Daily Archives: September 14, 2020

2020-09-14: News Headlines

WSWS (2020-09-14). Australian government, Labor opposition silent on sadistic British show-trial of Julian Assange. wsws.org The Australian political and media establishment has largely responded to the vicious attacks on Assange's legal and democratic rights by pretending that they are not occurring.

Gareth Porter (2020-09-14). Dark web voter database report casts new doubts on Russian election hack narrative. thegrayzone.com A new report showing that US state-level voter databases were publicly available calls into question the narrative that Russian intelligence "targeted" US state election-related websites in 2016. A September 1 report in the Moscow daily Kommersant on a "dark web" site offering a database of personal information on millions of registered American voters undermines one of …

WSWS (2020-09-14). Wisconsin Supreme Court blocks mailing out of absentee ballots pending ruling on Green Party ballot access. wsws.org The Democratic party has led the charge in purging third-party candidates, including the Greens, from the November ballot.

sputniknews (2020-09-13). Edward Snowden Criticizes Amazon For Hiring Former Director of US National Security Agency. sputniknews.com In 2013, the former NSA contractor leaked a cache of top secret US intelligence documents revealing a massive surveillance campaign of Americans. Among other things, the documents revealed that the intelligence agency illegally accessed information on millions of people in the US and across the world, even snooping on world leaders.

Kevin Gosztola (2020-09-13). Trump's 'War on Journalism' Takes Center Stage at Julian Assange's Extradition Hearing. globalresearch.ca In the last half-century, journalists James Bamford, Ben Bradlee, Seymour Hersh, and Neil Sheehan were each threatened with prosecution under the Espionage Act. But the U.S. government never followed through with Espionage Act charges against a journalist until 2019, when …

_____ (2020-09-13). US Demands Hinder Spanish Probe Into Security Firm That Spied On Assange. popularresistance.org There will be no judicial cooperation forthcoming from the United States unless a Spanish judge reveals his information sources in an investigation into alleged espionage against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange while he was living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. | Judge José de la Mata of Spain's High Court (Audiencia Nacional) has sent a request for judicial cooperation to US authorities as part of his probe into a Spanish private security company named UC Global S.L. and its owner David Morales, on allegations that this firm secretly recorded Assange's private meetings with lawyers, politicians, relatives…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-09-13). Trial Week 1: Witnesses state Assange did nothing illegal. peoplesdispatch.org In the first week of Julian Assange's extradition trial in London, witnesses sought to bring out the political nature of the prosecution against Assange, despite the prosecution's attempt to make it appear otherwise. They also pointed out the opaque nature of the Wikileaks indictment in the United States, with evidence against Assange yet to be shared to the public, and the threat the case poses to press freedoms.

David Price (2020-09-13). The CIA Book Publishing Operations. counterpunch.org If America is the world's living myth, then the CIA is America's myth. —Don DeLillo One of the alternative press's most significant scoops of the 1960s was Sol Stern's February 1967 Ramparts magazine's exposé revealing that the Central Intelligence Agency had long secretly funded and controlled the National Student Association (NSA). The story was significant

_____ (2020-09-13). The Historic Clash of Two Opposing Geopolitical Paradigms. strategic-culture.org Compared the great initiatives taken on behalf of freedom and anti colonialism throughout the past 260 years, today's America appears to be a strange and foolish creature running roughshod over the dignity of people and nations in a race for mass nuclear extermination. | Such is the image projected by Mike Pompeo's ranting anti-China attacks or the relentless demonization of Russia sweeping across mainstream media ever day- both nations who have repeatedly called for cooperation and friendship with the USA. If it were simply belligerent words then we could brush off these childish attacks as mere foolish rhetoric…

Mehr News Agency (2020-09-13). Iran has largest artificial intelligence companies in region. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Sep. 13 (MNA) — Iran's Vice President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari said that Iran has the largest knowledge-based companies in the field of artificial intelligence in the region.

