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.
@ Flaming June
“On the dog walk I was thinking up titles for the new Lord Livingston when he dons his ermine.
Lord Livingston of Lod or Lydda (aka Ben Gurion airport) perhaps?”
____________
You mean like Viscounts Montgomery of Alamein and Alexander of Tunis?
I bet they are going for the brother.
24 June 2013 Last updated at 11:02
.Man arrested in Surrey over Annecy family murder
Breaking news
A 54-year-old man has been arrested in Surrey in connection with the murders of four people in the French Alps last year.
Saad al-Hilli and his wife Iqbal, from Claygate, Surrey, her mother Suhaila al-Allaf and French cyclist Sylvain Mollier were shot on 5 September.
Monty and Alexander were given battle honours in a defensive war.
Only someone from Irgun or Haganah could receive an Israeli battle honour for Lod/Lydda, in an offensive war.
viz.
The Israel Defense Forces entered Lydda on July 11, 1948. The following day, under the impression that it was under attack,[35] the 3rd Battalion was ordered to shoot anyone “seen on the streets.” According to Israel, 250 Arabs (men, women, and children) were killed. Other estimates are higher: Arab historian Aref al Aref estimated 400, and Nimr al Khatib 1700.[36][37]
State of Israel[edit]
Lydda, 1948
During 1948, the population rose to 50,000 people as Arab refugees fleeing other areas made their way there.[31] All but 700[38] to 1,056[4] were expelled by order of the Israeli high command, and forced to walk 17 kilometers to Arab Legion lines on one of the hottest days of the year. Many died from exhaustion and dehydration; estimates vary from a handful to 355.[39][40] The town was subsequently sacked by the Israeli army.[41] The few hundred Arabs who remained in the city were not permitted to live in their own homes.[42] They were soon outnumbered by the influx of Jewish immigrants who moved into the town from August 1948 onwards, most from Arab countries.[4] as a result of which Lydda became a predominantly Jewish town.[33][43].
What cruel bastards.
~~
Off out to escape the ZBC production of the Rolex All England Lawn Tennis Association championships, prize money £1.6 million each to the men’s and women’s singles winners. Austerity GB.
The military will be there too acting as stewards and we will probably hear about Help the Heroes as in previous years.
@ John Goss
And I’m replying to you because, as I’ve already said once, you’re a handsome chap 🙂
(cue for Mary to question my sexuality 🙂 )
There are certainly cases where morality should prevail over the rule of law. Hitlerian Germany – after a certain point – would be a good example.
But this is also a question of degree, isn’t it. The example you gave raises the question of degree; and why stop at RAF Waddington because it is connected with drones, why not justify criminal sabotage against any military installation?
Along the same train of thought, surely you are not suggesting that that the Boat Race (whether an example of privilege or not) even remotely raises issues of the rule of law v. morality which justify its disruption?
@ The Scourge
“£800 minimum”.
Do check your facts before sounding off and thereby avoid appearing a chump.
I think you should thank The CE for bringing you up to date.
@ Nevermind
“Lord Livingston of split loyalties, minister for the United Kingdom of Israel, unelected and without a mandate he should do well with his little helpers represented in every political party presently available to those few dependants and party addicts who still vote.
Vorwaerts mit den vereinigten British isles of Israel.
Yom Tov to you all.”
______________
That was a very, very silly post even by your high standards.
If a chap can’t have a swim in the Thames without being nearly run over by a bunch of rich oiks in a rowing boat, and then deported, what have we come to?
Cue minelayer.
Is there a leak enquiry initiated to find the traitor who spilt the beans on Enda’s surprise party for Obamas?
############
The other occupied territories (the cabinet office, in Number 10) would probably agree with: Lord Livingston of Lod or Lydda (aka Ben Gurion airport) perhaps?
The simple fact is the shameless carpetbaggers are so brazen about their loyalties, and in fact take pride in paying fealty to the “the most amazing state in the world”. (shitty little strip of land, and experiment in owning a state by the Roth….. (cannot mention the name for the fear of committing a trope) to the rest of the world, ie anywhere outside US, UK and toadies ruled places on Earth ).
##########
The undercover cop coming clean about the smear campaign of Lawrence family, talks about trying to frame them as “political activists”. Clearly the establishment views “political activists” as undesirables, like; Muslims, Mad, etc. …..
