Infinite Unknown

- China using massive surveillance grid to stop Tibetan self-immolation (Telegraph, Nov 9, 2012):

Officials at the 18th party Congress claimed yesterday that the ‘Skynet’ network has divided the region into a closely monitored grid and that teams of security personnel can be mobilised within two minutes to put an end to the suicide attempts.

Six Tibetans have doused themselves with petrol and set themselves alight since the eve of China’s once-in-a-decade leadership change on Wednesday bringing to 69 the number who are reported to have died in the past year.

Yesterday (FRI), thousands of students marched in protest in Rebkhong county, Qinghai province, according to Free Tibet, an activist group, and armed police stepped up their presence.

Speaking at the Congress in Beijing Losang Gyaltsen, the vice chairman of the local government in Tibet, said: “We do not want to see such incidents,” he said. “We do not want anyone to spoil Tibet as a happy region. For locals, we are checking IDs and for visitors we have checkpoints and security checks on travel.

“We also have a grid management system, so if any immolation happens in a certain block, we can launch an emergency rescue within two minutes,” he added.

Skynet is a highly secretive network and it is not known how many people work for it or how far is its reach. It has hardly been mentioned in official state media communications and is supposed to have a camera on every road in Tibet and in the Tibetan areas of Gansu and Sichuan. Continue reading »

Tags: 1984, Big Brother, China, Dictatorship, George Orwell, Global News, Government, New World Order, Politics, Skynet, Society, Surveillance, Technology, Tibet

Over the last few years, WikiLeaks has been the subject of hostile acts by security organizations. In the developing world, these range from the appalling assassination of two related human rights lawyers in Nairobi last March (an armed attack on my compound there in 2007 is still unattributed) to an unsuccessful mass attack by Chinese computers on our servers in Stockholm, after we published photos of murders in Tibet.

In the West this has ranged from the overt, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, threatening to prosecute us unless we removed a report on CIA activity in Kosovo, to the covert, to an ambush by a “James Bond” character in a Luxembourg car park, an event that ended with a mere “we think it would be in your interest to…”.

Developing world violence aside, we’ve become used to the level of security service interest in us and have established procedures to ignore that interest.

But the increase in surveillance activities this last month, in a time when we are barely publishing due to fundraising, are excessive. Some of the new interest is related to a film exposing a U.S. massacre we will release at the U.S. National Press Club on April 5.

The spying includes attempted covert following, photographing, filming and the overt detention & questioning of a WikiLeaks’ volunteer in Iceland on Monday night.

I, and others were in Iceland to advise Icelandic parliamentarians on the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, a new package of laws designed to protect investigative journalists and internet services from spying and censorship. As such, the spying has an extra poignancy.

The possible triggers:

• our ongoing work on a classified film revealing civilian casualties occurring under the command of the U.S, general, David Petraeus.
• our release of a classified 32 page US intelligence report on how to fatally marginalize WikiLeaks (expose our sources, destroy our reputation for integrity, hack us).
• our release of a classified cable from the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik reporting on contact between the U.S. and the U.K. over billions of euros in claimed loan guarantees.
• pending releases related to the collapse of the Icelandic banks and Icelandic “oligarchs”.

We have discovered half a dozen attempts at covert surveillance in Reykjavik both by native English speakers and Icelanders. On the occasions where these individuals were approached, they ran away. One had marked police equipment and the license plates for another suspicious vehicle track back to the Icelandic private VIP bodyguard firm Terr. What does that mean? We don’t know. But as you will see, other events are clear. Continue reading »

Tags: Banking, BND, China, CIA, David Petraeus, Germany, Global News, Government, Iceland, Internet, Military, poitics, Society, Tibet, U.S., WIKILEAKS

China is urging the US government to cancel plans for President Barack Obama to meet next week with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Chinese-US relations have already deteriorated over Taiwan, electronic security, and now with the potential economic threat by China. This meeting means relations between the two countries are going to get even worse.

The White House yesterday confirmed that President Obama will meet the Dalai Lama on February 18, despite China’s objections.

Added: 12. Februar 2010

More from Webster Tarpley:

- US government lies about Flight 253 ‘crotch bomber’ patsy: Summary of the evidence; Yemen attack implication

- Webster Tarpley: Geopolitical Goals of The Anglo-American Empire in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran

Tags: Barack Obama, CIA, Dalai Lama, Obama administration, Politics, Religion, Tibet, U.S., Webster Tarpley

• Dalai Lama and foreign ministries bugged
• Cambridge researchers point finger at Beijing

An enormous electronic espionage programme run from servers in China has been used to spy on computers in more than 100 countries, according to two reports published at the weekend.

The reports, published by the universities of Cambridge and Toronto, detail a “murky realm” where cyber spooks infiltrate email, take over humble desktop computers and use them to spy on organisations, individuals and governments.

