And more. . .
First up, a new party enters the game, via the Associated Press:
Turkey approves military operations in Iraq, Syria
Turkey’s parliament approved a motion Thursday that gives the government new powers to launch military incursions into Syria and Iraq and to allow foreign forces to use its territory for possible operations against the Islamic State group.
Parliament voted 298-98 in favor of the motion which sets the legal framework for any Turkish military involvement, and for the potential use of Turkish bases by foreign troops.
Meanwhile, the militants pressed their offensive against a beleaguered Kurdish town along the Syria-Turkey border. The assault, which has forced about 160,000 people to flee across the frontier in recent days, left Kurdish militiamen scrambling Thursday to repel Islamic State extremists pushing into the outskirts of the northern Syrian town of Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab.
Turkey, a NATO member with a large and modern military, has yet to define what role it intends to play in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group.
Obama breaches his own standard of bellicosity, via the Associated Press:
Civilian casualty standard eased in Iraq, Syria
President Barack Obama announced in May 2013 that no lethal strike against a terrorist would be authorized without “near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured.”
But amid unconfirmed reports of civilian casualties, the White House said this week that U.S. bombing in Iraq and Syria is not being held to the near-certainty standard. And the Pentagon, hamstrung by limitations in intelligence gathering, has been unable to determine in many cases whether the casualty reports are true.
“We do take extreme caution and care in the conduct of these missions,” Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said. “But there’s risk in any military operation. There’s a special kind of risk when you do air operations.”
Strange bedfellows from Newsweek:
Has the ISIS Crisis Pushed the CIA into Bed with Hezbollah?
A few months ago, a former top CIA operative applied for a Lebanese visa to do some work in Beirut for an oil company. While he was waiting for approval, a package arrived at his client’s office. Inside was a full dossier on his CIA career. “It included things on where I had served, well back into 1990s,” said Charles Faddis, who ran the CIA’s covert action program in Kurdistan during the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, among other top assignments. “It had details on my travels to Israel and Lebanon—years ago.”
Faddis took it as a blunt message from Hezbollah, the Iran-backed partner in Lebanon’s coalition government that is equal parts political party, social service agency, occupying army and terrorist group. “It was their way of saying, ‘We don’t want this guy here, but we want business with you to go forward,’” Faddis told Newsweek. It also was a way of underscoring—as if any emphasis was needed—that to do business in Lebanon, you have to go through the “Party of God.” And today that business includes the U.S. drive to recruit regional partners to wage war on the Islamic State, the group more commonly known as ISIS.
Washington wants Lebanon to stop ISIS at its borders. So does Hezbollah, whose entry into the Lebanese government last February did not get it removed from the State Department’s list of terrorist groups.
Collateral damage from RT America:
ISIS turns to selling ancient artifacts to fund terror campaign
Program notes:
The Islamic State is looting historical sites in Iraq and Syria, selling ancient artifacts on the black market to fund its operations, according to a warning from UNESCO. Similar to the events that occurred when Saddam Hussein was forced from power and looters stole priceless pieces of art and culture, archaeologists and Iraqi officials are now seeking help from the rest of the world in stopping the destruction of one of the world’s oldest cultures. RT’s Alexey Yaroshevsky has more details on what is being called a “cultural cleansing” of Iraq.
From TheLocal.fr, an interesting development:
EU tells France to allow unions in the military
The European rights court on Thursday ruled that a blanket ban on trade unions within the French armed forces was a violation of the rights of military staff.
The court ruled that while there could be limits to military personnel exercising freedom of association, “a blanket ban on forming or joining a trade union encroached on the very essence of this freedom”.
Michel Bavoil, vice-president of the Association for the Protection of Rights of Military Personnel, hailed the decision as “great victory that is extremely favourable for soldiers”, in comments to French television.
