P2P: THE PIRATES ARE BACK

Slyck: The Pirate Bay Back Online

News of The Pirate Bay's resurrection comes as little surprise. The Pirate Bay spokesperson "brokep" promised Slyck.com the site would resolve under a different country's flag if an immediate resolution could not be reached in Sweden.

“We are not sure when it will return, but we are moving it to another country if necessary,” brokep told Slyck.com.

The Pirate Bay

P2P: PIRATES ARE FIGHTING BACK

“SITE DOWN - WILL BE UP AND FULLY FUNCTIONAL WITHIN A DAY OR TWO”


Some people are not that happy about the take down of swedish bittorrent indexing site
The Pirate Bay

ThePiratebay says that the Site will be up again in a few days.

Now the Pirates are fighting back:

Zone-H: "Zone-h noticed in last few hours that defacements have been carried out against Sony BMG and Warner Music, two big and extremely important Record Companies.

Specifically, the affected websites are:
sonymusic.it/index.php
Mirror:
http://www.zone-h.org/index2.php?option=...d=44&id=4115064

sonymusicstudios.co.uk
Mirror:
http://www.zone-h.org/index2.php?option=...d=44&id=4114849

warnermusic.com.tw
Mirror:
http://www.zone-h.org/index2.php?option=...d=44&id=4115425
While writing this article, both sonymusic.it and sony musicstudios.co.uk turn out to be still defaced, whereas warnermusic.com.tw is impossible to reach.

About those defacements that involved in such a short period of time both Warner and Sony, we wonder if this happened just by chance or if this is the expression of a far more complex plot. It could be interesting drawing out some focus points: let’s start from the concept that lately Major Record Companies are more and more under fire, every day we hear about anti-piracy countermeasures by the ri@@ (the Recording Industry Association of America). Some of these actions are quite questionable, as the decision to limit information exchanges by closing P2P networks, or by forbidding the use of P2P software. Than we can’t forget their conveying Trojan horses on P2P networks by pretending they were mp3 and videos, in order to punish those who downloaded materials under copyright. Last but not least, the rising of CD and DVD prices and the massive adoption of invasive DRM systems.

http://www.zone-h.org/content/view/4473/31/

Also earlier in the day CONFIRMATION has been given that http://www.antipiratbyran.com/ (swedish anti-piracy organisation) (which has been restored) was hacked and the following message was posted

"You have 48 hours to restore TPB or Napster and iTunes get hacked.... "

The Website of the Swedish Police has also been under attack http://www.polisen.se and is still down at the time of writing

i've also read that internet traffic was down 20% since the Pirate Bay raid

according to a forum post on slyck by memeber assasin:

the police here in sweden has messed up this time:

- they refused to allow the three arrested (one is the judicial councelor of TPB) a lawyer. This because they say they aren´t suspected of a crime that can result in jail. (Yes, it works like that here)
- BUT, if they aren´t suspected of a serious crime (jail), the police don´t have the right to get a warrant and raid the place. (Once again, swedish law)

BTW - they forced the lawyer to give them a DNA-sample.... in sweden that is a BIG violation of personal rights if they don´t have a really good reason. Remember, they where NOT suspected of anything that could result in jail.........

p2p.net has an interview with somebody from piratebay

Big up to the guys at Piratebay...may the force be with them

Fuck those greedy RIAA and MPAA bastards!

USA: STOLEN ELECTION

Rolling Stone: Was the 2004 Election Stolen?
by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House

" The first indication that something was gravely amiss on November 2nd, 2004, was the inexplicable discrepancies between exit polls and actual vote counts. Polls in thirty states weren't just off the mark -- they deviated to an extent that cannot be accounted for by their margin of error. In all but four states, the discrepancy favored President Bush.(16)"

"a must read"

AFGHANISTAN: ROAD TO WAR

Asia Times: The battle spreads in Afghanistan

KARACHI - The bulk of the fighting in Afghanistan in the past week, which has claimed more than 300 lives among the Taliban, US-led forces, the Afghan National Army (ANA) and civilians, has taken place in the southern Pashtun heartland of the country.

However, the Taliban's spring offensive is fast turning into a massive resistance against the foreign presence all over Afghanistan, and already some influential characters are jockeying for a post-spring role.

