Manning testifies at WikiLeaks hearing: 'I thought I was going to die in a cage'. - After 917 days in military captivity, the world finally heard on Thursday from Bradley Manning, the army soldier accused of being the source of the largest leak of government secrets in US history. In a dramatic opening half-hour of testimony on the third day of the pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade military base in Maryland, Manning spoke at length for the first time about the period after his arrest in May 2010. Manning detailed the trauma he experienced at the hands of the US military while he was incarcerated for having allegedly handed hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. His defence lawyer, David Coombs, drew a life-sized representation on the courtroom floor of the 6ft by 8ft cell in which Manning was held at the Quantico base in Virginia after he was brought to the US.

The Guardian: WikiLeaks suspect Manning mistreated by military, psychiatrist says

[VIDEO: NATO Test Run 07-14-2012] Syrian SANA News Agency website [came] under fierce attack from NATO. This operation of disinformation, directly managed from Washington by Ben Rhodes, the US deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, aims at demoralizing the Syrians in order to pave the way for a coup d’état, which will end all hopes of democratization.

The internet has been cut off and mobile phones have been disrupted in Syria, monitoring firms have said.

Networking firm Renesys said the country's connection protocols were unreachable, "effectively removing the country from the internet". Local reports suggested that the internet had been down since early afternoon, and that telephone lines were only working intermittently. The Syrian government has blamed "terrorists" for the disconnection. "The terrorists targeted the internet lines, resulting in some regions being cut off," Syria's minister of information told a pro-government television station. According to activists, it has been known for similar communication cuts to occur in isolated areas before military operations. Amnesty International has described the reports as "very disturbing".

Russia Today: Total blackout: Syria goes offline nationwide
Russia Today: US accelerates intervention in Syrian war
AWIP: US to "deepen" Syria intervention by arming militants: Officials

Thierry Meyssan: NATO preparing vast disinformation campaign
Thierry Meyssan: Syrie: l’OTAN préparerait une vaste opération d’intoxication

Tony Cartalucci: NATO Preparing Psy-Op in Syria - Internet connections & telecom reportedly failing across Syria, right as NATO has finished preparing their proxy "SNC" and readies for final push. In early summer, NATO had attempted to overwhelm Damascus and Aleppo with a torrent of psychological operations, communication disruptions, foreign terrorists crossing Syria's borders, and a devastating assassination of top Syrian officials in the heart of Damascus. The idea was to cause panic, division, mass defections and fold the Syrian state when in reality, it was more than able to fight on. Syria called the bluff and here it still stands. With the Israel-Gaza charade concluded, it was reported that NATO would pivot back toward Syria - and it has. It has handpicked a new proxy-regime to act as the face of the terrorists battling Syrian civilians and soldiers alike within the country, while it has been conducting a concerted and refocused propaganda campaign to paint the Syrian government as once again, "imminently about to fall."

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says all the necessary physical infrastructure for absolute totalitarianism through the internet is ready. He told RT that the question now is whether the turnkey process that already started will go all the way. [Transcript:]

RT: So you’ve written this book ‘Cypherpunks. Freedom and the Future of the Internet’ based on one of the programs that you’ve made for RT. In it, you say that the internet can enslave us. I don’t really get that, because the internet it’s a thing, it’s a soulless thing. Who are the actual enslavers behind it?
Julian Assange: The people who control the interception of the internet and, to some degree also, physically control the big data warehouses and the international fiber-optic lines. We all think of the internet as some kind of Platonic Realm where we can throw out ideas and communications and web pages and books and they exist somewhere out there. Actually, they exist on web servers in New York or Nairobi or Beijing, and information comes to us through satellite connections or through fiber-optic cables. So whoever physically controls this controls the realm of our ideas and communications. And whoever is able to sit on those communications channels, can intercept entire nations, and that’s the new game in town, as far as state spying is concerned – intercepting entire nations, not individuals.

