Welcome to Sott.net
Thu, 21 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

War Whore

U.S. general reveals plans for Air Force expansion in Asia

Peter Symonds
World Socialist Web Site
Fri, 02 Aug 2013 22:06 UTC
Image
American officials routinely deny that Obama's "pivot to Asia" is aimed at preparing for war against China. However, in comments this week reported on the Foreign Policy web site, General Herbert Carlisle, chief of US Air Force operations in the Pacific, outlined a far-reaching build-up of American war planes and personnel throughout Asia.

The four-star general told reporters in Washington on July 29 that the US Air Force would dispatch "fighters, tankers, and at some point in the future, maybe bombers on a rotational basis" to bases in northern Australia. He indicated that the "rotations" would begin next year to Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Darwin before moving to RAAF Base Tindal, several hundred kilometres south.

The US Air Force has already flown training missions into RAAF Base Darwin, with a B-52 arriving from Guam last August. Longer stays are now being prepared, in line with the US Marine "rotational presence" in Darwin that will reach 1,150 next year. By 2016, a fully-equipped 2,500-strong Marine Air Ground Task Force will operate from Darwin on six-month rotations.
      Read More...
Bomb

Florida law enforcement agencies refuse to probe killing of Boston Marathon bombing witness

Nick Barrickman
World Socialist Web Site
Fri, 02 Aug 2013 21:57 UTC
Image

Ibragim Todashev
Attempts made by the American Civil Liberties Union to obtain an independent probe into the killing of Ibragim Todashev have been rebuffed by representatives of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). Todashev, the 27-year-old Chechen and associate of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents during an interrogation on May 22.

A letter sent Tuesday by FDLE Commissioner Gerald M. Bailey to the ACLU stated, "This is an active federal investigation; it would be inappropriate for [the state] to intervene" in the probe currently being carried out by the FBI into the circumstances surrounding the killing. Referring any subsequent questions to the FBI, the FDLE commissioner refused to make any additional comments.

The stonewalling prompted the ACLU of Florida's Executive Director Howard Simon to comment, "Secrecy fosters suspicion and the people of Florida deserve better than to be left without an explanation from their government about what led to a person being shot to death."
      Read More...
Eye 1

Anglo-American Establishment: NSA pays £100m in secret funding for GCHQ

Nick Hopkins and Julian Borger
The Guardian
Thu, 01 Aug 2013 10:04 UTC
Image
© Kieran Doherty/Reuters
The NSA paid £15.5m towards redevelopments at GCHQ’s site in Bude, north Cornwall, which intercepts communications from the transatlantic cables that carry internet traffic.
-  Secret payments revealed in leaks by Edward Snowden
-  GCHQ expected to 'pull its weight' for Americans
-  Weaker regulation of British spies 'a selling point' for NSA

The US government has paid at least £100m to the UK spy agency GCHQ over the last three years to secure access to and influence over Britain's intelligence gathering programmes.

The top secret payments are set out in documents which make clear that the Americans expect a return on the investment, and that GCHQ has to work hard to meet their demands. "GCHQ must pull its weight and be seen to pull its weight," a GCHQ strategy briefing said.

The funding underlines the closeness of the relationship between GCHQ and its US equivalent, the National Security Agency. But it will raise fears about the hold Washington has over the UK's biggest and most important intelligence agency, and whether Britain's dependency on the NSA has become too great.

In one revealing document from 2010, GCHQ acknowledged that the US had "raised a number of issues with regards to meeting NSA's minimum expectations". It said GCHQ "still remains short of the full NSA ask".
      Read More...
Vader

U.S. government issues worldwide travel alert, closes embassies in 21 countries, cites nebulous 'global terror threat'

Hannah Allam & Julie Moos
The Sacramento Bee
Fri, 02 Aug 2013 12:31 UTC
Image
The State Department issued a worldwide travel alert Friday as it suspended operations in 21 Muslim countries in response to "current information" that suggests al Qaida and affiliated militant groups could strike within the next month, according to an official announcement.

Apart from mentioning that an attack could occur in or emanate from the Arabian Peninsula, which is home to one of the most active al Qaida branches, the U.S. government gave no details as to the nature of this particular threat, or specifics on when or where such an attack might take place.

"They may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August," the State Department's travel alert said.

