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Home Front: Politix
BREAKING NEWS Senate confirms Tulsi Gabbard as Trump's Director of National Intelligence after brutal battle
2025-02-12
Senator Mitchell McConnell only dissenting Republican vote.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The Senate voted to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as the country's top U.S. intelligence official despite some lawmakers sounding the alarm over her past actions.

Gabbard was considered one of President Donald Trump's most controversial nominees when he named her his pick for Director of National Intelligence.

The Senate voted 52 - 48 to confirm Gabbard to become the next DNI. Notably, the longtime former Republican leader Mitch McConnell
…the old turtle stands shakily athwart The Donald’s world, vainly screeching “STOP!” The poor man chose to stay in office long enough to go from the most powerful man there to the least…
voted against Gabbard's appointment to the role. He was the lone Republican 'no' vote on her confirmation.

Democrats slammed her judgement leading up to her Senate confirmation and raised doubts over her ability to keep information safe.

'Every single Democrat, I am really proud to say, will oppose this awful nomination, because we simply cannot, in good conscience, trust our most classified secrets to someone who echoes Russian propaganda and falls for conspiracy theories,' Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,
…he stands firmly athwart his world, vainly ditto…
proclaimed on the floor just before Gabbard's confirmation vote.

Schumer went on to note how Gabbard 'has said things like the Ukraine invasion was caused by the United States, not by Putin' and denied former Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad's 'use of chemical weapons despite all of the intelligence.'

Though Gabbard has countered those remarks, saying Putin is to blame for beginning the Ukraine-Russia war and admitting Assad committed heinous acts.

They also questioned whether allies would share intelligence with the U.S. if she were put in charge of the 18 agencies and organizations that make up the intelligence community.

McConnell, who sided with every Democrat to vote against Gabbard, released a scathing statement explaining his vote against her confirmation.

'The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is a key participant in the process that informs every major national security decision the President makes,' the Kentucky Republican wrote. 'The ODNI wields significant authority over how the intelligence community allocates its resources, conducts its collection and analysis, and manages the classification and declassification of our nation’s most sensitive secrets.'

'In my assessment, Tulsi Gabbard failed to demonstrate that she is prepared to assume this tremendous national trust,' McConnell shared.
Did his brain pause to reboot in the middle of that sentence?
The final vote came after Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmaker and lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve,
…so she knew all their secrets even before her ascension…
had her nomination moved favorably out of the Senate Intelligence Committee along party lines last week.

Several Republican lawmakers who had expressed concerns with her past comments came around in the end and voted to advance her nomination.

But Gabbard's path to becoming U.S. chief intelligence officer faced a bumpy road before she squeaked through.
President Trump has made it clear to the Republicans in the Senate how he will respond to those who thwart him on this. He’s playing hardball this round.
On January 30, she was put under the microscope with a brutal grilling from Republican and Democratic senators in the Senate Intelligence Committee where she clashed with senators on both sides of the aisle.

Lawmakers took issue over whether she still believed Edward Snowden should receive a pardon after leaking highly classified information.

They also raised concerns over her comments blaming NATO when Russia invaded Ukraine and with her 2017 meeting with then-Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Even heading into last week's committee vote, Gabbard's confirmation was not assured as Senator Todd Young refused to say which way he planned to vote on her nomination up until the final hours.

During her confirmation hearing, he appeared irritated that Gabbard would not call Edward Snowden a traitor.

In the end, Young voted yes on Gabbard after receiving additional assurance from her, coordinating with Vice President JD Vance and even having a brief phone call with President Donald Trump. Young described the call with the president as 'very positive' and said Trump told him to 'vote his conscience.'

Two other senators also indicated they would vote for the nominee after not indicating which way they were leaning ahead of the committee vote along party lines. Senator James Lankford, R-Okla., said he was a yes on Gabbard after speaking with her directly. Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, released a lengthy statement before she moved to advance Gabbard out of committee. Collins said Gabbard addressed her concerns regarding her views of Snowden, and she looked forward to working with her.

On Monday, as the full Senate took a procedural vote to advance her nomination, Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La., announced he would trust Trump's decision to choose Gabbard as his point person on foreign intelligence.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also noted she continues to have concerns about Gabbard's past positions but supported her.

'I appreciate her commitment to rein in the outsized scope of the agency, while still enabling the ODNI to continue its essential function in upholding national security,' Murkowski wrote.

Gabbard made it through the the procedural hurdle on Monday evening with the vote coming down along party lines.

In the end, the committee voted favorably for her nine to eight clearing the path for what was once considered one of Trump's toughest nominees to be confirmed.

Her confirmation indicates that every one of Trump's Cabinet level nominees will be approved by Republicans in the Senate even if a few GOP members vote against them along the way.

Gabbard served as a Democratic lawmaker from Hawaii from 2013 until 2021. She previously served in the state legislature and deployed to Iraq in 2004 with the Hawaii Army National Guard.

She ran as a Democrat in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary where she had a loyal group of supporters but never broke out as a top candidate.

Gabbard left the Democratic party to become an Independent in 2022 before joining the Republican party last year.

At the time, there was talk of her even serving as Trump’s running mate before he settled on Vance last July. Gabbard endorsed Trump for president the following month.
Related:
Tulsi Gabbard 02/08/2025 Leaked USAID Docs: Helped Overthrow Bangladeshi Government With Military Coup
Tulsi Gabbard 02/06/2025 Karoline Leavitt just wrapped up her White House press conference with another shocking list of absurdities USAID has been funding
Tulsi Gabbard 02/05/2025 Reports are coming out that Senator Todd Young (R-IN) is unwilling to vote to confirm Tulsi, Mitch refuses all three, Bill Cassidy vs RFK Jr.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Eight killed, 2,750 wounded in pager detonations across Lebanon, says health minister
2024-09-18
[GEO.TV] Eight people were killed and almost 2,750 wounded - 200 of them critically - in a spree of simultaneous detonations of pagers across Lebanon, Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Tuesday, reported Al Jazeera.

