Denmark - Lars Vilks, artist Sweden, receives award for promoting free speech

LARS VILKS Free Press Society Denmark Lars Vilks, artist Sweden, receives award from Danish association promoting free speech,  Trykkefrihedsselskabet ('Press Freedom Society' - a more direct translation?) http://www.thelocal.se/20150315/cartoonist-lars-vilks-in-first-public-appearance-since-copenhagen-attacks Trykkefrihedsselskabet assoc. prior free speech awards to: >Kurt Westergaard cartoonist >editor Flemming Rose, Jyllands-Posten trykkefrihed = trykke frihed = press freedom known as:   Free Press Society f. 2004 in Denmark "Without freedom of speech, no free society." Article caught my eye, as I knew that Lars Vilks has been in hiding for years, under police protection in Sweden, which struck me as an absolutely insane way for him to have to live  ...  ... and I think he was also the target of the recent Copenhagen attack (yes, it sure looks like it - or the event was). More on Lars Vilks - here. The Wikipedia entry on Vilks discusses the Copenhagen attack in the most recent subsection, going into detail about the Copenhagen cafe event arrangements and who attended. However, while the entry (which contains an overhead link to a separate entry on the Copenhagen attack) states that gunman (who killed 'one civilian' and wounded three policemen), was subsequently killed by police, the Vilks entry has left out shocking and important details relevant to Vilks and the Copenhagen attack, by not plainly stating that the following took place: Film director Finn Noergaard, 55, was killed yesterday at a cafe. Hours later, security employee Dan Uzan, 37, was shot in the head as he stood outside a building belonging to the city's Great Synagogue. [1] The gunman, Omar El-Hussein, later shot dead a Jewish man outside a synagogue before he was killed by police. [2] Seriously, how hard is it (a) name the gunman and (b) key in the names of the two dead victims? Maybe less focus on who organised and attended a cafe event and a bit more attention paid to the people that were murdered would have made for a more sensible entry on the subject of the Vilks Copenhagen attack subsection, irrespective of the overhead link-to provision in the entry. It's not as if the relevant information wasn't available, as the citation link is to the Daily Mail article which contains names. When key points are left out of entries, I think it damages confidence in the source (Wikipedia) and makes for an inferior information repository, even if there is links to other sections.  It just looks really shifty excluding information that is key and information that has a lot of impact. More on the Vilks latest event: Israel National News: Cartoonist Makes First Public Appearance Since Copenhagen Attack http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/192608

