From Echelon to Prism: US intel services could be behind Hezbollah pager detonation – military expert

"The Americans and allied intelligence agencies created the "Echelon" [surveillance] system… which was built in parallel with the communication network, paging communications, cellular communications, and the global Internet, for monitoring and controlling network participants," military analyst Alexei Leonkov tells Sputnik, commenting on the pager explosion in Lebanon.

Since Echelon's inception in the 1960s, the US has developed international communication standards and a wide set of surveillance tools which allow the US intel community to spy on users worldwide, as ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden disclosed in 2013, commenting on the US' Prism program.

🔸Those instruments can determine an individual's location by devices one uses for communication, including the pager that one carries in their pocket, according to Leonkov.

🔸US operatives can determine a user's coordinates with an accuracy of up to a second, given that each device has its own identification number and operates in a common environment under US standards.

🔸The chosen targets could be affected in different ways, most commonly by strikes with high-precision combat drones, the expert said.

The recent detonation of pagers could be caused by battery overheating which, in turn, could be provoked by interfering with software responsible for charging the devices, as per the pundit.

"Most technical devices now have lithium batteries," Leonkov says. "What happened is called thermal runaway, during which the battery, as a rule, explodes. A battery explosion, depending on where the owner wears this pager, can lead to either injury or serious injury and, in exceptional cases, death."

"[If the pager] was close to an artery [the explosion of a battery] could cause damage making one bleed to death within five minutes. And that's it, the person can't be saved," the pundit concludes.

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Hillary Clinton, queen of fake news & disinformation, has taken on Russian media — Part 1 👉 Part 2

Former US Secretary of State and Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has called for civil and criminal charges against Americans who "spread" Russian "disinformation".

Apart from taking on Russian media, the scandal-ridden politician has a lot of her plate, including the Clinton Foundation's apparent fraud and peddling lies against political opponents.

Here are some of the Clinton scandals:

🔸Ahead of the 2016 election, the US press buzzed about the Clinton Foundation's apparent conflict of interests, unreported donations from foreign individuals and entities, and corporate lobbyists including General Electric, Boeing, Exxon Mobil and Microsoft behind Hillary. However, it was just a tip of a much bigger iceberg.

🔸In December 2016, Haitian-born journalist Dady Chery told Sputnik about the Clinton family's controversial fundraiser in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Bill Clinton played a key role in fundraising through the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Media investigations showed half-completed or botched projects, misuse of funds and spending on luxury hotels rather than housing.

🔸Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel, described by The Sunday Times of London as "one of the finest analysts of financial statements on the planet" in 2009, called the Clinton Foundation "the largest unprosecuted charity fraud ever attempted." The pundit told Sputnik that the charity has been largely used to "transform a once broke family into mega-multi-millionaires."

🔸In 2018, Clinton Foundation whistleblowers Lawrence W. Doyle and John F. Moynihan told US lawmakers that the charity owes between $400 million and $2.5 billion in taxes since it has never operated as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization and has acted as nothing short of a foreign agent "throughout its existence".

Part 1 👉 Part 2

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From Hillary's emailgate scandal to Trump-Russia hoax — Part 2 👉 Part 1

Hillary Clinton is infamous for mismanaging government secrets and peddling disinformation. It is remarkable she has always got away with it.

🔸Hillary Clinton's emailgate scandal envisaged the politician storing 110 emails in 52 email chains containing top secret, secret and confidential government information on her unprotected email server. On top of that, Clinton deleted 33,000 emails, claiming that they were "personal in nature". Unlike Donald Trump, she has never been charged for mishandling classified materials.

🔸In late July 2016, US intelligence services intercepted information of "an alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016, of a proposal from one of her foreign-policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services," in order to distract attention from her own legal problems. The Clinton campaign's role in peddling the fake "Trump-Russia" plot was later confirmed in Special Counsel John Durham's report.

🔸The Clinton campaign funded opposition research to supply the FBI and media with the false narrative, according to the Durham probe. The probe suggested that the fake story, spread by ex-MI6 agent Chris Steele in his "dirty dossier," that Trump had been filmed with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel, actually originated from Charles Dolan, a Democratic operative and Hillary Clinton ally.

🔸Hillary Clinton has never been held responsible for undermining her political opponent: on the contrary, the US mainstream press is still continuing to promote the ruse.

Why is Hillary Clinton up against the Russian media?

