http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/07/29/treason-charges-what-lurks-behind-the-bizarre-allegations/
It reflects a determined effort to de-legitimise our five-month long (25th January to 5th July 2015) negotiation with a troika incensed that we had the audacity to dispute the wisdom and efficacy of its failed program for Greece.
The aim of my self-styled persecutors is to characterise our defiant negotiating stance as an aberration, an error or, even better from the perspective of Greece’s troika-friendly oligarchic establishment, as a ‘crime’ against Greece’s national interest.
My dastardly ‘crime’ was that, expressing the collective will of our government, I personified the sins of:
◾Facing down the Eurogroup’s leaders as an equal that has the right to say ‘NO’ and to present powerful analytical reasons for rebuffing the catastrophic illogicality of huge loans to an insolvent state in condirion of self-defeating austerity
◾Demonstrating that one can be a committed Europeanist, strive to keep one’s nation in the Eurozone, and, at the very same time, reject Eurogroup policies which damage Europe, deconstruct the euro and, crucially, trap one’s country in austerity-driven debt-bondage
◾Planning for contingencies that leading Eurogroup colleagues, and high ranking troika officials, were threatening me with in face-to-face discussions
◾Unveiling how previous Greek governments turned crucial government departments, such as the General Secretariat of Public Revenues and the Hellenic Statistical Office, into departments effectively controlled by the troika and reliably pressed into the service of undermining the elected government.

Posted by: okie farmer | Jul 29 2015 18:34 utc | 3

john helmers latest
TULIP SANCTIONS — RUSSIA BUSTS THE DUTCH FLOWER TRUST, ALMOST…

Posted by: james | Jul 29 2015 19:34 utc | 5

Yep to Thirsty @ 6.
conflating European multi-nationalism by varoufakis, with elite domination of Europe – Who wanted to economically subjugate weak nations, are totally different things.
What he really should be pointing out is the difference between himself and Tsipras and Syriza, with Iceland.

Posted by: tom | Jul 29 2015 20:53 utc | 7

TRNN
Turkey Enters Fight Against ISIS, But Target is Still Assad
https://youtu.be/eMTTCeEItaw

Posted by: okie farmer | Jul 29 2015 21:56 utc | 9

Get em, Liz …

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 30 2015 1:57 utc | 11

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/249521-cisa-the-dirty-deal-between-google-and-the-nsa-that-no-one-is
“CISA would create a huge expansion of the “backdoor” search capabilities that the government uses to skirt the 4th Amendment and spy on Internet users without warrants and with virtually no oversight.”
“All of this information can be passed around the government and handed down to local law enforcement to be used in investigations that have nothing to do with cyber crime, without requiring them to ever pull a warrant. So CISA would give law enforcement a ton of new data with which to prosecute you for virtually any crime while simultaneously protecting the corporations that share the data from prosecution for any crimes possibly related to it.”
“There’s little hope for ever challenging this system in court because you’ll never know if your private information has been shared under CISA or hoovered up under a related upstream collection. In a particularly stunning display of shadyness, the bill specifically exempts all of this information from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act or any state, local, or tribal law.”
Pardon me, but isn’t all this a classic example of Facism? The corporations becoming an arm of the state, if not it’s masters? And gaining power and privileges for themselves at the same time?
Recall that a certain government never bothered to repeal the liberal Weimar constitution they inherited either. They just acted like it didn’t exist.
Therefore there’s no paradox in the powers that be calling Snowden or Assange or Varoufakis “traitors” since the public meanings of words are purely political – what Orwell called “doublethink”.
They should just call it “lese majeste”, and be done with it.

Posted by: ouruboros | Jul 30 2015 2:43 utc | 13

13
Remain calm, everthing is under control.
ttp://sputniknews.com/military/20150730/1025195191.html
[Saudi army artillery fire shells towards Yemen from a post close to the Saudi-Yemeni border]
US to Sell Saudi Arabia $500Mln in Munitions to Continue Yemen Campaign
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20150730/1025195191.html#ixzz3hKvv8P1s
—
[Artist’s concept showing the 77-ton configuration of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket launching into space.]
NASA Developing Enormous Rocket That Could One Day Launch Flight to Europa
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/us/20150730/1025198070.html#ixzz3hKw4T5d4
http://sputniknews.com/us/20150730/1025198070.html
Their control.

Posted by: Chipnik | Jul 30 2015 9:33 utc | 15

http://www.reuters.com/video/2015/07/29/turkey-pounds-pkk-with-air-strikes?videoId=365118638&videoChannel=117760&channelName=World+News

Posted by: okie farmer | Jul 30 2015 10:05 utc | 17

More volunteer indiscipline. Mukachevo-2: Aidar Battalion takes over a village

Journalists learned that Aidar went to war not with the monument but with the local population right after its arrival. The locals explained that Aidar militants provoked conflicts and beat up several locals, saying they came to “cleanse” the village of its pro-Russian sentiments…. The locals also said it’s not the first incident of this kind, and that invariably drunk UAF soldiers acted like genuine bandits.
Thus the Mukachevo Syndrome is continuing, with the “bandit battalions” and the Right Sector behaving like genuine occupiers on captured territory. The local inhabitants still don’t understand those aren’t isolated incidents by individual “defenders”, but ordinary conduct by Ukraine’s marginals who were given weapons and told they were “the defenders of the Motherland.” Of course, their motherland is the pirate island of Tortuga into which Maidan transformed Ukraine.

That would be wholesale, Counterpunch discusses volunteer indiscipline at the retail level.

In 2014, Ukraine registered more than one million criminal offenses, a nearly 90% increase in the number of serious crimes–most of them in the capital city of Kyiv….
Ukrainian historian Vladimir Kornilov, director of the Center for Eurasian Studies, recalls that most armed crimes committed in Ukraine are now perpetrated by punitive forces that have been at the front. “As a result of the massacre unleashed a year ago by Kiev, arms are spreading around the country uncontrolled. Gangs formed under the guise of ‘volunteer battalions’…. The exponential growth in crime was birthed by ‘Maidan’ itself.”