Rebuffing concealment by The Most Transparent Administration in History™ from The Intercept:
Judge Rebukes Government, Keeps Gitmo Force-Feeding Hearing Open
A federal judge has knocked down the government’s attempt to hold a secret hearing in a case challenging the military’s practice of force-feeding Guantanamo detainees who are on hunger strike.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler called the government’s desire to close the proceedings “deeply troubling,” and chastised the Department of Justice for appearing to “deliberately” make the request “on short notice.”
The case involves Abu Wa’el Dhiab, a Syrian man who has been held at Guantanamo since 2002, though he was cleared for transfer out of the island prison by the military in 2009. He began a hunger strike last year and claims that he has been subjected to painful and abusive force-feedings. He has asked the federal court to intervene and stop the military forcing him from his cell and restraining him during the feedings.
Beating the drums of the digital divisions, from Defense One:
House Intel Chief Wants To Increase Cyber Attacks Against Russia
The United States should be conducting more disruptive cyber attacks against nations like Russia, according to Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
“I don’t think we are using all of our cyber-capability to disrupt” actors in Russia targeting U.S. interests, he said at The Washington Post’s cybersecurity summit on Thursday.
Rogers cited attacks out of Russia on the U.S. financial sector, specifically against JP Morgan Chase in August, as an example of nation states targeting U.S. companies and financial interests. The FBI is currently investigating whether or not the attacks were a response to the financial sanctions that the United States placed on Russia in March.
From The Intercept, and about damn time:
Authorities Think About Telling You If You’re Watchlisted from Warrantless Spying
The Obama Administration might have to start letting people know when they’ve been flagged for terrorist connections based on information picked up from secret NSA spying programs.
That could potentially affect the tens of thousands of individuals on the government’s no fly list, as well as those people and groups that the Treasury Department designates as foreign terrorists, The New York Times reported yesterday.
According to the Times, administration lawyers are debating whether the NSA’s warrantless programs are covered by a provision in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that requires the government to disclose the use of electronic surveillance in any “proceeding” against someone.
Glassing with the panopticon, via TechWeekEurope:
Dubai Police Force Gets Google Glass To Help Fight Crime
Judge Dredd-esque look will give officers facial recognition software to identify criminals
Enforcing the law in Dubai is about to get a lot more high-tech following the news its police force will soon be equipped with Google Glass.
Police forces in the area will be given the wearable device, which costs £1,000 to buy in the UK, as part of a campaign to make them the “smartest in the world” by 2018. The devices will run specially customised facial recognition software which will allow officer to identify suspects or criminals at large.
The software would enable a connection between the wearer and a database of wanted people, with an alert being sent to the officer if a suspect’s face print is recognised.
iCloud hacks headed to court. . .maybe. From the London Telegraph:
Celebrity nude photo hacking victims threaten to sue Google for $100 million
Google accused by stars’ lawyer of ‘making millions from the victimisation of women’ and ‘perpetuating the despicable conduct of habitual pervert predators’ for not removing nude images
More than a dozen female celebrity victims of the nude photograph hacking scandal have threatened to sue Google for $100 million for the Internet giant’s alleged failure to remove the images from its search index and websites.
Marty Singer, a prominent Los Angeles entertainment lawyer, accused Google of “making millions from the victimisation of women” in a scathing letter written on the behalf of his unnamed clients to the company’s founders and chairman.
Private nude images of celebrities such as the actress Jennifer Lawrence, the model Kate Upton and the singer Rihanna were hacked by cyber-thieves and distributed online via the 4Chan website.
USBs targeted, via Wired threat level:
The Unpatchable Malware That Infects USBs Is Now on the Loose
It’s been just two months since researcher Karsten Nohl demonstrated an attack he called BadUSB to a standing-room-only crowd at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, showing that it’s possible to corrupt any USB device with insidious, undetectable malware. Given the severity of that security problem—and the lack of any easy patch—Nohl has held back on releasing the code he used to pull off the attack. But at least two of Nohl’s fellow researchers aren’t waiting any longer.
