Finian Cunningham - America’s Weaponizing of Ignorance

America’s Weaponizing of Ignorance Now the assassination of political opponents who are deemed to be «pro-Russian» takes the Kiev regime to a new level of lawlessness and ideological extremism.  By Finian Cunningham - Apr 17, 2015 [Originally appeared in:  Strategic Culture Org] The contract killing of two opposition figures in Kiev this week is stark evidence that the country under the Western-backed regime is descending into a fully-fledged state of chaos and criminality. We have already seen the rise of Neo-Nazism militarism, and now the assassination of political opponents on the streets of Kiev. Yet, still, the Western governments and their dutiful news media steadfastly refuse to deal with the grim reality. Instead, they continue to regurgitate slanderous aggression against Russia. And when the West cannot cope with explaining reality they simply disparage Russia for telling lies and «weaponizing information». But the truth is that it is the West that is «weaponizing ignorance». Wilful, unabashed, woeful ignorance. Former Ukrainian newspaper editor Oles Buzina was gunned down reportedly by two masked assailants near his home in the Ukrainian capital on Thursday. Only the day before, former parliamentarian Oleh Kalashnikov was also murdered at his Kiev home. Both men were known for their outspoken critical views of the ultra-rightist regime that seized power last year with the backing of Washington and Brussels. Kalashnikov had been a senior member of the Party of Regions – the party of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych. The latest execution-style killings follow a spate of at least four suspicious deaths among other former parliamentarians who had also belonged to the Yanukoych government before it was overthrown in February 2014 in a Western-sponsored coup. The new regime has gone on to oversee a state of illegal war waged against the dissident pro-Russian eastern Ukraine regions, as well as teetering bankruptcy, widespread social and economic misery, the rise of private militias under the control of competing corrupt oligarchs, and the systematic glorification of former Nazi collaborators. The formation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which perpetuated mass killings on behalf of the Nazi Waffen SS during World War Two, has been made into an official public holiday in commemoration of that death squad. Last week, the regime’s parliament in Kiev, which is dominated by openly fascistic parties, voted to ban Communist organizations and to erase all symbols of Soviet-era history. Public statues of Soviet leaders and Red Army heroes who liberated Ukraine from Nazi domination have been obliterated. The regime is planning to spend more than $200 million purging cities and towns of their Russian place names. Now the assassination of political opponents who are deemed to be «pro-Russian» takes the Kiev regime to a new level of lawlessness and ideological extremism. For the past year, Western governments and media have persisted in branding the regime in Kiev as a «pro-democracy» vanguard that was endeavoring to orient the former Soviet Republic towards «Western values», membership of the European Union and joining the US-led NATO military alliance. The Western depiction of developments under the Kiev regime is a stupendous feat of denial over what is really happening in Ukraine. The practice of oligarch-banditry and the surge in Nazi-styled paramilitaries, brashly donning SS insignia and carrying out war crimes against the ethnic Russian population; the indiscriminate shelling of eastern Ukrainian cities and villages under the orders of Kiev leaders; and the economic blockade of the breakaway region in a Nazi policy of collective punishment – all these violations have been comprehensively denied by Western governments and their mass media. The West’s preferred distortion is to invert reality by accusing Russia of «invading» Ukraine and sponsoring proxy pro-independence rebels in the east. No matter that there is no credible evidence to support such claims; no matter that Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations, including this week by President Vladimir Putin in his annual public Q&A conference; no matter that the eastern Ukrainian rebels deny the «Russian proxy» charge; no matter that the monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe can’t find evidence of Russian invasion;  no matter that the head of French military intelligence Christophe Gaumard just this week told his country’s National Assembly that there is no evidence of Russian military incursion in Ukraine, or even plans for such an incursion. However, with the emergent campaign of murder against opposition politicians and journalists in Kiev, the Western distortion of reality stretches its elastic credulity to breaking point. Innocent, unarmed civilians are being gunned down in the streets of Kiev for the sole reason that these individuals have expressed political views that are critical of the Western-installed Kiev regime. If that isn’t evidence of the regime descending into the fascist practices that it eulogizes then what is? Ironically, against this appalling background of Western collusion with atavistic Nazi barbarism in Kiev, the United States Congress this week held hearings on what it called Russia’s «weaponization of information». Speakers told the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee of their fears that Russia was winning a propaganda war. Their evidence? Well, because reputable Russian news channels, such as RT, Itar-Tass and Sputnik, were reaching Western audiences with an alternative perspective on the crisis in Ukraine. A perspective that actually explains the nature of the Ukraine conflict in a credible geopolitical context of Washington seeking regime change for its wider pursuit of global military dominance vis-a-vis Russia. Just because Russian media do not peddle an anti-Putin, anti-Moscow narrative – as the Western outlets shamelessly do – then that is construed as «evidence» that the Kremlin is conducting an information war and «weaponizing information». Earlier this year, US Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress that «Russia’s military aggression is matched only by its propaganda». Kerry appealed for more than $630 million to counteract the influence of Russian news media on the American public by setting up Russian-language satellite TV stations that will beam Fox-News-style into Russia. Kerry’s chain of thought based on false assertion leading to false conclusion is espoused unanimously among the White House, the State Department, the US media and the two chambers of Congress – the Senate and House of Representatives. In other words by the entire American political establishment. Last month, the House of Representatives voted by a landslide calling on President Barack Obama to send lethal weapons to support the Kiev regime «against