GCHQ and the NSA between them employ tens of thousands of people. I am bemused by the shock at the “revelation” they have been spying. What on Earth did journalists think that spies do all day? That includes electronics spies.
Since Katherine Gun revealed that we spy on other delegations – and the secretariat – within the UN building, it is hardly a shock that we spy on other governments at summits in the UK. For once, the government cannot pretend that the object is to save us all from terrorism, which is the usual catch all excuse. Nor in the real world is any of the G20 nations a military threat to the UK. The real truth of the matter is that our spies – GCHQ, MI5 and MI6 – are themselves a large and highly influential interest block within the state. Lots of people make a great deal of money out of the security state, and this kind of activity is actually simply an excuse for taking money from taxpayers – which is from everyone who has ever bought anything – and giving that money to the “security industry”.
I do not view spying on other governments as quite as despicable as spying on ordinary citizens, which is an unspeakable betrayal of the purpose of government. Spying on other governments is a game they all play to extort money each to their own security elites. But I will say that spying on the South African government seems pretty low. Why?
Interception of diplomatic communications is plainly a gross breach of the Vienna Conventions, even if the forms of communication have changed since they were drafted. I have never studied the particulars of international law as they relate to spying, but it seems to me an area that in the modern world needs regulation. There must be room here for the UN to be involved in preparing a Convention to outlaw the interception of international communications, with recourse to the International Court of Justice for those victim of it.
There is more work for the UN on Syria. We should all be grateful that Russia is holding out against the very dubious western claims that the Syrian government has deployed chemical weapons. But while Obama can declare all the red lines he wishes, they do not give any country a right to take action on Syrian soil without UN authority. That needs to be restated, strongly. There is no basis at all for the continued and massive Israeli attacks on Syria – they are absolutely illegal. Israeli strikes have definitely killed more people than the alleged deaths from chemical weapons. Can someone explain to me why that is not a red line?
The UN Secretary General should be speaking out, and the UN Security Council should be meeting, to discuss the Israeli attacks on Syria. The system of international law has broken down irretrievably.
Ben,
Re: remote controlled cars…and this is a few years old now-and only consumer level tech…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSW49Y9P6SM
“Can an automobile be remotely controlled, like say, a drone?”
Not easily and the driver would undoubtedly notice all the hardware.
However a small radio receiver hooked into the obd can bus could probably crash a car. Lock the doors, drop down a gear, jam the throttle on full then lock up one wheel, something like that. A car like that has many computers in it, everything even the radio is controlled by one and they are all connected on the can bus.
Scary stuff.
From what I can see on Ben’s video, and a few still photos I’ve seen, the road/street is very straight there. He’d have had to swing the wheel, to mount the kerb and smash into the tree. And there’s nothing at all to suggest why he would do that.
Malcolm King,suspicious recent car accident..
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=60339
More on Malcolm King..
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/282958/My-terror-at-hands-of-paedos/
This tells you something about me. I shoot from the hip, and am often reckless in my behavior. I actually called a few OPG’s (official police garage) and inquired about the vehicle. They would not provide any info. “Even if the FBI inquired” Then he said,
“Why aren’t you here with them?”
I literally shat myself.
Major Michael Marman’s death..from a book by Sir Ranulph Fiennes (ex-SAS) The Feather Men…
http://www.whale.to/a/horsley.html
We know why ‘Flaming June’ – A duplicitous BBC plucks the heart-strings of deception for a show that has lost purpose, relevance and meaning. I see only chaos.
Only we, the people can bring to life harmony, order and symmetry, our time is right now.
To the mother of humanity – sadly missed.
Brake pedal failing in motor accident? Hah! I suppose the hand brake, transmission and ignition failed too. Whatever happened to good old fashioned, murderous muggings as a method of getting rid of people?