RT: This sounds like a futuristic scenario, but you are saying that the future is already here.
JA: The US National Security Agency has been doing this for some 20-30 years. But it has now spread to mid-size nations, even Gaddafi’s Libya was employing the EAGLE system, which is produced by French company AMESYS, pushed there in 2009, advertised in its international documentation as a nationwide interception system. So what’s happened over the last 10 years is the ever-decreasing cost of intercepting each individual now to the degree where it is cheaper to intercept every individual rather that it is to pick particular people to spy upon.

Egypt’s Constituent Assembly has approved the final draft of the country’s first constitution after the ouster of autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak. - The assembly’s marathon session began on Thursday and came to end early on Friday, with the members voting for all the 234 articles of the charter. The final draft will be sent to President Mohamed Morsi for approval on Friday, who is expected to submit it for a popular referendum. The panel upheld Islamic principles as the main source of legislation in the country. “Islam is the state religion, and the Arabic language is its official language. The principles of Islamic sharia are the main source of legislation,” an agreed clause read. The assembly also approved a clause stating that the principles of Christian and Jewish legal traditions would guide their personal and religious affairs. The Muslim Brotherhood - whose candidate won the presidential vote six months ago - hopes the move will help end protests against the president.

The UN General Assembly has voted to upgrade Palestinians’ diplomatic status to a “non-member observer state,” thus implicitly recognizing a Palestinian state. This comes despite strong opposition from the US and Israel.

The Palestinian bid has been upheld with 138 votes in favor, 9 against and 41 abstentions. Addressing the General Assembly on Thursday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the historic vote was the last chance to save the two-state solution. He also told the meeting that it “is being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine.” In his speech Abbas mentioned Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza that took place this month and stressed that the Palestinians would accept "no less than the independence of the state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital." The Israeli government has described Abbas’s speech, which was met with a standing ovation at the General Assembly, as “defamatory and venomous.”"The world watched a defamatory and venomous speech that was full of mendacious propaganda against the IDF (army) and the citizens of Israel," the Israeli PM’s office said in a statement.

BBC: Palestinians win upgraded UN status by wide margin - Video
CBS News: U.N. General Assembly votes to recognize Palestinian state - Video

Wonder’s representatives will claim that he did not know the nature of the group, the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and that he believes such a performance would be incongruent with his status as a UN “Messenger of Peace,” according to a source who has read email exchanges between Wonder’s representatives and organizers of the event. Representatives for Wonder, who performed at a 1998 gala honoring Israel’s 50th anniversary, say the performance would be incongruent with his status as a UN ‘Messenger of Peace.’

GMO giants DuPont have contracted dozens of retired law enforcement officers to begin patrolling farms in the US next year to spot any potential intellectual property theft. - DuPont Co, the second-largest seed country in the world, is hoping to find farmers that have purchased contracts to use their genetically modified soybean seeds but have breached the terms of agreement by illegally using the product for repeat harvests. Should farmers replant GMO seeds licensed by DuPont, they could be sued for invalidating their contracts. [...] DuPont competitors Monsanto have been known to relentlessly sue small-time farmers who have been caught abusing their own patented GMO products, but the latest maneuver is being considered by some a form of intimidation. DuPont has cut a deal with Saskatchewan-based Agro Protection International, a company that contracts mostly retired police officers to patrol potential violations of IP law.

“Everyone always goes to the idea that we are trying to intimidate people and nothing could be further from the truth,” Agro President Dennis Birtles tells Bloomberg. “We are trying to create deterrence.”[sic!]

Local lawyers say video of an alleged beating by a Seattle police officer is so explosive that if released, it would immediately go viral.