In a talk at the Derbycon hacker conference in Louisville, Kentucky last week, researchers Adam Caudill and Brandon Wilson showed that they’ve reverse engineered the same USB firmware as Nohl’s SR Labs, reproducing some of Nohl’s BadUSB tricks. And unlike Nohl, the hacker pair has also published the code for those attacks on Github, raising the stakes for USB makers to either fix the problem or leave hundreds of millions of users vulnerable.
“The belief we have is that all of this should be public. It shouldn’t be held back. So we’re releasing everything we’ve got,” Caudill told the Derbycon audience on Friday. “This was largely inspired by the fact that [SR Labs] didn’t release their material. If you’re going to prove that there’s a flaw, you need to release the material so people can defend against it.”
Breaching the bank with Business Insider:
JP Morgan Reveals Gigantic Data Breach Possibly Affecting 76 Million Households
JPMorgan just revealed that 76 million households and 7 million small businesses may have had their private data compromised in a recent cyberattack.
“User contact information — name, address, phone number and email address — and internal JPMorgan Chase information relating to such users have been compromised,” the company said in a new SEC filing.
“However, there is no evidence that account information for such affected customers — account numbers, passwords, user IDs, dates of birth or Social Security numbers — was compromised during this attack.”
Fighting the memory hole, via the Guardian:
School board vote on US history sets up showdown with students
Colorado school prepares for massive turnout during conservative school board’s vote over ‘patriotic’ curriculum changes
Students and teachers fighting a plan to promote patriotism and downplay civil disobedience in some suburban Denver US history courses are expected to pack a school board meeting Thursday where the controversial changes could face a vote.
Turnout is expected to be so high that the teachers union plans to stream video from the meeting room – which holds a couple hundred people – on a big screen in the parking lot outside. Students said they’ll protest with teachers before the school board meeting. A walkout planned at a school Thursday morning didn’t take place after the principal sent a letter to parents asking them to discourage their children from participating.
The principal at Golden High School, Brian Conroy, said he is “proud” that students have made their opinions known, but a walkout now would be counterproductive and unnecessary because students have already gotten the board’s attention.
A drone downing from PetaPixel:
Man Arrested and Charged After Allegedly Shooting Down a Camera Drone with a Shotgun
A New Jersey resident was arrested last Friday after allegedly firing a shotgun at and successfully hitting a drone that was taking photographs of a nearby home undergoing some renovations.
According to the local NBC station, the owner of the drone said he was flying it around the home capturing photographs when he heard several gunshots and immediately lost control of the drone.
Upon retrieving his disabled drone, the owner recognized a number of holes in the vehicle that resembled the pellets you’d see after a shotgun blast, and so he called the police and showed them where he thought the blast came from.
And a drone-enabled drunk capture from Motherboard:
Police Used a Drone to Chase Down and Arrest Four DUI Suspects in a Cornfield
Last Friday, near a cornfield in North Dakota, four underage men were pulled over under suspicion of drunk driving. The four men hopped out of their car and bolted into the cornfield. Grand Forks police didn’t follow them: Instead, they put a drone in the sky.
“One of them was walking through the cornfield. It took about three minutes to find him,” Alan Frazier, Deputy Sheriff in charge of the Grand Forks Police Department’s unmanned aerial vehicle system unit told me. “The other was found on a second flight, after maybe 25 minutes.”
The two other suspects were apprehended at another time—they had the unlucky distinction of becoming the first Americans ever tracked down and arrested with the help of a police quadcopter.
After the jump, off to Asia and an arms deal proposal to an old enemy, on to Hong Kong and an Occupy disruption, hints of a coming crackdown, Anonymous threatens a hackdown, evading the online censors but others may be looking in, a defiant boss refuses to quit but is daughter blows his cover, blowback fears, a warning to Washington from Beijing and a word from Washington, hints of major Chinese maritime declaration, Game of Zones tourism, American/Japanese military strategy delayed, Tokyo gives the nod to American Okinawa base relocation, Comfort Women revisionism declined, and a Korean missile upgrade in the offing. . .
