The Massive PSYOP Employed against Ukraine by GCHQ and NSA

FROM: http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2014/02/28/massive-psyop-employed-against-ukraine-by-gchq-and-nsa.html

Wayne MADSEN | 28.02.2014 | 00:00 Comments: 1

It was only a matter of time. The National Security Agency's British FIVE EYES partner, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), has now made common cause with another creation of British intelligence, the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London. From the time of its creation in 1921 under the aegis of the British Army's Bureau of Psychological Warfare to the present time, the Tavistock Institute has been at the forefront of research into and application of targeted and mass mind control techniques. The institute has cooperated with research entities, including the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and Esalen Institute in the United States, that carry out psychological operations on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency and Department of Defense.   The latest tranche of PowerPoint slides revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden shows the similarities between the GCHQ's Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG)'s Human Science Operations Cell (HSOC). The very name «Human Science Operations» appears yanked right from the operational charter of the Tavistock Institute, which includes the ability to engage in «full spectrum domination» by U.S. and U.K. intelligence services, in other words, the two core members of the FIVE EYES alliance.   What is most alarming about the most recent disclosure of slides marked SECRET//SI//REL TO USA. FVEY [Special Intelligence, Releasable to USA and FIVE EYES] and UK TOP SECRET STRAP is that the FIVE EYES signals intelligence alliance of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are adding psychological operations (psyops) and Tavistock-developed mind control operations to its traditional signals intelligence (SIGINT) role. The blending of SIGINT and human intelligence (HUMINT) as part of cyber-warfare and computer network exploitation (CNE), with little or no actual oversight from legislative oversight authorities, is the closest proof revealed to date that the NSA and its partners have embarked on a policy of instituting «1984» Big Brother controls using the Internet as a primary weapon.   The latest tranche of slides points to a number of deception programs being carried out on the web. These include alias development and masquerading (which includes the employment of «sock puppet» personae already in use by the U.S. military to disrupt and influence the Internet), mass messaging (or spamming) and «call bombing,» propaganda, and «pushing stories».   These tactics have been refined since the CIA and its George Soros-financed non-governmental organization activist allies brought about the «Arab Spring» overthrow of governments in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen, as well as the bloody civil war in Syria. In Ukraine, the democratically-elected government of President Viktor Yanukovych fell more quickly than either Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak or Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi simply because the Western corporate media fully cooperated in FIVE EYES efforts to activate armies of sock puppets with aliases who disseminated anti-Yanukovych propaganda and, with the assistance of the global corporate news media, «pushed stories». In the case of Ukraine, the «pushed stories» were products of CIA, NSA, GCHQ, British MI-6, and Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) propaganda mills working in close collaboration with such intelligence agency fronts as Soros's Open Society Institute, Freedom House, Hudson Institute, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Heritage Foundation, and Demos of the UK.   Western intelligence agencies «pushed stories» through the use of Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Youtube. These applications are part and parcel of GCHQ and NSA Computer Network Information Operations (CNIO). Outside the realm of technological warfare, JTRIG admits that it employs «credential harvesting» against «foreign news agencies». In fact, spies and provocateurs masquerading as spies were not only discovered filing phony news reports from Ukraine but also from Venezuela during simultaneous anti-government rioting in that country. Fake journalists were also exposed in Egypt, Thailand, China, and Russia.   Two GCHQ programs that were likely used to bombard news organizations with propaganda from the Western-financed Ukrainian opposition are code named INFINITE CURVATURE and MOUNTAIN SLOPE. Without independently verifying what was being disseminated by text messages, email, fax, and phone calls, the global corporate media willingly re-broadcast and re-published FIVE EYES propaganda on the situation in Ukraine as fact. This included such canards as Russian special forces SPETSNAZ snipers shooting dead protesters in Kyiv's Maidan Square (actual reports had neo-Nazi Maidanovci agitators on Maidan Square shooting protesters with the intent that the government security personnel would be blamed), Yanukovych amassing a treasure of expensive paintings and sculptures in the manner of Muammar Qaddafi and Saddam Hussein (in fact, Yanukovych's tastes are more oriented toward kitschy bling than opulent extravagances), and that protesters were set on fire by police. As to the last item, the Associated Press transmitted a photograph of what was described as a protesters in Kyiv running away in flames. In fact, the «protester» was a Ukrainian policeman and his Ukrainian MBC police insignia could readily be seen on his uniform's left sleeve.   Where do JTRIG and its Tavistock-trained handlers obtain images, documents, and other information used for propaganda deception and disruption psyops? The answer is found in the latest released slides: the SALAMANCA database of information mined from the Internet. In addition, GHCQ and its NSA allies can target specific cell phones for propaganda dissemination through Target Geographic Identifiers (TGIs) assigned to particular cell phones. Such operations can also be used to disrupt the cell phones of targeted individuals through CNIO disruption.   