/qnotables20/ - ===Q Notables 2020===

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10627735 (130615ZSEP20) Notable: Jeffrey Epstein was ‘bankrolled by “pimp” Ghislaine’s father Robert Maxwell’, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Sworn_testimony_claims_Epstein_was_bankrolled_by_Robert_Maxwell_father_of_his_associate_Ghislaine_Maxwell.jpg, Ghislaine_Maxwell_holding_a_framed_photograph_of_her_late_father_in_1991.jpg

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Jeffrey Epstein was ‘bankrolled by “pimp” Ghislaine’s father Robert Maxwell’

INVESTIGATORS have sworn testimony claiming that Jeffrey Epstein was secretly bankrolled by Robert Maxwell – the father of alleged pimp Ghislaine.

Sex trafficker Epstein – who killed himself in jail last year – mysteriously amassed a huge fortune despite only managing the wealth of a handful of exclusive clients.

Now an insider has told The Sun that he had been initially funded by tycoon Maxwell, who swindled a pension fund before he was found dead in 1991.

Frenchman Jean-Luc Brunel, a model scout pal of Epstein, is said to have disclosed Maxwell’s involvement to friends almost 20 years ago.

The claim has since been passed onto US lawyers investigating Epstein’s crimes and those of his alleged co-conspirators, in the form of sworn testimony.

A former close associate of Brunel told The Sun: “He was having a conversation with some acquaintances in New York City around 2002.

“Jean-Luc was telling them how Ghislaine’s father Robert Maxwell was one of the reasons why Jeffrey Epstein had money.

“He said Maxwell had been one of Epstein’s early investment clients. I assumed that Maxwell had invested in Epstein, who then used that money to make his own.

“Jean-Luc also started talking about a book featuring Robert Maxwell and wanted to get hold of a copy straight away.”

Former Wall Street trader Epstein rose to prominence in the financial world in the 1980s, founding his own money management firm.

The company was formed to manage the assets of clients with more than $1billion and included Victoria’s Secret boss Les Wexner.

Czech-born businessman Maxwell built a publishing empire after moving to Britain following the Second World War.

But in 1991 his body was discovered floating in the Atlantic Ocean, after he toppled off yacht The Lady Ghislaine, named after his daughter.

It later emerged that the fraudster had stolen hundreds of millions of pounds from his own company’s pension funds.

His daughter Ghislaine fled to New York City after his death and soon began dating Epstein.

It has never been revealed how they knew each other or met.

Epstein committed suicide in prison last year aged 66, before he could go on trial over claims that he ran a child sex trafficking operation.

Ghislaine, 58, was arrested in July and charged with grooming girls as young as 14 for Epstein.

She is currently locked up in a New York jail and facing 35 years behind bars.

Her close pal Prince Andrew, 60, has been engulfed in the scandal following allegations that he slept with Epstein sex slave Virginia Roberts when she was a teenager.

The duke vehemently denies any accusations of wrongdoing.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12654218/jeffrey-epstein-bankrolled-by-ghislaine-father-robert-maxwell/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10628421 (130826ZSEP20) Notable: AFP to seize paedophiles’ cars, cash and homes for the first time, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_Brisbane_man_charged_with_child_abuse_material_and_allegedly_sharing_material_over_a_peer_to_peer_network.jpg, A_Sydney_man_charged_with_allegedly_possessing_and_sharing_child_abuse_material.jpg, The_AFP_charged_a_Lakemba_man_in_Sydney_for_possessing_extreme_child_abuse_material.jpg

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AFP to seize paedophiles’ cars, cash and homes for the first time

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Paedophiles will lose their homes, cars and cash as Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw vowed to “go after the assets of paedophiles’’ who profit from evil online child abuse.

Exclusive: Paedophiles will lose their homes, cars and cash as federal police fight an explosion in child sex crimes by confiscating offenders’ property for the first time.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton revealed today police will target the assets of child abusers through the Coalition Government’s proceeds of crime laws.