Gideon’s SOH was seriously challenged at Lough Erne.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4976618/Barack-Obama-keeps-calling-Chancellor-George-Osborne-Jeffrey-at-G8-summit-after-confusing-him-with-favourite-soul-star.html
LOL
PS Sorry about the source of the link. It seems to be a Soaraway Sun Exclusive.
@ KingofWelshNoir
Oh, come on. Every thread is full of the obvious (and O/T) comments of which you seem to disapprove.
My point was that if those riots/demonstrations had taken place in a country of which the Emincences disapprove (the US, the UK,Israel,….) the threads would be full of comments. But because they occurred in one of the BRIC countries – countries seen as a worthy counterpoise to the West – not a squeak. Idem, by the way, when it comes to local protests about the way women are treated in India, the murders of journalists in Russia or labour relations in South Africa – unless, of course, they can somehow be tied into your anti-West narrative.
_______
So don’t be so faux-naif.
BTW, I’m waiting with bated breath for the first mocking comments about President Obama having apparently addressed Gideon George Osborne as “Geoffrey” and for the cosmic inferences which will be drawn from that lapse.
Who will be the firsst commenter to addresss that important issue, I wonder?
Pilger is spot on.
Understanding The Latest Leaks Is Understanding The Rise Of A New Fascism
June 20, 2013 By John Pilger
[..]
‘In the new American cyber-power, only the revolving doors have changed. The director of Google Ideas, Jared Cohen, was adviser to Condaleeza Rice, the former secretary of state in the Bush administration who lied that Saddam Hussein could attack the US with nuclear weapons. Cohen and Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt – they met in the ruins of Iraq — have co-authored a book, The New Digital Age, endorsed as visionary by the former CIA director Michael Hayden and the war criminals Henry Kissinger and Tony Blair. The authors make no mention of the Prism spying programme, revealed by Edward Snowden, that provides the NSA access to all of us who use Google.’
[..]
The power of truth-tellers like Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden is that they dispel a whole mythology carefully constructed by the corporate cinema, the corporate academy and the corporate media. WikiLeaks is especially dangerous because it provides truth-tellers with a means to get the truth out. This was achieved by Collateral Damage, the cockpit video of an US Apache helicopter allegedly leaked by Bradley Manning. The impact of this one video marked Manning and Assange for state vengeance. Here were US airmen murdering journalists and maiming children in a Baghdad street, clearly enjoying it, and describing their atrocity as “nice”. Yet, in one vital sense, they did not get away with it; we are witnesses now, and the rest is up to us.
http://www.zcommunications.org/understanding-the-latest-leaks-is-understanding-the-rise-of-a-new-fascism-by-john-pilger
@ Habbabkuk
‘Idem, by the way, when it comes to local protests about the way women are treated in India, the murders of journalists in Russia or labour relations in South Africa – unless, of course, they can somehow be tied into your anti-West narrative.’
No, I genuinely don’t believe in the existence of the ‘anti-West narrative’ that you frequently inveigh against. I do think most posters on this thread are united by disgust and anger for much of what the West does, but that is not the same thing. As for the examples you cite – mistreatment of women in India, for example – I think the reason people don’t post on such issues is simply that these things are universally condemned and hardly worth the effort of pointing out on a forum where it can be tacitly assumed most people are on the same page. What gets people’s goat here, I submit without a trace of faux-naivety, is those instances where there is a chasm between the cruel things the west does and the way they are laundered and perfumed by such organs as the BBC.
So what really did happen to TWA Flight 800?
New revelations from gagged NTSB investigators apparently coming to light…
Did the US shoot it down during military manouevres that went wrong?
Seems whistleblowing is all the rage…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2344246/Are-conspiracy-theorists-say-TWA-flight-800-shot-right-Flimmakers-claim-jet-crashed-Long-Island-killing-230-hit-explosions-OUTSIDE-aircraft.html
@ Habbabkuk
BTW, I’m waiting with bated breath for the first mocking comments about President Obama having apparently addressed Gideon George Osborne as “Geoffrey” and for the cosmic inferences which will be drawn from that lapse.
