03/03/12

Permalink US Congress passes authoritarian anti-protest law

A bill passed Monday in the US Congress and Thursday in the Senate would make it a felony—a serious criminal offense punishable by lengthy terms of incarceration—to participate in many forms of protest associated with the Occupy Wall Street protests of last year. Several commentators have dubbed it the “anti-Occupy” law, but its implications are far broader. The bill—H.R. 347, or the “Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011”—was passed by unanimous consent in the Senate, while only Ron Paul and two other Republicans voted against the bill in the House of Representatives (the bill passed 388-3). Not a single Democratic politician voted against the bill.


Permalink U.S. has military plan should Iran conflict "erupt", says air force chief

According to Bloomberg, Pentagon officials say U.S. prepared options to provide aerial refueling for IDF planes, as well as plans to attack Iranian military bases. - U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz said Wednesday that Washington has prepared military options to strike Iran's nuclear sites should conflict erupt, Bloomberg reported. Just four days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's scheduled meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, Schwartz told reporters that military options are being prepared in the event of a conflict.

AWIP: Shimon Peres tells Obama he must put all options on table with Iran


Permalink FBI chief warns "cyber crime" on par with "terrorism"

FBI director Robert Mueller warned a gathering of Internet security specialists that the threat of cyber attacks rivals terrorism as a national security concern. - The only way to combat cyber assaults is for police, intelligence agencies and private companies to join forces, Mueller said during a presentation at an annual RSA Conference in San Francisco on Thursday. "Technology is moving so rapidly that, from a security perspective, it is difficult to keep up," Mueller said. "In the future, we anticipate that the cyber threat will pose the number one threat to our country." It's essential that private corporations and government agencies across the globe coordinate on cyber crime, Mueller said, in part because nefarious hackers are already forming alliances. Gone are the "good old days" of teenage boys hacking into websites for fun, Muller said. Today's hackers are savvy and often work in groups, like traditional crime families. Private sector computer security researchers have attributed waves of cyber assaults to nations out to steal government or business secrets. "Once isolated hackers have joined forces to form criminal syndicates," Mueller said.

'resistance' - The resistance was the revolutionary group which was supposedly led by the arch-traitor, Emmanuel Goldstein. There is some question as to whether or not this group actually existed. The novel ["1984"] seems to imply that the resistance was simply fabricated by the government, or at the very least, that the police had agents posing as real resistance members in order to catch possible recruits. - The only thing that is for sure, is that the party blamed every possible woe of society on this group. The resistance was blamed for spreading herpes, contaminating the water supply, forging government documents (which was the reason for so many "misprints" in the papers), abducting party members, helping to aim rocket bombs to targets on Airstrip One, and destroying industrial machinery. Every single thing that ever goes wrong is blamed on this group. For instance: Whenever the trains don't run on time, it is said that the resistance has alter the train schedule ... When a department does meet their production goal, it is said that the resistance has altered the original data, resulting in a over-estimation of production for that year. [From Newspeak Dictionary]

PressTV: CIA ex-chief: Using Stuxnet ‘good idea’ (when against Iran)


Permalink STRATFOR EMAILS: US HAS ISSUED SEALED INDICTMENT AGAINST JULIAN ASSANGE

Confidential emails obtained from the US private intelligence firm Stratfor show that the United States Government has had a secret indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for more than 12 months.

Fred Burton, Stratfor’s Vice-President for Counterterrorism and Corporate Security, is a former Deputy Chief of the Department of State’s (DoS) counterterrorism division for the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).

In early 2011, Burton revealed in internal Stratfor correspondence that a secret Grand Jury had already issued a sealed indictment for Assange: "Not for Pub — We have a sealed indictment on Assange. Pls protect." According to Burton: "Assange is going to make a nice bride in prison. Screw the terrorist. He’ll be eating cat food forever." (1056988) A few weeks earlier, following Julian Assange’s release from a London jail, where he had been remanded as a result of a Swedish prosecutor’s arrest warrant, Fred Burton told SkyNews: "extradition [to the US is] more and more likely".

Emails from Fred Burton reveal that the US Government employs the same counterterrorism strategy against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as against Al Qaeda: "Take down the money. Go after his infrastructure. The tools we are using to nail and de-construct Wiki are the same tools used to dismantle and track aQ [Al Qaeda]. Thank Cheney & 43 [former US President George W. Bush]. Big Brother owns his liberal terrorist arse."

