Puppet MastersS


Cell Phone

No need to install: Microsoft has controversial fake news filter NewsGuard built into mobile browser

Igor Ogorodnev
RT
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 19:13 UTC
Newsguard fake news filter
© www.microsoft.com
Corporate and neocon-backed startup NewsGuard is one step closer to its vision of bringing its "unreliable" news rater to every screen after Microsoft makes it an integral part of its Edge mobile browser.

Rather than having to download an app as before, Edge users on Android and Apple devices can now just click one button to enable its "green-red rating signal if a website is trying to get it right or instead has a hidden agenda or knowingly publishes falsehoods or propaganda."

Among the green-rated websites: Voice of America, CNN, Buzzfeed, the Guardian, New York Times and the Washington Post, as well as left-leaning upstarts such as Vice News and Refinery 29. Ones that are given the red warning label of "failing to maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability": RT and Sputnik (obviously enough) and the right-wing Daily Mail, Breitbart and the Drudge Report, in addition to hundreds of other non-mainstream news websites such as Wikileaks.
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Brick Wall

Trump's compromise bill: Border wall prototypes banned, only bollard fencing allowed

John Binder
Breitbart
Tue, 22 Jan 2019 18:49 UTC
border patrol wall
© MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty ImagesBorder Patrol officers keep watch before U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen inaugurates the first completed section of President Trumps 30-foot border wall in the El Centro Sector, at the U.S. Mexico border in Calexico, California on October 26, 2018.
Trump has touted that the End the Shutdown and Secure the Border Act includes a fifth of border wall funding - about $5.7 billion - to at least continue construction of barriers on the southern border.

Similar to an omnibus spending bill he signed last year, Trump's compromise legislation bans him from building a border wall using elements from prototype walls that were constructed in the San Diego, California, desert and that he toured in 2018.

The wall funding can only be used for "operationally effective designs" that have been used at the southern border in the past "such as currently deployed steel bollard designs," the legislation notes.
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Dominoes

Huawei threatens to pull its communications infrastructure out of hostile Western countries

Jitendra Joshi
Phys Org
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 18:20 UTC
huawei
Chinese tech giant Huawei said Tuesday it could pull out of partnerships in hostile countries as it seeks to counter security concerns in the West over its 5G technology.

Liang Hua, chairman of the telecommunications equipment provider, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Western governments were welcome to tour Huawei facilities if they had concerns about the equipment potentially being misused for espionage.

Echoing Huawei's reclusive founder Ren Zhengfei, Liang also expressed "every confidence" in Canada's legal system after the arrest of Ren's daughter-a senior Huawei executive-on a US extradition request.

The subsequent arrests in China of two Canadians, seen widely as a reprisal by Beijing against Ottawa, "has no relation with Huawei", Liang told reporters in Davos.
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Light Sabers

French minister: Paris will not be drawn into 'stupidity contest' with Italian gov't


Yahoo
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 17:49 UTC
France's Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau
© Ludovic Marin/AFPFrance's Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau
Paris will not be drawn into a "stupidity contest" with the populist government of Italy, where officials have launched several verbal attacks on President Emmanuel Macron, France's Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau said Wednesday.

"Our intention is not to have a stupidity contest," Loiseau said, indicating that the government would not wage a war of words or otherwise seek to retaliate against Rome.

But working meetings and visits between the two countries are largely out of the question for now, she added.

"There are several things we need to do with our important neighbour Italy, and we want to continue to be able to work together," Loiseau said.

"Does that mean the current environment permits ministerial visits as if nothing has happened? I will go to Italy once things have settled down," she said.
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Clock

Palantir CEO claims European authorities foil terror attacks weekly

Rosalie Chan
Business Insider
Tue, 22 Jan 2019 18:01 UTC
Alex Karp
© Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesAlex Karp, the CEO of Palantir Technologies.
Alex Karp, the CEO of Palantir, says he learns about a foiled terrorist attack in Europe almost every week.

Palantir, a private company that specializes in big-data technology, is known for its secretive work with organizations like the US government and the Army. The 16-year-old company, which is reportedly looking at a $41 billion initial public offering this year, boasts that its technology has been used in high-stakes missions and can prevent terrorist attacks.

"I find out about a stopped terror attack in Europe about once a week, and not just the caricature that we all see in the media of radical Muslim attacks - also far-right people attacking Muslims," Karp said in an interview on "Inside.pod," a podcast by Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer.