Who will be the firsst commenter to addresss that important issue, I wonder?
It’s coming to something when a man can’t even remember the name of his own poodle.
KOWN,
” I do think most posters on this thread are united by disgust and anger for much of what the West does, but that is not the same thing.” (as anti-West narrative).
Spot on.
All change!
Ex HSBC money laundering boss Stephen Green is leaving the government. Agent Cameron is promoting Livingstone of BT to replace him.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jun/19/bt-chief-executive-ian-livingston-leaves
http://henrymakow.com/2013/06/sao-paulo-riots.html
Create a mess then tidy up. The joy if working?
Organ Trafficking AGAIN!!!
Posted: 19 Jun 2013 01:01 AM PDT
http://insidecostarica.com/2013/06/18/medical-chief-at-costa-rica-state-hospital-arrested-as-part-of-organ-trafficking-investigation/
Medical chief at Costa Rica state hospital arrested as part of organ trafficking investigation
A chief doctor at a Costa Rican government-ran hospital was arrested today on suspicion of being part of an international organ trafficking network which specializes in selling kidneys to patients in Israel, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Attorney General Jorge Chavarria told the press that the arrested is Francisco Mora Palma, head of Nephrology at Calderon Guardia Hospital, one of the largest state medical centers in the country.
“The patients who required the transplants were in Israeli territory, and some of the (trafficking) victims [had their kidney removed] here and others were transported to Israel. We have information that at least one person died after being operated on in Israel,” Chavarria said.
The prosecutor explained that the organization has branches in Israel and Eastern Europe, though did not elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.
~~
And some boasting from the Jerusalem Post.
Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff features here along with Merkel, Clinton and Melinda Gates.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Jewish-women-who-rule-according-to-Forbes
BTW, I’m waiting with bated breath for the first mocking comments about President Obama having apparently addressed Gideon George Osborne as “Geoffrey” and for the cosmic inferences which will be drawn from that lapse.
Who will be the firsst commenter to addresss that important issue, I wonder?
You, as far as I can see….
Anyway, another POV on the main story might be in order –
It is not, in short, a conspiracy of the powerful that is driving the expansion of the state today; it is a vacuum in society, created by the collapse of all sorts of informal, non-state institutions, which is almost inviting the state to expand. Hence state agents really do believe that they are helping us, in the case of the NSA, by keeping us safe from an apparently unprecedented threat. So, as incompetent, lumbering and liberty-squashing as the state is, as the real story of Prism shows, the state, pace Google, is not being evil.
http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/13717/
Debate invited.
O/T
@Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!) 7:05 am
Dad!
You can be such a plonker sometimes.
You complain that issues are ignored here unless “they can somehow be tied into your anti-West narrative.”
You never give and reasons from the real world to show us why. Just carping, moaning, insults and running to Jon telling him to deal with our unruly behaviour.
If the West gets a rough ride here then maybe it’s because, on a vast scale it makes la vita so bloody horrific, or takes it away altogether.
The gulf between the reality people see when they look at the evidence, and the fairy-tales promoted by the corporate media has become too great to ignore.
KOWN hit’s the nail on the head when he writes “ there is a chasm between the cruel things the west does and the way they are laundered and perfumed by such organs as the BBC.”
There are thousands of other issues going on in the world that any single thread “ignores”.
Your posts often seem to act as an indicator that light is being shone in places where the powers who run the show (often western) don’t like it shone. Maybe that’s your value.
As for the west getting a hard time here. If you want it to get left alone how about addressing it’s centurys-old policy of theft and control? How about using some of the wealth an ingenuity to bring about peace and plenty rather than war and plunder?