HEZBOLLAH MEMBER'S SON KILLED AMONG FIGHTERS IN EXPLOSION
Hezbollah confirmed in a statement the deaths of at least three people, including two of its fighters. The third person killed was a girl, it said, adding that an investigation was being conducted into the causes of the blasts.

One of the fighters killed was the son of a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament, two security sources told Reuters.

Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, suffered a minor injury when a pager exploded, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"Amani has a superficial injury and is currently under observation in a hospital," Fars quoted a source as saying.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

The pagers that detonated were the latest model brought in by Hezbollah in recent months, three security sources said.

IRAN'S AMBASSADOR TO LEBANON INJURED BY PAGER EXPLOSION
Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was slightly injured on Tuesday by the explosion of an electronic pager, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported, as numerous such devices exploded across Lebanon.

"Amani has a superficial injury and is currently under observation in a hospital," Fars quoted a source as saying.

LEBANON'S HEZBOLLAH CHIEF NASRALLAH WAS NOT HARMED IN BLASTS,
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was not harmed in the spree of pager blasts across Lebanon, a senior Hezbollah source told Reuters on Tuesday.

More from regnum.ru

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Snowden suggests pagers that exploded in Lebanon contained explosives
The mass detonation of pagers in various areas of Lebanon could have been connected with the operation of explosive devices. Former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden made this assumption on September 17.

"As more information comes in about exploding pagers in Lebanon, it now seems more likely that it was planted explosives rather than a hack," Snowden wrote on his X social media page.

According to him, this version of what happened is indicated by the large number of corresponding injuries, while in the case of hacking devices one would expect minor fires and misfires.

Snowden added that the detonation of pagers, which he believes was organized by Israel, regardless of the circumstances, is a reckless move indistinguishable from terrorism.

As reported by Regnum news agency, on September 17, pagers began to explode en masse in Lebanon. According to the country's Ministry of Health, eight people died from the detonations, including an eight-year-old child, and 2,800 residents were injured, 200 of whom are in serious condition. The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured in the explosion of his personal pager. He was sent to the hospital with minor injuries. Two employees of the Iranian embassy in Beirut were also injured.

Lebanon's Information Minister Zayad Makari issued a statement blaming Israel for the mass explosions of pagers. According to him, the initial investigation data confirms Tel Aviv's involvement.

Even more from regnum.ru
Netanyahu Accused of Involvement in Lebanon Pager Detonation
The operation to detonate pagers in Lebanon was agreed upon by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting with members of the cabinet. This was reported on September 17 by the Axios portal,citing sources.

"The operation was approved earlier this week during security meetings attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, senior cabinet members and intelligence chiefs," the statement said.

According to the information, the Israeli operation is aimed at moving the fight against the Hezbollah movement into a new phase, while trying not to provoke a full-scale war.

It is noted that the mass explosions of pagers began to occur a day after the visit of US Special Representative for Lebanon Amos Hochstein to Israel, during which he warned Netanyahu about the risks and consequences of escalation in Lebanon.

Later, Lebanese Information Minister Zayad Makari stated that responsibility for the mass explosions of pagers lies with Israel, and that initial investigation data confirms Tel Aviv's involvement in the incident.

According to the Israeli publication Haaretz, Hezbollah is planning to launch a military operation against Israel after a series of explosions of pagers belonging to its members. It is noted that the Israeli authorities are considering several options regarding retaliatory measures against Hezbollah's actions.

Link


Fifth Column
Uniting as the Student Intifada, anti-Israel groups plan to further disrupt US campuses
2024-08-25
[IsraelTimes] Condoning violence and vocal in their anti-West and anti-capitalist views, the protesters are preparing to sow more chaos this year as experts warn of intolerance for other views

The Student Intifada, a growing coalition of pro-Paleostinian, anti-Zionist student groups, is making clear its intention to disrupt the fall semester on school campuses across the United States. Across dozens of campuses currently opening their fall semesters, there are already calls for masked vigils in support of "Paleostine." Troublingly, many of the groups have gone from calling for demonstrations and encampments to condoning the use of violence and "the total eradication of Western civilization."

The Student Intifada’s roots can be traced to the National Students for Justice in Paleostine (SJP), founded in 1993 at the University of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, Berkeley. However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
it’s picked up followers since the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
and then again with the media attention on Columbia University following last year’s highly-covered student encampment.

With Columbia being an epicenter of the anti-Zionist student protests, it comes as no surprise that the Instagram account for Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) has posted that it draws inspiration "not only from Paleostinian resistance but from every struggle for liberation across the globe, including the student protests of Bangladesh."

Meanwhile,
...back at the railroad tracks, Little Nell tried to kick her bound feet and scream post the snotty handkerchief Scarface Al had stuff into her mouth...
the Instagram bio of Columbia University’s chapter of SJP now includes the line, "Long live the Student Intifada and Hind’s Hall" together with the inverted red triangle emoji used by the Hamas
..always the voice of sweet reason...
terror organization to identify its targets.

But the loose Student Intifada movement is more than a collection of student groups with a physical presence on campuses. It occupies space on the internet, from social media platforms such as X and Instagram, to platforms like Substack where writers send digital newsletters to subscribers.

For example, "The Written Resistance®," a quarterly online newsletter published by the National SJP, and blog posts such as "Research & Destroy," is hosted on the Verso Books website. On The Real News Network, whose donors include Edward Snowden, Roger Waters, and the Scripps Howard Fund, people can access the movement’s video content, such as a recent roundtable discussion featuring various pro-Paleostinian students.

Avoiding mention of the October 7 Hamas atrocities that set off the ongoing Israel-Hamas war when thousands of bully boyz invaded southern Israel, brutally murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 to the Gaza Strip, the Student Intifada portrays itself as a peaceful and "comprehensive movement which comprises diverse organizations and groups in society" that seeks to fight "the US colonialist and imperialist institutions," according to a policy paper titled "The Student Intifada in the United States" by University of Michigan PhD candidate Amir Marshi.

