Thursday 19 January 2012

Espionage

Espionage or spying involves a government or individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, as it is taken for granted that it is unwelcome and punishable by the prospective victim. Is it a subset of intelligence gathering - which otherwise may be conducted from public sources and using perfectly legal and ethical means.
Espionage is usually part of an institutional effort by a government or corporation, and the term is most readily associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies primarily for military purposes. Spying involving corporations is known as industrial espionage.
One of the most effective ways to gather data and information about an enemy (or potential enemy) is by infiltrating the enemy's ranks. This is the job of the spy (espionage agent). Spies can bring back all sorts of information concerning the size and strength of an enemy army. They can also find dissidents within the enemy's forces and influence them to defect. In times of crisis, spies can also be used to steal technology and to sabotage the enemy in various ways. Counterintelligence operatives can feed false information to enemy spies, protecting important domestic secrets and preventing attempts at subversion. Nearly every society has very strict laws concerning espionage, and the penalty for being caught is often severe. However, the benefits that can be gained through espionage are generally felt to outweigh the risks.
Further information on clandestine HUMINT (human intelligence) information collection techniques is available, including discussions of operational techniques, asset recruiting and the tradecraft used to collect this information.


Espionage agents are usually trained experts in a specific targeted field. This allows them to differentiate mundane information from a target which has intrinsic value to own organisational development. Correct identification of the target at its execution is the sole purpose of the espionage operation.
The broad areas of espionage targeting expertise are:
Natural resource strategic production identification and assessment (food, energy, materials)
Agents are usually found among bureaucrats that administer these resources in own countries
Popular sentiment towards domestic and foreign policies (popular, middle class, elites)
Agents often recruited from field journalistic crews, exchange postgraduate students and sociology researchers
Strategic economic strengths (production, research, manufacture, infrastructure)
Agents recruited from science and technology academia, commercial enterprises, and more rarely from military technologists
Military capability intelligence (offensive, defensive, manoeuvre, naval, air, space)
Agents are trained by special military espionage education facilities, and posted to area of operation with covert identities to prevent prosecution
Counterintelligence
Operations specifically targeting opponents' intelligence services themselves, such as breaching confidentiality of communications, recruiting defectors or moles


While news media may speak of "spy satellites" and the like, espionage is not a synonym for all intelligence functions. It is a specific form of human source intelligence (HUMINT). Codebreaking (cryptanalysis or COMINT), aircraft or satellite photography (IMINT) and research in open publications (OSINT) are all intelligence gathering disciplines, but none of them are espionage. Many HUMINT activities, such as prisoner interrogation, reports from military reconnaissance patrols and from diplomats, etc., are not espionage.
Unlike other forms of intelligence collection disciplines, espionage usually involves accessing the place where the desired information is stored, or accessing the people who know the information and will divulge it through some kind of subterfuge. There are exceptions to physical meetings, such as the Oslo Report, or the insistence of Robert Hanssen in never meeting the people to whom he was selling information.


Espionage is a crime under the legal code of many nations. The risks of espionage vary. A spy breaking the host country's laws may be deported, imprisoned, or even executed - especially in wartime, a summary execution may well be the penalty. A spy breaking his/her own country's laws can be imprisoned for espionage or/and treason, or even executed, as the Rosenbergs were. For example, when Aldrich Ames handed a stack of dossiers of CIA agents in the Eastern Bloc to his KGB-officer "handler", the KGB "rolled up" several networks, and at least ten people were secretly shot. When Ames was arrested by the FBI, he faced life in prison; his contact, who had diplomatic immunity, was declared persona non grata and taken to the airport. Ames's wife was threatened with life imprisonment if her husband did not cooperate; he did, and she was given a five-year sentence. Hugh Francis Redmond, a CIA officer in China, spent nineteen years in a Chinese prison for espionage—and died there—as he was operating without diplomatic cover and immunity.
Many organizations, both national and non-national, conduct espionage operations. It should not be assumed that espionage is always directed at the most secret operations of a target country. National and terrorist organizations and other groups are also targets.
Communications both are necessary to espionage and clandestine operations, and also a great vulnerability when the adversary has sophisticated SIGINT detection and interception capability. Agents must also transfer money securely.
The United States in World War I passed the Espionage Act of 1917. Over the years many spies, such as the Soble spy ring, Robert Lee Johnson, the Rosenberg ring, Aldrich Hazen Ames, Robert Philip Hanssen, Jonathan Pollard, John Anthony Walker, James Hall III, and others have been prosecuted under this law.
However espionage laws are also used to prosecute non-spies. In the United States the Espionage Act of 1917 was used against socialist politician Eugene V. Debs. It was later used to suppress publication of periodicals, for example of Father Coughlin in WWII. In the early 21st century, the act was used to prosecute officials who communicated with US journalists, such as Thomas Andrews Drake and Stephen Jin-Woo Kim.


Informants were common in World War II. In November 1939, the German Hans Ferdinand Mayer sent what is called the Oslo Report to inform the British of German technology and projects in an effort to undermine the Nazi regime. The Réseau AGIR was a French network developed after the fall of France that reported the start of construction of V-weapon installations in Occupied France to the British.
Counterespionage included the use of turned Double Cross agents to misinform Nazi Germany of impact points during the Blitz and internment of Japanese in the US against "Japan's wartime spy program". Additional WWII espionage examples include Soviet spying on the US Manhattan project, the German Duquesne Spy Ring convicted in the US, and the Soviet Red Orchestra spying on Nazi Germany. The US lacked a specific agency at the start of the war, but quickly formed the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).
Spying has sometimes been considered a gentlemanly pursuit, with recruiting focused on military officers, or at least on persons of the class from whom officers are recruited. However, the demand for male soldiers, an increase in women's rights, and the tactical advantages of female spies led the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to set aside any lingering Victorian Era prejudices and begin employing them in April 1942.[citation needed] Their task was to transmit information from Nazi occupied France back to Allied Forces. The main strategic reason was that men in France faced a high risk of being interrogated by Nazi troops but women were less likely to arouse suspicion. In this way they made good couriers and proved equal to, if not more effective than, their male counterparts. Their participation in Organization and Radio Operation was also vital to the success of many operations, including the main network between Paris and London.


In the United States, there are several federal agencies that form the United States Intelligence Community. The Central Intelligence Agency operates a Clandestine Service (NCS) to collect human intelligence and perform Covert operations. The National Security Agency collects Signals Intelligence. Other agencies do similar work. The CIA used to head the IC but after the September 11 attacks a new agency was formed, the Director of National Intelligence, to lead the group.

