TRANSCRIPT - Assange Re: Stratfor (US Private Intel Contractor) - circa: 28 February 2012

ꕤ TRANSCRIPT [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] Stratfor US Private Intel Contractor ꕤ  Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Assange (Video) TRANSCRIPT [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] Julian Assange circa:  28 February 2012 "Together with 25 other media partners from around the world, we have been investigating the activities of this company for some months, and what we have discovered is a company that is a private intelligence Enron. On the surface, it presents as if it's a media organisation, providing a private subscription intelligence newsletter, but underneath it is running paid informants networks, laundering those payments through the Bahamas, and through Switzerland, through private credit cards.  It is monitoring Bhopal activists for Dow Chemicals.  It is monitoring PETA activists for Coca Cola. So, it is engaged in a seedy business, and not ready to be content with merely monitoring activist for big corporations or providing private intelligence to the US military. It has now started its own internal strategic private investment fund, where it is using this information from insiders -- paid information from insiders -- in order to invest in what it calls a wide variety of geopolitical financial instruments, such as stocks, bonds, and currencies, and this makes News of the World look like kindergarten. I think it is an important exposure for us. It is part of a long continuation that we have had in exposing the activities of secret organisations. Late last year, we worked on the spy files release, showing some 176 organisations involved in providing surveillance agreements and, in some cases, bulk surveillance agreements to monitor whole countries, and so this is a private intelligence organisation. The activities of intelligence organisations increasingly are privatised and, once privatised, they're taken out of the realm of the Freedom of Information Act, of US military law, and so they are are often used by governments who want to conceal a particular activity. But Statfor is simply out of control.  I mean, even as a private intelligence organisation, it has been completely hopeless in protecting the identity of its informants, or even providing accurate information.  It has engaged in internal deals with its captive financial investment firms that it is setting up.  So it really is some type of Enron, where there is not even proper corporate control within the organisation." -- end audio -- LINK | RELATED POST ꕤ

Article - 'The Haiti Cables – WikiLeaks – part 2' | Sealed US Grand Jury Indictment & Australian PM Gillard, FM Rudd & Stratfor

ꕤ WIKILEAKS HAITI CABLES LINK | Here The Stringer The Haiti Cables – WikiLeaks – part 2 by Gerry Georgatos    January 5th, 2016 The moral force of WikiLeaks is the bent for the truth and that truth is in the interest of the common good. According to both Plato and Aristotle the common good can only be delivered and sustained as a result of truth. Not since Socrates challenged Athenians has anyone driven as passionately for the truth as has Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks founder drove an unprecedented contemporaneous calling to challenge the citadels of the powerful that forever degenerate to oppressor and oppressed dichotomies. WikiLeaks gave not only voice to the powerless but also to the sense of hope. In taking on the powerful, WikiLeaks took on the rulers of the world and the influence and control they have over institutions throughout our world. The majority would say that no-one can defeat corruption, that corruption is an immutable constant, that exploitation is an immutable constant. Many would say there are millions of injustices each day under the sun on this earth, so why bother my brother? But there are some who think contrary, that the pursuit of truth should be met fearlessly. That truth does matter. WikiLeaks took on the rulers of the world – they who in effect control the fate of the world. [ ... CONTINUES ... ] The presumptions of innocence and of whistleblowing in the public interest were hijacked by the then Prime Minister’s statement that WikiLeaks had acted ‘illegally’. Gillard and her government portrayed WikiLeaks as if a criminally bent organisation. The American administration was depicting WikiLeaks as a terrorist organisation. What led a highly skilled lawyer such as Gillard to abrogate the presumption of innocence, to dismiss the right of WikiLeaks as whistleblowers, as investigative journalists, as acting in the public interest? Prime Minister Gillard fell into line with the contrived rage from the American government and its clandestine institutions – a nation of which a majority of its conservatives and excessive self interest groups were calling for the smashing of WikiLeaks and for Assange’s blood. Psychosocially this was displaced anger – it was about guilt and being exposed. Censorship protects the guilty. This type of anger and the subsequent malice and vindictiveness have been a tragic constant in the human narrative; where moral forces shine the light on the immoral or amoral and are then punished for doing so. President Barack Obama’s administration has prosecuted and jailed more whistleblowers than any previous American administration. The David and Goliath like tussle between the oppressed and the oppressor continues. Haiti is one of the world’s poorest nations. It is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. More than 80 per cent of Haiti’s predominately rural population lives in poverty. During the past decade the poverty has degraded further, becoming more extreme and dire. The life expectancy of a Haitian is 57 years of age. Less than half the Haitian population is literate and only one child in five attends secondary schooling. Less than 25 per cent of the population have access to safe water. The Haitian population continues to grow at about 200,000 per year. In November 2010, WikiLeaks released 1,918 documents from 2003 to 2010 – ending six weeks after the January 12, 2010 earthquake which further devastated Haitian life. The documents were among the most disturbing I have read of the files published by WikiLeaks, in how America was controlling Haitian policy-making but to the detriment of the Haitian people. It is not news that America meddles, bullies, wars with nations who do not abide. But it is darkly disturbing to read these documents and to see one of the world’s powerless nations downtrodden further by the world’s most powerful superpower. The Haitian cables wreak an air of hopelessness. One cannot not be moved by the Haiti cables. [ ... CONTINUES ... ] SOURCE http://thestringer.com.au/the-haiti-cables-wikileaks-part-2-11479 *Apologies to The Stringer ... I keep adding just 'one more paragraph', and I've included a bit more text in this extract than I first intended. 