MCViewPoint

Opinion from a Libertarian ViewPoint

Posts Tagged ‘Jamal Khashoggi’

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How Israeli spyware firm NSO operates in shadowy cyber world

Posted by M. C. on May 14, 2019

In 2016, Apple rushed out a security update after researchers said prominent Emirati rights activist Ahmed Mansoor was targeted by UAE authorities using Pegasus spyware.

Like Superman and his X-Ray vision – NSO uses its spyware that thoroughly invades your privacy without your knowing it only for good.

https://www.wionews.com/photos/how-israel-spyware-firm-nso-operates-in-shadowy-cyber-world-218782#israeli-spyware-company-report-on-whatsapp-security-218747

Israeli spyware company report on WhatsApp security

An Israeli spyware company named in a Financial Times report on a WhatsApp security flaw prides itself on “rigorous, ethical standards” despite previous links to alleged espionage.

Founded in 2010 by Israelis Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie, NSO is based in the Israeli seaside hi-tech hub of Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.

It produces Pegasus, a highly invasive tool that can reportedly switch on a target’s cell phone camera and microphone, and access data on it, effectively turning the phone into a pocket spy. Read the rest of this entry »

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D.C.’s Own Khashoggi Moment – LewRockwell

Posted by M. C. on April 18, 2019

Wait a minute! Which state-backed murder am I talking about! Sorry, I forgot. Yes, it was the Saudi murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the upcoming disappearance and eventual US murder of Julian Assange by the CIA, with full support from CIA wings in the US press, Congress and Executive suite.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/04/karen-kwiatkowski/d-c-s-own-khashoggi-moment/

By

We have President Trump tweeting and getting jiggy with the Saudi’s in his promise-breaking veto of Congress’s hard-won vote to end the US support, munitions, supplies and military leadership in the Saudi decimation of Yemen.

I mean after 4 years, haven’t the profits already been made?  Congress thought so, and in a rare move, actually did their job. Trump’s advisors, Pompous and Butthead, apparently think otherwise.

The US-Saudi hand-in-hand, hand-in-glove, and head-up-ass relationship is embarrassing, shameful and evil.  It stinks of old colonialism and greed, with a whiff of wobbly wicked petrodollar.  It is about murder, and the cover-up of murder.

We love us some Saudi Arabia, that’s for sure.   We will soon be seeing a Jamal Kashoggi style snatch and grab, only instead of cutting Julian Assange up in small pieces in Belmarsh Prison in London, he will be moved in the dark of night into one of the US rendition facilities around the world, very likely a place with a heavy UK and US presence like Diego Garcia…

He will likewise know nothing about the pieces that will be cut from Julian Assange, and the drugs, deprivation, and special interrogation techniques that will be applied in order to what? Get information that isn’t reliable and can’t be used in court? Don’t be silly!…

Beyond specific short-term goals, there are the longer-term goals of the deep state, both parties, and Pompous and Butthead and their tribe.  These include obviously, deterrence of government criticism, and strong deterrence of whistleblowers and sharing information with Wikileaks specifically.  It includes the steering of major social media and data companies around the world away from horrific government revelation porn, and towards the legit family-style porn, which in this particular case will include the snuffing of Julian Assange.

You heard it here first.  No one will be happier to be called a misguided, down home dumbass than me if we see a public trial of Mr. Assange in the Free Nation of the United States Eastern District Court, with a top notch defense team paid for by Kim Dot Com, hundreds of defense witnesses and lots of global news coverage.

If Assange is disappeared and buried at sea in accordance with his faith in the next 18 months, the US and the rest of the world’s governments who uniformly failed to prevent this will have indicated to the people that liberty and transparency is dead, and there is no more reason to talk.

Be seeing you

e4dd4-iu

 

 

 

 

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Several of Khashoggi’s Killers Were Trained in US – News From Antiwar.com

Posted by M. C. on April 1, 2019

This new revelation is almost certain to add to Congressional calls to further stem ties with the Saudi government, specifically so US training and equipment aren’t involved in routine atrocities such as this.

Pipe Dream

https://news.antiwar.com/2019/03/31/several-of-khashoggis-killers-were-trained-in-us/

Jason Ditz

In a further blow to US-Saudi ties, reports emerged this weekend on the October murder of Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi kill team. The kill team’s leader, Maher Mutreb, and other members, had apparently been trained by the US government in the past.

It’s a familiar story, heard often enough when the US aligns itself with a country with a flimsy human rights record. The trainees were part of ongoing routine training operations meant to increase the ties of rank and file Saudi figures with the US security state.

