Germany denies secret spy project with US

Germany denies US spy project
BERLIN: Germany's aerospace centre has denied it is working with the United States on a $US270 million high-tech secret spy program, insisting that its plans for a high-resolution optical satellite have purely scientific and security uses. US State Department cables obtained by Wikileaks and published by the Norwegian daily Aftenposten say Germany joined a partnership with the US to create a satellite spying program that was presented as a commercial enterprise but is actually run by the German ...

Germany denies it plans secret spy project with US
Berlin — Germany’s aerospace center denied Monday that it is working with the U.S. on a $270 million high-tech secret spy program, insisting that its plans for a high-resolution optical satellite have purely scientific and security uses. U.S. State Department cables obtained by Wikileaks and revealed by Norwegian daily Aftenposten say Germany joined a partnership with the U.S. to create a satellite spying program that was presented as a commercial enterprise, but is actually run...

Germany-U.S. Secret Spy Project Denied
Berlin — Germany's aerospace center denied Monday that it is working with the U.S. on a $270 million high-tech secret spy program, insisting that its plans for a high-resolution optical satellite have purely scientific and security uses. U.S. State Department cables obtained by Wikileaks and revealed by Norwegian daily Aftenposten say Germany joined a partnership with the U.S. to create a satellite spying program that was presented as a commercial enterprise, but is actually run by the G...

US considered trade war on opponents of GM crops
LONDON: The US Embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a Military-style Trade War against any European Union country which opposed genetically modified crops, newly released Wikileaks cables show. In response to moves by France to ban a Monsanto GM corn variety in 2007, the then-US ambassador, Craig Stapleton, a friend and business partner of the former US president George Bush, asked Washington to penalise the EU and particularly countries which did not support the use of GM crops. ''Count...

Iran invites diplomats to view nuke plants
TEHRAN, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Iran has invited a number of western Diplomats to visit the republic's nuclear facilities, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. Mehmanparast said International Atomic Energy Agency-accredited ambassadors in Vienna, including representatives from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States as well as the European Union and non-aligned countries, have been invited, the state news agency IRNA said Tuesday. "The new move of inviting the ambass...

Iran invites Russia, China to atom sites but not U.S.
Jay Deshmukh, Agence France-Presse · Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011 Tehran — Iran said Tuesday it will open its atomic sites to some world powers, in a rare move swiftly dismissed as “antics’ by the United States, which along with Britain, France and Germany, is not invited. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in Tehran that invitations to visit Iran’s nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak have been sent to ambassadors of some of the nations represented in t...

Leaked cable: U.S. urged to wage trade war
LONDON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- The United States was urged to wage a Trade War against European Union nations, diplomatic cables released by the Web site Wikileaks indicate. In a leaked 2007 cable, the U.S. ambassador to France advised President George W. Bush to retaliate against the reluctance of EU nations to accept genetically modified crops, CBS reported Tuesday. The EU's stance threatened to cut off a key export market for American farmers. In a message to Bush, Ambassador Craig Stapleton suggest...

Creeping medievalism
Conservative politics aims to support and preserve the status quo. Reactionary politics aims to restore a bygone status quo. Ever since the early days of the New Deal, leading so-called "conservative" politicians have actually been reactionaries, wanting to take us backwards. The only question is: How far? With the emergence of Torture and the Repeal of habeas corpus under the Bush Administration, the answer seemed fairly clear: at least as far back as the late medieval period, when no one wou...

Aftenposten: Germany, US plan secret spy project
OSLO, Norway - Wikileaks documents published by Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten say that Germany and the U.S. are engaged in a $270 million satellite spying program that is causing friction in the European Union. Citing diplomatic cables sent from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, the newspaper said Monday that the project was presented as a commercial enterprise but is actually run by the German intelligence service. Aftenposten cites cables revealing that the HiROS venture — a network of...

Aftenposten: Germany, US plan secret spy project
WikiLeaks documents published by Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten say that Germany and the U.S. are engaged in a $270 million satellite spying program that is causing friction in the European Union. Citing diplomatic cables sent from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, the newspaper said Monday that the project was presented as a commercial enterprise but is actually run by the German intelligence service. Aftenposten cites cables revealing that the HiROS venture — a network of highly precise satel...

Iran Invites European, Arab Nations but Not U.S. to Tour Its Nuclear Facilities
Tuesday, January 04, 2011 By Nasser Karimi, Associated Press Tehran, Iran (AP) - The Tehran government confirmed on Tuesday that it has invited world powers and its allies in the Arab and developing world to tour Iranian nuclear sites before a high-profile meeting late January on its disputed Nuclear Program. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said the invitation went to "the E.U, the non-aligned movement and representatives from 5+1 countries." The "5+1" countries are the six wo...

You Heard It Here Second, But Before the Guardian or Times
Almost two weeks ago (Dec. 22), I griped about the US government hiring out its diplomatic staff in France to Monsanto. This revelation, or confirmation of obvious fact depending on how you look at it, came to us thanks to Wikileaks. The Establishment here in class-free America is rushing to cover up all the details revealed when the curtain was pulled back. I noticed at that time a complete lack of mention of this cable, pointed out by Mike Ludwig at Truthout, at the Times or the Post. Well, on...

An End to 'Critical Dialogue' with Iran?
Berlin — Europe in general and Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in particular have traditionally pursued a dual strategy of “critical dialogue” and “change through trade” in their efforts to influence the Iranian regime. The ongoing German hostage crisis is yet another example of what a flop this cognitive-behavioral Therapy for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and company has been. German Journalists Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch, who were arrested in mid-October for interviewi...

