Mike Nova’s Shared NewsLinks
Mike Nova’s Shared NewsLinks![]() |
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The Secret History of the Russian Consulate in San Francisco Foreign Policy | ||||
The first thing you need to understand about the building that, until very recently, housed the Russian Consulate in San Francisco — a city where topography is destiny, where wealth and power concentrate, quite literally, at the top — is its sense of elevation. Brick-fronted, sentinel-like, and six stories high, it sits on a hill in Pacific Heights, within one of the city’s toniest zip codes. This is a neighborhood that radiates a type of wealth, power, and prestige that long predates the current wave of nouveau riche tech millionaires, or the wave before that, or the one before that. It is old and solid and comfortable with its privilege; its denizens know they have a right to rule. Indeed, from Pacific Heights, one can simultaneously gaze out on the city, the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge — and, beyond, the vast, frigid Pacific.
The second thing you need to understand about the closure of Russia’s San Francisco consulate is that, after the Trump administration summarily announced on Aug. 31 that it would shutter the building 48 hours later, the news coverage that followed almost uniformly focused on two things: the dumbfounding heat (this city, cool and grey, is in California but not of it) and the black smoke wheezing from the consulate’s chimney, as employees rushed to burn up, one assumes, anything confidential or inculpatory. People were right to look upward, toward the building’s roof, but their focus was misplaced: It was, in reality, the motley array of antennas and satellites and electronic transmittal devices dotting the rooftop — objects viewed with deep suspicion and consternation by U.S. intelligence community officials for decades — that tells the story of the Russian Consulate in San Francisco, not the ash drifting listlessly over the neighboring mansions. I rushed to the consulate the day the closure announcement was made and watched the building sit impassively in the heat, while the media crews cooled off in the shade. A suspiciously large number of delivery vans were circling, and there was an unusual concentration of loiterers (in their cars, on computers; in biking gear, across the street) on an otherwise very quiet block. Pedestrians walked by, snapping photos on their iPhones. San Francisco, it was clear, was now embroiled in the increasingly feverish diplomatic confrontation between the two nuclear superpowers. In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced, in an interview on state-run television, that he was decreasing by 755 the total number of personnel working at U.S. diplomatic facilities in his country. Closing the San Francisco consulate (and two smaller diplomatic annexes) was the Trump administration’s retaliation for this move. Putin, for his part, claimed that he was merely responding to the Barack Obama administration’s December 2016 shutteringof two Russian recreational compounds on the East Coast; the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats, identified as spies, from the country (this list included four employees of the San Francisco consulate, including the building’s “chef”); and a new round of congressional sanctions. The Obama administration, of course, made these moves in retaliation for the unprecedented Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But why the focus on San Francisco? Why not close one of Russia’s other three consulates, in New York, Seattle, or Houston? And why now?
The answer, I discovered, appears to revolve around an intensive, sustained, and mystifying pattern of espionage emanating from the San Francisco consulate.
The answer, I discovered, appears to revolve around an intensive, sustained, and mystifying pattern of espionage emanating from the San Francisco consulate. According to multiple former intelligence officials, while these “strange activities” were not limited to San Francisco or its environs, they originated far more frequently from the San Francisco consulate than any other Russian diplomatic facility in the United States, including the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. As one former intelligence source put it, suspected Russian spies were “doing peculiar things in places they shouldn’t be.” Russian officials in Washington failed to respond to multiple attempts via email and phone for comment.
Suspected Russian intelligence officers, often fully aware they were being surveilled by the FBI, began showcasing inexplicable and bizarre behaviors in remote, forlorn, or just seemingly random places.
Starting roughly 10 years ago — and perhaps going even longer back, according to multiple former U.S. intelligence officials — something changed. Suspected Russian intelligence officers, often fully aware they were being surveilled by the FBI, began showcasing inexplicable and bizarre behaviors in remote, forlorn, or just seemingly random places. ![]() Imagine driving up and over Mount Tamalpais, the iconic 2,500-foot peak located just north of San Francisco, then switch-backing precipitously through a redwood-studded ravine until, over the horizon, you spot a giant, shimmering, curvilinear beachfront. This is Stinson Beach, a 45-minute drive from the city. Now imagine that, standing out at the water’s edge, is a man in a suit — a man known to U.S. intelligence as a Russian intelligence officer. He has a small device in his hand. He stares out at the ocean for a few minutes, turns around, walks to his car, and leaves.