During his training Mutreb, a colonel in the Saudi apy agency, apparently went so far as to try to befriend Khashoggi, likely gathering more intelligence on him, but likely also making his murder all the more uncomfortable…

Be seeing you

saudi gift

The Other Saudi Assassination

 

 

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Trump’s Decision to Leave Syria Was No ‘Surprise’ | The American Conservative

Posted by M. C. on December 21, 2018

Good news. The possible downside is these troops may end up dying in Africa “defending America”.

According to recent articles there are more US ops in Africa than in the ME.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/trumps-decision-to-leave-syria-was-no-surprise/

In 1966, in the midst of the Vietnam War, Vermont Senator George Aiken recommended that President Lyndon Johnson simply “declare victory and get out.” While what Aiken actually said was more complex (because the U.S. couldn’t win militarily, he implied, it should stop deploying troops and start deploying diplomats), his statement is commonly cited as an example of foreign policy wisdom—then, as now, a much depleted currency in Washington.

While it’s doubtful that President Donald Trump has studied Aiken’s views (or even heard of him), his decision on Wednesday to order the unilateral withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria is one of the few “Aiken moments” in American history. Not surprisingly, given Trump’s inclinations, the news came in a tweet posted by the president on Wednesday morning: “We have defeated ISIS on Syria,” Trump announced, “my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” U.S. officials later said that all U.S. troops would be removed from Syria over the next 60 to 100 days.

While the announcement took much of official Washington by surprise, The American Conservative has learned that a select group of administration officials, as well as a handful of senior military officers, knew of Trump’s decision as early as Saturday morning. According to these officials, all of whom required anonymity in exchange for the information, Trump’s decision came as a result of a lengthy telephone exchange he had had with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday. Everything that Trump announced today, we have been told, was decided in that call… Read the rest of this entry »

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Meet the Senators Who Took Saudi Money | The American Conservative

Posted by M. C. on December 9, 2018

To be sure, lobbyists and firms working for the Saudis have also made considerable campaign contributions to senators who voted for the measure. For example, Bob Corker

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/meet-the-senators-who-took-saudi-money/

By Ben Freeman

And then voted against the measure that would get America out of the Kingdom’s war in Yemen.

In the wake of the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Senate voted last week to advance a resolution ending U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen. We are now awaiting a Senate floor debate and a motion to proceed, which could come as early as Monday.

While the measure passed, opposition from the Saudi lobby was fierce and strongly reflected in the vote. In fact, of the 37 senators who voted against the measure, 30 have received campaign contributions from lobbying firms working for the Saudis. In total, an analysis of Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) records reveals at least $226,182 in campaign contributions reported by firms registered to represent Saudi Arabia that went to these 30 senators over the past two years.

The top recipient of Saudi lobbying firm contributions among senators who voted against the measure was Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, who received $27,150. Heller’s vote against the resolution on Wednesday was notable given that he had previously voted against an arms sale to Saudi Arabia and was a co-sponsor of legislation that would have prohibited the U.S. military from refueling Saudi warplanes.

Heller’s haul from Saudi lobbyists was closely followed by Roger Wicker, Ted Cruz, and Roy Blunt, Republicans all, who have received $25,550, $23,000, and $19,250, respectively, from Saudi lobbyists over the past two years. On the campaign trail, Cruz called the possibility of the Saudi government ordering the murder of Jamal Khashoggi “troubling” and said “there should be real consequences for that.” His vote Wednesday was to block one of those consequences… Read the rest of this entry »

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Mohammed bin Salman: Too Big to Fail – LobeLog

Posted by M. C. on November 9, 2018

They know that the United States has never put its relationship with Saudi Arabia on the line over any human rights issue or over the fate of any individual. Some economic or strategic goal always overrides human rights considerations.

https://lobelog.com/mohammed-bin-salman-too-big-to-fail/

Thomas Lippman

A month after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, an international consensus is emerging about how to respond: deplore the crime, demand justice, but don’t cut ties with the kingdom. In particular, don’t cut off Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the man widely believed to have ordered the killing of the dissident journalist.