Brits Use Fake 'Spy Rock' in Moscow Espionage

LONDON -- In a rare acknowledgment of espionage reminiscent of the Cold War, a former British government official admitted that a fake rock discovered in 2006 by the Russian FSB secret service in a Moscow park concealed a listening device planted by British spies.


Speaking on a three-part BBC documentary starting Thursday -- "Putin, Russia and the West" -- Jonathan Powell, chief of staff at the time to Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair, said, "The spy rock was embarrassing, they had us bang to rights. Clearly they had known about it for some time and had been saving it up for a political purpose."


Hidden Russian TV cameras recorded video of the rock and of men handling it. The video was widely broadcast at the time along with footage showing the rock being taken apart to reveal the delicate listening mechanism inside.


The Russian regime waited for some time before claiming publicly that it was a British device. Russian leader Vladimir Putin ordered a crackdown on several foreign-funded organizations, claiming they were a front for western government intervention in Russia’s internal affairs. A Russian-British diplomatic row followed.


Tony Brenton, British ambassador to Moscow at the time, said in a BBC radio interview Thursday that the rock episode was “a considerable headache.


Around the time the Russian report was shown in 2006, then-President Vladimir Putin introduced a new law that restricted NGOs from receiving funding from foreign governments.


At that time, Britain's ambassador to Russia, Tony Brenton, reportedly said all interactions between the British government and Russian organizations was "above board."


According to the Russian news outlet RT, the FSB denies the "spy rock scandal" was linked to the NGO funding controversy, but chose to leak the story to the press in 2006 only after the spy agency failed to discreetly settle the matter with the British government.


When asked for comment on this report, a spokesperson for the British Foreign Ministry told ABC News the office does not comment on "intelligence matters."


Mark Stout, a historian for the International Spy Museum and former intelligence analyst in the U.S. government, said such a method of "cover communications" is not uncommon for most major intelligence services.


"All the major services have technical staffs... in a lot of ways analogous to Q in James Bond, who are really good at this sort of thing and always looking for the latest, greatest ways to hide something in a place that no one would've ever imagined in a million years," Stout said.

Bangladesh army says it foiled coup in December

Bangladesh’s army foiled an attempt by former and serving officers to oust Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s government, a military spokesman said.


“Instigated by some non-resident Bangladeshis, some serving and retired officers with extreme religious views have tried to create disorder in the army,” Brigadier General Muhammad Masud Razzaq said in a statement yesterday. The conspiracy was a bid “to topple the system of democratic governance through the army,” Razzaq said.


Bangladesh, which has has had three major army coups and two dozen smaller rebellions since its independence from Pakistan in 1971, is aiming to boost growth to 8 percent in the next two years. Heightened concern over military intervention adds to the risk of political instability in the region, with the army and elected leadership in Pakistan locked in a showdown over coup allegations.


Bangladesh’s history of military intervention makes it “vulnerable to these coup attempts,” said Ataur Rahman, a political science professor at Dhaka University.


Still, “a coup with an Islamic militant orientation would be a surprise,” Rahman said in a telephone interview from the capital. While researching the officer corps, Rahman said he had “not found that Islamic militant views or socialization are widespread.


Impoverished Bangladesh has a history of coups, with army generals running the South Asian nation for 15 years until the end of 1990.


Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took power in early 2009 and has since faced threats from Islamist and other radical groups.


A revolt in the country's paramilitary forces in February 2009 started in Dhaka and spread to a dozen other cities, killing more than 70 people, including 51 army officers. The revolt was quelled after two days but the country has since been shadowed by fears of further uprisings.


Sources in the army said the coup attempt was made late last month. "The attempt has been effectively controlled and now the process is on to punish the culprits," one military official said.


Intelligence sources said the coup attempt was fuelled by a retired officer and associates in active service who were campaigning to introduce sharia law.


Intelligence officers also said it appeared to have been planned over weeks or months by officers having close links with what they described as religious fanatics within and outside the military.


One source said the outlawed Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir had sent out a leaflet to troops saying "mid-level officers of Bangladesh army are bringing down changes soon.

Sheikh Hasina

Sheikh Hasina, শেখ হাসিনা, Shekh Hasina,born September 28, 1947 is a Bangladeshi politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangladesh Awami League, a major political party, since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father (and first president) of Bangladesh and widow of a reputed nuclear scientist, M. A. Wazed Miah. Sheikh Hasina's party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections, thus assuring her of the post of prime minister. Sheikh Hasina has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001.


Sheikh Hasina's political career started as a student activist in Eden College in the 1960s. While at College, she was elected vice president of the College Students Union for the term 1966–67. Her opponent was the leftist student leader Matia Chowdhary, who much later joined Awami League and became a member of Hasina's cabinet.
During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, Hasina, then a young mother, was held under house arrest with her mother, brothers, sister and her son. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was imprisoned in West Pakistan during this period. After liberation, Hasina's involvement in politics was minimal as Sheikh Kamal, her brother, was touted as Mujib's successor.


The Awami League won 146 seats in the 1996 parliamentary elections. The support of the Jatiya Party and a few independent candidates were enough for the 150+ seats needed for the required majority. Hasina took the oath as Prime minister of Bangladesh. She vowed to create a Government of National Unity. Though some smaller parties and a few individuals from BNP did join the government, the distance between the main two political parties (as well as their leaders) remained as large as ever. Hasina did manage to convince Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, who led the first caretaker government, to assume the post of President. This selection of an unbiased person as president was praised by her supporters as a proof of Hasina's goodwill to reach out to the opposition.
A major achievement of the new government was to strike a treaty between India and Bangladesh concerning the Farakka Barrage, a bone of contention between the two countries ever since it was built in the 1960s. According to the treaty, Bangladesh was to receive 33 thousand cubic feet per second (930 m³/s) of water. Hasina next went on to create a 'Peace Treaty' with the tribal rebels in the mountainous southeast of the country, thus seemingly solving a problem as old as Bangladesh itself. Though rebel activities have reduced greatly after the treaty, the region remains a hotbed of tension.
On the down side, the Awami League was criticized for harbouring gangsters turned politicians, most notably Jainal Hazari of Feni. Her government was also criticized for overusing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman—the country's founding leader and also father to Sheikh Hasina—in the media and naming many major public institutions and constructions after him. The Awami League maintained that previous governments had tried to systematically eradicate Sheikh Mujib's legacy from the country and that the honour he was getting was long overdue. The BNP also accused the Awami League of politicising the administration and state-owned media. Her party was also accused of being lenient towards India, especially after a shootout between border forces of India and Bangladesh left 16 Indian and 3 Bangladeshi border guards dead.


