A former German secret service agent charged with treason has admitted to spying for the CIA during his court trial in Munich.
Former Federal Intelligence Service (BND) employee Markus Reichel told the court that he spied for the CIA as a result of severe dissatisfaction with his job. He said:
"No one trusted me with anything at the Federal Intelligence Service (BND). At the CIA it was different."
The 32-year-old is accused of sending "scores of documents and internal information" to the CIA, with the case following the release of the Snowden documents, which revealed widespread US spying on many countries, including allied states such as Germany.
Comment: Is this partially disabled man being thrown to the wolves?
Is the Paris massacre the beginning of the end for 'Europe without borders'? Startfor analysts believe that the tragedy will have a huge impact on the European Union's policies, especially the Schengen Agreement.
The Paris terror attacks have prompted growing security concerns, which ultimately challenge the continuity of the Schengen Agreement, US intelligence company Strategic Forecasting, Inc. (Stratfor) emphasizes.
"The [Paris] attacks revealed the extent to which the situation in Syria, the immigration crisis in Europe and international terrorism are interconnected. The repercussions of the attacks will be similarly far-reaching," Stratfor's analysts predict.
"The Paris attacks will seriously challenge the continuity of the Schengen Agreement, which eliminated border controls in Europe. As of Monday, the Schengen Agreement is effectively suspended in many places," Stratfor stresses.
Russia has deployed its fleet of strategic bombers to double the volume of airstrikes on Islamist targets in Syria, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has announced. Vladimir Putin has ordered a cruiser to coordinate operations with French naval forces in the Mediterranean.
"We are conducting a mass airstrike campaign against Islamic State targets in Syria. We have now doubled the number of sorties, which is allowing us to conduct operations throughout the length and breadth of the country," Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said during a Security Council meeting in Moscow chaired by the Russian president.
Shoigu said that Russia's Tu-95, Tu-22 and Tu-160 strategic bombers have been brought into the operation, while the Air Force command added that the strike group has been bolstered with 37 new planes, including Su-34 bombers and Su-27 fighter jets.
Bethania Palma Markus RawStory Tue, 17 Nov 2015 16:01 UTC
The Dalai Lama offered unusually sage advice for dealing with the terrorist attack on Paris on Friday.
Don't pray for Paris — work for peace, he told Deutsche Welle, a German broadcasting company.
"We cannot solve this problem only through prayers," the spiritual leader said. "I am a Buddhist and I believe in praying. But humans have created this problem, and now we are asking God to solve it. It is illogical. God would say, solve it yourself because you created it in the first place."
He added his hopes that the record violence of the 20th Century doesn't continue to bleed into the current one.
"We need a systematic approach to foster humanistic values, of oneness and harmony," he said. "If we start doing it now, there is hope that this century will be different from the previous one. It is in everybody's interest. So let us work for peace within our families and society, and not expect help from God, Buddha or the governments."
Comment: Now and again, the Dalai Lama says something very useful and profound. Unfortunately not too often - generally he sides with the Powers To Be and seems to do their bidding:
I have received a report from European security that there was a massive cyber attack on French systems 48 hours prior to and during the Paris attacks.
Amongst other things, the attack took down the French mobile data network and blinded police surveillance. The attack was not a straightforward DDOS attack but a sophisticated attack that targeted a weakness in infrastructure hardware.
Such an attack is beyond the capability of most organizations and requires capability that is unlikely to be in ISIL's arsenal. An attack on this scale is difficult to pull off without authorities getting wind of it. The coordination required suggests state involvement.
It is common for people with no experience in government to believe that false flag attacks are not possible, because they think the entire government would have to be involved and not everyone would go along with it. Someone would talk. However, if the report I have received is correct, hardly anyone has to be involved, and security forces are simply disabled.
Remember the reports that during 9/11, a simulation of the actual events that were occuring was being conducted, thus confusing responsible parties about the reality.
I am unable to reveal any further information.
If security experts find the information credible, they should direct their inquiries to the French authorities.
