Month: December 2014

Demonizing North Korea: Lies Concerning the Cheonan Incident …

Rush to Judgment: Inconsistencies in South Korea’s Cheonan Report

On the night of March 26, 2010, the 1,200 ton Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy corvette Cheonan was severed in the middle and sank off Baengnyeong Island in the West Sea (or Yellow Sea). Forty-six crew members died in the incident.

…
After a careful analysis of the JIG’s report and evidence and our own physical testing, however, we find that the JIG has failed (1) to substantiate its claim that there was an outside explosion; (2) to establish the causal linkage between the Cheonan’s sinking and the torpedo; and (3) to demonstrate that the torpedo was manufactured by the DPRK. The JIG presented its three “findings” without credible evidence, and its findings are self-contradictory and inconsistent with facts. All three are riddled with such serious flaws as to render the JIG’s conclusion unsustainable. Furthermore, there is a very high chance that its EDS or x-ray data may have been fabricated. Our results show that the “critical evidence” presented by the JIG does not support its conclusion that the Cheonan’s sinking was caused by the alleged DPRK’s torpedo. On the contrary, its contradictory data raises the suspicion that it fabricated the data.

…
Not only did the JIG’s press conference simulation fail to show that the bubble effect could have cut the Cheonan, that simulation is not consistent with the pattern of the ship’s damage. If the bottom of the ship was hit by a bubble, it should show a spherical concave deformation resembling the shape of a bubble, as the JIG’s own simulation suggests (see the right side of Figure 1), but it does not. The bottom of the front part of the ship is pushed up in an angular shape, as the yellow line shows in the left side of Figure 1, more consistent with a collision with a hard object.

James Bond theories arise in Korean ship sinking | LA Times |

Reporting from Seoul — The image is chilling: A submersible suicide bomber set loose by North Korea destroys a South Korean warship and kills at least 40 crew members.

Each day, the mystery over the fate of the 1,200-ton patrol boat Cheonan deepens — with the speculation taking on what some analysts say is a fantastic, James Bond quality. The Cheonan split in two and sank March 26 on a mission at the disputed sea border between North and South.

The Korean peninsula is always tense, but the specter of war has increased in recent weeks as investigators point to possible North Korean involvement in the sinking, suggesting the Cheonan was struck by either a floating mine or enemy torpedo.

North Korea has denied responsibility, but South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is under pressure to respond with force if Pyongyang is found to be the culprit.

○ The Sinking of the Cheonan, Reviewing the Evidence

United States-South Korean Cheonan initiative has apparently fizzled

Continued below the fold …

United States-South Korean Cheonan initiative has apparently fizzled | Asia Times | June 2010 |

Beijing apparently benefited from the shaky character of the Cheonan dossier that the Republic of Korea (ROK) forwarded to the UN Security Council. Judging from a technical dissection of the evidence reported by two academics in Japan Focus, the South Korean military may have botched the investigation as thoroughly as it botched the initial response to the incident.

Twenty-five officers will be disciplined for shortcomings ranging from drunkenness to falsification of records relating to the sinking. The military will get a do-over on the report itself when full investigation results are released in the next few weeks.

…
Russia dispatched its own experts to review the Cheonan evidence in June. As US President Barack Obama angrily berated China for “willful blindness” in ignoring the “compelling” Cheonan brief, Moscow’s silence was conspicuous.

China’s Korean anxieties have been compounded by the high-profile pursuit of an enhanced US alliance by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and his Grand National Party, one that seemed designed to sideline China from decisions concerning the future of the peninsula.

Lee’s most recent gift to the United States was the reorganization of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee and the issuance of a report excusing numerous instances of massacres of refugees by American forces during the chaos of the retreat to Pusan – and the charge to the Yalu – as “military necessity”.

○ The Sinking of the Cheonan | CSIS |
○ Demonizing North Korea: Lies Concerning the Cheonan Incident
○ Outgoing president Lee pardons corrupt friends, associates; draws heavy criticism
○ Washington’s decision to fly B-52 and stealth bomber missions over Korea in a warning to Pyongyang – 2013

When I open an article that is ostensibly about strategies to get Millennials more politically engaged, I do not want to read about efforts to get the next generation of Rockefellers, Pritzkers, and Marriotts to think philanthropically. They will inherit their billions and do with it what they will. I do not give a fuck.

What I care about are ordinary Millennials who have correctly noticed that our politics are ridiculous and have tuned out, often blaming the left and the right in equal measure.

Please write the article I want to read.

According to CNN, the FBI may have misled the president about who was responsible for hacking into Sony’s computers:

Sure, North Korea’s government despises the movie “The Interview.”