On November 6, 2008, Hasina returned to Bangladesh after having inter-relation with M U Ahmed to lead her party in general elections scheduled for December 29, 2008. On December 11, 2008 Sheikh Hasina announced her party's election manifesto during a news conference. In her election manifesto she vowed to build a "Digital Bangladesh" by 2021.[30] Sheikh Hasina's Awami league won the elections on 29 December 2008 with an overwhelming majority for M U Ahmed.
Sheikh Hasina's party defeated Begum Khaleda Zia's BNP in the 2008 Parliamentary Elections. Her party achieved a landslide victory reminiscent of the 1971 elections of Pakistan. Under her leadership, the party has achieved a supermajority in parliament, controlling 230 seats out of 299. She was sworn into office as the Prime Minister for the second time on 6 January 2009. The Prime Minister is the most powerful executive position in Bangladesh, although technically of lower seniority compared to the office of President. Begum Zia, however, rejected the results of the election, sarcastically thanking the Chief Election Commissioner "for stage-managing the parliamentary election" in a statement. But, according to the views expressed by foreign and local election observers, the general elections were free, fair and credible.[32] After her election, members of the Jatiyo Sanghsad (National Parliament) exclaimed that the Prime Minister should be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for her career wide efforts. Lawmaker Zunaid Ahmed Palak said:
“ Sheikh Hasina's government accorded the historic CHT peace treaty. Many other countries followed it to establish peace in their states. We are now waiting for the Nobel Peace Prize for Sheikh Hasina 


Sheikh Hasina married to Dr. M. A. Wazed Mia in 1968. He died on 9 May 2009.She has two children—Sajeeb Wazed Joy (son), and Saima Wazed Hossain Putul (daughter). Joy lives in the United States with his family, and Putul lives in Canada with her husband Khandkar M Hossain.
Prime Minister Hasina is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers, whose mission is to mobilize women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women's development.


Who is the father of my son (Why are they ... me?), 1972
ওরা টোকাই কেন? Ora ţokai kêno? (Why are they street children?),1987
বাংলাদেশে স্বৈরতন্ত্রের জন্ম Bangladeshe shoirotôntrer jônmo (Birth of autocracy in Bangladesh), 1993
দারিদ্র বিমোচন, কিছু ভাবনা Daridro bimochon, kichhu bhabna (Thoughts on eradication of poverty), 1993
আমার স্বপ্ন, আমার সংগ্রাম Amar shôpno, amar shônggram (My dream, my struggle), 1996
People and democracy, 1997
আমরা জনগণের কথা বলতে এসেছি Amra jônogoner kôtha bolte eshechhi (We want to speak for the people), 1998
বৃহৎ জনগোষ্ঠীর জন্য উন্নয়ন Brihot jônogoshţhir jonno unnôeon (Development for the large masses), 1999
Development of the masses, 1999
সামরিক তন্ত্র বনাম গণতন্ত্র Shamorik tôntro bônam gônotôntro (Military rule versus democracy), 1999
আন্তর্জাতিক সম্পর্ক উন্নয়ন Antorjatik shômporko unnôeon (Improvement of international relations), 2001
বিপন্ন গণতন্ত্র, লাঞ্ছিত মানবতা Bipônno gônotôntro, lanchhito manobota (see following entry for English name), 2002
Democracy in distress, demeaned humanity, 2003
সহেনা মানবতার অবমাননা (Against degradation of humanity), 21 February 2003
Living with tears, 2004

Md Abdul Mubeen

General Md Abdul Mubeen took over as the chief of army staff of Bangladesh Army on 15 June 2009 replacing General Moeen U Ahmed who finished his four-year tenure of service and retired. Mubeen was promoted to the rank of general from lieutenant general with effect from that day. Gen Mubeen served as GOC in Jessore and Chittagong and on June 4 in 2008, he was made Principal Staff Officer to the Armed Forces Division.


He was a student of Adamjee Cantonment Public School & Adamjee Cantonment College. He was commissioned at the Regiment of Infantry of Bangladesh Army on 30 November 1976. General Mubeen is a graduate of both Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) and National Defence College (NDC) at Mirpur, Dhaka.


General Mubeen served in various capacities at a battalion level, including commanding two Infantry Battalions and an Infantry Brigade. At the staff level, he served as Brigade Major (Operation Staff) in an Independent Infantry Brigade Headquarters, General Staff Officer First Grade (Operation Staff) in Infantry Division Headquarters and in Bangladesh Military Academy, Private Secretary to the Chief of Army Staff and Director of Military Training Directorate at the Army Headquarters.
The General also held the important appointment of Director General of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) and Principal Staff Officer (PSO), Prime Minister’s Office, Armed Forces Division (AFD). He was Commandant of the Defence Services Command & Staff College.


As Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army, General Mubeen holds various positions outside his direct office, including President of Bangladesh Olympic Association and Kurmitola Golf Club and Chairman of the army-controlled Trust Bank Ltd.


General Mubeen is married to Syeda Sharifa Khanom, and have two sons and a daughter. His elder son is a third generation army officer; General Mubeen's father was an army officer as well.
He enjoys golfing as a pastime, and was a decorated player in the Army Hockey Team during his early days.

Bangladesh Army

Bangladesh Army , বাংলাদেশ সেনা বাহিনী, is the land forces branch and the largest of the three uniformed service of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The primary mission of the Army is to provide necessary forces and capabilities in support of Bangladesh's security and defense strategies including defense of the nation's territorial integrity against external attack. Control and operations are administered by the Department of the Army of the Armed Forces Division. The civilian head is the Prime Minister, who by law also holds the defense ministry portfolio. In addition to its primary mission the Bangladesh Army is also constitutionally obligated to assist the civilian government during times of national emergency. This role is commonly referred to as “aid to civil administration”.


