And lots more.
First, some history with the Associated Press:
US trained Alaskans as secret ‘stay-behind agents’
Fearing a Russian invasion and occupation of Alaska, the U.S. government in the early Cold War years recruited and trained fishermen, bush pilots, trappers and other private citizens across Alaska for a covert network to feed wartime intelligence to the military, newly declassified Air Force and FBI documents show.
Invasion of Alaska? Yes. It seemed like a real possibility in 1950.
“The military believes that it would be an airborne invasion involving bombing and the dropping of paratroopers,” one FBI memo said. The most likely targets were thought to be Nome, Fairbanks, Anchorage and Seward.
So FBI director J. Edgar Hoover teamed up on a highly classified project, code-named “Washtub,” with the newly created Air Force Office of Special Investigations, headed by Hoover protege and former FBI official Joseph F. Carroll.
More history from PetaPixel:
US Spy Satellites Used to Drop Photos in ‘Film Buckets’ from Space for Airplanes to Catch in Mid-Air
So, you think taking your film to the local shop to get developed is a pain? Try being an American spy satellite in the 1960s. Getting your film developed then meant dropping it in a special ‘film bucket’ capsule from space, which the US Air Force then had to catch in mid-air.
Strange as this seems, this is in fact how it worked, as you can see in the video above. Photographs captured by these so-called “Corona” satellites were shot on special 70 millimeter Kodak film using two panoramic cameras that evolved over the course of the program.
The satellites carried anywhere between 8,000 and 16,000 feet of film per camera (depending on the year and thickness of the film) and once one of these rolls was spent, it would be jettisoned in a GE reentry capsule nicknamed “film bucket.” This is where it gets interesting.
Der Spiegel offers the latest Snowden leaks:
A Two-Faced Friendship: Turkey Is ‘Partner and Target’ for the NSA
Documents from the archive of whistleblower Edward Snowden reveal wide-scale spying against Turkey by America’s NSA and Britain’s GCHQ. They also show the US worked closely with Ankara to battle Kurdish separatists.
Documents from the archive of US whistleblower Edward Snowden that SPIEGEL and The Intercept have seen show just how deeply involved America has become in Turkey’s fight against the Kurds. For a time, the NSA even delivered its Turkish partners with the mobile phone location data of PKK leaders on an hourly basis. The US government also provided the Turks with information about PKK money flows and the whereabouts of some of its leaders living in exile abroad.
At the same time, the Snowden documents also show that Turkey is one of the United States’ leading targets for spying. Documents show that the political leadership in Washington, DC, has tasked the NSA with divining Turkey’s “leadership intention,” as well as monitoring its operations in 18 other key areas. This means that Germany’s foreign intelligence service, which drew criticism in recent weeks after it was revealed it had been spying on Turkey, isn’t the only secret service interested in keeping tabs on the government in Ankara.
Turkey’s strategic location at the junction of Europe, the Soviet Union, and the Middle East made the NATO member state an important partner to Western intelligence agencies going back to the very beginning of the Cold War. The Snowden documents show that Turkey is the NSA’s oldest partner in Asia. Even before the NSA’s founding in 1952, the CIA had established a “Sigint,” or signals intelligence, partnership with Turkey dating back to the 1940s.
The Associated Press brings us up to date:
German security official warns of terror threat
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency expects that Islamic extremists who have traveled to Syria and Iraq will return and commit terror attacks.
Unlike Britain, Germany hasn’t raised its national threat level for terrorism recently. But Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said in an interview broadcast Sunday that there was an “increased abstract threat” of attacks in Germany.
At least 400 people from Germany have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight with Islamic extremist groups, though the real figure may be significantly higher, Maassen told Deutschlandfunk radio.
And the Register covers iCloud insecurity:
JLaw, Upton caught in celeb nude pics hack
100 women victimised as Apple iCloud accounts reportedly popped
Naked photos of US celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Ariana Grande have been published online by an anonymous hacker who reportedly obtained the explicit pics from the victims’ Apple iCloud accounts.
