The Britain-based monitor, which has a large network of sources on the ground in Syria, said gunmen „rapped on the doors of houses in the village and shot at people using handguns equipped with silencers“ before fleeing.
(…)
Syrian newspaper Al-Watan, quoting a security source in Hama, said security forces „are surrounding the Arzah area to hunt the criminals“ behind the killings.
Archiv: deflection / fogging / secrecy / cover / cover-up / covert operations
US-backed Syrian authorities conduct dozens of sectarian executions
SOHR reported earlier this month that at least 150 Alawites have been killed since the new government came to power. Heavy media censorship is being imposed, and the numbers are expected to remain on the rise. Alongside Alawites, members of the Christian community in Syria and their holy sites have been targeted.
In January, over 190 people were killed – including five women – in field executions or revenge killings, according to SOHR.
DECLASSIFICATION OF RECORDS CONCERNING THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY, AND THE REVEREND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue. And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.
Trump Pledges to Declassify JFK, RFK, and MLK Assassination Files
The announcement, made during his victory rally in Washington, D.C., was met with thunderous applause from supporters.
„As the first step toward restoring transparency and accountability to government, we will also reverse the over-classification of government documents,“ Trump declared to a packed Capital One Arena. „And in the coming days, we are going to make public remaining records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.“
HTS raids and forced disappearances fuel fear in Syria’s Alawi heartlands
MEE is not aware of any evidence linking Assad’s departure to a deal with Israel. However, there have been reports suggesting that the former president shared sensitive military information with Israel in exchange for a guarantee of safe passage out of Syria.
Since the government collapsed, Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes on Syrian military positions nationwide and launched a ground invasion, capturing the entire buffer zone along the occupied Golan Heights and beyond.
The government, Hussem said, had the means to resist but chose not to, opting instead to flee and leave their officers to fend for themselves.
Kamal Adwan’s Hussam Abu Safia held in Ofer Prison, rights group says
An Israeli rights group says Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital who was detained by Israeli forces during their raid on the facility in Beit Lahiya last month, is being held in a notorious Israeli military prison in the occupied West Bank.
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI), said the Israeli military confirmed in an email that Abu Safia was at Ofer Prison. A lawyer for Abu Safia’s family was told that he would not be allowed to see him until January 29, said a spokesman for PHRI, Ran Yaron, according to The Associated Press.
Israeli Govt Pressed to Reveal Location of Detained Gaza Hospital Director
In response to an official request submitted by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Israel on behalf of his family to arrange a lawyer’s visit for him, “Mashlat” – the body responsible for coordinating with the army regarding the location of detainees and prisoners from the occupied Gaza Strip – stated that they have no indication of his arrest or detention of the Kamal Adwan Hospital director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. Despite clear documentation of his arrest, the Israeli army officially stated on Thursday, January 3, that “it has no indication of the arrest or detention of the Kamal Adwan Hospital Director.”
Families of missing Syrian Army soldiers rally in Tartus amid claims some were imprisoned by HTS
Dec 25, 2024
Footage shows them holding banners and speaking with officials.
There was no response from the Tartus authorities or the HTS-led administration at time of publication.
The FBI‘s mysterious case against Dr Aafia Siddiqui
The website of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is brimming with advice and useful information should you need help. There’s even a bright red button to press if you want to report a crime. I pressed it and reported the crime of perjury involving the complex case of US Prisoner Dr Aafia Siddiqui who is currently serving 86 years in a Texas prison for attempting to kill US soldiers. She didn’t do anything of the sort. Yes, there was a shooting incident in Ghazni Province’s National Police station in Afghanistan, but it was the soldiers who nearly killed her.
(…)
During the past 20 years, some very powerful senior figures in America, Pakistan and elsewhere have lied to and deceived the US authorities to ensure that the rather brilliant academic Dr Aafia Siddiqui remains behind bars. In 2023, her sister described her as looking like a “living corpse”.
DNSSEC History Project
DNS Security Prehistory
Few technologies are more critical to the operation of the Internet than the Domain Name System (DNS). The initial design of DNS did not take security into consideration, which was not unusual for protocols designed in the early 1980s. At the time of its development, and for many years there after, DNS had functioned without many formal security mechanisms, thereby making it vulnerable to DNS spoofing and other malicious attacks.
Determining the Need for DNSSEC
[What drove the work? Big picture issues. Surely this includes the demonstrations of cache poisoning by Steve Bellovin and Tsutomu Shimomura in the early 1990s and the similar work by Dan Kaminsky in 2008, but it may include much other activity.]
(…)
Cache Poisoning
The earliest known security problem with DNS was DNS cache poisoning, also sometimes called DNS spoofing. DNS cache poisoning happens when a DNS server downstream from the authoritative one returns incorrect data to queries for names or IP addresses. This occurs because an attacker has ‘poisoned’ the cache of the downstream DNS server to return the malicious response. DNS cache poisoning is a subset of a group of problems computer scientists often classify as cache invalidation.
This problem, known to the Computer Science Research Group(CSRG) at U.C. Berkeley since 1989, was finally described in a paper by Steve Bellovin in 1993. Bellovin initially put off publishing the paper out of fear the information would be exploited.
(…)
Concern over DNS cache poisoning, specifically that the leak would become publicly known, existed from 1989 to 1995.
RAY McGOVERN: Will Gabbard Be Able to Direct the Intelligence ‘Community’?
On July 22, 2004, immediately after the 9/11 Commission report was released, I found myself with 9/11 commissioner (and former senator from Washington) Slade Gorton in the BBC blue room in Washington. I had the temerity to remind him that it was far from the case that “no one was in charge” of the intelligence community; that Tenet had all the authority he needed.
Gorton turned to me, smiled and said: “Of course we know all that; but we in the Commission and in Congress just had to do something so the American people would see that we were doing something.”
Yuck.
The national intelligence director, and the newly created bureaucracy, is what it is. Maybe Tulsi Gabbard can take the reins and make the community work. It will take a miracle; let’s hope for one.
DNSSEC History Project
DNS Security Prehistory
Few technologies are more critical to the operation of the Internet than the Domain Name System (DNS). The initial design of DNS did not take security into consideration, which was not unusual for protocols designed in the early 1980s. At the time of its development, and for many years there after, DNS had functioned without many formal security mechanisms, thereby making it vulnerable to DNS spoofing and other malicious attacks.
Determining the Need for DNSSEC
[What drove the work? Big picture issues. Surely this includes the demonstrations of cache poisoning by Steve Bellovin and Tsutomu Shimomura in the early 1990s and the similar work by Dan Kaminsky in 2008, but it may include much other activity.]
(…)
Cache Poisoning
The earliest known security problem with DNS was DNS cache poisoning, also sometimes called DNS spoofing. DNS cache poisoning happens when a DNS server downstream from the authoritative one returns incorrect data to queries for names or IP addresses. This occurs because an attacker has ‘poisoned’ the cache of the downstream DNS server to return the malicious response. DNS cache poisoning is a subset of a group of problems computer scientists often classify as cache invalidation.
This problem, known to the Computer Science Research Group(CSRG) at U.C. Berkeley since 1989, was finally described in a paper by Steve Bellovin in 1993. Bellovin initially put off publishing the paper out of fear the information would be exploited.
(…)
Concern over DNS cache poisoning, specifically that the leak would become publicly known, existed from 1989 to 1995.
UK urged to share Gaza spy planes footage with ICC war crimes probe
(October 30, 2024)
The defence ministry told Middle East Eye: “As a matter of principle, we only provide intelligence to our allies where we are satisfied that it will be used in accordance with International Humanitarian Law, and in this instance, only information relating to hostage rescue is passed to the Israeli authorities.”
(…)
Brendan O’Hara, the Scottish National Party’s spokesperson for the Middle East, told MEE it was “inconceivable”, given the scale of the destruction and death in Gaza, that the flights “do not contain footage which would be of significant interest to the investigators from the International Criminal Court”.
