November 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Peru-Chile spy dispute deepens. Not only was senior Peruvian Air Force officer Victor Ariza, who was arrested in Lima last Saturday, a spy for Chile, but there were six other individuals involved in the ring, according to Peruvian authorities. Peru has even asked Interpol to get involved in the affair.
UN-Iran in secret nuclear negotiations, says paper. The London Times has alleged that the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency is secretly negotiating a deal to persuade world powers to lift sanctions against Iran and allow Tehran to retain the bulk of its nuclear energy program, in return for co-operation with UN inspectors.
Analysis: The real spy war between CIA and DNI. For months, the CIA and the office of the Director of National Intelligence fought an intense and acrimonious turf battle over covert action oversight and access to White House officials. Now new details are emerging about deeper and more sensitive conflicts between the two agencies, including which agency is responsible for oversight of the CIA’s controversial and classified Predator drone program.

News you may have missed #0190

November 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Indicted Liberian leader continues to allege CIA complicity. Former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, who is being tried at The Hague for war crimes, said his rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, exchanged information with the CIA, and continued to do so into his presidency. Talylor has madesimilar allegations before, but the US media is ignoring it.
Debate on who should protect US computer networks continues. Cyber experts and intelligence officials continue to debate about whether the National Security Agency is the best-suited US agency for protecting the country’s critical computer networks from cyberattacks.
Case of Pakistani ’spy’ arrested in India gets thicker. A Pakistani man arrested in India just as he was set to board a flight to Saudi Arabia, using a fake passport, “was a leader of some bigger ring spread across central and western Uttar Pradesh”, according to Indian officials. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has arrested two more individuals in connection with the case.

News you may have missed #0189

November 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Somali youths from Canada may have joined Al-Shabab militant group. It’s not only Somali-Americans who are going back to Somalia to join Al-Shabab. Canadian officials are worried the same thing may be happening in Toronto.
New website examines intelligence contractors. The website Spies for Hire is a new project by Tim Shorrock, which aims to track the America’s most important intelligence contractors. The website expands on Shorrock’s 2008 book, Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing.
MI6 chiefs to testify about Iraq War fiasco. Past and present chiefs of MI6, including Sir John Scarlett and Sir John Sawers, will be among the first witnesses to give evidence to the official inquiry into Britain’s entry into the Iraq War, it was disclosed on Monday.

A terrible week for German spy agencies

November 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

BND logo

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Germany’s largest intelligence agencies are in for a challenging few days, as two spy scandals are making headlines in the country’s media. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s foremost domestic intelligence organization, is firmly in the hot seat after it emerged that a woman it employed as an undercover informer was among seven extremists indicted for helping operate a hardcore neo-Nazi online radio station. The woman, who has been identified only as “Sandra F.”, had been hired by the spy agency to monitor the German People’s Union (DVU), a national socialist political grouping with substantial following in Brandenburg and Saxony. Keep reading →

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CIA-DNI turf war enters new phase

November 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Dennis Blair

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The CIA may have won a lengthy turf battle against the office of the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI), but the war between the two agencies continues. As intelNews reported last July, the dispute started when DNI Dennis Blair argued in a still-classified directive that his office, and not the CIA, as has been the case for over 60 years, should have a say in certain cases over the appointment of senior US intelligence representatives in foreign cities. A few days ago, when the White House finally came down in favor of the CIA, the imbroglio appeared to be ending. But now the DNI has hit back byannouncing it will be evaluating all “[s]ensitive CIA operations overseas” including all of the CIA’s active paramilitary and espionage operations abroad. Keep reading →

One third of Pakistani spy budget comes from CIA, say officials

November 17, 2009 · 1 Comment

ISI HQ

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
As much as one third of the annual budget of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence has come from the CIA in the last eight years, according to a new report in The Los Angeles Times. The paper says that even more US dollars have been supplied to the ISI through a secret CIA monetary rewards program that pays for the arrest or assassination of militants wanted by Washington. The payments reportedly began during the early years of the George W. Bush administration, and are now continuing under the Obama administration, despite “long-standing suspicions” that the ISI and the Pakistani military maintain close links with the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and elsewhere. Keep reading →

News you may have missed #0187

November 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Cambodia arrests Thai for spying on exile leader. Cambodian authorities said the man, Siwarak Chothipong, who works for the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, spied on the flight itinerary of visiting former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been living in exile since a 2006 military coup in Thailand. The Thai government has rejected the charge.
CIA’s Panetta to visit India. CIA director Leon Panetta will visit India for three days, starting on November 20. IntelNews will be keeping an eye on his visit.
Former Monaco spymaster says prince invokes immunity. More on the saga of former FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Eringer, who until recently was spymaster to prince Albert II of Monaco, and is now suing him for €360,000 ($542,000) in alleged unpaid income. Eringer’s lawyers have accused Albert of invoking head-of-state immunity, “an absolute defense used by dictators around the world to avoid accountability in US courts”.

