German 'Feminism' & 'Journalism' is A Joke: Germans Deserve the Truth

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/rape-culture-germany-cologne-new-years-2016-876 Rape Culture in Germany Is Not an Imported Phenomenon By Stefanie Lohaus and Anne Wizorek January 8, 2016 This article was originally published on VICE Germany Ever since New Year's Eve, German media have largely been discussing the violence at Cologne's central train station in terms of a rape culture that was imported into Germany – simply because the perpetrators in this case looked "Arab" or "North African", according to witnesses. The only point being, of course, that the men weren't white.   That's an idea that renders sexualised violence and theft harmless by trivialising and exorcising both notions. The fact that our society and its institutions aren't in any position to protect those affected by the violence and identify its culprits doesn't in any way mean that there's never been sexualised violence in Germany before. In fact, Germany's rape culture is deeply rooted in our collective psyche.  [comment:  The last time German women were raped en masse was when Hitler was defeated.] Sexual assaults and even rape happen every year at big events like Oktoberfest. "The way to the toilet alone is like running the gauntlet: within 50 feet, you can be sure to tally three hugs from drunken strangers, two pats on the ass, someone looking up your dirndl and some beer purposely splashed right down your cleavage," wrote Karoline Beisel and Beate Wild in 2011, in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. An average of 10 reported rapes take place each year at Oktoberfest. The estimated number of unreported cases is 200. A 2004 study on the living conditions, security and health of women in Germany, showed that 13 percent of German women have experienced a form of criminal sexualised violence. The scandal is that only 8 percent of these women filed a complaint with the police. If you include multiple complaints, then the figure decreases to 5 percent. That means that an incredible 95 percent of women in Germany who experience sexual violence don't report it to the police. According to German law, in order to get a conviction for sexual assault, the victim must prove that they resisted the violence. Yet the media would still rather talk at length about false accusations, even if they are rare. Depending on the statistics and the country, they account for between 1 and 9 percent of all reported cases – in Germany that number lies between 3 and 5 percent. The reason behind all that is that in German law, the victim's behaviour plays a big role when it comes to sexual assault. In order to get a conviction, the victim must prove that they resisted the violence. This is a completely absurd requirement, largely based on numerous myths about how sexualised violence is carried out. That's why staring in shock – a common and natural reaction to violence – often leads to the perpetrator being acquitted. Just imagine that the burden of proof for theft lay on whether the person robbed had adequately defended themselves: "Sorry Miss, you didn't hold on to your purse tight enough, it's your own fault." Amid all this, the perpetrator's skin colour or religion is irrelevant. With what happened in Cologne, we'll have to see whether those sexual assaults end up being as thoroughly investigated as the property theft that occurred simultaneously. To date, 90 women have filed complaints according to Zeit Online, with 75 percent of them concerning sexual offences. Two of them are rape cases. Nobody's denying that people with immigrant backgrounds or of the Muslim faith are also guilty of committing sex crimes. But to act as if their cultural background has "programmed" them to do so, while making all sorts of excuses and downplaying the crimes of white Germans, will always be racist rabble-rousing. The clearest thing to come out of the debate around what happened in Cologne as of yet is that Germany has a sexism issue and a racism issue. Both are deep-rooted and were not "imported". It's our responsibility as a society to move towards a culture that celebrates mutual consent and respects boundaries. And that applies to all people, because one sexual assault is one too many – no matter where it took place and who it involved. http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/rape-culture-germany-cologne-new-years-2016-876 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT I've only just begun looking at the Cologne Rapes articles. Got sidetracked having a look at and marking up the UK, Sweden & France (NATO sidekicks, although Sweden isn't official) propaganda via a Frankfurt Germany newspaper, citing experts who are talking piles of steaming manure. Just when I thought I couldn't possibly find anything more preposterous, I came across this article, quite by chance. I think there's steam coming out of my ears right now, like in the cartoons. This is so disgusting and false, that I could just burst ... or cry. The German public -- and the public at large -- don't deserve these lies. It matters very much who the raping mobs are, when you are being raped by a mob of immigrant marauders on a rampage in Europe. That aside, the colour of a rapist's (or any other criminal's) skin and their religion (or lack thereof), their affiliations, and any other key features (place of birth, family origins, gender, markings, sexual preference, family constellation etc), matter a great deal as these factors help with crime analysis, profiling and crime fighting etc. Adequate records should be kept, made public and examined by law enforcement, by experts, by academics and anybody else interested in crime and associated analysis. Not keeping such records in an adequate state, and not providing such records for inspection, is negligent of law enforcement and negligent of government. What has taken place has taken place precisely because of origins (which includes factors of race, religion, culture and psychology), that cannot be ignored. As far as I am aware, there is no crowd of 1,000 marauding Italians or Spaniards raping (or if one prefers a little minimising spin:  'sexually assaulting') German women, as a thank-you for German hospitality. That's all I have to say on this at the moment. Example of Joke Western 'Feminism' Swiss artist stages nude protest in Cologne after NYE assaults https://www.rt.com/news/328348-protest-nude-cologne-assaults/ ꕤ