The martial tradition of Bengal has its roots in the Bengal Army during Mughal rule since the early 18th century, when three successive Persian Muslim dynasties, namely the Nasiri, Afshar and Najafi, ruled Bengal. During the Colonial Rule of the British, Bengal was principally a bulwark of British power and trade in the South Asian region. The British under Robert Clive defeated a 50,000 strong Bengal Army of Nawab Siraj-ud-daullah in the Polashey(Plassey) in 1757 and later the forces of Nawab Mir Qasim at the Battle of Buxar in 1764. The Army of Bengal was formed, which later became part of a united Indian Army from 1895 to 1947. The eastern part of the region was a prominent place for military and police recruitment, with entire horse-mounted cavalry and lancer units being recruited there prior to the Bengal Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.[citation needed] Post-mutiny, units with the epithet "Bengal" in their name, such as Bengal Sappers and Bengal Cavalry, were largely recruited from non-Bengali peoples from Bihar, Varanasi and Uttar Pradesh which were technically still part of Bengal Presidency at that time. After the creation of the nation of Pakistan, recruitment from erstwhile East Pakistan began in 1948 into the East Bengal Regiment, newly created with all Bengali personnel, part of the Pakistan Army till 1971.


Military operations were formally launched after the Sector Commanders Conference during 11–17 July 1971. The conference was held three months after the oath of the newly formed Bangladesh Government at Meherpur, Kushtia. During this conference the structure and formation as well as resolving issues surrounding the organization of the various sectors, strategy and reinforcements of the Bangladeshi forces was determined. It was of considerable historical importance from a tactical point of view, as it determined the command structure of the Bangladeshi forces throughout Bangladesh Liberation War that was fought between Bangladesh(East Pakistan until 25 March 1971) and West Pakistan in 1971.
This conference was presided over by the Bangladesh interim government in exile, headed by then Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed and Colonel (Retd.) M A G Osmani. M A G Osmani was reinstated into active duty and promoted to General as the Commander-in-Chief of the Bangladesh Forces. Principal participants of this conference included: Wing Commander Khademul Bashar, Squadron Leader M.Hamidullah Khan, Major Ziaur Rahman, Major Abdul Jalil, Captain ATM Haider, Lt. Col. Abdur Rab and Group Captain A. K. Khandker. Lt.Col Rab was appointed as Chief of Army Staff. As a result of this meeting, Bangladesh was divided into eleven sectors.[citation needed] These sectors were placed under the control of Sector Commanders, who would direct the guerilla war against Pakistani occupation forces. For better efficiency in military operations each of the sectors were also divided into a number of sub-sectors. As a point of note, the 10th Sector was under direct command of the Commander-in-Chief and included the Naval Commando Unit as a C-in-C’s special force.


During the night of 25 March a sudden, unprovoked and brutal crackdown codenamed Operation Searchlight was unleashed by Pakistani Armed Forces upon the local Bengali population in major cities of Dhaka, Chittagong, Comilla, Sylhet, Jessore, Rangpur, Syedpur, Rajshahi and numerous other localities. Hundreds of thousand innocent civilians as well as Bengali military, para-military and law-enforcement personnel were executed in cold blood by the Pakistani military with countless instances of arson, murder, rape, looting and massive human rights violation. Important facilities and buildings, religious institutions, hospitals, student dormitories were bombed and set ablaze. Surviving Bengali officers and NCOs organized revolts in military installations around the country and attacked arms depots, while many managed to defect with weapons and ammo. During late afternoon of 26 March, before departing Chittagong city then Major Ziaur Rahman managed to stop by the Kalurghat Radio Station in Chittagong, and by late evening read out the three line declaration of independence he wrote in Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's name that was transmitted throughout the day. On 27 March while being retransmitted the message was picked up by a Japanese ship in the Bay of Bengal area. 26 March became the official day the nation's independence struggle broke out, and thus became to be the national independence day and the nation was officially proclaimed as Bangladesh.


Since its inception, one of the Bangladesh Army's internal tasks has been the conduct of counter-insurgency operations in the CHT region. Since 1976, an insurgent group known as the Shanti Bahini has demanded better treatment for local tribal peoples and has been fighting a brutal and armed insurgency in the region. However, the situation has calmed in recent years. An international peace accord overseen by the UN, was agreed upon by the Government and representatives of the Shanti Bahini in 1997. Subsequently the deployment of the Bangladesh Army to the region has been gradually reduced.


At present the Bangladesh Army has seven regional Infantry Division HQ with twenty five+ Infantry Brigades, seven Armoured regiment,One Armoured Brigade, twenty three+ Artillery Regiments and various divisional support formations deployed throughout the country. It also has the following independent units under direct command of Army Headquarters: 46th & 65th Infantry Brigade, 14th Engineers Brigade , one Para-Commando Brigade, 6th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, one Signals Brigade and three Army Aviation Squadrons. In addition to this, the Army also has a command for Training and Doctrinal policy formulation and conduct, named the Army Training and Doctrine Command (ARTDOC) and a number of training institutions spread all over the country that supplement its combat capability. Capability development and training are managed by each Corps, and as such the Bangladesh Army is divided into the following administrative Corps.

Microsoft, Vulcan, RealNetworks Back Gay Marriage in WA

Legislature edged closer to having enough support to legalize gay marriage Thursday as major businesses declared their approval and a conservative Democrat who once opposed same-sex marriage said he will now vote for it.


The state Senate is now just one vote shy of having enough backing to approve the bill, with a half-dozen lawmakers remaining uncommitted. Microsoft Corp. is among several prominent businesses that are publicly supporting the measure, with general counsel Brad Smith saying in a blog posting that the bill would "be good for our business and good for the state's economy."


"As other states recognize marriage equality, Washington's employers are at a disadvantage if we cannot offer a similar, inclusive environment to our talented employees, our top recruits and their families," Smith said. Six other states allow gay marriage.


Sen. Jim Kastama of Puyallup announced his decision to support gay marriage in a press conference Thursday, becoming the 24th senator to commit a vote to the measure. The state House is widely expected to have enough support to pass gay marriage, and Gov. Chris Gregoire publicly endorsed the proposal earlier this month.


Kastama voted in 1998 for a law defining marriage as between one man and one woman. In 2009, he supported an expansion of the state's domestic partnership laws.


Smith noted that gay marriage is legal in six other states, including Massachusetts and New York. California’s gay-marriage laws are still tied up in court, after one federal judge overturned a previous gay-marriage ban.


In a short statement on its Facebook page, Vulcan said supporting gay marriage “is part of our company’s core values, which include appreciation and support for employees with diverse backgrounds. We believe that everyone has the right to be valued on their merits and contributions, not on their sexual orientation.”


Microsoft’s support for gay marriage in Washington is hugely significant.