Telesurtv Interview - Assange - The Lastest

Telesurtv Interview FULL ARTICLE @ SOURCE http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/An-Obvious-and-Conspicuous-Injustice-says-Assange-on-Asylum-20150314-0002.html An 'Obvious and Conspicuous' Injustice, says Assange on Asylum Published 14 March 2015 (15 hours 31 minutes ago) In an exclusive interview with teleSUR, Julian Assange talks ... [ ... EDIT ... ] CS: On the topic of your asylum, tell me about the larger context of the U.S. investigation into WikiLeaks?    JA: Well I had already had a number of run-ins and legal cases with big banks and the U.S. government before. Our publications beginning 2010 set off a major conflict with the U.S. government. As a result, the U.S. started up what it calls a whole government investigation, involving more than a dozen different U.S. agencies that is believed to be the largest ever investigation into a publisher. As the investigation has gone by, the competition between the different agencies over who is leading it has clarified. Now leading it is the Department of Justice National Security Division, the Department of Justice Criminal Division and the FBI as the sort of boots on the ground. [DoJ Nat Sec + Crim Div & FBI] A lot of information has come out over time about the U.S. formally admitting court filings in February, just over a week ago, that is a multi-subject, ongoing, long-term, investigation and other findings saying that WikiLeaks is the central target of that investigation, not Chelsea Manning, who has already been dealt with. This is not an investigation that is simply confined to the United States. The different agencies involved include the National Security Agency, the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). The CIA and DIA, that is publicly admitted. The NSA, that is in the Snowden documents and also other records that came out from the Pentagon. According to Snowden records I was placed on an NSA manhunt list in 2010. But we know that the U.S. military intelligence was spying on me from 2009 onwards in Germany. The FBI has conducted its activities in Europe, in Iceland and Denmark; the U.S. military intelligence in Germany; and the FBI also in the UK; and U.S. and-or Swedish intelligence in Sweden. As time has gone by we have gone from a position of defense in these cases to offense. Which I have been able to do really to the thanks of the asylum of the embassy, since it is a static situation now [inside the Ecuadorean embassy] we can plan a bit more. We have filed criminal cases now against the U.S. intelligence activities in Germany where U.S. military intelligence came off their bases in Wiesbaden and went down to Berlin to spy on me and one of my friends, Jeremy Zimmerman, who runs a freedom of the press outfit in Paris. The criminal case in Denmark last year, in relation to the unlawful FBI actions against us in Europe. The FBI sent a secret private jet over to Iceland where they had recruited an informant for the U.S. embassy in Iceland. The Icelandic government found out about it, that they did it without authority, and told [the U.S.] to get out. They [the U.S.], then smuggled the informant around a number of different hotels around Iceland interrogating him. Eventually they were kicked out of the country by the interior minister. They then took that informant, who was being paid, to Washington DC, and interrogated him for another five days and engaged in various plans to try and get that informant to steal hard drives from England, and engaged in cash transfers and other interrogations with him — he did at least two — so that is the subject of another criminal complaint in Demark in relation to the FBI in Denmark, and the illicit cash payments that occurred to that informant. So that is most aspects of the criminal case in the United States. Something important came out early this year in relation to Google. The U.S. government subpoenas all information that Google had — email, search terms, etc. — from three of our journalists: Sarah Harrison, Kristinn Hrafnsson and Joseph Farrell. These subpoenas were important. Not only did they place Google under gag orders, but the subpoenas revealed a sort of legal attack that the U.S. government is making on media and on WikiLeaks. So their defense is that they are investigating — which add up to 45 years in prison — espionage, conspiracy to commit espionage, computer hacking, general conspiracy, theft of U.S. government information. [*An attack on ALL media, not just WikiLeaks.] These charges are very interesting because they are sort of like crossing the spectrum of different charge types. They are trying many, many different ways to attack the organization and me using conspiracy on the one hand but also non-espionage charges that make it easier to extradite people, and you can see a little bit like that, that just happened in a case in Canada where they extradited someone for a non-conspiracy related charge successfully even though he claimed asylum in relation to his espionage investigation.  [Matt de Hart  [Link 1] & [Link 2]] The two conspiracy charges are detail. But lets put this back into the global context about what is going on. WikiLeaks does not publish in the United States. WikiLeaks is not registered in the United States. WikiLeaks is a publisher in a variety of jurisdictions: Iceland, France, at one time Sweden. So how is it that the United States is claiming jurisdiction to prosecute us for these offenses. What the U.S. is claiming is that any information about the United States gives it jurisdiction and if we publish information that came from the U.S. government, therefore it has jurisdiction to prosecute publishers that exist outside the United States, because of their connection. Now, the way journalists and publishers work is that some journalists get something from a source and then communicate it to other journalists in the organization; the editors and subeditors, the publisher, the distributor, the tech guys, and so on. What the U.S. government is saying is that this flow of information, that occurred within WikiLeaks as a media organization, is a conspiracy. So they have worked