(…)
Labour MP Rachael Maskell told MEE: “It is crucial that any intelligence of breaches of international law are shared with the courts so they can assess the evidence and secure justice.”
“I trust that the UK government is working with the international courts to aid them in their work.”
Revealed: UK military has flown 200 spy missions over Gaza in support of Israel
(May 8, 2024)
British spy planes have recorded up to 1,000 hours of footage over Gaza, including from the day Israel assassinated three UK aid workers.
1.25 Million Have ‚Top Secret‘ Access in the U.S.
(April 14, 2023)
Peo0le with clearance and access to „Top Secret“ U.S.federal government information, by employee type
Government 605.579
Contractor 472.576
Other 173.803
Total 1.251.958
As of Oct.1, 2019
Source: Office of the Director of National Intelligence via Federation of American Scientists
TOP SECRET AMERICA: National Security Inc.
(July 20, 2010)
The Post investigation uncovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America created since 9/11 that is hidden from public view, lacking in thorough oversight and so unwieldy that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.
It is also a system in which contractors are playing an ever more important role. The Post estimates that out of 854,000 people with top-secret clearances, 265,000 are contractors. There is no better example of the government‘s dependency on them than at the CIA, the one place in government that exists to do things overseas that no other U.S. agency is allowed to do.
(…)
Contractors kill enemy fighters. They spy on foreign governments and eavesdrop on terrorist networks. They help craft war plans. They gather information on local factions in war zones. They are the historians, the architects, the recruiters in the nation‘s most secretive agencies. They staff watch centers across the Washington area. They are among the most trusted advisers to the four-star generals leading the nation‘s wars.
When Did Liberals Become So Comfortable With War?
First, history has shown that governments and bureaucracies tend to become addicted to a war footing, with failure sucking them in further — think of America’s war on terror, or Vietnam. War encourages a perverse cycle of escalation in which huge financial and political gains accrue for governments and the military-industrial complex while the costs tend to be borne by weaker parties — before they start to come home in some shape or form.
We’ve called this bipartisan pattern “wreckonomics” and have found it especially present in wars or conflicts with costs that Western politicians can largely outsource — from fighting terrorism, drugs and smugglers to quasi-colonial interventions during the Cold War.
Saudi nuclear program can be secretly managed – top Israeli sources
(September 14, 2023)
Top Israeli sources have told the Jerusalem Post that there are secret technological ways to ensure that the Saudis do not misuse civilian nuclear items, which the US may give them as part of a three-way normalization deal, for military purposes.
Although there are no guarantees, because the issue is highly technical and there are issues to address regarding the Palestinians and highly complex politics, these technological fixes could be key to locking in a normalization deal between Riyadh and Jerusalem, under Washington’s auspices.
U.S. approved secret nuclear power work for Saudi Arabia
(March 27, 2019)
Many U.S. lawmakers are concerned that sharing nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia could eventually lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. (…)
Last month, Democratic House members alleged in a report that top White House aides ignored warnings they could be breaking the law as they worked with former U.S. officials in a group called IP3 International to advance a multibillion-dollar plan to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.
US ‘highly vigilant’ of future Iranian attacks on Israel, Sullivan says at Oct. 7 memorial
“The challenge going forward is to turn tactical wins in battle into a strategy that secures Israel’s people and its future,” Sullivan said. “That takes real discipline. It takes courage. It takes foresight to match the conduct of war to a clear and sustainable set of objectives and to turn tactical advantage into enduring strategic gains.”
Scoop: White House loses trust in Israeli government as Middle East spirals
Two U.S. officials told Axios that during a call on Friday White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told Israel‘s minister for strategic affairs Ron Dermer that the U.S. expects „clarity and transparency“ from Israel about its plans to retaliate against Iran because it will have implications for U.S. forces and interests in the region.
And the dumbass award of the decade goes to…: the United Nations and the „Palestinian Authority“
One of the most important UN resolutions – we mentioned it yesterday – is to be voted on today or tomorrow (unclear). But it is still hidden by those who bring it into the UN General Assembly and by the United Nations Organization itself.
That is bonkers. Mildly spoken.
Cabello on terrorist plan: María Corina Machado is behind the entire operation
“They went with this tropicalized character,” Cabello said in relation to the US intentions to use a person with the same Latin American phenotype, seeking not to repeat the gringo mercenaries of Caucasian morphology.
“It is important to know that this person worked in special Navy SEAL units focused on Latin America, because they are made up of people who speak Spanish perfectly, like this person,” he explained.
The Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace added that two citizens of Spanish origin, a Czech citizen and an American expert in computer hacking are also in custody.
Terrorist plot led by active US military officer revealed
„We know that the United States Government is linked to this operation because during the investigation we have found out how, in Orlando, Florida, in one of these parcel services, in the warehouses, the FBI was there and we have that video (…) they allowed that operation to continue,“ he said.
(…)
“A few days ago we captured some people who were talking about throwing grenades and explosives at the Argentine Embassy, where some terrorists and criminals from the opposition are taking refuge. This perfectly reversed the fact that if the Argentine Embassy, where some gentlemen and ladies from the opposition are, were attacked, it was immediately obvious that the person who would be blamed would be the Government of Venezuela,” he warned.
Venezuela says US Navy SEAL among foreigners arrested over alleged CIA ‘operation’ to assassinate Maduro
“The CIA is at the forefront of this operation,” Cabello said in the news conference, claiming that Spain’s National Intelligence Center was also involved. “That does not surprise us at all,” he said.
He alleged that the operation had “very clear objectives of assassinating President Nicolás Maduro” and other high-ranking Venezuelan politicians including himself and the vice president.
The State Department denied the claims. A spokesperson confirmed on Saturday a member of the US military had been arrested in Venezuela, and that the department was “aware of unconfirmed reports of two additional US citizens detained” in the country.
Hamas says captives killed by Israeli fire
The group also blamed Netanyahu for the deaths of Israeli captives, saying they „were killed by his army‘s bullets„.
(…)
Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas‘ political bureau, said the six captives found dead by the Israeli army „were only killed by Zionist bombing„.
Bodies of 6 hostages, murdered by Hamas just days ago, found in Rafah – IDF
Their bodies were found with gunshot wounds to the head and other parts of their bodies, the Ynet news site reported. An autopsy found they were murdered in the 48 hours prior to the discovery of their bodies, the report said.
Trump rally counter-sniper backs bombshell ‘evidence tampering’ claims by House GOPers
Washington Regional SWAT counter-sniper Ben Shaffer said it was “absolutely” concerning that the roof of the AGR International building had been quickly scrubbed and gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks’ body disposed of before an official autopsy report could be released.
Five House Republicans — Reps. Andy Biggs and Eli Crane of Arizona, Matt Gaetz and Cory Mills of Florida, and Chip Roy of Texas — hosted the panel discussion with Shaffer and other witnesses at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
What Was the Iran-Contra Affair? A Political Scandal That Engulfed the Reagan White House
(18.11.2021)
An exiled Iranian arms dealer named Manucher Ghorbanifar claimed to have contacts with a moderate faction inside Iran, and further alleged that weapons sales would improve that faction’s standing. Ghorbanifar collaborated with Israel, which proved to be an important intermediary. While Israel was no ally of Iran, it was also no ally of Iraq, and the ongoing war between the two countries kept them both distracted. Israel began selling U.S.-made weapons to Iran in 1981, even after the U.S. State Department began an effort to end arm sales, known as Operation Staunch, in 1983.
Inside President Biden’s pointed phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu
(April 7, 2024)
The prime minister’s office declined to comment on the exchange. The White House declined to comment for this story.
Hamas political leaders were unaware of Israel incursion plan, Egypt officials say
(Oct 09, 2023)
Most of the movement‘s political leaders have lived in exile outside the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip for years, deepening the divide between them and the group‘s military wing known as the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, who are spearheading the continuing fighting with Israel.
