Germany’s War Record (II)

BERLIN/KABUL (Own report) – Nearly 15 years ago, NATO launched its war on Afghanistan. Under the occupation – with Germany playing a significant role – the economic and social conditions of the country are disastrous and the security situation, desolate. Since 2001, more than 220,000 people have been killed in the war, either as direct victims of combat or indirectly, according to a comprehensive analysis. The security situation in the country has “dramatically deteriorated,” affirms the German Bundestag’s Defense Commissioner. Today, soldiers must be flown by helicopter from one base to another, because use of the roads is too dangerous, even for armored vehicles. According to the United Nations, the number of refugees has reached 1.1 million, tendency rising. Opium cultivation is still Afghanistan’s largest economic sector. By national standards, 39.1 percent of the Afghans are living below the poverty line; 2.7 million are undernourished. The Bundeswehr, however, detects a positive development and recommends “patience and endurance.” (This is part 2 of a german-foreign-policy.com series, reporting on consequences of German military interventions over the past two decades, in light of the German government’s announcement of plans to increase its “global” – including military – interventions.)

12% Budget Increase for Communications Monitoring

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The 2017 BND budget for the purpose is projected to be 808 million euros (about $909 million), the news magazine said on Wednesday citing secret budget documents.

Edward Snowden is a Russian Agent

And now we know how Snowden ‘learned’ Russian so quickly.

The American people have been fooled for some time now, however, because of his track record it’s what we’ve known for a while here on Global Geopolitics. Because of him, what’s left of the intelligence community has been set back at least 20 years.

It’s clear to see he works for the other side:

Edward Snowden Is Acting Very Strange Inside Russia

Former KGB Agent Claims That Anna Chapman Tried to Seduce Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden was targeted by Russian spies 6 years BEFORE he exposed US secrets

Edward Snowden Seeking to Join KGB Veterans Group

Britain pulls spies as Moscow cracks Snowden files: reports

NSA Director: Snowden’s Leaks Helped Terrorists Avoid Tracking

DOD official: Snowden ‘stole everything — literally everything’

NSA Leaker “Outed” as Russian Agent

 

Foto: AFP

 

Note: For documentation purposes, the entire article will remain here, in both English und auf Deutsch.

 

Three years after Edward Snowden, the American IT contractor turned global celebrity, made his media debut in Hong Kong, the truth of what really happened in this sensational affair remains elusive. The outline is clear. Snowden left his job in Hawaii with the National Security Agency in May 2013 and appeared at Hong Kong’s Mira Hotel on June 1, having made off with more than a million classified intelligence documents belonging to the American government. A few days later, Snowden appeared on camera to announce that he was lifting the top secret mask off NSA, America’s biggest and most secretive intelligence service.

Yet significant questions remain. Where was Snowden from 21 to 31 May 2013? His whereabouts in that period are unknown. Why did he choose to repeatedly visit the Russian consulate in Hong Kong, even celebrating his 30^th birthday there? What did those visits have to do with his departure for Moscow on June 23^rd? Last, why has Snowden never left Russia, three years after his arrival?

Islamic State’s online army is a Russian front, says German intelligence

A German intelligence report alleges that the so-called ‘Cyber Caliphate’, the online hacker wing of the Islamic State, is in fact a Russian front, ingeniously conceived to permit Moscow to hack Western targets without retaliation. The group calling itself Cyber Caliphate first appeared in early 2014, purporting to operate as the online wing of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), later renamed Islamic State. Today the Cyber Caliphate boasts a virtual army of hackers from dozens of countries, who are ostensibly operating as the online arm of the Islamic State. Their known activities include a strong and often concentrated social media presence, and computer hacking, primarily in the form of cyber espionage and cyber sabotage.

German foreign intelligence chief forced out

The head of Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency Gerhard Schindler is being pushed out of his job, government sources said on Tuesday. It is a surprise move that comes at a time when Germany faces a growing threat from Islamic militants.

