Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries
March 29th, 2009You don’t find this out by reading the New York Times piece below, but in The Snooping Dragon: Social-Malware Surveillance of the Tibetan Movement we read the following:
The OHHDLstarted to suspect it was under surveillance while setting up meetings between His Holiness and foreign dignitaries. They sent an email invitation on behalf of His Holiness to a foreign diplomat, but before they could follow it up with a courtesy telephone call, the diplomat’s office was contacted by the Chinese government and warned not to go ahead with the meeting. The Tibetans wondered whether a computer compromise might be the explanation; they called ONI Asia who called us.
It’s a carefully crafted social engineering ploy and a root kit.
Via: New York Times:
A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers have concluded.
In a report to be issued this weekend, the researchers said that the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China, but that they could not say conclusively that the Chinese government was involved.
The researchers, who are based at the Munk Center for International Studies at the University of Toronto, had been asked by the office of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader whom China regularly denounces, to examine its computers for signs of malicious software, or malware.
Their sleuthing opened a window into a broader operation that, in less than two years, has infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including many belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices, as well as the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York.
The researchers, who have a record of detecting computer espionage, said they believed that in addition to the spying on the Dalai Lama, the system, which they called GhostNet, was focused on the governments of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries.
Intelligence analysts say many governments, including those of China, Russia and the United States, and other parties use sophisticated computer programs to covertly gather information.
The newly reported spying operation is by far the largest to come to light in terms of countries affected.
This is also believed to be the first time researchers have been able to expose the workings of a computer system used in an intrusion of this magnitude.
Still going strong, the operation continues to invade and monitor more than a dozen new computers a week, the researchers said in their report, “Tracking ‘GhostNet’: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network.” They said they had found no evidence that United States government offices had been infiltrated, although a NATO computer was monitored by the spies for half a day and computers of the Indian Embassy in Washington were infiltrated.
The malware is remarkable both for its sweep — in computer jargon, it has not been merely “phishing” for random consumers’ information, but “whaling” for particular important targets — and for its Big Brother-style capacities. It can, for example, turn on the camera and audio-recording functions of an infected computer, enabling monitors to see and hear what goes on in a room. The investigators say they do not know if this facet has been employed.
The researchers were able to monitor the commands given to infected computers and to see the names of documents retrieved by the spies, but in most cases the contents of the stolen files have not been determined. Working with the Tibetans, however, the researchers found that specific correspondence had been stolen and that the intruders had gained control of the electronic mail server computers of the Dalai Lama’s organization.
NYSE-Liffe Futures Now Have Added Nonsense Factor Involved with Taking Physical Delivery of Gold; May Signal Supply Problem
March 29th, 2009Via: Seeking Alpha:
The NYSE-Liffe futures exchange has, it seems, run out of 1 kg bars of gold. Futures markets, like NYSE-Liffe and COMEX, try hard to maintain the fiction that they will deliver physical gold, in completion of executed contracts. Indeed, to prevent fraud, U.S. law requires clearing members to keep a stockpile, of one kind or another, consisting of a minimum of 90% of metal. Up until October, 2008, it didn’t matter. Only about 1% of long buyers of paper gold futures contracts typically took delivery. Now, the situation is very different. Demand has surged and, it appears, one major futures exchange, NYSE-Liffe, and by extension, the COMEX gold warehouses it shares with its larger cousin, are unable to meet the requirements of their contracts, visa vi, delivery of 1 kg. bars.
As of December 31, 2008, the NYSE-Liffe mini-gold (YG) contract specifications were changed to read, in pertinent part, as follows:
33.2 fine troy ounces (+10%), no Less than 995 fineness. Seller’s discretion delivery of one vault receipt representing one bar or one Warehouse Depository Receipt (WDR) representing either 1/3 interest in one full size gold NYSE Liffe vault receipt or full interest in a NYSE Liffe Mini Gold vault receipt. Delivered to exchange approved vaults by exchange approved carriers.
But, before that, on August 26, 2008, it read as follows:
33.2 troy ounces (±5%) of refined gold, assaying not less than .995 fineness, contained in no more than one bar.
In summary, there is now so much demand for delivery of the mini-contracts that the exchange can no longer deliver 1 kg bars.