26 January 2011 Stratfor  Private US Intelligence Contractor confirms via e-mail that they have sealed indictment on Assange. WikiLeaks | GI Files ABC http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3157403.htm?show=transcript Monday 14 March, 2011 Julia Gillard Meets The People EXTRACT - TRANSCRIPT TONY JONES: Okay. You're watching Q&A. Remember you can send web or video questions to our website. The address is on the screen to find out how to do that. Well, the next question is a video question and it comes from Julian Assange, who is under house arrest in England. JULIAN ASSANGE: Prime Minister, you just got back from Washington but what Australian citizens want to know is which country do you represent? Do you represent Australians and will you fight for Australian interests because it's not the first time that you or a member of your cabinet has been into a US government building and exchanged information. In fact, we have intelligence that your government has been exchanging information with foreign powers about Australian citizens working for Wikileaks. So Prime Minister, my question to you is this: when will you come clean about precisely what information you have supplied the foreign powers about Australian citizens working or affiliated with Wikileaks and if you cannot give a full and frank answer to that question, should perhaps the Australian people consider charging you with treason? TONY JONES: Take the treason part first, if you like. [ ... CONTINUED ... ] TONY JONES: What about espionage which, of course, is the charge the United States would like to lay at the feet of Julian Assange? JULIA GILLARD: Well, Mr Assange hasn't been charged with anything relating to Wikileaks. He's got some legal issues relating to personal conduct questions - alleged personal conduct questions in Sweden - and no one in the United States raised with me Mr Assange. No one. [ ... CONTINUED ... ] http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3157403.htm?show=transcript Definitions Indictment -- formal accusation of felony -- issued by grand jury -- based on proposed charge, witness testimony & other -- presented by public prosecutor (District Attorney) -- grand jury vote that there is enough 'evidence' -- of 'probability' that a 'crime' was committed -- & that accused should be tried -- District Attorneys do not present full case Grand Juries -- used in federal charges -- due to Fifth Amendment to US Constitution -- capital crime (or otherwise infamous crime) presentation to Grand Jury required -- states use 'preliminary hearing' in place of grand jury Sealed Indictment   -- indictment (formal accusation) -- sealed so it stays non-public until unsealed Federal court ruling re sealed indictments example: "The magistrate judge to whom an indictment is returned may direct that the indictment be kept secret until the defendant is in custody or has been released pending trial. The clerk must then seal the indictment, and no person may disclose the indictment’s existence except as necessary to issue or execute a warrant or summons." http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/sealed-indictment/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- CAPITAL CRIME Death sentence punishment, known as 'capital punishment'. "US federal government lists 41 capital offenses which are punishable by death." 8.     18 U.S.C. 794     Espionage http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=4942 http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004927 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Anyone else wonder why the then Prime Minister of Australia was not informed by her American counterparts (and strategic, defence and trade allies), that an American Grand Jury had issued a sealed indictment for the head of Australian journalist-publisher, Julian Assange, about 6 weeks prior to the Prime Minister's appearance on national Australian television?  Likewise, in the case of Australian Foreign Minister Rudd (aka deposed-by-Gillard former Labor Prime Minister) ... over a year down the track. Yes, I realise it is a 'sealed' indictment, but if US private intelligence contractor, Stratfor, knew about the issue of a sealed indictment against Assange in January of 2011 (as per their leaked communications), the US government knew also, of course. SMH http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/revealed-us-plans-to-charge-assange-20120228-1u14o.html Revealed: US plans to charge Assange Date   |  February 29, 2012 Philip Dorling UNITED STATES prosecutors have drawn up secret charges against the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, according to a confidential email obtained from the private US intelligence company Stratfor. In an internal email to Stratfor analysts on January 26 last year, the vice-president of intelligence, Fred Burton, responded to a media report concerning US investigations targeting WikiLeaks with the comment: ''We have a sealed indictment on Assange.'' He underlined the sensitivity of the information - apparently obtained from a US government source - with warnings to ''Pls [please] protect'' and ''Not