Nude photos of 17 celebrities have been published online. The anonymous hacker posting on grime-‘n-gore board 4Chan claimed to have naked pics on more than 100 celebrities in total.
Lawrence’s publicist Bryna Rifkin confirmed the validity of the photos and condemned their publication.
More everyday insecurity from Threatpost:
Backoff Sinkhole Reveals Sorry Point-of-Sale Security
Kaspersky Lab researchers say that a recent analysis of two Backoff malware command and control servers paints “a very bleak picture of the state of point-of-sale security.”
Kaspersky Lab sinkholed two of the malware’s command and control servers. In just two days, nearly 100 infected systems, mostly in the U.S. and Canada but also in a number of other countries, attempted to contact the servers which are now no longer controlled by Backoff’s authors. Victims are said to include a popular Mexican restaurant chain in the U.S., a North American freight shipping and transport logistics company, a liquor store chain in the U.S., a North American payroll association and more.
Backoff is a piece of malware that targets the point-of-sale terminals that process payment information at retail locations. This year has been something of a golden age for such malware. Breaches at Target and Michael’s are known to have been caused by point-of-sale malware, and breaches of customer payment data at various other locations like the Albertson’s and Supervalu grocery store conglomerates, UPS, and others are all but confirmed to have been caused by point-of-sale malware as well.
In the past year, we’ve written about at least four different point-of-sale threats: Chewbacca, Dexter, a class of malware known as RAM scrapers and now Backoff.
The Latin American Herald Tribune covers another kind of domestic insecurity:
Hired Guns Slay Union Leader in Colombia’s Oil Industry
A union leader in the oil industry in the central Colombian province of Meta was gunned down by hired killers riding a motorcycle, officials said Saturday.
Edith Santos was hit with two bullets in the chest while in her office at San Isidro de Chichineme in Acacias, Meta Province, the USO petroleum workers union said in a communique.
The union leader’s family took her to a medical center in the region where she soon died.
Santos was president of a community association and assessor for the National Security Professionals Union, or Sinproseg, which represents bodyguards and security guards in all Colombia.
Across the Atlantic with an alarm from the London Telegraph:
Top general blasts Cameron’s weakness on Putin and Islamic State
A former British commander of Nato accuses the Prime Minister of demeaning himself with a ‘flaccid’ stance against the Islamic State
David Cameron has demeaned himself with a “flaccid” response to the crisis in Iraq a former British Nato commander has said in scathing attack on Government foreign policy.
Gen Sir Richard Shirreff likened the Prime Minister’s stance to the appeasement of the 1930s and said it would embolden Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.
Sir Richard, who until recently was the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Nato Europe, accused Mr Cameron of losing his nerve and undermining Nato by declaring he does not want to send troops abroad to fight.
SINA English fires a counterblast:
Don’t mess with nuclear Russia, Putin says
President Vladimir Putin said on Friday Russia’s armed forces, backed by its nuclear arsenal, were ready to meet any aggression, declaring at a pro-Kremlin youth camp that foreign states should understand: “It’s best not to mess with us.”
Putin told the assembly, on the banks of a lake near Moscow, the Russian takeover of Crimea in March was essential to save a largely Russian-speaking population from Ukrainian government violence.
He said continued fighting in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists launched an uprising in April, was the result of a refusal by Kiev to negotiate.
Vocativ covers ad hoc dronage:
Poor Man’s Drone Warfare in Eastern Ukraine
Crowdfunded pro-Ukrainian “nerd units” are using unarmed drones to spot separatist forces and guide their mortar attacks on target
Ukraine’s military geeks are bringing the fury to the front line. The pro-Ukrainian volunteer fighters were frustrated with the lack of organization and funding of the Ukrainian army, so the self-proclaimed “nerd units” decided to take matters into their own hands. They crowdsourced funds to purchase drones and quadcopters. And now the eye-in-the-sky machines are proving to be a game-changer in the fight against pro-Russian separatists.
Aerial information about enemy fighters is key in any conflict, but for a largely underfunded and inefficient army, like Ukraine’s, it’s hard to come by. The lack of such information hurts in terms of both intel and financing: Every badly aimed mortar is just more money wasted.