JTRIG's slides point to how network operations are used to support intelligence operations in the field. These operations are identified as infiltration, ruse, set-piece, false flag, false rescue, disruption, and sting. In the case of Ukraine, Western overt and covert agents infiltrated the demonstrators at Maidan Square. In some cases, counter-CNIO operations can be successful against Western intelligence agencies. One video from Maidan Square showed Ukrainian Bercut special police detaining a man who was carrying an 2012 expired International Police Association (IPA) membership credential in the name of Oleksandr Boiarchuk, in addition to an IPA Ukraine chapter badge. IPA stands accused of being a front for Western intelligence agencies.   The firing by neo-Nazi snipers on Maidan Square demonstrators qualifies as both a ruse and false flag operation. The overall goal of such an operation was to blame Ukrainian security personnel for the shooting deaths of demonstrators and, as far as the Western media was concerned, the ruse and false flag was successful. One media organization after another likened the shooting deaths to the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 and Yanukovych was likened to Saddam Hussein and Qaddafi, both of whom fell victim to early embryonic computer network information operations…   The Ukraine operation was also in many ways a set-piece operation. A set-piece is a predictable operation that has been successfully employed in the past. Certainly, the Maidan Square uprising was almost a carbon copy, but with much more violence, of the Western-engineered 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine. The same template, developed by the CIA-financed OTPOR provocateurs against the government of Slobodon Milosevic in Serbia and refined by the Center for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies (CANVAS), was used in «themed revolutions» in Georgia, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Venezuela, Burma, Maldives, Thailand, and other countries, as well as in the latest coup d'etat in Ukraine.   Disruption operations were also used at an early stage in Ukraine chiefly by the Soros- and Zionist-funded FEMEN movement, an anti-Christian and anti-Muslim group that works closely with Pussy Riot and Voina social order disruptors in Russia. Attacks by FEMEN on symbols of Christianity in Ukraine helped spark the social disorder that ultimately led to the rioting in central Kyiv. Neo-Nazi and extreme right-wing Ukrainian nationalists became agitated by the attacks on Christian crosses and churches in the country and cited the overt support that Zionist Jews like American Jed Sunden, an investor in Ukrainian media companies like the Kyiv Post, gave to FEMEN protesters.   Employing agents from neo-Nazi, Zionist, and nationalist factions is spelled out by one JTRIG slide, which calls for the «identification and exploitation of fracture points» in a targeted country, region, or other element. The intent of such exploitation is to create «tension» through the use of «pre-existing cleavages» and competing «ideological differences». These factors are coupled with «things that push a group together» like «shared opposition» and «common beliefs». These exploitation factors were of beneficial use in the type of successful intelligence operation that took place in Ukraine.   Other tactics employed by the Human System Analysis (HSA) Online Covert Action (OCA) personnel of GCHQ and NSA are the setting up of targets in «honey traps» (the use of lures who use sex to entrap targeted individuals); changing photographs on social networking sites using sophisticated Photoshop-lime techniques; establishing blogs purporting to be those of a target's victim or victims; and e-mailing and texting false and defamatory information to the friends, colleagues, and neighbors of a target. These tactics bring to the Internet familiar physical «dirty tricks» operations used in the past by human intelligence field agents.   Other areas where JTRIG and Tavistock have commonality are the use of «herding» and «group dynamics» to create «group think» among targeted audiences. The quickness by the general population to accept everything written and broadcast about the situation in Ukraine serves as a case in point. Only alternative media provided unbiased facts about what was occurring in Ukraine without the color of intelligence agency propaganda. However, JTRIG has a rapid response mechanism for alternate news reports: it calls for the use of «conspiracy stories» to influence thoughts and behavior. Either alternative news reports are derided as conspiracy theories by the GCHQ and NSA influence operations organizations or the intelligence agencies, themselves, put forward conspiracy stories to muddy the waters.   JTRIG also relies on the Hofstede Dimensions of Dutch psychologist Geert Hofstede, which call for the employment of cross-cultural «collectivism» or «group think» to achieve psychological goals. Such practices represent pure Tavistock dogma. This, in addition to JTRIG's desire to perform «cyber magic» on the Internet, arrives full circle at Tavistock's reliance on the occult to extend its ability to mold opinions and behaviors across large swaths of the global population. Tavistock tactics were instrumental in manufacturing popular consent for World War II, the Cold War, the «Global War on Terrorism,» the Balkans War, central African conflicts, and the two Western wars against Iraq. More recently, Tavistock methods, refined and employed by GCHQ and NSA, were used during the Arab Spring movement and the recent upheaval in Ukraine.    The melding of SIGINT, HUMINT, and Tavistock mind-bending technology represents a dangerous move by Western intelligence agencies into an arena that may suffer from tremendous blowback. The social disruption visited by the use of such practices in Libya and Syria resulted in civil war. Ukraine may also descend into civil war among competing nationalities and language groups in a manner similar to Yugoslavia.

Tags: CIA National Security Agency Canada Middle East UK US Yanukovich

Wayne MADSEN

Investigative journalist, author and syndicated columnist. Has some twenty years experience in security issues. As a U.S. Naval Officer, he managed one of the first computer security programs for the U.S. Navy. He has been a frequent political and national security commentator on Fox News and has also appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, and MS-NBC. He has been invited to testify as a witness before the US House of Representatives, the UN Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and an terrorism investigation panel of the French government. A member of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the National Press Club. Lives in Washington, D.C.

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45 Uses For Lemons That Will Blow Your Socks Off

Most people are familiar with the traditional uses for lemons to soothe sore throats and add some citrus flavor to our foods.

However the diversity of applications for lemons far exceeds general knowledge and once you read the following list, you'll likely want to stock at least a few lemons in your kitchen 24-7.
 

FROM: http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2013/05/45-uses-for-lemons-that-will-blow-your-socks-off.html

Found thanks to @joeygiggles on Twitter => https://twitter.com/joeygiggles

Friday, May 31, 2013 4 comments

Most people are familiar with the traditional uses for lemons to soothe sore throats and add some citrus flavor to our foods.

However the diversity of applications for lemons far exceeds general knowledge and once you read the following list, you'll likely want to stock at least a few lemons in your kitchen 24-7.


1. Freshen the Fridge
Remove refrigerator odors with ease. Dab lemon juice on a cotton ball or sponge and leave it in the fridge for several hours. Make sure to toss out any malodorous items that might be causing the bad smell.

2. High Blood Pressure
Lemon contains potassium which controls high blood pressure and reduces the effect of nausea and dizziness.

3. Prevent Cauliflower From Turning Brown
Cauliflower tend to turn brown with even the slightest cooking. You can make sure the white vegetables stay white by squeezing a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice on them before heating.

4. Mental Health
Lemon water can also prep up your mood and relieve you from depression and stress. Long distance walkers and world travelers as well as explorers look upon the lemon as a Godsend. When fatigue begins, a lemon is sucked through a hole in the top. Quick acting medicine it is, giving almost unbelievable refreshments.

5. Refresh Cutting Boards
No wonder your kitchen cutting board smells! After all, you use it to chop onions, crush garlic, and prepare fish. To get rid of the smell and help sanitize the cutting board, rub it all over with the cut side of half a lemon or wash it in undiluted juice straight from the bottle.

6. Respiratory Problems
Lemon water can reduce phlegm; and can also help you breathe properly and aids a person suffering with asthma.

7. Treating Arthritis and Rheumatism
Lemon is a diuretic - assists in the production of urine which helps you to reduce inflammation by flushing out toxins and bacteria while also giving you relief from arthritis and rheumatism.

8. Prevents Kidney Stones
Regular consumption of the refreshing drink -- or even lemon juice mixed with water -- may increase the production of urinary citrate, a chemical in the urine that prevents the formation of crystals that may build up into kidney stones.

9. Keep Insects Out of the Kitchen
You don’t need insecticides or ant traps to ant-proof your kitchen. Just give it the lemon treatment. First squirt some lemon juice on door thresholds and windowsills. Then squeeze lemon juice into any holes or cracks where the ants are getting in. Finally, scatter small slices of lemon peel around the outdoor entrance. The ants will get the message that they aren’t welcome. Lemons are also effective against roaches and fleas: Simply mix the juice of 4 lemons (along with the rinds) with 1/2 gallon (2 liters) water and wash your floors with it; then watch the fleas and roaches flee. They hate the smell.

10. Anti-Aging
Lemon water reduces the production of free radicals which are responsible for aging skin and skin damage. Lemon water is calorie free and an antioxidant.

11. Fruit and Vegetable Wash
You never know what kind of pesticides or dirt may be lurking on the skin of your favorite fruits and vegetables. Slice your lemon and squeeze out one tablespoon of lemon juice into your spray bottle. The lemon juice is a natural disinfectant and will leave your fruits and vegetables smelling nice too.

12. Treat Infections
Lemon water can fight throat infections thanks to its antibacterial property. If salt water does not work for you, try lime and water for gargling.

