WAR CRIMES & CRIMINALS

HIROYUKI HAMADA—That’s why so many people buy the idea that Russians are messing with their “democracy”.  It is not that they actually believe that Russians do stuff to them, but they sense the position of Russia in the imperial framework.  “How dare Russians get in the way of the United States of America!”.  How ironic is it that those who are going through the economic shock therapy now at the hands of those who inflicted an economic shock therapy against the Russian people after the destruction of USSR fail to see what is happening to themselves.  Needless to say, imperial gravity is global.  Some western proxy powers, on the other hand, are eager to comply and do extra miles in order to hold better positions in the imperial hierarchy.  Neoliberal restructuring of their economies, compliance with military strategic necessities, and demonization of “enemy countries” and so on can be more prominent in those countries than the US itself.  

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—It is not a coincidence that all these alleged attacks on American democracy are happening in ways that only the US intelligence cartel can see. It is not a coincidence that the US propaganda machine is constantly announcing invisible new attacks upon the nation from governments that have been longtime targets of that same intelligence cartel. It is not a coincidence that whenever these alleged attacks happen, the hard evidence that they happened is always classified.

TOM COBURG—Computer forensic expert Patrick Eller was formerly lead digital forensics examiner with the US Army’s Criminal Investigation Command in Virginia. On Friday 25 September, his written statement to the court and live testimony covered a number of crucial aspects relating to the first indictment of alleged computer misuse raised against Assange. The indictment claims that Assange assisted former US Army intelligence analyst and whistleblower Chelsea Manning to crack a password so she could anonymously access sensitive computer files. But Eller’s testimony showed that’s not what happened, and it was not technically possible at that point in time for Manning to crack the password.

The initial charge – conspiracy to commit computer intrusion – referred to chat logs between Manning and a person called ‘Nathaniel Frank’. The US authorities assume ‘Frank’ was Assange, although this hasn’t been proven.

BEN NORTON—When internal emails were leaked showing that the massive opposition media platform Basma Syria was funded by the United States and Britain, Albany wrote, “the Basma brand has been compromised following leaks about funding project aims.”

The leaks on social media “have damaged the credibility and trustworthiness of the existing branded platform,” Albany wrote. “Credibility and trust are the key currencies of the activities envisaged and for this reason we consider it essential to refresh the approach if the content to be disseminated is to have effect.” The Basma website was taken down soon after.

ELIJAH MAGNIER—In the Levant, both US and Russian forces are present in a small area, but with different goals, interests and reasons. Russia seeks the unity of Syria because it is its region of influence. Long-term stability must be established there as an example to other nations. That is not an easy goal to achieve when the US is operating in Syria, interfering with the flow of food, oil and gas in an area considered to be the resource reservoir of the entire country.