“If a sex offender is found to be profiting or seeking to gain from the exploitation of children, they can expect to have their bank account, their home or even their car seized,’’ he told New Corp Australia.

“We are going to target those who profit from an abhorrent trade in child abuse.’’

The crackdown comes as police revealed that “dark web’’ servers have crashed under the rocketing demand from perverted Australians paying to watch children being sexually abused online.

For the price of a pack of cigarettes, viewers can direct impoverished parents in third-world countries to video themselves raping, molesting and torturing their own young children.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Reece Kershaw yesterday vowed to “go after the assets of paedophiles’’ who cash in on evil online child abuse.

“It is truly sickening that offenders are profiting from the abuse, degradation and misery of children,’’ he writes today.

“I make no apologies for using the full force … of the law in our fight to lock these offenders away, and strip them of their tainted assets.

“We will never give up in our fight to rescue the victims and unleash maximum damage to those who do our children harm.’’

Commissioner Kershaw said the AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce, CACT, would target paedophiles in the same way as drug dealers, bikies and fraudsters.

The “new and aggressive strategy’’ would confiscate the assets of criminals who make money through exploiting children, such as pay-per-view rapes.

The CACT will follow the money trail of online child abuse using an elite team of police, lawyers, financial investigators and forensic accountants from the AFP, Australian Taxation Office, Border Force, AUSTRAC and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10628458 (130832ZSEP20) Notable: AFP says Facebook’s security upgrade gives child molesters a platform to groom kids online, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: AFP_says_Facebook_s_security_upgrade_gives_child_molesters_a_platform_to_groom_kids_online.jpg, Facebook_CEO_Mark_Zuckerberg_testifies_before_the_House_Judiciary_Subcommittee_on_Antitrust_Commercial_and_Administrative_Law_hearing_on_Online_Platforms_and_Market_Power_.jpg

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AFP says Facebook’s security upgrade gives child molesters a platform to groom kids online

Australia’s Federal Police have lashed Facebook over encryption plans they claim will give child molesters an “open platform” to groom kids online.

Angry police have slammed Facebook over encryption plans they claim will give child molesters an “open platform” to groom kids online.

Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner Lesa Gale said Facebook’s switch to end-to-end encryption on its Facebook Messenger service would “severely curtail referrals we receive about child exploitation material”.

“Facebook makes up 40 to 60 per cent of child exploitation reports received by the AFP,” she told News Corp Australia. “The AFP believes that encryption will provide offenders with an open platform to groom children online.

“It will throw many investigations into the dark … it will be harder for the AFP to identify paedophiles and their victims.”

Ms Gale said half the tip-offs to the US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children would “vanish” once Facebook encrypted its Messenger service.

“This will have an adverse impact on the AFP to identify and disrupt instances of online child exploitation – and of course victims themselves,” she said.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton yesterday warned that depraved child sex offenders would “act with impunity” as a result of Facebook’s encryption.

“The millions of referrals made per year by Facebook regarding Facebook regarding child exploitation on their platform will be lost if they move to blunt end-to-end encryption,” he said.

“The offenders will be able to act with impunity and law-enforcement (will be) hamstrung from identifying and rescuing the children.”

A Facebook spokeswoman yesterday said end-to-end encryption – which uses a “lock” so it can only be viewed by the sender and recipient – “protects people’s safety”.

“We lead the industry in combating child exploitation in both public and private spaces on our services and remain committed to the safety of the people who use them,” she said.

Facebook removed 9.5 million pieces of content that violated its ban on child nudity or sexual exploitation of children, between April and June this year.

The spokeswoman refused to explain how the social media giant could continue to remove content it will no longer be able to see once encrypted.

