Thursday, April 18, 2019

Russian Death Squad in Custody, Ukraine Spy Chief Claims - Transitions Online

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April 18, 2019
Russian Death Squad in Custody, Ukraine Spy Chief Claims - Transitions Online
EU should prevent any disruption of Ukrainian election - Focus News
Ukraine demands from Russia to stop violation of human rights in Crimea - 112 International
Source in Moscow denies Russia's funding Zelenskiy campaign | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post
US embassy in Ukraine condemns decision by Moscow court to extend arrest of Ukrainian POW sailors | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post

Russian Death Squad in Custody, Ukraine Spy Chief Claims - Transitions Online

Transitions Online
Russian Death Squad in Custody, Ukraine Spy Chief Claims Dramatic announcement could boost Petro Poroshenko’s standing days before the presidential runoff. 18 April 2019 Ukraine’s main security agency says it has arrested seven members of a Russian-run “terrorist group” responsible for at least one high-profile assassination.
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EU should prevent any disruption of Ukrainian election - Focus News

Focus News
Picture: Getty Images By Oleg Sukhov The basic rule of liberal democracy is: if you failed to govern wisely, you’re out. Re-electing for a second term a ruler who has failed to deliver on his promises is tantamount to giving him or her the carte blanche to do whatever they want and usurp power.
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Ukraine demands from Russia to stop violation of human rights in Crimea - 112 International

112 International
Foreign Ministry of Ukraine demands from Russia to stop the violation of the human rights on the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea once more and condemns another illegal persecution of the Crimean Tatars as the ministry reported.
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Source in Moscow denies Russia's funding Zelenskiy campaign | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post

Kyiv Post
Russia's War Against Ukraine Source in Moscow denies Russia’s funding Zelenskiy campaign Published April 18 at 3:19 pm A photo taken on Nov. 4, 2018 shows the Kremlin at sunset in Moscow.
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US embassy in Ukraine condemns decision by Moscow court to extend arrest of Ukrainian POW sailors | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post

Kyiv Post
Russia's War Against Ukraine US embassy in Ukraine condemns decision by Moscow court to extend arrest of Ukrainian POW sailors Published April 18 at 2:12 pm Russian security service officers escort detained Ukrainian sailors to a courthouse in Moscow on Jan.
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Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Reuters: Ukraine says it captured Russian military intelligence hit squad | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post

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April 17, 2019
Reuters: Ukraine says it captured Russian military intelligence hit squad | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post
UNIAN: Naftogaz CEO claims Russia may set up another gas crisis | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post
Combat-hardened special forces officer vows to reform UkrOboronProm | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post
There's One Far-Right Movement That Hates the Kremlin - Foreign Policy
Analysis | The Cybersecurity 202: Why a hacking operation by a proto-state in Ukraine could spell trouble for the U.S. - The Washington Post

Reuters: Ukraine says it captured Russian military intelligence hit squad | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post

Kyiv Post
Reuters: Ukraine says it captured Russian military intelligence hit squad Published April 17 at 3:22 pm A man walks past the building of the headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow on Dec.
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UNIAN: Naftogaz CEO claims Russia may set up another gas crisis | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post

Kyiv Post
UNIAN: Naftogaz CEO claims Russia may set up another gas crisis Published April 17 at 3:15 pm Pedestrians walk past Naftogaz headquarters in Kyiv on Sept. 21, 2017. Photo by Volodymyr Petrov
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Combat-hardened special forces officer vows to reform UkrOboronProm | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post

Kyiv Post
Colonel Serhiy Kryvonos, a large, bald and grisly-bearded man in his late 40s, seems to feel a bit out of place in the quietness and comfort of his new office in central Kyiv. Even though his office is richly furnished, in the best traditions of senior Ukrainian bureaucracy, he continues to wear his usual everyday camouflage clothing, as though he was still somewhere in the Donbas war zone.
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There's One Far-Right Movement That Hates the Kremlin - Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy
KIEV, Ukraine—If you’ve ever been to Paris, you’ve probably snapped a photo of the very spot that’s a symbol for a far-right movement more than 1,000 miles away. It’s here along the banks of the Seine, at Notre Dame Cathedral, that an aging French man decided to make what he called a “sacrifice” a few years ago.
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Analysis | The Cybersecurity 202: Why a hacking operation by a proto-state in Ukraine could spell trouble for the U.S. - The Washington Post

