Crackdown on Whistleblowers as ‘US SHOWS NO MERCY’ (SPIEGELonline…)
…Still, the fact that Manning wasn’t convicted of aiding the enemy in no way diminishes the massive pressure that US President Barack Obama has applied on the media and potential future whistleblowers. Recently, James Risen, an investigative reporter with the New York Times, was ordered by a federal court to testify against a confidential CIA source — with the threat of imprisonment if he refused to do so. Risen said he would go to jail if necessary to protect his source. Presently, the US is prosecuting six different people on allegations that they betrayed government secrets — more than under any previous president…
Crackdown on Whistleblowers as ‘US SHOWS NO MERCY’ (SPIEGELonline…)
Archive for July, 2013
The forthcoming judgement on the Bradley Manning case is not only a watershed for the future of Manning but also of the freedom of all Americans. Perhaps for all of us.
On the surface Manning has been brought to trial by the military and security offices of the United States because his release of information has put the people of the free world and work and the personnel of these offices at risk.
However the greatest damage that has been done is the damage to the credibility and reputation of these same offices, which have been shown to have little regard for human rights or international law. Manning’s revelations exposed an organization that covers up its criminal brutality and its mistakes. They also revealed its derision of international law and a contemptuous disregard for the allies of the United States Government.
When viewed in the context of the Edward Snowden revelations that have shown that ordinary people, community protest groups and businesses all over the world are the targets of US spying rather than terrorists, an alarming picture emerges that shows that the military industrial corporations and their CIA business partners have a greater control of the USA than ever before and are ready punish anyone who reveals their dirty secrets.
If Manning Assange and Snowden are taken down in US kangaroo courts by these militaristic rulers of America, and if the decisions are justified by their corporate media partners, then we and our democratic systems go down with them.
In a democratic world these men would be our greatest heroes. They are the new Mandela’s being imprisoned for our freedom.
By Nathan Fuller and Jeff Paterson, Bradley Manning Support Network. July 28, 2013 (US)
“The Government has pushed this case beyond the bounds of legal propriety. If the Government meant ‘information’, it should have charged information,” explains defense attorney David Coombs.
Two years ago, Army PFC Bradley Manning was charged with five counts of stealing government property, in violation of federal statute 18 U.S.C. 641. He faces 21 total charges for providing WikiLeaks with classified information at the court martial entering its final stage. After the Government rested its case against PFC Manning, defense lawyer David Coombs detailed how the evidence presented did not support those five 18 U.S.C. 641 charges. He appealed to military judge Col. Denise Lind to dismiss them outright; however, she let them stand. Shockingly, she then stepped away from her role as the “finder of fact,” and into a clearly partisan role by allowing the Government to significantly alter its charges on July 24, 2013–long after all legal arguments had been made.
“Because all of these critical ‘clarifications’ are coming after eight weeks of testimony, and because these offenses carry with them 50 years of potential imprisonment, and because the Defense was actually misled by the Charge Sheet, the Defense requests that this Court declare a mistrial as to the section 641 offenses,” declared Coombs.
…Please click here for this piece in full at bradleymanning.org…
“…During the boom, Aboriginal incarceration has more than doubled. Interned in often rat-infested cells, almost 60 per cent of the state’s young prisoners are Aboriginal – out of 2.5 per cent of the population. While their mothers hold vigils outside, aboriginal children are held in solitary confinement in an adult jail. A former prisons minister, Margaret Quirk, told me the state was now “racking and stacking” black Australians. Their rate of incarceration is five times that of apartheid South Africa…
…Deaths in custody are common. An elder known as Mr. Ward was arrested for driving under the influence on a bush road. In searing heat, he was driven more than 300 miles in the iron pod of a prison van run by the British security company GSL. Inside the mobile cell the temperature reached 50 degrees centigrade. Mr. Ward cooked to death, his stomach burned raw where he had collapsed on the van’s scorching floor. The coroner called it a “disgrace”, yet the Department of Public Prosecutions refused to take action, saying there was “no evidence”. This is not unusual. The two security van drivers were eventually fined under Health and Safety rules…”
New John Pilger film, Utopia, to be broadcast on ITV (UK) and released worldwide…click here for details and the whole of his recent piece, excerpt above…
G4S – Nauru detention centre manager – to be the subject of fraud probe – report Channel 4 News (UK)
The prime spot in your computer’s anti-royal baby utility belt should be reserved for TweetDeck. The Twitter-owned app has the option to filter out certain text, users, and sources from which you do not wish to see any updates (here’s a look at how to do that). Since this morning, my mute filters have included the following:
It’s been nice.