With their newfound aerial support, the pro-Ukrainian forces are now using a drone named “The Fury” to call in coordinates for their mortar attacks against the pro-Russian rebels. The Fury has located enemy tanks near Gorlivka, Ukraine, which the soldiers later destroyed, according to a drone pilot whose identity was withheld.
More drone from the Los Angeles Times:
Israeli military reports downing drone that entered from Syria
Israel’s air force shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle that entered the nation’s airspace over the Syrian border Sunday, Israeli military officials said.
According to an army statement, the drone crossed the border near Quneitra and was destroyed by a Patriot surface-to-air missile.
The military said that despite “sensitivity to recent occurrences in the proximity of the border,” it would respond to any breach of Israeli sovereignty. “We will continue to act to maintain safety and security” of Israeli civilians, said army spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner.
From the London Daily Mail, a case of possession:
‘Dawn of Libya’ Islamist militia lets journalists TOUR American embassy in Tripoli after storming the compound evacuated by diplomats amid mounting violence
Footage reportedly taken inside the compound shows men gathered around the embassy villa’s swimming pool, with some even jumping in
An official claims the compound is being ‘safeguarded’ and was not ‘ransacked’
The compound has been unoccupied since July 26 when U.S. diplomats evacuated to neighboring Tunisia under a U.S. military escort
It comes near the two-year anniversary of the death of US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya’s second-largest city, Benghazi
And a video report from the Wall Street Journal:
Raw Video: Militia Members at U.S. Embassy Grounds in Libya
Program note:
Amateur video shows what appears to be Libyan militia members enjoying the pool on the grounds of the U.S. embassy in Tripoli. The embassy was evacuated in July due to security concerns. Photo: AP/Amateur UGC Video
From Deutsche Welle, the enemy of my enemy:
PKK – from terrorist threat to ally?
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is banned in Germany. The EU deems it a terrorist group. Now, however, regarding the threat from ‘IS,’ some German politicians appear ready to begin discussions over reconsidering.
Summer 1993: Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members storm the Turkish consulate in Munich. They take hostages and demand of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl that he increase support for Kurdish rights.
The PKK carried out dozens of attacks that year on Turkish institutions in Germany, often as arson attacks. The battle that the PKK had been fighting against Turkey since the 1980s had also arrived in Germany.
The Kurds have long fought for their own state, an independent Kurdistan, as their settlements are spread across several countries: Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. In these attacks, primarily in eastern Turkey and neighboring border regions, tens of thousands of people were killed – Turkish soldiers, PKK fighters, and thousands of civilians as well.
Al Jazeera English covers a crackdown:
Bahrain arrests top human rights activist
Maryam al-Khawaja, who campaigns against abuse in Gulf state, charged with insulting king and assault on arrival.
The prominent Bahrain human rights activist and critic of the ruling family, Maryam al-Khawaja, has been arrested by authorities on her arrival at the Gulf state’s airport.
Posts on the Twitter account of Khawaja said she had been charged with insulting the king, assaulting police officers, and faced charges for her involvement with the rights campaign, Wanted For Justice.
Khawaja, the co-director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, is the daughter of Shia Muslim activist Abdulhadi Abdulla Hubail al-Khawaja, who has been in custody in Bahrain since 2011 and is on hunger strike.
From International Business Times:
Al-Qaeda Suicide Bomb Attacks Kill Six Soldiers In Yemen
An Al-Qaeda affiliate killed six soldiers in Yemen Sunday, announcing on Twitter the deaths marked the start of a “widespread campaign.” The attacks by Ansar Al-Shariah were among the deadliest and most coordinated in southern Yemen since the army launched a campaign earlier this year to rid Abyan and Shabwa provinces of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula militants.
Ansar al-Sharia announced on Twitter it had launched a “widespread campaign in Shabwa province on Sunday at noon that targeted a number of military and security locations for the Sanaa regime.” The attacks were in the form of suicide bombings — one in the Gol al-Rayda district, the other near a checkpoint in Azzan, both in Shabwa province.
