Transcript: Assange - UK-US Special Relationship - War On Syria, Corbyn, & The WikiLeaks Files

US WAR on  SYRIA Afshin Rattansi goes underground  with the world's most wanted publisher the founder of   WIKILEAKS   JULIAN ASSANGE BOOK Assange, co-author: The WikiLeaks Files (2015)  |  here VIDEO SOURCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztai31ZpTCk&feature=youtu.be TRANSCRIPT [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT Welcome to Going Underground. I'm Afshin Rattansi. We're outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in Central London. As the Tories try to convince us into bombing Syria to save it, we're going to speak to the world's most wanted publisher, the founder of WIKILEAKS, JULIAN ASSANGE, under siege from UK police at a cost of millions of pounds to the UK taxpayer. [Book]  The WikiLeaks Files has just been published, and it paints a picture of US destabilisation of the lives of billions of people, right around the world. And, as David Cameron finally admits that the UK is involved in extra judicial killing, using the most infamous of ISIS recruitment sergeants, the Reaper Drone, we look at the British connection to US atrocities. For all this, and the analysis of critical US State Department cables from the millions published by WIKILEAKS, let's go Underground. AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT Julian, thanks to you and the Ecuadorian Embassy for letting us in again. So, how do you think this book will address the censoring of WIKILEAKS in mainstream media and academia? You outlined that it's banned in the Library of Congress, university students at Columbia being told not to tweet or Facebook some of the cables. JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks Well, when I was writing an introduction to this book, I thought: well, we really need to describe why people should read the book. So what's new about it? Didn't the newspapers already cover all this material? OK. Well, the Cablegate cables -- that's 251,000 cables -- we released them in 2010-2011. But subsequently, right up through this year [2015], we've published ten times as many cables. We've now published 2.7 million and another 7.3 million documents altogether. So, ten (10) million documents in total. And why haven't newspapers covered all that? Well, it's a lot of material, but also they engage in censorship; and they do it for a variety of reasons. The cables are very interesting, because the way we dealt with the media was that we had a hundred (100) different media groups we were involved with, and they got the same material. So, we were able to compare The New York Times to Le Monde, to Greenpeace, to all different groups working with our material, and see that they all have their particular biases, and they select some material and also redact other cables, for other reasons. 2:48 The big surprise to me, was not the media censorship. We've worked out ways to smash through that in certain cases. In other cases, it's become very normal, and I think there's even a -- the general public understands now, that each media outlet censors things in its own particular ways. The surprise, to me, was the academic censorship. And the academic censorship is not uniform, even within the US and the UK. The academic censorship is not, for example, in epidemiology  It's not, for example, in computer vision. It's, not for example, computational linguistics. It's not, broadly speaking, in the sciences or medicine, where there's some thirty thousand (30,000) citations, to material in WIKILEAKS. epidemiology:  pertaining to discipline of medicine | study:  patterns, causes & effects conditions & diseases - here computational linguistics:  discipline between linguistics and computer science. Cognitive sciences branch, overlapping field of artificial intelligence (AI) re computational models of human cognition - here [3:35] It's not even in the courts. European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) used that material, international tribunals, even UK domestic courts. It's in foreign relations academic journals published in the United States and, perhaps, in the UK. AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT They're trying to erase what you've been publishing from the field of international relations. JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks That's right. And even worse than the US media. The New York Times, for all its problems, published about 100 of our cables. OK, we've published 2.7 million, so 100 isn't great. But it has at least done 100. La Times publishes.  Every couple of days there's one media outlet in the US that will publish something. But international relations journals, no. So, what's going on? [4:22] It turned out that there is, in fact, a formal policy at the largest -- or the most prestigious international relations journal -- International Relations Quarterly (IRQ), and the editor admitted that he'd been placed in an untenable position by the umbrella organisation (the ISA: International Studies Association) and, as a result, there's the policy of not accepting anything derived from WIKILEAKS cables, because they're nervous about classified material. But, other journals in the United States are not nervous. 4:59 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT Well, I want to get into why that might not be so surprising as we go through some of the relations outlined in the book. Let's turn to the subject of -- according to the media at the moment -- imminent war on Syria and imminent vote (who knows?) in Parliament again, for British bombing of Syria. You outlined - or, the book outlines -- how there's been little change between George W. Bush and Obama; how the US policy, all through, had little to do with human rights in Syria and much more to do with sponsoring Iraqi style sectarianism that led us to ISIS and, of course, the refugee crisis, which is making headlines now. JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks That's right. Our Syria chapter goes back to 2006. There's a very important cable, in 2006, from Ambassador Roebuck, stationed in Damascus and he writes back discussing a plan for the overthrow of the Assad government in Syria. And that plan is not: well, we should, you know, support the opposition and so on, through better media planning and so on. It's to use a number of different factors to create paranoia within the Syrian government, to push it to overreact, to make it fear that there's a coup, to use its manoeuvres against the Islamic extremists against it. So, when Syria says: we have a problem with Islamic extremists crossing over the border with Iraq, and we're taking actions against them to take this information and make the Syrian government look weak, [given] the fact that it is dealing with Islamic extremists at all. And then, most seriously, to foster tensions between Shiites and Sunnis. And, in particular, take rumours which they know to be false -- and say in the cable they know to be false or exaggerations -- and promote them, that Iran is trying to convert poor Sunnis; and to work with Saudi and Egypt to foster that perception, in order to make it harder for Iran to have influence, and also for the government to have influence in the population. 7:20 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT This man, Roebuck -- now Ambassador to Bahrain -- so caught there, deliberately trying to foster the kind of destruction that's led to the refugees crisis? JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks I mean, there's a number of cables that speak about it, in the Syrian chapter. But, that particular cable, it is really concerning. I mean, it -- You know, often cables are written in such a way where you have to read between the lines, or look at what is not said. In this particular cable, it's just all hanging out. A whole lot of Machiavellian schemes to overthrow the Syrian government. 