They claim that is the reason Seattle police are keeping the video hidden from public view. As a result, they and their client are suing the department. Back in October, Leo Etherly was bruised and black-eyed. As for how he got that way, Seattle police dash cam video could tell that story. Except police won't allow Etherly to have a copy, and they won't allow Etherly's attorney to share his copy with the public. Here's how Etherly tells it: "I was motionless, and he (the officer) was still punching me and says something to the effect of, 'You effing idiot.'" Witness video shows Etherly's face after he is already handcuffed on the ground. Store surveillance video indistinctly shows Etherly on the hood of a police cruiser. "At that point, (the officer) throws a tremendously fast fist to Leo Etherly's eye, causing permanent partial blindness," said attorney James Egan. But the best video of Etherly's Oct. 6 arrest would be from the police officer's own dashboard camera. Etherly says he was first choked then knocked out, and didn't realize the extent of what happened until he saw the dash cam video. [...] Late Monday afternoon, Seattle police released a brief statement saying that Egan has already received a copy of the dash cam video, but will get another copy through the Public Records Act when the department's process is completed.

On a cold November night in Times Square, Officer Lawrence DePrimo was working a counterterrorism post when he encountered an older, barefooted homeless man. The officer disappeared for a moment, then returned with a new pair of boots, and knelt to help the man put them on.

The act of kindness would have gone unnoticed and mostly forgotten, had it not been for a tourist from Arizona. Her snapshot — taken with her cellphone on Nov. 14 and posted to the New York Police Department’s official Facebook page late Tuesday — has made Officer DePrimo an overnight Internet hero. By Wednesday evening, the post had been viewed 1.6 million times, and had attracted nearly 275,000 “likes” and more than 16,000 comments — a runaway hit for a Police Department that waded warily onto the social media platform this summer with mostly canned photos of gun seizures, award ceremonies and the police commissioner. Among all of those posts, the blurry image of Officer DePrimo kneeling to help the shoeless man as he sat on 42nd Street stood out. “This is definitely the most viral,” said Barbara Chen, a spokeswoman for the department who helps manage its Facebook page. Thousands of people commented on Facebook and Reddit, which linked to the post on Wednesday. Most of them praised Officer Deprimo, yet some suspected the photograph had been staged. Many debated whether the officer’s actions were representative of police officers in general, or were just unusually exceptional.

The forensic psychiatrist said that he had never experienced such an unreceptive response from his military colleagues, not even when he treated terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo. - The psychiatrist who treated the WikiLeaks suspect, Bradley Manning, while he was in custody in the brig at Quantico has testified that his medical advice was regularly ignored by marine commanders who continued to impose harsh conditions on the soldier even though he posed no risk of suicide. Captain William Hoctor told Manning's pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade that he grew frustrated and angry at the persistent refusal by marine officers to take on board his medical recommendations.

The U.N. General Assembly is set to implicitly recognize a sovereign state of Palestine on Thursday despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding much-needed funds for the West Bank government. - A Palestinian resolution that would change the Palestinian Authority's U.N. observer status from "entity" to "non-member state," like the Vatican, is expected to pass easily in the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly. Israel, the United States and a handful of other members are planning to vote against what they see as a largely symbolic and counterproductive move by the Palestinians.

The Guardian: Palestinians set to win statehood recognition in UN vote
Jason Ditz: Win Certain, But US Keeps Trying to Persuade Palestinians to Abandon UN Bid

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced into eastern Qarara town to the east of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, on Thursday morning.

Security sources told the PIC reporter that the soldiers in armored vehicles and tanks escorted bulldozers into eastern Qarara and bulldozed land along the security fence. The soldiers then went southwards to Farahin suburb in Abasan Al-Kabira village before turning back through the security fence. The sources said that the soldiers infiltrated 100 meters deep into southern Gaza territory. The incursion is the first of its kind since the calm agreement was signed last Wednesday between Israel and the resistance factions in Gaza under Egyptian patronage after eight days of Israeli aggression that left 176 citizens killed and around1400 others wounded. In earlier violations of the calm agreement, Israel killed a citizen and wounded more than 30 others in shooting at the buffer zone that was supposedly annulled in the agreement. The Israeli navy also kidnapped six Palestinian fishermen at sea.

