Cooperation between Germany's foreign intelligence service, the BND, and America's NSA is deeper than previously believed. German agents appear to have crossed into constitutionally questionable territory. ● Three months before Edward Snowden shocked the world with his revelations, members of NSA's "Special Source Operations department" sat down for a weekly meeting at their headquarters in the US state of Maryland. The group, considered internally to be particularly efficient, has several tasks, one of which is overseeing the intelligence agency's delicate relationship with large telecommunications firms. It is the department that Snowden referred to as the "crown jewels" of the NSA. ● At this particular meeting, one significant slip-up was on the meeting agenda. On March 14, 2013, an SSO member had reported a potentially damaging incident. "Commercial consortium personnel" had apparently discovered the program "Wharpdrive," for which SSO had tapped a fiber-optic cable. "Witting partner personnel have removed the evidence," he explained further, "and a plausible cover story was provided." According to an internal NSA document to which SPIEGEL has access, a team was quietly put together to to reinstall the program. ● The NSA, apparently, did not perform the highly sensitive operation on its own. All signs indicate that the agency had help from Germany's Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), the country's foreign intelligence agency. The code name Wharpdrive appears in a paper drafted in preparation for a BND delegation's visit to NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, and which instructs NSA leaders to "thank the BND for their assistance with the trilateral program." It also makes clear that the German agency plays a leadership role in the Wharpdrive program, with the NSA providing only technical assistance.

Der Spiegel: New NSA Revelations: Inside Snowden's Germany File
Der Spiegel: Abbreviations Explained: How to Read the NSA Documents
Der Spiegel: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit [12/29/2013]
Ulrich Rippert: The return of the state secret police in Germany

Julian Assange is promising another massive leak of information affecting 50 countries on Thursday to mark his two years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. ● On the eve of that anniversary, the Australian editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks invited the world’s media to dial in to the embassy so he could download. In his conference call late on Wednesday night, Australian time, Assange called former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr a liar; he chastised US President Barack Obama; he revealed he had done more kilometres than he could count on his cross-trainer; and he spoke of his pride in WikiLeaks’ “state-of-the-art” technical clout which had allowed him – while confined in his diplomatic refuge – to “manage” the evacuation of American intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden from Hong Kong during “the largest ever intelligence manhunt the world has ever seen”.

The man who trained more than 66 countries in open source methods calls for re-invention of intelligence to re-engineer Earth. ● Robert David Steele, former Marine, CIA case officer, and US co-founder of the US Marine Corps intelligence activity, is a man on a mission. But it's a mission that frightens the US intelligence establishment to its core. With 18 years experience working across the US intelligence community, followed by 20 more years in commercial intelligence and training, Steele's exemplary career has spanned almost all areas of both the clandestine world. Steele started off as a Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer. After four years on active duty, he joined the CIA for about a decade before co-founding the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity, where he was deputy director. Widely recognised as the leader of the Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) paradigm, Steele went on to write the handbooks on OSINT for NATO, the US Defense Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Special Operations Forces. In passing, he personally trained 7,500 officers from over 66 countries.

Analysis of photographs and satellite imagery strongly indicates that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) conducted mass executions in Tikrit after seizing control of the city on June 11, 2014. The analysis suggests that ISIS killed between 160 and 190 men in at least two locations between June 11 and 14. The number of victims may well be much higher, but the difficulty of locating bodies and accessing the area has prevented a full investigation, Human Rights Watch said. On June 12, ISIS claimed to have executed 1,700 “Shi’a members of the army” in Tikrit. Two days later, it posted to a website photographs with groups of apparently executed men. On June 22, Iraq’s human rights minister announced that ISIS had executed 175 Iraqi Air Force recruits in Tikrit. “The photos and satellite images from Tikrit provide strong evidence of a horrible war crime that needs further investigation,” said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director. “ISIS apparently executed at the very least 160 people in Tikrit.”

Association Agreement with the European Union envisages bringing the legislatures of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia in line with the EU norms and creating a free trade zone. ● Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Georgia's Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili and Moldova's Prime Minister Iurie Leancã have signed their respective Association Agreements with the EU. Association Agreement with the European Union envisages bringing the legislatures of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia in line with the EU norms and creating a free trade zone. However, the agreement does not make the three countries the members of the EU yet. The document will come into effect after it is ratified by all EU member countries.

Reporting that the Obama Administration's 'legal' memo justification for the assassination of US citizens cites Israeli law is getting a lot of publicity. But only in the alternative media. The zionist controlled mainstream puppets do not want everyone to know this so it's up to us to point it out to all we know. It's one example. There are many more. As part of the great taboo, mentioning this or anything negative about Israel or something about the inordinate jewish influence over US policies may get you labeled anti-semitic. I just call it being anti-criminal.

