NZ -- Attack on Media -- 'Dirty Politics: Police raid Nicky Hager's home'

NZ >>> Dirty Politics: Police raid Nicky Hager's home Updated 16 min ago 4:28 PM Monday Oct 6, 2014 Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager has had his home raided by police searching for the hacker Rawshark. In a 10-hour search of his house, Hager said computers and papers were seized in what appeared to be an attempt to discover the identity of the person who provided information used in the Dirty Politics book. The book was an election bombshell based on hacked email and social media material belonging to WhaleOil blogger Cameron Slater. The person contacted the Herald and Fairfax using the identity Rawshark while using the Twitter handle @whaledump to release information publicly. Hager said five officers came to his Wellington home last Thursday with a search warrant. He was in Auckland at the time the police arrived giving lectures at the University of Auckland. "Soon after the police arrived, the lead detective stated that I was not a suspect in their case, merely a witness." Hager said he told the detective there was nothing in his house which held information that would uncover the source. "Nonetheless, he and his four colleagues seized a large collection of papers and electronic equipment belonging to my family, including computers, drives, phones, CDs, an IPOD and a camera." [Intimation and harassment?] Hager said the search and seizure of the material was a "fishing expedition" carried out by officers who had no idea who they were looking for, hoping for a lucky break. "I am confident that the police took nothing that will help them with their investigation." Hager said he would not cooperate with police in any way to reveal the Dirty Politics source - or any other source. "I believe the police actions are dangerous for journalism in New Zealand. "It matters to all people working in the media who could similarly have their property searched and seized to look for sources. People are less likely to help the media if the police act in this way. "The police want people to respect their role in society; they should in turn respect other people's roles in society." He said he was speaking to his lawyers about challenging the police action. Source:  NZ Herald - here.   COMMENT This is HUGE!   It's another attack on press/media by governments. In this case a newly elected Key government that waited until after the election to throw its weight around.  Gee, I wonder why. The press is under attack in the US (where the WH is clamping down on providing information & harassing journalists), in the UK where journalists are spied on by police abusing anti-terror powers, under attack in Australia with the new 'anti-terror' gagging laws ... and under attack in NZ, as above!!! It seems huge to me.  But I'm new to watching this stuff, so maybe this is an ongoing battle?  Or maybe not.  New laws; new mass surveillance; surveillance (Five Eye) in concert; world wide police state? Further reading: NZ - Whistleblower http://www.zdnet.com/hacker-rawshark-disrupts-nz-election-campaign-7000033148/ "A Cabinet minister has resigned after an email revealed her contact with a controversial blogger"  --  31/08/2014 US - EU Attack on Freedom of Press     Glen Greenwald (via Twitter) EU's "right to forget" law now resulting in forced removal of NYT articles from Google searches https://twitter.com/jenny8lee/status/518539859527741440 …

Article: 'How UK Liberals Helped Police Hack the Press'

UK >>> How UK Liberals Helped Police Hack the Press Tabloid-bashing crusaders enabled the state to treat journalists like jihadists. Now these same public figures are apparently up in arms about the Met’s use of RIPA secretly to hack into journalists’ phone records, protesting that these are the methods of a police state. If so, it is a police state that was armed and invited to curtail press freedom by our illiberal liberals. Source - SPIKEDONLINE - here COMMENT While I'm still on, thought I'd post a link to this exciting article.  Why exciting?  Because it affirms my view of all those unscrupulous 'victimhood' exploiters in the UK trying to shut down the free press.

