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How NSA's targeting system tech ended up in use on the Mexican border

Henrik Moltke
The Intercept
Wed, 29 May 2019 16:21 UTC
nsa bagram
© NSA
The NSA’s revolutionary “Real Time-Regional Gateway” data center at Area 82 in Bagram airfield, Afghanistan.
In November 2005, two terminals for a new secure communications platform arrived at the U.S. military base at Bagram Airfield, outside Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. The first of its kind, the system would enable the U.S.'s electronic eavesdropping organization, the National Security Agency, to instantaneously share select classified information with America's closest allies in the fight against the Taliban, speeding the delivery of critical information to soldiers. Previously, the only way to pass intelligence at Bagram between the U.S. and partner nations was to hand it over as hard copy. These two first nodes in what would eventually become a larger network, known as CENTER ICE, would end the paper shuffling, ultimately saving the lives of troops in combat.

The NSA was to set up one of the two initial systems at Bagram for its own use, and the other for its counterpart from Norway, the Norwegian Intelligence Service, or NIS. The Norwegians were perfect guinea pigs. A "gregarious, friendly bunch" who threw good barbecue parties, they had "almost no collection capability" to eavesdrop independently and were thus "heavily dependent on the U.S.," an NSA staffer at Bagram later wrote on an internal agency news site, SIDtoday. (The article and the other intelligence documents in this story were provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.) One of the new terminals failed when the NSA attempted to turn it on, but after the provision of some "necessary spares," both were operational.

Spies from the two nations were about to get a dramatic example of how powerful the digitization of intelligence-sharing could be. One morning a few weeks after CENTER ICE went live, the Norwegians sent an urgent email using the new system: "Our guys think they are being shadowed... Are you seeing anything?"
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Bad Guys

Looking back on Mueller and the fatal flaw of the Trump-Russia affair

Byron York
The Washington Examiner
Wed, 29 May 2019 23:18 UTC
Trump Mueller
© media.salon.com
It's not unusual to hear House Democrats vow to "get to the bottom" of the Trump-Russia matter - as if the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, with 500 witnesses, 2,800 subpoenas, 500 search-and-seizure warrants, and nearly 300 records of electronic communications, was somehow unable to fully probe allegations that the Trump campaign and Russia conspired to fix the 2016 election.

What really concerns Democrats is that Mueller's investigation, conducted with law enforcement powers that Congress does not have, failed to establish any Trump-Russia conspiracy or coordination. And in doing so, Mueller exposed the fatal flaw of the Trump-Russia matter: It was driven entirely by the conspiracy/coordination allegation, which turned out to be false.

The backdrop of conspiracy and coordination made every Trump-Russia episode, including routine political activities, look sinister. The Trump Tower meeting looked ominous in the context of conspiracy and coordination. Donald Trump's public statements about Russia and its president Vladimir Putin looked incriminating. Michael Flynn's conversations with the Russian ambassador looked suspicious. And more.
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Bad Guys

Video shows Pompeo and Kissinger attending 2019 Bilberberg meeting


RT
Sun, 02 Jun 2019 16:14 UTC
pompeo kissinger
© Ruptly
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (RIGHT) and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (LEFT) at the 2019 Bilderberg conference.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his predecessor, Henry Kissinger, have arrived in Switzerland for the 67th annual mysterious Bilderberg conference.

The pair were captured arriving at and leaving the luxurious Fairmont le Montreux Palace hotel on Saturday, with Kissinger, 96, needing assistance to get into his vehicle. The were joined by the likes of French Minister Bruno Le Maire and the former chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt.


About 130 world leaders from 23 countries, ranging from royalty to industry and everything in between, have been lined up to attend the four-day 2019 Bilderberg event. The group is expected to discuss topics including Russia, Brexit, and the future of AI.

The notoriously secretive meeting was established in 1954 with the aim of improving US-European relations. However, attendees are forbidden from disclosing any information derived from discussions, resulting in various conspiracy theories speculating as to what might really be going on behind closed doors.

Comment: Naturally they'll be discussing Brexit and Russia, two curve balls the Atlantic establishment didn't see coming and are doing everything they can to stop. Trump may have wanted to get along with Russia, but that is unlikely to come about any time soon. Pompeo no doubt received his marching orders on that front. Welcome to Western geopolitics, where decisions are arbitrary, the facts are made up, and dissent is verboten.