Glory to the heroes…. CP’s assessment of the overall situation? Ukraine: Close to the Edge.
Also from CP, Mike Whitney on The Politics of Betrayal: Obama Backstabs Kurds to Appease Turkey. See also Salon on Our monumental Turkey blunder: Who put the American exceptionalists back in charge? “The Pentagon has just tipped this nation into another uncertain, dangerous alliance on short-term tactical grounds.”
Finally, a short item on Greece. Tsipras attacks SYRIZA dissenters. That will no doubt help to change consciousness there.
Fairleft at 10 — I would be inclined to agree, it’s an audition. Good question, would he go through with it or is it just posturing? Given the background of the Syriza leadership as a whole, probably just the latter.

Posted by: rufus magister | Jul 30 2015 12:03 utc | 19

Obomba calls Iranian regime? odious.The guy can’t do one thing right wo tripping over Ziodogs.
He’s a loser,and what he appears to be.

Posted by: dahoit | Jul 30 2015 14:02 utc | 21

IMF Staff nixes support for third bailout w/ debt restructuring: IMF cannot join Greek rescue, board told

“Greece wants to decide on some important reforms only in the fall and the Europeans only want to deal with the debt issue after the first review because they first want to rebuild trust,” the summary states. “The differences between the IMF’s thinking about the debt issue and what the Europeans are currently discussing are very large.”

EZ/Schauble have promised debt reform (now in writing) but apparently want it subject to ‘conditionality’. Essentially, drip..drip..drip debt relief. As I have said, Tsipras/Greece must remain viligent and INSIST upon appropriately massive debt restructuring and a detailed implementation plan.
By refusing to provide commitments and detailed plans for debt restructuring, EX/Troika/Schauble is essentially forcing GRexit because I can not see how Tsipras can agree to a deal that contains only promises of debt restructuring.
=
Many economists say that it is GERMANY that should exit. Schauble seems to believe that either Greece goes now, or the pressure on Germany grows greater. ECB QE only keeps the music playing – it doesn’t solve the inherent problems in the EZ.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 30 2015 16:36 utc | 23

Yes, Jackrabbit.
Greece crisis escalates as IMF witholds support for a new bail-out deal
Talks over new rescue package are derailed after less than a week as IMF seeks explicit assurances over debt relief from the Europeans
The IMF is now at loggerheards with Europe’s largest creditor nation, Germany
Talks over an €86bn bail-out for Greece have been thrown into turmoil after just four days as the International Monetary Fund said it would have no involvement in the country until it receives explicit assurances over debt sustainability.
An IMF official said the fund would withhold financial support unless it has guarantees Greece can carry out a “comprehensive” set of reforms and will be the beneficiary of debt relief from its European creditors.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11773977/Greece-crisis-escalates-as-IMF-witholds-support-for-a-new-bail-out-deal.html

Posted by: okie farmer | Jul 30 2015 19:01 utc | 25

Yanis Op-Ed: The Defeat of Europe
=
The Politics of Coercion in Greece by Zoe Konstantopoulou (Speaker of Greek Parliament) shows how extensive the new legislation is, and how detrimental to Greek democracy. (This was a surprise to me.)
Only a massive (and guaranteed to occur) debt restructuring can justify the draconian legislative changes that are asked of Greece.
=
PS
Some detractors have cited the lack of Greek reforms as evidence of Syriza’s incompetence and Tspiras’/Yanis’ insincerity. Yanis answers this in his ‘The Defeat of Europe’ Op-Ed, explaining that the Troika would not approve of any reforms.
I have also seen detractors charge Yanis and Tsipras with lying or misleading. Pointing specifically to Yanis’ saying that the banks would be open after the referendum and Tsipras’ saying several times that a deal was close and his supposed ignoring of the referendum’s OXI result.
In the interview in which Yanis said that the Banks could be opened immediately after the referendum, he referred to a ‘plan’ that was ‘in building’. I think it is clear now that he was referring to his alternative payments plan. As for Tsipras, his constant refrain that a deal was close was part of the negotiating strategy: never to be the one to walk away from the table. And he made it clear before the referendum that the an ‘OXI’ would NOT mean GRexit while at the same time it became clear – by voting day – that the environment had changed: Europe was now ready to negotiate a more comprehensive agreement that would include debt restructuring.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 31 2015 0:39 utc | 27

@26
Glad you brought it up.
Boycott, Disown, Separate from Israel. That’s what the world’s Jews need to do. Israelis:Judaism::wahabists:Islam.
Israel and Gaza: the BDS Movement One Year After “Protective Edge”

Direct foreign investments in Israel dropped by an astonishing 50% last year, much to the chagrin of the Israeli government who has recently referred to BDS as an existential threat far greater than the one supposedly posed by Iran. And just this June, the RAND Corporation published a report stating that if BDS could maintain an aggressive campaign as it is now, Israel’s economy could suffer losses anywhere from 5 to 15 billion dollars each year, for the next ten years.

The ‘Iran Deal’ and Israel’s full court press over it are only making more enemies for the fundamentalist regime in Tel AViv.
LA Jewish Journal – The Iran Poll – 26 July 2015

Should Congress vote to approve or oppose the Iran deal?
American Jews 53 support 35 oppose
All Americans 41 support 38 oppose

Poll: Most Americans oppose compensating Israel for Iran nuclear deal

7.9 percent support increasing annual US aid to Israel from $3.5 billion to $5 billion.
4.1 percent favor giving Israel deep penetrating “bunker buster” bombs of the type designed to destroy fortified targets.
4.0 percent support providing Israel with B-52 long-range bombers.
3.4 percent favor releasing jailed Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard to Israel.
While 12.8 percent favor “all of the above” compensation options be given to Israel,
an overwhelming 67.8 percent of Americans chose “none of the above.”

Posted by: jfl | Jul 31 2015 1:45 utc | 29

Bailout Money Goes to Greece, Only to Flow Out Again
By JACK EWING and LIZ ALDERMAN
Instead of going into the Greek economy, the funding has allowed Greeks and foreign investors to get their money out
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/31/business/bailout-money-goes-to-greece-only-to-flow-out-again.html

Posted by: okie farmer | Jul 31 2015 10:26 utc | 31

@26, don’t be too hard on Weiss. He’s OK with your farkukte “State.” Thinks it can be reformed.