yenisafak (2020-09-13). Afghans see hope on horizon as peace talks commence. yenisafak.com The launch of the direct talks for peace in Afghanistan has left many in this conflict-riddled nation caught between curiosity and cautious optimism.Extraordinarily vigilant security was what many Afghans in the bustling capital of Kabul noticed as they began their work week Saturday. Thursdays and Fridays are weekends in Afghanistan.The day talks began, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani chaired a meeting of the Security High Command with the army and intelligence chiefs and other key officials. "Serious attention should be paid for the security of highways," he said, according to a statement by his office.

yenisafak (2020-09-13). Australia defends intelligence raids as spat with China escalates. yenisafak.com Australia's Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton on Sunday defended the government's right to intelligence raids to prevent foreign interference, after China condemned searches on the homes of its journalists working in Australia.Dutton declined to directly confirm that the Chinese journalists were questioned by Australia's intelligence agency in June, saying an investigation was still underway, but said there was some "activity" by the country's intelligence agency."Where (the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) has sufficient grounds for the execution of a search warrant, or for activities otherwise, t…

yenisafak (2020-09-13). UAE's Bin Zayed AI university, Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science sign MOU. yenisafak.com The United Arab Emirates' Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science have signed a memorandum of understanding "to work together across a range of fields," the UAE's WAM news agency reported on Sunday.The accord is the first of its kind to be signed between two higher education institutes from the UAE and Israel, it added. "The aim is to advance the development and use of artificial intelligence as a tool for progress," it said.

Sarah Cords (2020-09-13). How a US Army Whistleblower Revealed 'the Apparatus of a Police State'. commondreams.org Soldiers with the Mississippi National Guard watch a crowd of protesters at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on June 6, 2020. (Photo: The National Guard/Flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/army_whistleblower.jpg

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-09-12). The Assange Trial, And Other Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix. thealtworld.com ~ | "Assange isn't a journalist! He has an agenda!" | Every journalist in the world has an agenda. It just happens that most journalists have fame, wealth and esteem as their agenda while Assange's agenda is, in his own words, "crushing bastards". | It's crazy how there are still people who try to claim Assange isn't a journalist. He is, and it's not even debatable. Publishing information that informs the public about what's going on in the world is exactly the thing that journalism is. | ~ | The mainstream press have been far, far less critical of immensely powerful world-dominating government agencies than they…

WSWS (2020-09-12). Amazon uses former government agents to spy on workers. wsws.org A number of recent exposures confirm that Amazon has established its own secret internal intelligence agency to spy on its workforce.

RT (2020-09-12). Julian Assange: The Trial of the Century. dissidentvoice.org George Galloway makes cystal clear what is a no-brainer: Julian Assange revealing war crimes is the real reason for extradition. Unable to be convicted for journalism, he stands accused of trumped-up charges in what is the trial of the century.

_____ (2020-09-12). Rubberhose Cryptography and the Idea Behind Wikileaks: Julian Assange as a Physics Student. strategic-culture.org Niraj LAL | The last dinner that Julian Assange had in relative freedom, 18 June 2012, was takeaway pizza and cheap red wine with a couple of the Wikileaks team and myself in a small flat in London, discussing possible trajectories of American politics for the coming decade. The next morning he walked into the Ecuadorian Embassy to claim political asylum; he hasn't seen sunlight unguarded since. | I first met Julian in the Redmond Barry Physics Lecture Theatre ten years earlier, in 2002, on our first day at the University of Melbourne. The lecturer, the affable Professor Geoff Opat with curly hair and thick-rimme…

Tom Coburg (2020-09-12). Assange extradition hearings see the defence expose the real reasons for his prosecution. thecanary.co Formal hearings for the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange commenced on Monday 7 September 2020. Over three days, the defence fielded witnesses and … | By | Formal hearings for the extradition of

teleSUR (2020-09-12). Venezuela: US Ex-Marine Caught Spying on Oil Refineries. telesurenglish.net A U.S. former marine and spy who had been spying on the Amuay and Cardon refineries was captured in the Venezuelan state of Falcon on Thursday. | RELATED: | Speaking on the twelfth anniversary of the youth wing of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, the JPSUV, President Nicolas Maduro said the captured individual had served a function at CIA bases in Iraq and was found with weapons and a large sum of cash.