You might wish to filter out certain users as well, such as @ClarenceHouse, an official source for news from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s side of the Royal Family. Other Twitter apps allow you to block specific people, words, and tags. If you’re on mobile, try Tweetbot or Echofon. On the desktop, consider browser extensions like Twivo (created by a 17-year-old female developer), Open Tweet Filter, or Larry filter for Twitter to filter the Twitter website.
These won’t stop all the royal baby tweets from flooding your timeline, but filters will certainly make your Twitter experience a lot more tolerable over the next few days.
Facebook’s a little more complicated to manage, since many of the posts you’ll see there are image-based. While there’s no real way to cut out a hundred of your friends posting a snap of the happy family without a caption, there are a few tricks you can try.
Browser extensions are your friend. Once the heir is born, Unbaby should be your go-to. It’s a Chrome extension that replaces all the baby photos in your feed with cats. It’s not just for babies, either: Unwhatever.me, from the same developers, can help you block Kate and Wills from your News Feed.
A number of other Chrome extensions let you hide posts containing certain words. Test some out, and see which works best for you.
To Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Immigration Minister Tony Burke:
We call on you to scrap the new policy in regard to asylum seekers reaching Australia by boat. This “hardline” approach is cruel and doesn’t make financial sense. We are the land of plenty — we call on you to treat people arriving in Australia by boat with compassion and decency and abide by all international conventions regarding the rights of refugees.
…CLICK here to GO THROUGH TO avazz and SIGN…
“Nationalism is a very old concept, and it has become weaker during globalisation. But from the Snowden incident, we can see that even if nationalism is weak, its power structures still exist,”
– See more at: blouinartinfo.com
As cruel and sociopathic trampling upon refugee rights continues in Australia and beyond, let us counter the machine politicians’ mendacious, managerialistic, dehumanising rationale with a few human, reality-based perspectives…
Here’s a start in the form of a recent Human Rights Watch report, ‘Why They Left’ (Dec 2012), in which Iranian dissidents describe their plight – the complex, harrowing accounts of …WHY…THEY…LEFT…
The 60-page report, “Why they Left: Stories of Iranian Activists in Exile,” documents the experiences of dozens of rights defenders, journalists, bloggers, and lawyers whom security and intelligence forces targeted because they spoke out against the government. Some who took part in anti-government protests after the 2009 election had never been politically active before, but suddenly found themselves in the crosshairs of security and intelligence forces.
“The post-2009 crackdown has profoundly affected civil society in Iran,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The images of police beating protesters mercilessly may have faded from television and computer screens, but many Iranian activists continue to make the painful choice to abandon homes and families.”
Blogger Alexei Navalny defied Putin. Now he faces six years in prison. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, Russian human rights icon Lyudmila Alexeyeva explains why the Kremlin is trying to muzzle the opposition leader — and why it could backfire.
Alexei Navalny made his name as a blogger and anti-corruption activist before becoming the most prominent figure in the protest movement against Russian President Vladimir Putin. But now Navalny is 37 years old, and he is already facing the end of his political career. If a court in the provincial Russian town of Kirov finds him guilty this Thursday, he cannot, by Russian law, run for public office….click here for full story @ SPIEGEL..
Here at the interpretOr, we reported last year that the Putin regime is also accumulating massive wealth – guess this is easier to do if it’s death or the neo-gulags for commentators, journos, bloggers…
Putin bling @ $70,000,000,000
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern explains his view that a secrecy agreement is not an oath, it is a promise. (00:20) The purpose of secrecy agreements is to protect national security, not to protect abuse and illegal activities. (2:00) Bradley Manning, in his view, was faced with a dilemma of either keeping quiet or expose the abuses he saw and risk prosecution. Manning followed his moral conviction and publish the information being withheld from the public, including by a Washington Post reporter who had been assigned to his unit and did not report what he saw. We therefore need whistleblowers to provide evidence and get the word out.
The biggest change McGovern has seen in his nearly 50 years in Washington is that there is almost no big free media any more. (06:30) He describes the fourth estate as dead in the US, but says there is a fifth estate – the internet, including Wikileaks. This is a new tool for people to find out what is going on in the world. (09:40) Today most US broadcasting channels are owned and operated by the same corporations who are profiteering form the wars they have espoused and justified. (12:00)
There is hope in the alternative media, but it comes with not shackling them, as happened with Julian Assange and Wikileaks. McGovern writes for consortiumnews.com, which is one of the earliest examples of investigative journalism online. (24:20) Julian Assange is a journalist, according to McGovern, as someone who is trying to find out what is really going on. Journalists impose their own brand of self-censorship today in order to not be ‘sensationalised’. (26:00)
source: Free Speech Debate is a research project of the Dahrendorf Programme for the Study of Freedom at St Antony’s College in the University of Oxford. http://www.freespeechdebate.ox.ac.uk
Find out who is watching you and shaping your life at .
just click image for July ’13 magazine @ Al Jazeera
‘Often described as a land straddling both east and west, Turkey – with its vast array of cultures, industries and political opinions – remains as relevant to global narratives today as it was during the period of the Ottoman Empire.
