CIA Torture Report

CIA TORTURE REPORT What to do when too scattered to immerse oneself in social media escapism? Well, try to sleep.  Try, try and try again.  And if that fails, go play with the blog ... Hey, the CIA Torture Report is out - here (PDF - 525 pages) - finally published 9 December 2014. I'll forever associate CIA torture and the report with Obama's fairly ho-hum, casual: "We tortured some folks" The report's whittled down & heavily censored.  But what I read of the highlights 'most gruesome moments' (DailyBeast) (see also Guardian)  was enough to make me quite angry and disgusted. The treatment of the man that froze to death on the floor, naked and chained is beyond belief. Torture of people isn't something we usually give much thought to.  It's in the realm of maybe action-thriller movies and something we perhaps ever so vaguely figure 'might' happen in the underbelly of real life or, if we're pressed to stop to think about it, may have cynically shrugged and thought, yeah, bound to happen in some nasty underworld. But even if we could vaguely conceive of people maybe getting tortured in the course of lifestyle choices, such as a life of crime or a path of political dissidence, it would not enter our heads that agents of  democratic governments would subject living, captive, beings to torture -- and subject them to excesses of brutal torture repeatedly -- over the course of weeks of life-threatening and soul-destroying abuse. The 'enhanced interrogation' the US dished up to captives is reminiscent of torture harking back to Nazi Germans or the torture perpetrated by psychopathic sadists getting off on controlling and debasing helpless victims (which is, thankfully, quite rare among the general public, but maybe common among the CIA and cohorts by the look of things). So here we have representatives of the American state -- the symbol of the 'free, democratic world' -- sexually violating captives and subjecting them to insane, prolonged torture and even death, while America's preaching freedom, democracy, peace and moral superiority ... often at the point of a gun. That US allies were complicit in this violation of human rights and of international laws (they apparently only pay lip service to) is just as disgusting, mind-boggling and demoralising. Source:  Open Societies Foundations The above map is from the Open Societies Foundation Report -  'Globalising Torture: CIA Secret Detention & Extraordinary Rendition 2013 - here [PDF - 216 Pages]. Extraordinary Rendition:  abduction & extra-judicial transfer of persons from one country to another Just having a quick look at 'Globalising Torture', I note that Australia rates a mention because an Australian national went through the rendition and torture mill (2001-2005) before being released with no charge and finally getting an undisclosed settlement from the Australian government in 2010. The Australian government put on a bit of a show afterwards with an 'inquiry'.  But this was essentially the government investigating itself and (unsurprisingly) no wrongdoing was found. Nor did they find evidence of involvement of Australian officials: The inquiry seemingly did not investigate the statements of an Egyptian intelligence officer who alleged the involvement of Australian officials in Habib’s detention in Egypt, with Thom claiming that Habib did not provide the inquiry with a copy of the statements. The ECHR ordered Poland to pay restitution to abductees who were taken to a CIA black site in Poland & tortured.  Poland had denied culpability and had been planning to appeal the court's decision: In July 2014 the European Court of Human Rights condemned the government of Poland for participating in CIA extraordinary rendition, ordering Poland to pay restitution to men who had been abducted, taken to a CIA black site in Poland, and tortured.   Poland is appealing the decision. [wikipedia] But the cat's out of the bag now:  RT News reports that Poland had received hush money to host CIA prisons and that former President Aleksander Kwasniewski confirmed hosting CIA black sites (but had denied authorising torture).   Oh, and Poland was pissed that the US can't keep a secret.  Ah, well, you get that.  No honour among thieves (or violators). Anyway, there's 54 countries in the 'Globalising Torture' report and:  Russia's not in it!   Bring out the dancing girls & play the can-can. Moving away from the dancing girls and getting back to the subject of torture, this is some interesting information about US government funding of countries that commit torture: TOP 10 - USA AID COUNTRIES - THAT COMMIT TORTURE: 1. Israel – $3.1b 2. Afghanistan – $2.2b 3. Egypt – $1.6b 4. Pakistan – $1.2b 5. Nigeria – $693m 6. Jordan – $671m 7. Iraq – $573m 8. Kenya – $564m 9. Tanzania – $553m 10. Uganda -$456m Source:   http://leftfootforward.org/2014/01/top-ten-us-aid-recipients-all-practice-torture/ Having had a quick look at the CIA Torture Report (which I haven't read in full), the first thing I noticed was the eye-watering $81 million (plus $1 million legal indemnity) paid by the USG to the 'brains' of the torture program (which I'm pretty sure I could have devised for waaay less that fee).  