Die UNO zieht weiterhin früher in dieser Woche gemachte Behauptungen über ein „Massengrab“ zurück, das angeblich in Südsudan gefunden wurde. Laut anfänglichen Berichten habe man 75 Leichen darin gefunden, gestern waren es nur mehr 34 und jetzt wurde das alles gänzlich zurückgenommen.

(25.Juli 2008) Salon.com has published new details about a top secret government database that might be at the heart of the Bush administration’s domestic spying operations. The database is known as „Main Core.“ It reportedly collects and stores vast amounts of personal and financial data about millions of Americans. Some former US officials believe that „Main Core“ may have been used by the National Security Agency to determine who to spy on in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. We speak with author and investigative journalist, Tim Shorrock. (..)

Tim Shorrock: ..Now, when this program was created during the Reagan administration, there was a database, some kind of watch list that they used, that was developed to keep track of Americans that the government believed were threats to national security, subversives, in some way. And there were different incidents where information about this database came out. For example, there were stories in both the Miami Herald and some newspapers in Texas, the Austin Herald-American, that reported about this database and how Oliver North, who was very involved in the Iran-Contra controversy when he was working at the White House, was actually using this — might be using this database as a way to keep track of, say, Central American immigrants and people opposed to US policy in Central America during the 1980s. And at one point during the Iran-Contra hearings, Representative Jack Brooks of Texas focused on this and asked Oliver North about this database, which at that time was believed to be controlled by the Federal Emergency Management Administration, FEMA. And immediately, Senator Dan Inouye, who was the chairman of the Iran-Contra hearings, cut him off, said that’s — “That deals with very sensitive classified information. We can’t talk about it.” And it was never really discussed. And there’s been articles about it.

And I began to learn a few months ago that this database, which some people now call “Main Core,” is still in existence…

(16. Mai 2007) COMEY: Ich fuhr so gegen 8 Uhr an diesem Abend nach Hause, meine Sicherheitsleute fuhren mich. Und ich erinnere mich genau, wo ich war – auf der Allee der Verfassung (“Constitution Avenue”) – und bekam einen Anruf vom Stabschef von Generalstaatsanwalt Ashcroft, der mir sagte, dass er einen Anruf bekommen habe…und das als Resultat dieses Anrufs Mr. Card und Mr.Gonzales auf dem Weg ins Krankenhaus zu Mr.Ashcroft seien.

Also legte ich auf, rief sofort meinen Stabschef an, sagte ihm, er solle soviele Leute wie möglich beim Krankenhaus zusammentrommeln.
Ich legte auf, rief (FBI-Chef) Director Mueller an – mit dem ich die ganze Sache schon diskutiert hatte und der mir über die Woche bereits eine grosse Hilfe gewesen war – und erzählte ihm, was ablief. Er sagte, ich treff Dich sofort beim Krankenhaus.

Ich sagte meinen Sicherheitsleuten, dass ich sofort zum George Washington Hospital müsse. Die schalteten die Sirene ein und und fuhren ziemlich schnell zum Krankenhaus.
Ich verliess den Wagen und rannte hoch – rannte im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes, mit meinen Sicherheitsleuten.

SENATOR SCHUMER: Was war ihre Befürchtung? Sie waren offenbar in grösster Eile.

COMEY: Ich hatte die Befürchtung, angesichts dessen wie krank der Generalstaatsanwalt war, dass es da vielleicht einen Versuch geben könnte mich zu überstimmen, während dieser gar nicht in der Verfassung dazu wäre.

Ich raste zum Krankenzimmer, lief rein. Und Mrs.Ashcroft stand neben dem Krankenbett, Mr.Ashcroft lag ausgestreckt auf ihm, der Raum war abgedunkelt.
Und ich begann sofort zu ihm zu sprechen, ihm begreiflich zu machen wo und wann er sich befand und wollte wissen, ob er sich darauf konzentrieren konnte was passierte und es war mir nicht klar, ob er das konnte. Es schien ihm richtig schlecht zu gehen.
(..)
Ich ging raus auf den Flur. Sprach mit (FBI-Chef) Direktor Mueller. Er war unterwegs. Ich gab das Telefon dem Chef meiner Sicherheitsleute und Direktor Mueller gab den anwesenden FBI Agenten die Anweisung unter keinen Umständen zuzulassen, dass ich aus dem Raum entfernt würde. Und ich ging zurück in den Raum

(April 2008) In the spring of 2007, a retired senior official in the U.S. Justice Department sat before Congress and told a story so odd and ominous, it could have sprung from the pages of a pulp political thriller. It was about a principled bureaucrat struggling to protect his country from a highly classified program with sinister implications.

