Puppet MastersS


Sheeple

Pouting: Democrats won't be part of inquiry into alleged Russian meddling

US Senate building
© Sputnik/ Igor Mikhalev
Representative Jackie Speier said that US Democrats from the the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee may abandon the investigation into Russian alleged meddling in the presidential elections if it would not be "legitimate and comprehensive".

US Democrats from the the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee may abandon the investigation into Russian alleged meddling in the presidential elections if it would not be "legitimate and comprehensive," Representative Jackie Speier said.

"I'm not going to be part of a dog-and-pony show that is not a serious effort to do an investigation because this is really serious. If it's not a legitimate and comprehensive and in-depth investigation, why would we be party to it?" Speier told The New York Times newspaper Saturday.

Comment: Perhaps they realize that the results of such an inquiry wouldn't look good for them:


Piggy Bank

UK to demand EU pays back £9bn after triggering Brexit talks

EU flag at Big Ben tower
© Andrew Parsons / www.globallookpress.com
British Prime Minister Theresa May will demand that Brussels return £9 billion ($11 billion) of UK assets held by an EU bank as soon as she triggers Brexit negotiations, government sources said.

The Sunday Times said its journalists saw a legal advice circulating in the government that states the UK not only has no legal responsibility to pay a penny for leaving the EU, but has the full right to demand a refund from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

"The UK, on EU exit, is entitled to the return of its paid-up capital and indeed to a corresponding share of the accumulated reserves of the EIB," the legal opinion, written by Martin Howe, a leading Tory barrister, says as quoted by The Sunday Times.

"Overall, the UK should be entitled on exit to a net payment in its favor, corresponding to the value of its capital invested in the EIB."

Pistol

Iran accusation: Israel hires assassins to take out nuclear scientists

Najafi
© Al-Masdar NewsEnvoy to IAEA Reza Najafi
Iranian rep. at International Atomic Energy Agency describes Israel as a threat to entire Middle East, claims it targeted Iranian experts and criticizes Israel for not joining Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Iranian Envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi accused Israel on Thursday of being behind the assassinations of several scientists working on Iran's nuclear energy plan.

"While nuclear scientists all across the Middle East have been assassinated by the terrorists hired by this regime, the nuclear experts of this regime have access to the nuclear facilities of some countries of the region," said Najafi.

The Iranian representative also criticized Israel for repeatedly ignoring international calls to join the global Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. "Unfortunately, the Zionist Regime has ignored the rightful requests of the international community in the last years, and having the blind support of some western countries and with infringing all international laws and regulations, has pushed its dangerous military nuclear program forward," added Najafi.

Over the past few years, Israel has occasionally been accused of ordering the assassinations of several scientists working on Iran's nuclear program.

Comment: Where there is smoke, there may be fire. The accusations are not unfeasible, but proving them may be a difficult task. Even then, there is little doubt the West would come to Israel's rescue in another of many travesties of justice.


Propaganda

Western influence: A flawed UN investigation on Syria

convoy truck after attack
© AFP/Omar haj kadourA damaged truck seen on the side of the road near the town of Orum al-Kubra on the western outskirts of northern Aleppo on September, 20, 2016 after a humanitarian convoy was attacked.
Exclusive: U.N. investigators increasingly make their conclusions fall in line with Western propaganda, especially on the war in Syria, as occurred in a distorted report about last year's attack on an aid convoy. The March 1 report by the United Nations' "Independent International Commission of Inquiry" asserted that the bloody attack on a humanitarian aid convoy west of Aleppo City on Sept. 19, 2016, was an airstrike by Syrian government planes. But an analysis of the U.N. panel's report shows that it was based on an account of the attack from the pro-rebel Syrian "White Helmets" civil defense organization that was full of internal contradictions.

The U.N. account also was not supported by either the photographic evidence that the White Helmets provided or by satellite imagery that was available to the commission, according to independent experts. Further undermining the U.N. report's credibility, the White Helmets now acknowledge that rockets they photographed were not fired from Russian or Syrian planes but from the ground.

Like last December's summary of the U.N.'s Headquarters Board of Inquiry report on the same incident, the Commission's report described the attack as having begun with "barrel bombs" dropped by Syrian helicopters, followed by further bombing by fixed-wing planes and, finally, strafing by machine guns from the air.

The March 1 report did not identify any specific source for its narrative, citing only "[c]ommunications from governments and non-government organizations." But in fact the U.N. investigators accepted the version of events provided by the White Helmets chief in Aleppo province as well as specific evidence that the White Helmets had made public.