She cited Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s statement last year that “we are working to improve our ability to identify and stop bad actors across our apps … even when we can’t see the content of the messages’’.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/behindthescenes/afp-says-facebooks-security-upgrade-gives-child-molesters-a-platform-to-groom-kids-online/news-story/a5031601c3714d608cffb5c7f38e28ba

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10628572 (130915ZSEP20) Notable: Elise Thomas Tweet: There are already at least 3 other sites providing basically the same service Qmap did, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: ET_4.jpg

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Elise Thomas Tweet

On the other hand, there are already at least 3 other sites providing basically the same service Qmap did. There'll be a bit of competition now to see which gets the lion's share of Qmap's former traffic, but either way the disruption won't last long.

https://twitter.com/elisethoma5/status/1304941162940096513

Travis View @travis_view

The threads on the 8kun board where Q posts typically contain antisemitism, porn, and angry trolls. The imageboard also doesn't have an intuitive User Interface for many QAnon followers.

Consequently, QMap going down actually does make the Q drops harder to access.

https://twitter.com/travis_view/status/1304798019922006019

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10628753 (130958ZSEP20) Notable: The Project Tweet: QAnon is the rapidly growing conspiracy movement that defies all logic, and it’s spreading online like wildfire, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: TP_1.jpg

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The Project Tweet

QAnon is the rapidly growing conspiracy movement that defies all logic, and it’s spreading online like wildfire. So why are people falling for something which has no basis in fact?

https://twitter.com/theprojecttv/status/1305063565938905094

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10628757 (130959ZSEP20) Notable: Video: Why Is QAnon Spreading So Rapidly? | The Project

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>>178633

Why Is QAnon Spreading So Rapidly? | The Project

Published on 13 Sep 2020

QAnon is the rapidly growing conspiracy movement that defies all logic, and it’s spreading online like wildfire. So why are people falling for something which has no basis in fact?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXXomPiR0MM

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10637131 (132355ZSEP20) Notable: Australia is a Full Scale Pilot Test For The New World Order

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Australia is a Full Scale Pilot Test For The New World Order

Several journalists and content creators have noticed that Australia looks like the most totalitarian police state that has existed in recent history. It has become a full-scale pilot test for the elitists to see how well they can implement the New World Order.

Australians have been subjected to some of the most horrendous basic human rights and dignity violations during this entire scamdemic. The elitists are using Australia to test out these authoritarian measures, such as getting the public used to a police state in which the military and police both patrol the streets ready to commit violence against other humans for refusing to quarantine when not sick or not wearing their New World Order issued muzzle…I mean, face mask.

“These guys know full well what they are doing. They are psychopaths, but they aren’t stupid,” says Brian in the above video. The politicians are redistributing both wealth and power away from the public and consolidating it into their own hands. We are in big trouble if we cannot get the military and the police who are committing violence on behalf of the tyrants to realize what they are doing to humanity.

All of this is over 17 new cases of COVID-19. This absolutely horrifying that people continue to buy this scam. “Heavy-handed tyranny and oppression is happening everywhere,” Brian adds. If you don’t think this is coming back to the United States in the form of a second lockdown, think again. The media has been preparing us for a “dark winter” and a “second wave” since the first false wave happened

Wake up. Time is now extremely short. If you don’t have food or water, now is the time to get what you can. If you don’t have emergency plans, now is the time to make some with your family. If you are already well prepared for any disaster, the best thing you can do is to stay alert and fearless. Dont’ live a life terrified (they enslave you with your fear), but make sure you know what’s going on. The best preparedness plan includes one of awareness of this situation we’ve found ourselves in today.

https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/australia-is-a-full-scale-pilot-test-for-the-new-world-order

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10641248 (140656ZSEP20) Notable: What lies beneath: tunnels for trafficking, or just a subterranean service? Time to rescue these spaces from the conspiracists - Victoria Kolankiewicz - theconversation.com, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_entrances_to_an_air_raid_shelter_at_Howard_Smith_Wharves_Brisbane.jpg, Partially_constructed_tunnels_and_unused_platforms_at_St_James_railway_station_Sydney.jpg

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>>178638

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Dangerous, yes, but for more mundane reasons

These hidden spaces can be controversial or dangerous, but not for the reasons put forth by QAnon and its ilk.

Social groups have emerged around drain exploration, with the Melbourne-based Cave Clan the best-known example. They have clear rules to ensure the safety of their members. “No drains when it rains” is one such rule: sudden rain can catch out explorers as water levels rise quickly inside drains.