Russian aggression». One of the Representatives, Republican party member Steve Pearce (New Mexico), had this to say to a concerned American citizen, who had written to Pearce deploring Congressional support for the Kiev regime and the drive for war with Russia. Disturbingly, Pearce’s letter reveals an astounding dearth of knowledge. He writes: «Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns regarding Ukraine. I appreciate hearing from you on this issue… »On February 22, 2014, the Ukrainian parliament unanimously voted to impeach President Viktor Yanukovych, following months of protest. Former President Yanukovych has since fled to Russia – with Russia now challenging the sovereignty of Ukraine. It is very concerning that Russia is acting in Ukraine and not allowing the will of the people to determine the future of the nation. The United State [sic] should stand up, and let it be known that we will not tolerate Russia invading its neighbors. Ukraine has the right to determine its own course». Note how there is no mention by the Congressman of how the US State Department funded the violent Maidan protests in Kiev at the end of 2013, or how the CIA colluded with Pravy Secktor Neo-Nazi paramilitaries to violently topple the constitutionally elected Yanukovych government. The concerned US citizen who shared this correspondence, Randy Martin, a social media activist, said of Congressman Pearce’s reply: «In his response to my letter, he apparently had no clue about the US role in backing the Neo-Nazi coup that has resulted in the overall collapse of the Ukraine economy, a brutal civil war and genocide against Russian-speaking people in Ukraine, and the fact that the US military is now actively training the only standing Neo-Nazi military in the world». The Congressman – as with the rest of the ruling elite in Washington – evidently lives in a state of blissful ignorance about what is really going on in Ukraine. Yet based on this ignorance, he and his fellow Congressmen voted for the supply of billions-of-dollars-worth of weaponry to the Nazi-adulating Kiev regime – a regime where opposition politicians and journalists are being gunned down in their homes. Across the spectrum of official American politics and that supposed pillar of democracy – the news media – what we see is «systematic ignorance». Never mind American claims that Russia is «weaponizing information». America is weaponizing ignorance on an industrial scale. http://mycatbirdseat.com/2015/04/91127americas-weaponizing-of-ignorance/ COMMENT Great article. Infuriating reading this.  Guessing this is pretty much what has happened during and after all the previous regime changes the US has engineered.  It's just how it goes and how they spin-doctor what they're doing. Doubt the politicians or the press are truly ignorant.  More likely they are wilfully ignorant, while serving aggressive corporate and military interests, without regard for the costs to others - simply because they're sociopathic cogs in a sociopathic system that doesn't care who is destroyed in the scramble for money, power, advantage etc.

USA INVESTS $5-BILLION IN UKRAINE PUPPET REGIME - FRUITS OF INVESTMENT: 34-DAY MURDER SPREE

Anti-Government Journalist Killed in Ukraine Oles Buzina, 45, was known for his pro-Russian opinion pieces published in Ukraine Published 16 April 2015 (17 hours 25 minutes ago) Journalist Oles Buzina is the second prominent critic of Ukraine's government killed this week. A journalist critical of the Ukrainian government was gunned down in the capital Kiev Thursday, one day after a pro-Russian politician was found dead. Journalist and activist Oles Buzina was shot on the street in broad daylight, according to the interior ministry. “Today at 13:20 (local time) ... two unidentifiable men in masks shot journalist Oles Buzina,” the ministry said in a statement. Buzina was one of President Petro Poroshenko’s fiercest critics in the Ukrainian media. He was also a prominent voice in the “Anti-Maiden” movement, which opposed the pro-Western protests that ousted Poroshenko's predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych. In 2014, Buzina launched an unsuccessful bid for a seat in Parliament with the Russian Bloc party. The night before Buzina's death, Member of Parliament Oleh Kalashnikov was also shot under mysterious circumstances. Kalashnikov was a key Yanukovych ally. Russian President Vladimir Putin has alleged the two killings were politically motivated. “This is not the first political assassination. Ukraine is dealing with a whole string of such murders,” he said. Poroshenko hit back by claiming the deaths play “into the hands of our enemies.” “It is aimed at destabilizing the internal political situation in Ukraine, at discrediting the political choice of the Ukrainian people."   http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Anti-Government-Journalist-Killed-in-Ukraine-20150416-0019.html Murder of Ukrainian ex-MP, leader of Anti-Maidan movement Oleg Kalashnikov in Kiev on: April 16, 2015 15th April 2015, Kiev, Ukraine Oleg Kalashnikov, former MP from the Party of Regions was shot in Kiev on April 15th. The press service of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported that the murder occurred around 7.20 p.m. in the residence of the former MP, the cause of death was gunshot wounds. An operational investigative group is working at the crime scene. According to Ukrainian media, Kalashnikov was killed on the 8th floor of a residential building in residential area Vynohradar of Kiev in his apartment. The media also reported that Kalashnikov received threats of physical violence recently due to his political views, in particular the the call to widely celebrate the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. However, Kalashnikov also had an extremely bad reputation among the activists of Euromaidan as one of the organizers of the tent camp in support of Viktor Yanukovich in Mariinsky Park during the events of the so-called “Revolution of dignity” in winter of 2013-2014. Notably, Kalashnikov was the fourth prominent member of the Party of Regions, who had suddenly passed away in the course of the last two months: former deputy head of the Party of Regions faction in the Verkhovna Rada [Parliament] Mikhail Chechetov allegedly committed suicide by jumping out of the window of his apartment on the 17th floor on February 28; ex-MP Stanislav Miller was found dead on March 10, and on 12 March the body of former governor of the Zaporozhye region, Alexander Peklushenko, was found. The last two, according to the police, shot themselves.  