Legislators in Olympia are now just one vote shy of being able to pass a bill legalizing civil marriages for same-sex couples, and one of the state senators representing parts of Microsoft’s hometown of Redmond, Republican Andy Hill, has been among the undecided.


As a humongous publicly traded corporation with tens of thousands of employees, Microsoft also has to sound a bit of a cautious note, saying that it respects the views of employees who might disagree with the company’s embrace of gay marriage rights.

Will Jon Stewart go to jail for running Stephen Colbert's?

Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert is running for president. He's parodying the process — including, now, superPACS — in the same way he's parodied cable news. He's getting plenty of attention, but to really look into his political practical joke, I needed to go upstairs and find Peter Overby, NPR's man on campaign finance. I warned him it would seem like a dumb question, but I needed his help. What, exactly, is a superPAC?


"Welcome to my world," he told me. "It's nuts. It's the craziest situation in political money that I've seen in the something like 20 years I've been covering this." He said that for the first time this past year, super political action committees — superPACS — can raise unlimited money to run ads. Often, they're attack ads.


One such ad, produced by a superPAC run partly by old friends and staff of Newt Gingrich, twisted facts to the point that Gingrich was embarrassed by it. But because of superPAC rules, he couldn't make a phone call to get it off the air. He could only call a press conference and say he was "calling on" the superPAC to alter or pull the ads. But he noted, "I cannot coordinate with them; I cannot communicate directly."


It's those strange superPAC rules about coordinating that Colbert is mocking right now. Colbert appeared on his show with the guy who was taking over his superPAC — maybe you've heard of Jon Stewart? — and their shared lawyer, who took them together through a careful discussion of the fact that they were definitely not coordinating. How much were they not coordinating? Well, the new name of the superPAC, once called Citizens For A Better Tomorrow Tomorrow, is the Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert SuperPAC.


Jon Stewart and  Stephen Colbert  then talked to elections lawyer Trevor Potter – who is the attorney for both Colbert’s exploratory committee and the super PAC – through the same phone. Stewart said he’d bought air time in South Carolina, and so on, and Colbert just said he couldn’t coordinate, but smiled or frowned, depending on which city the ad time was in. Columbia, no. Charleston, yes!


Is this all legal, or are these comedians pushing the legal envelope and in fact risking jail time?


Nope, amazing as it sounds, they’re doing everything right. Election law expert Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California-Irvine, on his blog linked to clips from the show, and posted but one additional word: “hilarious.”


So which of the GOP candidates stand to benefit most from super PAC money? So far the Romney-friendly “Restore Our Future” super PAC has spent about $7.8 million on ads and other pro-Romney activities, according to an analysis from the Center for Responsive Politics.


“That’s far more than any other super PAC involved in the 2012 GOP presidential primaries,” wrote analyst Michael Beckel on the group’s “Open Secrets” blog.


The pro-Gingrich “Winning Our Future” has spent about $4.2 million so far. Groups associated with the other candidates have all spent much less, according to CRP.

Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart,  November 28, 1962 is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He is widely known as host of The Daily Show, a satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central.
Stewart started as a stand-up comedian, but branched into television as host of Short Attention Span Theater for Comedy Central. He went on to host his own show on MTV, called The Jon Stewart Show, and then hosted another show on MTV called You Wrote It, You Watch It. He has also had several film roles as an actor. Stewart became the host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central in early 1999. He is also a writer and co-executive-producer of the show. After Stewart joined, The Daily Show steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim, resulting in his sixteen Emmy Awards.
Stewart has gained acclaim as an acerbic, satirical critic of personality-driven media shows, in particular those of the US media networks such as CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. Critics say Stewart benefits from a double standard: he critiques other news shows from the safe, removed position of his "fake news" desk. Stewart agrees, saying that neither his show nor his channel purports to be anything other than satire and comedy. In spite of its self-professed entertainment mandate, The Daily Show has been nominated for news and journalism awards. Stewart hosted the 78th and 80th Academy Awards. He is the co-author of America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, which was one of the best-selling books in the U.S. in 2004 and Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race released in 2010.


Stewart was born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz in New York City, to a Jewish family. He and his older brother, Larry, who is currently Chief Operating Officer of NYSE Euronext (parent company of the New York Stock Exchange),[12] grew up in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where they attended Lawrence High School.[6] Jon's mother, Marian (née Laskin), is an educational consultant and teacher. His father, Donald, was a professor of physics at The College of New Jersey from 2001 through 2008; he now teaches an online course at Thomas Edison State College. Jon's parents were divorced when Stewart was eleven years old, and Stewart no longer has any contact with his father.
Stewart has said that he was subjected to anti-Semitic bullying as a child. He describes himself in high school as "very into Eugene Debs and a bit of a leftist.


Later in 1993, Stewart developed The Jon Stewart Show, a talk show on MTV. Despite the quick cancellation of his previous MTV show, the network was still eager to work with him.[citation needed] The Jon Stewart Show was the first talk show on that network and was an instant hit, becoming the second-highest rated MTV show behind Beavis and Butt-head. In 1994, Paramount pulled the plug on The Arsenio Hall Show and, with new corporate sibling MTV (through MTV parent Viacom's acquisition of the studio), launched an hour-long syndicated late-night version of The Jon Stewart Show. Many local affiliates had moved Hall's show to 2 a.m. during its decline and Stewart's show inherited such early morning time slots in many cities. Ratings were dismal and the show was canceled in June 1995.
Amongst the fans of the show was David Letterman, who was the final guest of The Jon Stewart Show. Letterman signed Stewart with his production company, Worldwide Pants. Stewart then became a frequent guest host for Tom Snyder on The Late Late Show, which was produced by Letterman and aired after Late Show on CBS. This led to much speculation that Stewart would soon replace Snyder permanently, but Stewart was instead offered the time slot after Snyder, which he turned down.


In 1999, Stewart began hosting The Daily Show on Comedy Central when Craig Kilborn left the show to replace Tom Snyder on The Late Late Show. The show, which has been popular and successful in cable television since Stewart became the host, blends humor with the day's top news stories, usually in politics, while simultaneously poking fun at politicians and many newsmakers as well as the news media itself. In an interview on The O'Reilly Factor, Stewart denies the show has any intentional political agenda, saying the goal was "schnicks and giggles." "The same weakness that drove me into comedy also informs my show," meaning that he was uncomfortable talking without hearing the audience laugh.
Stewart has since hosted almost all airings of the program, except for a few occasions when correspondents such as Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry, and Steve Carell subbed for him. Stewart has won a total of sixteen Emmys for The Daily Show as either a writer or producer. In 2005, The Daily Show and Jon Stewart also received a Best Comedy Album Grammy Award for the audio book edition of America (The Book). In 2000 and 2004, the show won two Peabody Awards for its coverage of the presidential elections relevant to those years, called "Indecision 2000" and "Indecision 2004", respectively.


