War

DIA report claims North Korea can now put a nuke on top of a missile giving it a real nuclear deterrent. This is what US aggression has wrought.

Bomber kills two Americans in Afghanistan.

US to bomb ISIS in the Philippines. Escalate another war. CIA plots to overthrow Duterte.

Police State

Trump supports renewal of invasive spy law without modification.

We can only hope for an exodus of talent from the NSA. I'm skeptical.

NSA and GCHQ have intercepted in-flight mobile communications for years.

History of CIA incompetence.

Street lamps to be wired with cameras and microphones in San Diego. I won't visit there.

Spies have so much data on everybody they can selectively reveal whatever they want to benefit or destroy whomever they want. That's why I say NSA is the ultimate power in the country.

UK passes most invasive spy law in western world.

Hacked NSA tools for sale on market.

Prosecutors subpoena Alexa records in criminal case. Amazon claims Alexa is protected by the first amendment. That's a crazy argument. Regardless, Alexa and all other voice command assistants are spying all the time. The government gets that info whether it has a warrant or subpoena or not.

Amazon refuses to turn over Echo recording to Arkansas police.

Microsoft can call for a digital Geneva Convention, but all governments will break it. They always spy to the limits of technology. They limit themselves to legal spying.

Government allows Microsoft to sue it over email surveillance.

Twitter blocks government from accessing user data.

US-born NASA scientist detained at border and coerced into unlocking his phone.

State-sponsored hackers hack journalists.

DHS considers forcing US visitors to surrender social media passwords.

Man arrested for arson based on pacemaker data. Even medical devices are spying on you.

FBI reverts to using fax machines and snail mail to slow down responding to FOIA requests.

Secret rules make it easy for FBI to spy on journalists.

FBI hacked 8,000 computers in 120 countries based on one warrant. FBI uses malware like a grenade.

Fusion centers are a billion dollar boondoggle to promote paranoia.

Groupthink in the 17 member intelligence community which is focused on only expansion.

Obama signed new law against whistleblowers in December.

Why we need whistleblowers.

DHS and FEMA expose 10,000 trainees to ricin.

Anti-surveillance clothing hides people from surveillance cameras.

Local police building their own DNA databases.

Politics

Double standard of justice for political class.

Trump courts general and DIA director forced to resign for telling the truth about Obama boosting ISIS in Syria.

War

Militaries will soon unleash killer robots.

Trump tweets DIA report about how US created ISIS, and Obama knew full well it was doing so.

"The media and the Never Trumpers leaped on this statement and translated it into the old Obama-is-a-secret-Muslim trope, but that’s not what he was talking about. He was talking about the largely unknown history of our intervention in Syria, where Hillary Clinton was the jihadists’ best friend and benefactor. It was she who led the charge to “liberate” Syria, to arm the “moderate” head-choppers and do to that war-torn wreck of a country what she had done to Libya. Obama knows it: and so does the media. But their lips are sealed." 

Clinton implicated too.

The Pentagon's real strategy is war profiteering.

Hackers discover 138 breaches into Pentagon computers. And this is the organization that wants to secure the internet.

War

I suspect Obama's proxy army in Syria, ISIS and al Qaeda affiliate al Nusra Front, are the model for destroying Iran.

"A Defense Intelligence Agency analysis of the Syrian civil war, dated August 12, 2012, starts out by drawing the battle lines, noting that the “major forces driving the insurgency” are “the Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI [al-Qaeda in Iraq]” and are being supported by “the West, Gulf countries, and Turkey.” Russia, Iran, and China are said to support the Assad regime. The war won’t unseat Assad, but will develop, predicts the memo, into a “proxy war.” In order for the West to win that war, the author recommends setting up “safe havens under international sheltering, similar to what transpired in Libya when Benghazi was chosen as the command center for the temporary government.”"

The US and its allies did that for both ISIS and al Nusra Front. Obama is following a playbook that's been around a while.