Article - 'The Haiti Cables – WikiLeaks – part 2' | Sealed US Grand Jury Indictment & Australian PM Gillard, FM Rudd & Stratfor

ꕤ WIKILEAKS HAITI CABLES LINK | Here The Stringer The Haiti Cables – WikiLeaks – part 2 by Gerry Georgatos    January 5th, 2016 The moral force of WikiLeaks is the bent for the truth and that truth is in the interest of the common good. According to both Plato and Aristotle the common good can only be delivered and sustained as a result of truth. Not since Socrates challenged Athenians has anyone driven as passionately for the truth as has Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks founder drove an unprecedented contemporaneous calling to challenge the citadels of the powerful that forever degenerate to oppressor and oppressed dichotomies. WikiLeaks gave not only voice to the powerless but also to the sense of hope. In taking on the powerful, WikiLeaks took on the rulers of the world and the influence and control they have over institutions throughout our world. The majority would say that no-one can defeat corruption, that corruption is an immutable constant, that exploitation is an immutable constant. Many would say there are millions of injustices each day under the sun on this earth, so why bother my brother? But there are some who think contrary, that the pursuit of truth should be met fearlessly. That truth does matter. WikiLeaks took on the rulers of the world – they who in effect control the fate of the world. [ ... CONTINUES ... ] The presumptions of innocence and of whistleblowing in the public interest were hijacked by the then Prime Minister’s statement that WikiLeaks had acted ‘illegally’. Gillard and her government portrayed WikiLeaks as if a criminally bent organisation. The American administration was depicting WikiLeaks as a terrorist organisation. What led a highly skilled lawyer such as Gillard to abrogate the presumption of innocence, to dismiss the right of WikiLeaks as whistleblowers, as investigative journalists, as acting in the public interest? Prime Minister Gillard fell into line with the contrived rage from the American government and its clandestine institutions – a nation of which a majority of its conservatives and excessive self interest groups were calling for the smashing of WikiLeaks and for Assange’s blood. Psychosocially this was displaced anger – it was about guilt and being exposed. Censorship protects the guilty. This type of anger and the subsequent malice and vindictiveness have been a tragic constant in the human narrative; where moral forces shine the light on the immoral or amoral and are then punished for doing so. President Barack Obama’s administration has prosecuted and jailed more whistleblowers than any previous American administration. The David and Goliath like tussle between the oppressed and the oppressor continues. Haiti is one of the world’s poorest nations. It is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. More than 80 per cent of Haiti’s predominately rural population lives in poverty. During the past decade the poverty has degraded further, becoming more extreme and dire. The life expectancy of a Haitian is 57 years of age. Less than half the Haitian population is literate and only one child in five attends secondary schooling. Less than 25 per cent of the population have access to safe water. The Haitian population continues to grow at about 200,000 per year. In November 2010, WikiLeaks released 1,918 documents from 2003 to 2010 – ending six weeks after the January 12, 2010 earthquake which further devastated Haitian life. The documents were among the most disturbing I have read of the files published by WikiLeaks, in how America was controlling Haitian policy-making but to the detriment of the Haitian people. It is not news that America meddles, bullies, wars with nations who do not abide. But it is darkly disturbing to read these documents and to see one of the world’s powerless nations downtrodden further by the world’s most powerful superpower. The Haitian cables wreak an air of hopelessness. One cannot not be moved by the Haiti cables. [ ... CONTINUES ... ] SOURCE http://thestringer.com.au/the-haiti-cables-wikileaks-part-2-11479 *Apologies to The Stringer ... I keep adding just 'one more paragraph', and I've included a bit more text in this extract than I first intended. 26 January 2011 Stratfor  Private US Intelligence Contractor confirms via e-mail that they have sealed indictment on Assange. WikiLeaks | GI Files ABC http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3157403.htm?show=transcript Monday 14 March, 2011 Julia Gillard Meets The People EXTRACT - TRANSCRIPT TONY JONES: Okay. You're watching Q&A. Remember you can send web or video questions to our website. The address is on the screen to find out how to do that. Well, the next question is a video question and it comes from Julian Assange, who is under house arrest in England. JULIAN ASSANGE: Prime Minister, you just got back from Washington but what Australian citizens want to know is which country do you represent? Do you represent Australians and will you fight for Australian interests because it's not the first time that you or a member of your cabinet has been into a US government building and exchanged information. In fact, we have intelligence that your government has been