Some of the leaked documents shed light on Washington’s alleged spying efforts against key allies | Officials in several US-allied countries have scrambled to push back against the alleged revelations made in a leaked trove of classified Pentagon documents outlining Washington’s clandestine activities. Dozens of sensitive documents – which, according to the Wall Street Journal, began to emerge online as early as January but did not receive media attention until last week – focused on US war planning in Ukraine and provided a rare glimpse into Washington’s efforts to spy on both adversaries and allies. ● One of the documents claimed, as reported by the Washington Post, that last September, a Russian fighter jet almost shot down a British RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft over the Black Sea, which could have potentially sparked a direct conflict between NATO and Moscow. However, an unnamed British defense source told the Financial Times that “these reports contain inaccuracies and do not reflect what happened in international air space over the Black Sea

■ Leaked Pentagon files could be ‘deception’ operation – Moscow (RT.com)
■ 'Pentagon Leak' Reveals Defense Agency's 'Wild Card’ Scenarios in Ukraine Conflict (Sputnik News)
■ Pentagon leak exposes NATO special forces in Ukraine (RT.com)
■ Ukraine War Leaks & NS Parallels ("Ignasz Semmelweisz")

From late-night break-ins, to secretly installing devices to remotely monitor computer activity, to death threats and bizarre mind games meant to disorient and demoralize their targets, it seems little is off-limits when it comes to the push to neutralize the support network that’s cropped up around Assange since his imprisonment. | Activists, lawyers and journalists linked to WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange are being subjected to extensive surveillance and intimidation, an explosive new report has detailed. ● Individuals have been hacked, tracked, burglarized, threatened with death, and thrown in jails for years on dubious charges. And while the identity of the perpetrators has yet to be conclusively proven, victims say it’s clear who’s behind the campaign of harassment and spying: the Central Intelligence Agency.

Max Blumenthal and Esha Krishnaswamy | While claiming to defend democracy, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky has outlawed his opposition, ordered his rivals’ arrest, and presided over the disappearance and assassination of dissidents across the country. | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has framed his country’s war against Russia as a battle for democracy itself. In a carefully choreographed address to US Congress on March 16, Zelensky stated, “Right now, the destiny of our country is being decided. The destiny of our people, whether Ukrainians will be free, whether they will be able to preserve their democracy.” ● US corporate media has responded by showering Zelensky with fawning press, driving a campaign for his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize and inspiring a flamboyant musical tribute to himself and the Ukrainian military during the 2022 Grammy awards ceremony on April 3. ● Western media has looked the other way, however, as Zelensky and top officials in his administration have sanctioned a campaign of kidnapping, torture, and assassination of local Ukrainian lawmakers accused of collaborating with Russia. Several mayors and other Ukrainian officials have been killed since the outbreak of war, many reportedly by Ukrainian state agents after engaging in de-escalation talks with Russia.

Yet There is Almost No Opposition or Outcry—Even When Sanctions are Increasingly Having a Boomerang Effect | The U.S. may try piously to defend sanctions as a ‘response to foreign tyranny,’ but they are really a pretext to steal foreign bank accounts and cripple commercial rivals of U.S. corporations. ● n November 14, the Biden administration announced yet another round of sanctions on Russia, targeting this time Russia’s military supply chains by imposing sanctions on 14 individuals and 28 entities that it said were part of a transnational network that procured technology to support Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine. ● One of the companies blacklisted was Milandr, a Russian microelectronics company that Washington says is part of Moscow’s military research and development structure. The sanctions additionally targeted several aviation-related companies and two individuals—Abbas Djuma and Tigran Khristoforovich Srabionov—who facilitated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group’s acquisition of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from Iran, which have been used in the Ukraine War.

The CIA is working with an unnamed "NATO ally," according to Jack Murphy --Murphy was a former senior trainer and adviser to an Iraqi SWAT team --He said the CIA and Joe Biden are personally authorising missions | The CIA is combining with the spy service of a NATO ally in Europe to conduct covert sabotage operations inside Russia, according to new claims. The clandestine campaign is behind many unexplained explosions and fires that have hit strategic or prominent facilities in recent months, says US expert Jack Murphy, an eight-year Army Special Operations veteran. Separately other European intelligence services have allegedly been "running operatives into Russia to create chaos without CIA help," as has Ukraine. His claims follow as a new fire struck a shopping mall in Krasnodar region, in southern Russia, the latest in dozens of such incidents... Oil and gas facilities, railways, fuel depots, power plants and shopping malls have been hit across Russia by mysterious explosions, with rumours of sabotage.