What an obscene amount of taxpayer money to disburse on torturing, sexually violating and freezing people.  Oh, and I left out 'rectal feeding' or 'rectal rehydration'.  It is basically an enema -- an infusion of liquid poured into the rectum.  Liquid or ... liquefied food in the case of CIA-style 'rectal rehydration': One CIA cable released in the report reveals that detainee Majid Khan was administered by enema his “‘lunch tray’ consisting of hummus, pasta with sauce, nuts and raisins was ‘pureed and rectally infused’”. One CIA officer’s email was in the report quoted as saying “we used the largest Ewal [sic] tube we had”.  [Guardian] Daily Caller running a headline 'Former CIA Director Michael Hayden Says Rectal Feeding Not Torture, It's a Medical Procedure'.  Guess they need to have a look at the Guardian article above.  Far from 'medical' the way CIA goons applied it.  Shame on Daily Caller 'Crapper'  (hey, that's kinda apt given the subject).   Would you believe Hayden tried to deny it was a rectal procedure: Blitzer: Is that rectal though? Hayden: No, it’s not. And I’m not prepared to tell you why one method was chosen ... Wonder if the paper's having a quiet lend of us in that article ... or are Americans really, really, dumb and likely to fall for the comedic denials? Well, that's the long awaited CIA Torture Report.   I've not read either of reports in full yet or paid very close attention to the articles, but I may go back and check things out more thoroughly.  Notice the US media is big on repeating "Torture Is Not An American Value" ('TINAAV').  That's a distancing thing (that's not America, that's those bad, bad torture progam tailors).  It's also a positive spin thing in the headlines.  TINAAV repeated thousands of times in the media provides a counterbalance to 'CIA Torture Report Sparks World Outrage' [Sky Australia] type reporting.  That's my take on it, but I'm no media expert, so you might think otherwise. There's probably thousands of things that could be said.  OK, I'm exaggerating.  There are things that ought to be said in this post.  But I'm not sure I could be bothered (I'm just a blogger for fun).  And I'm running out of steam having done yet another all-nighter without sleep. Should probably point out that the report from Open Societies Foundations looks pretty good and is rather a surprising contribution to have come across, because I've been very suspicious of anything NGO related and anything associated with George Soros, as I see NGOs as instruments of influence and 'take-over'. Oh, now I remember what I wanted to say:  the CIA Torture Report will not change a thing.   Nobody is calling for military, political & economic leadership of Nazi Germany America to be held to account and tried before an international court of law. So, it will be business as usual for the US and for countries within the US sphere of influence (and we're taking over 50 countries involved in these CIA torture activities at last count in 2013). It's also worth mentioning that this is why we should make every effort to protect and support whistle-blowers (Bradley/Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden) and journalists and publishers (Julian Assange & WikiLeaks) who have taken enormous personal risk, and taken on world powers (yep, USA and friends, the same guys that were involved in kidnap, unlawful deportation and torture),  to disclose the truth of government wrongdoing and cover-up. That over 50 governments have joined the US in criminal activity in violation of international laws should ring alarm bells like crazy.  That, and the fact that anybody can be grabbed off the street in a democracy, and shipped off for USA torture anywhere in the world. It should also concern those who have watched their government clamp down on the free press and watched in dismay as governments rushed through laws that infringe on civil liberties, justified in the name of 'national security' and 'war on terror' (or merely European Union cohesion, in the case of the European Arrest Warrant) by governments that clearly cannot be trusted to adhere to principles of justice and democracy. The CIA Torture Report ought to be an impetus for voters to demand transparent and accountable government. -----------------    Freedom & democracy eroded by infringements on: * right to freedom from mass surveillance;  * right to privacy;  * right to freedom of information; * right to freedom from government censorship * right to open, public trials;  * right to presumption of innocence; * right to freedom from extradition without evidence; * right to transparent government;  * right to accountable government.  [Excuse any typos.  No sleep.  Very tired.]

