Assad. The US has done everything to
bring that goal about, from funding, arming and importing Al-Qaeda
terrorists to arming and training the small number of Syrian extremist armed
insurgents. Due to the wide support within
Syria of the country’s beleaguered president the West’s efforts have been
for the most part unsuccessful, with even the direct violation by Israel of
launching a missile attack deep into Syria not provoking the reaction that
the West was seeking. Bashar al- Assad was too smart to react then, as he
should have, and he is too smart and reasonable to do anything even remotely
close to using chemical weapons on his own people. Even if Assad had the desire or
the intention to commit such a heinous act he knows that it would be suicide
and it would give the West and the US the perfect pretext they are seeking
to launch an invasion of Syria to remove and kill Assad and to allow them to
control the country’s resources. No matter the propaganda by the
West the record has shown that the majority of the Syrian people support
Assad, that Assad would never even think of using chemical weapons and that
what is failing in Syria is the US aggressive attempt at regime change. One has to look at the
motivations of the messenger when ascertaining the truth of the message, and
in this case the message by the West of supposed chemical weapons use by
Assad has to be taken for the lie that it is.
Henrique Capriles and His CIA Handlers
14 March, 14:08 The
opposition politician in Venezuela, Henrique Capriles Radonski, is said to
be in the sights of US assassins. This is not surprising as Capriles’
history and deep ties to the US and his key position in US operations to
destabilize and usurp the Venezuelan Government, including involvement in
the coup d’état that temporarily unseated Hugo Chavez, the attack on the
Cuban Embassy in Venezuela and the ensuing assassination of the prosecutor
who was investigating these events, would make him someone the US needs to
keep quiet. On Wednesday the acting President
of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro issued an official statement that Venezuelan
security structures had uncovered a plot to assassinate opposition
politician Henrique Capriles. According to the VOR in a televised speech he
stated that: “We have detected plans by the far right, linked to the groups
of (former Bush administration officials) Roger Noriega and Otto Reich, to
make an attempt against the opposition presidential candidate,” Nicolas
Maduro said. Maduro was not specific in how
the plot was uncovered or in who the suspects are but added that the
government had sent a senior general to meet with Capriles' team. Although obviously denied to the
press by Noriega this means that Henrique Capriles Radonski has had a
serious falling out with his American benefactors and former controllers,
who may be after him for any number of reasons including financial ones as
he is heavily indebted on many levels to the United States. Against the backdrop of the
ongoing investigation into the death of Hugo Chavez there is also
speculation that he might know too much about the, until proven “suspected”,
assassination of the late Hugo Chavez, as he has a long history of “secret”
dealings with the US Government, has made many trips to the United States
even meeting with Congressional leaders and officials and is suspected in
the assassination of the late Venezuelan Prosecutor, Danilo Anderson, who
was prosecuting suspects in the coup d’état which temporarily ousted Hugo
Chavez in April 2002 as well as the attack on the Cuban Embassy in Caracas
during the same time. Capriles is a prize even by CIA
standards, the gay politician in the poster boy for CIA implanted puppet
leaders of Latin American countries. According to diplomatic cables
published by WikiLeaks and heavily redacted documents released by the US
State Department in an attempt to soften the impact of the WikiLeaks
revelations, Capriles’ relationship with the US goes back to his very
creation as an “opposition” leader against official Caracas. According to the site venezuelawearewithyou.blogspot.ru citing
Jean-Guy Allard at agenpress.info, even the formation of Capriles’ political
party, Primero Jusiticia, was done under the control of and financed by
USAID, a long time CIA Front, through the National Endowment for Democracy
(NED) and the International Republican Institute (IRI). After USAID’s assessment the
right-wing Republican experts at these organizations designed the Capriles’
party platform, communications strategy and were instrumental in supporting
and financing extreme right ideological groups such as that designed for
Capriles. According to the resource USAID
has reportedly given more than 5 million dollars to fund the extreme right
in Venezuela “under the pretext of supporting democracy” in violation of the
2010 Venezuelan Law of Political Sovereignty and National
Self-Determination, something USAID is well-known for and one of the reasons
it was expelled from many countries including the Russian Federation. The details of the relationship
between Capriles and the US Government which were published by WikiLeaks in
the form of their own diplomatic cables, is stunning in its scope and nature
and gives us an insight into just how far the US will go to install their
own puppet leaders in countries that they wish to control. In one Diplomatic Cable marked
Classified and titled: “Mayor
Capriles - This May Be My Last Trip”, dated Tuesday, March 21,
2006, it is clear that the ties between Capriles and the US Government go to
the highest levels. The cable shows Capriles meeting
with the US Ambassador in Caracas and the Political Counselor Officer,
suspected of being a CIA cover position in the country, and their concern
for his well being after Capriles was involved in the attack the Cuban
Embassy and what are described as terrorist activities and was facing prison
time again for his subversive activities. The cable mentions that Capriles
intended to “visit New York and Washington to talk to executive and
legislative branch officials as well as representatives of international
human rights organizations”, one of many trips that he then discussed and
summarized with the Ambassador and the PolCouns, showing that he was
regularly travelling to the US to receive instructions and no doubt funding,
and that the information he had was sensitive enough and important enough
for him to have to meet privately with the US Ambassador at the Embassy. According to the cables Capriles
not only met with US Government Executive and Legislative Branch officials
but also with the then Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon, the US
National Security Council Senior Director Dan Fisk and unnamed “others”. The WikiLeaks Cables connect
Capriles to the attack on the Cuban Embassy stating that he was even filmed
climbing over the wall of the Cuban Embassy Compound and threatening the
Cuban Ambassador in Venezuela. They also show that Capriles was a prime
suspect in the assassination of the Venezuelan Prosecutor Danilo Anderson,
killed by a car bomb in November 2004, and that he was a key figure in the
coup d’état that Danilo Anderson was investigating. Before his death
Anderson had successfully imprisoned Capriles on charges of “violating
international principles, private violence and abuse of office” in
connection with the attack on the Cuban Embassy. The US Diplomatic cables take no
issue with the fact Capriles was in fact committing terrorist activities,
subverting the Venezuelan Government and involved in the assassination of a
state prosecutor something it is almost a given he was doing at their
behest. There is no doubt Capriles, who
is now running for president, knows enough to seriously damage the United
States and is so closely connected to US agents attempting to destabilize
and overthrow the government of the country, so an assassination plot by US
interests would be nothing more than damage control. That an individual who is
according to the public record is involved in treason and is a paid servant
to the interests of a foreign power, is being allowed to run for political
office is strange in and of itself. That the government he is attempting to
overthrow has warned him of the plot is only testament to the rule of law
for everyone by the Venezuelan Government. Capriles is so intertwined with these US elements that if Hugo Chavez was in fact assassinated and infected with cancer Capriles is more likely than not involved or in the know. If there is an investigation going on into the death of Hugo Chavez then Capriles will be one of the first persons investigators would want to talk to, and for the organizers, the fear that he will talk is reason enough to take him out.
American right continues to demonize Islam, or death for blasphemy is not limited to Islam 18 March, 23:01
The death
penalty for blasphemy is wrong but it is not just an Islamic issue. Although
fanatical followers of Islam try to enforce such punishment, Christianity is
also full of references of death for blasphemy, as are many other religions.
For most religions forgiveness and brotherly love stop when you insult their
gods, and then you must die. Is this right? It depends on where you are
sitting, or kneeling as the case may be. How you view the argument depends on
where you sit. So as always when you read something demonizing Muslims or
Islam it is a good idea to get a bearing of who the messenger is. Recently a blog called the “American
Thinker” a publication many sitting on the left would call: a “a rightwing
rag” according to Daily Kos, and worse, published an intriguing piece doing
something the US right loves to do more than anything else, namely,
demonizing Islam, something necessary to continue bombing the hell out of
Muslim countries. As always the right loves to look at
others while failing to take into account their own egregious behavior. That
is normal and as always it depends where you are sitting. Let’s take a look
for a minute at some of the points brought up by the “thinker” in their
article Ten Key Points on Islamic Blasphemy Law. Point one they claim the “Sunna”
says any who one blasphemes Muhammad, Allah, or Islam put themselves on a
war footing against Muslims, and their lives became licit. However they fail
to mention that Christians have their own blasphemy laws where stoning to
death was the punishment and even England had blasphemy laws on the books
until 2008 when the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act of 2008 was passed.
However some may still exist. Jews also have their own blasphemy
laws and in ancient times even tried to accuse Jesus of blasphemy against
God’s name. His own dad if you believe other versions. Buddhists’ have a
“right” speech clause in their religion and Jainism has its own version of a
blasphemy “law” as well. As it turns out Hinduism does not have any such
laws and in theory even an atheist can be a Hindu. The intrepid “thinker” takes issue
with the fact that in many Islamic countries official blasphemy laws exist
which call for death as the penalty, which is wrong as it persecutes
Christians and everyone else for that matter, but they make no mention of
blasphemy laws which still exist in many US states, in the UK, Australia,
Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece Ireland, the Netherlands,
Iceland, Italy Spain, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland. Although the issuing of Fatwahs
seems like an evil thing for people like Salmon Rushdie depending on where
you are sitting, one might say that Christian’s are guilty of worse
offenses. Just ask American Indians about the Doctrine of Discovery. By the
way Indians respected the Great Spirit and Mother Earth and also did not
have blasphemy laws. Even a Christian could worship the Great Spirit.
Indians welcomed everyone with peace and even took pity on the starving
Calvinist and Puritan Pilgrims who gave thanks to God for allowing them to
slaughter the Indians and steal their lands. Mormons who do not practice
polygamy, I mean polygyny, also have blasphemy clauses with death as the
proper punishment. The “thinker” is right in saying
that these Islamic “Laws” should not be a part of the legal establishment or
part of the criminal code in many countries but takes no issue with the fact
that the US Government and the US system are so intertwined with God and
weird esoteric ideology, even saying “In God We Trust” on their money and
requiring leaders and citizens to swear on bibles and the like during all
sorts of official processes. As for the esoteric, I mean things like the
Pyramid with the all-seeing-eye on it on American currency and the like. The most serious blasphemy law
across the board in almost all religions, and we must remember that Islam,
Christianity, and Judaism are basically all based on the same books and
events, is attributing the acts of the Messiah, by whatever name you want to
Satan. We might demonize Islam for the
bloodshed it has caused but Christianity wins hands down for the massive
slaughtering of human being that it has wrought on mankind. Maybe a billion
Indians alone were slaughtered in North and South America in the name of
Christianity. Regardless of what you believe do
not attack other people’s faiths. It is just bad manners. Maybe all
countries should have a Council of Atheists to handle these problems?
Squatters claim Malvinas, De Kirchner asks Pope Francis to intervene 19 March, 16:55 2
Christina
Fernandez de Kirchner has asked fellow countryman Pope Francis, a vocal
proponent of Argentinean sovereignty over Las Malvinas, for his intervention
in solving the question of the disputed Las Malvinas, or as the British call
them the Falklands. The question over the islands brings to question the
Catholic Church’s Doctrine of Discovery and shows that they may still be
playing a role in what is nothing more than the stealing of lands. While
Argentina’s claims hold more water than those of the UK, which is attempting
to hold on to one of its last vestiges of empire, other questions do arise.
The President of Argentina Christina
Fernandez de Kirchner has asked the new head of the Catholic Church, Pope
Francis to intervene in the conflict over Las Malvinas, or the Falklands, an
issue which apparently unites the Argentinean president and the spiritual
leader who is also from Argentina. One the eve of his coronation the
Pope granted the president a private audience and she became the first head
of state to meet with the Pope in Vatican City. President Fernandez de Kirchner has
condemned the British militarization of the South Atlantic and this was her
reason for asking for the intervention of the Holy See, in particular the
Pope, her hope being that the Pope may assist in opening up channels for a
dialogue on the issue and averting any possible confrontation over the
Argentinean territory, claimed by the United Kingdom. The Catholic Church has intervened
in conflicts in the region in the past, namely in 1978 when Pope John Paul
II helped to defuse a conflict between Argentina and Chile over several
islands in Patagonia and the Beagle Channel. During the meeting with the
Argentinean Pope, the first non-European Pope in 1,300 years, the president
is being quoted as having said: “Now the situation is different because
Britain and Argentina are two democratic countries with governments elected
by the people. The only thing we ask is that we can sit down and negotiate.” In the past Pope Francis, the former
Argentinean Cardinal Bergoglio, has been vocal in his support of the
sovereignty of the Las Malvinas Islands and has called for, the vindication
of the soldiers who fought against Britain, saying the islands were usurped
by Britain. The question over the possession of
Las Malvinas is one that is of great historical importance and goes back
hundreds of years to the very invasions of the “New World” by the Europeans,
to the period of the British Empire and the Catholic Church’s Doctrine of
Discovery, which allowed European “Christians” to steal the lands and riches
of the indigenous people’s for their respective crowns in Europe. Since it was this Doctrine of
Discovery that has allowed for Europeans to continue to possess and squabble
over lands that in reality were stolen, and in the case of Las Malvinas
belong to neither the Argentineans nor the British, the Pope is probably the
most relevant figure to mitigate a resolution to the conflict. If we go back to the history of the
islands, they have been claimed on and off by Britain since the mid 1770s
with supposed possession of the islands passing back and forth and including
French and other claims. Even Luis Vernet an Argentinean hero who was
proclaimed the Military and Civil Commander of Falkland Islands and the
Islands near Cape Horn by the Republic of Buenos Aires in 1829, was
apparently playing both sides of the fence in his control over the islands,
attempting to please both British and Argentinean interests. The United States was also involved
in the conflict culminating in the destruction of the settlement on the
islands by the USS Lexington after Vernet seized three US warships, the USS
Breakwater, USS Superior and USS Harriet in 1831. When the British expelled the
population of the islands in 1833, according to historical records, only 22
people remained in the major city of Port Louis. This included 12
Argentineans, 4 Charrúa Indians from Uruguay, 2 British nationals, 2
Germans, one French citizen and one person from Jamaica. In 1834 Charles Darwin made his
second visit to the islands commenting: “After the possession of these
miserable islands had been contested by France, Spain, and England, they
were left uninhabited. The government of Buenos Aires then sold them to a
private individual, but likewise used them, as old Spain had done before,
for a penal settlement. England claimed her right and seized them. The
Englishman who was left in charge of the flag was consequently murdered. A
British officer was next sent, unsupported by any power: and when we
arrived, we found him in charge of a population, of which rather more than
half were runaway rebels and murderers.” If we judge ownership of the islands
by the actual original population, leaving the indigenous issue aside for
the time being, and not by the whims of ambitious colonial powers who needed
the islands due to their strategic location, then of course the islands
belong to Argentina and perhaps in part to the Charrúa Indians from Uruguay. In stark reality, with all political
niceties aside, if we take the account of Charles Darwin at full value then,
as with North America, Australia and other empirical conquests, the question
is one of whether British murderers, criminals, outcasts, pirates and every
sort of scum, and their descendants, who have been squatting on lands not
their own for hundreds of years, can really be called the owners of said
lands. As for Las Malvinas, asking these
very descendents, as would be the case with the descendants of the same
Europeans who call themselves “Americans”, who the land belongs to, is the
same as asking an 8th generation
squatter if they in fact own the home they live in. It is a farce.
After a decade without trial Guantanamo prisoners on hunger strike 22 March, 18:40
Photo: EPA From the US
President on down the world has been lied to again and again ad nauseum
about the “War on Terror” and everything associated with it. They have been
lied to about illegal aggressive invasions, the overthrowing of governments,
the assassination of leaders, drones and the crowning jewel of U.S.
arrogance, the illegal 21st century dungeon located
at Guantanamo Bay Cuba. Inside sources say almost all of the detainees in
Guantanamo are on a mass hunger strike, however a general tells the world
just a handful of prisoners are on “hunger strike light”. Can we believe
them now? According to human rights workers
and lawyers, about 150 of the approximately 167 hopeless, forgotten,
tortured prisoners at the illegal U.S. “War on Terror” prison and
interrogation facility at Guantanamo Bay Cuba are on a prolonged and most
likely indefinite hunger strike. For the helpless broken human beings
that the ruthless, amoral, conscienceless, godless and insatiable U.S. war
profiteers have held, almost all, without trial or redress for more than 11
years, this is their last resort, the last and final desperate plea for help
from humiliated and broken souls in silent protest to treatment and
conditions that have become no longer humanly bearable. According to the U.K.’s Guardian a
lawyer working on Guantanamo “issues” and representing seven
individuals at the illegal prison , Omar Farah, from the New
York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, the true number and condition
of men at the prison who are on a hunger strike is in stark contrast to the
watered-down figures stated by General John Kelly, the head of US Southern
Command which is responsible for Guantanamo and U.S. military forces and
operations in Latin America, to the House Armed Services Committee and being
quoted by the world’s press. In the Guardian, Mr. Farah is quoted
as having said that Fahad Ghazy, an inmate from Yemen and his client, had
recently told him that the number of those on a hunger strike is far greater
than the official version: "They (the Pentagon) are not admitting the scale
and scope of the hunger strike." He also said that in a telephone
conversation with Mr. Ghazy, he was told that: “… all but two inmates in
Guantánamo's Camp Six were on hunger strike, and that that likely
represented almost 130 people. And ….some detainees at Camp Five were also
on hunger strike.” Of course the U.S. Government and
their spokes-tool General Kelly are going to downplay the desperate nature
of the hopeless situation at Guantanamo, and spin as much propaganda as they
can get away with, so their numbers and statements have to be taken with a
grain of the harshest, most toxic rock salt possible.
According to the BBC and reports from the session, the General
told the rubber-stamping House Armed Services Committee that “some prisoners
were eating a bit, but not a lot." He later stated at a press briefing at
the Pentagon that some of the prisoners were on what he callously and
arrogantly labeled “hunger strike light”. He of course added that
allegations that the Koran, the holiest book for the Muslim prisoners, most
of whom are being held for over a decade without trial, was not
mishandled. According to reports citing human
rights workers, lawyers and others who have contact with the prisoners, the
protests are due to the fact that the few photographs, letters and other
meager and precious personal possessions of the men, are being confiscated
and possibly destroyed. This along with the desecration of only thing they
have that gives them strength, their Korans, and the sheer and utter
hopelessness of their predicament, over which it appears no just or fair
individual or body on Earth has any control, has led to the current mass
hunger strikes. The fact that all flights to and
from the island are also soon to be cancelled and currently it is almost
impossible for any outside forces to gain access to the prisoners and to the
facility to observe what is really going on, make the believability of
anything the US could possible say regarding the situation almost laughable,
laughable if it were not for the horrors they are committing at the
location. The deceptive illegal interrogation
and torture facility, nothing more than a hellacious middle-age dungeon in
the sun overlooking the sandy shores of a beautiful island, is the ultimate
crowning jewel of U.S. arrogance and a continued symbol to the world that
the United States of America is completely and utterly recalcitrant in its
reckless, ruthless and bloody disregard for international law, human rights
and humanity as a whole. It is the ultimate sign to the world
that those in power in the United States care nothing for the rule of law
and will do anything to anyone if it advances their own agenda. It is also a
showpiece for bloodthirsty callous American greed, hypocrisy and the true
hypocritical nature of the U.S. President who promised to close it and those
who continue to line their pockets and make billions at the expense of their
fellow human beings. This can in no way be more
underlined or pronounced than recent
news by RT and the
Huffington Post that the temporary “torture and terror” prison,
contrary to what have been proven to be lies by the Nobel Prize winning U.S.
President, is not only NOT going to be closed, but is going to be expanded
and a new $49 million prison is going to be built at the location. Where is the international outcry? Where are screaming American taxpayers whose money is being used to illegally hold men who have not been charged or tried for over a decade in a despicable, disgusting and egregious parody of justice and an affront to all mankind? Why does Cuba do nothing to be rid of the abomination which is an affront to everything it stands for? The answer my friend is most likely nobody can do anything because those responsible and blood-sucking greed, tragically, now and for quite some time, rule the world.
Boris Berezovsky: A long way to fall after robbing billions, selling out his country 24 March, 09:42 1
Russian oligarch on the run Boris
Berezovsky is done running, and with his death it seems the end of an era.
He met his end in the bath of his suburban London home and even though the
official cause of death has not been determined or announced, already the
world is beginning to look for answers and concoct theories. What is true is
that the man lived big, climbed high, and then fell brutally from the very
heights he had climbed. Toward the end he showed signs of humility, but
sometimes a little too little can be a little too late. The mystery surrounding the death of
Boris Berezovsky continues to grow as more and more facts continue to come
in, with people all over the world trying to make sense of the man’s death,
which now seems to many of them to be as much of a mystery as the man’s
life. While experts and pundits try to
clarify and define who Berezovsky was and give their opinion of a man the
world felt symbolized what it meant to be a Russian Oligarch, many of the
facts surrounding his life seem to be getting blown out of proportion or
forgotten entirely. Regarding his death, it is useless
to put forth or contemplate endless conspiracy theories as the official
cause of death has not yet been announced although it is most likely he
committed suicide, or died of a heart attack. Those are the first versions
and in cases like sometimes the first versions are the most honest ones. But
there are questions that need to be answered. For example there are reports that
he may have died on Friday and that he was discovered on Saturday morning
but an ambulance was not called until sometime Saturday afternoon. Why the
delay? There are also reports that
radiological, chemical, biological and nuclear emergency experts have closed
off the entire scene, something I would not read too much into as the UK
authorities are more likely than not just being thorough. Or are they? Berezovsky was man who had made many
enemies during his life but he was surrounded by a cadre of body guards all
of the time and since his humiliating loss of a lawsuit against Arkady
Abramovich for $5.6 billion, an expensive venture designed to refill his
deep coffers, he had kept a pretty low profile. Such a loss and the humiliation of
being labeled an unreliable witness in front of the world, may have pushed
Berezovsky over the edge. For those who want to contemplate suicide as a
motive, there are many reasons to believe that this may have been true other
than the lost lawsuit. Berezovsky’s last wife recently left
him which might be enough to drive any man over the edge. He was also a man
used to living an unbelievably, and in his case unsustainable, extravagant
way of life, and there are widespread rumors that he was completely broke
and selling off property to try to make ends meet. There was also the mystery apology
he made to President Vladimir Putin, in which he asked for permission to
return to Moscow and said he was sorry for the mistakes he had made.
Apparently he was rebuffed, after all he was a man who had attempted to
overthrow the Russian Government and the Russian President and made an
attempt to influence the last Russian elections in order to try to open a
door for him to return to Russia and be powerful again and regain his past
glory and influence. In all this he failed and was called irrelevant and not
to stick his nose where it did not belong, surely a humiliation. There was also the inquest into the
death of Alexander Litvinenko, who some say was ordered assassinated by
Berezovsky himself, or at least with his knowledge. And this was by far not
the only dirty deal that Berezovsky was involved in. The fact that he was a fugitive from
justice in Russia and attempted to paint a picture of being persecuted due
to his “political persuasion” was also a disingenuous argument, he was a
criminal who stole billions of dollars taking advantage of the instability
and disorder that befell Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union and
made billions upon billions of dollars doing so. The fact that he backed Chechen
terrorists and along with Litvinenko attempted to initiate the overthrowing
of the Russian Government both from within and without are also reasons that
he may have been driven to suicide if these facts were becoming increasingly
widespread. Despite all of the possibilities,
the most likely is the simplest and most banal. He was broke and for a man
used to such an extravagant lifestyle that was enough to drive him to
suicide or simply cause him to suffer a heart attack. The Voice of Russia spoke to Fyodor
Lukyanov and in an interview he stated that Berezovsky was one of the most
talented and most visible figures who was able to obtain almost anything
while manipulating the situation that existed after the fall of the Soviet
Union. Mr. Lukyanov stated that at the end of the 90s Berezovsky was one of
the five most influential people in Russia but that when that stage was over
he happened to find himself out of the game. In an another interview shortly
after the death of Berezovsky Michael John Smith, the last person who was
convicted for spy ing for the Soviet Union in the world and a man who has
become an expert on intelligence and such affairs since his wrongful
conviction said that Berezovsky was not very loved in UK. Mr. Smith
characterized him as a rude and loud inconvenience and an embarrassment for
the government of the UK and some one who was in reality damaging Russian UK
relations. Mr. Smith also broke the news that
Berezovsky may have died on Friday night and that he was found in his bath
at about 11 o’clock in the morning by his bodyguard. Mr. Smith also said
that the ambulance was not called until 15:30 in the afternoon, a fact from
which many conclusions could be made. In a previous interview Mr. Smith
spoke about the likely connections between Berezovsky and the death of
Litvinenko and he gave his views on the apology to President Vladimir Putin
and his plea to be allowed to return home, no doubt, without having to face
the courts for his crimes. Mr. Smith said he was a broken man,
facing legal problems in the UK, who realized that he had nowhere left to
run and would have rather faced what he had to face in Russia rather than
what was coming up in the near future in the UK. Broken man or not one can not be
that sympathetic to a man who did everything and anything to grab power and
enrich himself, including but not limited to attempting to overthrow
governments.
Fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has died
in London at the age of 67 The report emerged in the Facebook
account of his son-in-law Yegor Shuppe. Boris Berezovsky, a Russian business
oligarch, government official and former mathematician, was born on 23
January 1946 in Moscow. He graduated from the Moscow Forestry Engineering
Institute in 1968, then he worked as an engineer, from 1969 till 1987
serving as assistant research officer, then he headed a department in the
Institute of Management Problems of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Berezovsky
conducted research on optimization and control theory, publishing 16 books
and articles between 1975 and 1989. Berezovsky made his fortune in
Russia in the 1990s when the country went through privatisation of state
property. He profited from gaining control over various assets, including
the country's main television channel, Channel One. In 1997 Forbes magazine
estimated Berezovsky's wealth at US$3 billion. Berezovsky helped fund Unity – the
political party, which formed Vladimir Putin's parliamentary base, and was
elected to the Duma on Putin's slate. However, following the Russian
presidential election in March 2000, Berezovsky went into opposition and
resigned from the Duma. Later he moved to Britain where he has been living
until his death. Berezovsky established
the International Foundation for Civil Liberties, to "support the abused and
the vulnerable in society – prisoners, national minorities and business
people" in Russia and criticized Putin's record in the West. In 2012 Berezovsky lost a High
Court case he brought against Roman Abramovich in London over the ownership
of Sibneft, where he sought over £3 billion in damages. The court judged
Berezovsky as an "inherently unreliable" witness, who "regarded truth as a
transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current
purposes" and that "At times the evidence which he gave was deliberately
dishonest; sometimes he was clearly making his evidence up as he went along
in response to the perceived difficulty in answering the questions." The
court concluded that Berezovsky had never been a co-owner of Sibneft. Voice of Russia, RIA, BBC, AFP, RT, Reuters
Berezovsky died alone by hanging in a locked bathroom 26 March, 04:22 2
U.K. Home Office
pathologists have determined that Boris Berezovsky died of hanging. This
would indicate that the man, whose life seemed to be ruled by selfish greed
and who would do anything to enrich himself, ended as selfishly as it had
been led. Near the end he tried to run back to the country he had fled from
in order to flee the country that had generously taken him in but sadly for
Berezovsky this was not to be and apparently, sadly for those who cared
about him, he ran to the only place he could. After a postmortem examination,
according to officials in the UK, the cause of death of fugitive oligarch
Boris Berezovsky was “consistent with hanging.” The Themes Valley police
report that a Home Office pathologist stated Berezovsky was hanged and his
body showed no signs that there was a struggle. British police have said that
Berezovsky left no suicide note and that there was no evidence of injuries
or damage that pointed to third-party involvement in the sudden death of the
fugitive oligarch. All signs point to the fact that
Berezovsky’s death was sudden and unexpected even for those around
Berezovsky. He apparently left no suicide note and there are reports that it
is unknown whether or not he left a will or instructions on where he was to
be buried. If he did leave a will it may have been with lawyers who have
made no comment to the press. Initially speculation that he may
have been poisoned was fueled by the fact the authorities had called in
biological, chemical and radiological emergency response teams and had
cordoned off the area surrounding the ex-billionaire’s home in Ascot,
Berkshire, not too far from London. These suspicions may now be laid to
rest as the Themes Valley Police have made the announcement that his death
bears the signs of hanging. What the exact signs are the police have not
said. This also brings to question how it was that Berezovsky was reportedly
found on the floor of the bathroom. Perhaps he had merely let his feet slide
out from under him as he hung from a bathroom fixture. Some of the western media are of
course bringing up the death of Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with
Polonium 210, as he was a close associate of Berezovsky, but as more
information comes in, it is a possibility that Berezovsky had something to
do with the death of Litvinenko and the fact that an upcoming inquest into
Litvinenko’s death may in fact expose a connection, may have played a role
in Berezovsky’s suicide, if it was in fact such. This was stated recently by
Michael John Smith an intelligence expert who has been following both of
these cases. The fact that his body was not
removed for almost a day after his death has further fueled the speculation
that his death was not accidental, and if he was in fact found hanged, this
would explain the delay as investigators combed the scene for clues making
sure absolutely no rock was unturned in a case the eyes of the world are
watching. Perhaps those who found Berezovsky’s body were attempting to hide
the fact of a suicide in order to obtain insurance money or for other
reasons and may have tried to stage an alternative scenario which may
explain why it took police this long to make an announcement and why it took
those who found the body so long to call emergency services. According to verified accounts one
of Berezovsky’s bodyguards had to force open a door to one of Berezovsky’s
bathrooms in order to determine if his boss was okay as there was no
response when he knocked and the billionaire had gone missing. It seems unlikely that foul play was
involved as he died alone and in a locked bathroom and the absence of a
ready will and the fact that he was broke leaves out the motive of foul play
by someone close to him ready to take his money. The fact that the door was
locked from the inside would rule out strange assassination theories even by
the most intrepid conspiracy theorists but stranger things might happen. If the death was a suicide, which it
appears more and more that it was, it might be worth noting that with
Berezovsky’s business acumen and knowledge of the law and business
practices, including no doubt insurance company policies, there is little
chance he would have left a suicide note for the world to know about.
Undoubtedly he had life insurance and he knew his beneficiaries would not
receive anything if he committed suicide. The Guardian reported there was a
scarf at the scene and that witnesses reported that Berezovsky had marks
around his neck. The Guardian also reports that since the loss of the court
case against Mr. Abramovich, Berezovsky was in a deep depression that
apparently continued until his death. The widow of Alexander Litvinenko
told the Telegraph she doubted that he had committed suicide but there are
many signs he may have had a motive for taking the easy way out. Not only
did he recently lose a lawsuit against Roman Abramovich, where he attempted
to fabricate a case against the Russian billionaire, but he was called out
on his fabrications in open court by the judge who called him an,
“unimpressive, deliberately dishonest, inherently unreliable witness who
viewed truth as a transitory, flexible concept.” Those words effectively
obliterated what was left of his reputation. That and his subsequent rants
against the Crown and the UK authorities made him seem a selfish figure
convinced of his own righteousness and engaged in a battle against the
world. The suit against Abramovich, seeking
$5.6 billion for damages Berezovsky claimed were owed to him due to
“machinations” involving Sibneft the result of which he claimed, caused him
to be short changed and cheated, was supposed to infuse his shrinking bank
accounts with billions. Instead of refilling his coffers with money gained
from Abramovich, he instead was ordered to pay Mr. Abramovich more than $5
million. Berezovsky also recently lost more
than $100 million in his recent divorce from Galina Besharova, the largest
divorce payout in UK history, and may have racked up at least $100 million
in legal bills since 2011. Recently Berezovsky began selling
his paintings and several properties pointing to his growing desperation.
That and his apology to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his pleas to be
allowed to return home, no doubt untouched, point to a man at the end of his
rope (excuse the paronomasia). Recently Berezovsky was calling for
the overthrowing of the Russian Government and the Russian President so it
seems rather odd that he would beg for forgiveness and beg to return home
and it seems extremely generous that the President and the Government have
been so gracious in their treatment of the news of his death. The end of the wanted fugitive, who survived several assassination attempts, no doubt due to his double crossing business deals and reported deals with Chechen terrorists, seems a selfish and cowardly way out. But for a man who ran from Russia because of the problems he created for himself, then tried to run away from the country which had taken him in due to the same kinds of problems he created in his new homeland, it seems logical. Instead of standing his ground and facing the music, he chose to run to the only place he could, a place where he will have no escape from justice and will have no one to blame but himself.