From CNBC, that old complex and geopolitics creates a new odd couple:
Vietnam to US: Sell us some weapons, please
Where American soldiers once fought a seemingly intractable guerrilla war, American-made weapons may find a new home.
The U.S. State Department said late Thursday that the United States is lifting a ban on “lethal aid” to its old enemy Vietnam, meaning that U.S. defense firms will be able to sell maritime defense systems to Vietnam for the first time since the end of the war in 1974.
And while American companies stand to gain from such a development, Southeast Asia is a highly competitive market where advanced U.S. technology can’t necessarily count on beating out the competition.
On to Hong Kong and an Occupy disruption from South China Morning Post:
Scuffles break out among Occupy protesters after CY Leung refuses to resign
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has vowed not to resign despite an ultimatum from students demanding that he step down. Leung announced minutes before the midnight deadline set by the students that he had appointed his deputy Carrie Lam to lead a team of senior officials to meet with student leaders.
Outside Leung’s office in Admiralty, thousands of gathered protesters have reacted angrily to the chief executive’s speech, but student leaders have called for calm and asked for time to negotiate. Earlier police were seen bringing suspected riot gear, including guns for tear gas and rubber bullets, into the building.
Embattled Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying last night rejected calls by protesters besieging his office for him to resign, but delegated Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to negotiate with student leaders. Speaking a few minutes before a midnight deadline set by protesters demanding he quit expired, Leung said he would not step down ‘because I have to continue to do the work of Hong Kong electoral reform’.
Hints of a coming crackdown, via the Guardian:
Hong Kong protesters urged to clear the streets as deadline nears
Police seen carrying rubber bullets and other kit into compound housing offices of chief executive, who is facing calls to quit
Tensions rose in Hong Kong on Thursday as protesters’ deadline for the chief executive’s resignation approached and the government urged people to clear the streets.
Police warned of serious consequences if students tried to occupy official buildings, as they have threatened to do if Leung Chun-ying does not quit by midnight. Officers were seen carrying rubber bullets and other equipment into the compound housing the chief executive’s offices.
Earlier the Chinese government hardened its public remarks about the movement. The official People’s Daily newspaper, the voice of the Communist party, said China was “very satisfied” with Leung and had full confidence in his leadership – disappointing demonstrators who had hoped Beijing would jettison Leung to calm the situation.
Anonymous threatens a hackdown, via Want China Times:
Anonymous threatens Hong Kong government websites
International hacker group Anonymous has declared a cyber war against the Hong Kong government, promising to take down state-run websites if police continue to use heavy-handed tactics against democracy protesters.
In a three-minute video delivered to US-based News2share on Wednesday morning, Anonymous pledged to stand with the protesters of Occupy Central, which has entered its sixth day as thousands of local citizens continue to demand the right to elect the city’s leaders without interference from Beijing starting from 2017.
“To the protesters in Hong Kong, we have heard your plea for help. Take heart and take to your streets. You are not alone in this fight,” said the narrator of the video.
The hackers issued a warning to Hong Kong police after pepper spray and tear gas was used to disperse demonstrators, saying that they will “deface and take every web-based asset of [the Hong Kong] government offline” if authorities “continue to abuse, harass or harm protesters.”
Evading the online censors, via the Guardian
FireChat – the messaging app that’s powering the Hong Kong protests
The internet is vulnerable to state intervention, but demonstrators have found a way around it
Joshua Wong, a 17-year-old student in Hong Kong, had a problem. You will have experienced a version of it yourself: you are at a football match or a gig and you need to find a friend. But the crowd means that the network is overloaded, and you can’t get a signal on your phone. The thing that means you need to call someone is the very thing that means you can’t.
For Wong, the problem was more serious: he wasn’t at a football match, but playing a leading role in the organisation of the pro-democracy protests that have shaken his city over the past week. And he wasn’t just worried the network would be overloaded – he was worried the authorities would block it on purpose.