This and That

This and That What's happening? Discovered a Turkish controlled 'exclave' in Syria -- guessing it's this place. According to the Treaty of Ankara signed between France and Turkey in 1921, Turkey controls the tomb and no mention is made of the land beneath it. So it's not really a territory within a territory, like I imagined?   Checking elsewhere, it states it's 'smaller than a city block', so it's not just a few feet by a few feet like I first thought when I read about the tomb.  It's some kind of tiny 'territory' after all.  Looks like it's going to shape up as an excuse for Turkey to take 'action' against Syria if the IS group attack this territory. Encountered a creepy photo of what was allegedly the FSA group getting a child to behead what I suppose was a Syrian loyalist:  bound, hand and foot (I think), on his side, with his head resting, raised on some kind of block.  The child held something above his head, swinging.  Not sure what it was.  Imagined it was an axe.  But I'm now guessing it was a sword, seeing it's the Middle East.  Elicited a degree of revulsion. Stumbled on some information on the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA).   Trying to recall what it was, got it mixed up with the other agreements. This one relates to:   "liberalizing the worldwide trade of services such as banking and transport" [wikipedia] It's just another in agreement upon agreement that gives the US control right around the globe. "The EU and the US are the main proponents of the agreement, and the authors of most joint changes."  [wikipedia] But it doesn't end with the US and the EU.  A host of other countries are involved in this and end result is that something like two-thirds of 'trade of services' will be subject to the provisions of this agreement. Apparently, nobody finds the spread of US control at all frightening and they're happy to sign up.  Guess that goes back to being corporate controlled governments doing the bidding of big business, instead of primarily being engaged in representing the people of the nation they're supposedly serving as an elected government in a 'democracy'. Add to that unpleasant picture the fact that this is a 'secret' agreement that was supposed to stay quiet for 5 years after signature.  More information on that is available at the WikiLeaks.org site.  Not sure what I can and can't link to without being in breach of some law or other, so search away.  Easily found. The secrecy of the agreement and the two-thirds of 'world trade in services' being subject to the agreement were the really big red-flag aspects in my view.  But there's also a lack flexibility to respond to changes in world finance that binds governments who sign up for this, and probably other stuff I don't remember or care to know. How outrageous is it that 'democratic' governments are *hiding* what they're signing their entire countries up for! The WikiLeaks site pointed out that the US is pushing for cross-border exchange of data that includes personal and financial information.  So I take it this is yet more surveillance and foreign control.  The G20 ministers meeting resulted in either sign-ups or agreements to sign up for banking data exchange on what is probably a global scale once all the US puppets sign up, so the G20 erosion of liberties could be TISA related -- or just an added round of more of the same erosions. Highly doubt that this will ever affect me personally, in a direct way.   But this affects everybody in terms of the climate their government is creating:  one of secrecy, one of perhaps 'duty' and subordination to foreign interests, one of inability to put national interests first given constraints of such agreements, one of inability to freely act or legislate in future due to provisions of such an agreements, one of divulging citizens' data to foreign interests and therefore conducting what amounts to surveillance on behalf of a foreign power or powers, and so on.  And if you put all of that together, it's like coming under control of some foreign invader state that already controls much of the world.  A world that is shaping up to be one large prison controlled by the US through control of currency, global institutions, defence agreements, the EU, mass surveillance arrangements and various trade agreements. [Image source:  rachelcarsoncouncil.org] If you imagine US control as a vice; it's a vice that's constantly squeezing to erode national sovereignty and to erode civil liberties, right around the world.  It's literally suffocating.

HONG KONG - US PROJECT

Hong Kong "US involvement in Hong Kong’s political atmosphere is a decades long project" Full article:  http://revolution-news.com/occupy-central-us-state-dept-funding-of-hong-kong-pro-democracy-movement/ Too much information for me to take in, but interesting information for those that have a greater attention span than I do.   Great for those that are interested in this region and, more generally, in the role of the US funding and influence on the political climate of sovereign overseas territories. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a U.S. non-profit soft power organization that was founded in 1983 to ‘promote’ democracy around the world. It is funded primarily through an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress, within the budget of USAID, the U.S. agency for development assistance, which is part of the U.S. State Department. Although administered as a private organization, its funding mostly comes from a governmental appropriation by Congress but was created by The Democracy Program as a bipartisan, private, non-profit corporation. [revolution-news.com] Looks like NED is worth watching.