And the indications are that the resistance could transcend a simple Taliban-led insurgency to evolve into a powerful Islamic movement.

IRAN

Asia Times: Iran offered 'to make peace with Israel'

WASHINGTON - Iran offered in 2003 to accept peace with Israel and cut off material assistance to Palestinian armed groups and to pressure them to halt terrorist attacks within Israel's 1967 borders, according to a secret Iranian proposal to the United States.

The two-page proposal for a broad Iran-US agreement covering all the issues separating the two countries, a copy of which was obtained by Inter Press Service (IPS), was conveyed to the US in late April or early May 2003.

USA: ANALYSIS

Asia Times: The delusions of global hegemony pt 1

Tom Engelhard interviews Andrew Bacevich

TD: You've used the word "crusade" and spoken of this administration as "intoxicated with the mission of salvation". I was wondering what kind of "ism" you think we've been living with in these years.

Bacevich: That's a great question, and it's not enough to say that it's democratic capitalism. Certainly, our "ism" incorporates a religious dimension - in the sense of believing that God created this nation for a purpose that has to do with universal values.

Drifting down the path to perdition pt. 2

AFGHANISTAN: RIOTS IN KABUL

Forbes: Afghans Riot After U.S. Truck Accident

A deadly traffic accident involving U.S. troops sparked a riot in the Afghan capital on Monday, with U.S. and Afghan security forces firing on protesters, police and witnesses said. At least five people were killed and 60 injured.

Hundreds of protesters marched on the palace of U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai in the city center after the incident, shouting "Death to Karzai! Death to America!"


Washington Post: Anti-American Riots Erupt in Kabul After Traffic Accident

KABUL, May 29 -- This city erupted in anti-American riots Monday after rumors spread that U.S. troops had fired on and killed several civilians after a rush-hour traffic accident on the outskirts of the city.

Police and U.S. forces tried to secure the area of the accident but were surrounded by mobs of young men, including students on their way to school. The crowds ran through the streets, burned tires and set up roadblocks, and gunfire echoed across the city for hours. The mobs stopped and burned Afghan police and security vehicles.

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Counterpunch: Countdown to Apartheid

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's address to both houses of Congress was perhaps the most skilled use of Newspeak since George Orwell invented the term in his novel /1984/. (He had help: author and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel reportedly drafted large sections of the speech.) Just as Orwell's totalitarian propagandists proclaimed WAR IS PEACE and Israeli government signs placed at the Wall (sorry, fence) at the entrance to Bethlehem greet Palestinians with the blessing PEACE BE UNTO YOU, so Olmert declared in Washington: UNILATERAL REALIGNMENT IS PEACE.

IRAQ

Mercury News: Iranian-backed militia groups take control of much of southern Iraq

ASRA, Iraq - Southern Iraq, long touted as a peaceful region that's likely to be among the first areas returned to Iraqi control, is now dominated by Shiite Muslim warlords and militiamen who are laying the groundwork for an Islamic fundamentalist government, say senior British and Iraqi officials in the area.

The militias appear to be supported by Iranian intelligence or military units that are shipping weapons to the militias in Iraq and providing training for them in Iran.

IRAQ: US WAR CRIMES

Times: Revealed: how US marines massacred 24

PHOTOGRAPHS taken by American military intelligence have provided crucial evidence that up to 24 Iraqis were massacred by marines in Haditha, an insurgent stronghold on the banks of the Euphrates.

One portrays an Iraqi mother and young child, kneeling on the floor, as if in prayer. They have been shot dead at close range.

The pictures show other victims, shot execution-style in the head and chest in their homes. An American government official said they revealed that the marines involved had “suffered a total breakdown in morality and leadership”.

USA

Wired: Baghdad, USA



Roadside bombs. Hostile insurgents. 1,200 extras in Arab dress. Welcome to Louisiana and the Army camp known as the Box, where the violence is fake but the fear is for real.

VENEZUELA: VIDEO

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED

by Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain

Their film records what was probably history's shortest-lived coup d'état. It's a unique document about political muscle and an extraordinary portrait of the man The Wall Street Journal credits with making Venezuela "Washington's biggest Latin American headache after the old standby, Cuba."

