Is anybody at Press TV or al-Manar paying attention?

Interesting story this morning on the BBC: it appears that some unidentified "nation state" has put huge efforts into creating a sophisticated worm with "incredible amount of code" "probably targeting "high value" infrastructure in Iran".  Read the full BBC story here; its confirmed by NZZ here and here in English.  The key sentence in the BBC report is this:" it infects Windows machines via USB keys".

That's right, this super-dooper-worm can only infect Windows based machines.  The Windows operating system has a long and unmachted record  of being the worst operating system ever designed.  Not only does it have a history of collaboration with the US NSA, but all its individual components (Outlook, Word, ISS, the registry, the WinAPI, etc) are terribly designed and highly prone to failures, flaws, bugs and corruption (I will spare you the technical details).  In contrast, there are other operating systems out there which are highly stable and secure, and which are available at zero cost: GNU/Linux of course, but also the three BSDs - OpenBSD, FreeBSD and NetBSD.  For a price, you can also get Mac OSX which, being based on BSD, is also far superior to anything Microsoft ever produced (all these operating systems are either based on, or derived from, the UNIX family of operating systems which typically run on larger computers).

Furthermore, Windows is what is called "bloatware": the underlying code of Microsoft applications is inevitably large (which is not a quality, the rule of thumb being that each time you double the size of the source code, the number of bugs in it *squares*!) and requires recent, powerful and expensive hardware to run.

The amount of money wasted by any organization using Windows is absolutely staggering.  Think about it:

1) Being very crash-prone, Windows requires constant attention for system administrators just to keep it running.

2) Being highly insecure, Windows requires constant and sophisticated efforts by system administrators to keep it as secure as possible.

3) Windows licenses are cumbersome to administer and expensive to pay for.

4) Windows bloatware running hardware being cutting edge is expensive to procure and maintain.

5) Microsoft software is either expensive to purchase or illegal to use without a license.

And yes, the Empire can easily target any computer running windows to create havoc in any country or organization it wants to target.

You would think that with that kind of nightmare scenario, organizations such as Press TV or al-Manar, to pick to examples, would avoid *any* Microsoft product like the plague.  You would be wrong.

Let's check what kind of web servers Press TV and al-Manar are is running (using the Netcraft website):

Press TV: Microsoft-IIS on Windows Server 2003

al-Manar:  Microsoft-IIS on Windows Server 2003

Amazingly, these two websites are running the same toxic witches' brew of IIS on Windows Server 2003.  Which is quite amazing considering that the Press TV servers are run by Irnetco on behalf of the Alalam News IT Department while al-Manar seems to have it's own IT department and hosting.

But that's not all, things get worse once you get to their actual websites.  Al-Manar streams its video signal in the ASPX format which comes from its hyper-proprietary ASP.NET framework.  What about Press-TV?  Press TV offers a choice of Flash and MMS formats.  While MMS is 100% Microsoft, Flash is not, but that is not much of a consolation since Flash is also a terrible format, which uses up a huge amount of memory and which is almost as bad as anything produced by Microsoft.  Alas, Flash is still very ubiquitous and is found on most websites offering video.

Bottom line, not only do Press TV and al-Manar use the absolutely worst (and expensive!) technology out there, they are pushing their supporters to do likewise.

Is that not absolutely crazy?

And its not like we are talking rocket science here, the solution is really simple: run an Apache webserver on a *BSD or Linux server, offer video streaming in various formats like, for example, DemocracyNow! does and run all your other computers (desktops, file and printer servers) on Debian or Ubuntu GNU/Linux.  This is nothing new, it's just a variation of the so-called the "LAMP" technology.  As for the users, they should all be encouraged to use Ubuntu (with the OpenOffice Suite), by far the best and easiest operating system for desktops ever created.

[Yes, 10 years ago it took the equivalent to a PhD. in computer science to run GNU/Linux systems (such as Slackware or Debian).  Nowadays, I can personally attest that Ubuntu is far, far FAR easier to install, configure and use than WindowsXP.  Finally, almost all Windows applications have equivalent, and often better, in the world of free software.  Check here, here, here and here for details]

As an aside, I would note that ALL the so-called "BRIC" countries have already made a fundamental and strategic decision to switch to free software and free themselves from the horrors of "Microsoft-world".

