Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

EPA will let frackers keep on dumping chemicals into the sea

California coast
© Chuck RogersFracking chemicals are out there.

Companies that frack the seafloor off the coast of Southern California have some new federal rules to worry about. Unfortunately, the new rules will still allow their fracking fluids to be unleashed into the sea - including chemicals that are known to stunt human development and hurt wildlife. The companies will just have to tell the government what they're unleashing.

Under new rules that will take effect March 1, the companies must report the "chemical formulation, concentrations and discharge volumes" to the EPA of any "chemicals used to formulate well treatment, completion and workover fluids" that end up in the ocean.

So, hey, at least we'll know more about fracking pollution. (Assuming, that is, that the frackers are honest.)

Whistle

Democracy needs whistleblowers. That's why I broke into the FBI in 1971

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© Bettmann/CORBISJ Edgar Hoover helped Richard Nixon gain power in the US.
Like Snowden, we broke laws to reveal something that was more dangerous. We wanted to hold J Edgar Hoover accountable

I vividly remember the eureka moment. It was the night we broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, in March 1971 and removed about 1,000 documents from the filing cabinets. We had a hunch that there would be incriminating material there, as the FBI under J Edgar Hoover was so bureaucratic that we thought every single thing that went on under him would be recorded. But we could not be sure, and until we found it, we were on tenterhooks.

A shout went up among the group of eight of us. One of us had stumbled on a document from FBI headquarters signed by Hoover himself. It instructed the bureau's agents to set up interviews of anti-war activists as "it will enhance the paranoia endemic in these circles and will further serve to get the point across there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox."

That was the first piece of evidence to emerge. It was a vindication.

Looking back on what we did, there are obvious parallels with what Edward Snowden has done in releasing National Security Agency documents that show the NSA's blanket surveillance of Americans. I think Snowden's a legitimate whistleblower, and I guess we could be called whistleblowers as well.

USA

American Jihad 2014: On the new National Security State Fundamentalists

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© Commondreams
Put it all together and what you have is a description of a militant organization whose purpose is to carry out a Washington version of global jihad, a perpetual war in the name of the true faith

In a 1950s civics textbook of mine, I can remember a Martian landing on Main Street, U.S.A., to be instructed in the glories of our political system. You know, our tripartite government, checks and balances, miraculous set of rights, and vibrant democracy. There was, Americans then thought, much to be proud of, and so for that generation of children, many Martians were instructed in the American way of life. These days, I suspect, not so many.

Still, I wondered just what lessons might be offered to such a Martian crash-landing in Washington as 2014 begins. Certainly checks, balances, rights, and democracy wouldn't top any New Year's list. Since my childhood, in fact, that tripartite government has grown a fourth part, a national security state that is remarkably unchecked and unbalanced. In recent times, that labyrinthine structure of intelligence agencies morphing into war-fighting outfits, the U.S. military (with its own secret military, the special operations forces, gestating inside it), and the Department of Homeland Security, a monster conglomeration of agencies that is an actual "defense department," as well as a vast contingent of weapons makers, contractors, and profiteers bolstered by an army of lobbyists, has never stopped growing. It has won the undying fealty of Congress, embraced the power of the presidency, made itself into a jobs program for the American people, and been largely free to do as it pleased with almost unlimited taxpayer dollars.

The expansion of Washington's national security state -- let's call it the NSS -- to gargantuan proportions has historically met little opposition. In the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations, however, some resistance has arisen, especially when it comes to the "right" of one part of the NSS to turn the world into a listening post and gather, in particular, American communications of every sort. The debate about this -- invariably framed within the boundaries of whether or not we should have more security or more privacy and how exactly to balance the two -- has been reasonably vigorous. The problem is: it doesn't begin to get at the real nature of the NSS or the problems it poses.

If I were to instruct that stray Martian lost in the nation's capital, I might choose another framework entirely for my lesson. After all, the focus of the NSS, which has like an incubus grown to monumental proportions inside the body of the political system, would seem distinctly monomaniacal, if only we could step outside our normal way of thinking for a moment. At a cost of nearly a trillion dollars a year, its main global enemy consists of thousands of lightly armed jihadis and wannabe jihadis scattered mainly across the backlands of the planet. They are capable of causing genuine damage -- though far less to the United States than numerous other countries -- but not of shaking our way of life. And yet for the leaders, bureaucrats, corporate cronies, rank and file, and acolytes of the NSS, it's a focus that can never be intense enough on behalf of a system that can never grow large enough or be well funded enough.