Drownings have been reported in both Sydney and Melbourne. The unpredictability of sudden torrential flows means these spaces are fundamentally unsuited to the purposes suggested in conspiracy theories.

Frequent visits by urban explorers would also quickly identify any secretive mis-uses of drainage infrastructure. This would equally apply to other underground spaces such as steam and service tunnels – maintenance staff would soon spot anything amiss.

More crucial, however, is that the design of these drains means they could not play any part in supposed trafficking networks. Some of these drains are large enough for adults to explore. The vast majority, though, are too small to be accessed, with diameters as narrow as 300mm.

Even the most cavernous drains would not be suitable for storage. Larger drains are designed to hold larger flows, often at a confluence of catchment areas. While they these drains could host human beings, they would be at risk of drowning whenever it rained. Tidal flows or litter traps can also prevent access.

Social groups have emerged around drain exploration, with the Melbourne-based Cave Clan the best-known example. They have clear rules to ensure the safety of their members. “No drains when it rains” is one such rule: sudden rain can catch out explorers as water levels rise quickly inside drains.

Drownings have been reported in both Sydney and Melbourne. The unpredictability of sudden torrential flows means these spaces are fundamentally unsuited to the purposes suggested in conspiracy theories.

Frequent visits by urban explorers would also quickly identify any secretive mis-uses of drainage infrastructure. This would equally apply to other underground spaces such as steam and service tunnels – maintenance staff would soon spot anything amiss.

More crucial, however, is that the design of these drains means they could not play any part in supposed trafficking networks. Some of these drains are large enough for adults to explore. The vast majority, though, are too small to be accessed, with diameters as narrow as 300mm.

Even the most cavernous drains would not be suitable for storage. Larger drains are designed to hold larger flows, often at a confluence of catchment areas. While they these drains could host human beings, they would be at risk of drowning whenever it rained. Tidal flows or litter traps can also prevent access.

Child trafficking is a very relevant issue, but it is certainly not taking place under cities across the nation. Rather than abandoning subterranean spaces to conspiratorial narratives or urban mythology, these spaces are important for other reasons. These point to the need to build a common understanding not only of their form and function, but also of the ethos underlying their existence, a concern for the common good.

That something as impressive and as everyday as our civic infrastructure inspires such fascination and fear is indeed curious. Ultimately, these spaces are too utilitarian to serve the purpose claimed by viral social media posts.

https://theconversation.com/what-lies-beneath-tunnels-for-trafficking-or-just-a-subterranean-service-time-to-rescue-these-spaces-from-the-conspiracists-144276

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10641391 (140735ZSEP20) Notable: ‘Unholy Alliance’: Conspiracy Theorists Are Circulating Russian And Chinese Disinformation About Covid-19 On Social Media - Eden Gillespie - sbs.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Supporters_of_President_Donald_Trump_hold_up_their_phones_with_messages_referring_to_the_QAnon_conspiracy_theory_at_a_campaign_rally.jpg, About_100_people_in_Melbourne_protested_lockdowns_vaccinations_and_5G_against_what_they_called_the_coronavirus_conspiracy_.jpg, Russian_President_Vladimir_Putin_Russia_has_been_accused_of_coordinating_conspiracy_theories_on_the_origins_of_coronavirus.jpg

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‘UNHOLY ALLIANCE’: CONSPIRACY THEORISTS ARE CIRCULATING RUSSIAN AND CHINESE DISINFORMATION ABOUT COVID-19 ON SOCIAL MEDIA

How much of conspiracy theories are deliberate acts of disinformation? According to experts, conspiracy theorists are sharing COVID-19 messages from state organisations in Russia and China that cater to the countries’ strategic interests and seek to sow division in the West.

BY EDEN GILLESPIE - September 14, 2020

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We’ve heard a litany of conspiracy theories since the pandemic began, but where exactly are they coming from and to what extent are they organised?

From anti-5g articles to fabricated stories about vaccination trials, Russia is using bots, state media and troll farms to cultivate a disinformation narrative during the pandemic.