"In a matter-of-fact tone, the memo projects the establishment of “an Islamic State through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria.” While positing that this could endanger the unity of Iraq, the memo goes on to say that this project is supported by “Western countries, the Gulf states and Turkey,” and makes this alarmingly prescient prediction:"

The CIA probably convinced the jihadists to change their name to ISIS or IS.

"“… [T]here is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist Principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran).”
Such a development would create “the ideal atmosphere for AQI to return to its old pockets in Mosul and Ramadi” – which is precisely what has happened. Mosul fell last year, and Ramadi was just taken, much to Washington’s consternation.
Far from being taken by surprise, the rise of the Islamic State was anticipated – and facilitated – by this administration. Critics of our Syria policy, including this writer, have been saying this for quite some time, but this DIA memo documents and confirms it for the first time."

Yep.

US trains and equips terrorists, the people's Mujahedeen or MEK, to rebel against Iran. 

DIA responds with non-response to claim that US policy promoted ISIS as documented by recently released, under FOIA, DIA memo on the subject.

Using fog of war as an excuse for killing civilians with drones is illegitimate.

Elon Musk's SpaceX cleared for military launches. Of course. He's a plutocrat.

Another report Russia is massing troops and weapons on Ukrainian border.

"The scene at the base on the Kuzminsky firing range, around 50 km (30 miles) from the border, offers some of the clearest evidence to date of what appeared to be a concerted Russian military build-up in the area."

That's not exactly the border. It's a Russian base. Maybe they're preparing to repel a NATO invasion.

US trains and equips terrorists, the people's Mujahedeen or MEK, to rebel against Iran.

Four people exposed to anthrax because US military accidentally shipped live samples.

War

374 killed, 78 wounded in Iraq.

Report that Ukrainian fighter jets are using passenger jets as cover.

"The possibility remains that Kiev air traffic control diverted the flight path of MH17 in order that it could be used as cover for Ukrainian fighter jets. The government has seized the air traffic control recordings."

The question remains: why are airlines flying over this war zone?

Historians and media people can manipulate narratives by where they choose to start the story.

"In North America, the interpretation of current events provided to the public is often manipulated by selecting a convenient starting point that amputates prior events that would inconveniently alter the causal narrative. This amputation is made possible by a doctrine of historical creationism that sees current events as, not evolving, but emerging ex nihilo, out of nothing. Events are described, not in a context, but as discrete events that spring spontaneously and causelessly from an ahistorical past."

This is how they're erasing the US and European overthrow of the legitimate government in Ukraine.

"According to Stephen Cohen, Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies at Princeton, the European Union and the United States rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to allow both Europe and Russia to help Ukraine. The western powers demanded that Yanukovych choose one of Europe or Russia.
The West then presented an offer with terms and conditions that made it impossible for Yanukovych to choose them. The European Union offer demanded economic reforms and an International Monetary Fund dictated austerity plan that would, at least, throw Ukraine into a recession. Russia offered $15 billion in loans and discounted natural gas.
So moving the causal narrative back just one step changes Yanukovych’s betrayal of his people that justified rebellion to a decision made in the interest of his people that led to a western manipulated rebellion."

Typical.

"Historical creationism also makes possible the narration of the Ukraine story as if it is a discrete event devoid of historical context. When Germany reunified, the administration of George H.W. Bush promised Gorbachev that NATO would move no further towards Russia’s borders. In violation of this promise, the U.S. and NATO have brought twelve allies of the former Soviet Union into NATO. "

If the Russians believed that, they were fools.

"This historical context entirely changes the appearance of Russia’s actions and concerns. In addition to unpopular austerity measures, the European Union’s offer also included "‘security policy’ provisions . . . that would apparently subordinate Ukraine to NATO." With an historical context, Putin’s responses are no longer the starting point that are forcing the West to react, but reactions to western aggression. "

Yep.