 

Prison Break

Prison Break   In twitter prison, so I thought I'd drop by & share. Found this funny comment on a post titled "Don't Freak Out, Twitter Jail is Real": Wow, it's really hard adjusting to being somewhere else.   Twitter feels like a 'living' space because it's in constant motion, whereas this is rather static. What if I can only think & communicate in nothing but tweets?

MH17: Australian Politican vs Putin

Australian Politician vs Putin https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wR2elGUBLVI Source:  QualityControlCentre - YouTube MH17

Perversion and Poetry

PERVERSION & POETRY 1.  US Surveillance of entire foreign populations US spies on multiple, whole populations worldwide ... depriving entire nations of their privacy & freedom. USA spying on Bahamas, Mexico, Kenya, Philippines + one other (likely violent unnamed) >>  Article Data Pirates of the Caribbean: The NSA Is Recording Every Cell Phone Call in the Bahamas https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/05/19/data-pirates-caribbean-nsa-recording-every-cell-phone-call-bahamas/ 2.  US Criminal Activities - Gladio B "... Pentagon, CIA and State Department maintained intimate ties to al-Qaeda militants as late as 2001." [ceasefiremagazine.co.uk] "... memoir, Classified Woman: The Sibel Edmonds Story, published last year, charged senior [US] government officials with negligence, corruption and collaboration with al Qaeda in illegal arms smuggling and drugs trafficking in Central Asia." [ceasefiremagazine.co.uk] "In interviews with this author in early March, Edmonds claimed that Ayman al-Zawahiri, current head of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden’s deputy at the time, had innumerable, regular meetings at the U.S. embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, with U.S. military and intelligence officials between 1997 and 2001, as part of an operation known as ‘Gladio B’. Al-Zawahiri, she charged, as well as various members of the bin Laden family and other mujahideen, were transported on NATO planes to various parts of Central Asia and the Balkans to participate in Pentagon-backed destabilisation operations." [ceasefiremagazine.co.uk] Source - Article - ceasefiremagazine.co.uk: Special Report | Why was a Sunday Times report on US government ties to al-Qaeda chief spiked? FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds was described as "the most gagged person in the history of the United States" by the American Civil Liberties Union. Was the Sunday Times pressured to drop its investigation into her revelations?  http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/whistleblower-al-qaeda-chief-u-s-asset/ 3. Operation Gladio > Secret Stay-behind Fascist Paramilitary - Europe Operation Gladio is the codename for a clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Europe during the Cold War. Its purpose was to continue armed resistance in the event of a Soviet invasion and conquest. Although Gladio specifically refers to the Italian branch of the NATO stay-behind organizations, "Operation Gladio" is used as an informal name for all stay-behind organizations. [Wikipedia]  The role of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in sponsoring Gladio and the extent of its activities during the Cold War era, and its relationship to right-wing terrorist attacks perpetrated in Italy during the "Years of Lead" (late 1960s to early 1980s) and other similar clandestine operations, is the subject of ongoing debate and investigation. Switzerland and Belgium have had parliamentary inquiries into the matter. [Wikipedia] Source:  Wikipedia >>  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio 4. Gary Webb - CIA-backed Contra Drug Ops - Media Corruption ‘The New York Times’ Wants Gary Webb to Stay Dead | The Nation http://www.thenation.com/blog/181940/new-york-times-wants-gary-webb-stay-dead … GARY WEBB >"dead from 2 gunshot wounds to the head, which the coroner's office judged a suicide" >exposed CIA-backed Contra drug ops - #USA #USA >> Contras, CIA, crack cocaine, crimes of state, media power & media corruption >> Power of the Internet >> http://www.whale.to/b/mighty__wurlitzer.html … >>Collusion b/w the press & the powerful: "national news orgs. have had a long .. history of playing footsie with the CIA" WashingtonTimes (.. helped finance ..Contras, hosting fund-raisers & speaking engagements 4 .. leaders while supporting .. cause editorially) 5.  