RIP Ms. Sabeen Mehmud

A ruthless response
Smothering debate with guns
Cocky right-wing thugs

Gunned down in the street
Is Karachi beyond shame?
Two unarmed women ...

Dried blood in the dust
Whatever will be, will be?
Fight ignorance now!

 

Petraeus Favoritism?

Former CIA Director David Petraeus mishandled highly sensitive information and violated the U.S. Espionage Act, sharing classified national secrets with his lover during an adulterous affair.

He's now a Federal criminal; but his misdemeanor conviction carries no jail time.

The progressive press is outraged:
"he's a bum"
"Slap on the wrist ... reveals double standard" (link)

A further worry: "initially Petraeus lied to investigators" (link)

Many analysts focus on how rank-and-file whistle blowers who expose government misconduct & criminality are threatened & imprisoned for espionage, and wish the same penalties on arch "insider" Petraeus.

Golden-boy Petraeus was previously widely thought to have Presidential ambitions. And David Petraeus was brought down soon after declaring that US interests often conflicted with Israeli operations. Did God punish foul Petraeus for failing to kiss Netanyahu's fat arse? (link) Perhaps Petraeus was considered unmanageable as a politician.

The "old boys network" in the USA that supposedly spared David Petraeus is not strong.

 The key is active leverage.

The eight highly classified notebooks the FBI found in an unlocked drawer at the Petraeus home were perhaps a diversion.

Petraeus was head of the CIA, he could easily have protective information (real dirt) that kept him from jail.

High-placed friends & wealth might also help...

Gawker sordid flowchart (link)

Nippon... maa...

This sensitive report will require more care to cover properly. But bare bones focus is three topics (as signified by "maa"):

Mishima
Aum
Atomic

Mishima Yukio (三島 由紀夫 born 平岡 公威) was an uncommon character. A novelist and social commentator, he was also able to create a private militia that sometimes trained together with the Japan Self-Defense Forces (Mishima enlisted himself in the JSDF at age 42). One day Mishima and a few of his team pushed their way into the JSDF Ichigaya military headquarters seeking to spark a national coup. When Mishima's bellowing was ridiculed, he gutted himself, and his assistants chopped-off his head. Nutty but Big News.

Aum Shinrikyo (オウム真理教) was a salvation-focused religious group that began to assassinate its enemies, and ultimately released sarin nerve gas on five crowded Tokyo subway trains. But nearly nine months prior, on 27 June 1994, Aum attacked a Matsumoto neighborhood (Nagano-ken, Japan) with poison sarin gas, killing 7 and injuring hundreds. Law enforcement in Japan was heavily criticized for not curtailing Aum's killing operations earlier, as there were many other extreme incidents prior to the Tokyo Subway attacks (Aum attempted perhaps 20 more chemical & biological attacks in the wider community - link, including use of VX nerve agent to murder followers including Tadahito Hamaguchi, and attacking Noboru Mizuno and others). Nutty - and Big News.

Atomic weapons (原子爆弾) were suddenly & violently introduced to Japan in August 1945. Officially, Japan since then has sought to be free of nuclear weapons. But the military alliance with the USA secretly allowed parking such bombs in Japan. After the Fukushima meltdown, it's reasonable to be suspicious of the haste which the present Abe government seeks to restart nuclear power plants -- understanding that nuclear power operations can mask nuclear weapon-building operations. Western governments have repeatedly accused Iraq and Iran and North Korea of such duplicity - maybe some subset of the Japanese government has ambitions for Japan to join the nuclear weapons club... Is this so nutty?

Concepts overly odd are nonetheless sometimes true...

Second Sewol Shipwreck?

Overloaded ferry Sewol 세월호 sank a year ago due to overloading, poor seamanship, and corrupt management. Hundreds of high-school students drowned when the crew ignored safety regulations and public rescue services proved inept.

The Sewol scandal is highly sensitive. But Korean Pres. Park Geun-hye's right-wing forces lost control this weekend in central Seoul, resorting to battering Sewol memorial marchers with clubs, water cannons & tear gas, and making scores of arrests.

Mainstream Korean citizens are increasingly upset by official arrogance and harsh government cruelty...  watching grieving parents & grandparents shot directly in the face with tear-gas... all from an administration only in power because of psy-ops (from organizing corrupt disinformation on their political opposition -- link).

Koreans are being punished for asking questions & disobedience. But it was unquestioning obedience that got the Sewol kids killed !

Buying Blackmail Access

The security services (NSA, FBI, GHQ, MI6, Mossad, etc.) collect and share massive amounts of information. They process and sort the information with private-sector contractors. Ed Snowden officially was employed by Dell during part of his intelligence career; he later followed NSA Director Mike McConnell to Booz Allen Hamilton (McConnell admits some incompetence, but maintains dogged disinformation - link).

Anyhow, the spooks continue collecting a treasure trove of global information about people, love affairs, finances, national security information of governments around the world, business secrets, competitive intelligence, and enemy schedules.

Intel is valuable. Where will the new train line stations be located? Land prices around each site will skyrocket in value. Early knowledge allows purchase option bargaining.

Mid-sized governments spend tens of billions on defense procurement. Or they could spend far-less to discover fundamental rival vulnerabilities.

Key knowledge can be quickly worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The bad guys know this. Ruthless little fuckers like Whitey Bulger have money and contacts. Yakuza or less-connected governments or ambitious corporations are each eager to invest. Weak links are targeted -- that will collapse to blackmail or bribery. Our own arrogant leadership infects us with pathogens created for our protection.

NSA's Treasure Trove is surely already infiltrated, and the corruption is global.

Our spying is dangerous to all.

Atoms for Abe?

Nuclear reactor restart is very unpopular in Japan, with only 27% in favor. But Prime Minister Abe's in a heap of hurry to restart Nippon's reactors. After the horrible Fukushima disaster one might reasonably wonder WHY? ...

Atomic restart becomes much more understandable assuming Japan has nuclear weapons capability (or substantive nuclear weapon ambitions) secretly hidden inside its nuclear power industry.

Fearsome Fantasy?

We hope a sane voice decides: "Shut it down."

세월호 Haiku

Careless billionaires
Hungry spawn of Dr. Hwang
Sewol Splashing

Politician tears!
So dry beside the ocean
Sinking Gangnam style

Hijacked radiance
Bright youth choked by nasty Wealth
Down in the eel grass

From spec to ilbe
Live, Work, Die - pali pali
Enthralled by ego

FAST Track Trade Conspiracy

Obama and close friends seek FAST Track authority to consummate new TPP laws (Trans-Pacific Piracy laws).

FAST is spelt:
F%#k  America's  Silent  Trust

Our jobs, savings, family, dreams -- killed by Corruption

What is Apostasy?

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia banned slavery in 1962, under reported pressure from U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Of nearly a half-million freed slaves, very many continued working for their former masters.

What's the surprise? That slavery was forbidden so recently? That it was outlawed at all? Why should the Saudi royal family kowtow & grovel to an American president? Can a person dirt poor be truly "free" ...?

Saudi King Faisal offered opportunity. We can imagine he reflected on the teachings of the Prophet (Peace be upon Him). He made a positive step forward.

America may claim responsibility... truth is more murky.