Reuters reported security forces killed five militants who tried to take over a police station in the eastern province of Hadramount. Last week, thousands of supporters of the Shiite Houthi group protested in the streets, demanding the overthrow of the government. They expressed anger at corruption within the state an the recent increase in fuel prices.
Deutsche Welle covers an assault on a spook shop:
Al-Shabab militants attack Somali intelligence headquarters
Militant group al-Shabab has bombed Somalia’s intelligence headquarters in the capital, Mogadishu. The rebels were trying to reach a high-security prison within the facility.
The militants carried out a bomb and gun attack against the facility in central Mogadishu on Sunday. The complex is a key interrogation center for Somalia’s intelligence agency, and contains a high security prison. Many suspected militants are believed to be held there, along with political prisoners.
The attack took place at about midday, when a car bomb exploded outside the Godka Jilacow facility. At least three further explosions and a gun battle took place afterwards.
Al-Shabab has confirmed its militants were behind the assault.
After the jump, it’s on to Asia, with turmoil in Pakistain, plus the latest developments in the Game of Zones, including Indo/Pakistani cross-border clashes, Thai coup consolidation, an Indonesian social media crackdown, a Chinese crackdown on Hong Kong electoral rules and a promised response, Taiwanese regrets and Chinese drones, and much, much more. . .
The final numbers after a bloody day in Pakistan from United Press International:
Pakistan PM Nawaz returns to Islamabad; death toll reaches 13
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns to home in Islamabad amid continued calls for resignation
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned to his home in Islamabad on Sunday after fleeing to Lahore under pressure from protesters calling for his resignation.
Clashes between police and protesters at the prime minister’s house continued overnight Saturday and into Sunday, bringing the death toll of protesters up to at least 13. About 450 people have been injured since the clashes began Saturday, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and Polytechnic Hospital said.
Anti-government protesters led by politicians Imran Khan and Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri are demanding Nawaz’s resignation, saying he rigged the general elections in 2013.
A video report from Agence France-Presse:
Hundreds injured as police clash with protesters in Islamabad
Program note:
Hundreds are wounded in clashes between police and protesters in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad as a fortnight-long political impasse turns violent.
Channel NewsAsia Singapore perseveres:
Pakistan’s Khan vows to fight on despite deadly clashes
Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan vowed on Sunday (Aug 31) to protest “until the last breath” as ongoing clashes between his supporters and police outside the prime minister’s residence left three dead and hundreds injured.
The violence began on Saturday night after thousands of supporters of Khan and firebrand cleric Tahir ul Qadri tried to storm Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s house using cranes to remove barricades.
By Sunday afternoon, clashes were continuing between police in riot gear and a few hundred protesters. Many protesters had come armed with batons and slingshots. Shipping containers were set ablaze, several vehicles stood torched, and hundreds of tear gas canisters lay strewn on the ground on Islamabad’s normally pristine Constitution Avenue following more than 15 hours of battle.
From the Guardian, an earlier declaration:
Pakistan’s army instructs prime minister Sharif to act without violence
Protests led by Imran Khan continue – while the government is at pains to avoid an ugly standoff with demonstrators
Pakistan’s army has instructed the country’s embattled government to solve its political crisis without violence on Sunday following a night of clashes in the capital between police and thousands of protesters demanding the prime minister step down. The demand came after an emergency meeting of the army’s high command and was the latest intervention by the country’s powerful military in the drawn out standoff between the government and followers of former cricketer Imran Khan and populist cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri.
The army has toppled civilian governments in the past, including one led by the current prime minister Nawaz Sharif, either by directly assuming power in coups or by installing caretaker governments. In language that underlined the institution’s undimmed ability to dictate events, an army statement said it was “committed to playing its part in ensuring security of the state”.
It added its “serious concern” about violence in Islamabad and that the situation should be “resolved politically without wasting any time and without recourse to violent means.”
The Express Tribune covers cross-border tensions:
140 documented violations: Pakistan concerned over India’s unprovoked border violations
Pakistan on Saturday expressed concern that India continues to engage in unprovoked violations of the working boundary. According to a statement issued by the Foreign Office, indiscriminate firing on Charwah, Harpal and Chatrar sectors on August 23 was the 20th violation by Indian forces this month alone.