_____ (2020-09-12). Scheer Intelligence: Trump Is The Sweaty Armpit Of Monopoly Capitalism. popularresistance.org Over the past several decades, the largest corporations have absorbed and destroyed all opposition—big and small—and slowly come to play a role in every aspect of Americans' lives. That's the central argument of journalist David Dayen's latest book, Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power. On this week's installment of Scheer Intelligence, the American Prospect editor joins host Robert Scheer to discuss how corporations peddle the idea that consumers have the "freedom" to buy whatever they want in order to distract the public as their rights are increasingly eroded.

yenisafak (2020-09-12). US 'doesn't seek to impose' democracy on Afghanistan. yenisafak.com After 19 years of American invasion in the name of fighting terrorist groups and democratizing Afghanistan, which led to the shattering of latter's political institutions, the US on Saturday announced that it is no longer interested in exporting democracy to the war-weary country.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's remarks came in the beginning of intra-Afghan peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents in the Qatari capital Doha.The historic talks aim to end nearly two decades of armed insurgency in Afghanistan amid pressure from US President Donald Trump's administration ahead of elections…

Sarah Cords (2020-09-12). How a U.S. Army Whistleblower Revealed 'the Apparatus of a Police State'. progressive.org In the 1960s, the military had been illegally spying on protesters until Christopher Pyle, a former Army intelligence officer, spoke out.

_____ (2020-09-12). Navalny False-Flag Authors Invent New Twist To Cover Lies. popularresistance.org So now the Navalny poison episode takes on a new twist with German military intelligence subsequently claiming they found traces of Novichok on a bottle of water the Russian dissident had purportedly been drinking from. Rather, it sounds more like the authors of this false-flag operation have "bottled" — meaning became unnerved by the absurdities inherent in their own narrative. | Last week the German government announced that a Bundeswehr military laboratory had detected Novichok in the body fluids of Sergei Navalny.

teleSUR, ce (2020-09-12). Mike Pompeo to Make Official Visit to Guyana. telesurenglish.net U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is expected to visit Guyana next week according to Guyanese news outlets. | RELATED: | Pompeo, who is expected to visit on September 17 and 18 will be the highest-ranking United States official to visit Guyana. | The Secretary of State is reportedly expected to sign a number of agreements with President Irfaan Ali. | In July, the State Department announced visa sanctions against former Governmen…

_____ (2020-09-12). DHS Official: Department Wanted To Down Play Far-Right Violence. popularresistance.org On September 9, the news came out that a whistleblower within the Department of Homeland Security had filed a complaint about the department's Trump-appointed leadership instructing him to downplay the threat represented by white supremacists and play up the dangers posed by anarchists and anti-fascists. Yet it has largely escaped notice how Joe Biden and other Democrats have embraced Donald Trump's talking points about anarchists and anti-fascists.

Evan D Muse, Eric J Topol (2020-09-12). [Perspectives] Guiding ultrasound image capture with artificial intelligence. thelancet.com Ultrasound is one of the most widely used methods of diagnostic imaging in a broad range of subspecialties. High-quality ultrasound images provide crucial information as the foundation for expert interpretation. Artificial intelligence (AI) is starting to provide a path for automatically capturing images, even for the uninitiated.

sputniknews (2020-09-12). Snowden Responds to POTUS' 'Pardon' Comment, Urges to End 'War on Whistleblowers'. sputniknews.com Edward Snowden is accused of espionage and leaking secret National Security Agency documents, exposing to the world a domestic surveillance program in the United States that collected telephone and Internet data from citizens.

yenisafak (2020-09-12). TRNC: US only visiting Greek Cypriot admin 'unacceptable'. yenisafak.com It is unacceptable that the US' top diplomat plans to visit the Greek Cypriot administration without visiting the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as well, the country's presidency said in a statement on Sunday.TRNC President Mustafa Akinci said it would not be helpful for State Secretary Mike Pompeo to only hold meetings with the Greek Cypriot side about ongoing disputes surrounding the Eastern Mediterranean and Cyprus.This attitude would be negative 'encouragement' for the Greek Cypriot administration, Presidential Spokesman Baris Burcu said in a statement."This is a wrong decision for US diplomacy, w…

WSWS (2020-09-12). Australian raids on Chinese journalists mark escalation of US-led witch hunt. wsws.org The timeline of this affair points to an intensifying anti-China propaganda campaign, instigated by Washington and the intelligence apparatus.