🔹For years Sputnik's coverage of the Clintons' charity apparent fraud, emailgate scandal and Trump-Russia hoax has been a thorn in Team Clinton's flesh. Bill Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña tried to intimidate Charles Ortel for talking to Sputnik, whereas former Clinton aide Doug Band issued legal threats to a Sputnik

Part 2 👉 Part 1

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🔸From Echelon to Prism: US intel services could be behind Hezbollah pager detonation — military expert explains

🔸US crackdown on Sputnik, RT is meant to ‘discourage others from speaking out’ and intimidate Americans - journalist

🔸Syrian terrorists and Ukrainian militants form ‘symbiotic relationship’ nurtured by ‘CIA connections’

🔸Collaborators in terror unmasked: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* working hand in glove with Ukraine

🔸Is Macron's resignation imminent?

🔸How does Ukraine try to distance itself from suspected Trump assassin?

🔸Where Tsar Bomb goes boom: Brief history of Russia’s most famous nuclear testing site

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Former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden has suggested that the detonation of pagers in different areas of Lebanon is related to embedded explosive devices, and not a hacker attack.

"If it were overheated batteries exploding, you'd expect many more small fires & misfires," he wrote on X.

Snowden admitted that Israel could be behind the detonation, and accused it of the recklessness of the methods used.

"What Israel has just done is, via any method, reckless... Indistinguishable from terrorism."

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Firefighters rescue baby ocelot during forest fire in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

The feline was sent to a veterinary center for further assistance.

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Collaborators in terror unmasked: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* working hand in glove with Ukraine

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorists have received a shipment of drones from Ukraine, while the Kiev regime has requested experienced fighters in exchange, a source in the Syrian opposition told Sputnik. Meanwhile, Ukrainian spy chief, Kirill Budanov, maintains regular contact with the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* regarding the recruitment of fighters on occupied territories in the Idlib and Aleppo provinces, according to the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan.

Here’s what you need to know about the connections linking the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham jihadists to the Kiev regime:

◾️On September 12, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov highlighted that Ukrainian intelligence emissaries were in the Idlib de-escalation zone, where they were recruiting militants from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

◾️Previously, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, remarked that the Kiev regime has long sustained contacts with terrorists. This collaboration includes recruiting individuals to carry out attacks against Russian citizens, exchanging information and technology, and employing false flag tactics.

◾️Initial reports regarding the potential presence of Syrian militants in Ukraine surfaced in April 2022. According to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, US agents reportedly facilitated the release of 60 ISIS militants, aged 20 to 25, from prisons controlled by Syrian Kurdish forces. These militants were subsequently transferred to the US base at At-Tanf in Syria, where they underwent training before being sent to Ukraine.

◾️In November 2022, sources in the Idlib province told Sputnik that around 800 terrorist mercenaries left Syria for Ukraine. This transfer operation took place under the cover of night, facilitated by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorists, who managed all logistical processes involved. The movement occurred across the Syrian-Turkish border.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra until 2017, is a jihadi terrorist organization that currently controls half of Syria’s Idlib province, as well as parts of Hama, Aleppo, and Latakia provinces. The United States and NATO countries do not classify Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist group, instead designating it as part of the so-called Syrian opposition. This classification facilitates contacts with its militants.

Notably, Abu Muhammad al-Julani, the current leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has met multiple times with agents from the CIA and MI6 near the Syrian-Turkish border, according to the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

*Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusra are terrorist organizations outlawed in Russia.

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🖖👽Nothing special

Just a boat in the shape of a flying saucer created by a Vietnamese man

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📹Donald Trump with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies who took the suspect in the assassination attempt on Trump, Ryan Wesley Routh, into custody

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❗️Russian defense forces destroyed 54 Ukrainian drones over Kursk, Bryansk, Smolensk, Belgorod and Orel regions overnight - Russian MOD

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Russian air defenses are repelling a massive drone attack in Tver region

"In Toropets, the Tver Region, the process of extinguishing a fire is underway at the site of the drone debris fall, air defense forces continue to repel a massive drone attack in the skies above the city," the Tver government said on Telegram.

In addition, it was decided to partially evacuate the population from areas where the air defense is working and firefighting is underway.

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EU increases Russian pipeline gas purchases to the highest level since February

The European Union increased the purchases of Russian pipeline gas in July by 1,5 times compared to the previous year - to the value of 665,4 million euros. This was the highest since February, when imports totalled just over a billion euros.

