Puppet Masters

Despite hand wringing, Egypt massacres suit US policy

John Grant
This Can't Be Happening
Sat, 17 Aug 2013 17:52 UTC

1000 dead and counting in Egypt

Josh Earnest, John Kerry and Barack Obama

Watching the White House squirm over the on-going massacres in Egypt one doesn't know whether to laugh, cry or resort to the vaudevillian method and throw rotten vegetables at them.

President Obama's "condemnation" of the Egyptian military's massacre of civilians sounded like obligatory ass-covering. Then there was the slippery boiler-plate verbiage spouted by the White House's new spokesman with the wonderfully apropos name of Josh Earnest. I wouldn't josh you, that's his name. And trust me, he's the personification of earnestness.

The sense of absurdity in the air takes one back to the halcyon days of Richard Nixon and his "credibility gap," which now seems like child's play. Incredibly, even John McCain has a more critical analysis of the Egyptian coup.

CIA finally admits it masterminded Iran's 1953 coup

RT.com
Mon, 19 Aug 2013 13:54 UTC

On the 60th anniversary of the 1953 military coup in Iran that overthrew the government of radical nationalist Mohammad Mossadegh, the US has declassified documents detailing how the CIA's secret operation brought the country's Shah back to power.

"American and British involvement in Mossadegh's ouster has long been public knowledge, but today's posting includes what is believed to be the CIA's first formal acknowledgement that the agency helped to plan and execute the coup," the US National Security Archive said.

Monday's publication under the US Freedom of Information Act came as something of a surprise, since most of the materials and records of the 1953 coup were believed to have been destroyed by the CIA, the Archive said. The CIA said at time that its "safes were too full."

The newly-revealed documents declassify documents about CIA's TPAJAX operation that sought regime change in Iran through the bribery of Iranian politicians, security and army high-ranking officials, and massive anti-Mossadegh propaganda that helped to instigate public revolt in 1953.

'No friends but the mountains': Washington seeks to ensnare Kurds

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
RT.com
Mon, 19 Aug 2013 11:41 UTC

The targeting of Kurdish civilians in Syria by US-supported armed thugs is part of a deliberate attempt to galvanize the Kurds and pit them in a resurgent struggle against the non-Kurd regions.

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party and other sources are now reporting that Kurdish men, women, and children are systematically being tortured, raped, and executed. Fighting has broken out between Syrian Kurds and the insurgent forces supported by the US, UK, France, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Iranian Parliament have condemned the targeting of Syrian Kurds while the Obama Administration and its cohorts have remained mostly silent. Lavrov's insistence that the United Nations Security Council condemns the violence has also been to no avail.

One of the reasons that the Obama Administration has been silent is because they are supporting the butchers behind the massacre and are trying to avoid more embarrassment. The US and its allies, however, will make supportive noise for the Kurds once they get the result they are seeking.

5 companies that make massive profits keeping Americans terrified of terror attacks

Alex Kane
AlterNet
Mon, 19 Aug 2013 11:27 UTC

Michael Hayden gives *this* much of a damn about the little people

A massive industry profits off the government-induced fear of terrorism.

Michael Hayden, the former director of the National Security Agency, has invaded America's television sets in recent weeks to warn about Edward Snowden's leaks and the continuing terrorist threat to America.

But what often goes unmentioned, as the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald pointed out, is that Hayden has a financial stake in keeping Americans scared and on a permanent war footing against Islamist militants. And the private firm he works for, called the Chertoff Group, is not the only one making money by scaring Americans.

Post-9/11 America has witnessed a boom in private firms dedicated to the hyped-up threat of terrorism. The drive to privatize America's national security apparatus accelerated in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, and it's gotten to the point where 70 percent of the national intelligence budget is now spent on private contractors, as author Tim Shorrock reported. The private intelligence contractors have profited to the tune of at least $6 billion a year. In 2010, the Washington Post revealed that there are 1,931 private firms across the country dedicated to fighting terrorism.

What it all adds up to is a massive industry profiting off government-induced fear of terrorism, even though Americans are more likely to be killed by a car crash or their own furniture than a terror attack.

Here are five private companies cashing in on keeping you afraid.

UK detains partner of Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, abusing terrorism law

Barry Grey and Thomas Gaist
World Socialist Website
Mon, 19 Aug 2013 11:16 UTC

British authorities detained David Miranda, the partner of Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, for nine hours on Sunday under a counterterrorism law. They held Miranda, 28, a citizen of Brazil, incommunicado and interrogated him without giving him the opportunity to secure legal counsel.