Anya Parampil (2020-09-11). Challenging pro-war Pelosi: candidate Shahid Buttar on Assange, Latin America, & Palestine. thegrayzone.com Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with House candidate Shahid Buttar, who is Nancy Pelosion issues of war and whistleblowers. They discuss Buttar's position on Julian Assange, Latin America, Israel, and more.

Binoy Kampmark (2020-09-11). Assange's Fourth Day at the Old Bailey: COVID in the Courtroom. counterpunch.org As James Lewis QC for the prosecution, representing the US government, revealed, "I'm just saying about my charger. It's in court and I'm going to run out of battery." It was one of those moments that said much about the fourth day of proceedings at the Old Bailey regarding one Julian Assange, publisher, Australian national

Peoples Dispatch (2020-09-11). Brazilian leaders Lula and Dilma express solidarity with Julian Assange, reject extradition. peoplesdispatch.org Ex-president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defended the innocence of Australian journalist Lula said that the activist should have transformed into a global hero due to the work that he did to expose the war crimes committed by the US army. | "Assange should have been treated like a hero for having denounced to the world the lies of the US State Department, investigating the world, investigating the government. All of the democratic countries should cry for his freedom," declare…

Kevin Gosztola, Shadowproof (2020-09-11). Trump's 'War On Journalism' Takes Centerstage At Julian Assange's Extradition Hearing. commondreams.org Demonstrators protest outside of the Old Bailey court in central London on September 7, 2020, as the extradition hearing for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange resumes again. (Photo: Tolga Akmen / AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/journalismisnotacrime.jpg

CP Editor (2020-09-11). 175 Years in a U.S. Prison? Extradition Trial of WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Begins in London. counterpunch.org

RT (2020-09-11). Venezuela says it captured 'US spy' targeting two oil refineries with 'heavy, specialized' weapons. rt.com President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela has announced the capture of "an American spy" with heavy weapons and money near two refineries in the state of Falcon. The man is said to be a Marine who worked for the CIA in Iraq.

T.J. Coles (2020-09-11). The War on You: How the Pentagon is Militarizing Social Control. counterpunch.org Neoliberalism benefits the few and makes life for the many increasingly impossible. Big data and blanket surveillance give state and corporate intelligence confidence that they can pre-empt and manage mass, social reactions to neoliberalism. This article is an excerpt from my new book, The War on You. TARGET: "EVERYONE" In 1997, the U.S. Space Command

RT (2020-09-11). Bolsonaro must testify in person over alleged interference with police, Brazil's Supreme Court says. rt.com Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Celso de Mello has ordered President Jair Bolsonaro to give evidence in person over allegations that he tried to interfere in the work of the federal police. | The justice ruled on Friday that the president could not be questioned in writing, according to local media. | The Supreme Court authorized the probe in April following accusations made by former Minister of Justice and Public Security Sergio Moro. The minister had resigned saying that Bolsonaro pressed him to change the chief of the federal police. Moro also accused the president of seeking to interfere in investigations…

yenisafak (2020-09-11). Qatar set to host Afghan government-Taliban talks again. yenisafak.com Qatar is set to host another round of talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban on Saturday to end the ongoing war in the country.In a statement, the Afghan Presidency said negotiations with the Taliban would begin in Qatar's capital Doha.The Afghan delegation, headed by former chief of the intelligence service Masoom Stanikzai, includes 21 members from various political parties and groups.President of the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah, acting Foreign Minister Hanif Atmar, Minister of State for Peace Affairs Sayed Sadat Mansoor Naderi and the president's Special Represent…

_____ (2020-09-11). TikTok, Trump And The Need For A Digital Non-Aligned Movement. popularresistance.org Recent weeks have seen a dramatic escalation in the U.S.' stance towards tech companies from the People's Republic of China (PRC). After hounding the telecommunications company Huawei for years, the social networking app TikTok is the latest Chinese company to enter the firing line. | On 5 August U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo published a press release that could be seen as the master plan that explained the logic behind these policies: creating a parallel internet, defined as a place where companies from the PRC have no place.