US Whistle-blower Harassment MUST READ: Applebaum, WikiLeaks, Snowden & USA harassment - http://www.exberliner.com/features/people/jacob-appelbaum-on-the-usa-and-nsa/ What they did to Applebaum's mother is disgusting. 6.  Australia - Absence Accountability & Transparency, Extension of Govt (& Govt agency) Powers, Suppression, & Threat to Free Press >>> Brandis ... an easy 'out' not commenting on anything. Not a good look. Busy ducking behind 'inaccurate' paraphrasing. #Auspol >>> Edward Snowden a traitor, Attorney-General George Brandis tells Washington think tank >>> http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/edward-snowden-a-traitor-attorneygeneral-george-brandis-tells-washington-think-tank-20140409-zqsgp.html … >> Snowden had the guts to take on the biggest criminal enterprise in the world: USA. Snowden's a hero. Note:  Centre for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) - Washington foreign policy 'think tank' is where Brandis made the Snowden pronouncements.  7.  'Democracy' Lobbying Propaganda - Europe "Khodorkovsky for caution in anti-Russian sanctions in Prague Prague - The EU and the USA can influence the situation in Russia, but their use of sanctions should be cautious, Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was recently released from prison, said at the opening of the 18th Forum 2000 international conference in Prague today. The EU and the USA can help Russia on its road to democracy, Khodorkovsky said. Rather, the Russian democratic movement needs a cultivated influence of the Western countries, he added. International sanctions can be a precarious instrument, said Khodorkovsky, who now lives in Switzerland from where he supports opposition and democratic changes in Russia. In the summer, the EU imposed sanctions against Russia over its policy in the Ukrainian conflict. The conference, initiated by the late Czechoslovak and Czech president Vaclav Havel (1936-2011), is this year entitled "Democracy and Its Discontents: A Quarter-Century After the Iron Curtain and Tiananmen" to mark 25 years of the communist regime collapse and the massacre on Tiananmen Square in Beijing." http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/zpravy/khodorkovsky-for-caution-in-anti-russian-sanctions-in-prague/1134199 "The EU and the USA can help Russia on its road to democracy, Khodorkovsky said." [ceskenoviny/cz]  "Democracy & Its Discontents: A Quarter-Century After the Iron Curtain & Tiananmen" > Not USA, Kissinger, Contras + Cocaine?  >>Given above was @ Forum 2000 international conference in Prague, this fits in very nicely:   http://www.chomsky.info/letters/19900301.htm On Vaclav Havel Speech Noam Chomsky Excerpted from Alexander Cockburn, The Golden Age Is In Us, Verso, 1995, pp. 149-151 [March 1, 1990] " ... It's also unnecessary to point out to the half a dozen or so sane people who remain that in comparison to the conditions imposed by US tyranny and violence, East Europe under Russian rule was practically a paradise. Furthermore, one can easily understand why an oppressed Third World victim would have little access to any information (or would care little about anything) beyond the narrow struggle for survival against a terrorist superpower and its clients. And the Pravda hack, unlike his US clones, would have faced a harsh response if he told the obvious truths. So by every conceivable standard, the performance of Havel, Congress, the media, and (we may safely predict, without what will soon appear) the Western intellectual community at large are on a moral and intellectual level that is vastly below that of Third World peasants and Stalinist hacks -- not an unusual discovery.  