Is anybody at Press TV or al-Manar paying attention?

Maybe you guys want to drop them a note?

info@presstv.ir
info@manartv.com.lb

France implicated in Hariri murder case

Press TV reports:

A witness who gave false testimony in the case of the murder of the former Lebanese premier says France had provided him with a forged passport to help him get away with perjury.

A report by the Volatairenet website said that France had provided Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq -- the key witness in the case of Rafiq Hariri's murder -- with a forged passport to grant him immunity from prosecution.

The report came amid accusations by the US and Israel against Syria and Hezbollah, claiming that traces of their involvement were found in Hariri's assassination in 2005.

According to the report, a UN probe committee headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis had relied on the testimony given by Siddiq, who claimed to be a former senior Syrian intelligence official.

In his testimony, Siddiq had accused the Syrian and Lebanese presidents of masterminding the murder. He also accused seven Syrian and four Lebanese generals of organizing the assassination.

After presenting his testimony, Siddiq took refuge in the Spanish property of Rifaat al-Assad, who is the pro-US uncle of incumbent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Siddiq was then offered support by the French General Directorate for External Security (DGSE).

While being under the protection of DGSE, the French police department eavesdropped on his telephone calls and found out that Siddiq had lied to the tribunal tasked with probing Hariri's murder case that he was a senior Syrian official.

It was later reported in Lebanese media that Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Jumblatt had paid him to commit perjury.

In their defense, Hariri and Jumblatt denied paying for perjury, but admitted to having encouraged Siddiq to testify, believing he was sincere.

Siddiq was then arrested in France under an international arrest warrant issued by the Lebanese judiciary but was later released with Paris refusing to extradite him to Lebanon.

He was living in Paris for a while but later vanished into thin air in March 2008. The French government did not provide any explanation on the issue.

Siddiq was then traced in the UAE, where he was arrested and sentenced to six months in prison for carrying a forged Czech passport.

After being released from prison in the UAE, Siddiq told reporters that he received his passport from the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to escape Lebanese justice.

Hariri was Lebanon's most prominent politician since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. He was killed in a massive truck bombing that set off a spiral of political turmoil in Lebanon.

Breaking News: Press TV and Alalam TV offices in Gaza attacked by Israeli Air Force

Press TV is reporting that their offices and the Alalam offices have been bombed by the Israeli Air Force. The Iranian reporters are now hidden underground under the attacked building. They are still reporting life (though without any video at this time).

Where to get information about the war on Gaza

Both al-Jazeera and Press TV have been making a very commendable effort to cover the Israeli war on Gaza and both stations are streaming live in English 24/7. They have also created a special page on their websites for those interested in following the events on the ground:

Press TV "Gaza under fire"
Al-Jazeera "War on Gaza"

The Isreali newspaper Ha'aretz also regularly publishes very interesting analytical pieces.

That's all I have found so far.

Please let us know if you have found other interesting sources, in particular Hamas information sources in English. Many thanks in advance!

The Saker

The USraelian empire lauches a massive covert operations campaign in preparation for a war on Iran

Press TV reports:

US President George W. Bush has reportedly authorized a covert operation to set the stage for a military offensive against Iran.

According to Counterpunch magazine, President Bush signed a secret finding in March authorizing a covert offensive against Iran, which those familiar with its contents believe to be 'unprecedented in its scope'.

Actions permitted under the secret directive include 'the assassination of targeted officials' along with operations across an extensive geographic area from Lebanon to Afghanistan.

The ruling is believed to be an initiative in line with President Bush's sweeping chief executive powers, which will enable him to arm and fund terrorist groups such as the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) and the Jundullah (army of god) militants stationed across the Afghan border in Baluchistan.

Furthermore, efforts to destabilize the Syrian government and operations against the Hezbollah Movement in Lebanon will be stepped up, the report says.

An initial outlay of $300 million has reportedly been approved to finance the implementation of the clandestine operation.