Posted by: ruralito | Jul 31 2015 14:37 utc | 33

Remember Darfur? Evil Janjaweed muslims killing poor black christian babies? Glamourous celebrities expressing outrage? yadidda yadidda? Of course you do.
Not so fast, pioneers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGOpfH_5_pY

Posted by: ruralito | Jul 31 2015 20:32 utc | 35

32
I call bulls hit too, US taxpayer dollars and equipment and technology going to build up Israel’s nuclear hegemony in the region, selling them nuclear bunker busters as Hagel did, and now this, like they don’t have solar designers of their own?
Conti Federal Services Inc., Edison, New Jersey, was awarded an $11,805,043 firm-fixed-price foreign military sales (Israel) contract with options to construct a photovoltaic power plant at an Israel Defense Forces air base.
Conti (e.g. Mafia) Federal Services??
What the FRACK?
You can’t build a PV PP for $11M !!
Frack the Israelis, let them build their own OPS.

Posted by: Chipnik | Jul 31 2015 22:18 utc | 37

#33
Weiss is ok…it,s the other ,the woman,the moderator that is dangerous,networks like a spider,subversive mind,deep dark secrets,her and that susan.stay way i tell you.make mincemeat outta you.goddamn kalifornian hippies.

Posted by: mcohen | Jul 31 2015 23:26 utc | 39

@juliania
your comment at NC is similar to one I wrote @27. So I find the attempt to refute your comment hard to ignore. See this Keep Talking Greece post from May 18th.

> Yes they were taking applications in mid-May because that’s what the legislation called for!
> The Humanitarian Crisis Program was likely approved by the Troika – or didn’t need approval from the Troika because funding was to come from EU:
“After the EU leaders Summit end of March, EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker had announced to release 2 billion euro to tackle the Greek humanitarian crisis.”

So Yanis’ point that they could/would not do anything without Troika permission has not been refuted.
And what is the logic? Why would Syriza hold back? Why would Yanis lie about this? If he is lying, where are the objections from those who were involved? The only complaints I’ve seen from Troika/Eurogroup have been about Yanis being annoying and wasting time – not refusing to implement agreed measures.

As for canceling media licenses of oligarchs, Sriza has to operate within the law. I doubt that any of the ‘Western democracies’ could easily or quickly start pull licenses. And I have seen info that Syriza HAS begun investigations of oligarch-owned media after their outrageous coverage of the referendum.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 1 2015 0:17 utc | 41

#39:
What are you on about?

Weiss is ok…it,s the other ,the woman,the moderator that is dangerous,networks like a spider,subversive mind,deep dark secrets,her and that susan.stay way i tell you.make mincemeat outta you.goddamn kalifornian hippies.
Posted by: mcohen | Jul 31, 2015 7:26:32 PM | 39

The moderator in question, annie, does an awesome job at MW. She’s also a longterm commenter at MoA in good standing.

Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Aug 1 2015 1:36 utc | 43

@ mcohen
I don’t think B offered an open thread for you to bitch about another forum. If you have something to say against Mondoweiss, have the decency to say it there…

Posted by: crone | Aug 1 2015 2:17 utc | 45

Nana2007 at 44 —
I’m just making a snide jibe at the brouhaha over NC; they do a fine job, and if they want to be high-handed in their comments, well, it is their site.
For dominoes, let’s see what tiles we’ve drawn. I don’t really see any terribly good plays.
Labour may or may not get a leftist leader (Fleet St. is, surprise, suprise, running Corbyn down), but of course that won’t matter until the next Parliamentary election, which Cameron is not obliged to call for five years. By then, maybe they will have all resolved to actually vote against austerity measures.
Hollande’s Socialists are worse than Labour now, I think, and nothing has been expected of the German Social Democrats since 1914. But perhaps Die Linke is strong enough to put up some fight against the Green/SDP’s tag team with CDU/CSU. Italy’s governing “leftists” are all in with the Washington consensus. Spain is under comparable stress, the anti-austerity movement there is vocal, but so far Spain officially remains compliant.
And what might be the biggest problem — so far Greece is more a sad cautionary tale than a rousing story of unity and a victory for human dignity.
“Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.”
Jackrabbit at 41 —
They are also investigating some of Yaroufakis’ associates, for their part in his “Plan B.” And at least making a show of cracking down on what the Gulf Times describes as rampant “tax evasion… among the rich and the self-employed….” Perhaps 25% of businesses evade taxation.

Posted by: rufus magister | Aug 1 2015 4:48 utc | 47

rufus@47- you don’t mention Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, et al. And this bail out deal isn’t even done yet. You speak as if something decisive has occurred. This is an unfolding spectacle of the lawlessness of the EZ- good on Syriza.

Posted by: Nana 2007 | Aug 1 2015 6:00 utc | 49

rufus@47- and yeah, you’re pretty pessimistic for a teenage communist….

Posted by: Nana 2007 | Aug 1 2015 6:12 utc | 51

Nana2007 at 49-51 —
I call ’em like I see ’em. Italy is probably more likely to put Belucsconi back in power than go radical. Spain shows some potential, but as I noted, it is presently not making waves. I know too little about Portugal to speak to it.
jackrabbit at 48 —
They perhaps have different reasons than I would, but I would say — the failure of Syriza in abandoning the program they were elected on in favor of implementing a kinder, gentler austerity is a setback for the left.
Regarding your link to the “Marxist” reformist Proyect, I’m one of those hoary sectarians he affects to dismiss. His occasional forays here are rarely well-received. I don’t think free electricity, etc., outweighs debt-peonage to Frankfurt. I would favor a cohesive movement over an inclusive one.