7:53 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT And it's pre-dating any of the human rights demonstrations against the Assad government? JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks It pre-dates the demonstrations in 2011. AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT How do you think, despite -- as the US book says -- the US laid the foundation for sectarianism in places like Syria, causing bloodshed on a national scale. JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks What's happened in Syria is really very serious. I mean, there's hundreds and thousands of people now dead in Syria. 8:20 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT But some countries manage to still succeed despite the destabilisation by all these agencies. Iran and Venezuela. Ecuador. We're in the embassy here. How do these countries seem to be able to work their way through it, unlike the Syrian government? 8:36 JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks Well, I mean, the Syrian government has managed to survive -- just. I think we need to look at regional alliances. Part of the problem in Syria is you have a number of US allies surrounding it (principally Saudi and Qatar) that are funnelling in weapons (Turkey, as well. A very serious actor.) who each have their own hegemonic ambitions in the region. Israel also, no doubt, is. If Syria is sufficiently destabilised, it [Israel] might be in a position where it can keep the Golan Heights forever, or even advance that territory. So, you've got a number of players around Syria that are looking to bite off pieces. Whereas in Latin America -- if you look at Ecuador, for example -- it has relatively supportive states around it. Same with Venezuela. Relatively supportive states. And this book documents, for instance, the United States going to Brazil, and saying:  we want to rein in Venezuela; we want to isolate Venezuela; we think Venezuela's a problem for the region. And Brazil's saying, no:  our relationship with Venezuela's important; it's an important regional player; we don't want to compromise that relationship by doing anything against Venezuela. 9:53 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT OK, the book details genocidal US policy right around the world, from Latin America to Asia, all in the name of liberalism, which you write about in your introduction. How does all the torture and killing work, with the free market and the use of free markets? 10:10 JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks This interplay between big American companies and the State Department, and the US military, is something that's all documented in the cables. I mean, you can see -- all over the world -- US embassies acting as a sales agent for Boeing, for Monsanto; lobbying to adjust European law; even to create sanctions or other penalties, in relation to Europe, for not accepting genetically modified organisms (GMOs), or forcing labelling. 10:41 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT Now, we know that, maybe within a few miles of this embassy, secret negotiations on TTIP, the free trade agreement, are going on. You've issued a reward for information. So, one shouldn't see TTIP in isolation to all the killing at torture that's mentioned in the book? 11:00 JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks The US empire -- and it is correct to use that word -- is not an empire in the classical sense. It's not like the Roman Empire. It's a little bit like the British Empire, but different. It's a modern empire. You wouldn't expect an empire in a modern age to look like an old empire. Now, there's a continental expansion of the United States. Yes, it has grabbed other territories like Hawaii and, effectively, Puerto Rico, and Alaska. But the predominant form the US empire has, is an empire of US bases -- now more than fourteen hundred (1,400) US military bases in over a hundred and twenty (120) countries dotted around the world -- and an empire of trade. And it uses these mechanisms of its embassies, of its military bases, of its presence in organisations like the UN [United Nations] and IMF [International Monetary Fund], in order to secure advantageous deals and structures for the largest American companies. [12:01] Interestingly, not for the average American worker. So, all you hear about is 'American interests'. It's not the interests of the average American that are being pursued. Of course, it's the interests of the companies that are close enough to the government to be able to have their interests reflected in what US ambassadors do around the world. 12:21 [music] AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT In Part 2 of GoingUnderground JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks Corbyn. I have thought a lot about this: whether he can survive in a Labour Leadership position. AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT We speak to JULIAN ASSANGE about the 'special relationship' and when he's going to be free. [music] AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT In Part 2 of our interview with JULIAN ASSANGE, we investigate our liberal values, crushed dissent, and whether the WIKILEAKS founder will ever be able to leave the Ecuadorian embassy and regain his freedom. AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT And hand-in-hand with the banning of information that you were talking about earlier, the WIKILEAKS fatwa which, I think is mentioned in the book, there's a mass subversion of information using the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), USAID -- they have lots of different non-military (at least on the surface) sounding organisations that are massaging the sovereignty, as it were. 13:23 JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks Well, yeah. One of the most important documents we've ever published is the Unconventional Warfare Manual [here]. And, what is unconventional warfare? So, unconventional warfare is warfare performed through the use of surrogate forces to overthrow a government. That's essentially to infiltrate, train, and overthrow. It's what happened, for example, in Afghanistan. It's what happened in Nicaragua. Now, that manual, which I mention in this book [here], it is active policy now in the united states. It's active military doctrine and it describes that when the United States needs to do something, it pulls together the various arms of American power. Yes, those include the military arm, which we're very familiar with. The also include the intelligence arm, the financial arm, the commercial arm, its informational power, and it's diplomatic power. They bring all of these together in order to push on a country -- in order to get it do do what the US government wants it to do -- to work in tandem. Under financial power, yes, the IMF is explicitly listed. Under power connected to the State Department, USAID is explicitly listed. What I found very interesting about this convergence of different forms of American power brought together to achieve an end result is that there's different theories of government: different theories of how the United States works. So, one theory is you have various rivalrous agencies, and rivalrous people within agencies, and rivalrous corporations; and, so, it's actually very hard to get anything done. And there's no doubt there are cases in the past where that has been true. It's hard to get this mass together, but the formal policy - and it comes together in practice - is, actually, to pull together all these different agencies, which might seem like they're working different beats, and push them together in a sort of pincer formation on a country to achieve a result. 