One date in particular - this Sunday, Aug. 4 - was mentioned in the State Department warning. All embassies that would've been open that day were ordered to close Sunday and perhaps longer. The edict affects embassies in Muslim countries, where Sunday is a workday, and coincides with a special night in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

However, analysts who study militant groups said, there's too little public information to draw conclusions as to the reasons for such a widespread shutdown of diplomatic operations. Such precautionary measures have become increasingly common in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans at U.S. posts in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
      Read More...
Bomb

Free Syrian Army massacres 40, injures 120 in Homs with another series of unusually large bombs for a protest movement that Western intel agencies 'might arm'


news.com.au
Fri, 02 Aug 2013 05:57 UTC
Image
© AFP/YouTube
A screengrab from a Youtube video believed to show a massive fireball rising over a weapon's depot in Syrian city of Homs. Are the 'rebels' using mini-nukes supplied by USrael?
Rocket attacks have struck government-held districts in the central Syrian city of Homs, setting off successive explosions in a weapons depot that killed at least 40 people and wounded dozens, an opposition group and residents said.

The blasts sent a massive ball of fire into the sky, causing widespread damage and panic among residents, many of whom are supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

One resident said the explosions were so strong they cracked the walls of some buildings. Thick smoke and dust could be seen from a distance as explosions shook the ground.

A video posted online by activists showed a huge ball of fire over Homs neighbourhoods.

The explosions in Homs reflected the see-saw nature of the conflict. It showed that despite significant advances by Assad's military, rebels could still strike back.

Comment: Remember, officially, the FSA/rebels/al Qaeda-in-Syria/Syrian protest movement has not yet received any weapons from the West nor its client regimes in the Middle East... so where are we supposed to think they're conjuring anti-aircraft, anti-tank, mini-nuke type explosives, shells, machine guns, millions of rounds of ammunition, satellite comms, etc, etc, etc... do they have a genie in a lamp which they rub to get three wishes?



      Read More...
Cult

Elite pedophile network: Moroccans to protest against royal pardon for Spanish child rapist

Aziz El Yaakoubi
Reuters
Thu, 01 Aug 2013 20:16 UTC
Royals!
© AP/Reuters
King's deal: The convicted paedophile is among 48 jailed Spaniards who were pardoned by King Mohamed VI, right, on Tuesday at the request of Spain's King Juan Carlos, left, who visited Morocco last month.
Moroccans outraged by a royal pardon for a Spanish paedophile serving a 30-year sentence for raping 11 children in the North African kingdom are planning a protest in Rabat on Friday.

The convicted paedophile is among 48 jailed Spaniards who the state news agency MAP said were pardoned by King Mohamed VI on Tuesday at the request of Spain's King Juan Carlos, who visited Morocco last month.

The decision prompted a frenzy of angry postings on social media in Morocco. Activists from the February 20 movement, which organised anti-government demonstrations during the Arab unrest of 2011, called for Friday's rally in the Moroccan capital.

"The king's pardon is a second rape for the victims," a woman identifying herself as Meryem El said on Twitter.
      Read More...
Arrow Down

'Nazi style': Japan constitution revision proposal sparks outrage


RT.com
Thu, 01 Aug 2013 18:50 UTC
Minister Taro Aso
© AFP Photo/Toru Yamanaka
Japanese Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso.
Japan's Deputy PM has called on local politicians revising the constitution to learn from Nazi Germany when it amended the Weimar charter. Although he later retracted his words neighbors Beijing and Seoul said such militaristic remarks "hurt many people".

"Germany's Weimar Constitution was changed before anyone knew. It was changed before anyone else noticed. Why don't we learn the technique," Japanese media quoted Taro Aso as saying during a far-reaching event in Tokyo.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, to which Aso also belongs, has been keen to revise the US-imposed pacifist constitution, including war-renouncing Article 9, so Japan can use the right of collective self-defense as stipulated by the UN Charter.

The LDP also wants to define Japan's defense forces as a full-fledged military force amid territorial tensions with China and South Korea.

South Korea, which had suffered under Japan's past militarism, has slammed the Japanese minister's speech.

"Such remarks definitely hurt many people," the Yonhap news agency quoted South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young as saying. "It is clear what such comments on the [Nazi] regime mean to people of the time and to those who suffered from Japan's imperialistic invasion."
      Read More...
Heart - Black

Psychopath barrister Barbara Hewson defends pedophile Jimmy Savile: sez age of consent for sex should be 13 to end 'persecution of old men'!

