At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies quietly deployed radars that let them effectively see inside homes….

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jan 25 2015 21:02 utc | 3

Thanks to Graham Phillips tweeting from Donetsk
Who killed the 30 persons in #Mariupol? Shell in court of school makes it clear
http://t.co/G1IkoZLrsO (Russian)

Posted by: Lone Wolf | Jan 25 2015 21:52 utc | 5

Uncle$,
A kitten recently showed up on our property and befriended my wife in a way that she has never experienced from any animal before. We, naturally adopted it, or more correctly, she did, and it is indeed so exceptional an animal that I have deduced that it is likely a robot or at least has an imbedded chip that allows the PTB to follow our moves and conversations. Far fetched? Well yeah, but the surveillance is so ubiquitous and efficacious that my paranoid self is always on alert. Radar to see inside our homes; sound pickups that can monitor our conversations from an outside wall or window; cops reading our cars computers to tell if we’ve been smoking a joint; satellite imagery of such high resolution that they can actually see if I’m smoking one. Well I guess it’s all possible and probably here. I just assume that I’m being monitored most all the time. God, what a paranoid I’ve become. I wonder if it will really serve me in the long run. Aaarrrggg!

Posted by: juannie | Jan 25 2015 23:49 utc | 7

Juannie at 7 —
Welcome to the club.
That’s the way it is with cats. My wife was not really a cat person before a stray turned up before Thanksgiving 10 yrs. ago, though she had indulged me with our first that. He was devoted to her, I was tolerated; she had seen him off and on for months before the weather changed, I’d seen him once. We’re now up to three.
You’ll find this out soon, if you don’t know already — dogs have masters, cats have staff. They’re not good spies, they don’t really follow orders.
Our only hope is that they have so much info. that they can really use it. And use older devices/vehicles that lack tracking capabilities.

Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 26 2015 0:51 utc | 9

Given the ubiquitous nature of IT and surveillance capabilities, I am of a mind that any popular opposition movement needs to develop structure and tactics in which it either doesn’t matter what the police and NSA know, and/or the sheer volume of information works against them, overloading them or perhaps even as a smoke-screen for us.
As far as feline world domination goes, bring it on:

The cat is an example of sophistication minus civilization. (Anon.)
I gave an order to a cat, and the cat gave it to its tail. (Chinese proverb)
That’s the way with a cat, you know—any cat; they don’t give a damn for discipline. And they can’t help it, they’re made so. But it ain’t really insubordination, when you come to look at it right and fair—it’s a word that don’t apply to a cat. A cat ain’t ever anybody’s slave or serf or servant, and *can’t* be—it ain’t *in* him to be. And so, he don’t have to obey anybody. He is the only creature in heaven or earth or anywhere that don’t have to obey *somebody* or other, including the angels. It sets him above the whole ruck, it puts him in a class by himself. He is independent. You understand the size of it? He is the only independent person there is. In heaven or anywhere else. There’s always somebody a king has to obey—a trollop, or a priest, or a ring, or a nation, or a deity or what not—but it ain’t so with a cat. A cat ain’t servant nor slave to anybody at all. He’s got all the independence there is, in Heaven or anywhere else, there ain’t any left over for anybody else. He’s your friend, if you like, but that’s the limit—equal terms, too, be you king or be you cobbler; you can’t play any I’m-better-than-you on a cat—*no* sir! Yes, he’s your friend, if you like, but you got to treat him like a gentleman, there ain’t any other terms. The minute you don’t, he pulls freight.
—Mark Twain, “The Refuge of the Derelicts”
And, of course, from Colonel Cassad: He started first!

Posted by: Vintage Red | Jan 26 2015 1:29 utc | 11

From the Guarnad:

The anti-austerity far left party Syriza has won the Greek election by a decisive margin, but just short of an outright majority. With more than three-quarters of the results in Syriza is projected to win 149 seats in the 300 seat parliament.

Now, we’ll see if such events are “allowed”. Already, in an interview with Yanis Varoufakis, a BBC interviewer threatened “you know what happened last time Greeks tried to overthrow the oligarchy…”.

Posted by: guest77 | Jan 26 2015 2:12 utc | 13

As Varoufakis said: “Greece may force Europe to change.” Let’s be bold, maybe Greece somehow can be the pebble that starts the landslide that changes things everywhere.

Posted by: Ken Nari | Jan 26 2015 2:32 utc | 15

Interview with Yanis Yarouufakis, Syriza’s new finance minister.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13055

Posted by: ben | Jan 26 2015 2:54 utc | 17

“The thing was ideal when IS was advancing on Baghdad because Sunnis were killing Shias. That’s exactly what we need. – Our best hope right now is to get the Sunnis and Shias fighting each other and let them bleed each other white.”

It’s been the plan since 2003.
This type of scumbag – in any decent country – would be rounded up and shot.

Posted by: guest77 | Jan 26 2015 3:04 utc | 19

Quote from a Guardian article on Greece: “The hour of the left has come. The hour of the left has come. Hope has finally arrived.”
We heard about the same when Obama was elected. I hope this is different, the workers of the world need Greece to succeed in this.