15:41 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT What President Obama says that -- I mean, he obviously doesn't admit that holistic approach of all these different government agencies -- but, he does say (and he said it in his speech as regards Russia and Ukraine), that for all the criticisms of the United States and the European Union, there is the differences; they don't crush dissent. Is President Obama lying? 16:09 JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks Well, Obama is definitely lying, as it varies across the European Union. But, Obama has prosecuted more whistleblowers, under the Espionage Act [1917], than all previous presidents combined -- 16:21 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT He probably wouldn't say it's dissent. He'd probably say it was leaking of secrets. JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks -- in fact, more than twice as many. Now, of course, he says that that's espionage. But there's no allegation that any of these people have given their secrets to a foreign government or were working with a foreign government. The allegations are they were working with the media. 16:42 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT Israel is pretty central. You mentioned Israel there. Do you think -- do you think de-nuclearising, as it were, ending the nuclear weapons program of Israel is really the only way forward, because the chapter in the book about Israel seems to suggest US duplicity involving Israel as regards Palestinians will always be a roadblock to peace. 17:07 JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks It's very serious, the duplicity of the US in relation to Israel and protection of Israel again and again through its veto power at the UN. It's one of these situations where it is only really the United States who has an ability to affect Israel and, so, the Palestinians feel that they have to deal with the United States because no-one else has the ability to affect Israel, because the US keeps exercising its veto. Now, we've seen some interesting and clever moves by Palestine around that. For example, pulling in the ICC [International Criminal Court]. The ICC has been kind of an emasculated organisation. Every single prosecution it's had is of an African and no-one else. We detail -- I think, in some ways, in one of the most interesting chapters in the book, because it looks at not a country or a region (which all the other chapters do), it looks at an international institution -- the ICC -- and how the US has tried to subvert the ICC by signing secret agreements around the world to prevent extradition of its soldiers for war crimes and other violations. Palestine now becoming part of the ICC, and people monitoring that process, it is putting pressure on Israel; and you'll see a number of the cables mention extreme Israeli concern at the prospect that Palestine might join the ICC. It now has joined the ICC. 18:40 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT So, do you think that the tide is (turning away from your personal circumstances for a sec), or whether their deployment of missiles -- the United States now, on the borders of China, borders of Russia. Do you think that there's a recognition there that they're going too far: that the global south -- Russia, China, together -- could now start to mount attempted neutralising [of] American power, that has gone too far now? 19:06 JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks It's very hard to say. If you look at it in raw terms, post WWII, the US had fifty percent (50%) of global GDP. And, as a result, it was able to set up post-war multilateral institutions with significant control, because it set them up and rules that were skewed to its favour. US GDP is now down below forty percent (40%) of global GDP. It's military spending, which traditionally has been over fifty (50%) is now down to about forty (40%). It's intelligence expenditure is still up past sixty (60%). So, in some ways, it is more than a military superpower: it is an intelligence superpower, if you look at the relative spends of the United States compared to others. Now, that said, there is increasing integration occurring between states the US does not control -- for example, along the Silk Road [here] -- but I wouldn't discount the effect of the United States. There's no country that has anything like fourteen hundred (1,400) military bases spread over a hundred and twenty (120) countries around the world. No-one is in anywhere near that. 20:22 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT There's some fascinating chapters in the book about how you document dissent in Japan and South Korea being crushed by US hegemonic power. Of course, all the talk here is of Jeremy Corbyn, who obviously dissents from US hegemonic power. Do you think the United States will be able to crush his Labour leadership, let alone his British premiership, if he is elected prime minister. 20:49 JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks Well, it looks like he's going to win the Labour Leadership election. Now, Corbyn's an interesting fellow. I had experience with him in 2011. He protested in relation to my treatment in the UK Parliament, saying it was unnatural (in terms of natural justice), for someone to be extradited without charge -- they should at least be charged in the United Kingdom -- and he proposed amendments (which eventually were accepted in 2014) to ban that practice in future. Corbyn -- I have thought a lot about this -- whether he can survive in a Labour leadership position, taking his historically quite critical line in relation to the UK-US relationship. And, to give you an example of just how different that is, a quote from a cable sent by the American Ambassador to Washington DC, after meeting William Hague, who was the Foreign Minister in this government. 21:55 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT Lord Hague, probably now, as we been [ ... ] JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks Oh, yeah, he's still an important person in the Parliament. Hague said he -- David Cameron (that's the Prime Minister) -- and George Osborne (the Treasurer), were: "... children of Thatcher and staunch Atlantisists." "America is the essential country." "Hague said whoever enters 10 Downing Street as the prime minister, soon learns of the essential nature of the relationship with America." "He added, "we want a pro-American regime. We need it. The world needs it."" We might go, he's just telling the Americans what they want to hear, but look at the degree of language. I mean, they're not complete fools, they expect payback on these promises, and Corbyn is not speaking like this. And there is a real -- I think there's a real risk to his leadership long-term. Interesting question: if Corbyn could not be kicked out, to political destabilisation or leaks to the media of intelligence intercepts, his long-term safety -- if he kept on a line of saying withdraw UK from NATO -- he has already weakened that line, saying: well, it's not the focus now, we need to talk about, you know, what is the role of NATO, and so on. Well, fair enough. But, if he maintained a very aggressive line of saying: we must scrap Trident; we must remove UK from NATO; I would be quite concerned about the risks that he would be intentionally politically destabilised by the United States, or something worse, because we're talking about the relationships between great powers. Between -- You know, about the UK's nuclear weapons system, which forms part -- effectively, part of the American empire. The US has bases here. It's largest interception base is up at Menwith Hill at Yorkshire. So there's six thousand (6,000) NSA (National Security Agency) personnel working in it, directly. It's quite hard to undo that relationship. I think -- my suspicion is that Corbyn will realise that, if he hasn't already, and will play it smart. NATO will be off the agenda. Maybe fine-tuning UK's role in NATO. And Trident will be off the agenda. I suspect that it's not possible to win an election in the UK unless that is done. But, then again, no-one thought that it would be possible for him to be Labour leader at all. 24:46 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT And, finally, your safety. I mean, when do you think you and Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, will again regain your right to freedom of movement. Well, Chelsea Manning has an appeal coming up later this year, or early next year. But she was sentenced to thirty-five (35) years in prison. That's longer -- for allegedly disclosing information to the media -- that's longer than any person who committed war crimes in Iraq, including those who raped and murdered a whole family. That's going to take significant political pressure; change in the politics in the United States before say -- AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT [interjects] And for you and Edward Snowden? 