for pub[lication]''. Mr Burton is well known as an expert on security and counterterrorism with close ties to the US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. He is the former deputy chief of the counter-terrorism division of the US State Department's diplomatic security service. Stratfor, whose headquarters are in Austin, Texas, provides intelligence and analysis to corporate and government subscribers. On Monday, WikiLeaks began releasing more than 5 million Stratfor emails which it said showed ''how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients''. The Herald has secured access to the emails through an investigative partnership with WikiLeaks. The news that US prosecutors drew up a secret indictment against Mr Assange more than 12 months ago comes as the Australian awaits a British Supreme Court decision on his appeal against extradition to Sweden to be questioned in relation to sexual assault allegations. Mr Assange, who has not been charged with any offence in Sweden, fears extradition to Stockholm will open the way for his extradition to the US on possible espionage or conspiracy charges in retaliation for WikiLeaks's publication of thousands of leaked US classified military and diplomatic reports. [ ... ] The Australian embassy in Washington reported in December 2010 that the Justice Department was pursuing an ''active and vigorous inquiry into whether Julian Assange can be charged under US law, most likely the 1917 Espionage Act''. In recent answers to written parliamentary questions from the Greens senator Scott Ludlam, the former foreign affairs minister Kevin Rudd indicated Australia had sought confirmation that a secret grand jury inquiry directed against Mr Assange was under way. Mr Rudd said ''no formal advice'' had been received from US authorities but acknowledged the existence of a ''temporary surrender'' mechanism that could allow Mr Assange to be extradited from Sweden to the US. He added that Swedish officials had said Mr Assange's case would be afforded ''due process''. The US government has repeatedly declined to confirm or deny any reported details of the WikiLeaks inquiry, beyond the fact that an investigation is being pursued. The Stratfor emails show that the WikiLeaks publication of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables triggered intense discussion within the ''global intelligence'' company. In the emails, an Australian Stratfor ''senior watch officer'', Chris Farnham, advocated revoking Mr Assange's Australian citizenship, adding: ''I don't care about the other leaks but the ones he has made that potentially damage Australian interests upset me. If I thought I could switch this dickhead off without getting done I don't think I'd have too much of a problem.'' But Mr Farnham also referred to a conversation with a close family friend who he said knew one of the Swedish women who had made allegations of sexual assault against Mr Assange, and added: ''There is absolutely nothing behind it other than prosecutors that are looking to make a name for themselves.'' While some Stratfor analysts decried what they saw as Mr Assange's ''clear anti-Americanism'', others welcomed the leaks and debated WikiLeaks's longer-term impact on secret diplomacy and intelligence. Stratfor's director of analysis, Reva Bhalla, observed: ''WikiLeaks itself may struggle to survive but the idea that's put out there, that anyone with the bandwidth and servers to support such a system can act as a prime outlet of leaks. [People] are obsessed with this kind of stuff. The idea behind it won't die.'' Stratfor says it will not comment on the emails obtained by WikiLeaks. The US embassy has also declined to comment. http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/revealed-us-plans-to-charge-assange-20120228-1u14o.html  Stratfor US Private Intel Contractor Assange (Video) DIY TRANSCRIPT [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] Julian Assange circa:  28 February 2012 "Together with 25 other media partners from around the world, we have been investigating the activities of this company for some months, and what we have discovered is a company that is a private intelligence Enron. On the surface, it presents as if it's a media organisation, providing a private subscription intelligence newsletter, but underneath it is running paid informants networks, laundering those payments through the Bahamas, and through Switzerland, through private credit cards.  It is monitoring Bhopal activists for Dow Chemicals.  It is monitoring PETA activists for Coca Cola. So, it is engaged in a seedy business, and not ready to be content with merely monitoring activist for big corporations or providing private intelligence to the US military. It has now started its own internal strategic private investment fund, where it is using this information from insiders -- paid information from insiders -- in order to invest in what it calls a wide variety of geopolitical financial instruments, such as stocks, bonds, and currencies, and this makes News of the World look like kindergarten. I think it is an important exposure for us. It is part of a long continuation that we have had in exposing the activities of secret organisations. Late last year, we worked on the spy files release, showing some 176 organisations involved in providing surveillance agreements and, in some cases, bulk surveillance agreements to monitor whole countries, and so this is a private intelligence organisation. The activities of intelligence organisations increasingly are privatised and, once privatised, they're taken out of the realm of the Freedom of Information Act, of US military law, and so they are are often used by governments who want to conceal a particular activity. But Statfor is simply out of control.  I mean, even as a private intelligence organisation, it has been completely hopeless in protecting the identity of its informants, or even providing accurate information.  It has engaged in internal deals with its captive financial investment firms that it is setting up.  