Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

Criminal intelligence organization: FBI 'allowed' informants to commit 5,600 crimes

Brad Heath
USA Today
Sun, 04 Aug 2013 12:42 UTC
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© Jane Flavell Collins, APAccused Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, center, during a pretrial conference in federal court in Boston. Closing arguments began Monday in his trial.
The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year, according to newly disclosed documents that show just how often the nation's top law enforcement agency enlists criminals to help it battle crime.

The U.S. Justice Department ordered the FBI to begin tracking crimes by its informants more than a decade ago, after the agency admitted that its agents had allowed Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger to operate a brutal crime ring in exchange for information about the Mafia. The FBI submits that tally to top Justice Department officials each year, but has never before made it public.

Agents authorized 15 crimes a day, on average, including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies. FBI officials have said in the past that permitting their informants - who are often criminals themselves - to break the law is an indispensable, if sometimes distasteful, part of investigating criminal organizations.

Comment: Again we see that the FBI, among others, is set up to produce crimes that justify its criminal activities and 'make real' the 'war on drugs', 'war on terror', etc.

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Dollars

Over 40 embassies in London, including the Vatican's, given 60 days to find another bank by HSBC

Joanne Hart
The Daily Mail, UK
Sat, 03 Aug 2013 06:36 UTC
Diplomats in London have been thrown into chaos after Britain's biggest bank, HSBC, sacked them as customers and gave them 60 days to move their accounts.

Their situation has been made far worse because other banks have been closing ranks and refusing to take their business.

More than 40 embassies, consulates and High Commissions have been affected. Even the Vatican has been given its marching orders.

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Havoc: HSBC's decision to sack embassies as customers has caused chaos also because other banks refused to take their business
The Pope's representative office in Britain, the Apostolic Nunciature, has banked with HSBC for many years but was told to find another bank.

One diplomatic source said he believed HSBC feared being exposed to embassies after it was fined $2billion (£1.32billion) by US authorities last year.
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Eye 1

Rehabilitating the NSA and the cult of intelligence: Embassy closures and worldwide travel alert issued due to 'terror threat' made by CIA agent Ayman al Zawahiri

Ali Watkins, David Lightman and Adam Baron
McClatchy
Sun, 04 Aug 2013 06:25 UTC
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The closing of U.S. embassies in 21 predominantly Muslim countries and a broad caution about travel during August that the State Department issued on Friday touched off debate Sunday over the National Security Agency's sweeping data collection programs.

Congressional supporters of the program, appearing on Sunday morning talk shows, said the latest rounds of warnings of unspecified threats showed that the programs were necessary, while detractors said there was no evidence linking the programs, particularly the massive collection of cell phone records of hundreds of millions of Americans, to the vague warnings of a possible terrorist attack.

Meanwhile, there were no reports of violence or unusual activity in any of the countries where the United States had kept its embassies and consulates closed when they would have ordinarily been open on Sunday. Nevertheless, the State Department announced that embassies and consulates in 16 countries would remain closed throughout the week, including four African nations that had not been on the original list. Diplomatic posts in five other countries would reopen Monday, the State Department said, including those in Afghanistan and Iraq, where terrorist attacks have been frequent.
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War Whore

NeoCon Bill Kristol: 'A year ago Obama said al-Qaida is on the run, and now WE are on the run'

Jeff Poor
dailycaller.com
Sun, 04 Aug 2013 05:23 UTC
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Bill Kristol, a modern-day Cicero
Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol remarked on Sunday that President Barack Obama's re-election campaign rhetoric on foreign policy stood in stark contrast to the turmoil in the Middle East stirred by threats from al-Qaida, pointing out that the U.S. closed 22 embassies throughout the Muslim world.

"Four years ago President Obama gave a much heralded speech as outreach to the Muslim world," Kristol said. "And now, four years later we are closing embassies throughout the Muslim world. A year ago, the president said al-Qaida is on the run. And now we seem to be on the run."

"I'm not criticizing the decision to close the embassies. That's probably the right thing to do for the sake of trying to save American lives and others, but it's a terrible thing," he added. "That you know, just a year ago boasting al-Qaida is on the run and Osama bin Laden is dead."

Comment: Kristol, as usual, is speaking out of both sides of his mouth. He wishes to criticise Obama from the far-right by insinuating that he's 'losing the War on Terror'.

But Kristol knows full well that the 'War in Terror' is never meant to be 'won'. The purpose of these 'travel alerts' is to cement fear and paranoia back home in the U.S.

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Sheeple

Propaganda Alert! U.S. embassies to remain closed for another week following more alleged, vague 'threats'


Fox News
Mon, 05 Aug 2013 05:11 UTC
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The State Department has announced that it will keep several embassies in the Middle East and Africa closed throughout the week "out of an abundance of caution" in the wake of terror threats that shut them down.

Posts in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa, Tripoli, Antanarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali and Port Louis have been instructed to close for normal operations from Monday through Saturday, department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

The State Department also said some of those embassies were already going to be closed in accordance with local customs marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Those authorized to reopen Monday are in Dhaka, Algiers, Nouakchott, Kabul, Herat, Mazar el Sharif, Baghdad, Basrah and Erbil.

Capitol Hill lawmakers, including top-ranking members of intelligence committees, on Sunday described the terror threat that closed 22 U.S. embassies and consulates across the Muslim region as the most serious one since before the 9/11 attacks and related to specific act or plot.