In his paper, Marshi, who declined to comment for this story, denies the movement is antisemitic.

"We’re not going to synagogues and yelling slurs and being mean to people. We are here having a peaceful protest on campus asking for one thing and one thing only, and that’s to stop a genocide," Marshi wrote.

Yet, the movement demands that universities sever ties with organizations such as Hillel International whose main mission is supporting Jewish life on campus, divest from charitable foundations that fund Jewish academic research and life on campus, and ban "Zionist" speakers.

’EXPECT TO SEE ZERO COMPROMISE’
With the National SJP as its guide, the movement isn’t limited to local SJP chapters. But it’s not so much the coalition’s reach that troubles some, but rather its refusal to engage with different perspectives.

"The movement is a belief cascade where those in the group compete with each other for acceptance. As they do that, their opinions become more and more extreme," said William J. Bernstein, author of "Delusions of Crowds: Why People Go Mad in Groups."

"No matter how high their SAT scores were, they don’t have the critical thinking skills they need. They are incapable of putting themselves in other people’s shoes. They are utterly intolerant of other views," Bernstein said.

University leaders should expect the students to become more strident in their demands this fall, said Laura Post, an analyst with the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

"They are going to increase their efforts to drive Zionist institutions off campus. They are going to make the average Jewish and Zionist student increasingly uncomfortable. We can expect to see zero compromise from these groups," Post said.

For example, at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California, encampment organizers affiliated with the school’s SJP chapter called on the university to "divest from all donors and funds that support and profit from the occupation in Paleostine, such as programs like Koret."

A Jewish philanthropic organization, the Koret Foundation provides grants to various causes, including student research projects at Sonoma State.

At Princeton University, organizers connected to the Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest group and the New Jersey chapter of American Moslems for Paleostine (AMP) continue to demand the university cut ties with the Tikvah Fund, which is a Jewish philanthropic foundation that "supports teaching, research, and publication on Jewish thought."

’DESIRE FOR RADICAL REVOLUTION’
It’s the movement’s repudiation of democracy and apparent support of violence that most concerns Dr. Steven McGuire, the Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

"Their animating thing is a desire for radical revolution. The groups are a mixture of radical Paleostinian nationalists who do not think Israel has the right to exist. On the other hand, you have card-carrying Marxists who are revolutionary in nature and who see Paleostine as a key issue for advancing a global revolution," McGuire said.

Indeed, last December, Columbia Social Workers 4 Paleostine organized an unauthorized "teach-in and discussion" which not only justified the October 7 terror onslaught but also praised Communist leaders like Mao Zedong, founder of the Chinese Communist Party. Under Zedong’s policies, between 40 and 80 million people died due to starvation, forced labor, and mass executions.

In a July 31 Instagram post, the University of Chapel Hill SJP appeared to back the right to use violence.

"We emphasize our support for the right to resistance, not only in Paleostine, but also here in the imperial core. We condone all forms of principled action, including armed rebellion, necessary to stop Israel’s genocide and apartheid, and to dismantle imperialism and capitalism more broadly. The oppressors will never grant full liberty to the oppressed; the oppressed must seize liberty with their own hands," the post said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the railroad tracks, Little Nell tried to kick her bound feet and scream post the snotty handkerchief Scarface Al had stuff into her mouth...
in an August 15 post on X, the Columbia University Apartheid Divest and the CU Club Bangla declared their support for Moslem student protesters in Bangladesh.

"And just as the Paleostinian resistance escalated the Intifada on October 7th, it is now the people of Bangladesh who are escalating the global battle for liberation...at least two hundred of our comrades in Bangladesh have been martyred by the Awami League... If we want to achieve liberation in America, we must be prepared to make these same sacrifices," read the post.

McGuire said that statements like these shouldn’t be shrugged off.

"Students constantly bombarded on social media are being led by a vanguard that is radicalized and believes in this [illiberal] ideology that requires followers to chant things that are genocidal," McGuire said.

’APPEASEMENT DOESN’T WORK’
Last year, campus leaders frequently ignored or dismissed the violation of institutional policies, disruptions to academic life, and the harassment and intimidation of Jewish students.

With that in mind, campus leaders must act more decisively if they hope to avoid the pandemonium that marked much of last year, said Richard Priem, deputy national director and COO of the nonprofit Community Security Service (CSS).

"I’m not the ADL, but there are relevant lessons to be learned from a security standpoint, mainly that appeasement doesn’t work. What started with an encampment ended with the violent mostly peaceful takeover of a university building. The lesson that needs to be learned is that there can be zero tolerance for this behavior," Priem said.

There were an estimated 3,200 people, not all of them students, arrested at colleges and universities last spring, according to the News Agency that Dare Not be Named. Most of the charges against students have since been dropped.

Other universities, including the University of reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
and Harvard, withheld degrees from some pro-Paleostinian students facing disciplinary measures for their part in encampments and protests. Many of them have since received their diplomas.

As students begin moving into their dorm rooms and get ready to attend convocations, campus leaders seeking to slow the Student Intifada must do more to address what is happening inside classrooms, McGuire said.

"Universities have to ask themselves if they are giving oxygen to these ideologies through their course catalogs. Part of the problem is that too much of the curriculum focuses on all the problems society has and not on any of its accomplishments," McGuire said.

Bernstein agreed.

"Universities have to improve critical thinking skills. [Student Intifada] groups are not doing themselves any favors staying in their self-aggrandizing bubbles," he said.
Link


Science & Technology
Signal's Katherine Maher Problem
2024-05-08
[City Journal] Is the integrity of the encrypted-messaging application compromised by its chairman of the board?