So it really is some type of Enron, where there is not even proper corporate control within the organisation." -- end audio -- Daily Mail UK 'Shadow CIA' buys state secrets for cash via Swiss bank accounts, claims WikiLeaks as it releases 'stolen' files By Daily Mail Reporter Updated: 07:43 EST, 28 February 2012  Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks today started to publish more than five million confidential emails from the global intelligence company Stratfor. The emails, dated from July 2004 to late December 2011, are said to reveal the 'inner workings' of US-based firm known as the 'Shadow CIA'. [ ... ] WikiLeaks accused Stratfor of 'routine use of secret cash bribes to get information from insiders', and claims an email from chief executive George Friedman in August 2011 suggested his concern over its legality. In it, he wrote: 'We are retaining a law firm to create a policy for Stratfor on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. 'I don't plan to do the perp walk and I don't want anyone here doing it either.' The group said: 'Like WikiLeaks' diplomatic cables, much of the significance of the emails will be revealed over the coming weeks, as our coalition and the public search through them and discover connections.' It said Stratfor did secret deals with dozens of media organisations and journalists - from Reuters to the Kiev Post. 'While it is acceptable for journalists to swap information or be paid by other media organisations, because Stratfor is a private intelligence organisation that services governments and private clients these relationships are corrupt or corrupting.' The group said it has also obtained Stratfor's list of informants and, in many cases, records of its pay-offs. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2107041/WikiLeaks-releases-stolen-files-Shadow-CIA-buys-state-secrets-cash-Swiss-bank.html Once More: "Assange, who has not been charged with any offence in Sweden, fears extradition to Stockholm will open the way for his extradition to the US on possible espionage or conspiracy charges in retaliation for WikiLeaks's publication of thousands of leaked US classified military and diplomatic reports." Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd - 2012 " ... acknowledged the existence of a ''temporary surrender'' mechanism that could allow Mr Assange to be extradited from Sweden to the US." Source (as above) http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/revealed-us-plans-to-charge-assange-20120228-1u14o.html Australian Journalist Prisoner of the Current World Order ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Julian Assange Editor, WikiLeaks Justice4Assange WikiLeaks Site WikiLeaks Twitter BOOK:  The WikiLeaks Files (2015) Link | here ꕤ

Assange: USA Planning to Oust Syrian President Since At Least 2006

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151221/1032069516/assange-us-oust-assad.html Sputnik Politics 07:15 21.12.2015(updated 07:33 21.12.2015) WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange reiterated that the United States had been planning to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad since at least 2006. MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to Assange, WikiLeaks had published information alleging that the United States was planning to oust Assad since 2006. This strategy was implemented partially by provoking the Assad government, the whistleblower said in a documentary that was broadcast Sunday, on Rossiya 1 television channel. Assange stated that Washington was trying to make the Syrian government paranoid and get it to "overreact," as well as to create tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Assange stated that Washington was trying to make the Syrian government paranoid and get it to "overreact," as well as to create tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Assange claimed that members of the US, UK and French air forces met with representatives of Stratfor, a global intelligence company, prior to December 2011. The officials said that there had already been special agents acting in Syria, but they needed more public outrage and bloodshed for a significant pretext to attack the country’s air defense systems. Syria has been in a civil war since 2011, with the government fighting multiple opposition factions and militant groups. The West and several Middle Eastern countries do not consider Assad to be the legitimate authority of Syria. In 2011, Washington imposed sanctions against him in the hope that he would step down. However, in the 2014 Syrian presidential election Bashar Assad won a landslide victory, receiving 88.7 percent of the votes. http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151221/1032069516/assange-us-oust-assad.html ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Is it still a 'civil war' if you have American, Western, Israeli and Gulf Arabs trying to bring down a democratically elected government, by arming and backing terrorists (many of whom are multi-national Islamists from elsewhere)? US has a record of bringing down democratically elected governments and installing US-friendly dictator puppets, to further the interests of American oligarchs. Covert USA regime change list below, and an idea of just how extensive the American aggression record is: USA REGIME CHANGES Syria 1949 Iran 1953 Guatemala 1954 Indonesia 1958 Cuba 1959 Iraq 1960–63 Democratic Republic of the Congo 1960–65 Dominican Republic 1961 South Vietnam 1963 Brazil 1964 Chile 1970–73 Afghanistan 1979–89 Turkey 1980 Poland 1980–89 Nicaragua 1981–90 Destabilisation through CIA assets Arming the Contras Iraq 1992–96 Venezuela 2002 [Afghanistan] [Iraq 2003] [ Libya 2011 ] [ Ukraine 2014 ] [Syria - *current & ongoing] Source | Link I've added Libya 2011 and Ukraine 2014 to the list above (although they're not listed at the source), as both were definitely US regime changes.  Not sure how 'covert' Libya may be.  I've also listed Afghanistan and Iraq.  But, again, I'm not sure they would qualify as 'covert'.  Or do they?  I've not really focused on what's what in that sense.   Was going to do proper reference list, but I got side-tracked and didn't finish that ambitious project. USA frames regime change in terms of 'human rights' interventions these days. The Voice of Detroit independent newspaper article (2014) - link here -  looks an interesting article about the more recent US driven regime change in:  Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and CIA involvement etc.   I'm about to check that out more closely. Might also see if I can find the Assange TV documentary appearance mentioned. [Oops ... Think I went to the wrong channel:  got soft porn & gaming.] ꕤ

