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Cloak and Dagger military intelligence outfit at center of US digital vaccine passport push

Jeremy Loffredo, Max Blumenthal
The Grayzone
Tue, 26 Oct 2021 00:00 UTC
Mitre App
© The Grayzone
While vaccine passports have been marketed as a boon to public health, promising safety, privacy, and convenience for those who have been vaccinated against Covid-19, the pivotal role a shadowy military-intelligence organization is playing in the push to implement the system in digital form has raised serious civil liberties concerns.

Known as MITRE, the organization is a non-profit corporation led almost entirely by military-intelligence professionals and sustained by sizable contracts with the Department of Defense, FBI, and national security sector.

The effort "to expand QR code vaccine passports beyond states like California and New York" now revolves around a public-private partnership known as the Vaccine Credential Initiative (VCI). And the VCI has reserved an instrumental role in its coalition for MITRE.

Described by Forbes as a "cloak and dagger [research and development] shop" that is "the most important organization you've never heard of," MITRE has developed some of the most invasive surveillance technology in use by US spy agencies today. Among its most novel products is a system built for the FBI which captures individuals' fingerprints from images posted on social media sites.

MITRE's own COVID-19 umbrella coalition includes In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Palantir, a scandal-stained private spying firm.

Comment: Loffredo and Blumenthal outline the constructs supplied by particular intel services and government departments to digitize the future of humanity and secure absolute dominion. Given all that they described exist, of what else are we in ignorance?

See also (by these authors):
Public health or private wealth? How digital vaccine passports pave way for unprecedented surveillance capitalism

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Brick Wall

US tricked Ukraine into believing NATO would ride to rescue in case of war with Russia. How long can it keep up the act?

Paul Robinson
RT
Sat, 23 Oct 2021 08:32 UTC
Zelensky
© Sputnik/Stringer
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
NATO membership for Ukraine may still be a distant dream, but the US is continuing to pretend otherwise to keep Kiev in the anti-Russian camp. The question is how long it will be before Ukrainians realize they've been conned.

Joined-up government is not one of America's strong points. While one arm of the system does one thing, the other arm does something different, often entirely contradictory to the first. At times, they even deliberately undermine each other. Different bits of the bureaucracy have different interests, and only the strongest of leaders can somehow push them all in the same direction.

So it was this week, when US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland visited Moscow in an effort to patch up relations with Washington. But while the State Department was seeking to ramp down the tension, the Department of Defense was doing the opposite.

Comment: Ukraine, in a trap of its own making, looks to the outside to solve its problems.

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Star of David

Israeli ministers in war of words over 'problematic' move to brand Palestinian NGOs as terror organizations


RT
Tue, 26 Oct 2021 16:28 UTC
Addameer
© Reuters/Mohamad Torokman
Palestinian NGO Addameer, designated as a terrorist organization with five other groups
October 24, 2021
Israel's decision to designate six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist outfits has prompted infighting among ministers as members of the country's fragile coalition government criticized the move as "detrimental" to national interests.

On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz had signed an order that categorized the civil society groups in the West Bank as terrorist organizations - on the basis of classified findings by the country's Shin Bet security service which allegedly showed that these groups were part of a network run by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) militant group.

Center-left members of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government have denounced the move, with Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli - who leads the coalition partner Labor Party - blasting the "manner" in which it was rolled out as having "caused great damage to our relationships with our biggest and most important friends."

The minister was referring to both international condemnation over the decision and the accusations by US government officials that they were not informed beforehand. According to the Haaretz newspaper, Shin Bet and Defense Ministry representatives are expected to fly to Washington in order to present to the Biden administration "unambiguous" evidence of terror links.


Comment: Manufactured intelligence provides manufactured claims.


Comment: Infighting seems to be the bigger issue as Knesset members undergo a self-absorbing, internal feeding frenzy. Power abuse has one uniting pressure valve: Palestine.