Posted by: rufus magister | Aug 1 2015 15:50 utc | 53

rufus @53
We will have to agree to disagree.
To me, the debt restructuring/re-profiling is key. If sufficient, it could/should allow Greece to break free of the Troika at the end of the ‘third bailout’ (in three years). If insufficient, it could end Syriza as a political force.
I get the sense that many EU-elites (TPTB) are sympathetic to Schauble’s position. They want to keep Greece under the austerity thumb or rid themselves of the problem via GRexit. Thus, they want to limit the extent of debt relief and/or add ‘conditionalities’. They also seek to end Syriza’s role in government. Syriza is viewed as trouble-makers.
Politically Syriza doesn’t necessarily have to end austerity immediately, but they have to show that there is an end in sight. And they can’t rely on promises from the EU or IMF. Greece should GRexit if they can’t get a solid commitment for sufficiently massive debt relief.
=
It is already agreed that the debt relieve would come after a positive first review (believed to occur in November). It should be easy to describe and commit to parameters of this relief that would ensure that they debt is sustainable. The IMF has already called for maturities to be extended by at least 30 years.
That the creditors are dragging their feet on engaging in debt relief talks is a bad sign. Their reason for doing so seems bogus: that Greece has to pass another round of legislation so that ‘trust’ can be restored.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 1 2015 16:31 utc | 55

rufus @56
Constructively yes. I agree with much of what you say. The Summit Agreement was a disappointment and disgrace. And I am also keeping a wary eye on Tsipras.
I think it likely that EU/EZ/Schauble will again push too far. Demanding more ‘reforms’ before providing any details about debt restructuring and/or proposing drip..drip..drip relief that keeps Greece in debt peonage. Tsipras will need all the support he can muster to counter that and to GRexit (if it comes to that). That Tsipras might cave completely (austerity with only a promise of debt relief) is a terrible thought that nags at the back of my mind.
=
As for Syriza building solidarity or a movement. That would be great but the reality is that the left has been marginalized and compromised so there is little real support that Syriza could build on (in any realistic time frame).
Syriza itself has done more to create awareness via their resistance (as ineffective as it as been) and referendum (pensioners crying in front of banks). And they may benefit from that in the future.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 1 2015 19:30 utc | 57

@57
‘ That Tsipras might cave completely (austerity with only a promise of debt relief) is a terrible thought that nags at the back of my mind. ‘
Yeah. That Clinton or a Republican to be named later might be elected POTUS is a terrible thought that nags at the back of my mind.
There is no hope in hoping for something other than what is obviously in the cards from the political class. None. It is up to the Greek people to wrest the reins of power from their failed political class. It is up to us Americans, to the Germans, the Brits, the French, the Italians … to do the same. The political class have caved completely, already. They are on their backs in a room on the second floor of the brothel waiting for their TNC of ‘choice’ to commit the act … whatever it may be. No perversion out of bounds. There’s a price for everything.
We all know that. It’s up to ourselves to effect otherwise. We’re the only ones here with our interests at heart.

Posted by: jfl | Aug 1 2015 20:48 utc | 59

rufus@53- with Italy , Spain, Portugal, and the rest of southern EU debt ridden negative growth countries twisting in the wind, I wouldn’t be so cavalier about predicting who will come to power, or the amount of political will involved.
My point is that the EU has exposed itself as an unaccountable, amoral, technocratic, plenary regime that will soon be as universally abhorred as Walter Palmer, Cecil the lion’s killer.
Syriza was never a street level organization that could accomplish what it seems you were expecting, nor did they have the public mandate to do so. They’ve started a discussion. The revolution will not be televised.

Posted by: Nana 2007 | Aug 2 2015 3:18 utc | 61

16 June 2015
Encryption “would not have helped” at OPM, says DHS official

But some of the security issues at OPM fall on Congress’ shoulders—the breaches of contractors in particular. Until recently, federal agents carried out background investigations for OPM. Then Congress cut the budget for investigations, and they were outsourced to USIS, which, as one person familiar with OPM’s investigation process told Ars, was essentially a company made up of “some OPM people who quit the agency and started up USIS on a shoestring.” When USIS was breached and most of its data (if not all of it) was stolen, the company lost its government contracts and was replaced by KeyPoint—”a bunch of people on an even thinner shoestring. Now if you get investigated, it’s by a person with a personal Gmail account because the company that does the investigation literally has no IT infrastructure. … It is a personal Gmail account.”
… A consultant who did some work with a company contracted by OPM to manage personnel records for a number of agencies told Ars that he found the Unix systems administrator for the project “was in Argentina and his co-worker was physically located in the [People’s Republic of China]. Both had direct access to every row of data in every database: they were root…”

Consultants in Argentina and the Plutocrats Republic owned the OPM? That’s what having root access means. I take the fact that it is explictly stated that one consultant was ‘in’ Argentina and that ‘his co-worker was physically located in the’ PRC to mean that the one was not Argentine and the other was not in fact a citizen Chinese citizen … otherwise they’d have said made a point of saying so … they made a point of not saying so. Being on a shoestring might have made ‘monetizing’ the information to which they had access tempting, no?
25 June 2015
The OPM Breach Is a Catastrophe

Last week it disclosed its discovery of a long-running and catastrophic breach of the Office of Personnel Management, one which resulted in the theft of 30 years’ worth of sensitive security-clearance, background-check, and personal data from at least 10 million current, past, and prospective federal employees and veterans. The government didn’t merely reveal shoddy IT security on the part of its agencies and contractors. It also revealed unforgivable negligence, because OPM and the government had known about these security problems for two years, already suffered multiple breaches, and done little to nothing about them. While it’s premature to blame China, which may have perpetrated the hack, it’s rather too late to point the finger at the government and its disastrous contracting system.

‘… it’s premature to blame China, which may have been ‘ … but wasn’t, is again the clear implication to me.
25 June 2015
Director of National Intelligence blames China for OPM hack

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told an intelligence conference Thursday that the Chinese are “the leading suspect” in the massive hack of the Office of Personnel Management.
Responding to a question from CNN about who was behind the hack, Clapper said, “You have to kind of salute the Chinese for what they did,” adding the U.S. would have done the same thing if it could.
These comments go further toward fingering Beijing for the hack than other administration officials have publicly done so far.

You’d think an outift with a name like the National Security Agency would be responsible for such a massive breach of national security, wouldn’t you … but you’d be wrong. Not only has the NSA put itself in charge of breaching all our security individually, the director of National intelligence is ‘hats off’ to whomever did it – pulled the theft, one thief admiring the work of another – and, oh yeah – it was China. Asserts the Clapper.
21 July 2015
U.S. decides against publicly blaming China for data hack

“We have chosen not to make any official assertions about attribution at this point,” said a senior administration official, despite the widely held conviction that Beijing was responsible. The official cited factors including concern that making a public case against China could require exposing details of the United States’ own espionage and cyberspace capabilities. The official was among several who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.