13. Deodorize Your Garbage
If your garbage is beginning to smell yucky, here’s an easy way to deodorize it: Save leftover lemon and orange peels and toss them at the base under the bag. To keep it smelling fresh, repeat once every couple of weeks.

14. Keep Guacamole Green
You’ve been making guacamole all day long for the big party, and you don’t want it to turn brown on top before the guests arrive. The solution: Sprinkle a liberal amount of fresh lemon juice over it and it will stay fresh and green. The flavor of the lemon juice is a natural complement to the avocados in the guacamole. Make the fruit salad hours in advance too. Just squeeze some lemon juice onto the apple slices, and they’ll stay snowy white.

15. Purges The Blood
We consume a lot of junk food or food with a lot of preservatives and artificial flavours. This builds up a lot of toxins in the blood and body but daily consumption of lemon water helps to purify the blood.

16. Make Soggy Lettuce Crisp
Don’t toss that soggy lettuce into the garbage. With the help of a little lemon juice you can toss it in a salad instead. Add the juice of half a lemon to a bowl of cold water. Then put the soggy lettuce in it and refrigerate for 1 hour. Make sure to dry the leaves completely before putting them into salads or sandwiches.

17. Oral Health
Lemon juice also stops bleeding gums and reduces toothaches

18. Lighten Age Spots
Why buy expensive creams when you’ve got lemon juice? To lighten liver spots or freckles, try applying lemon juice directly to the area. Let it sit for 15 minutes and then rinse your skin clean. It’s a safe and effective skin-lightening agent.

19. Create Blonde Highlights
For salon-worthy highlights, add 1/4 cup lemon juice to 3/4 cup water and rinse your hair with the mixture. Then, sit in the sun until your hair dries. To maximize the effect, repeat once daily for up to a week.

20. Make a Room Scent/Humidifier
Freshen and moisturize the air in your home on dry winter days. Make your own room scent that also doubles as a humidifier. If you have a wood-burning stove, place an enameled cast-iron pot or bowl on top, fill with water, and add lemon (and/or orange) peels, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and apple skins. No wood-burning stove? Use your stovetop instead and just simmer the water periodically.

21. Clean and Whiten Nails
Pamper your hands without a manicurist. Add the juice of 1/2 lemon to 1 cup warm water and soak your fingertips in the mixture for 5 minutes. After pushing back the cuticles, rub some lemon peel back and forth against the nail.

22. Cleanse Your Face
Zap zits naturally by dabbing lemon juice on blackheads to draw them out during the day. You can also wash your face with lemon juice for a natural cleanse and exfoliation. Your skin should improve after several days of treatment. Lemon water is also a cooling agent, best way to beat the heat.

23. Freshen Your Breath
Make an impromptu mouthwash by rinsing with lemon juice straight from the bottle. Swallow for longer-lasting fresh breath. The citric acid in the juice alters the pH level in your mouth, killing bacteria that causes bad breath. Rinse after a few minutes because long-term exposure to the acid in lemons can harm tooth enamel.

24. Treat Flaky Dandruff
If itchy, scaly dandruff has you scratching your head, relief may be no farther away than your refrigerator. Just massage two tablespoons lemon juice into your scalp and rinse with water. Then stir one teaspoon lemon juice into one cup water and rinse your hair with it. Repeat daily until your dandruff disappears.

25. Get Rid of Tough Stains on Marble
You probably think of marble as stone, but it is really petrified calcium (also known as old seashells). That explains why it is so porous and easily stained and damaged. Those stains can be hard to remove. If washing won’t remove a stubborn stain, try this: Cut a lemon in half, dip the exposed flesh into some table salt, and rub it vigorously on the stain. But do this only as a last resort; acid can damage marble. Rinse well. Use These Lemons To Clean - Easy and Effective

26. Remove Berry Stains
It sure was fun to pick your own berries, but now your fingers are stained with berry juice that won’t come off no matter how much you scrub with soap and water. Try washing your hands with undiluted lemon juice, then wait a few minutes and wash with warm, soapy water. Repeat until your hands are stain-free.

27. Soften Dry, Scaly Elbows
Itchy elbows are bad enough, but they look terrible too. For better looking (and feeling) elbows, mix baking soda and lemon juice to make an abrasive paste, then rub it into your elbows for a soothing, smoothing, and exfoliating treatment. Rinse your extremities in a mixture of equal parts lemon juice and water, then massage with olive oil and dab dry with a soft cloth.

28. Headaches
Lemon juice with a few teaspoons of hot tea added is the treatment of a sophisticated New York bartender, for those who suffer with hangover headaches--and from headaches due to many other causes. He converts his customers to this regime, and weans them away from drug remedies completely.