Here's the full transcript of our interview with Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, who has been President of Iceland since 1996, and announced last month he would be running for a fifth term. Keep reading to hear his thoughts on Iceland's recovery, and how a large financial sector can ruin a nation.

How has life in Iceland changed since the meltdown? - It’s very difficult to give a short description of how life has changed. It’s absolutely clear in Iceland, like many other countries, the financial crisis came as a profound shock, not only to the financial institutions, but also to ordinary people, the economy...So thousands of Icelanders had to struggle with fundamental change in their economic situation, loss of income, even loss of property, increased burden of loans, unemployment, and the nation as a whole also had to face -- which somehow we were fortunate to realize early on -- that the collapse of the banks was not just an economic or financial crisis, but also developed into a very profound political, social, and even judicial crisis.

Soon after the Sweden Democrats rushed to the defence of MP Lars Isovaara, who reportedly snuffled and spat in contempt at a parliamentary security guard, the bag he said was lost in the robbery that upset him was found left behind in a restaurant. - Isovaara's version of the story was put in doubt when tabloid Expressen revealed a new timeline of events. They report that Isovaara called the police at 2:30am on Wednesday to report being robbed, allegedly by two "unknown, immigrant-background men", in an encounter that made him fall out of his wheelchair. Isovaara had been on his way back to his overnight quarters at the Swedish parliament building from a restaurant. Staff there told Expressen they had found his bag at 2.10am, a full 20 minutes before the alleged robbery. Police called to the scene then witnessed Isovaar "making pig noises" and "spitting in contempt" at the guard, who reportedly had an immigrant background, prompting the officers to report the MP for racist abuse.

Since 2009 there have been 75 confirmed self-immolations within Tibet, 12 occurring in 2011 and 65 in 2012. Below is a map marking the locations of the self-immolations. Detailed information about each self-immolation can be found on our self-immolation fact sheet. Note on geography: Tibet was traditionally comprised of three main areas: Amdo (north-eastern Tibet), Kham (eastern Tibet) and U-Tsang (central and western Tibet). The Tibet Autonomous Region was set up by the Chinese government in 1965 and covers the area of Tibet west of the Dri-chu (Yangtse river), including part of Kham. The rest of Amdo and Kham have been incorporated into Chinese provinces, and where Tibetan communities were said to have 'compact inhabitancy' in these provinces they were designated Tibetan autonomous prefectures and counties. As a result most of Qinghai and parts of Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces are acknowledged by the Chinese government to be 'Tibetan.' ICT uses the term 'Tibet' to refer to all Tibetan areas currently under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China.

A court in Argentina has begun a large trial of the so-called Dirty War crimes that were committed during the country’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship. - The trial of 68 former officials, who are facing some 800 charges of kidnap, torture and murder associated with an elite naval college, began on Wednesday in the capital Buenos Aires, AFP reported. During the seven-year junta period, almost 5,000 people were sent to the infamous Naval School of Mechanics (ESMA), which served as a secret detention camp in Buenos Aires. Only a fraction survived the camp’s horrors, and most of the bodies of those who perished have never been recovered. Other victims were sedated, put on airplanes and tossed into the Atlantic Ocean.

The new Syrian opposition coalition is now seeking official recognition from abroad, and aims to administer the flow of funds and potentially arms to rebels. But the anti-Assad forces may see direct assistance from foreign troops, as a British top soldier has said hundreds of UK troops could be deployed to Syria if 'the humanitarian situation worsens'. Meanwhile, fears are mounting that rebel fighters are increasingly targeting civilians for simply showing allegiance to the government, as Maria Finoshina explains.