O (ho ho) /T
The fragrant Gulnara seems to be in a spot of bother with….the Swedes:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/CEN-01-170613.html
“No, I genuinely don’t believe in the existence of the ‘anti-West narrative’ that you frequently inveigh against. I do think most posters on this thread are united by disgust and anger for much of what the West does, but that is not the same thing. As for the examples you cite – mistreatment of women in India, for example – I think the reason people don’t post on such issues is simply that these things are universally condemned and hardly worth the effort of pointing out on a forum where it can be tacitly assumed most people are on the same page. What gets people’s goat here, I submit without a trace of faux-naivety, is those instances where there is a chasm between the cruel things the west does and the way they are laundered and perfumed by such organs as the BBC.”
Well said; that people can’t see the difference, it could because of experiencing a mirror projection of their own reflected prejudices, or perhaps even be indicative of some sort of brain damage, which would also account for why these same people repeatedly insist that others must publically condemn that which only the most unprincipled would ever consider condoning.
Excellent stuff on her there by Alexander Kim, Komodo. It’s not just a few squid she goes off with each time, it’s millions. She is becoming universally despised these days, rather like B.Liar. Is she known to the latter? He has been shooting his mouth again in IsraHell.
Saw this earlier. The three stooges. http://australiansforpalestine.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mid.east_.kerry_.jpg
What a revolting trio. Three horrible old men who are stitching up the Palestinians. http://www.australiansforpalestine.net/81907
‘Tis true what David Edwards, co-editor, says on Medialens – The British changed the pronunciation of ‘patriot’ following an American film with that name. The media use the American pronunciation.
pa·tri·ot
/ˈpeɪtriət, -ˌɒt or, esp. British, ˈpætriət/ Show Spelled [pey-tree-uht, -ot or, esp. British, pa-tree-uht] Show IPA
noun
1. a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.
2. a person who regards himself or herself as a defender, especially of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government.
3. ( initial capital letter ) Military. a U.S. Army anti aircraft missile with a range of 37 miles (60 km) and a 200-pound (90 kg) warhead, launched from a tracked vehicle with radar and computer guidance and fire control.
There is a thread on Medialens about John Pilger’s latest piece on propaganda.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/thread/1371704567.html
The second comment there is a dig at the BBC holocaust prop. which I posted earlier here.
Brendan Yesterday at 11.37pm Ref your link to the nasty Kamm tweet about Craig.
I have been scrolling through his execrable stuff. https://twitter.com/OliverKamm
One of his latest is:
Oliver Kamm @OliverKamm 20h
Guardian has deleted most comments under report of Michael Hasting’s death. Evidently attracted conspiracy cranks: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/19/michael-hastings-runaway-general-dies …
!!
He even retweets McCain and as you say has multiple exchanges with the B.Liar hagiographer Rentoul who has reissued his biography of St Anthony* and who was plugging it on Kamm’s twitter. Is Rentoul on B.Liar’s payroll one asks?
They are all nobodies.
*
Tony Blair: Poster boy or cartoon villain?
John Rentoul’s biography of Tony Blair, published in 2001, is reissued this week with a 20,000-word Afterword covering the last six years of his premiership, starting with the shock of 9/11. In this exclusive extract, Rentoul assesses whether Blair’s solidarity with President George W Bush, which led to Britain’s role in the Iraq war, was a mistake.
Sunday 16 June 2013
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-poster-boy-or-cartoon-villain-8660465.html
No, not a mistake Rentoul. A very bloody war crime as was Afghanistan.
“Who will be the firsst commenter to addresss that important issue, I wonder?”
“You, as far as I can see…”
I don’t think so. I believe it was “Flaming June” at 7.04am.
My head is still with Michael Hastings. I’ve just read this:
“Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him.”
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100222652/wikileaks-says-michael-hastings-contacted-it-just-before-his-death-are-they-implying-he-was-murdered/
In light of the recent NSA leaks by Snowden it could well be argued that everybody is under “potential” investigation now.
Certainly storing everyone’s data ad infinitum is a form of investigation.
Just a thought…
That is precisely the reason the question was put to you.