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Airplane

Email shows Biden ordered Afghanistan evacuation flights be filled with unvetted refugees

Adam Kredo
The Washington Free Beacon
Tue, 26 Oct 2021 05:10 UTC
Jet, Afghans
© Reuters
Afghans rush to planes after the disastrous American retreat.
During America's chaotic exit from Afghanistan earlier this year, the Biden administration issued a directive that evacuation flights be filled to "excess" with refugees who had not been properly vetted before arriving in America, according to an internal administration communication disclosed on Tuesday by Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.).
An Aug. 16 email to U.S. officials involved in the exit from Afghanistan reads:
"Total inflow to the U.S. must exceed the number of seats available. Err on the side of excess. This guidance provides clear discretion and direction to fill seats and to provide special consideration for women and children when we have seats."
Hawley, who says he obtained the email through a U.S. official who was outraged by the Biden administration's failure to vet Afghan refugees flown into America, published the email Tuesday afternoon on Twitter. Hawley maintains that Afghan evacuees were not throughly screened with intensive interviews before they arrived in the United States. He wrote:
"This email was shared [with] me by an American official present in Afghanistan during the evacuation who was shocked by administration's failure to vet Afghans before they were evacuated. Email details orders from Joe Biden to fill up the planes — even without vetting."
The email, which has the subject line "presidential directive," provides some of the firmest proof to date that the Biden administration decided to forgo proper vetting procedures in its rush to evacuate scores of Afghans following the Taliban's takeover just weeks after the U.S. military retreated from the country.

Comment: Here is the Senate hearing session between Hawley and Kahl:



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Arrow Down

House GOP asks DOJ to disavow memo labeling parents 'domestic terrorists,' as school board executive got rewarded for it


RT
Mon, 25 Oct 2021 23:56 UTC
Stop teaching racism
© Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein
Loudoun County School board meeting • Ashburn, Virginia • June 22, 2021
A group of House Republicans is demanding the Justice Department revoke its memo targeting parents criticizing school boards, as the letter it was based on was disavowed even while one of its authors was rewarded with a sinecure.

Attorney General Merrick Garland should "fully and unequivocally withdraw" the October 4 memorandum instructing the DOJ to target parents speaking out against school mask mandates and Critical Race Theory, 19 GOP lawmakers argued in a letter on Monday.

The memo "has been and will continue to be read as threatening parents and chilling their protected First Amendment rights," and ought to be revoked "immediately," wrote ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). He was joined by 18 of his colleagues.

Comment: Who would guess...the White House had a role in this power play and is ultimately responsible, not only for what it does, but the outcomes of related actions and reactions.

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Dollar

Poland ordered to pay 1M euros a day in law battle with the EU

Silvia Amaro
CNBC
Wed, 27 Oct 2021 08:22 UTC
Morawiecki
© Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki speaks to media at EU Leaders' Summit
Brussels, Belgium • October 21, 2021
Poland on Wednesday was ordered to pay 1 million euros ($1.16 million) for every day it fails to comply with a ruling from the EU's top court, in the latest flare-up of tensions between Warsaw and Brussels.

The European Court of Justice ruled in July that the Polish government should suspend the activity of its own Supreme Court, with the team of judges in Poland seen as lacking true independence.

But Poland has since ignored the ruling. And so the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, asked the ECJ in September to issue financial penalties to Warsaw.

This last decision from the ECJ, announced Wednesday, establishes a daily penalty of a million euros.

Comment: See also:

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Bizarro Earth

US withdrawal from nuclear treaty risks 'new arms race' in Asia, Putin says, after claims China tested hypersonic missile


RT
Wed, 27 Oct 2021 13:03 UTC
missile launch
© To Match Special Report USA-NUCLEAR / ICBM US Air Force / Senior Airman Ian Dudley / Handout via REUTERS
An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test at 2:10 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, US, August 2, 2017.
Washington's decision to pull out of a Cold War-era nuclear weapons deal could lead to escalating tensions and a standoff between world powers in East Asia, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned, calling for urgent dialogue.

Speaking at the 16th East Asia Summit on Wednesday, Putin said, "We have repeatedly warned that the termination of the treaty on intermediate and short-range missiles [INF] means the region is now facing the possibility of these strike weapons appearing across its vast space, and a new arms race as a result."

The Russian president said that, despite former President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the INF in August 2019, Moscow has "declared a unilateral moratorium on the deployment of intermediate and shorter-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world, while calling for a serious dialogue on the issue with the states it affects." According to him, "the Russian proposal remains open, and it is increasingly important."

