Puppet MastersS


Telephone

Snowden's latest leak: NSA and Saudis teaming up

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© AFP Photo/Bilal QabalanThe Saudi interior ministry building in Riyadh
The National Security Agency has increasingly been working hand-in-glove with the repressive Saudi Arabian government since 2013, sharing intelligence and assisting with surveillance, according to the latest Snowden leak.

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden sent a top secret memorandum to The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald that describes the secretive US agency's relationship with Saudi Arabia. The NSA primarily works with the Saudi Ministry of Interior (MOI) and Ministry of Defense (MOD).

After the first Gulf War in 1991, the document says, the NSA had "a very limited [signals intelligence (SIGINT)] relationship" with the Saudi government, but is now "experiencing a period of rejuvenation."The increased cooperation came after Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper approved an expansion of the SIGINT relationship in December 2012.

Even before that authorization, however, the NSA was collaborating with the Saudi Defense Ministry on a "sensitive access initiative" that began in 2011, and focused on "internal security and terrorist activity on the Arabian Peninsula." It was conducted "under the auspices of CIA's relationship with the MOI's Mabahith (General Directorate for Investigations, equivalent to FBI)."

Now the NSA offers "technical advice on SIGINT topics such as data exploitation and target development" to the MOI's Technical Affairs Directorate, "as well as a sensitive source collection capability," and analytical and technical support. The US agency also provides "a sensitive decryption service to the Ministry of Interior against terrorist targets of mutual interest."

Heart - Black

Obama-Bibi affair on the rocks due to wiretapping?

obama bibi
© Steve Bell
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday hit out at the United States for what he described as "unacceptable" wiretapping of his predecessor Ehud Olmert, as reported in the media.

"Given the close relations between the United States and Israel, there are things we cannot do, and that is unacceptable for us," Netanyahu said at a meeting of his Likud party.

Netanyahu said he had asked for the reports to be verified.

The New York Times reported last week that in monitoring more than 1,000 targets in upwards of 60 countries between 2008 to 2011, US and British intelligence agencies tapped the communications of then premier Olmert, among other foreign leaders, according to secret documents revealed by intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Comment: It is interesting to see Netanyahu "upset" over such "news", since by now it is widely known that all NSA-collected info makes its way to Israel and the agency itself seems to be more concerned with Israel's security than that of the U.S.:
A document suggesting that the U.S. National Security Agency may put the interests of Israel above those of the United States was released Wednesday by journalist Glenn Greenwald.

The document is one of the many slides leaked by NSA defector Edward Snowden, currently a fugitive from American law in Moscow.

Greenwald, who published many of Snowden's revelations over the last year, released his book "No Place to Hide" on Wednesday. Concurrently with the release of the book, Greenwald made public slides that Snowden obtained from the NSA. One of them deals with intelligence relations with Israel.

"Balancing the SIGINT exchange equally between U.S. and Israeli needs has been a constant challenge in the last decade; it arguably tilted heavily in favor of Israeli security concerns. 9/11 came, and went, with NSA's only true Third Party CT relationship being driven almost totally by the needs of the partner," one slide reads.

Another slide states, "The Israelis are extraordinarily good SIGINT partners for us, but ... they target us to learn our positions on Middle East problems. A NIE [National Intelligence Estimate] ranked them as the third most aggressive intelligence service against the U.S."

These statements imply that the NSA is providing Israel with information much more than Israel is providing the United States with information. Writing in The Guardian last September, Greenwald noted that "the National Security Agency routinely shares raw intelligence data with Israel without first sifting it to remove information about U.S. citizens."

Greenwald also pointed out that while Israel is one of America's closest allies, it is "not one of the inner core of countries involved in surveillance sharing with the U.S. - Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This group is collectively known as Five Eyes."



MIB

Famous cyclist killed in hit and run in Russia

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Photo from facebook.com/pages/BikerOnTheRoad
A famous US cyclist who biked across dozens of countries supporting the message of peace died in a car accident in the Russian city of Ivanovo, local police said on Friday.