Melanie Hall
The Telegraph, UK
Mon, 08 Jul 2013 15:27 UTC
Barbara Hewson
© Andrew Crowley
Barbara Hewson: “I’m not advocating either rape or compulsory sex, I’m just simply saying the age of consent in this country at the moment is too high.”
A leading barrister who previously criticised the 'witch-hunt' of ageing celebrities accused of sexual abuse has likened allegations of ritual satanic abuse by Jimmy Savile as being as unlikely as "alien abduction".

In her first interview since she wrote a controversial article in May for the online magazine Spiked, Barbara Hewson laughed as she remarked on Channel 4 News tonight that TV presenter Savile was alleged to have subjected a victim to satanic ritual abuse.

When asked by presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy whether she found it funny, she said: "I do. Satanic ritual abuse doesn't exist, it's like alien abduction."

"Are you saying that the people who have made these allegations have made it up?" Mr Guru-Murthy then asked, to which she responded: "I would think so. They have made allegations but that's not evidence.

"What I'm saying is it's pointless to conduct an investigation of this kind into someone who is dead, as they can't answer.

"You can't actually do anything if the person accused is dead, because he's not around to be questioned, he's not around to be charged, he's not around to defend himself in any way."

Comment: This woman is not only defending one psychopaths' horrific crimes against vulnerable children, but also a pedophile ring of high ranking sexual predators whose actions span decades and destroyed the lives of a huge number of people. Predators who were able to get away with their crimes, because of people like her. Her affinity with the psychopaths is as evident, as her compassion with the victims is lacking.

To get an idea of who Savile was and what he was involved in, read:

Jimmy Savile scandal exposes pedophile network at heart of British establishment
Jimmy Savile part of satanic ring; other BBC star Stuart Hall charged with child sex abuse
Jimmy Savile scandal: Report reveals decades of abuse
Children's TV host Jimmy Savile was a 'psychopath' with a 'liking for children'
Jimmy Savile accused of being a sexual predator by five women who claim he abused them when they were underage schoolgirls

      Read More...
HAL9000

XKeyscore: NSA tool 'collects nearly everything a user does on the internet'

Glenn Greenwald
The Guardian
Wed, 31 Jul 2013 14:35 UTC
x-keyscore

One presentation claims the XKeyscore program covers 'nearly everything a typical user does on the internet'
A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The NSA boasts in training materials that the program, called XKeyscore, is its "widest-reaching" system for developing intelligence from the internet.

The latest revelations will add to the intense public and congressional debate around the extent of NSA surveillance programs. They come as senior intelligence officials testify to the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday, releasing classified documents in response to the Guardian's earlier stories on bulk collection of phone records and Fisasurveillance court oversight.

The files shed light on one of Snowden's most controversial statements, made in his first video interview published by the Guardian on June 10.

Comment: This part from SOTT Focus, Bradley Manning - Theft or War Crimes? says it all:
In the last ten years, the US government has passed many laws that are more than a little reminiscent of the laws usually passed by totalitarian governments. These laws have been passed in the name of 'national security' and as a result of a climate of fear under the threat of 'terrorism' and the government's alleged need to protect the American people.

Yet on a daily basis, the US government acts around the world in ways that logically can only INCREASE the threat of attacks (terrorist or otherwise) against America and Americans. Drone strikes, 'extraordinary rendition', invasion and occupation of other nations. These are terrorist acts against innocent people around the worldthat can plausibly produce responses in kind (although those have been few and far between), yet the US government maintains that it must continue to eviscerate civil liberties in America to protect against the terrorist threat that the US government itself is intentionally creating.


      Read More...
Megaphone

44 facts about the death of middle class that every American should know

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
Tue, 30 Jul 2013 14:13 UTC
death of MC
What is America going to look like when the middle class is dead? Once upon a time, the United States has the largest and most vibrant middle class in the history of the world. When I was growing up, it seemed like almost everyone was "middle class" and it was very rare to hear of someone that was out of work. Of course life wasn't perfect, but most families owned a home, most families had more than one vehicle, and most families could afford nice vacations and save for retirement at the same time. Sadly, things have dramatically changed in America since that time. There just aren't as many "middle class jobs" as there used to be. In fact, just six years ago there were about six million more full-time jobs in our economy than there are right now. Those jobs are being replaced by part-time jobs and temp jobs. The number one employer in America today is Wal-Mart and the number two employer in America today is a temp agency (Kelly Services). But you can't support a family on those kinds of jobs. We live at a time when incomes are going down but the cost of living just keeps going up. As a result, the middle class in America is being absolutely shredded and the ranks of the poor are steadily growing. The following are 44 facts about the death of the middle class that every American should know:
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts