Tom Burghardt
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Money Laundering and Offshore Fraud for the Rich, Economic Austerity for the Poor By Julie Lévesque
Drug cartels, fraud, tax evasion and money laundering are common answers to those questions. Despite this reality and even in this era of fiscal austerity, the question world leaders avoid is: why is secret banking still allowed? Are they capable of putting a term to it but unwilling to do it because of the benefits… Continue reading
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'SWIFT Boating' Iran: Economic War a Prelude to Military Attack By Tom Burghardt
Despite, though likely because, Iran is ready to restart negotiations with the so-called P5+1 group (the five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) over its civilian nuclear program, belligerent rhetoric and sharply-worded political attacks from Israel and the United States have escalated. Continue reading
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TARGETTING IRAN: The Dogs of War are off the Leash By Tom Burghardt
Currently, Iran is ringed with military bases. American, British and Israeli submarines equipped with nuclear cruise missiles keep silent watch. Aircraft carrier battle groups carry out provocative maneuvers. U.S. and Israeli drones routinely overfly Iranian territory. Scientists are murdered in orchestrated terror attacks. Defense installations are bombed. Continue reading
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Imperial Military Adventurism: Tensions Rise as U.S. Imposes 'Nuclear Option' on Iran's Economy by Tom Burghardt
Reacting to American threats to crater their economy, Iran’s first vice president Mohammad-Reza Rahimi said last week that the Islamic Republic would retaliate by blocking all oil shipments through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Continue reading
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Red Lines and Ticking Clocks: U.S. War Plans Against Iran The possibility of Russia's Military Involvement… By Tom Burghardt
Before the first bomb falls disinformation specialists prepare the ground. Leading media outlets, foreign policy journals and a plethora of think tanks funded by elite foundations, energy and weapons’ conglomerates, “right,” “left” or “center” take your pick, churn out war propaganda disguised as “analysis.” Continue reading
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IRAN-DRONEGATE: Empires Don't Apologize: Iran in the Imperial Crosshairs By Tom Burghardt
In Washington’s bizarro world where war is peace the United States, which has Iran surrounded with a string of military bases and where nuclear-armed aircraft carrier battle groups and submarines ply the waters of the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, the aggressor is magically transformed into the aggrieved party. Continue reading
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Target Iran: Washington's Countdown to War By Tom Burghardt
As the U.S. and Israel ramp-up covert operations against Iran, the Pentagon “has laid out its most explicit cyberwarfare policy to date, stating that if directed by the president, it will launch ‘offensive cyber operations’ in response to hostile acts,” according to The Washington Post. Continue reading
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The Development of “Privacy Killing Technologies”: A Link to the Murdoch Scandal? By Tom Burghardt
Following revelations earlier this year by The Tech Herald that security firms with close ties to the Pentagon ran black ops for major U.S. banks and corporations, it became clear that proprietary software developed for the military and U.S. intelligence was being used to target Americans. Continue reading
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The Development of "Privacy Killing Technologies": A Link to the Murdoch Scandal? By Tom Burghardt
Following revelations earlier this year by The Tech Herald that security firms with close ties to the Pentagon ran black ops for major U.S. banks and corporations, it became clear that proprietary software developed for the military and U.S. intelligence was being used to target Americans. Continue reading
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Pentagon Ramps-Up Cyberwar Plans By Tom Burghardt
As the Obama administration expands Bush-era surveillance programs over the nation’s electronic communications’ infrastructure, recent media reports provide tantalizing hints of Pentagon plans for waging cyberwar against imperialism’s geopolitical rivals. Continue reading
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Protecting Us from Our Freedoms: Congress Set to Renew Patriot Act Spy Provisions By Tom Burghardt
As night follows day, you can count on Congress to serve as loyal servants and willing accomplices of our out-of-control National Security State. Last week, in another shameless demonstration of congressional “bipartisanship,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) forged a filthy backroom deal… Continue reading
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Invasive Cyber Technologies and Internet Privacy: Big Brother is only a “Ping” or Mouse Click Away By Tom Burghardt
Increasingly, secret state agencies ranging from the CIA to the National Security Agency are pouring millions of dollars into data-mining firms which claim they have a handle on who you are or what you might do in the future. Continue reading
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FBI Raids Activists’ Homes in Sinister COINTELPRO Replay By Tom Burghardt
In a replay of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s infamous COINTELPRO operations targeting the left during the 1960s and ’70s, America’s political police launched raids on the homes of antiwar and solidarity activists. Heavily-armed SWAT teams smashed down doors and agents armed with search warrants carried out simultaneous raids in Minneapolis and Chicago early morning… Continue reading
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Undermining the American People’s Right to Privacy: The Secret State’s Surveillance Machine By Tom Burghardt
Hoping to forestall public suspicions of how things actually work in Washington, the administration has declared that “it will continue to block the release of additional documents, including communications within the Executive Branch and records reflecting the identities of telecoms involved in lobbying for immunity,” according to EFF’s Senior Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. Continue reading
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Mind Your Tweets: The CIA Social Networking Surveillance System By Tom Burghardt
That social networking sites and applications such as Facebook, Twitter and their competitors can facilitate communication and information sharing amongst diverse groups and individuals is by now a cliché. It should come as no surprise then, that the secret state and the capitalist grifters whom they serve, have zeroed-in on the explosive growth of these… Continue reading
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Big Brother FBI: Data-Mining Programs Resurrect “Total Information Awareness” By Tom Burghardt
Like a vampire rising from it’s grave each night to feed on the privacy rights of Americans, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is moving forward with programs that drain the life blood from our constitutional liberties. From the wholesale use of informants and provocateurs to stifle political dissent, to Wi-Fi hacking and viral computer spyware… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 