But when its propagandists say it did not hack Sony Pictures before the original release date of the flick that satirizes dictator Kim Jong-un, they might just be telling the truth.

Some U.S. cyber experts say the evidence the FBI has presented to attempt to incriminate hackers working for the communist regime is not enough to pin the blame on Pyongyang.

“It’s clear to us, based on both forensic and other evidence we’ve collected, that unequivocally they are not responsible for orchestrating or initiating the attack on Sony,” said Sam Glines, who runs the cybersecurity company Norse.

The FBI has said that code in the malware used by a group called “Guardians of Peace” (GoP) in the attack on Sony is similar to code used by North Korea in other attacks.

But that code was leaked a long time ago, experts say. Any hacker anywhere in the world could have used it.

This wouldn’t be a particularly important possibility except for the fact that the administration isn’t exactly denying launching a retaliatory cyberattack on the North Koreans which shut down their internet. In fact, the North Koreans just experienced another massive shutdown of both their internet and 3G cell phone service. This led to a nasty incident in which “an unidentified spokesman for North Korea’s National Defense Commission told the official Korean Central News Agency, “Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest.””

I hope I do not need to remind you of a few rather important facts.

North Korea:

1. Has nuclear weapons.
2. Has a leader who appears to be insane.
3. Has a paranoid and bellicose military.
4. Patrols a Demilitarized Zone that separates it from tens of thousands of American soldiers.
5. Has a war doctrine that depends on attacking first and destroying Seoul, the capital of South Korea with a population of ten million people.

Under these circumstances, it would seem just a tad irresponsible to wrongly accuse the North Koreans of committing a cyberattack and then to knock out their ears and eyes so that they cannot know if they are about to experience a military invasion. Something like that could lead the North Koreans to panic and launch an attack of their own, possibly including a nuclear weapon.

If the FBI misinformed the president about the strength of their evidence, they just risked getting hundreds of thousands if not millions of people killed.

It would seem kind of vital to find out if that is really what just happened.

The Westboro Baptist Church has nothing on the NYPD.

Okay, I’m done with the NYPD:

Hundreds of police officers turned their backs on the New York mayor Bill de Blasio on Saturday as he spoke during the funeral service for Rafael Ramos, one of two New York Police Department officers killed in an ambush shooting in Brooklyn last week.

Thousands of officers gathered outside Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens for the funeral, where speakers included vice-president Joe Biden, New York governor Andrew Cuomo and NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton.

The way I feel about this is that the officers who did this may as well have signed an editorial endorsing the death of Eric Garner as solid police work.

Paul Wellstone wasn’t accosted by police officers and killed. He died in a place crash. But, when people used his memorial service to honor his political legacy, the whole right-wing world howled in protest. I guess politicizing a memorial service isn’t such a bad thing when the honoree is a cop.

And the point is what?

That Eric Garner deserved to die? That the police did nothing wrong? That the parents of black kids have no reason to fear that their child will be killed by cops just like Eric Garner was, with no accountability, and perhaps for an even lesser or non-existent crime?

Booman recently wrote a piece called   Serious Countries Don’t Issue Blanket Mulligans regarding the…”reluctance” may be too weak a term…the absolute refusal on any part of the federal government to prosecute those who ordered, aided and abetted the vast U.S. torture machine that came into being after 9/11.

He wrote:

Evidently, nothing of that sort will be happening this time around. The president appears to take Sun Tzu’s counsel [Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.], and I’ve never been wholly convinced that this isn’t the wiser course, at least from a selfish perspective.

Way to straddle the fence, Booman.

“I’ve never been wholly convinced that this isn’t the wiser course, at least from a selfish perspective.”

The tortured syntax of a guilty conscience. You know better.

Is it simply too perilous to try to hold the Intelligence Community accountable?

You know, maybe it really is.

But, if that’s the case, it seems all the more imperative to hold Bush administration officials accountable. They were, after all, the ones who gave the orders.

You bet your ass “maybe it really is” too perilous. Why?

Read on.

If you dare.
Why is it too perilous? Because of the following, that’s why.

You say that members of the Bush administration were “the ones who gave the orders.”

I no longer believe that this is so. I do not mean to give the Bush people a pass…they are certainly the ones who sold those orders to the American people…but it is increasingly obvious to me that no U.S. administration since the post-JFK coup has really been “giving the orders” regarding either tactical or strategic approaches on any appreciably important level in the United States of Omertica. Not regarding foreign policy for sure, not regarding domestic economic policies as well and quite likely not about social policies either. We have become a closeted fascist system, and the media is the instrument that provides the cloak of invisibility to the real bosses. It is the .01% who give the orders, who pull the strings, and if by some miracle all of the shrouds were to be pulled off the real controllers it seems likely to me that they would turn out to be CIA-allied and/or CIA-controlled corporate insiders.