exchanging information with foreign powers about Australian citizens working for Wikileaks. So Prime Minister, my question to you is this: when will you come clean about precisely what information you have supplied the foreign powers about Australian citizens working or affiliated with Wikileaks and if you cannot give a full and frank answer to that question, should perhaps the Australian people consider charging you with treason? TONY JONES: Take the treason part first, if you like. [ ... CONTINUED ... ] TONY JONES: What about espionage which, of course, is the charge the United States would like to lay at the feet of Julian Assange? JULIA GILLARD: Well, Mr Assange hasn't been charged with anything relating to Wikileaks. He's got some legal issues relating to personal conduct questions - alleged personal conduct questions in Sweden - and no one in the United States raised with me Mr Assange. No one. [ ... CONTINUED ... ] http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3157403.htm?show=transcript Definitions Indictment -- formal accusation of felony -- issued by grand jury -- based on proposed charge, witness testimony & other -- presented by public prosecutor (District Attorney) -- grand jury vote that there is enough 'evidence' -- of 'probability' that a 'crime' was committed -- & that accused should be tried -- District Attorneys do not present full case Grand Juries -- used in federal charges -- due to Fifth Amendment to US Constitution -- capital crime (or otherwise infamous crime) presentation to Grand Jury required -- states use 'preliminary hearing' in place of grand jury Sealed Indictment   -- indictment (formal accusation) -- sealed so it stays non-public until unsealed Federal court ruling re sealed indictments example: "The magistrate judge to whom an indictment is returned may direct that the indictment be kept secret until the defendant is in custody or has been released pending trial. The clerk must then seal the indictment, and no person may disclose the indictment’s existence except as necessary to issue or execute a warrant or summons." http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/sealed-indictment/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- CAPITAL CRIME Death sentence punishment, known as 'capital punishment'. "US federal government lists 41 capital offenses which are punishable by death." 8.     18 U.S.C. 794     Espionage http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=4942 http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004927 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Anyone else wonder why the then Prime Minister of Australia was not informed by her American counterparts (and strategic, defence and trade allies), that an American Grand Jury had issued a sealed indictment for the head of Australian journalist-publisher, Julian Assange, about 6 weeks prior to the Prime Minister's appearance on national Australian television?  Likewise, in the case of Australian Foreign Minister Rudd (aka deposed-by-Gillard former Labor Prime Minister) ... over a year down the track. Yes, I realise it is a 'sealed' indictment, but if US private intelligence contractor, Stratfor, knew about the issue of a sealed indictment against Assange in January of 2011 (as per their leaked communications), the US government knew also, of course. SMH http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/revealed-us-plans-to-charge-assange-20120228-1u14o.html Revealed: US plans to charge Assange Date   |  February 29, 2012 Philip Dorling UNITED STATES prosecutors have drawn up secret charges against the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, according to a confidential email obtained from the private US intelligence company Stratfor. In an internal email to Stratfor analysts on January 26 last year, the vice-president of intelligence, Fred Burton, responded to a media report concerning US investigations targeting WikiLeaks with the comment: ''We have a sealed indictment on Assange.'' He underlined the sensitivity of the information - apparently obtained from a US government source - with warnings to ''Pls [please] protect'' and ''Not for pub[lication]''. Mr Burton is well known as an expert on security and counterterrorism with close ties to the US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. He is the former deputy chief of the counter-terrorism division of the US State Department's diplomatic security service. Stratfor, whose headquarters are in Austin, Texas, provides intelligence and analysis to corporate and government subscribers. On Monday, WikiLeaks began releasing more than 5 million Stratfor emails which it said showed ''how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients''. The Herald has secured access to the emails through an investigative partnership with WikiLeaks. The news that US prosecutors drew up a secret indictment against Mr Assange more than 12 months ago comes as the Australian awaits a British Supreme Court decision on his appeal against extradition to Sweden to be questioned in relation to sexual assault allegations. Mr Assange, who has not been charged with any offence in Sweden, fears extradition to Stockholm will open the way for his extradition to the US on possible espionage or conspiracy charges in retaliation for WikiLeaks's publication of thousands of leaked US classified military and diplomatic reports. [ ... ] The Australian embassy in Washington reported in December 2010 that the Justice Department was pursuing an ''active and vigorous inquiry into whether Julian Assange can be charged under US law, most likely the 1917 Espionage Act''. In recent answers to written parliamentary questions from the Greens senator Scott Ludlam, the former foreign affairs minister Kevin Rudd indicated Australia had sought confirmation that a secret grand jury inquiry directed against Mr Assange was under way. Mr Rudd said ''no