Rife with high drama, it included a car chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., and a tense meeting at the White House, where the president’s henchmen made the bureaucrat so nervous that he demanded a neutral witness be present.

The bureaucrat was James Comey, John Ashcroft’s second-in-command at the Department of Justice during Bush’s first term.

Main Core is the code name of a database maintained since the 1980s by the federal government of the United States. Main Core contains personal and financial data of millions of U.S. citizens believed to be threats to national security. The data, which comes from the NSA, FBI, CIA, and other sources, is collected and stored without warrants or court orders. (…)

As of 2008 there were reportedly eight million Americans listed in the database as possible threats, often for trivial reasons, whom the government may choose to track, question, or detain in a time of crisis.
The existence of the database was first reported on in May 2008 by Christopher Ketcham and in July 2008 by Tim Shorrock.

Others, though, saw the decision as payback for recent reports that the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted communications between Rousseff and her staff. “Had the decision been last year, Boeing would have won,” Welber Barral, a former Brazilian trade secretary, told Bloomberg News.

Nach dem 11. September rüstete Washington auf und investierte Milliarden in die Onlineüberwachung. Das bereitete den Weg für Firmen wie SAIC, Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton – und Narus. Von nun an setzte die kleine Firma zunehmend auf Überwachungstechniken für Regierungen und Behörden. So erfolgreich, dass der Flugzeugbauer Boeing auf das Unternehmen aufmerksam wurde und die Firma im Juli 2010 übernahm.

Sticking by the Story

Representatives of Russia, the US, China and the UN are to discuss details of providing safe transportation of chemical weapons from Syria at a meeting in Moscow behind closed doors on Friday.

(16.Dezember) Russia on Monday lashed out at the U.S. and its allies on the U.N. Security Council over who is to blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria this year.

Russia’s ambassador told the council that the dramatic Aug. 21 attack that led to Syria agreeing to give up its chemical stockpile was “staged” and a “large-scale provocation.”

Vitaly Churkin compared it to the “manipulation of public opinion” that led up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Syria denounced the leaking of information on chemical weapons to terrorist groups by countries known for supporting them, holding these countries responsible for the entailing risks and appealing to international organizations to prevent the irresponsible actions of these countries.

An official source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry told SANA on Tuesday that the full cooperation between Syria and the UN and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and Syria‘s success in fulfilling its obligations to the Chemical Weapons Treaty angered those who conspire against Syria and support terrorism.

Im November wurde ein konkreter Fahrplan der UNO vorgelegt. Die USA schließen jedoch nicht aus, dass Damaskus Informationen über geheime Waffenlager vorenthält. Dies ist jedoch schwer zu überprüfen, denn die an die Organisation für das Verbot chemischer Waffen (OPCW) übergebenen Dokumente sind streng vertraulich.

(15.Oktober) Die größte Menge Polonium war an der Unterwäsche (bis zu 180 Millibecquerel) und an der Mütze (34 Millibecquerel) zu verzeichnen.

Die Wissenschaftler gelangten zu dem Schluss, dass Arafat im Jahr 2004 einige Gigabecquerel abbekommen haben muss. Das entspräche einer Dosis von sechs bis 36 Mikrogramm Polonium-210.

Die letale Dosis für einen erwachsenen Menschen macht 0,6 bis zwei Mikrogramm aus, wenn Polonium in die Lunge gelangt, und sechs bis 18 Mikrogramm, wenn der Stoff durch den Verdauungstrakt in den Organismus gelangt.

…

The answer to my headline question is that he, Marwan Barghouti, is in an Israeli jail where he has been since his arrest in Ramallah by an IDF unit in 2002, after which, in 2004, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison.

Yedioth Ahronoth reveals prime minister, Palestinian president have been engaging in back-channel diplomacy through their representatives in London for several years now

Palestinian president angers activists who have been demanding international sanctions

(17.12) The bloc will hold Jewish state responsible for failure of negotiations

(12.12.) The move was dangerous for the Israeli Right wing’s project of colonizing and annexing the Palestinian West Bank (home to 2.5 million Palestinians), because many Israeli companies, universities and other institutions are developing West Bank wings, so that the boycott could blow back on the enterprises in Israel proper.

Israeli firms operating in the West Bank had been exporting $12 billion a year to Europe, a sum beginning to be in peril.

The Israeli official said he „expects“ an announcement on new construction next week, but declined to elaborate. He spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement.

Israel‘s Channel 2 TV said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to announce „massive construction“ next week. Channel 10 TV spoke of 1,000 to 2,000 new homes.