Massive Global Malware Attack

Massive Global Malware Attack
By Stephen Lendman
Global Research, May 13, 2017

Financial war and cyberwar can be more destructive than standing armies, able to cause enormous harm to many millions worldwide, severely damaging and halting government, commercial, and personal online activities.

A statement by US Rep. Ted Lieu (D. CA), House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees member, said the following:

“The massive malware attack that hit multiple countries has caused chaos and has shut down vital institutions such as hospitals. It is deeply disturbing the National Security Agency likely wrote the original malware.”

“I have been working on legislation with industry stakeholders and partners in the Senate to address this problem.”

“Today’s worldwide ransomware attack shows what can happen when the NSA or CIA write malware instead of disclosing the vulnerability to the software manufacturer.”

“(I)t is clear to me that many of our public and private institutions are woefully unprepared for cyberattacks. We live in a brave new world. The time is now for Congress to seriously address cybersecurity issues.”

Security experts called Friday’s malware attack a digital perfect storm. Cyber-security firm Cyberreason believes the incident “is the largest (global attack) in the effect it is having, affecting nearly 100 countries worldwide.”

According to security firm Flashpoint’s Chris Camacho,

“(w)hen people ask what keeps you up at night, it’s this.”

Wikipedia calls ransomware used in Friday’s attack

“computer malware that installs covertly on a victim’s device (computers, smartphones, wearable devices), and that either mounts the cryptoviral extortion attack from crytovirology that holds the victim’s data hostage, or mounts a cryptovirology leakware attack that threatens to publish the victim’s data, until a ransom is paid.”

A message is displayed demanding payment to reverse what’s been locked.

“More advanced malware encrypts the victim’s files, making them inaccessible.”

Computer Master File Tables and hard drives can be locked, preventing users from accessing data, risking its loss by deleting it.

Developed by the NSA for cyberattacks, the malware is now widely available, including to elements responsible for Friday’s incident – maybe a precursor for more widespread attacks against governments, businesses, and virtually any other digital targets worldwide.

Cyber technology threatens everyone connected online. Edward Snowden said Congress should demand the NSA disclose its arsenal of malware tools able to fall into the wrong hands.

According to WikiLeaks,

“(o)nce a single cyber ‘weapon’ is ‘loose,’ it can spread around the world in seconds, to be used by rival states, cyber mafia and teenage hackers alike.”

Separately, WikiLeaks tweeted,

“(i)f you can’t secure it – don’t build it…US cyber weapons (pose an) extreme proliferation risk.”
According to security experts, cyber-criminals used stolen NSA malware, targeting governments, businesses, hospitals, power grids, public services, and individuals opening infected attachments or email links.

Enormous cyber vulnerabilities exist. Friday’s incident suggests more like it to come, perhaps an eventual digital equivalent of dirty nuclear bomb contamination worldwide.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago.

Putin says intimidation of North Korea must end

Putin says intimidation of North Korea must end

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that North Korea's latest missile test was "dangerous", but he warned that Pyongyang was being intimidated and called for a peaceful solution to regional tensions.

"We are categorically against the expansion of the club of nuclear powers,"

Putin told reporters after an international forum in Beijing.

"We consider (the missile test) counter-productive, harmful and dangerous," Putin said.

But, he added: "We must stop intimidating North Korea and find a peaceful solution to this problem."

North Korea celebrated Sunday's launch of what appeared to be its longest-range ballistic missile yet tested in a bid to bring the US mainland within reach, saying it was capable of carrying a "heavy nuclear warhead".

The missile was launched on an unusually high trajectory, with KCNA saying it flew to an altitude of 2,111.5 kilometres and travelled 787 kilometres before coming down in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
That suggests a range of 4,500 kilometres (2,800 miles) or more if flown for maximum distance, analysts said.

The White House said Sunday that the missile came down "so close to Russian soil... the president (Donald Trump) cannot imagine that Russia is pleased".

But Russia's defence ministry later said the missile landed about 500 kilometres from its territory and posed no threat.

சமரன்: போக்குவரத்து தொழிலாளர் போராட்டத்தை ஆதரிப்போம்!

சமரன்: போக்குவரத்து தொழிலாளர் போராட்டத்தை ஆதரிப்போம்!

புதிய ஈழம்: ஒக்ரோபர் புரட்சி நூற்றாண்டின் 2017 மே1-மே 18 நாள்...

புதிய ஈழம்: ஒக்ரோபர் புரட்சி நூற்றாண்டின் 2017 மே1-மே 18 நாள்...: ஒக்ரோபர் புரட்சி நூற்றாண்டின் 2017 மே1-மே 18 நாள் சூளுரை அன்பார்ந்த தமிழீழ மக்களே, மாணவர்களே,இளைஞர்களே,உலகத் தொழிலாளர்களே,ஒடுக்கப்பட்...