Of course, it could be argued in Havel's defense that this shameful performance was all tongue in cheek, just a way to extort money from the American taxpayer for his (relatively rich) country. I doubt it, however; he doesn't look like that good an actor." [Source:  http://www.chomsky.info/letters/19900301.htm] COMMENT Although I knew there was NSA and FVEY mass surveillance, I must have missed the bit where the NSA conducts surveillance on entire populations of FOREIGN (non-FVEY) nations, as I was of the impression that surveillance was kept it 'in the family'.  Wrong. Surveillance extends to the USA spying on the Bahamas, Mexico, Kenya, Philippines and another country (likely violent if named).  But the odds are it's not limited to these countries. Why on earth would they be conducting surveillance on the population of Kenya?  Which country is the mysterious 'unnamed' country? No idea about the interest in Kenya, but I'm going to go with Pakistan for the unnamed country. Anyway, the enormity of this revelation totally blew me away.   The populations of entire nations are subject to US surveillance and are not only deprived of privacy, but are also, therefore, deprived of liberty. So how is it that this is swept under a rug and that nobody's concerned about a deed that, in my view, amounts to worldwide criminal activity by a major government? Take into consideration the 'Operation Gladio' and US 'Gladio B' activities, and the US government attempts to suppress that information.   Find the information difficult to absorb and might need to revisit the topic some time.  Nonetheless, here we have yet another example of  the US engaged in what amounts to criminal activity.  Judging by earlier disclosures (eg Gary Webb), the US has a long history of involvements in criminal activity, exposure, persecution of whistle-blowers and suppression of press and whistle-blower disclosures. Yet we have Australia's attorney-general, George Brandis, addressing a US 'echo chamber' 'think tank' (Centre for Strategic & International Studies) earlier in the year, pronouncing a whistle-blower, Snowden, a 'traitor', according to the screaming SMH headline. Brandis is the same guy who is aggressively ducking Senator Ludlam's questions in a parliamentary committee (video above), doing democracy a disservice in more ways than one, in my view. Meanwhile, in Europe, we have a stripped Russian oligarch speaking about the holy grail of 'democracy' to be installed in Russia by Europe and USA, broadcast from some US agenda NGO platform, before a rapt audience of Cuban dissidents and assorted other US ass-kissers. I don't have the mental skills, the language skills or the patience to sit here trying to find the words to articulate just how perverse I find all of the above. As I see it, you have a criminal, or rogue, gargantuan, super-government seeking to control the rest of the world by whatever means and without any limits; you have those within its trade and military treaty sphere (which is enormous), not only standing by without question, but also aggressively smearing those that stand up and disclose wrongdoing; there's a long a pattern of those beyond control or influence (or dissidents) and members of the press that dare reveal the truth, being vilified, hunted down, harassed and shut down; there's a corrupt or fearful press, that is either part of the established order, or else otherwise controlled, by authorities; there's a topsy-turvy world where 'good' is 'bad' and 'bad' is 'good'; a thousand sly GO and NGO platforms from which to evangelise about the holy grail of 'democracy', had by none but to be exported to all;  there's the abuse of power and totalitarianism (that's hypocritically decried elsewhere), and this abuse is pervasive and entrenched. Somewhere along the line, there's also denial of the important role whistle-blowers play -- or are supposed to play -- in keeping the crooked straight. And Australian whilstle-blower publisher, Julian Assange, is still held without charge by the Sweden-UK-US trio blocking his political asylum to Ecuador, while his nation stands by unconcerned about this injustice. Noam Chomsky's letter was the only breath of fresh air.  It's beautiful.  Poetry.