CyberBunker - Spamhaus battle leads to largest DDoS attack in Internet history 28 March, 19:19
http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Cyber_Ops_Computer_Security.html
It has been
identified as the largest DDoS attack in the history of the internet, at one
point reaching a mind boggling 300,000,000,000 bits a second, that’s billion
(300Gps), and it has affected servers, websites and web services all over
the net, slowing down the net and making some sites completely
inaccessible. Once again we see violent opposition
to mediocre minds trying to control the internet and tell you what you can
see and what you can not see, who is bad and must be shut down, and who
should be allowed to speak. The internet was one of the few mediums where is
information was free, however more and more we see attempts to limit and
control the flow of information. We have even recently seen information
activists become the subject for western military attack. One provider which
offers access to anyone free of censorship is under attack and the net has
decided to fight back. The attack is part of an ongoing
battle for internet freedom between supporters of a provider name
CyberBunker, which provides uncensored hosting for everything and anything,
except for child pornography and terrorism, and a company called Spamhaus
which claims to be battling spam but which has effectively become an
internet censor by arbitrarily blocking entire domains and providers under
the cover of battling spammers. At the heart of the cyber war
between backers of CyberBunker and Spamhaus is the fact that Spamhaus placed
the provider on a blacklist, and has effectively been blackmailing Internet
Service Providers (ISPs), ISP providers and carriers into disconnecting
clients and web services with a court order or legal redress. In October of 2011 Spamhaus
single-handedly determined that Cyber Bunker was a “haven for spammers” and
asked A2B, which is their upstream provider, to cancel their internet
service and disconnect their servers. If Spamhaus, which claims to be a
non-profit organization and is used by millions to filter internet traffic
and e-mails every day, determines that a domain or provider is being used to
send spam, Spamhaus adds the domain or, in this case, the entire provider to
its blacklist, hence cutting them off from the net and their users. ISPs
know this and are then forced to censor or cut off their clients, again
without legal recourse or a legal order, just because Spamhaus says so. CyberBunker, which is housed in a
real bunker; a five-story-deep ex-NATO cold-war-era bunker that was designed
to withstand a nuclear attack, located near the town of Kloetinge in the
Dutch countryside in the southern part of the Netherlands, says they are not
responsible for the attacks but that a consortium of ISP and carrier
organizations and thousands of unknown supporters are responsible for the
onslaught on Spamhaus. In an interview with RT television
CyberBunker spokesman Sven Olaf Kamphuis said that Spamhaus has angered ISP
and carrier providers for years by using mafia tactics and blackmail to make
providers disconnect clients without a court order. He said Spamhaus wants
to control all of the platforms through which information passes. Kamphuis said if Spamhaus
wishes to continue to exist they need to stop blocking entire subnets and
ISPs by incorrectly listing IP addresses belonging to people who Spamhaus
arbitrarily determines to be criminals, just because they say so. In a Skypechat where people unhappy
about Spamhaus’ actions began to organize it became clear that many of
Spamhaus’ targets are in Russia and China and that for some reason Spamhaus
lists an inordinate number of Russian and Chinese “criminals” and “spammers”
as subjects for blocking. Kamphius told RT that Spamhaus
maintains an illegal list “without permission from the Information
Commissioners Office and in contradiction to the data protection act, of all
personal details and pictures and names and addresses of people that
Spamhaus do not like.” He also said they believe Russia and China should not
be allowed to access the internet and implied that this the motivation for
their actions and their activities are aimed with that end in mind. Meanwhile on Thursday there were
reports that on-line banking services were beginning to suffer, streaming
media sites such as Netfix are being adversely affected and the Guardian
reports that thousands of Britons are unsuspecting participants of the
attacks as their router s have been subverted, although this last claim is
highly dubious as there is no evidence that personal routers can be or have
been “subverted” in order to carry out attacks by unknown individuals. Several media outlets have
questioned the entire affair as a PR event for companies which provide
internet security and other such services such CloudFlare which has sought
to generate publicity for itself by becoming involved in the attack although
in reality they are incapable of dealing with such a massive onslaught. What we see in the whole bloody
affair is once again a trampling of freedom of speech and expression by an
organization abusing their mandate, another egregious demonizing of Russia
and China, profiteering in the name of security and fear mongering to
continue to allow for the restriction of your freedom. As a regulator, which
is the role Spamhaus has abrogated for itself, they should be beyond
reproach and operate fairly and in keeping with the law. When they and
others who purport to be in a position to dictate to the world how to behave
prove they themselves are in need of oversight and can not follow the rule
of law, they and those like them must be reigned in and shut down and their
arbitrary trampling on the rights and freedoms of others must be stopped
immediately. There are those in power who are
afraid of information being free, in essence information that allows the
world to bear witness to their nefarious activities, and these “individuals”
will do anything to stop or control the flow of information, whether they
use mafia tactics, threats of drone attack as NATO has done, or illegal
indefinite detention as the US has done, these individuals must continue to
be exposed, if the internet is to be the vehicle for that exposure, so be
it. We as citizens of the world must be ever vigilant of anyone trying to
restrict of control our freedom and right to be informed, under whatever
guise they might be posing.
The DPRK has been pushed into declaring war on the South 30 March, 07:11
http://www.jar2.com/Topics/North_Korea.html
The wave of
global condemnation that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will be
facing shortly after declaring a state of war with the South will be great
and no doubt countries the world over including the Russian Federation will
urge all sides to seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis, but the DPRK did
not declare war arbitrarily, once again the U.S. is meddling in another
region in the world, and the result was and is completely predictable. The Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea has entered into a state of war with South Korea and has threatened to
strike United States targets in South Korea as well as in the continental
United States. The news may not be surprising as
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has been making more and more
bellicose statements as of late due in a large part to war games involving
South Korean and US forces that have recently been taking place. North Korea has decided to go down a
road which has lost it the support of even some of its staunchest allies,
and will no doubt see a tidal wave of global condemnation for its
declaration of war. However one thing is clear, the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea did not make such a move for no reason, and the
declaration of war was a predictable event for almost anyone who has been
watching the tensions rise in the region. Rather than defusing the situation
and the tensions in the region and toning down its war games, the United
States chose to escalate tensions by doing the only thing it appears capable
of doing anymore on the international arena, namely flexing its military
muscles and drawing lines in the sand for its enemies to cross. The Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea had the right to be concerned earlier this week when it released
statements condemning U.S. nuclear attack submarines near its shores and
U.S. nuclear missiles being aimed at its territory and the West had a chance
to take heed and tone down it aggressive military posture but the U.S.
decided rather to flex its muscles once again and fly 2 B-2 stealth nuclear
bombers into Korean airspace. The Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea issued a statement before the unprecedented B-2 incident that nuclear
war had become a real possibility on the Korean Peninsula. The statement was
a warning as to the danger of escalating the conflict which the U.S. has not
heeded. Instead the immature U.S. command structure decided to act like the
schoolyard bullies they are and force North Korea further into a corner. There can be no doubt that U.S.
analysts are aware that North Korea is ruled by a young ruler who needs to
be seen as tough and strong in the face of mounting opposition by the West
and the South, and this is dangerous for all parties concerned as the
younger ruler may make more aggressive moves than his predecessor in order
to show that he is a strong and capable leader. Regardless of the reasons behind it,
few can support the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s declaration of
war on the South, but nevertheless it was the predictable result of the
West’s actions in the region, no matter how many times they repeat that
their exercises are “defensive” in nature. It seems odd that the world’s self
proclaimed single military super power has to conduct “defensive” exercises
against such a small country as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
and the claims to thus are disingenuous. The United States and its NATO and
Western Allies as well as South Korea as its regional surrogate have no
regard for peace, they wish to bring about a scenario in which they can
justify a military invasion of North Korea, destroy the country, and allow
for a permanent presence in the region, this would fit in with U.S. and NATO
global expansion plans, and serve to allow for the further surrounding of
China and Russia. Russia has been for peace in the
region and has urged both sides in the conflict to show restraint and
maturity and this includes during the latest escalation. Russia has also condemned the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for its recent nuclear tests because
they only served to further destabilize and escalate the situation in the
region. Regardless of who is at fault all
sides in this escalation must stand down and sit down at the negotiating
table, North Korea must not allow itself to be provoked into war and South
Korea must not allow itself to be a surrogate for those hungry for war to
break out in the region. The U.S. and its allies must also learn when to
withdraw as their actions are only pouring fuel on the fire, a fire that
could lead to a nuclear war, but apparently as long as the lives that will
be lost are Korean, the West is not all that concerned.
APRIL 2013
The DPRK: another regime change target for the US 1 April, 21:29 1
With reports
that North Korea has stated that they are in a state of war with the South
and the U.S. and their surrogates continuing and upping the demonization of
North Korea, it is difficult to find an independent and fact based view on
the conflict. One fact is getting lost, North Korea is for the unification
of the Koreas and is for the betterment of all of the Korean people, while
the South is for all intents and purposes serving their overseas masters.
Regardless whose side you are on most of the world would agree, there must
not be a military solution to the Korean crisis and it is an internal
problem that must be solved by the Korean people without self serving
outside interference. Most of the world’s media are towing
the U.S. line on the conflict between the Koreas, with very few, if any,
alternative media covering the subject with a view from the North Korean
side of the equation. Diplomats worldwide are also showing restraint because
no one wants to fuel a fire that could turn into a nuclear confrontation and
even pundits and expert are unusually toned down in their views and
statements. What is being missed by everyone and
what almost no one wishes to talk about relates to North Korea’s position
and the relationship that the world’s self-declared “sole military super
power” has had in fueling and provoking yet another conflict, his time with
possible nuclear repercussions. The fact that the U.S. continues to
operate from the same tired old playbook and operate along completely
predictable lines goes miles to point to the U.S. as a country in decline
and country lacking the intellectual fortitude necessary to carry out its
self-proclaimed role as the world’s policeman. This has long been the case
but few in the world have woken up to that fact, few dare to stand up to the
U.S. and even fewer will openly and publically question the U.S. motives in
their global expansion. How the current and the ongoing
Korean crisis ties into U.S. global military expansionism and regime change
is truly a subject that would require several books to detail but it is
something that must be mentioned and something that several of my readers
have asked about. Over the years it has become clear,
since the invasion of Yugoslavia and perhaps earlier, that the U.S. has a
predetermined and global agenda of global military, energy, political,
economic, religious and even racial domination, and North Korea is just
another piece in the U.S. game of geo-political chess. In the past I have likened Mikheil
Saakashvili to a “geo-political chess queen” because he could have moved in
any direction, using chess logic we might call North Korea a rook, because
they have a very limited range of moves they can make, either moving forward
or back in straight lines. Back to the U.S. playbook; the U.S.
has what one might call a “shopping list” of steps they must take to ensure
complete and total global domination, a list of countries and regimes that
they have targeted for change, forceful or otherwise. This is a fact the
world is aware of and one that is verifiable by simply looking at the
history of the last 30- 50 years, these countries, regimes and regions
include but are not limited to: Afghanistan, The Arctic, Argentina, Africa,
Asia, Belarus, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Iceland, Iran,
Palestine, Russia, Serbia, space, Syria, and many others not necessarily in
that order. The goals in all regions are
different but follow two memes: military neutralization through military
saturation using the claim of “threat”, followed by political regime change
to allow for the complete exploitation of resources with military resources
to ensure security, and the second forcible military or other neutralization
of “enemies” who are anti-U.S. or pursue independent policies which exclude
U.S. participation or domination. North Korea falls into several
categories as a prime target for U.S. extermination, although they may claim
ideological differences we know this claim is a farce when we simply look at
the U.S. relationship to other countries and the U.S, track record of, for
example, placating Communist China, working and funding Al-Qaeda, funding
and backing Serbian Muslims, backing despots and dictators worldwide, and a
million other nefarious actions. So ideological reasons are merely a
convenient political precept, as I might add are human rights and the most
beloved but clerarly deceptive spread of democracy. The U.S. needs North Korea, and
regardless of whether regime change is carried out, to expand its military
presence in the region. This is one reason it is against U.S. interests that
the Koreas actually unite and co-exist peacefully, if the Koreas were to
reach an independent peace arrangement excluding U.S. interference this
would block the U.S from continuing their military expansionism in the
region, so they will do anything to ensure that there is never peace in the
Koreas, or they will seek a pretext to annihilate the North and allow for
the installing of another U.S. puppet regime which will allow them to do as
they please in the region. The U.S. has several problems in the
case of North Korea; one, their intelligence as to the real potential of
North Korea’s military and their true ability to launch a nuclear attack is
faulty. Two, there is no widespread support for an invasion of North Korea
either internally or externally. Three, the U.S. is already over-extended
and economically on the verge of collapse. Four, North Korea has beleaguered
yet existing support from countries such as Russia and China, who are
against an escalation of the conflict and do not really want to see another
nuclear power, but who also do not wish to be further surrounded by U.S.
military elements, including U.S. “missile defense” installations that will
neutralize the Russian and Chinese strategic deterrence and their own first
strike capabilities. We have seen the scenario repeated
time and time again and through that repetition we have been able to see the
weakness in U.S. military and strategic thinking, namely an uncreative and
dinosaur like mindset that is unable to adapt or respond and that is blindly
following a pre-set plan which I outlined above. As for the way they carry
out their plan we first saw their methods of operation in Yugoslavia, then
in Iraq, followed by Afghanistan, Libya and any other country they have
recently desired to invade, including Syria, Iran and now North Korea. The
formula they use is basically the same, terrorize the world and U.S.
populace with stories of a horrible imminent and lethal threat, demonize the
country in question endlessly in the media, stage and organize provocations,
destabilize the country or region, and then organize, stage or provoke an
event to allow for mobilization. If you doubt their intentions then
simply ask yourself, citizen of the world, U.S. taxpayer and South Koreans
in particular: Why has the U.S. never promoted a real political or social
solution that might serve to unify the Koreas? After all that would be in
the interests of all Koreans. Why does the U.S. keep insisting on a forceful
military solution to the split in the Koreas? Because this is all they know
how to do? Why do the U.S. and their manipulated surrogates in the media and
elsewhere keep promoting the idea that North Korea is a dangerous threat to
world peace and continue to demonize the country? The answer to all these
questions is: to prepare for a forcible regime change. As almost any independent minded
person, country or entity might agree the U.S. has shown it does not possess
the necessary objectivity, intelligence, or even the moral high ground to
interfere in international affairs and attempt to control the world, a role
they have delegated to themselves and in my own opinion should be barred
from interfering and operating internationally in the military sphere and in
every other, that is the role of the UN and is what it was set up for: to
not allow for one country to dominate the world by force, as the U.S. has
been doing. So North Korea is completely right
in pointing out, as they did on Sunday, that nuclear weapons are “the
nation’s life” and will not be traded even for “billions of dollars”.
Obviously the North Korean leadership has paid attention to Iraq and Libya,
regimes that fell for U.S. lies when they got rid of their weapons and were
later invaded and decimated and then annexed. Will North Korea attack? Experts the
world over say this is highly unlikely, but that depends on how far into a
corner they are pushed. Can North Korea attack? Now that is a question that
even the U.S. “brain” the CIA cannot answer, if they could North Korea would
have been invaded long ago. If the world is going to ever see
peace, and the litmus test might be solving the Korean crisis, the United
States of America must no longer be allowed to interfere anywhere it pleases
in the world, the UN must be given independent “teeth” to allow it to bring
about real changes, and the in the case of North Korea and Syria for that
matter, an internal dialogue must be promoted and the opposing factions must
be forced to negotiate for the good of all their people and not for the good
of their imperialist or other masters.
Anonymous attacks North Korea: another US tool? 3 April, 19:10 1
Members of the
Anonymous collective have taken it upon themselves to once again become
involved in a military confrontation and have once again seemingly been
operating in conjunction with the US in mounting aggression against yet
another small and almost defenseless country. Have the “Knights of the
Internet” become nothing more than sadistic schoolyard bullies, and are they
now an instrument of US geo-political interests? Judging from recent events in Syria
and now in North Korea one might ask oneself if the hacker group Anonymous
has allowed itself to become another extension and in fact a tool of the
U.S. Government’s military adventurism and open policy of forcible regime
change. According to certain “founders” of
the group who I have communicated with in the past and active Anons the
group is not political and does not “do politics”, yet what we have seen is
something to the contrary. Due to its very nature and the fact that the
organization, if we can call it that, has no hierarchy, it is impossible to
ascertain if the attacks on North Korean sites and the demand for an end to
nuclear threats and even the removal of power of the North Korean leader are
supported by the group or not. Since Anonymous is so loosely knit
and has almost no concrete rules or agenda it is not easy to determine if
group has been infiltrated, which I would say is a given, and is in fact
being used as a cover by the U.S. in launching cyber warfare operations
against target countries. With the entire US war apparatus
bearing down on small almost defenseless countries that the increasingly
aggressive and dangerous U.S. Government deems to be “evil” for whatever
reasons suits them at the moment, to see the once noble Anonymous collective
increasingly being seemingly manipulated into advancing U.S. aggressive
military objectives is a sad thing indeed. In my dealings with Anonymous, I
have met and communicated with individuals with high ideals and noble goals
as well as sadistic cyber criminals who prey on the weak and terrorize
whoever they wish and even Russophobic lunatics and understand that due to
their nature Anonymous might be seen as all inclusive. The very nature of Anon Operations
makes it another area where Western Intelligence Operatives and Cyber War
Specialists can manipulate and use the Anonymous brand for their own
nefarious ends and to give credibility to their own questionable and illegal
operations. When Anonymous launches an operation
it might be called for through one of the many “forums” and methods they use
to communicate. One Anon may call for a massive attack on me, for example,
something which I was promised once by an individual who claimed to be an
Anon leader and never materialized, and others may join in en-masse. Who is
calling for an attack is usually someone with certain credentials in the
organization and may be known to other members or not. Since the
organization jealously guards and maintains their anonymity even for Anons
it hard to determine who is exactly behind a call for an attack. In South Korea there is a South
Korean Anonymous group, which calls itself Anonymous Korea in certain
instances and which claims to have taken down or attacked five North Korean
official web-sites including the main North Korean web portal, the site of
the North Korean Foreign Relations Committee, the site of the North Korean
Committee for Cultural Relations and also that of the state-owned airline
Air Korea. North Korea’s leadership has shown
tremendous restraint and the North Korean people are suffering enough with
over 300,000 hostile troops amassed near their borders carrying out military
exercises and an array of U.S. military hardware capable of launching
nuclear strikes amassed off their borders, that once again it is sad to see
Anonymous attacking the country as well. The fact that Anon Korea has made
what they claim are 15,000 passwords available to the public and blamed
innocent victims for being stupid in creating weak passwords leaves me with
little sympathy for the group, although I have written well of them in the
past and have applauded some of their exploits. In reality attacking North
Korea is akin to telling a child to shut up who has been beaten to a pulp by
a group of schoolyard bullies or screaming at a woman who is being gang
raped to be quiet. Anonymous, if in fact this was an
Anonymous operation, needs to stay out of military operations and
international conflicts or study who the true geo-political aggressors are
if they wish to continue to enjoy the support and the respect of the world’s
populace. Maybe North Korea should not make
such bellicose statements and maybe their leader should step down in the
eyes of some, as I am sure there are those who would say the U.S. leader
needs to step aside so Americans can breathe free, but attacking their web
infrastructure serves no one except the imperialist aggressors. It is interesting and must be noted
that all North Korean sites are back up and the site that was taken down,
uriminzokkiri.com, has as its most prominent link, the neo-conservative
“Project for a New American Century” blueprint for global American
domination, a doctrine that has been in use since 9-11 and a plan which
required 9-11 as a catalyst.
Since US invasion 1 million dead from Afghan heroin 3 April, 22:43
The utter and
dismal failure of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan was
further underlined on March 11 at a session of the UN Commission on
Narcotics Drugs. Opium production which was almost completely stopped in
2001 now accounts for 90% of the world’s heroin, a fact that might lead to
speculation as to the real motivations behind the invasion and occupation by
the West of Afghanistan. On March 11, at the 56th session of
the Commission on Narcotics Drugs held by the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime, Victor Ivanov, the head of the Russian Federal Drug Control
Service, revealed that since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan heroin
production has increased 40 fold, more than 1 million people have died due
to Afghan heroin and now 90% of the world’s heroin supply comes from
Afghanistan. These are damning statistics which
the western media and the U.S. Government will try to evade and further
underline the complete failure of U.S. named “Operation Enduring Freedom,”
an aggressive invasion, which has done nothing but decimate the country’s
people, destroy almost all of the infrastructure and has further allowed
America’s war profiteers to become fabulously rich. Ivanov told the conference that:
“Afghan heroin has killed more than 1 million people worldwide since the
‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ began and over a trillion dollars has been
invested into transnational organized crime from drug sales… Any impartial
observer must admit the sad fact that the international community has failed
to curb heroin production in Afghanistan since the start of NATO’s
operation.” With the Middle East, the Arctic,
Venezuela and the slew of other countries that have been the subject of U.S.
targeting both military and otherwise it is clear what the real objectives
are, and were, first and foremost oil and energy resources. With Afghanistan
the real reason will never be admitted as it is much more illicit. Although officials will not state
this openly, both in Russia and elsewhere, judging from the U.S.’ past
history of invading countries where there are large financial dividends to
be had as well as ones of strategic importance, it would appear that the
trillion dollar Afghan heroin industry is what the U.S. was after. This
would explain why the U.S. has done nothing to eradicate the cultivation of
opium in the country and has done nothing to stop the flow of heroin out of
Afghanistan. Unlike the decades before 9-11 there
is sadly little chance that anyone will ever come forward and expose the
entire lie that has been the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.
With the U.S. hyper-security state and its aggressive persecution of
whistleblowers there will be no Iran-Contra like revelations pointing to
U.S. narcotics profiteering or collusion with the drug trade. What we have
are the statistics to look at and the aftermath of the U.S. invasion. According to data presented by
Ivanov at the session opium production has increased to 154,000 hectares and
according to reports from Afghanistan will be at 157,000 hectares this year.
This is in sharp contrast to the situation before the U.S. invasion in
October 2001 when the Taliban had banned the growing of all poppies. What is
telling is that after the U.S. invasion all production resumed. In a graph used by Ivanov during his
presentation opium production in Afghanistan in 2001 was at a paltry 185
tons a year compared to 8,200 in 2007 and 6,900 in 2009. This accounts for a
huge amount of dirty money that Ivanonv says is nearly on par with the
world’s oil and gas trade. Moscow believes that eradicating the
Afghan poppy fields is the simplest solution to the problem, one that the
U.S. for some reason has eschewed. Ivanov said:"Metaphorically speaking,
instead of destroying the machine-gun nest, they suggest catching bullets
flying from the machine-gun. We suggest eradicating the narcotic plants
altogether. As long as there are opium poppy fields, there will be
trafficking."
And as long as there is trafficking there will be
trillions of illicit dollars to fund U.S. expansionism, illegal invasions
and the endless war on terror.
West infers Putin sunk Cyprus while ignoring Obama sunk the world 4 April, 15:47
With the world
focused on the collapse of the Cyprus banking system and the seizing of
depositor’s funds, an unprecedented move by western financial institutions,
the demonization of Russia and President Putin by the West and its agents
has once again taken off in full swing. This is necessary to hide the fact
the West is in fact robbing Russian businessmen and Russian depositors of
money that they in fact have no right to. In an Op-Ed piece for the New York
Times, the favorite avenue for demonizing Russia and a column I have taken
to task in the past for their acidic fantasy-based hyperbolic Russophobic
rhetoric and propagation of out-dated cold war stereotypes, an offshore
writer bashes Russian business and demonizes President Putin blaming him and
Russian oligarch’s for the Cyprus banking crisis. The piece is so
provocative, lacking in balance and the majority of the points it makes are
so far from reality it demands an answer. The writer of this particular piece,
Ben Judah, is apparently from Instanbul, Turkey, a fact that may point to
the New York Times now farming out their vitriol to other countries. He
begins his attack piece by deriding Russian Business, the demonization of
which is clearly necessary amid the current scandal and as Russia is on the
verge of becoming the new business hub of the modern world, a fact that has
been assisted if not caused by the economic failure and the downfall of
Europe and the West. His piece starts: “The
blue-glass skyscrapers of Moscow City (fragments of Russia’s boom-time
dream) are visible from the Kremlin walls, within which there was once hope
that those towers could supplant the West’s financial centers. When the sun
sets behind them, you can see that many of the offices lie empty.” First off and this is minor, the
glass of the skyscrapers is not really blue and the offices are not visible
as he states, unless one is hovering in a helicopter alongside them. Second
calling them “fragments of Russia’s boom-time dream” and saying the many
offices lie empty is completely disingenuous and detached from reality, for
the simple reason that Moscow City is still under construction and the
project is still in its inception phase. So strike one Mr. Judah. I could contrast the former World
Trade Center in New York and how those building had hundreds of offices
which were empty, and how the building were condemned due to asbestos and
then destroyed with people inside as a catalyst for the PNAC plan for global
domination, and I would be basing such an assessment on facts, not fantasy,
but I won’t go there. His second paragraph begins his
attack on Russia banking and financial practices, an attack which is nothing
but conjecture and opinion parading as facts. Mr. Judah says: “In
fact, the real hubs for Russian banking are in other countries. Moscow’s
billionaires squirrel their fortunes abroad, and many businessmen register
their companies as British, Dutch, Swiss or Cypriot — anything but Russian
Whistle-blowers would have us believe that even President Vladimir V. Putin
stashes his money offshore.” Mr. Judah is obviously unaware of
Russian legislation to stop the flight of capital from Russia, and ignores
the fact western businessmen and billionaires, in particular Americans, are
the world’s experts in hiding capital and escaping their share of the tax
burden. We could talk about Swiss Banks and the thousands of “offshore tax
havens” used by the West and how American companies outsource all of their
work overseas because it is cheaper, as apparently the New York Times now
does, but we won’t go there either will we? As for Mr. Judah’s whistle blowers?
First off too convenient, name one Mr. Judah, second off citing anonymous
whistle blowers as a basis for accusations against the president of country
is a cheap trick and third off where are the details and the facts? In contrast I could write thousands
of pages detailing the financial machinations of the United States, the
manipulations of foreign markets, the undermining and taking over of foreign
economies, the flight of capital from the United States, war crimes, crimes
against humanity, and the ongoing attempt to take over the world militarily
which will lead to the eventual total demise of the U.S. and its allies as
their military adventurism, more and more overstretches their ability to pay
for it. We are seeing that today. As for whistle blowers? Bradley
Manning, Julian Assange, Jeremy Hammond, are true individuals I could cite
for starters, but we won’t go there right now, will we? Mr. Judah says: “Russian money is
frightened of Russia”, Russia has “crude capitalism”, “Mr. Putin never
delivered secure property rights”, and “…Russian money is paranoid; since
2008 alone more than $350 billion in capital has fled the country.” I would
like to know where he gets his figures. These statements are so obviously
patently false when you look at projects like Moscow City, as Mr. Judah did,
and Skolkovo, and hundreds of other massive ventures taking place all over
Russia. And again there is Russian legislation banning the practice he
mentions and Russia has in fact pursued criminals who have taken billions
out of the country, criminals such as Boris Berezovsky, who are then given
asylum and protected by the West. But we won’t go there either now will we?
Nor will we mention the fact that even if the figure of $350 billion is
correct, it pales to the trillions U.S. war profiteers have stolen from the
American people since 9-11 He says; “These billions craved
secrecy and security, and financial islands inside the European Union
welcomed them”, ignoring the fact that by welcoming them these institutions
to which he refers were taking part in illegal flight of capital from Russia
and becoming fabulously rich. He continues by claiming Cyprus was
the most important offshore location for Russian money and by inference
caused the collapse in the Cypriot banking sector. This is completely false,
Russian money kept and is keeping much of the European economy viable,
including that of Cyprus. He says, “… its bloated banking
sector was wrecked by a gigantic exposure to Greek bonds. To save Cyprus
from bankruptcy, a decree from the European Union, the International
Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank (known as “the troika”) is now
confronting depositors in Cypriot banks with the loss of as much as 60
percent of deposits greater than $100,000, alongside tough new capital
controls.” This is closer to the truth but ignores the fact that taking 60%
of deposits is in fact stealing the money of innocent depositors to pay for
failed policies, something one might expect in a banana republic and not the
EU. The demonization by the New York
Times and its writers of Russia, Russian businessmen, Russian oligarchs and
President Putin in necessary for the West and for their financial
manipulators in this case for one simple reason: as I said above, through
the IMF, the EU and the ECB, they are literally “legally” robbing Russia and
Russian businessmen of billions upon billions of dollars that they have no
right to. That is the real story here. The result of Western financial
machinations in Cyprus will no doubt be felt well into the future. No doubt
the “paranoid Russian money” will no longer be so readily at the disposal of
the European and Western economies, already on the brink of total collapse,
money which we have seen is keeping many major western financial entities
afloat. Another result may be the fleeing of
monies from other countries as it becomes clear that western “safe havens”
are not in fact safe, and that financial regulators can just come in and
seize whatever monies they see fit when they need a short-sighted and quick
“fix”. Unlike the West, Russian businessmen
and Russia will recover and the fiasco and the money grab in Cyprus are just
more indicators that the West is faltering and on the brink of collapse.
Perhaps now offshore monies will flow to other places, perhaps to Moscow
City? Could be, you never know. As for Obama, who I mentioned in my
headline, the current global financial situation, one I would say is on the
brink of collapse, is the responsibility of U.S. based and American
controlled financial bodies, so in answer to Mr. Judah’s question, no
President Putin did not sink Cyprus, the West did. I offer this question
then for everyone to ponder in response: Did Obama Sink the World? Look
around you, the answers to that question are everywhere.
Julian Assange “supported” by Swedish Justice 4 April, 19:04
Swedish Supreme
Court Justice Stefan Lindskog made a surprising appearance at University of
Adelaide and spoke to an audience about the ongoing case of Julian Assange.
He spoke in support of Assange, WikiLeaks and even Bradley Manning, but he
also went into the allegations against Assange in Sweden, which is something
almost unheard of as the case is ongoing. Was this an innocent lecture or a
sinister political gambit? It will be up to Australians to decide. Under normally accepted standards
and rules of jurisprudence it is very unusual for a member of the
prosecuting legal establishment to speak in public regarding the details of
an ongoing case, but the Swedish Justice apparently has got away with it
because he spoke in a foreign country, Australia, and is not presiding over
the case. Julian Assange was quoted as saying
the stunt was “absolutely outrageous” no doubt taken aback by the sheer
deviation from the norm. He may also be worried about the possible negative
impact the event could have on his case and possibly his political campaign
for Senate. Greg Barns, the President of
Australian Lawyers Alliance, and the head of Julian’s campaign, who I spoke
to earlier in the week told the Sydney Morning Herald: "That a Swedish
supreme court judge thinks this is acceptable tends to confirm the fears
people have about the impartiality and robustness of the Swedish judicial
system.” And;”It gives great currency to the belief that Mr. Assange's case
in Sweden has been heavily politicized." In a tweet WikiLeaks said: “The head
of Swedish Supreme Court campaigning on a case they expect to judge with $
from the embassy in the run up to an election", portraying the event as part
of a conspiracy. Despite many words in support of
WikiLeaks and the case of Assange and even Bradley Manning, the talk by the
judge was troubling on several fronts, not only the most obvious, the fact
that it took place at all, but also in the context of the current situation
surrounding Assange and WikiLeaks. First let’s look at what Justice
Stefan Lindskog said in support of Assange and Bradley Manning, with regard
to extradition: "Basically, I think there are some misunderstandings,
especially when it comes to the issue of extradition, extradition shall not
be granted when alleged crimes are military or political in nature.” With regard to leaking classified
information: “What is classified under US law is probably not classified
under Swedish law, and enemies to the US may not be enemies to Sweden.” With regard to Assange: “At the end
of the day Assange will be thought of as someone who made public certain
pieces of information”, and “… the Wikileaks’ leaks were good for society
and should not be punished. The good made by leakage of such information
cannot be underestimated. It should never be a crime to make known the crime
of a state.” Justice Lindskog spoke about Bradley
Manning: “The release of classified information was for the benefit of
mankind, especially a secret combat video in Iraq that showed the American
crew mowing down a group of civilians and a Reuters photographer.” And, “I
hope Mr. Manning will have a fair trial. That is all nice and good and
positive and on the surface it would appear Sweden is attempting to show
that it is not the U.S. lapdog many would claim it to be, but there is a
much more sinister side to this that few are seeing. In a video posted on the website of
the University of Adelaide, since taken down, at about the 25 minute mark,
Justice Lindskog speaks in surprising detail about the lurid sex-capades
Julian is accused of. One point is clear there was no rape involved and all
of the accusations involve the proper usage or non-usage of condoms, yet
putting this out to the Australian public, again in a forum where Julian is
not allowed to give his side of the story is an egregious offense against
Assange. There can be no doubt that Assange
has political enemies worldwide and in Australia these include people from
the Prime Minister Julia Gillard on down. These are people who will most
likely do anything to stop Assange from winning a seat in the country’s
senate. Surely airing details of the sex
antics of Assange is in bad taste to say the least, and had the case taken
place in Sweden Justice Lindskog could have been accused of attempting to
poison the jury pool, but having taken place in Australia, it might be said
that he was attempting to poison the “voter pool”. Whether cutting the Assange campaign
off at the pass was the Judge’s intention or not is yet to be seen, the
information may have been known to the public and it may be brushed aside.
What effect it will have depends on the character of the Australian
electorate, will any hint of scandal send them running as Americans do, or
will they be happy to have someone in office with an active sex life, or
perhaps they will decide what he does in his bedroom is his business as the
case should be. Another possible sinister
motivations with all of the kind words and such may be Sweden’s own attempt
to gain political capital and effect the case, so that Julian is allowed to
be sent to Sweden, it may all be a ruse, which might be more likely as not
to be the case, as the Swedish judiciary could have come out years ago in
support of Julian and allowed him to give his side of the story a million
times over.
Serbian students to protest capitulation of Kosovo 7 April, 23:53
Students from
the University of Belgrade and citizens of Serbia are up in arms over a
proposed agreement with Pristina over Kosovo which is for all intents and
purposes entails the complete and total capitulation of Kosovo and will
cement the loss of an area that many Serbs consider to be the heart of
Serbia. The embattled Serbian people continue fighting for their very
existence something the western press does not report. The EU continues to
dangle the carrot of EU integration before the noses of officials but most
of the people of Serbia have no desire to be a part of the EU leading to a
further conflict inside Serbia. The west and their surrogate, the
war lord, drug trafficker, mafia boss and dealer in death and murdering for
human organs Hashim Thaci, are currently attempting to force Serbia, in any
way that they can into capitulating Kosovo and allowing them to not only
consolidate control over the rogue breakaway republic but also to expand
that illegal power base into further territory. Currently the eighth round of
negotiations, if we can call the one-sided setting of conditions that it
currently taking place that, between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels, has
proven to be, in the words of diplomats taking part in the process, nothing
more than a capitulation. Heading up the West’s renewed
assault on the Serbian people, an assault designed to cement the Western
backed and recognized separation of Kosovo from Serbia, is the head of
European “diplomacy” Catherine Ashton, who despite evidence of the
horrendous crimes involving the trafficking of human organs and rampant
narcotics trafficking continues to support the criminals running Kosovo. Students at Belgrade University are
up in arms about the prospect of captiulaion and are planning massive
demonstrations for the 9th of April. The students claim that: the Republic
of Serbia has been given an unambiguous ultimatum, that the ultimatum
requests the assignation of a treaty which would abolish all Serbian
institutions in North Kosovo and therefore spread the jurisdiction of
self-declared state of Kosovo into northern territories and that the
acceptance of the current “treaty” would mean recognition of Kosovo’s
independence, something the West has been longing for to cement their
control over the breakaway republic. According to the students at the
University of Belgrade they will be publishing a statement and in the next
few days will organize several protest actions under the slogan, “NO TO
CAPITULATION!” The student organizers are fearful
of a continued western media blackout and have asked me and the Voice of
Russia to bring much needed attention to their plight and the plight of the
Serbian people. The student will organize delegations who will address the
Serbian Academy of Science and Art and the Rector of the University of
Belgrade demanding that both institutions request the Government of Serbia
to decline the ultimatum. The students are to also planning to
take up positions in front of the Serbia’s Government building on Monday,
April 8th, starting at 14:00 local time and will spend the night there. According to the student
representative who wishes to currently remain anonymous the protest will be
held on Tuesday, April 9th, “when the students and the citizens gathered
will march to the government building where the following requests will be
handed to official government reesentatives, namely the Prime Minister Mr.