Observers believe the former Centcom Commander Admiral William Fallon, who fiercely opposed a Bush military strike on Iran, was the main obstacle in the way of Washington's policies against the Islamic Republic.

Following Fallon's resignation in March and with Bush's favorite general David Petraeus set to assume his position, speculation is high that Middle Eastern nations should prepare for yet another war in the region.

Britain's Secret Service is forging closer links with its Israeli counterpart, Mossad, on Iran's nuclear program, The Sunday Times says.

According to the British daily, the head of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, is to visit Israel later this month to build long-standing cooperation between his agency and Mossad, both of which are known to be operating extensive spy networks in the Middle East.

Iran's nuclear program is expected to be high on the agenda of the two spy agencies in an intelligence-sharing process described by Israeli officials as a 'strategic dialogue'.

Scarlett will reportedly be briefed by Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, on Israel's latest information about the Iranian nuclear program.

The new information is said to be on a par with intelligence that led Israel to discover and then destroy a partly constructed nuclear reactor in Syria last September; an unnamed source was quoted as saying.

Britain has long been involved in espionage operations against Iran and has provided second parties with intelligence on the country.

Iran has categorically rejected all Western allegations that it is pursuing a nuclear bomb, insisting its nuclear program is directed at supplying fuel for the country's power plants to meet the rising domestic demand for electricity.

sources:
http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=54316&sectionid=351020101
http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=54259&sectionid=351020104

Obama, the Lobby and the kid-hanging rabbi

Two rather interesting, if unrelated, reports from PRESS TV this morning:

Obama slammed for anti-Israeli advisor

US Presidential nominee Barack Obama has come under fire over his anti-Israeli national campaign co-chairman, Gen. Merrill Tony McPeak.

An inquiry by conservative American media outlets reveals that McPeak, who is also Obama's military advisor, is a longtime anti-Israel critic who slammed American Zionists for acting against US interests.

In an interview with The Oregonian about five years ago, McPeak argued that the influence exerted by American Jews is responsible for the lack of progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

McPeak also said that Jews and Christian Zionists manipulated American foreign policy in Iraq.

Following the revelations, the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) called on Obama to "immediately remove General McPeak from his campaign leadership role and as a key advisor."

RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks claimed that the Obama's anti-Israeli advisors raise serious questions and doubts about his positions and judgment on Middle East issues.

McPeak served as the chief of staff of the US Air Force before retiring in 1994.


Rabbi: Hang Arab children from trees

A Zionist cleric has urged the Israeli regime to give the green light to the massacre of Arabs in retaliation for Palestinian attacks.

In an article published in the newsletter Eretz Yisrael Shelanu Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Safed, has urged the Israeli regime to officially allow "revenge against Arabs to restore Israel's deterrence."

"I'm not talking about individual people in particular, I'm talking about the state. [Israel] has to pain them to the point where they scream 'Enough,' to the point where they fall flat on their face and scream 'help.' Not for the sake of satisfying the need for revenge but for the purposes of deterrence," he wrote.

In the newsletter Eliyahu proposes "hanging the children" of those who attacked the Mercaz Harav yeshiva from a tree.

The rabbi added: "We'll stay here. We need to live with those who understand very well the language of revenge."

On Wednesday, Mossawa Center, an Arab human rights group, called for a probe into Eliyahu's remarks.

Three news items from the BBC (updated)

This morning I woke up the following three news items on the BBC website:

1. First, the Imperial High Command continues with its policy of blaming Iran for its defeat in Iraq.
2. Second, the "only democracy in the Middle-East" has sentenced one of its citizens to six months in jail for speaking with the foreign press.
3. Third, Iran has lauched a 24 hour TV news channel in English (with an well designed web site)
   

Don't these three news items, when take together, provide a powerful illustration of who is on the defensive and engaging in what can only be described as "obsessive compulsive" behavior and who is, step by step, inexorably growing in power and sophistication?

Update:

Looks like Israel is joining into the idiotic accusations of blaming Iran for the mess in Iraq. This time, the otherwise excellent Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz writes:

Iran is using the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah as a proxy to arm Shiite militants in Iraq and Tehran's elite Quds force helped militants carry out a January attack in Karbala in which five Americans were killed, a U.S. general said Monday.

