We begin with the latest major move in Cold War 2.0 from the New York Times:
U.S. Ramping Up Major Renewal in Nuclear Arms
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A sprawling new plant here in a former soybean field makes the mechanical guts of America’s atomic warheads. Bigger than the Pentagon, full of futuristic gear and thousands of workers, the plant, dedicated last month, modernizes the aging weapons that the United States can fire from missiles, bombers and submarines.
It is part of a nationwide wave of atomic revitalization that includes plans for a new generation of weapon carriers. A recent federal study put the collective price tag, over the next three decades, at up to a trillion dollars.
This expansion comes under a president who campaigned for “a nuclear-free world” and made disarmament a main goal of American defense policy. The original idea was that modest rebuilding of the nation’s crumbling nuclear complex would speed arms refurbishment, raising confidence in the arsenal’s reliability and paving the way for new treaties that would significantly cut the number of warheads.
And on with the major MENA hot zone with Reuters:
Islamic State urges attacks on U.S., French citizens, taunts Obama
Islamic State urged its followers on Monday to attack citizens of the United States, France and other countries which have joined a coalition to destroy the ultra-radical group.
Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani also taunted U.S. President Barack Obama and other Western “crusaders” in a statement carried by the SITE monitoring website, saying their forces faced inevitable defeat at the insurgents’ hands.
The United States is building an international coalition to combat the extremist Sunni Muslim force, which has seized large expanses of territory in Iraq and Syria and proclaimed a caliphate erasing borders in the heart of the Middle East.
A response from North of the Border with Canadian Press:
Stephen Harper vows to do more at home and abroad to counter extremism as ISIS accuses Canada of meddling
Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to do more both at home and abroad to counter Islamic extremism Monday in response to a new threat levelled directly at Canada.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham issued a new audio recording late Sunday calling for jihadists to kill westerners — military or civilian — from countries involved in the battle against ISIS in northern Iraq, including “Canadians.”
Security agencies have been tracking these events for some time, Harper told a news conference.
“We have, as you know, strengthened laws in this country to deal with these kinds of threats,” he said. “We are currently in the process of examining these laws and examining other means we may have to monitor and to take action against both organizations and individuals who may undertake activities that are potentially threatening to Canadians.”
Another response via the Associated Press:
UN to bind nations on new foreign terrorist rules
The U.N. Security Council is expected to adopt a binding resolution this week that would require nations to bar their citizens from traveling abroad to join terrorism organizations, part of a U.S.-led effort to galvanize the international community against what Obama administration officials call an “unprecedented” threat from extremists flocking to Syria and Iraq.
Obama administration officials touted the measure, which they said had been negotiated over several months, as a significant step in their strategy against the Islamic State group and other militant organizations that are drawing Europeans, Americans into their violent orbit. But they acknowledged that the UN resolution has no enforcement mechanism and that the international community has no single definition of what constitutes a terrorist group.
“This is really designed to sort of elevate the collective nature of the threat,” a senior Obama administration official told a group of reporters Monday, speaking under ground rules that she not be identified.
Channel NewsAsia Singapore covers another:
Australia says deploying warplanes to join Iraq campaign
Australian warplanes are being deployed to the Middle East to join the US-led campaign of air strikes on jihadist targets in northern Iraq, Defence Minister David Johnston said on Monday (Sep 22).
“We will provide a number of military platforms, up to eight Super Hornet aircraft to participate in a US-led coalition in delivering air strikes,” he told reporters in Baghdad after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced on Sep 14 that Australia would send fighter jets and forces to the United Arab Emirates as its contribution to the US-led military effort against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
While Want China Times covers an ancillary front:
East Turkestan separatists training with ISIS, plan to return to China
Members of China’s East Turkestan independence movement are heading to the Middle East to train and fight alongside the Islamic State, the brutal jihadist group also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), reports the Global Times, a tabloid under the auspices of the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.