The political leaders have mostly been living in Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and Egypt.
Speaking to The National, the officials said a handful of Gaza-based Hamas leaders, reportedly as few as three who once served in the Al Qassam Brigades, knew of the attack in advance. As a precaution, they were made to believe that the operation would begin 48 hours after it got under way on Saturday.
Deif’s alleged death certificate sparks online debate
(21 August 2014)
However, Israeli intelligence sources told Fox News Wednesday that the Hamas leader was believed to have been killed.
Addressing the public on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dodged the question of Deif’s fate, saying only that “the commanders of terror organizations are a legitimate target, of the highest priority… No one is immune,” he said. Asked again, he refused to elaborate.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, in a Hamas TV interview earlier Wednesday, described Deif as “the dead man” in an apparent slip of the tongue.
Hamas’s deadly “phantom”: the man behind the attacks
(Oct 20th 2023)
Yet hardly anything is known about Deif. For years, Western spies would respond to questions about him with a shrug. Only a handful of photographs have ever appeared in the media – grainy images from his youth. Some speculate that he died long ago and is nothing more than a mythical figurehead cultivated for propaganda purposes.
Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say
(June 25, 2022)
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the Army’s 10th Special Forces Group, which before the war had been training Ukrainian commandos at a base in the country’s west, quietly established a coalition planning cell in Germany to coordinate military assistance to Ukrainian commandos and other Ukrainian troops. The cell has now grown to 20 nations.
US says it cannot independently verify Israel‘s UNRWA claims
The intelligence report‘s findings are in stark contrast to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s remarks in January, in which he said that the accusations against UNRWA were “highly, highly credible”.
The Journal also reported that Israel has not “shared the raw intelligence behind its assessments with the US” despite the strong security relationship between the two countries.
Israel has shared a dossier of sorts outlining its accusations, alongside details of where their evidence stems from, with the US and several western news organisations.
A US intelligence report has said that Israel‘s claims that UNRWA staff took part in Oct 7 „cannot be independently verified“, & that it had “low confidence” in the allegation.
Major UNRWA donors, incl the US, have frozen vital funds bcz of Israel‘s allegations.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini says „the UN has never, never, ever received any written dossier, despite our repeated call.“
Beatings, theft and murder: The day Israeli soldiers came to Gaza‘s Yarmouk Stadium
After weeks of dodging Israeli bombs in the Shuja‘iyya neighbourhood of northern Gaza, Youssef Hamdan al-Mubayyed took refuge with his family in Yarmouk stadium in Gaza City with hundreds of other Palestinians.
Mubayyed thought it would be the safest place for him to be in Gaza, as the stadium was exclusively used by those displaced by Israel’s military offensive since 7 October.
Instead it became somewhere he would be tortured, humiliated and threatened with death alongside dozens of other Palestinians.
Middle East Eye has spoken to Mubayyed and others who gave similar accounts, a sports stadium turned into a makeshift “interrogation and torture camp”.
A place that became the scene of numerous atrocities, including murder….
Kremlin responds to rumors of Russian space nukes
Western media reports claiming that Russia could place nuclear weapons in space are nothing more than a ploy by the White House to convince US lawmakers to approve further military aid to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
Citing sources, several US media outlets reported this week that American intelligence had obtained information on purported Russian plans to deploy a nuclear anti-satellite system in space, although the idea supposedly remains at the developmental stage.
House Intel Chair Turner warns of ‚serious national security threat,‘ urges Biden to declassify
Fox News Digital obtained the notice sent to congressional members Wednesday, which pointed to „an urgent matter with regard to a destabilizing foreign military capability that should be known by all Congressional Policy Makers.“
Turner‘s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital‘s request for comment and more information.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Wednesday at the White House press briefing that earlier in the week, he reached out to the Gang of Eight to offer himself for a personal briefing on the matter.
The British Government attempts to hide the Assange extradition appeal – a „public hearing“ – behind a baroque set of Kafkaesque rules. My latest article on the latest government stitch-up.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/02/state-secrecy-and-public-hearings-part-one/
Henry Kissinger’s bombing campaign likely killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodians − and set path for the ravages of the Khmer Rouge
(November 30, 2023)
To Kissinger, Cambodia was a “sideshow,” to use the title of William Shawcross’ damning book exposing the story of America’s secret war with Cambodia from 1969 to 1973.
During that period, the U.S. bombing of neutral Cambodia saw an estimated 500,000 tons of ordnance dropped on 113,716 targets in the country.
Kissinger and others in the White House tried to keep the campaign from the public for as long as they could, for good reason. It came as public opinion in the U.S. was turning against American involvement. The bombing campaign is also considered illegal under international law by many experts.
But to Kissinger, the ends – containing communism – seemingly justified the means, no matter the cost. And the cost to Cambodians was huge.
It resulted in the direct deaths of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians. With the U.S. government keeping the bombings secret at the time, comprehensive data and documentation are limited. But estimates on the number of deaths range from as few as 24,000 to as many as a million.
Breaking .. Channel 4 have finally been shown the dossier for Israel’s claims that UNRWA staff were behind Oct. 7th. Channel 4 concludes that “Israel provides NO evidence to support this claim”.
As donors suspend critical funding to UNRWA, allegations against staff remain murky
But Israel refuses to share either its evidence or the intelligence dossier – a summary of which was seen by FRANCE 24 – with UNRWA, posing a challenge for the UN agency to complete its inquiry.
Palestinian human rights organisation @alhaq_org has forced the gov’t to answer a legal challenge and tell the Court why it has kept granting weapons licences to Israel. The response shows why it was necessary. We @GLAN_LAW are proud to represent them – the pressure is building.
NEW: The government hid from Parliament the Foreign Office‘s „serious concerns“ about Israel‘s compliance with International Humanitarian Law in Gaza, according to newly-released court papers. This should be national news – and it should end arms sales to Israel.
The papers show that at the start of the war the Foreign Office set up an internal International Humanitarian Law assessment process.
On 10 November it judged: “the volume of strikes, total death toll, as well as proportion of those who are children raise serious concerns”. 2/12
It also said: „the government’s current inability to come to a clear assessment on Israel’s record of compliance with International Humanitarian Law poses significant policy risks”.
But look at what Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell said to me just 4 days later… 3/12
In Parliament on 14 November, I asked Mitchell if British-made weapons had been used in violation of international law in Gaza.
He replied reassuring me of Israel‘s commitment to international law, even though just 4 days earlier his department registered serious concerns. 4/12
Mitchell said: „The member will know that the President of Israel has made it clear that his country will abide by International Humanitarian Law“.
These court papers reveal that his own department, the UK Foreign Office, doubted the Israeli President‘s words.
60 Words And A War Without End: The Untold Story Of The Most Dangerous Sentence In U.S. History
(Jan 17, 2014)
By the end of the meeting, it was clear that this was the resolution, a single sentence and 60 words:
That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.
That was it. After more than a day of negotiations between the White House and Congress, Republicans and Democrats, this is what had emerged. Congress could take it or leave it. There would be no going back to the drawing board.
Mysterious Houthi leader who created a defiant force
Mr al-Houthi is known for rarely staying long in one place, for never meeting the media and for an extreme reluctance to make scheduled public appearances.
Since the start of the Yemen war – widely seen as a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran – foreign officials who dealt with Mr al-Houthi have never met him in person, said a source familiar with the matter.
Many seeking meetings were asked to travel to the Houthi stronghold of Sanaa, where a Houthi security convoy would take them to safe houses and conduct security checks before leading them to an upstairs room where he would only appear on a screen.
