Kremlin Glorifies Military, Ignores Social Decay

The end of winter in Russia is marked by two holidays that, although major, are somewhat less prominent than New Year's. The first is Defender of the Fatherland Day on Feb. 23 and the second is International Women's Day on March 8.

Feb. 23 began as a day honoring military servicemen, but with Women's Day just a few weeks later, it gradually became a holiday devoted to men in general. On Feb. 23, women congratulate men, and on March 8, men present gifts and flowers to women. This show of mutual affection remains one of the few pleasant customs that every Russian continues to follow — including those people born after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

See more

MILITARY'S 'BIGGEST PROBLEM IS CONSENSUAL SEX'

The U.S. Senate is quietly moving toward a vote on a plan to curb sexual assaults in the military by moving sexual assault cases and other major criminal allegations out of the military justice system and into civilian courts, a move former Pentagon official Jed Babbin claims creates a whole set of new problems without doing anything to solve the rising number of assaults.

Babbin also said there’s an even bigger problem in the military: consensual sex.

See more

White House disputes Israeli embassy tweet

The war of words between the White House and Israel over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress Tuesday intensified Friday after the Israeli embassy lampooned a potential Iranian nuclear deal in a mock New York Times headline from the future.

The Embassy of Israel's official Twitter account, @IsraelinUSA, on Thursday sent out a tweet that included a fake New York Times front page from March 2025 with the headline: 'How We Duped The West: Iranian Pres. Declares.'"

See more

Military thriller: If suitcase nuke exploded at U.S. border

Truth is just as strange as fiction, as the recent U.S. release of five key Taliban figures closely mirrors the plot line of Scott McEwen’s new novel, “Target America: A Sniper Elite Novel,” which suggests the consequences of such a move could be calamitous within our own borders.

McEwen is a prolific author, known best for co-writing the best-selling “American Sniper” alongside famed military sniper and U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. “American Target” is the latest in McEwen’s Sniper Elite series. He also co-authored the nonfiction work “Eyes on Target,” which chronicles the Benghazi terrorist attack and the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and how he believes the Obama administration poorly served Navy SEALs in both events.

See more

U.S. generals now take action to watch Obama

After one of them called for the “forced resignations” of President Obama and congressional leaders in response to multiple grievances, including the alleged political purge of hundreds of senior military officers, two retired U.S. generals are creating a citizens’ commission to scrutinize Obama administration actions on national security and economic issues.

“America’s Provisional Leadership Council” will look at major concerns, as outlined by Army Gen. Paul E. Vallely and Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles Jones, in an eight-point paper titled “The Americans Project.”

See more

2 Classified Documents Leaked By Egyptian Security Implicate Obama, Clintons In Aiding And Abetting Terrorists

Two new, classified documents leaked by Egyptian security implicate President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton in the aiding and abetting of terrorists.

The documents have been entered as evidence in the criminal trials of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and other top Muslim Brotherhood leaders, scheduled to begin next month in Cairo.

Obtained by Arabic-speaking former Palestinian Liberation Organization-member Walid Shoebat and posted Thursday on his website, the two leaked documents provide evidence Egyptian security forces have monitored the movements and activities of Obama’s half-brother, Malik Obama, and his Islamic Dawa Organization, or IDO.

See more

Isis killer Mohammed Emwazi had link to 2005 London bomb plot

Mohammed Emwazi, the Islamic State extremist known as “Jihadi John”, was able to flee Britain and the scrutiny of the security services, despite being a member of a terror cell that was known to have links to the failed 21/7 attacks on London in 2005, the Observer can reveal.

One leading member of Emwazi’s network had a telephone conversation on the day of the attacks with Hussein Osman, who was later jailed for life for placing an explosive at Shepherd’s Bush tube station.

See more

Check Out These Terrific Home Security Tips

You need a home that is always safe for you and your loved ones. Your family must know that when they return home from being out it will be to a place that is safe and secure. Protection begins with the tips detailed below.

Your dog can keep your spare house key for you. If your dog lives outside or is able to come and go through a dog door, this is a viable idea. Simply attach a spare key to your dog’s collar (in a secure and non-visible place, of course) so that you’ll be able to retrieve it if you need it.

Be smart about where you decide to hide spare keys. Never put a spare key under a doormat or above a door jam. Instead, try hiding a key on the collar of an outside dog.

See more

How I requested my photographs from the Department of Homeland Security

I have my photograph taken and my fingerprints scanned every time I enter the United States. So do all other foreign nationals. The information is collected under the US-VISIT program. Information such as name, date of birth, gender, and travel document data is recorded as well. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request I filed in November 2014, the Department of Homeland Security released a document containing information collected about me under this program over the last four years.

In addition to photographs, the 21-page document contains entries for every encounter I have had with the agency in that period. Most of these encounters were recorded at airports around the country, but there are also entries for appointments related to immigration and enrollment into the Global Entry program.