"An event that immediately preceded the murdering of the Israelis is seldom, if ever, included in the Western narrative. The event reveals that the cycle of murders of innocent children did not begin with the Palestinian murder of the three Israelis teenagers. In May, security camera footage showed two teenage Palestinian boys being shot to death by Israeli soldiers at a West Bank protest for hunger striking prisoners despite neither of them presenting a threat. Obviously, that does not make the Palestinian murder of the Israelis – or the subsequent, apparently, revenge murder of another Palestinian boy – okay, but it may change the causal narrative.
After the disappearance of the three Israeli teenagers, Israel launched a search for them, though, according to many sources, they already knew they were dead. During that search airstrikes were carried out, hundreds of houses and buildings were raided, hundreds of Palestinians were arrested without charges and several were killed. It is only then that Hamas began the launching of rockets into Israel. As in the Ukraine narrative, reattaching that prior event alters the causal narrative."

This is an excellent article.

"Iran insists on the right to produce only the amount of uranium they need; the US and the rest of the P5+1 are demanding that Iran produce less and acquire the rest of what they need from another country.
Devoid of an historical context, this Iranian demand seems like intransigence that is masking a clandestine reason for enriching uranium. If all they want is what they need for civilian purposes, why not get the rest from other countries?
But Iran, unlike the West, does not suffer from historical amnesia: they are not historical creationists. The Iranian negotiators remember that when the enriched uranium they had acquired from Argentina in 1988 had nearly run out, they went to the International Atomic Energy Association to request help in purchasing a new batch of 19.5% enriched uranium so they could keep their hospitals functioning only to see the US and Europe block them from making the legal purchase."

They have no reason to trust western governments, and this pushed Iran into enriching uranium.

Outgoing head of Defense Intelligence Agency admits US is no safer after 13 years of war. I guess he can say that since he's retiring.

"That the United States is no safer – and in some respects may be less safe – even after two wars and trillions of dollars could prove to be disappointing news for Americans, noted the journalist questioning General Flynn at the Aspen Security Forum last week." 

We're actually less safe, but the plutocrats are a lot richer, and that was always the goal.

War

Much as they did before Iraq, the US government is using propaganda about WMD to set the stage for invading Syria. At least one report claims the Syrian rebels are using chemical weapons.

One of the problems with traveling halfway around the world and starting a war is the resistance will employ children to protect their homes, forcing the invaders to kill them. This moral quandary is created by the invasion.

Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser initiated covert action against Afghan communists in order to draw the Soviets into a Vietnam-like trap in Afghanistan, and it worked.

"Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs [From the Shadows], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention [in 1989]. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?B: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don't regret anything today?B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire."

Wow. So it sounds like this new Defense Clandestine Service is just a way to get around laws restricting the CIA.

"The DCS effectively functions as a freer branch of the CIA, as the military is not subject to the same congressional oversight as is the CIA, especially since the Church Committee. The Pentagon currently has 500 spies in the DIA, a number which is to reach 1,000 by 2018. A central lament of Capitol Hill opposition has been that this is essentially an increase in staff at the CIA, protesting that the new DIA operatives "for the most part are going to be working for CIA station chiefs." One congressional official who had been briefed on the plan told The Post: "If CIA needs more people working for them, they should be footing the bill.""

Obama doesn't like being limited by the law, so he's going around it.

"But this is not the height of the Cold War, and today the expansion of the CIA does not necessarily represent an Endgame move for the establishment to establish the one-world state solution, but a defensive move on behalf of the Pentagon to re-orchestrate its operations from the "hard power" of the Cold War to the "soft power" of the present. Both agencies involved – the CIA and the Department of Defense – have worked domestically, so there is no reason to think that this new spy network will be completely dedicated abroad, but there is plenty of reason to internalize the grave truth that this is for real: the CIA has essentially been granted expanded powers and have inherited more personnel via the Pentagon. Exactly how many more spies are percentage-wise being added to the CIA payroll is impossible to know, since "neither the number of employees nor the size of the Agency's budget can, at present, be publicly disclosed." But one can be certain that this expansion and fusion of the CIA and Pentagon, which has been a long time in the making, will revolutionize the makeup of Pentagon-CIA operations forevermore. "

And not for our benefit.

War

The Pentagon plans to create a spy network that rivals the CIA.