In Hebrew @naftalibennett acknowledges Israeli General Barak Hiram Hannibal’d 13 hostages, burning to death 12-year-old Liel Hatsroni, but in English he still claims “She was murdered just because she’s Jewish” by “Hamas monsters” so “Nobody should ask us to stop” genociding Gaza
Killed by order of Israeli general Barak Hiram
(25.12.2023)
1) Pessi Cohen
2) Hannah Cohen
3) Yitzhak Siton
4) Tal Siton
5) Zeev Hacker
6) Zehava Hacker
7) Hava Ben Ami
8) Adi Dagan
9) Tal Katz
10) Ayala Hatsroni
11) Liel Hatsroni
12) Yanai Hatsroni
13) Suhayb al-Razim
Israeli general killed Israelis on 7 October then lied about it
Video and witness accounts recently published by Israeli media reveal new details about how Israeli forces killed their own civilians in Kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October.
Last week, Israel’s Channel 12 released previously unseen footage of an Israeli tank firing at a civilian home in the settlement, just a few miles east of Gaza.
The new evidence shows that the Israeli commander on the scene, Brigadier General Barak Hiram, lied to a top Israeli journalist about what happened in the kibbutz that day, after Palestinian resistance fighters launched a large-scale assault on Israeli military bases and settlements across the boundary from Gaza.
Israeli volunteer: Apache helicopter fired into Kibbutz Be’eri
(14.12.2023)
An Israeli Apache helicopter fired into Kibbutz Be’eri, according to testimony from Erez Tidhar, a military veteran who on the scene on October 7 as a rescue and evacuation volunteer for the Eitam unit .
“Every minute a missile comes down on you, every minute,” Tidhar recalled. “And suddenly you see a missile from a helicopter that fires into the kibbutz. You say to yourself, ‘I don’t get it. An IDF helicopter firing into an Israeli kibbutz.’ And then you see a tank driving through the streets of the kibbutz flanking the cannon and it fires a shell into a house. These are things you cannot comprehend.”
An A400M military transport aircraft—operated by RAF—has just touched down in Tel Aviv. It can carry 116 soldiers, a Chinook helicopter and a payload of 37 tonnes. UK military is refusing to divulge what the dozens of aircraft it has sent to Tel Aviv are carrying onboard.
Saudi nuclear weapon talk is no empty threat
(October 5, 2023)
Fitzpatrick notes Saudi Arabia acquired more advanced DF-21 missiles from China in 2007, although Riyadh has never acknowledged the purchase. He also says that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) approved Saudi Arabia’s acquisition because they were modified not to carry nuclear warheads.
However, the inaccuracy of those missiles means that they are only suitable for large targets such as cities and would be ineffective with anything less than a nuclear warhead.
U.S. approved secret nuclear power work for Saudi Arabia
(March 27, 2019)
Many U.S. lawmakers are concerned that sharing nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia could eventually lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. (…)
Last month, Democratic House members alleged in a report that top White House aides ignored warnings they could be breaking the law as they worked with former U.S. officials in a group called IP3 International to advance a multibillion-dollar plan to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.
I know what it‘s like to struggle. I escaped an abusive marriage and ended up homeless. I relied on public assistance to raise my two young sons as a single mom. I couldn‘t afford childcare, so my kids came to class with me while I earned my college degree. I know you know what I‘m talking about. More than half of Californians live one paycheck away from poverty. It‘s time for us to have a voice in the Senate.
(28.09.2023)
BREAKING: Dianne Feinstein, a centrist Democrat who served as California’s senator since 1992, has died.
The passionate advocate for liberal priorities who broke gender barriers was the oldest member of Congress. She was 90.
Evidence Suggests Ukrainian Missile Caused Market Tragedy
(Sept. 18, 2023)
But evidence collected and analyzed by The New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of an errant Ukrainian air defense missile fired by a Buk launch system.
The attack appears to have been a tragic mishap.
The UK’s Secretive Web Surveillance Program Is Ramping Up
(15.05.2023)
WIRED contacted nine of the UK’s internet service providers and telecom companies asking about their abilities to create and store people’s internet connection records. Eight did not respond to the request for comment. TalkTalk, the only one that did, said it will “meet its obligations” under UK law but couldn’t “confirm or deny” whether ICRs existed.
Cameron’s internet filter goes far beyond porn – and that was always the plan
(23 December 2013)
Through secretive negotiations with ISPs, the coalition has divided the internet into ‚acceptable‘ and ‚unacceptable‘ categories and cut people off from huge swathes of it at the stroke of a key.
Saudi nuclear program can be secretly managed – top Israeli sources
(September 14, 2023)
Top Israeli sources have told the Jerusalem Post that there are secret technological ways to ensure that the Saudis do not misuse civilian nuclear items, which the US may give them as part of a three-way normalization deal, for military purposes.
Although there are no guarantees, because the issue is highly technical and there are issues to address regarding the Palestinians and highly complex politics, these technological fixes could be key to locking in a normalization deal between Riyadh and Jerusalem, under Washington’s auspices.
Pentagon to revisit Kabul airport bombing with new witness interviews
Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, who oversees U.S. Central Command, ordered the additional interviews “to ensure we do our due diligence” with information that came to light after the military closed its investigation of the incident, Michael Lawhorn, a Central Command spokesman, said in a statement. By itself, the move does not formally reopen the investigation, completed in November 2021, but the general could determine that doing so is necessary once the additional interviews are complete.
(…)
The attack’s suspected mastermind was killed by the Taliban earlier this year, U.S. officials disclosed in April.
US said to hold undisclosed talks with Gantz, Bennett over Saudi normalization
Lapid told the Americans he was vehemently opposed to allowing Saudi Arabia to carry out any nuclear enrichment on its soil.
The report said Gantz and Bennett were believed to have also highlighted the dangers of a regional nuclear race if the Saudis had their own program.
U.S. approved secret nuclear power work for Saudi Arabia
(March 27, 2019)
Many U.S. lawmakers are concerned that sharing nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia could eventually lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. (…)
Last month, Democratic House members alleged in a report that top White House aides ignored warnings they could be breaking the law as they worked with former U.S. officials in a group called IP3 International to advance a multibillion-dollar plan to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.
What Does Niger Have to Do with the AUMF?
(October 26, 2017)
Q1: Several members of Congress have shared that they weren’t aware of U.S. military presence in Niger. What is the appropriate role of Congress in the oversight of foreign troop deployments?
A1: At best, the Constitution is ambiguous about the congressional role in the use of military forces abroad. Under Article I, the Congress is given the power to create a military and to declare its use in wartime. Yet Article II names the president as commander in chief and thus establishes a system whereby the executive and legislative branches share the power to use force. Furthermore, since the mid-twentieth century, the range of military activities outside the strict definition of declared war has broadened dramatically. Although the War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires the president to notify the Congress about combat deployments in a timely manner, notification of deployments under conditions where combat is not anticipated, nor war-like engagements intended, is up to the president’s discretion.
Prosecutors ask judge to limit what information Trump can share publicly about case
Prosecutors asked a federal judge to limit what information former President Donald Trump can share publicly about the election interference case, calling out one of his social media posts in a new filing. NBC News’ Dasha Burns reports.
The Biggest Scandal in Trump’s Indictment: US War Plans for Iran
(13.06.2023)
Wait — war with Iran?
Yes, in a detail that’s been almost entirely glossed over, central to this case are a set of secret government plans for attacking Iran.
Who has security clearance? More than 4.3M people
(06.06.2017)
Security clearances aren’t that rare, according to an October report by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.
The government trusted about 4.3 million people with various levels of security clearance as of October 2015, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. These included nearly 2.9 million people at the “confidential” or “secret” level and nearly 1.4 million at the “top secret” level.
US reveals secret Saudi nuclear deal
(28.03.2019)
The Donald Trump administration has granted permission to unspecified US companies to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and provide technical assistance, US Energy Secretary Rick Perry told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
The companies have asked the administration to keep the approvals secret.
The oil-rich kingdom is set to build at least two nuclear power plants, with several countries, including the US, South Korea, and Russia, all vying for the project. However, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also stated that his country would also seek to develop nuclear weapons if its Iranian rivals obtained it.