Posted by: ben | Jan 26 2015 4:06 utc | 21

guess77 @ 18: Cannonfire’s latest might interest you, on J. Epstein.
http://cannonfire.blogspot.ca/

Posted by: ben | Jan 26 2015 5:02 utc | 23

can we blame the myanmar govn for wetting their pants and ditching china for the murcunts ?
practically every country which was friendly to china from africa, asia to south east asia was either hit by multiple air disasters, ebola etc, or has its leaders murdered or behind bar.
sri lanka’s Rajapakse, has just been deposed , merely 3 mths after xijing ping’s state visit , wow, that was swift *justice * !
he now faces impending *war crime* trial, prosecuted by non other than the newly minted murcunt sponsored prez, who happens to be the ex deputy defence minister presiding over the campaign against the ltte separatists , the irony of it all !
but at least Rajapakse’s still alive…for the time being.
he could have ended up like the kenney clan, the ghandi clan or…the nepalese monarchy family of king birenda which was wiped out in a palace massacre, 2001 !!
incidentally,
*King Birendra was killed 19 days after signing an agreement for the Rasuwagadhi-Safrubeshi road, an access road linking Tibet with Nepal. Furthermore, he was killed immediately after his official visit to China. *
king birenda in beijing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWhd5RtHryA
inquiring mind wants to know…
*For the death of King Birendra was preceded not only by rumors of a “big change” in policy, including a possible coup, but also by a series of visits to and from China: Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian visited this year, the first Chinese military figure of his rank to confer with his Nepalese counterpart, along with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji: King Birendra also made a trip to Beijing, his third. Could it be that Birendra was killed because he was perceived as tilting dangerously toward China?* [1]
most nepalese seem to think so…
*What really happened the night of June 1, 2001 at the Palace?
Was the coup engineered by the Bush administration? In the days before the massacre a team of Muscular murcunts were observed at the Hyatt Hotel in Boudha. They told everyone that they were their building a hospital in Patan but in the days after the massacre they left Nepal never to be seen again. [2]
…………………
they are now building a road from the Indian border to Lo Mothang. Lo Mothang on the Tibetan plateau bordering China was the jump off point for American-trained Tibetan guerillas fighting the Chinese. The CIA maintained a base there throughout the 1960s and 1970s–the Tibetan plateau being perfect for a forward airbase against China in the future.
……………………….
I will all ways love Nepal and have many fond memories of my youth there and I am ashamed of what is obviously my own country’s hand in this murderous affair in the land of Lord Buddha. American foreign policy has ruined Nepal. The thought of B 52s based in the land of temples makes me shudder.*
[1]
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2001/06/11/chaos-in-katmandu/
[2]
http://www.counterpunch.org/2005/03/05/murder-at-the-palace/

Posted by: denk | Jan 26 2015 6:40 utc | 25

General’s A-10 treason comment sparks concerns over protected speech

“In his defense, it was so outrageous that he couldn’t have been serious.”

This particular ‘dispute’ is about a place at the trough at the pentagon. It will probably be ‘resolved’ by funding everything – hammering yet another nail into the coffins of ordinary Americans in order to further enrich the 1% on Wall Street in their (‘counter’) terrorism play of the milennium.
But the phrase … ‘so outrageous that he couldn’t have been serious’ … is the epigraph of our times and of our nation, apparently.
The Big Lie. Wikipedia says ‘ The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” ‘
And that’s been the story of the US of A in this, the New American Century, from the ‘attack’ of 9/11, right through the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate’s destruction of Libya, Syria, Ukriane … and now Iraq again.
The truth is so outrageous that … it cannot be true, it must not be true : therefore the lie must be … swallowed … as the truth.
It’s a lie. It’s all a lie. We have to deal with it.

Posted by: jfl | Jan 26 2015 8:38 utc | 27

18
?Or was Dershowitz merely Clinton’s dual-citizen Israeli ‘handler’, assigned to get Bubbha all liquored up, poling away like a marten in heat, then hey, Dershowitz hands over the 8mm sex tapes to Epstein for extortion and blackmail? Explains a lot! Epstein would be not only tolerated by the Clintons and UK Royals, but lavished upon! Please, please don’t leak those sex tapes to the media! You can have any child you want!
Dershowitz then doubled as Clinton’s lawyer go-between, so that he knew every counter-move Clinton’s people might be trying to make.
“Yeah, Bill, tough break. Well, you know what we have to do when they ask us, right?”
“Thanks, Al, and gosh darn it, you’re the best lawyer any unlucky President ever had!”
Good Israeli – Bad Israeli shakedown, right up until Graham-Leach-Bliley finally crack-spread the greatest aggregation of wealth left on earth, …and Clinton rolled over like a drunk fraternity whore.
Now we’re in the final looting stages, as US passbook savings are handed over to Wall Street, and Draghi fires up the debt presses, before the world realizes we’re all Gazans now, all of us perpetual interest-only debt paupers … FOREVER. And it took only 15 years for PNAC to destroy all the free nations of the world! The Yinon Plan was just the ‘shiney object’, the magician’s distraction! It was all about The Chosen grabbing Western Wealth.
TomsDispatch has an article how the Israeli’s are attempting to take over Department of Homeland Security through $40 BILLION worth of Arizona “Border Fence™” deals, part of the -8% proposed cuts across the board in US health & human services, (ex-Defense, ex-DHS of course, no cuts there) a $240 BILLION Republican slush fund to the highest foreign bidder, for corrupt Congressional re-election campaigns, because Congresscritters remain the only reptiles on earth who can ‘legally’ insider-trade in the markets, …even that Hindu H1-B slave-trader, Bobby Jindahl.
Remember, Freedom Isn’t Free and That’s the Sound of Hebron!
Shekhinah, baby, Shek-hi-nah!

Posted by: ChipNikh | Jan 26 2015 10:04 utc | 29

House Speaker John Boehner Sunday defended his invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress in March, saying that President Barack Obama is ignoring threats posed by Iran and terrorists.
In a joint interview with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on CBS’ ‘60 Minutes,’ Boehner accused Obama of barely discussing terrorism in his State of the Union speech last Tuesday.
‘The president didn’t spend but a few seconds talking about the threat, the terrorist threat that we as Americans face,’ Boehner, R-Ohio, said. ‘This problem is growing all over the world. And you know, the president is trying to act like it’s not there. But it is there.’
Boehner said he wants Netanyahu to speak to Congress because ‘there’s nobody in the world who can talk about the threat of radical terrorism, nobody (who) can talk about the threat that the Iranians pose, not just to the Middle East and to Israel…but to the entire world, but Bibi Netanyahu.’
Read more here: “>http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/01/25/254294/boehner-defends-bibi-speech-invite.html#storylink=cpy

This makes me question whether we might see another false flag terror attack, assuming Boehner is more a part of the deep state than O.