29. Chills and Fevers
Chills and fevers may be due to a variety of causes; never the less the lemon is always a helpful remedy. Spanish physicians regard it as an infallible friend.

30. Diptheria
Skip the vaccine for this disease. Lemon Juice Treatment still proves as one of the most powerful antiseptics and the strong digestive qualities of the fruit are admired around the world. With the juice every hour or two, and at the same time, 1/2 to 1 tsp. should be swallowed. This cuts loose the false membrane in the throat and permits it to come out.

31. Vaginal Hygiene
Diluted lemon juice makes a safe and sane method of vaginal hygiene. Though it is a powerful antiseptic it is nevertheless free from irritating drugs in douches and suppositories.

32. Forget The Moth Balls
A charming French custom to keep closets free from moths is to take ripe lemons and stick them with cloves all over the skin. The heavily studded lemons slowly dry with their cloves, leaving a marvelous odor throughout the closets and rooms.

33. Stomach Health
Digestive problems are the most common ailments but warm water and lime juice is the solution to most digestive problems. Lemon juice helps to purify the blood, reduces your chances of indigestion, constipation, eliminates toxins from the body, adds digestion and reduces phlegm.

34. Disinfect Cuts and Scrapes
Stop bleeding and disinfect minor cuts and scraps by pouring a few drops of lemon juice directly on the cut. You can also apply the juice with a cotton ball and hold firmly in place for one minute.

35. Soothe Poison Ivy Rash
You won’t need an ocean of calamine lotion the next time poison ivy comes a-creeping. Just apply lemon juice directly to the affected area to soothe itching and alleviate the rash.

36. Remove Warts
You’ve tried countless remedies to banish warts and nothing seems to work. Next time, apply a dab of lemon juice directly to the wart using a cotton swab. Repeat for several days until the acids in the lemon juice dissolve the wart completely.

37. Bleach Delicate Fabrics
Avoid additional bleach stains by swapping ordinary household chlorine bleach with lemon juice, which is milder but no less effective. Soak your delicates in a mixture of lemon juice and baking soda for at least half an hour before washing.

38. Clean Tarnished Brass and Polish Chrome
Say good-bye to tarnish on brass, copper, or stainless steel. Make a paste of lemon juice and salt (or substitute baking soda or cream of tartar for the salt) and coat the affected area. Let it stay on for 5 minutes. Then wash in warm water, rinse, and polish dry. Use the same mixture to clean metal kitchen sinks too. Apply the paste, scrub gently, and rinse. Get rid of mineral deposits and polish chrome faucets and other tarnished chrome. Simply rub lemon rind over the chrome and watch it shine! Rinse well and dry with a soft cloth.

39. Replace Your Dry Cleaner
Ditch the expensive dry-cleaning bills (and harsh chemicals) with this homegrown trick. Simply scrub the stained area on shirts and blouses with equal parts lemon juice and water. Your “pits” will be good as new, and smell nice too.

40. Boost Laundry Detergent
For more powerful cleaning action, pour 1 cup lemon juice into the washer during the wash cycle. The natural bleaching action of the juice will zap stains and remove rust and mineral discolorations from cotton T-shirts and briefs and will leave your clothes smelling fresh. Your clothes will turn out brighter and also come out smelling lemon-fresh.

41. Rid Clothes of Mildew
Have you ever unpacked clothes you stored all winter and discovered some are stained with mildew? To get rid of it, make a paste of lemon juice and salt and rub it on the affected area, then dry the clothes in sunlight. Repeat the process until the stain is gone.

42. Eliminate Fireplace Odor
There’s nothing cozier on a cold winter night than a warm fire burning in the fireplace — unless the fire happens to smell horrible. Next time you have a fire that sends a stench into the room, try throwing a few lemon peels into the flames. Or simply burn some lemon peels along with your firewood as a preventive measure.

43. Neutralize Cat-Box Odor
You don’t have to use an aerosol spray to neutralize foul-smelling cat-box odors or freshen the air in your bathroom. Just cut a couple of lemons in half. Then place them, cut side up, in a dish in the room, and the air will soon smell lemon-fresh.

44. Deodorize a Humidifier
When your humidifier starts to smell funky, deodorize it with ease: Just pour 3 or 4 teaspoons lemon juice into the water. It will not only remove the off odor but will replace it with a lemon-fresh fragrance. Repeat every couple of weeks to keep the odor from returning.

45. Reduce Asthma Symptoms
In addition to a general detoxifying diet, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice before each meal, and before retiring can reduce asthma symptoms.