News you may have missed #0186

November 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment

UN shares intel with Rwandan rebels, says paper. Rwandan dailyThe New Times has aired allegations that the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) has an intelligence-sharing relationship with Hutu FDLR rebels, which runs “even deeper than earlier thought”.
Pakistan militants target spy agency. Militants have stepped up their fight against the Pakistani government in western Pakistan, by ramming a truck bomb into the Peshawar regional office of the Inter-Services Intelligence, the country’s main spy agency. This is the first large-scale specific targeting of intelligence agents in the region, outside of Afghanistan.
US bases in Colombia to be used for spying, says Chávez. Venezuela’s President says he does not think that the new US bases will be used for counternarcotics efforts, but rather for “electronic spying”.

Book claims CIA turned blind eye on Pakistan’s post-9/11 terror links

November 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment

J.L. Bruguiere

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A new book by France’s former leading investigating magistrate on counterterrorism affairs alleges that the CIA allowed the Pakistani army to train members of a notorious Islamist militant group, even after 9/11. In the book, entitled Ce que je n’ai pas pu dire (The Things I Would Not Utter), Jean-Louis Bruguiere says the US spy agency was aware that Pakistani army trainers worked with Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani group responsible for a series of sophisticated strikes in India, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The former magistrate bases his allegations on official testimony provided by Willy Brigitte, a French citizen from Guadeloupe, who was arrested in Australia in 2003, in connection with Lashkar-e-Taiba activities there. Soon after the US invasion of Afghanistan, Brigitte traveled to Pakistan aiming to join the Taliban insurgency, but was unable to cross the Pakistani-Afghan border. Keep reading →

News you may have missed #0185

November 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Article claims US employed cyberwar in 2007. A cover story in the Washington-based National Journal claims former US President George W. Bush authorized the National Security Agency to “launch a sophisticated attack [...] on the cellular phones and computers that insurgents in Iraq were using to plan roadside bombings”. IntelNews regulars will remember that we had suspected as much.
Somali suicide bomb recruiter had US residency. Somali Mohamud Said Omar, who was arrested a week ago in Holland on suspicion of recruiting youth in Minneapolis for suicide missionsin Somalia, has a US green card, Dutch media reported Friday.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial a huge challenge for US judiciary. The alleged 9/11 mastermind’s case poses the question of how to deal with what is likely to be an extremely large body of classified evidence that the prosecution will want to present.

News you may have missed #0184

November 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Rumors of joint US-Israel-Egypt-Jordan spy meeting. Israeli siteDEBKAfile is one of several Middle Eastern news outlets alleging that a secret meeting was held earlier this month between senior intelligence officials of the US, Israel, Egypt and Jordan.
Germany won’t prosecute suspect in Litvinenko murder. Germany has dropped attempts to prosecute Dmitri Kovtun, a former Soviet military intelligence officer implicated in the 2006 killing in London of Russian former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. Meanwhile the primary suspect in the case, former KGB bodyguard Andrey Lugovoy, who lives in Russia, said he may be ready to face questioning in the UK “under certain conditions”.
FBI charged terrorism suspect after trying to recruit him. Tarek Mehanna, a Massachusetts man accused of plotting to kill Americans, was charged by the FBI only after he refused to work as an informant against Muslims, according to his lawyer. This is not the first time such allegations have surfaced.

News you may have missed #0183

November 14, 2009 · 1 Comment

Did US Rep. Hoekstra compromise a secret NSA spy program?Rep. Peter Hoekstra (MI), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence panel, may have inadvertently compromised a sensitive National Security Agency email collection program while commenting on allegedly intercepted emails sent and received by Fort Hood shooter Malik Nadal Hasan.
Blog requests readers’ help to examine released documents.Wired magazine’s Threat Level blog has issued a request for readers to help pore over thousands of US government documents relating to the proposed immunity for telephone companies involved in the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. The documents were released following a FOIA lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
An opportunity in Cuba for CIA field agents? They’d have to pose as McDonald’s restaurant workers.

"Bush's Torture Rationale Debunked." .

Did Cheney Order The Torture To Get Bad Information?

CONGOO

Health Care Bill Clears First Senate Hurdle - 4 Hours ago

WASHINGTON- Democratic leaders secured the last two votes to move ahead on historic health care legislation, clearing the way for a Saturday night showdown on President Barack Obama's top domestic initiative.

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China mine blast death reach 87 - 3 Hours ago

At least 87 people are now known to have died in a coal mine blast in northern China, state media reports. Another 21 miners are reportedly still trapped at the pit in Hegang City in Heilongjiang province.

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WFTV

Deadly explosion kills 87 in NE China colliery - 4 Hours ago

Rescue workers stand by the mine entrance as smoke billows out after a gas explosion at a coal mine in Hegang City, in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, November 21, 2009.[Xinhua] More photos The

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Michael Scott mourned at private funeral Saturday
Chicago Tribune	all 2 news articles >>

In recession, one road leads home
Washington Post

'China has stake in Kashmir issue'
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Jacko 'moonwalk' glove sells for 350,000 US dollars
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World powers to discuss Iran rejection of nuclear deal
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Bomb attack targets Pakistan police: official