Comment: Pre-9/11 was dead quiet. Actually, no, there were several intel warnings from sincere agents, but the top brass sat on them.

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USA

Propaganda gets results: Congressional leaders agree on drastic response to phony al-Qaeda terrorist threat

David Sherfinski
The Washington Times
Sun, 04 Aug 2013 04:58 UTC
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Key Democratic and Republican members of Congress said Sunday that the terrorism threat reportedly triggered by an intercepted message between senior al Qaeda operatives is the most serious threat in years, with some warning that the threat is an indication the terrorist group responsible for the 9/11 attacks still poses a significant danger to the U.S.

The threat forced the closings of more than 20 U.S. embassies and consulates this weekend. A travel alert was issued for Americans planning to travel overseas, particularly in the Middle East, and will remain in effect for the rest of August. The closures of the embassies and consulates and the travel alert were triggered by an intercepted message between senior al Qaeda operatives, CNN reported Sunday.

The State Department announced Sunday afternoon that 19 diplomatic posts will remain shuttered through Saturday, underscoring the level of concern by U.S. security officials about the potential danger. Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the extension was ordered in part because of the looming celebrations marking the end of the Ramadan period of fasting for Muslims and in part out of "an abundance of caution."

Comment:



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Eye 1

Propaganda Alert! Unprecedented 'worldwide travel warning' encourages Americans to stay home forever - Feds cement paranoia by ramping up security presence across The Homeland

Mike Levine
ABC News
Mon, 05 Aug 2013 04:32 UTC
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© Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesTransportation Security Administration (TSA) workers walk through John F. Kennedy Airport in this February 28, 2013 file photo taken in New York City. The State Department has issued a worldwide travel warning and the Department of Homeland Security is ramping up security measures to monitor any potential threats.
Federal authorities are boosting security in the United States after intelligence agencies detected a credible threat to Western interests overseas and the government began closing diplomatic posts in some Muslim countries, according to homeland security officials.

The Department of Homeland Security is increasing security measures at airports, train stations and other transportation hubs, and expanding scrutiny of visitors coming into the United States, two officials told ABC News.

The FBI, meanwhile, is "working sources" and taking other "logical steps" to monitor any potential threat, an FBI official said.
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Megaphone

Catapulting the Propaganda: Senior U.S. official claims intercepted al-Qaeda communications indicate 'big, strategically significant attack imminent'

Martha Raddatz & Jonathan Karl
ABC News
Sun, 04 Aug 2013 04:10 UTC
On the day that almost two dozen U.S. embassies and consulates across North Africa and the Middle East are closed following the identification of a significant threat from an al-Qaeda affiliate, a senior U.S. official is providing new details about the communications intercepted from the terrorists, telling ABC News that al-Qaeda operatives could be heard talking about an upcoming attack. The official described the terrorists as saying the planned attack is "going to be big" and "strategically significant."

"The part that is alarming is the confidence they showed while communicating and the air of certainty," the official said, adding that the group - Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula - appeared to have a media plan for after the attack.

Authorities do not know the exact target of the planned attack, according to the official.

"We do not know whether they mean an embassy, an airbase, an aircraft, trains," the official said.

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© Muham
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Passport

Canada introducing baggage checks, sniffer dogs and background traces in wake of 'foiled' joint RCMP-FBI terror plot

Jim Bronskill
Yahoo! News
Sun, 04 Aug 2013 00:00 UTC
Via Rail
© Unknown
Ottawa - Taking a train in Canada could soon become more like boarding an airplane as Via Rail considers greater scrutiny of checked baggage, more inspections by sniffer dogs and security checks on passengers.

The measures - outlined in documents released under the Access to Information Act - are being considered in direct response to the alleged terrorist plot to derail a train that led to arrests in April, said Jacques Gagnon, a Via Rail spokesman.


Comment: People might remember these two so called alleged Al Qaeda dudes from Montreal and Toronto, arrested by the RCMP, of course with the assistance of the "F.B.I. and other American law enforcement and intelligence agencies who were involved in the investigation."

This 'foiled plot' was yet another FBI sting operation with undercover informants:



"We were already doing a lot, we are doing more now, and we could do even more," Gagnon said in an interview.

Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto, and Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, face terrorism-related charges for allegedly plotting to derail a Via passenger train. A third man, Ahmed Abassi, was arrested in the United States in connection with the purported scheme.
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Chess

West acts like 'bull in China shop' in Middle East - Russian PM


RIA Novosti
Sun, 04 Aug 2013 14:39 UTC
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© RIA Novosti. Yekaterina ShtukinaRussian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during a Sunday interview with Russia Today
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev criticized on Sunday the West's interference in the Middle East, describing it as a "bull in a china shop."

In an interview with Russia Today international news TV channel, Medvedev said he agreed with the interviewer that the West often purposefully pushed whole nations to the point of no return, beyond which it was very difficult to convince the warring sides to attempt negotiations.

"Our Western partners sometimes behave like a bull in a china shop - they squeeze in, crush everything and then don't know what to do next. I often find myself astonished at their analysts and how inconsistent their projects are that they push through by their superiors and at the outcomes they get," Medvedev told Russia Today.

"If we're being completely honest, what good did the Arab Spring bring to the Arab world? Did it bring freedom? A little, at best. In most countries it led to endless bloodshed, regime change, and continuous unrest. I have no illusions about that either. As for the pushing you mentioned, yes, unfortunately, that's true," Medvedev said.
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