But Russia is far from the only country that’s using social media to spin the truth, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

The Chinese Communist Party is also using social media to paint a positive image of its government and to heap blame on the United States for the COVID-19 crisis, researchers at ASPI have found.

In March, an official Twitter account from the Chinese Foreign Ministry promoted the conspiracy that the US engineered COVID-19 and deployed it during a military exercise in Wuhan.

Australian conspiracy theorists are helping this kind of disinformation spread like wildfire, according to Dr Timothy Graham, a Senior Lecturer in Communication at Queensland University of Technology.

“QAnon, for example, is a really susceptible population of individuals who are ready to be co-opted and to have their already existing beliefs cultivated and exploited for strategic purposes,” Dr Graham told The Feed.

“They don’t need to get an army of 10,000 trolls and bots to jump in when they’ve already got QAnon that’ll come in and go ‘exactly, that’s the deep state again’ and ‘Trump is going to be our saviour’,” he said.

“There’s almost an unholy alliance in a sense between anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and foreign disinformation because their interests converge to an extent and they each do the job of amplifying the other one’s interests and content.”

Dr Graham said in the pre-internet days, an individual or group that was unwittingly doing the work of the Kremlin was referred to as a “useful idiot”.

He said that in the Soviet era, they were generally the elite or high-level officials but these days, due to the internet, there are “millions of useful idiots”.

“These individuals who genuinely believe there is a western government conspiracy or cover-up of vaccines and they’re being engineered or weaponised to control populations with the help of Bill Gates. When Russian disinformation comes along, all they really need to do is just help them on their way,” Dr Graham said.

“It’s almost like they make the job too easy. It’s not difficult to target these groups on Facebook and inject content into there.”

Elise Thomas, a researcher at ASPI, is concerned that the untruths spread by both non-state and state actors could damage public health messaging.

“It's definitely a concern. I mean, we saw the protests in Melbourne and around the country on the weekend,” Thomas said.

“Particularly in a public health crisis, anything that is sowing distrust in health authorities is really concerning, and could have very serious, real-world implications, particularly if anybody at those protests was infectious,” she told The Feed.

According to Thomas, one story that has achieved widespread circulation was about a US vaccination trial that supposedly killed five people in Ukraine. Except, it never actually happened.

ASPI revealed that the story originated from a press release posted onto the websites of the Luhansk People’s Republic, a pro-Russian self-declared state in Eastern Ukraine.

The press release hit the web the day after Russia announced it would produce its own vaccine. And it didn’t take long for the story to be shared onto a popular Australian anti-vaccination Facebook group.

“You see a lot of people repeating it on Twitter, or whatever and they have no idea that it originated from a pro-Russian Ukrainian separatist group,” Thomas said.

“They just remember they saw somewhere that Ukrainian soldiers died in a vaccine trial and they just repeated it,” she added.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10641442 (140749ZSEP20) Notable: Disaster planners warn conspiracy theories pose a security threat - Anna Patty - smh.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Protestors_at_the_Wake_Up_Australia_march_against_mandatory_vaccinations_at_Hyde_Park_in_Sydney_last_month.jpg

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Disaster planners warn conspiracy theories pose a security threat

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Conspiracy theorists have exploited the coronavirus pandemic and summer bushfires to split the community, raising concerns about a developing national security threat.

NSW Police and Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said on Sunday contingencies to address risks associated with conspiracy theories being used to undermine social cohesion were "front of mind".

The warning comes as violence erupted in Melbourne on Sunday at anti-lockdown rallies. The organiser was arrested and bailed last week after he was charged with inciting protest activity. A court heard on Friday the 43-year-old man believed coronavirus is a "genetically engineered virus created by world banks to kill off weaker humans".

Mr Elliott said the present climate was fertile ground for extremists.

"Every time you have a natural disaster you will have people wanting to take advantage of it," he said. "The world that we live in at the moment has people using every opportunity available to them to undermine civilised society.