The reports name the system GhostNet, and claim that it has been used to attack governments in south and south-east Asia as well as the offices of the Dalai Lama. In two years, the reports suggest, the operation infiltrated 1,295 computers in 103 countries.

Continue reading »

Tags: China, Computer, Dalai Lama, eMails, Hacker, Internet, Surveillance, Technology, Tibet

The Tibetan government-in-exile, led by the Dalai Lama, has released a video that appears to show Tibetan monks being tortured by Chinese security forces.

Be warned that is the original video and not the Telegraph’s version:

Added: March 21, 2009
Source: YouTube

Video footage from Tibet is extremely rare. The film, which shows violent scenes from the March 2008 riots, is the clearest evidence yet that Tibetans were subject to police brutality as China struggled for control in Lhasa.

In the seven-minute film, exerpts of which are shown above, Chinese police kick and beat apparently defenceless Tibetan protesters and monks after they have been handcuffed and are lying on the ground.

The Tibetan government-in-exile, which is based in Dharamsala in India, said the treatment of the captives violated international norms and amounted to torture.

Until now, the only video evidence of the riots in March was shot from long-distance and showed clashes in the streets of Lhasa but not evidence of torture.

“This is the first footage which visibly proves the use of brutal and excessive force against Tibetan protesters. It clearly challenges official Chinese statements that disproportionate force was not used on unarmed protesters,” said Stephanie Brigden, the director of the international campaign group Free Tibet.

The second half of the video, which is too graphic to show here, documents a serious set of injuries allegedly sustained by a Tibetan worker after he intervened in the beating of a monk.

According to the Tibetan government-in-exile, Chinese police shot at the man, who was named as Tendar, and then stubbed cigarettes out on his body, forced a nail through his right foot and beat him with an electric baton.

He was initially taken to a military hospital but, according to the video, his wounds were merely wrapped in cling film, which allowed them to rot. He subsequently died of his injuries in June 2008.

Continue reading »

Tags: China, Crime, Government, Human Rights, Police, Police State, Politics, Society, Tibet, Torture, Violence

Hillary Clinton has told China that the US considers human rights concerns secondary to economic survival.

Arriving in China on her first visit as US secretary of state, Mrs Clinton promised a new relationship between the two countries, one she considers to be the world’s most important of the 21st century.

Mrs Clinton landed in Beijing from South Korea, where she lashed out at the North Korean “tyranny” of its leader Kim Jong-il.

But in contrast she offered a conciliatory hand of friendship to Mr Kim’s ally China, contradicting hostile policies both she and President Barack Obama promised during their presidential campaigns last year.

She said she would continue to press China on issues such as human rights and Tibet, but added: “Our pressing on those issues can’t interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis.”

Continue reading »

Tags: China, Economy, Government, Hillary Clinton, Human Rights, Politics, Tibet, U.S.

France President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) is greeted by Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Gdansk December 6, 2008. Sarkozy will pay a “heavy price” for meeting the Dalai Lama, a Chinese state paper said on Monday, keeping up Beijing’s vitriol over Sarkozy’s 30-minute encounter with the exiled Buddhist leader. REUTERS/Eric Feferberg/Pool

BEIJING (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy will pay a “heavy price” for meeting the Dalai Lama, a Chinese state paper said on Monday, keeping up Beijing’s vitriol over Sarkozy’s 30-minute encounter with the exiled Buddhist leader.

Beijing brands the Dalai Lama a dangerous “splittist” for demanding self-determination for Tibet and was incensed by Sarkozy’s meeting on Saturday with the 73-year-old Buddhist monk.

Sarkozy told the Dalai Lama at their meeting in Poland that Europe shared his concerns over his homeland, which the Dalai Lama fled after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei on Sunday said it was up to France to “fully understand the damage” done to relations by Sarkozy, who holds the rotating presidency of the European Union until the end of the year.

Now the overseas edition of the People’s Daily has again warned that China will not easily forget the meeting, accusing Sarkozy of opportunism and trampling on China’s interests.

“He ignored China’s repeated entreaties and stubbornly refused to shift, plainly determined to step over China’s red line,” said an editorial in the newspaper, which acts as the voice of the ruling Communist Party.

“This malicious provocation concerns China’s core interest in national unity and inevitably will exact a heavy price.”

Continue reading »

Tags: China, Dalai Lama, France, Nicolas Sarkozy, Politics, Tibet

BEIJING, China (CNN) — At least seven people have been found dead after “the worst snowstorm on record in Tibet,” China’s state-run news agency reported Friday.

About 1,350 people were rescued in Lhunze County — another 300 were trapped — after nearly five feet (1.5 meters) of snow blanketed much of Tibet this week.