The driver stood next to his car, not purchasing any fuel. The passenger approached a tree, circling it a few times.
Some suspected Russian intelligence officers were found engaging in weird, repetitive behaviors in gas stations in dusky, arid burgs off Interstate 5, California’s main north-south artery. In one remarkably strange case, said one former intelligence official, two suspected Russian spies were surveilled pulling into a gas station. The driver stood next to his car, not purchasing any fuel. The passenger approached a tree, circling it a few times. Then they both got back into the car and drove away. Suspected Russian intelligence operatives would perform the same strange rituals multiple times at the same gas stations.
Not only were suspected spies visiting the same places that Russian surveillance planes were flying over as part of their Open Skies missions, but they were also appearing directly beneath these planes, in real time, while these flights were ongoing.
Eventually, U.S intelligence officials hit on another series of correlations: Not only were suspected spies visiting the same places that Russian surveillance planes were flying over as part of their Open Skies missions, but they were also appearing directly beneath these planes, in real time, while these flights were ongoing. “The idea was that some kind of communication could have been taking place between the plane and guy on the ground,” one former intelligence official told me. “The hard part was to confirm exactly what they were doing.” (Foreign Policy could not verify whether U.S. officials were able to definitively establish if, or how, such communications indeed occurred.) ![]() Russia has aggressively exploited its diplomatic presence in San Francisco for decades, and the United States has historically responded in kind. In 1983, for instance, the State Department issued new guidelines forbidding Soviet diplomats and journalists from visiting Silicon Valley. In the Ronald Reagan era, the consulate figured prominently in a number of sordid cases featuring American turncoats — including those of Allen John Davies, a former Air Force sergeant who offered the Soviets information on a secret U.S. reconnaissance program, and Richard Miller, the first FBI agent ever to be convicted of espionage, who was sleeping with — and passing information to — a Soviet agent being run out of San Francisco. In 1986, 13 San Francisco-based Soviet diplomats, accused of spying, were expelled by the Reagan administration; soon after, the Soviets publicly accused the FBI of operating a sophisticated bugging system in San Francisco via a tunnel it had secretly bored under the consulate. (“Obviously” the building was bugged around this time, said Rick Smith, who worked on Russian counterintelligence for the FBI in San Francisco from 1972 to 1992.)
The giveaway, even then, was the roof: covered with satellite dishes, antennae, and makeshift shacks, these devices pointed to a robust Russian signals-intelligence presence.
The giveaway, even then, was the roof: covered with satellite dishes, antennae, and makeshift shacks, these devices pointed to a robust Russian signals-intelligence presence. (The shacks, which persisted until recently, one former intelligence official told me, were erected to conceal the shape of the transmission devices from U.S. intelligence agencies, which would occasionally conduct reconnaissance overhead.) ![]() The closure of the San Francisco consulate cannot, of course, be decoupled from the political circumstances surrounding it. Because of the unique, and uniquely unsettling, history and attitude of U.S. President Donald Trump toward Russia — the one country treated with forbearance by a president who blithely aggrieves adversaries and allies alike — the administration’s actions in San Francisco were viewed with perplexity and suspicion by a number of the former intelligence officials with whom I spoke.
One former intelligence official offered that the consulate’s closure may be a signal from Trump to Robert Mueller, a way for the president to show the special counsel that his administration is not in thrall to Russian interests, financially or personally.
This National Security Council-centered account was the most benign theory I heard. One former intelligence official offered that the consulate’s closure may be a signal from Trump to Robert Mueller, a way for the president to show the special counsel appointed to investigate election-year collusion with Moscow that his administration is not in thrall to Russian interests, financially or personally. A second former official speculated that the closure will be temporary and that after, say, a future terrorist attack in the United States, Moscow might ostentatiously offer to provide intelligence on the perpetrators, and the Trump administration — grateful for Russia’s cooperation and assistance — might then return the building to its erstwhile tenants. |
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The other great mystery of Strzoks texts | ||||
Here’s a puzzle about the texts that got Peter Strzok in so much trouble: Why was the FBI’s top counterintelligence guy, an expert in secure communications, making radioactive comments via cellphone?