Ivica Dacic and Government Vice-President Mr. Aleksandar Vucic. According to sources the demands
will be the following: “1. We require of them not to sign any kind of treaty
with Pristina according to the Brussels, USA or Germany’s ultimatum.” 2. We
require that the citizens of Serbia, as holders of the sovereignty are given
the opportunity to decide the following question on a national referendum:
‘Are you willing to denounce the right to Kosovo for the sole purpose of
gaining the start date of the beginning of negotiations for the EU
membership?’ 3. Resolve the Kosovo question in the framework of the United
Nations.” and finally, “4. Insistence on respecting Resolution 1244.” According to the students they will
take every other needed action in order to ensure that these requests are
fulfilled. Our source says the protests are: “…
meant to be peaceful and without the involvement of any political party” and
that they, “are inviting all citizens and all of their colleagues to join
them, so that they can unanimously say a loud, strong and decisive ‘‘NO!’’
to capitulation. In showing their resolve the
students have clearly stated that: “In the case that our Government still
decides to sign the treaty with Pristina, the students will not stop taking
all the actions necessary in order to preserve the territorial integrity of
the Republic of Serbia.” Hopefully the authorities in
Belgrade will listen to the voice of the people and do whatever they can to
preserve that integrity and keep peace and unity in the country.
WikiLeaks Special Project K: The Kissinger Cables go live 8 April, 07:14 1 The anti-secrecy
website WikiLeaks has gone live with another huge release called the
Kissinger Cables, which are part of an even greater effort named the
WikiLeaks Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD). Wikileaks says it is the
world's largest searchable collection of United States confidential, or
formerly confidential, diplomatic communications and that as of April 8,
2013 it holds 2 million records comprising approximately 1 billion words. Regarding the release WikiLeaks'
publisher Julian Assange stated: "The collection covers US involvements in,
and diplomatic or intelligence reporting on, every country on Earth. It is
the single most significant body of geopolitical material ever published." According to WikiLeaks: “the
Kissinger Cables comprise more than 1.7 million US diplomatic records for
the period 1973 to 1976, including 205,901 records relating to former US
Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. Dating from January 1, 1973 to
December 31, 1976 they cover a variety of diplomatic traffic including
cables, intelligence reports and congressional correspondence. They include
more than 1.3 million full diplomatic cables and 320,000 originally
classified records. These include more than 227,000 cables classified as
CONFIDENTIAL and 61,000 cables classified as SECRET. Perhaps more
importantly, there are more than 12,000 documents with the sensitive
handling restriction NODIS or 'no distribution,' and more than 9,000 labeled
EYES ONLY.” At around 700 million words, the
Kissinger Cables collection is approximately five times the size of
WikiLeaks' Cablegate. The raw PDF data is more than 380 Gigabytes in size
and is the largest WikiLeaks publication to date. WikiLeaks' says the significant
revelations will include US involvements with fascist dictatorships,
particularly in Latin America, under Franco's Spain (including about the
Spanish royal family) and in Greece under the regime of the Colonels. The documents also contain hourly
diplomatic reporting on the 1973 war between Israel, Egypt and Syria (the
"Yom Kippur war"). The Kissinger Cables provide unparalleled access to
journalists and the general public. Most of the records were reviewed by
the United States Department of State's systematic 25-year declassification
process. At review, the records were assessed and either declassified or
kept classified with some or all of the metadata records declassified. Both
sets of records were then subject to an additional review by the National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Once believed to be releasable,
they were placed as individual PDFs at the National Archives as part of
their Central Foreign Policy Files collection. The CIA and other agencies have
attempted to reclassify or withhold sections of the US National Archives.
Detailed minutes of US State Department meetings show that these attempts,
which originated under the Bush II administration, have continued on through
until at least 2009. A 2006 analysis by the US National Security Archives,
an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at
George Washington University, found that 55,000 pages had been secretly
reclassified. The censorship of the US National
Archives was thrown into stark relief in November last year when the Archive
censored all searches for 'WikiLeaks' from its records. Julian Assange, WikiLeaks'
publisher, said: "The US administration cannot be trusted to maintain the
history of its interactions with the world. Fortunately, an organisation
with an unbroken record in resisting censorship attempts now has a copy." Voice of Russia, WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks publishes 1.7 million fresh US secret
cables The whistle blowing WikiLeaks
website has made public1.7 million fresh US Intelligence and State
Department cables for 1973-1976, mostly telegrams, reports and
correspondence. According to a statement posted on
the site of the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange of Australia, part of the
cables has been declassified, while the other part has been marked as “not
for distribution”. A juicy scandal around WikiLeaks
flared up after the site published, in November 2010, secret US diplomatic
cables, presenting Washington’s policy in a poor light. The US accused Assange of divulging
official secrets and espionage, so he’s been compelled to hide in Ecuador’s
Embassy in London since June last year. Assange is facing death penalty in
the United States. Voice of Russia, TASS
Complete assured annihilation, North Korea – US nuclear exchange, Rated XXX 9 April, 20:03
The Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea and the United States have recently exchanged
bellicose nuclear rhetoric, bringing that much closer, the greatest fear for
all peace loving nations, namely the threat of nuclear war. The world has
witnessed one US led war after the other since the late 1990s and all
parties to this latest escalation, regardless of who is at fault, should be
condemned, as should any act of aggressive war. “Those who would dominate their
fellow man through force or trickery deserve neither liberty nor life, those
who stand passively by and watch also deserve neither nor.” The once aqua marine glow of the
Earth now shone a muted gray and white below. The planet lay in desolate
burned out nuclear ruins, not a single square mile of it any longer able to
sustain life. Gone were the lights of the cities at night, gone was all the
radio chatter, and every other sign of the endless busyness that had been
the human race. During the daylight passes over the
wasteland below certain landmarks were still discernable, part of a fence in
Australia, the Great Wall of China and parts of certain burned out cities.
During the night nuclear fires could still be seen to glow in many areas and
occasionally explosions lit up the night and quickly extinguished
themselves. For the three Russian cosmonauts on the ISS, who were running
out of food, this was all that was left of the planet they had watched blow
itself into oblivion. The plan to take over the world had
been the brainchild of a group of US Neo-Conservative planners and had been
launched by implementing the most massive large-scale psychological
operation in the history of all mankind, namely the cold blooded murder of
3,002 Americans right in the open, in front of the watching eyes of the
entire world. Although the controlled demolitions
of the skyscrapers was obvious, and all of the details were documented by
humankind, no one had ever been able to bring those responsible to justice
and people all over the world believed the post traumatic suggestions and
thought implants carried out during a massive subliminal campaign that
convinced them the murders were an attack on the country by foreign
terrorists. For decades they had conditioned the
American people to see foreigners as less than human, the government as all
knowing and all powerful, and through thousands of Hollywood disaster epics
and movies that the only humans worthy of remaining on Earth after everyone
else was destroyed were Americans. The fake terrorist attack had worked
exactly as had been planned and served as the catalyst for global military
expansion and the waging of aggressive war after aggressive war, destroying
each and every country that posed a threat to what was to be an “American”
world. The crowning achievement of the plan
had taken years to construct and paired with the expansion of the military
to every corner of the world had brought the country to a complete economic
collapse, making the US debt two times more than the GDP of the entire
planet . That achievement was a global network of missiles and their related
infrastructure which the world’s populace was told was a defensive system to
keep America and its allies safe from rogue nations who were bent on
destroying Americans. Through a massive misinformation
campaign that had taken decades to carry out the US had carefully hidden the
true nature of the global missile defense shield. This had been helped by
the fact that the US was able to plug into almost every home, business and
government in the world with the introduction of its global military
computer network which the citizens of the world believed was just a
harmless means of communicating. Phase five the Plan of the Centuries
for America had called for fabricating a nuclear threat from North Korea and
then blasting the country off the face of the Earth, this would have allowed
for the complete taking over of the Asia Pacific Region and the complete
neutralization of the first strike capabilities of the last two countries in
the world who posed a challenge to the Fourth Reich, the American Reich,
namely Russia and China. The hypersonic nuclear missile that
ended the world left the Korean Silo at 04:15 in the morning and hugged the
ground as it flew towards its target, evading all American warning systems
and defense elements. It had been launched by a team of Korean officers who
had been working for the CIA for decades and was supposed to reach its
target, a city of 20 million, and wipe it off the face of the map, which it
did at 04:29. With a flick of the switch all of
the missiles in the US missile defense shield became lethal first strike
weapons and at 04:30 they were launched on every major city and population
center on the planet. The annihilation of 8.5 billion people was necessary
as the world’s population had reached 9 billion and the Earth’s resources
were not enough to sustain the planet for more than ten more years. The
American people had been conditioned to see themselves as God’s chosen
people and would forever pledge allegiance for having been saved. At 04:33 all targeted countries
began launching their counter attacks on US targets and at 04:34 US
interceptors were launched to nullify the threat. At 04:35 everything
appeared to be going as planned and the US president was preparing to
address what was left of humanity and claim the planet for the United
States. At 04:36 the counter response to the
launch of the interceptors was put into action and electromagnetic bombs
began to go off near each and every US control facility rendering the entire
US missile shield useless. At 04:37 Washington DC was wiped off
the face of the planet, followed by every other city on the planet. At 05:03 the human race no longer
existed and every trace of the folly that had been man was erased for all
eternity. All that was left of the human
species were three cosmonauts in the ISS, who now watched through a porthole
as a missile launched from a US autonomous space drone became brighter and
brighter against the backdrop of the moon, which for some reason, appeared
to be crying.
Russia’s Guantanamo List officially published 13 April, 18:39 With the
publication of the US Magnitsky List the short-lived “reset” in Russian – US
relations, for all intents and purposes, is dead and buried. The US attempt
to further meddle in the internal affairs of the sovereign state which is
the Russian Federation by passing a law and making public a list of Russian
officials and individuals connected to the tragic case of Sergey Magnitsky,
has now been officially answered by the Russian Federation. Moscow’s answer
is not as broad but is based on fact rather than conjecture. Moscow has now issued an official
list of US nationals who are now barred from setting foot on the territory
of the Russian Federation. Whether this list will be taken up by other CIS
countries and Russia’s allies is not yet clear and that question has not
been addressed by officials as of yet. Moscow’s list differs greatly from
the US Magnitsky List in that it is based on well documented and accepted
facts and evidence and attempts to draw to light egregious violations of
international law, human rights and the rights of Russian citizens abroad by
the United States of America. The first part of Moscow’s list
deals with individuals who are known architects of the US Government’s
official yet illegal torture programs and are known to have been
instrumental in ignoring the Geneva Conventions and implementing programs or
policies in clear contradiction of international and even US laws. The
listing of such individuals is one of the first moves by a country against
Bush era war criminals and could logically be expanded to include hundreds
if not thousands of names. Moscow’s list, as does the US Magnitsky List,
also contains a secret section which has not been made available to the
public. As a journalist I personally went
over the documents that were available which were used in formulating the
Magnitsky List and what I noticed was that most if not all of the documents
used were one-sided, taken out of context and selectively hand-picked to
portray Russia in a pre-determined light that had long before been set. A
large amount of documents from mostly neoconservative US based entities were
also present and further shed a questionable light on the Magnitsky List and
the real intentions of its authors, which appears to be the further
demonization of a sovereign state. After analyzing the material it
seems clear that the US is in reality raising such a storm not because of
the tragic death of Mr. Magnitsky, but due to the billions of dollars that
the company in question was supposed to extract from the Russian Federation,
again that is the conclusion one might come to after analyzing the
documents, and is my opinion. The authors of the US list also took it upon
themselves to include almost anyone who had even the slightest connection
with the case in an attempt to grant legitimacy to their effort. Moscow’s list on the other hand is
based on well known facts and well documented violations of international
laws and human rights and hopefully the world community will take heed and
attempt to implement further multi-lateral measures in order not to allow
the United States of America to further violate international laws and
standards with impunity. The following are the current
persons on Russia’s US human rights violators list, “The Guantanamo List”,
with the first four individuals being known architects and key figures in
formulating of United States illegal torture programs: 1. David Spears Addington born
January 22, 1957, as Chief of Staff to Vice President Richard Cheney,
Addington was one of the key architects of the Bush torture program, the
sidelining of the Geneva Conventions, the creation of the illegal prison at
Guantanamo Bay Cuba, the unlimited expansion of executive power, indefinite
detention without recourse and the skirting of the US Constitution with
regards to the above issues and the crack down on the US populace following
9-11. Addington is an extremist neoconservative with former ties to the CIA
and according to the site NNB once an employee of the Long John Silver’s
restaurant chain. For Addington’s role in enabling the US Government to
ignore the Geneva Conventions alone, he could be classified as a war
criminal. 2. John Choon Yoo born July 10,
1967, the author of the infamous Bush torture memos allowing for torture.
Yoo’s views are so extreme and his manipulation of the law so egregious and
have led to so much of the pain and suffering caused by the neoconservatives
who took over the US Government after 9-11, that were the Hague War Crimes
Tribunal and independent body many believe he would be a prime candidate for
answering to the body. Yoo has openly stated that even crushing the
testicles of a child is okay if the president deems it is needed. His role
in enabling and promoting the state use of torture would qualify him as a
war criminal. 3. US Major General Geoffrey D.
Miller, born 1949, was directly responsible for formulating and implementing
torture programs at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and in Afghanistan. In 2006 he
was named in a war crimes complaint to the German Government along with
Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, John Yoo, David Addington,
and others for their role in making policies for allowing torture by the US
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Department of Defense (DOD). His
direct involvements in ordering torure and specifying techniques would be
classified as War Crimes. 4. Jeffrey Harbeson, as the
Commander of the Guantanamo Bay torture prison Harbeson continued and
oversaw the polices of torture and the continued holding of hundreds of
suspects without trial, charges or legal recourse. He was denied a visa to
travel to Russia due to his continued overseeing of human rights abuses. He
currently holds the post of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Deputy Director
for Politico-Military Affairs for Europe, NATO and Russia. His violations
would constitute him to be guilty of war crimes and thus a war criminal. Individuals responsible for human
rights violations with regard to Russian citizens abroad: 5. Jed Saul Rakoff, born August 1,
1943 is a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New
York. He is largely responsible for the illegal prosecutions and detentions
of prisoners illegally captured overseas as part of the US practice of
entrapping suspects in foreign countries, and in the case of Viktor Bout a
third country, and then in illegally kidnapping and transporting them to the
US where they stand trial in New York. Such suspects have almost no redress,
are tortured and in the case of Viktor Bout, did not in fact commit any
crimes. Viktor Bout’s case was illegally fabricated and he was illegally
detained, transported and held. The Court has also prosecuted Russian
citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, also illegally detained and held on
questionable evidence. 6. Preetinder S. Bharara is the
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and has
prosecuted and been instrumental in convicting and imprisoning suspects who
the US has unilaterally determined to be threats to US security and has
illegally detained and brought to New York, most on flimsy or circumstantial
evidence. 7. Michael J. Garcia former United
States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, made prejudicial
statements to the press regarding the Viktor Bout case, was instrumental in
the illegal detention and case against Mr. Bout and the illegal detentions
and imprisonment of many others. 8. Brendan R. McGuire assistant
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, while ignoring
the illegal detention and kidnapping of Viktor Bout McGuire made prejudicial
statements to the press and exaggerated the case against Mr. Bout. The case
is a unilateral attempt by the US to claim jurisdiction over most of the
world. As the entire case against Viktor Bout was based on hearsay and was
in fact a pre-emptive prosecution before any actual “crime” was committed
any and all persons involved in the case acted illegally under international
law. Even if Viktor Bout had in fact been involved in transporting anything
to FARC, under international law, this would not have been illegal, the fact
that he did not must not be forgotten. Mr. Bout in fact did nothing illegal.
The case was a litmus test whether the US could effectively take
jurisdiction of any part of the world, and while Viktor Bout continues to be
illegally detained, thus is the case. 9. Anjan S. Sahni, assistant United
States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Viktor Bout and other
cases. 10. Christian R. Everdell, assistant
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. 11. Jenna Minicucci Dabbs, assistant
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. 12. Christopher L. Lavigne,
assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. 13. Michael Max Rosensaft, assistant
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. 14. Louis J. Milione Senior Special
Agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), gave evidence
implicating Bout, Yaroshenko and other cases. 15. Sam Gaye Senior Special Agent
for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) gave evidence against Bout
and Yaroshenko. 16. Robert F. Zachariasiewicz,
Special Agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) also
instrumental in Bout prosecution. 17. Derek S. Odney Special Agent for
the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) gave fabricated evidence
against Bout. 18. Gregory A. Coleman Special Agent
for the FBI based in New York, instrumental in providing questionable
evidence in various cases. This list may be preliminary in
nature and may be expanded at anytime if Official Moscow deems it to be
necessary. The list has been implemented to not allow known human rights
violators and individuals who may be considered to be war criminals to
engage in travel to the Russian Federation or federation subjects. In related news the family of
Konstantin Yaroshenko, the Russian pilot who was illegally convicted and
imprisoned in the United States, identified five people involved in his case
on the list published by the Russian Foreign Ministry according to
Yaroshenko’s wife. "In the list we saw the name of the
Judge of the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York Jed Rakoff,
federal prosecutor or the Southern District of the same state Preetinder S.
Bharara and Deputy Federal Attorney for the Southern District of New York,
Christopher L. Lavigne. The same list includes Louis J. Milione and Sam
Gaye, Senior Special Agents for the US Drug Enforcement Administration who
detained my husband in Liberia ", said Victoria Yaroshenko. Mrs Yaroshenko also stated: "These
people deserve to be on the list of U.S. citizens who are denied entry to
Russia, published by the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation. But we
would like to get an answer from our Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of
Justice, if it would be possible to add to the list people who will hear the
forthcoming appeal in the case of my husband, which is set for May 15". She said that according to defense
lawyers the time that they will be allowed to address the court of appeals
in the case Yaroshenko will only be 8 minutes, while the U.S. prosecutor
will have 12 minutes to speak, and that in itself creates unequal conditions
in favor of the prosecution. Victoria Yaroshenko has also
reported that her husband is in urgent need of surgery and that this was
agreed on by American doctors who examined her husband in St. Patrick’s
Hospital. However, prison officials have ignored the requests of the Russian
pilot to undergo a necessary operation and have notified the Russian
Consulate General in New York that he is healthy. It is clear that in this case, as
Victoria Yaroshenko rightfully requests, that the list, if expanded, could
grow to contain thousands of names. If Russian officials decide to do as the
US has done they could follow up by listing those responsible for children’s
rights violations, the deaths of Russian orphans and those responsible for a
plethora of other illegal and questionable activities by the United States
of America. During the presentation by Hillary
Clinton to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov several years back of a
“reset” button, the US State Department made the mistake of calling “reset”
“overload”, perhaps they did so on purpose, it seems that is what we have
ended up with.
Preemptive arrests and protests in UK on eve of Thatcher’s funeral 14 April, 02:24
A protester holds up a doll
depicting Margaret Thatcher during an event marking the death of the late
Prime Minister at the Trafalgar square in London On Wednesday the
funeral for deceased former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is to be
held at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in an event that will cost struggling
UK taxpayers approximately 10 million pounds. In a rare move Queen Elizabeth
II has stated she will be attending what in fact is not classified as a
state funeral. For many Brits the death of Thatcher has reopened old wounds
and public discontent with her legacy has the UK authorities on edge as the
date nears. The government of the United Kingdom
is going all out to guarantee that there will be no disturbances at the
upcoming funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The initial
muted reaction by the public surrounding the death of the former leader has
been changed into one of open hostility partially due to attempts by the
media and current officials to, as one UK blogger put it “beatify” the
politician, and to “whitewash” the reality of what she had done to the
country and the world. There can be no doubt she was a
powerful figure in UK history, a fact that can be said for almost any of the
world’s past leaders, but the true legacy that she leaves behind is one of
broken cities, destroyed industries, broken lives, war, and the fact despite
being a woman she did little if anything to champion women’s rights or
causes. During her reign she divided Britain
and even in death she has done more to inflame the discontent of the UK
populace and divide the Kingdom than anything that has happened in recent
memory. Her death has forced people to
remember everything that she did and much of it was not good for citizens of
the UK, much was collectively forgotten or put away, including how then
Prime Minister Thatcher allowed ten Irish political prisoners who were on a
hunger strike demanding to speak to her and negotiate a peace settlement to
starve themselves to death, she outright refused and knowingly allowed 10
people, one by one, to die of starvation. Many of those who recall the
destructive internal policies of Thatcher have begun to speak out and many
groups are planning demonstrations that are supposed to take place in the
lead up to the former PM’s funeral on Wednesday. The wave of dissatisfaction
with the legacy of the “Iron Lady” that has gripped the UK is visible
everywhere, on social media, in newspapers and on televised debates and
continues to escalate as her funeral draws near. The death of the former prime
minister has brought to light the divide between the British elites and the
common people. For the common people of the UK the death of the former
conservative leader comes at a time when they are facing benefits cuts and
cuts to social programs while the country’s bankers and elites continue to
enjoy tax breaks and continued financial growth. One of the signs of public dismay
with the deceased former prime minister includes a protest campaign started
on the internet to make the song “Ding Dong the Witch Dead” from the Wizard
of Oz, number one on the UK music singles charts. The campaign has gone
viral and the song has hit the top of the charts but according to the BBC
they will not be playing the song in its entirety, this indicative of the
division this has caused in British society. The level of social discontent
surrounding the upcoming funeral has grown to the point where the country’s
anti-terrorist apparati are now making statements and issuing thinly veiled
threats against anyone who plans to demonstrate against the perceived
white-washing of Thatcher’s record. Scotland Yard has requested that
anyone who wants to protest should inform them of their intentions to
guarantee that their freedom of speech is protected but according to
Scotland Yard, so far there have been no takers. Part of Scotland Yard’s
anti-terrorism command, the National Public Order Intelligence Unit, which
runs a network of spies and informants in the UK, is receiving intelligence
as to the nature of the planned protests. Protests are planned by
organizations such as Class War, UK Uncut, and Stop G8, however as of yet no
one has informed Scotland Yard of upcoming protest actions. According to
activists most people are afraid of pre-emptive arrest and are even afraid
to discuss any protest activities on social media. One worrying aspect of the situation
is what appears to be the expansion of the powers of a hitherto little known
UK team of police and psychiatrists called the Fixated Threat Assessment
Center (FTAC). According to FTAC they are monitoring individuals who
threatened Thatcher or any of the VIP guests in the past. What is troubling is that if the
FTAC, which has been accused of being nothing but an instrument to get rid
of political enemies, is monitoring protestors, they may use their powers to
isolate and remove anybody who wishes to protest at the funeral. The UK’s FTAC has existed since at
least 2006 and has the power to determine if someone has the psychological
motivations to commit a specific crime before they do so, and in the words
of the organization, to then remove the individual to a “safe place”. The trouble is that this is all done
in secret and since they do not arrest people per se,
those taken to the “safe place” are, for all intents and purposes simply
disappeared. The FTAC operates as what might be
call a pre-crime thought police unit, something it has been accused of being
in the past and very little information about them is known. What is known
is that if they determine someone a threat there is almost no recourse that
person has and even following up on individuals who are known to have been
reportedly taken to a “safe place” is almost impossible. One such person who ran a blog
called FTAC Watch disappeared in 2009 after detailing his or her dealings
with the FTAC on a blog. Many other prominent UK activists such as Dr. Chris
Knight were also arrested by the FTAC but thanks to their high profiles they
were not disappeared. According to Dr. Chris Knight there
may be pre-emptive arrests as the authorities are attempting to deal with UK
protestors and possible threats from Irish Republican groups which may use
the media attention to plan an attack during the funeral.
Cops Just Hanging Out: Crisis Actors Doing Their Acting
Horrific False Flag at Boston Marathon leads to tightened security throughout US 16 April, 12:19
The number of
those injured continues to grow and more questions remain in the wake of the
multiple blasts which ripped through the crowds of innocent spectators at
the Boston Marathon, the Voice of Russia’s Washington correspondent Stephen
Schaeber spoke to the VOR’s John Robles amid the aftermath of the terrorist
act that has affected people worldwide. Hello, this is
John Robles. I'm speaking with the Voice of Russia's Washington DC
Correspondent Stephen Schaeber. Hello, Steven! How are you this morning? "I'm doing well. How are you?" Pretty good.
We've got some pretty bad news going on over there in Boston. Can you give
our listeners the latest? "The latest is that the number of
the dead was just up to three. There was a press conference with the FBI,
Boston Special Agent in Charge, including as well the Boston Police
Commissioner and the District Attorney. They updated that number. More than
that, the Boston Special Agent in Charge said that the investigation is
active, but he couldn't comment on specifics. He said though that it is very
fluid and evidence analysis is going on right now." What about the
latest victim, the third victim? We heard there was an 8-year-old child. Can
you give us some details on the victims? Did they release any information? "The stories are only releasing
information on one victim - that's an 8-year-old child. We don't know
whether it is a boy or a girl. There have been conflicting reports about
that. I’ve seen both. CNN is reporting that there have been at least 130
injured. Continuing on, Police Commissioner at the press conference
reiterated that there are no suspects and said that there's a lot of
information going around social media and various news outlets. He also said
that the police are talking with people that are at hospitals, but they're
not suspects." There's nothing
yet as to motive or was this international terrorism or home-grown terrorism
or maybe just a lone terrorist? "There's no information on the
motive. They don't know if this is domestic or international, if this is a
single person or a group working in coordination." Do you think
that there was an unexploded bomb under the platform where were the parents
of some of the children that were killed in Connecticut recently? Do you
think that it has anything to do with it or gun laws in the U.S. or anything
like that? "That would be just pure
speculation. I don't know. And I have not heard about unexploded device
underneath. At the press conference police said that there were a number of
suspicious packages. They wouldn't say whether these were actual unexploded
devices." We've had
reports that there were five unexploded bombs found around the Boston area,
but they didn’t say exactly where. "They reiterated at this press
conference that they won't state how many unexploded devices there were and
they stated that there were a number of suspicious packages. They were
pretty clear about that." Have you heard
anything about the Penske truck they were looking for or the person that
they were questioning? "Yes, that wasn't addressed. They
just said that authorities were looking "desperately for a Penske rental
truck that was seen leaving the race site". Apparently, it was seen turning
away. But there’s nothing more on that. I should add also that a number of
outlets are reporting that a 20-year-old Saudi was being questioned. He's
here in the U.S. on a student visa, and they're saying that he's not - again
he is not - considered a suspect. They have only asked him questions, but
he's not considered a suspect." Have the police
or has the FBI released any information about the explosives? Were they
remote controlled? Were they timed? Or anything on that? "There hasn't been any information
on that. They kept quiet during this press conference about the specific
information on the devices. But they said that the ATF was currently doing
data analysis." So they don't
know what kind of explosives were there or they're not saying? "They're not saying." I see. We've
seen a list of participants in the marathon. There was supposed to be 24
Russian nationals that were to take part. Have you heard anything about them
or any Russians being among those injured? "I haven't heard any information on
that. Just to give a little bit of background, today they confirmed that
there were over 23,000 participants in the race and they represented over 50
countries. The Boston police and the FBI really reached out to people on
social media, they've done a lot of crowd sourcing asking for people to send
them any pictures or videos that they have of the finish line at the time of
the explosion. And they received a lot of participation. There was a lot of
flurry about the third incident at the JFK library - people initially
thought that might have been connected with this event. And the police said
that this is highly unlikely, that it is unrelated to this coordinated
event. Security throughout the country has been tightened – in N.Y.C, San
Francisco, as well. President Obama gave a press conference around 6.30 p.m.
our time. He said that he has directed four resources of the federal
government. Again, he said that they don't have all the answers and they
don't know who or why would want to do this. They said that whoever is
responsible would "feel the full weight of justice". “ Listen, is it
normal for police departments to issue statements on Twitter? This is
something new, I think, because the first reports we heard were coming out
from Boston or some other police department on their Twitter feeds. "I think it is becoming more
popular. I noticed that, I've been monitoring their feeds and they have been
issuing very many statements and I don't think it is that much uncommon." You said
security was tightened around the country. Have you heard anything about
what they were doing in Los Angeles and San Francisco? Is that common for
cities thousands of miles away from an event like that to also take measures
if an act like this happens? "Yeah. I think that's standard
protocol, that all major cities will go on and tighten security." Thanks a lot,
Steven! I really appreciate it.
Killing the Patsies at Boston 19 April, 23:02 Boston SWAT team member takes up
as posistion as they search for 19-year-old bombing suspect Dzhokhar A.
Tsarnaev. The latest
information that the alleged bombers responsible for the terrorist attack at
the Boston Marathon were originally from Chechnya is a fact from which many
conclusions may be reached. It is also a fact that should not be used as an
excuse to demonize a particular group or religion. In this single event the
U.S. war on terror has proven that it has failed. Americans are now in more
danger than they were before 9-11. One might have postulated that
the U.S. support of terrorists, from Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden and the
Taliban to Chechen terrorists, right wing Central American paramilitaries,
Irish Republicans, Syrian and Libyan insurgents and an array of others, was
going to backfire. This has now been proven. You cannot support, fund and
sponsor violent extremist elements one day, because they are helping you
fight a mutual enemy, and then demonize them and kill their women and
children the next day with careless drone strikes and the like. Russia knows this and has never
negotiated, supported or worked with such elements let alone create fund and
arm them as the U.S. has done around the world. But the U.S. does not care
which side of the fence it is currently playing as long as its geopolitical
goals are being fulfilled, that I believe is a given. One day they will support Muslim
fanatics committing genocide in Serbia, the next day they will bomb and
annihilate Muslims in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and where have you, and
then act surprised and indignant when they are attacked in return. Russia has taken a much wiser and
mature approach in dealing with Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, and the
U.S. might learn from that approach if it in fact wishes to win its war on
terror, which at this point is doubtful. As I said before the whole war on
terror needs and breeds terrorists, something necessary to continue the
paradigm. Russia’s approach has been to
separate the Muslim faith, which in reality preaches peace and respect, and
the criminal actions of terrorists and has shown genuine respect for the
sovereignty of other countries and the religious beliefs of others. The U.S and the West has taken
the approach of demonizing an entire religion and people on the one hand to
providing the most extremist elements with support and asylum when it is
convenient, on the other. Cases in point are Chechen terrorists and police
killers who currently enjoy asylum and protection in the West for the sole
reason that they were killing Russians and this served the United States’
geopolitical goals of destabilization and further conflict in the Caucuses. The head of the Russian Republic
of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov was right when he stated through his spokesman
“"The persons in question did not live in Chechnya as adults. If they have
become 'bad guys' save your questions for those who reared them." In this
case the United States and their agents. If it turns out that the suspects
were followers of the Faith of Islam, a faith I have the utmost respect for,
which is most likely, then what the U.S. and the world is seeing is the new
generation of anti-American terrorists who have been raised watching their
people being slaughtered by the “War on Terror”. There can be no doubt in my
mind, unless the U.S. changes its policies, this is just the beginning. The sad part here is that the
American people, American civilians and innocent people will be the ones
paying the price for American meddling and the faulty U.S. Government
planning and execution of their war on terror. Which as I have said before
is a tactic and hence is not something that a war can be waged against. The war on terror, for all
intents and purposes, has clearly shown itself to be a war on Islam and an
excuse for the United States to expand NATO and its military arsenals around
the world. It has done more for creating anti-American sentiment and
breeding terrorists than it has for eradicating extremist sentiment and
anti-American hate and securing the safety of the American people. Perhaps and more likely than not,
this was by design. According to the neoconservative authors of the Project
for a New American Century, which could be called the blueprint for the
whole endless-global-war-on-terror-paradigm that the U.S. has pulled the
entire planet into, a catalyst was needed to justify U.S. military expansion
worldwide, the necessary ingredient for the complete and total domination of
the planet by the United States. That catalyst was 9-11. The perpetrators of the Boston
Marathon bombing have played into their hands as this is will no doubt be
used as an excuse for the continuation of the endless “War on Terror” and
the global military expansionism by the U.S. and it allies. Both of which
require there to be constant threats and constant attacks to maintain the
façade of legitimacy and continue to terrorize the population into
supporting every possible nefarious deed and stripping of rights all being
done in the name of security. What is being missed in the
debate on the attacks in Boston, and I have said this before, is that the
U.S. authorities have proven that they are incapable of protecting the
population from terrorist attacks. This one act has nullified and negated
the entire reasoning and logic for the war on terror, the stripping away of
rights in the name of security and the introduction of the hyper security
state and thus it must all be stopped. Of course this event will be
played in a different light but in reality it has also proven everything
that has been done since 9-11 in the name of security is a farce and in
reality the state is impotent and unable to truly guarantee the safety of
the people. Other than turning the U.S. into
a homogonous-one-race-one-religion hyper security state along the lines of
Israel, the U.S will never be safe from terrorism until it finally stops its
constant and endless meddling into the affairs of the foreign countries and
attempting to dictate to the world and force the world to succumb to its own
image of how it should be. These being primary goals of the Project for a
New American Century. On another level the U.S. has
possibly forgotten the human factor, or is counting on it which is a matter
for further debate, and that being if one continues to kill, degrade,
subjugate, exploit and annihilate a people, whether they be Serbian,
Muslims, Afghans, American Indians, Mayans, Russians, Puerto Ricans,
Syrians, Palestinians or anyone else, there will always be a lone individual
who is ready to do anything to avenge those wrongs and there is nothing they
can do to protect themselves against a lone individual acting autonomously. Respect, dialogue, diplomacy and
genuine care on all levels are the only ways to stop terror from breeding
and pinpoint surgical eradication is the only way to stop terrorists from
striking. This must be done mercilessly before they strike, but it must be
done to the guilty, not to innocents and there must be no room for
collateral damage. Force breeds force, hate breeds
hate, violence breeds violence, and war breeds war. Maybe it is time the
U.S. thought about making peace, respecting the sovereignty of nations and
respecting the will of the people, and stopped trying to force the world to
bend to its own image? If not, this may be just the beginning.
