12/12/14

Permalink CIA Enhanced Interrogation Techniques Horrific but "Legal": Senator

Legality - The Last Resort of A Scoundrel: Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr has stated that the CIA's interrogation methods are legal and the recent Senate report does not offer the American people any new knowledge. The enhanced interrogation techniques, used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and described in a recent Senate report, may be alarming to US citizens, but are justifiable from the legal perspective, incoming Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr has told Sputnik. "We may look back and say we should never do this again, that is fine. But it was legal, it was directed by the [US] president and the individuals were cleared by the Justice Department," Burr said Thursday. The senator added that the new report on CIA activities, released by the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday, does not offer the American people any new knowledge.

Xymphora The CIA: Deep torture
Paul Craig Roberts The CIA’s Torture Program
Igor Volsky 17 Disgraceful Facts Buried In The Senate’s 600 Page Torture Report
CIA chief challenges torture report claims, defends Bush-era tactics (RT.com)
Former CIA directors defend waterboarding, rectal rehydration (RT.com)
10 most shocking facts we found in CIA torture report (RT.com)


Permalink Police State: Congress quietly expands NSA powers for spying on Americans

The campaign to rein in the surveillance of Americans by the National Security Agency (NSA) has become even more difficult. Instead, Congress has used a set of provisions to expand the agency’s data-gathering power. By way of two pieces of legislation, Congress maintained and expanded the NSA’s surveillance powers. In a bill now headed for President Barack Obama’s desk, Congress gave the agency what civil liberties advocates argue is an unprecedented authority to collect and store data belonging to American citizens. Additionally, the omnibus spending bill passed by the House on Thursday – intended to keep the government running through most of next year – was stripped of the amendment banning the NSA from conducting ‘backdoor’ surveillance on Americans and insisting that tech companies redesign their products to make them more surveillance-friendly. That amendment had previously passed the House easily in June. The Intelligence Authorization Act 2015, which will fund intelligence agencies for the next year, passed in a 325–100 vote, with 50 Democrats and 45 Republicans opposing. Through Section 309 of the act, Congress gave unparalleled legal authority to the government’s warrantless surveillance powers to allow for “the acquisition, retention, and dissemination” of US phone and internet data.

Stephen Lendman Congress Authorizes Unlimited Spying on US Citizens


Permalink Police State: Spain Sets Stiff Fines for "Unauthorized Protests"

Spain's lower house of parliament approved legislation Thursday that allows for the summary expulsion of migrants entering the country's North African enclaves illegally and hefty fines for protests outside parliament buildings or strategic installations. The Public Security Law was approved in a 181-141 vote after being heavily criticized by opposition parties and rights groups as an attempt by the conservative government to muzzle protests over its handling of the economic crisis. The measures, which update a 1992 law, also include fines of up to 30,000 euros ($37,000) for disseminating photographs of police officers that endanger them or police operations. Spanish cities have been the scene of weekly protests, which are mostly peaceful, since the onset of the crisis in 2008. The bill was passed easily because the conservative Popular Party has an absolute majority. Opposition parties have pledged to scrap it if elected to office.

PressTV: Spain parliament passes bill restricting protests
DWN: Fotografieren von Polizisten ist ab sofort per Strafe verboten
El Diario: Plataformas ciudadanas, ONG, activistas: las voces que se rebelan contra "la mordaza"
El País: El PP aprueba su ‘ley mordaza’ en solitario y entre protestas


Permalink "Er zerstört alles": Merkel's Putin-Bashing Gets Shriller. German Media Displays Stunning Collusion

Merkel fires accusations at Putin through her subordinates. In obvious collusion and scripted interviewing, German TV interviewer completes the attack by making all sorts of innuendo in loaded questions which Merkel refuses to contradict. An absolutely priceless article, for pointing out the crazy obseqiousness of the German TV "journalist" in a Merkel interview - where he practically announces that Putin is about to invade the Baltics. The German media is really one of the funniest things we have seen in a long time. First we thought, well, this is evidence of CIA infiltration of the top media, which seems to be an actual fact, and we still think this is widespread, and you can find many articles about it on this site. But it goes beyond that. It has something to do with the German national psyche. Their incapacity for subtleness and tact. It's quite entertaining. We think Merkel is going to completely self-destruct on this Russia thing. She is the Titanic and the Ukraine crisis and Russia policy is her iceberg. The fun is just beginning. This article comes originally form German Economic News, which is one of the very few German publications that allows this kind of criticism of the German media. We just run their stuff through Googletranslate, so its sometimes hard to read, but worth it, we think.


Permalink US threatens Russia with deploying nuclear missiles in Europe

The Pentagon has threatened Russia with redeploying nuclear cruise missiles to Europe, accusing Moscow of violating two arms control treaties. “We don’t have ground-launched cruise missiles in Europe now obviously because they’re prohibited by the treaty,” said Brian McKeon, principal deputy undersecretary for policy at the Department of Defense. “But that would obviously be one option to explore,” he added. Washington says claims Moscow violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. However, Russia denied the allegation and said the testing of a ground-launched cruise missile in July 2014 was in compliance with the INF treaty.