Every major display of social unrest these days seems to come with a game-changing technological accompaniment. The London riots were narrated on BlackBerry Messenger. Twitter played an essential role in the Arab spring. Turkish protesters who found the internet blocked turned to censor-proof Virtual Private Networks. But none of those innovations was much use without a connection. For Wong and his allies in Hong Kong, the answer was an app that allows people to send messages from phone to phone without mobile reception, or the internet: FireChat.
Signs others may be looking in, via the China Post:
Firm says phone apps spy on HK protesters
The Chinese government might be using smartphone apps to spy on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, a U.S. security firm says.
The applications are disguised as tools created by activists to protests, said the firm, Lacoon Mobile Security. The firm said that once downloaded, they give an outsider access to the phone’s address book, call logs and other information.
The identities of victims and details of the servers used “lead us to believe that the Chinese government are behind the attack,” said a Lacoon statement.
A defiant boss refuses to quit, via the Washington Post:
Hong Kong chief vows to remain as tensions deepen with pro-reform protesters
Hong Kong’s chief executive flatly rejected demands for his resignation by pro-democracy protesters on Thursday as the standoff threatened to spill into possible high-stakes confrontations with riot police deployed and demonstrators vowing to escalate pressures.
While Hong Kong’s chief, Lueng Chin-yin, dismissed the calls from the street that he step down by midnight, he offered one concession by assigning his second in command official to seek talks with demonstrators.
“I will not resign,’‘ Leung Chin-yin told a news conference.
But his daughter blows his cover, via the Times of India:
Hong Kong leader’s daughter creates controversy with Facebook post
The daughter of Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung has poured a good amount of cold water on China’s carefully crafted public relations strategy to persuade agitating youth to end their agitation.
The daughter, Chai Yan Leung, said in a Facebook post that her diamond necklace was bought on “silly” tax payer’s money.
Showing the origin of the post as ‘Government House, Hong Kong’, Chai Yan challenged those who taunted her new necklace.
“The necklace on my profile pic is not a dog collar, silly!!!” she said. “This is actually a beautiful necklace bought at Lane Crawford (yes – funded by all you HK taxpayers!! So are all my beautiful shoes and dresses and clutches!! Thank you so much!!!!)”.
Blowback fears from Want China Times:
Economic sanctions feared as Hong Kong protests enter sixth day
Beijing may begin to impose economic sanctions against Hong Kong if the ongoing democracy protests continue, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.
The movement, started by students and bolstered by the Occupy Central campaign, has spread across Hong Kong to districts such as Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. It is still going strong entering its sixth day as tens of thousands of protesters continue to demand the right to choose their leaders without interference from Beijing starting from 2017.
China’s central government is said to be growing impatient over the resolve of the demonstrators, with sources claiming that harsh economic sanctions could soon be forthcoming as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange plunged to a three-month low this week.
And a warning to Washington from Beijing from SINA English:
Chinese FM tells Kerry Hong Kong protest an “internal affair”
Top Chinese and US diplomats are trying to find ways to further expand cooperation and effectively manage the differences between the two countries.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the two countries need cooperation. “We can cooperate with each other, and there is an increasing list of areas of cooperation between us, and I believe the list can go on,” he said on Wednesday in a joint press briefing at the State Department with US Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of their bilateral meetings to discuss a wide range of issues.
Wang called it a very important common mission for the two countries to build a new model of major country relations featuring non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.
A word from Washington from the Asahi Shimbun:
Amy Searight: U.S. carries ‘no uncertainty’ about response to rise of China
The increasing rotational presence of the U.S. forces in Southeast Asia and Australia is not a substitute for a permanent presence but a critical building block of the U.S. rebalance to Asia, said a senior U.S. Defense Department official.
In a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Amy Searight, deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, emphasized the significance of this new type of deployment.
“They allow us to enhance our presence in the region in a way that has a very light footprint on our allies,” she said.