◻️ The main customer was Italy, which increased its purchases by 5 times to 214 million euros. The Hungary and Slovakia also increased imports by 21 percent to 164,2 and 115,8 million euros respectively.

◻️ In contrast, Greece, reduced its purchases in July by 6 percent to 162,1 million euros. Bulgaria by 9.5 percent, to 6.7 million, and the Czech Republic by half, to 2.6 million. Austria traditionally does not publish data on gas purchases.

◻️ Overall, the EU bought 3,95 billion euros worth of pipeline gas from Russia in the seven months, which is 24 percent less than in the same period last year. At the same time, the association also reduced purchases from other suppliers - by 45 percent to 17.3 billion euros. As a result, Russia's share of European pipeline gas imports increased to almost 19 percent from 14% a year earlier.

Russia has repeatedly stated that the West has made a serious mistake by refusing to buy hydrocarbons from Russia, and will fall into a new, stronger dependence due to higher prices. Those who have refused supplies are still buying more expensive oil and gas through intermediaries and will continue to buy Russian oil and gas.

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⚡️ Hezbollah pledges retaliation for the pager attack

Hezbollah will respond to Israel for massacre, committed against Lebanese people, the movement said in a statement on Telegram.

This comes after at least 11 people were killed and more than 4,000 were injured as a result of the mass pager explosion across Lebanon on Tuesday.

Hezbollah also said it "will continue, as in all the past days, its blessed operations to support Gaza".

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Experts weigh in on possible accomplices behind Lebanon's deadly pager attack

The US could be behind the deadly pager attack in Lebanon, in which at least eleven people were killed and 4,000 more wounded, military expert Ali Hamie told Sputnik.

He also pointed the finger at Israel and a company that manufactured the pagers, which were detonated, suggesting that without coordination between Tel Aviv and a pager manufacturer, the attack would not have occurred. Israel has not yet commented on the attack.

“The operation was carried out simultaneously [across Lebanon], which means that the perpetrator collaborated with the pager manufacturer, who handed over the codes or decoding systems for the pagers to the Israeli side,” Hamie said. 

The attack shows “we are at severe electronic warfare,” he pointed out, not ruling out that the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah “may conduct a counter-cyber operation in the coming hours or days.”

Hamie was echoed by Lebanese lawmaker, Kasem Hashem, who is a member of the Development and Liberation bloc. The latter also blamed Israel for the attack in an interview with Sputnik.

This is part of the expansion of Israeli aggression against Lebanon, with cyber warfare remaining one of the most dangerous types of tactics used by Israel, possibly an accomplice in the attack, according to Hashem. 

“No doubt, Hezbollah will respond to the attack, especially given the fact that it targeted the whole of Lebanon and was not limited to a certain area,” Hashem concluded.

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Russian army defeats US PMC detachment in the Kursk region

💬 Russian forces have defeated a number of Ukrainian brigades, a unit of the Ukrainian Special Operations Command (SOC), and a detachment of the US private military company (PMC) Forward near Sudzha in Russia's Kursk region, destroying several hundred pieces of equipment, a commander of one of the Akhmat special forces detachments with the call sign 'Aid', told Sputnik.

"The private military company Forward (the American private military company Forward Observation Group) came in - it's not some foreign legion of Georgians or Poles who got lost on a curve, it is specifically trained professional military," Aid said.

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💬 Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on mass detonation of pagers in Lebanon: this requires investigation and international attention to the matter.

At least 11 people were killed and more than 4,000 were injured as a result of the mass pager explosion across Lebanon on Tuesday.

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Moscow hosts BRICS Urban Future Forum

🔸 The 2024 Cloud City BRICS International Innovation Forum kicks off in Moscow on September 18 in a two-day event that brings together more than 5,000 participants from over 30 countries. 

🔸 The event, also known as the BRICS Urban Future Forum, is attended by managers, entrepreneurs, urbanists, as well as members of the scientific community and public organizations from former Soviet republics, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. 

They will participate in the discussion "with political and business decision-makers to help identify growth areas and create synergies among BRICS cities, organizations and companies", according to the forum’s website.

🔸 This year’s forum is being held under the “Harmonious Development: The Future of BRICS Megacities” slogan. One of the goals is to promote leadership practices of Moscow city management to foreign markets.

Sputnik is the forum’s general information partner.

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