http://novorossia.today/murder-of-ukrainian-ex-mp-leader-of-anti-maidan-movement-oleg-kalashnikov-in-kiev/ Former Ukrainian MP Assassinated in Kiev 21:46 15.04.2015 A former Ukrainian MP and a vocal critic of the country’s ruling government was murdered on Wednesday in Kiev. A number of top Ukrainian officials have died under mysterious circumstances during one 34-day period, leading many to suspect foul play. Five High-Ranked Ukrainian Officials Die in String of Mysterious Suicides  Oleh Kalashnikov, a Ukrainian MP and a member of the Party of Regions, was assassinated on Wednesday evening near his residence in Kiev, one of his relatives told local media. The relative also said that Kalashnikov was recently threatened with bodily harm due to his political views, particularly for his call for a lavish celebration of the 70th anniversary of the victory in WWII, and that the slain politician received a considerable amount of hate mail. The Security Service of Ukraine, SBU, was investigating Kalashnikov’s statements for a potential threat to the national security. Recently, a number of former members of the Party of Regions and high ranking officials have died under mysterious circumstances, with their deaths being officially declared suicides. http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150415/1020939474.html COMMENT The US-puppet Ukraine fascists are getting away with murder. The fascist regime's SBU investigating 'potential threat to the national security' in relation to Oleh Kalashnikov is laughable. 34-DAY MURDER SPREE UNDER US-BACKED UKRAINE REGIME   Oles Buzina Journalist Highly Critical of Poroshenko govt. Voice of “Anti-Maiden” movement 13:20pm 16/04/2015 Broad daylight, gunned down Kiev Oleg Kalashnikov former MP Party of Regions 7:20pm Shooting – 15/04/2015, 18th Floor Residential building Vynohradar, Kiev Sergei Sukhobok Donetsk journalist co-founder of websites ProUA and Obkom murdered 12/04/2015 or 13/04/2015 Killers arrested Thursday Charges: heavy bodily harm No information / Likely beaten or bludgeoned Alexander Peklushenko former governor Zaporozhye region South-eastern Ukraine 12/03/2015 Firearm death:  most likely staged suicide Stanislav Miller ex-MP 10/03/2015 Firearm death:  most likely staged suicide Mikhail Chechetov former deputy head Party of Regions 28/02/2015 17th Floor building Most likely:  thrown from window MORE Oles Buzina, 45 columnist & editor of daily newspaper Segodnya Segodnya financed by Rinat Akhmetov (Ukraine’s richest man & a leading sponsor of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions) Oles Buzina: "an opposition journalist, writer and TV host, well-known for his criticism of Poroshenko’s goverment." Sergei Sukhobok   Donetsk journalist, murdered 13/04/2015 Killers arrested Thursday Sukhobok was also the author of several hundred articles on socio-political, social, legal and economic issues. His works were published in many publications, particularly in the “Ukrainian Truth”. Russia’s MFA spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that this is, unfortunately, only the beginning of political purges in Ukraine. SOURCE:  http://www.globalresearch.ca/three-prominent-poroshenko-critics-killed-in-kiev-in-three-days/5443485 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Slain Ukrainian author Oles Buzina: "I am a Ukrainian - it's a type of Russian" http://fortruss.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/slain-ukrainian-author-oles-buzina-i-am.html Farewell to Oleg Kalashnikov, Rest in Peace http://thesaker.is/farewell-to-oleg-kalashnikov-rest-in-peace/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Hollywood & CIA - Zero Dark Thirty; WikiLeaks - The Sony Archives; WikiLeaks - TPP - Investor Chapter

Exclusive: New Documents in Zero Dark Thirty Affair Raise Questions of White House-Sanctioned Intelligence Leak and Inspector General Coverup April 16, 2015 | By: Adam Zagorin By Adam Zagorin Critics have assailed the movie Zero Dark Thirty, charging that it fictionalized key elements of the ten-year hunt for Osama bin Laden and falsely credited the use of torture as being essential to locating the terrorist. But the factual liberties filmmakers took are only part of the story. Now, a document newly obtained by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) reveals more about the high-level government access Hollywood filmmakers had during their research—and what happened at the top of the CIA, including the Agency’s use of White House-approved talking points to brief the filmmakers specifically about intelligence used to locate the al Qaeda leader. That intelligence, according to the CIA and as portrayed in the film, was extracted using coercive techniques including waterboarding, an assertion that has emerged as a major point of contention between the CIA and Members of Congress from both parties. Indeed, leading U.S. Senators have blasted as false the movie’s depiction of torture as key to tracking down bin Laden. Many details are unknown, but the possibility that White House-approved talking points may have been a prime source for the portrayal of how he was located puts Zero Dark Thirty’s inaccuracies in a troubling light. ...there was “[r]emoval of CIA information” from the report on the same day that another document indicates she met with then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and discussed the report. A little-noticed email citing White House-approved talking points surfaced in a response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch in 2012, as did what is apparently another White House account of the raid. But it appears the document obtained by POGO references a different White House-approved narrative. The material uncovered by Judicial Watch does not refer specifically to intelligence that led to bin Laden’s location; the document obtained by POGO does. The additional information appears in a never-issued 15-page draft version of a report prepared by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD IG) and marked “FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY.” The report was requested by then-Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Peter King (R-NY) shortly after bin Laden’s killing in May 2011 to determine whether filmmakers received “top-level access to the most classified mission in history.”  Trouble in a Timeline Especially disturbing are the lengths to which DoD’s then-Acting Inspector General Lynne Halbrooks went to suppress details of the collaboration between Hollywood and the CIA. POGO also obtained an official timeline of the investigation. It shows  Official Photo of Lynne Halbrooks there was “[r]emoval of CIA information” from the report on the same day that another document indicates she met with then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and discussed the report. Panetta was CIA Director during the bin Laden raid, and the highest-ranking subject of Halbrooks’ probe. Halbrooks ultimately issued a sanitized account of what happened and withheld the embarrassing material from Congress and the public. That material, uncovered during months of research, led to the conclusion that Leon Panetta, as CIA Director, and Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers had conveyed ultra-sensitive, legally protected information to the makers of Zero Dark Thirty. After six years in the DoD IG’s Office, Halbrooks last week announced her resignation effective April 17. Shortly afterward, current IG Jon Rymer sent an email to DoD IG staff hailing her as his “closest advisor.” Rymer has appeared as disinterested as Halbrooks in telling the full story of what happened. EXTRACT ONLY - FULL @ SOURCE http://www.pogo.org/our-work/articles/2015/new-documents-in-zero-dark-thirty-affair-raise-questions.html COMMENT This stood out as interesting, but I'm not sure why.  