Newly released docs show how the social media giant helped the US military “amplify certain messages” | Twitter executives have granted the US Defense Department special privileges to use the social media platform for its covert online influence campaigns for at least five years, newly released internal company communications show. ● Investigative journalist Lee Fang published the eighth batch of documents on Tuesday, after the company’s new owner, Elon Musk, authorized the release in an effort to provide transparency about Twitter’s past decision-making. 💬 “Despite promises to shut down covert state-run propaganda networks, Twitter docs show that the social media giant directly assisted the US military’s influence operations,” Fang wrote. The journalist was allowed to make requests for internal Twitter documents through an attorney, “meaning that the search results may not have been exhaustive.”

Ludmila Gladkaya. SB (Людмила Гладкая. СБ) | Spy network disguised as human rights volunteers uncovered by officers of the Interior Ministry's Main Directorate for Combating Organised Crime | Volunteers? Rats! or How foreign agents work. A network disguised as a volunteer human rights organization "Human Constant" was disclosed in Minsk by officers of the Main Department for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The office was set up by the well-known supporter of extremism Anastasia Loika. Among the clients were anarchists, nationalists and other "regime spoilsmen". They collected information on Belarusians and sold it to foreign structures. There's a clear hand of Western intelligence agencies in the case. Now the investigation is handling the materials. (Translation: DeepL.com/)(MORE)

The Peruvian authorities have taken troops to the streets to suppress protests after the visit of the US ambassador to the Government Palace as Washington pursues profits in the country's mining projects, impeached President Pedro Castillo said on Thursday.

💬 "Compatriots, attention! The visit of the US ambassador to the Government Palace was neither for free nor in favor of the country. At the meeting, the order to take the troops to the streets and massacre my defenseless people was given, and, among other things, to pave the way for the extraction of minerals, such as from Konga, Tai Maria, and other [mines]. Peruvian media will not only keep silent about this but will also easily deny it," Castillo said in a hand-written note published on his Twitter.

On December 7, Peru's parliament impeached former President Pedro Castillo. Prime Minister Dina Boluarte took an oath as the country's new president within two hours of the impeachment vote, vowing to serve out the rest of Castillo's term until July 2026. Castillo, who had tried to dissolve the parliament before the vote, was arrested after the impeachment procedure and the Peruvian prosecutor's office launched a criminal case against him on charges of a coup attempt and crimes against the state. These events have sparked a wave of protests across the country. Demonstrators denounce the post-impeachment government and call for an immediate presidential election and termination of the country's parliament.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu criticized on Monday the US response to the terrorist attack in central Istanbul, which claimed the lives of six people. | An explosion occurred on the pedestrian tourist street Istiklal in Istanbul on Sunday afternoon. According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at least six people were killed. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay later announced that the explosion, qualified as a terrorist act, left 81 people injured, 39 of whom have already been released from hospitals. According to the authorities, the suspect has been detained. 💬 "I think it is necessary to take the condolences made today by the United States as if a killer would be one of the first to arrive on the scene, and the reaction to this message will be very clear," Soylu was quoted by Turkish media as saying. We know where the attack was coordinated. We received the message, we know what it means. We do not accept the condolences of the American embassy. We are not treacherous to anyone, but we no longer have tolerance for these treacherous acts. Istiklal Street is our child. If we had not caught the attacker, he would have fled to Greece today," the minister added, according to press. "[Allies] who seem like friends to us, who either hide all terrorists in their own countries, or give life to terrorists in the territories they occupy, in the territories they control, and send them money officially from their own senates," Soylu concluded.

Perpetrator behind deadly Istanbul bombing arrested (Hürriyet Daily News)

This is what the U.S. has in mind for Russia. At first, carpet bombing as a softening up. After that, shameless theft and plunder. It's called democracy. Only this time they've picked the wrong country. (Это то, что США имеют в виду в отношении России. Сначала ковровые бомбардировки в качестве смягчения. После этого бесстыдное воровство и грабеж. Это называется демократией. Только на этот раз они выбрали не ту страну.)

Политджойстик/Politjoystic | A group of US lawyers and journalists have sued the CIA, its former head Michael Pompeo, a Spanish private security company and its director in federal court. | It would seem how the defendants are connected...But to understand this, [we only need] to mention that this [was] company [that] guarded the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK in 17-18, where Julian Assange was stationed at the time. ● The plaintiffs accuse the defendants of a veritable conspiracy: the CIA arranged for a security company to take visitors' electronic devices for safekeeping during visits to Assange as standard procedure. The company staff then secretly made copies of all the information on the devices and handed everything over to the CIA. ● The plaintiffs claim that hundreds of Americans who visited Assange at the embassy went through such a secret procedure. However, the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which the defendants violated, protects American citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. Assange was visited by journalists, lawyers and doctors, among others, whose information on their devices should be protected even more seriously. ● The lawsuit was filed back in August, but only a couple of days ago the plaintiffs were able to serve Pompeo with a copy of the suit. This was done during a photo-op after a dinner party in Ohio attended by the former CIA director. After waiting for his turn to be photographed, a man walked up to Pompeo, greeted him by the hand, then handed over the lawsuit and said the coveted "You are served" before leaving. (Source: USlegalnews)(DeepL.com)