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Camera

South Korean paper claims top North Korean official sent to labor camp - turns up in public days later


RFE/RL
Mon, 03 Jun 2019 15:54 UTC
Kim Yong Chol
© KRT via AP Video
This image made from video of a still image broadcasted Monday, June 3, 2019, by North Korea's KRT shows senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, second from right, and a clapping Kim Jong Un, center, sitting in the same row along with other top officials during a musical performance by the wives of Korean People's Army officers Sunday, June 2, 2019. The senior North Korean official who had been reported as purged over the failed nuclear summit with Washington was shown in state media on Monday enjoying a concert near leader Kim.
North Korean state media say a top aide to leader Kim Jong Un has appeared in public, despite a widely repeated South Korean report that he had been sent to a labor camp after a failed summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.


Comment: They don't just 'say' - they included the picture above, which shows him at the event.


Kim Jong Chol was Kim Jong Un's top negotiator in talks with Washington ahead of February's summit in Vietnam, which ended prematurely with no agreement.

Last week, a South Korean newspaper reported that he had been purged while another top official, special envoy to the U.S. Kim Hyok Chol, had been executed over the failure.

But official North Korean news agency KCNA on June 3 reported that Kim Jong Chol attended a dance performance with Kim Jong Un a day earlier. Kim Hyok Chol was not listed among the attendees.

North Korea has previously executed officials who were made scapegoats for high-profile political blunders.

However, reports of purges have turned out to be inaccurate in the past.

Comment: Chances are that the alleged execution of Kim Hyok Chol will turn out to be a hoax, too. That's the way these things tend to go. From Moon of Alabama:
Huffington Post - August 30 2013 - Hyon Song Wol, Kim Jong Un's Ex-Girlfriend, Reportedly Executed For Making Sex Tape
Unconfirmed reports claim the ex-girlfriend of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was executed by firing squad along with 11 others, after the group allegedly made and sold a sex tape.

Hyon Song Wol, a singer in North Korea's famed Unhasu Orchestra, was killed by machine gun along with 11 other members of the orchestra and the Wangjaesan Light Music Band, another popular state-run music group in North Korea, according to a report in The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's largest daily newspaper.

The report, which cites an anonymous source in China, says the group was arrested Aug. 17 for filming and selling a pornographic video featuring themselves.
New York Post - May 17 2014 - Kim Jong-Un's 'executed' ex seen alive on TV
Pyongyang's state TV showed Hyon Song-Wol, the head of a band known as Moranbong, delivering a speech at a national art workers rally in Pyongyang.

She expressed gratitude for Kim's leadership and pledged to work harder to "stoke up the flame for art and creative work".
In 2017 Hyon Song-Wol was elected to the Workers Party's Central Committee.

---

New York Times - February 10 2016 - Top North Korean General Is Said to Be Executed on Graft Charges
A top general in North Korea was executed this month on corruption charges, around the time the nation's leader, Kim Jong-un, warned the party and military elites against abuse of power and other misdeeds, a South Korean official said Wednesday.

The general, Ri Yong-gil, chief of the North Korean Army's general staff and ranked third in its hierarchy, was executed on charges of "factionalism, abuse of power and corruption" in the latest episode of Mr. Kim's "reign of terror," the official said.
Washington Times - May 10 2016 - North Korean general thought to be executed is actually alive
A top North Korean military general reported to have been executed three months ago is actually very much alive and has now been appointed to two senior-level positions within the nation's ruling Workers' Party.


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Oil Well

China's oil industry prepares for worst-case trade war scenario in response to US sanctions

Tsvetana Paraskova
Oilprice.com
Sun, 02 Jun 2019 14:00 UTC
China oil industry
As the U.S.-China trade war continues to escalate, Beijing and its energy giants appear to be bracing for a worst-case scenario where the spat would drag on for years and possibly result in Chinese foreign oil supply stifled.

The idea that the world's top oil importer could see some of its overseas crude supply blocked has always been an unthinkable notion, but now some analysts and Chinese industry executives suggest that China should prepare for the very worst of the worst, such as its oil supply impacted by a lengthy trade dispute.

"China is now looking at its oil supply situation from the worst-case scenario, like what the U.S. has done to Iran," Laban Yu, an analyst with Jefferies Group LLC in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg.

"Obviously, China believes now more than ever that similar U.S. sanctions against a whole country could happen to China," Yu added.