The Washington Post
THE KEY Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gestures as he answers a journalist's question ahead of the presidential elections on April 21. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP) The Luhansk People’s Republic, a region that has claimed independence from Ukraine with the backing of Russia’s military, isn’t recognized by the United States, the European Union or NATO.
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Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Global tribunal to hear Ukraine, Russia sea dispute - Outlook India

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April 16, 2019
Global tribunal to hear Ukraine, Russia sea dispute - Outlook India
A Ukrainian Comedian Could Pull the US Into War—and It’s No Laughing Matter - Observer
Reuters: Russian lawmakers approve new Internet law | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post
Russia jails Norwegian Frode Berg for spying on submarines - BBC News
Ukraine ready to help restore Notre-Dame Cathedral - Ukrinform. Ukraine and world news

Global tribunal to hear Ukraine, Russia sea dispute - Outlook India

Outlook India
The Hague, Apr 16 The Permanent Court of Arbitration will in June hear Russia's objections against a move by Ukraine to drag it before the world' oldest arbitration body over rights to coastal waters around annexed Crimea.
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A Ukrainian Comedian Could Pull the US Into War—and It’s No Laughing Matter - Observer

Observer
Ukrainian comic actor, showman and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky speaks as he performs with his “95th Block” comedy group in the small town of Brovary, near Kiev, on March 29, 2019.
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Reuters: Russian lawmakers approve new Internet law | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post

Kyiv Post
Reuters: Russian lawmakers approve new Internet law Published April 16 at 12:33 pm Lawmakers listen to the national anthem during the opening session of the newly elected State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, in Moscow on Oct.
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Russia jails Norwegian Frode Berg for spying on submarines - BBC News

BBC News
Image copyright AFP Image caption Frode Berg was arrested in a sting operation by Russian FSB agents A Moscow court has sentenced a 63-year-old Norwegian, Frode Berg, to 14 years in a strict-regime labour camp for spying on Russian navy submarines.
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Ukraine ready to help restore Notre-Dame Cathedral - Ukrinform. Ukraine and world news

Ukrinform. Ukraine and world news
Ukraine is ready to help France restore Notre-Dame de Paris - one of the most famous historical monuments in the French capital – which suffered significant damage in a fire, Ukrainian Culture Minister Yevhen Nyschuk has said.
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Monday, April 15, 2019

EU member states' representatives to attend Moscow hearings on Ukrainian POWs | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post

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April 15, 2019
EU member states' representatives to attend Moscow hearings on Ukrainian POWs | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post
Factbox - Five things to look for in Mueller's Trump-Russia report - Reuters Africa
Risk of losing independence: Expert on prospects for Ukraine's offensive operation in Donbas - UNIAN
EU to help integrate Ukraine in the bloc's gas market: official - UNIAN
Ukrainian gas stocks grow by 1.1% to almost 9 bcm since April 5 - UNIAN

EU member states' representatives to attend Moscow hearings on Ukrainian POWs | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post

Kyiv Post
Representatives of the European Union member states will be present at court hearings in Moscow, Russia, on Ukrainian sailors who are prisoners of war (POWs). Ukrainian human rights commissioner in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, Liudmyla Denisova said this on Facebook that EU Ambassador to Russia Markus Ederer had assured her of this during a meeting in Moscow on Monday, April 15.
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Factbox - Five things to look for in Mueller's Trump-Russia report - Reuters Africa

Reuters Africa
(Reuters) - Attorney General William Barr has provided only a glimpse of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the inquiry into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election, with many details expected to emerge when the document is finally released.
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Risk of losing independence: Expert on prospects for Ukraine's offensive operation in Donbas - UNIAN

UNIAN
Today Ukraine could reach the Russian border, but the Kremlin will not take a wait and will give a decisive rebuff. JFO Staff Former deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lt Gen (Reserve) Ihor Romanenko has said Ukraine needs a certain military-political situation to be established both in the country and beyond to go for the liberation of Donbas by force.
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EU to help integrate Ukraine in the bloc's gas market: official - UNIAN

UNIAN
EU to help integrate Ukraine in the bloc's gas market - officialUkraine must also prepare for a future where Russian transit would be discontinued, a European Commission's energy official warned.
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Ukrainian gas stocks grow by 1.1% to almost 9 bcm since April 5 - UNIAN