Based on a joint interview with anti-terrorism authorities in China, Indonesia, Turkey and Syria, it is believed that the Chinese separatists — ethnic Uyghur radicals who want to establish an independent Islamic state in northwestern China’s restive Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region — are sneaking out of the country to join Islamic State forces training and fighting in Iraq and Syria. Their aims are to earn more recognition from international terrorist groups, establish communication channels, and to develop “real combat experience” before taking their knowledge back to China, the Global Times said, adding that the international community, including the Chinese government, must cooperate and share intelligence to eradicate the growing global terrorism threat.
News of Chinese nationals joining Islamic State forces have been on the rise in recent weeks. Earlier this month, two photos posted on a Facebook page purportedly operated by the Iraqi Ministry of Defence showed a badly beaten man apparently captured by the Iraqi Army, along with a short message describing the man as a Chinese member of the Islamic State.
From the Guardian, a potential stumbling block:
MoD facing legal challenge over armed drone deployment outside Afghanistan
News comes amid claims RAF’s Reaper squadron could operate against jihadists in the Middle East
The government is facing a legal challenge over the deployment of its armed drones as British officials come before a United Nations inquiry this week into the legality of targeted killings.
Amid claims the RAF’s Reaper squadron could move from Afghanistan to operate against jihadists in the Middle East, Whitehall has been criticised for its reluctance to engage with the Geneva-based investigation.
The Ministry of Defence has repeatedly refused to state what it intends to do with the 10 Reapers – controlled remotely from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire and a USAF base in Creech, Nevada – once UK operations in Afghanistan finish in December.
While TheLocal.it throws in a wild card:
‘Israelis support using atomic bomb against Isis’
The majority of Israeli citizens back using an atomic bomb in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis), ex-Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has claimed.
Speaking to supporters by the shores of Lake Garda, Berlusconi said there is “great anguish within the Israeli population” over the rise of Isis jihadists.
“I can’t reveal my sources, but I can tell you with certainty that at the moment the majority of Israeli citizens are thinking it’s correct to defend themselves with the atomic bomb,” he was quoted in Corriere della Sera as saying.
Motherboard has a blast from the past:
The CIA Used Artificial Intelligence to Interrogate Its Own Agents in the 80s
The CIA has notoriously been, well, “innovative” in developing new interrogation techniques (if you consider waterboarding an innovation, at least). Newly declassified documents reveal that willingness to experiment is nothing new: 30 years ago, the spy agency pitted one of its own agents against an artificial intelligence interrogator.
The documents in question, written in 1983 and titled “Interrogation of an Alleged CIA Agent,” describe a series of experimental tests conducted in the early 1980s in which the CIA repeatedly interrogated its own agent, referred to in the report as Joe Hardesty, using a primitive AI called Analiza.
The declassified document is both fascinating in its distinct retrofuture flavour and eerily prescient nature, because the US government is now set to use virtual entities to conduct national security interviews. It’s also kind of hilarious, because the interrogation transcript reads like a conversation with a really frustrating chatbot.
While the Washington Post finds the very curious in the nation’s capital:
Tech firm tries to pull back curtain on surveillance efforts in Washington
As a black sedan pulled into downtown Washington traffic earlier this week, a man in the back seat with a specially outfitted smartphone in each hand was watching for signs of surveillance in action. “Whoa, we’ve just been hit twice on this block,” he said, excitement rising in his voice, not far from FBI headquarters.
Then as the car passed the Federal Trade Commission’s limestone edifice, “Okay, we just got probed.” Then again, just a few minutes later, as the car moved between the Supreme Court and the Capitol, he said, “That’s the beginning of an interception.”
The man was Aaron Turner, chief executive of Integricell, a mobile security company. The specially outfitted smartphones, he said, are designed to act like high-tech divining rods that warn users of suspicious mobile activity, potentially indicating surveillance equipment used by police, intelligence agencies and others to track people and snoop on their calls.
Known as IMSI catchers, for the unique identifying phone code called an IMSI, the surveillance devices trick mobile phones into thinking they have logged onto legitimate cell networks, such as Verizon or AT&T, when in fact the signals have been hijacked.
A video report from RT:
Capitol Surveillance: Unidentified tracking devices found in Washington
Program notes
The US capital is flooded with phone calls and other data on a daily basis but all of it is being intercepted by sources unknown. RT’s Gayane Chichakyan reports.