The Obama administration is considering a deeper intervention in Syria, including direct supply of arms to militants and planting CIA and NATO intelligence agents in the country, in efforts to overthrow the Damascus government. - The most urgent decision, expected to come next week, is the deployment of NATO surface-to-air missiles in Turkey, supposedly to shield the neighboring country from what US officials are increasingly publicizing as ‘incoming Syrian missiles,’ US daily The New York Times reports Thursday, quoting “officials involved in the discussions.” According to the report, while there is a broader debate within the Obama administration on “how heavily America should intervene in another Middle Eastern conflict,” no decision has yet been taken. However, following Obama’s reelection, the White House is “more willing to take risks” on a bolder intervention. The report further quotes a “senior administration official” as claiming that “recent tactical successes” by anti-Damascus militants “have given this debate a new urgency, and a new focus.”

[Editor's Comment:] The CIA/Mossad have been arming their "militants" for months already. So arming them is nothing new. They've been "deeply" involved in Syria for the same stretch of time too, so nothing new there either. Less known to the general public however, is that the CIA/Mossad also have carried out terror attacks in Syria, maiming & killing a number of people, to create mayhem & chaos and to put the blame for this on the regime there. The international press has been very helpful in this respect. The CIA/Mossad clearly intend to continue with their terrorist activities (“recent tactical successes”). They couldn't care less about the system of international law. Never did. Nothing new about that either. What is new however, is that they now are saying they're “more willing to take risks” on "a bolder intervention". - So, translating their euphemisms, we now may realize that 'bolder' means more reckless, and that 'deeply' means more overt and on an even broader scale than before. This probably means using NATO for their aggression in this region. This certainly would be something new. What remains the same however is that they're all very, very depraved and that their agenda for conquest & empire is deeply criminal in character. - Syria has every right to resist this, like any other nation would.

BBC: Syria: Internet and mobile communication 'cut off'
Russia Today: Total blackout: Syria goes offline nationwide
Russia Today: US accelerates intervention in Syrian war
Christian Science Monitor: Syrian rebels cut off Damascus airport in critical step
Jason Ditz: Over 100 Slain as Car Bombs Strike Damascus
Washington Post: Officials: Syrian rebels’ arsenal includes up to 40 antiaircraft missile systems

Americans might once again be guaranteed the right to trial: a clause in the most recent draft of next year’s defense spending bill ensures that United States citizens aren’t stripped of their right to habeas corpus. - Lawmakers have included provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 that relieves those worried with how last year’s bill allows for the indefinite detention of Americans without trial. Under the 2012 NDAA, any person considered a substantial supporter of a group alleged to have committed hostilities against the US can be held in a military prison until essentially the end of time without ever being brought to court. In the latest draft of next year’s NDAA, Congress is reminded of the writ of habeas corpus and told any legal American resident must be awarded a fair trial.

The TSA has refused to attend a House Transportation hearing this week, with agency head John Pistole personally refusing to appear and declaring that the Congressional Committee has “no jurisdiction over the TSA”. - The hearing, schedule for Thursday, will be held by the Subcommittee on Aviation, a part of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (TIC). It is titled How Best to Improve Our Nation’s Airport Passenger Security System through Common Sense Solutions. Headed by Rep. Thomas Petri, it will “examine the impact that the regulations and policies of the Transportation Security Administration have on aviation passenger experience and the free flow of aviation commerce,” according to a brief on the subcommittee’s website. House Republicans on the TIC have made it clear that they believe the TSA is in dire need of reform. A section on the Committee’s website describes the TSA as “a massive, inflexible, backward-looking bureaucracy of more than 65,000.” The TIC is currently headed by Rep. John Mica, a consistent critic of the TSA, who has pushed for airports to ditch the agency and replace it with private security screeners. Mica, who wrote the legislation that established the TSA, recently declared the agency to be a miserable failure. With public backlash against the TSA at an all time high, and given the scrutiny that the TSA has faced at the hands of the TIC and its subcommittees, it is somewhat unsurprising that agency head Pistole is no longer willing to face the music as it were.