The White Helmets, which are heavily funded by Western governments and operate only in rebel-controlled areas, are famous for using social media to upload videos purporting to show injured children and other civilian victims of the war.

Comment: Fake reports lead to fake news in order to justify intervention, support propaganda, assign false blame, and control the opinion of the listener. Shame on the UN for its collusion with the propaganda tool White Helmets and publishing blatant falsehoods under the guise of unbiased reporting. See also:


Footprints

God in politics or Godless world: It's time to choose

George W. and horse
© PinterestThe moral foundation chosen determines the path taken.
The geo-political struggle between so-called "globalists" and their nationalistic (populist) counterparts has reached a feverish pitch. With trust and belief systems in the crucible, everything from our economic beliefs to our spirituality is up for grabs. At the center of all this, America's President Donald Trump and the Russian Federation's President Vladimir Putin stand out as media targets and as gladiators against a kind of neo-liberal hysteria. Here are some thoughts on the globalist order and on the incontrovertible role conflict we just recognize - our religiousness is being fundamentally challenged.

Comment: Can one really separate religion/faith and state? For most integrated folks, with a working moral compass and empathy, they can't. For psychopaths who want to rule the world...not a problem.


Snakes in Suits

Spokesman Peskov on Russian ambassador's contacts with Trump officials: 'This is his job'

Dmitry Peskov
© Sputnik InternationalSpokesman Dmitry Peskov
There is nothing special in the Russian ambassador discussing bilateral ties with some members of Donald Trump's electoral campaign team, the Russian president's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told CNN, stressing that the diplomat was just doing his job.

The Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, talked to Trump campaign team members and future US administration officials "about the bilateral relations and... about what was going on in the United States" to provide Moscow with a better understanding of the situation on the ground, Peskov said in part of an interview with CNN released on Saturday.

He also noted that "every ambassador of Russia abroad" works just like "every ambassador of the US abroad, including [the one] in Moscow, because the more ambassador talks to people in his country of residence, the better job he does."

Peskov also said that the Russian ambassador held conversations with some members of Hillary Clinton's campaign team."If you look at some people connected with Hillary Clinton during her campaign, you would probably see that he had lots of meetings of that kind," he said.

Comment: New resolution? How hypocritical of the Senate, given all the NON-information nailing Russia to the US election. Dogs with bones, as they say...but these have no meat.


Sheeple

Washington Post editor openly pines for the good ole days when "everyone considered Russia an enemy"

Washington Post editor Ruth Marcus
Washington Post editor Ruth Marcus is wondering what happened to all the sheep who believed everything the paper wrote.
The Washington Post deputy editor Ruth Marcus wants us to go back to a simpler time when America hated Russia.

No surprise coming from WaPo top brass. Here is the "fake news" WaPo editor's tweet...



Eye 1

Best of the Web: WikiLeaks Vault 7 CIA hacking release: Highlights and updates

Wikileaks CIA
WikiLeaks has published what it claims is the largest ever release of confidential documents on the CIA. It includes more than 8,000 documents as part of 'Vault 7', a series of leaks on the agency, which have allegedly emerged from the CIA's Center For Cyber Intelligence in Langley, and which can be seen on the org chart below, which Wikileaks also released,

A total of 8,761 documents have been published as part of 'Year Zero', the first in a series of leaks the whistleblower organization has dubbed 'Vault 7.' WikiLeaks said that 'Year Zero' revealed details of the CIA's "global covert hacking program," including "weaponized exploits" used against company products including "Apple's iPhone, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones."

WikiLeaks tweeted the leak, which it claims came from a network inside the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virginia.

Comment: More coverage on SOTT: Some interesting tweets from Snowden and WikiLeaks with more details on what Vault 7 reveals:







The tech industry is responding.

Apple:
"The technology built into today's iPhone represents the best data security available to consumers, and we're constantly working to keep it that way," it said.

"Our products and software are designed to quickly get security updates into the hands of our customers, with nearly 80% of users running the latest version of our operating system.

"While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities.

"We always urge customers to download the latest iOS to make sure they have the most recent security update."
Samsung:
"Protecting consumers' privacy and the security of our devices is a top priority at Samsung," it said.

"We are aware of the report in question and are urgently looking into the matter."
Microsoft:
"We are aware of the report and are looking into it," a spokesman from Microsoft said.
Google declined to comment.


Peppered throughout the leaks are CIA hackers' disparaging comments about numerous anti-virus products, including Comodo, Kaspersky Lab, Avira, AVG, F-Secure, and Bitdefender - which confirm Snowden's tweet above, that the CIA seems to have identified security flaws and kept them to themselves.