The encrypted-messaging service Signal is the application of choice for dissenters around the world. The app has been downloaded by more than 100 million users and boasts high-profile endorsements from NSA leaker Edward Snowden and serial entrepreneur Elon Musk. Signal has created the perception that its users, including political dissidents, can communicate with one another without fear of government interception or persecution.

But the insider history of Signal raises questions about the app’s origins and its relationship with government—in particular, with the American intelligence apparatus. Such a relationship would be troubling, given how much we have learned, in recent years, about extensive efforts to control and censor information undertaken by technology companies, sometimes in tandem with American government officials.

First, the origin story. The technology behind Signal, which operates as a nonprofit foundation, was initially funded, in part, through a $3 million grant from the government-sponsored Open Technology Fund (OTF), which was spun off from Radio Free Asia, originally established as an anti-Communist information service during the Cold War. OTF funded Signal to provide "encrypted mobile communication tools" to "Internet freedom defenders globally."

Some insiders have argued that the connection between OTF and U.S. intelligence is deeper than it appears. One person who has worked extensively with OTF but asked to remain anonymous told me that, over time, it became increasingly clear "that the project was actually a State Department-connected initiative that planned to wield open source Internet projects made by hacker communities as tools for American foreign policy goals"—including by empowering "activists [and] parties opposed to governments that the USA doesn’t like." Whatever the merits of such efforts, the claim—if true—suggests a government involvement with Signal that deserves more scrutiny.
Link


Home Front: WoT
Overview of the US Special Collection Service (F6)
2023-12-11
[GreyDynamics] 1.0 INTRODUCTION
The United States Special Collection Service (SCS), codenamed F6, is a joint NSA-CIA program that is referred to as the “mission impossible force.” The SCS’s existence is denied by the U.S. government, but its activities and capabilities have been revealed over the years. Edward Snowden’s leaks and individuals with inside knowledge have shed some light on the highly secretive unit.
"F6"... a rather humorous moniker.
The mission of the SCS is in signals intelligence (SIGINT). More specifically, they focus on “placing super-high-tech bugs in unbelievably hard-to-reach places” [source].

2.0 HISTORY
The SCS was founded in 1978 as a way for the NSA and CIA to cooperate on highly sensitive and important intelligence collection operations.

The creation of the Special Collection Service allowed for a much more efficient and coordinated approach to targets. Prior to its creation, there was increased competition between the NSA’s eavesdropping specialists and the CIA’s bugging specialists [source]. Before the SCS, the CIA and NSA would duplicate efforts and not coordinate effectively. Cooperation between the two agencies allowed them to combine their areas of expertise into one highly capable unit.

The SCS’ value in the Cold War was significant. In the Cold War, the SCS installed listening devices on pigeons perched atop of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Since the 1990s, the SCS has become increasingly daring and widespread. In the late 1990s, the SCS was one of the first units to set up operations in the Middle East. In 1999, the SCS was listening in on al-Qaeda training camps. Around the turn of the century, SCS operations were prevalent across Iraq and only increased with the U.S. invasion [source].

3.0 ORGANISATION
The Special Collection Service is organised to maximise the cooperation between experts in the field and SIGINT experts. To maintain strong cooperation, the leadership of the SCS alternates between the Director of the CIA and NSA. In order to accomplish synergy between the agencies, four units comprise the organisation: the Field Operations Office, Field Engineering Office, Mission Support Office, and Installation and Logistics Office.
Snipped sections:
3.1 Covert HQ
3.2 Worldwide Operations
4.0 Equipment
4.1 Innovative Technology
4.2 Operations Enabled by Technology
5.0 Notable Operations
5.1 Berlin Station

5.2 OPERATION NEPTUNE SPEAR
Operation Neptune Spear was the 2011 U.S. operation to kill or capture Osama bin Laden in his compound in Pakistan. The Navy’s SEAL Team 6 and CIA Ground Branch received much of the attention, but the SCS played a critical role in the mission’s success.

The service’s signal interception capabilities allowed them to follow the trail of bin Laden’s courier to a compound outside of the city. They did this by closely monitoring his phone calls and listening for keywords while they tracked his location. [source].

As the intelligence community narrowed in on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, SCS operatives set up an operation in a safe house down the road from the target building. From this post, the operatives were able to measure vibrations and other signals to determine the number of individuals within the compound’s walls. This allowed them to determine there was one individual who never travelled outside of the home, a piece of evidence used to suggest it was in fact bin Laden’s compound [source].

6.0 SUMMARY
The United States Special Collection Service is at the tip of the spear for U.S. intelligence collection. The organisation offers the U.S. significant insight into potential threats and allows them to respond to them.

The SCS has operated in a grey area, at times violating laws and agreements of countries around the world, even allies. Despite this, the value provided by the organisation to the U.S. national security apparatus is enormous.
Link


Europe
Agent of Moscow. Former head of EU military intelligence is on trial in Finland
2023-10-26
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Viktor Lavrinenko

[REGNUM] In Finland, they continue to promote the case of retired intelligence officer Georgy Alafuzoff . This officer faithfully served his state for many years, and it repaid him by persistently trying to make him, if not a full-fledged “agent of Moscow,” then at least an incompetent and clumsy person responsible for the possible leak of top-secret documents.

There is an assumption that what is happening is delayed revenge for a position that is non-standard by Finnish standards. Alafuzoff at one time persistently argued that Finland should not destroy good neighborliness with Russia.

Revenge deferred
Retired Rear Admiral Georgy Borisovich Alafuzoff (Alafuzov), as you can easily guess from his last name, comes from Russian emigrants. The direct ancestor of Georgy Borisovich is Baron Ivan Alafuzov, who lived in St. Petersburg. Georgiy Alafuzoff is now seventy years old and was born in Helsinki.

This man was once called one of the most capable officers in Finland, which is confirmed by his successful climb up the career ladder.

Having received the rank of naval lieutenant in 1974, he eventually became part of the state’s military leadership. From 2007 to 2013, Alafuzoff served as Chief of Intelligence of the Finnish Defense Forces. At home, he enjoyed the reputation of a “specialist in Russia” - and not only due to his excellent command of the Russian language.