Land or Indian Ocean water, the security of India and Sri Lanka was indivisible - Modi

The Island Editorial
Sailing between Scylla & Charybdis
May 12, 2017, 9:24 pm

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may not have come all the way here just to switch on Vesak illuminations or open a hospital. The main purpose of his visit was to convey a message, which was loud and clear, we reckon. He declared that whether it was on land or in the waters of the Indian Ocean, the security of India and Sri Lanka was indivisible. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government may claim that what is reflected in Modi’s message is India’s concern about Sri Lanka’s security. But, what Modi has told Sri Lanka may be paraphrased thus: ‘Be mindful of India’s security whatever you do on your soil or in the Indian Ocean.’ Viewed against India’s growing concern about the increasing Chinese presence here, Modi’s declaration may even be considered a warning of sorts.

PM Modi tried to sound very generous when he said India’s development cooperation with Sri Lanka amounted to USD 2.6 billion and ‘its only aim is to support Sri Lanka in realising a peaceful, prosperous and secure future for its people’. Only the naïve among us will believe that India is acting out of altruism to help her southern neighbour. Interestingly, no sooner had Modi uttered the aforesaid words than Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe flew to China to take part in the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government is obviously desperate for funds. All it receives from its international allies is moral support as well as some recognition and not the much-needed money. Therefore, the yahapalana government has been left with no alternative but to swallow its pride and grovel before China, seeking loans and investment. India has not taken kindly to China’s ambitious One Belt One Road initiative. China’s soft power project on such a scale is a worrisome proposition for India, which naturally feels concerned about Sri Lanka’s increasing dependence on China for loans and investment.

The Indian PM has said his ‘conversations’ with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe have reinforced India's will to join hands in achieving their common goals. He has, however, not revealed what was discussed. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe have also insisted that PM Modi’s visit had nothing to do with anything political or economic. We can’t expect them to tell us the whole truth, can we?

President Sirisena has hauled the government doctors over the coals for resorting to strikes and causing immense suffering to the sick, especially during the Vesak season. The Buddha has extolled the virtues of looking after the sick. Similarly, the Compassionate One has urged his lay followers to observe the Five Precepts. The President and the Prime Minister have categorically denied that they are planning to hand over the Trincomalee oil tank farm to India. Whether they have violated, during the Vesak season, the Fourth Precept, which forbids lying, will be seen sooner or later.

The government leaders have resorted to prevarication and obfuscation as regards the alleged moves to let India gain control over strategically important national assets of this country. Petroleum workers who recently launched a crippling strike against the handing over of oil tanks to India subsequently called off their trade union action following a powwow with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe; they claimed the PM had assured them that the government would not strike any such deal with India. But, the MoUs the governments of Sri Lanka and India signed in New Delhi one day later ran counter to that pledge.



Good diplomacy is all about the right balance. Dividing a country’s strategically important assets among world powers in a bid to appease and benefit from them is not diplomacy.

Such practice is fraught with the danger of turning a country into a battleground of powerful nations. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka finds itself in that predicament.

மோடி வருகை வரலாறு-மனோ கணேசன்

 

Indian PM Modi will address thousands of Sri Lankans of Indian origin in Central Province

Prime Minister will address thousands of Sri Lankans of Indian origin in Central Province

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Colombo on Thursday to participate in the international UN Vesak Day hosted by Sri Lanka.

During the two-day visit, he will address thousands of upcountry Tamils of the country, shining the spotlight on the 1.6 million-strong community inhabiting the island’s Central and Southern provinces.
On Friday, Mr. Modi will speak at a public meeting in Norwood, in the island’s hill country, which is likely to draw tens of thousands of upcountry Tamils, most of them descendants of Indian-origin labourers brought in by the British.

On his last trip to Sri Lanka in March 2015, the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister in nearly 30 years, Mr. Modi visited the war-battered Northern Province.

This is the first time that an Indian Premier will travel to the Central Province, where the country’s famed tea estates are located, to address Sri Lankans of recent Indian origin.

‘Historic visit’

Senior upcountry leaders deemed the Modi visit ‘historic”, after Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru’s visits in the pre-Independence era.

 “India has always expressed concern for our Tamil brothers and sisters from the north and east. This visit is only an extension of that to include Tamils from other parts of the island,”

said Mano Ganesan, Minister for National Co-existence, Dialogue and Official Languages, and leader of the Tamil Progressive Alliance.

As “full-fledged Sri Lankans”, who battled statelessness in the past, members of the community have made a mark in different fields, even as a fourth of them continue toiling in tea plantations, braving low wages, poor housing and education, Mr. Ganesan said. “We remain loyal to our motherland, but see India as our fatherland.”