They have no proof. Or they have proof that it was not China.
31 July 2015
U.S. Decides to Retaliate Against China’s Hacking

The Obama administration has determined that it must retaliate against China for the theft of the personal information of more than 20 million Americans from the databases of the Office of Personnel Management, but it is still struggling to decide what it can do without prompting an escalating cyberconflict.
But in a series of classified meetings, officials have struggled to choose among options that range from largely symbolic responses — for example, diplomatic protests or the ouster of known Chinese agents in the United States — to more significant actions that some officials fear could lead to an escalation of the hacking conflict between the two countries.

But Clapper is going to use his own history of mis- and malfeasance as an excuse to start a cyber war with China. In the interest of national insecurity. Looking forward to the revolution … of the door between government ‘service’ and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward from the TNC cyber arms merchants on the other side of that door. As is customary in the toilet bowl culture of Washington DC.

Posted by: jfl | Aug 2 2015 7:39 utc | 63

jackrabbit at 57 —
I would agree, the Germans are likely to push too far. And about the weakness of the left and ergo of solidarity. And the really annoying bit is that Tsipras had a chance to start to reverse that, and passed.
fairleft at 61 —
Agreed, not a dialogue, a diktat.
Nana2007 at 60 —
Sorry, breezy political overconfidence is a part of the package, it’s fully integrated into the understated sarcasm. Not sure if it’s a bug or a feature.
Most of my knowledge of Syriza and its internal politics I’ve picked up in the last few days (a refreshing change of pace from Banderist militias). But if this statement is true, no wonder Syriza is folding.

Syriza was never a street level organization that could accomplish what it seems you were expecting, nor did they have the public mandate to do so. They’ve started a discussion.

What sort of self-respecting left party lacks local organization? Capital has the mass media and institutions, the masses have the streets and their organizations. And couldn’t they have defied the Troika and called new elections anyway? That the EU is an “unaccountable, amoral, technocratic, plenary regime” is sadly, not late-breaking news.
And if sadly we remain at the stage of discussion, and not action, isn’t my gloomy prognosis not unreasonable?
And while I dearly love Gil-Scott Heron (“B-Movie” is my fave), I have to disagree. Not only will The Revolution be televised, but tweeted, skyped, instagramed, hashtagged and youtubed as well. Thanks to NSA there will be a fine archive, too. And totally mashable, as well.

Posted by: rufus magister | Aug 2 2015 14:45 utc | 65

From a Politico post:
Hillary needs to make a trip to Italy, and have her picture taken holding a hotdog bun in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary bleeding liverwurst, …then people will believe her. When people get hungry, they will believe anything with liverwurst.
Might work for Porschenko, as Kiev’s IMF loan defaults looms.

Posted by: Chipnik | Aug 3 2015 9:43 utc | 67

Worries about the coup potential of Pravyi Sektor are spreading. See this from the Financial Times, via New Cold War.

The group is one of dozens of “volunteer” battalions that played a key role in halting advances by pro-Russian rebels a year ago, after the revolution ushered in a pro-EU leadership, when the long-neglected regular army was caught flat-footed. But fears are growing that Right Sector — the only major volunteer battalion Kiev has not yet managed to bring under regular army control — could turn its fire on the new government itself….
“It may come to a military coup,” said one Right Sector fighter — although many in the group say they would not go that far. He admitted, however, that public support for such a scenario was low. “That’s why we haven’t done it yet.”

Rostislav Istchenko considers the geopolitical situation, arguing It will be worse in liberated Ukraine than in Crimea.

A Nazi Ukrainian state cannot exist on Russia’s borders. It’s only a question of how to achieve that…. Let’s suppose tomorrow Obama calls Putin and apologizes for all the inconvenience and recalls Poroshenko and his company of nazis back to the US, then what? We shouldn’t try to imagine that which can’t happen. Kiev will not implement Minsk and it will collapse, but not on its own. It’s been receiving assistance in that area for a year and a half.

So patience, comrades, we’ll have to pace ourselves.
Chipnik at 67 —
Would that work? Cult of the Virgin is a Catholic, not an Orthodox thing usually. Maybe an appeal to Sts. Boris and Gleb is more in order. I hear their icons bleed borscht.
A link to Jefferson Starship’s “Miracles” would be in order. But no good live versions on the Web, IMHO. “If only you believed in miracles, we’d get by.” Does Washigton-style magical thinking count?

Posted by: rufus magister | Aug 3 2015 12:16 utc | 69

Jackrabbit at 70: “Yanis is trying to rally other European countries against ‘Ordoliberalism’ by pointing to how Greece is being treated. Why do critics on the left ignore his efforts?”
The left watched his efforts, applauded them, but at some point over the last six months also noticed their absolute failure. And, since they failed, the logical left assumed Greece would leave the euro, since that obviously is vastly preferable to deep, seemingly permanent austerity.
But, logical leftists didn’t consider the magical hold that the common currency has on some leftists and pseudo-leftists.
The euro simply doesn’t work economically, when it serves Germany as an undervalued currency while it disserves the Eurozone southern tier as an overvalued currency. That will never change, and the only way it could be made to work is through income transfers from the Eurozone north to its south. That won’t happen, we all know that, so why do some leftists and pseudo-leftists continue to beat their heads against that wall? Eventually you start to look like you have no common sense or are engaging in some sort of filibuster.
The euro hates the poorer countries of the Eurozone. Its poorer countries MUST get over their unrequited love of that bullying currency. The left should be helping them do that, urgently, now, instead of continuing to engage in wishful thinking.

Posted by: fairleft | Aug 3 2015 19:16 utc | 71

@Fairleft
Thanks for your response. There is much to think about there. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the following:

1) What do you think of the debt restructuring/re-profiling? *IF* the debt burden was drastically reduced (I know that is a big ‘IF’) then wouldn’t that make it worthwhile for Greece to stick with the Euro? (and wasn’t that hope the reason that Tsipras struck a ‘deal’ at the Summit?)
2) Every one seems to assume that a primary surplus = austerity. But isn’t that only the case for an economy that is contracting? If Greece can grow due to new investment & ‘structural reforms’ (anti-corruption, anti-monopolist, etc.) then a primary surplus wouldn’t be such a burden, would it?