Chinese oil industry executives said this past week that China's oil industry must have a contingency plan in case the trade war takes another turn for the worse.
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Quenelle

Modi prioritizes India's problems over Trump's latest trade threat

Vindu Goel
New York Times
Sat, 01 Jun 2019 09:39 UTC
modi trump
© Doug Mills/The New York Times
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President Trump in 2017. Mr. Modi has made it clear that lifting India’s economy is his priority.
President Trump has made India the latest target in his widening global trade war, but the country's newly re-elected prime minister, Narendra Modi, has bigger problems to address.


Comment: Diplomacy? The US has bullied 36 countries just this week


On Friday - the first day of Mr. Modi's second term, and the same day the White House terminated a special trade status for India - the Indian government had reported that the country's economy was growing at the slowest rate in five years and that unemployment was at a 45-year peak.

Mr. Modi and his new ministers responded with two acts that illustrated their top priority: reinvigorating the Indian economy.

With farmers suffering across the country, the first act of the new cabinet was to extend a program of cash handouts to cover 20 million more farm workers - a sector that Mr. Trump wants to open to more competition from American growers.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Alarm Clock

Some Boeing 737 MAX parts "improperly manufactured" that need to be replaced - FAA


RT
Sun, 02 Jun 2019 19:18 UTC
737 Max
© Reuters / Lindsey Wasson
FILE PHOTO: A 737 Max aircraft is pictured at the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, US, on March 27, 2019.
Boeing's troubled 737 MAX model, alongside its NG aircraft, has been hit by another safety issue as the plane manufacturer revealed that some aircraft parts were improperly manufactured and would need replacement.

Up to 148 leading edge slat tracks - aerodynamic surfaces on a plane's wings, which allow it to operate at a higher angle of attack - had defects, the company told the US Federal Aviation Administration. All the faulty parts were produced by a Boeing sub-tier supplier and could affect up to 133 NG and 179 MAX planes worldwide.

Although complete failure of a slat track is unlikely to cause a plane crash directly, it could still lead to aircraft damage in flight, the FAA said in a statement. The faulty parts could be potentially susceptible to premature wear-out or cracks.

Comment: From deadly civilian aircraft, faulty military jets and even dodgy welding on submarine missiles, something is seriously amiss in America:

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Quenelle

Beijing says trade war "has not made America great again", quite the opposite


RT
Sun, 02 Jun 2019 07:33 UTC
maga
© Reuters / Carlo Allegri
China hit US President Donald Trump with his own catchphrase, saying that his sweeping tariffs hurt American businesses and ordinary people, which is the complete opposite of what MAGA was supposed to be about.

Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods "not only failed to boost the economic growth in the US but caused serious harm" to its people, the Chinese government said in a white paper on trade, published on Sunday.

The officials argued that the measures imposed by Washington make production costs go up, as "many" US manufacturers rely on Chinese raw materials. They also increased domestic prices because the tariffs make it harder to import "affordable" consumer goods from Beijing.

In other words, "the trade war has not made America 'great again,'" the government said.

Comment: It seems most other countries have been able to come to a fair agreement with China - including those in Europe - but the US (and a few of its lackeys) have had to resort to a self-defeating trade war:

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Eye 2

Israeli police force entry into Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan letting in Jewish settlers - First time in 30 years


RT
Sun, 02 Jun 2019 12:24 UTC
Israeli policemen
© Reuters / Ammar Awad
Israeli policemen gather outside Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem
Violence erupted at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as Israeli forces allowed Jewish settlers to enter the compound for Jerusalem Day, sparking protests, arrests and injuries.

Israelis are usually prevented from entering the holy site during the last 10 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when worshippers stay inside the site. This is the first time in around 30 years that Israelis have been allowed inside the site they call Temple Mount during this period.

Al Jazeera reports that settlers gathered outside the compound and police decided to let them in.

Palestinians inside the mosque protested against the admittance of the Israelis, with some throwing chairs and other items, prompting Israeli forces to enter the mosque and fire tear gas, sound bombs and rubber bullets, and arrest a number of Palestinians.

Comment: Israel has been ramping up its aggression on all fronts:

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Wall Street

India will still seek strong ties with U.S. despite Trump removing trade privileges


CNBC
Mon, 03 Jun 2019 09:40 UTC
TrumpModi
© IANS
US President Donald Trump • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
The Indian government said on Saturday it will continue to seek to build strong economic ties with the United States despite a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to end preferential trade treatment for India from June 5.

In a relatively tame response to the announcement from Washington on Friday, the Indian government said it was "unfortunate" that its attempts to resolve significant U.S. requests had not been accepted.

"India, like the U.S. and other nations shall always uphold its national interest in these matters," the government said in a statement issued through India's trade ministry.

Comment: Also see:

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