out a way to embroil an entire media organization in the U.S. jurisdiction based on any information coming in through one journalist working for that media organization. So it is a territorial grab by the United States to say that they can go after any media organization anywhere in the world that publishes information that they say is classified; not even classified actually… That they say has been derived from someone in the United States — a government worker doing something that they should not have — that is enough. If they allege one crime in the United States, some government worker that cannot handle classified information properly, or something else, and that circulates to others in a media organization that use that to go after the whole media organization. So it is really quite a serious threat to global media scrutiny of U.S. wars and U.S. spying. CS: So in this larger context, what does the Swedish investigation represent?    JA: The U.S. investigation was already on foot. Without wanting to go into the details of the Swedish investigation, which are well documented on justice4assange.com, the Swedes started their investigation and then dropped it, and then started it again, and then in the context of us just about to publish Cabelgate, put out an Interpol red notice for this preliminary investigation with no charges and kept it going ever since. The women in the case say to the courts that they did not want any such investigation. But the government took this up anyway. So it is quite a strange case and is being used as a PR stick and it has trapped me here in the UK. So whenever we talk about what is going on in the U.S. case and how serious that is, the PR attack says “oh no, no, no. That is about some Swedish sex case.” That has been a tremendous distraction. Formally the Swedes say that it is a quote “preliminary investigation” un-quote. I have not been charged and there has been nothing done in that preliminary investigation for four years and the Swedish authorities admit it. Now it seems likely that the preliminary investigation will dissipate within the next year. But the UK has said that even if that happens they are going to arrest me anyway and you also have the U.S. case. CS: Is there anything you want to say or add about your 1000 days of asylum generally?    JA: It has been a difficult 1000 days. Not so much for me but for my family. For me, I have plenty of things to concentrate on that are not in the embassy. I have an organization to run. We have a dozen different court actions across the world. As time has gone by the legal and political situation has clarified, such that it has become an obvious and conspicuous injustice. That view is now the dominant view in Sweden, the United Kingdom and many other countries always had that view but these two countries are involved in a concrete way. The United States is a bit harder. Although there has been very hostile rhetoric in the United States — calling for my assassination, calling for WikiLeaks to be listed as a terrorist organization, calling for bills presented before congress to define me and all my staff as enemy combatants who can be killed and kidnapped at will — the U.S. is a large enough country that we do have a fair run in a number of U.S. media outlets; some of the small ones nearly all the time. But even the largest, even Fox News, occasionally. So we have a spectrum of support in the United States not always able to express itself, but sometimes it is and I think that is quite a hopeful sign when you consider the amount of demonization that has occurred from the national security state in the U.S. Here in the United Kingdom, as a result of my case, they changed the law last year to say that there should be no more extradition without charge. That only deals with one charge because we still have the U.S. case to deal with. But there is a growing realization that what is happening here is really unjust. You cannot have someone detained in Europe without charge for four-and-a half years. Everyone can see that there is something wrong with that. [UK change in law re extradition without charge would (I think) no longer apply, as Conservatives have pushed through adoption of EAW legislation that becomes effective by default (or something like that); and that legislation, as I understand, takes precedence over domestic laws.  Anyway, that's how I understood what was going on.  But maybe this needs another look-up.] Julian Assange is founder and editor-and-chief of WikiLeaks.  FULL ARTICLE @ SOURCE http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/An-Obvious-and-Conspicuous-Injustice-says-Assange-on-Asylum-20150314-0002.html EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT Jacob Rees-Mogg on May's European Arrest Warrant claims JACOB REES-MOGG says:  after 1st of December, how EAW is implemented will not be decided by Britain; it will be decided by Court of Justice of the European Union.  So who can arrest British citizens will be ceded to Brussels.  COMMENT So that's a round-up of what's going on. Operation Get-Assange / WikiLeaks in summary: Beginning 2010 WikiLeaks publishing:  set off a major conflict with USG. USG whole govt investigation. More than a dozen different US Largest ever investigation into a publisher. Leading the investigation - Department of Justice: > National Security Division > Criminal Division > FBI boots on the ground. Multi-subject, ongoing, long-term, investigation WikiLeaks central target Not confined to the United States. Agencies involved incl. > National Security Agency (NSA) > CIA > Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) -  *CIA + DIA is publicly admitted (Snowden docs & Pentagon records) Activities: > NSA manhunt list in 2010 - Assange > US military intelligence spying on Assange - from 2009 onwards, Germany > FBI conducted its activities in Europe:  Iceland + Denmark + UK > US and/or Swedish intelligence conducted its activities in Sweden This investigation doesn't just affect WikiLeaks; it affects all journalists and publishers and, apparently, the US is aiming for worldwide jurisdiction (which is ridiculous ... unless you're an Evil Empire.)