29 German soldiers have joined ISIS, army may contain dozens of jihadist sympathizers – report

© Reuters

 

German counter-intelligence believes that at least 29 former soldiers from the country have left to join Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. An internal report also revealed that 65 active soldiers are being investigated for alleged jihadist sympathies.

The report was undertaken by the German military counter intelligence service (MAD), which was seen by the DPA news agency. The documents show that at least 29 former German soldiers have fled to the Middle East to join Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Social Democratic Party (SPD) MP Hans-Peter Bartels, who is responsible for oversight of the army, said on Tuesday that “Islamism isn’t the main problem of the Bundeswehr (German Army), however, he did mention that “it represents a real danger that we have to take seriously.”

Germany Just Can’t Get It Right

• How can you explain why Germany, which in the 20^th century had such a gigantic anti-Semitism problem, would import so many people from those areas of the world which now have the same gigantic anti-Semitism problem?
• The police water cannons were not in evidence on New Year’s Eve to break up the migrant gangs committing violent crimes against women. Instead they were used to break up a lawful demonstration of people opposed to such violent attacks on women.

The late Robert Conquest once laid out a set of three political rules, the last of which read, “The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.” This rule comes in handy when trying to understand the otherwise clearly insane and suicidal policies of Chancellor Merkel’s government in Germany. These policies only make sense if the German government has in fact been taken over by a cabal of people intent not on holding Germany together but on pulling it entirely apart. Consider the evidence.

Bloody Alliance (II)

RIYADH/BERLIN (Own report) – With its own anti-Iranian policy, the West had prepared the basis for the aggressive stance Saudi Arabia is currently taking in relationship to Teheran. This becomes clear, when looking at the Middle East policy pursued by the West over the past 13 years. During that period, western countries, including Germany, have been systematically strengthening Saudi Arabia to make it a countervailing power in confrontation with an emerging Iran, a function previously held by Iraq. The West has not only been supporting Riyadh economically but also militarily, including with supplies of repression technology – also from the Federal Republic of Germany – to put down possible domestic unrest. In the meantime, however, Germany’s interests have shifted and Berlin has assisted in reaching the nuclear agreement with Teheran. This will permit German enterprises to have close cooperation with Iran, promising high profits. This is why the German government now seeks to promote a settlement between Iran and Saudi Arabia and to induce Riyadh’s acceptance of a “dialogue.” Determined to continue its anti-Iranian course, Riyadh still rejects talking to Teheran.

The battles in N. Syria will determine the fate of the peace process

 

The US-Russian plan, approved by the UN Security Council as the lever for activating a political process towards ending the five-year Syrian war, can only go so far towards its objectives. The process is not capable of halting the fighting or removing Bashar Assad from power; just the reverse: progress in the talks is heavily dependent on the state of play on the battlefields of the north while the Syrian dictator’s ouster is a fading issue.

The limitations and obstacles facing the UN-endorsed US-Russian plan are summed up here by debkafile’s analysts:

1. The understanding reached by the Obama administration and the Kremlin in the past month was first conceived as a stopgap measure. It was never intended to bring the calamitous Syrian war to an end or remove Assad, but rather to provide a pretext to account for the expansion of Russia’s ground operation and gloss over America’s military deficiencies in the Syrian conflict. Taking it as carte blanche from Washington, President Vladimir Putin felt able to announce Saturday, Dec. 19, that “the Russian armed forces have not employed all of their capability in Syria and may use more military means there if necessary.” 

German spies cooperating again with Assad’s secret service – Bild

Germany’s spy agency is working again with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s secret service to swap information on Islamist militants, the Bild daily said, despite Berlin’s opposition to Assad staying in power under any peace deal for Syria.

Citing well-informed sources, the mass-circulation newspaper said German foreign intelligence BND agents had been travelling regularly to Damascus for some time for consultations with Syrian colleagues.

