Puppet Masters

Tony Blair is godfather to Rupert Murdoch's daughter

Anita Singh
The Telegraph UK
Mon, 05 Sep 2011 07:57 UTC

The former prime minister was reportedly present in March last year when Murdoch's two daughters by his third wife were baptised on the banks of the Jordan.

The information was not made public and its disclosure in an interview with Mrs Murdoch in Vogue will prove highly embarrassing for Mr Blair.

His close ties to the Murdochs could explain his reluctance to condemn the News International phone hacking scandal.

In July, it was reported that he asked Gordon Brown to put pressure on Tom Watson, the Labour MP who helped expose the scandal, to drop his investigation.

Mr Blair's spokesman categorically denied the allegation.

US: police again in the crosshairs of Anonymous

V3
Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:29 UTC

While police in the UK continue to make arrests of suspected Anonymous and LulzSec members, over on this side of the pond law enforcement groups don't seem to be faring as well.

First the group hit police agencies in Arizona, then they turned their attention to the police who patrol the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. Now, it seems cops in Texas are the target of the hacktivist group.

Anonymous is currently taking aim at the Texas police chiefs association. The site was defaced by hackers not once, but twice on Thursday. In addition to defacing the site, Anonymous also says it has obtained information from police systems.

The group posted the following message on the defaced web site:

"For every defendant in the anonymous "conspiracy" we are attacking two top Texas police chiefs, leaking 3GB of their private emails and attachments. Mind you, we don't expect a sane response. Even a few insults would have been better than the way you cowards hide behind protocol, innuendo, and your badge."

UK: Plods to get dot-uk takedown powers - without court order

Kevin Murphy
The Register
Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:37 UTC

Why? 'Cos we're the bleedin' law, you slaag

Police in the UK could get new powers to suspend internet domain names without a court order if they're being used for illegal activity, under rules proposed to .uk registry manager Nominet.

A Nominet volunteer policy team has recommended the creation of an "expedited" process for shutting down addresses when the police say "the urgent suspension of the domain name is necessary to prevent serious and immediate consumer harm".

The proposed rules, if adopted, would apply to any address ending in .uk, such as example.co.uk.

Shutting down a domain name effectively shuts down the associated website and email.

In order for a domain to be grabbed under the policy, a law enforcement agency would have to file a declaration with Nominet that a seizure would be "proportionate, necessary, and urgent".

Revealed: The mysterious US organisation that has killed more enemies than CIA since 9/11

Daily News & Analysis
Sat, 03 Sep 2011 15:44 UTC

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and paramilitary forces may have killed dozens of al-Qaeda leaders and thousands of its foot soldiers, but there is another mysterious organisation that has killed even more of America's enemies in the decade since the 9/11 attacks.

According to the Washington Post, since the September 11, 2001 attacks, this secretive group of men (and a few women) has grown ten-fold while sustaining a level of obscurity that not even the CIA managed.

"We're the dark matter. We're the force that orders the universe, but can't be seen," a strapping Navy SEAL, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said in describing his unit.

The SEALs are just part of the US military's Joint Special Operations Command, known by the acronym JSOC, which has grown from a rarely used hostage rescue team into America's secret army.

'We won't give up UN bid': Palestinians

Saif Dahlah
Agence France-Presse
Sun, 04 Sep 2011 16:21 UTC

© AFP
Leading Fatah official Nabil Shaath, seen here in 2010, has said the Palestinians will not be deterred from seeking United Nations membership, after reports Washington was trying to head off their bid

The Palestinians will not be deterred from seeking United Nations membership, a senior official said here Sunday, after reports Washington was trying to head off their bid.

"The Palestinians are going to the UN Security Council to ask for recognition for the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders... and there is no turning back or other choice than than this one," said leading Palestinian official Nabil Shaath.

"There is no alternative to this decision and no going back on it and if the United States vetoes it, we will continue to knock on the door of the UN Security Council seeking full Palestinian UN membership," he told AFP.

American Campaign Seeks to Avert Clash Over Palestinian Bid at U.N.