APRIL 2013
Kosovo is Serbia, territorial integrity must be respected 21 April, 15:51
Serbia is on the
verge of recognizing the legitimacy of the illegal breakaway territory of
Kosovo and expanding Kosovo’s authority. According to many Serbians and
analysts this may lead to the eventual disintegration of Serbia as a
sovereign state. Kosovo’s declaration of independence was an illegal act and
the support by the West in redefining Serbian borders is a clear act of
international aggression. Whether a forced border change in Serbia is
carried out by economic pressure from the European Union or by the military
aggression of NATO, it is still illegal and contrary to international law. The maintaining of the
territorial integrity of sovereign nations is enshrined in international law
and the United Nations Charter and is an integral part of every country’s
right to security, self-government and maintaining its exoistence. Every
country has the right to use force if necessary to protect its sovereign
territory both from internal and external threats and under international
law the imposition by force of a border change is an act of aggression.
Therefore the campaign by the West in attempting to bring about an
independent state in Serbia runs contrary to the United Nations Charter,
international law and is illegal and must no longer be supported. With regards to Serbia and the
self-declared “independent state” of Kosovo the fact that the West is
imposing a forced border change, militarily through its surrogates NATO and
KFOR, extra-legally through its police arm EULEX, extra-judicially through
the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and
economically and politically through the European Union, is an affront to
all the principles of international law and international conventions with
regard to territorial integrity. All of these bodies together,
acting under the color of law, are in fact acting illegally to impose a
Western conceived plan for the Balkans and a reassignment of territory which
also runs counter to all agreements reached after World War II with regard
to territorial changes. Of course when dealing with the
issue academically the West’s hypocrisy is none the more clearer, than it is
when looking at the situation surrounding Kosovo and the fallacy of the
West’s entire adventure in the former Yugoslavia. This hypocrisy can be seen
when it comes to sovereign territories such as Las Malvinas, Palestine,
Puerto Rico, the Koreas and a host of other locations. Forcing a border change or
outright denying the sovereignty of nation states is an extreme example of
Western meddling but it is the clearest example of Western flouting of
international law when it comes to promoting its own interests. The international community and
United Nations member countries should be up in arms over Serbia being
forced by the European Union into accepting and recognizing the forceful
border change taking place within its sovereign territory. Whether that
force be military or economic (it is a matter for academic debate which is
more illegal when the goal is forced border change) it must not be allowed
to continue and all parties placing pressure on Serbia to accept an internal
border change to its sovereign territory must cease and desist immediately. If the world community allows the
West and its geopolitical architects to get away with redefining the borders
of Serbia it is allowing a dangerous precedent that will make it much easier
the next time they target a country for territorial transformation. Serbia is a broken and devastated
country which makes the leadership more susceptible to western manipulation
and it has been kept unstable and marginalized for so long by an ongoing and
conscious western effort that the Serbian people have little recourse to
defend themselves against this attack by the West. The united Nations and the
international community must pull together and support Serbia and support
its right to maintain its territorial integrity, otherwise the whole concept
of the United Nations and international law is a farce and the two are in
fact only tools for use by the West when they see fit to use them for their
own ends. Western hypocrisy is also clear
when it comes to allowing Israel to continue building illegal settlements in
Palestinian territory, arming terrorists to bring about regime change in
Syria and in countries such as Puerto Rico, that the U.S. deems are not
intelligent enough to govern themselves. States that have supported and
promoted the secession of Kosovo from Serbia should, in reality, face
sanctions from the UN and member countries. However the United Nations has
shown, time and time again, that it is merely an instrument of the West and
will continue to be thus as long as it is funded by and based in the United
States of America. In my opinion the Russian
Federation, the People’s Republic of China, Venezuela and all other
countries that have independent foreign policies must pull together and do
more to assist the Serbian Government and the Serbian people in saving their
country from the eventual complete destruction of their sovereign state
which a recognition of Kosovo will lead to. If there were more economic and
political assistance perhaps Serbian politicians would not be forced to look
to the European Union to solve the country’s economic woes and more
energetic moves could be made to return Kosovo to Serbia. With regard to the current
residents of Kosovo claiming it is their nation state, they must be
integrated into Serbian society and the international community should aid
in that integration, not allow for the separation and breaking up of the
country. This was not done by the West because Serbia was aligned with
Russia and therefore was a “problem” country that they had to destroy. Lastly if the international community continues to support the independence of Kosovo and the violations of international law that are ongoing there, then they should do the same if, for example the State of Texas decides to secede, from the United States. If you think this sounds ludicrous then you understand the hypocrisy of the situation in Serbia with regards to Kosovo. Kosovo is Serbia and territorial integrity must be respected and protected, no matter how small or weak a country may be
Boston bombing: Russia warned FBI, advisors warned Obama, terror continues 24 April, 14:49
Russian
Intelligence warned the United States about Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev,
the U.S. President’s Intelligence Advisory Board warned President Obama
about weaknesses in the CIA, NSA, FBI and other agencies which have de
facto become drone assassination support agencies. But like the
warnings to Bush before 9-11, they were ignored by the now imperial U.S.
presidency. Is the safety of ordinary peaceful civilians really of any
interest to the U.S. or has the open-ended war on terror become a machine
that requires endless violence and the endless creation of new terrorists
and is the number one priority? The United
States used to flaunt the fact that it did not have a problem with
radicalized extremist followers of Islam, that was always a problem in
Europe, Asia or Africa, but after more than a decade engaged in an
open-ended global war, the U.S. is beginning to see the result of its
aggressive invasions and efforts at brutally dealing with an “enemy” that
was exaggerated and largely made up from the beginning. Whether or not
you believe the official version of 9-11 and the entire U.S. war on terror
paradigm, it is impossible to believe that the results of how the war on
terror has been executed are, and will be, somehow unexpected or surprising
for the U.S. intelligence community, one of those results being the creation
of large numbers of even more violent, sophisticated, radicalized and
determined terrorists. The official
version of 9-11 would have us believe that Egyptian terrorists operating for
Al-Qaeda flew planes whose wreckage was never found into buildings causing
controlled demolitions and that the mastermind who initially denied any
connection to those events, Osama Bin Laden, was supported by countries that
he had no connection to, hence necessitating aggressive invasions of those
Muslim countries. The U.S. has
never come clean on 9-11and this is a fact that is known by the thinking
part of the U.S. population and the world. Too many questions have never
been adequately answered or addressed and brushing aside the concerns of the
people and relegating anyone to the margins who question 9-11 will backfire
and lead to even more terrorists both homegrown and international. The root
of the war on terror is also the root of the justified questioning of the
legitimacy of the U.S. government and this fact alone will lead to the
creation and radicalization of internal U.S. “terrorists”. This is also
true for reasoning and propaganda the U.S. spreads about the wars in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Pakistan, and planned wars in Iran and elsewhere.
No matter how much the U.S. spreads the words “democracy” “humanitarian” and
“freedom”, these apparently transient concepts espoused by the U.S., pale
when it comes to what the people see before their very eyes: one devastated
and destroyed country after the other. It is not
possible to believe that anything worth backing can be created at gunpoint
and by force when women and children are being brutally murdered and the
very infrastructure and society of country after country are being destroyed
and nothing is being done to remedy such egregious destruction. When you add
the fact that most of the countries being targeted and meddled with are
Muslim countries then the possibility that this will create radicalized
Islamic terrorists is multiplied a thousand fold. Since the U.S.
war on terror began experts have warned about the next generation of
terrorists, like 19-year-old Tsarnev, the Boston bomber, these are young
people who have spent most of their lives exposed to the faulty U.S.
execution of their prized “War on Terror”. They have been witness to
merciless unjustifiable violence brought down on their people in a global
war that was supposed to be against Al-Qaeda and the bogeyman Osama Bin
Laden, and have repeatedly had to try to accept duplicitous hypocrisy when
U.S. officials make statements such as Bush’s famous: “Osama Bin Laden, I
don’t think about him much, he is not that important.” One has to
ponder if knowingly creating terrorists is by design, as a war such as the
endless global war on terror needs terrorists to sustain itself or if the
U.S. intelligence community is so inept and so near-sighted that the results
of their actions have never been considered. When one takes
into consideration that the CIA and the U.S. were in bed with Osama Bin
Laden, Al-Qaeda and even the Taliban, and in fact helped to fund them and
create them in their “covert” efforts to fight the USSR which was asked to
assist in Afghanistan and in other past and current conflict zones, one has
to seriously question the “intelligence” of the U.S. intelligence community. There are
reports that the Tsarnaev brothers were recruited by the CIA
as double agents and
that they were supposed to infiltrate Caucasian Wahhabi jihadist networks
supported by the Saudis but then joined the very terrorists they were
supposed to infiltrate. This would not be surprising as the U.S. is
currently financing and aiding Al-Qaeda, Chechen, and other terrorist groups
in Syria and other locations to assist them in achieving geopolitical goals
and regime change in countries they have targeted. If the U.S.
intelligence community really believes that they can recruit and use
terrorists whilst at the same time waging what is seen as a war against
Islam, then once again we have to seriously question the intelligence and
the true motivations of those making such decisions. The Voice of
Russia reported that: “the surviving Boston Marathon bombings suspect,
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, told interrogators that US-led wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan had motivated him and his brother to carry out the attack.”This
would back up the argument that the entire war on terror paradigm is flawed
and causes more terror than it eradicates. The
intelligence failure in the case of the Boston Marathon bombing once again
sheds credible doubt and casts suspicion on the competence and even the true
nature of the U.S. surveillance state and the CIA. On the one hand you have
innocent activists like Chicago Occupiers being called terrorists when they
posed no real threat and real terrorists being let go even after being
warned by foreign intelligence agencies. According to
the Washington Post shortly before the Boston bombing U.S. President
Barack Obama was
warned that “U.S. spy agencies had become too focused on military operations
and drone strikes.” “The secret report by the President’s Intelligence
Advisory Board calls for the first significant shift in intelligence
resources since the events of 9-11.” The seemingly
coincidental timing of the report and the Boston blasts will no doubt fuel
conspiracy theories that the attack was planned to allow for the
continuation of the current war on terror and the further stripping away of
rights in the U.S. as well as further crackdowns by the security state, and
this may all be true, or not. However what is clear is that the CIA being
turned into the assassination support system for the imperial U.S.
executive, and the NSA, FBI and other U.S. intelligence bodies being
redirected to roles in an endless global war on terror, as the world’s
policeman and a support system for global U.S. military expansion, has left
the U.S. “homeland” more vulnerable than ever to terrorist attacks. In summary the
U.S. should stop antagonizing people around the globe (Muslims in
particular) with illegal aggressive wars, extra-judicial drone executions
and indefinite detention and torture, focus its efforts on bringing about
diplomatic solutions to conflicts it chooses to become embroiled in rather
than constant force and threats, and stop duplicitous polices and
cooperation with terrorists and any other group for the sole purpose of
advancing its own geopolitical ambitions. That is if the U.S. really wants
to be safe and protect Americans rather than propagate reasons to continue
its military expansion and endless war on terror. Had the U.S.
not been so busy drawing up phony lists to demonize Russia, going after
whistleblowers, stifling dissent, meddling in countries all over the world,
arresting harmless hackers and planning who to drone tomorrow, they may have
listened to a Russian warning about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, then again maybe this
was just another inconvenient truth for America.
MAY 2013
Obama continues the secret US war on whistleblowers 1 May, 09:52
US President
Obama has continued not only Bush wars and policies, but has continued and
expanded the Bush war on whistleblowers, the last hope for many that the
truth may prevail. In a sane world if one were to witness a crime or some
other clearly egregious or amoral conduct, one would think that one could
report it and the guilty would be dealt with, however we do not live in a
sane world. For whistleblowers this is the initial dilemma, but due to their
consciences or their belief in a higher morality they decide to blow the
whistle, almost always knowing that they will suffer for it. Whistleblowers
are heroes who risk everything to get the truth out, something which should
be rewarded, in a sane world that is. “Assange,” it
is the first word that most people think about when they hear the word
“whistleblower” but this association is in fact a slightly disingenuous one.
Although the making of the surname of the co-founder of the WikiLeaks
organization a household name worldwide by the global media has done a lot
to focus on the case of WikiLeaks and has helped to keep Julian Assange
alive, it has done little to help the plight of whistleblowers worldwide. WikiLeaks and
Julian Assange are technically not really whistleblowers themselves, they
are something much worse and I will tell you why in a minute. What the
WikiLeaks organization did was far more insidious than what any
whistleblower could do; they provided an anonymous platform for
whistleblowers who had nowhere else to turn. They gave whistleblowers a
place to at least try to get the truth out, something that is usually the
domain of the Fourth Estate, which has proven since the Bush years to be
incapable or unwilling to go against the government line and to expose
malfeasance and crimes by officials, no matter how egregious. Why is
WikiLeaks insidious and evil? They of course are not! I say that from the
point of view of the U.S. Government and the Obama Administration. If you
doubt for one instant that the criminals in Washington are afraid of the
truth all you have to do is look at the reaction to WikiLeaks and the
persecution of Mr. Assange and everyone else connected to WikiLeaks. The way they
have used almost every method known to man to try to shut down WikiLeaks is
a true real and damning testament not to the “evil” of WikiLeaks but to the
evil of the criminals in Washington hiding in the dark, behind cloaks of
secrecy and the all encompassing mien of “national security.” The “case”
against Julian Assange (I used the term case which is for lack of a better
word as there is no “case” against him, there are trumped up “allegations”
of a sexual nature involving a ruptured condom but no official complaint or
criminal charges) and WikiLeaks has done perhaps what it was designed to do
and has detracted from the mission of WikiLeaks by taking the focus away
from the actual leaks and putting it on the leakers. This has been voiced by
WikiLeaks principals, by the Anonymous collective, whistleblower advocates
and proponents of transparency regarding the fabricated Swedish claims and
the U.S. persecution of Julian. WikiLeaks and
Julian Assange are very fortunate as they have been able to weather the
storm, a fact that must be repeated and respected, as they have survived an
all out sustained and prolonged assault by the full force of the U.S.
Government and all its mechanisms, and have managed to survive. Albeit for
Julian, being forced to seek refuge in an embassy and be deprived of his
freedom may be wanting, he has managed to stay alive and out of the claws of
the U.S. police state. Their survival
is due in a large part to the media coverage the charismatic Assange has
managed to maintain but for whistleblowers like Bradley Manning and others,
fate has not been so kind. Whistleblowers are usually marginalized, their
reputations are destroyed, many are imprisoned, lose their jobs or have
outright “accidents” leading to their deaths. This is not an exaggeration
but a documented fact. The motivations
of whistleblowers may be different but the attempt to correct wrongs, for
whatever reason is a noble act and should be rewarded and applauded, in a
sane world this would be the case. What we see now, and I am writing about
the U.S. but this applies to other countries as well, in particular U.S.
lapdogs like the U.K., Australia, Canada, and others, is that these brave
and upstanding individuals are demonized and the very criminals they are
attempting to expose are protected and rewarded. The hypocrisy and reversal
of logic is mind boggling and leaves one gasping in disbelief. Currently the
Obama Administration is carrying out a shameful and, according to Bill
Moyers dot com, “…
unprecedented campaign against whistleblowers, particularly on those who
have divulged information that relates to national security.” Of course one
cannot say shameful or disgraceful or criminally negligent on U.S. media
when referring to the “imperial Executive,” but I think all of these words
apply, and others as well. Whistleblowers
are individuals who may see criminal activity, waste, violations of
regulations or unethical, immoral or other egregious behavior and attempt to
correct these wrongs but are then demonized by the very system they are
trying to bring in line with what is acceptable, moral and legal. A system
that goes after these individuals, by doing so proves itself to be either
criminally corrupt, morally bankrupt, guilty as sin or all of the three. In
the case of the U.S. this goes all the way to the Oval office as it has
since the Bush coup and the creation of the all powerful imperial executive. Moyers and
Company and two of their weriters, John Light and Laureen Sweeney, have done
what most in the U.S. toe-the-line-mass-media have feared to do and have
been negligent in doing, and have reported on six individual whistleblowers
and their plights and theie stories deserve attention and they must all be
applauded and rewarded. These are individuals who followed their conscience,
like Bradley Manning, and have had to pay a high price for their morality. The Obama
Administration, following in the footsteps of the first imperial U.S.
president George Bush, has gone after these persons using the Espionage Act,
an archaic law which had only been used three times in U.S. history until
Obama was placed in office. Obama has used it six times against six
individuals. Citing Moyers
and Company, these six are: Thomas Drake a former senior executive at the
U.S. National Security Agency who was charged under the Espionage Act. He
attempted to report government waste on an NSA program called Trailblazer,
which cost $1.2 billion and one called ThinThread which cost $3 million. He
decided to blow the whistle on waste when the Bush administration began the
illegal warrantless surveillance of American citizens, something he could
not do anything about but which he disagreed with. According to Moyers he
initially faced up to 35 years in prison but eventually pleaded guilty to a
misdemeanor. 2: Stephen
Jin-Woo Kim, a specialist in nuclear proliferation who worked as a
contractor for the U.S. State Department. He made a statement about a North
Korean nuclear test to the U.S. media, in a usual conversation between
expert and press, and was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury, but the case has
not yet been brought to trial. 3: John
Kiriakou, was a CIA agent who followed his conscience when it came to the
illegal interrogation methods and torture that was being carried out by the
U.S. and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for giving
journalists the names of two former colleagues who tortured detainees. 4: Shamai K.
Leibowitz, who was an FBI Hebrew translator and was worried that Israel
would take the disastrous step of bombing nuclear facilities Iran. His leak
of a wire tap to a blogger cost him 20 months in prison. 5: Bradley
Manning who believe the American public had the right to know of the crimes
being committed by the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq. He leaked documents and
videos to Wikileaks. Myers wrote: “A military judge ruled earlier this month
that for Manning to be convicted under the Espionage Act, the prosecution
would have to prove that Manning had ‘reason to believe’ that the files
could be used to harm the U.S. or to aid a foreign power.” 6: Jeffrey
Sterling was a CIA officer who was privy to the details of a plan to derail
plans Iran may have had in building a nuclear bomb. He is cited as a source
who believed that a U.S. plan to sabotage Iran’s nuclear operations may have
in fact brought Iran closer to developing a nuclear weapon. Sterling has
maintained his innocence and the U.S. Justice Department says it has
effectively terminated the case. These are
unfortunately just some cases which are being prosecuted under the Espionage
Act. The U.S. has myriad ways to deal with whistleblowers, including
outright assassination. There are many different areas where whistleblowers
have attempted to get the truth out and the people behind the cases are as
varied as the information. Sadly the result for most is violent opposition
by the authorities and unjust persecution. Cases of
whistleblowers and truth proponents being persecuted are too many to go into
here and the sad part is that there are many people who we will never know
about, and who paid the ultimate price. Of the loud
cases the Valerie Plame affair comes to mind, where CIA Agent Controller
Plame was burned by the New York Times and Karl Rove, leading to the deaths
of possibly hundreds of her previous agents worldwide. Her husband was a
diplomat who was against one of the false pretexts for invading Iraq. Then there are thousands
of others including:
Daniel Ellsburg and Anthony Russo (Pentagon Papers), W. Mark Felt
(Deepthroat/Nixon), A. Ernest Fitzgerald (Cost overruns/Nixon), Gregory C.
Minor, Richard B. Hubbard, and Dale G. Bridenbaugh (nuclear power plant
flaws), Mordechai Vanunu (Israeli Nuclear Program, 17 years in prison 11 in
solitary confinement), Frederic Whitehurst (FBI whistleblower), Gary Webb
(CIA, Iran Contra, Drug funding) shot twice in the head, Jesselyn Radack
(John Walker Lindh), Katharine Gun (GCHQ Iraq invasion crimes), Joseph
Wilson (Plame Affair, Iraq invasion lies), Richard Convertino (lack of Bush
Administration support in prosecuting terrorists), Joe Darby (Abu Ghraib),
Sibel Edmonds (FBI post 9-11 issues), Bunnatine "Bunny" H. Greenhouse
(Halliburton war profiteering), Mark Klein (NSA illegal surveillance), Karen
Kwiatkowski (USAF Iraq lies), William Sanjour (EPA), Russ Tice (NSA, CIA,
DIA), and Linda Tripp (Clinton). Then there are
those who had knowledge of 9-11 who
have been killed: Barry
Jennings, Beverly Eckert, Kenneth Johanneman, Michael H. Doran, Christopher
Landis, Paul Smith, Deborah Palfrey, Major General David Wherley, Salvatore
Princiotta, David Graham, Prasanna Kalahasthi, Wendy Burlingame, Katherine
Smith, Daniel Pearl, Benazir Bhutto, William Cooper, Michael Zebuhr, Hunter
S Thompson, Dan Wallace, Michael Connell (Bush vote fraud, dead), and then
you can add the thousands killed over the Kennedy assassination and the list
goes on and on. When writing
this I remembered a strange event that happened to me in Mexico. I met an
American woman there who had been living there since after the Kennedy
assassination and she told me a story how a woman ran up to her house one
night and was pounding on the door saying killers were after her. The woman
and her husband let her in and proceeded to listen to the woman telling a
story about how she had witnessed where the shooting came from during the
Kennedy assassination. The couple thought she was insane but humored her and
drove her as far from the town as they could. The next morning it was
reported by the local press that an unknown woman had been found shot to
death in a ditch. The woman’s husband soon after died mysteriously and she
ran to Mexico. I thought it sounded like a stretch but today I doubt it was. That is the
problem with government secrecy and the way they marginalize whistleblowers,
people don’t believe you if you talk against those in power, they either
think you are crazy or making things up, then when you are suicide or
killed, it is a coincidence. My own whistleblowing case in the US which
involved hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal money being stolen by
local officials and the murder of a man in prison ended with the same office
I complained to a grand jury against destroying my life. Unfortunately for
me, like many of the people listed above, no one wanted to listen. Will the
criminals in power use every instrument they can to get truth seekers? Sure
they will, and do. Will they kill to keep their crimes secret? You bet. Just
ask Julian Assange, credited with being the most prolific whistleblower in
history with a reported 1.2 million individual leaks to his credit. May all of
these heroes be remembered and honored, for that is what whistleblowers are,
true heroes and of a higher morality than those around them who would
extinguish the light of truth to continue their nefarious activities in the
dark.
Israel, the West and anti-Alawite Muslims joined against Bashar Al-Assad 6 May, 2013 18:06
The attacks on
Syria by Israel are an open act of war and aggression against Syria and the
free world. Despite claiming their aggressive attack was “preventive” in
nature, a concept first used by the Nazis, the unprovoked attack on Syria
was a clear act of aggressive war and the Jewish state has now crossed the
line and committed a crime against humanity. Will the Muslim world stand by
as Israel attacks its Muslim brothers? With the US acting as the protector
of Israel perhaps it does not matter, perhaps Muslim backlash is exactly
what the geopolitical chess players in Washington are planning on. The
possibility that the conflict expands to a global level grow on an hourly
basis. Experts and
analysts around the world have been stating for years that the US and its
Western allies have plans which call for invasions and forceful regime
changes, not only around the world but in particular, Syria and the Islamic
Republic of Iran. Independent experts, academics, diplomats, politicians,
investigative journalists, political commentators and analysts almost all
agree that the U.S. has been looking for and trying to create a pretext for
invading these countries for close to five years now. Despite the
fact that almost every move that the US makes and every new pretext is shown
to be based on error or all out lies, the US continues to attempt to bring
about a regime change in both countries or a pretext for launching an
invasion. Almost every lie that was used to invade the former Yugoslavia,
Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq and then Libya have been used with regard to Iran
and Syria but the world community has for the most part seen through them
and because of this the US has been hesitant to unilaterally invade these
two countries. I have said
many times before that the US will do anything, including aggressively
invading countries, exploiting and using allies and backing any group that
is convenient to attain its geopolitical goals. This is a matter of
historical fact and is clear to anyone who has followed the events of the
last century with an independent and critical eye. This should be clear to
Israel as well and Israel should be alarmed for in Israel the US has found
the perfect surrogate for bringing about an invasion of both Iran and Syria. The
geopolitical architects of the remapping and recreation of the Middle East
must know that once they invade Syria they will have little credibility left
to move on to Iran and North Korea and the pretexts used there will no
longer be believed. The world may even rise up and demand an end to the
aggressive invader that many believe is taking over the entire planet. Israel is the
perfect surrogate for the US and the Jewish people are the perfect
aggressor, in particular for launching a “preventive invasion” or
“preventive air strikes” and using the security and safety of Israel as the
perfect pretext. Israel may be surrounded by Islamic countries and neighbors
that it does not get along with at all, it may even have been threatened and
the like, but this does not change the very simple fact that “preventive”
invasions and acts of war are still acts of aggression and aggressive war is
illegal under international law and is considered a crime against humanity. The recent
airstrikes by Israel on Damascus are crimes against humanity and acts of
aggressive war because there is no concept in international law for
“preventive” invasions or “preventive” aggression. It is important to recall
that this was the strategy used by the Nazis at the beginning of the Great
Patriotc War (World War II) and is a road that the US has followed the Nazis
down. The US has
manipulated and used every form of Islamic terrorist and mercenary in its
“secret” war against Bashar Al-Assad, and now it has used Israel, one of the
most vulnerable countries in the world, to advance it agenda for Syria. I
say Israel is vulnerable because it is surrounded by Islamic countries and
even though the Israelis and Mossad believe the US will defend it no matter
what, will they be able to escape unscathed if the entire Muslim world wakes
up and asks; “What is really going on here?” Will the Muslim world really
stand by as the Jewish states bombs and kills its Muslim brothers? Apparently the
Western geopolitical planners and Israel are counting on the fact that the
Sunni, the Shia, the Alawites, the Wahabi, and all of the followers of other
forms of Islam hate each other enough and in the particular, other groups
hate the Shia and the Alawites enough to allow the Jewish state to invade
its Muslim brothers. The mix in
Syria is complex and now having the Jewish state joining the fray seems very
odd indeed. Will the Sunnis back Israel in bombing and murdering the Alawite
Syrians. Apparently the answer to that, so far, is yes. Perhaps Israel has
not only made deals with the United States but with Sunni run governments
around it? Although Israel
claims its airstrikes were targeting Iranian missiles meant for Hezbollah,
this has proven to be a lie. As were the recent chemical weapons claims made
against the Syrian government and every pretext the US has used in its
aggressive invasions in the past from Srebrenica to Iraq’s supposed chemical
weapons to all of the recent pretexts used against Syria. Israel did not
only target missiles, as if Syria does not have the right to have missiles
in the first place. It targeted the presidential guards, it targeted
research installations and it killed over 300 Syrian soldiers. That my
friend, no matter how you want to look at it is an open and aggressive act
of war. Will Israel get
away with it? Will Syria assert its right to defend itself and strike back?
Will the Muslim world stand by and watch the Jewish state bombs its Muslim
neighbor? We have been
predicting that the US and its allies are planning to invade Syria and Iran
for years, could it be that even with foreknowledge of an aggressive
invasion there is nothing the world can do to stop it? Time will tell but
apparently that seems to be the case and explains why the US has never
called for a peaceful resolution to Syria’s internal problem. As president
Assad recently said, “… the terrorists are cowards”, but apparently these
terrorists attacking Syria are now allied with Israel, or Israel is allied
with them, and all are backed by the West. I think he was right, who else
would launch missiles on sleeping soldiers? And if you are wondering what
did the former dentist do to America to warrant a death sentence, well that
is simple, he failed to be dictated to by America, that was his only “sin”.
Radicalization of Muslims growing as war on terror drags on 7 May, 19:07
A large
percentage of the world’s Muslim population condones and supports suicide
bombings, the killing of women and even men who dishonor their families and
faith, and wishes to see Sharia law as the law of the land, even though they
have different understandings of what that means, a report by the Pew
Reasearch Center reveals. After the
invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan those two countries are now among the most
radicalized of Muslim countries. After more than a decade of the US global
war on terror, which many see as a war on Islam, it is not surprising that
the number of Muslims the world over who support suicide attacks and have
become radicalized has grown. In the US that number may be as much as 20% or
more. According to a
recent report by the Pew Research Center, an organization funded by the Pew
Charitable Trusts which has US $5 billion in assets, and whose stated
mission is to serve the public interest by improving public policy,
informing the public and stimulating civic life, the number of Muslims who
answered that they support suicide bombings in America is much less than
those around the world, but even that number is extremely high at possibly
close to 20%. The report
titled “The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society” attempts to
give insight into the Islamic world by looking at seven areas it believes
are important in understanding Muslims worldwide. The report includes areas
titled: Beliefs About Sharia; Religion and Politics; Morality; Women in
Society; Relations Among Muslims; Interfaith Relations; and Religion,
Science, and Pop Culture. At the end there is an appendix titled “U.S.
Muslims”. With regard to
suicide bombings the researchers asked the question in 21 countries.
Respondents who agreed to take part in the survey mostly did not endorse the
tactic when they were asked if they: “… endorsed suicide bombings and other
forms of violence against civilian targets as a means of defending Islam
against its enemies.” However
according to Pew: “… in a few countries, substantial minorities believe
suicide bombing can be often justified or sometimes justified.” This is a
dangerous number and points to the widespread radicalization of the world’s
Muslim community. Breaking it
down by region the Pew study reports those who support attacks on civilians
in defense of Islam are as follows: in Southern and Eastern Europe: 11% of
Kosovan; 6% of Albanian; 4% of Russian and 3% of Bosnian Muslims answered in
the affirmative. Of Central
Asia’s Muslims: 15% in Turkey; 10% in Kyrgystan; 3% in Tadjikistan; 2% in
Kazakhstan and only 1% in Azerbaijan support suicide bombings. In Southeast
Asia: a formidable 18% of Malaysian and 7% of Indonesian Muslims support the
tactic. For those
regions the numbers are much less than in South Asia and the Middle East and
North Africa. In Afghanistan a whopping 39% of respondents support suicide
bombing as a method to defend Islam. In Bangladesh the number is also high
with the number being at around 26%. In Pakistan 13% said they were in
support. In the Middle
East and North Africa, Israel’s neighbor Palestine was the number one
supporter of suicide bombings, with an astounding 40% of respondents
answering in the affirmative. Egypt’s Muslims came out with an extremely
high 29%, Jordan 15%, Tunisia 12%, Morocco 9% and post invasion Iraq with
only 7%. The results for
the US were separate and based on a 2011 poll and were based on a different
question (Do you believe suicide bombings are never justified?) but show
that 81% as opposed to 72% worldwide say that bombings are never justified. By staging the
question thus the researchers have obfuscated the fact that 19% of US
Muslims believe that such attacks are sometimes or rarely justified or
refused to answer which would indicate support for the tactic, or belief,
that they are always justified. Of course US Muslims would be very foolish
to answer in the affirmative whether they believed this as they would very
likely immediately end up on a terrorist watch list. The number of
Muslims in countries wishing to make Sharia Law the law of the land is
extremely surprising with majorities of those responding in all of the
countries surveyed in Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, North
Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa saying they believe Islamic law should be the
law of their country. Post invasion Iraq and Afghanistan lead the world with
91% and 99% respectively. While US Muslims were not even asked the question. With regard to
Sharia law, in Central Asia and Eastern and Southern Europe, Russia was
supposedly the leader with 42% of Muslims saying they favor Sharia law. At
the other end of the spectrum in Azerbaijan, where only 8% of respondents
wish Sharia law to be the law of the land. When it comes
to the “honor” killing of women who engage in extra-marital sex the Pew
researchers posed the question if “… honor killings were never justified”.
Judging from the results 20% to 78% of Muslims worldwide believe that honor
killings are in fact justified.This also points to the further
radicalization of the Islamic community and a dangerous intolerance for
women’s rights and the further viewing of women as possessions or less than
human. In nearly all
countries a majority of Muslims agree that a wife should obey her husband
with support for women’s rights mainly held by women respondents. In the context
of the “War on Terror” which has been seen as a war on Islam, are the
results surprising? No they are not and if the War on Terror continues,
surely in ten years the numbers of those condoning suicide attacks will sky
rocket as will the number of radicalized Muslims. And who will be
paying the price? Not the drone pilots, who sit in their comfortable
air-conditioned control rooms, but civilians all over the world. It is a
simple lesson that the West just does not seem to want to learn, terror and
fear and violence breed the same, and although this may be an abstract
concept from their comfortable offices along the beltway the Boston bombing
may have brought this fact home. Around 24% of
the world’s population are Muslims so it is important to understand and
respect this religion, just as it is important to understand and respect all
religions. A message that might be sent to Muslims, especially of the
fanatical ilk, who according to Pew agree that Islam is the one true faith,
know little about Christianity, and believe it is their duty to convert
others. This is just as
dangerous as Western insensitivity to followers of Islam. What the West has
done and what it is doing by meddling in Muslim countries without the
foresight for the consequences is creating more radicalized Muslims and
fomenting more hatred and anti-democratic anti-western sentiment than
existed anywhere in the world before the start of the global war on terror. Whether this is
by accident due to callous unthinking planning or by design as a way to
guarantee the continuation of the war on terror is yet to be seen. As long
as Americans live detached from the rest of the world and see these as just
figures in a report things will continue as they are and the results will be
more bloodshed and more death.