We rail about “big money,” about the Koch brothers, about Sheldon Adelson, about the big banks and other financial institutions, about The Federal Reserve, etc. I have said this here before and I am saying it again. The CIA and its related intelligence satrapies have been in a position to amass so much money and so much power since their inception that they are now in the position of essentially owning the country. Think on it. They have been the beneficiaries of essentially unlimited and untraceable money from the government since the ’50s; they are in a position to know whatever they need to know to gain insider trading positions and they are completely outside of the reach of the justice system.

Hmmmm…

Talk about your stock market gurus!!!

I got yer “stock market.”

Right here!!!

They actually don’t have to “change that sign.” Their position is so powerful and so secret that they can advertise it with no fear of discovery.

And there it is, Booman.

Hiding in plain sight.

The controllers have no fear of reprisal. As they so plentifully demonstrated w/Nixon and later w/Clinton, they can throw a president under any passing bus that they choose if they wish to do so. Obama’s no dummy…his momma didn’t raise no bus victims. Bet on it.

Serious Countries Don’t Issue Blanket Mulligans?

Oh yes they do!!!

The U.S. is as serious as death.

Bet on that as well.

Ask its millions of victims if you have any doubts about its seriousness.

Will all of this change?

Not likely. Not without some kind of societal breakdown, and no one of sane mind wants to see that. It is what it is. Learn to deal wid it, because it’s not going away anytime soon.

And…wake the fuck up!!!

Station WTFU signing off.

Our motto?

If no news is good news, we have the best news service ever.

Yup.

Deal wid it.

Obama has.

He’s just waiting for the elevator out, now.

Bet on it.

Later…

AG

Putin signs new military doctrine, declares NATO as #1 enemy of Russia

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin has signed a new military doctrine that describes NATO’s military buildup near the Russian borders as the top military threat amid Russia-West tensions over Ukraine.

The document released by the Kremlin maintains the provisions of the previous, 2010 edition of the military doctrine regarding the use of nuclear weapons. It says Russia could use nuclear weapons in retaliation to the use of nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction against it or its allies, and also in case of aggression involving conventional weapons that “threatens the very existence” of the Russian state.

For the first time, the new doctrine says that Russia could use precision weapons “as part of strategic deterrent measures.” The document doesn’t spell out conditions for their use.

Gorbachev backs Putin who saved Russia from disintegration | RT |

Russian President Vladimir Putin saved the country from falling apart, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said during the presentation of his new book ‘After the Kremlin.’ Gorbachev also commented on the situation in Ukraine and NATO expansion.

“I think all of us – Russian citizens – must remember that [Putin] saved Russia from the beginning of a collapse. A lot of the regions did not recognize our constitution. There were over a hundred local constitutional variations from that of the Russian constitution.” (RIA Novosti)

He added that saving Russia during that crucial period was a “historical deed.” Gorbachev remarked that he knew the Russian president before Putin took office, describing him as having good judgment and discipline.

Gorbachev Says Nuclear Deterrence Still Matters

Gorbachev: It’s up to Europe to prevent new Cold War between US and Russia

Continued below the fold …

Gorbachev: It’s up to Europe to prevent new Cold War between US and Russia

The former Soviet leader recalled his meeting with US President George Bush Sr. in Malta on December 23, 1989. During the talks, which took place several weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the two leaders overcame their divisions and acknowledged the end of the Cold War.

The 83-year-old political veteran believes that it’s the White House which is to blame for the current tensions with the Kremlin. The Americans decided that they’ve won the Cold War and they are still intoxicated by this “triumph,” he said.

“I don’t want to praise the current Russian authorities too much. It also makes a lot of mistakes, but today the danger comes from the US stance,” Gorbachev said.

Russia went through extremely difficult times after the collapse of the USSR and the Americans took advantage of the situation, but now the situation has changed, Gorbachev said.

“It’s good that the president [Vladimir Putin] now cares about security, defense capability, development of new weapons and modernization of the military. We are now well armed. And if necessary we can strike back. But this isn’t the case right now. There are signs of a new Cold War and this process must be stopped.”