Posted by: okie farmer | Jan 26 2015 14:04 utc | 31

America needs leadership. America needs heroes. If heroes can’t be found or even conjured, they must be fabricated. Sad is the land that needs a hero, but pathetic is the land that makes them up out of thick, polluted air. America is shitting itself. It needs something, and that something is not a hero, it’s an…
American Diaper

Posted by: Cold N. Holefield | Jan 26 2015 14:53 utc | 33

@Vintage Red #11
The reality of digital surveillance is far less than you think. The majority arises simply due to ignorance and laziness: the aggregation of social contact over the internet by Facebook and broadcasting live short messages by Twitter is simply young, stupid, and lazy people creating their own surveillance.
In the past, governments focused on the mass media: radio, TV and print.
Today, they add Facebook and Twitter to the lists.
You want to make it more difficult for governments to spy? Encryption is one way, but it is a poor one. Encryption is really just for people who already talk to each other to ensure the substance of what they say isn’t easily read (note: not unreadable). However, Encryption doesn’t prevent the gathering of metadata: who talks to who.
The way to organize over the internet is to avoid the “time saving” of the public services – it is to use the time honored cell system – with regularized hops off the internet.
Not rocket science at all.

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 26 2015 15:01 utc | 35

@36 google sucks… may as well have an account with the nsa for all it matters. in fact if folks start confusing google with the nsa, i would completely understand..
funny story, or true story.. we met a retired man from new york who has been traveling mostly in south east asia for a number of years.. he never realized how insulated americans are since he started traveling around and getting out in the world. the views of his friends back home become more and more strange the longer he stays away! he found some delight in talking with us today at a coffee shop here in georgetown, malaysia. he would be around 70 years old and especially enjoys malaysia on the countries in this part of the world he has lived in.
i don’t know that it connects back to the google/wiki story, but something in that reminded me of our conversation earlier today. i guess that is why wikileaks is so hated and google so beloved! up is down and down is up!

Posted by: ..james | Jan 26 2015 15:26 utc | 37

@jfl no. 28
Regarding the Hebdo murders, b has advocated for greater restrictions on speech. This is an example of the problems with that position.

Posted by: sleepy | Jan 26 2015 16:16 utc | 39

Very good news from Novorossiya, Novorossiyan Armed Forces (NAF) have closed the gap at the
“Debaltsevo cauldron,” encircling @ 8,000 troops from the demoralized rag-tag Ukrainazi Armed Forces (UAF). Closing the gap was vital for the NAF, as it was a wedge the UAF could have exploited at any time, cutting Novorossiya in two from north to south. Now the front is even, and any advanced can be done in parallel, exploiting UAF weaknesses along the entire front. Mariupol is next, but taking it is more a political decision than a military operation. Kiev puppet Yats has already ordered all territories to be on “high alert” before the unstoppable new offensive of the NAF, who are not willing to fall into the trap of “negotiations” while the UAF gets trained by US soldiers. Bye-bye, Poroshenko.
https://tinyurl.com/mwzbzq7

Posted by: Lone Wolf | Jan 26 2015 16:42 utc | 41

The real problem for TPB in BIG data mining is knowing what’s important. And those who aren’t able to SEE patterns tend to think collecting MORE data will be efficacious. Not so. Sure. They can design models and bots that churn and sort HUGE reams of data in nano-seconds. But it requires human intervention to know what to look for. Or to see something that reveals truth. The most valuable information is making “connections”. It takes imagination, intuition and curiosity to follow “the path less traveled”.
American universities have been co-opted to test, promote and graduate technical competency. Not individual thinkers. And what is displayed as “individual genius” is usually just the ability to market other ideas. And to rake in $$$.
The real value in data analytics is mapping outliers. It’s why sites such as this one are important collection tools for the PTB. Their goal is to persuade outliers to behave (and think) like the larger data pool. If you appear (to them) like the great mass of “performing” data — they will ignore you. Otherwise, you’re cat-nip to the watchers.

Posted by: giddy | Jan 26 2015 16:50 utc | 43

Canada to impose new sanctions on Russia, due to Mariupol incident: http://en.censor.net.ua/news/321657/canada_to_impose_additional_sanctions_against_russia_trough_recent_attacks_on_mariupol
Also, ‘Nothing is true’ re. Russia: https://irrussianality.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/nothing-is-true/

Posted by: KMF | Jan 26 2015 17:15 utc | 45

Overthrowing the illegal fascist junta would solve several problems.
Don’t worry guys, they will take care of that themselves.
The present Gvmt. is a mix of oligarchs (they re-write the rules for their own biz interests), thieves (counting on bail-outs, hard cash, support, they skim, etc.) and fascists (there only because they represent some kind of radical force and played a role in the Maidan) and russophobe war-mongers (I wrote about that before), with the standard collection of hangers-on.
They can’t agree on anything, can’t govern, they are like a disunited Mafia, the Mafia usually being an org. that is a parasite on an existing structure, here the disorganised structure is trying to parasite itself (unwittingly) and it will succeed, which means break-up or collapse.
At a deeper level, an ideological split has been created. Between goon capos, military or violent power (para-milit. groups) partly tied to / dependent on oligarchs, and those who are playing the Western game with talk of reform, economic revival, development, privatization, profit-sharing, joining the EU, Monsanto welcome, etc. etc. Meanwhile the civil war (or proxy war, as you will) is destroying the country, leaving them all panicked and thus making them more radical!
A waiting game is all that is needed. 😉 🙂

Posted by: Noirette | Jan 26 2015 17:35 utc | 47

@48 Ah now we know what all those Russian tanks were doing. They towed Donetsk over the border.