From the Los Angeles Times, one surveillance camera we heartily endorse:
L.A. County sheriff’s deputies test 4 types of body cameras
As a patrol deputy at Carson station, Dennis Conway carried an audio recorder to document what happened when he stopped or arrested someone.
The recorder was his own — he was among a sizable group of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who carry their own personal devices to protect themselves from false allegations.
A few weeks ago, Conway exchanged his audio recorder for a high-tech camera pinned to his shirt that starts filming at the press of a button.
“It’s given me the peace of mind that the person I’m dealing with is not going to say the opposite of what happened,” he said. “It’s all recorded, and the transparency is there.”
Conway and other deputies have begun testing four types of body cameras as part of a pilot program that may eventually lead to the department-wide recording of everything from routine traffic stops to deputy-involved shootings. Until now, the Sheriff’s Department has not used in-car cameras or body cameras.
From the New York Times, good candidates for the same cameras:
Report Found Distorted Data on Jail Fights at Rikers Island
After years of teenage inmates being slashed, stabbed and maimed, it appeared that the jail for adolescents at Rikers Island had finally been brought under control. In April 2011, a new warden and deputy warden were named, and almost immediately, official tallies of inmate fights fell by two-thirds.
The correction commissioner at the time hailed the accomplishment at a City Council hearing and gave the men an award for their “exceptional efforts.” Within a month, both officials were promoted.
Then came the tip to Correction Department investigators: Violence wasn’t down. The data was wrong.
A dozen investigators eventually produced a confidential report, obtained by The New York Times, which concluded that hundreds of inmate fights had been omitted from departmental statistics; that the warden, William Clemons, and the deputy warden, Turhan Gumusdere, had “abdicated all responsibility” in reporting the statistics and that both should be demoted.
After the jump, Google malvertising and drones, Obama sells missiles to Poland and China sells ‘em to Saudis, a hint of a Zambian online crackdown to come, another kind of crackdown in Chad, spooky crisis capitalization and hints of domestic crackdown to come Down Under, protest provocation and flight contemplation in China, a stealthy development in Beijing, and a deadman’s switch for those who fear executive action. . .
Ars Technica Googles malvertising:
Google stops malicious advertising campaign that could have reached millions
Latest bit of “malvertising” targeted a popular ad platform distributed by Google
Google shut down malicious Web attacks coming from a compromised advertising network on Friday. The move follows a security firm’s analysis that found the ad platform, Zedo, serving up advertisements that attempted to infect the computers of visitors to major websites.
In an attack that ended early Friday morning, visitors to Last.fm, The Times of Israel, and The Jerusalem Post ran the risk of their computers becoming infected as Zedo redirected visitors’ systems to malicious servers. Because the advertisements hosted on Zedo’s servers were distributed through Google’s Doubleclick, the attack reached millions of potential victims, Jerome Segura, senior security researcher at Malwarebytes Labs, told Ars.
Distributing malware through legitimate advertising networks, a technique known as “malvertising,” has become an increasingly popular way to compromise the systems of consumers and workers alike.
PandoDaily Googles drones:
Google asks the FCC for permission to test its drone-delivered Internet system
Google has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to test its drone-powered Internet delivery system, according to a letter sent to the agency spotted by Mashable, with the hope of testing its utility in a controlled environment before filling the skies with it.
The drones are part of Google’s efforts to deliver Internet connections around the world with balloons, satellites, and the solar-powered vehicles it acquired with Titan Aerospace in April. Facebook is working towards the same goal with its own don’t-call-it-a-drone-program revealed when it acquired the Ascenta drone-maker and hired former NASA employees to lead the team. And perhaps the most highly-publicized of these private drone projects comes from Amazon.
Emulating George H.W. Bush with the Associated Press:
Romania’s spy chief quits, will run for president
The head of Romania’s foreign spy agency has resigned to run for president in the Nov. 2 election, fueling debate about the presence of spies in the country’s political life.
Teodor Melescanu quit Monday as director of Romania’s Foreign Intelligence Agency. The news broke a day after a leading TV political talk show host revealed that he was an undercover officer for the defense ministry, which has declined comment on the topic.
The twin developments add to the suspicion that Romania’s political life is being manipulated by the intelligence services. Romania has two main intelligence agencies and five smaller agencies not under parliamentary control.