In any event, the FBI inspector general came across the texts and informed Strzok’s then-superior, Special Counsel Bob Mueller — who quite rightly kicked him off the “collusion” probe team. The bureau stuck him in an HR job while the IG investigates, though now Congress is all over the matter, too. And all for good reason: The texts show clear bias against now-President Trump, and for Hillary Clinton. At least one, mentioning an “insurance policy” if Trump won, casts doubt on the FBI work that wound up leading to Mueller’s probe. That is, his foolishness (he even did it on his work phone) led to the exact opposite result of what any anti-Trumper would want. Then, too, this married man was texting with his mistress, a top FBI lawyer. Was the affair another part of a life going off-track? (It even technically made him a security risk, since it left him vulnerable to blackmail.) ![]() We have to trust the IG and Congress to get to the bottom of it all. But at a minimum it leaves a taint on every political case Strzok worked on, including the Hillary e-mail probe. |
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Deutsche Bank – Google Search | ||||
Deutsche Bank Had Flagged Manafort-Related TransactionsWall Street Journal–4 hours ago
Deutsche Bank AG earlier this year flagged around $30 million in potentially suspicious transactions as part of an internal investigation into its role as a conduit for money involving Paul Manafort or people and entities connected to him, according to a person briefed on the matter. The findings, which were …
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December 14, 2017 | ||||
A look at the best news photos from around the world. |
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perpignan france – Google Search | ||||
Four dead and 24 injured after school bus is hit by train near …The Sun–3 hours ago
The French Interior Ministry has so far confirmed four children have died and another 24 have been injured. The Pyrenees-Orientales authority tweeted that the collision occurred Thursday afternoon on a railway crossing at a small town some 9 miles west of Perpignan, close to the border with Spain.
Four French children killed after train mows into school bus
International–The Local France–4 hours ago Live updates: Four children dead after train collides with school bus …
Live Updating–euronews–14 minutes ago Three dead as school bus, train collide in France: police source<a href=”http://gulfnews.com” rel=”nofollow”>gulfnews.com</a>–4 hours ago
PERPIGNAN, France: At least three people were killed and several injured on Thursday after a train crashed into a school bus at a level crossing in southern France, a police … The bus was struck by the train in Millas about 18 kilometres west (11 miles) of the city of Perpignan, close to the Spanish border.
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FBI News Review: 2:40 PM 12/14/2017 M.N.: The answer is: YES, and without any doubts! The FBI Did Become A KGB-Type Operation Under Obama! Investigate him personally, investigate the FBI, and investigate how it happened. | ||||
M.N.: The answer is: “YES”, and without any doubts! The FBI Did Become A ‘KGB-Type Operation’ Under Obama! Investigate him personally, investigate the FBI, and investigate how it happened. “I think the FBI has been compromised,” Fitton said on Fox News @ Night. “Forget about shutting down Mr. Mueller. Do we need to shut down the FBI because it was … Continue reading“2:40 PM 12/14/2017 – M.N.: The answer is: “YES”, and without any doubts! The FBI Did Become A ‘KGB-Type Operation’ Under Obama! Investigate him personally, investigate the FBI, and investigate how it happened. “ |
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Democracy and the Machinations of Mind Control | by Anthony Barnett | NYR Daily | ||||
The British are catching up with an American awareness of the intertwined political influence of the secretive super-rich, social media, and the Kremlin. In America, illicit support for Trump has been investigated by intelligence agencies, Justice Department officials, and major media organizations. Uncovering election interference in Brexit-Britain has been a more freelance business. About a year ago, Carole Cadwalladr, a regular contributor to The Observer newspaper, started researching the “right-wing fake news ecosystem” and its capture of web searches through Google especially. This line of inquiry has also been followed by ByLine, a crowdfunded investigative journalism initiative, which hosts a regular column by J.J. Patrick, who has been mapping the scale and penetration of Russian trolls and bots sowing hatred and division via social media.