The Democracy Lie

The Democracy Lie The 'democracy' holy grail isn't all that it's hyped up to be. If you have government that is controlled by the wealthy, by corporations and by foreign interests, and is elected by a largely uninformed, apathetic and politically unorganised public, from a small pool of politicians who are all much the same as one another, what you've got is 'democracy' in name only. Take the legislation that was pushed through by the Australian government: #Auspol - very sad day for press freedom - http://alliance.org.au/meaa-condemns-passage-of-national-security-laws … / criminalizes legitimate reporting of matters in public interest. It penalises whistle-blowers, it gags the press, it further blocks transparency and accountability and therefore undermines any notion of 'democracy'.  And it infringes on civil rights. Meanwhile, the general public's probably more concerned about the release of the new Apple phone than they are about the laws that are passed. But even if large numbers of people were as outraged as they ought to be, as individuals versus government or the system, they're helpless until the next limited-choice corporate and US puppet government election.  That being the case, the public is completely at the mercy of the ruling classes on an ongoing basis, irrespective of the pretence of democratic representation and democratic government. 'Democracy' is the same deal the world over: #Obama #WallStreet #USA - attack on democracy - corruption of elections http://tinyurl.com/nxxbl5u  / $7 million bankroll / #NGO The Denial Machine principles in Greenpeace material can be applied WIDELY when it comes to political lobbying >> http://tinyurl.com/68lngwa [The above link was the initial link I looked at but the following notes are based on information from elsewhere on the Greenpeace site] #Politics - 'think tanks' + NGOs = 'echo chambers' strategy / co-ordinated propaganda attacks >> such groups are the CHORUS .. singing on behalf of agenda of benefactors >> business groups, women's groups, education groups, seniors groups, religious groups -- WHO funds them & WHY Here's a couple of interesting links that demonstrates how much corporate political control there is in the US (but it's applicable to anywhere that pretends to be a democracy): http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/case-study-the-koch-funded-c/ http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2012/04/02/koch-brothers-exposed-fueling-climate-denial-and-privatizing-democracy/ Driving me crazy not being able to find the link where I got the 'think tanks', 'echo chambers' and 'chorus' information from. Whoever used that terminology to describe lobbying organisations and those they influence has done a great job in conveying what they are in simple, descriptive and easy to remember terms.  ------------------------------------------ Postscript Moments after posting the above, I've had my point of view affirmed on social media: Whistle-blowers Activists & Citizens Alliance (WACA)  https://twitter.com/akaWACA Anti-war Protest at:  Swan Island, Australia "Members of SAS known as the assassins in Aust military - stripped naked, hooded & beat up peace activists for entering military base #auspol" "Welcome 2 #TeamAustralia where military assassins from SAS torture peaceful protestors. Imagine what they do in Iraq https://www.facebook.com/pages/Whistleblowers-Activists-and-Citizens-Alliance/166696300034817 … "Seriously get ur head around this. Aust Military just hooded and beat up christian peace activists on Swan Island for daring to protest war" "WTF!! Absolute DISGRACE. that doesnt border on torture that IS torture. if they do that to our own wtf do they do to others " "SAS officers handcuffed, dragged activists on the ground when didn’t respond to Q's stating “If you move we will kick you in the face”" "SAS officers placed Hessian bags over activists heads & asked “do you want to go for a swim” before being dragging them naked across ground" "SAS officers cut activists clothing off with knives. Hessian bags were placed over their heads and told “welcome to the bag motherfucker"" The above is some of the feed from the WACA account.   What's happening is unbelievable.  No representative of the government (which in turn is supposed to  represent the *people*) should have the right -- or inclination -- to do that. What does that tell you about 'democracy'?  Clearly, it's a farce. Further Info: #BREAKING >> Australian peace activists detained and assaulted by SAS on Swan Island >> http://tinyurl.com/m7f2kf9  >> #Auspol Further Info - Democracy Under Attack - Australia  #Auspol - building blocks of our democratic system under attack - #ASIO given law enforcement powers - https://archive.today/FHEiQ

UNITED KINDOM - DAVID CAMERON - UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