Searight disputed the belief that they are targeted at China, but explained that they are “to work more closely with allies and partners, to help maintain that foundation of international security and regional security.”
Hints of major Chinese maritime declaration from Want China Times:
Beijing may announce S China Sea ADIZ: Philippine official
A senior security official from the Philippines said on Monday that China’s development and reclamation of disputed reefs in the South China Sea is part of Beijing’s plan to set up an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the region, reports the website of the Manila-based Philippine Star.
The official cited military research and sustained territorial monitoring, warning that China is close to gaining full control of the region from other claimants, which include Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
China will declare an ADIZ after the completion of the military facility development projects on Cuarteron Reef, Kennan Reef, Johnson South Reef and Gaven Reefs in the Spratlys, just as it did in the East China Sea, said the source.
Game of Zones tourism, via the Japan Times:
Chinese patriotism fuels cruises to disputed isles
On a cruise more about politics than pleasure, Zhang Jing watched the gray shells of the Paracel Islands emerge from the purple, predawn South China Sea.
Cheers erupted on board at the sight of the distant land, and Zhang and the other passengers scurried to take pictures of each other at the railing holding China’s bright red flag. A few kilometers away, a Chinese naval frigate cruised by silently, part of the country’s continuing watch over the tiny islands it has long claimed as part of its territory.
“This is the southern frontier of China,” Zhang, a policeman, said when he had reached one of the islands. “As a Chinese, I feel proud to come here and declare sovereignty.”
American/Japanese military strategy delayed, from Jiji Press:
Japan-U.S. Interim Report Not to Include Collective Defense
A planned interim report on an update to Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines will not reflect Tokyo’s recent decision to lift a self-imposed ban on collective defense, informed sources said Thursday.
Japan and the United States plan to compile the interim report Wednesday when senior foreign policy and defense officials from the two countries are scheduled to meet in Tokyo.
The Japanese government in July changed its interpretation of the constitution to allow the country to exercise its right to collective self-defense. It plans to submit legislation necessary to exercise the right, including a bill aimed at revising the Self-Defense Forces law, to next year’s ordinary parliamentary session.
Tokyo gives the nod to American Okinawa base relocation, via NHK WORLD:
Abe: Govt. to proceed with Futenma relocation
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has reiterated his intention to proceed with the planned relocation of the US Futenma Marines Air Station within the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.
Abe was answering a question by the Japan Communist Party in the Upper House on Thursday.
The party’s secretariat head Yoshiki Yamashita referred to the Japan-US plan to transfer the base from a densely-populated area in Ginowan City to the sparsely-populated Henoko area.
From the Asahi Shimbun, Comfort Women revisionism declined:
Abe: No plan right now to replace Kono statement
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated he has no plans to issue a new statement to replace a landmark 1993 apology to former “comfort women” forced to provide sex to wartime Japanese soldiers.
“I am not currently thinking about having the Abe Cabinet rewrite the Kono statement, nor am I currently thinking about issuing a new statement related to the Kono statement,” Abe said at a Lower House plenary session Oct. 1 in response to a question from Takeo Hiranuma, the head of the Party for Future Generations.
Abe’s remark is certain to be welcomed by South Korea as he seeks to hold his first formal summit with President Park Geun-hye on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Beijing in November.
For our final item, Korean missile upgrade in the offing, via CNN:
North Korea completes upgrade at space center for larger rockets, says report
New images of North Korea’s main satellite launch site show that an upgrade allowing for larger rockets has been completed, raising the possibility of a fresh launch within the year, a new report says.
Based on satellite images of the Sohae Satellite Launching Station, located on North Korea’s west coast close to the Chinese border, the report was posted on the 38 North website, run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
“North Korea is now ready to move forward with another rocket launch,” concluded the report by retired imagery technology expert Nick Hansen, adding that if the political decision were made to proceed, “a rocket could be launched by the end of 2014.”