* If you do consume lemon peel, stick to organic lemons to reduce your pesticide exposure.

Source: Prevent Disease

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Sarah Harrison joins other Edward Snowden files 'exiles ' in Berlin

FROM: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/sarah-harrison-edward-snowden-berlin?CMP=twt_fd&CMP=SOCxx2I2

UK journalist 's lawyers advise against returning home after working with NSA whistleblower, says statement on WikiLeaks

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• Philip Oltermann in Berlin
• The Guardian, Thursday 7 November 2013 06.45 AEST

UK WikiLeaks journalist Sarah Harrison with Edward Snowden in Moscow in October. Photograph: Sunshine Press/Getty Images

Sarah Harrison, the British journalist and WikiLeaks staffer who has been working with Edward Snowden since his arrival in Moscow, has left Russia and joined the growing band of net activists stranded in Berlin.

A statement released on the WikiLeaks website, attributed to Harrison, states that she arrived in Germany on Saturday and has been advised by her lawyers that it is "not safe to return home " to the UK.

Harrison joins a growing group of journalists and activists who were involved in the publication of Snowden 's files and are now living in the German capital "in effective exile ", including Laura Poitras and Jacob Applebaum.

The statement, which is also quoted on Spiegel website, accused the US and UK governments of using "aggressive tactics " against journalists who have reported on unethical surveillance practices.

"It should be fanciful to suggest that national security journalism which has the purpose of producing honest government or enforcing basic privacy rights should be called 'terrorism ', but that is how the UK is choosing to interpret this law. "

Harrison has appeared in many of the photographs of Snowden that have emerged from Russia. Last Thursday, she was present at the meeting between the NSA whistleblower and the German Green politician Hans-Christian Ströbele in Moscow.

The statement does not clarify why Harrison, 31, left Moscow, but says: "Edward Snowden is safe and protected until his asylum visa is due to be renewed in nine months time ", and that "there is still much work to be done ".

Harrison, a graduate of City University 's journalism programme, first started working with WikiLeaks before the Afghan war documents leak and played a key role during the publication of the embassy cables and in Julian Assange 's fight against extradition to Sweden. She accompanied Snowden on the flight from Hong Kong to Moscow on 23 June.

• This article was amended on 6 November 2013. The original picture showed Edward Snowden with Jesselyn Raddack, not Sarah Harrison. This has been corrected

