Puppet Masters

Cables say Israel favours Suleiman

Aljazeera
Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:07 UTC

Preference for Egypt's new vice-president to succeed Mubarak disclosed by leaked documents obtained by WikiLeaks.

Omar Suleiman, Egypt's recently appointed vice-president, has long long seen by Israel as the favoured successor to Hosni Mubarak, the current president, according to a leaked diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website, and published by the UK daily, The Telegraph.

The August 2008 cable said David Hacham, a senior adviser at the Israeli ministry of defence (MoD), told US officials the Israelis expected Suleiman, spelt Soliman in some cables, to take over.

"Hacham noted that the Israelis believe Soliman is likely to serve as at least an interim president if Mubarak dies or is incapacitated," the cable sent from the US embassy in Tel Aviv said.

"We defer to Embassy Cairo for analysis of Egyptian succession scenarios, but there is no question that Israel is most comfortable with the prospect of Omar Soliman," the memo cited US diplomats as saying.

The cable said Hacham was full of praise for Suleiman, even noting that "a 'hot line' set up between the MoD and Egyptian General Intelligence Service is now in daily use".

Israeli Espionage in America, A National Security Scandal

Jim W. Dean
Veterans Today
Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:11 UTC

"How do I want to rob, cheat and lie to thee. Let me count the ways... military, nuclear, political, academic, media and your law enforcement institutions."

The biggest national security scandal story of our times is the extent that Israeli espionage has gone on here for decades. There is an aspect of the War on Terror on which our elite leadership refuses to level with the public...how terrified our defense, political, counter intelligence and legal institutions are when it comes to rooting them out and shutting it all down. All other terrors pale into insignificance. And they treat this affliction with an age old cure...denial.

My first exposure to Israeli espionage scholastically was through Steven Green's book Taking Sides: America's Secret Relations With A Militant Israel(1984). Green was one of the earliest users of the then new Freedom of information Act, filing hundreds of requests to get previously classified military and diplomatic Intel reports.

The book is a gold mine, so much so that some in the Reagan administration considered a rump prosecution of Green to scare others off from doing similar work. Cooler heads prevailed and they ended up reclassifying some of the best parts of the book despite Green's archives being publicly available at the Hoover institute. There is a phrase to describe this...'contempt for the public'.

Tunisia Calls Up Reservists

Aljazeera
Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:10 UTC

Continued violence raises questions about stability as the interim government struggles to stem unrest.

Tunisia has asked military reservists to report for duty in a new drive to restore order, three weeks after an uprising overthrew the north African nation's long-term president.

Tuesday's order came as security officials in the coalition government said there was a conspiracy by officials close to the old administration to spread chaos and take back power.

The interim government was put in place after Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian president, fled to Saudi Arabia.

After days of gunfights and looting immediately after Ben Ali was pushed out, it had seemed security was being restored but since last week violence has flared again, raising new questions about Tunisia's stability.

Sheik al-Torture is now a democrat

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:26 UTC

The Egyptian revolution is being dissolved right in front of the world's eyes by an optical illusion.

The protesters who have been on the streets for two weeks still want President Hosni Mubarak out. Now. Yet United States President Barack Obama is firmly in not-so-fast mode, glad that "Egypt is making progress". Obama has not mentioned even once the capital words "free elections".

Washington's "orderly transition" road map - fully supported by Tel Aviv and European capitals - is a facelift. Mubarak stepping down has become an afterthought; the already anointed successor is Vice President Omar Suleiman, the former head of the Mukhabarat, whom the protesters call "Sheik al-Torture".

Sheik al-Torture already behaves as a president - while the actual president is still inhabiting his palace, but as a ghost. The regime, a brutal military dictatorship, remains an immovable subject - even while being denounced by the protesters as illegitimate from A to Z, from the executive to the legislative. The key point is that acting president Suleiman is the regime. If French philosopher Jean Baudrillard was alive, he would say this revolution never took place - except on the world's television screens.

Tell Your Representative to Reject the PATRIOT Act Sneak Attack Before Today's Vote!

Kevin Bankston
Activist Post
Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:02 UTC

Tell your Congressperson to vote NO on the USA PATRIOT Act in today's vote! The PATRIOT reauthorization bill being fast-tracked to the House floor contains NO reforms to the law, and will be voted upon with NO debate and NO opportunity for amendments to add oversight and accountability. Help stop this sneak attack on your civil liberties: there are only hours left to visit our Action Center and tell your Representative to vote "NO" on H.R. 514, the PATRIOT extension bill.

In late 2009, when PATRIOT reauthorization was originally being considered by Congress, many important PATRIOT reform measures were proposed and debated, and a bill filled with powerful new checks and balances was reported favorably out of the House Judiciary Committee. But, as Congress ran up against the renewal deadline, it decided that there was not enough time to fully consider those reforms. So, in February 2010, Congress instead extended the "sunsetting" sections of the law until the end of this February, with a promise to fully consider the issues before the next deadline.

But Congress is breaking its promise to consider reforms to the PATRIOT Act. In a legislative sneak attack, the new Republican leadership in the House is trying push Representatives to rubber-stamp another PATRIOT renewal. The House leaders just announced on Friday that they'll be "suspending the rules" so that a bill introduced by Rep. Sensenbrenner to extend the expiring PATRIOT provisions until December 8, 2011 will go to the House floor for a vote TODAY, without any debate and without any opportunity for anyone to offer amendments to improve the bill.