AWIP: Plans for Julian Assange
AWIP: Stratfor: executive boasted of 'trusted former CIA cronies'
War Is A Crime: Wikileaks Emails: The US Gov't Outsources Political Repression


Permalink Syria News - March 1, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos)

Thursday ended with 45 martyrs, among them 24 in Homs,7 martyrs fell in the town of Jabatha in Qunaitara, 4 martyrs in Idlib,4 martyrs in Damascus Suburbs "Douma, Dumair,Qotaifah and Zabadany",2 martyrs in Hama "Keranz and Traimseh,2 martyrs in DeirEzzor and a martyr each in Lattakia and Daraa.

Russia Today: ­Assad bad, rebels good? - Western leaders are classifying the Syrian conflict in more black-and-white terms every day, with Assad consistently on the dark side. But while Brussels and Washington condemn the Assad government, eyewitnesses from Homs tell chilling stories of atrocities committed by opposition fighters, who kidnap and kill anyone they choose.


Permalink Finkelstein, BDS and the destruction of Israel

In a recent and highly controversial interview, Norman Finkelstein, long a scourge of Israel, turned his guns on Palestinians and their supporters. He accused the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement of being a "cult", and claimed that its achievements were mostly exaggerated. - But what exercised Finkelstein most was his conclusion that if implemented, the demands of the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for BDS, would amount to "the destruction of Israel". "They don't want Israel," Finkelstein declared, "They think they're being very clever. They call it their three tiers... We want the end of the occupation, we want the right of return, and we want equal rights for Arabs in Israel. And they think they are very clever, because they know the result of implementing all three is what? What's the result? You know and I know what's the result: there's no Israel."


Permalink Ikea 'paid for secret police files on customers who complained'

Furniture giant Ikea paid for secret police files to spy on 'complaining' customers and 'suspicious' staff at stores in France, it was claimed today. - The Swedish company paid private security firms to carry out checks on criminal records and links to political groups on more than 200 people, it is alleged. Customers involved in legal action with Ikea and employees highlighted as 'suspicious' were all targeted in the scandal which began in 2003, it was reported today. France's Canard Enchaine newspaper said it had uncovered email showing bosses paid £70 each for the reports taken from a national French police database.The paper said: 'Questions were asked about more than 200 people, including requests for criminal records, vehicle registration checks and affiliations with political organisations. 'Ikea's head of security authorised payments of 80 euros for each check carried out.


Permalink Cluster munitions, land mines in Lebanon

Some four thousand people in Lebanon have been either killed or maimed since the Israeli aggressions began against the country in the 1970s and some 400 since the end of the 2006 summer war.

Lebanon was subject to over four million cluster munitions used by Israel during the 2006 summer war. Some five years on the war around 30 percent of Lebanese land remains contaminated as a result of Israel using sub-munitions which covered vast areas thereby effecting civilian life. This devastating truth has made Lebanon a forerunner in the action plan to eradicate the use of cluster munitions or land mines.

Lebanon hosted the second conference of State Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions as part of a global campaign to make sure that the ban on land mines and cluster munitions becomes a binding international law. It has also called on the United Nations to ask Israel to give in the maps of areas in which it planted land mines; however Israel has refused to do so.

Still there are many areas where Israel haphazardly threw cluster munitions. Many Lebanese and international organizations have worked on uncovering these areas and demining and some volunteers have lost their lives as a result. There are also many awareness campaigns to teach people about cluster munitions and land mines and not to enter areas that are unknown to them especially in the South and Bekaa villages.

In this week's INFocus we will interview with victims and their families, and members of organizations which continue to give assistance in the demining action.


Permalink EU summit adopts Fiscal Pact for European-wide austerity

The Fiscal Pact increases pressure on EU member states to cut government spending. It ensures that austerity policies are continued regardless of election results and changes of government. It effectively strips parliaments of their most important power, control over the budget, and deprives voters of any opportunity to influence fiscal policy. German Chancellor Angela Merkel described this profoundly undemocratic treaty, which came about largely on her initiative, as a “milestone in the history of the European Union.”


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