In 1997, Alafuzoff graduated with honors from the Russian Academy of the General Staff. The crowning achievement of his career was his move to work outside of Finland - from 2013 to 2016, he headed the intelligence department of the EU Military Headquarters.

Currently, Alafuzoff has been retired for seven years.

And suddenly in 2019 there was a loud accusation against him: of involvement in the leak of secret data that was at the disposal of the Helsingin Sanomat publication!

Two years earlier, the Finnish Central Criminal Police began an investigation into an article published in this publication , highlighting some juicy details of Suomi intelligence activities, including in the Russian direction. Then this story made a lot of noise - the police staged an unauthorized search in the house of journalist Laura Halminen, and she managed to smash the hard drive of her computer with a hammer.

After some time, a version was thrown in that it was Alafuzoff who allegedly gave the journalists a flash drive with secret information about the activities of the Finnish Military Intelligence Center.

It has been suggested that Alafuzoff may have been upset by his statement in April 2014 that Russia does not intend to wage wars of conquest and does not want to increase international tension. He also spoke about the absence of Russian troops in Ukraine at that moment.

Alafuzoff also argued that ex-CIA employee Edward Snowden , who revealed the truth about the unseemly affairs of this institution, although he betrayed his employer, is a “true idealist” who sincerely wanted to fight injustice.

This turned out to be enough.

Rear Admiral in the dock
In general, Georgy Alafuzoff has repeatedly expressed statements that Finland has no reason to fear Russia. The high-ranking intelligence officer ardently advocated international detente - and he himself was personally ready to work on it.

So, on October 30, 2018, he participated in the Ogarkov Readings conference held in Moscow. There, Alafuzoff said that the West perceives the events in Ukraine as a “Russian hybrid operation” and fears its spread to the Baltic states. “And of course, Finland and Sweden, which are not NATO members, will be one of the targets of those hybrid actions that Russia may take, ” Alafuzoff said about the fears that existed in Helsinki. But he also said that he also understands Russian concerns related to the actions of the West.

Alafuzoff also warned about hybrid threats that have emerged recently.

“In the context of the existing regulatory and legal uncertainty associated with hybrid military conflicts, one can expect that pretexts introduced by British diplomacy like “ Highly Likely ” and the absence of other plausible explanations will be used to justify specific military-political decisions. This increases the threat of a large-scale conflict due to misreading of the parties’ intentions, legal and terminological uncertainty,” Alafuzoff said in 2018.

Now, five years later, these words sound prophetic.

It is possible that such seditious statements, coupled with his Russian origin and surname, brought suspicion on the rear admiral from the Finnish “patriots”, who are always ready to see the next “machinations of Moscow’s agents.”

However, on December 22, 2022, it became known that the prosecutor’s office decided to dismiss the case against Georgy Alafuzoff. It was announced that a “good understanding of how the information came into the hands of third parties ” had been obtained - and Alafuzoff was not involved.

However, they didn’t just leave him alone.

Spy mania in Finland. Anyone can be a spy
In February 2023, a new case was opened against him - now Alafuzoff is accused of “ illegal storage and processing of classified information .” They want to put pressure on Alafuzoff by any means so that his example becomes a lesson to other people who sympathize with Russia.

In October of this year, it was reported that Alafuzoff's trial had ended at the Helsinki Court of Justice. During the trial, the prosecution strengthened its demand: the prosecutor asks that the retired rear admiral be sentenced to real imprisonment - for at least two years. If the court decides on a shorter prison term, then, in the opinion of the prosecutor, this term should also be realistic.

During the court hearings, it was repeatedly said that Alafuzoff was “accused of committing serious crimes in office.” It is alleged that he kept a “significant amount” of confidential documents at his home, some of which were classified as highly classified. The prosecution points out that the relevant files were discovered during a search of Alafuzoff's house on his computers, external drives, memory cards and in paper form.

The alleged “crimes” were committed between 2005 and 2016, when Georgi Alafuzoff first served as Deputy Chief of the Finnish General Staff, then Chief of Intelligence of the Defense Forces and finally Chief of Intelligence of the EU Military Staff.

He himself denies these accusations. The court is due to render its verdict by the end of this year.

The triumph of spymania
Currently, spy mania is becoming increasingly rampant in Finland .

The Finnish press now constantly writes about how, they say, some dubious entities are hanging around transformer substations, about “suspicious people, cars with foreign license plates and drones” being spotted here and there, about constant cyber attacks and data thefts.

“Great, just great. Everything is according to the classics of the 20th century. Spies are all around. This despite the fact that there are really no specifics. I need to stop walking around my city in Budenovka …” writes left-wing blogger Alexander Kommari, who lives in Finland, with bitter sarcasm.

Just a few days ago, the Finnish press and politicians were intensively promoting the “Russian trace” in the case of damage to the Balticconnector underwater gas pipeline. Then, however, it turned out that, apparently, this emergency was not the result of malicious intent, but of unintentional damage to the pipeline by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.

The cries about a “deliberate Russian attack on Finland” temporarily subsided. But there is no doubt that they will soon resume - as soon as a new more or less suitable reason is found.

Seeing this, retired Rear Admiral Georgy Alafuzoff must gnash his teeth in despondency - his worst nightmares are coming true.

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Europe
Poland's secret plan to surrender to Russia
2023-09-21
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Victoria Nikiforova

[RIA] The Russian army will reach the Vistula in a week, liberating all of left-bank Poland. She will not encounter any resistance. The Polish army will try to gain a foothold on the right bank of the Vistula, on the bridgeheads Grudziadz - Torun - Bydgoszcz and Otwock - Garwolin - Ryki. They can stay there for no more than two weeks. Further, it is unclear whether the troops of NATO allies will still arrive to help the Poles, or whether the Russians will have to accept Warsaw, Lublin and other provinces on the list into Russia.