Islamists call on world’s Muslims for drone countermeasures 7 May, 19:43
In its first
issue a new Islamist publication called Azan Magazine, has issued a call for
Muslims around the world to assist in providing and devising technology to
assist the Ummah, a word for the world’s Muslim community, in the war
against US drones. The article
seemingly unknowingly reveals the entirely faulty methodology with which the
US tracks and targets those it has chosen for drone assassination, detailing
how a poor local might be paid a huge sum to simply toss a transmitter chip
on someone’s home. According to
estimates quoted by the magazine from 2,229 to approximately 2,586 people
have been killed by US drones strikes since 2004. The publication cites the
New American Foundation which says from June 2004 to October 2011, 2,586
people were killed in 329 drone strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan. They also cite
the London Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which reported that from
2004-2011, 2,229 people were killed in drone attacks out of which 168 were
children. According to the publication in one attack on a Madrassa in 2006,
69 children were killed in a drone strike. The article
which is really a call for help by the Islamists, is backed by facts and
figures including this statement they claim was made by a former UN
Rapporteur on Extra Judicial Killings: “Clearly, the
CIA is engaging in systematic assassination of individuals. There is no
review of what they do and of course there is no accountability. So, it ’s a
zone in which law has been effectively excluded. The justification would be
that oh, we were attacked on 9/11 therefore we have a right based on the UN
charter’s provisions for self defense to kill anyone anywhere in the world
any time as long as we argue that they are linked to that initial attack
which may be years ago.” The article
gives some details about how the CIA and the US forces mark their targets
and it is stunning. One method they use is an RFID or other tracking chip
that they apparently pay a local spy to place on the home of a target,
whether he actually puts it on the right place is not important. Another method
used is to mark the targets car or other object with special ink that is
only visible to the drones, again there is no guarantee that they right
object is marked. The article details yet another method and describes how a
satellite phone was used to spy on and then assassinate a Mujahedeen target
by the Pakistani Army. If this is all
true it goes completely against the picture the US military has attempted to
portray as to the precision and surgical accuracy they use in drones
strikes. Instead it proves the unreliability and borderline reckless of the
way that drone targets are tracked and targeted and goes far to explain the
huge numbers of civilians that the US has killed during their drone war. Another point
the article makes is that it blames Pakistan and claims the Pakistani Army
are actively assisting the US and providing logistical support for all
phases of drone operations. The publishers say that Pakistan falsely blames
the US because they would face political hell at home if the Pakistani
people know the army’s true role in the US drone war. Although the
article does make a good argument regarding the illegality of the use of
unmanned aerial vehicles to carry out faulty extra-judicial assassinations,
it is overly religious in its calls for assistance and almost 90% of the
article is filled with religious references. According to the publication
assisting in the fight against drones is the holy duty of all Muslims and
those who help will be greatly rewarded by Allah. Just as the war
on terror, Guantanamo, and the use of drones are wars and actions being
carried out beyond the framework of normal conventional warfare and
international law, so is the call to defend against them. Unconventional
warfare requires unconventional defense and just as with any new weapon
thought up by my man, a new defense will also be thought up. How about
electro-magnetic wave bursts?
The fallacy of the security state, the new generation of terrorists coming of age 8 May, 21:53 Over 2 trillion
dollars has been spent by the US since the events of 9-11 on their wars and
the rise of the surveillance state. America has also spent all of its moral
capital in its illegal invasions and illegal indefinite detention and the
American people have also paid, with their liberty and freedom. Despite all
of this more violence and terror are on the horizon for the US because the
execution of their war on terror is flawed and the simple fact that you can
not make peace and friends with force, nor can you stop terror with terror. Recently there
have been reports on a spate of arrests of teens and young people making or
attempting to make bombs or improvised explosive devices in different parts
of the United States amidst widespread questioning as to the effectiveness
of the massive US national security apparatus that took over the country in
the wake of the events of 9-11. These arrests
were of people roughly the same age although slightly younger than the
Boston Bombing suspects, their age important due to the fact that these
young people are the first generation that has come to age after the
questionable events that began the whole war on terror paradigm. I have
predicted many times in the past that this was going to happen and that as
that generation gets older there will be more terrorism and more violence
unleashed on America not only from within but also from without. This should
be simple to understand on the premise that violence breeds violence and
force breeds force. Not only has
the entire massive US security apparatus proven itself to be incapable of
preventing a terrorist attack, and this has been made obvious and hopefully
this fact has been driven home by the Boston bombing, but the entire
hyper-security state has created an even more dangerous and unpredictable
situation for those charged with ensuring the security of the country. Since the
events of 9-11, and I always say “events” because there are too many
questions and holes in the official version to allow it to be believable,
first of all the building came down in controlled demolitions, and second of
all the absence of plane wreckage, the United States has spent more than
$700 billion on beefing up its national security and somewhere in the
neighborhood of a trillion and half dollars on its wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq. With TSA flight
lists, drone attacks, massive surveillance, all encompassing data
collection, watch lists, black lists, facial recognition software,
satellites, RFID chips, tracking devices, police armed to the teeth and
militarized, massive networks of informants and spies, internet monitoring,
Echelon, Carnivore, fusion centers, the Department of Homeland Security, the
CIA and all of the other “weapons” against terror, the United States has not
prevented one terrorist attack. They have
however created more animosity and more fascination with the concept of
terror amongst the youth than anything else could possibly have done. The
entire war on terror paradigm has only served those running it and profiting
from it and reaping the dividends the massive data collection and
unparalleled controls on the population has allowed. If it were not
for the fact that the population has lost most of its freedom and liberty
and that generations to come will be paying the bill for the horrendously
nearsighted and poorly executed war on terror it would be laughable that in
the last decade of the intense war on terror and the hyper-security state
the US has only managed to prosecute alleged terror plotters who were
entrapped by informants, charge peaceful protestors as terrorists, arrest
harmless hackers, demonize whistleblowers and now apparently catch some
teens who were attempting to make bombs. No terrorists, but the real
terrorists were let go and never captured. The US is
itself at fault, both in the Boston bombing and in the new breed of
terrorists that are coming of age. The government and the authorities as
well the media and educational establishments are all responsible for the
culture of violence, attempting to use force and fear to control the
population and the glorification of violence and the celebrity status
society and the media grant those who commit heinous acts. The Aurora
shooting was just one example of a nobody who became a global celebrity by
killing as many people as he could. Nothing stopped him. The Boston bombers
were another pair of nobodies and even though the US was warned by Russian
intelligence they were still not stopped. If that is not a monumental
failure what is? Russian
intelligence warned the Americans of individuals living on their soil while
the entire FBI, DHS and surveillance state could not see what was under
their own noses. They were warned but they decided they know best and people
died. The same blind arrogance has been used in the faulty execution of the
war on terror and it is this myopic, self-assured, arrogant attitude that
will guarantee that more and more violence and more terror will strike the
US, I would say that is guaranteed. Like I said,
force breeds force, violence breeds violence and death breeds death. This
proving true with the escalating radicalization of the world’s Muslims, and
this will also apply to the youth and oppressed masses of the United States.
As the 9-11 generation comes of age in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, as
well as all over the Muslim world, and I think it is important to note that
these are young people who have only known about America as a country that
has been waging a merciless war against their people since they can
remember, there will no doubt be more and more violence against America. Sadly for those
in power and those in charge of the surveillance state the real well being
of the people is not the first priority. If people were important they would
perhaps think of ways to reach out to the people, to use diplomacy, instead
of guns and force, and to try to bring about a state of peace while
eradicating conditions that produce violence and hatred. For a country where
force, fear, violence, and more force are the only tools used the youth will
grow up as thus. Children grow up and do what they see and if all they see
is death, violence and terror, driven into them every day, they will grow to
do the same. Diplomacy,
dialogue, respect and understanding, those are the only things that bring
about piece, you can not bring peace with a drone, you can not make friends
with Hellfire missiles and you can use force to forever keep people
subservient. Let that also be another warning, which no doubt, will go
unheard.
The “real hacking empire” and the war on truth 12 May, 03:45
The cyber war
continues, with the People’s Republic of China and the United States,
trading accusations of cyber attacks, but the real war is a war to control
and manipulate information and to keep the “inconvenient truth” from
reaching the world’s internet denizens. A sign of an empire in decline is
the stifling of truth that shows its illegitimacy and a war on those who
would expose the truth. Attacks on China have to be seen as part of a larger
US effort and the next victim could be anyone. Back in
February we reported on a
cyber security firm called Mandiant,
in Alexandria, Virginia, less than half an hour from the unincorporated
community of Langley (the metonym for the CIA) in McLean, Virginia. The firm
had made public a report detailing threats posed by Chinese hackers. They
claimed the “Advanced Persistent Threat” (APT), actors operating in China
and with the blessing of the Chinese Government, had been conducting, quote:
“… a cyber espionage campaign against a wide range of victims since 2006”
unquote. I took them to
task for their self-serving claims, their security suite according to SC
Magazine, called “Mandiant Intelligent Response”, which will protect anyone
from Chinese super hackers costs $86,000.00. I also took them to task for
the amount of surveillance and penetration of Chinese government sites and
Chinese internet infrastructure, the level of which was astounding. Just to
produce the report they released they had to launch their own massive
penetration campaign and hack into thousands of Chinese sites and systems. So the recent
claims by the Chinese Government, after the Pentagon released a report
accusing China of launching cyber attacks, that the United States of America
is the “real hacking empire” and has “an extensive espionage network” are
not surprising in the least and I would say a given.
In a recent article on the matter the website
Quartz details
some of the ways in which the US hacks into the systems of other countries.
Quartz wrote: “The US has some of the most powerful cyber warfare
resources in the world and has long been one of the leading sources of cyber
attacks on companies and people. According to cyber security firm McAfee,
the US is home to the largest number of botnets in the world, the control
servers used to hack computers in the US and elsewhere. Data from Deutsche
Telekom shows that far more attacks against its networks come from Russia
and the US than China. And according to HostExploit, which tracks malware
activity, the US and Russia, not China, have the world’s most malicious
servers.” They also
wrote: “In some ways, Beijing is right to argue that China is also
a victim, wrote Jason Healy, director of Cyber Statecraft at the Atlantic
Council, last month. Between September 2012 and March of this year, 85
Chinese government and company websites were hacked, with 39 of the attacks
originating in the US, according to Chinese state media. Chinese authorities
also said that US-based servers had hosted 73% of phishing attacks on
Chinese residents during roughly the same period.” This is all not
surprising as the US continues to attempt to control the flow of information
worldwide, wage a war on whistleblowers and shut down resources and silence
people who go against the official US line or expose the criminality of
those in Washington and the United States. Along with the illegal global war
on terror and all of the crimes being committed in its execution and the
global military expansion by the US through its surrogate NATO, the United
States had proven that it is the single biggest security threat in the
world, not only a threat to freedom of speech and expression on the
internet, but even more importantly to world peace. Although many
of the world’s internet denizens see the internet as a wonderful source of
information and a way to share information and reach out to others,
governments, particularly the US, which created the internet in order to
hide a military computer network, see the internet as a tool to collect
intelligence on foreign governments and on the world’s populace. One reason
Facebook has a special CIA interface. Some of the
aspects of this militarization of the net and the war on information
activists and whistleblowers by the US government were chillingly described
by Julian
Assange in a recent interview he gave to the Nation.
Mr. Assange remains trapped in limbo in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and
will soon mark his one year anniversary there as the UK authorities refuse
to grant him safe passage to the airport in a continuing violation to
international norms and diplomatic etiquette. According to
Assange however the US has lost: “The status quo, for them, is a
loss… The Pentagon threatened WikiLeaks and me personally, threatened us
before the whole world, demanded that we destroy everything we had
published, demanded we cease ‘soliciting’ new information from US government
whistle-blowers, demanded, in other words, the total annihilation of a
publisher. It stated that if we did not self-destruct in this way that we
would be ‘compelled’ to do so.” The Nation
continues: “Assange, Manning and WikiLeaks: … effectively exposed
the empire’s hypocrisy, indiscriminate violence and its use of torture,
lies, bribery and crude tactics of intimidation. WikiLeaks shone a spotlight
into the inner workings of empire (the most important role of a press) and
for this it has become empire’s prey. Those around the globe with the
computer skills to search out the secrets of empire are now those whom
empire fears most. If we lose this battle, if these rebels are defeated, it
means the dark night of corporate totalitarianism. If we win, if the
corporate state is unmasked, it can be destroyed.” The persecution
of WikiLeaks, the recent shut down of the Cyber Bunker, attacks on Chinese,
Russian, North Korean, Syrian, and Palestinian servers and web sites show
just how concerted the efforts are by the US in attempting to control the
flow of information worldwide. With regards to WikiLeaks alone the Nation
said: “At least a dozen American governmental agencies, including
the Pentagon, the FBI, the Army’s Criminal Investigative Department, the
Department of Justice, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence,
and the Diplomatic Security Service, are assigned to the WikiLeaks case,
while the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are
assigned to track down WikiLeaks’ supposed breaches of security.” Rather than
hunt down the criminals exposed by the whistleblowers they continue to
attempt to go after the messengers of truth and control the world’s flow of
information. In the context
of China, I think it is important to recall that China is a working and
successful Communist country, something the US is usual quiet about as
China’s economic stake in the US is so large that if it pulls out the US
would no doubt collapse, and geopolitically China along with Russia are seen
as enemies by Washington, so it is a given that the US will try to do
anything it can to undermine not only China but Russia and any other country
it sees as a challenge. That the single largest military threat to the
planet and the world’s policeman and censor is also the “real hacking
empire” is not surprising.
Tsarnaev robbed Americans of their “revenge” so they took it out on his corpse 13 May, 15:58 1
The
unprecedented refusal by authorities all over the US to bury Boston Marathon
bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and quietly be done with it has once again
underlined the American thirst for revenge and the disrespect for the
sanctity of life and the dead. Sure no one wants to be buried next to a
monster but civilized intelligent societies do not play games with corpses
and unfortunately that is a fact. While the US has buried thousands of mass
murderers and psychopaths, with little fanfare, for some reason, this young
Muslim, who showed the fallacy of the police state, has not been offered the
same regard. Sure he was evil, but you don’t play politics with a corpse. The disgrace of
the Tsarnaev burial debacle is a story most Americans would want to go away
as quickly as possible (move along nothing to see here), some publications
even openly saying as much with the Boston Globe even going so far as to
publish a piece titled “It’s time to bury this story”. Of course it is time
to bury the story because it is a very uncomfortable one for Americans as it
shows the complete idiocy and lack of common human decency that exists in
the American masses. The author of
the Boston Globe article (Perhaps he was playing with words when he titled
it?) cites the author of the book “Payback: The Case for Revenge” one Thane
Rosenbaum as saying: “There’s a difference between an ordinary
crime and an atrocity. Someone went to the hardware store and picked out
nails and bolts and ball bearings for the purpose of dismembering children.
They knew the purpose was not just to kill but to dismember. The atrocious
deserve very different treatment. They deserve to be ostracized and banished
from the community.” Sure what
Tamerlan Tsarnaev did was an atrocity (assuming he was in fact guilty of the
crime as he was still only a suspect, a fact few wish to be reminded of), no
one would argue to the contrary, yet civilized intelligent humans would not
do something as distasteful as then playing revenge with a corpse. The fact that
Tamerlan died a horrendous death, being shot by police and run over by his
own brother, apparently was not enough for the American thirst for blood and
revenge and by not allowing him to be quietly be buried we are once again
reminded of that particular characteristic of the “American experience”: the
love and enthusiasm for bloody revenge, at once appalling and disgraceful
and made even more so by the self-righteous indignation and the
holier-than-thou-zeal with which it is sought. The refusal by
officials in the US to allow Tamerlan to be buried has had a resonance
around the world and the spectacle of a body rotting away and waiting to be
buried being refused left and right has the world’s population again focused
on the idiocy of the American people. The refusal to
bury Tamerlan was unprecedented, as every type of killer, pedophile, rapist,
mass murderer and even those guilty of treason are buried somewhere when
they die. Usually it is done quietly in a prison cemetery or some other
obscure location, perhaps in an unmarked grave, as the Jackal was buried in
France and as the Boston
Globe notes: “Albert
DeSalvo, the Boston Strangler, confessed to 12 murders during a crime wave
that ranks among the most famous and heinous in American history. Yet he is
interred at Puritan Lawn Memorial Park in Peabody, Massachusetts.” There are of
course others: Ted Bundy who
confessed to killing over 30 women was cremated and his ashes spread over
the Cascade Mountains in Washington, according to his own wishes. John Wayne Gacy
who killed 33 young men and boys was quietly cremated although it was later
learned a psychiatrist saved part of his brain in a basement for years. Jeffrey Dahmer,
responsible for the deaths of 16 people and whose crimes included
cannibalism and necrophilia was cremated after much debate over what to do
with his brain which had been saved in a jar. John Geoghan,
the defrocked priest who molested more than 150 children was buried in
Massachusetts in the same cemetery as many of the Kennedy clan. Jim Jones
responsible for over 900 deaths was quietly cremated in Dover, Maryland. David Koresh
the infamous Branch Davidian leader who was buried a month after being shot
in the head by federal agents was laid to rest in Tyler Texas. Dylan Klebold
and Eric Harris, the Columbine killers who killed 12 classmates and a
teacher were cremated and buried respectively. Adam Lanza, the
Sandy Hook Elementary School killer who killed his own mother and then 20
first graders and 6 school staff was buried under private arrangements
organized by his father. Osama Bin
Laden, even though his body was thrown off a ship at sea, the US government
vehemently claimed he was buried following 24 hours of death according to
Muslim tradition. US home-grown
terrorist Timothy McVeigh who killed 168 people was almost buried as a war
hero at Arlington National Cemetery before being cremated, the US even
passed a law to stop him from being buried at Arlington. Lee Harvey
Oswald was buried twice in Fort Worth Texas, the second time after being
exhumed. So we see death
row inmates, presidential assassins, cannibals, mass murderers and
terrorists of all kind get a normal burial all over the US alongside other
“normal” people. So why the disgraceful treatment of Tamerlan Tsarnaev? Some say the
idea of honoring the dead would be violated and the dead desecrated by
burying a monster amongst them. That is an argument which may be valid as no
one would want to be buried next to Oswald or Hitler, whose remains were
flushed into the sewer by the way, but why desecrate the living by playing
games and politics with a corpse? What Tamerlan
reportedly did was horrible there can be no doubt, but what he did was not
as bad as others who received respect in death. Part of the reason is the
American lust for revenge, something they were robbed of when Tamerlan died.
There would be no sensational trial, where he and his family would have been
demonized daily and the American populace could feed on all of the gory
details of the case, there would be no execution at the hands of the
“civilized” state, satisfying the blood lust for revenge. By dying Tamerlan
did what was worst of all, he robbed Americans of revenge so what did they
have left? Take revenge on a corpse. Why was this
acceptable in the case of Tamerlan? Well like all of the men at Guantanamo
who are being held for nothing, Tamerlan was Muslim. Americans are aware
that Muslims should be buried within 24 hours of death, so this was a way of
getting back at the religion most demonized and hated by Americans. Tamerlan was
also from Russia, another country continually demonized by the West. So what
could be worse than a Muslim from Russia who tricked the American
authorities and showed Americans what a complete failure their beloved
security state is? What could be worse? One who died before revenge could be
had, that’s what. So once again Americans have done worlds to offend and
insult Muslims and have once again made another martyr out of a sick
individual all in their pursuit of revenge. It is also
important to note that Tamerlan and his family had renounced Russia and were
living in the United States with asylum and that Tamerlan was raised in
America and was in fact a home-grown terrorist, also robbing Americans of
the chance to transfer the blame to Russia. To make things worse the US
authorities were warned by Russia about Tamerlan. So strike three there as
well. The endless
debate over what to do with the body has been positive in one regard for
those in power, it has taken the focus off the authorities who allowed the
attack to occur. It has also overshadowed any reports as to the victims whom
the American populace is not really interested in. What about all of the
people who were injured and had to have amputations and whose lives were
shattered? Where were the press reports about them while the mass media
focused on a rotting corpse nobody wants? Bury it and be done with it should
have been the call. This aspect of
the American psyche, this lust for revenge and disrespect for the dead is
only outdone by the American disrespect for the living, if those living are
“different”, or “Muslim”, or “brown”. This goes back to the very foundations
of America, and I have said this many times, a country founded on genocide
and built by slaves on stolen lands will never be “normal” or “moral”. Just as
Americans reveled in the deaths of the indigenous people (The remains of
Geronimo are still kept as souvenirs by the Skull and Bones Society),
displaying heads for months on stakes, and keeping body parts as trophies
(something still done today in Afghanistan for example), the sheer joy
obtained by many Americans when someone “evil” is killed is unparalleled
anywhere in the world and if that joy and lust can not be satiated by the
act of taking the life then the next best thing is playing with the corpse. All of this
begs a question asked by the peaceful Indians who met the Europeans with
open arms: “Who is the real savage?”
FSB catches CIA Agent Controller red handed 14 May, 19:48
According to the
Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on Tuesday night May 13th a career
US Central Intelligence Agency agent controller was arrested while
in the process of attempting to recruit a member of one of the Russian
special services. The FSB has not specified which service the potential spy
was supposed to be attached to but has said the CIA officer was caught red
handed in the act of attempting to recruit an agent. According to
the FSB the CIA officer who was arrested was one Ryan Christopher Fogle who
was working for the CIA under official cover as the Third Secretary of the
Political Section of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The Political
Section of the US Embassy, headed by one Michael Klecheski, according to the
embassy site, reportedly: “… interprets Russia's major foreign,
defense and security policies. Analyzes and reports on significant events
and trends in Russian domestic politics (elections, political parties,
Kremlin-regional relations, media, human rights etc.) and consists of three
units: External Affairs, Political-Military Affairs, Internal Affairs.” While the CIA
may place an agent or officer under official cover in any position, even
ambassador, it is important to note that the section this particular agent
was working in would have been responsible for whatever operations the US
has connected to the recent Russian opposition and meddling in the elections
processes in Russia. The FSB reports
that that when Fogle was arrested he had in his possession technical
devices, objects to disguise his appearance, a large sum of cash and
instructions written in Russian for the person he was supposed to recruit. The FSB was not
specific on the exact nature of the technical devices but from photographs
published in
the media Fogle
had in his possession an RFID shield, a foldable locking hunting knife, a
service grade canister of mace, a US Army compass, a flashlight, a Moscow
street map listing all buildings and addresses, what appear to be three
envelopes containing money, 2 wigs, 3 pairs of glasses, a cell phone with an
ear piece and a spiral notepad. The size of one of the stacks of 500 euro
notes, a photo of which was published on the web, would indicate an amount
close to the $100,000.00 the CIA was offering as first payment. From the
fact that three white envelopes apparently containing money were in Fogle’s
possession, who indicate that he was prepared to meet with 3 sources. The most
interesting and damning object in the possession of Fogle was a letter in
Russian detailing the new “spy’s” relationship with the CIA. The letter
starts out Dear Friend, and explains that “this” is an advance from “those
who are extremely impressed with your professionalism”, the letter continues
that the US is ready to pay the $100, 000 to discuss experience and
cooperation but that they amount could be much higher if the source is able
to answer concrete questions. The letter says that they are ready to pay $1
million dollars a year for long term cooperation with bonus money for
information that “helps us”. The letter then
details how to set up an anonymous Gmail account, in an internet café and to
write to the address unbacggdA[at]gmail.com and then wait exactly one week
and check for an answer. The letter
closes by saying: “Thank you for reading this. We are very anxious for the
opportunity to be working with you in the near future. Your friends”. The
implications of the entire case are extremely damaging for the US and for
their “covert” operations in Russia. The fact that a political officer at
the embassy was used for cover is so old school that it is not even worth
commenting on, what is interesting is the apparent desperation the CIA is
operating under in attempting to obtain intelligence about Russia. What is also
interesting as far as tradecraft is concerned is the use of internet cafés
and G-Mail accounts to communicate with agent controllers at the CIA. The
name of the CIA Google mail account is also interesting as it gives insight
into CIA naming conventions and code. The FSB reports
that: “Recently, the U.S. intelligence community has repeatedly attempted to
recruit employees of Russian law enforcement agencies and special
departments,” and that these attempts have been, “… recorded and passed to
FSB Counter-Intelligence.” It is not
surprising that the CIA is desperate to recruit agents and spies what with
new anti-corruption measures in Russia, the exposure of plots and groups
exposed which attempted to foment and bring about color revolution
scenarios, the expulsion of USAID and the widespread internal meddling they
were discovered to be engaged in and the recent laws on NGOs and foreign
agents. All of these things have made it difficult for the US Government,
the CIA and the US Embassy to fulfill their secret objectives within the
territory of the Russian Federation. With the
expulsion of USAID and new strict reporting measures regarding NGOs, there
are less holes in the security architecture of Russia that are available to
be exploited by foreign intelligence agencies. Although Russia has
repeatedly offered to cooperate with the US and been continuously turned
down on a number of fronts, the US continues to wage its secret war against
Russia. The capture of
the CIA controller and the active way with which the CIA has been attempting
to gather information points to the fact that there is no doubt a very large
gap in US intelligence on Russia. This is good, it means that the Russian
Government and the Russian Special Services are doing their jobs and keeping
the country’s secrets secure. The CIA is
apparently desperate to find agents in the special services making one
wonder if the Cold War in fact really ended. Advice to foreign agents: the
FSB Counter Intelligence is on the job, better update your “Moscow Rules”. The fact that
FSB Counter Intelligence was able to catch an enemy of the state red-handed
and then throw him back as apparently useless also quite frankly warms the
heart. To know that true professionals are protecting Russia makes it
possible to sleep well at night. Once again we
see the quiet professionalism with which the FSB operates, not only in
countless unsung anti-terrorist operations but in dozens of anti-espionage
operations. The US would have been wise to listen many times in the past and
should seriously accept Russian offers of cooperation, rather than sending
some half-baked clown with wigs and a back-pack to do the work of real
intelligence officers. It might be
interesting to ponder why the FSB let Mr. Fogle go. Was he just a little
fish or perhaps he was turned? Not that would be interesting.
Amid media blackout Serbians continue to protest capitulation of Kosovo 14 May, 05:04
Photo: Courtesy of Jelisaveta Pavlovic On May 10th at
12:44 as many 10,000 Serbs from Kosovo and all over Serbia descended on
Republic Square in Belgrade to protest the signing of a treaty with the
self-declared independent republic of Kosovo. Amidst the continuing media
blackout, which has existed for decades there was little if any news in the
world’s media regarding the peaceful demonstration. The protest
action, under the title “We’re staying in Serbia,” an implication by Kosovo
Serbs that the signing of the treaty would mean accepting the independence
of Kosovo, something Serbs do not want, met at 12:44 to symbolically
underline the number of the United Nations Resolution 1244 which was to
guarantee that the territorial integrity of Serbia be respected and under
which Kosovo is an integral and undividable part of the sovereign state of
Serbia. One of the
student organizers Jelisaveta Pavlovic, who was present at the demonstration
along with approximately 200 students from Belgrade University printed out
5,000 copies of the treaty with Kosovo at their own expense and handed them
out to some of those gathered on Republic Square. When Pavlovic took the
stage she symbolically ripped up the treaty patriotically saying ''I'm not
ripping up the state - I'm ripping up the treaty!'' after which the crowd
joined in leaving Republic Square covered in torn up pages of the treaty. Pavlovic told
the Voice of Russia that the speakers at the event included two municipality
heads from Northern Kosovo: Slaviša Ristić and Zvonko Mihajlović; law
professor Kosta Čavoški; political analyst Đorđe Vukadinović; famous rock
musician Bora Đorđević; the Vice President of Serbian Republic in Bosnia and
Herzegovina Emil Vlajki, a student representative from Kosovo Jovan Aleksić
and high officials of the Serbian Orthodox Church including metropolitan
Amfilohije and Atanasije. Also present
were members of political parties and other organizations including: the
Democratic party of Serbia (DSS), the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), the group
Dveri (Doors), Nikad Granica (Never Borders), a citizen’s group formed with
the goal of saving Kosovo, the Zavetnici group from Belgrade. The groups that
attended are from all walks of life and represent almost the entire
socio-economic and political spectrum of Serbia. Although they normally do
not work together they did unite in supporting the demands set forth by the
Kosovo. The Serbs from
Kosovo are demanding that the Serbian Constitutional Court urgently reaches
a decision on the constitutionality of the treaty and do so in 30 days at
most well as all of the legal acts that were made by the current and the
former government, which interfere with the legal and constitutional
position of the Republic of Serbia and the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and
Metohija. The groups have
also warned that if the constitutional court doesn't follow their request
and fulfill its duties a people's initiative will be started, with the goal
of calling forth a referendum so that people can vote on the treaty and the
unconstitutional secession of Kosovo and Metohija from the sovereign Serbian
state. The parties are
also requesting that Serbia’s printed and electronic media operating on
national frequencies and especially the national television station RTS,
immediately suspend all media black outs and allow for debate and for the
voices of those who oppose the treaty to be heard, especially those opinions
which are critical towards the treaty and its protagonists According to
activists a new meeting is scheduled in the same location on the very
important Serbian holiday of Vidovdan which takes place on the 28th of June
this year during which further measures will be decided on if necessary.
Guantanamo prisoners continue their hunger strike, being sexually assaulted and tortured 15 May, 2013 19:46
The situation at
the illegal US terror prison at Guantanamo Bay Cuba is growing more alarming
by the day as a hunger strike by a majority of the inmates continues. Rather
than trying to address their grievances and resolve issues surrounding the
release and the fates of innocent inmates who have been held for as many as
12 years without trial or charge, the US has done what is apparently the
only thing it knows how to do, use force, torture and the threat of sexual
assault to make them be quiet and to prevent them from finding their own
ultimate exit out of their hopeless predicament. Despite all of
the efforts by the US Government to stifle the flow of information press
reports are becoming more numerous and more alarming regarding the situation
at the illegal war on terror prison that the United States is maintaining in
Guantanamo Bay Cuba. The situation surrounding the treatment of the
detainees and the ongoing hunger strike is alarmingly getting worse by the
day. Reports by the
lawyers and the human rights workers who are trying to assist the largely
innocent group of men being held in extra-judicial limbo in Guantanamo, show
that the inmates are now being threatened with, and in fact have to undergo,
body cavity searches before they can meet or call their legal
representatives. This is just
another in a long and sordid series of human rights violations and
violations of international laws and conventions that have been going on at
the extra-judicial prison since the day it was opened. The violations
include torture, illegal detention, mistreatment, detention without charge
or trial, and now force feeding and intimidation by requiring unnecessary
body cavity searches. The location of
the prison was specially selected so that US law did not apply and
international mechanisms are almost non-existent which may be used to bring
those responsible for the crimes taking place there to be held responsible.
Despite calls by the international community to close the illegal prison,
the United States has been recalcitrant and continues to operate the illegal
facility despite being fully aware of its egregious violations of the Geneva
Conventions and international laws and conventions.
The Guardian reports that
recently leading human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, who founded the
human rights group Reprieve, has sent letters to the Hague and to British
foreign secretary William Hague detailing the egregious violations to the
rights of the inmates at Guantanamo and the current situation regarding the
unnecessary and forced cavity searches. The Guardian
wrote: “In a letter to the Hague Smith wrote that US guards insist
on a body search before any detainee can contact their lawyer, either via an
in-person interview at the base or with a phone call. ‘The US military has
started directly abusing prisoners who want to contact their lawyers to tell
them what is happening. So anyone who wants to see a lawyer, or have a legal
phone call, must have fingers put up his anus and his genitals touched.’" Reports by the
Agence France-Press (AFP) news agency also back up the claims with RT
reporting that the AFP: “… has independently reported that another
lawyer, David Remes, had two detainees he currently represents decline calls
due to the new search procedures. Under the new search policy, a detainee
who leaves his camp is subject to a search including his private parts and
holding his private parts, Remes said.” The Guardian
quoted Smith as saying: "Any pretext given for these new rules is
just that: a pretext. The prisoners do not need to be sexually assaulted in
order to be taken to a telephone to talk to their lawyer."
In a recent interview with the Voice of Russia Michael
Ratner, the President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights which
also represents several of the inmates at the Guantanamo detention camp
stated that: Our lawyers have visited recently, we get reports from
many of our lawyers. There are 166 people at Guantanamo. We think there are
well over a hundred on a hunger strike, perhaps, 120. At least 20 of them
are being force fed and the US, of course, tries to minimize the number and
tries to diminish the reasons for it, but it’s pretty clear to us. We are
now in the 12th year of many of those people having been at Guantanamo. The
majority have been cleared for release.” The number of
prisoners on a hunger strike is increasing and so are the violations of
international law by the United States. This includes not only the forced
cavity searches but the force feeding of inmates. In an effort to keep a lid
on the growing catastrophe that is occurring at Guantanamo the United States
is not only illegally force feeding prisoners who have decided to end their
indefinite detention but is also attempting to silence the prisoners and
stop them from communicating with their lawyers by implementing the
egregious policy of requiring the inmates to undergo what amounts to a
sexual assault every time they wish to use the phone or contact their
lawyers. Regarding the
force feeding of inmates the
Guardian and the
Miami Herald have
reported that 20 organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union,
Human Rights Watch, the Center for Constitutional Rights and NYU School of
Law's Global Justice Clinic, as well as other human rights activists,
pressure groups and law bodies have issued a direct plea to US defense
secretary Chuck Hagel to end the practice of force feeding at Guantanamo
Bay. In the letter
the publications report that the groups write: “We urgently request
that you order the immediate and permanent cessation of all force-feeding of
Guantánamo prisoners who are competent and capable of forming a rational
judgment as to the consequences of refusing food, force-feeding of competent
prisoners constitutes "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment". And
“International medical bodies have come out against the force-feeding of
detainees. Moreover, as practiced at Guantánamo Bay, it violates the Geneva
Conventions, the signatories claim.” The Miami
Herald reports that 29 people are currently being force fed using a brutal
procedure which is detailed by the Guardian report and which amounts to
torture. In his
interview Ratner also stated that; “… under medical ethics it’s
illegal to force feed people. If someone is making a decision, and it’s a
conscious decision, and they’re sane when they make it; they are allowed to
not eat and force themselves to die if that’s where it goes. They don’t have
a right medically, to force feed someone. It’s just like if you are in the
hospital and you say-take me off the machines; you have that right to do it.