Chavez, elected president of Venezuela in 1988, is a colorful folk hero, beloved by his nation's working class and a tough-as-nails, quixotic opponent to the power structure that would see him deposed. Two independent filmmakers were inside the presidential palace on April 11, 2002, when he was forcibly removed from office. They were also present 48 hours later when, remarkably, he returned to power amid cheering aides.

"Videos from Youtube, Google Video, Myspace and others can be downloaded
with the Video downloader Extension for Firefox."

IRAQ: US WAR CRIMES

The Age: Iraq doctor brings evidence of US napalm at Fallujah

EVIDENCE to support controversial claims that napalm has been used by US forces in Iraq has been brought to Australia by an Iraqi doctor.

Dr Salam Ismael, of the Baghdad-based group Doctors for Iraq, said the evidence pointed to the use of napalm on civilians during the second siege of Fallujah in November 2004.

IRAQ: RAMADI

AP: Insurgents keep U.S. at bay in Ramadi

Whole neighborhoods are lawless, too dangerous for police. Some roads are so bomb-laden that U.S. troops won't use them. Guerrillas attack U.S. troops nearly every time they venture out - and hit their bases with gunfire, rockets or mortars when they don't.

Though not powerful enough to overrun U.S. positions, insurgents here in the heart of the Sunni Muslim triangle have fought undermanned U.S. and Iraqi forces to a virtual stalemate.

IRAQ

Truthout: Easily Dispensable: Iraq's Children
by Dahr Jamail

Cherishing children is the mark of a civilized society.
- Joan Ganz Cooney

If, as I would like to believe, the above quote suggests all children and not merely those born in Western democracies, I am no longer certain that we live in a civilized society.

ECONOMY

Forbes: OECD warns rebalancing of US deficit may drive dollar down sharply

LONDON (AFX) - The OECD has warned that the eventual rebalancing of the US current account gap 'looks increasingly unavoidable' and will send shock waves across the globe, starting with a slump in the dollar's exchange rate.

The OECD said in its world economic outlook that the depreciation faced by the dollar could be 'of the order of one-third to one-half.'

IRAN

Herald Sun: Iran denies non-Muslim badge plan

AUSTRALIA, the US and Canada lost little time in blasting Iran for a report, quickly denied, that Tehran may force non-Muslims to wear coloured badges in public.

While acknowledging they had no details beyond a report in a Canadian newspaper, the three countries went on the offensive in separate statements, with Washington and Ottawa evoking the atrocities of Nazi Germany.

"If you did have such an occurrence, whether it was in Iran or elsewhere, it would certainly be despicable," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington. "I think it has clear echoes of Germany under Hitler."

*HOAX*

CONGO

Independent: Congo's tragedy: the war the world forgot

In a country the size of Western Europe, a war rages that has lasted eight years and cost four million lives. Rival militias inflict appalling suffering on the civilian population, and what passes for political leadership is powerless to stop it. This is Congo, and the reason for the conflict - control of minerals essential to the electronic gadgetry on which the developed world depends - is what makes our blindness to the horror doubly shaming.

"a must read"

USA - OIL

Tom Paine: Oil Diplomacy
by Robert Dreyfuss

Nothing the Bush administration ever does is about oil. It didn’t invade Iraq because that country might have more oil than Saudi Arabia. It isn’t threatening Iran because Iran has a tenth of the world’s oil and one-sixth of its natural gas. And the United States isn’t cozying up to autocrats in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan because the Caspian Sea is a mini-Persian Gulf in the middle of Central Asia, either

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

ICH: The High Cost of Democratic Elections in Palestine

"In my village, starvation and for real," says the woman in halting English. The overseas connection makes her voice sound faint and almost ethereal. In front of me is a glass of cold lemonade. Across the table is a tin of homemade pastries.

The woman I am talking with lives in the village of Davreh, five kilometers outside Ramallah. "But it takes an hour to travel from here to Ramallah, because of the checkpoints," she explains.

This woman, (let's call her Dina, which is not her real name) should not be facing starvation. Until recently her family owned considerable land. Fertile land. Dina's mother raised and educated eleven children by farming this land.

"Our land is equal to our soul." Dina says. "It has been in our family for over one hundred and fifty years. My mother refused to sell even one meter of our land. She told us, take care of our land. Don't sell it, even if you have to beg for money. And they took it for free."

"They" is Israel.