Comment: Whilst US belligerence towards Russia and China has been an ongoing issue, it seems to be worsening, but it has been met with an equal response from the two targeted countries with displays of skill, strength, and solidarity: And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Why You Should Question Media Reports About China 'Causing Covid' And 'Invading Taiwan'



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Passport

Biden admin roasted for issuing first 'gender-neutral' passport


RT
Wed, 27 Oct 2021 17:47 UTC
usa passport
The US State Department has issued its first gender-neutral passport, and will soon let any applicant pick an 'X' instead of a traditional male or female option. Commenters online rolled their eyes at the government's priorities.

The State Department announced the issuing of the passport on Wednesday, with spokesman Ned Price declaring that the US "continues to take steps to demonstrate our commitment to promoting the freedom, dignity, and equality of all people - including LGBTQI+ US citizens."

The news came three months after the State Department gave trans Americans the option of switching their gender on their passports without providing medical documents to prove their transition. At the time, Secretary of State Tony Blinken said officials were still "evaluating the best approach" for a non-binary option.

Comment: If clowns are "elected", expect a circus.

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Putin

Putin's 2021 Valdai speech championed 'moderate conservatism,' but West's insistence on seeing Russia as a threat could lead to war

Dmitry Stefanovich
RT
Wed, 27 Oct 2021 16:55 UTC
Putin valdai october 2021
© Sputnik / Maksim Blinov
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the 18th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club titled 'Global Shake-Up in the 21st Century: The Individual, Values, and the State', in Sochi, Russia
With Russia facing tough new Covid-19 restrictions, grappling with growing tensions with the NATO military bloc, and still trying to work out US President Joe Biden's true intentions there will be a lot on Vladimir Putin's mind.

At this particular moment, the Russian President is more interested in energy and "healthy conservatism," than geopolitical wrangles. We can't in all seriousness compare this address to his bombastic 2007 Munich speech, slamming NATO expansion, because he was significantly less emotional this time. The emphasis had shifted - we need to preserve and maintain what we've built already, focusing on improving quality of life for the Russian people.

Furthermore, there is a general feeling that the Russian leadership is employing the classic medical "do no harm" formula when it comes to dealing with the current situation that resembles a tapestry of several crises right now, which all have been affecting our everyday life in a different way and unfolding in accordance with their own timeline.

Comment: Putin's 2007 NATO speech was hardly bombastic. It was an unvarnished survey of the world's situation at the time. It is impressive in its prescienct statements as to where it would be headed.



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Black Cat

Pierre Omidyar's financing of the Facebook "whistleblower" campaign reveals a great deal

Glenn Greenwald
greenwald.substack.com
Mon, 25 Oct 2021 15:23 UTC
Pierre Omidyar intercept ebay
© Ramin Talaie/Corbis via Getty Images
Pierre Omidyar, Founder of eBay, and Publisher of the Intercept looks on during the final session of the annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York, on Thursday, September 23, 2010.
The internet is the last remaining instrument for dissent and free discourse to thrive outside state and oligarchical control. This campaign aims to put an end to that.

It is completely unsurprising to learn, as Politico reported last Wednesday, that the major financial supporter of Facebook "whistleblower" Frances Haugen's sprawling P.R. and legal network coordinating her public campaign is the billionaire founder of EBay, Pierre Omidyar. The Haugen Show continues today as a consortium of carefully cultivated news outlets (including those who have been most devoted to agitating for online censorship: the New York Times' "tech" unit and NBC News's "disinformation" team) began publishing the trove of archives she took from Facebook under the self-important title "The Facebook Papers," while the star herself has traveled to London to testify today to British lawmakers considering a bill to criminally punish tech companies that allow "foul content" or "extremism" — whatever that means — to be published.

On Sunday, Haugen told The New York Times that her own personal Bitcoin wealth means she is relying on "help from nonprofit groups backed by Mr. Omidyar only for travel and similar expenses." But the paper also confirmed that the firm masterminding Haugen's public campaign roll-out and complex media strategy, a group "founded by the former Barack Obama aide Bill Burton," is "being paid by donors, including the nonprofit groups backed by Mr. Omidyar." He is also a major donor to a shady new group calling itself "Whistleblower Aid" — bizarrely led by anti-Trump lawyer and social media #Resistance star Mark Zaid, who has been one of the most vocal critics of actual whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, both of whose imprisonment he has long demanded — that is now featuring Haugen as its star client.
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