Around the World

AROUND THE WORLD Sea Piracy Presumed #Indonesia pirates rob #Vietnam vessel - 1/3 cargo (of 5k tonnes of oil & goods) release crew - http://tinyurl.com/nn29wna >> Hijacking is 12th in South China Sea since APRIL !!! Piracy costs shipping est. $8bn per annum. ---------------------------------------------------------- US Banking Piracy NY banking regulator still screwing BNP Paribas >dollar clearing ban in energy trade fin. for 2015 (+ $9 bil fine) http://tinyurl.com/m4nhoxw >Cannot operate energy trade div. w/out clearance >asks JPMorgan, BAML & Citi clearance help > unlikely b/c risks. No comment. >> If other banks agree to do clearing for them ... hey, they can CHARGE extortionate risk rates ... lol .. win/win USA - 2 main payment systems foreign trade in dollars  - CHIPS (owned by 23 comm.banks, overseen Central Bank + Fed) & FedWire (Fed Reserve) ---------------------------------------------------------- Immigration UNHCR- 330,700 ppl sought refugee status during the first 6mths 2014 - http://tinyurl.com/odnavxl  - Syria, Iraq, Afghan + Eritrea >> 2/3 claims in Germany, USA, France, Sweden, Turkey + Italy >> Germany rec'd largest no. of claims @ 65,700 ---------------------------------------------------------- Nuclear - South Africa #SouthAfrica + #Russia nuclear co-op agreement - merits questioned - http://www.iol.co.za/news/disquiet-over-nuclear-deal-with-russia-1.1756743 … ---------------------------------------------------------- Russia Nuclear - Turkey, Finland, Jordan + Hungary >> #Russia's Rosatom also has agreements to build nuclear power stations in Turkey, Finland, Jordan + Hungary ---------------------------------------------------------- Arms Smuggling Arms-smuggling #Taiwan duo snared in FBI sting plead guilty > high-grade military technology to mainland #China - http://tinyurl.com/kewve29 ----------------------------------------------------------  Ted Belman Article - Middle East #Libya >> US has gone from being a world power to dealing w/ ISIS. And you know who has facilitated that ... http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15710 … >> #Obama undermined: Qaddafi, Mubarak & Assad & worked in concert w/ Qatar, Turkey & the Muslim Brotherhood. [inn] >> Arab Spring >> US democracy-building campaigns played a bigger role in fomenting protests than known /US NGO training + $ It is the job of the CIA to stir up rebellion in countries the US govt want to make unstable (or unseat the govt in power) [src Ted Belman] #Syria - plan for deposing Assad started when Bush Jr. admin decided 2 align with Sunni states to challenge Iran’s hegemony>[src Ted Belman] #Iraq most insurgent violence directed at American military has come from Sunni forces, & not from Shiites. http://tinyurl.com/p2rlotq  / belman US >> most profound—& unintended—strategic consequence of #Iraq war is the empowerment of Iran. >>> [Ted Belman] >> Saudis shared this concern >joined with US to reduce Iranian influence in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. [Ted Belman] ---------------------------------------------------------- US Gets Cosy with Malaysia #USA - #Malaysia - immigration hand-holding - investors, tourists and students - 4 profit - http://tinyurl.com/p4pkcdn  - US Visa Waiver Programme #USA - #Malaysia - CIA hand-holding >> Dr Ahmad Zahid met Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director John Brennan - http://tinyurl.com/p4pkcdn  #Malaysia - Dr Ahmad Zahid - Home Affairs min - crack down opposition leaders & dissents - sedition laws 2 suppress opposition – wikipedia #Malaysia /Dr Ahmad Zahid>NY Pol Dept chief Charles V. Campisi on collaboration b/w Malaysia police & dept. "on enhancing police integrity" ---------------------------------------------------------- India-US Relations #India - PM Modi denied US visa until now b/c 2002 Gujarat riots (Hindu vs Muslim) - Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party - Modi party /saudigaz. #India - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - most likely spied on by CIA - b/c 'concerns' re 'extremist' elements >> http://tinyurl.com/mfq7cbt  #India - now US wants to cosy up to India for profit & strategic reasons .. tradit. India avoids Big Bloc commitments / Piss off, USA ..lol ---------------------------------------------------------- UK Role Undermining Syria #Syria - Free Syrian Army (FSA), umbrella group of ‘moderate’ opposition fighters .. receiving training Jordan - CIA-funded sec. Contractors #UK - involved training FSA in Jordan - http://tinyurl.com/p2jk5tm  - Pentagon drawing up plans 4 training bases or. countries, FSA + Peshmerga #UK - no parliamentary approval required/ FSA