politics for the 99%

… unraveling the secrets of the military’s secret military – Published on ZNet (first on TomDispatch), by Nick Turse, January 08, 2014.

“Dude, I don’t need to play these stupid games. I know what you’re trying to do.” With that, Major Matthew Robert Bockholt hung up on me. More than a month before, I had called U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) with a series of basic questions: In how many countries were U.S. Special Operations Forces deployed in 2013? Are manpower levels set to expand to 72,000 in 2014? Is SOCOM still aiming for growth rates of 3%-5% per year? How many training exercises did the command carry out in 2013? Basic stuff.  Continue Reading…

Voici de la contradiction autour du SIDA:

• Les Origines du SIDA / (origin of AIDS), reportage complet 2013, 78.11 min, mise en ligne par FranceReplayTv, le 12 août 2013;
• I CREATED AIDS to DELIBERATELY DEPOPULATE HUMANITY – Dr Robert Gallo, 8.36 min, uploaded by youxsearch, December 2, 2011; Continue Reading…

HOME in english, 93.17 min, uploaded by homeproject, May 12, 2009;

HOME en français, 93.39 min, mise en ligne par homeprojectFR, le 12 mai 2009.

Published on truthout, by Former NSA Senior Executives and Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, Consortium News, an Open Letter, Jan 7, 2014.

In a memo to President Obama, former National Security Agency insiders explain how NSA leaders botched intelligence collection and analysis before 9/11, covered up the mistakes, and violated the constitutional rights of the American people, all while wasting billions of dollars and misleading the public: … (the memo) … //

… Introduction:   Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Andreas Ulrich, Jan 7, 2014. (Linked with the article: The Plight of the Roma: Part 1, Europe’s Unwanted People, Part 2, Birth Control For Gypsies, on Spiegel Online International, by Spiegel staff, January 07, 2014 … for all: Photo Gallery).

A debate over whether Germany profits from Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants has flared up since the EU opened its labor market to these workers. Statisticians are struggling to come up with conclusive evidence on either side of the argument … //

… Inconclusive Statistics:   Continue Reading…

… about Volgograd and the Conquest of Eurasia – Published on Global Research.ca, by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Jan 3, 2014.

…  “Bandar Bush” goes to Mother Russia:

• For the purposes of supporting such an assertion we will have to start with the not-so-secret visit of a shadowy Saudi regime official to Moscow. Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the infamous Saudi terrorist kingpin and former House of Saud envoy to Washington turned intelligence guru, last visited the Russian Federation in early-December 2013. Bandar bin Sultan was sent by King Abdullah to solicit the Russian government into abandoning the Syrians. Continue Reading…

… 2014: the big American retreat – Published on GEAB no 80, Dec 16, 2013.

… Whether it be the economic or political woes of the United States, Japan and the European Union, the Russian diplomatic victories over Syria, Armenia or the Ukraine, or Chinese ambitions in the East China Sea, tomorrow’s powers are quickly filling the geopolitical void left by yesterday’s powers.   Continue Reading…

Published on Russia Today RT, by Patrick L Young, expert in global financial markets, Jan 4, 2014.

2013 was the year where the threat of removing the QE punchbowl provoked market panic, while the EU was instrumental in sinister programs of theft above and beyond even the rapacious ‘Central Bankers’ party’… We began 2013 with the euro crisis yet to be cured, and indeed as we end the year it remains the fiscal elephant in the room. A volcano apparently dormant but clearly still active beneath the crater. Quite when it will next erupt nobody knows, but even Christine Lagarde of the IMF was keen during December to remind us that the crisis was far from resolved.  Continue Reading…

Interview with Greg Albo GA and Jerome Klassen JK, published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin No. 923, by Jordy Cummings JC, January 3, 2014.

… JC: In terms of Canada’s and others’ efforts to “rebuild” the Afghan state, what hurdles have been faced, and how has Canada failed to manage and/or transcended such hurdles? If it is indeed possible to help Afghanistan, what can be done, not merely by the Canadian state, but by international assistance?   Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Susanne Koelbl, January 02, 2014 (Photo Gallery).

Since the West reached a landmark deal with Iran on its controversial nuclear program late last year, many Iranians are hoping for an end to sanctions. Western companies are also gearing up do big business … //

… Old Revolutionaries Are Skeptical:  Continue Reading…

Published on World Socialist Web Site WSWS, by Tom Carter, Dec 31, 2013.

US District Judge William H. Pauley’s ruling in the case of ACLU v. Clapper on December 27, which sanctions dragnet NSA surveillance of the telephone records of the entire country’s population, has immense significance for democratic rights.

Although it is written by a federal judge, it is not so much a legal opinion as it is a fascist-style polemic that advocates scrapping the US Constitution and implementing a police state. The fact that a federal judge makes such arguments is a significant indication of the extent to which a pro-dictatorship consensus has developed within the highest levels of the judicial system.   Continue Reading…

Watch this video-interview with Glenn Greenwald, 53.27 min, published on Democracy Now, by Ami Goodman, Dec 30, 2013:

The German publication Der Spiegel has revealed new details about a secretive hacking unit inside the National Security Agency called the Office of Tailored Access Operations, or TAO. The unit was created in 1997 to hack into global communications traffic. Hackers inside the TAO have developed a way to break into computers running Microsoft Windows by gaining passive access to machines when users report program crashes to Microsoft.   Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by JACOB APPELBAUM, JUDITH HORCHERT, OLE REISSMANN, MARCEL ROSENBACH, JÖRG SCHINDLER AND CHRISTIAN STÖCKER, Dec 30, 2013 (Editor’s note: This is a sidebar to our main feature story on the NSA’s Tailored Access Operations unit. You can read the main text here).

The NSA has a secret unit that produces special equipment ranging from spyware for computers and cell phones to listening posts and USB sticks that work as bugging devices. Here are some excerpts from the intelligence agency’s own catalog.   Continue Reading…