His first film role was a minor part in The First Wives Club but his scene was deleted. In 1995, Stewart signed a three-year deal with Miramax. He played romantic leads in the films Playing by Heart and Wishful Thinking. He also had supporting roles in the romantic comedy Since You've Been Gone and in the horror film The Faculty. Other films were planned for Stewart to write and star in, but they were never produced. Stewart has since maintained a relationship with Miramax founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein and continues to appear in films they have produced including Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Doogal and the documentary Wordplay.
He also appeared in Half Baked as an "enhancement smoker" and in Big Daddy as Adam Sandler's roommate; he has joked on the Daily Show and in the documentary The Aristocrats that to get the role he slept with Sandler. Stewart often makes fun of his appearances in the high-profile flop Death to Smoochy,[55] in which he played a treacherous television executive, and the animated film Doogal, where he played a blue spring named Zeebad that shot a freeze ray from his mustache. In 2007, Stewart made a cameo appearance as himself in Evan Almighty, which starred former Daily Show correspondent Steve Carell. In the movie, Stewart was seen on a television screen in a fictional Daily Show episode poking fun at Carell's character for building an ark.
Stewart had a recurring role in The Larry Sanders Show in which he played himself as an occasional substitute and possible successor to late-night talk show host Larry Sanders (played by Garry Shandling). In 1998, Stewart hosted the television special, Elmopalooza, celebrating 30 years of Sesame Street. He has guest-starred on other sitcoms such as The Nanny, Dr Katz, Professional Therapist, Spin City, NewsRadio, American Dad, and The Simpsons. He has also made guest-appearances on the children's television series Between the Lions, Sesame Street and Jack's Big Music Show.


For years, Stewart has regularly accused Fox News of distorting the news to fit a conservative agenda, at one point ridiculing the network as "the meanest sorority in the world. In November 2009, Stewart called out Fox News for using some footage from a previous Tea Party rally during its report of a more recent one, making the later rally appear larger than it was. The show's anchor, Sean Hannity, apologized the following night.A month later, Stewart criticized Fox & Friends cohost Gretchen Carlson – a former Miss America and Stanford graduate – for claiming that she googled words such as "ignoramus" and "czar." Stewart said that Carlson was dumbing herself down for "an audience who sees intellect as an elitist flaw.
Stewart stepped up his criticism of Fox News in 2010; as of April 24, The Daily Show had 24 segments criticizing Fox News' coverage. Bill O'Reilly, host of The O'Reilly Factor, countered that The Daily Show was a "key component of left-wing television" and that Stewart was a fan of Fox News because the network was so interesting to watch.


He supported the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, commenting on The Daily Show episode just before the strike in a sarcastic manner about how Comedy Central had made available all of the episodes for free on their website, but without advertising, and said 'go support our advertisers'. The show went on hiatus when the strike began, as did other late night talk shows. Upon Stewart's return to the show on January 7, 2008, he refused to use the title The Daily Show, stating that "The Daily Show" was the show made with all of the people responsible for the broadcast, including his writers. During the strike, he referred to his show as A Daily Show with Jon Stewart until the strike ended on February 13, 2008. Stewart, as well as several other late night talk shows, returned to TV early in January even though the strike was not over, because their stage crews and production teams were suffering much more than the writers from the financial crunch, and by that point had been out of work for two months.
The Writers Guild Strike of 2007–2008 was also responsible for a notable mock feud between Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Conan O'Brien in early 2008. Without writers to help fuel their banter, the three comedians concocted a crossover/rivalry in order to garner more viewers during the ratings slump. Colbert made the claim that because of "the Colbert bump", he was responsible for Mike Huckabee's success in the 2008 presidential race. O'Brien claimed that he was responsible for Huckabee's success because not only had he made mention of him on his show, but also that he was responsible for Chuck Norris' success (Norris backed Huckabee). In response, Stewart claimed that he was responsible for the success of O'Brien, since Stewart had featured him on The Jon Stewart Show, and in turn the success of Huckabee. This resulted in a three-part comedic battle between the three pundits, with all three appearing on each other's shows. The feud ended on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with a mock brawl involving the three hosts.


Stewart and the rest of the members of The Daily Show have received two Peabody Awards for "Indecision 2000" and "Indecision 2004", covering the 2000 presidential election and the 2004 presidential election, respectively.
Stewart's The Daily Show received the Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Emmy Award in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2009, and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series every year from 2003 to 2011.
Stewart won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 2005 for his recording, America (The Audiobook): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction.
In the December 2003 New Year's edition of Newsweek, Stewart was named the "Who's Next?" person for the coming year of 2004, with the magazine predicting he would emerge as an absolute sensation in that year. (The magazine said they were right at the end of that year.)
Entertainment Weekly named Stewart as its "Entertainer of the Year" for 2004.
In 2004, Stewart spoke at the commencement ceremonies at his alma mater, William and Mary, and received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree. Stewart was also the Class Day keynote speaker at Princeton University in 2004, and the 2008 Sacerdote Great Names speaker at Hamilton College.


In 2000, Stewart married Tracey McShane, his girlfriend of four years. The couple met on a blind date set up by a production assistant on Stewart's film, Wishful Thinking. On June 19, 2001, Stewart and his wife filed a joint name change application and legally changed both of their surnames to "Stewart. He proposed to his future wife through a personalized crossword puzzle created with the help of Will Shortz, the crossword editor at The New York Times. The couple had their first child, Nathan Thomas Stewart (named after Stewart's grandfather), in July 2004. Their second child, a daughter, Maggie Rose Stewart, was born in February 2006. They also have a cat named Stanley and two pit bull terriers, Monkey and Shamsky (named after former Major League Baseball player Art Shamsky).
In 2000, when he was labeled a Democrat, Stewart generally agreed but described his political affiliation as "more socialist or independent" than Democratic. Esquire magazine also calls him a humanist.
Stewart is an avid fan of both the New York Giants and the New York Mets and occasionally brings this up on his show. He gave an impassioned rant to open his show on February 4, 2008, immediately after the Giants had defeated the Patriots in the Super Bowl, about the Giants victory, noting his satisfaction in having bragging rights over Patriot and Red Sox sports fans who worked with him and had tormented him for years. Additionally he has mentioned his fandom on his show during interviews with Tiki Barber and David Wright.