Syria - British Airstrkes & Dodgy Dave's Lies

ꕤ Article SOURCE as marked SYRIA SUMMARY UK MoD report disputed David Cameron lies re 70,000 'moderate rebels' -->  “misleading” MoD OVERRULED @ meeting -->  Joint Intelligence C'ttee incl. heads: MI6, MI5 & GCHQ + senior military & Foreign Office staff Dodgy Dave's lies:  like Tony Blair’s “dodgy dossier” on #Iraq WMD Cameron / British claim to: Target Islamic State Oil Assets in #Syria --> over 380 UK targets, in over 1yr   [Comment: bet they're Bullsh*t claims.  Must have been targeting Assad for over a year, because ISIS went on selling oil to Turkey & whoever else is in on the finance-the-terrorists scheme to take down Syria] http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-joins-airstrikes-in-syria-against-isis-1449131829 NOTE this is 2013 Article WikiLeaks cables have since revealed 2006 Israel-US plan to take down Syria Note also:  oil reserves Golan Heights SOURCE http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/aug/30/syria-chemical-attack-war-intervention-oil-gas-energy-pipelines SUMMARY Scumbag Hollande - 2013 welcomed the UK air force strikes in #Syria --> Syria intervention plan fuelled by oil interests Backers of attack on Syria: US, UK, Israel + France -  cooperation w/ Saudi Arabia --> 2007 CIA anti-Syria ops {Seymour Hersh} deploy:  al-Qaeda w/ US approval Saudi Arabia bankroll + give logistical aid to Sunni radicals hostile to US & al-Qaeda linked to attack #Syria #Syria Covert US political + financial support -- via Saudi Arabia -- given to:  exiled Syrian Muslim Brotherhood former French foreign minister Roland Dumas: -->  Britain planned covert action in Syria as early as 2009 Former French foreign minister Roland Dumas stated on TV that:   Britain was preparing gunmen to invade Syria --> in 2009 Syria 2011 uprisings -- domestic energy shortages + climate-induced droughts -->  massive food price hikes --> EXPLOITED WikiLeaks Stratfor e-mails --> CONFIRM US-UK training of Syria 'opposition' since 2011 to collapse ASSAD govt from within. US General Wesley Clark (Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000) --> confirms serial conquest =  strategy for control of region's vast oil & gas resources. 2008 US Army-funded RAND report: --> industrialized states to continue to rely heavily on oil --> oil production:  Middle East #Syria proven oil reserves Persian Gulf coincide w/ power base of Salafi-jihadist network oil supplies / linked w. 'long war' Regional policy trajectories: 1. divide & rule (salafists-jihadists) 2. exploit sustained Shia-Sunni Conflict West policy (1) divide & rule (salafists-jihadists) turn groups against each other / covert action, info ops  divide & rule (salafists-jihadists) discredit transnational jihadist in local eyes divide & rule (salafists-jihadists) support indigenous security forces / local allies West policy (2) exploit sustained Shia-Sunni conflict --> side with:  conservative Sunni regimes against Shiite empowerment -> USA to shore up Sunni regimes in Saudi Arabia #Egypt & #Pakistan -> to containing #Iran power in ME & Gulf USA aware backing Sunni regimes --> result:  empowering al-Qaeda jihadists BUT this to advantage of West. Support Sunni & exploit: bogging down jihadi activity w. internal sectarian rivalry {rather than targeting US} American Saudi Arabia allies Salafi-jihadist --> afraid of upsurge in Shia identity --> to want to target #IRAN vs #USA Following vulnerable to internal destabilisation: 1) Saudi Arabia 2) Gulf States 3) Egypt 4) Syria 5) Iran Internal destabilisation factors - multiple, converging: a) rapid population growth b) 'youth bulge' c) internal economic inequalities d) political frustrations e) sectarian tensions f) water shortages - environment Syria = pipeline geopolitics / Assad refused to sign Qatar pipeline deal 2009 re supply Europe via Syria ie.  bypassing Russia Note that British plan for invasion Syria 2009 coincides w/ Assad refusal of Qatar pipeline deal to supply gas to Europe Nabucco pipeline backed by USA & European Union          parties:             Austria-UAE             Hungarian             Romania             Bulgaria             Turkey             Germany*         --------------------    ie                 OMV - Austria-UAE                       {Romania Turkey Hungary interests}                 MOL - Hungarian                 Transgaz - Romania                 Bulgargaz - Bulgaria                 BOTAS - Turkey                 RWE - Germany, big / largest investor Egypt                 -- 2015 sale oil & gas unit to:         Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman                 RWE operates:  Europe, Middle East & Africa                 RWE partnership w/ British & Netherlands                 re Urenco Group uranium enrichment plants:                  in Germany, Netherlands,USA & UK                 -- supplies nuclear power stations in 15 countries                 -- sale of depleted uranium tails                 -- Russia owns radioactive waste                 -- waste transported to Seversk             [wikipedia] Middle East interests in the Nabucco Qatar LNG pipeline     proposed route:     -Qatar     -Saudi Arabia     -Kuwait     -Iraq     -Turkey     -Jordan http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/qatar-seeks-gas-pipeline-to-turkey#full  [link as above]   Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan -->  attempt to bribe Russia to dump Syria w/ Saudi 'block of gas' to Europe assurances Russia wasn't buying what assurances of the Saudi / stuck w. #Syria Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline plan = slap in face of #Qatar Putin refusal to take bait & sell out #Syria Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan vowed military action. Saudi Arabia Intelligence Agency Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan director general:  Saudi Intelligence Agency 2012 to 2014 --> supporters: Chechen terrorists Bandar bin Sultan confrontational re USA --> Replaced by:  Prince Muhammad bin Nayef head Saudi intel Muhammad bin Nayef Head of Saudi Arabia Intelligence --> escaped x4 assassination attempts --> incl. rectum bomb  { ... lol, always get a laugh out of that detail } ALSO pulling strings in Middle East oil-focused US policy in Syria: Qatar +  Saudi Arabia aim: pliable Syria opposition Writer concludes Assad is 'war criminal' [comment:  --> but  USA a pre-eminent war criminal & Ghouta was a false flag by USA-Gulf proxies.] SOURCE http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/aug/30/syria-chemical-attack-war-intervention-oil-gas-energy-pipelines SUMMARY British Airstrikes on Syria UK Tornado attack planes deployed to:  Akrotiri, Cyprus - first raid 3 Dec. support:  Voyager tanker + Reaper drone variable payload The Brimstone automated anti-armour missile for use re fast-moving platforms first fielded #Afghanistan 2008 The Brimstone light warhead - 9 kg /  a range of 7.5 miles -->  can be used on fast jets, helicopters & UAVs The Brimstone laser-guided missiles UK  RAF weapons of choice since #Libya in 2011 UK RAF Tornados - transit from Cyprus to #Iraq: --> via Israel --> via Jordan --> Voyager tanker accompanies British airstrikes covering #Iraq + #Syria --> 10 Tornados -->   9 Eurofighter Typhoon reinforcement. The Brimstone automated anti-armour missile for use re fast-moving platforms first fielded #Afghanistan 2008 The Brimstone light warhead - 9 kg /  a range of 7.5 miles -->  can be used on fast jets, helicopters & UAVs The Brimstone laser-guided missiles UK  RAF weapons of choice since #Libya in 2011 #Syria UK RAF Tornados - transit from Cyprus to #Iraq: --> via Israel --> via Jordan --> Voyager tanker accompanies British airstrikes covering #Iraq + #Syria --> 10 Tornados -->   9 Eurofighter Typhoon reinforcement. http://theaviationist.com/2015/12/04/raf-tornados-first-air-strike-in-syria/ AUDIO Syria / Libya / Refugee Crisis / Turkey Scott Bennett former US Army officer counter-terrorism analyst 'Impeach Obama' / 'Arrest Carter' https://soundcloud.com/radiosputnik/goes-against-no-boots-on-the-ground-scott-bennett ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Some of what I've enjoyed looking at today. The stakeholders in the Nabucco pipeline gets complicated, once you start looking at the companies.  eg.  Austrian stakeholder itself has a United Arab Emirates stakeholder.  So working out who's really who would take more time, patience and focus than I have.  Above is just a rough, surface sketch re the companies. The US military guy's audio was kind of cool.  He's anticipating a Turkey military coup against Erdogan.  I don't know if he might be a bit melodramatic there or not, as I'm not that knowledgeable or experienced.  At this stage, it sounds good but far-fetched to me. Key info re Syria (now superseded by further info indicating 2006 planned attack):     Former French foreign minister Roland Dumas     Britain planning covert invasion / attack on Assad     as early as 2009     WikiLeaks Stratfor e-mails     confirm US-UK training Syria 'opposition' since 2011     to collapse Assad from within     British attack     coincides w. Assad rejection of     Qatar pipeline deal 2009     in favour of Russian interests     NB   Qatar pipeline deal 2009     benefits USA & European Union US 4-Star General, General Wesley Clark (Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000) confirms a serial conquest strategy for region (7 countries). NOTE ALSO: Julian Assange: US & Israel Planned To Overthrow Assad In 2006 Cables reveal that before the beginning of the Syrian revolt and civil war, the United States hoped to overthrow Assad and create strife between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. By Kit O'Connell @KitOConnell | September 14, 2015 LONDON — Speaking from Ecuador’s embassy in London, Julian Assange revealed that the United States planned to overthrow the Syrian government as far back as 2006, several years before the start of the current crisis. ... The ongoing threat to his freedom hasn’t kept Assange from continuing his work revealing the dirty secrets of world governments. His latest revelations come in a Wednesday interview with RT in support of his new book, “The WikiLeaks Files,” published late last month. The United States and its allies in the Middle East, including Turkey and Israel, have been frequently accused of contributing to the ongoing destabilization of Syria in the wake of the uprising and subsequent civil war which began in 2011. But according to cables from the WikiLeaks archive, discussed in the Syria chapter of Assange’s book, plans to deliberately destabilize the region go back at least five years further. “In that chapter is a cable from US Ambassador William Roebuck, who was stationed in Damascus, which apparently discusses a plan for the overthrow of the Assad government in Syria,” RT reported. [ ... ] The cable also details plans to foster sectarian strife in the region and make Iran appear like a larger threat to Assad than it really was, Assange continued: “In particular, to take rumors that are known 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 harder for the government to have influence in the population.” WikiLeaks cables reveal that these plans came from the Israeli government, and show that the U.S. government intended to work with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and