Now tech firms are "scrambling for fixes" in light of the leaks. Router producer Cisco was one of the CIA's primary targets. Fox news seems to be one of the only mainstream news outlets covering the leaks semi-seriously, with Laura Ingraham calling the leaks "really damning if ... true."

After the news that the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt is used as a covert hacking base, Germany's prosecutor now says that if there is enough evidence in Vault 7, an investigation will be launched.
"We will initiate an investigation if we see evidence of concrete criminal acts or specific perpetrators. We're looking at it very carefully," a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office said, Reuters reported Wednesday.

A German Foreign Ministry spokesman told Reuters that the authenticity of the documents was still to be verified and that Berlin would be in touch with Washington.
Update: Anonymous "US intelligence and law enforcement officials" have allegedly told Reuters that the CIA was aware of the impending leak since the end of last year, and their investigation is focusing on contractors as the source of the leak:
The unnamed officials also confirmed that an internal investigation by the agency into the source of the leak is focused primarily on contractors, who the agency believe passed the documents to WikiLeaks.

They also stated their belief that the 8,761 documents contained within the current "Year Zero" leak, the first of the "Vault 7" series, appear to be authentic.
...
WikiLeaks says that the classified information contained in the leaked documents was "lost" by the CIA and subsequently "circulated among former US government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner."

One of those individuals is then said to have provided the whistleblowing website with the relevant content.
Update (March 9): More recent coverage: Check out this telling quote, reported by Reuters:
U.S. cyber security expert Robert Graham said WikiLeaks provided enough detail to recognize some known vulnerabilities.

"One anti-virus researcher has told me that a virus they once suspected came from the Russians or Chinese can now be attributed to the CIA, as it matches the description perfectly to something in the leak," Graham said in a blog post.
Dennis Kucinich writes for Fox News that Vault 7 is proof that the U.S. is "sliding down the slippery slope toward totalitarianism". (Anti-Trumpers, please note that these leaks cover CIA activity during the Obama administration.)

In his rescheduled press conference, Assange said that WikiLeaks will give tech companies exclusive access to the hacking tools in order to beef up security. Once the fixes are made, WL will publish more details. Assange revealed that the information came from an "isolated computer" that wasn't connected to Langley's network - an "historic act of devastating incompetence."
CNN asked whether it was legal for the CIA to do this, per US law, provided the hacking techniques are used overseas. In response, Assange referenced the CIA's history of "behaving badly" inside the US as well.

"It is an unusual time in the United States to see an intelligence agency so heavily involved in domestic politics," Assange said, when asked if the CIA was experiencing turmoil within its ranks.

When questioned about redactions, Assange said 78,000 pieces of information were withheld, consisting of IP addresses of both target and attack machines. The IPs will be investigated and identified before the redaction is removed.

Assange said further material to be released would be recent but would not identify a time from which it came. He said WikiLeaks have more material on the "throwing off" mechanism used by the hacks to cover their traces. Tuesday's leak revealed details of the CIA's ability to hide its own hacking fingerprint and attribute it to others.
...
Assange said 'Vault 7' contained too much work for WikiLeaks to do on its own. He said the latest leak has a number of exploits of code that it needs to disarm before it can be published, rendering it useless to "cyber mafia." He did not give details on when it would be published.
...
When asked by ABC if he had ever been paid by either the Russian government or RT he answered "No, but quite interesting to see ABC taking that line." Criticising mainstream media, Assange described it as a "pretty sad question" which tried to divert from the publication of the CIA's documents.
Assange also addressed the need for a "Digital Geneva Convention", hinting at WikiLeaks cooperation with the tech community toward that end. Some more highlights:
  • 'CIA has a history of attacking, not only overseas targets...but a habit of behaving badly inside the United States.'
  • Huge problem: CIA can gain access to journalists computers and smartphones to uncover sources.
  • Is the CIA interested in you? The interest for the CIA to attack you may not be that high. You may know someone, who knows someone, who works in the French government.
  • There cannot be meaningful oversight over US intelligence agencies.
  • CIA hacking is done in secret and cannot be regulated. They are archaic and complex process. CIA cannot even control its cyber weapons arsenal. CIA cannot control how its cyber weapons arsenal is used.
  • Can you trust that a Dell, Apple or Microsoft computer exported from US is safe from CIA attacks? Obama broke promises to protect tech industry from vulnerabilities.
  • German CIA hacker base used to attack targets throughout Europe, Africa and Middle East. It is a massive complex.
  • CIA created a number of viruses. HammerDrill sits on a computer and waits to attack via CD-ROM.
  • Invite someone into your company to give presentation, CIA has virus to infect via presentation software.
  • CIA has even created virus software which is the virus to infect system.
Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer and NSA whistleblower William Binney weighed in on Fox:


An excerpt from the interview:
Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer: "ATP2829, the so-called Russian tool that we used to hack the DNC. Sean, we did it. Not me, our guys. Former members of NSA, retired intelligence officers use these tools to break in there and get the information out. That's what the Democrats don't want to talk about, because it doesn't fit their narrative."