UNITED KINGDOM DAVID CAMERON - 'WAR ON TERROR' #UK >>> David Cameron's 'war on terror' a cynical right-wing nationalist agenda for election purposes? / stop/war/org/uk >> Bombing raids increase hatred of West >> all x3 #UK interventions ended in a disaster >>> http://stopwar.org.uk/images/documents/why%20we%20shouldnt%20bomb%20A4%20StW.pdf … DAVID CAMERON - UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY  VIDEO  Source http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=IuwOfQI8YA8  David Cameron UN Speech United Nations David Cameron drags communism into the mix & claims communism wasn't 'defeated'   [by force, but]  by showing ALTERNATIVES .. sings praises free market >CAMERON: showing .. economic freedom, democracy, the rule of law; these things could build a better society & a BETTER WORLD >>> Oh, really, Dave? Dave's gonna show the jihadists a 'better world' -- like he showed communists -- & all will be well? Needs to see a DIFFERENT, BETTER, more OPEN, DEMOCRATIC path ... Dave says while undermining FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY "20thC. taught us the vital role of representative & accountable governments," says #Cameron, who holds #Assange POL. PRISONER / NO CHARGE! >Trouble is, #Assange shone light on that 'accountable' govt. David Cameron & #USA aren't into transparency or accountability >> Hypocrites! "Not every country can move at the same speed .." To what? Defy international law w/in plain sight? #Assange #UK >>> Cameron's bit about 'autocratic & unrepresentative government' sounds rather familiar ...  #UK "Governments that govern for only some of their people cause deep resentment" [Dave Cameron] -- Sounds a lot like the West, then. "Our enemy's enemy is not our friend; it is another enemy" - Cameron >> So how is #Syria the 'enemy', minding it's own business in M-East? He decrees a 'transition' for #Syria -- like Lord Almighty has spoken .. & a Balkan love-in new govt solution for Iraq. >> The West was bent on destroying Yugoslavia, but now is creating 'Yugoslavia' in #Iraq -- how's that gonna work, then? >> Now it's #Assad's bias & brutality that's the extremist catalyst ... And not what the West did in Iraq? Oh, sure, Dave. >> Pompous git Cameron declares: "#Syria needs what #Iraq needs ... " -- hey, he needs 2 find DOSSIER & release #Assange LOL #Syria - Cameron using UN platform to declare that he is willing to make an alliance to overthrow #Assad (2 take fight to ISIL excuse) – LOL >> Cameron's making a perverse declaration of WAR on #Syria, as I see it .. in the #UN .. & nobody pulls him up? The German delegation began shifting uncomfortably, so maybe they don't agree with Cameron's New World Order manifesto LOL #Iran -- Now Cameron's using the UN platform to tell IRAN it: NEEDS TO CHANGE! Somebody needs to laugh in his face. Preposterous. >> The Iran guy just took notes. I'd have heckled Dave. #UK - here we go .. Dave Cameron introducing NEW POWERS ... "stronger locational constraints on those in UK who pose a risk" >> Dave Cameron selling MILITARY .. as HUMANITARIAN efforts .. Middle-East & Africa. But says 'no boots'. Make up your mind! Bull. As if you can 'build capabilities', dispense aid or etc w/out forces on ground. Boots on ground INEVITABLE. >> Can someone tell me which war was EVER won without combat troops on the ground? Name a single one. #UK >> expect engagement of troops in some capacity in: NIGERIA, SOMALIA, LIBYA & YEMEN + IRAQ + SYRIA, no doubt. #UK - Cameron selling WAR with 'comprehensive' coalition / incl. Arab 'strategy': Political, Diplomatic, Humanitarian + MILITARY components >>> Gee, it almost sounds like a corporate take-over .. bit of white collar business in a free market ... except the MILITARY The West sets up a govt in #Iraq ... then Dave Cameron says @ UN .. we have request from Iraqi govt to support military action against ISIL [I'm mixing up Iraq with Afghanistan here -- it's Afghanistan that the govt has been messed around with more recently.  Previously in Iraq it was set up (by CIA, I think) and eventually deposed (if I have that straight)] >> Hello .... Dave then tells us they've got a clear basis in INTERNATIONAL LAW for 'action' (ie WAR) .. Coast is clear!!! >> Dave Cameron's shown us they're really not that fussed about international law: POLITICAL PRISONER #ASSANGE an example #UK "We have a need to act in our own national interest to protect our people & our society" [David Cameron] - What, in #Iraq -- in #Syria ? >> 'protect our people & our society' my ass: it's to protect hidden corporate interests, I'm guessing. COMMENT The above is just my take on the video as I saw it at the time. Tend to take a cynical view of political speeches. Who would have thought listening to David Cameron could provide so much entertainment? Not sure what to think about any of this.  One minute I'm inclined to blow away the hysteria about the Middle East and the next, I'll come across some gruesome photo in social media of someone holding up a severed head ... which kind of kills the whole chilled out about the Middle East thing.

IRAN

IRAN BBC Spies? #UK BBC allegedly tried to steal from #Iran govt archives / BBC a cover for spies & dissidents / http://tinyurl.com/l3rmu2h >BBC is BANNED in #Iran & broadcasts blocked / #UK has no diplomatic presence /since militants stormed #UK consulate in 2011. #Iran's state TV said intelligence officials foiled BBC's plan to steal items from govt archives / http://tinyurl.com/qfhoy52 / article IBT #Iran - 2012 - #hacker / attack to jam 2 satellite feeds of BBC Persia into Iran, 2 disrupt London ph lines / multiple automatic calls ..LOL #Iran / #UK BBC had no immediate comment re BBC hacking claim ... "but Iran has a history of accusing" BBC ... lol nice DEFLECTION BBC! #Iran accuses BBC of spies & dissidents cover/foiled attempt steal docs govt archives /Guardian runs AP article: http://tinyurl.com/q8k8clr >> 2012 Iran’s state TV claimed BBC hacked its website to change the results of a poll about Iran’s nuclear programme!!! #UK >> Is the BBC a hotbed for SPIES and engaged in CYBER-WARFARE with #Iran ?? Iran - Israel & US Press TV Iran tweeted that US rejected Bibi's UN speech re Iran ... Hmmm, think Bibi might be spitting the dummy right now? >> Bubble Head Jen Psaki said WA disagrees with Netanyahu's assertion. White House says Iran’s nukes program is peaceful !! >> article link: http://tinyurl.com/kqymkhg >> So why did they hack Iran & destroy centrifuges? Sneaky US is up to *something* >> US former Pres. Jimmy Carter has attested to the existence of the Israeli nuclear arsenal >> http://tinyurl.com/kqymkhg  --------------------------------------------------- COMMENT This amused me greatly at the time but now I'm over it. Although the 2012 satellite jam is rather cool. In other news, Israel was critical of Iran at UN General Assembly, while the US has sidled up to Iran and wants to be buddies -- which is very strange.  US is up to something. Note:  UK no diplomatic presence since 2011.