"We certainly have discussed with our intelligence agencies the cause of virtually every natural disaster. I know people get on the internet outside the academic sphere that provides us with advice on these things and put forward conspiracy theories that are just there to cause havoc in the community and to split the community."

A spokesperson for ASIO said it is aware of extremists seeking to exploit the circumstances and uncertainties of the COVID-19 environment.

"While the threat of violence inspired by Islamist extremism remains ASIO’s principal terrorism concern, extreme right-wing groups and individuals willing to engage in acts of violence to achieve political objectives represent a serious, increasing and evolving threat to security," the spokesperson said.

Deakin University researchers Lydia Khalil and Joshua Roose said the management of Australia's disaster and emergency response needs to recognise how COVID-19 and the summer bushfires have been used by extremists to create social division, fuel racism, spread false information and create distrust in government.

“The back-to-back emergencies - COVID-19 pandemic and Australian bushfires reveal that the government's disaster and emergency management response must include a recognition that these crises will play into the hands of extremists," Ms Khalil said.

"Governments are missing a key element of crisis response; they must not only put together strategic communications campaigns to deal with disinformation and project a sense of order and control during crisis, but they must now also account for the accelerations of violent extremism as part of their disaster management.”

Research by Ms Khalil and Dr Roose, previewed in the Lowy Institute's Interpreter, has found some alternative right groups have used encrypted social media sites in Australia to blame ethnic diversity for the pandemic and to contest the government's legitimacy during a time of crisis. Those views are filtering through to social media through individuals.

Mr Elliott said the research is "pretty much on the money".

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10641446 (140750ZSEP20) Notable: Disaster planners warn conspiracy theories pose a security threat - Anna Patty - smh.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: NSW_Minister_for_Police_and_Emergency_Services_David_Elliott.jpg

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>>178642

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Ms Khalil and Dr Roose, who are senior research fellows at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, found extreme right wing groups had spread baseless conspiracy theories blaming Muslims for starting the summer bushfires as part of a jihad, the Chinese for deliberately spreading COVID-19 and the 5G network for spreading the virus. Alternative right bloggers have blamed Chinese Australians for emptying supermarket shelves and ethnic diversity for the spread of coronavirus. ISIS had also presented the virus as a punishment from God and was using it as a recruiting tool.

"Globally, dozens of 5G phone towers have been burnt in the belief that they are playing a role in spreading coronavirus, including the UK, NZ and recently in Melbourne," Dr Roose said.

"This indicated that at least some people subscribing to conspiracy theories are prepared to take violent action."

Dr Roose and Ms Khalil warned that left unaddressed, the violent extremism and distrust of government threatened to "incubate and spread, which makes maintaining and recovering government legitimacy and trust in the long term all the more difficult".

"Far-right figures have also used the government’s COVID-19 response to stoke distrust in government by claiming that the government is using the crisis to control average Australians," the researchers said.

Some alternative right social media sites have promoted the idea that lockdown measures were part of government plots to control citizens beyond the crisis.

The researchers warned that disasters and emergencies play into “accelerationism” theory, found throughout the extreme right, which argues that liberal-democratic order is a failure and that its demise must be accelerated through stoking social division and violence.

Dr Roose said posts on social media sites had attacked multiculturalism as a failed project and referred to coronavirus as the "diversity flu". In a video seen by The Herald, one commentator says: "If it wasn't for diversity we wouldn't be in this mess".

Jacinta Carroll, a senior researcher from the Australian National University National Security College said the coronavirus had provided an opportunity for right wing groups in Australia to raise their profile. She said ISIS had used the coronavirus to help it raise money and supporters.

"ISIS has said that if you engage in jihad you will be immune from coronavirus. There is also quite a lot of propaganda about coronavirus being God's punishment of the west," she said.

Associate Professor Debra Smith from Victoria University said extremist groups had spread baseless conspiracy theories about the deliberate spread of the COVID-19 as a biological weapon.

