Obama cheers ‘victory’ in Korean War on 60th anniversary

"The United States was by far the biggest contributor to the multinational United Nations force that poured into South Korea to roll back a Chinese-supported invasion from the North. Nearly 1.8 million US servicemen and women served in Korea, of whom 33,739 died in combat and more than 100,000 were wounded, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. It was also the first war in which US forces were not racially segregated. The conflict ended with a ceasefire, which was never cemented with a treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war." Continue reading

Continue ReadingObama cheers ‘victory’ in Korean War on 60th anniversary

EU planning to ‘own and operate’ spy drones and an air force

"The European Union is planning to 'own and operate' spy drones, surveillance satellites and aircraft as part of a new intelligence and security agency under the control of Baroness Ashton. The controversial proposals are a major move towards creating an independent EU military body with its own equipment and operations, and will be strongly opposed by Britain. The use of the new spy drones and satellites for 'internal and external security policies', which will include police intelligence, the internet, protection of external borders and maritime surveillance, will raise concerns that the EU is creating its own version of the US National Security Agency." Continue reading

Continue ReadingEU planning to ‘own and operate’ spy drones and an air force

Chris Martenson: Bankers Own the World – And are ultimately destroying it

"It wasn't that many decades ago that a list of the top companies with the most wealth and influence would have been dominated by companies that produced real, tangible products – that is, those that created wealth by adding value to goods by transforming resources into products. Companies like GE, GM, IBM, Exxon, and other industrial giants would have been the wealthiest, because, well, they create actual wealth. Today the top fifty companies in the 'super-entity' list of 147 from the above study is concerning. Out of the fifty, 17 are banks, 31 are an assortment of investment, insurance, and financial services companies, and only 2 are non-financial companies." Continue reading

Continue ReadingChris Martenson: Bankers Own the World – And are ultimately destroying it

Ex-IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn charged with pimping

"Former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be tried on charges of pimping, prosecutors said on Friday, capping an inquiry into sex parties attended by a man whose French presidential hopes were dashed by a separate 2011 U.S. sex scandal. The decision came as a surprise after a public prosecutor had recommended in June that the inquiry be dropped without trial. The so-called Carlton affair, named after a hotel in Lille, involves sex parties that Strauss-Kahn has acknowledged attending. He says he was unaware that the women who participated were prostitutes." Continue reading

Continue ReadingEx-IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn charged with pimping

The Creepy, Long-Standing Practice of Undersea Cable Tapping

"More than 550,000 miles of flexible undersea cables about the size of garden watering hoses carry all the world's emails, searches, and tweets. Together, they shoot the equivalent of several hundred Libraries of Congress worth of information back and forth every day. In 2005, the Associated Press reported that a submarine called the USS Jimmy Carter had been repurposed to carry crews of technicians to the bottom of the sea so they could tap fiber optic lines. The easiest place to get into the cables is at the regeneration points -- spots where their signals are amplified and pushed forward on their long, circuitous journeys." Continue reading

Continue ReadingThe Creepy, Long-Standing Practice of Undersea Cable Tapping

How Putin Uses Money Laundering Charges to Control His Opponents

"The crux of Putin's ability to punish dissenters revolves around Russia's financial intelligence unit, Rosfinmonitoring. Putin created Rosfinmonitoring--under the direct control of the president and placed it in the charge of a fiercely loyal subordinate, Viktor Zubkov (also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the natural gas and oil giant Gazprom). Rosfinmonitoring, and the laws criminalizing money laundering (Russian Federal Law No. 115-FZ ), were established on the recommendation of the U.S. and European powers, who sought to institutionalize a global anti-money laundering regime in the 1990's and early 2000's." Continue reading

Continue ReadingHow Putin Uses Money Laundering Charges to Control His Opponents

UN group warns of ‘significant’ cybersecurity vulnerabilities in mobile phone technology

"A United Nations group that advises nations on cybersecurity plans to send out an alert about significant vulnerabilities in mobile phone technology that could potentially enable hackers to remotely attack at least half a billion phones. The bug, discovered by German firm, allows hackers to remotely gain control of and also clone certain mobile SIM cards. Hackers could use compromised SIMs to commit financial crimes or engage in electronic espionage, according to Berlin’s Security Research Labs, which will describe the vulnerabilities at the Black Hat hacking conference that opens in Las Vegas on July 31." Continue reading

Continue ReadingUN group warns of ‘significant’ cybersecurity vulnerabilities in mobile phone technology

German Intelligence Worked Closely with NSA on Data Surveillance

"Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly said she knew nothing about American surveillance activities in Germany. But documents show that German intelligence cooperates closely with the NSA and even uses spy software provided by the US. The shift to a more offensive German security policy began in 2007. Since then, there have been 'regular US-German analytic exchanges and closer cooperation in tracking both German and non-German extremist targets.' The German foreign intelligence agency went even further in its effort to please the Americans, 'working to influence the German government to relax interpretation of the privacy laws'." Continue reading

Continue ReadingGerman Intelligence Worked Closely with NSA on Data Surveillance

Japan warns Britain to stay in the European Union

"Japan has warned that tens of thousands of British jobs with Japanese firms could be at risk if London pulls out of the European Union, a newspaper reported on Sunday. Tokyo’s submission to a British government consultation said Japanese companies liked Britain because it offered a gateway to the European market, the Sunday Times said. Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU and then hold a referendum on membership before the end of 2017 if he is still in office. Close ally the United States has also previously warned Britain against isolating itself from the EU." Continue reading

Continue ReadingJapan warns Britain to stay in the European Union

How to Be a Rogue Superpower: A Manual for the Twenty-First Century

"Highlighted in all this has been a curious fact of our twenty-first-century world. In the Cold War years, asylum was always potentially available. If you opposed one of the two superpowers or its allies, the other was usually ready to open its arms to you, as the U.S. famously did for what were once called 'Soviet dissidents' in great numbers. The Soviets did the same for Americans, Brits, and others, often secret communists, sometimes actual spies, who opposed the leading capitalist power and its global order. Today, if you are a twenty-first-century 'dissident' and need asylum/protection from the only superpower left, there is essentially none to be had." Continue reading

Continue ReadingHow to Be a Rogue Superpower: A Manual for the Twenty-First Century