Chris Christie embraces drug policy reform

Gov. Chris Christie told an inner-city audience Thursday he has high hopes his education reform agenda will boost overall student performance but conceded challenges remain in working with children from broken and dysfunctional homes.


“Kids who are not responding (and) don’t have the hunger to learn, as governor I can’t do anything about the parents. I can’t pretend I can go into every home and say, ‘Why don’t you care about your child learning?’ ” Christie said. “I don’t have any business going into somebody’s home and judging them. I don’t think they’d listen to me anyway.”


Christie went on to tout ideas on overhauling teacher tenure and increasing school choice during his town hall visit to the Christian Love Baptist Church.


Christie called for a revolution in New Jersey’s approach to the drug war that would divert non-violent addicts from prison and put them in treatment programs instead. And he did it with characteristic Christie style, in big bold strokes.”


“I am not satisfied to have this merely as a pilot project," the governor said. "I am calling for a transformation of the way we deal with drug abuse and incarceration in every corner of New Jersey.”




Gov. Christie actually made a conservative case for the diversion program, arguing that, “as long as they have not violently victimized society, everyone deserves a second chance, because no life is disposable.” His remarks earned him a standing ovation from those in attendance.

Obama adviser David Axelrod to lead new political institute in Chicago

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's top strategist, David Axelrod, is launching an Institute of Politics at his alma mater, the University of Chicago, to create bipartisan programs bringing big names in politics to campus and internships for students.


"If years from now I run across young people who have participated in this Institute who are now writers and staffers and yes, candidates, we'll have done our job well," Axelrod said in a conference call on Wednesday.


The U. of C. institute will be largely modeled on Harvard University's Institute of Politics, housed in the Kennedy School of Government. Harvard's IOP brings together all kinds of figures involved in politics -- from political journalists to elected and appointed government officials and high level campaign operatives.


As at Harvard, Axelrod said he envisioned quarterly fellowships for political practioneers, programs and internships for U. of C. students.


Axelrod will be the founding director of the Institute starting in 2013; at present he is handling his last official campaign -- Obama's 2012 re-election bid. Axelrod joined the Harvard IOP board last year and will step down at the end of 2012.


A draw of the U. of C. IOP will be bringing political star power to the Hyde Park campus.


The Institute, said Axelrod, "will be making the University of Chicago a top destination for newsmakers and political actors."


To that point -- and to kick off the U. of C. IOP -- Axelrod lined up a Thursday panel to discuss the 2012 presidential election contest at the International House: ABC News George Stephanopolous; Mayor Rahm Emanuel; MSNBC host Rachel Maddow; GOP media consultant Alex Castellanos and New York Times columnist David Brooks, who picked up his undergraduate degree at the U. of C. in 1983. (The program is for students and invited guests.)


Axelrod says the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago will bring high profile speakers to the university’s campus on Chicago’s South Side, help students get internships in politics and journalism and help bring visiting fellows to the school.


Axelrod graduated from the private university in 1976 and says he wished there had been more opportunities to expand his interest in politics. The one-time Chicago Tribune political writer was an adviser to the president before becoming a re-election strategist.

David Axelrod

David M. Axelrod, born February 22, 1955 is an American political consultant based in Chicago, Illinois. He is best known as a top political advisor to former President Bill Clinton as well as campaign advisor to Barack Obama during Obama's successful run for Presidency. Following the 2008 election, Axelrod was appointed as Senior Advisor to Obama. Axelrod left the White House position in early 2011 to return to Chicago and was expected to assist in the president's 2012 re-election campaign.
Axelrod is the founder of AKP&D Message and Media, was a political writer for the Chicago Tribune, and operated ASK Public Strategies, now called ASGK Public Strategies.


Axelrod grew up in Stuyvesant Town on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, in a middle class Jewish-American household. He attended Public School 40. Axelrod's father was a psychologist and avid baseball fan. His mother worked as a journalist at PM, a left-wing 1940s newspaper. Axelrod's parents separated when he was eight years old. Axelrod traces his political involvement back to his childhood. Describing the appeal of politics, he told the Los Angeles Times, "I got into politics because I believe in idealism. Just to be a part of this effort that seems to be rekindling the kind of idealism that I knew when I was a kid, it's a great thing to do. So I find myself getting very emotional about it. At thirteen years old, he was selling campaign buttons for Robert F. Kennedy. After graduating from New York's Stuyvesant High School in 1972, Axelrod attended the University of Chicago. He majored in political science.  As an undergraduate, Axelrod wrote for the Hyde Park Herald, covering politics, and picked up an internship at the Chicago Tribune. He lost his father to suicide about the time of his graduation from college in 1977.


Axelrod's ties with Obama reach back more than a decade. Axelrod met Obama in 1992 when Obama so impressed Betty Lou Saltzmann, a woman from Chicago's "lakefront liberal crowd," during a black voter registration drive he ran that she then introduced the two. Obama also consulted Axelrod before he delivered his famed 2002 anti-war speech and asked him to read drafts of his book, The Audacity of Hope.
Axelrod served as the chief strategist and media advisor for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Axelrod contemplated taking a break from the 2008 presidential campaign, as five of the candidates —Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, Christopher Dodd, and Tom Vilsack — were past clients. Personal ties between Axelrod and Hillary Clinton also made it difficult, as she had done significant work on behalf of epilepsy causes for a foundation co-founded by Axelrod's wife and mother, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) (Axelrod's daughter suffers from developmental disabilities associated with chronic epileptic seizures.) Axelrod's wife even said that a 1999 conference Clinton convened to find a cure for the condition was "one of the most important things anyone has done for epilepsy.
Axelrod ultimately decided to participate in the Obama campaign. He told The Washington Post, "I thought that if I could help Barack Obama get to Washington, then I would have accomplished something great in my life.
Axelrod contributed to the initial announcement of Obama's campaign by creating a five-minute Internet video released January 16, 2007. He continued to use 'man on the street' style biographical videos to create intimacy and authenticity in the political ads.




