Deep wounds after the internecine war…..

Czech spy service accuses Russia of waging ‘information war’ — intelNews.org

The intelligence agency of the Czech Republic has accused Russian spy services of waging a “war of information” aimed at destabilizing the eastern European country.

via Czech spy service accuses Russia of waging ‘information war’ — intelNews.org

Analysis: New Dutch spy bill proposes changes in approval, oversight

intelNews.org

On July 2, 2015, the Dutch government released for public consultation a long-awaited bill that overhauls the Dutch Intelligence and Security Act of 2002. Known also as Wiv2002, the Act is the legal framework for the operations of the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) and the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD). The bill is a complete rewrite of the present law, and includes expansions of power, as well as changes to the approval regime and oversight. The below provides a brief overview focused on the interception and hacking powers.

The services’ special powers, such as interception and hacking, can only be used for a subset of their legal tasks. That subset includes national security,
foreign intelligence and military intelligence. The government annually determines the intelligence needs of itself and other intelligence consumers; the outcome is used to focus and prioritize strategic and operational plans and activities.

The services…

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KGB spy shares details of his escape to Britain in 1985

intelNews.org

A Soviet double spy, who secretly defected to Britain 30 years ago this month, has revealed for the first time the details of his exfiltration by British intelligence in 1985. Oleg Gordievsky was one of the highest Soviet intelligence defectors to the West in the closing stages of the Cold War. He joined the Soviet KGB in 1963, eventually reaching the rank of colonel. But in the 1960s, while serving in the Soviet embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, Gordievsky began feeling disillusioned about the Soviet system. His doubts were reinforced by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. It was soon afterwards that he made the decision to contact British intelligence.

Cautiously, Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (known as MI6) communicated with Gordievsky, and in 1974 he secretly became an agent-in-place for the United Kingdom. Eight years later, in 1982, Gordievsky was promoted to KGB rezident (chief of station) in London. While…

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New documents show US spied ‘on every major French company’

intelNews.org

New information published by international whistleblower website WikiLeaks seems to suggest that the United States National Security Agency (NSA) collected information on export contracts by French companies and sought inside information on France’s position in international trade negotiations. According to the website, which published the new material on Monday, the documents appear to suggest concerted efforts by Washington to obtain secret information about the economic policies of the French government and the country’s financial sector.

The WikiLeaks release contains a list of “Information Needs” (IN), which signifies collection requirements on France that are part of the US National Signals Intelligence Requirements List. The latter is updated regularly to reflect wide-ranging intelligence requirements put to the NSA by its customers, who include US policy makers and other members of the US Intelligence Community. The IN list is labeled “2002-204”, which means it was created in 2002 and has been updated ever…

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Reflections on the Assassination of CE Anandarajan in 1985: His Son calls for Dialogue across the Ethnic Divisions

Thuppahi's Blog

Rev. Dev Anandarajan, courtesy of http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/41785

It is 30 years since the death of my beloved father who was killed by the LTTE on June 26, 1985.** Many things have happened since then and I hope we can contemplate the violent path taken by the LTTE and the unconditional support they received from most Tamils as they sought to address their grievances against the Sri Lankan state.

I wonder if we have a collective maturity as citizens of Sri Lanka (Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims, Burghers and other minorities) and as members of the Sri Lankan Diaspora to learn the lessons from the violent path from both sides and what that has led us to.

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Sri Lanka balances Military Relations with China and USA

Thuppahi's Blog

Shamindra Ferdinando, in The Island, 24 June 2015, where the title is “SL in simultaneous joint exercises with US SEALs and Chinese Army”

The Sri Lankan military is taking part in joint exercises with both US and Chinese armed forces, simultaneously. Authoritative military sources told The Island that the US had resumed joint naval exercises with the navy after a lapse of several years. The US suspended exercises during the previous administration. The US included Sri Lanka in a project called Extended Relations Programme (ERP) during then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s administration.

The exercise involving the elite Special Boat Squadron (SBS) and Fast Attack Craft (FAC) flotilla got underway on June 19 in the seas off Trincomalee. The FAC flotilla comprises primarily of Israeli-built craft as well as some acquired from the US. Navy headquarters confirmed the resumption of US-SL cooperation. The exercise will continue till July 2. The…

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Analysis: French are upset, but not surprised, by news of US spying

intelNews.org

Before Edward Snowden, the revelation that the United States National Security Agency spied on three successive French presidents would have shocked many. But in the post-Snowden era, the news came and went without much tumult. The French President, Francois Hollande, called two emergency meetings of senior government officials at the Élysée Palace; the American ambassador to France was summoned for an official protest; but nothing more came of it. It was reported that US President Barack Obama spoke directly with his French counterpart on Wednesday, and assured him in no uncertain terms “that the US is no longer spying on France”.

The French leader, who is one of three French presidents mentioned in the WikiLeaks documents as a target of the NSA, is genuinely upset. And there will be some in his government who will push for a harder response than simply summoning the American envoy in Paris to file…

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Calls in France to offer asylum, citizenship, to Snowden and Assange

intelNews.org

Leaders from all sides of the French political spectrum urged the French government on Thursday to offer political asylum, and even French citizenship, to the American defector Edward Snowden and to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The calls were made in response to news earlier this week that the United States National Security Agency spied on the personal communications of three French presidents from the 1990s to at least 2012. The files were published on Tuesday by the international whistleblower website WikiLeaks. They consist of what the website described as “top secret intelligence reports and technical documents”, which detail NSA spying operations against the French presidency, as well as espionage directed at several French government ministers and at France’s ambassador to the US. As intelNewspredicted on Wednesday, the French government’s response to the revelations has been relatively muted. But many French politicians, including one minister in the government of French…

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Izeth Hussain meets the Tamil Extremists and the Resurgent Tigers head-on

Thuppahi's Blog

Izeth Hussain,from The Island, 27 June 2015, where the title is “LTTE and Tamil lunatic fringe anti-Muslim racism” … readers should also visit Colombo Telegraph for a sense of the commentary that IZETH’s essays have attracted.**

This article is really an addendum to my three-part article on Tamil lunatic fringe anti-Muslim racism in the Island of April 28, May 2 and May 9. I feel impelled to write this article because the political context has changed radically since I wrote the last one. At that time the LTTE was seen by me and practically everyone else as the rump LTTE, just a vestigial presence without much bite and vigour to it. We were mistaken. It has become clear that for quite some time there has been a resurgent LTTE without the limiting epithet of rump, an LTTE with plenty of bite and vigour to it, though it…

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