formal advice'' had been received from US authorities but acknowledged the existence of a ''temporary surrender'' mechanism that could allow Mr Assange to be extradited from Sweden to the US. He added that Swedish officials had said Mr Assange's case would be afforded ''due process''. The US government has repeatedly declined to confirm or deny any reported details of the WikiLeaks inquiry, beyond the fact that an investigation is being pursued. The Stratfor emails show that the WikiLeaks publication of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables triggered intense discussion within the ''global intelligence'' company. In the emails, an Australian Stratfor ''senior watch officer'', Chris Farnham, advocated revoking Mr Assange's Australian citizenship, adding: ''I don't care about the other leaks but the ones he has made that potentially damage Australian interests upset me. If I thought I could switch this dickhead off without getting done I don't think I'd have too much of a problem.'' But Mr Farnham also referred to a conversation with a close family friend who he said knew one of the Swedish women who had made allegations of sexual assault against Mr Assange, and added: ''There is absolutely nothing behind it other than prosecutors that are looking to make a name for themselves.'' While some Stratfor analysts decried what they saw as Mr Assange's ''clear anti-Americanism'', others welcomed the leaks and debated WikiLeaks's longer-term impact on secret diplomacy and intelligence. Stratfor's director of analysis, Reva Bhalla, observed: ''WikiLeaks itself may struggle to survive but the idea that's put out there, that anyone with the bandwidth and servers to support such a system can act as a prime outlet of leaks. [People] are obsessed with this kind of stuff. The idea behind it won't die.'' Stratfor says it will not comment on the emails obtained by WikiLeaks. The US embassy has also declined to comment. http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/revealed-us-plans-to-charge-assange-20120228-1u14o.html  Stratfor US Private Intel Contractor Assange (Video) DIY TRANSCRIPT [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] Julian Assange circa:  28 February 2012 "Together with 25 other media partners from around the world, we have been investigating the activities of this company for some months, and what we have discovered is a company that is a private intelligence Enron. On the surface, it presents as if it's a media organisation, providing a private subscription intelligence newsletter, but underneath it is running paid informants networks, laundering those payments through the Bahamas, and through Switzerland, through private credit cards.  It is monitoring Bhopal activists for Dow Chemicals.  It is monitoring PETA activists for Coca Cola. So, it is engaged in a seedy business, and not ready to be content with merely monitoring activist for big corporations or providing private intelligence to the US military. It has now started its own internal strategic private investment fund, where it is using this information from insiders -- paid information from insiders -- in order to invest in what it calls a wide variety of geopolitical financial instruments, such as stocks, bonds, and currencies, and this makes News of the World look like kindergarten. I think it is an important exposure for us. It is part of a long continuation that we have had in exposing the activities of secret organisations. Late last year, we worked on the spy files release, showing some 176 organisations involved in providing surveillance agreements and, in some cases, bulk surveillance agreements to monitor whole countries, and so this is a private intelligence organisation. The activities of intelligence organisations increasingly are privatised and, once privatised, they're taken out of the realm of the Freedom of Information Act, of US military law, and so they are are often used by governments who want to conceal a particular activity. But Statfor is simply out of control.  I mean, even as a private intelligence organisation, it has been completely hopeless in protecting the identity of its informants, or even providing accurate information.  It has engaged in internal deals with its captive financial investment firms that it is setting up.  So it really is some type of Enron, where there is not even proper corporate control within the organisation." -- end audio -- Daily Mail UK 'Shadow CIA' buys state secrets for cash via Swiss bank accounts, claims WikiLeaks as it releases 'stolen' files By Daily Mail Reporter Updated: 07:43 EST, 28 February 2012  Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks today started to publish more than five million confidential emails from the global intelligence company Stratfor. The emails, dated from July 2004 to late December 2011, are said to reveal the 'inner workings' of US-based firm known as the 'Shadow CIA'. [ ... ] WikiLeaks accused Stratfor of 'routine use of secret cash bribes to get information from insiders', and claims an email from chief executive George Friedman in August 2011 suggested his concern over its legality. In it, he wrote: 'We are retaining a law firm to create a policy for Stratfor on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. 'I don't plan to do the perp walk and I don't want anyone here doing it either.' The group said: 'Like WikiLeaks' diplomatic cables, much of the significance of the emails will be revealed over the coming weeks, as our coalition and the public search through them and discover connections.' It said Stratfor did secret deals with dozens of media organisations and journalists - from Reuters to the Kiev Post. 'While it is acceptable for journalists to swap information or be paid by other media organisations, because Stratfor is a private intelligence organisation that services governments and private clients these relationships are corrupt or corrupting.' The group said it has also obtained Stratfor's list of informants and, in many cases, records of its pay-offs. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2107041/WikiLeaks-releases-stolen-files-Shadow-CIA-buys-state-secrets-cash-Swiss-bank.html Once More: "Assange, who has not been charged with any offence in Sweden, fears extradition to Stockholm will open the way for his extradition to the US on possible espionage or conspiracy charges in retaliation for WikiLeaks's publication of thousands of leaked US classified military and diplomatic reports." Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd - 2012 " ... acknowledged the existence of a ''temporary surrender'' mechanism that could allow Mr Assange to be extradited from Sweden to the US." Source (as above) http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/revealed-us-plans-to-charge-assange-20120228-1u14o.html Australian Journalist Prisoner of the Current World Order ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Julian Assange Editor, WikiLeaks Justice4Assange WikiLeaks Site WikiLeaks Twitter BOOK:  The WikiLeaks Files (2015) Link | here ꕤ

Mainstream Media - Concentrated - Big-6 Corporate Control - Lies & Indoctrination

ꕤ Article SOURCE Activist Post | here Activist Post Investigative Journalist For CBS News Exposes How Mainstream Media Brainwashes The Public November 30, 2015 By Amanda Froelich If you’re aware that only a handful of corporations (6, to be exact) control over 90% of the media, you’re one of the few. What this means is that everything you hear on the radio, read in the news, and see on television (including the ‘news’), is controlled by one of these six corporations: General Electric (GE), News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS. This startling truth has become more commonly accepted in recent years, especially since Operation Mockingbird, a CIA-based initiative to control mainstream media, was exposed. Popular avenues of information are now bombarded with clever marketing tactics telling the public what to think and what to buy, how to look, and where to spend hard-earned dollars. Such is evident once you wake up and note the blatant lies continuing to spam the TV screen and newspaper headlines – especially concerning the topics of health, food, war (“terrorism”), poverty, and more. Sadly, people aren’t even aware of how brainwashed they’ve become. That’s where Sharyl Attkisson comes in. For her eye-opening TEDx talk (below), the veteran investigative journalist (and former CBS News investigative reporter) reveals how “astroturf,” or fake grassroots movements, funded by political, corporate, or other special interests very effectively manipulate and distort media messages. It’s time the populace wake up and question everything with integrity. SOURCE Activist Post | here Operation Mockingbird secret campaign by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to influence media https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird Newly Declassified Govt Docs Reveal Operation Mockingbird is Alive and Well By Jay Syrmopoulos on October 2, 2015 An agency of the U.S. government was exposed trying to control the public narrative over WikiLeaks in 2011 by influencing media outlets coverage, as revealed in the latest batch of Hillary Clinton emails released by the State Department. The emails from Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs at the time, Philip J. Crowley, expose the U.S. State Department “planting” a number of “questions and concerns” with CBS News for a 60 minutes piece on WikiLeaks, featuring Julian Assange. ARTICLE CONTINUED AT SOURCE http://thefreethoughtproject.com/feds-exposed-planting-talking-points-questions-60-minutes-episode-wikileaks/ Modern Art As CIA Weapon Operation Mockingbird Post | here ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Maybe that's why I don't watch TV or listen to radio.  lol ꕤ

Israel's Role in Syria Destruction

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-supports-isis/5492807 Israel Supports ISIS By Stephen Lendman Global Research, December 02, 2015 Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon admitted Israeli support for ISIS and other takfiri terrorists,  calling them Syrian rebels – failing to explain they’re  imported from scores of countries… There are no so-called “moderates” among them. Since Obama waged war on Syria in March 2011, Israel bombed government targets multiple times.  It continues supplying terrorist elements with weapons, munitions and other support. Over 1,000 of their wounded fighters were treated in Israeli hospitals, helping them recover to resume waging terror on Syria. Ya’alon claiming Israeli policy excludes “getting involved in the Syrian war” is a lie. Israel’s long-range goal is unchallenged regional hegemony, independent governments eliminated in Syria, Iran and Lebanon, area nations balkanized into mini-states for easier control, undeclared Israeli borders expanded to incorporate territory of neighboring states. On November 24, The Voltaire Network said journalist Sharri Markson got firsthand accounts from wounded jihadist terrorists receiving treatment at Israel’s Ziv Medical Centre, “specialising in war traumology…government-run and linked to the Israeli Defence Forces.” Their recovery is aided to help them “continue the jihad in Syria.” Israeli security forces detained and interrogated her in a “heavy-handed” way for exposing what they want kept secret. In September 2014, a photo of Netanyahu and Ya’alon visiting terrorists receiving care in an Israeli hospital went viral online – Netanyahu seen shaking a terrorist’s hand. According to the al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper, “Israel has in one way or another become the main marketer of ISIS oil. Without them, most ISIS-produced oil would have remained going between Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Even the three companies would not receive the oil if they did not have a buyer in Israel.” In October, Iraqi security forces captured an Israeli colonel, Yuri Oulen Shahak, working directly with ISIS terrorists. He explained Netanyahu’s criminality during interrogation, one more example of Zionist evil. He directly “participated in the ISIL group’s terrorist operations,” according to Iraqi authorities. --------------------------- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- SMH Journalist Sharri Markson detained on Israeli visit Date November 23, 2015 A prominent Australian journalist was detained by Israeli security officials in tense scenes last week for breaching protocol during a visit to a hospital treating victims of the Syrian civil war. Sharri Markson, a senior writer at The Australian, was detained for questioning by security officials at the Ziv Medical Centre in northern Israel on Thursday. Markson was travelling with other Australian journalists on a week-long study tour organised by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. ... Over 500 Syrians – including wounded fighters battling the Assad regime – have been treated at the Ziv Medical Centre in Safed, near the Syrian border. In a briefing before the tour began, hospital staff told the journalists that the patients could be at risk upon their return to Syria if it became known they had sought treatment in Israel. The hospital uses elaborate methods to secretly transfer the patients in and out of Syria. The eight journalists were instructed not to record the names of the patients or to take photos that could identify them. CONTINUED http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/journalist-sharri-markson-detained-on-israeli-visit-20151122-gl4xtf.html COMMENT It was all good until I got to the bit about the Israeli colonel.  I'm pretty sure that Times of Israel published an article denying the 'colonel capture' story.  I don't know enough about the oil trade to work out if Israel is involved.  But after seeing the article about the Australian journalist's (Markson's) visit to the Israeli hospital that's treating those attacking Syria, I'd believe just about anything. And, yes, there was a photo of Netanyahu visiting what I guess are jihadists in an Israeli hospital. The part about Balkanising the Middle East for easier control makes sense. Note also: Israel bombed government targets multiple times Israel continues supplying or weapons, munitions & other How is this even OK? Syria is being destroyed and Israel is patching up those that are attacking the government of a sovereign adjoining nation. Why isn't this declared terrorism?   ꕤ

CANADA - Secret Saudi Arabia Arms Deal

SOURCE http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-assured-details-of-saudi-arms-deal-would-stay-under-wraps/article26105853/ Harper assured Saudi Arabia details of arms deal would stay under wraps STEVEN CHASE OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail Published Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015 3:00AM EDT Last updated Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015 6:26AM EDT Ottawa is contractually obliged to keep secret the details of a controversial $15-billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia – a transaction that Stephen Harper personally assured the country’s monarch will be guaranteed by the Canadian government, documents say. Foreign Affairs e-mails obtained by The Globe and Mail under access-to-information law indicate the Saudis have made excess publicity about the sale of armoured fighting vehicles a deal-breaker. Officials were scrambling behind the scenes in January, after media coverage of the arms deal, to determine the consequences of publicly releasing the terms of the Saudi contract. Aliya Mawani, a Canadian diplomat based in Riyadh, the capital, told Foreign Affairs colleagues on Jan. 21 that “we [the government] would be breaking the terms of the contract” with Saudi Arabia if details were made public. “The contract is under a Canadian government guarantee in terms of fulfilment,” Ms. Mawani wrote in a Jan. 21 exchange with colleagues on why Ottawa couldn’t make the terms public. “This was confirmed in writing by our Prime Minister in his letters to the King,” she said, speaking of Mr. Harper and the late Saudi King Abdullah. A cloak of secrecy surrounds this agreement, first announced in 2014, with Ottawa refusing to divulge any substantial information on the vehicles Canada is selling to the Saudi regime – or how it justifies the sale to a nation known for human-rights abuses. A federal agency responsible for sales to foreign military, Canadian Commercial Corporation, is actually the “prime contractor” for the transaction even though it is General Dynamics Land Systems Canada in London that manufacturers the vehicles. Records obtained by The Globe offer a great deal of insight into Ottawa’s role in brokering the transaction, which supports more than 3,000 jobs in Canada. In another government e-mail exchange in January of 2015, Brigette Walenius, deputy director with Foreign Affairs' Middle East-Maghreb Commercial Unit, cited General Dynamics officials who spoke of a “confidentiality clause in their contract with the Saudis” and how Riyadh “could terminate [the] contract if too much info is released.” Nonetheless, senior Canadian officials were delighted at the deal behind the scenes, e-mails show. Mr. MacDonald, Canada’s envoy in Riyadh, gave Ottawa early notice that the deal was coming together as far back as 2012. In an October, 2012, e-mail with the subject line “GDLS lands the Big One,” Mr. MacDonald informed Foreign Affairs staffers, referring to General Dynamic Land Systems. The Canadian ambassador ends this e-mail with a jubilant expression “Gotta LOV the LAV!” but not before sketching out some bare-bones details. He