From June 1 to August 30, 140 violations by India of the working boundary and LoC have been recorded. These violations have also been reported to the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) and protests lodged with the Indian government through diplomatic channels earlier this month, the Foreign Office said.
Last Tuesday, the director general of military operations in his weekly hotline contact with his Indian counterpart conveyed details of these violations. It was agreed that regular contacts be maintained between local commanders, sector commanders, and Pakistan Rangers and Indian Border Security Force to observe the ceasefire.
On to Thailand coup consolidation from Channel NewsAsia Singapore:
Thai PM stacks Cabinet with military officers
Thailand’s coup leader and newly appointed premier Prayuth Chan-ocha on Sunday (Aug 31) received royal endorsement for a Cabinet stacked with soldiers, as the military extended its reach into the kingdom’s politics.
Nearly a third of the 32-strong Cabinet are senior military officers. Among them are Prayuth’s close allies and key players in the recent years of political turbulence, including generals involved in the bloody 2010 crackdown on “Red Shirt” activists. Former and serving generals will head the defence, justice, foreign affairs and commerce ministries, while an air marshal will take the top post at the transport department.
The civilian portion of the Cabinet includes longstanding allies of the military, such as Sommai Pasri who will lead the finance ministry – where he was deputy minister following the nation’s last coup in 2006.
From the Jakarta Globe, a reminder:
Police Arrest Student for Social Media Post Calling Yogyakarta ‘Poor, Stupid and Uncultured’
A student at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta has been arrested by police on suspicion of defamation after she called the city “poor, stupid and uncultured” in a post on a popular social media account, Indonesian media reported.
News portal Detik.com reported that Florence Sihombing, 26, was arrested after being questioned for two hours by Yogyakarta police on Saturday morning.
The case originates from an incident on Wednesday. Florence drove her motorcycle to a gas station in the east of the city and attempted to buy gas from the pump that was reserved for cars buying Pertamax 95, which is not subject to government subsidy and is considerably more expensive than the Rp 6,500 paid for a liter of subsidized gas. Florence was told by the gas station staff that she had to queue behind the long line of motorcycles waiting for subsidized gas.
On to China and a mandate from the New York Times:
Beijing Rules Out Open Elections in Hong Kong
China’s legislature laid down strict limits on Sunday to proposed voting reforms in Hong Kong, drawing battle lines in what pro-democracy groups warned would be a deepening confrontation over clashing visions of the political future of the city and of China.
Pushing back against months of rallies calling for free, democratic elections in Hong Kong, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee set out procedural barriers for candidates for the city’s leader that would ensure Beijing remained the gatekeeper to that position and to political power over the city.
Li Fei, a deputy secretary general of the committee, told a news conference in Beijing that the nominating guidelines — including a requirement that candidates “love the country, and love Hong Kong” — would “protect the broad stability of Hong Kong now and in the future.”
Reuters prepares:
Hong Kong braces for protests as China rules out full democracy
Pro-democracy activists vowed on Sunday to bring Hong Kong’s financial hub to a standstill after China’s parliament rejected their demands for the right to freely choose the former British colony’s next leader in 2017.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) endorsed a framework to let only two or three candidates run in the 2017 leadership vote. All candidates must first obtain majority backing from a nominating committee likely to be stacked with Beijing loyalists.
The relatively tough decision by the NPC – China’s final arbiter on the city’s democratic affairs – makes it almost impossible for opposition democrats to get on the ballot.
From the China Post, offshore regrets:
Taiwan ‘regrets’ China’s decision on HK leader
Taiwan’s China policy planner expressed regret Sunday that candidates for the next leader of Hong Kong must be screened before they are eligible to run in the special administrative region’s first popular election in 2017.
The Mainland Affairs Council expressed disappointment in the decision from China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), which the council said did not meet pro-democracy Hongkongers’ wishes for a free election of their chief executive.