This is not a fantasy scenario, this is a very specific, and top-secret plan for the defense of Poland from a sudden Russian invasion.

Surprisingly, it was not leaked by the hypothetical Edward Snowden, nor was it obtained by our invisible front fighter. The Poles did everything themselves. The secret plan was personally declassified and leaked to the public by the Minister of Defense of the Polish People's Republic, Mariusz Blaszczak.

It’s a rather unusual move on the part of the Minister of Defense to release secret documents that were compiled together with NATO allies into public view. It is possible, of course, that Blaszczak is taking an example from his British colleague Ben Wallace , who innocently told the pranksters Vovan and Lexus that in Britain they were running out of ATGMs in warehouses. A policy of complete openness, sort of.

However, in reality this is what the election struggle looks like in Poland. Parliamentary elections will take place there on October 15. Mariusz Blaszczak belongs to the ruling party PiS (Law and Justice). The main rival of the Pisovites in the elections is Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform party.

When Tusk was prime minister in 2011, Polish strategists developed a powerful plan for the defense of their homeland, which boiled down to quickly withdrawing immediately, then imitating defense for another two weeks, and then - in case their NATO allies did not support them If they harness themselves, they will go home.

Now Blaszczak has declassified this plan and posted its first page on video with the caption: “Attention! In the event of war, the Tusk government was going to surrender half the country!” This is, like, a national traitor, don’t vote for him, citizens.

It must be understood that half the country that, according to this version, Tusk wanted to merge is Eastern Poland, the home of far-right nationalists, the original electorate of PiS. And Tusk with his “platform” represents the other half of the country, led by Warsaw . In the minds of the population of Eastern Poland, these are depraved, decadent liberals who champion gay pride parades and LGBT people. Accordingly, in the view of the Civic Platform electorate, the east of the country is populated by unwashed, backward conservatives, who, given the opportunity, could easily be surrendered.

So from a political technology point of view, the stuffing was a success: Blaszczak deftly pressed on all the pain points of both his own and the enemy electorate. However, is it permissible for the Minister of Defense to leak secret plans, even if they are no longer relevant?

The European publication Politico notes outrage among Polish generals at this election move. “The publication of such a document <...> proves that we are capable of anything, that we can give away the most important secrets of Poland and NATO,” journalists quote retired general Waldemar Skrzypczak.

The Minister of Defense under Tusk and the husband of the famous American propagandist Anne Applebaum, Radoslav Sikorski, called the publication of the document scandalous. He also noted that the country has few fortified points and listing them in the plan could have intelligence value for Russia. It’s also unclear why such things should be voiced publicly - well, okay, he’s probably in the heat of the election campaign.

Even in peacetime, such a scandal would look ugly. But today Poland is one of Washington’s main proxies in the Ukrainian theater of military operations. From there supplies come, mercenaries arrive, weapons are supplied and streams of Russophobic propaganda flow.

The country, which is not rich, to put it mildly, has increased its defense spending to 3.9 percent of GDP (despite only two percent being required of much wealthier NATO members) and is trying to double its 120,000-strong army to 250,000. For such sacrifices, the Polish establishment convinced the population that they were the tip of the spear of NATO and the most important vassal of the United States on the European continent.

There was active trade in the “Russian threat” for this purpose. Even more NATO bases, even more purchases of American weapons. The Polish establishment did its best to push the Americans to start a world war against Russia.

And then suddenly there is such an affront - the main NATO activist is leaking military-strategic secrets. Moreover, the essence of Poland’s plan turns out to be to actually surrender half the country. What happens - today the Polish leadership is doing its best to provoke Russia, sparing no effort, igniting a world war, posing as the main outpost of Europe on the path of the Russian barbarians, but at the slightest sign of a real threat, it plans to simply retreat and wait for help from its alliance allies?

All this somehow bears a bad resemblance to Poland’s provocative policy on the eve of World War II. The same aggression, overheated nationalism, attempts to get involved in Ukraine and Belarus and at the same time a masterly ability to almost present oneself as a victim of aggression and demand reparations. Oh, it’s not for nothing that Winston Churchill once spoke about the “hyena of Europe”.

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-Great Cultural Revolution
Unsubscribe From Everything
2023-09-13
[Tablet] You may think you're not worth spying on. But to our government, we're all terrorists now.

My email was being “held in government quarantine” pending review, a letter from Yahoo! informed me. I was sitting in the computer lab in the German department at New York University. It was September of 2003. I remember because I’d just received an email about a merit scholarship for that semester. The government wants to know about my scholarship? was my first thought. My next one was: Let ‘em. What did I care if the government knew my GPA?

This is a common line of reasoning in the bulk surveillance era. The “nothing to hide” argument, which, as Edward Snowden points out, was likely the brainchild of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Americans really took to it back in 2013, when Snowden revealed the government’s mass spying programs. Unless their private photos were being looked at, nobody cared.
Link


Government Corruption
'Idealism and Infantilism.' Who divulged US secrets
2023-04-16
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] The FBI has revealed the name of a suspect in the disclosure of secret Pentagon documents. It is alleged that behind the largest leak of military-strategic data in the last ten years is a young man who has not served in the US National Guard for more than three years. The comic of the situation is given by the fact that the main accomplice in the large-scale "drain" was a schoolboy, and the first publication took place in the game chat. What is it, negligence in the US Department of Defense or a disguised stuffing of "disinformation"?

Air National Guard soldier Jack Teixeira , who was detained by the FBI on suspicion of "leaking" hundreds of photos of top secret Pentagon documents, was charged on April 14. Teixeira, 21, is charged with "withdrawal and transfer to third parties" of data constituting a state secret. The published documents include information about the US plans for Ukraine and the state of affairs in the Ukrainian army.