The Grayzone | New court files expose Sheldon Adelson’s security team in US spy operation against Assange

Glenn Greenwald | If one really believes, as millions of American liberals do, that the U.S. faces two and only two choices — either (1) elect Democrats and ensure they rule or (2) live under a white nationalist fascist dictatorship — then of course such people will believe that media disinformation campaigns, censorship, and other forms of authoritarianism are necessary to ensure Democrats win and their opponents are vanquished. Once that self-glorifying rationale is embraced — our adversaries do not merely disagree with us but cause harm with the expression of their views — then the more suppression, the better. And that is exactly what is happening now.

Has a potential whistleblower been 'disappeared' or is there another explanation? | On 27 April, ABC News reporter James Meek tweeted a single word – “facts” – above another Twitter post from a retired CIA officer, who stated that the 2014-2022 Ukrainian civil war was an eight-year “lab experiment” on Russia's military “tactics, techniques, and procedures.” It added that US intelligence and “unconventional warfare” experts had “learned a shit ton.” ● It was the last time, to date, Meek posted on the social network. In fact, it seems it was the last time he did anything in public at all, both online and in-real-life. Rolling Stone has published an investigation into the veteran journalist’s vanishing act in the months since, revealing how just hours after that tweet was posted, a number of menacing vehicles blocked off roads around Meek’s apartment in Arlington, Virginia, then proceeded to raid the premises. ● Neighbors interviewed by the magazine recall a collection of police cruisers, official-looking cars with blacked-out windows, and even armored tactical vehicles frequently used by the FBI, which resemble tanks. Quick as a flash, their occupants exited and rushed into Meek’s apartment complex, “at least 10” of them being “heavily armed.”  ● The raid was reportedly over very quickly, and Meek apparently didn’t leave the scene with the authorities. To this day, there is no indication of what if anything was seized or why it was conducted, and all records related to the case remain sealed, including the search warrant approved a day prior. While no charges have officially been filed, Meek has dropped off the face of the Earth, and his apartment has remained vacant ever since.

A US Senate report outlining the CIA’s brutal ‘enhanced interrogation’ methods will not see the light of day – for now | A US federal judge has ruled that a sprawling congressional report on the CIA’s Terror War torture program will remain classified, claiming citizens have no right to access the controversial document, portions of which were already leaked to the public by a Democratic senator in 2014. In a decision on Thursday, District of Columbia Judge Beryl Howell said the report...

...💬 “does not qualify as a public record subject to the common law right of public access,” as a previous case concluded it was a “congressional record” and therefore could not be obtained through standard Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. ● “The Report contains highly classified information about the CIA’s detention and interrogation policies and procedures that would compromise national security if released, far outweighing the public’s interest in disclosure,” the judge wrote in her opinion.

The 6,700-page Senate report details the CIA’s clandestine detention and torture programs launched after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, during which countless foreign suspects were swept up into secretive ‘black site’ prisons overseas and subjected to extreme, and often barbaric, interrogation measures. Few of those cases ever resulted in formal charges for the accused, many of whom were apparently held at the agency’s own discretion, well beyond the reach of the American criminal justice system or the international laws of war.

China strongly condemns the cyber attacks launched by the United States on China's Northwestern Polytechnical University, and urges the U.S. side to offer an explanation and immediately stop its unlawful moves, Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday.

It was reported that China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) and cybersecurity company 360 on Monday respectively released investigation reports on the attacks on Northwestern Polytechnical University from the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), which showed that the NSA-affiliated TAO mounted hundreds of thousands malicious cyber attacks targeting Chinese objectives. ● In response, Mao told a daily news briefing that the investigative reports point to another example of the U.S. government's cyber attacks on China.

Johnny Vedmore | The World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders program, Klaus Schwab’s supposed brainchild, is actually an almost exact replica of Henry Kissinger’s International Seminar that was originally run out of Harvard and was funded by the CIA. In this article, Johnny Vedmore investigates the people behind Kissinger’s International Seminar, the CIA conduits which funded the program, and Kissinger’s key role in the creation of the WEF’s Young Global Leaders program itself. ● The World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders (YGL) initiative has been responsible for seeding many of the ruling elite into positions of power and influence within the worlds of business, civil society and, most importantly, politics. The fall of the Soviet Union soon became the apparent catalyst for the creation of the Global Leaders for Tomorrow program, which was the precursor to the Young Global Leaders initiative over a decade later. ● However, the supposed mastermind of the project, the WEF’s lifetime leader Klaus Schwab, had himself already been helped into his own influential position by a very similar program run out of Harvard University that was heavily funded by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The Harvard initiative in question, often referred to as Henry Kissinger’s International Seminar, was one of several programs set up by senior members of organizations such as the Council on Foreign Relations and the newly created CIA.