T.J. Coles (2020-09-11). The War on Your Mind: A Brief History of the U.S. Surveillance-Intelligence Complex. globalresearch.ca The recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vindicated the contractor-turned-whistleblower, Edward Snowden, by ruling that the National Security Agency's blanket data collection was unlawful and likely After Snowden alerted the world, t…

Mehr News Agency (2020-09-11). Pompeo should look in mirror: FM spox. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Sep. 12 (MNA) — Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should look in mirror, adding that hypocrisy is ugly but it's never too late to change the track.

sputniknews (2020-09-11). US Senate Intelligence Committee Requests DHS Data After Whistleblower Complaint. sputniknews.com WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The US Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requesting that it submits all intelligence assessments related to a whistleblower's complaint that the Trump administration allegedly mishandled data.

Paul Craig Roberts (2020-09-11). The 19th Anniversary of the Deep State Attack On America. thealtworld.com Most anniversaries of September 11, 2001, I have written an article presenting yet again the enormous evidence that the official story of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are so obviously false as to be unbelievable. Yet Americans believed the transparent lie. | The military/security complex was desperate for enemies. In 2001 Russia was under the US thumb. China's rise was predicted to be 50 years away. Where were the enemies to keep the military/security budget and power growing? | The neoconservitives who dominated the Cheney/Bush government identified the Arab Middle East as the enemy and…

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-09-10). Assange Trial Exposes False Partisan Narratives With Focus On Trump's War On Journalism. thealtworld.com scandalously opaque and A new article about the proceedings in The Evening Standard titled "

RT (2020-09-10). 'Nothing nefarious at all': Backlash as ex-NSA chief, involved in mass surveillance revealed by Snowden, joins Amazon board. rt.com General Keith Alexander, ex-director of the National Security Agency, who oversaw illegal mass spying on Americans, has been appointed to Amazon's board of directors, drawing the ire of privacy advocates, including Edward Snowden. | Amazon announced that Alexander, who served as NSA director from 2005 up to his retirement in March 2014, will join the company's board on Wednesday. | "We're thrilled to elect a new member to our Board of Directors this month. Welcome, General Keith Alexander!" the tech giant said in a statement on Twitter. | However, some, including the ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden, were less…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-09-10). Assange's trial postponed after suspected COVID-19 exposure. peoplesdispatch.org The brief halt in the trial proceedings was prompted after it was revealed that a member of the prosecution team may have been exposed to COVID-19, posing risks to everyone attending…

WSWS (2020-09-10). Assange targeted for political views in "terrifying threat to First Amendment," expert witnesses tell hearing. wsws.org WikiLeaks' exposure of civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan had played "possibly the most important role" in catalysing public opposition to both wars.

Editor (2020-09-10). Assange Extradition and the War on Journalism. scheerpost.com Event starts at 5-minute point — drag cursor to start. A webinar/press conference organized by the late Kevin Zeese for PopularResistance.org streamed live today, Sept. 9, 2020. The attempt to extradite Julian Assange to the United States for prosecution is a war against freedom of the press and our right to know. If the prosecution of Assange under the Espionage Act occurs… |

Binoy Kampmark (2020-09-10). Assange's Third Day at the Old Bailey: Bias, Politics and Wars on Journalism. counterpunch.org The third day of extradition proceedings against Julian Assange at the Old Bailey resumed on the point of politics. Assange as a figure of political beliefs; Assange as a target of the Trump administration precisely for having them. The man sketching the portrait was Paul Rogers, Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University. It