Yours was a very, very unnecessary post by any standards at all, Hubba. Attempting to match the spirit of the thing –
I see tomorrow is the fast of Tzom Tammuz, which bewails the destruction of the First Temple by Nebuchadnezzar. And the Second Temple by the Romans. And other stuff germane to the concept of the Jews as the righteous victims of unjust persecution throughout recorded time.
You’re allowed to wash, which can’t be bad, and wear leather. Whatever turns you on. But it’s also your opportunity for sober contemplation of what it is you have become, and to shed a tear for your victimhood, if not your victims.
Enjoy.
@ Mary – to round off on Viscounts Alexander and Montgomery :
I don’t think Mary was making an entirely serious point and I replied a little in the same vein.
However, my response did allow Mary too drag in a reference to Lydda.
Is it perhaps worth pointing out that Lydda is hardly relevant to subsequent and on-going Israeli actions in Palestine? Lydda took place against a very recent and very violent background in which millions of people, military and civilian, were killed in action, massacred and otherwise done to death – in which I include the vast and forced population movements and transfers which occurred at the end of the war. None of which furnish an excuse but they do furnish a context. And is it perhaps also worth recalling who started the war in Palestine?
@ Komodo
I note that you seem much more conversant with Jewish practice and commemoration than I am…..which is interesting and perhaps even significant.
Talking of the rogue entity;
http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2013/06/israel-and-the-nsa-scandal/
cabaret, dear boy, sheer cabaret.
I note that you seem much more conversant with Jewish practice and commemoration than I am…..which is interesting and perhaps even significant.
Your response is the expected one. And your momma should be ashamed, a nice boy like you ignorant of the festivals!
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/04/shady-companies-nsa/all/1
I see that stuff is really going to fly this week with Senator Shumer talking about what ally Russia owes the States in the Snowden case, and Surrey snoops finally going after Ziad al-Hilli for conspiring to murdee his brother Saad et al.
Of course, this is the same Russia which was set up in the Manhattan 11 case where sleeping, most naive CIA sources were made out to look like Putin’s goons, and one of the ffitters, MI8/GCHQ agent Gareth Wiliams was horribly murdered when he started to flee to Moscow.
And who did Ziad’s dirty work around ale Lake Annecy, only to stop killing the al-Hilli kids after having killed cyclist Sylvain Mollier?
Looks more like defenders of Anglo-American spooks pulling out all the stops when the shite really starts flying.
‘And who did Ziad’s dirty work around ale Lake Annecy, only to stop killing the al-Hilli kids after having killed cyclist Sylvain Mollier?’
Presumably, as the charge is ‘conspiracy to murder’ , the plods have established some sort of connection between the brother and the alleged shooter or shooters; guess we’ll have to wait for the trial.
Re the Flight of the Snowden,the impotent discomfiture of the US at his escape from extradition has echoes of the pathetic rage the Old Right in the UK directed at Uncle Sam after Suez. In both cases harsh geopolitical realities rendered the UK in ’56 , and the US today, helpless spectators as the respective farces unravelled.
Woman-abusing, racist-protecting firebomber honoured by queen and still employed by university. The bristling badger asks what does it take to tarnish a copper?
http://bristlingbadger.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/protectors-of-racist-murderers.html
Sometimes you have to begrudgingly hand it to the guardian & c4. This is excellent reporting.
It’s Tough at the Top, part 94
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2346811/Nigella-Lawsons-clothes-delivered-Mayfair-flat-prepares-second-week-away-Charles-Saatchi.html
Wonder if she’s paying bedroom tax on that?
Now Snowden has not gone to Cuba on an Aeroflot flight.
Moscow is apparently holding him back.
Will Snowden now spill the beans about NSA’s Special Collection Service killing whistleblowers from Gareth Williams to Major General John Wheeler Iii?
Or will he keep his mouth shut, and let the American lynch mob get him?
Looks like we are going to have the biggest spy fight ever!
Re Flight of the Snowden. No doubt the Russians will be mindful of the possibility of the US shooting down a passenger aircraft. The US have form in that regard.
Yes Mary indeed – we exist in a cruel world. The scales have been at equilibrium for too long. Veracious strength will enhance the power of intention required to honor the deserving. Our thoughts must empower empathy, mercy and compassion.