Posted by: dh | Jan 26 2015 17:49 utc | 49

Further bad news from Russia. Public prosecutor found another “foreign agent”, this time it’s… Committee Against Torture. After recent changes in law, foreign funding is not required to consider a suspect to be a “foreign agent”. It’s sufficient that the organisation is “trying to influence govenment policy”. And here’s the prosecutor’s argument:

Studying the given materials allows us to conclude that the actions of the Organization were targeted at attracting the attention of government bodies and civil society, intended directly to create a negative public opinion for the purpose of influencing decision-making by government bodies, in other words, changing the policy of the government in the realm of criminal prosecution

So if the Committee’s actions to prevent violence by law enforcement are considered as attempts “change the policy of the government”, then the torture must be part of the government’s policy, right?

Posted by: Ulster | Jan 26 2015 18:55 utc | 51

@Demian@40
Overthrowing the illegal fascist junta would solve several problems.
A few months ago, and in violation of a private telephone call, NATOstan puppet Barroso created a scandal quoting Putin out of context when he said he could take Kiev in two weeks. Barroso’s malicious quote didn’t clarify Putin also said they were not interested in doing so. Who wants to own a basket case? Not Russia, under its current conditions. Kiev as a seat of government has political -and military, value, but in terms of purely military strategy, what Russia really needs is to establish a land link to Crimea. As it is, Crimea is a vulnerable point on Russia’s soft underbelly, can be easily cut off from the Motherland, with all the potential of becoming a Russian cauldron. The real prize is Mariupol, a port that will give the Russians control of the Sea of Azov, and open a land corridor toward Crimea, land-locking Ukraine. Hence the UAF propping up the defense of Mariupol, even with mercenaries, as a video circulating yesterday informed us. IMHO, Russia has made a decision to go for broke, exploit the weaknesses of the UAF, and force a negotiated solution from a position of strength. Going to Kiev is not an option, for now, given the political, diplomatic and military implications of such an action. This week will be really decisive in defining the direction and scope of the conflict. May the Russians and Novorossiya make the right decisions.
@dh@49
@48 Ah now we know what all those Russian tanks were doing. They towed Donetsk over the border.
Those pesky Russians, always creating trouble.

Posted by: Lone Wolf | Jan 26 2015 21:52 utc | 53

26.01.2015 Military Report of Novorossia, ~ 0:32 – 1:10

… There was an interesing situation that was created in the bolshiva sector. Kiev’s forces surrender without a fight, and then assist in the elimination of their former allies. the explanation of this is the violent ways of recruiting in the ukrainian army. In the krasny-paharkeep soldiers made the decision to go into captivity and then they turn against the punitive battalions of poroshenko. To help former kiev forces novorossyan fighters arrived from neighboring troetsky and then together they were able to clear the occupied territory from punishers. After the battle the former kiev soldiers joined the novorossyan military and together they moved forward to the city moronovsky. …

The Novorossyan federalists and the fascists’ Ukrainian conscripts inaugurate common cause against NATO’s foreign legions?

Posted by: jfl | Jan 26 2015 23:17 utc | 55

@Lone Wolf #53:
I agree with your analysis. The idea of going to Kiev was merely presented by the author I quoted as a possibility for the indefinite future.
@jfl #55:
Interesting development. But I think we should treat this as unconfirmed. I can believe that Ukrainians will surrender without a fight, but that they would then join the Novorossiyans to fight punitive battalions is a bit of a stretch. Also, Novorossiyans probably wouldn’t want Ukrainians helping them, since the latter are poorly trained and so would probably mostly just get in the way.
Moral in the Ukie army must be very low. Clearly Ukie commanders have not learned any lessons from what happened last August. Photos of mangled Ukrainian bodies are surfacing again, and in videos, Novorossiyan soldiers act like they’re at a party.
@ben #54:
Dirty Harry Goes To Iraq
Good review. There’s also this by someone who fought in Indochina, who writes that he can’t understand how a sniper can be glorified: I would rather see “Paddington.” I think I’ll give both American Sniper and Leviathan a skip.

Posted by: Demian | Jan 26 2015 23:59 utc | 57

@jfl #58:
I don’t really hate jazz. I have a couple of jazz soundtracks from thrillers. I just have never been able to get into it in a big way. And I certainly don’t hate the blues, since I like Eric Clapton.
Yes, nobody knows what will happen with the Ukraine. It does appear that Moscow has decided that there is no point in making concessions to the West on Ukraine, since the West doesn’t back off an inch if Moscow does make concessions. And I have a feeling that Russians are more irritated by Merkel being rude to them than by Obama being so. A possibility which seems to be unlikely is Ukraine remaining united (it goes without saying that Crimea is gone for good) with the Nazis still in power.
What you say about Pasolini makes me think that maybe I should finally get around to watching The Gospel According to St. Matthew.

Posted by: Demian | Jan 27 2015 1:10 utc | 59

Demian @ 59 — When we kicked around jazz a while ago, we both overlooked the maybe the most popular jazz soundtrack — Guaraldi’s “Charlie Brown Christmas.”
Speaking of blues, jfl @ 58 — Myself, the only straight blues I have in the archives is a little Robert Cray. But if I’m in the mood, I tune into the blues show Sats. on one of the local coll. stations. Like D., I have some blues-rock like Cream, Clapton, etc. Favorably disposed to slide guitar generally.

Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 27 2015 2:24 utc | 61

How the CIA made Google
Inside the secret network behind mass surveillance, endless war, and Skynet—
part 1
…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jan 27 2015 2:45 utc | 63

These are at least part of the picture of who the US is sending to Ukraine – “strategic communicators” part of whose job is “improving the sustainability of U.S. military sales” because…you know… the CEO of Raytheon has to eat too.

