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The huge leak of information from the CIA just published by Wikileaks gives a fascinating picture of how the CIA goes about its business, though I doubt there is much there which will come as a surprise to most people.
In light of all the swirl of activity around the DNC and Podesta leaks and the various allegations of Russian hacking, two questions however immediately stand out for me.
1. The technology used in the DNC/Podesta leaks is decades old and crude.  Are the Russians really so far behind the CIA?

Just three weeks after the top soldiers of the US and Russian militaries – General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff – met in Azerbaijan, they have followed up with a second meeting in Antalya Turkey, for a summit hosted by Turkey’s top soldier, General Hulusi Akar, who is the Chief of the Turkish General Staff.

Following the parallel deployments of Russian and Turkish troops to the Kurdish controlled Syrian town of Manbij, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim is reported as saying that Turkey has no intention of attacking the town.
This reverses previous statements of Turkish President Erdogan, who had spoken of Manbij as Turkey’s next objective following the capture from ISIS of the Syrian town of Al-Bab.

In an extraordinary twist illustrating the fantastic complexity of the Syria conflict, news agency reports confirm the presence of both US and Russian troops in the Kurdish controlled Syrian town of Manbij.

As the Trump administration had previously indicated that the President would do, Donald Trump today has issued a new ‘travel ban’ Executive Order replacing his previous ‘travel ban’ Executive Order, which has been the subject of legal proceedings.
The complete text of the new Executive Order is provided below.
The new Executive Order is a much lengthier document than its predecessor as it carefully responds to concerns raised by the previous Order’s critics and by the courts.

As French President Francois Hollande admits he will do everything in his power to stop Marine Le Pen from being elected French President, criminal accusations are being brought against her not just for republishing ISIS videos but also for making false claims for public funds to pay her staff.
This closely mirrors the charges brought against the former front runner, Francois Fillon, over alleged illegal payments to his family.

Following Saturday’s charges come Sunday’s denials.
On Saturday in a series of tweets Donald Trump accused his predecessor Barack Obama of wiretapping his office in Trump Tower.  A few hours later Obama responded with a statement published by his spokesman which neither admitted nor denied the wiretap but which said that Obama himself had never ordered surveillance within the US on anyone.

This article is republished with the author’s permission.  Previously published by Unz and by The Saker.

In 2003, George W. Bush and Anthony Blair sold their illegal war to a frothing mainstream media on the basis that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (lie), Iraqis wanted the West liberate them from their government (lie…even among Saddam opponents), Iraq was a hotbed of terrorism (outrageous lie) and Iraq directly threatened world stability (insane lie).
Many people who opposed the war and its accompanying lies carried placards with slogans including, ‘No blood for oil’, ‘Not in my name’, ‘Bush lied Iraqis died’ and so on.

News that British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is flying to Moscow comes directly after a House of Commons Foreign Affairs committee reported that Britain’s policy of not speaking to the Russians has become unsustainable.
This will be the first visit of a British minister to Moscow for 5 years.