Ron McGerity, a 60-year-old American who has been living in Geneva, traveled at least 120,000 kilometers (75,000 miles) over the past 15 years, visiting 61 countries along the way.

The cyclist died on Thursday in a hit-and-run accident in Russia's central Ivanovo region, located some 254 kilometers (157 miles) from Moscow.

Snakes in Suits

Is Kiev lying? Or is Kiev lying?

jet crash ukraine
© Reuters / Shamil ZhumatovAn armed member of self-defenses forces stands guard at the site of the crash of the Il-76 Ukrainian army transport plane in Luhansk June 14, 2014
The current conflict in Ukraine provides a plethora of examples of the power of doublethink in shaping narratives in order to justify any actions, beliefs, and statements that are either untrue or so grossly distorted as to be entirely unbelievable.

The novelist George Orwell coined the term doublethink in his classic dystopian novel 1984. He defined doublethink as
"The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them...To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies."
Although the concept is elucidated in a work of fiction, it has clear and unmistakable parallels in the real world that, like Oceania - the supranational state in which the novel takes place - is in a state of constant war, and seemingly has been from time immemorial.

Comment: Amen!


Rocket

Human Rights Watch blames Kiev army for indiscriminately killing civilians with missiles

shelling of civilians donesk
© RIA NovostiViktor Stepanenko (69 years) by his house in the township of Snezhnoye that was destroyed by a Ukrainian rocket
The Ukrainian army is using indiscriminate Grad missiles to attack densely populated areas in Donetsk, which violates international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch alleged. It also blamed militia for taking cover in those areas.

The rights organization confirmed four rocket attacks by the Ukrainian military, or Kiev-allied paramilitary, on residential areas in or near Donetsk, which resulted in at least 16 civilian deaths and many more wounded. The attacks were carried out with Grad multiple rocket weapon systems, highly indiscriminate weapons that cannot be used against populated areas.

Judging by the trail of impact the rockets left, "in four attacks they were coming from areas under the control of the Ukrainian army," Ole Solvang, researcher and security adviser for Human Rights Watch told RT.

"We were not able to see any kind of possible military target in that area and it's quite clear that this is a residential area. Everybody that we spoke to said that there had been no fighters, no weapons in that area," Solvang added.

The group released a statement on Friday.

"Although Ukrainian government officials and the press service of the National Guard have denied using Grad rockets in Donetsk, a Human Rights Watch investigation on the ground strongly indicates that Ukrainian government forces were responsible for the attacks that occurred between July 12 and 21," HRW said.

Propaganda

Wikipedia temporarily bans Congress IPs over 'persistent' disruptive editing

US capitol
© Reuters/Kevin LamarqueThe U.S. Capitol in Washington
Capitol computers have been barred from modifying Wikipedia for 10 days, due to "persistent disruptive editing." The legislative body was told by Wikipedia administrators that it is welcome to make "useful contributions" once the ban expires.

"You have been blocked from editing for a period of 10 days for persistent disruptive editing, as you did at Mediaite. Once the block has expired, you are welcome to make useful contributions," a Wikipedia message said.

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If you think there are good reasons why you should be unblocked, you may appeal this block," administrator Tom Morris told Congress on Thursday.

Cut

BBC Russian report censored because it included eyewitness statements that MH17 was closely followed by Kiev military jet

Ivshina BBC
© UnknownAn image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube.
BBC Russian has come under fire from internet users after deleting its report on the MH17 crash for not meeting 'editorial values.' The reporter questioned says that local militia fired the missile, with locals talking about Ukrainian army planes.

The report on the Malaysian plane tragedy by BBC Russian correspondent Olga Ivshina was released on July 23. She interviewed local witnesses who told her that they saw military aircraft in the sky before the incident.

"And there was another aircraft, a military one, beside it [the Malaysian plane]. Everybody saw it," said one witness.

"It was flying under it [the Malaysian plane], we could see it. It was going underneath the civilian one," added another.

The report contained a soundbite of an SBU official, saying that the aircraft was shot down by a Buk missile.