The overall goal of this effort is to provide immediate support to an institutionally weak
strategic communications capability throughout the entire Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
Improved inter-ministerial coordination of “messaging” is essential. Additionally, efforts
must consider the development, vetting, and implementation of techniques and processes that
will enable the Ministry of Defense to effectively and consistently reach out to nongovernment
organizations, particularly those supporting ongoing military operations.
…
Desired Knowledge/Skills/Experience:
…
* Experience articulating and advocating U.S. Department of Defense plans and
requirements to other U.S. agencies or Congress.
…
Specific Advising Tasks:
…
* Advance and support other security cooperation efforts, such as improving the
sustainability of U.S. military sales and FMF activities, coordinating and harmonizing
other institutional capacity building efforts, and identifying opportunities to improve
the integration of IMET, regional centers, and other education and training programs.
…
* Applications are only being accepted from current DOD civilians in the GS-14/15 pay grades.
Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, résumé, and SF-50 to the MoDA Program
Office

Anyway…
A reversal of the coup, and a severing of the western part of the country from the rest would be ideal. And that may be what it would take to create a viable Ukraine.
We all saw the electoral maps – full on half of the country used to vote for parties which are today being violently repressed. Of course the Ukrainian people are being subjected to a massive internal propaganda campaign (most likely by US PR firms, like this one which is a part of the ‘US-Ukraine Business Council’) so it is hard to know how they’ve been moved, but there have been increasingly vocal protests against the increasingly draconian austerity measures being introduced by the coup government.
They also can’t be happy seeing this war being lost and their country dismembered – the question remains on who they’ll blame that on. The Russians, or the feckless nazi idiots and oligarchs who seized power in the Maidan. The country is being run, at this point, for and by these characters. And they are playing tough – with the US born “Ukrainian” finance minister threatening that IMF loans will not come, and the big oil companies pulling out having not sufficiently gotten their way.
There are apparently calls for the implementation of martial law by some parties in the government.

Posted by: guest77 | Jan 27 2015 3:08 utc | 65

@64
I’d pay to see, Feinstein and Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright run for office of the POTUS! I mean, really, let’s just take it up a notch; it’s not like things aren’t already seeming like some kind of david lynch film absurdity IN REALITY.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jan 27 2015 3:22 utc | 67

@67 hahah. I’m not sure my brain could take all that. I had enough trouble with “Lost Highway”.
@ben – thanks for the article.

Posted by: guest77 | Jan 27 2015 3:39 utc | 69

More on the deep state:
The Highlands Group is an international consulting network that has been interestingly termed an “intellectual capital venture firm” with extensive experience assisting corporations, organizations, and government leaders frame issues and consider alternatives in the achievement of their objectives. The Highlands Group is a leader in helping clients to explore the edges for new ideas and approaches, create new networks, manage creativity, and succeed. The Highlands Group provides clients with a wide range of services, including: strategic planning, scenario creation and gaming for expanding global markets, and special events planning and assistance. The Highlands Group assists clients in identifying new technologies, ideas, and opportunities. Highlands draws on a network of subject matter experts and facilitates cross-disciplinary gatherings of creative thinkers, working with clients to build strategies for execution. We are a small and agile firm, supported by the strengths of a global network of experts, and provide our clients with personal involvement and dedication. The Highlands Group is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and Carmel Highlands, California, and is supported by a network of companies and independent researchers. It is truly a collaborative effort with great contributions from our sponsors; our Highlands Forum partners for the past ten years at SAIC; and the vast Highlands network of participants in the Highlands Forum, Singaporean Island Forum, the St. Michaels Forum, and the Information Engagement Forum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ0Va0ETB9w
Richard P. O’Neill is the founder and President of The Highlands Group. Mr. O’Neill previously served in government, in his last position as Deputy for Strategy and Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense. In 1994 he created (and still directs) The Highlands Forum, an internationally recognized idea engine and cross-disciplinary forum of leaders from industry, academia, government, the arts and the professions, to support high level government policy and strategy development.
http://www.highlandsgroup.net/about.php?ID=1

Posted by: okie farmer | Jan 27 2015 3:57 utc | 71

Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News Portrays Ukraine’s ‘Far Right’ as ‘Heroes’
January 26th, 2015
Eric Zuesse
On January 22nd, Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News (Murdoch founded it, his son James headed it for a while, and their 21st Century Fox owns a controlling stake”“ in it) telecast a puff-piece for Ukraine’s right-wing extremists, several times calling them “heroes” to “patriotic” Ukrainians. This segment of their documentary series “Ross Kemp: Extreme World,” was titled “Ukraine: The Rise of The Right.” In it, Ukraine’s “far right” are described as being patriots who are protecting all of Ukraine from a Russian invasion, and who are therefore being increasingly admired by Ukrainians. It says: “The ultras [ultra-rightists] are actually patriotic young people who are ready to fight — not only on the Maidan, but also at the war for our land. … These men — seen now by many as heroes — are fighting for the Azov Battalion in Mariupol, Maryinka and Iliovaisk.”

Posted by: guest77 | Jan 27 2015 4:10 utc | 73

If You Thought Stop-And-Frisk Was Bad, You Should Know About Jump-Outs

A jump-out is typically described as multiple officers patrolling in an unmarked car, who at some point see something suspicious, and jump out of the car at once on unsuspecting pedestrians, with the intent of catching them off guard.

“I knew they were ‘police’ per se, but they weren’t moving, talking or behaving in any way like police usually do,” Hadieh said. “It was highly tactical and organized, very militarized.”

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jan 27 2015 4:25 utc | 75

guest77 @ 73: New website for me, awesome, thanks.

Posted by: ben | Jan 27 2015 5:23 utc | 77

further to 60 —
More news, again from translator J. Hawk at Fort Russ, who continues to provide interesting material with succinct commentary. A model to all.
With defeat looming the political maneuvering begins. Rada deputy and Azov battalion commander Andrey Biletsky Freaks Out, Calls the War “Lost”, Blames Everybody.

Time has come to make the most important of decisions, both as individuals and as a people, decision whether to live or to die… This war cannot be a war of generals and politicians. They already lost their war. This is a war of an armed people…. We need everyone for whom Ukraine and its will are real things for which one is willing to die. Come! The frontline brotherhood is saying its welcome to you! Glory to Ukraine!

