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Former NSA whistleblower verifies "Trump absolutely right, everything was being monitored"

william binney
© Documentary HeavenNSA Whistleblower William Binney
Legendary NSA whistleblower William Binney (and creator of NSA's global surveillance system) confirmed to Fox News, that President Trump is "absolutely right" to claim he was wiretapped and monitored...he was.

As we noted previously, Binney is the NSA executive who created the agency's mass surveillance program for digital information, who served as the senior technical director within the agency, who managed six thousand NSA employees, the 36-year NSA veteran widely regarded as a "legend" within the agency and the NSA's best-ever analyst and code-breaker, who mapped out the Soviet command-and-control structure before anyone else knew how, and so predicted Soviet invasions before they happened ("in the 1970s, he decrypted the Soviet Union's command system, which provided the US and its allies with real-time surveillance of all Soviet troop movements and Russian atomic weapons"). Binney is the real McCoy.

Binney resigned from NSA shortly after the U.S. approach to intelligence changed following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He "became a whistleblower after discovering that elements of a data-monitoring program he had helped develop -- nicknamed ThinThread -- were being used to spy on Americans," PBS reported.

On Monday he came to the defense of the president, whose allegations on social media over the weekend that outgoing President Barack Obama tapped his phones during the 2016 campaign have rankled Washington.

"I think the president is absolutely right. His phone calls, everything he did electronically, was being monitored," Bill Binney, a 36-year veteran of the National Security Agency who resigned in protest from the organization in 2001, told Fox Business on Monday. Everyone's conversations are being monitored and stored, Binney said.


Comment: Regarding surveillance in the USA, both Trump and Binney have brought out into the open what many have suspected. With this kind of verification to the public, will there be changes made to reinstate privacy? Or is the surveillance dictate only becoming public knowledge at this time because the system is complete enough to be irreversible.

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No Entry

New Hungarian law mandates all asylum seekers be detained in border camps, returned to Serbia

Hungarian fence
© Elvis Barukcic / AFP / Getty ImagesDon't fence me out!
The Hungarian parliament has approved a law enabling all asylum seekers in the country to be detained and forced back into neighbouring Serbia. Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister, claimed migrants were keeping his country "under siege". Speaking at a swearing-in ceremony for a group of specialist guards known as "border hunters", he said that Hungary could only count on itself for protection.

Hungary border camp
© AFP/Getty ImagesA base for border guards and a detention camp for migrants near the Hungarian-Serbian border at Kelebia
Mr Orban, leader of the right-wing populist Fidesz party and a supporter of Donald Trump, has already ordered the reinforcement of fences along Hungary's southern border and claimed refugees are a threat to Europe's Christian identity and culture. The new legislation will see refugees locked in border camps made of shipping containers while their cases are decided.

Applications will be declared inadmissible for anyone who entered Hungary from Serbia or a "safe third country", while the appeal period will be cut to just three days and migrants may have to cover the costs of their own imprisonment. The new bill also allows authorities to detain all adult asylum seekers and summarily return those refused to the Serbian border as part of "crisis" measures in place until September.

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Arrow Down

Caught in the crossfire: Mosul refugees describe surviving both ISIS and US-led coalition airstrikes

mosul
© Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
Over 50,000 civilians have been displaced from Mosul in the last 10 days amid US-led coalition airstrikes and Iraqi forces advancing against ISIS. Locals are too often caught in the crossfire, as they told RT's Murad Gazdiev.

A fortnight ago, the Suleiman family were hiding in their home, waiting for the liberation, but lived through another tragedy instead.

"One morning, ISIS fighters came to our house and banged on the door, saying they wanted to go on the roof. We begged them to leave, saying there were women and children here, but they didn't care," one family member told RT at the Rojava hospital in Erbil, located 100 kilometers from war-torn Mosul.

"They went up and started shooting, so we began to flee... and that's when the airstrike hit. There was nothing left of the house," the young man added.