LOL The collaboration between Hollywood & the CIA, as well as the falsely credited torture (ie pro torture propaganda) and the cover-up (to hide information from the public) probably sums up the whole Hollywood and CIA / USG collaboration ... which is a propaganda instrument, like something out of Nazi Germany. In other news: WikiLeaks Publish The Sony Archives in searchable format ties to White House / TPP LINK https://wikileaks.org/sony/press/ WikiLeaks also recently published an additional chapter (Investor Chapter) of the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership  Agreement ('TPP'): TPP US free trade treaty: Latest WikiLeaks Release TPP - Investor Chapter https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/ I'm a bit slow to catch on.  Didn't realise until several days after the release how important the WikiLeaks TPP release really is, seeing politicians/governments are actively keeping their 'slave' populations ignorant of matters that impact on them hugely. Secret negotiations have spanned years, and the free trade agreement is earmarked for secrecy for several years (even after it is adopted).  At the same time, this agreement affects 40% of the world's economy, grants corporations sweeping rights, affects national sovereignty / policy making capacity of government at all levels, and impacts detrimentally on matters of public interest in numerous ways; but this has been kept secret while governments prepare to sign away rights to big business and adopt crippling obligations affecting taxpayers. The TPP free trade agreement only focuses 5 chapters of 29 on trade:  the rest of its focus is on corporate protectionism. Hollywood Swinging Hard for Trans-Pacific Partnership Hollywood moguls and the vast majority of leftist entertainers have joined forces in a last-ditch effort to bully wavering Democratic lawmakers into backing President Obama’s fast-track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as the centerpiece of what he calls his “pro-trade agenda.” TPP is so controversial that the Administration has refused to show anyone the document. But what it does do is “trade” the right for U.S. entertainment interests to gain lucrative enhanced-copyright protections with 12 nations, in exchange for the elimination of all tariffs that punish unfair business practices. EXTRACT http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2015/04/09/hollywood-swinging-hard-for-trans-pacific-partnership/

Amnesty International and the Human Rights Industry

November 08, 2012 Who Will Watch the Watchmen? Amnesty International and the Human Rights Industry by DANIEL KOVALICK When I studied law at Columbia in the early 1990s, I had the fortune of studying under Louis Henkin, probably the world’s most famous human rights theoretician.   Upon his passing in 2010, Elisa Massimino at Human Rights First stated in Professor Henkin’s New York Times obituary that he “literally and figuratively wrote the book on human rights” and that “[i]t is no exaggeration to say that no American was more instrumental in the development of human rights law than Lou.” Professor Henkin, rest his soul, while a human rights legend, was not always good on the question of war and peace.  I know this from my own experience when I had a vigorous debate with him during and continuing after class about the jailing of anti-war protestors, including Eugene V. Debs, during World War I.  In short, Professor Henkin, agreeing with Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, believed that these protestors were properly jailed because their activities, though peaceful, constituted a “clear and present danger” to the security of the nation during war time.  I strongly disagreed. That Professor Henkin  would side with the state against these war protestors is indicative of the entire problem with the field of human rights which is at best neutral or indifferent to war, if not supportive of it as an instrument of defending human rights.   This, of course, is a huge blind spot.   In the case of World War I, for example, had the protestors been successful in stopping the war, untold millions would have been saved from the murderous cruelty of a conflict for which, to this day, few can adequately even explain the reasons.   And yet, this does not seem to present a moral dilemma for today’s human rights advocates.  (I will note, on the plus side, that Professor Henkin did become increasingly uneasy with the Vietnam War as that conflict unfolded, and specifically with the President’s increasing usurpation of Congress’s war authority). In the end, it was not from Professor Henkin, but from other, dissident intellectuals who I learned the most about human rights and international law.  The list of these intellectuals, none of whom actually practice human rights in their day job, includes Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman, Jean Bricmont and Diana Johnstone.  And of course, I have read a lot of what they have to say on this subject on these very pages of CounterPunch. And, what all of these individuals have emphasized time and time again is that international law, as first codified in the aftermath of World War II in such instruments as the UN Charter and the Nuremberg Charter, was created for the primary purpose of preserving and maintaining peace by outlawing aggressive war.   And, why is this so?  Because the nations which had just gone through the most destructive war in human history, with its attendant crimes of genocide and the holocaust, realized full well that those crimes were made possible by the paramount crime of war itself.  As Jean Bricmont, then, in his wonderful book Humanitarian Imperialism, explains, the first crime for which the Nazis “were condemned at Nuremberg was initiating a war of aggression, which, according to the 1945 Nuremberg Charter, ‘is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes is that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.’” In other words, the logic of the very founders of international law, including international human rights law, was that, to preserve human rights, the primary task of nations is to ensure peace and to prevent war which inevitably leads to the massive violation of human rights.  As Noam Chomsky has noted for years, quite notably in his 1971 Yale Law Review article entitled, “The Rule of Force in International Affairs,” 80 Yale L.J. 1456, one of the very first substantive norms established by the UN Charter is prohibition against aggressive war.   