UNIAN
Ukrainian gas stocks grow by 1.1% to almost 9 bcm since April 5The country's USFs were filled by 28% as of April 13. Photo from UNIAN Natural gas stocks in Ukraine's underground storage facilities (USFs) have increased by 1.1%, or by 0.1 billion cubic meters (bcm), to 8.89 bcm since April 5, when Ukraine started the season of pumping natural gas into its reserves.As of April 13, 2019, gas reserves in the country's USFs were 18% up from 7.53 bcm reported as of April 13, 2018, while the USFs were filled by 28%, according to the state-run gas transport system operator Ukrtransgaz.
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Sunday, April 14, 2019

'No NATO country will taunt the Russians' in the Black Sea - FRANCE 24

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April 14, 2019
'No NATO country will taunt the Russians' in the Black Sea - FRANCE 24
Ukrinform: Kyiv has plan B in case Russia blocks gas flow to Ukraine | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post
US-Russia chill stirs worry about stumbling into conflict - Fox News
Former Federal Prosecutor: Trump is Financially Compromised by Russia - Hill Reporter
How Mueller's hunt for a Russia-Trump conspiracy came up short - Reuters

'No NATO country will taunt the Russians' in the Black Sea - FRANCE 24

FRANCE 24
Date created : 14/04/2019 - 14:54 Washington is working on a plan to send new NATO ships to the Black Sea in response to the November armed clash between the Russian and Ukrainian navies off the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
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Ukrinform: Kyiv has plan B in case Russia blocks gas flow to Ukraine | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice - Kyiv Post

Kyiv Post
Ukraine's Energy Challenge Ukrinform: Kyiv has plan B in case Russia blocks gas flow to Ukraine Published April 14. Updated April 14 at 3:27 pm The construction site of the new European Gas Pipeline Link (EUGAL) pipeline is pictured on March 26, 2019 near Lubmin, northeastern Germany, close to the planned landing point for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline carrying gas from Russia to Europe.
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US-Russia chill stirs worry about stumbling into conflict - Fox News

Fox News
FILE - In this March 16, 2017, file photo, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti arrives for a meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania. The deep chill in U.S.-Russian relations is stirring concern in some quarters that Washington and Moscow are in danger of stumbling into an armed confrontation that, by mistake or miscalculation, could lead to nuclear war.
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Former Federal Prosecutor: Trump is Financially Compromised by Russia - Hill Reporter

Hill Reporter
Robert Mueller had a very clear set of directives during his investigation of President Donald Trump. The special prosecutor was laser focused on the question of Russian collusion and whether Trump had committed obstruction of justice.
Read More

How Mueller's hunt for a Russia-Trump conspiracy came up short - Reuters

Reuters
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As recently as February, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team dropped hints that the inquiry into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election might unearth evidence of active cooperation between Moscow and President Donald Trump’s campaign.
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5:25 AM 4/14/2019 - The Russians are hacking the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) on a mass scale in order to confuse thousands of ships and airplanes about where they are

5:25 AM 4/14/2019 - The Russians are hacking the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) on a mass scale in order to confuse thousands of ships and airplanes about where they are...

putin kerch
Putin drives a Kamaz truck at the opening of the Kerch Bridge in 2018. Hackers partially disabled nearby ships' navigation systems during the event.
 Alexander Nemenov/Pool via REUTERS
  • The Russians are hacking the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) on a mass scale in order to confuse thousands of ships and airplanes about where they are, according to a study by Centre for Advanced Defense (C4AD).
The Kerch bridge connects Russia and Europe. Dozens of ships navigating around it have been sent false location data by the Russians.
 Google Maps / VMorozoff - Wikimapia, CC

The Russians are screwing with the GPS system - Google Search

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Story image for The Russians are screwing with the GPS system from Business Insider

The Russians are screwing with the GPS system to send bogus ...

Business Insider-2 hours ago
The Russians are hacking the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) on a mass scale in order to confuse thousands of ships and airplanes about where they ...
Story image for The Russians are screwing with the GPS system from CIMSEC

Operation Eminent Shield: The Advent of Unmanned Distributed ...