Out of the 25 members of the Suleiman family, 15 were killed, 7 injured, and their house was demolished.


Comment:


Umbrella

Russia in mediatory role between NATO allies US and Turkey on Syria & Iraq

Dunford, Akar, Gerasimov
© Ministry of Defence of the Russian FederationJoseph Dunford (L), Hulusi Akar (C), Valery Gerasimov (R)
The Russians wouldn't want the Turks to choose between Russia and the US; they'd want to bring the US on their side to have a bigger coalition so that instead of competing they could collaborate, said political analyst and Middle East expert Ammar Waqqaf.

Russia's Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov has taken part in a surprise meeting with counterparts from Turkey and the US in the Turkish city of Antalya. The focus of the discussion was on security issues in Syria and Iraq, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said in a statement.

On Monday, the Pentagon confirmed a small number of US troops had been sent to the northern Syrian town of Manbij to deter fighting between the US-backed Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed rebels.

RT: How important is this top-level military meeting in your opinion?

Ammar Waqqaf: It is important. Yesterday, the Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yıldırım, said there wouldn't be or couldn't be a Turkish operation toward Manbij without coordination with Russia and the US. And there you go, within 24 hours we have this top-level meeting. There are tactical issues surrounding Manbij, but there are also other strategic issues. With regards to Manbij, the whole Euphrates Shield Operation, when it started, Turkey had requested that all Kurdish militia withdraw or evacuate to the east of the Euphrates and this had some sort of sympathy from the US. This didn't technically happen, although we've heard of some withdrawals here and there. But obviously the militia is still there, and now they've linked up with the Syrian army. So the Turks probably are trying to push the point that this is what we've agreed upon: we need to evacuate to the east of the Euphrates, but then the Syrian Army linking with the YPG are now destined to be handed over some villages to prevent the Turks from doing something. So, there is this tactical, complicated situation around Manbij first of all that needs to be solved. And I think this meeting in large part is going to focus on that.

Comment: The dynamics have shifted with the arrival of the Trump administration and the repurposing of the military's commitments. Decisive, clear-cut operations with a specific goal should make the Pentagon happy and obliging -- less messy, less oblique, less obstructive, direct and in accordance with a partnership on one strategy...finally a hope that all military forces can unite on the same page.


Megaphone

US hostage who survived Al Qaeda ordeal in Syria delivers stunning message to US-UK 'regime change' crowd

Theo Padnos
Survivor: Theo Padnos
A small miracle - a rare moment of truth on the mainstream media.

Buried below all of the salacious and sensational headlines and faux Russian intrigue in Washington over the last week, FOX News host Tucker Carlson delivered a stunning short interview withTheo Padnos, an American journalist who was held captive for two years (2012 - 2014) by US-UK and GCC-backed terrorists from Al Nusra Front aka Al-Qaeda in Syria.

During the last 6 years under president Barack Obama, failing US officials like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry have been whitewashing the true nature of the co-called "moderate rebels" in Syria - repeatedly attempting to characterize them as righteous 'freedom fighters' striving for an embryonic democracy in Syria. Padnos obliterates the institutional US government and media deception on this subject, and sets the record straight about the wanton savagery of so-called 'rebels', many of whom are not even from Syria:

Info

Turkey kicks out US-based Mercy Corps NGO helping Syria since 2012

Mercy Corps NGO building
© M.O. Stevens
The Mercy Corps NGO says is has been working with the Turkish government for five years and has been carrying out a humanitarian operation in Syria since 2012.

The Turkish government annulled the registration of Mercy Corps, a US-based non-governmental organization, which then had to halt operations in the country, according to the organization's statement.

"The Turkish government has revoked Mercy Corps' registration that allows us to operate in Turkey, forcing us to shut down our operations in Turkey, effective immediately," the organization said on Tuesday.

The NGO said it had been working with the Turkish government for five years and had been carrying out a humanitarian operation to help Syria from Turkey since 2012 and was planning to continue its operations in Syria.