Another Cold War 2.0 move from United Press International:
Poland buys medium-range missiles from U.S.
The missiles are part of a $500 million defense package.
Poland will purchase medium-range cruise missiles from the United States, a sale announced Monday by the U.S. State Department.
Poland is attempting to reinforce its defense capabilities in light of perceived Russian aggression in Ukraine, and the 40 air-launched AGM 158 missiles purchased can strike targets 250 miles away. For the first time the Polish Air Force will have the capability of striking Russia from within the Polish border.
Poland’s current supply of missiles has a range of only 43 miles. The deal is part of a $500 million defense package, purchased from the United States, which includes upgrades to Poland’s F-16 fighter jets.
The State Department said the sale “would contribute to the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to improve the security of a NATO ally. “Poland continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in Central Europe.”
More missile maneuvering from Want China Times:
Saudi Arabia admits to purchase of Chinese DF-21 missile
Saudi Arabia purchased DF-21 ballistic missiles from China to defend Mecca and Medina, said Dr. Anwar Eshqi, a retired major general and advisor to the joint military council of Saudi Arabia, during a press conference.
“Saudi military did indeed receive DF-21 missiles from China and the integration of the missiles, including a full maintenance check and upgraded facilities, is complete,” said Eshqi as cited in the state-run newspaper OKAZ. In addition to defending two holy cities of Islam, the DF-21 will also be used to form a protective umbrella to defend Saudi Arabia’s allies over the Persian Gulf, he added, indicating that the missiles are not for offensive attacks.
The missile has a range of between 1000-1700 miles, and is believed to have a top speed of around Mach 5. Saudi Arbia signed contract with China to purchase DF-21s back in 2007, but neither side admitted to the deal, according to a US-based Newsweek report. Saudi Arabia is probably buying and announcing the purchase as a message to deter Iran.
Africa next, with a hint of an online crackdown to come from Star Africa News:
Zambia govt expresses disappointment with use of social media
The Zambian government has expressed disappointment at what it terms irresponsible use of social media networks that they allege is now doing more harm than good to the country.
Speaking on Monday during the opening ceremony of a social media networking conference, Zambian Information Minister Joseph Katema called for restraint among users of social media networks so as not to bring harm to others.
He singled out online media networks as some of the most deadly networks that had no regard for other people’s rights or privacy which he said had been attacking innocent people under a cloak of being anonymous journalists.
He said it was wrong for online journalists to use social media networks to malign the characters of others without giving those attacked an opportunity to respond or defend themselves and this had now defeated the purpose of social media networks in the country.
Another kind of crackdown in Chad from United Press International:
Chad to become 37th African state to ban homosexuality
Convicted offenders would receive jail sentences of 15 to 20 years
Government ministers of the West African nation of Chad voted Monday to make same-sex relations a crime, the 37th African nation to enact such a law.
Homosexuality is not currently illegal in Chad, but a section of a new penal code makes it punishable by 15 to 20 years imprisonment and a fine. The cabinet claims the intent of the law is to “protect the family and to comply with Chadian society.” It will go before Parliament members and then to President Idriss Deby for his signature; no dispute of objection is expected.
Although the draft of the penal code abolished the death penalty in Chad, international human rights groups condemned Section 361, the section concerned with anti-homosexuality.
Spooky crisis capitalization Down Under from the Guardian:
Australia’s national security ‘at risk’ from spy agency funding cuts
Parliamentary committee warns continued cost-cutting could have ‘catastrophic’ consequences for intelligence agencies
Continued cost-cutting could have “catastrophic” consequences for Australia’s intelligence agencies, a parliamentary committee has warned.
In a report tabled on Monday the joint houses intelligence and security committee said savings measures “places Australia’s national security at risk”.
The warning comes as the government prepares to boost the powers of the police and security agencies after raising the terrorism threat for Australia.
The report scrutinises the administration and expenditure of Australia’s intelligence community – which comprises six intelligence agencies – over two years: 2011-12 and 2012-13.