FCC: Presidential Emergency Alerts to be Tested

Suzanne Kubota
FederalNewsRadio
Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:18 UTC

Everybody has heard the national Emergency Alert System (EAS). Those familiar "duck calls" that reassure listeners "THIS is a test...this is ONLY a test..."

The FCC is planning an upgrade to the tests by including presidential announcements in the system.

Lisa Fowlkes, deputy chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the FCC, explained to the Federal Drive the Presidential Alert isn't new.

"The primary goal is to provide the President with a mechanism to communicate with the American public during times of national emergency," said Fowlkes. The change, she said, is that prior to last week's order there was no rule in place to call for or allow a test from top to bottom.

Fowlkes said, "There's never been a test from top to bottom where it's issued by FEMA and it goes straight down to all the different levels of EAS to the American public. So this is a way for us to glean, okay, if there were an actual emergency and the federal government needed to activate the Presidential EAS, making sure that it actually works the way it's designed to."

Torture complaints hit Bush on ninth anniversary of key decision

Stephen C. Webster
Raw Story
Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:16 UTC

Nine years ago today, the Bush administration decided that international law does not apply to prisoners of war. It was a watershed moment in US history, resulting in a policy of torture that pervaded and darkened the Bush years, and inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad.

To mark that grim anniversary, two men who claim to have been victims of torture filed official complaints in Geneva, Switzerland, seeking a ruling on universal jurisdiction.

If the court sides with their complaints, US President George W. Bush likely would not face arrest; he would not, however, enjoy free travel around the world.

FCC Net Neutrality is a Regulatory 'Trojan Horse,' EFF Says

David Kravetz
Wired
Fri, 04 Feb 2011 01:36 UTC

The Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality decision opens the FCC to "boundless authority to regulate the internet for whatever it sees fit," the Electronic Frontier Foundation is warning.

The civil rights group says the FCC's action in December, which was based on shaky legal authority, creates a paradox of epic proportions. The EFF favors net neutrality but worries whether the means justify the ends.

World leaders meet to discuss cyberwar rules of engagement

John Leyden
The Register
Fri, 04 Feb 2011 02:38 UTC

Hague convention for state-backed hacking?

Rules of engagement for the deployment of cyber-weapons need to be developed, an international security conference is due to be told later today.

The influential EastWest Institute is due to present proposals for the cyberspace equivalent of the Geneva convention at the Munich Security Conference, which has included a debate on cyber-security on its agenda for the first time this year. Delegates to the conference include UK Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The discussion on rules for cyber-conflict follows months after the infamous Stuxnet worm was blamed for infecting industrial control systems and sabotaging centrifuges at controversial Iranian nuclear facilities. Some have described the malware as the world's first cyber-weapon though cyber-espionage in many guises has undoubtedly been practiced by intelligence agencies across the world for many years.

Possible Exile in Germany Considered For Mubarak

Björn Hengst and Christoph Schwennicke
Spiegel Online
Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:35 UTC

Will Hosni Mubarak travel to Germany as a patient as part of a graceful exit strategy for the Egyptian president? Plans for a possible hospital stay here appear to be more concrete than previously believed. Spiegel Online has learned that a luxury clinic near Baden-Baden is being favored.

The United States government's scenario for an end to the political chaos in Egypt appears to be this: President Hosni Mubarak travels to Germany for a "prolonged health check" that would offer the 82-year-old a dignified departure. Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that secret talks to that effect were being held between the US government and Egyptian military officials.

According to information obtained by Spiegel Online, plans for a possible hospital stay in Germany are far more concrete than had been assumed so far. Talks are already being held with suitable hospitals, particularly with the Max-Grundig-Klinik Bühlerhöhe in the southwestern town of Bühl near Baden-Baden, Spiegel Online has learned from sources close to the clinic. The hospital management declined to comment.

Hey folks. I just stumbled across this that I am VERY impressed with (due to his questions about every aspect of this matter) etc. Really...

Rowan Cocoan

And thus, all should see instantly what 'government' actually is; and yet they, save SOTTypes, remain (as always) blind. R.C.

Rowan Cocoan

.. .. do them Royals still feast on them assorted fetal tissues at mid day meals?

Jibrish

.. .. ".. declassified State Department report obtained.." or, racist, murderous jewz own the jUS State Department, right Heinz K.? "Jew Commies...

Jibrish

The Spanish government along its geoscientists didn't managed this eruption properly. They let this situation to develop, causing considerable...

Wyler69

Puppet Masters

Cables say Israel favours Suleiman

Israeli Espionage in America, A National Security Scandal

Tunisia Calls Up Reservists

Sheik al-Torture is now a democrat

Tell Your Representative to Reject the PATRIOT Act Sneak Attack Before Today's Vote!

FCC: Presidential Emergency Alerts to be Tested

Torture complaints hit Bush on ninth anniversary of key decision

FCC Net Neutrality is a Regulatory 'Trojan Horse,' EFF Says

World leaders meet to discuss cyberwar rules of engagement

Possible Exile in Germany Considered For Mubarak

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