SDG16: Part 1 — Building the Global Police State
(June 5, 2023)
There is no reason to believe that the SDG16’s pretensions to promote peace and justice and inclusivity will do anything for the world as a whole, much less anything to resolve the fundamental failings inherent in the UN’s scurrilous and disreputable system of alleged “global governance.”
You may wonder what Sustainable Development Goal 16—or this article about it—has to do with protecting the planet and its inhabitants from the predicted “climate disaster.” The answer is: nothing at all. But then, “climate change” is merely the proffered rationale that purportedly legitimises and lends urgency to sustainable development.
Establishing firm global governance—in effect, a world dictatorship—through the implementation of SDGs is the United Nations’ real objective. “Climate change” is just the excuse. Nothing demonstrates this more clearly than SDG16.9. And this is why we will exclusively focus on 16.9 in Part 2 of our exploration of SDG16.
Nuclear Secrets, a Compost Heap and the Lost Documents Daniel Ellsberg Never Leaked
(April 20, 2023)
Daniel Ellsberg — who died Friday at 92 — fully expected to spend the rest of his life in prison after he leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times and The Washington Post in 1971. The documents revealed decades of government lies and mistakes about the war in Vietnam, and eventually, they helped end it.
The charges against Ellsberg were ultimately dismissed, but he had a secret: The Pentagon Papers were only supposed to be the beginning. Alongside the documents about Vietnam, he’d copied thousands of pages of other documents about America’s nuclear war planning that he believed would shock the public conscience. But a series of mishaps kept those documents from ever coming to light.
Recording reveals that Trump took a secret plan to attack Iran from the White House
One of the witnesses questioned was General Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, one of the highest-ranking national security positions of the Trump era.
The meeting that was recorded was held in July 2021 at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, with two people working on the autobiography of former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, as well as aides employed by the former president, including communications specialist Margo Martin, according to CNN, which points out that Meadows talks about what appears to be the same meeting in his book.
Trump Recording Raises Threat of Potential Indictment in Mar-a-Lago Case
(June 1, 2023)
Federal prosecutors obtained an audio recording in which former President Donald Trump admits retaining a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, raising the threat of a potential indictment in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, according to CNN. (…)
The meeting took place in July 2021 at Trump’s Bedminster, N.J., golf course with two people working on former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ autobiography and Trump aides including communications specialist Margo Martin, according to the report. The individuals did not have security clearance required to see classified material.
THE NORD STREAM GHOST SHIP: The false details in the CIA‘s cover story
(Apr 5, 2023)
America’s Central Intelligence Agency is constantly running covert operations around the world, and all must have a cover story in case things go badly, as they often do. It is just as important to have an explanation when things go well, as they did in the Baltic Sea last fall. Within weeks of my report that Joe Biden ordered the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, the agency produced a cover story and found willing takers in the New York Times and two major German publications.
By creating a story of deep sea divers and a crew who did not exist, the agency was following protocol, and the story would have been part of the first days of secret planning to destroy the pipelines. The essential element was a mythical yacht ironically named the Andromeda—after the beautiful daughter of a mythical king who was chained to a rock, naked. The cover story was shared with and supported by the BND, Germany’s federal intelligence service.
Who are the anti-Putin groups behind the dramatic raid into Russia?
(May 26, 2023)
Its commander, Denis Kapustin, who also goes by the last name of Nikitin, is a white nationalist and ex-soccer hooligan who shares neo-Nazi views.
Kapustin is listed on Russia’s federal wanted list and its register of extremists and terrorists.
The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League has described Kapustin as “a Russian neo-Nazi who lived in Germany for many years.”
Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say
(June 25, 2022)
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the Army’s 10th Special Forces Group, which before the war had been training Ukrainian commandos at a base in the country’s west, quietly established a coalition planning cell in Germany to coordinate military assistance to Ukrainian commandos and other Ukrainian troops. The cell has now grown to 20 nations.
The CIA and NATO’s ‘Stealth Network’ in Ukraine: American Boots on the Ground Coordinating a Proxy War Against Russia
(June 28th 2022)
The extent of Western material support was perhaps best symbolised by Ukrainian special forces operating in the contested Donbas regions, which the Times highlighted had American flag patches on their equipment and carried new Western-supplied portable surface to air missiles and both Belgian and American assault rifles. Efforts on the ground in Ukraine were supplemented by considerable support provided to Ukrainian personnel in NATO member states themselves, an example being training for Ukrainian commandos in Germany provided by the U.S. Army’s 10th Special Forces Group. At Ramstein Air Base in Germany, U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard personnel simultaneously trained the Ukrainian Air Force.
Ukraine Fired the Missile Into Poland – No Formal Investigation to Follow
(16.11.2022)
There will not be a referral for an investigation, Duda said.
Here is a photo of Poland‘s RAT-31DL FADR radar at Łabunie. This radar is 40 km from Przewodów, where the missiles exploded. That radar is barely 10 years old and has a 11×7 m antenna. It is one of the best radars NATO has. And it feeds directly into the Polish Air Force‘s
Air Operations Centre in Pyry. The Poles see in real time EVERYTHING that flies towards their country from the East for 500 km.
Poland knows EXACTLY where those missiles came from.
AND Pyry feeds directly into NATO‘s Combined Air Operations Centre Uedem.
BREAKING: The Polish Volunteer Corps has released a video proving their participation in the cross-border raid into the Belgorod region of Russia last week. The Poles can be seen capturing a Russian BTR. The Poles are working together with the Russian Volunteer Corps.
(04.06.2023)
Russia-Ukraine War: Anti-Kremlin Group Involved in Border Raid Is Led by a Neo-Nazi
(May 26, 2023)
The leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps, one of the two insurgent groups responsible for an armed incursion into Russia this week, is a far-right extremist, German officials and humanitarian groups say.
Use of NATO arms for attack in Russia raises doubts about Kyiv’s controls
(June 3, 2023)
Three of the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, also known as MRAPs, taken into Russia by the fighters were provided by the United States and the fourth was from Poland, according to people familiar with the U.S. intelligence finding, which has not previously been reported.
(…)
The fighters also carried rifles made by Belgium and the Czech Republic and at least one AT-4 antitank weapon in common use among U.S. and Western troops, according to photos verified by The Washington Post.
Polish mercenaries fought in the Belgorod region. „It was an honor for our branch“
The Polish Volunteer Corps, a mercenary unit fighting as part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, officially confirmed its participation in the operation in the Belgorod region. They carried out the mission together with Russian mercenaries.
The report from the entry into the territory of the Russian Federation appeared on the official Telegram channel of the corps.
Trump is provoking a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. What could go wrong?
(6 Jun, 2019)
More terrible than any of that is the blindingly obvious danger that providing nuclear expertise to Riyadh will push Iran, their sworn enemy and regional rival, into developing its own nuclear capabilities. Supposedly the whole point of Trump’s campaign of threats and sanctions is to deter Tehran from doing just that. To provoke Iran in this fashion is astonishingly stupid – and hypocritical.
It is simply not good enough to say that two planned Saudi reactors, for which multibillion dollar tenders will be sought next year, are intended for civilian, not military use. So far at least, Riyadh has reportedly refused to offer standard guarantees that it will eschew uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing, two well-worn pathways to nuclear weapons, or accept independent inspections.
US reveals secret Saudi nuclear deal
(28.03.2019)
The Donald Trump administration has granted permission to unspecified US companies to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and provide technical assistance, US Energy Secretary Rick Perry told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
The companies have asked the administration to keep the approvals secret.
The oil-rich kingdom is set to build at least two nuclear power plants, with several countries, including the US, South Korea, and Russia, all vying for the project. However, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also stated that his country would also seek to develop nuclear weapons if its Iranian rivals obtained it.
Black Cube: Inside the shadowy Israeli firm accused of trying to undermine the Iran deal
(25.05.2018)
Black Cube’s political work frequently intersects with Israel’s foreign policy priorities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, has campaigned vociferously against the Iran deal.
“They would never work against Israeli interests,” said the source who was familiar with Black Cube‘s Iran work. He likened the firm to an “almost privatized wing of Mossad.”
He also suggested there was little chance that the Israeli government or its intelligence agencies were unaware of Black Cube’s work to discredit the Iran deal.
US Builds New Base In Northern Syria, Signaling Indefinite Occupation
The US-led anti-ISIS coalition is building a new military base in Syria’s northern province of Raqqa, The New Arab reported, citing a source close to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The US backs the SDF and keeps about 900 troops (officially at least) in eastern Syria, allowing the US to control about one-third of Syria’s territory. The report said there are currently about 24 US-led military sites spread throughout eastern Syria.
US-led coalition against Islamic State building new base in northern Syria
(24 May, 2023)
There are currently at least 24 US-led coalition military sites spread throughout Syria’s northeast.
The US says its military is stationed in the country to fight against the remnants of IS.
Exclusive: Senior US general ordered Twitter announcement of drone strike on al Qaeda leader that may have instead killed civilian
(May 23, 2023)
The senior general in charge of US forces in the Middle East ordered that his command announce on Twitter that a senior al Qaeda leader had been targeted by an American drone strike in Syria earlier this month – despite not yet having confirmation of who was actually killed in the strike, according to multiple defense officials.
Nearly three weeks later, US Central Command still does not know whether a civilian died instead, officials said. CENTCOM did not open a review of the incident, officially known as a civilian-casualty credibility assessment report, until May 15 – twelve days after the strike. That review is ongoing.
U.S. officials walk back claim drone strike killed senior al-Qaeda leader
(May 18, 2023)
Lotfi Hassan Misto, 56, whose family identified him as the victim of a Hellfire missile attack on May 3, was a former bricklayer who lived quietly in this town in northwest Syria, according to interviews with his brother, son and six others who knew him. They described a kind, hard-working man whose “whole life was spent poor.”
As a Senator, Joe Biden voted for the Assassination Records Act of 1992, requiring that all documents related to the killing of JFK be released by 2017. But President Biden is still keeping thousands of pages heavily redacted, including 44 pages related to a shadowy CIA agent and a covert program that had contact with Lee Harvey Oswald just months before my uncle was killed.
Nobody should be surprised when Americans are distrustful of a government that refuses to reveal 60-year-old secrets. The American people are entitled to see every document, as the law requires.
Austrians tried for allegedly helping Mossad shield Syrian
(April 14, 2023)
According to an investigation by Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine and Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard, the Mossad recruited Halabi, a member of the Druze minority in Syria, as an informant. The Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment.
Former Syrian spy chief ‚who is wanted for war crimes was able to flee to Austria with the help of Mossad after being refused asylum in France‘
(30 November 2020)
France‘s spy agency, DGSE, helped the former general leave Syria for France in 2014, however he was refused asylum in the country in 2015 over concerns he may have been involved in criminal acts.
Mysteriously, he was then taken from France to Austria by Israeli intelligence agents where he was granted asylum, a judicial source told the Daily Telegraph.
‚As he was really peeved not to get asylum in France, he appears to have made contact with Mossad, who got in contact with Austria‘s BVT [the country‘s domestic intelligence agency],‘ the source said.
Does the AUMF cover domestic operations against organizations labeled „terrorists“ just asking for no particular reason, obviously no one would ever order military operations against US citizens on domestic soil………………………………………
(2 Jun 2020)
Wyden Warns of Potential Public Backlash From Allowing Secret Law
(May 27, 2011)
Speaking on the floor of the U.S Senate during the truncated debate on the reauthorization of the PATRIOT ACT for another four years, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — warned his colleagues that a vote to extend the bill without amendments that would ban any Administration‘s ability to keep internal interpretations of the Patriot Act classified will eventually cause public outrage.
Known as Secret Law, the official interpretation of the Patriot Act could dramatically differ from what the public believes the law allows. This could create severe violations of the Constitutional and Civil Rights of American Citizens.
Over a dozen orgs from across the ideological spectrum sent a letter to Members of Congress explaining how the 2001 AUMF is irrelevant and how Congress owed it to US service members to debate and vote on their continued placement in harm‘s way
(Apr 27, 2923)
We strongly urge Republican war powers advocates to collaborate closely w/ Democratic counterparts, who have been advocating on these issues for years, right from the initial stages of these efforts. Despite no Dem co-sponsor, nearly 50 Dems vote in favor.
There was no vote, per se, to send them. They are there under the 2001 AUMF, which Congress has refused to repeal.
(Apr 28, 2023)
Conservative and progressive House members vote to withdraw US troops from Somalia, but majorities in both parties shoot measure down
(April 27, 2023)
The text of the measure would have instructed „the President to remove all United States Armed Forces, other than United States Armed Forces assigned to protect the United States Embassy, from Somalia by not later than the date that is 365 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution.“
Minorities from both parties voted in favor of the measure, with leftist lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) joining with conservative legislators like Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to support the concurrent resolution.
Recall that the ostensible domestic legal authority for US military operations in Syria is the 2001 AUMF. Doubt Congress thought in immediate aftermath of 9/11 attacks that it was voting to authorize these sorts of actions vis-a-vis *Russia* in *Syria*.
(22.04.2023)
An Unauthorized War: The Shaky Legal Ground for the U.S. Operation in Syria
(January 11, 2022)
The hundreds of U.S. troops who are still stationed in Syria, on a mission to “maintain the enduring defeat” of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), are fighting an off-and-on battle with Iranian-backed militias. Just last week, the United States conducted strikes against fighters described as “Iran-supported malign actors” who attacked a base housing U.S. troops in eastern Syria. It is not the first time this has happened. Since 2016, U.S. forces in Syria have fought not only members of ISIS but also Syrian government troops, Iranian-backed militias, and Russian mercenaries.
The US ‘war on terror’, 20 years after ‘mission accomplished’
(1 May 2023)
According to a 2021 report by Stephanie Savell, the co-director of the Costs of War project at Brown University, since 2001, the AUMF has been used to justify US air strikes and operations in Djibouti, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, among others, as well as “support” for partners in a wide range of countries, including Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, Georgia, Kosovo, Jordan, Nigeria and the Philippines.
All told, presidential administrations have publicly cited the 2001 AUMF in “an unknown number of military operations, including airstrikes, combat, detention, and supporting partner militaries” in 22 countries since 2001, the report said.
Who’s Behind the Judicial Overhaul Now Dividing Israel? Two New Yorkers.
(March 20, 2023)
“I don’t want to sound arrogant,” he told Ami, the Orthodox Jewish magazine, in 2019, “but in some sense we’re the brains of the Israeli right wing.”
Kohelet is not required to disclose the names of individual donors, and for years Mr. Koppel has artfully deflected questions about funding.
But one source of money is a second New Yorker: Arthur Dantchik, a 65-year-old multibillionaire who has donated millions to Kohelet, according to people familiar with his philanthropic giving. Mr. Dantchik did not return a call for comment.
The number of people with Top Secret clearance will shock you
(August 16, 2022)
The Director of National Intelligence publishes what is described as an annual report, “Security Clearance Determinations,” although the most recent one I could find was from 2017.
In it, more than 2.8 million people are described as having security clearance as of October 2017 – more than 1.6 million have access to either Confidential or Secret information and nearly 1.2 million are described as having access to Top Secret information.
TOP SECRET AMERICA: National Security Inc.
(July 20, 2010)
The Post investigation uncovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America created since 9/11 that is hidden from public view, lacking in thorough oversight and so unwieldy that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.
It is also a system in which contractors are playing an ever more important role. The Post estimates that out of 854,000 people with top-secret clearances, 265,000 are contractors. There is no better example of the government‘s dependency on them than at the CIA, the one place in government that exists to do things overseas that no other U.S. agency is allowed to do.
(…)
Most of these contractors do work that is fundamental to an agency‘s core mission. As a result, the government has become dependent on them in a way few could have foreseen: wartime temps who have become a permanent cadre.
Senator Durbin’s ‘STOP CSAM Act’ Has Some Good Ideas… Mixed In With Some Very Bad Ideas That Will Do More Harm Than Good
(18.04.2023)
It’s “protect the children” season in Congress with the return of KOSA and EARN IT, two terrible bills that attack the internet, and rely on people’s ignorance of how things actually work to pretend they’re making the internet safer, when they’re not. Added to this is Senator Dick Durbin’s STOP CSAM Act, which he’s been touting since February, but only now has officially put out a press release announcing the bill (though, he hasn’t released the actual language of the bill, because that would actually be helpful to people analyzing it). (…)
Notice what’s not talked about? It’s not mentioned how much law enforcement has done to actually track down, arrest, and prosecute the perpetrators. That’s the stat that matters. But it’s missing.
The 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force: A Comprehensive Look at Where and How it Has Been Used
(December 14, 2021)
Just days after the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the U.S. Congress passed the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Section 2(a) of the 2001 AUMF authorizes the President “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States.” Under this AUMF, Congress relinquished its constitutionally assigned war powers in the fight against “terrorism,” ceding to the president its responsibility to decide whether, when, and where the United States chooses war. The 2001 AUMF is still in effect today.
The president must report to Congress within 48 hours a situation in which U.S. forces are introduced into “hostilities” or “imminent hostilities.”3 This is mandated by the 1973 War Powers Resolution, established by Congress in the final stages of the Vietnam War to forestall any president from taking the country to war without congressional authorization or awareness. Since the passing of the 2001 AUMF, the Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations have referenced this authorization in their reporting to Congress on U.S. military hostilities in a growing number of countries to fight a growing
number of militant groups, including Al Qaeda and other groups that government officials subsequently identified as arising from it, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and al-Shabaab in Somalia. All four administrations have cited the 2001 AUMF while using vague language to describe the locations of operations, failing to accurately describe the full scope of activities in many places, and in some cases simply failing to report on counterterrorism hostilities.
Tel Aviv Ramming That Killed One and Injured Seven Was Terror Attack Not Accident, Israeli Police Say
The Abu Jaber family has requested to see additional documentation from the incident, including the policeman‘s body camera footage and footage from security cameras. Police are not releasing the recordings. Omar claims „the police have changed their version [of the story] more than once, and so has the Magen David Adom emergency services – who we [citizens] trust.“ According to Omar, initially, MDA said someone had been shot in the attack, „which adds ambiguity,“ claimed Yousef had a weapon in his car and then later said it was a weapon-like object, and said the Italian tourist had been shot but later denied it. „We still haven‘t seen the toy-gun yet,“ Omar added.
Netanyahu trial could become closed-door mediation
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara will reportedly need to decide whether the Netanyahu trial should be transferred out of the Jerusalem District Court, which is currently handling it.
Netanyahu‘s corruption trial may be moved to mediation
Discussions have been taking place behind closed doors in front of a District Court judge with no minutes recorded.
Dear President Biden and Secretary Blinken,
(…)
As such, we call on your administration to promptly:
– Ensure U.S. taxpayer funds do not support projects in illegal settlements;
– Determine whether U.S.-origin defense articles have been used in violation of existing U.S. laws, including for a purpose not authorized by Section 4 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. § 2754) or to commit or support gross violations of human rights
by the Israeli government in violation of Section 502B(a)(2) of the Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. § 2304(a)(2)) and the U.S. „Leahy Laws,“ Section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. § 2378d and 10 U.S.C. § 362).
Furthermore, we call on your administration to ensure that all future foreign assistance to Israel, including weapons and equipment, is not used in support of gross violations of human rights, including by strengthening end-use monitoring and financial tracking. We ask that you respond with a detailed plan as to how the administration plans to achieve that goal.
A year after its launch, details of submarine affair probe’s work yet to surface
(28 January 2023)
However, as of this time, the name of only one witness has been publicly announced — Amos Gilad, who was the director of the Defense Ministry’s Political-Military Affairs Bureau at the time of the purchase of the submarines.
The names of any other witnesses, if they exist, are unknown. Nor is it known how many times a week the commission meets, and which of the panel members are present when it does.
A year after its launch, details of the submarine affair probe’s work have yet to surface While the identities of the witnesses and the materials studied remain unknown, some believe staying under the radar may save panel from being torpedoed by Netanyahu
Dianne Feinstein statement on CIA torture report ‚cover-up‘ – full text
(March 11, 2014)
Let me say up front that I come to the Senate Floor reluctantly. Since January 15, 2014, when I was informed of the CIA’s search of this committee’s network, I have been trying to resolve this dispute in a discreet and respectful way. I have not commented in response to media requests for additional information on this matter. However, the increasing amount of inaccurate information circulating now cannot be allowed to stand unanswered.
The origin of this study: The CIA’s detention and interrogation program began operations in 2002, though it was not until September 2006, that Members of the Intelligence Committee, other than the Chairman and Vice Chairman, were briefed. In fact, we were briefed by then-CIA Director Hayden only hours before President Bush disclosed the program to the public.
A little more than a year later, on December 6, 2007, a New York Times article revealed the troubling fact that the CIA had destroyed videotapes of some of the CIA’s first interrogations using so-called “enhanced techniques.” …
Black Cube: Inside the shadowy Israeli firm accused of trying to undermine the Iran deal
(25.05.2018)
Black Cube’s political work frequently intersects with Israel’s foreign policy priorities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, has campaigned vociferously against the Iran deal.
“They would never work against Israeli interests,” said the source who was familiar with Black Cube‘s Iran work. He likened the firm to an “almost privatized wing of Mossad.”
He also suggested there was little chance that the Israeli government or its intelligence agencies were unaware of Black Cube’s work to discredit the Iran deal.
What is Black Cube, the Cambridge Analytica-linked intelligence firm?
(May 21, 2021)
In May, Black Cube resurfaced in the news, when it was revealed it was used to get information on two Americans who supported the Iran nuclear deal, which President Donald Trump has since pulled out of.
According to the New York Times, Black Cube assembled a file on Ben Rhodes, a former national security adviser to President Obama that contained “pictures of his apartment in Washington, telephone numbers and email addresses of members of his family, as well as unsubstantiated allegations of personal and ethical transgressions.”
Additionally, Black Cube collected information on Colin Kahl, a national security adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden.
How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline
Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning.
Two of the pipelines, which were known collectively as Nord Stream 1, had been providing Germany and much of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas for more than a decade. A second pair of pipelines, called Nord Stream 2, had been built but were not yet operational. Now, with Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border and the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945 looming, President Joseph Biden saw the pipelines as a vehicle for Vladimir Putin to weaponize natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions.
M1 Abrams Tank Tested With New System That Prevents It From Being Hacked
(Feb 15, 2022)
In the demonstration, an M1A2 Abrams tank was fitted with a 1553 Bus Defender system made by Peraton. The Bus Defender is an intrusion detection and prevention system that can defeat cyberattacks aimed at a platform’s data bus, a hardware subsystem that handles the transfer of data both in and out of associated systems. All transmissions between other military assets including satellites, off-board sensors, communication systems, weapons, unmanned vehicles, and more are handled by the data bus. The Department of Defense and NASA use the MIL-STD-1553 data bus, first developed in 1975.
American Abrams Tanks Will Not Arrive In Ukraine Until Year End And Without Secret Armor – Media
According to the statement, a batch of 31 Abrams М1А2 tanks intended for Ukraine will not be taken from the armed reserves of the United States. Washington intends to purchase them within the framework of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. At the same time, as journalists predict, Abrams М1А2 tanks will arrive in the country at the end of 2023 or in early 2024.
The publication explains such terms by the fact that the United States needs to create combat equipment from scratch, the armor of which will not consist of the usual depleted uranium.
An obscure counterterrorism authority has been used to create and control proxy forces throughout the war on terror—its use points to broader interpretations of the 2001 AUMF and the president’s inherent authority to use force than previously disclosed.
(29 Dec 2022)
What Can a Secretive Funding Authority Tell Us About the Pentagon’s Use of Force Interpretations?
(October 11, 2022)
Initially enacted as a provisional authority in 2004 and subsequently codified in 2016, § 127e allows U.S. forces to “provide support” to foreign militaries, paramilitaries, and private individuals that are “supporting” U.S. counterterrorism operations.
The kinds of support that U.S. forces may give and receive are not defined in § 127e. But the Department of Defense sought § 127e from Congress so that U.S. forces would have the ability to recruit, train, equip, and pay the salaries of foreign militaries, paramilitaries, and private individuals that would assist the United States in combating terrorism. According to Maj. Gen. J. Marcus Hicks, the former head of Special Operations Command Africa, putting these partners on payroll would give U.S. forces “full incentive authority” over them and enable U.S. forces to “command and control” them on missions.
Media: Polish prosecutors won‘t allow Ukraine to join investigation of Przewodow blast
Earlier on Nov. 18, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukrainian experts were already working on the explosion site and added that he was grateful to Poland for giving them access.
According to Rzeczpospolita sources, however, Ukrainian investigators didn’t perform any procedural activities on the site because it’s against the law — they were just able to see the place.
Everyone has it and no one wants to publish it
For sure someone has the radar tracks of this hit.
(18.11.2022)
3/ @TrentTelenko Furthermore, this is the only agricultural processing site in a region of 25 sq km, cursory evidence that supports an intentional targeting of Poland behind the facade of Russia‘s biggest missile barrage into Ukraine so far, with the intention of a false flag???
The bottom line is this: the navigation electronics will determine who the missile came from. It is that simple.
There‘s a conspiracy theory that the CIA invented the term ‚conspiracy theory‘ – here‘s why
(March 16, 2020)
One may find the CIA’s attempt to influence public opinion problematic. But there is not a single sentence in the document that indicates the CIA intended to weaponise, let alone introduce the term “conspiracy theory” to disqualify criticism. In fact, “conspiracy theory” in the singular is never used in the document. “Conspiracy theories” in the plural is only used once, matter-of-factly in the third paragraph:
Conspiracy theories have frequently thrown suspicion on our organisation, for example, by falsely alleging that Lee Harvey Oswald worked for us.
US-NATO supplying weapons to nationalist groups and militias in order to impose their hegemony is a well known formula. Yesterday according to major western media, Russia had bombed Polish territory, today it is clear that the missile came from a S-300 Ukrainian system.
Russia-Ukraine War: NATO and Poland Say Deadly Blast Was Likely Unintentional
Poland’s president said on Wednesday that a Ukrainian air defense missile had most likely caused a deadly explosion in his country a day earlier, calling it an “unfortunate accident” and easing fears that his country and its NATO allies could be drawn into a direct conflict with Russia.
President Andrzej Duda said early indications suggested that Ukrainian efforts to counter a barrage of roughly 100 Russian missiles had been the cause of the blast on Tuesday — not a direct attack on his country.
The lockdown files: Rishi Sunak on what we weren’t told
(27 August 2022)
Lockdown – closing schools and much of the economy while sending the police after people who sat on park benches – was the most draconian policy introduced in peacetime. No. 10 wanted to present it as ‘following the science’ rather than a political decision, and this had implications for the wiring of government decision-making. It meant elevating Sage, a sprawling group of scientific advisers, into a committee that had the power to decide whether the country would lock down or not. There was no socioeconomic equivalent to Sage; no forum where other questions would be asked.
So whoever wrote the minutes for the Sage meetings – condensing its discussions into guidance for government – would set the policy of the nation. No one, not even cabinet members, would know how these decisions were reached.
Rishi Sunak is just the start. The great lockdown scandal is about to unravel
(25.08.2022)
For some time, I’ve been trying to persuade Rishi Sunak to go on the record about what really happened in lockdown. Only a handful of people really know what took place then, because most ministers – including members of the Cabinet – were kept in the dark. Government was often reduced to a “quad” of ministers deciding on Britain’s future and the then chancellor of the exchequer was one of them. I’d heard rumours that Sunak was horrified at much of what he saw, but was keeping quiet. In which case, lessons would never be learnt.
His speaking out now confirms much of what many suspected. That the culture of fear, seen in the Orwellian advertising campaign that sought to terrify the country, applied inside Government.
What Was the Iran-Contra Affair? A Political Scandal That Engulfed the Reagan White House
(18.11.2021)
An exiled Iranian arms dealer named Manucher Ghorbanifar claimed to have contacts with a moderate faction inside Iran, and further alleged that weapons sales would improve that faction’s standing. Ghorbanifar collaborated with Israel, which proved to be an important intermediary. While Israel was no ally of Iran, it was also no ally of Iraq, and the ongoing war between the two countries kept them both distracted. Israel began selling U.S.-made weapons to Iran in 1981, even after the U.S. State Department began an effort to end arm sales, known as Operation Staunch, in 1983.
Why didn’t more people resist lockdown?
As it will take years for culpable parties to retire, I once feared that a full generation would need to elapse before we recognised lockdowns for what they were: the biggest public health debacle in history. Yet everywhere I turn lately, still another journalist is decrying the avoidable social, medical and economic costs of this hysterical over-reaction to a virus, while deriding lockdown zealots for having vilified sceptics of a policy that may well end up killing more people than it protected. The Covid revisionism is welcome – though it’s a good deal easier to publish these opinion pieces now than it was two years ago, and I speak from experience.
The lockdown files: Rishi Sunak on what we weren’t told
(27 August 2022)
Lockdown – closing schools and much of the economy while sending the police after people who sat on park benches – was the most draconian policy introduced in peacetime. No. 10 wanted to present it as ‘following the science’ rather than a political decision, and this had implications for the wiring of government decision-making. It meant elevating Sage, a sprawling group of scientific advisers, into a committee that had the power to decide whether the country would lock down or not. There was no socioeconomic equivalent to Sage; no forum where other questions would be asked.
So whoever wrote the minutes for the Sage meetings – condensing its discussions into guidance for government – would set the policy of the nation. No one, not even cabinet members, would know how these decisions were reached.
Empowering Sage scientists over Covid lockdown left us ‘screwed’, claims Sunak
The meetings were “literally me around that table, just fighting”, which “was incredibly uncomfortable every single time”.
At one meeting he raised the impact on children’s education: “I was very emotional about it. I was like, ‘Forget about the economy. Surely we can all agree that kids not being in school is a major nightmare’, or something like that.
“There was a big silence afterwards. It was the first time someone had said it. I was so furious.”
Setting out the problems he found with Government policy being influenced by outside academics, he said: “If you empower all these independent people, you’re screwed.”
Rishi Sunak says he wasn‘t ‚allowed to talk about the side effects of lockdown‘ during the pandemic
Mr Sunak said one of the Government’s biggest mistakes was giving too much power to scientists and claimed the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) edited its minutes to hide dissenting opinions.
The former chancellor made the statements in an interview with the Spectator magazine.
“We shouldn’t have empowered the scientists in the way we did,” he is quoted as saying.
DOJ says unsealing Trump warrant affidavit would jeopardize investigation
Federal prosecutors submitted a court filing opposing any efforts to unseal the document laying out probable cause for the search. The filing came just days after they agreed to release a copy of the warrant itself as well as a receipt listing the materials that were seized during the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Pegasus Spyware Maker NSO Has 22 Clients in the European Union. And It‘s Not Alone
European lawmaker Sophie in ‘t Veld, who is a member of the Pegasus inquiry committee, told Haaretz: “If just one company has 14 member states for customers, you can imagine how big the sector is overall. There seems to be a huge market for commercial s