But Obama has insisted on force-feeding people.” The United
States does not want the people at Guantanamo to have any contact with the
outside world because they are trying to hide the true and atrocious nature
of what is happening at their illegal and extra-judicial prison. Hence they
are attempting to shut down any communication these already isolated people
have with the outside world. Obama has
proven he does not care one iota about the detainees and his election
campaign promises of closing the prison were just as empty as his Nobel
Peace Prize but he does not want the bad publicity that US will have if men
who have been held and tortured illegally for over 12 years without recourse
or redress start dying by the dozens after taking their own lives. The illegality
and inhumanity of what is going on at Guantanamo is mind boggling in its
monstrosity but is only to be overshadowed by the helplessness felt by the
detainees and mirrored by their lawyers and human rights workers who despite
all of their noble and legal efforts are unable to stop what the United
States is unilaterally doing. Due to their
owns actions the people who run Guantanamo, and this includes Obama, can
only be described as criminals, and it is time that these criminals were
forced to account for their crimes before the world as their crimes have
taken place internationally and are an affront to civilized people the world
over.
Obama’s Benghazi lies, Corporate Fascism and the National Security Paradigm 17 May, 16:14 U.S. president
Barack Obama has all of a sudden found himself in the middle of three
scandals at once. For a president who has skated along doing almost anything
he wants since day one, it would seem that there is an unusual political
crisis brewing in Washington. It would also appear that Tea Party
Republicans are more powerful than the IRS, that finding out who leaked
illegality is a
reason to cancel freedom of the press, and that no matter how egregious the
actions of those in power are, they must be protected at all costs. It has been
said time and time again all over the world for ages and it is an
understanding that applies to one of the most powerful offices on the
planet, more so than anywhere else, namely the office of president of the
United States.“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, and
the absolutely all-powerful-out-of-control-imperial-executive that was
handed to Obama, has been further corrupted to levels that even the previous
unapologetic occupier of the White House would not have dared dream about. U.S. President
Barack Obama certainly is not having a good week and to use another
expression “when it rains it pours” seems to just about fit the bill for the
current U.S. President. This week saw Obama finally faced with a fairly
serious political crisis, well, three to be exact, where responsibility has
to be taken, and he has done what he has done so well from the beginning, he
has passed the buck and obfuscated and played the world’s smallest violin to
the tune of “my heart bleeds for national security.” Although the
three scandals currently causing more gray hairs for Obama may seem to be
unrelated it appears that one, the supposed targeting of Tea Party Groups by
the IRS, may have precipitated the others and I will explain why in a
minute. All three scandals including the new revelations about the attack on
the CIA station in Benghazi Libya and the seizing, and quite possibly,
tapping of the phones of the Associated Press, all point to a corrupt
government ready to do anything to protect itself from having to account for
its illegitimate and illegal actions. Sure I know there are no current
charges or revelations regarding wiretapping but it would be silly to assume
that the all-powerful-warrantless-wiretapping-hyper-security United States
Government, through the NSA or the CIA didNOT tap the
phones of the Associated Press. We know that in
the name of national security the U.S. and Obama, as the second imperial
president of the United States after George Bush, will do anything including
engage in extra-judicial executions, torture, extraordinary rendition,
illegal indefinite detention, the targeting of its own nationals for
assassination, massive data collection, the aforementioned warrantless
wiretapping, preemptive arrests, violations of the Geneva conventions and
even acts of aggressive war, which are crimes against humanity. And Obama
has gotten off scot-free until now because he has not upset those who placed
him in power. “Has not upset
those who placed him in power.” That is a very dangerous and presumptive
statement but it is one that I think the record shows is the truth. It is
important to recall, and one does not have to have an overly intimate amount
of knowledge of the U.S. political game to know this, that the U.S. is no
longer a Democracy, if it ever was to begin with. It is a corporate
controlled, hyper-security, fascist state where corporations and big money
call all of the shots. Obama, who had
no political support base or broad popular appeal before he was thrust into
the White House was merely a tool of the corporate, right-wing
neo-conservative architects of the current paradigm need to placate and
silence dissent among the U.S. populace. The big money
neo-conservative architects needed someone to silence the population into
quiet submission and Obama was that man. His own record to date has proven
that he is almost no different than his neo-conservative “Republican”
predecessor, in fact he is worse because he has gotten away with more than
Bush, the drawling cowboy white man from Texas (Connecticut) whose daddy was
a former president and CIA director and who came from a long line figures
risen to power by oil and Nazi gold money. Obama, because
he was a Democrat and more importantly black, was made of Teflon. All
progressives, blacks and Democrats could not say anything bad about this
man, the dream of black people for centuries. Why was this important for
neo-conservative, war profiteering war criminals? Because at the end of the
reign of Bush, the left was a real threat to their security and they faced
the possibility of having to answer for the crimes they had committed. Obama, I think
it is important to note, as most American politicians do who attain powerful
positions, received his billion dollars in campaign monies not from liberal
or progressive voters (you don’t gather a billion dollars in campaign funds
from Joe Blow Democrat) but from well-oiled political money making machines
that need the imperial presidential office to continue to exist and thrive. So Obama was
placed in office and from day one (from his lie to close Guantanamo to his
phony Nobel Peace Prize, which he won while engaged in two wars and while
continuing the war crimes of his predecessor) he has been guilty of
violating the trust and the hopes and the beliefs of the world and U.S.
populace but has gotten away with everything, while facing almost no
turbulence until now. Why now? Obama has committed the gravest of sins in
American politics, he has gone, or has been blamed for going, after the
well-oiled-above-the-law-monied-special interests that power the American
political machine, namely one of the last haven for right-wing tax evading
political power brokers, the IRS untouchable “Tea Party” movement. This is a fact
and the hypocrisy is monumental when you consider that now, only now, people
like John Boehner, that champion of trust and humility, is accusing Obama of
“violating the public’s trust” and possessing “remarkable arrogance”. Obama,
the record will show, has been violating the people’s trust since day one,
what is different now is that he went against the Republican monied
interests, who are used to not being touched. Sounds grim? If you think that
is bad, it gets worse. The situation
with the IRS accusations is a complete abomination of how things should be
and how things were. It used to be, way back when, during the last century
sometime, that people were terrified of the IRS. The IRS was irreproachable
and not to be questioned. The IRS used to be the taxes in “death and taxes”
and no one was beyond their reach. Well things
have changed, and this is another sad day for America because now it is
clear the US government has been so corrupted that the president will fire
the head of the IRS because the IRS went against people who have placed
themselves above the law, the same architects of aggressive war, torture and
some would even say the shadowy figures behind the events of 9-11, but we
won’t go there, no need to right now. I think it
would almost be a certainty that the other two scandals would never have
come to light had the IRS mess not come about. These were things that had
already been largely forgotten and Obama and his administration have already
gotten away with much worse. Terror Tuesdays and the extra-judicial weekly
assassination list? Guantanamo? Aggressive war anyone? So the
Republicans want to blame and demonize Obama for collecting the phone
records of the AP and for the talking points collaboration between all of
the guilty parties in the Benghazi attack? Fine let’s grab the bait and run,
but wait… Wasn’t it the Bushies who started these policies? Is it only Obama
who is guilty? Not by a long shot. Let’s recall,
as I am sure you all have much longer memories than US politicians are
counting on you having, that Benghazi attack was principally an
embarrassment for the next well-monied president Hillary Clinton and for the
CIA and the State Department and it showed to the world the entire lie of
the Libyan fiasco. Namely that the CIA, whose base was attacked in Benghazi
(if you recall it was not an “embassy”) was in bed with Al-Qaeda and
terrorist groups in Libya in order to get rid of the departed Muammar
al-Gaddafi. So the fact
that the CIA, the FBI, the U.S. State Department and the Obama
Administration were all working together on formulating talking points in a
damage control scenario is not surprising, but blaming only Obama is
disingenuous. Here we see another across the board effort by the entire U.S.
Government, from the top down, to keep the truth from the American people. And from bad to
worse to even more egregious, now we have to watch Obama try to take the
blame for the fact that in the name of security and in an another attempt to
go after whistleblowers and hide criminality, the U.S. has effectively and
literally killed freedom of the press. In that long
ago naïve world of the last century (which I mentioned above) where the
“Fourth Estate” was untouchable and the corrupt government would have tapped
the phones of its own departments and conducted a campaign to go after the
hero who was the source of information regarding crimes, it would have been
unthinkable that the government would have gone after the press. But those
days are gone and now the criminals are in complete control. So you think
the U.S. hyper security state is needed to protect the world from
terrorists, whom the U.S. has shown it cooperates with, creates, backs and
funds? Do you think the hyper security state, indefinite detention without
charge, warrantless wiretapping, extra judicial executions, the war on
whistleblowers and all the rest are needed to protect the American people
and the U.S. “national security”? Sorry, but just like in the Bourne films,
where Jason Bourne decides to go after the people who organized illegal
assassination squads and turned him into soulless killer and the criminals
(CIA, NSA, etc) start running around killing everyone who knew anything
while screaming “national security emergency” the entire paradigm is
designed to protect the criminal thugs who usurped power and installed that
good old Connecticut cowboy George Bush in power way back when. If you want
to call them neo-conservatives or the Project for the New American Century
do as you may it doesn’t really matter what label they wear. Think about it
for a minute… If it was all about terrorism perhaps they would have listened
to Russia when they were warned about Tsarnaev? Perhaps Bush would have gone
after Bin Laden when he was located at Tora Bora? Perhaps a real terrorist
would have been held at Guantanamo, or someone would have actually been
prosecuted for 9-11? Are you seeing
a pattern, are you getting an idea of the big picture? Does it make you
uncomfortable? If it does you are normal because for most people imagining
such evil is something the mind refuses or cannot do, for others
orchestrating such evil is just all in a days work. Meanwhile Obama
says he is unapologetic about going after the AP (after all it was national
security), I don’t know about you but that kind of reminds me about the time
Dick Cheney shot a man in the face, and the victim had to apologize to
Cheney. That poor bloke was the perfect example of where the world has gone.
Like Bradley Manning, the hero being prosecuted for exposing war crimes,
Julian Assange fearing for his life for exposing crimes, the men at
Guantanamo being held for nothing and all of the hundreds of thousands of
other victims of the criminal regime in America, including yours truly, we
must all be very afraid because those criminals who have stolen power, will
stop at nothing to keep it. And like George
Bush and his daddy’s CIA director background, those three letters keep
coming up, C-I-A. In Benghazi, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, on 9-11, in
Pakistan, in Venezuela, in Cuba, in Syria, at Guantanamo, in Abu Grhaib,
with drones, with Osama Bin Laden, in the Middle East, the Arab Spring, in
the DHS, the FBI but less and less in the press. See a pattern? It should be
clear. Weird conspiracy theory? No just facts.
Failure of U.S. war on terror and hyper security state: clueless on Boston 18 April, 04:18 2 The bombing at
the Boston Marathon was a tragic event, which like the events of 9-11,
caused, are causing and have caused, untold suffering and pain to innocent
unsuspecting civilians, and my heart and I am sure the hearts of all normal,
thinking people go out to the innocent people who were killed or had their
lives torn apart. Condolences certainly go out to all of those affected by
this, but in light of more than a decade of a U.S. war on terror, the
tragedy would indicate a complete and utter failure in protecting the
citizenry. Even before the dust had settled the
finger pointing began worldwide and the usual suspects were named: Al-Qaeda,
Muslims, Tuareg sympathizers, terrorists of every persuasion and, according
to one Russian media outlet citing CNN, a “dark-skinned” suspect. Of course
it is a natural function, when an event like this occurs, after the initial
shock and trauma recede, to feel anger and a desire for retribution, yet no
one has really pointed the finger where it should be pointed because people
are too afraid or too conditioned or both to actually face the truth that is
right before their eyes. Americans love to point to the
perpetrators of their endless events of mass violence, child killings, mass
shootings and now terrorism as being some sort of abomination and isolated
single events or as being in some way “evil victimizing innocents” yet
refuse, no matter how clear and in their faces the evidence is, that
American society, their own government and they themselves and the culture
they support are directly to blame. Americans also love to play the
label game and generalize, not everyone of course but it is a fact. If the
perp in this case is dark-skinned all browns and dark-skinned people will be
demonized, if he or she is Muslim, then all Muslims, if it turns out to be a
white person then off course the generalization stops and it will of course
be some “deranged” or sick individual. Regardless of the individual
reasoning behind the planning of this act, the loss of innocent lives cannot
be forgiven, and a whole group of people must not be demonized. Unless of course it was members of
the government or the black-ops community seeking to justify and heighten
the entire “war on terror” paradigm, the further stripping of the freedoms
and the rights of common Americans and the expansion of the all powerful
security state to new levels beyond the Orwellian one that it has already
attained. The failure here is clear: the U.S.
authorities and the U.S. government failed and they failed miserably.
Despite the stripping away of civil liberties, personal freedoms,
constitutional rights, freedom of speech and expression, freedom of
movement, coupled with turning the United States into a militarized hyper
security state, engaging in an endless global “war on terror”, decimating
country after country, torturing, indefinitely detaining people without
trial, committing crimes against humanity by aggressively invading sovereign
nations, placing missile batteries all over the planet, installing puppet
regimes all over the world, clamping down on protests, censoring
communications and the media, stifling the internet and meddling in
everything and anything they please, all in the name of “TERROR” and “making
the American people safe”, they failed to prevent what should have been a
preventable act of terrorism. What is clear here and from
statements by counter-terrorism experts and security officials both in the
U.S. and the world over is that; no matter how much they monitor and spy on
the activities of the people, no matter how many billions of Americans tax
dollars they spend on surveillance, programs like Echelon, satellite
monitoring, communication intercepts and every other form of security
measure known to man, they are incapable of stopping a lone individual or
small group operating autonomously and off the grid. Have Americans been lied to then?
You make that judgment. Sure they tell the American people they need
Echelon, the CIA, the NSA, the DHS, fusion centers, tracking devices, RFID
chips, drones, indefinite illegal detention, illegal torture prisons that
provide no actionable reliable intelligence, satellites, gun control,
pre-crime arrest, a stifling of freedom of speech and expression,
militarized police armed to the teeth, control of every channel of
communication, censorship of the media, complete control of the internet and
a cowed and dumbed down population to keep “Americans” safe, but doesn’t
this act in Boston prove that all of that is a lie? Could it be the elites and the
corporations who now own and control the U.S. Government have another agenda
they are carrying out, one which includes total and complete control over
the population? Or are we to continue to believe that they care about your
safety? Why then did no one inspect the area under the bleachers where the
parents of the victims of the Connecticut shootings were sitting and where
there were reports that an unexploded bomb was found? Why were these bombs
allowed to sit where they were unnoticed for hours, or perhaps days? Why
didn’t the U.S. security apparatus think to conduct a sweep of the area
before the marathon started, or did they and they were so inept they failed
to notice what some reports say were 9 bombs? Whilst doing all of the above and
after over 12 years of the “War on Terror” the American people are supposed
to accept that the FBI, CIA, DHS, etc. and the entire U.S. security
establishment haven’t got a clue as to who carried this out. Americans are
supposed to accept that despite the trillions spent on the
war-on-terror-post 9-11-paradigm some individual with pressure cookers,
radio-controlled model batteries and black duffel bags, outsmarted the
entire U.S. security apparatus and pulled off a heinous act. To top it all
off everyone is supposed to accept that the FBI and police are begging the
public for assistance, because they are, in reality, clueless. I wonder how Americans digest the
fact that their president, who signs off on an illegal extra-judicial global
assassination list every “Terror Tuesday”, authorizing precision surgical
drone assassinations based on real-time and iron-clad intelligence, then
appears on television after a terrorist attack takes place in his back yard
and says things like, “We have no sense of motive in Boston Marathon
bombing”, without suffering total brain meltdown. The bombing at the Boston Marathon
might call for questions to be raised as to whether the entire U.S. security
and intelligence apparatus really cares one iota about the American people,
and whether they exist only to advance and protect themselves and their
elite corporate masters. But we won’t go there will we? The latest news has been that a
suspect was arrested and then was not arrested and the ineptness of the
authorities continues to go unquestioned and the main point in all of this
continues to be missed. That point being that the U.S. with all of its
meddling, invasions, extra-judicial assassinations, wars, droning, bellicose
rhetoric, sabre-rattling, military expansion, missile shields, internal
crack downs, security measures and all the rest, has done absolutely nothing
to curb anti-American sentiment, achieve peace, respect foreign cultures and
sovereign nations, stop terrorists from being created both inside the U.S.
and abroad and guarantee real security for the American people. Instead they
continue to create more and more terrorists worldwide and internally,
whether this is by design has yet to be seen. No sense of motive they say? I could
list thousands of motives why a terrorist might attack the United States of
America, from the destruction of the Serbian people and their country, to
North Korea, to the droning of small children in Pakistan, but we won’t go
there either will we? Meanwhile for the rest of the world
it is business as usual as U.S. backed terrorists continue killing thousands
in Syria, U.S. drone strikes continue massacring entire families and
children in Afghanistan, North Korea continues to be pushed into a corner
which might lead to nuclear war and yet the world is engaged in
round-the-clock coverage of a terrorist attack which took three lives in New
York. Not that those lives are not important but why aren’t the lives of
poor innocent Afghan children given the same import? The coverage will continue, as will
the debate but on a closing note, I would like to add that unlike the waves
of international support that flowed into the U.S. after 9-11, this time the
international response seems much more muted, with many thinking people the
world over seeming to possibly share the opinion that: “you reap what you
sow”.
CIA fueling corruption and war in Afghanistan: Karzai’s millions 30 April, 09:18
©
Photo: SXC.hu The violence and
instability in the Middle East is getting worse as summer approaches, it is
being fueled by Shiite - Sunni strife, regional animosity, civil war,
shattered economies, rising Islamic fundamentalism, the ongoing conflict in
Syria, Israeli moves against it neighbors, the instability in post invasion
Libya and Iraq, and US military expansion. It is no coincidence that right
in the middle of almost every single Middle Eastern conflict is the CIA,
with suitcases of money for Karzai, money for Al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria,
money for NGOs in Egypt and support for insurgents and terrorists in almost
every single recent conflict. A pretext is needed by US “nation builders”
for an all out invasion of Syria and Iran, will the CIA give them one or can
be peace be brought about in the Middle East despite US efforts? The Prime
Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, recently made a very astute, topical and
insightful statement
to the world’s press regarding
the situation in Syria. As a man in the leadership of a country targeted,
destroyed and haphazardly reconfigured by the nefarious Western geopolitical
empire builders, sitting in their comfortable offices in Washington while
safely wreaking death, destruction and havoc on poor weak countries across
the globe, he is a man who surely must know what he is talking about when he
talks about forces that could tear the Middle East completely apart. The prime
minister warned that if the Syrian insurgents, a grouping made up almost in
its entirety of U.S and Western backed terrorists, mercenaries, criminals
and killers, succeeds in ousting the elected President of Syria Bashar
al-Assad, it will lead to more violence and instability not only in Syria,
but it will spillover into the rest of the region. He said if the
U.S. backed insurgents, a motley mix of Al-Qaeda, Chechen, and every other
color of terrorist wins, Syria will become a haven for extremists, a
sectarian war will be sparked in Iraq, a civil war will start in Lebanon and
divisions will be created in Jordan. This is
something that the nefarious Washington planners must also be aware of and
perhaps are counting on. Washington itself has become even more bellicose
than usual as of late, attempting to fabricate a Syrian chemical weapons
story and trying to connect it to an invasion of Iran. The U.S. planners are
clearly behind schedule on Syria and Iran and surely the pretexts for yet
more aggressive invasions disguised as “interventions” will be coming one
after the other in haste as summer begins. Washington’s Iranian uranium
pretext has not panned out so well and President Bashar al-Assad has clearly
shown more resiliency than Washington expected. The statement
by the prime minister is particularly topical with the recent news that the
President of Afghanistan has been receiving millions upon millions of CIA
dollars for the last decade, which explains a lot actually. Namely and most
importantly for me this explains, President Karzai’s complacency when it
comes to the constant, seemingly never ending stream of civilian casualties
and the death and destruction wreaked on the innocent Afghan civilian
population by the “Bush coalition of the willing”. It also explains why
Karzai has allied himself with what are nothing more than aggressive
invaders of his country. These were always question I pondered but the
answer is now simple and clear, it appears, that he was simply bought-off by
the CIA. The New York
Times reported that; “… money was delivered monthly by the CIA in suitcases,
backpacks and plastic shopping bags and the sums were in the tens of
millions of dollars”. Were such a revelation made of almost any other leader
in the world, the outrage in the president’s country would be unbelievable.
In almost any country the president receiving money from a foreign power’s
spy agency, the CIA in this case, would be an outrageous act of treason.
Hamid Karzai has admitted that the accusations,
which were revealed by members of his own administration, are true and has
tried to say that the money was used for innocent and benign “humanitarian”
issues and paying unspecified “rents”. No corruption or treason here, move
along, nothing to see. Never mind the CIA was doing the money delivery.
Normal. Move along. The Iraqi PM
stated that the violence of those wishing to replace President Bashar
al-Assad will lead to more violence, this is completely logical and
pragmatic reasoning and could be expanded on to reach the conclusion that a
country rebuilt by corrupt officials will also spread more corruption. This
black budget, or the new politer term “Ghost Money”, was paid to Karzai in
secret by the CIA, not because it was for “humanitarian assistance” or
“rent”, but because it was illegal and what in fact they were doing was
buying favor. How will
American politicians, diplomats, State Department officials and the
sanctimonious idiots at the CIA who allowed this to become known, now
dictate to the world on corruption? Even more importantly for their own
political necks, how will they be able to explain to poor over-taxed, over
controlled American taxpayers and voters, why they are pouring millions upon
millions into the pockets of a foreign leader in a country where they have
already failed miserably and have burdened the next dozen or so generations
of American taxpayer with a bill of over half a trillion dollars? As of today,
according to cost
of war dot com,
the war in Afghanistan has cost American taxpayers $624,885,950,261.00. This
burden on Americans continues to grow as the government continues to close
schools, cut social spending, continues to behave as if the basic human
rights of housing, education and medical care are for the elites and
continues to raise taxes. Now tell Americans the CIA was delivering millions
of their tax dollars to the president of a country they invaded. Doubtful
they will support that. Expanding on
the theme; the US always knows exactly how much the opium trade is making in
Afghanistan, how many tons are produced etc, just as they claim to have
information on and be able to determine who is corrupt. Now we know they are
engaged in the very corruption they preach to the world about, clearly
giving them a true position as experts on the matter. Perhaps they are also
involved in the opium trade? After all that “business” has skyrocketed since
they invaded Afghanistan, maybe I am reaching but it does raise questions.
Of course this would be through the CIA, an “agency” which engages in some
of the worst evils being carried out by humankind, and these are questions
American tax payers and voters should be asking. Why the CIA and
the US need to control and pay off Karzai is clear, but what about the
statements by the Iraqi PM? Why would the US want to bring about what could
be the complete destruction of the entire Middle East, by continuing to fund
insurgents in Syria, and the deaths of millions if all out war breaks out?
The answer to US meddling and destabilization efforts in the Middle East is
quiet simple and boils down to three main things: oil, Israel and money. I have said
this in the past many times: a country founded by genocidal killers and the
worst elements of European society and based on that genocide and built by
slaves, will never be able to truly carry out anything worthy of mankind,
other than more death and destruction. The Iraqi PM’s statement, in all its
honesty, if applied historically and with a 200-year-retrospect, could apply
to the US as well. Back to Karzai:
the New York Times quotes Karzai as having said the money was "very useful,
and we are grateful for it." Sure you are all those billions must have
helped a lot in securing yourself a nice little life while the Afghan people
are some of the poorest in the world. They also quote Khalil Roman, the
deputy chief of staff for Karzai from 2002 until 2005, as saying the huge
sums were "ghost money" that "came in secret, and it left in secret." The
publication also quotes anonymous US officials as saying: "… the cash has
fueled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington's exit
strategy from Afghanistan." As I have said
many times, the US needs conflict, it needs and feeds war, all over the
world. This justifies its own global military expansion, and it has never
ever, not for a minute, been truly concerned about human rights, democracy,
rule of law, corruption, justice or peace. So should a country spreading so
much war, death, suffering and corruption continue to be allowed to do? I
think the answer to that is clear. The US has
shown itself to be the single largest threat to peace and regional stability
on the entire planet Earth. It has started and been involved in more wars,
aggressive invasions and has violated more international laws and
conventions than any other country on the planet. Maybe it is time the world
said no to the CIA and Washington’s geopolitical global architects, or
perhaps they CIA might start delivering suitcases of dollars to poor and
hungry kids around the world so they can build schools, pay for medical
care, buy food and perhaps get a new toy? Doubt that will ever happen, no
profit in helping humans!
Stifling dissent, muzzling the press: WikiLeaks was just the beginning 22 May, 21:05
The Freedom of
the Press Foundation has published an article in which they detail how
almost everything that was done to WikiLeaks is now being done to the
mainstream media. This includes the recent revelations of U.S. government
spying on the Associated Press, which has almost always stayed close to the
official government line and even Fox News, the beloved biased propaganda
tool of the far right and neo-conservatives, an outlet which has publicized
calls for the assassination of Julian Assange. According to
the Freedom of the Press Foundation the silence of the media when the all
out attack by the U.S. government on WikiLeaks began has led to the same
tactics now being used on other mainstream media outlets. For the likes
of Fox News this is no doubt a shock as they no doubt believed they were
invulnerable to any attempt at censorship or government intimidation, after
all they goose marched lock stock and barrel alongside
corporate-neo-conservative-far-right-interests that control the United
States Government and America in general. It was in fact
Fox News which appeared out of nowhere in 2000 to announce to the American
people, before the fact, that George Bush had surprisingly won the
presidency and that some claim was instrumental in allowing the
neo-conservative extremist right-wing elements to take over the United
States Government and throw the world into the black era in history that we
are all living in today. These very
media outlets have been instrumental since the very beginning in bashing and
demonizing WikiLeaks, Fox News first and foremost, so it is very interesting
to watch the same people they have been bashing stand up for them and their
freedom of expression. I would argue that Fox News is not a media outlet and
is not a member of the press, as they are in fact a mere propaganda tool for
right-wing corporate interests but the Freedom of the Press Foundation is
much more gracious and makes the point at the opposite end of the spectrum,
that WikiLeaks is no different than the AP and Fox. In a perfect
world both ends of the spectrum would have equal rights, perhaps even Fox
News and their manipulative biased propaganda, and organizations like
WikiLekas which fight for transparency and accountability would be the
champions of all that is good and right. Unfortunately
we, and in particular Americans, live in a far from perfect world and in
this case America is largely responsible for making it thus. Since 2000 the
world has been plunged into a paradigm that was created by the
neo-conservative planners at the Project for a New American Century (PNAC)
and that includes the Orwellian American hyper-security state engaged in an
endless world war against phantom menaces and everything under the sun. The tools that
the U.S. has used are many and the targets are as widespread and diverse as
their number. Targets have included everything from bloggers, social media,
hackers, and everyone and anything that the U.S. deems to be a threat or an
enemy. According to
the Freedom of the Press Foundation the U.S. Government has now taken to
using the same “tools” against mass media as they have on WikiLeaks, these
include: potential conspiracy to commit espionage charges, equating
journalist to spies and espionage, refusing to notify journalists that they
are being watched and requesting data without a warrant. The U.S. government
has even introduced legislation which would allow the U.S. to
extra-judicially execute anyone anywhere in the world as long as they are
deemed an enemy, and this includes journalists. This in the context of drone
legislation. The victims of
the out of control U.S. state, doing anything to ensure that it avoids
accountability are not limited to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. They include
thousands of smaller and unheard of individuals, like myself who have been
marginalized and have not had the resources that WikiLeaks has had to fight
back. I myself was told to shut down my site by U.S. officials and had my
passport revoked, so I can tell you firsthand they will stop at nothing to
shut up anyone who is able to expose their crimes and anyone who can get at
the truth. It can only be
a criminal government that fears and persecutes proponents of transparency
and it can only be a criminal government that attempts to silence the press
while at the same time refusing to prosecute those responsible for crimes
that are revealed. The criminal
government in the United States has already stifled the press to the point
that many Americans now seek alternative and foreign media in order to learn
the truth and this has been a trend for years now and the further stifling
that will occur with the latest revelations surrounding AP will only make
that worse. Would I write
what I have just written for an American publication? That’s a no-brainer.
Even intelligence officers at GCQH know Assange was set up, so why is his criminal persecution continuing? 22 May, 02:41 WikiLeaks
co-founder Julian Assange remains in Limbo in the Ecuadorian Embassy in
London and soon will be marking one year since he was forced to seek refuge
there. Although he has never been charged with a crime the U.K. authorities
have already spent almost $5 million dollars surrounding the embassy. Amidst
austerity measures and economic woes being felt by citizens of the U.K. this
expenditure, to persecute a whistleblower seems outrageous and even
ludicrous. The U.K. has proven they will do whatever the U.S. wants, and
hence Mr. Assange is in great danger indeed. Soon it will be
the one year anniversary since Julian Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy
in London, and the latest revelation made by Mr. Assange to a Spanish TV
program called Salvados, will probably do little to end his dangerous
predicament. During an
interview which Mr. Assange granted to the program, he revealed that he had
obtained unclassified, but damning, information related to himself and
WikiLeaks contained in the internal communication of the United Kingdom’s
Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), through a Data Protection Act
request. What could well
be the most damning information is a communication sent by a GCHQ officer to
an unidentified colleague regarding the allegations against Mr. Assange in
Sweden. On the television program Mr. Assange broke the story and read one
of the items he had been able to obtain which showed that the staff of one
of the U.K.’s most secretive agencies, akin to the American National
Security Agency (NSA), believed that Mr. Assange was being set up. The e-mail in
question, an internal unclassified communication between to members of the
Signals Intelligence body from September 2012 reads as follows: "They
are trying to arrest him on suspicion of XYZ … It is definitely a fit-up…
Their timings are too convenient right after Cablegate." Although the
conversation regarding a “fit-up,” the U.K. term for the North American
“set-up,” is damning coming from members within the intelligence community,
they are not something the world does not already know. What they do show is
that even though members of intelligence agencies are aware that Mr. Assange
is being wrongly and groundlessly persecuted, there is nothing that can be
done since the decisions are made at the top. This fact screams for the very
thing Mr. Assange has come to personify, namely a need for government
transparency, accountability and rule of law. Unfortunately
Mr. Assange has also shown the world what happens to whistleblowers,
something no doubt needed not only at GCHQ but at almost every level of
every western government. The statements also point to the fact that U. K.
intelligence and the government are not in any way independent but follow
orders from Washington. In an August
2012 e-mail another GCHQ "He reckons he will stay in the Ecuadorian embassy
for six to 12 months when the charges against him will be dropped, but that
is not really how it works now, is it? He's a fool... Yeah... A highly
optimistic fool.” Christine
Assange said it best a year ago when she stated to the AAP: "What
the US wants, the US gets from its allies, regardless of if it's legal or if
it's ethical or in breach of human or legal rights." We might
also add regardless of the fact that the entire world knows the allegations
in Sweden are trumped up and that they are just that, allegations. It is
important to remember that Mr. Assange has not been charged or tried for any
crime. The U.K.’s
Independent reported that a GCHQ spokesman stated: "We acknowledge
that some of these comments were inappropriate but emphasize that no
decisions were taken by GCHQ on the basis of these comments, nor was any
reliance placed on them. We have reminded staff of the importance of
professional behavior at all times." Overall this is
just another example of how far the U.S. and its surrogate the U.K. will go
to get a whistleblower who exposed the crimes and illegality of government
actions. The actions of the authorities show that the people and even the
government have no rights, the only people with rights are those at the top
who are controlling things and who are guilty of the highest of crimes. The length they
are going to and the absolute unilateral way the authorities, against the
public’s interest and trust, are conducting the persecution of Mr. Assange
can only be underlined by the unbelievable amount of resources they are
spending surrounding the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. To date the U.K.
authorities have spent over $4.5 million of the taxpayers money to ensure
that Mr. Assange does not manage to get out of the embassy and board a plane
to Ecuador.
It
can only be a criminal state that would go to such extreme measures to
attempt to go after a whistleblower. It can only be a criminal state that
would not go after criminals who have been exposed by that whistleblower,
and it could only be a criminal state, or in this case its surrogate, that
would continue to trample on the basic human rights of an innocent man.
Todashev Was Extrajudicially Executed by the FBI - Cleaning Up the Patsies 23 May, 21:46 2
FBI personnel
walk through the complex surrounding the apartment, where Ibragim Todashev,
27, was shot and killed by FBI There are
questions being raised worldwide over the shooting death of an alleged
acquaintance of Tamerlan Tsarnaev by
an FBI agent in Orlando, Florida in the early hours of Wednesday morning
shortly after midnight. Ibragim
Todashev, a Chechen-born Muslim who reportedly was an acquaintance of
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed after being interrogated by a lone U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent accompanied by two Massachusetts
State Police officers and an unspecified number of other law enforcement
officials. The FBI has
released a terse statement but the details surrounding the late night
interrogation are sketchy, leading to widespread speculation as to the
legality of the killing, with some going so far as to say he was
extrajudicially executed. According to
Boston FBI Special Agent Greg Comcowich, in a posting on the FBI
website: “The FBI
is currently reviewing a shooting incident involving an FBI Special Agent.