At one point Yanis called on Merckel to give a speech in Athens about ‘hope’. He did this, I think, to highlight that what the Troika was offering from February-June offered NO hope of ever breaking free of austerity and debt peonage. It seems to me that with the right debt relief and investment, Greece could have hope of being free of the Troika.
I recognize the flaws in the euro as do many others. There is supposed to be talks (this fall?) on reforming the Eurozone.
I believe that without sufficient debt relief, Greece should GRexit. Without sufficient EZ reform, all of the periphery countries should/might also exit. This is why Germany wants GRexit – they see Syriza as ‘troublemakers’ that are rally-ing the others against the block led by Germany.
As I wrote above, I am growing more skeptical every about whether the Troika will offer sufficient debt relief. Maybe the whole exercise was meant to embarrass Syriza and topple Tsipras?

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 3 2015 23:50 utc | 73

From Red Star Over Donbass comes this interview with Victor Shapinov of the Ukrainian leftist group “Borotba”. He sees the Donbass uprising based in the ‘Soviet world’ as against Ukrainian nationalism. While I think he understates the role of Ukrainian nationalism on the junta side, I believe him to be correct in stressing the Soviet (as opposed to Great Russian) origins of the Peoples Republics.

I do not think that Soviet slogans bring out the Russian nationalists. Soviet carries a strong conotation of social liberation, of anti-capitalism. This conotation was very strong in the Donbass uprising from the beginning. In the words of the late Alexei Mozgovoi: “The main enemy is the oligarchs and bureaucrats”….
The very name “people’s republic” comes from the “Soviet world”…. They revolted not only against Kiev but against their own oligarchs….
We, the communist left, support this original focus of the uprising, we don’t want the name of the “people’s republics” to remain just words. People will not fight for the restoration of the Romanov empire, these shadows of the past “don’t stick.” But to bring back all the gains that have been taken away from the people since 1991 – they will….
I believe that until the overthrow of the Kiev regime there will be independent states with some elements of the welfare state, a powerful public sector and nationalization of the banks. This is the most that can be expected. But when greater Novorossiya or the whole of Ukraine is liberated, then we can think about changing the capitalist model to something less cannibalistic.

There you go again, with that optimism of the will.
For fans of conspiracy theories, false flags, and planted evidence, a small jem by Joaquim Flores at Fort Russ. He asks if A “Dirty Bomb” False Flag Imminent in the Donbas? Apparently the London Times thinks so. The accompanying photo, Flores advises, is from a Ukrainian attack on a chemical facility in Donetsk last year.
Flores in turn picked up the idea from Oleg Tsarev, former Kiev parliamentarian and now Novorossiyan publicist, who wondered Why did the Times publish their report?

But the fact is that when someone wants to commit a crime — he must first create an alibi. Or, in our case, to create the background information that would blame the enemy….
Kiev needs a disaster with the greatest possible number of victims on the despised territory to make Donbass the area of international disaster, and this time to force Russia to agree to enter their “peacekeeping troops” or any other form of pressure, chosen by America and its satellites.

Flores hopes to forestall this by the publicity.

Our role as public servants, citizen media, is to inoculate mass publics against any attempt to pin a future ‘chemical attack’ on the Novorossiyan armies…. Many analysts have indicated that publicizing and ‘calling out’ such false flag attempts in their early stages can actually hedge the US Empire’s bets that they can pull it off.

So spread the word, Barflies. Only you can stop false flag attacks. Friends don’t let friends detonate dirty bombs. And all Bar Patrons must check all thermonuclear devices with the bartender. This applies especially to all rhetorical WMD as well.
Ka boom…

Posted by: rufus magister | Aug 4 2015 23:52 utc | 75

Uh, a link would be nice. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/08/tsipras-debt-germany-greece-euro/

Posted by: rufus magister | Aug 5 2015 0:15 utc | 77

The Ambassador of Latvia to NATO: our biggest threats are the inflow of Ukrainian refugees and the outflow of our population

Indulis Berzins, who previously held various government posts, entered the position of Ambassador to NATO last week. He shared his perspective about the security of the state on a TV program. The greatest threat is a huge influx of refugees from Ukraine. As the diplomat noted, he was warned about such a scenario by the experts involved in the Ukrainian crisis.
Additionally, Indulis Berzins said that a threat to Latvia is the pessimistic mood of its inhabitants, many of whom resent their country and move abroad.
“If the citizens of Latvia will not agree that we need this state, it will create the greatest threat to the security of the country,” – the Ambassador said.

The US is emptying Latvia and moving the Ukrainians in? Be a tough fit, won’t it? Maybe just enough for a Maidan? But they’ve already had their Maidan, haven’t they? Years ago.
I wonder what ordinary Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuainians really think about US/EU/NATO power plays and the Western Powers’ naked use of the Baltic states as instruments?

He also noted that “a group of professional commentators appeared online, which rejects the transatlantic orientation of Latvia”.

Are those ‘paid by Putin professionals’ … or just ordinary citizens of the Baltic states concerned about the abuse of their nations by the US and its European Unit?

Posted by: jfl | Aug 5 2015 1:02 utc | 79

further to 76 —
Kouvelakis’ balance sheet on the Greek bailout bears closer attention.
He believes that Syriza’s recent fold marks a serious defeat for “left-Europeanism,” or the notion that “a positive solution will be found within the euro and that [by] displaying credentials as ‘good European citizens'” relief would be forthcoming from Frankfurt and Brussels. When the illusion that this strategy would work could no longer be sustained, with no alternative ready, “there remains only the worst option….”
What in part doomed them to failure was there isolation from and neutering of the masses. He notes that the move away from mass activity and agitation began back in 2010, but reached its apex this winter.

[The] left-Europeanism strategy naturally meant largely sidestepping the dynamic of popular mobilization. The choice of focusing on negotiations… quickly led to the first great failure, namely the February 20 agreement signed between the Greek government and the Eurogroup…. Its first and most immediate consequence was to paralyze the mobilization and destroy the optimism and militancy that prevailed in the first weeks after the January 25 electoral victory.

Add the restraining influence of the state apparat and business community, and you get into the dead end Syriza found itself in.
One particular practice that Kouvelakis sees as necessary tool to bring the potential of situations like Greece found itself in during the present recession is the transitional program.

