Puppet MastersS


Nuke

Radiation readings 18 times higher at Fukushima

Nuclear radiation check
© APOfficials check for signs of radiation on children from the evacuation area near the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011.
The operator of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant says radiation levels at a water tank in the atomic facility are 18 times higher than previously measured.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said on Saturday that the highly radioactive water was dripping from a pipe used to connect two coolant tanks. The pipe was repaired using absorption material and plastic tape.

Reports say radiation readings in water are high enough to kill an exposed person in four hours.

On Friday, TEPCO also said that it found new deadly radiation hotspots at four sites around the tanks.

Eye 1

Enemy within: FBI to keep closer eye on Syrians in US ahead of strike

Syrian bakery in New York
© UnknownA man serving customers in a Syrian bakery in New York
The FBI is upping its surveillance of Syrians within US borders, for a fear of reprisal attacks that may follow an imminent American strike against Bashar Assad, reports in US media say. Homeland Security is also worried about retaliatory cyber-attacks.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations has sent out a classified bulletin warning about potential fallout from the Syrian conflict to all law enforcement agencies, and hundreds of Syrians may face interviews with agents in the coming days, according to unnamed senior officials who spoke to the New York Times.

All sources connected with any Syrians, have been told to look out for plans or even "talk" of a retaliatory strike on US targets, whether inside its borders, or abroad. Those under investigation will presumably include US citizens of Syrian origin.

"The field offices know what they have in terms of sources and investigations, but this is a directive for them to redouble their efforts and check their traps," one highly-placed official told NYT.

Newspaper

Saudi backed Syrian rebels admit gas attack is a result of mishandling chemical weapon

Syrian chemical attack
© AP Photo/Shaam News NetworkSeveral bodies being buried in Damascus due to the last week’s chemical attack
In a report that is sure to be considered blockbuster news, the rebels told Dale Gavlak, a reporter who has written for the Associated Press, NPR and BBC, they are responsible for the chemical attack last week.

Gavlak is a Middle Eastern journalist who filed the report about the rebels claiming responsibility on the Mint Press News website, which is affiliated with AP.

In that report allegedly the rebels told him the chemical attack was a result of mishandling chemical weapons.

This news should deflate the accusations, against the Assad regime, coming from the U.S., Britain, France and the Arab League.

Since the chemical attacks last week, the Assad government was immediately blamed. On Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry said: That Assad's guilt was "a judgment already clear to the world," according to theguardian.com.

As a result of Assad's government being blamed for the chemical attacks, five U.S. warships are now stationed off Syria's coast. These destroyers are poised to deliver cruise missiles in a strike that is due to begin any time now. According to the report on Mint Press there have been several interviews conducted with people in Damascus and Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital.

The interviews conducted of residents, rebels and their families in Damascus and Ghouta are painting a different picture of what actually happened. Many believe that rebels received chemical weapons provided through the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. It's being reported that these weapons are responsible for last week's gas attack.

The father of a rebel who was killed in what's now being called an accident by many in Ghouta and Damascus said: "My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry," said Abu Abdel-Moneim. The father said at least 12 rebels including his son were killed by the chemical weapons.

Chess

Russia sends forces to the Mediterranean

Russia will be sending an anti-submarine ship and a missile cruiser to the Mediterranean "over the next few days" as the West prepares for possible strikes against Syria, the Interfax news agency says.

"The well-known situation shaping up in the eastern Mediterranean called for certain corrections to the make-up of the naval forces," a source in the Russian general staff told Interfax.

"A large anti-submarine ship of the Northern Fleet will join them (the existing naval forces) over the next few days.

Cult

Camp New Iraq clashes leave 34 dead: MKO

MKO terror organisation
© vkb.isvg.orgMembers of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO)
The anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) says Iraqi security forces have killed 34 of its members during clashes that erupted at a camp housing the group in eastern Iraq.

Iraqi officials and the terrorist MKO members gave conflicting reports about the clashes and explosions that took place at Camp New Iraq in the eastern Diyala Province on Sunday.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts and clashes at the camp.

The MKO claimed that Iraqi troops had entered the place and set fire to it, killing 34 of its members. However, Iraqi officials denied any involvement in the incident.

Stop

France, following US and UK, applies brakes on Syrian war rhetoric

Rafale jet fighter
© AFPA French Navy Rafale jet fighter
Following Washington and London's lead, French President Francois Hollande said he would wait for a parliamentary vote before committing France to a military attack on Syria.