Miranda was stopped by British officers as he passed through London's Heathrow Airport on his way from Berlin to his Rio de Janeiro home, which he shares with Greenwald. The officials released Miranda without charge after nine hours, the maximum detention time allowed under the law. They confiscated Miranda's electronic equipment, including his mobile phone, laptop computer, camera, memory sticks, DVDs and game consoles.

Greenwald has written a series of stories, mainly for the British Guardian, exposing the mass surveillance programs carried out by the US National Security Agency (NSA), based on documents given to him by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Along with Snowden, Greenwald has become a target for attacks by US politicians and media figures. Two months ago, David Gregory, the moderator of NBC News' "Meet the Press" program, asked Greenwald in the course of an interview why he should not be prosecuted, along with Snowden, under US espionage laws.

The U.S. behaves nothing like a democracy but our 'free press' will never report it

Noam Chomsky
Information Clearing House
Sat, 17 Aug 2013 10:58 UTC

In a powerful speech, Chomsky lays out how the majority of US policies are practically opposite of what wide swathes of the public wants.

The following is transcript of a recent speech delivered Noam Chomsky in Bonn, Germany, at DW Global Media Forum

I'd like to comment on topics that I think should regularly be on the front pages but are not - and in many crucial cases are scarcely mentioned at all or are presented in ways that seem to me deceptive because they're framed almost reflexively in terms of doctrines of the powerful.

Has President Obama been deliberately lying about the NSA?

David Sirota
Information Clearing house
Sat, 17 Aug 2013 10:51 UTC

© unknown
So many of President Obama's statements about NSA have been wrong. But he's too smart not to understand the truth

With the latest major revelation about National Security Agency surveillance, there's a huge taboo question that needs to be put out on the table: Has President Obama been deliberately lying about the NSA, or have his statements just been repeatedly "wrong"?

After Barton Gellman's blockbuster story today about the NSA breaking "privacy rules or overstepp(ing) its legal authority thousands of times each year," the Washington Post published an attendant commentary with a headline declaring the president was merely "wrong" in last week suggesting that the NSA wasn't "actually abusing" its legal authority. The implication is that when Obama made that comment - and then further insisted the surveillance programs "are not abused" - he may have been inaccurate, but he didn't necessarily deliberately lie because he may not have known he was not telling the truth.

NSA broke the law and privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds

Barton Gellman
The Washington Post
Mon, 19 Aug 2013 10:43 UTC

The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.

Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls.

Apple patents kill switch for mobile devices because: "Covert police or government operations may require complete 'Blackout' Conditions."

Cryptogon
Sun, 18 Aug 2013 18:07 UTC

As wireless devices such as cellular telephones, pagers, personal media devices and smartphones become ubiquitous, more and more people are carrying these devices in various social and professional settings. The result is that these wireless devices can often annoy, frustrate, and even threaten people in sensitive venues.

Source: United States Patent 8,254,902

BBC to censor violinist Nigel Kennedy's statement about Israeli apartheid from TV broadcast

Tom Suarez
Mondoweiss
Fri, 16 Aug 2013 23:22 UTC

The BBC has confirmed that it will censor a statement made by violinist Nigel Kennedy from its television broadcast of his performance with the Palestine Strings at a prestigious music festival last week. In his statement at the Proms, Mr. Kennedy used the word "apartheid" to describe the world in which his Palestinian colleagues live.

Click here for a recording of the actual statement the BBC is excising from its broadcast[1]. The following is a transcript:

"It's a bit facile to say it, but we all know from the experience of this night of music, that giving equality and getting rid of apartheid gives a beautiful chance for amazing things to happen."

According to The Jewish Chronicle[2], BBC governor Baroness Deech called for an apology from Mr. Kennedy and said that "the remark was offensive and untrue. There is no apartheid in Israel." Not only is there no apartheid in Israel, she claimed, but nor is there any in Gaza or the West Bank. (She made no mention of East Jerusalem.)

Going to get a burger. Thanks In-N-Out!

nor

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Puppet Masters

Despite hand wringing, Egypt massacres suit US policy

CIA finally admits it masterminded Iran's 1953 coup

'No friends but the mountains': Washington seeks to ensnare Kurds

5 companies that make massive profits keeping Americans terrified of terror attacks

UK detains partner of Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, abusing terrorism law

The U.S. behaves nothing like a democracy but our 'free press' will never report it

Has President Obama been deliberately lying about the NSA?

NSA broke the law and privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds

Apple patents kill switch for mobile devices because: "Covert police or government operations may require complete 'Blackout' Conditions."

BBC to censor violinist Nigel Kennedy's statement about Israeli apartheid from TV broadcast

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