Based on preliminary information, the incident occurred in Orlando, Florida
during the early morning hours of 5/22/2013. The agent along with two
Massachusetts State Police troopers and other law enforcement personnel were
interviewing an individual in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing
investigation when a violent confrontation was initiated by the individual.
During the confrontation, the individual was killed and the agent sustained
non-life threatening injuries. As this incident is under review, we have no
further details at this time." The FBI will no
doubt issue more information after it concludes its own investigation but it
would be in the best interests of the public and of the FBI itself to
release all information relating to the shooting as quickly as possible. What we do know
from media reports about the shooting and about the FBI’s involvement with
Todashev is as follows: Todashev and another friend were questioned right
after Tsarnaev was determined to be the perpetrator behind the Boston
Marathon attack. They were under surveillance and there are multiple reports
they were being followed. Todashev was cooperative with the FBI during the
course of their investigation and it appears he had multiple and regular
contacts with agents both over the phone and in person. Reports say that he
was suspected of involvement in the triple murder of individuals who may
have been drug dealers in Waltham, Massachusetts and that he was cooperative
during questioning involving that event. Reports say he was shot just as he
was about to sign a confession to being involved in that triple murder. That
is what we know. What we do not
know, and what should be explained as soon as possible, so that there can be
no questions arising pointing to the fact that Todashev may have been the
victim of an extra-judicial execution are many and extremely serious in
nature. The first
questions and most obvious ones are all involving the circumstances
surrounding the interrogation, or questioning, if you will. Why was Todashev
being questioned late at night? This is troubling because we know Todashev
was cooperative and he was under surveillance and already had regular
contact with the FBI. If the suspicions that he was involved in a triple
murder came to light during the course of the FBI’s Boston Marathon
investigation, the normal and prudent thing to have done was to call him
into the FBI office and arrest him on the spot. Or they could have arrested
him anytime during the questioning in his flat. Another
question might be since when do FBI and state police interrogate and obtain
confessions from triple murder suspects or terrorists in the comfort of the
suspect’s home? Moreover if he was in fact such a dangerous individual why
wasn’t he handcuffed, searched and secured before he was questioned?
American law enforcement normally have no qualms about handcuffing people on
the slightest of grounds. More questions
arise as more details come out. Why was the FBI agent alone? Normally FBI
agents do not operate without back up or partners and how was it that a
knife suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the hands of Todashev warranting
his being shot and killed? There are
questions regarding the supposed confession as well. Why was the supposed
confession never signed and again why was it obtained in the field and not
in an interrogation room being filmed and recorded? Normally interrogations
and questionings are filmed and recorded. Where is the film of Todashev’s
interrogation? Does one exist? If one does why doesn’t the FBI release it?
If it was filmed and the events did in fact take place as they claim, a film
would exonerate the FBI and dispel all doubts instantly and once and for
all. Reports point
to at least six law enforcement officers in the room at the time. The
obvious question then arises why were they not able to simply subdue
Todashev or taser him but instead used deadly force? Witness reports say
multiple shots were heard from the location, why was he shot multiple times? They say dead
men can’t talk and Todashev was adamant that the Tsaranev brothers were set
up. Why was Tamerlan Tsarnaev killed and why was his brother rendered mute
during his arrest? Were they all eliminated because they were working for
the CIA, or at least Tamerlan Tsarnaev was as had been reported by several
media outlets. Was Todashev a loose end and that had to be shut up once and
for all? Or under the new extra-judicial execution policies of the U.S.
government with regards to enemies of the state, has this police now been
broadened to not only include drone strikes but also bullets to the head on
American soil? Khusen Taramov
who was a friend of Todashev and was questioned on the same night gave his
account of theevents
to the press and
even more questioned are raised: “One day they started questioning us, next
day after the bombing, not the bombing, after they found out the bombers
were Chechens, and they started following us, watching us. They pretty much
told the guy from his apartment and they start following us, watching us
like every day.” Khusen Taramov
also said “The FBI took me and my friend, Ibragim Todashev. They were
talking to us, both of us, right? And they said they need him for a little
more, for a couple more hours, and I left, and they told me they’re going to
bring him back. They never brought him back.” Why did the FBI insist on
being alone with Todashev? As I said above; “they say dead men don’t speak” but in this case, through his friend Taramov, Ibragim Todashev has some last chilling words from the grave, he apparently knew that he would be shot by the FBI. Taramov spoke about Todashev in an interview and said:“He said he felt inside he was going to get shot.” Todashev: “I have a really bad feeling.”
JUNE 2013
Syria has the right to peace and to self-defense, despite western claims 5 June, 03:46
There can be
little doubt that the lifting of the arms embargo to the armed insurgents
and terrorist groups operating in Syria is one of the most egregiously
callous, self-serving, reckless and irresponsible moves made by the
international community since the beginning of the internal conflict in the
country.
The West’s
complete and total lack of regard for the precious lives of innocent Syrian
civilians, including all non-Muslims, non-Sunnis, Jews, Christians and
ethnic minority groups is mind-boggling in its persistency, premeditation
and complete and total lack of anything resembling humanity.
The West has
once again truly shown the entire planet, that is anyone with their eyes
half open, its monstrous and evil face when it comes to Syria. It is evident
in everything the West has done in Syria. From the day the western “masters”
decided that elected President Bashar al-Assad had to go because he was not
a Western puppet, to the instigating and fueling of the internal conflict,
to the bellicose rhetoric and endless sanctions, to the actual real and
documented funding, arming and importing of every kind of terrorist,
mercenary and killer under the sun, the West has shown time and time again
that they will do absolutely anything to bring about their ends, while
packaging it in marketable terms evoking righteousness and pride by calling
it “iron resolve”, “taking the lead” and “ridding the world of evil”.
Even the
world’s “poster boy of persecution” Israel, which has been allowed to do
what it pleases, act with impunity in violating international laws and norms
and has remained untouchable since the Holocaust, has shown that they too
have forfeited their humanity for mere geo-political goals, by bombing Syria
with reckless disregard and using the Nazi pretext of preventive attacks,
disgracefully showing ignorance to the lesson that should have been learned
from the Great Patriotic War, that all life is precious and no group has the
right to eradicate another.
There is
nothing noble in what the West is doing in Syria. There is nothing noble is
war and death and destruction and those who promote it and use it and spread
it have forfeited their right to be members of humanity.
Recently the
new U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that it was too late for the
U.S. to take an active role in seeking a peaceful settlement in Syria, he
may be right after the years of rhetoric and the importing and funding of
terrorists into the conflict, but I bear to differ, it is never too late to
do the right thing, and the right thing here would be to completely ban all
weapons deliveries to Syria, to sanction those who would use them, to force
the warring factions to the negotiating table sanctioning those who refuse
and to bring about an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.
That would be
the noble and human thing to do but will the West do that, perhaps Kerry
would, but then again he is not the “decider” and the those who make the
decisions in the West want war and are obtuse and ignorantly stubborn in
their foolish and unyielding “resolve” to forcefully remove a leader who has
stated time and time again that he will leave if he is voted out of office.
Who is
suffering in the Western power play in Syria? The Syrian people, the
civilians, the women and children and anyone who keeps the vicious cycle
going must be restrained and removed from the conflict, even if that is the
mighty dictator of the world, the United States of America and all of their
surrogates.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin recently stated regarding the lifting of the arms
embargo to the terrorist groups:"We have, of course, given our
assessment to the decision adopted by the Foreign Ministers of the EU last
week on the lifting of the embargo on arms supplies to the Syrian
opposition. I will not hide the fact that it has disappointed us."
The president
very wisely noted: "Any attempt to influence the situation by force
or direct military intervention is doomed to failure and will inevitably
lead to grave humanitarian consequences."
The main
proponents to lifting the arms embargo within the EU were the UK and France,
classically U.S. surrogates, while a number of other states rightfully
opposed, knowing it would only aggravate the already difficult and violent
situation in Syria.
President
Putin also recently spoke about the supply of S-300 air defense systems to
Syria; "The S-300, is really one of the best air defense systems in
the world, if not the best. The best, I think. This, of course, a serious
weapon. However we do not want to disturb the balance in the region. Russian
arms supplies to Syria are solely and entirely within the framework of
international law and transparent, internationally recognized contracts that
do not violate any international regulations."
The supply of
S-300s to Syria has of course been met with bellicose and indignant rhetoric
from the West and in particular from Israel with comments such as “this will
upset the strategic balance between Israel and Syria” taking the forefront.
This is of course true, Israel reserves to itself the right to bomb Syria
with impunity whenever it so chooses, and the West of course does not want
anything to interfere should it bring about the conditions for a military
intervention. It is of course more convenient for the West when they can
bomb and destroy a country and do so with no threat to themselves, as they
did in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan.
The U.N.,
perhaps the last voice of reason in the world and the last hope for peace recently
released a report on
the matter asking the nations of the world to “counter the
escalation of the conflict” by not delivering weapons “given
the clear risk that the arms will be used to commit serious violations of
international human rights or humanitarian law.”
The report
says right at the beginning: “Anti-government armed groups have
also besieged towns, especially in Aleppo governorate. They are committing
war crimes on an increasing scale, including extra-judicial executions,
torture, hostage-taking, and pillage. The violations and abuses committed by
anti-Government armed groups did not reach the intensity and scale of those
committed by Government forces and affiliated militias.”
The UN report
also states: “The desperation of the parties to the conflict has
resulted in new levels of cruelty and brutality, bolstered by an increase in
the availability of weapons. Increased arm transfers hurt the prospect of a
political settlement to the conflict, fuel the multiplication of armed
actors at the national and regional levels and have devastating consequences
for civilians."
Peace can
never be attained with the barrel of a gun and anyone who would tell you so
is either delusional or has their own agenda, and those would supply
terrorists with arms and promote the killing of civilians have forfeited
their place among civilized nations.
US government revealing details of top-secret Israeli missile base 6 June, 11:14
Last December
the United States “accidentally” and very publically revealed extensive
details about what had been a planned “top-secret” missile base in Israel
that was supposed to have hosted a new ballistic-missile defense system
called the Arrow 3.
Of course the
top-secret missile base in Tel Shahar was not to be a U.S. installation,
otherwise heads would be rolling left and right, but an installation that
the U.S. Defense Department was to have built for the U.S.’ perennial ally
Israel at a cost of $25 to $100 million.
The base was
so secret that Israeli military commanders and those in the know would not
even admit to its existence or it location in Sdot Micha (Tal Shahar) near
Beit Shemesh about 26 kilometers from Jerusalem.
Unfortunately
for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) the secret is out of the bag and the
information available on the internet alone is so detailed that it is
questionable if Israel will in fact go ahead with the planned construction.
According to
media reports the “top secret” location is also an area where Israel
reportedly keeps its Jericho 3 nuclear missiles and was to have been built
deep underground and hardened to the point where it could withstand a
nuclear attack.
Military
reports say the facility was to have been built and the Arrow 3 arsenal
operational by 2015, and was initiated under the dubious pretext that Iran
would have nuclear missiles that could reach Israel by that time.
Global
Research reports that the installation would allow Israel to launch 24 Arrow
3s to supposedly intercept any incoming missiles and then attack with its
Arrow 2 arsenal, or in the reverse scenario, Israel could launch a first
strike with its Arrow 2s, or even Jerichos and then eliminate any responsive
attack with its Arrow 3s, making it untouchable.
The
publication Jane’s Defense Weekly broke the story last December but it has
apparently only reached the masses now, leaving to question why Israel is
currently so livid at the revelation.
The thousands
of pages of plans for the facility, which had been published on a site for
companies to bid on the project have since been heavily redacted and even
the Jane’s article has all but been buried, but enough is already known to
reasonably question if the project will in fact be carried out. The plans
and requirement s were so detailed that even the religious requirements as
to the construction were laid out in detail.
According to
Global Research the cost of the project may have been in the neighborhood of
$100 million with conflicting reports citing a new airfield in the same area
and information that the $25 million figure was just for the first stage of
the project.
In reality
the whole story may be a carefully planned diversion to hide the real
location of the new systems and Israel may already have such capabilities,
which might explain its impunity in attacking the sovereign territory of
Syria, or on the other hand it is true and the U.S. just sold the Israeli
ABM dream down the river, at least for the time being.
If we are to
believe the Israeli version, that all of this was completely and totally top
secret and the U.S. let the cat out of the bag then I would say Israel needs
to reconsider who its real friends are and whether the U.S. will in fact
support it to the level it assumes if it decides to attack Iran for example.
Not that we would believe it would do so unilaterally without its American
“special” friends, but then again anything is possible.
For Israel
may be a few words of warning might be appropriate: it is no secret that the
U.S. has over 900 military bases spread out all over the world and it is
also no secret that the U.S. is a self-serving super power bent on world
domination and actively engaged in a campaign of global military expansion
unprecedented in the history of the world. That having been said it is
important to underline a very important fact that the record has shown time
and time again to be true, the planners in Washington and the imperial war
machine will stop at nothing to achieve their goals and have time and time
again amorally formed and broken alliances to fit their own current
conveniences, something that U.S. “allies” must take to heart, and Israel in
particular if it is true that their top secret plans were truly exposed by
America.
I have said
this many times in the past and it should be something that military
intelligence officials in Israel should have already been aware of if they
did not go through life with U.S. made blinders on giving them tunnel
vision; for the U.S. it is normal to one day be funding al-Qaeda and
delivering weapons to Saddam Hussein and then the next to be calling them
“the axis of evil” and “enemies of the free world”.
In reality,
from Syria to Libya to Serbia to Afghanistan and to every other place the
U.S. has meddled and destroyed, it is just about the money and resources,
and quite possibly an emboldened Israel, bombing its oil rich Muslim
neighbors, is not exactly something that may be financially expedient.
Another
thought: perhaps the dubious claim and the constant propaganda by America
that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons was just a marketing ploy to get Israel
to spend the $500 million they have recently on intelligence headquarters,
air bases and missile defense systems? Who knows? Stranger things have
happened.
Verizon and PRISM spying: the tip of the iceberg from the Puzzle Palace 8 June, 12:46
The Washington
Post recently revealed the existence of a top secret NSA public data mining
program called PRISM which
has been operating since 2007 and which involves the willing participation
of nine internet giants who have been forced into hyper damage control mode
as the news of the program spreads and public discord begins to mount.
US President
Barrack Obama has tried to play down the PRISM data mining bombshell and the
back to back revelation that the government was collecting information on
all of the calls of users of Verizon. He openly admitted to the Verizon call
records mining but was less forthcoming on PRISM. Obama said “In the
abstract you can complain about Big Brother or how this is a potential
program run amok, but when you actually look at the details I think we’ve
struck the right balance.”
The U.S.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that the data gathered
by PRISM was “among the most important and valuable… we collect.”
As for
Verizon on Thursday, Britain's Guardian reported Verizon which has 121
million subscribers was ordered in April by the National Security Agency
(NSA) to supply data regarding all phone calls it handles within the U.S. as
well as all international calls. Almost at the same time the PRISM news was
leaked.
According to
open source intelligence the PRISM SIGINT Activity Designator (SIGAD)
replaced the post 9-11 Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) which was
operating illegally without the approval of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court (FISC).
PRISM on the
other hand was approved by the court and hence has been operating with
impunity since at least 2007, controlled and operated by the Special Source
Operations (SSO) unit of the United States National Security Agency (NSA).
The
information about PRISM that has been released says that they can collect
almost everything you can possible do on the internet and your computer and
intercept and record every kind of internet and computer based
communications possible, including: e-mail, voice and video chats, streaming
and other video, any and all photos, stored data on your hard drive, voice
over IP (VoIP) conversations, file transfers, notifications of logins, etc.,
social networking details and a special category called “special requests”.
What makes
PRISM particularly troubling for the public is the list of the internet
giants that have participated in the PRISM SIGAD program and even though
said companies have gone into damage control mode, jointly issuing multiple
denials and statements claiming no knowledge of the program, secret NSA
documents released by the Washington Post and the Guardian paint an entirely
different picture.
According to
top secret NSA PowerPoint slides, with the classification; TOP
SECRET//SI//ORCON//NOFORN, released by the Washington Post and the Guardian,
the internet giants who are apparently a part of the program are as follows
with their date of membership listed after their names: Microsoft 9-11-2007,
Yahoo 3-12-2008, Google 1-14-2009, Facebook 6-3-2009, PalTalk12-7-2009,
YouTube 9-24-2010, Skype 2-6-2011, AOL 3-31-11 and Apple 10-2012.
The
involvement of these companies and the fact that they are allowing the NSA
access to their servers to engage in massive data collection is extremely
troubling and should cause a huge outcry all over the world.
There is also
concern that since the majority of the internet giants involved operate
globally they are collecting information from users worldwide without the
knowledge or the responsibility to disclose the information they collect to
the countries where the information is gathered. This includes the U.K.
where it is likely the US is collecting information on British citizens that
even GCHQ and MI-5 and 6 do not have.
The
revelations are outrageous but there are also reasons to believe the entire
PRISM program may not be real or that it may have been a carefully planned
distraction designed to take the public’s attention away from the Verizon
story.
There are
reasons to believe, and anyone who has examined the slides carefully has no
doubt come to the same conclusion, that the slides may have been “clever”
fabrications. You see the slides obtained and released by the Washington
Post and the Guardian are similar but they containing glaring differences.
There is also
the fact that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the NSA already have
a different program called PRISM described as the Planning tool for Resource
Integration, Synchronization and Management and is related to Geospatial
Intelligence (GEOINT) or in other words satellite imagery. It is highly
unlikely, knowing the love of the secret agencies for their code names and
abbreviations that the name PRISM would be used for two different programs
and that PRISM would actually stand for a real “prism”, as the slides claim.
Since when do “Top Secret” programs use literal naming conventions? Please
Louise.
Let’s get
back to the slides for minute. First off to believe that something has
actually been obtained from the top secret, super secure US intelligence
community (USIC) JWICS network or from the NSA, an organization which was so
secret until recently that the government did not even admit it existed and
from which almost nothing is leaked, is a bit of stretch.
The “Puzzle
Palace” or “No Such Agency”, is either getting sloppy, or there are other
games afoot. Such as the upcoming two days of meetings with Chinese
President Xi Jinping during which Obama is supposed to bring up the subject
of Chinese hacking against America, or as I said the Verizon scandal.
Again the
slides: the super secret classification TOP SECRET//SI//ORCON//NOFORN, which
stands for TOP SECRET (meaning that release would cause 'exceptionally grave
damage' to national security), SI (Special Intelligence), ORCON (ORiginator
CONtrolled) and NOFORN (NO FOReign Nationals), also makes the document
appear to be a true bombshell but again makes it highly unlikely that it
would ever be released. The ORCON almost guarantees this.
I am not
saying this is proof they are fakes but those facts alone should allow the
thinking person to doubt them. Regardless, let us assume they are real for
the time being. Unfortunately there are other problems. First off is the
almost child-like way the logos of the internet giants are grouped at the
top of the pages. Not only is the existence of the logos unprofessional
looking but one must ask oneself, would the top, hardened intelligence
officials and NSA members who made or handled these slides really need cute
little corporate logos on an intelligence briefing? Maybe, I mean George
Bush did have copies of the President’s Daily Brief (PDB) and military
briefing adorned with religious scripture by those who produced them for his
viewing pleasure. So okay, it is possible.
But wait
there are more problems and they point to either the same document released
at different stages, or two different documents released to two different
newspapers. Both cases highly unlikely, but then again, anything is
possible. First the weird looking PRISM logo, on the Guardian it has an
orange background and on the Washington Post there is no background but the
orange can still be seen around the edges where it was cut out (I could have
done a better job myself!), and the logo itself does not follow standard
government log conventions. No government seal, flag, agency insignia, or
other official looking image, merely a prism. Okay, once again anything is
possible.
Lastly, well
not really lastly but all that I am going to get into for now, the slides
showing the years that the supposed internet giants joined the program are
also different. They have different weird looking green arrows behind the
yellow circles listing the companies. The fact that the date that Apple
joined is not complete (October 2012) also looks odd, the exact date for the
others is known and the date that Microsoft joined September 11, 2007, which
was a Tuesday and was called Global Day of Action for the 9-11 truth
movement also seems odd. But hey, stranger things have happened.
Perhaps the
slides were recreated by someone who was told what they contained and then
they attempted to recreate them from memory. The Washington Post says they
came from a career intelligence officer who had firsthand knowledge of the
system and was horrified at its capability and said “They quite literally
can watch your ideas form as you type.”
The
Washington Post says the documents indicate the PRISM SIGAD is "the number
one source of raw intelligence used for NSA analytic reports." And the
President's Daily Brief in 2012 cited PRISM data as a source in 1,477 items.
This may be true and will require further checking.
Even if the
program were real, as it most likely is, all of the statements of denial by
law abiding internet giants are meaningless. Meaning if they received an
order under Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) amendments, they
are forbidden by law from disclosing anything and in relation to this it is
also important to note that on May 28, 2013, Google was ordered by U.S.
District Court Judge Susan Illston to comply with National Security Letters
issued by the FBI to provide user data without a warrant.
For what it
is worth, meaning that they cannot admit to their servers being compromised
even if they were, the giants have said:
Apple: "We
have never heard of PRISM. We do not provide any government agency with
direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer
data must get a court order."
Facebook: "We
do not provide any government organization with direct access to Facebook
servers. When Facebook is asked for data or information about specific
individuals, we carefully scrutinize any such request for compliance with
all applicable laws, and provide information only to the extent required by
law."
Google:
"Google cares deeply about the security of our users' data. We disclose user
data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such
requests carefully.”
Microsoft:
"We provide customer data only when we receive a legally binding order or
subpoena to do so, and never on a voluntary basis. In addition we only ever
comply with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers. If
the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather
customer data we don't participate in it."
Yahoo!:
"Yahoo! takes users' privacy very seriously. We do not provide the
government with direct access to our servers, systems, or network."
The US
Government and the unified global communications network operated by an
alliance of the secret SIGINT units of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the
United Kingdom and the United States called UKUSA, had ECHELON, the FBI
CARNIVORE, and there are thousands of other spying programs being run by the
US Government so PRISM is not a stretch if in fact that is its real name.
Like ECHELON,
which gathered and monitored voice and other forms of communications using
satellites to intercept radio and cell phone transmissions, PRISM also uses
keywords and Dictionary Computers to sort through the mountains of data and
with new face and voice recognition technology and all of the new
technologies out there the possibilities are staggering.
On another
note, it will be interesting if the US Government goes after the Washington
Post or the Guardian in the same way they have gone after WikiLeaks. I think
if they do not this will be a pretty good indication that the whole PRISM
thing is a fake and the other motivation for arranging such a lie might be
to attempt to show that there is actually freedom of the press in America
and that sources are protected, even though we all know this is not true and
the recent scandals with the several mass media reporters bears this out.
So assume
that that no matter what you do the US Government is spying on you, they
know where you work, how you travel to work, who you talk to, who your
friends are, what interests you have, what you read, what you said to your
mother last night, what you wrote in that letter to your best friend, what
you had for breakfast, every location you and your cell phone has been and
where you are right now, etc., etc. and as the supposed source told the
Washington Post: “They quite literally can watch your ideas form as you
type.” If it is true that Microsoft is working with the NSA and allowing the NSA unfettered access to it servers, then the next time you boot up your computer using a Windows OS, it might be safe to say, you are not alone. The NSA may be listening to you through your system speaker, watching you through your web camera and recording every keystroke your keyboard makes. The may also be reading every message you said and recording every conversation you have with your friend.
Snowden, PRISM and asylum: from the NSA to the PRC 19 June, 2013 07:10 The story line is beginning to sound familiar, too familiar. Young FUGAZI FAKE DELETED BY JAR2
From PRISM to Syrian organ eaters; bad week for Obama and Co. 21 June, 22:18
Revelations
that the NSA, the CIA and Obama have been spying on every move you make and
every call you take has not really outraged the American people, they were
cowed into submission long ago, but the news that this has been taking place
in Europe has now riled Europeans from Germany to Italy. With the continuing
calls by Western leaders to back human organ eating Syrian insurgents maybe
it is time the American people stopped looking at their leaders through a
PRISM reflecting light through an anti-terror paradigm and use a mirror,
perhaps their leaders reflections will disappear. John Robles comments on
the latest.
It hasn’t
been a very good week for certain Western leaders. Like a voyeur caught with
his pants down and faced with a high-powered telescope pointed right at him
from his favorite window, U.S. President Barack Obama has had a lot of
explaining to do and his back and forth waffling and “in the name of
security” meme have done little to appease the leaders of other countries in
particular Angela Merkel, whose country was the focus of the NSA PRISM
program more than any other.
For the
brainwashed American sheeple and the internet giants who sheepishly allowed
their servers to be accessed by the NSA, CIA and more likely than not the
FBI, namely Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Skype, AOL, Apple, YouTube
and others, the terrorist behind every tree nonsense may still be holding
water, but for leaders of U.S. allies and other countries, who actually have
to deal with real terrorists, the massive spying on their citizens has not
been welcomed so easily.
Germany has
been particularly critical of the PRISM program with Angel Merkel reportedly
saying she was surprised by the revelations and would “… tackle Obama on
surveillance, … call for more transparency,” and stating; “We have to be
clear, what is being used and what is not being used!” She promised to
confront Obama on the matter when he arrives in Germany next week.
German
Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has also spoken out
against the NSA Prism program calling it "alarming" and saying the massive
spy program is “… unjustifiable - even in light of the threats of
international terrorism. The fight against enemies of the state does not
legitimate any means available.”
While Obama
says the U.S.’ massive spying programs have prevented at least 50
unspecified and hereto-never-before-mentioned threats, a clearly
questionable and self-serving claim, other European leaders also not buying
it.
Also voicing
their concerns about the legality of the spying program were many other
leaders including: European Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding who
said; “… a clear legal framework for the protection of personal data is not
a luxury or constraint but a fundamental right.”
The Data
Protection Commissioner of Italy Antonello Soro who said; “ The programs
would not be legal in Italy, and are contrary to the principles of our
legislation and would represent a very serious violation.”
The European
Union has also warned of the "grave adverse consequences" to the rights of
European citizens that the U.S. spying programs have inflicted.
Is Obama
apologetic for spying on innocent and unsuspecting users of Facebook and the
like all over the world? No!
Do the
internet giants have anything to say on the matter, or have they been
totally silenced by U.S. “National Security Letters”? Probably.
Can there be
any justification for Obama and his American “security” minions to be
collecting information on where you eat, who you have contact with and who
your friends are in real life, where you live and how you travel to work,
how and where you shop and what your income level is and every other minor
detail about your life, from your retinal eye print to your facial
recognition parameters? No!
Do they have
the right to read every e-mail, text message and instant message you send
and intercept and listen in on your phones calls or Skype calls to your
boss, your family and your loved ones? No!
Do they have
the right to read and open every single image file you open or transfer or
listen to, every MP-3 file you send or download, or know the passwords to
your private e-mail accounts, or read and analyze every site you visit and
everything you buy or think about buying or where you have been for every
moment over the last year or two or three? No!
Despite the
almost unanimous yet fabricated outcry by European countries, similar to the
outcry by all of the internet giants, that they are “shocked and amazed and
knew nothing about the NSA’s spying”. Many of the countries now voicing
indignation also have had their own spying programs in place for years now
and/or are planning to implement new ones or expand the ones already in
place .
According to
report in Der Spiegel the German foreign intelligence service (BND) has
plans in place to invest over 100 million to expand its monitoring of the
Internet. Although with the revelations by Snowden it is clear the U.S. NSA
already has the ability to read, record and store nearly every type of
digital communication worldwide, thanks to their direct access to the
servers of the world’s internet giants.
Germany in
particular wants emulate the NSA and in effect become a mini-NSA according
to a report by the Der Spiegel. Their goal is to compete in the “global
internet espionage business”. The BND already has its own access points at
key junctions and switching stations where digital traffic flows through the
country allowing them to collect at least 20% of all foreign based or
destined traffic including cell phone conversations, Facebook chats or
instant messaging such as using AOL Messenger.
Germany uses
the rule that any communication with a “foreign element involved” is a
target for spying, this is a very clever and sneaky rule that the NSA, the
BND, GCHQ, ASIO, CIA and others use to allow them to monitor their own
citizens and the citizens of other countries. I say sneaky because the
definition of a “foreign element” could be merely communicating through a
site based in another country, such as Facebook, or a .gif logo hosted on a
“foreign” server, as part of a program such as Skype. A “foreign” element
might include a keyword about a foreign country or national, it could be
almost anything, even a foreign made communication device or operating
system.
The GCQH
operates almost the same way as does AISO and all of the other agencies of
the secret SIGINT alliance called UKUSA. The reason for the apparent
indignation about PRISM is now clear. PRISM is a monster of global
proportions that none of the other countries allied with the U.S. could have
dreamed about.
PRISM is
ECHELEON and CARNIVORE on steroids expanded to included the entire planet
and gobble up absolutely everything. Do other countries want such power?
Although they may publically say they do not, of course they do.
So back to
the political problems involved. For the American sheeple who say Snowden
was a traitor, apparently in the name of “security”, Obama and his spy
machines can do whatever they want. For the rest of the world however,
fictitious terrorists will not cut it. If the U.S. really wanted to fight
terrorists they would stop creating, funding, arming and then provoking
them. That is one, but the world community will not tolerate the same style
American repression that the U.S. is attempting to export.
The
difference between America and much of the world is that Americans have gone
from being free into an absolute dictatorial fascist state, while most of
the rest of the world, especially Europe has already been there and wants to
be free. The hypocrisy here is incredible and mind boggling actually. They
are openly saying let us monitor and spy on and control you for your own
safety. Or the terrorists will get you.
As President
Putin recently said at a joint
press conference at
Downing Street ahead of the G-8 Summit with a desperate looking and fearful
David Cameron with regards to Syria: “You will not deny that one does not
really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open
up their bodies, eat their intestines in front of the public and cameras.
Are these the people you want to support? Is it them who you want to supply
with weapons? Then this probably has little relation to humanitarian values
that have been preached in Europe for hundreds of years.”
I think it is
now becoming more and more clear that the power hungry sociopaths who have
been running the U.S. Government since September 11, 2001, when they
orchestrated the greatest coup d'état in history, are beginning to make
their real intentions known, and that is complete and told world domination
at any cost.
According to Deutsche
Welle Markus
Ferber, a European Parliament Member, told Reuters that; “The U.S.
Government is using American-style Stasi methods. I thought this era had
ended when the German Democratic Republic fell."
Aggressive
wars, corporate fascism, genocide, preventive aggressive military attacks,
global domination and ethnic cleansing were also things the rest of us
thought ended with the NAZIs, but then I guess we are all wrong. As the
German group Rammstein sang: “We’re all living in Amerika” and it’s just
another day in the Amerika we are living in.
Ever wonder
why Facebook wants to know if you have real-world contact with the people
you befriend on their “free” social networking platform? Still wondering?
I’m not.
Snowden in hiding, U.S. officially files charges 22 June, 2013 18:40
The United
States Government has officially charged former CIA and NSA
systems administrator
and analyst and admitted leaker Edward Snowden under the U.S. Espionage Act,
charges which carry the death penalty.
In a sealed criminal
complaint dated
June 14th filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District
of Virginia, the U.S. charges that on unspecified dates in May 2013 Edward
Joseph Snowden, born June 21, 1983, committed offenses including: Theft of
Government Property, Unauthorized Communication of National Defense
Information and Willful Communication of Classified Intelligence Information
to an Unauthorized Person, the last two charges coming under the U.S.
Espionage Act.
As the
indictment is sealed all related documents and information are being kept
secret. The criminal complaint signed by FBI Counter Intelligence Special
Agent John A. Kralik Jr. and U.S. Magistrate Judge John F. Anderson in
Alexandria Virginia is extremely brief and contains a redaction of the
reviewing party’s name and identifier, presumably someone at NSA.
DELETED BY JAR2
Snowden Leaves Hong Kong, heading to Venezuela via Moscow - It Was a Lie 23 June, 16:33
Edward Snowden
has left Hong Kong on an Aeroflot plane and is headed for Venezuela on an
Aeroflot flight. He will arrive at Moscow’s Shermetyevo International
airport this evening where he will be waiting in the transit lounge for his
next flight. Mr. Snowden has not received a Russian visa and has not
requested asylum from the Russian authorities. According to a press release from the Hong Authorities “Mr. Edward Snowden left Hong Kong today (June 23) on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel,” the statement also says with regard to the U.S. extradition request that; “Since the documents did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR Government has requested the US government to DELETED BY JAR2
Snowden Infiltrated WikiLeaks and Distracted from NSA/CIA Illegality 23 June, 2013 19:27
According to
the WikiLeaks organization: “Mr. Edward Snowden, the American
whistleblower who exposed evidence of a global surveillance regime conducted
by US and UK intelligence agencies, has left Hong Kong legally. He is bound
for a democratic nation via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is
being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.”
“Mr. Snowden requested that WikiLeaks use its legal expertise and experience
to secure his safety. Once Mr. Snowden arrives at his final destination his
request will be formally processed.” “Former Spanish Judge Mr Baltasar Garzon, legal director of Wikileaks and lawyer for Julian Assange has made the following statement: DELETED BY JAR2
PRISM: Every move you make, “they” will be watching you 26 June, 17:55
The US
Government and the unified global communications network operated by an
alliance of the secret SIGINT units of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the
United Kingdom and the United States called UKUSA, has developed, expanded
and spread unhindered to such a point that everything and anything you do on
the internet, on a cell phone and through every other means of electronic
based communications can, and now we know, is being collected, recorded and
spied upon.
Like United
States military infrastructure, through its international global military
arm NATO, U.S. signals intelligence operations have now spread to every
corner of the globe and are greedily gobbling up anything and everything
that is flowing through cyber space, regardless of its origin or the rights
of those being spied upon.