Egypt to encourage the breakdown of the Assad regime as a way of also weakening Iran and Hezbollah. “[I]f Syria sufficiently destabilized, it might be in a position where it can keep the Golan Heights forever, or even advance that territory,” Assange said. According to Assange, the cable illuminates how the current Syrian crisis reflects U.S. influence on the Middle East, particularly the ways it has used its allies to put pressure on the country. “Part of the problem in Syria is that you have a number of US allies surrounding it, principally Saudi and Qatar, that are funneling in weapons,” Assange noted, adding that it shows how the U.S. uses its over 100 army bases and network of embassies to further its imperialist interests. CONTINUES http://www.mintpressnews.com/julian-assange-us-israel-planned-to-overthrow-assad-in-2006/209493/ As the article re the WikiLeaks cable indicates, the plan to take down Syria began even earlier than indicated by the former French Foreign Minister:  it was outlined in 2006 US cables. Israel could be a driving force in for US foreign policy in the Middle Eastern region.  As in, the article states: "WikiLeaks cables reveal that these plans came from the Israeli government." Maybe this has something to do with it: Huge oil discovery in Golan Heights - Israeli media https://www.rt.com/business/317906-oil-golan-heights-israel/ ---------------------- ꕤ --------------------- PS ... Think I might simplify things too much.  There's a combination of things going on.  It's not just a single driving factor. I'll probably never understand what's going on. Just read some Forbes article on Russian billionaires having been bought out of Russia's Rosneft (state oil company), and it's a struggle to understand how anyone can have so much money and how the entire thing works, so what hope is there of understanding politics without understanding of the money men?  lol I'm really disheartened  ... and I can't comprehend why anyone would spend $14 million on a frigging mammoth.  Apparently, it's a gilded skeleton.  Intended as a good deed for an AIDS charity.  Just looked up the artist: won the Turner Prize. New York public health officials banned Two Fucking and Two Watching featuring a rotting cow and bull, because of fears of "vomiting among the visitors" [here] Well, now I'm sure I'll never understand anything on this planet.  Who the f*ck considers a rotting cow art?  This hilarious.  The fellow behind this is the "richest living artist to date."  Guess the 'Virgin Mother' would have taken some effort and talent to produce.  That anyone actually bought the finished product is mind-boggling.  I'd definitely go the mammoth.  ;) ꕤ

Ukraine - Right-Wing Extremist US Coup Pawns Throw A Handgrenade & Corporate Press Blames Putin - Robert Parry Article

SOURCE http://www.globalresearch.ca/maidan-2-0-ukraine-rightists-kill-police-putin-blamed/5473431 Maidan 2.0: Ukraine Rightists Kill Police; Putin Blamed By Robert Parry Global Research, September 02, 2015 Consortium News 1 September 2015 Region: Russia and FSU Theme: Intelligence, Media Disinformation, US NATO War Agenda In-depth Report: UKRAINE REPORT As I read the latest example of The New York Times’ propagandistic coverage of the Ukraine crisis on Tuesday, it struck me that if these same reporters and editors were around in 1953, they would have cheered the coup against Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh as a popular “revolution” putting the beloved and benevolent Shah back on the Peacock Throne. Similarly in 1954, these credulous journalists would have written about another people’s “revolution” in Guatemala removing President Jacobo Arbenz and restoring law and order behind well-regarded military commanders. The Times would have airily dismissed any suggestions of U.S. manipulation of events. And, for decades, that was how the Central Intelligence Agency wanted American journalists to write those stories – and the current crop of Times’ journalists would have fallen neatly into line. Of course, we know historically that the CIA organized and financed the disorders in Tehran that preceded Mossadegh’s removal and pulled together the rebel force that drove Arbenz from office. And, the evidence is even clearer that U.S. government operatives, particularly Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, helped orchestrate the 2014 coup that overthrew Ukraine’s elected President Viktor Yanukovych. Indeed, journalists knew more about the coup-plotting in Ukraine in real-time than we did about the coups in Iran and Guatemala six decades ago. In the Ukraine case, there was even an intercepted phone call just weeks before the Feb. 22, 2014 coup revealing Nuland handpicking the new Ukrainian leaders – “Yats is the guy,” she said referring to Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who would become the post-coup prime minister – as Pyatt pondered how “to midwife this thing” and Nuland dismissed the European Union’s less aggressive approach with the pithy remark, “F**k the EU!” Several months earlier, on Sept. 26, 2013, Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy (a U.S. government-funded operation that was financing scores of Ukrainian activists, journalists and business leaders), stated in a Washington Post op-ed that Ukraine was “the biggest prize” and would serve as a steppingstone toward eventually destabilizing Russia and removing Russian President Vladimir Putin. After Gershman’s op-ed pronouncement, Nuland and Sen. John McCain personally cheered on anti-government protesters in Kiev’s Maidan square. Nuland literally passed out cookies, and McCain, standing on stage with right-wing extremists from the Svoboda Party, told the crowd that the United States was with them in their challenge to the Ukrainian government. Meanwhile, Pyatt advised the coup-makers from the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. interference was so blatant that George Friedman, founder of the global intelligence firm Stratfor, called Yanukovych’s ouster “the most blatant coup in history.” Blatant to anyone, that is, who wasn’t part of the U.S. government’s propaganda team, which included the foreign desk of The New York Times and virtually every mainstream U.S. media outlet. Following the script of the State Department’s propagandists, the Times and the MSM saw only a glorious people’s “revolution.” Resistance to the Coup However, ethnic Russians from Crimea and eastern Ukraine, the key bases of support for Yanukovych, resisted the new order in Kiev. The people of Crimea organized a referendum in which 96 percent of the voters favored seceding from Ukraine and rejoining Russia, ties that went back to the Eighteenth Century. When Putin and Russia agreed to accept Crimea, the Times and the MSM announced a “Russian invasion,” although in this case the Russian troops were already stationed in Crimea under the Sebastopol port agreement. Ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine also rose up demanding independence or at least autonomy from the hostile regime in Kiev. The new government responded by labeling the dissidents “terrorists” and mounting an “Anti-Terrorist Operation,” which killed thousands and was spearheaded by neo-Nazi and Islamist militias. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Ukraine Merges Nazis and Islamists.”] Although the Times at times would acknowledge the key role played by the neo-Nazis and other ultra-nationalists, that troublesome information – along with the Nuland-Pyatt phone call and other evidence of the coup – would disappear into the Memory Hole when the Times was summarizing the Ukraine narrative or was decrying anyone who dared use the word “coup.” As far as the Times was concerned, what has happened since February 2014 was simply a glorious “revolution” with “pro-democracy” Ukrainian idealists on one side and propaganda-deluded ethnic Russian automatons on the other, depersonalized and ready for the killing. And behind all the bloodshed was the evil Putin. The Times reprised its propagandistic narrative on Tuesday in an article by Andrew E. Kramer, who tried to put the best face possible on a violent protest by neo-Nazis and other right-wing nationalists against a proposed constitutional change that would grant more autonomy to eastern Ukraine as part of the Minsk II peace agreement reached last February between German, French, Ukrainian and Russian leaders. Authorities identified a member of Sych, the militant arm of the right-wing Svoboda Party (John McCain’s old friends), as the person who threw a grenade that killed three police officers, but the Times made clear that the real villain was Vladimir Putin. As Kramer wrote: “The [autonomy] measure is fiercely opposed by Ukrainian nationalists and many others, who loathe any concession to Mr. Putin and see him as the driving force behind a civil war that has claimed more than 6,500 lives. President Petro O. Poroshenko had conceded the constitutional change, which is included in the text of the Minsk agreement, with a metaphorical gun to his head: thousands of Ukrainian soldiers surrounded by Russian-backed rebels near the Ukrainian railroad town of Debaltseve. “Supporters of the change say granting special status to the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk would co-opt the rebels’ major selling point, blunting the drive for separatism. Yet the war has angered Ukrainians to such an extent, opinion polls show, that members of Parliament are struggling to win support from voters for any concession.” While the Times’ narrative paints Putin as the instigator of all the trouble in Ukraine, it also portrays him as a villain who is on the run because his “aggression” led to Western sanctions, which along with lower oil prices, are collapsing the Russian economy. Kramer wrote: “Hopes for a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis have been rising lately in Europe as oil prices have sunk, increasing financial pressure on Mr. Putin. With the Russian economy reeling, the thinking goes, he should be more willing to compromise on eastern Ukraine, the source of damaging Western economic sanctions. But that thinking was not shared by many in Ukraine. … “As Parliament approved the concessions, protesters outside the building scuffled with police, and shouted, ‘Shame! Shame!’ The demonstrators grew more agitated. Some tore helmets from the riot police and threw them on the paving stones. ‘They are trading in our blood and our corpses,’ said a veteran of the war in the east, Volodymyr Natuta, referring to members of Parliament who supported the measure. ‘They sold out Ukraine.’… “It [the right-wing killing of the first police officer on Monday] was the first death in politicized street violence in the capital since the 2014 revolution … Officially, the Russian government denies having any hand in propping up the two enclaves in eastern Ukraine. But Ukrainians — not to speak of virtually every Western government and NATO — universally reject that, holding Moscow responsible for all the carnage in the east.” So, having brushed aside the evidence of a U.S.-backed coup and ignoring the role of right-wing Ukrainian nationalists in both overthrowing an elected leader and launching attacks against ethnic Russians, the New York Times has settled on the only permissible view of the crisis: that it is all Vladimir Putin’s fault. Perhaps history will know better. Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com). You also can order Robert Parry’s trilogy on the Bush Family and its connections to various right-wing operatives for only $34. The trilogy includes America’s Stolen Narrative. For details on this offer, click here. SOURCE http://www.globalresearch.ca/maidan-2-0-ukraine-rightists-kill-police-putin-blamed/5473431 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT The corporate press is worthless and politicians are disgusting creatures. I'm beginning to think that Western governments are criminal organisations, like the mafia or something.  They're criminal gangs. Maybe someone should refuse them insurance.  lol ꕤ