Initially, the US Department of Defense data was “leaked” to the Discord platform, popular among schoolchildren and gamers who love computer games. On other large servers, information was posted by a user with the nickname Lucca. As the ABC channel found out , a schoolboy was hiding behind him - "hyperactive, who constantly wants to tell everyone everything."

The game chat on Discord for 20-30 people, which was administered by Jack Teixeira, is called Thug Shaker Central (Thug means "bandit, thug"). Despite the formidable name, the group consisted mainly of children and teenagers, according to The New York Times, which, in fact, published the name of Teixeira. “This guy was a Christian, an opponent of the war, he just wanted to let his friends know what was happening,” one of the site’s participants, a 17-year-old schoolboy, said about Jack.

If the official version voiced by the FBI is true, then hundreds of Department of Defense documents classified as “top secret” were stolen by a young officer who served "a week without a year."

Teixeira only in 2021 began serving in the 102nd Reconnaissance Wing (102 IW) of the Massachusetts National Guard. But children have played a key role in leaking national security data.

The picture that the American media painted raised a lot of questions - from doubts about the quality of storage and protection of secret data in the United States to suspicions about whether Teixeira's "feat" was deliberately throwing a large amount of fakes into the public space.

SERGEANT AT THE GATES OF "PURGATORY"
In his "intelligence wing" of the Massachusetts National Guard (which, like the national guards of other states, is an army reserve - in this case, the US Air Force reserve), Jack Teixeira was responsible for troubleshooting computers and communication systems.

Even as a “relatively inexperienced military man,” he had access to data through the US Department of Defense computer network known as the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS), a US official familiar with the case explained. In his opinion, access to JWICS allowed Teixeira to read and possibly print secret documents.

Despite his low rank, Teixeira really, for a number of reasons, could easily get access to secret documents, Lieutenant General of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, retired Leonid Reshetnikov, told REGNUM .

"Since everything is now done through electronic systems, certain people sit on them."

An employee like Teixeira can be a lieutenant, a sergeant, or anyone.
There are not many such people, but they exist, and each of them has real access to something. As I understand it, having this access, you can access information on all networks and information that is not directly controlled, but you can access it."

Perhaps the young military man was "sitting" on "a stream of raw information that did not reach the“ purgatory," to the analytical department, which checks the information, classifies, works out, checks for secrecy, for relevance and reliability,” the interlocutor noted . After verification, the information is either reported to departments and governing structures, or it is buried in a "mass grave," the expert explained. "Perhaps, as an electronic intelligence officer, Teixeira had access to read or ensure the operation of the entire system," Reshetnikov added.

MORE LIKE SLOPPINESS
The array of documents published by Teixera is "a stream that did not enter the think tank," which means that we are not talking about a deliberate stuffing in order to misinform Russia or another actual adversary, Reshetnikov believes.

If we were talking about "disinformation" (or about dropping information from a level higher than Tersheira (and this could be assumed, given the internal political struggle in the United States on the eve of the presidential election), then already processed documents would be "merged," "already prepared for publication and more "downhole", says the ex-employee of the Russian foreign intelligence.

It is unlikely that this was a deliberate "leak", calculated, for example, to misinform Moscow or Beijing, agrees Major General of the FSB in the reserve, member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy Alexander Mikhailov.

"Not a single state structure can and will not accept publications on foreign sites on faith," Mikhailov told REGNUM news agency. The Russian leadership has data from its own sources, which, by definition, are cross-checked and compared with other sources, the source stressed.

The scandal that broke out makes one suspect that "there is an element of slovenliness here," Mikhailov noted. "If Teixeira downloaded something, then there is necessarily criminal negligence on the part of officials who did not ensure the protection of information," the source emphasized.

"Teixeira acted out of conviction, as did Edward Snowden, as did Julian Assange. We forget that ideological and even idealistic views are at work here. Teixeira decided to express his attitude. Here is a case of displaying one’s political views and, at the same time, infantilism, misunderstanding that they can figure you out," said Lieutenant General Reshetnikov.

"INTERESTED IN WEAPONS AND DOUBTS THE FUTURE OF AMERICA”
As mentioned above, one of the "colleagues" on the game chat in Discord described Teixeira as a Christian and an opponent of the war. Another friend in an interview with the American media described the officer as a patriot, a devout Catholic and a libertarian (supporter of a free economy and minimal government intervention in public life), who is interested in weapons and doubts the future of America.

According to a friend, he met Teixeira in absentia before 2020 on a Discord server focused mainly on guns and libertarian politics, and became close due to their shared interest in Glocks and Catholicism.

Later, the man joined a new Discord server founded by Teixeira called Thug Shaker Central, which became the main meeting place for a group of about 20 people. In real life, Teixeira was "a pretty normal guy," said a friend who ended up getting to know Teixeira personally.

The man also recalled that Teixeira began sharing classified documents on a Discord server around February 2022, with the start of a Russian sting operation in Ukraine, which he viewed as a "disheartening" battle between "two countries that should have more in common, rather than stay apart " .

The exchange of secret documents was intended "to enlighten people whom he considered his friends and who could be trusted", free from propaganda. Server members agreed never to share documents outside of it, as they could harm US interests.

Recent claims by other members of the server that some of its members were Russians and Ukrainians were "pure fiction," the source said. According to him, one of the participants, posing as a "Russian naval officer", actually lived in Kentucky, and was eventually blocked from the server. Another member of Thug Shaker Central ended up sharing the documents on another server, which led to them being circulated online.

April 15, 2023
Alexander Tishchenko

Link


Government Corruption
SCOTUS rules domestic surveillance programs too sensitive to be challenged in court
2023-03-08
[Reason] Officials shield government abuses from litigation by claiming “national security.” The Supreme Court declined to weigh in.

Abusive government behavior has again been found to be too sensitive to national security to face legal challenges in the court system. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a lower court's dismissal of the Wikimedia Foundation's lawsuit against a National Security Agency surveillance program revealed a decade ago by Edward Snowden. With "state secrets privilege" barring litigation, that leaves upcoming congressional debates over renewal of the law authorizing the program as the only recourse for civil liberties advocates.