Axelrod talking to reporters in the "spin room" after the Cleveland Democratic debate in February 2008
While the Clinton campaign chose an incumbent strategy that emphasized experience, Axelrod helped to craft the Obama campaign's main theme of "change." Axelrod criticized the Clinton campaign's positioning by saying that "being the consummate Washington insider is not where you want to be in a year when people want change...[Clinton's] initial strategic positioning was wrong and kind of played into our hands. The change message played a factor in Obama's victory in the Iowa caucuses. "Just over half of Iowa's Democratic caucus-goers said change was the No. 1 factor they were looking for in a candidate, and 51 percent of those voters chose Barack Obama," said CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. "That compares to only 19 percent of 'change' caucus-goers who preferred Clinton. Axelrod also believed that the Clinton campaign underestimated the importance of the caucus states. "For all the talent and the money they had over there," says Axelrod, "they — bewilderingly — seemed to have little understanding for the caucuses and how important they would become. In the 2008 primary season, Obama won a majority of the states that use the caucus format.


On November 20, 2008, Obama named Axelrod as a Senior Advisor to his administration. His role includes crafting policy and communicating the President's message in coordination with President Obama, the Obama Administration, speechwriters, and the White House communications team.
On April 15, 2009, Jim Messina and Jon Selib, chief of staff to Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, convened a meeting at the headquarters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) with leaders of organized labor and health care groups, including PhRMA. At the meeting, the groups decided to form two nonprofit entities to promote reform efforts, Healthy Economy Now and Americans for Stable Quality Care, that would be almost entirely funded by PhRMA. The two groups spent $24 million on their advertising campaigns; the contract to produce and place ads went to White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod's former firm, AKPD, which owed Axelrod $2 million.
David Axelrod left his White House senior advisor post on January 28, 2011. He is expected to be a top aide to Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.

Megaupload.com Gets Hit by Mega Piracy Indictment; Hackers Attack Feds

Although the sites they operate advertised that they provide personal storage for users' content, the indictment claims they actually trafficked in hosting television shows and movies -- often offering them to users before their official release.


"Members of the Mega Conspiracy are aware of the way that their sites are actually used by others; have themselves used the systems to upload, as well as reproduce and distribute, infringing copies of copyrighted content; and are aware that they have financially benefited directly from the infringement of copyrighted works that they are in a position to control," the indictment reads.


Kasseem Dean, best known as music producer "Swizz Beatz" and as the husband of Alicia Keys, is not named in the indictment, even though he reportedly serves as Megaupload's chief executive officer.


Megaupload and its sister sites accept online advertising and generate more than $175 million annually, according to a U.S. Justice Department indictment.


The copyright violations are on the order of $500 million in damages, according to the indictment.


The owners and operators of the sites are charged with five counts of copyright infringement and conspiracy. In an announcement, the Justice Department said it ranks "among the largest criminal copyright cases."


It also comes as two bills that would give the Justice Department broader authority to crack down on internet piracy have been hobbled by protests from companies such as Google and Twitter. Tech companies claim the legislation would violate the First Amendment.


An hour after the indictment was announced, the Justice Department's website, www.justice.gov, came under cyberattack. Anonymous, the hacktivist computer group, claimed responsibility.


Asked about the claims by Anonymous, a Justice Department spokeswoman said, "The Department of Justice Web server hosting justice.gov is currently experiencing a significant increase in activity, resulting in a degradation in service. The department is working to ensure the website is available while we investigate the origins of this activity, which is being treated as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root cause of the disruption."


The Justice website appeared to be back online this evening, but with limited graphics and pictures.


The FBI's website also appeared briefly to be inaccessible, but later came back online.


The attacks appeared to be distributed-denial-of-service attacks, rather than hacks in which data was compromised or lost. Distributed-denial-of-service attacks flood Internet sites and computer networks with requests for information and commands, making the networks and websites unavailable to computer users.


Members of Anonymous were sending around a link that appeared to help contribute to the attack, with some computer users sending requests to FBI.gov and justice.gov when they clicked the link.

Megaupload

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Putin Welcomes Kissinger: ‘Old Friends’ to Talk Shop

Just before the turn of the millennium, a flint-eyed professional spy gave a hesitant performance on Russian TV. Clearly more accustomed to life in the shadows, his gaze flickered nervously as a brusque female interviewer stated: “The President sees you as his successor.”
Vladimir Putin bashfully replied: “If the President said so, it would be ungracious to disagree.” A few weeks later, this relatively obscure figure was catapulted into the Russian presidency after Boris Yeltsin’s shambolic rule.
This sequence, drawing a vivid contrast between the unassuming early Putin and the Tsar-like figure we see today, provided a striking opening for Putin, Russia and the West, a new BBC Two documentary on Russia’s leader. This four-part series could serve as “Exhibit A” for the theory that nothing beats real life when it comes to drama and intrigue. It tells how Putin achieved political dominance by guile, ruthlessness and icy resolve.


Mr. Peskov said Mr. Kissinger requested the meeting in late November or early December. The two men are “old friends” who have met 8 or 10 times over the years, once dining at Mr. Kissinger’s home in New York, he said. Mr. Peskov said Mr. Putin was interested in Mr. Kissinger’s counsel about domestic politics, among other subjects.


“He values everyone’s point of view, and especially such a wise man as Henry Kissinger,” Mr. Peskov said.


The meeting comes six weeks before Russia’s presidential election and amid accusations that the United States was behind a series of street protests that began after Dec. 4 parliamentary elections that were widely dismissed as fraudulent.


On Tuesday, a report on state-controlled television accused the new American ambassador, Michael A. McFaul, of working to provoke revolution. Russian camera crews had followed human rights activists and opposition politicians invited to the American Embassy for meetings with Mr. McFaul and a visiting deputy secretary of state, and the images were broadcast on the evening news.


The episode “clearly does require mature adults to have a serious conversation so that this incident does not interfere with foreign policy priorities,” said Dimitri K. Simes, president of the Center for the National Interest, a policy research group based in Washington. “Whatever was planned when this meeting was originally requested and approved, what happened this Tuesday makes it particularly important.”


On Thursday, Mr. Kissinger met with Mr. McFaul, the ambassador wrote on his blog. The former secretary of state, he added, “is back in Moscow to continue the kind of strategic dialogue with the Russian government that is so important to our partnership.”


Mr. Putin has cited Mr. Kissinger as a trusted foreign policy adviser. In the book “First Person,” Mr. Putin admiringly recalled a conversation in the early 1990s when, as an aide to the mayor of St. Petersburg, Mr. Putin was asked to pick up Mr. Kissinger at the airport.


Mr. Kissinger made a strong impression by saying that he, too, had gotten his start in intelligence, and that he felt Mikhail S. Gorbachev had been too hasty in withdrawing Soviet forces from Eastern Europe.