Hawk says that “Everybody on the Ukrainian far-right is saying these things. The war is going badly, the generals and the politicians have lost it, now is our turn…. Biletsky is positioning himself for the inevitable post-campaign recriminations toward, well, everybody within the current Ukrainian political elite. Even though his own military accomplishments are nil….”

Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 27 2015 5:33 utc | 79

@78 okie and others here. thanks for the links..

Posted by: ..james | Jan 27 2015 7:38 utc | 81

I detected that Shaun Walker has some human decency, and now I am vindicated. I think some people here are too hard on him.
Kiev ‘punishes’ civilians in Donetsk with travel permits and drugs blockade

There are 155 patients remaining in the clinic on methadone, and 380 across the region.
“Sixty per cent of them are HIV-positive and many of them also have Hepatitis C and tuberculosis,” says Yulia Drozd, the deputy director of the Donetsk centre. “This is essentially a death sentence for them.” …
The methadone is not even paid for out of Ukraine’s budget, but funded by a grant from the Global Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria. All that is required of Kiev is to provide a document allowing for the drugs to pass through checkpoints. It has not been forthcoming.

Just another way how Ukrainians are back to their old Banderite behavior of committing genocide.

Posted by: Demian | Jan 27 2015 8:11 utc | 83

jfl, I had the same misgivings about so many undocumented assertions. OTH, Nafeez does document a hell of a lot. Just exposing the Highlands Group, an outfit I’d never heard of, has to be appreciated.
Lord, I’m going to need to read Part 2, may as well get to it.

Posted by: okie farmer | Jan 27 2015 14:54 utc | 85

Mike “Mish” Shedlock has some links regarding the situation in Ukraine:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/01/email-from-us-special-forces-veteran.html
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/01/encircled.html
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/01/us-special-forces-in-mariupol.html
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/01/rebels-advance-towards-mariupol-15000.html
And watch this weblink (from the Voice of America):
http://www.voanews.com/media/video/united-states-warns-of-more-sanctions-against-russia/2614812.html
It suggests that the US has have been training and equiping the ukrainian army for some time:

Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 27 2015 23:18 utc | 87

Interesting website:
http://englishrussia.com/

Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 27 2015 23:39 utc | 89

@Willf2 #88:

The shelling of Mariopol is simply a retaliation of what the ukrainians did to the civilian population of e.g. Donetsk.

The rebels don’t retaliate by murdering civilians. Also, they did not have any Grads in range. It was the Ukies who fired the Grads at Mariopol, either because they were aiming at rebel positions but the Grads fell short, or because this was another false flag.
The residents of Mariopol blame the attack on the Ukies. The OSCE has a history of blaming the side that NATO is against for such atrocities based on flimsy evidence.

