Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

'Special government employee' Huma Abedin's overlapping jobs renew focus on Clinton conflicts

Ben Brody and Nick Wadhams
Bloomberg
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 21:08 UTC
Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton
© J. Scott Applewhite/AP PhotoHillary Clinton and Huma Abedin
Huma Abedin stepped down from her post as deputy chief of staff at the State Department and Hillary Clinton's ever-present personal assistant on June 3, 2012. Only she didn't really leave.

Instead, in a reverse twist on a program intended to bring talented outsiders into government, Abedin was immediately rehired as a "special government employee." She also took paying jobs with the Clinton Foundation and Teneo Holdings, a consulting firm with international clients that was co-founded by a foundation official who also was Bill Clinton's long-time personal aide.

Abedin's multitasking in the final eight months of Hillary Clinton's time as the top U.S. diplomat -- and her role as intermediary for some of the same players before that -- are drawing renewed scrutiny after a conservative watchdog group's release last week of a new batch of e-mails to and from Clinton aides. Abedin has become the personification of an election-year debate over whether the nonprofit foundation will create conflicts of interest if Clinton wins the White House.
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Eye 1

NSA worked with New Zealand government to spy on peace activist using PRISM


RT
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 21:01 UTC
nsa spying
© Ints Kalnins / Reuters
A new report by The Intercept and Television New Zealand reveal the National Security Agency (NSA) worked with New Zealand's government to illegally spy on one of its citizens in a failed terrorism investigation.

A group of "democracy and freedom" activists were thought to be plotting the overthrow of Fiji's military regime in 2012, according to the Kiwi snoops at the Security Intelligence Service (SIS).

With help from the NSA via the Five Eyes alliance, which Edward Snowden called a "supra-national intelligence organization that doesn't answer to the laws of its own countries," they staged a covert operation to catch the alleged terrorist group.


Snowden's leaked documents show the NSA intercepted Facebook communications and emails between associates of the Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement campaign, using the PRISM surveillance system, before passing the information onto New Zealand on the other side of the globe. More than 190 pages of documents between May and August 2012 reveal the scale of the NSA's spying.
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Network

Mysterious 'Shadow Brokers' group claims it hacked the NSA linked Equation Group

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 20:54 UTC
Equation Group logo
The latest hack revealed over the weekend has nothing to do with the Democratic Party or George Soros, and instead a mysterious hacker group by the name "The Shadow Brokers" claims to have hacked the Equation Group - a government cyberattack hacking group associated with the NSA, and released a bunch of the organization's hacking tools. The hackers are also asking for 1 million bitcoin (around $568 million) in an auction to release more files.

"Attention government sponsors of cyber warfare and those who profit from it!!!!" the hackers wrote in a manifesto posted on Pastebin, on GitHub, and on a dedicated Tumblr.
How much you pay for enemies cyber weapons? Not malware you find in networks. Both sides, RAT + LP, full state sponsor tool set? We find cyber weapons made by creators of stuxnet, duqu, flame. Kaspersky calls Equation Group. We follow Equation Group traffic. We find Equation Group source range. We hack Equation Group. We find many many Equation Group cyber weapons. You see pictures. We give you some Equation Group files free, you see. This is good proof no? You enjoy!!! You break many things. You find many intrusions. You write many words. But not all, we are auction the best files.
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Stop

Bipartisan group of senators moving to block sale of US tanks to Saudi Arabia over human rights concerns in Yemen


RT
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 20:43 UTC
tanks
© Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters
A bipartisan group of Senators is moving to block the $1.15 billion sale of US tanks to Saudi Arabia, citing concerns over human rights and the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Riyadh has requested new tanks to modernize its arsenal and replace battlefield losses.

Last week, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency published the approval for the sale of 153 tanks and 20 tank recovery vehicles to Saudi Arabia, calling the kingdom "a strategic regional partner which has been and continues to be a leading contributor of political stability and economic progress in the Middle East."

Congress has the right to block any such transaction within 30 days of the announcement, but it seldom does so. This time, however, some senators say they will push for a vote.

"I will work with a bipartisan coalition to explore forcing a vote on blocking this sale," Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, told Foreign Policy last week. "Saudi Arabia is an unreliable ally with a poor human rights record. We should not rush to sell them advanced arms and promote an arms race in the Middle East."

Comment: Western arms sales to Saudi Arabia under threat from plans to block US deal

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Jet1

Made in Texas: Japan shows off first photo of troubled F-35A


Sputnik
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 20:43 UTC
Japan's first F-35A jet fighter
© Japan Air Self-Defense Force
As Lockheed Martin prepares to send Joint Strike Fighters to customers around the world, Japan has released a photo of its first F-35 purchase at the production facility in Texas.

Deemed combat-ready earlier this month, the F-35A variant will soon be delivered to international partners. On Sunday, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) published a photo of a newly completed fighter that, after completing flight tests at Luke Air Force Base, will be distributed to Japan.

The F-35 bears the serial number 69-8701, and has also been designated AX-1.

The fighter is one of four currently in production for the JASDF at the Lockheed Martin facility in Fort Worth, Texas.
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Nuke

Japan plans to use Pokémon Go to lure tourists back to quake hit regions, including Fukushima


SBS News
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 20:35 UTC
Japan press conference
© SBS
Officials for four prefectures in Japan have announced they are partnering with the Japanese subsidiary of Niantic, the US company behind the Pokemon Go game.