Laptop

Online privacy demands global action, just as with apartheid - UN human rights chief

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© AFP PhotoUN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay
United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has associated the global response to government mass surveillance with the collective uproar that eventually helped cripple South Africa's apartheid regime.

Pillay, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights and a South Africa native, said in an interview aired on Thursday that just as international pressure helped end apartheid in her home country, so must widespread condemnation of intrusive spying help boost online privacy rights. Pillay was the first non-white woman to serve as a High Court judge in South Africa.

"Combined and collective action by everybody can end serious violations of human rights," she said in an interview with BBC Radio 4. "That experience inspires me to go on and address the issue of internet [privacy], which right now is extremely troubling because the revelations of surveillance have implications for human rights...People are really afraid that all their personal details are being used in violation of traditional national protections."

Pillay is tasked with preparing a report for the UN on digital privacy protections following the cascade of revelations supplied by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden regarding the American spy agency's global surveillance apparatus.

Magnify

'Getting the ungettable': Leaks reveal NSA's top hacking unit

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© Reuters / NSA
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden have uncovered a secret NSA hacking unit which delivered the US some of its most significant intelligence information in recent years. The unit has been tapping into computers and networks since the dawn of the internet.

Der Spiegel described the Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO) as "something like a squad of plumbers that can be called in when normal access to a target is blocked."

According to the secret documents obtained by the German news magazine, TAO specialists are involved in the most sensitive operations of US intelligence - including counterterrorism, cyber-attacks, and traditional espionage.

The unit, which was created at the dawn of the internet, was developed with the mission of "getting the ungettable."

"It's not about the quantity produced, but the quality of intelligence that is important," a former TAO boss wrote, describing her work in a document. She added that her hacked had contributed to "some of the most significant intelligence our country [the US] has ever seen."

She stated that TAO "needs to continue to grow and must lay the foundation for integrated Computer Network Operations" and that it must also "support Computer Network Attacks as an integrated part of military operations."

Gear

Winter Psycho Games: Mystery bodies, explosives discovered near Winter Olympics site

Russian security forces launched an aggressive "anti-terrorism sweep" today after coming across multiple unexplained deaths and explosive devices in a region near Sochi, where the Winter Olympic Games will be held in a matter of weeks, according to Russian news reports.

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A car with a body inside exploded as police approached it in Russia's Stavropol Territory, reported Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti, citing the Interior Ministry. In the same area, Russian authorities reportedly discovered a car containing the bodies of three men along with explosive material. The day before, two more bodies were found in cars the same region.

All of the victims appear to have been shot, according to a Russian security official and international news reports. Two were taxi drivers and another reportedly worked assembling furniture.

Comment: On the eve of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, it looks like Saudi Prince Bandar 'Bush' wasn't bluffing when he told Putin he would 'unleash Chechen terrorists' if Russia maintained its support of President Bashar al-Assad against the Saudi-funded foreign terrorists in Syria.

Saudi snake, Prince Bandar, tried first to bribe Russia to drop its support of Syria, then threatened to unleash Chechen terrorists at 2014 Winter Olympics

Syrian rebels and local residents testify that Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, supplied chemical weapons to 'al-Qaeda-linked group'
"Bandar told Putin, "There are many common values ​​and goals that bring us together, most notably the fight against terrorism and extremism all over the world. Russia, the US, the EU and the Saudis agree on promoting and consolidating international peace and security. The terrorist threat is growing in light of the phenomena spawned by the Arab Spring. We have lost some regimes. And what we got in return were terrorist experiences, as evidenced by the experience of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the extremist groups in Libya. ... As an example, I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us"



Cut

Massive austerity budget cuts risk England's ability to deal with floods

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© Steve Parson/PAEnvironment Agency workers lay sandbags onto river defence barriers next to the River Thames on Osney Island in Oxford. The EA is facing cuts to its budget and has to reduce staff.
Report warns of impact of budget cuts on coping with extreme weather emergencies

"Massive" and ongoing cuts to the budget of the department of environment, food and rural affairs mean its ability to respond to emergencies such as flooding is in danger, according to a report by MPs published on Tuesday.

"Recent flooding events reinforce our concerns about cuts to the Defra budget. It is a small ministry facing massive cuts," said Anne McIntosh, Conservative MP and chairman of the Efra select committee. "Ministers must clarify how further budgets will impact on ... the ability of the department to respond to emergencies."

She added: "It is remarkable that the current flood defences have held against the force of the substantial and sustained recent battering."