Meeting with parties

Mr. Modi is scheduled to meet leaders of the TPA and those of Ceylon Workers’ Congress, a party that traditionally represented upcountry Tamils, but has more recently lost ground to the TPA. “We are mobilising 20,000 workers for Mr. Modi’s meeting,” CWC President Muthu Sivalingam told The Hindu .

While TPA hopes to revive a 2014 MoU and seek Indian support in housing, education and vocational training, the CWC too wrote to Mr. Modi in April, requesting for assistance in the same areas. India is currently building 4,000 houses for estate workers. Mr. Modi will inaugurate a hospital in the area built with Indian assistance.

Mr. Modi will inaugurate the UN Vesak Day celebrations in the city on Friday. Soon after, he will proceed to the island’s Central Province by a helicopter, specially brought from India.

Following his engagement in Norwood, he will visit the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, ahead of his departure to New Delhi. While Mr. Modi will meet top Sri Lankan leaders, no bilateral agreements will be signed during his visit. Sri Lanka police have deployed 6,000 personnel for enhanced security. For the first time, Sri Lanka is hosting an international conference and celebrations around UN Vesak Day. Nearly 750 people from 85 countries will participate in the event.

In order to stop the Syrian war, country 'will have to be divided'

In order to stop the Syrian war, country 'will have to be divided'
May 5, 2017 Oleg Yegorov, RBTH 

Russian experts believe the introduction of de-escalation zones in Syria will guarantee the dissolution of the country, as there is no other way of stopping the civil war.

The truce in Syria, established thanks to Russia, Turkey, and Iran’s mediation efforts, has been on shaky ground for the past several months. Source: AFP

During talks in Astana on May 3 and 4, Moscow and its partners proposed introducing "de-escalation zones" in Syria which will be monitored by foreign peace-keeping contingents. The truce in Syria, established thanks to Russia, Turkey, and Iran’s mediation efforts, has been on shaky ground for the past several months. For weeks the government forces and the armed opposition have been shelling each other with increasing frequency. The situation escalated further after the chemical attacks in the Idlib Province on April 4, killing 89 people (the government and the opposition blame each other).
In the fourth round of talks in the Kazakh capital, Russia, Turkey, and Iran proposed a completely new regulation plan that foresees the creation of four de-escalation zones, where any use of weapons will be forbidden, the infrastructure will be restored, and conditions will be created for the work of humanitarian organizations. Demarcation lines will be set up on the borders to prevent shelling. The Kremlin explained that the de-escalation zones would also be no-fly zones.

Who's for and against it?

On May 4 in Astana, Russia, Turkey and Iran signed a memorandum to create the de-escalation zones. Representatives of the Bashar al-Assad government expressed their support for the initiative while the opposition delegation opposed it, protesting against Iran's role as guarantor. However, President Vladimir Putin remarked that he had discussed the idea with U.S. President Donald Trump who supported the initiative.

Arab scholar and expert from the Russian International Affairs Council, Sergei Balmasov, believes both the Syrian government and the opposition will not agree to the initiative in practice and will do everything to undermine it. "The idea to create safe zones has been discussed for several years. But the conflict has not been solved and now any agreement, even if it is supported on paper, will be violated," said Balmasov. In his view, the civil war is still at the stage where neither side is prepared to compromise.

Imposing peace from the outside

On the other hand, if pressure from the mediating troika is strong enough, and it’s supported by Washington and the Persian Gulf countries, the external forces will be able to impose their solution on Damascus and the opposition, believes Leonid Isaev, senior professor at the Political Sciences Department at the Higher School of Economics. "The external players agree on this deal, on these rules of the game. The Syrians are not being asked and it’s understandable. The Syrians have not been able to come to an agreement for many years. That is why now they will have to agree to what others are proposing."

The memorandum foresees the possibility of sending foreign contingents to Syria that will guard the demarcation lines. The document does not specify where the contingents will come from. However, Director of the Center for Islamic Studies at the Institute of Innovational Development Kirill Semenov (in an interview with Svobodnaya Pressa) believes that they can be "neutral international players, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Maghreb countries." Semenov says that the measures enforcing a truce must be harsh and that they must be applied not only to the opposition but also to the government forces. Only then is success possible.

Does Syria still exist?

Work to realize the memorandum has only just begun. The Russian delegation says that combat action in the territories indicated in the document will cease on May 6, that the borders of the de-escalation zones still have to be agreed upon, and that some other work also still has to be done. But if the project is implemented, the country will be divided: The government will control certain areas, the opposition others, and between them will be the peacekeepers.

"This will de facto mean a reinforced division of Syria. But actually, Syria has not been united for several years," notes Sergei Balmasov. He adds that neither side of the civil war has any illusions about peaceful co-existence and their participation in the talks in Geneva and Astana is just a façade. Leonid Isaev partially agrees: "Syria as a state exists only on Google Maps, in geography lessons, and on the UN chair nameplate. But de facto the country has collapsed."