HUMOUR - Stefan Lofven - Svenska Feminist Foreign Policy

Cute Base Image courtesy of:   JD Hancock Sourced - here. FEMINIST FOREIGN POLICY

NOAM CHOMSKY - ARGENTINA & LATIN AMERICA

Buenos Aires cap. Argentina 2nd largest metro area in South America, after Greater São Paulo, Brasil 25°C, time: Sat 9:26 am NOAM CHOMSKY Professor Noam Chomsky talks to the Herald yesterday By Fermín Koop & Tomás Brockenshire Herald Staff Noam Chomsky says Argentina ‘has taken the lead in Latin America on human rights’ An intellectual with a rock star following, Noam Chomsky has taken time out from a speaking tour to return to Argentina after a 25-year absence, prompting barely-concealed enthusiasm from students, academics, political activists and fellow intellectuals. Speaking to the Herald before he gave his keynote address at the International Forum for Emancipation and Equality yesterday, Chomsky recognized Argentina’s regional leadership on human rights but questioned the lack of progress in the investigation into the bombings of the AMIA Jewish community centre in 1994 and the Israeli Embassy in 1992. http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/184213/%E2%80%98the-state-has-been-incapable-of-investigating-amia-embassy-attacks%E2%80%99 ---------------------------------- Last 500 years LatAm under control + domination of external powers very small, extremely rich, mostly white elite Last 150 years, mostly USA domination & control Chomsky (mentioned re Cuba) Private capital in the US usually controls [foreign] policy. Only briefly skimmed a part of this.  Will have to come back to this when I'm more focused. Looks good reading.  Chomsky's always good value.

FARCE: Lofven's Swedish Social Democratic Party 'feminist government' and the 'feminist foreign policy'

SWEDEN http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Mar-12/290479-saudi-arabia-recalls-envoy-to-sweden-after-military-ties-cut.ashx DAILY STAR [...] Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesman Gabriel Wernstedt said the Saudis were recalling their ambassador because of “Sweden’s criticism regarding human rights and democracy” in the ultraconservative kingdom. The official Saudi Press Agency reported that the Saudi Foreign Ministry recalled its diplomat because it considered remarks by Sweden’s foreign minister about the kingdom as “blatant interference it its internal affairs. Saudi Arabia is the third largest non-Western buyer of Swedish arms. In 2014, Riyadh bought equipment worth 338 million kronor ($39 million). Wallstroem had been invited as an honorary guest to the Arab ministers’ meeting in praise of her government’s decision to recognize Palestine in October. But an opening speech she was due to give in which she stressed human rights, with a particular emphasis on rights for women, was canceled. The speech was later published by the Swedish Foreign Ministry. Wallstroem has rarely commented on Saudi Arabia but in January she condemned the kingdom’s treatment of blogger Raef Badawi, who had been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam. The day after she was prevented from speaking in Cairo, her government scrapped its military cooperation deal with the Saudis after coming under intense domestic pressure. Wallstroem told news agency TT Wednesday her government had made the “correct” decision by ending the agreement. “I feel that when I speak about democracy and human rights, I do with the support of the Swedish people.”  [No concern for human rights of ethnic-Russian citizens of eastern Ukraine.  Sweden supporting Proshenko Ukraine puppet govt which attacks and kills people in their homes.] The scrapped deal involved exchanges of military products, logistics, technology and training. Signed by a left-wing government in 2005 and renewed in 2010, it sparked a heated debate after Swedish Radio in 2011 revealed that Sweden had secretly helped the Saudis construct a weapons factory. The Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said Tuesday only cooperation in medicine and gender studies would remain on offer. “What we have is an open invitation to partake in medical and gender training, but the Saudi side has not shown any interest.” “It’s very hard for Swedes to accept that Saudi citizens condone this political and judicial system: Hands that are cut off for robbers, women convicted for being unfaithful, lashings,” political scientist Thord Janson at Gothenburg University told AFP. “So the government doesn’t want to have a military bond with such a country. It’s a logic that’s internal to Sweden,” he added. Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Loefven’s government came to power in October 2014 announcing a “feminist foreign policy” and promptly decided to recognize Palestine, becoming the first Western European nation to do so. The decision caused a diplomatic spat with Israel, which temporarily recalled its ambassador from Sweden. Commenting on the severed military ties, liberal writer Fredrik Segerfeldt wrote that Sweden’s objective was “to become a moral power” on the world stage. But taking a stance against Saudi Arabia today risked Sweden’s credibility as a business partner, according to some center-right opposition politicians and the Swedish business community. “Foreign policy is not only about other countries,” right-wing daily Svenska Dagbladet wrote in an editorial, noting that Swedish industry “must be allowed to trade ... even with dictatorships.”  COMMENT Made comment elsewhere regarding this. That gender studies / gender training offer the Defence Minister has on the table for the Saudis is something out of a Swedish political farce. Don't know what the go is with Lofven's Swedish Social Democratic Party 'feminist government' and the 'feminist foreign policy'. What's going on in Sweden are they all nuts? The 'objective to become a moral power on the world stage' confirms Sweden's politicians are mostly nuts. Pseudo lefties and liberals in government are useless, and it sounds like that coalition is going to come undone.