…
Absent legal action, clearing members are now being allowed to hand out little slips of paper, called “warehouse depository receipts” (WDR). These are being substituted for “vault receipts” (VR). The WDRs, in contrast to the VRs, merely promise the customer that he owns a 1/3 interest in a 100 ounce bar. The customer is not allowed to take delivery, unless he can accumulate 3 WDRs, which equals 1 VR.
Research Credit: Lagavulin
Goldman Sachs and the Manipulation of Oil Prices
March 29th, 2009Anyone who “dismisses” the role of speculators in this shakedown is either stupid, or in on the scam…
Henry Paulson was formerly the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs. Well, well, well. Hank might have us believe that the Tooth Fairy has more to do with the price of oil than speculators. I mean, what possible impact could a firm with more black boxes than DARPA and some of the deepest pockets on Wall Street have on leveraged commodity markets? Meh! Fuggetaboutit.
And now…
Via: Forbes:
How Goldman Sachs was at the center of the oil trading fiasco that bankrupted pipeline giant Semgroup.
When oil prices spiked last summer to $147 a barrel, the biggest corporate casualty was oil pipeline giant Semgroup Holdings, a $14 billion (sales) private firm in Tulsa, Okla. It had racked up $2.4 billion in trading losses betting that oil prices would go down, including $290 million in accounts personally managed by then chief executive Thomas Kivisto. Its short positions amounted to the equivalent of 20% of the nation’s crude oil inventories. With the credit crunch eliminating any hope of meeting a $500 million margin call, Semgroup filed for bankruptcy on July 22.
But now some of the people involved in cleaning up the financial mess are suggesting that Semgroup’s collapse was more than just bad judgment and worse timing. There is evidence of a malevolent hand at work: oil price manipulation by traders orchestrating a short squeeze to push up the price of West Texas Intermediate crude to the point that it would generate fatal losses in Semgroup’s accounts.
“What transpired at Semgroup was no less than a $500 billion fraud on the people of the world,” says John Catsimatidis, the billionaire grocer turned oil refiner who is attempting to reorganize Semgroup in bankruptcy court. The $500 billion is how much the world would have overpaid for crude had a successful scam pushed up oil prices by $50 a barrel for 100 days.
What’s the evidence of this? Much is circumstantial. Proving oil-trading manipulation is difficult. But numerous people familiar with the events insist that Citibank, Merrill Lynch and especially Goldman Sachs had knowledge about Semgroup’s trading positions from their vetting of an ill-fated $1.5 billion private placement deal last spring. “Nothing’s been proven, but if somebody has your book and knows every trade, it would not be difficult to bet against that book and put the company into a tremendous liquidity squeeze,” says John Tucker, who is representing Kivisto.
What’s known for sure is that Goldman Sachs, through J. Aron & Co., its commodities trading arm, was in prime position to use such data–and profited handsomely from Semgroup’s fall. J. Aron was Semgroup’s biggest counterparty, trading both physical oil flowing through pipelines and paper oil, in the form of options and futures.
When crude oil peaked in July, Semgroup ran out of cash to meet margin requirements on options contracts it had with Aron, contracts on which it had paper losses of $350 million. Desperate to survive, Semgroup asked Aron to pony up $430 million it owed on physical oil. Aron said no, declared Semgroup in default on its contracts and demanded immediate payment of losses.
Research Credit: Lagavulin
Economist Intelligence Unit: Manning the Barricades
March 28th, 2009Here are EIU’s probabilities on how the economic crisis will unfold:
Scenario 1: Stimulus stabilizes system — 60% chance
Scenario 2: Stimulus fails, leading to depression — 30% chance
Scenario 3: Dollar collapse, social unrest, violent protest — 10% chance
If I was forced to guess, these would be my numbers:
Scenario 1: Stimulus stabilizes system — 10% chance
Scenario 2: Stimulus fails, leading to depression — 60% chance
Scenario 3: Dollar collapse, social unrest, violent protest — 30% chance
But I’m not so sure that these scenarios are valid. You definitely don’t need a dollar collapse to see social unrest and violent protest.
There’s going to be violence this Spring and Summer—at least in the form of false flag operations to “steal the thunder” from the real radicals and lone wolf operators who see this crisis as a once in a lifetime chance to kick the machine while it’s experiencing some difficulties.
There is definitely a groundswell of discontent out there, and it will be managed as it has always been managed in The Age of Fake Democracies, by state counter insurgency operations designed to associate clueless sign wavers with terrorism.
Of course, wild cards are a possibility. It wouldn’t take too many people—who have figured out that sign waving is an insulting farce—to carry out genuine warfare against the corporate state.