July’s edition of Al Jazeera’s award-winning monthly magazine focuses on all things Turkey, as the nation grapples with protests and new voices of opposition against the government, while also managing to operate on the world stage with deft hand…’
“Captain Negative, yet again, on line three for you Lord Christopher…”
Ahumphh, rightyho, thenk you Hilda…
Why good evening Lord Christopher. How goeth your Lordship this fine ev…
Well, well, well master Tony…I hear upon the Auwwwstwaylian gwapevine that one has a new…a new epiphet?
Look, ahhh, no Lord Christopher. No. I’m quite frankly touched by your concern ,but no. No.
Hohhoho…. Norb Fones filled me in earlier…
No, no Lord Christopher. No…No nicknames here. No.
…Hahhh, Norb thought it may have owiginated ex “Spycatcher” Turnbull’s office…your new epiphet, that is…
No, no Lord Christopher. No…
Sooooo….you’re not really Captain Negative, then?
No, no Lord Christopher. NO…No…no…
maaaster tony…you really are a…
(…tbc…)
- I see me, Scott Morrison, MP and…and Assembly of God leader…
- …I see a man who has balance and an ability to enjoy the fruits of an orderly, odedient and fair-haired community – heck, I’m a normal, dinkum Aussie guy too – heck, I can think of nothing better than to kick back ‘nd relax on a Saturday morning and catch up on highlights of the week’s Australian Traffic Network radio broadcasts!
- I see, I see….an obedient servant and stewardly-Godly-man…
- Look, quite frankly, I see a proud steward…a proud steward at ShireLive’s much trumpeted ‘WATER BAPTISM’ ceremonies…sorry about the plug, but as my great mate Sir Cliff would say…we’re ‘wired for sound’…
- I see a man who is on a proud highway, a proud highway to a more fair-haired and obedient Australia!
::: for more on Scott Morrison’s fair-dinkum values, why not click here to visit ShireLive :::
Feel free to click below for part one of this ground-breaking series…
new interpretOr series: ‘what I see in the mirrOr’ pt1: Tony Abbott
Calling for a worldwide struggle to preserve the global commons…
‘…At the forefront of the defense of nature are those often called “primitive”: members of indigenous and tribal groups, like the First Nations in Canada or the Aborigines in Australia – the remnants of peoples who have survived the imperial onslaught. At the forefront of the assault on nature are those who call themselves the most advanced and civilized: the richest and most powerful nations…’
::: click here for piece in full @ AlterNet :::
At the interpretOr, we’re having a look at the publication ‘The Indigenous World: 2013’ by International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA). The ecocide caused by the rapacious resources sector is not confined to Oz…
Global development is as much driven by the extraction of natural resources as ever, many of these being found on indigenous peoples’ traditional lands and territories. In Peru, for example, this year’s country report informs us that the government has leased out 60% of indigenous peoples’ territories for oil and gas concessions. Additionally, numerous legal and illegal mining and logging activities are taking place on indigenous land.
‘The Indigenous World: 2013’ is a free download – simply click here –
“No democratic Australia could ever impose penalties on refugees which could match the terror from which most of them flee. Our policies need to change. I believe the major parties’ policies are extreme.”
click here for piece in full at the Guardian
There’s a whopping great full page ad from Lockheed Martin International in today’s Murdoch owned national rag, the Australian, (02/03/13 p5).
Headline copy:
“Introducing Lockheed Martin International”
Partnering for Protection and Prosperity.
“We never forget who we’re working for”
A heck of a lot of space for a three-liner…
At the interpretOr, we never forget who they’re working for…nor does AlterNet…
"While contracts for supplying weapons for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are a significant part of Lockheed Martin’s business, the new company that has taken form since the merger boom of the 1990s has a far wider reach. These activities include everything from involvement in interrogation and police training to profiting from the new post-9/11 wave of domestic surveillance activities. Of all the new ventures that Lockheed Martin has undertaken, the least well known may be its role in interrogating prisoners at U.S. facilities in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The fact that employees of private companies are even allowed to interrogate terror suspects came as a surprise to most Americans when it was revealed in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal. The revelations of the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques”—many of which were viewed by human rights analysts as torture plain and simple—rocked the world as pictures of naked inmates threatened by dogs and subjected to other serious abuses were disseminated in print and electronic media. The damage to the reputation of the United States as a country governed by the rule of law is still being felt, even as accountability has been limited to the low-level military personnel involved directly in the abuses."