See more

Mexico captures Knights Templar drug cartel leader

Mexican federal police captured Knights Templar drug cartel leader Servando Gomez on Friday, taking down one of the country’s most wanted fugitives whose gang tormented the western state of Michoacan.

Gomez, alias “La Tuta,” was detained without a shot fired in Morelia, Michoacan’s capital, a National Security Commission official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The 49-year-old former teacher is being transferred to Mexico City, where authorities will hold a press conference about the capture, which was the result “of several months of intelligence work by federal police,” the official said.

See more

TASER announces wildlife management stungun

We've seen TASER electroshock weapons designed for law enforcement,personal protection and even riot control, but in all of the above cases, it's a human on the receiving end. Now the company has a different target in sight for its "less lethal" technology ... and it's one that could create as muchcontroversy as its predecessors – the TASER Wildlife Electronic Control Device (ECD).

Introduced at this week's SHOT Show in Las Vegas, the TASER Wildlife ECD has been developed as an alternative tool for less effective methods of animal control used by wildlife professionals like chemical or acoustic repellents. It is designed for use on large animals like bears and elk.

See more

The U.S. Doesn't Like It When China Wants To Build Encryption Backdoors

The NSA and U.S. tech giants have come to blows over government backdoors in encryption products lately, with the government arguing that backdoors are vital to national security, and the likes of Yahoo claiming it will make encryption pointless. Well, it looks the party line on backdoors changes pretty sharpish when China is involved.

See more

Why 'Islamic State' is terrorizing Christians

News of the abduction of more than 200 Syrian Christians by the "Islamic State" has spread throughout the world. This was precisely IS's intention. Its acts of terrorism are part of a cynical media strategy.

It is still unclear what the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) will do with approximately 220 Christians it has abducted from several villages in northern Syria in recent days. The best-case scenario is that they may try to exchange them for jihadists held in Syrian prisons. The worst-case scenario is that they may become victims of IS's politics of symbolism, to demonstrate once again that the group has declared war on Christians and Christianity worldwide.

See more

Dems also thought Iraq had WMD

I'm sorry, but I get so tired of hearing about the rantings of misinformed folk out there who constantly bring up the topic of WMDs in Iraq and blame it solely on the Republicans and George Bush.

In fact, there were a number of very prominent Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton and John Kerry who were leading the way on confirming the presence of WMDs in Iraq.

See more

Police in German city warn of Islamist terrorism threat

 Police in the northwestern German city of Bremen said on Saturday that they had received information "from a federal authority" about "activities of potential Islamist offenders."

They said that "coordinated and appropriate security measures" were being taken to combat the threat of a terrorist attack, including in public spaces.

A police spokesman told the DPA news agency that all relevant buildings were being protected.

No further details were given.

See more

Mohammed Emwazi: Security approach ineffective, says Davis

UK intelligence agencies have a flawed anti-terrorism strategy, former shadow home secretary David Davis has said.

The Tory MP argued the case of Mohammed Emwazi - the Islamic State extremist known as "Jihadi John" - showed relying on disrupting suspects was ineffective.

Extremists like Emwazi - who was known to MI5 before going to Syria - had been left free to "carry out evil deeds", he said, calling for more prosecutions.

See more

IAEA Beginning to Acknowledge Flaws In Its Intelligence Info About Iranian Nuclear Program (Much of It From Israel!)

United Nations inspectors’ reluctance to follow up a tip on Iran’s nuclear program indicates their agency may be acknowledging the flaws in some of its intelligence, according to a former official.

More than three years after the International Atomic Energy Agency published reports of high-explosive tests in Marivan, near the border with Iraq, officials still haven’t taken up Iranian offers to visit the alleged blast site.

See more

Defense Intelligence Told NOT To Update Obama on bin Laden Documents

The U.S. government captured more than one million documents during the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Top administration officials initially described it as “a treasure trove” of intelligence on al Qaeda and its affiliates. But more than three years later, the senior DIA official who ran the project, Colonel Derek Harvey, says the intelligence community has fully analyzed less than 10 percent of the collection. Top DIA officials were told directly to stop providing analyses based on the bin Laden documents. The administration had decided to end the war on terror, and no amount of new intelligence about threats from al Qaeda was going to change their minds. So they chose ignorance.

See more

‘Military-Grade’: Alleged Arms Traffickers Extradited to US

Three alleged international arms dealers have been extradited to the U.S. from Europe to stand trial for allegedly conspiring to sell “military-grade” machine guns and anti-aircraft weapons to a Colombian terrorist group, the Department of Justice announced today.

The trio was arrested in December, at which time the Department of Justice described in a statement how the suspects allegedly had unwittingly attempted to unload their deadly wares on confidential sources working with the Drug Enforcement Agency. The suspects believed the weapons were going to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, the DOJ said.