“Democracy and popular voting are universal values. We understand the Hong Kong people’s expectation for the implementation of real universal suffrage,” the council said in a statement.
BBC News covers another response:
Hong Kong: Occupy Central anger over Beijing ruling
Democratic groups in Hong Kong have vowed to fight a Chinese government ruling that effectively gives China control over the candidates for the next leadership election.
The election, due in 2017, will be the first in which the Hong Kong chief executive is directly chosen by voters.
However, China’s legislature ruled the candidates must be approved by more than half of a special nominating body.
South China Morning Post drones on:
Next-generation Rainbow drone ready for PLA delivery
Rainbow 4 unmanned aerial vehicle ready for use by military after successful missile test
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would soon take delivery of a new generation of the country’s aerial drone, state media reported yesterday.
State television showed a test of the Rainbow 4 (CH-4) hunter-killer drone successfully hitting a target with a missile.
The technology was developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology for reconnaissance and military strikes. The latest move comes as the PLA is actively and publicly promoting the use of drones by its military personnel.
State media reported last week on the use of a drone to knock out a simulated enemy command vehicle during counter-terrorism exercises in Inner Mongolia .
Global Times covers military mayhem measures:
Military training reconsidered after brutal brawl
Freshmen from Nanjing Normal University, Jiangsu Province participate in mandatory military training exercises in September 2009. Photo: CFP
Hu Dajun, the principal of Huangcang High School in Longshan, Hunan Province never imagined that the school’s routine military training session, which takes place every year, could turn into an ugly group fight and eventually light up a nationwide debate over whether military training should be abolished once and for all.
Several military instructors got into an argument with a school teacher who thought his students were being treated unfairly. Young students thought their teacher was being bullied and joined the conflict, which helped turn the whole thing into an all-out fight.
A total of 42 people were injured. The students weren’t happy about how the incident was dealt with and took to the street for a protest.
Want China Times draws a line:
Political cartoonist’s social media accounts blocked in China
Access has been suspended to the social networking accounts of a Chinese editorial cartoonist who goes by the name Biantai Lajiao after he was criticized by Chinese state-run media as a “pro-Japanese traitor”, reports our Chinese-language sister newspaper Want Daily.
The artist, who goes by the handle remonwangxt on Twitter and whose real name is Wang Liming, a native of Hunan province, discovered that his accounts on major Chinese microblogs such as Sina, Tencent and instant social messaging app WeChat had been shut down. Access to an online store he runs with friends to buy items for Chinese customers in foreign countries has also been blocked.
“It is the most severe obstruction that I have ever encountered in my life,” said the cartoonist on his Twitter account. The cartoonist decided to respond to the account suspension by drawing comic strips about Sino-Japanese friendship through history to “unravel the crimes of the pro-Japan Chinese traitor.” He has decided to stay in Japan, as he has been visiting since May. The cartoonist was scheduled to return to China on Aug. 21.
From Global Times, evocations of drumbeats:
China ratifies Martyrs’ Day
China’s top legislature on Sunday approved the establishment of a national day to commemorate martyrs.
The decision was made at the bi-monthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress which ended on Sunday.
It said Martyrs’ Day will be marked with events across the country on Sept. 30 every year.
The move is aimed at “publicizing martyrs’ achievements and spirits, and cultivating patriotism, collectivism, and socialist moralities so as to consolidate the Chinese nation’s cohesiveness, “ the top legislature said in the decision.
For our final item, via the Asahi Shimbun, reasonable concern:
Anti-nuclear protesters fear that restrictions on hate speech will also target them
As anti-nuclear demonstrators rallied in front of the Diet building on Aug. 30, many were troubled by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s discussions on restricting hate speech, fearing that a clampdown could also be used to silence their dissent.
“We do not interrupt traffic. We do not break through the cordon of police, either. Our demonstrations are different from just generating noise or making hate speeches. The government should hear the voices of the public,” said Tsuyoshi Mizuno, 67, a taxi driver from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture.
Mizuno has participated in the weekly anti-nuclear demonstrations around the Diet building and the nearby prime minister’s office since the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