25:28 JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks -- before, say, Chelsea Manning is pardoned. Edward Snowden? It is not safe for Edward Snowden to be in the United States, or any of the allies of the United States, I believe until the National Security Agency is wound up. That is a core part of the intelligence community. The core part has about one hundred thousand (100,000) in Washington DC. Five (5) million people overall in terms of security clearances. But the inner core, about one hundred thousand (100,000) people. That's a very influential and powerful lobby that simply will not accept a pardoning of Edward Snowden. Not accept it at all. In terms of my particular case, well the pending prosecution is ongoing. They have five charges: (1) espionage; (2) conspiracy to commit espionage; (3) computer fraud & abuse; (4) conversion [here] ; and (5) general conspiracy. Decades, theoretically, in prison. But it's a matter of politics. It's hard for them to have a big case, during the run-up into the election. I don't think, probably, that's something that people want, although you never know, with Hillary [Clinton]. If it's Hillary versus Trump, and Trump's playing the national security trump card, maybe there is enough incentive then to create a very big case. But what is clear is it's politically impossible to drop it. It's just the State Department, Pentagon and so on, are simply such big lobbies in DC that it's not possible for the White House, which can be subverted by any of these big groups in terms of leaking their correspondences and policies to the press and so on, and, ultimately, literally overthrow them if push really came to shove with the White House and CIA. It's not possible for them to drop it under such circumstances. 27:27 AFSHIN RATTANSI GoingUndergroundRT JULIAN ASSANGE, thank you. JULIAN ASSANGE Publisher WikiLeaks Thank you. 27:30 [music | announcement] --- end --- ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Julian Assange Australian Journalist FAQ & Support https://justice4assange.com/ Collateral Murder WikiLeaks Video Iraq https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0 Sunshine Press Uploaded: 3 Apr 2010 SEE ALSO Decoding the Current War in Syria: The Wikileaks Files http://www.globalresearch.ca/decoding-the-current-war-in-syria-the-wikileaks-files/5473909 LINKS WikiLeaks http://www.thisdayinWIKILEAKS.org/2015/05/7-may-2015.html USAID https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Agency_for_International_Development US & UK Relationship http://www.cafebabel.co.uk/euromyths/article/WIKILEAKS-and-the-not-so-special-relationship-uk-us.html Menwith Hill, Yorkshire http://www.yorkshirecnd.org.uk/campaigns/menwith-hill/ BOOK http://www.versobooks.com/books/1931-the-wikileaks-files Assange Transnational Security Elite, Carving Up the World Using Your Tax Money London  OCT8 Antiwar Mass Assembly (2011) Link  |  here ꕤ

Denmark - Venstre Party (ie 'Left' for 'Liberal' | Not Socialist)

DENMARK names: eg Lars Løkke Rasmussen eg Anders Fogh Rasmussen Middle names - eg 'Fogh' and 'Løkke' denote mother's family name and do not normally form part of the name / used in press to distinguish the Danes, who all seem to have the same names ... (I think, lol) Venstre (Denmark) Founded as part of a peasants' movement against the landed aristocracy Blue Bloc (Venstre, Danmarks Liberale Parti) ie English: Left, Denmark's Liberal Party Therefore: Venstre = 'left' TODAY  the 'Venstre' (for 'left') reference is to: liberalism NOT socialism f. 1870 then name: Det Forenede Venstre (The United Left) 1895–1910 then known as Venstrereformpartiet (Left Reform Party) opponents, Højre (Right) forerunner of the present-day Conservative People's Party advocated for established interests, esp.  Church of Denmark & the landed gentry Distinction b/w  concepts of Venstre (Left, ie party bearing name) venstrefløj (left wing / socialist & other left-leaning parties) TODAY Venstre advocates an economically liberal pro-free market ideology the major party of the centre-right in Denmark third largest party Venstre party has produced many Prime Ministers governed from 2001 to 2011 as the major partner in a coalition w/ Conservative People's Party with support from the Danish People's Party 2015 parliamentary elections Venstre / Blue Bloc received 19.5% of vote 34 out of 179 seats won a tight election party came THIRD overall winning Lars Løkke Rasmussen ability to form a govt PARTY LEADER Venstre = Lars Løkke Rasmussen = IN OFFICE appointed PRIME MINISTER of DENMARK (fm 28 June 2015) Was PREVIOUS Prime Minister Apr 2009 to Oct 2011 / law degree was president of the youth branch of Venstre ie 1986 to 1989, prior to obtaining law degree Since 2001 Venstre enacted a "tax stop" to halt the growth in taxes seen during previous eight years under Social Democrats 2010 Rasmussen's govt = major spending cuts and measures designed = unemployment insurance (unemployment benefit cut from max of 4 years to 2) Take over from: Anders Fogh Rasmussen former leader Venstre Prime Minister of Denmark from 27 Nov 2001 to 5 Apr 2009 AFR - Appointed Secretary General of NATO in 2009 Fogh Rasmussen in favour of centralisation privatisation limiting the size of govt relied on Danish People's Party for support, keeping Danish tradition of minority govt Fogh Rasmussen was a strident critic of the welfare state 1990s, his views moved towards the political centre His government introduced tougher limits on non European Economic Area (EEA) immigration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venstre_%28Denmark%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_L%C3%B8kke_Rasmussen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Fogh_Rasmussen ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- ꕤ

TRANSCRIPT - ASIO, CIA & MI6 de facto coup d'état - Whitlam Government, Australia

"US diplomatic cables published last year by WikiLeaks disclose the names of leading figures in both main parties, including a future prime minister and foreign minister, as Washington’s informants during the Whitlam years. Whitlam knew the risk he was taking. The day after his election, he ordered that his staff should not be “vetted or harassed” by the Australian security organisation, ASIO – then, as now, tied to Anglo-American intelligence." JOHN PILGER Investigative Journalist Source |  here Australian Association for Cultural Freedom Member:  John Kerr, Australia's Governor-General “an elite, invitation-only group … exposed in Congress as being founded, funded and generally run by the CIA” [ Jonathan Kwitny - WSJ ] Theodore Shackley notorious head of CIA’s East Asia division Shackley:  1972 CIA coup vs Salvador Allende in Chile TELEX message, deeming Gough Whitlam 'security risk' to Australia “Our man Kerr” - ie CIA Man BRIEFS  - Defence Signals Directorate, Australia’s NSA about ...  “security crisis” ... Invoking archaic vice-regal “reserve powers” Kerr sacked the democratically elected prime minister SOURCE John Pilger Investigation | coup against Whitlam Book:  A Secret Country (Vintage) Documentary film:  Other People’s Wars VIEW ON  http://www.johnpilger.com/ TRANSCRIPT [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] ASIO, CIA & MI6 de facto coup d'état Whitlam Government Australia VIDEO Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kxVVWfRPiA Duration: 9:59 NARRATOR The coup against Gough Whitlam's Labour government in Australia 1972 (sic) exposes a wide variety of dirty tricks used by intelligence agencies to undermine democracy. GOUGH WHITLAM We will not yield to blackmail. We will not be panicked. We will not turn over the government of this country to vested interests, pressure groups and newspaper proprietors, whose tactics would destroy the standards and traditions of parliamentary government. SCREEN TEXT "The CIA's aim in Australia was to get rid of a government they did not like and that was not co-operative ... It's a Chile, but in a much more sophisticated and subtle form." - Victor Marchetti, ex-CIA officer NARRATOR In Australia 1972, a Labor government was elected for the first time in 23 years. It would be brought down in a de facto coup d'état, conducted by the CIA in liaison with Britain's MI6 and, most shockingly, Australia's own intelligence services. Since assuming power in Australia, Whitlam's labour government had enacted series of reforms. These included: raises in wages, pensions, and unemployment benefits, free national healthcare, equal pay for women, the abolishment of tuition fees, new services for Aboriginal peoples, and the replacement of 'God Save the Queen' with Australia's own national anthem. Most disturbing to Washington, however, was the withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam, the support of Palestinian rights, and the proposal of an Indian Ocean zone of peace. Worst of all, Whitlam hinted that he might shut down a number of American military bases, including Pine Gap. When CIA Director William Colby petitioned his counterpart at MI6, Sir Maurice Oldfield, for help, he stressed that Australia was traditionally Britain’s domain and that if Pine Gap were closed, the alliance would be blinded strategically. Unbeknownst to Australia's new Prime Minister, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had not only been working closely with the CIA, they had been illegally passing on dossiers, concerning every member of the Labor Party, as well as union leaders, peace activists, and other Australian citizens. A slush fund was set up to provide money to both opposition parties, via the Nugan Hand Bank, a CIA front company. [Cut to footage of Malcolm Fraser, Liberal Party] This was followed up by a promise to the main opposition Liberal Party of unlimited funds. CBS NEWS CLIP - SEPT 22, 1982 ANNOUNCER [American Accent] In recent years, there have been charges from time to time that the CIA has involved itself in illegal activities. Some of the most bizarre to date involve a bank in Australia known as 'Nugan Hand,' and tonight Gary Shepherd has a report. [2:57] GARY SHEPHERD [American Accent] When the Nugan Hand Bank of Sydney, Australia, collapsed in 1980, it appeared at first glance to be just another bank failure. Cut to EXHUMATION at cemetery Burial marker reads: In Loving Memory of FRANCIS JOHN NUGAN But after Australian authorities began taking a closer look, they discovered a tangled web of intrigue, with all the elements of a best-selling spy novel: a mysterious death, the body later dug up from its grave, illegal currency transactions, big time drug operations and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). NEIL EVANS FORMER BANK EXECUTIVE [Australian accent] We were to become the paymasters of the CIA around the world. In other words, we were putting ourselves in a position to disburse funds for the CIA to whoever they were directed. ANNOUNCER Former bank executive Neil Evans, given immunity from prosecution agreed to talk about the Nugan Hand operation on Australian television. From his account and others, the Bank had its genesis during the Vietnam War. Four of the original stockholders were Americans who listed their addresses as: Air America, Army Post Office (APO), San Francisco, [Ca.]. Air America was the CIA airline in Indochina, hauling men and supplies on clandestine missions and, according to former CIA agents, even drugs out of the so-called Golden Triangle where the borders of Burma, Laos, and Thailand, converge. Nugan Hand sent Neil Evans to the Thai city of Chang Mai, the commercial centre of the drug trade. He claims the CIA made millions and used the money to advance its secret projects. NEIL EVANS FEB 1981 The idea was that the money would be deposited by the Nugan Hand Bank by the CIA through various channels and, also, that the Nugan Hand Bank would be the repository for funds coming in from various CIA enterprises, namely, drugs in Thailand --marijuana in particular -- and that the Nugan Hand Bank would then be responsible for re-routing that money to an account in America with the New York Bank. ANNOUNCER Nugan Hand was not your ordinary bank: there were secret numbered accounts and hardly any of its top people were bankers. Many were American civilians and former high-ranking military officers with ties to US intelligence. When they found the body of Australian businessman, Frank Nugan, the Bank's chairman (shot to death a few months before the Bank went under), they discovered in his pocket, the business card of this man: William Colby, former Director of the CIA. Nugan's partner was Michael Hand, an American Green Beret, who served two tours in Vietnam. One of them for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He disappeared a short while after the bank collapsed and is now believed to be dead. Australian newspapers reported a connection between Nugan Hand and the US Navy's super-secret intelligence unit, known as Taskforce 157. Among it's top agents, CIA man, Edwin Wilson (now under indictment for selling arms and explosives to Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi), and a man named Patry Loomis has also been implicated. He was the apparent CIA-Nugan Hand go-between. It was Lumis who helped Wilson recruit a team of Green Berets to train terrorists in Libya. GARY SHEPHERD CBS News, Los Angeles The Nugan Hand affair has caused an uproar in Australia, where authorities are trying to find out what involvement the bank might have had in the 1975 downfall of the labour party government. Meanwhile, investigators on three continents are attempting to trace $50-million missing from the accounts of depositors, including many Americans. Here in this country, the CIA denies any involvement with drug operations in Indochina, the Nugan Hand Bank itself, or the deaths of the two men who ran it. Gary Shepherd, CBS News, Los Angeles. NARRATOR In addition to the slush fund, the CIA created a series of forged documents implicating high ranking members of the Labor Party in a succession of scandals. No hard evidence was ever produced to substantiate the allegations, but a complicit Australian media, spear-headed by a young Rupert Murdoch, fanned the flames of discontent. AUSTRALIAN INTERVIEWER/REPORTER Do you think the newspaper would have any political orientation like The Sun and its predecessor, The Daily Herald? RUPERT MURDOCH Receding hairline prominent T-shaped furrow on forehead - furrow commencing between the eyes prominent dark eyebrows weak jawline jowls narrow upper lip oversized lower lip left-hand side hair part RUPERT MURDOCH [Shaking head] No, no fixed orientation, in the sense that it would be allied to any party. Certainly not. It would be quite independent. NARRATOR One of the most damaging of the forgeries was a report indicating that Labor ministers had received kick-backs during the so-called 'loans affair.' In 1981, a CIA contract agent, named Joseph Flynn, admitted that he had forged these documents at the behest at Michael Hand, co-founder of the CIA's Nugan