The idea of the transitional program is that we do not content ourselves with abstract, propagandistic anticapitalist discourse that is applicable in every situation and simply reiterates the strategic objective of socialism and revolutionary overthrow.
The tried and tested dividing lines, those that enable the offensive against the class enemy to be activated effectively and the overall balance of forces to be overturned, must be defined anew for every specific occasion.

But since Kouvelakis foreswears any leading role for Syriza or even Left Platform, (vs. it having a “central role to play” as the best organized fraction within Syriza), it’s a little hard to see the struggle suggested by the program comes to fruition.
Kouvelakis is right in saying “that we have been taught a harsh lesson, and at a very heavy price…. But… for the forces of the radical and of the anticapitalist left, it was a necessary lesson.”
A few rough sums for the balance sheet then. We’re sure to get more data, and so the auditors will keep at it. I sure hope we see some red ink.

Posted by: rufus magister | Aug 6 2015 0:19 utc | 81

*The US containment policy against China includes not only holding of old alliances but a creating of new. In the recent strategy Washington pledges to strengthen cooperation with six long-standing allies: Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and lists eight new partners: Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Micronesia,
Pakistan, Singpore, Vietnam. With help of its Asian allies the US are going to seal
off the PLA Navy in South China Sea and prevent its moving in operations space.*
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-us-china-standoff-in-the-indo-asia-pacific-region/5466235
for the past two decades,
the unitedsnake has been trying to coax, arm twist asean into an anti chinese posse.
ph was an easy one, it has never been able to wring free from the snake’s clutch
[1]. sg is the base of murkkan’s latest littoral battleships targetting china.
thailand’s former pm yingluck who’s very cozy with china was outsted by a wave of yellow shirt *swarming adolescents*, with corruption charges hanging over her head.
myanmars generals wetted their pants over gadaffi’s fate, whose gory execution was aired worldwide to send a msg to those who stray from washington’s consensus. after hillary *the enforcer* clinton visit to rangoon, the junta was thoroughly co-opted.
did *the enforcer* whisper into the generals ears some thing like , *u’r either with me or…..gadaffi* ?
rangoon has been very provocative at the border [2] after a visit from the cic of pacom, which is a big deal. may be just a coincidence 😉 ?
malaysia, being the last man standing in asean who defy the zwo , is currently subject to an intensive media blitz led by the WARsj, its aussie sidekick and an *investigative website ,*the sarawak report*, run by surprise surprise, a perfidious albion.[3] its mission is to *expose the highly corrupted political scene in malaysia* [sic]
while the charges focus on najib’s alleged massive corruption, malaysia’s real *crime* has alway been its relative independence from washington’s dictat as compared to other asean countries, espeicially the likes of ph. the ultimate sin is kl’s flirting with beijing inspite of washington’s threat and warning.
after washington’s man in kl, anwar failed to unseat najib in the 2013 election [4],
came the official visit by chinese prez xi jing ping in oct 13, xi had a great time in kl with pm najib and ex pm dr mahathir [5]
dr mahathir has always been a thorn in washington’s side, not to mention his
running feud with george *the vulture* soros .
grrrr, this the kind of stuff that send the snake straining at its leash !
the rest is history !
less than six months after xi’s party in kl, malaysia’s never ending woes started.
first came mh370, followed by mh17, then an airasia airliner clash, a helicopter which exploded in mid air. last month another mh airliner nearly bite the dust.
right after the rare earthquake that hit sabah, there appeared to be a marked change in kl’s position on scs. kl is currently reeling from the warsj led media campaign, meanwhile its increasingly singing to washington’s tune .
must be another coincidence 😉

Posted by: denk | Aug 6 2015 16:59 utc | 83

I’m not sure what to make of it, it does seem an odd invitation. It was issued by Jaromír Štětina, a far-right MEP from the Czech Republic.
Nikolai Starikov believes that Casting for the role of the Fuhrer announced in Ukraine by inviting Biletsky of the Azov Battalion to speak at the European Parliament.

“Because Poroshenko and Co. are clearly not able to cope with… what the United States would like to see in Ukraine… the US is preparing a replacement for Poroshenko. And today in Ukraine a casting for a new dictator is taking place. A few candidates are considered, including Dmitry Yarosh (the leader of a banned in Russia extremist organization “Right sector” – ed.) and Biletsky. So, you can say, this is his first, modest showing.”

Who is Jaromír Štětina, is he a reasonable proxy for DC? Sputnik’s short item on the invite quotes Czech political scientist Jan Miklas on Štětina’s background:

I am not surprised that the decision to invite Biletsky comes from Jaromír Štětina, because he is the kind of man who always root for radicals of every hue, from neo-Nazis to Islamic fundamentalists… During the Nineties he defended the radical Islamists who were then fighting in Chechnya…

The Prague Post reports the invitation as well, and includes further information on Štětina’s activities. “Volunteer battalions are a significant, real political and military force in eastern Ukraine. Not to talk to them and not to know who they are means not to be interested in the solution to the conflict,” he told Czech news agencies. The article also notes that he has made several visits to the Ukraine, with Pravyi Sektor, Azov, and Donbas volunteer battalions on the itineraries, and that Štětina remarked that all were represented in the Rada.
On the ongoing discussion, i.e. continued attempts to deny the obvious, of “are the volunteers fascists?”, he made this contribution.

Štětina ruled out that mainly young neo-Nazis joined these battalions. Such reports are results of Russian propaganda, he added.
Yet he admitted that he had seen the Nazi-tinged symbols among their recruits.

I think it worth noting that Wikipedia reports Štětina’s leading role in the so-called Prague Declaration, the center-piece of the ongoing efforts to draw a false equivalence between the Soviets and the fascist Reich.
So he’s undoubtedly a beard for someone. But I don’t think DC. But clearly a faction of international finance capital is keen make the volunteer battalions respectable.
Glory to the heroes….