It is going from bad to worse for the Iraqi government, whose armed forces according to at least one unconfirmed media report, have suffered major losses. Perhaps confirming this, is the report from Reuters that overnight ISIS continued it southern creep toward Baghdad, and has now reached a town that is just an hour from Baghdad which is home to four natural gas fields on Thursday, "another gain by Sunni insurgents who have swiftly taken large areas to the north and west of the Iraqi capital."

1 - A decade of war and occupation has not defeated the will of the Iraqi people to regain their national independence. The US attempt to conquer Iraq has failed, due to the continued resistance of the Iraqis and their refusal to allow themselves to be subjugated. The political process imposed by the occupation has resulted in a sectarian and ethnic divide, the result of a conscious policy to weaken and indeed to destroy the national identity of what was once the most developed country in the Arab world. Even as US policy to reconstruct the Middle East after its own designs has failed, it continues to speak of dividing the country into three as a last resort to guarantee control over the oil resources of the area.

2 - The Al-Maliki regime, left behind as the guardian of US interests under the imposed conditions of the Bremer decrees and constitution, has proved itself incapable of realizing the aspirations and hopes of the Iraqi people for peace and self-determination. Large segments of the population remain subjected to oppression or imprisonment as well as excluded from the political participation in the destiny of their country. The corrupt politicians and the so-called parliament in the green zone have continued to serve the interests of foreign powers rather than those of the Iraqi people. They have no role to play in the fight to bring peace and reconciliation to Iraq.

Dear friends, Very little is really know about the inner workings of the US-EU relationship and the corporate media only serves us the official and completely meaningless propaganda line. During the war in Korea, General MacArthur's insane threats to use nuclear weapons did trigger something of an European revolt (unlike the US, Europe was well within reach of Soviet bombers, including those with nuclear weapons). Could the absolute insanity of what is taking place in the Ukraine also trigger a European awakening? Could the European elites ever find it in themselves to stand up to the almighty Uncle Sam? Check out the short article below which, I think, is an amazing illustration of the real nature of the US-EU relationship. This article was translated from French into English by the same wonderful people who are the editors of vineyardsaker.fr, the French-language "mirror+" ("plus" because it has more than just translations of what is posted here). To them, yet again, I owe a big "merci les amis!". Kind regards, The Saker [Article here]

Professor Noam Chomsky, Sir Richard Dalton, Caroline Lucas, Ken Livingstone and others argue that the former UK prime minister is tainted by the war in Iraq. ● This Friday, 27 June, will mark the seven-year anniversary of Tony Blair's appointment as the Quartet representative to the Middle East. We, the undersigned, urge you to remove him with immediate effect as a result of his poor performance in the role, and his legacy in the region as a whole. We, like many, are appalled by Iraq's descent into a sectarian conflict that threatens its very existence as a nation, as well as the security of its neighbours. We are also dismayed, however, at Tony Blair's recent attempts to absolve himself of any responsibility for the current crisis by isolating it from the legacy of the Iraq war. In reality, the invasion and occupation of Iraq had been a disaster long before the recent gains made by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The sectarian conflict responsible for much of the war's reprehensible human cost was caused in part by the occupying forces' division of the country's political system along sectarian lines. In order to justify the invasion, Tony Blair misled the British people by claiming that Saddam Hussein had links to al-Qaida. In the wake of recent events it is a cruel irony for the people of Iraq that perhaps the invasion's most enduring legacy has been the rise of fundamentalist terrorism in a land where none existed previously. We believe that Mr Blair, as a vociferous advocate of the invasion, must accept a degree of responsibility for its consequences.

A former Ukrainian intelligence officer revealed that Dimtry Yarosh who is the leader of far-right political party (pravy sektor) has been holding frequent meetings since the onset of street protests with Mossad officers in Israeli embassy in Kiev. ● According to the former Ukrainian spy, the Israelis instructed Yarosh and his party to shift from peaceful demonstrations to more violent military actions. Israelis has trained many pravay sector members to shoot Ukrainian policemen in order to aggravate the sense of hatred between demonstrators and police. The current head of Ukraine’s security service is so close to Yarosh nationalist party. The interim government before the rise of newly elected government had removed all evidence relating to the events of the Independence Square in Kiev which may indicate Israelis were orchestrating unrest in that country. In addition, the United States also has an extensive relationship with Pravy Sektor. In late April 2014, when Yarosh travelled to Washington to co-ordinate his future policies with Americans, he received 5 million dollars from Victoria Nuland.