VIDEO - 'Secret Leaked Video of Petraeus outburst'

'Secret Leaked Video of Petraeus outburst' SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pMALsxxL6mI Funny promo.  Liked that.

Turkey Intelligence vs Canada Intelligence - Canada Confessed Syrian Spy (Jordan Embassy)

CANADA Safety minister silent amid claims that the spy accused of helping girls join ISIS was working for Canada Jason Fekete, Lee Berthiaume and Ian MacLeod, Postmedia News | March 13, 2015 | Last Updated: Mar 14 12:41 AM ET 15-year-old Amira Abase, left, Kadiza Sultana,16, centre, and Shamima Begum, 15, go through Gatwick airport, south of London, before they caught their flight to Turkey on Tuesday Feb 17. AP Photo/Metropolitan Police15-year-old Amira Abase, left, Kadiza Sultana,16, centre, and Shamima Begum, 15, go through Gatwick airport, south of London, before they caught their flight to Turkey on Tuesday Feb 17. Canada’s embassy in Jordan, which is run by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s handpicked ambassador and former top bodyguard, is being linked to an international terrorism and spy scandal. The federal government refused to comment Friday on multiple Turkish media reports that a foreign spy allegedly working for Canadian intelligence — and who was arrested in Turkey for helping three young British girls travel to Syria to join Islamic State terrorists — was working for the Canadian Embassy in Amman, Jordan. The reports also say the suspect has confessed to working for Canadian intelligence and was doing so in order to obtain Canadian citizenship. He also previously travelled to Canada with the embassy’s approval, said one report. Canada’s ambassador to Jordan is Bruno Saccomani, the former RCMP officer who was in charge of Mr. Harper’s security detail until the prime minister appointed him almost two years ago as the envoy in Amman, with dual responsibility for Iraq. The suspect in custody is a Syrian intelligence operative named Mohammed Mehmet Rashid — dubbed Doctor Mehmet Rashid — who helped the three London schoolgirls travel to Syria upon their arrival in Turkey, according to Yeni Safak, a conservative and Islamist Turkish newspaper known for its strong support of the government. Other Turkish news outlets identified the man with slightly different spellings of Mohammed al Rashid or Mohammad Al Rashed. Police arrested Mr. Rashid more than a week ago in a province near Turkey’s border with Syria, multiple news agencies reported. The initial police report said Mr. Rashid claimed that he was working for the Canadian intelligence agency and that he had flown to Jordan to share intelligence with other agents working for the Canadian embassy in Amman, various news outlets reported. The suspect also claimed he worked for the intelligence service in order to get Canadian citizenship, said various news reports. The Turkish intelligence service confiscated his cellphone and computer, which were provided by the Canadian government, according to reports. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld The Canadian Press/Adrian WyldPublic Safety Minister Steven Blaney outside the House of Commons in Ottawa Wednesday. Records show that Mr. Rashid has entered Turkey 33 times with his Syrian passport since June 2013, and agents discovered passport images of 17 more people, aside from the ones belonging to the three British girls, Yeni Safak reported. The Citizen has not been able to independently confirm the Turkish news reports. The reports say the Syrian agent received deposits of between $800 and $1,500 through bank accounts opened in the United Kingdom. A federal government source in Canada said the individual arrested is not a Canadian citizen and “was not an employee of CSIS,” but no one in government has said this on the record or categorically ruled out reports that the alleged spy was working for or helping the Canadian government in some capacity. Turkish news