Hand Bank. As the contrived scandals escalated, a state of emergency was declared. Invoking the authority of the British crown, Attorney-General John Kerr dismissed Whitlam as Prime Minister [Silent Footage of Whitlam] [Cut to American Actor] Soundtrack 'God Save the Queen', Sex Pistols: God Save the Queen The fascist regime It made you a moron Potential H-Bomb God Save the Queen She ain't no human being There is no future And England's screamin' ... SCREEN TEXT One American intelligence officer, Christopher Boyce, became so outraged at the CIA's actions in Australia that he began passing on secret documents to the Soviets. [Cut to Christopher Boyce at hearing] SCREEN TEXT In 2006, the BBC aired a documentary entitled "The Plot Against Harold Wilson". It revealed that a similar campaign of dirty tricks was used against the British Labour government of Harold Wilson. [Soundtrack 'God Save the Queen', Sex Pistols] SCREEN TEXT The campaign was carried out by the CIA in liaison with Britain's MI5 and the South African security service, BOSS. [Soundtrack 'God Save the Queen, Sex Pistols] Cut to: 'Welcome to News International'   [Vertical Venetian signage opens exposing ...] The Sun We Love It News of the World Big On Sundays SCREEN TEXT Though Wilson was a moderate, he was the object of a relentless smear campaign in the British press in which he was painted as a soviet agent. [Soundtrack 'God Save the Queen', Sex Pistols] SCREEN TEXT At one point, a coup was contemplated. Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India and a member of the Royal Family, was to head up the new government. Daily Mirror press baron Lord Cecil King planned "an emergency government" that would include leading conservative politicians and prominent businessmen. [Soundtrack 'God Save the Queen', Sex Pistols] SCREEN TEXT Suffering from early onset Alzheimer's, Wilson resigned in 1976. Margaret Thatcher was elected three years later. The British-American coup that ended Australian independence John Pilger EXTRACT In 1975 prime minister Gough Whitlam, who has died this week, dared to try to assert his country’s autonomy. The CIA and MI6 made sure he paid the price Across the media and political establishment in Australia, a silence has descended on the memory of the great, reforming prime minister Gough Whitlam. His achievements are recognised, if grudgingly, his mistakes noted in false sorrow. But a critical reason for his extraordinary political demise will, they hope, be buried with him. Australia briefly became an independent state during the Whitlam years, 1972-75. An American commentator wrote that no country had “reversed its posture in international affairs so totally without going through a domestic revolution”. Whitlam ended his nation’s colonial servility. He abolished royal patronage, moved Australia towards the Non-Aligned Movement, supported “zones of peace” and opposed nuclear weapons testing. Although not regarded as on the left of the Labor party, Whitlam was a maverick social democrat of principle, pride and propriety. He believed that a foreign power should not control his country’s resources and dictate its economic and foreign policies. He proposed to “buy back the farm”. In drafting the first Aboriginal lands rights legislation, his government raised the ghost of the greatest land grab in human history, Britain’s colonisation of Australia, and the question of who owned the island-continent’s vast natural wealth. [ ...] MORE AT SOURCE http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/23/gough-whitlam-1975-coup-ended-australian-independence ꕤ

Assange - June 2013 - Video & Lateline Transcript

Video Source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyNdtXBMhHM  SOURCE http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3778712.htm Assange Lateline Transcript Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 10/06/2013 Reporter: Emma Alberici EXTRACTS ONLY Transcript [ ... ] Julian Assange, welcome to Lateline. JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: Thank you. EMMA ALBERICI: We'll get to your political ambitions shortly. Let's begin though with Bradley Manning and the charge that he aided the enemy. When you published the documents he gave you, didn't it occur to you that you might be compromising American and allied military operations in the release of that information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? JULIAN ASSANGE: Well, there's been a lot of speculation and rumours about that by the yellow press. But the fact is not even the Pentagon alleges that a single person came to harm as a result of any of our publications anywhere in the world, and in fact, no other government agency does either. It is not a matter in this case. That's one of the disturbing aspects about the Bradley Manning case, is that they have forbidden the defence to table any evidence whatsoever that no-one came to harm and the prosecution is not going to table any evidence - because there isn't any - that anyone did come to harm. EMMA ALBERICI: We've learnt that a Navy SEAL found WikiLeaks documents at the Pakistan compound where Osama bin Laden was killed. Presumably you knew it was possible, even probable, that those documents would be read by al-Qaeda, sensitive documents you were releasing. JULIAN ASSANGE: Well I am sure al-Qaeda reads the New York Times. He mentioned that he read Bob Woodward books. He probably has People, maybe even Who Magazine, possibly even Dr Seuss laying around his compound. So what? There's no allegation that al-Qaeda was in any way aided by the publications that we published. Despite the fact, despite the fact that Bradley Manning has been charged with aiding the enemy, a capital offence, the judge in this case has said that the prosecution does not need to show that al-Qaeda was aided in any way whatsoever and the prosecution doesn't allege that al-Qaeda was. All they intend to show is that al-Qaeda had our publications just like everyone else in the world. EMMA ALBERICI: How can you be 100 per cent certain that information you've released hasn't contributed to at the very least an atmosphere of mistrust between the US and others? JULIAN ASSANGE: Well, look, the United States' behaviour is what has led to an atmosphere of distrust. People should not trust the United States military industrial complex. Of course they shouldn't. We've seen abuse after abuse. In fact [WikiLeaks] revealed that the United States military, the Pentagon has been involved in the killing, directly or indirectly, according to its own records, of 129,000 people. Now that wasn't simply in aggregate in Iraq or in aggregate in Afghanistan. That was the individual death records and their locations and what military units were involved in those two countries. That's what we documented. EMMA ALBERICI: So it doesn't matter to you if you did contribute to a sense of acrimony between the US and other countries? JULIAN ASSANGE: It does matter; in fact it's very important that the level of trust is proportionate to the level of behaviour. So it's been an extremely important thing that - for example, that Australians do not trust speculative military adventures in Central Asia. Of course it is. EMMA ALBERICI: One of the key charges levelled against you is that you released that massive volume of material with scant regard for the consequences. Certainly Julia Gillard has said that there was no moral purpose to what you were doing. JULIAN ASSANGE: Well, you know, the Senate has twice demanded that Julia Gillard apologise for her statements. Twice they have passed that resolution. Julia Gillard's libellous statements are made outside of Parliament. She's only saved by the statute of limitations. Have resulted in a banking blockade against an Australian publisher. They've also resulted in the Bank of America refusing to send a payment to WikiLeaks, the Australian political organisation. Julia Gillard has a lot to