Such a norm is contained, as Chomsky relates, in Article 2(4) which provides that all UN members “shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force . . . .”   And, contrary to the position of the new humanitarian interventionists, Article 2(7) of the Charter specifically states that “[nothing in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state . . . .” Sadly, as Chomsky noted even back in 1971, these norms, the paramount ones of the entire UN system, have sadly been read out of international law.   And, they have been read out by, among others, such chief human rights groups as Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW).   As Jean Bricmont, citing international law scholar Michael Mandel, explains in Humanitarian Imperialism, while AI and HRW urged all “’beligerents’” (without distinguishing between the attackers and the attacked) at the outset of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq to respect the rules of war, neither group said a word about the illegality of the war itself.  As Bricmont quite correctly stated, “[t]hese organizations are in the position of those who recommend that rapists use condoms,” ignoring the fact that once the intervention they failed to oppose  “takes place on a large scale, human rights and the Geneva Conventions are massively violated.” This brings us to the present time.   Just last week, Amnesty International issued a long statement in opposition to an article I penned for Counterpunch on “Libya and the West’s Human Rights Hypocricy.”   AI, in its counter-blog, entitled, “A Critic Gets it Wrong on Amnesty International and Libya” (see, owl.li/eYmTb), AI claims that I was wrong in stating that it had supported  the NATO intervention in Libya.  AI, affirming the critiques of Bricmont and Mandel, claims in this blog, that “Amnesty International generally takes no position on the use of armed force or on military interventions in armed conflict, other than to demand that all parties respect international human rights and humanitarian law.”  AI then goes on to try to clarify that, in advance of the NATO intervention in Libya, AI, in a February 23, 2011, release, merely called on the Security Council to take immediate measures against Libya and Gaddafi, including [but not limited to] freezing the assets of Gaddafi and his senior military advisers, and investigating the possibility of a referral to the International Criminal Court. In its blog contra my article, AI claims that it called for such action based upon Gaddafi’s  verbal “threat to ‘cleanse Libya house by house’” to end the resistance.  While this is true, this is not the whole truth.   Thus, in AI’s Feburary 23, 2011 release, it also based this call upon “persistent reports of mercenaries being brought in from African countries by the Libyan leader to violently suppress the protests against him.”   And, as we learned from our own Patrick Cockburn in an Independent article from June 24, 2011, entitled, “Amnesty questions claim that Gaddafi ordered rape as a weapon of war,” Amnesty ended up debunking the reports (though well after NATO’s attack against Libya had begun)  that Gaddafi was bringing in foreign mercenaries to fight. As Cockburn, citing Donatella Rovera, senior crisis response adviser for Amnesty International, explains:     “Rebels have repeatedly charged that mercenary troops from Central and West Africa have been used against them. The Amnesty investigation found there was no evidence for this. “Those shown to journalists as foreign mercenaries were later quietly released,” says Ms Rovera. “Most were sub-Saharan migrants working in Libya without documents.” In other words, AI, on Feburary 23, 2011, was calling for Security Council action against Libya based upon reports about foreign mercenaries which it would later conclude were false, and upon verbal threats Gaddafi had made  — very weak bases indeed for Security Council action. And what about the calls for such action themselves?  As we all know, the Security Council did act, authorizing a NATO attack upon Libya which began on March 19, 2011.  The ordering of such an attack was a possible and indeed likely action which the Security Council would take, especially given that countries like the U.S. and France were aggressively pushing for such action at the time.  And, AI full well knew this, and its calls for Security Council action worked in tandem with the efforts of the U.S. and France to obtain authorization for such an intervention. In other words, AI, based at least in part on false reports, was pushing for Security Council action which it knew could, and most likely would, result in the authorization of force against Libya.  And indeed, AI’s other call for possible referral of sitting Libyan officials to the International Criminal Court was tantamount to a call for armed intervention, including regime change, because only such intervention could bring about the hauling of sitting government officials to The Hague.   AI’s current professions of neutrality on the issue of intervention notwithstanding, it can truly be stated that AI supported the intervention that took place in March of 2011 as an objective matter. And sadly, this objective support was based in part on false reports of foreign, black mercenaries being brought into Libya.   These false reports of mercenaries, in addition to feeding the calls for intervention, had another terrible effect – they helped lead to the massive reprisals against black Libyans and foreign guest workers during the conflict in Libya and continuing after the time that Gaddafi was toppled.   The most notable of such reprisals was the utter destruction of the town of Tawarga, a town largely populated by black Libyans, by anti-Gaddafi rebels.  To its great discredit, AI, in its rush to push for Security Council intervention, spread the very false reports which fueled such acts of vengeance. And, what about AI’s response to crimes committed by NATO’s intervention in and bombing of Libya?  AI, in its response to my article, cites to its criticism of NATO as evidence of its even-handedness in responding to the conduct of all sides of the Libyan conflict.  Specifically, AI cites to the following criticism it made as such evidence:     Although NATO appears to have made significant efforts to minimize the risk of causing civilian casualties, scores of Libyan civilians were killed and many more injured. Amnesty International is concerned that no information has been made available to the families of civilians killed and those injured in NATO strikes about any investigations which may have been carried out into the incidents which resulted in death and injury. Of course, this mere criticism demonstrates AI’s utter lack of even-handedness.   