CIMSEC-Apr 9, 2019
... and how continued Russian micronaval advances, most notably the nuclear-armed ... especially when it came to unmanned systems and what was then being .... in a while penetrate the Strikepod perimeter and foul the screws pretty good. .... We'd use onboard EW effectors to spoof their GPS and AIS.
Story image for The Russians are screwing with the GPS system from NBCNews.com
NBCNews.com

Rep. Harris: “Ridiculous Amount” of Time/Money Wasted on Special ...

The Dagger-Mar 26, 2019
What we have just witnessed is that the American Justice System is in itself an act of treason .... Don Jr said Russia provides all the money they need ...... Why did fusion gps, the media spin squad hired by Hillary, meet with Veselnitskaya both ..... Yea but real clear investigations screwed the pooch on facts.
Story image for The Russians are screwing with the GPS system from The Register

Fun fact: GPS uses 10 bits to store the week. That means it runs out ...

The Register-Feb 12, 2019
Older satnavs and such devices won't be able to use America's Global Positioning System properly after April 6 unless they've been suitably ...
Story image for The Russians are screwing with the GPS system from Washington Post

Chatological Humor (Apr. 2)

Washington Post-Mar 29, 2019
Everybody should just use Waze or a similar GPS app. .... I think if the Russians were seriously trying to collude with the dopes, they'd have colluded with the dopes. ... in our electoral system and seriously compromising President McCheese. ... If you recall, the exit polling in 2004 was seriously screwed up.
Story image for The Russians are screwing with the GPS system from The New Yorker

How Bill Browder Became Russia's Most Wanted Man

The New Yorker-Aug 13, 2018
In exchange, Putin explained to the gathered press, Russian ..... “It screws up his social contract with those inside the system,” she said. ... In spring, 2014, Katsyv's defense team hired Glenn Simpson, of Fusion GPS, a private ...
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The Russians are screwing with the GPS system - Google Search

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The Russians are screwing with the GPS system - Google Search

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The Russians are screwing with the GPS system - Google Search

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Russians hacking the GPS system to send ships bogus GNSS navigation data

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On May 15, 2018, under a sunny sky, Russian President Vladimir Putin drove a bright orange truck in a convoy of construction vehicles for the opening of the Kerch Bridge from Russia to Crimea. At 11 miles long, it is now the longest bridge in either Europe or Russia.
As Putin drove across the bridge, something weird happened. The satellite navigation systems in the control rooms of more than 24 ships anchored nearby suddenly started displaying false information about their location. Their GPS systems told their captains they were anchored more than 65 kilometres away — on land, at the Anapa Airport.
This was not a random glitch, according to the Centre for Advanced Defense, a security think tank. It was a deliberate plan to make it difficult for anyone nearby to track or navigate around the presence of Putin, C4AD says.

"All critical national infrastructures rely on GNSS to some extent" — and the Russians have started hacking it

The Russians have started hacking into the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) on a mass scale in order to confuse thousands of ships and airplanes about where they are, according to a study of false GNSS signals by C4AD.
GNSS comprises the constellation of international satellites that orbit the earth. The US's Global Positioning System (GPS), China's Beidou, Russia's GLONASS, and Europe's Galileo program are all part of GNSS.
Your phone, law enforcement, shipping, airlines, and power stations — anything dependent on GPS time and location synchronization — are all vulnerable to GNSS hacking. "All critical national infrastructures rely on GNSS to some extent, with Communications, Emergency Services, Finance, and Transport identified as particularly intensive users," according to a report commissioned by the UK Space Agency. An attack that disabled GNSS in Britain would cost about £1 billion every day the system was down, the report said.
The jamming, blocking, or spoofing of GNSS signals by the Russian government is "more indiscriminate and persistent, larger in scope, and more geographically diverse than previous public reporting suggested," according to the Weekly Intelligence Summary from Digital Shadows, a cyber security monitoring service.

Nearly 10,000 incidents of ships being sent bad location data

The C4AD study says:
  • 1,311 civilian ships have been affected.
  • 9,883 incidents were reported or detected.
Until the last couple of years, C4AD believed the Russians used GNSS jamming or spoofing mostly to disguise the whereabouts of President Putin.
For instance, a large area over Cape Idokopas, near Gelendzhik on the Black Sea coast of Russia, appears to be within a permanent GNSS spoofing zone. The cape is believed to be Putin's summer home, or dacha. It contains a vast and lavish private residence: "a large Italianate palace, several helicopter pads, an amphitheatre, and a small port," C4AD says. It is the only private home in Russia that enjoys the same level of airspace protection and GNSS interference as the Kremlin.