Asiaone

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POLITICS/LAW

Healthcare bill passes first Senate test - 3 Hours ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A sweeping healthcare overhaul narrowly cleared its first hurdle in the Senate on Saturday, with Democrats casting 60 party-line votes to open debate on the biggest healthcare changes
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Obama's approval: 49 pct, new Gallup low - 3 Hours ago
Public approval of the job that President Barack Obama is performing has fallen below 50 percent for the first time in the Gallup Poll's daily tracking of opinion. The 49-percent approval for Obama's
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Patients fed up with health care look abroad - 4 Hours ago
Medical tourism is the practice of traveling abroad to get operations not covered by provincial health care plans, or those too expensive to get in the U.S. It has proved to be a very successful business
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HEALTH CARE VOTE: The day the Senate Democrats say they have enough votes to continue - 5 Hours ago
'We don't want to be an unruly mob, we want to know we are not going to be silent any longer,' says Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Miller-Meeks says she's simply trying to protect the relationship between
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Swine flu may be peaking in U.S. - 4 Hours ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pandemic of swine flu may be hitting a peak in the United States, health experts said on Friday. But they stressed that influenza, especially a pandemic, could hit several
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US Senate healthcare vote begins - 4 Hours ago
Mr Reid's healthcare bill is more than 2,000 pages long The US Senate has begun voting on whether to hold a full debate on a bill designed to overhaul the country's healthcare provision. Earlier, Democrats
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INTERNET

Message from Tolkien for Facebook and the net monopolists -4 Hours ago
Social networks that want to dominate a corner of cyberspace should remember AOL LIKE MANY people in his business, the technology publisher Tim O'Reilly is a heavy user of the Twitter microblogging service.

Social networking a web of deceit - 4 Hours ago
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Google Chrome OS Source Code Now Available For Download -4 Hours ago
Today on twitter Google released the Source Code for the anticipated operating system named 'Chrome OS'. the source code can be downloaded for more info on the Google Chrome OS and web browser watch the
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SCIENCE

US: Converted Organics exhibits organic fertilizer Products at major trade shows - 2 Hours ago
Converted Organics Inc. announced that the Company is exhibiting its organic fertilizer products today at the California Association of Pest Control Advisers (CAPCA) and the Organic Fertilizer Association
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Israel: Syngenta to supply fungicide to Makhteshim-Agan Syngenta, the Basel provider - 2 Hours ago
Syngenta, the Basel provider of crop protection solutions, signed a long-term agreement to supply Makhteshim-Agan, the Airport City, Israel, agrichemicals specialist, with the fungicide azoxystrobin.

BRIEF: Monsanto addresses pollution - 2 Hours ago
(St. Louis Post-Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- MON | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Monsanto Co. is installing a water management system at an Idaho phosphate

What are western church leaders doing to protect the Holy Land?

22 November, 2009 — Ann

I recently posted this at PULSE, our more active group site, but this topic has long been something of a hobbyhorse of mine here at Peoples Geography, I thought it’d re-post it here as well. Its an important and urgent topic that I will always do my bit to highlight, and ask you to also have a look at the The Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionismissued by the Eastern Patriarch and Local Heads of Churches In Jerusalem. As a person with a Levantine Christian heritage, I am proud of their courage and fortitude, as I am of such groups as the Christian Peacemaker Teams, and Jewish peace-groups too who work so actively to ameliorate and reject the zionist entity’s crimes committed in their name.

Israel’s ‘Right To Exist’? The UN Legitimacy Myth
4 November, 2009 — Ann
Alan Hart does well to provide this historical corrective, excerpted from ‘Israel’s Right to Exist?‘

According to history as written by the winner, Zionism, Israel was given its birth certificate and thus legitimacyby the UN Partition Resolution of 29 November 1947. This is propaganda nonsense.

In the first place the UN without the consent of the majority of the people of Palestine did not have the right to decide to partition Palestine or assign any part of its territory to a minority of alien immigrants in order for them to establish a state of their own.

Despite that, by the narrowest of margins, and only after a rigged vote, the UN General Assembly didpass a resolution to partition Palestine and create two states, one Arab, one Jewish, with Jerusalem not part of either. But the General Assembly resolution was only a proposal – meaning that it could have no effect, would not become policy, unless approved by the Security Council.

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Colonialist Cuisine. Warning: Does Not Freeze Well
10 September, 2009 — Ann
… and is liable to cause mass food poisoning and diplomatic indigestion. Khalil Bendib masterfully captures the utter fraud about the precondition of freezing illegal Israeli Jew-only outposts, an internationally recognized imperative that is being blatantly ignored by Israel in negotiations. Contra both to international law and the full weight of international community policy that sees them as a critical impediment to a just resolution, the hafrada regime continues to thumb its nose and build illegal housing on Palestinian land.

Here’s an idea for Mr Mitchell: tie the evacuation of existing post 1967 outposts to the threat of withdrawing hefty US annual aid to Israel. The US has leverage with the apartheid state that it could start using were it not for the undue influence of the Lobby.

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Posted in Cartoon, Israel, Palestine, US Foreign Policy. Tags: Khalil Bendib, Landrum Bolling. Leave a Comment »

Scenes from the US healthcare debate
16 August, 2009 — peoplesgeography.com

Thanks Ressentiment

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Barack Obama Cartoons - About.com

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