First of all, in order to please its NATO patron, AI obviously felt compelled to lead its criticism with a compliment – patting NATO on the back for allegedly trying to “minimize the risk of causing civilian casualties,” as if aerial bombardment of major cities can ever constitute the minimization of such risks. Then, AI complains that “no information has been made available” to the families of civilians killed or injured “about any investigations which may have been carried out into the incidents which resulted in death and injury.”   What “investigations” is AI referring to here?  Clearly, AI is complaining that NATO, left to police itself, has not shared the results of its own investigations into its own crimes. The truth is that AI, which called for Security Council and possible ICC action against Libya as NATO was sharpening its knives to invade, has not called for a body outside NATO (e.g., the ICC) to investigate and possibly prosecute NATO officials for their crimes.  What is good for the goose then, is not good for the gander in AI’s view.  Of course, the ICC does not exist to prosecute those from the paler, Western countries.   No, the ICC (which the U.S. is not even a signatory to and is therefore exempt from) is, in practice, for the darker races of the poorer countries; for those from Africa, Asia, and from time to time, the lesser Slavic nations.  And, therein lies the problem inherent in the entire international human rights system of which AI is an integral part. As we learn from Diana Johnstone in a CounterPunch article entitled, “How Amnesty International Became the Servant of U.S. Warmongering Foreign Policy,”  AI’s journey to becoming an appendage of the U.S. and NATO recently became complete with its appointment of Suzanne Nossel as the new Director of Amnesty International USA.  Diana Johnstone explains that Suzanne Nossel openly advocated, and indeed coined the term, “soft power” projection by the U.S. when she served in her last job as Assistant Secretary for International Organizations at none other than the U.S. State Department.  And, as Jean Bricmont notes in Humanitarian Intervention, and as Ms. Nossel herself and AI fully understand, “soft power” only works because it has the very real threat of “hard power” (including economic sanctions and military intervention) behind it.  AI has sadly forgotten that the wielding of such power by the rich countries to bully the weak is forbidden by the UN Charter which prohibits both the actual use and threat of force.   It is those prohibitions which must be enforced first and foremost to truly protect human rights. What’s more, as Diana Johnstone further explained in her CounterPunch article, Suzanne Nossel, just before being hired by AI, played a direct role while at the U.S. State Department in ginning up the pretexts for the NATO intervention in Libya.   Ms. Johnstone explains that,  “As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, Ms. Nossel played a role in drafting the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on Libya. That resolution, based on exaggeratedly alarmist reports, served to justify the UN resolution which led to the NATO bombing campaign that overthrew the Gaddafi regime. “  In other words, Ms. Nossel’s role in pushing the NATO intervention was similar to that of AI’s at the time, with both pushing exaggerated, and indeed false, claims to justify stepped up action against Libya. AI’s current attempts to distance itself from the very NATO intervention which AI and Ms. Nossel worked together to help bring about simply do not ring true.  I would submit that it is time for AI to do some real soul-searching on the issue of whether it wants to serve the interests of human rights or to serve the interests of NATO and Western military intervention, for it truly cannot serve both masters. Daniel Kovalik is a labor and human rights lawyer living in Pittsburgh.  He currently teaches International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/08/amnesty-international-and-the-human-rights-industry/ COMMENT HILLARY CLINTON WE CAME, WE SAW, HE DIED .... HAHAHHAHHAAAA ***** International law and humanitarian organisations are a bad joke. How many acts of aggression has the US committed since the post WWII UN charter? The US 'defender' of the world's humanity, freedom, democracy, and all that manipulative pretext baloney, isn't even a signatory to the ICC and is exempt from being tried for war crimes, while the human rights brigade work in tandem with Western warmongers (serving corporate interests) to push the US-NATO imperialist war agenda. Note also, backing intervention based on false reports & massive reprisals against black Libyans as a result. Given that UN charter prohibits intervention, why are these people even backing intervention in the first place, and why aren't they all being tried somewhere? Gaddafi - Zenga Zenga Song (Noy Alooshe Extended Version) Source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kygc0PzaQGY

Stand by for: Killer Robots

Killer robots must be banned, warns Amnesty International By WMNDavidWells  |  Posted: April 16, 2015 DRONE-POLICE-1 Not a ‘killer robot’ – but a surveillance drone being tested by Merseyside Police in 2007 Killer robots must be banned before their “insidious creep into policing” puts lives at risk and “poses a serious threat to human rights”, Amnesty International has said as it launched a new briefing in Geneva. Amnesty said that governments must ban any further development of killer robots as there is a “likelihood that they will be used in police operations” in an address to the UN’s Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The organisation is calling for a pre-emptive ban on the development, stockpiling, transfer, deployment and use of fully autonomous weapons systems (AWS or killer robots), including drones. The call comes months after a report highlighted how police in Wiltshire, Merseyside, Staffordshire, Essex, and the West Midlands have already acquired or used drones for surveillance and other operations. That report, published last year by the University of Birmingham Policy Commission, in research led by Sir David Omand, a former director at the Government’s listening post at GCHQ, warned that authorities must look at governing how and when drones can be used. Last year, the Royal Navy also launched its first-ever squadron comprised entirely of unmanned aircraft in Cornwall. The new squadron, based at RNAS Culdrose in Helston, is also responsible for trialling the next generation of pilotless aircraft. The pilotless drones of 700X Naval Air Squadron act as 'eyes in the sky' on reconnaissance missions and and counter-piracy patrols. The fleet includes three high tech Boeing Insitu ScanEagle devices, which are launched from aircraft carriers with a giant catapult. Each plane can spend up to 18 hours in the air beaming back live footage of targets to a three-man Royal Navy operating team. The drones have previously been used to locate mines in the Gulf but will now be assigned to Lieutenant Commander Alan Rogers, whose new squadron is one of the Navy's