A senior Lebanese Hezbollah operative, Ali Mussa Dakdouk, was captured March 20 in southern Iraq, U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner said.

Dakdouk served for 24 years in Hezbollah and was working in Iraq as a surrogate for the Iranian Quds Force, Bergner said.

The general also said that Dakdouk was a liaison between the Iranians and a breakaway Shiite group led by Qais al-Kazaali, a former spokesman for cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Bergner said al-Kazaali's group carried out the January attack against a provincial government building in Karbala and that the Iranians assisted in preparations. Al-Khazaali and his brother Ali al-Khazaali were captured with Dakdouk.

"Dakdouk told U.S. interrogators that the Karbala attackers could not have conducted this complex operation without the support and direction of the Quds force," Bergner said.

"Documents captured with al-Khazaali showed that the Quds Force had developed detailed information on the U.S. position at the government building, regarding our soldiers' activities, shift changes and defenses, and this information was shared with the attackers," Bergner said.

The Karbala attack was one of the boldest and most sophisticated against U.S. forces in four years of fighting in Iraq, and U.S. officials at the time suggested Iran may have had a role in it. In the assault, up to a dozen gunmen posed as an American security team, with U.S. military combat fatigues, allowing them to pass checkpoints into the government compound, where they launched the attack. One U.S. soldier was killed in the initial assault, and the militants abducted four others who were later found shot to death.

The U.S. military in the past has accused the Quds Force - the external arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards - of arming and financing Iraqi extremists to carry out attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces. Tehran has denied the U.S. accusations.

Hezbollah spokesmen in Lebanon said they were checking into the claims Dakdouk was a member of the group and would not comment. The group has in the past denied any activities in Iraq.

In late 2005, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said his government suspected that Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah might be supplying technology and explosives to Shiite Muslim militant groups operating in Iraq, but he provided no proof.

Bergner said Iraqi extremists were taken to Iran in groups of 20 to 60 for training in three camps not too far from Tehran. When they returned to Iraq, they formed units called special groups to carry out attacks, bombings and kidnappings, he added.

"Our intelligence reveals that the senior leadership in Iran is aware of this activity," he said. Asked if Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could be unaware of the activity, Bergner said, "That would be hard to imagine."

Dakdouk was tasked to organize the special groups in ways that mirrored how Hezbollah was organized in Lebanon, the general said. Dakdouk was ordered by Hezbollah's leadership to work with the Quds Force and went to Iran in May 2006 to meet with Quds Force commander Bergner said. He then made four trips to Iraq over the next year.

"Hezbollah," he said, "helps the Iranians as a proxy... to do things they didn't want to have to do themselves in terms of interacting with special groups. He added that Hezbollah did not appear to have an extensive network in Iraq, saying Dakdouk was being used specifically as a proxy by the Quds Force.

This is actually a very interesting piece. First, let us begin by setting aside a couple of typical propaganda items: the individual is a "senior representative" (all people captured by the Empire are always "senior", that helps careers and sells better). Next, the person in question is linked to Hezbollah AND the famous "Quds force" AND Iran AND the Sadrist forces AND the Pasradan (again, this kind of description helps careers and sells better; I wonder why they did not write that the guy was also linked to Al-Qaeda, "Holocaust deniers" and Russian revanchist communists...). Lastly, the person is, of course, linked to some previous attack against the Empire, thus proving his impeccable "terrorist" credentials and conveniently providing a culprit which, by coincidence, of course, can implicate pretty much everybody in the Middle-East the Empire hates. Having put aside all this nonsense, what have we left?

Some individual with possible ties to external anti-Imperial forces has been captured in southern Iraq. It appears that the group this individual was connected with was gathering intelligence on US forces and their installations in Iraq.

It appears to me that, assuming that there is some factual reality to all this, the most likely explanation for all this is that the Imperial forces might have seized an intelligence operative gathering intelligence for a possible Iranian attack on southern Iraq in response to an Imperial aggression against Iran (as planned by the Neocons).


I will keep an eye on this story for sure.