wrote that General Dynamics “have been chasing” the contract since 2009 and it’s a boon for the plant in London, Ont., because the company’s work on LAVs for Canada’s mission in Afghanistan was wrapping up as the Canadian combat mission ended in 2011. These new orders will “replace the decline from Canada’s Afghanistan withdrawal,” Mr. MacDonald said in his e-mail. The ambassador wrote that the LAVs “are going to be ‘fully loaded,’” that they would be the “most advanced ever made” and that delivery would start 38 months after the contract was signed and last another 108 months, or nine years. A separate January 21, 2015, e-mail from an official in Foreign Affairs’s export-control division said documentation received from General Dynamics to date suggests the vehicles could possibly include turreted LAVs “equipped with automatic firearms.” The Canadian government is nevertheless taking care to play down the Saudi connection. In one case, Foreign Affairs appeared to have struck references to Saudi Arabia from speaking notes prepared for a cabinet minister’s media event at the request of the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), which is handling the LAV deal. An official from the government agency previewed speaking notes for Minister of State Lynne Yelich before a January 9 media event to celebrate a Saskatchewan-based company’s role as a sub-contractor in the LAV sale. “Thanks for letting me know what the speaking notes are,” Lina Seto, then a CCC official, wrote Foreign Affairs. She asked for “the removal of one of the mentions of the buyer country,” adding this was “important to the supplier,” meaning General Dynamics. “We are sensitive to the Saudi Arabia references, due to confidentiality,” Ms. Seto explained in an e-mail to Foreign Affairs on January 7, 2015. A final version of these speaking notes obtained by The Globe under access-to-information law contains no reference to Saudi Arabia as the buyer. Several years ago, the Conservative government in Ottawa refocused international relations to make “economic diplomacy” in service of private industry the centrepiece of Canadian foreign policy. SOURCE http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-assured-details-of-saudi-arms-deal-would-stay-under-wraps/article26105853/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Canada has dispensed with democracy, transparency, and accountability, in favour of "economic diplomacy" IN THE SERVICE OF PRIVATE INDUSTRY. Wow. This is huge. Canada is a corporate dictatorship. This article illustrates why the press generally, why whistleblowers, and why whilstleblower publishers/journalists like WikiLeaks, are so important to keeping government open, accountable, representative and therefore closer to democratic than government would otherwise be, were those in government permitted to run their own show, without question. ꕤ

Mainstream Journalism - New Business Model - Lipstick on a Pig

Andrew Fowler: 'Why journalism is in decline' Opinion The Drum By Jessica Tapp Posted 3 Aug 2015, 11:30pm  Mon 3 Aug 2015, 11:30pm Author and journalist Andrew Fowler takes a look at a media industry in flux, and tells The Drum what factors are contributing to a decline in quality journalism. Journalist and author Andrew Fowler says a lack of trust and failed business models are contributing to a decline in journalism. Mr Fowler has outlined the problem in his new book, The War on Journalism - Media Moguls, Whistleblowers and The Price of Freedom. Speaking to The Drum, he said the declining confidence in the media was contributing to a disconnect between the mainstream media and their sources. "People with information very often don't trust the existing news media, they tend to go to people outside," he said. "For example, (Edward) Snowden went to Glenn Greenwald who was a freelancer who then got the story published in The Guardian, but there's a lot of pressure from Greenwald to get that story up before the story finally appeared." The Guardian published a series of Greenwald's articles revealing America's National Security Agency was collecting the phone records of millions of customers of one of the USA's largest telecommunications providers. The leaked documents also showed the NSA was permitted to use and retain information from US communications, including emails and internet usage. "Bradley, or Chelsea Manning as she is now, actually didn't go to the newspapers, she didn't go to The New York Times, she went to this outfit who nobody knew at the time, called Wikileaks," Mr Fowler said. "Wikileaks were the people that actually then did the deal with The Guardian." Mainstream media disconnect Mr Fowler said the way the NSA files were leaked shows the changing relationship in how the media gets its information. "It's an interesting area to look at to understand why those things occurred," he said. "What it shows you is that one of the reasons why the mainstream media is in such a crisis is that people have really lost confidence in it, not only because the money itself has dried up so they really can't fund the kind of investigations that they did in the past, but also because they think that they tend to go downmarket to compete with the internet. "You get clickbait stories ... which really are just trash, and flop." Losing money, losing power Mr Fowler said the drop in profits, particularly for print media, had made it difficult for journalists to fund good reporting. "I think governments and corporate interests have become more and more powerful and more and more controlling of journalists," he said. "As journalists we've become weaker as the rivers of gold, as (Rupert) Murdoch famously called them, have dried up. "Then the governments and the large corporations have really made a great play of that and have fed news organisations pretty easy to digest news that they can run." He said the public was aware of the changing power dynamic. "It's a very difficult situation because there's no money ... so the problem is how do you get out of that issue?" Failing business models Mr Fowler said he wanted to see a new business model to keep funding quality journalism. "Unless you do, the fourth estate which is the fourth pillar that stands against the other three pillars of the realm will fall. And for democracy - and it sounds awfully large call to make - but for democracy it's a really dangerous time," he said.  [Fascism followed by revolution?  lol] "As far as I can see there has been no major investigation of how this failure occurred because most newspapers were in denial until they finally got clobbered with the reality." Echo chambers Mr Fowler blamed pay walls for making it easier for people to seek out the stories that only match their views or interests. "What you want is a mix in the newspaper where you get people reading good, strong stuff like investigations done by The Herald Sun or done by The Age, mixed in with light stories that people will want to read," he said. "The (Financial Review) behind a pay wall is all very well, but I want the Fin Review read by other people than just those people who have blue chip stock. "I don't want this narrow casting because narrow casting means that people live in an echo chamber and that breeds all sorts of problems: extremism, people with prejudice only reading what they want to read, never being exposed to a big idea." But haven't people always read particular newspapers because it aligns with their views? Mr Fowler denied it and said there was value in a diversity of news and opinion. "Sometimes they get surprised." Jessica Tapp is a journalist with ABC's DrumTV http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-04/tapp-why-journalism-is-in-decline/6670076  --------------------- COMMENT New business model?  Lipstick on a pig, more like it. Goodbye fascism lite & hello full-on corporate fascism controlled media and society? Meh, what's the difference?  LOL Seriously, mainstream journalism is deception & has always been deception. The main reason I support journalism is because I want everyone *else* to have a voice (ie public and alternative press), and I don't think you can have that without having a free press.  Freedom of expression and freedom of speech is more important to me, but it's not like you can have those personal and political freedoms without also having a free press.  As for mainstream journalism, that's largely the corporate & government agenda and propaganda voice. No major investigation needed.  See enough mainstream media propaganda in action and read about CIA bribes, journalists obtaining government agency approval before printing, CIA controlled media of the Cold War era, willing newspaper editors obliging the government and so on, and mainstream media cancels itself out. And who seriously wants to know what Rupert Murdoch's or Gina Rinehardt's paper wants to proclaim ... you just read that stuff for bare details and the occasional laugh. Big idea?  Big idea, or big lie?  Think the press is just lamenting that it's harder to pull the wool over everyone's eyes these days.  Not sure how they propose to expose everybody to 'diversity' and 'opinion' when all mainstream output is from the position of the establishment (or a certain brand of smug, sanctimonious, preachy left), which is said to represent the limits of debate.  I'm guessing more and more people aren't interested in what they have to say because the internet gives people options they've never had. Fascists will probably shut down the internet and we'll be stuck with watching the evening news and reading one of a couple of daily newspapers. Don't know how money is made out of news.  News is like tissues.  It's throw-away:  as soon as you have the key facts and the buzz of the newness of it, it's dead news.  PS   I've figured out what I don't like about mainstream media.  Don't like the whole presenter thing and being presented with whatever is deemed 'suitable', being presented with somebody else's agenda, the propriety of it all, the political correctness, the seriousness, the 'we are authorities' play-acting, the entire canned for public consumption fakery of TV news ... as well the fact that you KNOW they and the printed press will never present news that goes against US-allied foreign policy (well, you eventually learn if you bother to look).  But you instinctively know because the story is always the same, the state 'enemies' are always the same etc.  It's all about upholding the establishment position, whatever that position may be. The biggest threat to journalism is government, which is afraid of whistleblowers and of the internet.  The government is cracking down on the media and on civil liberties, to prevent exposure from perhaps a media that now needs to work harder than it has ever done, as it is in competing with a whistleblower publisher (or maybe more), and needs to maybe start looking a little more real? And this talk of 'democracy' is nonsense.  It is, and always has been, a plutocracy. I'm starting to think that any threat to journalism (other than government) is probably hyped up nonsense.  The bulk of the population will always be mainstream media dependent, and I think very few people will ever stick their necks on the block as whistleblowers.   I'm still having serious trouble believing the Defence Dept 4Chan leak story. It's probably a fake, like those false flag ops, to provide a pretext for ever growing controls on the media and the public.  Ummm ... can you have fake court cases?  If you can have faked 'attacks' one must defend with military response, faked  weapons of mass destruction, and faked allegations etc, etc, why not also have yourself some fake court cases? lol  [I've not slept much and I've just bashed this rant out.  So if it doesn't make a lot of sense, that'd be why.  lol]