smallest in terms of human personnel. Amnesty today said that precursors to fully autonomous weapons – including drones and other unmanned weapons systems which are currently operated by humans –are already used to commit violations and present serious challenges to ensuring accountability. But, the organisation said, rapid advances in technology could mean the next generation of robotic weapons would be able to select and attack targets, potentially killing or injuring people, without effective human control – a chilling prospect which carries a new set of concerns. “The second round of talks in Geneva this week are a clear sign that governments are waking up to the wide range of serious concerns posed by killer robots, whose development and deployment in the near future seem all but inevitable if we don’t act now,” said Rasha Abdul Rahim, Campaigner on Arms Control, Security Trade & Human Rights at Amnesty International, who is currently at the CCW talks in Geneva. “The legal, ethical, and moral quandaries of using these systems in warfare are rightly beginning to receive the attention they deserve. But what’s still being widely overlooked is the likelihood that they will also be used in police operations, and it is urgent that this is addressed now. “Relying solely on machines to maintain law and order is not just a hypothetical scenario explored in countless sci-fi films. It is a chilling idea which may actually be realized if current developments are left unchecked. Now is the time for states to ban killer robots both on the battlefield and in policing, before we reach the point of no return.” Amnesty International’s new briefing, Autonomous Weapons Systems: Five key human rights issues for consideration, focuses on the implications of police use of killer robots in law enforcement. It argues that police use of robotic weapons would be fundamentally incompatible with international human rights law, resulting in unlawful killings, excessive use of force causing injuries, and undermining the right to human dignity. Unlike highly trained law enforcement officers, robots could not by themselves peacefully diffuse confrontations, distinguish between lawful and unlawful orders, make decisions about graduated response with a view to minimising harm, or be held accountable for mistakes or malfunctions that result in death or serious injuries, Amnesty said. Fully autonomous weapons without some level of human oversight have not yet been deployed, but rapid advances in technology are bringing them closer to reality, the organisation suggested. Amnesty’s address suggested there is just a “small leap” from products that are already on the market to fully fledged killer robots. It said companies in the UK, USA, Jordan, Israel, Spain and elsewhere are already developing “less lethal” robotic weapons for policing that are remotely operated or which fire automatically when touched. These include unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, and ground vehicles that can apparently shoot electric-shock darts, tear gas and other less-lethal projectiles, resulting in the risk of death or serious injuries. One example is the ShadowHawk drone being developed by US-based Vanguard Defense Industries. The ShadowHawk is designed to carry out operations similar to those of a surveillance helicopter, but it can also be weaponised. A media report hailed these capabilities when a Texas Sheriff’s office purchased one in 2011: “Although its initial role will be limited to surveillance, the ShadowHawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, previously used against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and East Africa, has the ability to tase suspects from above as well as carrying 12-gauge shotguns and grenade launchers”. Amnesty International believes that in policing operations, autonomous weapons systems would not be able to properly assess complex policing situations and comply with relevant standards. “Under international standards, police may use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty. They prohibit the use of firearms except in defence against an imminent threat of death or serious injury. It’s very difficult to imagine a machine substituting for human judgment, which is critically important to decisions on the use of potentially lethal force,” said Rasha Abdul Rahim. Amnesty International and its partners on the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots are calling for a global pre-emptive ban on the development, transfer, deployment and use of autonomous weapons systems, for either armed conflict or law enforcement. In the absence of such a prohibition, Amnesty said that states must publicly support and implement a call by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to impose a moratorium on the development, transfer, deployment and use of such systems. The organisation said that, in the meantime, “it is imperative that due consideration be given to the human rights implications of autonomous weapons systems”. http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Killer-robots-banned-warns-Amnesty-International/story-26342813-detail/story.html COMMENT Thought this was an interesting article.  Militarised police is already an issue in USA and it looks like UK is heading that way. Check out what the Texas police have got!  Bet the Chicago PD's envious. Killer robots don't sound too good to me, so I'm all for stopping development etc. But Amnesty International sounds like it's another tool in the imperialist arsenal:  SYRIA: “Human Rights” Warriors for Empire Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have chosen the side of Empire in the Washington-backed belligerency http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-human-rights-warriors-for-empire/29422 EXTRACT Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are swigging the ale with their fellow buccaneers. These “human rights” warriors, headquartered in the bellies of empires past and present, their chests shiny with medals of propagandistic service to superpower aggression in Libya, contribute “left” legitimacy to the imperial project. London-based Amnesty International held a global “day of action” to rail against Syria for “crimes against humanity” and to accuse Russia and China of using their Security Council vetoes to “betray” the Syrian people – echoing the war hysteria out of Washington, Paris, London and ... Riyadh and Doha. New York-based Human Rights Watch denounced Moscow and Beijing’s actions as “incendiary” – as if it were not the empire and its allies who were setting the Middle East and Africa on fire, arming and financing jihadis – including hundreds of veteran Libyan Salafists now operating in Syria.   http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-human-rights-warriors-for-empire/29422 So the Amnesty International call for a moratorium or ban on autonomous weapons systems (killer robots), would just be what:  performance?