Sean Hannity: "You know that for a fact. You know the Democrats did it, or that former operatives did it using the malware techniques, they put the Russians' fingerprints and they can appear that the Russians...you're telling me...The whole Russian story that the media has been running with for month and months and months, that it was our people that did it, and they just put the fingerprints of the Russians."

Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer: "That's right. I don't have proof, but this is what I have heard."

"The evidence is not that the Russians did it, but that it was a Russian tool."
Update (March 11): VP Pence says the administration will use "the full force of the law" to go after the Vault 7 leaker(s), calling the release a "very serious offense" that "comprises" the "security" of the American people. Which just goes to show he's a moron. Trump and his team have the moral high ground when they go after malicious leakers who are interfering in democracy, i.e., the ones who are leaking serious (but relatively mundane) information with the goal of destabilizing the administration. But leaks such as Vault 7 expose actual criminality. It's an act of whistle-blowing that exposes how the security of the American people is already compromised, by the CIA. The administration should be cutting the CIA down, not going after the leakers.

Ex-CIA officer John Kiriakou has the right idea:
John Kiriakou: I think they [the leaks] probably have come from the CIA contractor or former CIA contractor. And this contractor frankly believes he has evidence of waste, fraud, abuse or illegality - which is the definition of whistleblowing. And that is why he took this information to WikiLeaks.
...
JK: I left the agency in 2004, and my resignation was official in 2005, and I will tell you the truth I don't even recognize the place anymore. When I was in the agency the mission was really quite simple - it was to recruit spies, to steal secrets and then to analyze those secrets and provide the analysis to the policymaker to make the best in foreign policy. Now the CIA is a paramilitary organization, it is a cyber-military organization.

RT: Is this what we have to do to keep the country safe from being hit again?

JK: I don't think so. I think the CIA really should go back to its foundations and do what it does best, and that is to recruit the spies, as I mentioned. There is probably a place for cyber-security or cyber-hacking or whatever it is, but that place is in the NSA, in the Defense Department. This is not something the CIA should be doing. One of the things that trouble me the most is that we have absolutely no assurances whatsoever that the CIA is not using this technology to target American citizens. They say that they are not, but they say a lot of things that have turned out not to be true.
Anti-virus legend John McAfee has likened the CIA's inaction on security holes to not giving sick people antibiotics.
"The CIA has confirmed that they knew of 'zero day' exploits years in advance of the manufacturers of the software finding out," he said. "Basically, by not fixing those faults it puts customers of Google, Apple, Microsoft and many other American manufacturers at risk, it puts their reputation at risks, and it costs us all billions of dollars."
...
"Seriously, aren't we doing the same thing as having a bunch of ill people in our population, and the CIA has a boatload of penicillin, which could cure us, but they are not going to give it to us, because the enemy may get access to it. Do you see the horror of this?" he said.

McAfee believes that with practices like this, the CIA has failed its mandate to protect the American people.

"If John O. Brennan and Michael Hayden, the past CIA directors under Obama, were here, I would like to say: Shame! Shame on you!" he said.

The developer says the world needs a new paradigm on how to deal with cyberweapons, because they are potentially "many times more devastating" than nuclear weapons, but are by nature capable of being used stealthily or fall into the hands of non-government entities.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has urged the CIA to provide a detailed, transparent response:
"We'd really like the security services in Washington to respond fully and openly to the released documents with specific facts, and if this information is confirmed then it poses a great threat to the world and international security," Zakharova said at a briefing in the Russian capital.

Moscow "occasionally" receives information about the activities of the American special services, she pointed out. Previously, such reports "were always confirmed, but also there always attempts to retouch this information and remove it from the front pages," Zakharova said. "In any case, almost every time this information was confirmed," the ministry's spokeswoman said.
McAfee's Intel Security tech firm has now released toolkits to detect rogue software:
The [CIA] malware, or 'rootkit', is designed to allow access to parts of a computer where it typically wouldn't be allowed and can hide the existence of other activities.

According to the leaked data, the CIA created Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) rootkits to hack into Apple Macbooks. The malicious software can allegedly embed itself in a computer's low-level firmware and runs as the system is booting up. It is also coded to survive system updates, reinstallations, and can restore malware that gets removed.