All six of Syria’s world heritage sties have been put on an endangered list by the UN’s cultural organisation amid mounting international concern about the country’s increasingly destructive civil war.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/21/syria-heritage-danger-list
He’s on the flight on someone else’s ticket, with a false nose and moustache.
He’s decided to get the next flight to Iceland instead.
The FSA want to know what else he knows: he’s in the Lubianka.
He was never in Moscow in the first place. Or Hong Kong.
He’s planning to walk to France and contact the Resistance.
That demned elusive Pimpernel…
Snowden is a star but he’s obviously getting world-class help: rhetorical, legal, and geopolitical. Some of it is coming from the outside world. Some of it is coming from inside. When you’re mobilizing shame against a rogue state, there’s only so much that NGOs like Wikileaks can do. NGOs depend on supranational institutions and on coordinated action by states. Look at the precursors: UN special procedures; demarches by victims of US aggression; intelligence actions aimed not at discreet national advantage but at exposure. Snowden is just the mediagenic centerpiece of a cascade of leaks. TWA 800 is back. 9/11 is about to bob up to the surface. Sibel Edmonds is sitting safe at home ticking like a bomb. The world is going to explode the biggest of Big Lies, “It’s a free country.” Americans are going to see the US as it is.
Welcome to weaponized disgrace.
I heard on the radio (had no internet all morning) that Snowden never landed in Moscow. So was that all a diversion??
@Rose, I’m very sorry for calling you Ruth. I have no idea why I did that, except that we’ve had a Ruth here before. (And ‘Deirdre’ – I like it!)
@KingofWelshNoir
Buíochas as do theachtaireacht. Maith thú! Dymuniadau gorau i chi 🙂
@someone
Yes, all that stuff about Clare Daly and Wallace is correct. An odd pairing that has raised eyebrows. But I don’t think any of it takes from what she said about Enda and the Obamas. “whether you were going to deck the cabinet out in leprechaun hats decorated with a bit of Stars and Stripes to really mark abject humiliation here…”
There was a poll at http://www.thejournal.ie/ (a site I don’t like) asking if there was too much slobbering over the Obamas, and 47% said Yes. The remainder was split between Nos and Don’t Knows. It gave me a little hope, but I have no idea how many took part in the poll.
@Fred
I take it you’ve read this?
http://www.autosec.org/pubs/cars-oakland2010.pdf
I saw nothing there about a law in America regarding cars being hooked to the internet through cellular networks. Could you enlighten me please and point to it?
As you said yourself, “the more expensive the car the more fun bits they have and the less secure it is” — which would seem to tie in fine with the video Jives posted, of a car being controlled with an iPhone.
I find the whole thing very creepy.
Sorry, can’t catch up on anything else. I’ve been disconnected for hours and have loads to do now.
Is Snowden a mossad operative?
If Putin wants to kick the US butt, he would welcome his new guest.
The Western media will fall short as credible sources of news on this story, best to keep an eye out for the foreign media and their output.
Is this what you were referring to, Fred?
“But few people know about the Federal mandate which in 2005 forced manufacturers to include a similar always on internet connection via the cell network in EVERY car sold in America, Onstar or not.
And this team of hackers has proven that a remote connection can indeed allow commandeering of these cars (in their case they used a remote controlled laptop plugged into the OBD port rather than the cell connection) that could be used to turn the car into a murder weapon.”
http://www.jimstonefreelance.com/carhack.html
It’s not in the .pdf that I can see. But I would have thought that there is enough in the .pdf to raise concerns.
gone – for now
Oh there’s a senior US intelligence “asset” on the run and he’s having trouble, or so it seems, leaving Moscow. Well what a surprise; of course there’s no possibility that the FSB would be interested in subjecting the guy to an extensive “de-briefing” is there?
Don’t be surprised if he’s there a while longer.
“I take it you’ve read this?”
Didn’t have time, too busy working out how to bit bang a rs232 port to do a 5 baud kw1281 initialisation.
Apparently Snowden is *not* on a plane to Cuba from Moscow. Can’t say I’m surprised.
But he could have just flown to Mexico on holiday, as lots of Americans do, and thence to anywhere in South America. Don’t you think it’s a bit strange, his giving the whole world a blow-by-blow account of his movements?