Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:
- March 25 – A War On Gaza For Regime Change In Tel Aviv?
More morsels on the case:
El Pais: North Korean embassy assailants filmed the attack to prove their actions, say Spanish police
The 10 individuals who broke into the North Korean embassy in Madrid last month, assaulting staff members and taking audiovisual material with them, had micro-cameras that they used to provide evidence of their actions to whoever ordered and financed the operation, according to Spanish investigators.
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The 35-year-old is a US resident with a Mexican passport who “owns several dubious companies and is in contact with various intelligence services.”Investigators are now exploring whether Hong Chang played a role “in other violent incidents against North Korean interests in other countries.” Near the Madrid embassy, the police found an Italian driver’s license belonging to Hong Chang but showing a fake name. The North Korean ambassador to Italy has been missing since January, and is presumed to have defected.
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Investigation sources say the attack was perfectly planned down to every last detail, something that would require “significant infrastructure and financing, which the individuals involved lack.”
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Even though the assailants – mostly young South Koreans living in the US and trained in military action – took away the hard drives of the embassy’s security cameras, the police was able to partially recover the footage before its automatic deletion. This is what allowed investigators to observe the intruders’ “extremely violent and professional” behavior, and to identify them.
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The CIA cover group has gone silent. It may be that Adrian Hong gets another gig. Not again Libya from where he transferred Islamist to the Syrian war theater, but how about Venezuela?
Free Joseon says it is going on a hiatus
Most notably, according to AFP, Hong was spotted in Tripoli, Libya, during the Libyan civil war in 2011. He helped Libyan war victims receive treatment at hospitals in Jordan.
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Mystery group tied to break-in at DPRK embassy in Madrid will suspend activities
Notably, the source said that South Korea’s embassy in Madrid also had some knowledge of the incident shortly before it took place and immediately after.
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Presumably to prevent that the case gets buried, North Korea finally acknowledges the raid:
North Korea said Sunday it wants an investigation into a raid on its embassy in Spain last month, calling it a “grave terrorist attack” and an act of extortion that violates international law.
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The North’s official media quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that an illegal intrusion into and occupation of a diplomatic mission and an act of extortion are a grave breach of the state sovereignty and a flagrant violation of international law, “and this kind of act should never be tolerated.”He claimed an armed group tortured the staff and suggested they stole communications gear.
Yves Smith: Boeing Doubles Down on 737 Max, Rejects Need for Simulator Training
Southwest Airlines contract with Boeing says that Southwest will get $1 million rebate per plane if 737 MAX pilots need extra simulator training for it.
- March 30 – Kushner Extorted Qatar – Or Did He?
Matt Taibbi: On Russiagate and Our Refusal to Face Why Trump Won
A long read about Pete Buttigieg, a Democratic candidate for the next presidential election.
The rage with which the piece was written is beautiful.
You will be sold Buttigieg’s small-town milliennial neoliberalism the way they’re trying to sell you Beto O’Rourke’s skateboard neoliberalism. Hey kids, you like Medicare For All? So does this guy! But he’s young and from the Midwest and likes Hamilton! Bernie is old. You don’t need an old man. You need young hip progressivism.
Do not be deceived by this.
Use as open thread …