In response to the WikiLeaks release, Intel Security's Advanced Threat Research team has created a new module for its existing CHIPSEC open-source framework that can detect the rogue EFI. The module can run on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Assange had offered to work with tech firms on these issues. Many Silicon Valley firms apparently prefer the CIA over cooperating with WikiLeaks, however.
The Financial Times is reporting that many Silicon Valley firms will not be working with Wikileaks to cover up the CIA's access to their big data.

Several tech companies questioned by FT expressed a desire to not cooperate with the whistleblower on the ground of moral or legal barriers of dealing with classified information.

Silicon Valley insiders assume that Assange tried to improve his own reputation through cooperation with tech giants.

FT is reporting that their are several companies that might change their stance and start cooperation with WikiLeaks if more information would be revealed.
Update: This is rich:


In other words, when making a hack look like it was done by a third party: 1) DO leave dates/timestamps that correlate to general foreign (e.g. Russian) core working hours. 2) DO leave data in a binary file that demonstrates foreign (e.g. FSB/GRU) involvement in the creation of use of the binary/tool. 3) DO have data that contains foreign (e.g., Russian) cover terms, compartments, operation code names, and other foreign specific terminology in the binary.

Gee, sounds just like those Russian hacks!

Update: Former CIA deputy director Mike Morell says the Vault 7 leaks are an inside job:
"This data is not shared outside CIA. It's only inside CIA. It's on CIA's top secret network, which is not connected to any other network. So, this has to be an inside job," he said.



Attention

All roads lead to Moscow

Putin and Erdogan
© Damir Sagolj/Reuters Russia's President Vladimir Putin interacts with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan.
In the same week that the United States sent thousands of additional troops to Kuwait for deployment in Iraq and Syria, Russia was busy pursuing a heavy-duty diplomatic deployment.

The contrast speaks of a paradigm-shift in geopolitics. Russia has become the main player in the future of the vital Middle East region, where the US and its European allies formerly claimed to be the lynchpin powers.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow.

The next day, it was Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan's turn to be greeted in the Kremlin. The meeting in Moscow confirms the restored relations since the fatal Turkish shoot-down of a Russian fighter jet over Syria in November 2015.

Russia can rightly claim to have gained the respect of virtually all the countries in the Middle East, ranging from allies and foes alike. Syria and Iran, longtime allies, have expressed gratitude for Moscow's military intervention in Syria to salvage that country from a nearly six-year war, while, at the same time, states normally thought of as US clients, such as Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, have also paid their respects to Russia over its principled use of military force to stabilize the restive region.

The latter countries are particularly significant, given that they have backed proxy forces in Syria that have been fighting against Russia's ally, the Syrian government of President Assad. Israel and Saudi Arabia are also implacably opposed to Iran, another key Russian ally.

But here is a measure of Russia's kudos in the region. When Israel's Netanyahu came to Moscow this week - his third visit in 16 months - he was reportedly put in his place by Putin over a remark he had made comparing Iran to ancient Persia, claiming it was trying to "destroy Jews." Putin wagged his finger and told the Israeli leader to "stop dwelling in the past" and instead deal with a "changed world". The bumptious Netanyahu was suitably quietened by the admonishment.

It's hard to imagine any other international leader commanding that kind of deference.

Other countries in the Middle East that have recently sought renewed contact with Russia include Egypt, Libya, Qatar, and Bahrain.

Chess

Putin's spokesman expresses growing frustration with Trump administration

putin looking somewhat frustrated
In an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria broadcast on Sunday, Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed growing frustration with the inconclusive first two months of relations between Moscow and the Trump administration, which started off with hope for reconciliation and have instead devolved into a perpetuation of the Obama (and Hillary Clinton) imposed status quo. The election of President Trump, who had spoken approvingly of Putin and called for improved US-Russia relations, had raised hopes in the Kremlin. But Peskov - just like Syria leader Bashar al-Assad yesterday - said there are no signs of progress yet.

"Unfortunately, we don't have a proper understanding of when this dialogue can begin," Peskov told Fareed Zakaria (Peskov's take on the Trump administration begins 14:20 in the video below). "We certainly would expect our contacts to be more frequent, more in depth. We had quite a significant pause in our bilateral relations." Trump's early campaign statements had initially led to speculation that the US would drop sanctions imposed on Russia for its interference in Ukraine, however that approach appears to have been indefinitely delayed following recurring allegations of proximity between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Furthermore, quoted by CBS Peskov said that "Russia will never initiate putting this issue on the agenda."