The storm caused buildings to collapse, blocked roads and killed about 144,000 head of cattle, the state-run China Daily newspaper reported.

The seven people who died either froze to death or were killed as a result of collapsing buildings, and one person is still missing, China Daily said.

October 31, 2008 — Updated 0715 GMT (1515 HKT)

Source: CNN

Tags: China, Earth Changes, Environment, Tibet

Farmers in Baoding face ruin from a man-made drought

THOUSANDS of Chinese farmers face ruin because their water has been cut off to guarantee supplies to the Olympics in Beijing, and officials are now trying to cover up a grotesque scandal of blunders, lies and repression.

In the capital, foreign dignitaries have admired millions of flowers in bloom and lush, well-watered greens around its famous sights. But just 90 minutes south by train, peasants are hacking at the dry earth as their crops wilt, their money runs out and the work of generations gives way to despair, debt and, in a few cases, suicide.

In between these two Chinas stands a cordon of roadblocks and hundreds of security agents deployed to make sure that the one never sees the other.

The water scandal is a parable of what can happen when a demanding global event is awarded to a poor agricultural nation run by a dictatorship; and the irony is that none of it has turned out to be necessary.

Continue reading »

Tags: Bejing, China, Dictatorship, Drought, Environment, Government, Olympic Games, Politics, Tibet, Water

Excerpts from the long but excellent article:

“Over the past two years, some 200,000 surveillance cameras have been installed throughout the city. Many are in public spaces, disguised as lampposts.”

“The security cameras are just one part of a much broader high-tech surveillance and censorship program known in China as “Golden Shield.” The end goal is to use the latest people-tracking technology — thoughtfully supplied by American giants like IBM, Honeywell and General Electric — to create an airtight consumer cocoon:”

“Like everything else assembled in China with American parts, Police State 2.0 is ready for export to a neighborhood near you.”

“This is how this Golden Shield will work: Chinese citizens will be watched around the clock through networked CCTV cameras and remote monitoring of computers. They will be listened to on their phone calls, monitored by digital voice-recognition technologies. Their Internet access will be aggressively limited through the country’s notorious system of online controls known as the “Great Firewall.” Their movements will be tracked through national ID cards with scannable computer chips and photos that are instantly uploaded to police databases and linked to their holder’s personal data. This is the most important element of all: linking all these tools together in a massive, searchable database of names, photos, residency information, work history and biometric data. When Golden Shield is finished, there will be a photo in those databases for every person in China: 1.3 billion faces.”

“Here is a small sample of what the company (L-1) does: produces passports and passport cards for American citizens; takes finger scans of visitors to the U.S. under the Department of Homeland Security’s massive U.S.-Visit program; equips U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan with “mobile iris and multimodal devices” so they can collect biometric data in the field; maintains the State Department’s “largest facial-recognition database system”; and produces driver’s licenses in Illinois, Montana and North Carolina. In addition, L-1 has an even more secretive intelligence unit called SpecTal. Asked by a Wall Street analyst to discuss, in “extremely general” terms, what the division was doing with contracts worth roughly $100 million, the company’s CEO would only say, “Stay tuned.”"

“It is L-1′s deep integration with multiple U.S. government agencies that makes its dealings in China so interesting: It isn’t just L-1 that is potentially helping the Chinese police to nab political dissidents, it’s U.S. taxpayers. The technology that Yao purchased for just a few thousand dollars is the result of Defense Department research grants and contracts going as far back as 1994, when a young academic named Joseph Atick (the research director Fordyce consulted on L-1′s China dealings) taught a computer at Rockefeller University to recognize his face.”
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Thirty years ago, the city of Shenzhen didn’t exist. Back in those days, it was a string of small fishing villages and collectively run rice paddies, a place of rutted dirt roads and traditional temples. That was before the Communist Party chose it – thanks to its location close to Hong Kong’s port – to be China’s first “special economic zone,” one of only four areas where capitalism would be permitted on a trial basis.

The theory behind the experiment was that the “real” China would keep its socialist soul intact while profiting from the private-sector jobs and industrial development created in Shenzhen. The result was a city of pure commerce, undiluted by history or rooted culture – the crack cocaine of capitalism. It was a force so addictive to investors that the Shenzhen experiment quickly expanded, swallowing not just the surrounding Pearl River Delta, which now houses roughly 100,000 factories, but much of the rest of the country as well. Continue reading »

Tags: Bejing, Biometrics, CCTV, China, CIA, Civil liberties, Congress, George Tenet, Golden Shield, Government, Homeland Security, Human Rights, IBM, ID card, Internet, L-1, Lhasa, McDonald's, Police State, Riots, Surveillance, Tibet, U.S., video surveillance, Wal-Mart