Heavy rain and huge waves caused further flooding and damage on Monday, following rainfall last month that made it the sixth wettest December since 1910. Environment secretary Owen Paterson, who chaired the eighth meeting of the government's Cobra crisis response committee on Monday, said extreme weather since the start of December had caused seven fatalities and flooded over 1700 properties in England. Over 1m properties have been protected by flood defences, Paterson said, but criticism of cuts in flood defence spending is intensifying as the flood waters rise.

Year-on-year spending fell by over a quarter when the coalition took power in 2010 and, despite partial U-turns since then, real-terms spending will be significantly lower at £546m in 2015-16 than the £646m spent in 2010-11. In July 2012, the Guardian revealed that almost 300 shovel-ready flood defence projects which had been in line for funding had not been built due to budget cuts.

Comment: And more cuts are in the works:

"In an interview on Radio 4's Today programme, Osborne said he would seek to achieve some of the £12bn savings by targeting housing benefit for under-25s and by means-testing people on incomes of £60,000 to £70,000 who live in social housing. But one Whitehall source said that targeting those two areas would produce "laughable" savings. Department of Communities and Local Government figures show that the 11,000 to 21,000 council tenants, who earn more than £60,000 a year, each cost the taxpayer £3,600 a year. Targeting this group would produce savings of £40m-£76m a year.

Department of Work and Pensions figures show that 351,678 people under the age of 25 claim housing benefit at a cost of £1.8bn. Of these 55.6% of these are parents, which means the cuts would not apply to them. Osborne's plan would therefore produce savings of £827.4m in this area. But Whitehall sources suggested this figure could be reduced to as low as £50m once other groups among the under-25s, such as victims of domestic violence, are excluded from housing benefit cuts. "It is laughable that you can get anywhere near £12bn in cuts this way," one source said."

UK Cabinet split over George Osborne's plan for £12bn more welfare cuts


No Entry

As local authorities ban his next show in Tours, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls seeks to ban comedian Dieudonné from Internet

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French Jews seek their hero's autograph
France's government has vowed to pursue its campaign against a comic accused of anti-Semitism on to the internet after winning legal backing for its action to ban his live shows.

In the latest move in an affair that has escalated into a major national controversy, Manuel Valls, the interior minister, said "the law must be able to act" against the online publication of what he called the "racist and anti-Semitic speech" of Dieudonné M'bala M'bala.

"We cannot let this speech spread. We must discuss this with [internet] operators," he said, although he acknowledged this was "not simple, legally".

The government's aggressive pursuit of Dieudonné, as he is known, has been broadly supported by anti-racist campaigners and politicians of both mainstream left and right, especially mayors of towns and cities where the comedian has booked tour dates over the coming weeks.

But the unleashing of the full force of the state against a figure relatively low-profile until the past two weeks has prompted concern that the government has overreacted, fuelling support for the comic.

Oscar

BBC Newsnight interview with Alain Soral: The French government's actions against Dieudonné are illegal

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French philosopher and equal rights advocate Alain Soral explains to BBS Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman what the 'quenelle' really means and that the French government is acting illegally by banning his shows.


Vader

Britain re-occupies Iraq: British Special Forces invited back to Basra as al-CIA-duh goes on the rampage

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'Remember us? We're back!'... two British 'Special Forces' caught 'dressed in Arab garb' and trying to blow up a police checkpoint in Iraq in 2005, their car loaded with explosives and weapons.
Six years after the last British troops left amid a barrage of bombs and mortars, the Iraqi city of Basra is to re-enlist UK military expertise to oversee its security again


Anxious to rid itself of the lawlessness that still plagues Iraq's southern capital, Basra's governor has hired a private military company run by a British general who helped capture the city from Saddam Hussein.

Maj Gen Graham Binns, who is the chief executive of Aegis Defence Services, commanded the 7th Armoured Brigade when it led the siege of Basra in 2003.

Four years later he supervised the handover of the city to Iraqi security forces. Now, amid growing concern about a fresh wave of terrorist violence across the country, Basra's governor has invited Maj Gen Binns's company back to assist at a "strategic level".

Aegis will be asked to provide help with setting up specialised CCTV detection and checkpoint systems across the city, establishing a "ring of steel" security system to thwart suicide bombers.

It will also set up an academy to help security forces improve coordination and intelligence-gathering techniques.

Comment: If you want to understand the explosion of violence in Iraq (again) in the last two years, see also:

U.S. Special Forces deployed in Iraq, again

British Government's Agent Provocateurs Exposed