William Hartung reveals how Lockheed Martin’s presence in the U.S. military goes far deeper than mere weapon supplying, AlterNet (11/01/11)
The Guardian photograph showing a contemplative Barrack Obama in the jail where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years is a stark reminder of the many held without trial by the US Government
It is made more poignant by the imprisoning in solitary confinement of Bradley Manning who is now on trial and of the likelihood of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden likely to suffer a similar plight for making public the crimes carried out by US Departments and Agencies.
Mandela was not tortured and even had windows.
In These Times is an independent, nonprofit magazine…”dedicated to advancing democracy and economic justice, informing movements for a more humane world, and providing an accessible forum for debate about the policies that shape our future.”
2013 FEATURES
Food Fight: Feminists and Femivores
Is slow food about politics, privilege, or oppression?
By Rebecca Burns
Geoengineers Gone Wild
Techno-entrepreneurs are funding sci-fi solutions to global warming.
By Anthony Mangini
In Defense of Dessert: The Case Against Austerity
Why cutting down doesn’t pay off.
By Chris Lehmann
The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed
Hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers are stuck in low-wage temp jobs, despite working for America’s largest companies.
By Michael Grabell, Propublica
Obama’s Dirty War on Journalism
Despite a facade of openness, the president has sought to crack down on ‘inconvenient’ reporting.
By David Sirota
Humanity’s Oldest Story
The White House claims unprecedented authority over drone strike assassinations.
By David Sirota
WORKING IN THESE TIMES
The Supervisor From Hell Gets a Pass From SCOTUS
The Supreme Court decision that you didn’t hear about—and how it could make life much more difficult for workers facing harassment on the job.
By Michelle Chen
UPRISING
The Public Broadcasters’ Revolt
This month, with zero debate, the Greek government shut down the only public broadcasting station, but the workers haven’t left.
By Kristen Han
Current issue: July 2013
… what Brazilians want; why the Turks are protesting; Syria’s growing tragedy; Kuwaitiswithout a name; Portugal, where is the sun?Greece, what next for the left? US, get in, then get on; South Korea special – Samsung, a state in itself; cashing in Gangnam-style … and also the online ads we helped create; footie figures it out … and more…
…just click the pic to access…
Booz Allen Hamilton: What You Don’t Know About Snowden’s Former Employer
Submitted by TommyPaine
Let’s take another trip down the rabbit hole, shall we? Lost in the Edward Snowden debate is a critical look at his former employer, the company doing the spying on Americans in the first place: Booz Allen Hamilton.
Booz Allen Hamilton is a government contractor, with 99% of its revenue coming from the US government. Not only does it receive money from the NSA, but also the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, US Marine Corps, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and … the IRS. In addition, Booz Allen is heavily connected to the CIA.
Booz Allen Hamilton is owned by…the Carlyle Group.
One of the big investors in the Carlyle Group was the Bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia. Yeah … THAT Bin Laden family. And instrumental in being the “go between” for Carlyle/Bin Laden was a guy by the name of George H. W. Bush. Maybe you’ve heard of him?
The CEO of the Carlyle Group (remember, they OWN Booz Allen Hamilton) is Frank Carlucci. Mr. Carlucci has quite a resume:
Nixon Administration – Director of the Office for Economic Opportunity (the “War on Poverty” — and a great place to decide who gets government contracts)
Reagan Administration – National Security Advisor and Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld is Carlucci’s protoge)
He is or has been with the Project for a New American Century and a member of the Board of Trustees for the RAND Corporation, a CIA front that develops policies that the Military Industrial Complex then carries out.
Among the individuals involved in running BoozAllen Hamilton, we have:
James Clapper – current Director of National Intelligence (DNI), head of NSA, the man who lied to Congress about the fact that NSA is actively spying on Americans, is a former executive
Mike McConnell – a current executive of the company, had Clapper’s job (DNI) during George W. Bush’s administration (keep it in the family, eh?) — he worked for Booz Allen before Bush, then worked for Bush, then back to Booz Allen after Bush
James Woolsey – former CIA Director, current executive (see Jan Helfeld’s interview of Mr. Woolsey where it becomes clear that Woolsey has no interest in discussing principles, only war)
Melissa Hathaway – former executive, also worked for McConnell during the Bush administration
Ian Brzezinski – former executive, son of Zbigniew Brzezinski, co-founder of the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller, central figure in the NWO crowd, and mastermind of Operation Cyclone
Dov Zakheim – this character is … unbelievable:
1993 – His company, System Planning Corporation, had a subsidiary called Tridata Corporation, which was the company that “oversaw” the investigation of the 1993 WTC bombing
2000 – Part of the neocon Project for a New American Century, he is co-author of “Rebuilding America’s Defenses,” in which he is credited with the infamous line, “… some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.”
For more on this story, click through here to Daily Paul…
If America is your ally you have no need for an enemy.
Germany the most spied on country by the US
Angela before Prism exposed
the interpretOr 