Steven Lee Myres and Mark Landler
Lexis Nexis
Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:00 UTC

The United States has begun a diplomatic campaign to prevent a confrontation this month over a Palestinian plan to seek recognition as a state at the United Nations.

The Obama administration has begun a last-ditch diplomatic campaign to avert a confrontation this month over a Palestinian plan to seek recognition as a state at the United Nations, but it may already be too late, according to senior American officials and foreign diplomats.

The administration has circulated a proposal intended to be the basis of renewed peace talks with the Israelis - based on a formula that President Barack Obama outlined in May - in hopes of persuading the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to abandon the bid for recognition at the annual gathering of the U.N. General Assembly beginning Sept. 20.

The administration has privately made it clear to Mr. Abbas that it will veto any request that comes before the U.N. Security Council to make a Palestinian state a new member outright. But the United States alone does not have enough support to block a vote by the General Assembly to elevate the current status of the Palestinians' nonvoting observer ''entity'' to that of an nonvoting observer state.

Israel Knesset Member to Clinton: 'Declare Turkey a terror-supporting state'

Jerusalem Post
Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:02 UTC

Following a Turkish ultimatum warning Israel to apologize for the raid of the Mavi Marmara or face snactions, Likud MK Danny Danon on Thursday sent a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling on Washington to declare Turkey a "terror-supporting state."

"Turkey has gotten closer to Iran and constitutes a direct continuation of the axis of evil. The government in Washington must answer the Turkish problem before it is too late," Danon wrote.

Danon called for economic and diplomatic sanctions against Turkey until Ankara changes its ways and abandons the way of terror.

"The Turks have crossed the line. They supported the flotilla, they support terror and they dare to ask Israel to apologize to them," Danon stated in response to the ultimatum.

Comment: Nine unarmed Turkish civilians murdered in International waters, and they 'dare to ask Israel to apologize' for it! - Pass the sick bag.

Culmination of 'civilization': British pioneer high schools where every teacher will be a soldier

Jeevan Vasagar
The Guardian
Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:46 UTC

Perhaps they could find these guys a job?

It conjures an image of a red-faced sergeant major hollering at the quivering boy in 3B who has forgotten his maths homework. But backers of a proposed free school that will be staffed entirely by former soldiers say parade ground humiliations are the last thing on their minds.

Instead, the Phoenix free school in Manchester would offer students ambitious academic goals, outdoor activities and a demonstration of "martial values".

In the modern army, it says, these values are "self-discipline, respect and an ability to listen". There will be high standards of behaviour - but no demands to "get down and give me 50". The new 11-18 secondary school, which has yet to find a location, is being proposed by the Centre for Policy Studies, a thinktank, and is backed by Lord Guthrie, a former chief of the defence staff.

Its intended headteacher is an army captain, Affan Burki, and it may be housed on surplus army land, such as a "disused TA [territorial army] drill hall".

Iraq 'suicide' bomb toll revealed: 12,000 innocents blown to pieces since 2003

Sarah Boseley
The Guardian
Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:32 UTC

© Mohammed Jalil/EPA
Iraq has seen countless suicide bomb attacks like this one in Baghdad in 2010, which have cost thousands of civilians their lives. Those responsible for these vile crimes are probably military intelligence personnel of the US, UK and Israel.

Suicide bombers in Iraq have killed 12,000 civilians and 200 coalition soldiers since war began, study finds

Suicide bombers in Iraq have killed at least 12,000 civilians and 200 coalition soldiers, according to a study.

The research paper, by Dr Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks of King's College London, the London-based Iraq Body Count and others, describes suicide bombs in Iraq as "a major public health problem", killing significantly more civilians than soldiers. It is published as part of a Lancet series on the health consequences of 9/11.

Among the reasons for the high civilian death toll is the difficulty of getting victims to hospital quickly enough for emergency treatment. The study finds children are more likely to die than adults if they are injured in a suicide bombing.

Comment: Suicide Bombings - A Favourite US Counter-Insurgency Tactic

The Myth Of The Palestinian Suicide Bomber

British Government's Agent Provocateurs Exposed!