channel A Haber reported the 28-year-old man was a dentist who fled the Syrian conflict into Jordan, and sought asylum in another country before the Canadian embassy took an interest in his asylum case. He then travelled to Canada by approval of the embassy and stayed for a while before returning to Jordan, according to news outlets that cited A Haber’s coverage. The news channel claimed he contacted a Canadian embassy official in Jordan called “Matt,” and quoted Turkish police sources that Matt was likely an employee of a British intelligence service, said a report from Istanbul-based newspaper Daily Sabah, citing the A Haber coverage. The suspect only acted as a smuggler and was paid by the intelligence service. A Haber has released two different videos of the man arrested, with one video allegedly showing him leading the girls into Syria and another of him in custody being led away by security officials. [EDIT ... ]  In Ottawa, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney has refused to comment, citing operational security. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, RCMP and Prime Minister’s Office have also refused comment. [EDIT ...] NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said the government’s refusal to deny the reports out of Turkey lends credence to them being true. “They haven’t responded,” he said. “And in light of the fact that there’s been more than 24 hours for the government to establish the facts as to what happened, I can only conclude that there is some truth to this story.” ‘If it is someone who was attached to our, you know, spy service, then it does call into question exactly the oversight here’ Mr. Dewar said if the reports are true, that would be devastating for Canada’s credibility, and, at the very least, reiterate the need to increase oversight over the spy agency’s activities. “We have been engaged with someone who is not blocking people from travelling to Syria to join up with ISIL, they’re actually facilitating it,” he said. Should the allegations prove true, Mr. Dewar said there should be an immediate investigation into what happened, including how CSIS would have recruited such a person to work for it. At the same time, he questioned who would lead such an investigation and where the report would go given the lack of independent monitoring over the spy agency. “This is why we don’t support bill C-51,” he said. “There’s no proper oversight right now. It’s a black hole.” Mr. Dewar also noted the reports say Mr. Rashid was recruited out of Canada’s embassy in Jordan, which is headed by Mr. Saccomani. He said it is ironic given the government defended Mr. Saccomani’s lack of diplomatic experience by touting his background in security issues when the prime minister appointed him to the post last year. Exactly why Turkish officials chose to publicly identify the man’s affiliation as being with Canada, and possibly CSIS, remains unclear.  Relations between Turkey and Canada were rocky after the Conservative government formally recognized the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during the First World War as a genocide, but they have become more cordial in recent years. In particular, Canada has remained largely silent while other Western countries are criticizing Turkey for not doing more to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Syria, many of whom have joined ISIS. EXTRACT - FULL @ SOURCE http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/03/13/safety-minister-silent-amid-claims-that-the-spy-accused-of-helping-girls-join-isis-was-working-for-canada/ COMMENT Wow, how cool is this?! That was quite a catch for Turkey, who is always being portrayed as facilitator of border crossings to Syria. A red face for Harper, if this proves true.  And everyone will be looking at that Jordan embassy rather suspiciously. There's also British intelligence involved somehow? Really enjoyed this.