Two points
are important to recall here, one that the Internet that we all so love and
use and which has taken over the way the world does business and exchanges
information was initially a U.S. global military network, and two that the
expansion of the surveillance of the Internet to today’s present level and
form was made possible by the “War on Terror” paradigm which has existed
since 9-11 and has cowed most of the world’s population into fearful
submission allowing the security services to expand their scope with almost
complete and unhindered impunity.
Despite the
reported efforts of the Global Network Initiative, a non-governmental
organization (NGO) with the stated goals of preventing Internet censorship
and protecting the Internet privacy of individuals there has been little
that they have been willing and/or able to effectively do against the
massive expansion and scope of spying programs being run by the National
Security Agency (NSA) and the United States SIGINT System (USSS).
According to
open source intelligence the PRISM SIGINT Activity Designator (SIGAD)
replaced the post 9-11 Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) which was
operating illegally without the approval of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court (FISC). However such programs, once the foundations and
infrastructure are in place and if they have proven to be effective, may
just be temporarily closed and re-launched using different names, locations,
personnel and financial and administrative bodies and methods to hide and
obfuscate their existence and true nature.
Hence
programs like TSP, ECHELON, CARNIVORE may be shut down, paused and then
restarted and repackaged and renamed. PRISM is the likely product of such
projects and the unification of platforms across the SIGINT intelligence
operations sphere. PRISM was approved by the U.S. judiciary and hence has
been operating with impunity since at least 2007, controlled and operated by
the Special Source Operations (SSO) unit of the United States National
Security Agency (NSA).
PRISM is just
the tip of the iceberg and is just a small part of the U.S. Government’s
mechanism for spying on and controlling the countries and the peoples of the
world. I mentioned the UKUSA group, their efforts are also worth noting,
especially in light of the recent revelations made by ex-NSA/CIA systems
administrator and whistleblower Edward Snowden. What about the other partner
countries in the spying alliance? Are they innocent of such egregious
spying? Yes they are and even worse because they pass the private
information of their citizens to the United States.
In this
article I am dealing with Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) as it effects the
average citizen of the world, this in no way means that the programs and the
methods that I am discussing are by far the only instruments they are using
to dominate the globe, all allowed and tolerated in the name of security.
SIGINT involves many different intelligence collection instruments and
methods and with the recent advances in technology these have grown
incredibly. The basic areas of SIGINT can be grouped into two broad
categories: communications intelligence (COMINT) and electronic intelligence
(ELINT). As technology advances the crossovers and combinations of the two
grow by the day, meaning for example information from a Skype chat would
fall under both COMINT and ELINT, not a fact of vital importance but one
that should be noted.
The members
of the UKUSA Security Agreement: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United
Kingdom, and the United States, are also referred to by a number of
abbreviations, further obfuscating their nature and existence such as
AUSCANNZUKUS and Five Eyes. All of these countries are members of the
ECHELON spy network. Which was originally, like NATO a program set up to spy
on the former USSR and the Eastern Block and has been expanded, like NATO,
at an incredibly rate since the end of the cold war and the collapse of the
Soviet Union.
Gone are the
days when the CIA would spend years attempting to dig tunnels and splice
into the telephone networks of Soviet cities. Today they are connected to
absolutely everything and anything. According to a report on ECHELON it is
capable of intercepting telephone calls, faxes, e-mails and other data
traffic worldwide including satellite based transmission, public switched
telephone networks (which once carried most Internet traffic), microwave
links, fiber optic communications and cell phone line of site networks.
With the
revelations of the PRISM program which they say has been operating since
2007 it is now evident that the data collection capabilities include:
e-mail, voice and video chats, streaming and other video, any and all
photos, stored data on your hard drive, voice over IP (VoIP) conversations,
file transfers, notifications of logins, etc., social networking details and
a special category called “special requests”.
If we throw
in satellite surveillance, CST systems, RFID chips, cell phone location and
usage monitoring including interception of text messages, automobile
tracking devices, credit card and purchasing information collection and GPS
device related transmissions, then almost everything you do is subject to
surveillance and monitoring, in a nutshell this means the spooks can now
find out what you had for dinner last night, with whom and how much you paid
for it, as well as every other private aspect of your lives.
United Kingdom
The U.K.’s
programs are more hidden than those of the U.S. and there is less
information available about them either because they are better at hiding
them or they are less in number but their scope is almost equal to that of
the U.S. however they are more restrained than their American “special
friends”. We know that the U.K. is an active member of the ECHELON based
infrastructure and now we know that they are also active in the PRISM SIGINT
Activity Designator (SIGAD), or simply PRISM.
There are
still calls from people like Stella Rimington for the expansion of U.K.
spying so it is possible that the U.K. is lagging behind their American
friends although judging by the number of CCTV cameras in London this is
doubtful.
As for data
collection stations the main ones for the United Kingdom are the Menwith
Hill (US) facility, the Aiyos Nicolas Station in Cyprus and of course GCHQ,
the U.K.’s version of the NSA. Again there is little information available
on specific programs, which come under the aegis of directorates of Military
Intelligence and GCHQ.
A little
known fact about the U.K.’s Military Intelligence is that they have at least
20 directorates that are known about. With regards to SIGINT these might be
handled by MI-1 (codes and ciphers), MI-5 and 6, MI-8 (signals and
communications), MI-10 (technical), and perhaps MI-13 which like the NSA
until recently doesn’t exist.
Australia
Although you
may have thought Australia might be behind when it comes to the level of its
secret bureaucracies and the amount of spying it does think again. Among
entities in Australia that provide for governance and policy over the secret
service and operations are: the NSC, the SCNS, the NCTC, the NICC, the
NICMC, the NIOSC, the HIAM, the NSIPC, the NSA (not that one), the DNSA, the
NSCIO, the ISD and more.
Intelligence
agencies include the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO),
the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), the Defense Intelligence
Organization (DIO) and but not limited to, the Defense Signals Directorate
(DSD). However it is probably the DSD that we are most interested in as they
handle the analysis, collection and distribution of foreign SIGINT and are
responsible for communications, information, cyber and computer security.
Their main
global station is located right in the center of Australia at Pine Gap but
they have stations throughout Australia.
Canada
Canada’s
Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in not only part of the UKUSA group but
shares intelligence with the U.S., the U.K., and Australia under what is
called the “Quadpartite Pact”. CSIS is the principle Canadian intelligence
service and are a civilian service unlike the MIs and the NSA and CIA.
However Canada’s Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) is
responsible for SIGINT in Canada.
CSEC has
facilities at CFS Leitrim, the main SIGINT facility, and at other locations
such as CFB Gander Newfoundland, CFS Masset, BC and CFS Alert, Nunavut.
CSEC relies
mainly on the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand for its intelligence
collection and benefits substantially from UKUSA, especially when it comes
to foreign communications.
Currently
Canadian programs are still largely secret although involvement with PRISM,
ECHELON and other programs has been documented, to what level they provide
the CIA and the NSA information on Canadians remains to be seen.
New Zealand
The
Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) listens to phone calls and
intercepts e-mail and other communications but is not supposed to do so on
citizens of New Zealand, they have been reported to be a part of ECHELON.
New Zealand
Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS or SIS) is responsible for foreign
intelligence operations and information gathering. However it is the super
secret Combined Signals Organization (CSO) that handles SIGINT, ECHELON
operations and the like. PRISM
operations in New Zealand would fall under the GCSB and the CSO, but again
their level of participation may be minimal and due to New Zealand’s small
size they are more likely largely beneficiaries of UKUSA and PRISM
operations.
American refugees and ROBLES: refugee or asylee 27 June, 15:19
http://jar2.com/1/Archive/2012/November/Renounce/Renounce_US_Citizenship.html
The case of
JOHN ROBLESis not an exception, he is just another in a long line of
individuals, already perhaps numbering in the tens of thousands who have
attempted to expose the illegality of the United States and have had to flee
that country or been persecuted for their efforts. Snowden’s case is loud,
its big and it is not an exception, but the rule for anyone who goes against
the U.S. line. There are thousands of other Americans in similar or worse
conditions yet you will never hear about them. Welcome to the age of the
American refugee.
Under the
guidelines that the United States has set forth in defining the requirements
that an individual must meet to be considered a refugee or an asylum seeker,
and we will get into the differences in those two terms shortly, the country
from which the asylum seeker is fleeing or has fled must have, among other
criteria; imprisoned or tortured political dissidents or undesirable
individuals, committed genocide against a race of people, excluded certain
religions or those holding certain views from the political process and
fired on or violently repressed protestors.
The
guidelines of the U.S. are important to underline as classically the United
States has: been the destination of choice for the world’s refugees,
dictated to the world on human rights, has itself committed egregious
violations under international refugee conventions and has seen growing
numbers of its population fleeing its borders, renouncing their citizenship
overseas, seeking permanent residence in other countries or seeking asylum.
In the
simplest terms an asylum seeker is one who has arrived or resided in the
country where refuge is being sought and has officially applied for asylum
through the relevant bodies of a country or if outside the country’s
borders, before the relevant officials, such as at an embassy, before an
authorized representative or through other proper government bodies of the
host country.
The term
asylum seeker describes an individual and the status of a person who case is
being considered and in no way means that the person’s claim is valid or
justified. This term simply means an application has been filed to obtain
refugee status.
However the
terms are often confused or misused which may lead to the further
marginalization of already marginalized and vulnerable individuals. The
United States, under its laws, incorrectly or perhaps by design, states that
an asylum seeker must be inside the territory of the United States to apply
for asylum while only those outside of its borders can only apply for
refugee status, this has led to much confusion between the terms.
An
interesting U.S. caveat that further obfuscates the meaning of the two terms
is that in order for someone to apply for asylum within the United States
they must meet the definition of a refugee and it would appear that a catch
22 situation has been created.
Regardless of
the U.S. legalese and location relevant conditions for most of the world a
refugee is someone who has fled his or her country of origin or permanent
residence due to the fact that they have suffered, or are fearful of
suffering persecution based on the fact of their race, religion,
nationality, political opinion or due to the fact that they are a member of
a persecuted social group. Refugees may also be fleeing a war or a natural
disaster which has made normal life impossible in their home countries. And
an asylum seeker is simply someone who has applied for asylum.
A refugee is
also anyone who has for whatever reason ceased to be under the protection of
their own government and can not return home because they are afraid of
persecution or facing injustice. On the whole both asylum seekers and
refugees are extremely marginalized and vulnerable people, and should not be
confused with economic migrants who are merely seeking better living
conditions than those available in their home countries.
Under its own
definitions the United States itself is guilty of offenses which have led to
the rise of U.S. citizens seeking asylum in other countries and which should
allow countries to grant them asylum despite no support by bodies such as
the UNHCR, which is a U.S. controlled entity, and the widely held fallacy
that the United States is a some sort of beacon of human rights.
The false
belief that the U.S. is a democratic country that follows the rule of law
makes asylum seekers from the U.S. that much more vulnerable and
marginalized.
In brief,
using their own criteria, the U.S. has imprisoned or tortured political
dissidents or undesirable individuals. This includes whistleblowers,
hacktivists, Muslims, blacks, non-whites, 9-11 truthers and almost anyone
who has gone against the official line. Bradley Manning, Jeremy Hammond, and
many others have had to endure conditions that have amounted to torture as
have all of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Cuba. A prison and torture
facility that was placed outside of U.S. borders of the U.S. to
circumnavigate international law. This does not remove the fact that the
U.S. is guilty of torture. The U.S. habitually tortures and imprisons
“undesirable” elements.
The U.S. has
also committed genocide directly or through surrogates or supported those
committing genocide. This mainly includes the indigenous peoples and the
American Indians but their policies and allies have also caused the genocide
of millions worldwide including Mayans, Serbs, Iraqis, Afghans, and many
people of the Middle East including Shia, Alawites and others.
The U.S. has
also excluded certain religions or those holding certain views from the
political process. This includes Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Buddhists,
Atheists and others. This has become a marked problem since the events of
9-11 and the open persecution of Muslims, Seiks and other non-Evangelical,
non-Catholic Christians.
As for firing
on or violently repressing protestors, the branding and detention of
protestors such as the NATO 5 as terrorists and the complete and utter
annihilation of the Occupy Movement including violent and brutal methods to
stop their peaceful demonstrations, has proven without a doubt that dissent
is not tolerated and free speech is just a catchphrase in America.
Another very
important point is that the U.S. can now legally target its own citizens for
extra-judicial execution. No country in the world has such a policy and this
fact alone points to the complete and total illegality of the U.S. as a
legitimate world power.
Lastly the
war on whistleblowers and the way the U.S. has actively persecuted anyone
who attempts to expose the truth surrounding the illegality of the U.S.
Government points to a horrendous criminal regime and a government fumbling
to save itself from the abomination that it has become.
Can an
American like Mr. Snowden be a refugee? Why not? I am, so was Albert
Einstein. Stay tuned for my upcoming article on his status.
From PRISM to Open Censorship, Lessons Not Learned 29 June, 04:08
Photo: The
U.S. Army/flickr.com
In what can
only be described as an assault on freedom of speech and access to
information, the U.S. Government has made the decision to block and filter
internet access to the site of the U.K.’s Guardian on its U.S. Army
networks, with the revelation coming to light after complaints from soldiers
at the Presidio in San Francisco, California.
According to the Voice of Russia one
Gordon Van Vleet, a spokesman for the Army Network Enterprise Technology
Command, or NETCOM, stated that press coverage and online content about NSA
leaks is being filtered and blocked.
Media reports
say the blocks do not only apply to the facility in San Francisco but that
they in fact cover the entire global U.S. Army network and while this is
supposed to prevent U.S. Army personnel from accessing data that is
available to the rest of the planet (more or less) it is not preventing them
from viewing the information on their cell phones or their personal laptops
or computers at home.
The hypocrisy
here seems self evident. Here we have the people that are supposed to die
for America and they are not allowed to view information concerning their
government that is available to everyone else. The claims that the
Department of Defense has made that the documents and the information on the
PRISM program that are available online are classified and therefore can not
be shown on unclassified sections of the U.S. military network seem
plausible and credible until you consider that the information is now in the
public domain and anything that was “classified” about it can no longer be
the case.
While this is
preventing soldiers from accessing the information on the PRISM program,
surely one of the biggest revelations in the last several years, it is also
preventing, or attempting to prevent soldiers from viewing or taking part in
the debate and viewing the reaction from Americans and the world on the
matter.
The fact the
U.S. Government is attempting to censor what is viewed by American soldiers,
people who are supposed to be ready to give up their lives to protect the
American people and that very same government, throws the unbelievable
arrogance of the United States once again, right out there for the world to
see. It is also an indication of the almost lunatic level that the U.S.
Government is going to in its attempts to hide its own illegitimacy and
criminality from the American people, a people whom they are supposed to
serve.
Like the
assault on whistleblowers and anyone who attempts to expose the thugs in
Washington and the criminality of the U.S. Government, this attempt to keep
soldiers in the dark and dumbed down just adds to the overall mosaic of
illegitimacy that the U.S. continues to paint of itself for the eyes of the
world to see.
Of course
from a command point of view it is not expedient that the troops on the
ground and GI Joe and Jane know that the government that they are serving
and that they must be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for is no longer
a legitimate government adhering to the constitution that they are all sworn
to protect and must also be ready to die for.
Soldiers,
analysts, diplomats and everyone up and down the chain of command are
supposed to blindly follow orders and do exactly as they are told and it is
now clear that anyone with a conscience or an ounce of human decency who has
the courage, as Mr. Snowden, Mr. Manning and scores of others, to stand up
and report illegality, they will be branded as traitors and persecuted with
extreme prejudice.
The criminal
cabal that has taken over the United States Government, under the control of
the biggest criminal of all sitting in the U.S. White House, has proven time
and time again that the law only applies to those that it itself determines
they apply to. The unapologetic, arrogant and absolutely remorseless and
conscienceless way that the extra-judicial executioner in chief and the
government react to revelation after revelation is as frightening as it is
nauseating.
The PRISM
revelations which should be a damning indicator on the true state of the
U.S. Government and which have proven that the entire terror paradigm is a
complete and utter fabrication and has been since day one, have once again
shown that the illegality that has been exposed and the egregious violations
of law and the U.S. Constitution that are being uncovered on a regular
basis, mean nothing to those in power who are committing them.
The criminal
cabal calling the shots in the United States from the Kingpin in the White
House to every single one of his henchmen, are all above the law and have
become a law unto themselves.
The
sanctimonious and hypocritical way that they go on and on dictating to the
world about freedom, justice and human rights and pursuing policies dictated
by double standards is becoming ever the more laughable with each and every
passing day.
Mr. Snowden
and what he has revealed about PRISM and the violent reaction his
revelations have evoked from the criminal corporate military cabal in
Washington should prove once and for that a plague of historic proportions
has spread through the U.S. Government and the only way to cure the disease
will be to put down the patient.
The fact that
they are facing worldwide condemnation for their global spying network has
not fazed them in the least, like a huge bully with an IQ of 40, rather than
making corrections to their behavior they continue to employ the only tool
they have, a sledgehammer. A sledgehammer which they continue to employ
brutally against anyone they see as a threat to their own endless power,
power they believe is absolute, but as absolute power corrupts absolutely,
in the end it also destroys absolutely.
PRISM was
created to control the world, it is illegal an abomination and must be shut
down, however those controlling it are blind in the greed for control and
power and now, rather than admitting they are wrong they will continue to
snub their noses at all of us continue to violate international law and
international norms right in our faces.
Normally the
bad child caught with his hand in the cookie jar pulls his hand out and
apologizes to his mother. This child has grown insane with its own power and
instead picks up the cookie and brains his mother with it so he can continue
eating the cookies he has no right to.
Illegality,
subjugation, invasions, destruction, spying, assassinations, droning and a
relentless mindless effort to bring the world to its knees and to achieve
complete and total control over every single person on the planet are what
we can expect from the U.S.. Or is it? After all, despite the surveillance
monster that is PRISM, Edward Snowden did get away. Perhaps the human spirit
is really undefeatable. Then again perhaps not.
Holy Day of Vidovdan celebrated in Serbia 29 June, 19:12
Belgrad,
Serbia
On Friday the
Serbian people and Serbian Orthodox Christians celebrated Vidovdan their
most important Holy Day. The Holy Day is celebrated on the 28th of June,
according to the Gregorian Calendar, and on the 15th of June according to
the Julian calendar. The Holy Day is also referred to as St. Vitus Day or
the Feast of St. Vitus. It is important for many reasons. This year the
capitulation of Kosovo has overshadowed the important date.
One reason it is so important is that the date is associated with the epic
Battle of Kosovo when Serbian martyrs gave their lives to defend Kosovo
against the Ottoman Empire on June 28, 1389 and the Serbian Orthodox Church
has named it a Memorial Day for St. Prince Lazar who led the Serbs against
the massive invading army of the Ottoman Empire and perished. During the
battle the Ottoman leader Sultan Murad I was killed by the mythological
Serbian knight Miloš Obilić.
Historically
the day has also seen many significant events take place. For example on
June 28, 1914 the Austro-Hungarian crown prince, Franz Ferdinand, was
assassinated triggering World War I. Another important event on this day was
the signing of the Treaty of Versailles which ended the same war.
Another
important event for Serbia occurred on June 28, 1921 when Serbian King
Alexander I introduced what was called the Vidovdan Constitution, for the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
Unfortunately
the Holy Day for the Serbian people is a day when the Albanian attack,
harass and persecute them. Last year attacks on Serbs included gunfire,
busses being set on fire and many Serbs, including women forced to remove
clothing adorned with national symbols or Cyrillic script.
This year the
number of incidents was far less pronounced but there was still violence on
the part of Kosovo Albanians. Near Gazimestan, which is about 5km from
Pristina and which is the most important location where the Serbian people
go to celebrate Vidovdan Kosovo Albanian pelted buses filled with Serbs with
stones and other objects injuring several people.
According to the Voice of Serbia: “The
Kosmet Albanians have stoned the busses that were taking the Serbs back from
the celebration of the St Vitus day in Gazimestan, stated abbot of the
Visoki Decani monastery Sava Janjic. Director of the Serbian Government
Office for Kosmet Aleksandar Vulin has communicated that on that occasion
several people were injured. One girl has been hospitalized in Sremska
Mitrovica and three children have been held in the health center in
Gracanica. Abbot Janjic has also added that Serbian Patriarch Irinej had
previously safely left the territory of Kosmet, escorted by KFOR.”
There were
also protests in Serbia according to the site dss.rs in
Belgrade:
“More than 1,000 nationalists marched in the Serbian capital to protest
against the government's "concessions" over Kosovo in order to win Brussels
support.
"Serbian leaders are so spellbound with the European Union that they are
betraying Kosovo for it," conservative opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica
told the protestors.”
The date is
also important for many other reasons and because of many other events other
than those mentioned above. Another important event occurred on June 28,
1881, when a secret treaty was signed between Austria-Hungary and Serbia
giving Serbia the right to be recognized as a monarchy as long as it gave up
its independence to the Habsburg Empire.
Not entirely
related to Serbia but nonetheless another important which took place on June
28, this time in 1919, was the signing of the Treaty of Versailles which
ended World War I.
An event that
historically is seen marking the final split between the USSR under Joseph
Stalin and Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito occurred on June 28, 1948, when
under an initiative by Soviet delegates of the Communist Information Bureau
(Cominform) Zhdanov, Malenkov and Suslov, titled "Resolution on the State of
the Communist Party of Yugoslavia" they condemned the Yugoslavian communist
leaders, resulting in the expulsion of Yugoslavia from the Cominform.
For the
Soviets that split was caused by Yugoslavia’s disloyalty to the USSR and the
Eastern bloc. However Yugoslavia expressed the split as being caused by its
refusal to become a Soviet satellite state and part of the USSR.
Another
important event that marked the date was a historic speech given on June 28,
1989, on the 600th anniversary of the battle of Kosovo, by Slobodan
Milošević, later called the Gazimestan Speech. During the speech he said
many things that are still true today and in the context of EU integration
and the fact the majority of the Serbian people are against it yet the
government continues to move in that direction, the following rings true: "The
Serbian leadership remained divided, prone to compromise to the detriment of
its own people".
He then
stated: "… I must say that here, in this big, legendary field of
Kosovo, the Serbs have not used the advantage of being great for their own
benefit either." Perhaps underlining a fault of the Serbian
people and their tolerance of others and their acceptance and desire to help
those who are less fortunate only to have their trust betrayed.
Other topical
words include: “Serbia of today is united and equal to other
republics and prepared to do everything to improve its financial and social
position and that of all its citizens. If there is unity, cooperation, and
seriousness, it will succeed in doing so." This was true and the
West knew it and has kept the country as divided and fragmented as possible.
Milošević
characterized the Serbian role in history as thus: "Serbs have
never in the whole of their history conquered and exploited others. Their
national and historical being has been liberational throughout the whole of
history and through two world wars, as it is today. They liberated
themselves and when they could they also helped others to liberate
themselves." Maybe it is time the Serbian people stood up and
stopped helping others.
On the 600th
anniversary Milošević called for "unity, solidarity, and
cooperation among people" and then delivered the most famous part
of the speech: "Six centuries later, now, we are being again
engaged in battles and are facing battles. They are not armed battles,
although such things cannot be excluded yet. However, regardless of what
kind of battles they are, they cannot be won without resolve, bravery, and
sacrifice, without the noble qualities that were present here in the field
of Kosovo in the days past. Our chief battle now concerns implementing the
economic, political, cultural, and general social prosperity, finding a
quicker and more successful approach to a civilization in which people will
live in the 21st century." His words seem now like a prediction of the wars
to come and today these words ring truer than ever without ”.
resolve, bravery, and sacrifice, without the noble qualities that were
present there in Kosovo…” victory and independence will not be had.
"Six centuries ago, Serbia heroically defended itself in the field of
Kosovo, but it also defended Europe. Serbia was at that time the bastion
that defended the European culture, religion, and European society in
general.".
To see that role changed into one of broken subservient subject without its
sovereign territory of Kosovo is heartbreaking for any unbiased intelligent
observer.
"In this spirit we now endeavor to build a society, rich and democratic, and
thus to contribute to the prosperity of this beautiful country, this
unjustly suffering country, but also to contribute to the efforts of all the
progressive people of our age that they make for a better and happier
world."
"Let the memory of Kosovo heroism live forever! Long live Serbia! Long live
Yugoslavia! Long live peace and brotherhood among peoples!" Those
words still ring true today.
It is perhaps
no coincidence that 11 years later on June 28, 2001, Slobodan Milošević was
taken to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to
stand trial. The Western geopolitical architects could not allow such a
strong leader to unite the country and defend it and make it strong because
that would have gotten in the way of building their military bases in the
very Kosovo that symbolized great Serbian victories. The West is determined
that now Kosovo will forever symbolize the complete and total defeat and
destruction of the Serbian people.
Kosovo is
Serbia.
Under the Radar - 5: U.S. F-35 stealth secrets stolen and Israel depends on Iranian oil 29 June, 07:10
When one story
monopolizes the attention of the world media there is a responsibility to
make sure that events which may affect the lives of all of us do not pass by
unnoticed and under the radar. Welcome to this special Snowden 24/7 edition.
1. Remember
those peaceful activists of the Occupy Movement?
The FBI knew
that certain bodies had contingency plans to assassinate peaceful protestors
in a major American city and did nothing to intervene. According to the FBI
itself this is true and we know about it because of a document obtained from
the Houston office of the FBI as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request filed by the Washington, DC-based Partnership for Civil Justice
Fund.
2. Not
hearing anything from Serbia or Kosovo?
The approval
of an EU-brokered deal by the so called parliament of Kosovo led to clashes
between protestors and police with over 70 people arrested and 17 police
officers injured in Pristina. Protesters also attempted to stop U.S.
Ambassador Tracey Jacobson from entering the parliament building.
3. Palestine
and the Third and Fourth Intifada
Many conditions for an uprising are objectively in place: political
discontent, lack of hope, economic fragility, increased violence and an
overwhelming sense that security cooperation serves an Israeli, not
Palestinian, interest.
4. The
FBI paid and 18-year-old volunteer to spy on WikiLeaks
Showing the
ridiculous level of paranoia and the fact that the U.S, Government considers
WikiLeaks to be some kind of criminal organization. It has been revealed
that the FBI paid an 18-year-old-kid who was volunteering for WikiLeaks to
spy on the organization.
5. Natanyahu
admits attacking Syria
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israeli Air Force
planes carried out a number of secret military missions in the past year in
order to secure the country. Speaking at an IAF cadet graduation ceremony,
Netanyahu said the IDF was ready for any scenario that may arise.
6. UAE
tortures detainees
Three human rights organizations have released details of what they call
"credible allegations of torture" of detainees by authorities in the United
Arab Emirates (UAE). The groups, including Amnesty and Human Rights Watch,
were given 22 letters smuggled out of prison. The letters described sleep
deprivation and beatings. They include some from 94 activists…
7. Israel
is dependent on Iranian oil?
According to Rich, Israel was dependent on Iranian oil even after diplomatic
relations between the countries were severed. He said that his business
connections with Iran began before the revolution, with the knowledge of
senior officials in the Iranian regime, and he simply continued doing
business despite the American sanctions. He said that the Iranians continued
"to honor the contracts."
8. More
accusations of hypocrisy against U.S., this time China
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman, Col. Yang Yujun, stated: “The Prism-gate
affair is itself just like a prism that reveals the true face and
hypocritical conduct regarding Internet security of the country concerned,”
Colonel Yang said at a monthly news conference in Beijing.
“The Prism-gate affair again reminds us that we must attach even more
importance to Internet and information security protection, and resolutely
protect Internet security and national security,” Colonel Yang said.
9. Ecuador
offers U.S. aid on respecting privacy and cancels trade pact
President
Rafael Correa said that his nation would not tolerate US blackmail and that
the trade pact wasn’t worth the harm it would do to Ecuadoran sovereignty.
With most of its neighbors getting free trade with the US, the loss of the
pact may put Ecuador at an economic disadvantage.
10. Drawing
on sidewalks with chalk in the U.S. is a reason for holding a secret trial
In San Diego:
corrupt officials, powerful criminal bankers, and politicians on the take
all team up to prosecute an activist who wrote chalk messages on the ground.
If that was not bad enough, the judge issues a gag order on the parties
involved.
11. U.S.
F-35 Stealth Fighter secrets stolen
Yesterday, at
a subcommittee hearing attended by just half a dozen Senators, the
Pentagon’s top weapons buyer made a blunt admission: The military’s most
expensive program, the stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, has been hacked
and the stolen data used by America’s adversaries.
Best bet for Edward Snowden, Go FUCK HIMSELF AND RUN LIKE HELL OUT OF Russia 29 June, 05:36
There is
always a human story of pain and grief and sometimes even victory or
exoneration behind every headline making news event and the case of Edward
Snowden, still safe in the transit area at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo
International Airport, is no exception.
Lonnie
Snowden, the father of the NSA leaker Edward Snowden, certainly, like any
father worries about his son and concerned for his son’s safety and his well
being. His statements to the press while on the surface seem to be a plea
for his son to return to the United States and the words of a genuinely
concerned father, the undertones of his statements speak of a man who is
either under intense pressure and being forced to say what he is saying, or
is in fact so brainwashed into towing the official “patriotic” American line
as to be willing to sacrifice his son’s freedom, and quite possibly, life.
Or on the other hand he is naïve enough to believe that his son might have
some chance of receiving some sort of a fair trial and some chance of
returning to his former life if he returns to the U.S..
For starters
Mr. Snowden’s father blasts an organization that has provided real help to
his son, namely WikiLeaks, when there were few other independent
organizations who would or could lift a finger to help him, and which has
actually helped the younger Snowden to so far maintain his freedom and stay
alive, a fact that can not be forgotten. Another point with WikiLeaks is
also the courageousness of all of those who have helped Mr. Snowden knowing
full well the future blowback they may face and the risk one has in aiding
an enemy of the U.S. Government, especially one bent on protecting itself
and escaping its own illegality.
Sure his son
is in Russia, a fact which is very fortunate for him, and currently in
limbo, in the transit area of Sheremetyevo, but he is not undergoing
torture, inhumane incarceration or even extra-judicial execution at the
hands of the Obamaites. Here it is important to note that Mr. Snowden not
only was a CIA agent but also an NSA operative (or contractor) and when
workers for these organizations go off the grid or go rogue and then spend
time in places like China and Russia, associating with people like the
WikiLeaks organizations, or even a simple reporter, they are seen as being
guilty of treason and are subject to secret yet real lethal findings.
Meaning when Mr. Snowden made his choice he knew he was forfeiting every
aspect of his former life and perhaps that very life as well. Which is a
testament to his bravery.
In light of
the recently revealed drone policies of the Obamaites, which say they can
target enemies of the United States even American nationals anywhere in the
world, it is ludicrous to believe that Mr. Snowden, who has done more than
some mere Al-Qaeda affiliated Islamist could ever do to the United States,
would stand any chance at all if he ever allows himself to fall into
American clutches.
The older
Snowden says he is concerned that WikiLeaks’ focus isn’t on the Constitution
of the United States. I would argue that since George Bush took office
neither is that of the United States Government. And why should WikiLeaks
focus on the U.S. Constitution? They are an international organization
focused on exposing the illegality and corruption of governments and the
United States has proven they are the most in need of this kind of exposure.
Perhaps such a statement was meant to play on his son’s patriotic sentiments
and get him to return, regardless, with his son being hunted like an animal
for exposing an illegal spying program it seems ridiculous to make such
statements. The PRISM program not only tramples on the U.S. Constitution but
chews it up and spits it out in tiny unrecoverable pieces.
All of the
above and the rest make it seem like an orchestrated attempt to get him back
into U.S. hands with the strings being pulled by the CIA and the NSA. There
is no way the older Snowden could be so naïve to believe the U.S. Government
could be trusted or has good intentions or is concerned about the well-being
of his son. Or even more important actually believes and would follow the
rule of law. That may be true in fairy tale but not here kids.
Lonnie
Snowden says his son did break U.S. law and could be classified as a traitor
for betraying the U.S. Government but makes the distinction that he has not
betrayed the American people. This is a very important and an admission that
the U.S. Government and the American people are two separate and distinct
entities. No longer are Abraham Lincoln’s famous words: "Government of the
people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth",
relevant or even remotely connected to the current paradigm. All hopes for
that government perished on 9-11-01.
No father
wants his son to be assassinated, or tortured or locked up in small dark
damp cell never to see another human face for the rest of his life, enduring
torture and whatever his handlers want to do to him. But perhaps the older
Snowden still has the illusion that Eric Holder and the U.S. Government can
be trusted or have good intentions.
After talking
to many experts and speaking from experience I would say the first thing
that would happen to Snowden if he were to fall into U.S. clutches and after
he was renditioned back to America, if he survies, is that he would be
tortured to the point of insanity or near death until the NSA and the CIA
were very clear as to whom he spoke to and could make a proper and sweeping
damage control assessment and knew every bit of information that he had
passed on to anybody.
After that
there would be a show trial, possible ending in the death penalty if they
threw in the China and Russian stays and attempted to claim he passed
information to Russian or Chinese intelligence. Even if he did not, no
matter what he will be charged with, he will be found guilty and sentenced.
The best he could hope for would be to spend the rest of his short life in a
damp cell subjugated to torturous conditions and never see another person
for the rest of his life. Except perhaps very rarely.
My advice to
the older Snowden: pray your son stays safe and free and whole and out of
U.S. clutches, like many people in the world are. For the younger Snowden,
listen to people in the know, choose either China or Russia, there are no
other countries in the world big enough, powerful enough or independent
enough to protect you. Even though Ecuador means well there is already
dissent in their ranks and we all know how widespread CIA operations are in
Latin and South America.
My sympathies
are with the Snowdens, no matter what political leaning we all may have, no
father should ever have to face the worry and heartache that Lonnie Snowden
has to and no person should have to face the utter destruction of their
life, like Edward Snowden has to, for exposing the truth and illegality. No
matter how secret that truth may be.
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