"Russian forces had developed mobile GNSS jamming units to provide protection for the Russian president"

"The geographical placement of the spoofing incidents closely aligns with places where Vladimir Putin was making overseas and domestic visits, suggesting that Russian forces had developed mobile GNSS jamming units to provide protection for the Russian president. The incidents also align with the locations of Russian military and government resources. Although in some areas the motive was likely to restrict access to or obstruct foreign military," according to Digital Shadows.
Ships sailing near Gelendzhik have reported receiving bogus navigation data on their satellite systems. "In June 2017, the captain of the merchant vessel Atria provided direct evidence of GNSS spoofing activities off the coast of Gelendzhik, Russia, when the vessel's on-board navigation systems indicated it was located in the middle of the Gelendzhik Airport, about 20km away. More than two dozen other vessels reported similar disruptions in the region on that day," C4AD says.

An $80 million superyacht was sent off-course by a device the size of a briefcase

Most of the incidents have been recorded in Crimea, the Black Sea, Syria, and Russia.
Perhaps more disturbingly, GNSS spoofing equipment is available to almost anyone, for just a few hundred dollars.
"In the summer of 2013, a research team from The University of Texas at Austin (UT) successfully hijacked the GPS navigation systems onboard an $80 million superyacht using a $2,000 device the size of a small briefcase. The experimental attack forced the ship's navigation systems to relay false positioning information to the vessel's captain, who subsequently made slight course corrections to keep the ship seemingly on track," C4AD reported.
Since then the cost of a GNSS spoofing device has fallen to about $300, C4AD says, and some people have been using them to cheat at Pokemon Go.
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4:41 AM 4/14/2019 - Editorial: Looking into surveillance - Opinion - providencejournal.com Sunday April 14th, 2019 at 5:38 AM

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Editorial: Looking into surveillance - Opinion - providencejournal.com - Sunday April 14th, 2019 at 5:38 AM

Editorial: Looking into surveillance - Opinion - providencejournal.com

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The bitter partisanship that dominates Washington erupted again last week after Attorney General William Barr told a Senate panel that he thought “spying did occur” on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and that he is looking into the matter.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of putting his devotion to the president above his loyalty to the nation. Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded that Mr. Barr “retract his statement immediately,” arguing, “Perpetuating conspiracy theories is beneath the office of the attorney general.”
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said that Mr. Barr’s comment was “unnecessarily inflammatory” and “could cause everybody in the cable news ecosystem to freak out.” The Washington Post accused him of mouthing President Trump’s “talking points.”
The level of distrust seems to be off the charts.
But perhaps we can all step back, take a deep breath and agree on one thing: the protections of individual liberty built into the Constitution and its Bill of Rights are a good thing. If our government has improperly used its immense power to spy on citizens for political purposes, it is vital that it be stopped, and those involved be punished, lest we become a police state.
That’s a big “if,” of course, as the attorney general made clear in his testimony.
“I am not saying improper surveillance occurred. I am saying I am concerned about it, and I am looking into it,” he said.
“Yes, I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated” — meaning, whether top Obama intelligence officials were legally justified in surveilling the communications and activities of members of the presidential campaign of the opposing party. For obvious reasons, the government’s intelligence agencies are not supposed to cross that bright red line causally.
“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” Mr. Barr said. “I feel that I have an obligation to ensure government power was not abused.”
He is waiting for the Justice Department inspector general, Michael Horowitz, to report on the use of warrants issued by a secret court for the investigations.
We view President Trump with immense skepticism and consider his bad policies, mercurial behavior and freewheeling pronouncements to be damaging to the nation and demeaning to his high office. We proudly endorsed his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
All the same, it is unnerving that former leading intelligence officials who should scrupulously stand above politics have been bitterly partisan in their texts, tweets, books and cable TV gigs. Given the immense powers of the government to probe citizens, particularly in the digital age, it is absolutely essential that our intelligence agencies not be weaponized for political use.
Though a big GOP campaign contributor, Mr. Barr does not seem to be an obvious hothead. A well-off 68-year-old with round glasses and a deadpan expression, he has long been regarded as a careful lawyer and a member in good standing of the Washington establishment, having formerly served as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush.
Whether he will fairly explore what led to government surveillance of members of his boss’s campaign team remains to be seen.
But certainly this matter is something that the country’s top justice official should look into, whether that affects the ecosystem of cable news or not.
Read the whole story

· · · · · · · ·

Unredacted report needed

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Meanwhile, Trump's claiming, based on Barr's summary, that he is ... So is phoning Putin's buddy, al Bashir, to warn him that we were going to bomb ...