The announcement comes as NATO countries reconsider whether to take military action against the Syrian government over a chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds of people in Damascus, amid growing public opposition to a US-led military intervention.

Paris backed off immediate military action against Syria after MPs in the UK House of Commons defeated Prime Minister David Cameron's proposal that British forces take part in military action over the alleged use of chemical weapons by Assad's government. The war vote - the first lost by a British prime minister since 1782 - was followed by US President Barack Obama saying Saturday that he would wait until he receives authorization from the US Congress before taking military action on Syria.

Megaphone

Putin delivers his message to Obama: 'Think about future Syrian victims'

The Russian president has expressed certainty that the strategy for a military intervention in Syria is a contingency measure from outside and a direct response to the Syrian government's recent combat successes, coupled with the rebels' retreat from long-held positions

Light Sabers

Russian President Putin rejects US's Syria chemical use claim, demands proof

Moscow rally syria
© AFP(Andrey Smirnov, File)A rally outside the US embassy in Moscow in support of the Syrian regime.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday dismissed claims that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons, demanding that the United States provide proof rather than taking rash action.

Speaking after the United States released an intelligence report, Putin rejected US use of intercepts of Syrian communications as evidence, saying that they could not be used to take "fundamental decisions" like using military force on Syria.

And he rubbished the notion that the Syrian army used chemical weapons, saying to do so would defy "common sense."

"Syrian government troops are on the offensive and have surrounded the opposition in several regions," he said in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok.

"In these conditions, to give a trump card to those who are calling for a military intervention is utter nonsense."

Russia, Syria's vocal and powerful ally, has vowed to block any action against the regime of Syria's Bashar Assad in the UN Security Council, where it is a permanent member.

Putin said he was sure the alleged attack was "nothing but a provocation" by those who want to drag other countries into the Syrian conflict, and demanded proof this was not the case.

"Regarding the position of our American colleagues, friends, who affirm that government troops used weapons of mass destruction, in this case chemical weapons, and say that they have proof, well, let them show it to the United Nations inspectors and the Security Council," he said.

Saying that such evidence is classified "does not stand up to criticism" and disrespects other countries, Putin said. "If there is evidence, it must be presented. If they don't show it, that means there is none."

Red Flag

More 'leaks' via Ed Snowden: NSA conducted 231 cyber-ops against 'evil regimes' in 2011

Image
Yes, it's Captain America, the NSA's top secret agent.
US intelligence carried out 231 offensive cyber-ops in 2011, nearly three-quarters of them against key targets such as Iran, Russia, China and N. Korea, as well as nuclear proliferation, a classified report obtained by The Washington Post says.

The "most challenging targets" also include suspected terrorists "in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, and other extremist safe havens," according to one list of priorities. US budget documents describe the attacks as "active defense."

Some cyber-operations reportedly feature what one budget document calls "field operations" organized "to physically place hardware implants or software modifications" with the help of CIA operatives or clandestine military forces.

An implant is often coded in software by an NSA group called Tailored Access Operations, which builds attack tools that are custom-fitted to their targets, The Washington Post reports, adding that this year TAO is working on implants that "can identify select voice conversations of interest within a target network and exfiltrate select cuts," one budget document says.

Comment: Once again we have the strong impression that these 'leaks' are boasting of U.S. achievements, not exposing its dirty laundry.

The two opening paragraphs in particular...
US intelligence carried out 231 offensive cyber-ops in 2011, nearly three-quarters of them against key targets such as Iran, Russia, China and N. Korea, as well as nuclear proliferation, a classified report obtained by The Washington Post says.

The "most challenging targets" also include suspected terrorists "in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, and other extremist safe havens," according to one list of priorities. US budget documents describe the attacks as "active defense."
...sit neatly with U.S. propaganda about an 'Axis of Evil', a 'War on Terror' and a 'Clash of Civilizations'.

How is this in any way damaging or embarrassing to the U.S. national security state? It's basically the NSA - speaking through Snowden - showing off its programs, capabilities and global reach.

These 'leaks' are, substantially, 'spooky fluff', intended to portray the NSA chiefs and the high priests in the Cult of Intelligence as kick-ass awesome, like they are in the movies, and nothing like the downright pernicious scumbags they truly are.


Yoda

Ron Paul: Why are we on the side of Al Qaeda in Syria?

In the following interview with Fox News, Congressman Ron Paul introduces some common sense to the endless lies broadcast on U.S. mainstream media regarding the alleged chemical weapons attack in Damascus last week and the 'U.S. response'.