By Raja, on April 19th, 2014 The Guardian, By Jason Leopold, April 18
James Mitchell ‘highly skeptical’ of Senate report on CIA torture – ‘It was not illegal based on the law at the time’ – Mitchell said to have waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – Interview: ‘I’m just a guy who got asked to do something for his country’
The psychologist regarded as the architect of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program has broken a seven-year silence to defend the use of torture techniques against al-Qaida terror suspects in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
In an uncompromising and wide-ranging interview with the Guardian, his first public remarks since he was linked to the program in 2007, James Mitchell was dismissive of a Senate intelligence committee report on CIA torture in which he features, and which is currently at the heart of an intense row between legislators and the agency.
Continue reading CIA torture architect breaks silence to defend ‘enhanced interrogation’
By steeleweed, on April 18th, 2014
By nymole, on April 18th, 2014
By Sean Paul Kelley, on April 17th, 2014 It seems I was wrong: Obama (and Putin) apparently do want a deal:
Top diplomats meeting here on the Ukraine crisis Thursday agreed that all parties, including separatists and their Russian backers, would stop violent and provocative acts, and that all illegal groups would be disarmed.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry said those steps must begin within days to be taken seriously, and President Obama was openly skeptical of Russian intentions.
The potential diplomatic breakthrough, which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov referred to as “a compromise, of sorts,” came after nearly seven hours of negotiations among Lavrov, Kerry, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
This is genuinely good news. The Nelson Reports’ reaction is after the jump for those inclined. One note: wouldn’t it be interesting if at some point in the near future people start talking of Finlandizing the Ukraine? While that’s not an optimal long term solution it sure as hell beats a civil war in the Ukraine.
Continue reading Makings of a Deal?
By nymole, on April 17th, 2014 Exuberant Master of Magic Realism
NYT -Gabriel García Márquez, the Colombian novelist, whose “One Hundred Years of Solitude” established him as a giant of 20th-century literature, died on Thursday at his home in Mexico City.
Oops- Another obit posted previously by Raja in Newswire.
By Actor 212, on April 17th, 2014
By Sean Paul Kelley, on April 17th, 2014 The Guardian has a city by city guide of pro-Russian takeovers in the Ukraine, here.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainians “have a good message” for the diplomatic talks in Geneva. Yay! They have a good PR team. Such awesome:
“We are going to talk, and we probably will have a good message,” Mr. Deshchytsia said about consultations with Mr. Kerry.
In the same article, it appears as if Kerry and Lavrov while talking about substance, don’t have much of a desire to reach an agreement:
But the four-way meeting began with an enormous gap between the Ukrainian and Russian positions. Ukrainian officials planned to present their ideas on how to decentralize authority so that the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine would elect their own leaders and have more control over local budgets.
But Russia has advocated a far more extensive version of federalism, one that would make Ukraine’s eastern provinces largely autonomous regions that could wield veto power over national issues like foreign policy, in effect increasing Moscow’s influence.
Continue reading City by City, Town By Town in the Ukraine
By Synoia, on April 16th, 2014 From the wishful thinking department:
In light of a study which indicated congress is not responsive to the people of the United States, but is only responsible to the Wealth and Corporations, the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit today in Federal court. Their legal theory will be “If you are not represented in government as shown by the preponderance of government decisions, you are not represented in fact, and therefore owe the government no taxes.” They will cite various historical events during the American Revolution in support of their argument, along with examples of European majority government.
Continue reading ACLU to File Lawsuit on Behalf of 250,000,000 Americans
By adrena, on April 16th, 2014 According to the 1%, civilization in 2025 will be cleaner, richer and decentralized.
So predict CEOs and world leaders at Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s invite-only summit.
The future is oh-so-very-elusive for those tasked with predicting it. Assemble your best team of analysts, collect the latest data, run the most sophisticated algorithms, extrapolate endlessly from the past, and still what you’re left with can only speak to the present moment. “One of our biggest challenges,” Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Nat Bullard lamented recently, “is that there’s no data about the future.” Just an informed guess about the shape and texture of what lies ahead. Source
However, the 1% is not perturbed by challenges and inadequate data. Not when optimism is good for the bottom line.
By William Boardman, on April 16th, 2014 Reader Supported News
Whether it’s a real crisis doesn’t matter as long as you’re afraid
Just when the U.S. Defense Secretary was in Japan giving indications that the Ukraine “crisis” was over as far as the U.S. was concerned, Ukrainians of all sorts, other Washington officials, and even the Japanese government all pitch in to keep the “crisis” alive, at least as a threat meme.
How much of a Ukraine crisis is it, really, when pro-Russians Ukrainians seize Ukrainian government buildings, calling for Russians protection/intervention – and the Russians don’t come? They don’t even threaten to come. That’s been true for several days as this is written. Maybe it won’t be true as you read it, since writing about Ukraine these days is like leaving a message in the sand without knowing where the tide line is on the beach.
Continue reading Ukraine: Is Anyone Playing This “Crisis” Straight?
By Sean Paul Kelley, on April 16th, 2014 . . . especially about matters of high finance we are obligated to read. All of it.
By Sean Paul Kelley, on April 16th, 2014 ABC News has been a bad actor for a while in the media games we have going on in America, especially Brian Ross. Seems ABC wants a piece of the Pulitzer action without having to do any of the work, too.
The Center for Public Integrity is having none of it and has the goods to back it up. Read the whole story, as they say. It’s worthwhile to get a better idea of just what goes in to producing the news. Guess what: it takes more than just an arrogant reporter from ABC with a camera swooping in to take credit.
By Sean Paul Kelley, on April 16th, 2014 Matt Taibbi makes too much sense. Just watch.
By Sean Paul Kelley, on April 16th, 2014 Look: innocent people are going to die. There will be more violence in the Ukraine. It could turn into a civil war. A portion of that blood will be on the hands of the regime running the Ukraine presently. Another portion of that blood will be on the hands of Vladimir Putin. And the last helping of blood will be on the hands of the United States of America in conjunction with its NATO allies.
Why?
Simple: we could prevent this. If Obama wanted peace in the Ukraine he’d send Kerry to Moscow today and tell him to get a deal done.
But that would require real concessions to Russia. Exceptional America doesn’t make concessions.
So, innocent people will die because Americans are exceptional.
How’s that R2P taste now?
By Actor 212, on April 16th, 2014
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