Meet Robocod, the latest weapon in Homeland Security's increasingly high-tech underwater arsenal, a robotic fish designed to safeguard the coastline of America and bring justice to the deep. Well almost.

The new robot, named BioSwimmer, is actually based not on a cod but a tuna which is said to have the ideal natural shape for an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV). Its ultra-flexible body coupled with mechanical fins and tail allow it to dart around the water just like a real fish even in the harshest of environments. And while it does have a number of security applications, this high maneuverability makes it perfectly suited for accessing hard-to-reach places such as flooded areas of ships, sea chests and parts of oil tankers. Other potential missions include inspecting and protecting harbors and piers, performing area searches and military applications. BioSwimmer uses the latest battery technology for long-duration operation and boasts an array of navigation, sensor processing, and communications equipment designed for constricted spaces. It is being developed by Boston Engineering Corporation's Advanced Systems Group (ASG) basesd in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Proposed law scheduled for a vote next week originally increased Americans' e-mail privacy. Then law enforcement complained. Now it increases government access to e-mail and other digital files. - A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans' e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law, CNET has learned. Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns, according to three individuals who have been negotiating with Leahy's staff over the changes. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail, is scheduled for next week.

Tom Burghardt: Senate Set to Introduce Bill for Broad Email Spying

Jane Harman with former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon

It's astounding to see reports by CNN, Politico, and others that former California Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harman is being considered as a possible new head of the CIA, given the fact that she was implicated in an Israeli spy scandal in 2005.

Despite apparently strong evidence against Harman, the expected Justice Department investigation never happened; the powerful Congresswoman and Israel advocate from southern California got off; and today the media, at least so far, are failing to mention an incident that one would expect to be problematic for a potential director of the CIA. Below, based on reports by TPM, Salon, Time, Stephen Walt, the New York Times, Antiwar.com and a C&L, is the general story of Harman's apparent promise to an Israeli agent to help people indicted for espionage on behalf of Israel:

In 2005 a federal wiretap reportedly picked up a conversation between Congresswoman Harman and a suspected Israeli agent. According to the reports, Harman told the Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In return, the suspected Israeli agent (who may have been a dual-citizen American) reportedly pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi, then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee. Harman was already the ranking Democrat on the committee. At the end of the conversation, Harman reportedly said: "This conversation doesn’t exist.”

Harman advocated trying to break up Iran along ethnic lines - VIDEO

James Petras: Elite Intrigues: It’s Not About Sex, Stupid! - How could a proven collaborator with the Israeli-Mossad and Zionist zealot like Jane Harman emerge as a ‘leading candidate’ to replace General Petraeus, as Director of the CIA, within days of his resignation? What are the political links, past and present between Congressman Eric Cantor, (the fanatical leader of the pro-Israel power bloc in the US Congress, who handed Agent Humphries’ unauthorized files on Petraeus over to the FBI Director Muellar) and Zionist power broker Jane Harman, a prominent candidate to replace Petraeus?

European Commission enabling blockade of WikiLeaks by U.S. hard-right Lieberman/King, contrary to European Parliament’s wishes

WikiLeaks has released European Commission documents which allegedly show ‘hard-right US politicians’ orchestrated an ‘extrajudicial’ banking blockade against the whistle-blowing site. - In the heavily redacted documents, MasterCard Europe “admits” US Congressmen Joseph Lieberman and Peter T. King were involved in conversations with MasterCard in the United States, WikiLeaks said Tuesday. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange tweeted on Tuesday "it is concerning that hard-right elements in the United States have been able to pressure VISA & MasterCard," adding “there is no sovereignty without economic sovereignty."

Liberman, one-time chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also went after WikLeaks by introducing the so-called SHIELD Act (Securing Human Intelligence and Enforcing Lawful Dissemination) in 2010. The act would have made it a federal offense to publish information “concerning the identity of a classified source or informant of an element of the intelligence community of the United States,” or “concerning the human intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government” if said publication was in opposition to US interests.