Iran‘s Revolutionary Guards unveiled a home-built drone that they said was capable of carrying bombs, state media reported on Saturday, in what appeared to be another copy of a reconnaissance U.S. drone that Iran captured five years ago.
The drone, called Saegheh, or lightning, was unveiled at an expo showcasing the latest achievements by the Revolutionary Guards‘ aerospace arm.

Mexican news outlet Reforma recently confirmed that Mexico‘s Attorney General (the government agency in charge of investigating and pursuing federal crimes in Mexico) acquired surveillance software from the Israeli company NSO Group in 2014 and 2015 for a sum of 15 million dollars. According to Reforma:

(30.September) Preparation committee member Dîrok Mela Resûl gave the opening speech of the platform today, and Cizîr Canton Co-President El-Şêx Himêdî Deham El-Hadî addressed the participants of the platform. In his speech, El-Hadî stated that the peoples of Syria have high hopes for the platform, and wished for a political solution to the crisis in Syria.

John Kerry frustrated with inability to use forces in Syria – leaked recording

(15.3.2015)

(15.3.2015)

(5.11.2012) But the army chief, Gabi Ashkenazi and the Mossad head, Meir Dagan, who were at the meeting, opposed the move. According to the hour-long Channel 2 programme, Dagan told Netanyahu and Barak: „You are likely to make an illegal decision to go to war. Only the cabinet is authorised to decide this.“

(4.12.2012) The report cited sources close to Ashkenazi and Dagan – who since stepping down from their respective posts have both been outspoken in their opposition to a strike on Iran – to the effect that as the two men were leaving the meeting, Netanyahu “matter-of-factly” instructed them to initiate the “P Plus” code, which is essentially a readying of the military to imminently launch an attack.

Ashkenazi and Dagan reportedly vehemently objected to the order.

„Peres: I stopped Netanyahu from attacking Iran.

Me: Can you tell us more?

Peres: I don’t want to go into details, but I can tell you that he was ready to launch an attack and I stopped him.“

AP Investigation: Scores of police officers abuse confidential law enforcement databases to access personal information about ex-girlfriends, business associates, politicians and others for reasons that have nothing to do with police work. (Sept. 28)

Polizisten in der USA missbrauchen dienstliche Datenbanken um Informationen über Ehepartner, Nachbarn oder Journalisten herauszufinden. Das hat AP in einer Recherche herausgefunden. Die Recherchen ergaben, dass alleine in den Jahren zwischen 2013 und 2015 landesweit 325 Entlassungen und Suspendierungen wegen solcher Verstöße gab. In 250 Fällen gab es Verwarnungen oder andere disziplinarische Maßnahmen.

Die Bundesanwaltschaft kennt den Sachverhalt seit mindestens zwei Jahren und unternahm nichts.

The West blames Russia for the bloody mess in Syria, but U.S. Special Forces saw close up how the chaotic U.S. policy of aiding Syrian jihadists enabled Al Qaeda and ISIS to rip Syria apart, explains ex-British diplomat Alastair Crooke.

Der NATO meldet die Bundeswehr jedenfalls eine Summe, die um 2,7 Milliarden höher ist. Denn natürlich gehören auch Ausgaben für UN mandatierte Einsätze oder zur „Ertüchtigung“ der irakischen Armee zum Militärbudget. Deswegen ergibt sich bei den Verteidigungsausgaben nach NATO-Ausgaben die beachtliche Summe von 39,3 Milliarden Euro. Berücksichtig man dann noch, dass zwischenzeitlich auch aus den Zuweisungen an die Europäische Union militärische relevante Haushaltsposten finanziert werden, dann ist es leider nicht übertrieben davon auszugehen, dass aus Steuermitteln im nächsten Jahr wohl etwa 40 Milliarden fürs Militär „investiert“ werden. Positiv formuliert: Hier gibt es viel finanziellen Spielraum für ein Umsteuern der Ausgabenpolitik hin zu sozial und ökologisch sinnvollen Projekten.

This is the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center, or KASOTC, which was established upon the instructions of King Abdullah II in 2009 and boasts over $200 million worth of training facilities and support structures.

Der europäisch-amerikanische Überfall auf Libyen hat nichts damit zu tun, dass jemand beschützt werden soll, solcherlei Unsinn glauben nur unheilbar Naive.

The group highlighted the case of current Leicestershire police and crime commissioner, Baron Willy Bach, who moved from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) procurement department to the directorship of aerospace and cybersecurity firm Leonardo-Finmeccanica shortly after he left the government in 2005.

“The government may talk about the importance of human rights, but its role is absolutely central to the UK arms trade,” CAAT spokesman Andrew Smith told the Guardian.

(4.8.2005) At a cost of roughly $25,000 in Pentagon research grants, the American Film Institute is cramming this eclectic group of midcareer researchers, engineers, chemists and physicists full of pointers on how to find their way in a world that can be a lot lonelier than the loneliest laboratory: the wilderness of story arcs, plot points, pitching and the special circle of hell better known as development.

And no primer on Hollywood would be complete without at least three hours on „Agents & Managers.“

(14.11.2008) What‘s less widely known is how much the spies have wanted to get in bed with the film-makers. In fact, the story of the CIA‘s involvement in Hollywood is a tale of deception and subversion that would seem improbable if it were put on screen.

The model for this is the defence department‘s „open“ but barely publicised relationship with Hollywood.

(24.5.2005) Bereits 1988 konstatierte Georg Seeßlen: „Noch nie in der Geschichte der Menschheit … war die Wahrnehmung, war alle Information und alle Kommunikation so sehr vom Kriegerischen bestimmt, noch nie gab es eine solche Allgegenwärtigkeit von Militär und Krieg.“ Mehr als 15 Jahre später haben wir allen Anlass zu fragen: Wer produziert eigentlich die uferlosen Bildszenarien, die bis hin zum äußersten Universum das Programm „Krieg“ als Problemlösung anpreisen?

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Curious about what criteria the CIA have for determining if they „can neither confirm nor deny“ something? So did Jason Smathers, who back in 2010 filed one of MuckRock‘s earliest requests for exactly that. Six years later, he still doesn‘t know.