The Guardian again, this time with hints of domestic crackdown to come:
Abbott: reduction in freedom necessary to save lives from terrorism threat
Tony Abbott says ‘delicate balance between freedom and security’ may have to shift
Australians must accept a reduction in freedom and an increase in security “for some time to come” to save lives from the significant threat of terrorism, Tony Abbott has told parliament.
The prime minister asked Australians to support a shift in “the delicate balance between freedom and security” as he sought to bolster his case for the biggest overhaul of the nation’s counterterrorism laws in a decade.
In an address to parliament on Monday, Abbott also rejected suggestions the domestic terrorism threat would be aggravated by the deployment of 600 Australian Defence Force (ADF) members to the Middle East to fight Islamic State (Isis) militants.
Channel NewsAsia Singapore covers provocation in China:
Thousands of Hong Kong students on strike for democracy
Hong Kong students on Monday (Sep 22) began a week-long boycott of classes, gathering in their thousands for what democracy activists say will be a wider campaign of civil disobedience against China’s refusal to grant the city unfettered democracy.
Student activists crowded onto a campus on the northern outskirts of the city, many sheltering from the hot summer sun under umbrellas and waving their faculty flags, as their leaders vowed to ratchet up their campaign if their demands were not met.
Democracy campaigners are locked in a showdown with authorities on the mainland after the former British colony’s hopes for full universal suffrage were dashed by Beijing’s plans to vet nominees who want to stand as its next leader. A coalition of pro-democracy groups in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, led by Occupy Central, have labelled the restrictions a “fake democracy”. They have vowed a series of actions including a blockade of the Central financial district.
And a video report from Reuters:
Thousands join Hong Kong student rally demanding greater democracy
Program notes:
Thousands of students gathered at the Chinese University of Hong Kong to mark the beginning of a week-long boycott of classes in protest against Beijing’s plans for democratic reform. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
South China Morning Post adds context:
One in five Hongkongers ‘considering emigration’ as pessimism hangs over city
Survey shows considerable pessimism about Hong Kong in wake of 2017 election ruling
More than one in five Hongkongers are so pessimistic about the city’s political future that they are thinking of leaving for good, a Chinese University poll found.
On a scale of zero to 10, with 10 being extremely optimistic, the mean score of the respondents was 4.22, which pollsters said indicated a general atmosphere of pessimism.
Some 21.2 per cent said they would consider emigrating. About 53.7 per cent said the Legislative Council should veto electoral reform proposals if people holding different political views to Beijing were not allowed to run. This compared with the 29.3 per cent who said the legislature should approve such proposals.
Want China Times gets stealthy:
China developing a stealth bomber
China is developing a new stealth bomber called the H-20 to firm up the PLA strategic bomber force, said Bill Sweetman, a military journalist and Richard D. Fisher, an expert in Chinese military development.
Russia and China are both proceeding with bomber plans while the United States is developing its own Long-Range Strike Bomber project, said the Washington-based Aviation Week & Space Technology report. China’s H-20 bomber is most likely to be developed and produced by Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corporation. The aircraft concept will probably be a subsonic low-observable “flying wing” configuration.
The development of a stealth bomber received “renewed national attention” back in Oct. 2013, according to colonel Wu Guohui, an associate professor from China’s National Defense University. “In the past China has been weak regarding bombers, but in the future will develop long-range strike aircraft,” he said. Even though the PLA Air Force has said virtually nothing regarding their plans, the H-20’s completion is rumored to fall somewhere around 2025.
For our final item, Motherboard covers a dead man’s switch for the fearful:
A Deep Web Service Will Leak Your Documents If the Government Murders You
With all the conspiracy theories surrounding some high-profile deaths in recent years, how can you, theoretical whistleblower with highly sensitive documents, be assured that your information gets leaked if you’re murdered in some government conspiracy? A new dark web service says it’s got your back.
‘Dead Man Zero’ [deep web link] claims to offer potential whistleblowers a bit more peace of mind by providing a system that will automatically publish and distribute their secrets should they die, get jailed, or get injured.
“So what if something happens to you?” the site reads. “Especially if you’re trying to do something good like blow the whistle on something evil or wrong in society or government. There should be consequences if you are hurt, jailed, or even killed for trying to render a genuine and risky service to our free society.”