How will you know the difference between false flag operations and war?
False flag operations are symbolic. The main goal is to create fear and obedience to state authorities through the use of propaganda in the aftermath of the event. The driving propaganda, after the fact, is the main payload, not the event itself. While it is possible that imbeciles will target individual executives for assassination or use improvised explosives to create work for janitors in corporate lobbies, these types of attacks are likely to be acts of state because of their utility for propaganda purposes. Think about it: Who benefits from attacks like these? The stoned white Rastafarian, soy people with Bozo the Clown wigs and Fair Trade hacky sacks will get the blame. It’s all “the terrorists,” right?
War, on the other hand, targets critical infrastructure. Examples: Financial transaction clearing is shut down. Stock markets are shut down. Communications systems are damaged or destroyed. Energy distribution systems are damaged or destroyed.
While it’s possible that attacks of this nature could be false flag, it’s not likely because unmanageable, cascading effects could result.
So, as the situation continues to devolve, expect corporate states to try to short circuit street level activists with false flag operations and heavy follow on propaganda linking them with “the terrorists.”
While the chances of any groups or individuals carrying out substantive strikes against critical corporate state infrastructures are low, the likelihood does increase as the legitimacy of political and economic elites fades.
My guess is that all of this will wind up moving the elite’s plan along a couple of more notches, with the main focus placed on reducing the number of national currencies in use on the planet.
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit: Manning the Barricades (pdf):
This special report is the third by the Economist Intelligence Unit since the credit crisis erupted in August 2007. In the first report, we looked at the implications of a financial meltdown on the global economy. In the second, we considered the wider economic effects, including the risk of a 1990s, Japan-style collapse in the US. This time we focus on the political fallout from the crisis. To sharpen that analysis, we have created a new social unrest index that identifies where the risks are greatest. We have paired that with a new set of scenarios that chart possible paths for the global economy.
The political risks from the economic crisis are increasingly dire.
Cryptogon Reader Sends $25
March 28th, 2009Thanks AF.
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March 28th, 2009Thanks to the owners of rewritingyesterday.com and trailridingincanada.com for signing up for hosting with BlueHost. Cryptogon received $180.
Council on Foreign Relations on Planetary Geoengineering: “Add more small reflecting particles in the upper part of the atmosphere”
March 27th, 2009I don’t think anyone has the complete story on exactly what chemtrails are. I don’t doubt that weather modification is a part of it, but take your pick on the rest. There’s almost certainly a biological component to some of the spraying. There could also be some kind of scalar weapon application involving HAARP.
My guess is that the CFR came out with the relatively innocuous sounding weather modification stuff in order to take some of the focus away from the other questions. Even so, I find it extraordinary to see these words in a CFR document.
See: Geoengineering: Workshop on Unilateral Planetary Scale Geoengineering.
The quote below is from: Workshop briefing notes: Unilateral Geoengineering (PDF, 546K):
Geoengineering Strategies
Among all geoengineering schemes, those currently considered most feasible involve increasing the planetary albedo, that is, reflecting more sunlight back into space before it can be absorbed. There are a number of different methods that could be used to increase the planet’s reflectivity:
1. Add more small reflecting particles in the upper part of the atmosphere (the stratosphere which is located between 15 and 50 kilometers above the Earth’s surface).
2. Add more clouds in the lower part of the atmosphere (the troposphere)
3. Place various kinds of reflecting objects in space either near the earth or at a stable location between the earth and the sun.
4. Change large portions of the planet’s land cover from things that are dark (absorbing) such as trees to things that are light (reflecting) such as open snowcover or grasses.
…
Stratospheric Aerosols
Adding more of the right kind of fine particles to the stratosphere can increase the amount of sunlight that is reflected back into space.
Applied to geoengineering, various technologies could be used to loft particles into the stratosphere, such as naval guns, rockets, hot air balloons or blimps, or a fleet of highflying aircraft. Potential types of particles for injection include sulfur dioxide, aluminum oxide dust or even designer self-levitating aerosols that might be engineered to migrate to particular regions (e.g. over the arctic) or to rise above the stratospher (so as not to interfere in stratospheric chemistry).
Research Credit: JL
Space Storm Alert: 90 Seconds from Catastrophe
March 27th, 2009Via: New Scientist:
It sounds ridiculous. Surely the sun couldn’t create so profound a disaster on Earth. Yet an extraordinary report funded by NASA and issued by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in January this year claims it could do just that.