Megaphone

Best of the Web: Anti-Russia Hysteria: Brainwashed sheep's obsession with "villain" Vladimir Putin

Several people who largely share my appraisal of the events in Ukraine and around Ukraine have sent me lots of incredible photographs and articles showing that the "mainstream" Western media got completely obsessed with Vladimir Putin.
Maria Putin
© UnknownThis 29-year-old lady was threatened by a mayor to be deported from Holland and finally she fled the country by herself – taking BF Jorrit Faasen, 34, with her. In the current hysteria, the sufficient reason is the following: she is Maria Putin, Putin's daughter.
It's enough to search Google News for Putin if you want to obtain a rather incredible collection of totally nutty titles and whole articles about Putin. Just some of the titles (I didn't really have to filter it much):
US General Dempsey: Putin May 'Light a Fire' He Can't Stop in Ukraine

Dempsey: Putin's Moves Like 1939 Poland

Putin's voracious appetite is not sated

Putin's Pal [a nasty attack against Stephen Cohen]

Putin's inner circle sheds light on his "sinister, lonely life"

The growing calls to strip Putin and Russia of the 2018 World Cup

Putin's Crime, Europe's Cowardice

Vladimir Putin is responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. His next move will matter most of all.
I could go on and on and on, for hours. Vladimir Putin is perhaps the next Adolf Hitler, maybe Adolf Hitler on steroids. He must have personally shot the Dutch airplane down, too.

Comment: Currently there is a controversy going on about the identity of the woman in the above picture.
Mystery of Putin's daughter deepens after Russian embassy claims widely-used image of her with Kremlin leader is someone else

Whether she is Maria Putin or not, It is disheartening to see how western establishments goes after the family members of the politicians whom they want to take advantage of and use the same false flag tactics in the process.


Yoda

Chechnya president bans Obama and 3 EU leaders from entering his country on account of State Terrorism

Chechen president
© Stringer/ReutersThe Chechen president, Ramzan Kadyrov, meets the actor Gérard Depardieu in Grozny last year but Barack Obama is not welcome
Although Russia has not responded to US sanctions over the Ukraine crisis by putting a travel ban on President Barack Obama, there is one part of the country he is now barred from entering: Chechnya.

On Saturday Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of the small Russian republic that has been the scene of two devastating separatist wars in the past 20 years, said he was placing Obama on a list of people banned from visiting.

The list also includes European Union figures José Manuel Barroso, Herbert van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton.

Kadyrov, wrote on his Instagram account that the ban was in response to US and EU actions in Ukraine, Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, which he called "state terrorism".

Propaganda

Victims' families used for propaganda? MH17 victim's credit cards used after crash, says report

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The wife of a Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 victim was stunned when she saw that her husband's credit cards were being used after the plane crashed in Ukraine last week, the Daily Mail reported. Cameron Dalziel's wife Reine has since cancelled her husband's credit cards upon noticing activity in his account, her brother told CNN.

Cameron Dalziel's wife Reine has since cancelled her husband's credit cards upon noticing activity in his account, her brother told CNN.

Cameron was a South African travelling on a British passport, who had moved with his wife and two children to Malaysia recently.

The report said that the "heartless" rebels, who allegedly shot the plane down, had been using victims' credit cards, answering their phones and looting their belongings, including jewellery, from the crash site.

Reine's brother, Shane Hattingh, told CNN that, "People are abusing it in the Ukraine. They have no respect for each other, look what they're doing. It's no surprise that they were treating the remains of people like that. It made me angry beyond words".

This only added weight to reports that the pro-Russian rebels have looted the MH17 crash site to sabotage the investigation into the disaster and to cash in on it, the Daily Mail reported.

It was previously reported that relatives of victims of the crash had called their mobile phones only to have them picked up by people with "eastern European-sounding voices".

They then proceeded to instruct the mobile phone companies to shut down the accounts.

Comment: It's worth noting the reports of stolen cell phones and credit cards being used only came days after Kiev forces had access to the victims belongings, not before.