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Do Racism, Conservatism, and Low I.Q. Go Hand in Hand?   Tue Nov 19, 2013 7:20 pm Do Racism, Conservatism, and Low I.Q. Go Hand in Hand?Hodson and Busseri (2012) found in a correlational study that lower intelligence in childhood is predictive of greater racism in adulthood, with this effect being mediated (partially explained) through conservative ideology. FROM: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mil ... nd-in-hand Racism Conservatism low IQ pic - Copy.jpg (69.39 KiB) Viewed 94 times Lower cognitive abilities predict greater prejudice through right-wing ideology. Published on April 22, 2013 by Goal Auzeen Saedi, Ph.D. in Millennial Media This morning as I logged onto Facebook, I came upon this image. Having followed the Boston marathon and MIT shooting coverage initially, I lost some interest when it came down to the “hunt.” As much as justice matters to me, so does tact and class, and the sensationalism of manhunts always leaves me uncomfortable. I also knew it would be a matter of time before the political rhetoric would change from the victims and wounded to the demographic factors of the suspects—namely race and religion. And alas, it has.However, what struck me most about this image posted above was the Facebook page it came from, “Too Informed to Vote Republican.” I wondered about this, recalling an old journal article I’d come across when studying anti-Islamic attitudes post 9/11. The paper referenced a correlation between conservatism and low intelligence. Uncertain of its origin, I located a thought-provoking article published in one of psychology’s top journals, Psychological Science, which in essence confirms this. Hodson and Busseri (2012) found in a correlational study that lower intelligence in childhood is predictive of greater racism in adulthood, with this effect being mediated (partially explained) through conservative ideology. They also found poor abstract reasoning skills were related to homophobic attitudes which was mediated through authoritarianism and low levels of intergroup contact.What this study and those before it suggest is not necessarily that all liberals are geniuses and all conservatives are ignorant. Rather, it makes conclusions based off of averages of groups. The idea is that for those who lack a cognitive ability to grasp complexities of our world, strict-right wing ideologies may be more appealing. Dr. Brian Nosek explained it for the Huffington Post (See below) as follows, “ideologies get rid of the messiness and impose a simple solution. So, it may not be surprising that people with less cognitive capacity will be attracted to simplifying ideologies.” For an excellent continuation of this discussion and past studies, please see this article from LiveScience. (See below) Further, studies have indicated an automatic association between aggression, America, and the news. A study conducted by researchers at Cornell and The Hebrew University (Ferguson & Hassin, 2007) indicated, “American news watchers who were subtly or nonconsciously primed with American cues exhibited greater accessibility of aggression and war constructs in memory, judged an ambiguously aggressive person in a more aggressive and negative manner, and acted in a relatively more aggressive manner toward an experimenter following a mild provocation, compared with news watchers who were not primed” (p. 1642). American “cues” refers to factors such as images of the American flag or words such as “patriot.” Interestingly, this study showed this effect to be independent of political affiliation, but suggested a disturbing notion that America is implicitly associated with aggression for news watchers.Taken together, what do these studies suggest? Excessive exposure to news coverage could be toxic as is avoidance of open-minded attitudes and ideals. Perhaps turn off the television and pick up a book? Ideally one that exposes you to differing worldviews. *Please note comments that are offensive, defamatory, discriminatory, racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise inappropriate will be automatically removed by the author’s discretion. ReferencesFurguson, M.J. & Hassin, R.R. (2007). On the automatic association between American and aggression for news watchers. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1632-1647.Hodson, G. & Busseri, M.A. (2012). Bright minds and dark attitudes: Lower cognitive ability predicts greater prejudice through right-wing ideology and low intergroup contact. Psychological Science, 23, 187-195. Follow me on Twitter at MillenialMedia. Be sure to read the following responses to this post by our Bloggers: The way political views relate to intelligence may depend on social context.by Scott A. McGreal, MSc.Intelligence Study Links Low I.Q. To Prejudice, Racism, ConservatismFROM: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/2 ... 37796.htmlThe Huffington Post Rebecca Searles First Posted: 02/01/2012 7:52 am EST Updated: 04/09/2013 6:04 pm EDTConservatives , Politics , Racism , Republicans , Video , Bigotry , Intelligence , Liberals , Low IQ , Prejudice , Emotional Intelligence , Science NewsAre racists dumb? Do conservatives tend to be less intelligent than liberals? A provocative new study from Brock University in Ontario suggests the answer to both questions may be a qualified yes.The study, published in Psychological Science, showed that people who score low on I.Q. tests in childhood are more likely to develop prejudiced beliefs and socially conservative politics in adulthood.I.Q., or intelligence quotient, is a score determined by standardized tests, but whether the tests truly reveal intelligence remains a topic of hot debate among psychologists.Dr. Gordon Hodson, a professor of psychology at the university and the study 's lead author, said the finding represented evidence of a vicious cycle: People of low intelligence gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, which stress resistance to change and, in turn, prejudice, he told LiveScience.Why might less intelligent people be drawn to conservative ideologies? Because such ideologies feature "structure and order " that make it easier to comprehend a complicated world, Dodson said. "Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice, " he added.Dr. Brian Nosek, a University of Virginia psychologist, echoed those sentiments. "Reality is complicated and messy, " he told The Huffington Post in an email. "Ideologies get rid of the messiness and impose a simpler solution. So, it may not be surprising that people with less cognitive capacity will be attracted to simplifying ideologies. "But Nosek said less intelligent types might be attracted to liberal "simplifying ideologies " as well as conservative ones.In any case, the study has taken the Internet by storm, with some outspoken liberals saying that it validates their suspicions about conservatives and conservatives arguing that the research has been misinterpreted. Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to PrejudiceFROM: http://www.livescience.com/18132-intell ... acism.htmlStephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer | January 26, 2012 10:29am ETThere 's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience. "Prejudice is extremely complex and multifaceted, making it critical that any factors contributing to bias are uncovered and understood, " he said.Controversy aheadThe findings combine three hot-button topics. "They 've pulled off the trifecta of controversial topics, " said Brian Nosek, a social and cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia who was not involved in the study. "When one selects intelligence, political ideology and racism and looks at any of the relationships between those three variables, it 's bound to upset somebody. "Polling data and social and political science research do show that prejudice is more common in those who hold right-wing ideals that those of other political persuasions, Nosek told LiveScience. [7 Thoughts That Are Bad For You] "The unique contribution here is trying to make some progress on the most challenging aspect of this, " Nosek said, referring to the new study. "It 's not that a relationship like that exists, but why it exists. "Brains and biasEarlier studies have found links between low levels of education and higher levels of prejudice, Hodson said, so studying intelligence seemed a logical next step. The researchers turned to two studies of citizens in the United Kingdom, one that has followed babies since their births in March 1958, and another that did the same for babies born in April 1970. The children in the studies had their intelligence assessed at age 10 or 11; as adults ages 30 or 33, their levels of social conservatism and racism were measured. [Life 's Extremes: Democrat vs. Republican]In the first study, verbal and nonverbal intelligence was measured using tests that asked people to find similarities and differences between words, shapes and symbols. The second study measured cognitive abilities in four ways, including number recall, shape-drawing tasks, defining words and identifying patterns and similarities among words. Average IQ is set at 100.Social conservatives were defined as people who agreed with a laundry list of statements such as "Family life suffers if mum is working full-time, " and "Schools should teach children to obey authority. " Attitudes toward other races were captured by measuring agreement with statements such as "I wouldn 't mind working with people from other races. " (These questions measured overt prejudiced attitudes, but most people, no matter how egalitarian, do hold unconscious racial biases; Hodson 's work can 't speak to this "underground " racism.)As suspected, low intelligence in childhood corresponded with racism in adulthood. But the factor that explained the relationship between these two variables was political: When researchers included social conservatism in the analysis, those ideologies accounted for much of the link between brains and bias.People with lower cognitive abilities also had less contact with people of other races. "This finding is consistent with recent research demonstrating that intergroup contact is mentally challenging and cognitively draining, and consistent with findings that contact reduces prejudice, " said Hodson, who along with his colleagues published these results online Jan. 5 in the journal Psychological Science.A study of averagesHodson was quick to note that the despite the link found between low intelligence and social conservatism, the researchers aren 't implying that all liberals are brilliant and all conservatives stupid. The research is a study of averages over large groups, he said. "There are multiple examples of very bright conservatives and not-so-bright liberals, and many examples of very principled conservatives and very intolerant liberals, " Hodson said.Nosek gave another example to illustrate the dangers of taking the findings too literally. "We can say definitively men are taller than women on average, " he said. "But you can 't say if you take a random man and you take a random woman that the man is going to be taller. There 's plenty of overlap. "Nonetheless, there is reason to believe that strict right-wing ideology might appeal to those who have trouble grasping the complexity of the world. "Socially conservative ideologies tend to offer structure and order, " Hodson said, explaining why these beliefs might draw those with low intelligence. "Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice. "In another study, this one in the United States, Hodson and Busseri compared 254 people with the same amount of education but different levels of ability in abstract reasoning. They found that what applies to racism may also apply to homophobia. People who were poorer at abstract reasoning were more likely to exhibit prejudice against gays. As in the U.K. citizens, a lack of contact with gays and more acceptance of right-wing authoritarianism explained the link. [5 Myths About Gay People Debunked]Simple viewpointsHodson and Busseri 's explanation of their findings is reasonable, Nosek said, but it is correlational. That means the researchers didn 't conclusively prove that the low intelligence caused the later prejudice. To do that, you 'd have to somehow randomly assign otherwise identical people to be smart or dumb, liberal or conservative. Those sorts of studies obviously aren 't possible.The researchers controlled for factors such as education and socioeconomic status, making their case stronger, Nosek said. But there are other possible explanations that fit the data. For example, Nosek said, a study of left-wing liberals with stereotypically naïve views like "every kid is a genius in his or her own way, " might find that people who hold these attitudes are also less bright. In other words, it might not be a particular ideology that is linked to stupidity, but extremist views in general. "My speculation is that it 's not as simple as their model presents it, " Nosek said. "I think that lower cognitive capacity can lead to multiple simple ways to represent the world, and one of those can be embodied in a right-wing ideology where 'People I don 't know are threats ' and 'The world is a dangerous place '. ... Another simple way would be to just assume everybody is wonderful. "Prejudice is of particular interest because understanding the roots of racism and bias could help eliminate them, Hodson said. For example, he said, many anti-prejudice programs encourage participants to see things from another group 's point of view. That mental exercise may be too taxing for people of low IQ. "There may be cognitive limits in the ability to take the perspective of others, particularly foreigners, " Hodson said. "Much of the present research literature suggests that our prejudices are primarily emotional in origin rather than cognitive. These two pieces of information suggest that it might be particularly fruitful for researchers to consider strategies to change feelings toward outgroups, " rather than thoughts.You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.Editor 's Recommendations Understanding the 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors Inside the Brain: A Photo Journey Through Time Busted! 6 Gender Myths in the Bedroom & BeyondMore from LiveScienceWarsaw Climate Talks Must Produce Actions, Not Just Words | Climate PolicyMen 's Sexual Problems Linked to Low Prolactin LevelsIn the Wild or at Home, Does an Aging Animal 's Status Change? | Animal BehaviorChill Out, Dudes! 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