At the same time, Isaev says, it’s unlikely that the forces opposing Damascus, whether they are the opposition or the Kurds, are seriously thinking of establishing independent states. This would be too problematic. "These will a priori be failed states. They don't have the resources for independent existence," Isaev says. He believes that this creates the possibility of Syria restoring itself as a state, but at some indefinite point in the distant future.

குளவி மோடியைக் கொட்டக் கூடாது பாருங்கோ!

Sri Lanka clears thousands of wasps ahead of Modi visit

The wasps are being removed to ensure Modi is not stung [M.A. Pushpa Kumara/EPA]

Private company to remove the wasps from tea fields which the Indian Prime Minister will tour on Friday.

Sri Lanka has taken the unusual step of clearing thousands of wasps from a tea plantation to ensure Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not stung during his forthcoming visit.
Police in Hatton, some 125km east of the capital Colombo, hired a private company to remove the wasps from its tea fields which Modi will tour with his entourage on Friday.

The private Bee Protection Organisation said they removed nests from two locations to ensure that the Indian visitors could land in helicopters without stirring up trouble with the aggressive locals.

"There were two big nests near two helipads. At the time of landing, helicopters can disturb the wasps and they could sting people in that area," Bandara Thambavita, the head of wasp removal unit Tissa, told the AFP news agency.

"We have cleared the nests and declared the area safe for the VVIPs to visit."

The winged evictees were removed humanely and relocated to a nearby jungle, Thambavita added. A team will remain on site to ensure those kicked out do not return before Modi touches down.
 READ MORE: Sri Lanka seeks to mend ties with India

It will be the second time in just over two years that the Indian leader has visited neighbouring Sri Lanka.

He will return Thursday as chief guest at the Buddhist celebration of Vesak, which marks the birth, enlightenment and the passing of the Buddha.

Modi will address a Buddhist conference in Colombo before travelling by helicopter to the central tea country to open an India-funded hospital and address Indian-origin plantation workers.

He will also visit Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist shrine, the Temple of the Tooth, before leaving on Friday evening.

Sri Lanka police have said they will deploy more than 6,000 officers to provide additional security during Modi's overnight visit.

Source: AFP news agency

US Sponsored “Regime Change” in Venezuela is Now Official.

US Sponsored “Regime Change” in Venezuela is Now Official. US National Security Advisor McMaster Calls for a “Quick, Peaceful Solution”

By Rachael Boothroyd-Rojas

Global Research, May 10, 2017

United States National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster released an official statement Saturday expressing the need for a “quick and peaceful solution” to Venezuela’s “ongoing crisis”.

The press release was made public after McMaster met with Venezuelan opposition leader and current National Assembly President Julio Borges at the White House earlier that day.
It reads:

“They [Borges and McMaster] discussed the ongoing crisis in Venezuela and the need for the government to adhere to the Venezuelan Constitution, release political prisoners, respect the National Assembly, and hold free and democratic elections.”

The statement has sparked alarm in Venezuela and amongst international movements in solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution. They have likened Saturday’s meeting to a series of similar encounters that took place between US officials and opposition figures just before a short-lived coup against former President Hugo Chavez Frias in 2002.

The meeting comes as Washington hardens its stance vis-a-vis the Maduro government. Last week, a bipartisan group of US senators presented a bill to Congress asking for sanctions on more Venezuelan officials in a bid to further isolate Caracas in the region.

Violent protests have rocked the South American country since the beginning of April when a stand-off between the leftist national government and the opposition-controlled National Assembly came to a head. So far, 42 people have lost their lives in the unrest, which has seen armed opposition protesters block roads, gun down government supporters, set fire to public institutions, and clash with security forces. At least 15 people have been killed by protesters, while a further five have died at the hands of authorities.

Despite the deadly unrest, opposition leaders have said that they will boycott a constituent assembly called by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as a way out of the impasse and have continued to call for their supporters to take to the streets.

The situation was brought to the attention of the United Nations this past Saturday, after Washington’s ambassador to the UN, Nikki Hayley, took aim at the Venezuelan government, accusing it of a “crackdown” on dissent in an official statement.

Anonymous sources have told Venezuelanalysis that the US is quietly pushing to table Venezuela as a discussion point at the UN Security Council but the move has so far been met with resistance from other nations.

The move to turn up the pressure on Venezuela comes as the United States escalates its military involvement in the region.

Over the weekend, the head of the Brazilian the armed forces, Theofilo de Oliveira, revealed that the US will also lead multinational military drilling exercises between Brazil, Colombia and Peru later this year as part of a 2015 NATO project.

A temporary military base will also be set up in the Brazilian town of Tabatinga on the Amazonian frontier between the three countries as part of the programme, confirmed the armed forces chief.
The military exercises have been described as “unprecedented” in the region.