Posted by: rufus magister | Aug 8 2015 15:25 utc | 85

And I wonder, who’s trying to pretty up Singapore’s medieval city-state? HuffPost is all in.
Here’s it is as a challenge to democratic governance.
And again as http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-wyne/lee-kuan-yew-singapore-america_b_7939384.html“>a model for America.
They do try a little balance, allowing that the situation is complex and Lee Kuan Yew’s legacy uncertain. You remember him, right? He and his party used to sue opposition candidates and get the compliant courts to award them damages.
And they do let Jim Sleeper, a Yale political scientist, point out American Leaders Swooning Over Singapore’s Thuggish Founder Are Blind Politically, Not Just Morally. The sad state of our leadership’s politics and ethics is not really late breaking news, but further examples give additional heft to that conclusion.
Having been force-fed various clips of the Republican “Debate” by the MSM, I suddenly find myself wondering — “Are the Republicans holding auditions for the role of Lee Kuan Yew?”
And while I’m considering the area and its history, a shout-out to the oil-trust lackeys at the Pacfica-funded Democracy Now for making me fully aware of this powerful bit of cinema, Joshua Oppenheimer’s film The Look of Silence.
It is a follow-up to his 2012 The Act of Killing, in which he had Indonesian death squad leaders re-enact their activities during the 1960’s repression of Communists and other potential opponents of the new Washington-backed military government.
The more things change…. Is W-BMG good shorthand?

Posted by: rufus magister | Aug 8 2015 16:09 utc | 87

The war crimes are not news, reporting by the MSM is however. From Gordon Hahn via Russia Insider, German Mainstream Media Report on Kiev’s War Crimes. He believes that the recent crackdown on some battalions means Kiev is prettying up it’s record, though he wonders why Pravyi Sektor has not been implicated.

That bacchanalia was whipped up by ‘strategic communications’ and propaganda from officials, media and ‘think’ tanks in Kiev, Washington, and Brussels, replete with claims of Putin’s “fascism” and an imminent Russian march on Europe through Ukraine to “restore the Soviet empire.”
Moreover, it is very likely that in Kiev, if not elsewhere, the deployment of ultra-nationalist- and neofascist- infused volunteer battalions was immediately conceptualized as a temporary meaure that would provide the Maidan regime with a layer of insulation and thus deniability regarding any direct responsibility for the battalions’ atrocities and war crimes, while allowing it to unleash these elements on the ‘koloradoes’ and ‘vatniki’ in the Mongoloid east….
The Maidan regime deliberately recruited criminal and neo-fascists in to the volunteer batalions and helped fund and arm neo-fascist groups like Right Sector that brought the regime to power. All this was openly discussed in the media and described by Maidan regime leaders….

We all know how Washington likes it’s “plausible deniability.”

While knowing full well that the Maidan regime was organizing and then had unleashed these and many other criminal and neo-fascist volunteer battalions on the Donbass people, they either denied or remained silent on the issue, as these units raped, killed, and maimed.
US officials have spent all of their energy covering up for the neo-fascist element in the Maidan revolt.

‘Cuz what you don’t know can’t hurt you, right? Or rather, it won’t hurt the reputation of our political class.

Posted by: rufus magister | Aug 10 2015 12:21 utc | 89

78 yrs old 小苍桂子 was only eight when the unitedsnake dropped two abombs on her home town hiroshima, even tho she lived to tell the story, she suffered great pain thru most of her life coz of the black rain that soaked her body after the explosion.
she says, *my house was 2.4 km from the epicentre of explosion. i was outside when the bomb dropped, there was a blinding white light that shot across the sky, followed by a huge explosion, all the houses were engulfed in flame. it rained not long after, *black rain*.
i didnt know that those water were undrinkable, when those horribly scorched victims cried for water i let them drank all those black rain water. ! sob sob….
after the war, we dared not tell people we lived so near to the centre of explosion,
lest nobody would marry me for fear of giving birth to deformed babies.
soon an murcunt medical team descended on hiroshima. everybody thought thank god these guys were there to save us .
we flocked to the clinic to seek treatment, but we soon learned to our utter disgust these people werent there to help us, they came for one sole puspose, to assess the effect of atomic radiation on human bodies. they wanna gauge how *successful* was their *handiwork* !
in bikini island the murcunts used 10000 cats and dogs to run their atomic radiaion test, in hiroshima and nagakasi they used human beings, 300000 of them all.
小 苍 桂子 thinks that the only good thing left by the murcunts was article nine of the constitution which forbid jp from going to war ever again.
*i always think that its’ aritcle nine that safeguard jp’s peace, im dead against its quashing. but the central govn is bent on pushing thru its new security resolution which’d dump article nine and allow jp army fighting oversea once again, the implication of this send a cold down my spine.
dear 小 苍 桂子, sorry u got it upside down.
the prowess of jp soldiers in ww2 greatly impressed the unitedsnake, *hmm, this would make a good rottweiler*. no sooner than the last shot was fired the snake already had a great plan for jp. but first the badly mauled rottweiler needed time to recover and kept tightly under control, hence the articl nine, kinda like a dog leash. when the time is ripe the leash would be removed and the attack dog set free.
that time has come.
the snake spent the last three decades building up its asian nato to encircle china.
using carrots and sticks and whatever dirty tricks in its bag, the snake has been taking down china’s allies one by one.
now is the time to go for china’s jugular, jp would be that attack dog.
when the shit hits the fan, jp young men would not be dying for the emperor, this
time they’d be cannon fodder for that sneaky bastard, the unitedsnake. !

Posted by: denk | Aug 11 2015 16:28 utc | 91

Abadi announces reforms aimed at “decentralization” of Iraq

“The United States should speed the supply of arms and equipment directly to local tribal militia and Peshmerga units, while holding out the prospect that arms will flow through Baghdad if and when the central government establishes a reliable process for their transfer and passes legislation to include these fighters in the Iraqi security forces,” the CNAS [the Democratic-leaning think tank, Center for a New American Security] wrote.
It is increasingly clear that the “solution” to the Iraq-Syria war envisioned by the US political-military elite is one that involves the partition of both countries.
The head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, General Vincent Stewart, told a conference of intelligence personnel at the end of July that Iraq “may indeed be irreparably fractured and may not come back as an intact state.”
He added, “You also see a lot of fracturing in Syria, where you could end up with an Alawite-stan in the middle and something to the north and something to the south.”

Death, devastation, destruction … and dissolution continue. No change. Things remain ‘stable’ in Syria and Iraq.

Posted by: jfl | Aug 12 2015 1:08 utc | 93