"The U.S. Supreme Court today denied the Wikimedia Foundation's petition for review of its legal challenge to the National Security Agency's (NSA) 'Upstream' surveillance program," Wikimedia announced February 21. "Under this program, the NSA systematically searches the contents of internet traffic entering and leaving the United States, including Americans' private emails, messages, and web communications. The Supreme Court's denial leaves in place a divided ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which dismissed Wikimedia's case based on the government's assertion of the 'state secrets privilege.'"

"This decision is a blow to the rule of law," commented Alex Abdo, of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which worked with Wikimedia and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). "The government has now succeeded in insulating from public judicial review one of the most sweeping surveillance programs ever enacted. If the courts are unwilling to hear Wikimedia's challenge, then Congress must step in to protect Americans' privacy by reining in the NSA's mass surveillance of the internet."

The "Upstream" surveillance program at issue collects "communications 'to, from, or about'" a foreign target designated under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, according the NSA. In the clearer language of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, "upstream surveillance involves collecting communications as they travel over the Internet backbone, and downstream surveillance (formerly PRISM) involves collection of communications from companies like Google, Facebook, and Yahoo."

Link


Government Corruption
In Sudden Narrative Shift, Pentagon Admits Mystery Objects 'Probably' Private Craft Not Tied To Spying
2023-02-15
[ZERO] Edward Snowden called it (and so did we)... just a day ago, as we reported: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden says the hysteria over UFOs being shot down over America and Canada is a distraction from Seymour Hersh’s story about the U.S. being responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines.

Less than 24 hours later, on Tuesday, Bloomberg reports that "The US government has assessed that three unidentified objects downed since last Friday were likely for commercial use and not foreign intelligence gathering."

A 24/7 hyped news cycle, with breathless US defense official press briefings and reporters asking about aliens and UFOs, and just like that... the public is casually informed they were probably just "balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose."

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday: "Given what we’ve been able to ascertain thus far, the intelligence community’s considering, again, as a leading explanation, that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose."

Additionally, coming off the alleged Chinese 'spy' balloon shootdown off South Carolina on Feb.4 - which started this sensational trend of Pentagon jets taking potshots at floating unknown small objects in skies over North America with Sidewinder missiles that cost the taxpaying public $400,000 a pop, Kirby admitted:

"We haven’t seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of the People’s Republic of China’s spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts," Kirby said.

And what's more, with the "China balloon threat" new read scare over American skies narrative now apparently being walked back, the Pentagon says it may never know with certainty, as Axios reports further of Kirby's briefing:

Link


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Snowden - Whatever You May Think Of Him - Makes Interesting Point About Balloon-Gate as A Distraction
2023-02-15
[SummitNews] NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden
...grandson of a U.S. Coast Guard admiral, devoted husband and father of two who has been living in Russia since he leaked masses of classified NSA data in 2013. He compounded things by acquiring Russian citizenship last year, signed personally by President Putin, and has shared his English-language thoughts in interviews, his published memoir, and on Substack since 2021...
says the hysteria over UFOs being shot down over America and Canada is a distraction from Seymour Hersh’s story about the U.S. being responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines.
That may or may not be true. Mr. Hersh has a spotty record and an excitable soul...
Over the past week, there have been at least four instances of U.S. fighter jets destroying unidentified flying objects, in one case over Alaska, an object that had no means of propulsion but was spotted flying at 40,000 feet and pilots said interfered with the sensors of their aircraft.

Yesterday, the White House denied that the objects were extraterrestrial in nature, although the glib dismissal if anything only continued to feed into speculation online that ET had paid a flying visit.
Thinking about visitors from very far away is great fun (until one ponders why they would do so). Analyzing everything the DoD and the White House hqve done wrong in this situation — and possible second order and beyond effects is no fun at all.
In reality, as most people have pointed out, the shootdowns are likely a show of force to save the Biden administration’s blushes from questions as to why the Chinese spy balloon was allowed to monitor America in the first place.

According to Edward Snowden, the UFO flap is also a misdirection to wipe the infinitely more awkward Seymour Hersh story from the headlines.
There are plenty of other awkward stories in recent headlines that the administration would prefer forgotten. It needn’t just be that one.
Snowden tweeted that the hysteria was an “engineered” bait and switch to prevent the media from covering the pipeline explosion revelations.

Last week, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an article in which he asserted that the pipelines were destroyed by the US as part of a covert operation.

According to Hersh’s sources, the explosives were planted in June 2022 by US Navy divers under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise and were detonated three months later with a remote signal sent by a sonar buoy.

One source told Hersh that the plotters knew the covert operation was an “act of war,” with some in the CIA and State Department warning, “Don’t do this. It’s stupid and will be a political nightmare if it comes out.”

In an update to the story, Hersh gave an interview with Radio War Nerd in which he slammed the mainstream media for criticizing him personally rather than investigating the story.

“It’s amazing to me how they fall in line, my colleagues,” said Hersh, referring to the New York Times and the Washington Post.

As we previously highlighted, Snowden chided the White House’s denial that it was involved in the pipeline attack by pointing out it also denied previous false flags.

“Can you think of any examples from history of a secret operation that the White House was responsible for, but strongly denied?” Snowden tweeted.

“Besides, you know, that little ‘mass surveillance’ kerfuffle,” he added.
Related:
Edward Snowden: 2023-01-03 His crime? Exposing criminals.
Edward Snowden: 2022-12-04 Mechanisms of censorship of the 'freest social network'
Edward Snowden: 2022-11-02 No Such Agency analyst went too far
Related:
Seymour Hersh: 2023-02-11 That old Seymour Hersh fella, what a crackpot
Seymour Hersh: 2023-02-09 Good Morning
Seymour Hersh: 2023-02-09 Seymour Hersh claims Biden ordered the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines
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