RT.com: US tanks, APCs, Humvees roll through Latvia


Permalink Stortinget og statsministeren overvåkes

Utenfor Stortinget, regjeringskontorene og boligen til statsminister Erna Solberg befinner det seg avansert spionutstyr som kan overvåke alle mobiltelefoner i området. Spørsmålet er: Hvem står bak? De falske basestasjonene kan overvåke bevegelsene til statsråder, politikere, embetsmenn og vanlige mennesker som går inn, ut og rundt sentrale bygninger i Oslo. Om det er kriminelle, utenlandsk etterretning eller andre som står bak, er ukjent. orges største hemmeligheter forvaltes her. Innenfor en radius på én kilometer i Oslo sentrum ligger Statsministerens kontor, Forsvarsdepartementet, Stortinget og Norges Bank. Statsråder, statssekretærer, stortingspolitikere, embetsmenn, næringslivstopper og andre samfunnsviktige personer som arbeider med landets sikkerhet, vårt forsvar eller vår oljeformue på over 6000 milliarder kroner, jobber i dette området. Men de som går forbi, vet trolig ikke dette: Flere steder står små, hemmelige sendere som høyst sannsynlig opptrer som falske basestasjoner. De er såkalte IMSI-catchere, som kan overvåke all mobilaktivitet i området. De som styrer overvåkingsutstyret, vil i prinsippet kunne finne ut hvem som beveger seg forbi og inn i Stortinget, regjeringskontorene eller andre steder i området. De kan også plukke ut bestemte personer for avlytting og tapping av data fra mobiltelefonen.

Aftenposten: NSM jakter spionutstyr etter Aftenpostens avsløringer


Permalink Israeli forces injure 19 Palestinians in West Bank

Israeli forces have clashed with Palestinians in a town near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, injuring at least 19 people. The Palestinians sustained injuries after Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets to disperse a crowd in al-Biereh town on Thursday. The clashes followed a funeral for Palestinian Minister Ziad Abu Ein, who was killed by Israeli forces in the area on Wednesday. Meanwhile dozens of others also received treatment for tear gas inhalation.


Permalink Letting The Fox Guard The Henhouse: For cyber safety, UK turns to Israeli tech

British minister in Israel to shore up online defenses and further technology partnerships. The United Kingdom has a goal of becoming “one of the safest places to do business online in the world,” according to British Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude. To help achieve that goal, Britain is seeking Israeli help. On a visit to Israel this week, Maude met with top government officials involved in cyber security and visited start-ups working in the field to discuss possible investments. “It was a pleasure to be back in Israel to see more of Israel’s impressive cyber and digital innovation first hand,” said Maude. “Both countries face enormous challenges in securing our cyber spaces and supplying the best digital services to our citizens, so cooperation between the UK and Israel is of great mutual benefit.”


Permalink Haaretz Editors Urge Removing Netanyahu with All Urgency

Stephen Lendman Israeli media largely march in lockstep with government policy. No matter what coalition holds power. None rule responsibly. Some worse than others. Netanyahu worst of all. Exceeding Sharonian evil. Haaretz editors criticized him before. This time more vehemently than earlier. For important reasons. Omitting others demanding inclusion. More on this below. Headlining "Israel's two-faced government," Haaretz editors said it's hard imagining why Washington "continues to placate Netanyahu.." He's "done everything he could to sabotage" good relations. On the one hand, Israeli Defense Minister yearns for a new US administration. To expand settlements more than already. On the other, Netanyahu wants Obama's help to sabotage Palestinian self-determination. Its Security Council effort to end occupation.


Permalink Police Killing of Unarmed Native American Continues To Receive Little Media Attention

The tragic case of Corey Kanosh, 35, has received very little media attention, in spite of the growing outrage over police shootings of unarmed, innocent citizens. In Corey’s case, we are not dealing with an African American man shot by white cops, but an unarmed Native American man who was suspected of crimes that he was later proven innocent of, who was given only seconds before police opened fire on him. Corey was a member of the Paiute Tribe of Utah. In spite of the historical injustices committed by the State against Native Americans, his story has received virtually no national attention. Now, his friends and family have been pushing to move the legal process forward, but so far they have only raised a tiny amount of money. Corey was shot by a Millard County sheriff’s deputy after he was wrongly suspected of car theft. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Lindsay Mitchell explained that a 911 call was made about the theft of a car from the Kanosh Paiute Indian Reservation. But Corey had nothing to do with that. Police claim that Corey tried to fight off the deputy who attempted to handcuff him for crimes that he never committed. This raises the question of when self-defense is acceptable against police who attack us without probable cause. Was Corey justified in trying to defend himself? Do you believe the official story?


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