training /free to act over borders also - citing 'humanitarian' + hostages scenario [guardian] --------------------------------------------------------- US Warfare Middle East #USA drone attacks in Yemen, Somalia + Pakistan are carried by CIA or, in Yemen + Somalia, by military's Joint Special Operations Command. Bombing in #Iraq + #Syria not being held to the near-certainty standard that no civilians will be killed or injured, http://tinyurl.com/p7847ta  #Iraq + #Syria, US Air Force & Navy using cruise missiles & conventional guided bombs to destroy buildings and other infrastructure/DailyStar >> Allies, including Britain, France & Arab countries, are also using conventional bombs" [dailystar] Human rights groups said 2 dozen civilians killed by US & allied bombings in #Iraq & #Syria. [dailystar] Civilian casualties #Iraq + #Syria >US says inter'l law no 'near certainty' - not deemed "action outside areas of active hostilities" - {DS} Obama: "Conventional airpower or missiles are far less precise than drones" but using "conventional military air campaign" ---------------------------------------------------------- US Plans for Afghanistan #USA - Brookings Institution - takes in retired CIA - who presumably provide 'benign expert' advice along with Brookings - ref ArabNews #USA - CFR + Brookings lobbying US presence #Afghanistan for building & institutionalizing a national Afghan army - http://tinyurl.com/q69y646 ---------------------------------------------------------- Iran - Anti-Zionist Conference   #Iran #Teheran “New Hori­zon Con­fer­ence” 3-day conference for anti-Zionists / dubbed anti-semites by ADL / http://tinyurl.com/pn4l962 ---------------------------------------------------------- US Throwing Weight Around Threatens Zimbabwe Sanctions (re $3 billion Russia mine deal)  #Zimbabwe US threatening sanctions against Zimbabwe over their #Russia US$3billion platinum mine deal / [allafrica] "It (Zimbabwe) should not proceed or else we are under sanctions." --- http://allafrica.com/stories/201410040017.html … ---------------------------------------------------------- People's Voice Article Lavrov Counters Irresponsible Western Policies   The evil that is US imperialism >>> the Lies, the Hypocrisy & drive for Unchallenged World Domination >>> http://tinyurl.com/lfa5yeo  Lavrov Counters Irresponsible Western Policies - http://tinyurl.com/lfa5yeo  - West's lies .. enlist popular support for imperial lawlessness UN envoy Samantha Power calls genocidal imperial interventions stunning successes / destroying one country after another No nation deplores peace more than America. None cause more harm to more people. None more mass destruction. Washington's killing machine gets wholehearted support. Americans are systematically lied to. Everything .. is suppressed. Big Lies reflect long-standing US tradition. They launch wars. They're weapons of mass deception. http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2014/10/03/lavrov-counters-irresponsible-western-po ---------------------------------------------------------- UK Govt Lobbying to Ditch European Court Human Rights #UK ditching European Court of Human Rights in Britain (ECHR) proposal - http://tinyurl.com/qgpnb4h  - former Att-Gen unimpressed #UK Dave & his buddy Chris Grayling's Bill of Rights looks a joke: http://tinyurl.com/kdwysry  > Check out the limitations > #UKpolitics ... Rights & *Responsibilities* / limitations / caveats / triviality test / change definition / limit on reach / >>> Philip Hammond, Theresa May & David Cameron are onboard with this. ---------------------------------------------------------- Greenland Govt Shake-up Protests force #Greenland premier (Aleqa Hammond, Siumut Party) out of office >> misuse $20k (repaid) -- http://tinyurl.com/qbduslp On 1 Oct x4 govt ministers resigned -- shaking coalition govt formed March 2013 - ELECTION new govt = Nov. 28   ---------------------------------------------------------- European anti ISIL Campaigners Europeans involved in US ISIL campaign: France, Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium & Britain [PressTV] >> Let me guess, assets in Middle East? ---------------------------------------------------------  Another Cost of EU Membership Countries getting ripped off by #EU membership: UK , Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia & Netherlands - http://tinyurl.com/kfoucps  - money overseas --------------------------------------------------------- Kenya - President Uhuru Kenyatta - International Criminal Court Hearing Internat. Criminal Crt hearing, Hague Wed. - President Uhuru Kenyatta - http://tinyurl.com/plt6fce  / #Kenya - cannot accomm. Attendees --------------------------------------------------------- Taiwan #Taiwan - bids to enter US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) & Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) / [wantchinatimes] ---------------------------------------------------------- Russia Gas | Fracking | Environment    #Baltic - Estonia, Finland, Latvia & Lithuania get 100% of their natural gas from #Russia - [townhall] > Czech Republic (57%), Poland (59%), Ukraine (60%), Hungary (80%), Slovakia (84%) & Bulgaria (89%) - [ibid] >> #Russia 60% of its exports are oil + natural gas [ibid] - Hey, here's part of REAL AGENDA: they could import more natural gas from the US & other countries besides Russia" !! LOL > "Europe needs to allow fracking. Right now" ... says mouthpiece of US NGO lobbying group, posing as benign experts 'Benign' NGO mouthpiece proposes EU needs to devise incentives 4 landowners & residents / stake in #fracking rape of Europe >> Congress & #Obama "should also fast-track US natural gas exports to Europe" - 'benign' NGO lobby mouthpiece says. #EU nations ban #fracking >> #Poland & #UK are sell-outs who have embraced destruction of environment for profit Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) lobby for destruction of environment for profit / http://tinyurl.com/o8lwcl4  -- http://tinyurl.com/nsl8q3d  --------------------------------------------------- Ambassador - New Appointment - Russia / Hungary #Russia's Vladimir Sergeyev is new ambassador to #Hungary - new guy has lots of experience. Soros NGOs Many most powerful NGOs are connected to network of American billionaire George Soros / last year he spent $1 bil on civil assocs. [HunTod] --------------------------------------------------- Turkey Rivalry with Egypt #Egypt - President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi - UN GA - PR coup / has finally emerged from the cold / http://tinyurl.com/krran2d  /al-arabiya article -- BUT .. #Turkey boycotted his speech + Pres Recip Tayyip Erdogan condemned the #UN for “legitimizing” Sisi !! --------------------------------------------------- G.U.A.M Protocol (US Puppets) GUAM -organization for colluding against Russians, HQ Kiev, another US strategy in region .. adopted protocol in NY / http://tinyurl.com/ohns2xs GUAM Members: Georgia Ukraine Azerbaijan Moldova   /   Observers: Turkey Latvia --------------------------------------------------- Ben Gurion on Israel / Palestine David Ben Gurion >>"If I were an Arab leader, I would never make terms with Israel ... we have ... stolen their country...” [Gulf News] >> Checked. It's a real quote. Said to Nahum Goldmann, President of World Jewish Congress. -------------------------------------------------- US Imperialism - Norman Pollock Article #Putin KGB -VERSUS- #Obama's personally authorized drone assassinations, air-strikes, world-encircling military bases, CIA ops & NSA spying #Obama is more capitalist than patriotic ... he favours JPMorgan Chase, Boeing, banking firms & corporations / http://tinyurl.com/na4tbwd  Naked US capitalism = massive surveillance, hostile climate re labour, vast wealth-disparity, foreign war, intervention for global hegemony. US capitalism = aggressive-expansive system of global annexation Crony capitalism in both #Russia & the West, yet West criticises the same ideological framework that holds true for US & Russia / fm Pollack #USA - Crony capitalism is SYSTEMIC ... advancing the wide cleavage in US wealth distribution / http://tinyurl.com/na4tbwd  / Pollack #Obama serves as a shill for US business abroad, esp. in the Far East --- Norman Pollack --- http://tinyurl.com/na4tbwd   Sanctions on #Russia = to contain, isolate & weaken Russia ... as US desperately strives to return to unilateral pre-eminence / Pollack  Wow, I really liked the Norman Pollack article ... got a bit lost on types of socialism & nearly gave up ... but it was a great read.   --------------------------------------------------- ICSID - Corporations Violate National Sovereignty International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) - means for trans-national corporations to violate sovereignty - http://tinyurl.com/oocrsng >>HQ Washington - receives its funding from the World Bank - Case studies involve lawsuits against governments by corps /wikipedia --------------------------------------------------- COMMENT Random information that I looked at.  Links are available for follow-up. It was all very interesting at the time.   Doubt I'll remember all this information.  But even if I remember some of it, it helps form a larger picture. The buzz is in eventually linking bits of information together to make more sense of the whole.