Cadwalladr’s reporting led her to uncover the part played by Cambridge Analytica in the Brexit referendum. This company, London-based but US-owned (principally by the hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer, who was one of Donald Trump’s biggest donors), generated the “220 million” data setsof US voters’ details that underpinned Trump’s Facebook campaign. This employed so-called black ads only seen by targeted voters, a process that bypasses and undermines the shared political community essential for democracy. Cadwalladr found that the firm had also acted on behalf of the Vote Leave campaign in Britain—though Cambridge Analytica denied elements of her reporting. In a follow-up article, she described how “a website called CNSnews.com… dominated Google’s search algorithm,” flooding it with reports that established media outlets are “fake” and “dead”; this site was backed, too, by Mercer’s foundation. Cadwalladr also met with Andy Wigmore, who had been the director of communications for Nigel Farage, the former head of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and leading Leave campaigner who has subsequently emerged as a Trump acolyte. Cadwalladr learned that Farage was friends with Mercer and, as Wigmore told her, that Mercer had directed Cambridge Analytica to help the Brexit campaign. According to the UK’s election law, all gifts in kind must be declared for their monetary worth and none can come from overseas donors. The UK’s Electoral Commission is now investigating this apparent double breach; Cambridge Analytica, meanwhile, is pursuing legal action against The Observer. In March, Farage was spotted going into the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge. As Farage left the embassy, a BuzzFeed News journalist asked what he was doing there. Farage replied that he could not remember. In an overview in May, Cadwalladr pieced together various ties between the Trump campaign, Nigel Farage, and Russian “influence” efforts (including the alleged leaking of hacked information to WikiLeaks). British democracy, she concluded, had been “hijacked”:
As Cadwalladr was developing her thesis about this new machinery of political subversion, the UK editor of openDemocracy, Adam Ramsay, made a discovery of his own (I was the first editor of openDemocracybut was not involved with this story). With Peter Geoghegan, Ramsay showed how large sums of money were sent to the Vote Leave campaign during the EU referendum via a small, hard-line Loyalist party in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). (By curious serendipity, Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to form a coalition government with the DUP after her Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority in the general election of June 2017.) The loophole-ridden regulations governing British elections permit Northern Irish parties the unique privilege of not having to declare the source of their donations. A policy once justified by security concerns during the Troubles was abused by as-yet unidentified Brexit supporters to channel a secret, roughly half-million-dollar donation through the DUP to be spent mostly in mainland Britain. |
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Hanukkah’s real meaning — Don’t just see the spiritual light, share it with the world | ||||
Even most Jews are unaware that the key to the observance of Hanukkah isnt lighting the candles, playing with dreidels (spinning tops), eating latkes (potato pancakes), or giving gifts (in an imitation of Christmas). |
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Russia has ability to ‘disrupt’ Britain’s internet access, head of Armed Forces warns | ||||
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Trump’s Strange Love for Putin Has Become a National Security Nightmare – Vanity Fair | ||||
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2:01 PM 12/14/2017 M.N.: Investigate the Obamas FBI and the Obamas DOJ! What the utter idiots! Obama was more Third World caudillo than president | ||||
M.N.: Investigate the Obama’s FBI and the Obama’s DOJ! What the utter idiots! “This shouldnt be all that surprising given that Barack Obama gleefully weaponized the FBI, Department of Justice, and various intelligence agencies, and criminalized political differences in the process. A radical zealot with a desire to fundamentally transform the United States, the 44th president … Continue reading“2:01 PM 12/14/2017 – M.N.: Investigate the Obama’s FBI and the Obama’s DOJ! What the utter idiots! – “Obama was more Third World caudillo than president…”” |
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2:13 PM 12/14/2017 Polish official says Putin responsible for 2010 plane crash | ||||
Polish official says Putin responsible for 2010 plane crash Visitors at the Powazki Cemetery, in Warsaw, Poland, on Nov. 12, 2016, walk toward a memorial of some of the victims of a 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other prominent Poles. CZAREK SOKOLOWSKI/AP PHOTO WARSAW, Poland Poland’s … Continue reading“2:13 PM 12/14/2017 – Polish official says Putin responsible for 2010 plane crash” |
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2:40 PM 12/14/2017 M.N.: The answer is: YES, and without any doubts! The FBI Did Become A KGB-Type Operation Under Obama! Investigate him personally, investigate the FBI, and investigate how it happened. | ||||
M.N.: The answer is: “YES”, and without any doubts! The FBI Did Become A ‘KGB-Type Operation’ Under Obama! Investigate him personally, investigate the FBI, and investigate how it happened. “I think the FBI has been compromised,” Fitton said on Fox News @ Night. “Forget about shutting down Mr. Mueller. Do we need to shut down the FBI because it was … Continue reading“2:40 PM 12/14/2017 – M.N.: The answer is: “YES”, and without any doubts! The FBI Did Become A ‘KGB-Type Operation’ Under Obama! Investigate him personally, investigate the FBI, and investigate how it happened. “ |
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Today’s Headlines and Commentary |