ISIS terrorists praise 'Allah' for the delivery of US weapons
In this March episode of Truth in Media, Ben Swann investigates the origins of the militant group referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
"The name ISIS is one that every American knows," Swann said "The biggest threat to our national security since Al-Qaeda, right? They are a brutal, savage group known for public beheadings and mass executions. They are the face of the new war on terror."
Swann pointed out that while the U.S. Military is currently conducting airstrikes in Syria, in a supposed attempt to take out ISIS targets, the White House and U.S. military leaders are discussing possible boots on the ground in Iraq. These talks are arising just three years after President Obama declared that the war in Iraq was over.
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told USA Today that in order to defeat ISIS, he believes the United States is looking at "a 30-year-war."
As the U.S. goes to war in an attempt to defeat yet another terrorist group, the biggest question is: Who exactly is ISIS and where did they come from?
Angela Keaton, the founder of Antiwar.com, said that ISIS is "entirely a creation of the United States' behavior in Iraq."
"That's how we got to where we are, because of war, because of occupation, because of torture," Keaton said. "The United States government completely destabilized and wrecked Iraq. They caused it to fail miserably and that is entirely the fault of the United States government. There is no one else to blame."
France has invoked an EU treaty collective defense article requesting military help from its European partners in response to the terror attacks in Paris. EU officials say the mutual defense article is being used for the first time.
The assistance would come from 28 European partners under Article 42.7 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which outlines mutual defense among the EU members. Called the 'mutual defense clause', the Article reads that if any EU country "is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power, in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter."
Comment: Will the EU countries cooperate with Russia?
Will they actually target the terrorists they've been covertly supporting for years?
Or is something else going to play out in the Middle East?
The US and Turkey intend to shut off Turkey's border with Syria in a joint military operation, US Secretary of State John Kerry said.
"The entire border of northern Syria - 75 percent of it has now been shut off. And we are entering an operation with the Turks to shut off the other remaining 98 kilometers," Kerry said in an interview with CNN.
The northern part of Syria along the border with Turkey has long been contested between Kurd militias and fighters of the terrorist group Islamic State (IS). The US previously voiced its intention to train and arm a moderate Syrian force that would take control over the area and defend it from IS, preventing the smuggling of fighters, arms and other goods across the border.
Comment: Is this another attempt to seal Russia in Syria?
Islamic State terrorists could launch cyberattacks on power stations, the National Grid and hospitals, Chancellor George Osborne warned in a speech outlining his commitment to spending an additional £1.9 billion on cybersecurity.
In a speech at GCHQ Cheltenham on Tuesday, Osborne announced Britain will double its cybersecurity budget by 2020, and will create a 'National Cyber Centre' to respond to major attacks on Britain.
The chancellor said the attacks on Paris underline the need for Britain to improve its defenses against cyberattacks.
"ISIL [Islamic State or IS, also formerly ISIS] are already using the internet for hideous propaganda purposes; for radicalization, for operational planning too," he told an audience at the security service headquarters.
"They have not been able to use it to kill people yet by attacking our infrastructure through cyberattacks. But we know they want it and are doing their best to build it."
Comment: More fear from Islamic State threats the government keeps promoting provide the fuel for Britain to slide further into a totalitarian state.
The highly suspicious declaration by French authorities only hours after the crash of a TGV train, at 3.10pm on November 14th on the Paris-Strasbourg line, that the train derailed due to "excessive speed" has since been contested by the driver of the train himself, who asserted that he was operating the train at the designated speed for that part of the track: 176km/h.
Bizarrely, even before the contents of the train's "black box" have been analyzed, and indeed on the very same day as the crash (one day after the Paris attacks), French prosecutors appear to have discounted sabotage as a possible cause, despite the fact that an explosion was heard as the train derailed, and that in its more than 30-year history, no TGV train has been involved in a fatal crash.
If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people - including me - would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.
- Hunter S. Thompson
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.. .. Ernesto Guido, you know much that his hidden! [Link]
Comment: Is this partially disabled man being thrown to the wolves?
Also see: German govt. desperate to cover up true extent of NSA and BND spying scandal