Over the last few decades, western civilisations have busily sown the seeds of their own destruction. Our modern way of life, with its reliance on technology, has unwittingly exposed us to an extraordinary danger: plasma balls spewed from the surface of the sun could wipe out our power grids, with catastrophic consequences.
The projections of just how catastrophic make chilling reading. “We’re moving closer and closer to the edge of a possible disaster,” says Daniel Baker, a space weather expert based at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and chair of the NAS committee responsible for the report.
It is hard to conceive of the sun wiping out a large amount of our hard-earned progress. Nevertheless, it is possible. The surface of the sun is a roiling mass of plasma – charged high-energy particles – some of which escape the surface and travel through space as the solar wind. From time to time, that wind carries a billion-tonne glob of plasma, a fireball known as a coronal mass ejection (see “When hell comes to Earth”). If one should hit the Earth’s magnetic shield, the result could be truly devastating.
Research Credit: remrof
Electric Cars: The Tesla Model S Which Most Americans Won’t Be Able to Afford, or the Reva Li-on, Which Americans Won’t Be Allowed to Buy
March 27th, 2009I looked at the news about the upcoming Tesla EV sedan, and I thought *meh*, at $50,000, it might as well cost $50 million. Production doesn’t start until mid 2011.
But check out this little Reva. That vehicle would easily cover all of our regular driving needs. With a couple more solar panels (besides the one that’s built into the roof) we would be able to charge that car for free.
Oh well, New Zealand doesn’t seem to be any closer to allowing affordable EVs than the U.S.
Maybe next decade…
More: The Reva: Why Americans May Never See the Best New Car on the Road
Research Credit: ltcolonelnemo
Japan Has Decided to Shoot Down North Korea Missile
March 27th, 2009Also, U.S. deploys warships as North Korea prepares to launch missile.
Via: AFP:
Japan gave its military the green light on Friday to shoot down any incoming North Korean rocket, with tensions high ahead of a planned launch that the US and allies say will be an illegal missile test.
Japanese and US warships have already deployed ahead of the April 4-8 window, when the secretive North has said it will launch a communications satellite — warning that shooting it down would be seen as an act of war.
But South Korea, Japan and the United States have all warned the North that any launch would be unacceptable, amid fears the regime is actually intending to test a long-range missile that could reach North America.
The security council in Japan, officially pacifist since the end of World War II, decided ahead of time to shoot down any incoming missile that could hit its territory rather than wait until a launch.
“The security council this morning decided to issue a destruction order in advance,” said Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada. “We will do our best to handle any flying object from North Korea.”
The North said Thursday that even referring a launch to the United Nations would ruin the long-running and erratic six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, during which North Korea has already tested one missile and an atomic bomb.
US National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said the North wanted to show it had the technology to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The North is believed to be preparing to test a Taepodong-2 that could hit Alaska.
“North Korea is attempting to demonstrate an ICBM capability through a space launch,” Blair said.
Japan has announced no plans to strike the North Korean rocket unless it appears to pose a direct threat, for example due to a mishap that could send an errant missile or debris flying toward the country.
“There are various scenarios — for example, a case of failure,” Hamada said. “It’s extremely unpleasant that an object flies over our territories.”
Pyongyang has reportedly already put a rocket onto one of its launch pads, raising the stakes in a delicate diplomatic stand-off that has come just two months into the new US administration of President Barack Obama.
Enigmatic North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il reportedly suffered a stroke in August, and some analysts speculate he is trying to demonstrate he remains firmly in control of the country.
Though a recent photo showed him looking thin, the North’s official media have reported more than three times as many public appearances by Kim so far this year than over the same period in the previous year.
The six-nation talks — grouping North and South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan — have offered the North aid and security guarantees in exchange for dismantling its nuclear programme.
North Korea said Thursday that bringing any launch to the United Nations would be a “hostile action” that would end the negotiations.
The United States, which says the launch would violate a UN Security Council resolution, has vowed to do so.
“The six-party talks will become non-existent,” a spokesman for the North’s foreign ministry told official media.
Senior US, Japanese and South Korean negotiators were to meet in Washington later Friday to discuss the situation. Japan’s order for a shoot-down is the first since the nation revised its defence law in 2005.
Asked whether Japan was capable of such an intercept, Hamada said: “We have obviously prepared to be able to do it. I have no doubt we can do it.”