Foreign Service Updates

Iran Hundreds protest outside Saudi embassy in Tehran  /alleged sexual harassment Iran youths by Saudi police http://www.dawn.com/news/1175390/hundreds-protest-outside-saudi-embassy-in-tehran -- Somalia “White Widow” reportedly escapes from Somalia to Aden WANTED by US + UK intel, Interpol & Kenya low-level recruiter with Al Qaeda DarkNet promotion & recruiting of young girls {sounds like bull to me} http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/569861/White-Widow-Samantha-Lewthwaite-alive-recruiting-female-suicide-bombers -- Egypt court confirms death sentence for Brotherhood head, Mohamed Badie & 11 others  / life terms to 23 detained http://www.brecorder.com/top-stories/0/1172542/ Accused of plotting unrest after:  military overthrow Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. -- US Nominates Ex-Envoy,  Glyn Davies , For North Korea Policy As Ambassador To Thailand  http://www.ibtimes.com/us-nominates-ex-envoy-north-korea-policy-ambassador-thailand-after-6-month-hiatus-1880728 -- First secretary of North Korea's Embassy in Bangladesh 27kg gold bars update / no security lapse http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/no-lapse-screening-envoy-gold-bars -- Saudi Arabia Iraq appoints ambassador to Baghdad after 25 years / ending stand-off b/w the two http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/732866 -- Cuba Obama Endorses Removing Cuba From Terrorism List US targets also on list = Iran, Sudan & Syria http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/world/americas/obama-cuba-remove-from-state-terror-list.html_r=0 -- Germany = 4th largest economy and Europe's largest PM Modi in Berlin India wants FTA, investment, business http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150415/jsp/nation/story_14682.jsp -- South Korea moves embassy staff from Libya to Tunisia after attack 2 guards killed / 32 SK nationals remain Libya http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfmmethod=home.regcon&contentid=20150415240454 -- USA officials twice denied refuge to one of the girls who escaped Chibok mass abduction Nigeria   http://www.worldmag.com/2015/04/u_s_reportedly_denies_visa_to_chibok_schoolgirl -- HILARIOUS BULLSH*T "With tension high in the Baltic States over possibility of a Russian invasion ..." Estonia asks 4 perma. NATO force. Estonia - German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen visiting Estonia, has assured Estonia of quick response. Looks like  Ursula used to be:  Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth  / Ursula a one-time Junior Doctor at the Gynaecological Clinic  -- Estonia President Toomas Hendrik Ilves doing the rounds of propaganda / doubts even NATO could fend off attack. Estonia Embassy in WA:  “There was no question whether the U.S. & NATO troops were necessary.” http://townhall.com/tipsheet/vivianhughbanks/2015/04/14/germany-assures-estonia-of-nato-support-against-russians-n1985130 --- Norway Govt Ordered to pay $270K plus $2.1M in attorney's fees, federal judge rules | Minneapolis consulate employee http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/employer_who_nixed_400k_settlement_now_owes_270k_plus_2.1m_in_attorneys_fee -- UKraine Porkkky dismisses UKR ambassador to US:  Oleksandr Motsyk {career diplomat /served under Yanukovych}  No reason given [RFE/RL] -- US embassy Amman, Jordan provided Jordan w. Mobile Vehicle & Cargo Inspection System (Mobile VACIS) to boost security @ border crossings article: http://www.petra.gov.jo/Public_News/Nws_NewsDetails.aspxSite_Id=1&lang=2&NewsID=191327&CatID=13&Type=Home&GType=1 VACIS http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/media/facts-faits/038-eng.html -- Myanmar survivors of a Russia trawler sinking awaiting embassy Moscow to process passports 4 repatriation Illegal fishing allegations loom 117 people were lifted from the water / 54 of them dead and 63 alive http://www.undercurrentnews.com/2015/04/14/survivors-of-sunken-trawler-face-illegal-work-charges-in-russia/ -- Thought police calling on Dutch foreign min. to fire Diplomat Bregje Wijsenbeek / Emb. Pretoria re comments on Iran http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/71178 -- Hollande stand-off Pope Francis accused of nixing France’s ambassadorial candidate to the Holy See b/c he is gay http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/14/remember-who-am-i-to-judge-vatican-silent-on-france-s-gay-appointee.html -- Palestine College in occupied East Jerusalem is top Israel recipient of EU science grants http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/top-israeli-recipient-eu-grants-based-occupied-east-jerusalem -- Russia WWII Photo Exhibition, London War Museum, Brit. Emb. promo in Yekaterinburg - CANCELLED ... blame FSB when not blaming Putin. Good job, Kremlin.  Weren't there for Victory Parade.  Tell them to f*ck right off.  -- Egypt sends aid to Syria refugees in Lebanon medical, tents, blankets http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Templates/Articles/tmpArticleNews.aspxArtID=92028 -- Benin vs Gabon  Africa Unrest re announcement Gabonese opposition leader died. Benin Embassy torched in Gabon .. Benin wants answers. Gabon protesters accused Gabon's govt of casting "spells" on Mba Obame, who died on Sunday. http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Benin-demands-answers-after-embassy-gets-torched-in-Gabon-20150414 -- South Korea's foreign ministry came under criticism for allegedly lying re whereabouts of its ambassador to Libya South Korea said ambassador was in Tunisia er, ... nope:  in SKor. But, hey, it was a 'mistake'. http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2015/04/14/63/0200000000AEN20150414005151315F.html -- Notebook belonging to gay codebreaker Alan Turing sells for $1 million >chemically castrated, barred fm working for GCHQ /suicide Enigma machine also sold: $269k http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/04/14/notebook-belonging-to-gay-codebreaker-alan-turing-sells-for-1-million/ -- India Jawaharlal Nehru, former PM from India independence in 1947-1964 Cambridge graduate *wanted to model India as secular country* Jawaharlal Nehru on religion: blind belief & reaction dogma & bigotry superstition exploitation & preservation of vested interests -- COMMENT Sounds like India's Jawaharlal Nehru was a sensible man.