be responsible for in terms of her libellous comments. If we go to our publications - well not even NATO in Kabul, as it said to CNN, could find a single person in need of protection. So this is all yellow press hype. The Government doesn't allege it. NATO has even looked into the speculative component and says that there's nothing. EMMA ALBERICI: You've been in the Ecuadorian embassy for a year now. How much longer do you expect to be there? JULIAN ASSANGE: Well it's an interesting question. The situation is very interesting. But, you know, I'm quite optimistic. The support for WikiLeaks as an organisation increases. [...] And I think the lies and fictions of Bob Carr, for example, are now well and truly over. Even his office is now speaking about the grand jury in the United States. We've seen in the Bradley Manning trial this week, the intent and focus of the United States Government to go after [WikiLeaks]. And they're aware that this organisation and people like it and our values are forming a new body politic and people like Edward Snowden are part of that phenomena. EMMA ALBERICI: We will discuss Edward Snowden, but before that I wanted to ask you how much contact you're having with the Australian High Commission there in London. JULIAN ASSANGE: Yeah, so that's actually - it's remarkable to look at the statements made by the Foreign Minister, but other Australians who have been in difficult situations will tell you it's all exactly the same. So, I have not met anyone from any consulate, any Australian Government official since 2010, since I was in prison. In the time that I've been in this embassy here - we laugh about it, that once a month, there will be a tick-the-box call to the consul here saying, "Well, how's Mr Assange?" And, well, my response is, "Well, what's your offer?" The last time that they offered some medical assistance to the Ecuadorian Government - the only concrete offer that they ever put on the table - the Ecuadorian consul went to meet with the Australian consul, completely utterly wasted his time. The result of that was, "Well, here you are, here's a list of doctors in London." A list of doctors that the Australian Government is going to pay for? "No." Nothing, nothing at all. Just a list of doctors that I should never, ever go to, apparently. Because, in fact, all that the so-called consular support is doing here is it's simply collecting political intelligence for Bob Carr. There's an Australian member - there's a DFAT member sitting in on the Bradley Manning case. There has been for about six months, secretly sitting there, recording notes. Are those notes passed on to our legal team? Absolutely not. They produce briefing notes for Bob Carr so he can set up his press lines. So actually, so-called consular support for me and for many other Australians in similar situations, what it's actually about is collecting political intelligence for the minister to set up their press lines, so it's really a type of corruption where money that should be spent on actual consular support is simply spent on producing press releases for the Foreign Minister to make it look like he gives a damn about Australians. As we know, he doesn't give a damn about Australians at all. Since the 1970s he's been in bed with the US. Even as a union leader he was having multiple meetings with the US embassy. EMMA ALBERICI: I know you say that the last real contact you had was 2010. What advice have they given you about your predicament? JULIAN ASSANGE: They have given no advice, nothing at all. No advice, no information, nothing whatsoever. Not me, not to my lawyers, nothing. You see these absurd claims by Bob Carr saying that there's been, I don't know, 87 consular contacts. They include just calling, just this tick-a-box call procedure. No information whatsoever. We asked, "Can the Australian consul give me a passport?," for example. "No." The absurd response is, "Well just come down to the Australian consulate." It's a joke. I mean, they insult the Ecuadorians with this sort of behaviour. They insult me. They insult all of Australia with this sort of behaviour. EMMA ALBERICI: And is that the basis for your pitch for election to the Australian Senate? JULIAN ASSANGE: [...] You know, we went toe-to-toe with the Pentagon, we've gone toe-to-toe with many other corrupt states. Canberra is a corrupt little mini-state. We all know that. There's a corruption of purpose. We elect people, we send them to Canberra to represent Australians, to represent Australians to the bureaucracy, to hold the bureaucracy to account, to represent Australian interests overseas. And yet we have people like Bob Carr and Julia Gillard representing mining industries, representing Macquarie Bank, representing their long-lost American pals. That is not acceptable. EMMA ALBERICI: Well how do you expect to represent the people of Victoria when you're locked up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and you're wanted in Sweden on sexual assault allegations? JULIAN ASSANGE: Well, you mention these in an inflammatory way. People should go to Justice4Assange.com and they can read all about your so-called allegations where even the women concerned say they had absolutely no intention to file any such formal allegations. This is a matter that has been taken by the Swedish state. That is admitted in the Supreme Court here on paper, it's admitted in the High Court here. This is matter taken by the Swedish state. So people should have a look at Justice4Assange.com. They can also look at the excellent Four Corners investigation into that entire episode.  EXTRACTS ONLY SOURCE http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3778712.htm Julian Assange Australian Journalist FAQ & Support https://justice4assange.com/ COMMENT The above is only extracts that I find interesting.  The entire transcript is available at the link provided. It's hard to say who's more despicable of the Australian political parties. Going by the video on ASIO, CIA, MI6 and Nugan Hand Bank, quietly fraternising with the Americans is standard in Australian politics.  One imagines the practice also continues with Australian intelligence, who appear to be the unelected government of the country (judging by the 1970s unseating of the democratically elected Whitlam government).  Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if Australia is still run by the CIA ... which would explain a lot when it comes to the zero assistance Assange has had.  Let's face it, it's not likely the CIA deposed of an Australian Prime Minister in the 1970s, and just quietly went home afterwards. So, what does that say about Australia's nationhood, freedom, and democracy?  For those that haven't seen the video | here or below: ASIO, CIA & MI6 de facto coup d'état Whitlam Government Australia Source:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kxVVWfRPiA   ꕤ

Suppressive Police State - USA