See more

Multiple Lines of Inquiry to Be Pursued Following Nemtsov's Murder

Russia's Investigative Committee is pursuing several lines on inquiry following the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, including the possibility it was an attempt to destabilize the political situation, Interfax news agency said.

It said the committee, which answers to President Vladimir Putin, also saw an attack by radical Islamists as a possibility in the case and that there could be links with events in Ukraine.

See more

The Bear Awakens: Russia's Military Is Back

One of the distinguishing characteristics of Vladimir Putin’s presidency has been his commitment to revitalizing Russia’s military. Putin, who has noted that Russia’s perceived weakness makes it vulnerable to external pressure and internal disruption, is pushing for increased funding to transform the Russian armed forces from the debilitated remnants inherited from the old Soviet superpower military machine into a smaller, but more modern, mobile, technologically advanced and capable twenty-first century force.

See more

Outdated intelligence tactics allowing UK terror threat to grow – Davis

Britain’s intelligence agencies are leaving known terrorists to “carry out evil deeds” through a flawed approach which focuses on disrupting rather than prosecuting suspects, the former shadow home secretary David Davis has warned.

As the agencies faced fresh questions over their handling of Islamic State extremist Mohammed Emwazi, Davis claimed that their tactics had allowed the terror threat to grow.

See more

CIOs and CISOs to focus on threat intelligence

Chief Information Officers (CIO), Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and other senior IT leaders will increasingly deploy threat intelligence-based solutions in their enterprise networks over the next three years, according to a new report.

The ‘2015 Global Megatrends in Cybersecurity report', sponsored by Raytheon and carried out by the Ponemon Institute, surveyed 1,006 CIOs, CISOs and senior IT managers and found that this threat intelligence will be among the key technologies deployed in enterprise networks by 2018, with encryption at rest and in motion, big data analytics, SIEM and automated forensics tools also expected to be integrated. In addition, IT leaders will look to transition to next-generation web-app firewalls and sandboxing technologies.

See more

Exposed: Ukraine's Massive Witch Hunt

It has become somewhat of a cliché to say that Ukraine is Europe’s most corrupt country. While the the IMF agreed on February 12 to extend to Kyiv a new $17.5 billion rescue package over four years in exchange for continued structural reforms, the real question is if staving off the country from an imminent default at the hands of international creditors (read, Russia) would be enough. Why? Because one of the unanswered questions for Kyiv’s leaders is whether they have the mettle to deal with the country’s public enemy #2: corruption.

See more

National Security Expert: U.S. Foreign Policy Leaders ‘Have Lost The Ability To Think’

From his time briefing generals in the Pentagon, Stephen Coughlin — a leading expert on national security and author of the soon-to-be-published book, “Catastrophic Failure: Blindfolding America in the Face of Jihad” — has always feared for our nation’s safety and thinks it’s time for the government to stop lying.

Coughlin is an attorney, decorated intelligence officer and expert on Islamic law and terrorism. He says the “entire world, friend and foe alike, understands, that starting with the Bush administration and accelerating in the Obama administration, that our foreign policy community is absolutely incoherent and completely vulnerable. These people have lost the ability to think.”

He contends that government bureaucrats have become so focused on fighting “narratives” consistent with a post-modern, politically correct worldview, rather than the facts on the ground, that America’s war on terrorism has become a catastrophic failure.

See more

What the War on Terror Has Wrought: More Terrorism

Tell you what: I’ve been critical of the ”war on terror” since September 12, 2001 and particularly since 10/7 when the war on Afghanistan was launched.

If the War on Terror was the answer to 9/11, the U.S. and its friends asked the wrong questions.

Because, what has been the result?

According to U.S. statistics at the time, in the years up to the horrific crime in New York, about 1,000-1,500 people were hit by terror per year worldwide; 1/3 of whom died, the rest were wounded.

See more

Picasso painting declared as $37 Christmas present intercepted by US customs

A stolen Picasso painting worth millions was nabbed by U.S. customs authorities in Newark, New Jersey who didn’t believe the Fed Ex package was a Christmas gift worth only $37.

The cubist oil-on-canvas, called “La Coiffeuse” — or “The Hairdresser” in English—was painted in 1911 and belongs to the National Museums of France. The former head of the NMF, George Salles, bequeathed it in 1966 when it was placed in the Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris. It was last publicly exhibited in Germany as a loan to the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung before it was returned to France and placed at the Centre George Pompidou museum in Paris,the New York Post reported. 

See more

Ernest Hemingway’s Private WWII-Era Spy Network

During World War II Hemingway organized a private spy network, which he jokingly called the Crook Factory, and gathered information about Nazi sympathizers on the island. But in a secret, 124-page report on Hemingway, the FBI—which feared his personal prestige and political power—expressed resentment at his amateur but alarming intrusion into their territory, and unsuccessfully attempted to control and vilify him.

See more