OP-ED: Mueller Report likely won't flatter Trump

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After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey over “this Russia thing,” Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller, a lifelong Republican and a man with an ...

"Rudy Giuliani" - Google News: Terrorist label is a convenient pretext for military intervention - Frederick News Post

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Terrorist label is a convenient pretext for military intervention  Frederick News Post
For the first time in history, the United States has designated a military unit of a foreign country as a terrorist group.


 "Rudy Giuliani" - Google News

"trump electorate" - Google News: Editorial: Release Trump's tax returns | News, Sports, Jobs - Lawrence Journal-World

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Editorial: Release Trump's tax returns | News, Sports, Jobs  Lawrence Journal-World
Republicans may be right that efforts by Congressional Democrats to force the release of President Donald Trump's tax returns may open a big can of worms.




 "trump electorate" - Google News
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surveillance - Google Search

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Editorial: Looking into surveillance - Opinion - providencejournal.com

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The bitter partisanship that dominates Washington erupted again last week after Attorney General William Barr told a Senate panel that he thought “spying did occur” on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and that he is looking into the matter.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of putting his devotion to the president above his loyalty to the nation. Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded that Mr. Barr “retract his statement immediately,” arguing, “Perpetuating conspiracy theories is beneath the office of the attorney general.”
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said that Mr. Barr’s comment was “unnecessarily inflammatory” and “could cause everybody in the cable news ecosystem to freak out.” The Washington Post accused him of mouthing President Trump’s “talking points.”
The level of distrust seems to be off the charts.
But perhaps we can all step back, take a deep breath and agree on one thing: the protections of individual liberty built into the Constitution and its Bill of Rights are a good thing. If our government has improperly used its immense power to spy on citizens for political purposes, it is vital that it be stopped, and those involved be punished, lest we become a police state.
That’s a big “if,” of course, as the attorney general made clear in his testimony.
“I am not saying improper surveillance occurred. I am saying I am concerned about it, and I am looking into it,” he said.
“Yes, I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated” — meaning, whether top Obama intelligence officials were legally justified in surveilling the communications and activities of members of the presidential campaign of the opposing party. For obvious reasons, the government’s intelligence agencies are not supposed to cross that bright red line causally.
“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” Mr. Barr said. “I feel that I have an obligation to ensure government power was not abused.”
He is waiting for the Justice Department inspector general, Michael Horowitz, to report on the use of warrants issued by a secret court for the investigations.
We view President Trump with immense skepticism and consider his bad policies, mercurial behavior and freewheeling pronouncements to be damaging to the nation and demeaning to his high office. We proudly endorsed his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
All the same, it is unnerving that former leading intelligence officials who should scrupulously stand above politics have been bitterly partisan in their texts, tweets, books and cable TV gigs. Given the immense powers of the government to probe citizens, particularly in the digital age, it is absolutely essential that our intelligence agencies not be weaponized for political use.
Though a big GOP campaign contributor, Mr. Barr does not seem to be an obvious hothead. A well-off 68-year-old with round glasses and a deadpan expression, he has long been regarded as a careful lawyer and a member in good standing of the Washington establishment, having formerly served as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush.
Whether he will fairly explore what led to government surveillance of members of his boss’s campaign team remains to be seen.
But certainly this matter is something that the country’s top justice official should look into, whether that affects the ecosystem of cable news or not.
Read the whole story
 
· ·

Unredacted report needed

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Meanwhile, Trump's claiming, based on Barr's summary, that he is ... So is phoning Putin's buddy, al Bashir, to warn him that we were going to bomb ...

OP-ED: Mueller Report likely won't flatter Trump

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After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey over “this Russia thing,” Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller, a lifelong Republican and a man with an ...

"Rudy Giuliani" - Google News: Terrorist label is a convenient pretext for military intervention - Frederick News Post

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Terrorist label is a convenient pretext for military intervention  Frederick News Post
For the first time in history, the United States has designated a military unit of a foreign country as a terrorist group.


 "Rudy Giuliani" - Google News