SOURCE http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2015-09-04/apd-tracks-social-media/ APD Tracks Social Media Local social media monitoring software company met with shady digital spying group By John Anderson, Fri., Sept. 4, 2015 Snaptrends software can assign a geographical digital boundary which allows the user "to see conversation clusters and activity heat maps" within the defined area, according to Snap Trends' Matthew Hammer. As the world increasingly becomes glued to social media, it comes as little surprise that law enforcement would join in. But what some Facebook users or Twitter followers may not be aware of is how local law enforcement is using software to monitor their posts and tweets. Founded in 2012 as a private company and located just off Capital of Texas High­way, Snap Trends develops software that aggregates public information collected from social media. The company's website claims their software "builds a clear view of social conversations when and where they occur, the influencers driving them, and why." A Feb. 13 letter from Snap Trends Director of Sales Ken Ross to APD Sgt. Jeff Greenwalt, discovered in a Chron­icle open records request to APD and DPS, asserts that Snap Trends "developed its software intelligence system to serve public safety organization [sic] and national intelligence agencies in the United States." Ross further explained the "system uses advance [sic] algorithms and processes to procure this high density social data footprint." Other documents reveal that both APD and DPS have current subscriptions to Snaptrends software, spending $6,370 and $24,200 respectively in the past year. APD Public Information Specialist Jenni­fer Herber informed the Chronicle that APD began using Snaptrends software on March 1, 2013. DPS began using it one month later, according to DPS Public Information Officer Tom Vinger. DPS currently has 13 employees licensed to use the software, while APD has 25 officers with access. Emails obtained from APD demonstrate the Snaptrends software "makes it easy to share profiles, groups and persons-of-interests" and "can even integrate custom Facebook accounts." But its main feature is using geolocation to narrow a search using a "Poly Tool" which, according to a Snap Trends email, allows law enforcement "to gather pertinent information from social media platforms over specific areas without drawing in irrelevant content from unwanted areas .... This allows you to monitor precise locations such as parade routes, major highways or areas where protests are occurring." When asked if APD purchased the software for such events, Herber explained: "Real­-time analysis of open sources such as social media has been used to predict crimes and to help law enforcement respond more quickly as needed including, for example, stopping active shooters, tracking gang activity, and anticipating public protests that could escalate into violence." Additionally, she said the mission of the Austin Regional Intelligence Center (ARIC), where the software is used, "is to maximize the region's ability to detect, prevent, apprehend, and respond to criminal/terrorist activity." Other documents show Snap Trends partnered with a private company called Esri, which develops mapping software called ArcGIS and has also been used by APD in the past. According to internal emails obtained via open records request, APD Senior Crime Analyst Tess Sherman used the Esri software to monitor Occupy Austin's first demonstration at City Hall in October 2011. Sherman pointed out the mapping function "would be neat-o to try. Although it may just end up as a bunch of dots downtown since a lot of it is real-time comments from the scene." Despite receiving tech support from the company, APD Police Planner Nora Evans replied to Sherman, "I don't know a lot about Twitter so maybe you can figure it out." But Snap Trends' emails indicate the company offered to provide tech support for its own software to at least 16 APD employees. What were the police looking for? In one email, Snap Trends Account Manager Mark Klasson sent APD a document titled "Keywords." Assist­ant City Attorney Cary Grace has asked the Texas Attorney General's office to exempt that document and others from public disclosure. As of press time, the AG's office has not made a decision regarding the exemption. Expanded surveillance remains a possibility, and a hack in July of the Italian surveillance software company Hacking Team gave hints of what could be on the horizon. The hack shed light on some of the darker sides of digital spying, including conversations between Hacking Team and Snap Trends that revolved around a potential partnership. Instead of monitoring public information, Hacking Team's Remote Control Sys­tem software infects remote computers and mobile phones, allowing control over them. Reporters Without Borders has called Hacking Team "digital mercenaries" and "corporate enemies of the Internet." According to the hacked emails, available on the Wikileaks website, in March, Snap Trends CEO Eric Klasson met in Dubai for the "first exploratory meeting" with members of Hacking Team. Emails show the Dubai meeting was also attended by Snap Trends' partner Chenega, which resells Snap Trends' software internationally. After the meeting, Hacking Team's Philippe Vinci summarized: "The combination of each parties [sic] capabilities, Massive Social Media monitoring and Tactical Targets' Device interception, could bring a lot of value to customers and prospective customers of each party." Replying to that email, Klasson wrote, "I agree that a joint effort to sort this is something the market will respond to favorably (and quickly)." The three companies kept up their contact through at least early June, including a meeting in Prague, but the emails lack specific details about the collaboration. Asked by the Chronicle to describe Snap Trends' relationship with Hacking Team, however, Snap­ Trends Marketing Director Matthew Ham­mer wrote via email that "Snap Trends knows of the Hacking Team, but has no relationship with them, and we don't plan on doing any business with them in the future." Open records requests did not yield documents indicating that APD or DPS have purchased Hacking Team's software; nor is there is any evidence that Snaptrends software currently operates as malware. A LexisNexis 2014 "Social Media Use in Law Enforcement" report (available on the Snap Trends' website) which surveyed "federal, state and local law enforcement professionals" found that 81% "actively use social media as a tool in investigations," and 78% of current users plan "to use it even more in the coming year." Snap Trends' Hammer claims "hundreds" of U.S. law enforcement departments or agencies have bought their software. But raising questions about the effectiveness and accountability of this type of monitoring, the LexisNexis study also concluded that "52% of agencies still don't have a formal process for using social media for investigations." SOURCE http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2015-09-04/apd-tracks-social-media/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT APD = Austin Police Dept DPS = Dept of Public Safety (I'm guessing) Check out the policing techniques at work in totalitarian, surveillance & militarised police-state, USA:  straight out of the Czarist-Russia style suppression tools manual -- with a modern, digital technology, mapping & harnessing social media data, twist. The power to grossly violate the civil liberties of ordinary Americans is at the disposal of Texas police (and has been exercised since 2013).  But it is not limited to Texas:  many other US law enforcement agencies have adopted these same practices.  It's primarily for maintenance of plutocratic power, although law enforcement representatives will, of course, argue otherwise ... while they make application, seeking to hide their violations of freedom and democracy. Note, particularly, the intention to keep this secret police monitoring from public knowledge. So much for what is supposed to be accountability and democratic government transparency -- which is intended to also extend to government agencies, such as the police.  Abuses of civil liberties such as this go a long way towards explaining why resistant activists, hacktivists, whistleblowers, and whistleblower journalists and publishers, such as WikiLeaks, are so vital. I Imagine that this information would be relevant to protesters, activists, unionists, political groups, students, and all and any other persons exercising rightful political freedoms, in what is supposed to be democratic society. PS In case you think this is limited to USA and doesn't apply to you, think again ... and maybe do some Freedom of Information applications.  lol ꕤ

VIDEO - The Who | Magic Bus

The Who | Magic Bus  Live at Leeds 1970 SOURCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fay1uk7wpnQ&feature=youtu.be ꕤ