Posted by: Demian | Jan 28 2015 0:37 utc | 91

Ever wonder why this country has become a shithole…
Look no further than here …

By almost anybody’s standards, Joshua Allan Jackson is bad news.
A felon with a lengthy history of violence against women, Jackson was sentenced to 10 years in prison April 13 for sexually abusing an 18-year-old woman and holding her against her will for days inside a cheap South Seattle motel last year. The woman told investigators Jackson forced her to audition for a porn film and at one point choked her so hard she almost lost consciousness.
As part of the case, Jackson also admitted to criminal impersonation on various occasions when he told the victim and seven other people that he was a federal agent or a police officer.
During a fight with an alleged drug dealer at another Seattle motel, Jackson told the manager he was a federal agent. The incident would have been almost comical had it not resulted in a citywide “help the officer” call, one of the Police Department’s most urgent alerts. Officers from throughout the city rushed to the motel, only to discover the heavily-tattooed Jackson was not a federal agent.
For all of this, the 34-year-old Jackson would be just another habitual criminal except for one startling fact: He was working the entire time as a paid informant for the Seattle office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The agency made Jackson an informant even though he had come out of prison early last year with a documented reputation as a violent, mentally unstable inmate who had been arrested in nearly every state and posed a serious threat to law-enforcement officers.
Jackson’s relationship with the ATF, as the agency is commonly called, provides a rare look into the shadowy world of confidential informants, who have long played an essential role in helping law enforcement solve crimes but also can pose serious risks.
ATF paid for the motel room where the woman was sexually abused, according to police records obtained by The Seattle Times. Only months before the assault, the records show, a concerned Seattle police officer spoke to an ATF agent on the phone after Jackson had reportedly flashed a badge during the “help the officer” incident. The agent vouched for Jackson.
The agent’s first words to the officer were, “What did Josh do now?”
It isn’t clear what value Jackson provided to the ATF. The agency declined to discuss Jackson, citing the need to protect the safety of informants and their families, as well as agents.
In a December interview with Times reporters at the King County Jail, the muscular Jackson said he had worked the streets for the ATF to identify criminals.
He said he came in contact with ATF through a Seattle police officer he had met on the streets. Jackson, whose account couldn’t be independently verified, said he thought he’d “like to make a little cash, and I thought I could help those guys.”
From memory, he readily produced the cellphone number of the agent he named as his main handler. The agent answered the phone when called by a Times reporter.
Incarceration was nothing new to Jackson.
A Times review of nearly 800 pages of prison and prosecution documents revealed the Bronx, N.Y., native had been jailed in 43 states. His convictions date to the 1990s and include breaking and entering, robbery and larceny.
It isn’t clear when Jackson moved to Washington, but records show he was arrested in Spokane in 2007 after a 25-year-old woman he had been dating reported he had assaulted her.
After getting out of jail, he told the woman he was going to torture her parents in front of each other before killing them. He also sent threatening emails to her parents.
The woman told detectives Jackson claimed he had brutally killed 27 men and two women, and had hidden many of the bodies in Florida’s Everglades. Terrorized, the woman and her family had the locks changed on their doors, according to court documents.
At one point, she alleged, Jackson measured her legs to ensure they would fit into plastic bags after he killed and dismembered her.
Jackson was charged in December 2007 with cyberstalking that included death threats. He pleaded guilty and was given a six-month sentence with credit for 69 days already spent in jail.
In March 2008, police responded to a domestic dispute in which his live-in girlfriend complained Jackson had trashed their apartment. She told police he armed himself with knives after discovering she had sent a text message to an old boyfriend.
Jackson told the woman he was working undercover for police. In July of that year, an FBI agent and a Spokane police officer visited Jackson, ordering him to quit telling people he was an FBI agent, according to prison records.
Jackson, charged with unlawful imprisonment of the woman, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 months in jail.
In both cases, he was placed on community supervision with the state Department of Corrections (DOC) after his release from jail. But he repeatedly violated the terms of his release, earning three separate stints in state prison, totaling more than 18 months.
No model prisoner
Jackson’s 400-page prison file is filled with disciplinary reports, most notably for smearing himself with feces, attacking guards, chewing through restraints and making lewd comments to female officers. He spent 11 of the 18 months in isolation for breaking rules.
In emails, frustrated corrections officials wondered what to do with him when he got out.
Worried that Jackson had worn out his welcome in Spokane County, they decided to send him to Seattle, where it was hoped he might have a better chance to change his ways in a larger urban environment.
In letters to his new community corrections officer, Jackson acknowledged he had issues with women and violence.
“My problems women not drugs not crime, my problems come from Ike Turner-ing a dame or two,” Jackson wrote, referring to the late rock and soul musician accused of domestic abuse by singer and ex-wife Tina Turner.
Upon Jackson’s release on Feb. 3, 2011, DOC issued an “officer safety warning” to Seattle-area police, telling officers Jackson was on the streets and should be considered a “high violent” risk. The bulletin noted Jackson had bragged of killing a police officer in Colorado, although there was no evidence he had.
A fresh start
Almost immediately after leaving prison, he came to the attention of Seattle police.
Last May, Seattle police Officer Rob Mahoney and another officer conducted a “premises check” at the Everspring Inn in North Seattle, where Jackson was living. The motel’s manager, Steve McDaniel, told them Jackson had been asking for personal information about other guests, and he had flashed a badge.
McDaniel, who has since left his job at the Everspring, told The Times that Jackson identified himself as some kind of agent who wanted that kept confidential because he was part of an ATF undercover operation.
McDaniel said he hired Jackson as night security guard to deal with persistent problems at the Aurora Avenue motel, giving him a free room as compensation.
“He was very personable,” McDaniel told The Times. “I believed everything he said. He was always clean-cut and dressed very nice.”
During the premises check, Mahoney and the other officer spoke with Jackson, who denied having a badge but claimed he was an ATF informant “working a ‘big’ operation,” Mahoney wrote in his report. Jackson called an ATF agent and handed the phone to Mahoney.
It was during that exchange the agent asked, “What did Josh do now?” Mahoney wrote.
Later, Mahoney confirmed through a Seattle police gang detective that Jackson was a federal informant. The gang detective related that the “ATF agent acknowledged Jackson was not all quite there, as it were,” according to a police report.
In June, Jackson searched the room of a resident and purportedly found drugs. “We got heroin!” he told McDaniel.
After police were called, Jackson persuaded officers to let him keep the drugs by telling them he was involved in a “buy-bust” operation, the police report said. The occupant of the room was wanted on an arrest warrant, and McDaniel was told to call police if he returned.
When the guest returned, Jackson confronted him, sparking a fight in the motel’s office. Jackson identified himself as a federal agent, triggering the citywide police response.
McDaniel told The Times he began to doubt Jackson’s claims after the incident. “It turned into a frickin’ nightmare,” McDaniel said. “I am thinking, ‘Is this guy really from the ATF?’ ”
Jackson didn’t have a gun or a badge, McDaniel said, making him wonder, “What is he doing arresting people without a badge and a gun? Plus, he is blowing his cover.”
McDaniel said Jackson’s ATF boss, who he knew only as “Jim,” told him Jackson “got them a lot of valuable information,” but that Jackson didn’t know when to “draw the line” and was a “high maintenance” informant.
After the Everspring incident, Jackson spent 14 days in the King County Jail for violating conditions of his prison release.
Jackson next moved to the Munson Motel in South Seattle on the ATF’s tab.
In September, he met a woman in downtown Seattle, telling her his name was “D’Angelo” and that he worked for an entertainment-TV channel, according to police records. He said he could help her with a modeling career.
Two days later, Jackson told her he worked for the FBI and set up drug dealers. She and Jackson went to the motel.
Jackson persuaded her to burglarize the home of her ex-boyfriend, she told investigators. From that point, what had been a consensual relationship turned into one dominated by Jackson, she said.
He disabled the woman’s cellphone, wouldn’t let her leave the room, forced her to have sex, choked her and made her audition for a porn film.
During their time together, she said, Jackson took her to Seattle’s ATF office.
On Oct. 5, the woman told Jackson she was sick. He took her to a public-health office in South Seattle, where she told workers that Jackson was holding her against her will and had forced her to have sex.
She told them he had showed her a badge and was afraid she couldn’t do anything to stop him.
Police were called and Jackson was arrested. In the jail interview with The Times, Jackson said he had hoped the ATF would help him after his arrest.
“They ain’t done nothing,” he said, talking on a telephone handset through a thick glass window.
While working for ATF, he said, agents gave him cash, drugs and cigarettes to sell “to build some street cred,” but he denied he ever represented himself as an actual agent.
“I always just said, ‘I work with ATF,’ not that I was an agent. People hear what they want, you know?” he said.
His claim is contradicted in witness statements and in police reports, which portray him as using his status to impress or intimidate, depending on the circumstance.
Little to say
How much ATF delved into Jackson’s background before using him isn’t known.
ATF agent Jim Contreras — who is identified in police reports as Jackson’s handler and answered the cellphone number provided by Jackson — declined to comment. Contreras referred questions to the ATF spokeswoman in Seattle, Cheryl Bishop, who said: “We do not discuss informants, or whether an individual has worked in that capacity.”
An ATF spokesman in Washington, D.C., Drew Wade, said only that the agency follows U.S. Department of Justice guidelines on informants.
The guidelines, created in response to the case of James “Whitey” Bulger, the legendary Boston crime boss accused of a string of murders while working as an FBI informant, require the case agent to conduct an “Initial Suitability Determination,” which must be approved by a supervisor. Among the factors to be considered are a potential informant’s criminal history, as well as an evaluation of “whether the person is reasonably believed to pose a danger to the public or other criminal threat … .”
Under the guidelines, agents must make every effort to closely supervise informants and tell them to refrain from violent acts.
Bid for transparency
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., introduced legislation last year that would require federal law-enforcement agencies to semiannually report to Congress all serious crimes committed by their confidential informants. Names would be kept confidential. Lynch, whose bill has been referred to committee, said more oversight is needed in light of the Bulger case and subsequent disclosures involving a reputed New England Mafia figure, Mark Rossetti, identified as an FBI informant suspected in six homicides. Legislation could force agencies to explain their protocols and how they spend taxpayer dollars, Lynch said, noting agents use informants in hopes of making the “big pinch.”
Alexandra Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and an expert on confidential informants, said that while informants are necessary, the risk of violence toward women, children and vulnerable people should be nonnegotiable.
“We should take those risks especially seriously when we are weighing whether a person’s information should let them get a pass on their own criminal behavior … ,” Natapoff said.
Back to prison
During Jackson’s sentencing last month for confining and sexually abusing the young woman, the prosecutor and defense attorney confirmed his work as an ATF informant. Jackson told the judge he had put at least 100 people in prison and helped get kilos of drugs off the street, a claim Senior Deputy Prosecutor Alexandra Voorhees afterward called “hyperbole.”
His attorney, Steve Witchley, told the judge his client had suffered severe mental problems since childhood, in part because of sexual abuse in his family and foster homes.
He said Jackson had done good work for the ATF, but the agency “threw Josh under the bus” and abandoned him.
As Jackson left the courtroom in shackles, the question remained: Why did the ATF let him on the bus in the first place?
Seattle Times news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this story, which includes material from The Boston Globe.
Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com
Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com