US Think Tanks Hold Roundup Discussions on Ukrainian Crisis

The right-leaning, conservative Heritage Foundation invited Peter Doran, director of research at former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski’s Center for European Policy Analysis, and Ukrainian blogger Nikolay Vorobiov to join their Margaret Thatcher Fellow Luke Coffey to ask “what are the Obama administration, the European Union and NATO doing to support Ukraine’s national and territorial integrity?”

Duran started his statement by quoting from Henry Kissinger’s revealing interview in Der Spiegel, chiding the elder statesman for having suggested that Western powers did not understand Ukraine’s relationship with Russia when they decided to intervene.

Duran also disagrees with Kissinger’s remark that “nobody is willing to fight over eastern Ukraine,” declaring that in fact, “Russia can be stopped.” To achieve this goal, Duran suggests returning to a world order based on treaties rather than armies — apparently unaware of the military aggression behind America’s global interest. He advocates arming and training Ukrainian soldiers with “lethal military assistance,” the continuation of “crippling sanctions” to show Russia that there are costs when their actions impede on America’s interests in Eastern Europe, and the modernization of NATO to permanently occupy Eastern Europe.

Heritage Foundation: The Battle for Eastern Ukraine

Hello again painting fans.

This week I will be continuing with the vintage Boeing Stratocruiser, my continuing detour from the Cape May 2nd Empire Victorian house.  I will be using my usual acrylics on an 5 by 7 inch gallery-wrapped canvas.

When last seen, the painting appeared as it does in the photo seen directly below.

Since that time, I have continued to work on the painting

I have adjusted the contrast of the various elements of the airplane.  I was unhappy with the contrast of the underside of the wing in the prior version.  In revising it, I went over every element.  While I was at it, I reshaped the nose and adjusted the Northwest Airlines corporate livery near the cockpit.  I also added another layer of paint to the sky and foreground as well as the background plane.  Note the dark paint delineating the foreground fence yet to come.

The current state of the painting is seen in the photo directly below.

I’ll have more progress to show you next week.  See you then.

Earlier paintings in this series can be seen here.

The Obama administration totally deserves the rough treatment it gets in this morning’s New York Times.

Senator Angus King, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said that Hollywood depictions of torture have distorted the public’s view of its efficacy.

“Every week, Jack Bauer saves civilization by torturing someone, and it works,” said Mr. King, the independent from Maine, referring to the lead character of the television show “24.”

Mr. King said that he was initially skeptical about the need to release the torture report, but when he spent five straight evenings reading it in a secure room on Capitol Hill he decided that the C.I.A. abuses needed a public airing.

“It went from interest, to a sick feeling, to disgust, and finally to anger,” he said.

But the Obama administration has made clear that it has no plans to make anyone legally accountable for the practices described by the C.I.A. as enhanced interrogation techniques and the Intelligence Committee as torture.

To be clear, this isn’t the Times’ editorial board; it is front-page reporting by Mark Mazzetti, who comes out of the box swinging with a 1976 quote from James Angleton.

WASHINGTON — Over a lunch in Washington in 1976, James J. Angleton, for years the ruthless chief of counterintelligence at the C.I.A., likened the agency to a medieval city occupied by an invading army.

“Only, we have been occupied by Congress,” he told a young congressional investigator. “With our files rifled, our officials humiliated, and our agents exposed.”

The spymaster had cause for worry. He had endured a public grilling about his role in domestic spying operations by a select committee headed by Senator Frank Church, a Democrat from Idaho, that spent years looking into intelligence abuses. And the Central Intelligence Agency, used to doing what it wanted while keeping Congress mostly in the dark, was in the midst of convulsions that would fundamentally remake its mission.

Evidently, nothing of that sort will be happening this time around. The president appears to take Sun Tzu’s counsel, and I’ve never been wholly convinced that this isn’t the wiser course, at least from a selfish perspective.

Nonetheless, we all reserve the right to wish it were not so.

Some transparency is nice. Course corrections are better. Expressions of remorse and regret are an improvement over fatuous post-hoc justifications for serial human rights abuses. But, really, there is no substitute for accountability.

Is it simply too perilous to try to hold the Intelligence Community accountable?

You know, maybe it really is.

But, if that’s the case, it seems all the more imperative to hold Bush administration officials accountable. They were, after all, the ones who gave the orders.

Don Lemon is only eligible to be the worst journalist of 2014 because people expect better of him. Either that, or people simply haven’t been watching enough Fox News. Sure, it’s true that Don Lemon made a spectacle of himself in 2014 by saying several of the dumbest things ever heard on CNN. But equally dumb things are heard every single day on Fox & Friends, and the rest of Murdoch’s network’s programming isn’t much better.

And, really, who’s to say that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 wasn’t swallowed by a black hole?