US, Germany embark on secret spy satellite program, leaked cable reveals
Stumble This! Germany and the U.S. are planning a $270 million satellite spying program that is causing friction in the European Union, according to Wikileaks documents published by Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten on Monday. Citing diplomatic cables sent from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, the newspaper said the project was presented as a commercial enterprise but is actually run by the German intelligence service and the German Aerospace Center, DLR. According to the cables sent in 2009 and last ...

U.S. Not Invited to Tours Iran's Nuclear Facilities
The Atomic Energy Agency has been locked in a tense standoff with the Iranian government over Iran's enrichment of Uranium and plans to participate in a new round of negotiations with the middle-eastern country in Istanbul at the end of this month. But the Iranian government has now invited several nations to come visit its nuclear facilities before those negotiations are held, the Times reports today. European Diplomats said the invitation was not likely to be accepted until after the next ro...

WORLD'S BIGGEST INDUSTRIAL SPY? FRANCE!
SBS/OZ: France is the country that conducts the most industrial Espionage on other European countries, even ahead of China and Russia, said leaked US diplomatic cables quoted on Tuesday by Norway's Aftenposten. "French Espionage is so widespread that the damages (it causes) the German Economy are larger as a whole than those caused by China or Russia," an undated note from the US Embassy in Berlin said, according to a Norwegian translation by Aftenposten. The Norwegian daily of reference said ...

Medvedev cancels Israel's visit
Israel and Russia have cancelled a forthcoming visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev due to a threat by workers at the Jewish State''s Foreign Ministry to "ruin" the trip. Employees of the Israeli Foreign Ministry who are demanding better Salary conditions, issued the threat yesterday through Russian media in Israel, which is monitored closely by Moscow, that they would not participate in preparations for Medvedev''s visit. Israel''s ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman,...

Iran opens nuclear sites to selected nations
Stumble This! Iran said on Tuesday it will open its atomic sites to some world powers, in a rare move swiftly dismissed as "antics' by the United States, which along with Britain, France and Germany, is not invited. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said invitations to visit Iran's nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak have been sent to ambassadors of some of the nations represented in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Diplomatic sources at the IAEA, the UN nuclear Watchdog ...

Greece to build wall on Turkish border
Young immigrants at a detention centre in Filakio on the Greek-Turkish border. Photo: AP Brussels: Greece has announced plans to build a wall along its 206-kilometre land border with Turkey to keep out Illegal Immigrants. Christos Papoutsis, a Greek Interior Minister, insisted the wall was necessary after Brussels intervened last year to prevent an Immigration crisis by sending an elite taskforce of border guards to protect the frontier between Greece and Turkey, the European Union's most insecu...

EU may shift bank failure costs: official
By John O'Donnell Brussels (Reuters) - The European Union's executive will propose rules this week that could force those that lend to troubled banks to shoulder more of the cost of winding them up, a senior EU official said on Tuesday. The... Brussels (Reuters) - The European Union's executive will propose rules this week that could force those that lend to troubled banks to shoulder more of the cost of winding them up, a senior EU official said on Tuesday. The proposal to pass the pain of a b...

France top at stealing secrets
OSLO: France is the country that conducts the most industrial Espionage on other European countries, even ahead of China and Russia, leaked US diplomatic cables say. ''French Espionage is so widespread that the damages [it causes] the German Economy are larger as a whole than those caused by China or Russia,'' an undated note from the US Embassy in Berlin said, the Norwegian daily Aftenposten said yesterday. The newspaper said last month it had obtained all the 250,000 US diplomatic cables WikiL...

US and Germany in joint spy satellite project: cable
Stumble This! Oslo (AFP) - The United States and Germany are jointly developing secret spy satellites under the guise of a commercial programme despite opposition from France, leaked US diplomatic cables showed Monday. The project, named HiROS, envisions the construction of an undetermined number of high-resolution observation satellites capable of spotting any object on the planet down to a size of just 50 centimetres (about 1.5 feet), according to classified cables from US Embassy in Be...

LEAK: US, Germany in joint spy satellite project...
The United States and Germany are jointly developing secret spy satellites under the guise of a commercial programme despite opposition from France, leaked US diplomatic cables showed Monday. The project, named HiROS, envisions the construction of an undetermined number of high-resolution observation satellites capable of spotting any object on the planet down to a size of just 50 centimetres (about 1.5 feet), according to classified cables from US Embassy in Berlin leaked to Wikileaks and obta...

Japan Pushed U.S. on Whale Group, Cables Show
Source: Wall Street Journal JANUARY 4, 2011. Japan Pushed U.S. on Whale Group, Cables Show By YOREE KOH In the first set of cables leaked by Wikileaks that originate from the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan asked the U.S. to take action against an antiwhaling Activist group for harassing Japanese whalers, including taking away the group's tax-exempt status. The cables, which Wikileaks posted online with a release date of Jan. 1, were sent two months before a Japanese harpoon vessel collided with ...

Israel focuses its energy on clean technologies
JERUSALEM (AP) - After a successful run of high-tech and computer-related innovation, Israel is focusing its ambitions on the next big thing—preparing the world for life without coal and oil. Israel is driving to become a world leader in Alternative Energy, with the government throwing its support behind cutting-edge technologies. The number of private entrepreneurs entering the so-called "clean-tech" sector has swelled dramatically. Already, a number of firms are moving to roll out new i...