"We continue to seek a dialogue with Turkish authorities in an effort to obtain permission to resume our operations in Turkey as soon as possible," the organization said in a statement.

Arrow Down

Mexico cancels sugar export permits to U.S. in trade dispute

Workers sit next to bags containing sugar at the San Francisco
© REUTERS/Alejandro Acosta/FilesWorkers sit next to bags containing sugar at the San Francisco Amecan sugar factory in the town of Ameca, Jalisco, February 18, 2011.
Mexico has canceled existing sugar export permits to the United States in a dispute over the pace of shipments, according to a letter seen by Reuters, in a flare-up industry sources said could temporarily disrupt supplies.

The letter sent by Mexico's sugar chamber to mills on Monday partly blamed the situation on unfilled positions at the U.S. Department of Commerce, which it said has led to a "legalistic" interpretation of rules with no U.S. counterparts in place in Washington for Mexican officials to negotiate with.

The cancellations are the latest dispute of a years-long trade row between Mexico - the United States' top foreign supplier of sugar - and its neighbor at a time when cane refiners are struggling with prices and tight supplies, U.S. industry sources said.

USA

Relatives of three US Green Berets killed in Jordan are demanding accountability from the US and Jordan

US Green Berets
© Rachel Larue / Arlington National Cemetery / FacebookUS Green Berets
Relatives of three US Green Berets killed last year in Jordan are demanding accountability from the US and Jordan. The three men were killed after a Jordanian gate guard opened fire on the men when their convoy passed a checkpoint.

While the US government determined the deaths of three Green Berets last November to have been an accident, the families of the men feel there is more to be done. On Tuesday, they explained their frustrations during a press conference with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Missouri).

"Over four months have passed since our boys were murdered," Brian McEnroe, father of Kevin J. McEnroe, 30, said. "None of our families has heard any apology, condolences or explanation from the Jordanians other than these false narratives."

The deaths of Sgt. 1st Class Matthew C. Lewellen, 27, Staff Sgt. McEnroe and Staff Sgt. James F. Moriarty, 27, were determined by an investigation to have been caused by the soldiers' failure to follow directions when entering Al-Jafr Air Base. However, the fathers, who reviewed footage of their sons' deaths, claimed that the real story was completely different.

The three sergeants were the second vehicle in a four-car convoy that was passing through.

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Treasure Chest

Pepe Escobar: 'The time to invest in Iran is now'

Iranian women
© Wikimedia Commons
It's a beautiful late winter morning, the snowy Alborz mountains glittering under the sun, and Professor Mohammad Marandi from the faculty of world studies at the University of Tehran is taking me on the road, westbound.

Sprawling west Tehran is a decentralization/connectivity spectacular, with its brand new highways, metro lines, artificial lakes and megamalls. While not on the epic scale of the construction rush in Beijing or Shanghai, it is similar in spirit and comparable to what's going on in Istanbul.

The professor — arguably Iran's leading political and cultural analyst —and I had been on a running conversation for days on all aspects of an evolving Russia-China-Iran strategic partnership, the massive Eurasia integration project pushed by China, and its myriad interconnected challenges.

Airplane

Hawaii Attorney General challenges Trump's new travel ban in court

 Muslim Ban
© Eric Thayer / Reuters
US President Donald Trump's new restrictions on six Muslim-majority countries are unfair to an imam's mother-in-law and threaten Hawaii's sovereign interests in welcoming people from around the world, attorneys for the state said in a legal challenge.

Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin and Imam Ismail Elshikh asked the US District Court for an injunction against the travel ban, which is scheduled to go into effect on March 16. They were joined by seven attorneys from Hogan Lovells LLP, a major lobbying law firm with long-standing ties to the Clinton and Obama administrations.

"This new executive order is nothing more than Muslim Ban 2.0. Under the pretense of national security, it still targets immigrants and refugees," Chin, a Democrat, said in a statement on Monday.