He added: "I believe that if those terror attacks had happened, you'd have a very different political reality, and that is super motivational."

Palantir's work with government secret services has been controversial, and Karp described people's fears of "misuse of software by companies and by governments" as "legitimate." But he argued that Palantir is helping to protect data, not mishandling it.


Comment: Typical PR. But of course he would say that. The question is why we should trust him, and whether companies like Palantir should have such abilities in the first place.


Comment: Further reading on Karp's shady company:

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Quenelle

Walk of shame: Integrity Initiative locks Twitter account in wake of embarrassing leaks and revelations


RT
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 17:50 UTC
integrity initiative
© Twitter / @InitIntegrity
After wiping its website clean pending a 'probe' into embarrassing leaks, the British state-funded Integrity Initiative (II) has hidden its Twitter account from the public, meaning only 'approved' followers can see its activity.

The Scotland-based organization, which received roughly £2 million in government funding over the last 18 months, had fashioned itself as a benign charity fighting "disinformation" online.

That was until a series of leaks, posted online by a group that claimed to be associated with the Anonymous hacker collective, revealed that it had been working with "clusters" of journalists, politicians and academics to engage in shady anti-Russia 'influence' campaigns across Europe, as well as a domestic smear campaign against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who it tried to frame as a tool of the Kremlin.

The decision to lock its Twitter account comes just a day after the II announced (via that Twitter account) that it had deleted all content from its website pending an investigation into the "theft" of its data.

A statement posted on the site claimed that some of the leaks had been "falsified" but didn't include any evidence to back that up, leading to speculation that the organization was simply trying to clean house and prepare a credible excuse in the wake of the disturbing leaks.

Comment: See also:

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Rocket

Russia presents evidence its missile doesn't violate INF treaty - Washington ignores them


RFE/RL
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 17:38 UTC
Mikhail Matveyevsky
© Pavel Golovkin / AP
Lieutenant General Mikhail Matveyevsky speaks during a briefing by the Russian Defense Ministry, as the 9M729 land-based cruise missile is displayed near its launcher in Kubinka, outside Moscow, on January 23.
Russia has held an elaborate presentation to amplify its claim that a new missile at the center of a dispute with the United States and NATO does not violate a key Cold War-era arms pact, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

Foreign military attaches were invited to the Defense Ministry's January 23 event in Moscow, the latest salvo in a series of accusations between Russia and the United States over the treaty.

President Donald Trump announced in October that the United States would pull out of the pact, citing an alleged Russian violation and concerns that Washington is restricted by the bilateral treaty while nuclear-armed countries such as China are not.

On December 4, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Moscow that the United States would begin its withdrawal from the pact if Russia did not come into compliance within 60 days.

The United States says that the 9M729 violates the treaty, which prohibits the two countries from possessing, producing, or deploying ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.

Comment: Washington has made up its mind. Evidence doesn't matter. Pompeo's offer is a mafia ultimatum: "Stop what we're saying you're doing, or else." Guilt is presumed, and there's nothing Russia can do if they're not actually in violation of the treaty. Washington says they are, therefore they are. And if Russia can't do anything, because they're not in violation, Washington gets to pull out of the treaty while blaming Russia. Heads I win, tails you lose.

Comment: RT gives some more details of the presentation:
Despite claims from Washington, the American move is motivated by America's self-interest, not anything done by Russia, told journalists on Wednesday Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov. ... The diplomat stressed that complaints from Washington are simply a pretext to walk away from the deal, which the current US leadership no longer wants.
The recent events make it obvious that some forces in the US are not interested in allowing us to overturn through technical expert dialogue the erroneous - or even fabricated - information, which could resolve this issue once and for all. Hyping up this problem was not done to simply resolve it, obviously.
...
The missile, Gen. Matveevsky said, is an upgraded variant of the 9M729, a cruise missile launched by the Iskander-M launcher. Compared to the older version, the 9M729 has a heavier, more powerful warhead, and a more accurate but bulkier targeting system. This required increasing the missile's length and the size of its transport and launch container.

The size increase made it incompatible with the launcher used for the 9M728 version, so the defense ministry had a new launcher developed for it. It is bigger and carries four 9M729 missiles, compared to two for the 9M728 variant. He showed diagrams of both weapons for comparison.