A US intelligence agent inquired about confidential details of real estate deals, a Turkish paper reports.

The Central Intelligence Agency has “openly” threatened Turkish businessmen for trading with Russia, prying into their real estate deals over concerns about the potential circumvention of US sanctions, Yeni Safak daily reported on Friday. ● The paper has learned that the CIA’s Turkey office chief allegedly called high-ranking construction-company employees, inquiring about transactions and other confidential details of recent real-estate purchases involving Russian entities or individuals. ● According to the report, the CIA officer interviewed businessmen under the guise of monitoring the US-imposed anti-Russia sanctions. He was interested to know the exact number of “houses sold to Russians,” what channels and currency were used for transactions, and whether the payments were made through a bank or cash-in-hand.

Kremlin propaganda is real, but its reach is decidedly minor in comparison to the massive disinformation campaigns being launched by the Western national security state. And as Alan Macloed reveals, London’s Department of War Studies is a key part of that information war.

Set in an imposing building near the banks of the River Thames in Central London, the Department of War Studies is at the heart of the British establishment. Current staff includes the former Secretary General of NATO, former U.K. Minister of Defense, and a host of military officers from NATO and NATO-aligned countries. ● It is also a favored training ground for the secret services. A 2009 report published by the CIA described how beneficial it is to “use universities as a means of intelligence training,” writing that “exposure to an academic environment, such as the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, can add several elements that may be harder to provide within the government system,” also mentioning that the department’s faculty have “extensive and well-rounded intelligence experience.”

Facebook CEO has effectively confirmed the feds secretly control major US social media (RT.com)

According to reports Darya Dugina, the daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugin, was killed in an explosion outside of Moscow.

Russian media are saying Alexander Dugina was the target of an assassination attempt, but his daughter was killed instead. Darya Dugina was reportedly on her way home from a festival when her Toyota Land Cruiser was blown up. Alexander Dugina was supposed to be in the Land Cruiser with his daughter but changed vehicles at the last second, according to Russian media.

About the Murder of Daria Dugina… (C/Z)
RIP - Darya Dugina: Some voices on the death of Darya Dugina (Moon of Alabama)
Ukraine conflict prophet: Who is Aleksandr Dugin, whose daughter was killed in a Moscow blast? (RT.com)
Car blast kills daughter of Russian philosopher Dugin (RT.com)

The same federal Magistrate Judge who signed the search warrant allowing FBI Agents to raid President Trump, also signed a second Warrant the same day allowing FBI to install "Pen Registers" on Trump computers and electronic eavesdropping devices in Trump's home.

The same federal Magistrate Judge who signed the search warrant allowing FBI Agents to raid President Trump, also signed a second Warrant the same day allowing FBI to install "Pen Registers" on Trump computers and electronic eavesdropping devices in Trump's home. US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart signed both Warrants on August 5 as shown above in a screen shot of the Court Docket Records. ● Trump attorney Alina Habba appeared on Fox News with Jesse Watters. She said that they had been cooperating with the National Archives over the records and that this was completely “unconstitutional.” “Our country should be terrified—I am terrified,” Habba exclaimed. She said the FBI went in when he wasn’t even there, and then told his attorneys to leave, that they couldn’t watch or be there. “That doesn’t sound good to me,” she declared. ● Habba said the agents came in wearing backpacks, and she was concerned that they could have planted things since they were trying to get the attorneys out of there. Habba said she believed this was all part of the effort to try to take Trump down, and that people were “working in tandem” with other efforts.

It’s not so much shooting the messenger as it is making everyone think the messenger is crazy and his or her message is automatically false. And crazy. And dangerous.

That’s the apparent goal of hundreds of mainstream articles, produced year after year, that denounce “conspiracy theories” and go to extreme lengths to discredit anyone who dares challenge the official narrative of any event. Points of view that venture outside of permissible boundaries are dismissed as the products of unbalanced minds. ● Challenges are written off as being “bizarre,” “outlandish,” “pernicious,” or any one of a host of other exaggerated descriptors that reveal extreme bias. We’re told that the theories in question are false and that they were debunked years ago, as if making the claim is enough — no evidence required. What is offered as evidence usually comes in the form of quotes from some academic or other who is said to be an “expert” in the “psychology of conspiracy theories.” ● The bylines on these propaganda pieces may change but the message doesn’t, as variations on the same article are endlessly regurgitated in a large number of publications. The “journalists” who create them appear to be working from a common template. And by this I don’t just mean they share a point of view; I mean they use the same dishonest points and tone. ● The articles are too numerous, too similar, and too cartoonishly one-sided not to be intentional propaganda.

The Rules of Trolling: A short vademecum for aspiring trolls