Also see,
The Miami Model (2003) FTAA Summit

Produced by Indymedia – The documentary with an $8.5 million security budget.
In November, 2003, trade ministers from 34 countries met in Miami, Florida, to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The FTAA threatens to devastate workers, the environment, and public services like health care, education, and water, and to destroy indigenous rights and cultural diversity across North, Central, and South America.
Thousands of union members, environmentalists, feminists, anarchists, students, farm workers, media activists, and human rights activists who gathered in Miami to struggle against the FTAA were brutally attacked with rubber bullets, pepper spray, electric guns and shock batons, embedded reporters and information warfare, all coordinated by the new United States Department of Homeland Security.
Against Capital’s model of paramilitary oppression, information warfare, and corporate rule, we offered models of grassroots resistance, creative action and solidarity.
Breaking the Media Blackout
Collectively, Indymedia activists shot hundreds of hours of video footage documenting the FTAA protests in Miami. This footage has been edited by the FTAA Miami Video Working Group into a documentary that cuts through the mass media blackout to reveal the brutal repression and assault on civil liberties that took place, as well as the life-affirming and inspiring alternatives to capitalist globalization that were also in full effect in Miami.
The FTAA IMC video working group is proud to present The Miami Model.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jan 28 2015 1:53 utc | 93

@Rusty – yes, it appears there is more there than simple sleaze.

Posted by: guest77 | Jan 28 2015 2:13 utc | 95

Demian 91
* OSCE has a history of blaming the side that NATO is against for such atrocities based on flimsy evidence.*
remember the racak *massacre* ?
+A central role in labeling the events in Racak “a massacre” belonged to William Walker, who headed the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission.+
http://www.globalresearch.ca/15-years-on-looking-back-at-natos-humanitarian-bombing-of-yugoslavia/5375577?print=1

Posted by: denk | Jan 28 2015 4:40 utc | 97

@Willy2
Please, please, please CHECK the hosting physical location and DNS registration of ANY website before recommending it.
Hosted in the USA and registered via an US domain anonymizer service!

PING englishrussia.com (67.212.234.44) 56(84) bytes of data.
—————————–
http://www.ipligence.com/geolocation
IP address is 67.212.234.44
City: Providence
Country: United States
Continent: North America
——————————
whois englishrussia.com
Domain Name: ENGLISHRUSSIA.COM
Registry Domain ID: 546864778_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Update Date: 2014-08-09T12:53:56Z
Creation Date: 2006-08-08T09:18:22Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-08-08T09:18:22Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@godaddy.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.480-624-2505
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Registration Private
Registrant Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
Registrant Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Registrant Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Registrant City: Scottsdale
Registrant State/Province: Arizona
Registrant Postal Code: 85260
Registrant Country: United States
Registrant Phone: +1.4806242599
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +1.4806242598
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: ENGLISHRUSSIA.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Registration Private
Admin Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
Admin Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Admin Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Admin City: Scottsdale
Admin State/Province: Arizona
Admin Postal Code: 85260
Admin Country: United States
Admin Phone: +1.4806242599
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +1.4806242598
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: ENGLISHRUSSIA.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Registration Private
Tech Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
Tech Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Tech Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Tech City: Scottsdale
Tech State/Province: Arizona
Tech Postal Code: 85260
Tech Country: United States
Tech Phone: +1.4806242599
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: +1.4806242598
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: ENGLISHRUSSIA.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Name Server: NS0.ENGLISHRUSSIA.COM
Name Server: NS1.ENGLISHRUSSIA.COM
Name Server: NS2.ENGLISHRUSSIA.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: wdprs.internic.net/
Last update of WHOIS database: 2015-01-28T12:00:00Z

Posted by: acrimonious | Jan 28 2015 13:03 utc | 99