A European CIA (II)

All throughout the news you only hear about how the EU is crisis, how it’s unraveling at the seams and that its days are numbered. That may be so, but as well documented on this site, there’s an undercurrent pushing it in a united direction. Piece by piece and step by step, the United States of Europe, lead by Germany’s Fourth Reich, is under construction. In one way or another, it will be the replacement for what’s known as the EU today. The political structure is already in place and EU Army is slowly taking shape. Now we have the rise of a European CIA. The necessary components are being built.

Europe has much more to lose than the EU bloc if it doesn’t unite. It has Russia right at its doorstep waiting to pounce on a Europe it’s already successfully dividing. However, there is no magical way of knowing how things will turn out with Russia. There’s the very real possibility it might even merge with the EU, which will only be possible if barely-ready NATO gets the boot — and it’s already losing support.

 

BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Own report) – A German intelligence officer has assumed the management of the EU’s IntCen espionage agency and has the responsibility of enhancing its effectiveness. Last week, the BND’s Gerhard Conrad was appointed the new director of the Intelligence Analysis Center (IntCent), which is under the authority of the European External Action Service and lays the groundwork for an intelligence agency in the service of the EU’s foreign and military policy. The core of the agency has existed since 1999, with the objective of reducing the EU’s dependence on US intelligence services, to become militarily autonomous – even, if necessary, without the USA. Because of rivalry between the national intelligence agencies, particularly those of the larger EU countries, IntCen’s development had not progressed as rapidly as was hoped. As its new director, Conrad is expected to correct the situation. However, the German government continues to reject the substitution of its national intelligence services by an EU agency, because Berlin would have to give up its special advantages, for example, through the BND’s cooperation with the US agencies, and give up its methods that are incompatible with the interests of other EU member countries.

Germany snubs own intelligence agency for Saudi criticism

Berlin: The German government issued an unusual public rebuke to its own foreign intelligence service over a blunt memo saying that Saudi Arabia was playing an increasingly destabilising role in the Middle East.

The intelligence agency’s memo risked playing havoc with Berlin’s efforts to show solidarity with France in its military campaign against the Islamic State and to push forward the tentative talks on how to end the Syrian civil war. The Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament, is due to vote Friday on whether to send reconnaissance planes, midair fuelling capacity and a frigate to the Middle East to support the French efforts.

Saudi Arabia ‘destabilising Arab world’, German intelligence warns

It is unusual for the BND spy agency to publicly release such a blunt assessment on a country that is considered an ally of the West. Germany has long-standing political and economic ties with Saudi Arabia

…

Internal power struggles and the desire to emerge as the leading Arab power threaten to make the key Western ally a source of instability, according to the BND intelligence service.

Report: German Intelligence Agency Spied on FBI, US Arms Companies

Germany’s BND foreign intelligence service spied on the FBI and U.S. arms companies, a public radio station in the country disclosed Wednesday.

Europe, Still Angry at U.S. Spying, Prepares to Increase Its Own

It’s been said here often enough that the only scandal is the fake outrage at the NSA and America. This isn’t to say that the espionage never happened, but the reaction is purposely blown out of proportion to steer public opinion. The NSA has worked hand-in-hand with the German government for decades. German law does not permit the state to spy on its own citizens and therefore has contracted with the NSA to do the Bundesnachrichtendienst’s domestic dirty work. The underlying motive for the fake outrage is that Germany’s Fourth Reich, who now has recaptured Europe and established itself as the regional hegemon, wants the United States out. Therefore, you will see overblown and manufactured scandals such as these.

 

Just as the United States is taking a first step toward placating European privacy concerns about U.S. surveillance, several European countries are passing laws dramatically expanding their own spy programs.

The House last month passed the Judicial Redress Act, intended to extend some privacy protections to foreign citizens. Meanwhile, the French Senate just passed one of the broadest international surveillance bills in the world and several other European countries are moving in a similar direction.