The increased size had an impact on the range of the 9M729, which is not only below the threshold of the INF, but also about 10km lower than that of the 9M728. The bigger missile can fly up to 480 km, and was tested to that range during a major military exercise in 2017, the official said.

Gen. Matveevsky stressed that the 9M729 is a solid-propellant missile that is sealed in its container at the plant and cannot be modified in the field.

As for the US claim that one test of the missile breached the terms of the INF, Matveevsky assured the intelligence was wrong. The launch pad, from which the supposedly violating launch was made, is used by other branches of the Russian armed forces to test their weapons. Those include long-range strategic missiles, the tests of which are conducted with prior notifications of the US, as is required by the transparency rules between the two countries. The general provided statistics for test launches conducted from the site between 2008 and 2014 for reference.

The journalists were also given a chance to compare the 9M728 and the 9M729, which were displayed in their containers, and inspect the 9M729 launcher. According to Ryabkov, US military inspectors were offered a chance to take part in the Wednesday event, but Washington chose to ignore it. US officials reportedly said there was no sense inspecting the Russian missile since the Russian side refused to allow opening it up and seeing its classified internal structure.


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Magnify

Democrats to launch probe of security clearances for Kushner and other Trump associates

Billy House
Bloomberg
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 17:42 UTC
Jared Kushner
© Lior Mizrahi / Getty ImagesJared Kushner
House Democrats are launching an investigation into irregularities in security clearance screening for top White House aides including President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.

Controversy erupted over the White House's security vetting procedures last year after revelations former Staff Secretary Rob Porter was permitted to keep his security clearance for months even though the FBI said it had provided the White House a report including allegations of domestic violence from his two ex-wives.

Kushner and more than 30 other Trump aides lost access to top secret intelligence in February 2018 because they had been working with "interim" clearances and their background investigations had never been completed even though some had been at the White House more than a year.
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Star of David

Netanyahu's Iranian obsession and reckless gambit in Syria to cause more chaos

John Wight
RT
Tue, 22 Jan 2019 16:30 UTC
Netanyahu
© Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily BeastIsraeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
The Netanyahu government has embarked on a policy of aggression in Syria that threatens rather than protects the security of Israel and the wider region.

In analyzing Israel's treatment of the Palestinians close to home and repeated acts of military aggression in Syria, the words of ancient Greek general and historian Thucydides ring true: "The strong do what they can and the poor suffer what they must."

The aforementioned quote comes from the Melian Dialogue within the Athenian's classic work, History of the Peloponnesian War, covering the war between Athens and Sparta in 431-404 BC. It poses one of the most enduring moral questions humanity has confronted throughout its history. It is one that retains relevance today.

When it comes to Israel, more than relevant the assertion of 'might is right' implicit in Thucydides' words can no longer be ignored by Western governments responsible for giving Tel Aviv license to treat international law and fundamental norms of restraint with contempt.

Earlier this month in a New York Times interview, Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot of the IDF boasted that Israel had "struck thousands of targets [in Syria] without claiming responsibility or asking for credit." The Lieutenant General was in effect openly acknowledging that Israel is now waging war against Iran and regards Syria as the frontline in this war.

Comment: Trump's mandate to remove US troops from Syria has sparked Israel into bolder, riskier action - as much aimed at aligning and involving Washington as it is to threaten and provoke Iran. Israel has an endgame. If these military ploys fail, what deadly attention-getter will they try next? See also:

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Bullseye

Corbyn to May: Back Labour's deal and option of 2nd referendum to break Brexit deadlock


RT
Tue, 22 Jan 2019 15:32 UTC
Corbyn
© Getty ImagesBritish Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party has revealed they are pushing for PM Theresa May's government to back their deal and allow MPs the option to vote for a second EU referendum, with their amendment to the Brexit deal.

Some backers of a second referendum have interpreted this move by Labour as evidence of the party fully committing to holding a 'people's vote' - it's not as simplistic as that.

Corbyn's amendment, tabled on Monday night, makes clear that they are seeking to give MPs the option of voting on holding a second EU referendum, if a Brexit deal can secure the support of the majority of Parliament.

That deal is predicated on:
1. securing a permanent customs union with the EU;
2. a "strong relationship" with the single market;
3. "dynamic alignment" on workers' rights.

The party wants to avoid a no-deal Brexit.


Comment: Britain is either coming or going - or neither coming nor going...or both?
See also:

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