The ambitious, impetuous crown prince, known as MbS, is probably damaged goods as a person. He’s unlikely to receive another lavish welcome in Silicon Valley any time soon. But he has become the diplomatic equivalent of some big banks: too big to fail.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suspended weapons sales to await the outcome of Saudi Arabia’s investigation of the murder. That sounds like strong action, but it’s a whitewash. The chances that the investigation will conclude that MbS was responsible for Khashoggi’s death are close to zero,… Read the rest of this entry »

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Western Media Make One Death a Tragedy, Millions a Statistic

Posted by M. C. on November 2, 2018

One of the most despicable headlines was from the BBC which described it as a “forgotten war”. The conflict is only “forgotten” because the BBC and other Western news outlets have chosen to routinely drop it from their coverage.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/10/31/western-media-make-one-death-tragedy-millions-statistic.html

FINIAN CUNNINGHAM

The Western media coverage devoted to the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi proves the cynical adage that one person’s death is a tragedy, while millions of deaths are a mere statistic.

During the past four weeks since Khashoggi went missing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the case has been constantly in the news cycle. Contrast that with the sparse coverage in Western news media of the horrific Saudi war in Yemen during the past four years.

The United Nations has again recently warned that 16 million in Yemen were facing death from starvation as a result of the war waged on that country by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab partners, with the crucial military support of the US, Britain and France. That imminent death toll hardly registered a response from Western media or governments.

Last week, some 21 Yemeni workers at a vegetable packing plant near the Red Sea port of Hodeida were killed after US-backed Saudi warplanes launched air strikes. Again, hardly any condemnation was registered by Western governments and media pundits. Read the rest of this entry »

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Saudi Arabia Financed the Killers of American Troops I Commanded – Antiwar.com Original

Posted by M. C. on October 24, 2018

All told, I—like hundreds of other officers—sacrificed young American soldiers fighting an “enemy” too often armed and funded by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

https://original.antiwar.com/danny_sjursen/2018/10/23/saudi-arabia-financed-the-killers-of-american-troops-i-commanded/

by 

This article originally appeared at TruthDig.

It’s time to ask an uncomfortable question: What exactly is the U.S. getting out of its partnership with Saudi Arabia? The answer is: nothing but headaches, human rights abuses and national embarrassment. In the cynical past, the US could at least argue that it needed Saudi oil, but that’s no longer the case, due to the shale-oil boom (though that fact is not necessarily good for an ever-warming planet).

Recently, the crimes of the Saudi government managed to pierce the Trump-all-the-time-Kanye-West-sometimes media-entertainment complex due to Riyadh’s likely murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. That the U.S.-Saudi relationship is, however briefly, coming under the proverbial microscope is a good thing. Still, it is astonishing that this incident—rather than dozens of other crimes—finally garnered attention. Even so, President Trump appears reluctant to cancel his negotiated $110 billion record arms deal with the kingdom.

For me, it’s personal. Saudi Arabia’s fingerprints—both of its government and private-citizen donors—have been all over America’s various opponents these past 17 years of war. Read the rest of this entry »

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The World Looks the Other Way – Taki’s Magazine

Posted by M. C. on October 23, 2018

http://takimag.com/article/the-world-looks-the-other-way/#axzz5UV0rGzyd

by Taki 

Is Mohammad bin Salman a murderer? Is it fair to say he is a hairy coward who has starved millions of children in Yemen? Did his crawling parasites dismember Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last week? Is this man a perverted sadist? If so, this is the real scandal.

I doubt much will come of this murder most foul. Jared Kushner, The Donald’s son-in-law, could well see to it. Kushner probably smelled money to be made from the Saudis as soon as he got his Jersey bum in the White House. But I suspect he has been played by MBS, as has The Donald, and as will every financier licking their chops for the initial offering of Aramco. MBS might well be a maniac and out of control, though Thomas Friedman of The New York Times described him as a messiah, a cross between Lincoln and Roosevelt. No prizes for guessing what MBS did for Friedman in return… Read the rest of this entry »

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Why is Saudi Arabia under fire over Jamal Khashoggi, but not Yemen? | Global development | The Guardian

Posted by M. C. on October 19, 2018

Unlike Khashoggi, the thousands of Yemeni civilians who have been blown up by the Saudi royal air force do not write for the Washington Post.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/oct/17/why-is-saudi-arabia-under-fire-over-jamal-khashoggi-but-not-yemen

The alleged killing of a dissident journalist has had more global impact than unchecked Saudi aggression in Yemen…

Reports of an airstrike claiming the lives of at least 20 members of a wedding party, or 40 children killed when a Saudi bomb hit their school bus, may prompt a story in a national newspaper and perhaps a handwringing statement expressing “concern” by a foreign minister.

But real political action does not follow.

The deaths are instead explained away. Read the rest of this entry »

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