They hope that creating virtual attractions in the popular location-based game will help draw people back to the natural disaster affected areas.

Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures are located in the north of the country and were heavily impacted by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Kumamoto, located in southern Japan, suffered a series of earthquakes in April this year.

The game is already live in Japan, but players would find extra goodies in the four prefectures under the plan. Game-makers will add more PokeStops - places where treasured items can be found, and more Pokemon Gyms - locations where people can meet and send their captured monsters into battle.

Officials say they will also place more rare Pokemon in the areas for players to hunt. Tourism promotions say that less than 10 per cent of Fukushima is affected by radiation exclusion zones, insisting that other areas are safe to visit.

Comment: Fukushima to Pokémon Go: 'Stop sending monsters into radioactive areas!'

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Snowflake Cold

US airbase puts nail in the coffin of Iceland's neutrality


Sputnik
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 20:38 UTC
Keflavik airbase in Iceland
© AFP 2016/ Thorvaldur Orn Kristmundsson
Instead of maintaining political neutrality, Iceland chose to become a "vassal of NATO" by once again hosting a US military base.

Citing a need to contain the "Russian aggression," the US military made a move to restore its Keflavik airbase in Iceland. But instead of recognizing the true intentions of the US and of the other NATO member nations, Iceland decided to "score points" with Washington, German media outlet Bürgerstimme remarks.
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Rocket

Shoigu: Russia saved Syria from 624 NATO cruise missiles in 2013


RT
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 19:52 UTC
missile cruiser
Moscow's actions following the Syrian chemical weapons attack in 2013 could as well have saved the country from a possible massive strike by NATO forces, Sergey Shoigu, Russia's defense minister, said. Such a strike could have involved over 600 cruise missiles, he added.

"What would've happened if our president [Vladimir Putin] failed to be convincing and implement the idea of surrendering and destroying the chemical weapons? If we only talk about cruise missiles ... 624 cruise missiles, as far as I remember, were prepared to carry out a massive strike against Syria within 24 hours," Shoigu told state television channel Rossiya-24.

It would've been "very hard" to restore the Syrian state structure after such a large-scale attack, he said.

Back in 2013, US President, Barack Obama, authorized strikes against Syria, blaming Assad's government for a sarin gas attack on a rebel-held suburb of Damascus.

Comment: More from Shoigu, and the recent Lavrov-Steinmeier meeting: German, Russian foreign ministers meet in Russia to discuss Ukraine, Syria

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Nuke

Despite security concerns, US considers sending enriched uranium to Belgium


RT
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 19:57 UTC
radioactive material
© IAEA Imagebank / Flickr
The US nuclear regulator is to decide whether to continue supplying highly enriched uranium (HEU) to a Belgian research reactor that produces radioactive isotopes for medicine, but critics have been calling for a switch to uranium not suitable for bombs.

A decision from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on whether to permit the Belgian Nuclear Research Center (NRC) to obtain 144 kilograms of weapon-grade uranium is currently pending. The NRC says it needs the new material to keep its medical research reactor going for the next decade. The facility produces radioactive isotopes for fighting cancer.

The US has been reluctant to provide foreign partners with weapon-grade uranium as of late because of fears that it could fall into the wrong hands or set back global efforts to limit nuclear proliferation.

The US and Belgian centers have been doing business for decades, and the Belgian side has promised to modernize its production process to use low-enriched uranium (LEU) instead of the HEU used to produce nuclear bombs.
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War Whore

War with Russia could be the stupidest idea Washington ever thought up

Fred Reed
Fred On Everything
Thu, 11 Aug 2016 19:34 UTC
T14 Armata tank
Don't look for a walk-over. The T14 Armata, Russia's latest tank. You don't want to fight this monster if you can think of a better idea, such as not fighting it. Russia once made large numbers of second-rate tanks. That worm has turned. This thing is way advanced and outguns the American M1A2, having a 125mm smoothbore firing APFSDS long-rods to the Abrams 120mm. (As Hillary would know, that's Armor-piercing, fin-stabilized, discarding-sabot. You did know, didn't you, Hill?) This isn't the place for a disquisition on armor, but the above beast is an very advanced design with unmanned turret and, well, a T34 it isn't. (I was once an aficionado of tanks. If interested, here and here.)

A good reason to vote for Trump, a very good reason whatever his other intentions, is that he does not want a war with Russia. Hillary and her elite ventriloquists threaten just that. Note the anti-Russian hysteria coming from her and her remoras.


Comment: People would be wise to keep in mind that politicians say a lot of things to get elected. It doesn't mean they are going to follow through. Most politicians say what they think the voters want to hear, and then when they are in office will do whatever they want. So despite the many alternative writers who believe Trump is the right person to vote for because of anything he has said on his campaign, it would be wise to temper one's enthusiasm for a political candidate. They are known for lying.


Such a war would be yet another example of the utter control of America by rich insiders. No normal American has anything at all to gain by such a war. And no normal American has the slightest influence over whether such a war takes place, except by voting for Trump. The military has become entirely the plaything of unaccountable elites.

A martial principle of great wisdom says that military stupidity comes in three grades: Ordinarily stupid; really, really, really stupid; and fighting Russia. Think Charles XII at Poltava, Napoleon after Borodino, Adolf and Kursk.
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