Dr Kristy Campion, a lecturer and researcher at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security (AGSPS) at Charles Sturt University, said right wing extremists had encouraged people to create fake news about the coronavirus to create social unrest on encrypted social media channels including Telegram. She said images of social division including fights over toilet paper had helped feed the extremist coronavirus panic narrative.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/disaster-planners-warned-conspiracy-theories-pose-a-security-threat-20200913-p55v55.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10641501 (140802ZSEP20) Notable: China two steps ahead on cyber, says former NSA director, Admiral Michael Rogers, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Admiral_Michael_Rogers_says_the_west_is_wise_to_tread_cautiously_when_it_comes_to_the_involvement_of_Chinese_companies_in_critical_infrastructure_projects.jpg

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China two steps ahead on cyber, says former NSA director

A former head of the US National Security Agency has warned Australia and other Western nations are at a disadvantage in their rising cyber battles with China, because China is willing to take more drastic actions to advance its interests.

Admiral Michael Rogers, who served as the 17th director of the NSA and advised both Barack Obama and current US President Donald Trump, told a Credit Suisse forum on global super trends, that Australia needed to be realistic about the heightened cyber threat posed by China.

"Let's not pretend that these things aren't happening or ignore this activity... We have to acknowledge that they're a competitor that is willing to do things we're not... and who does not automatically go along with the structures we've built [in the last 70 years]," Mr Rogers said.

"I don't think any nation in the world can say right now that they are where they want to be [in terms of their cyber defences].

"Australia has just developed and released a cyber security strategy... and we have to give that time to play out, but all of us need to ask ourselves what we need to be doing differently... We can't keep doing the same thing but expect different results."

Before releasing its cyber strategy Prime Minister Scott Morrison had made a rare declaration that the country was suffering persistent cyber attacks from a "sophisticated state-based actor," which was understood to mean China.

The government said the number of attacks had increased by 330 per cent since the start of the year, and were targeting government, industry, critical industry, education, health and essential services providers.

The theft of intellectual property was considered to be a major motivating factor.

Mr Rogers' remarks came as relations between Australia and China deteriorated last week, when The Australian Financial Review's China correspondent Michael Smith and the ABC's Bill Birtles had to return home after nerve-racking encounters with China's Ministry of State Security.

They were the last two foreign correspondents for Australian news outlets in the country. It also emerged on Monday that a Chinese military contractor has compiled profiles on more than 35,000 prominent Australians, ranging from Prime Minister Scott Morrison to tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.

The company, Zhenhua Data lists the People's Liberation Army and Communist Party among its main clients and boasts of waging "hybrid warfare" and manipulating reality via social media.

The relationship between Australia and China has frayed substantially since the federal government blocked Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from supplying equipment for the construction of the next-generation 5G mobile network.

The US and UK have followed suit in banning Huawei from their own networks. The US is also forcing ByteDance to sell its US portion of social media app TikTok, or risk it being banned on September 15.

Mr Rogers said a blanket ban on Chinese tech businesses in Western countries would be unnecessary, but he agreed with taking a cautious approach to any business, like Huawei, which is involved in critical infrastructure.

"You have to consider, are you comfortable with the idea of there being Chinese technology in certain aspects of your infrastructure or your broader social constructs," he said.

"It's not a matter of China being bad and the rest of the world being good, but in some areas there is elevated risk to our long-term national security and long-term economic competitiveness in such a way that we should not allow or endorse a China-based solution."

Mr Rogers, who retired from the NSA in January 2018, also weighed in on the possibility of a big tech break-up in the US.

Currently the White House is watching with interest the local competition regulator's push for the tech giants Google and Facebook to pay publishers for news. It was reported earlier this month that Google is facing an antitrust case in the US ahead of the Presidential elections.

Mr Rogers said the current period would test the boundaries between the corporate sector and government, acknowledging that tax laws in particular were formulated in a time when businesses were predominantly "bricks and mortar" and weren't necessarily conducive to the digital age.

But, he cautioned regulators from being too heavy-handed when it came to policing the tech giants.

"If we're not careful and we take this to the extremes, we will kill the geese that have laid the golden eggs," he said.

"I don't think we'll see an immediate break-up per se, but the government is asking some pretty fundamental questions of these companies."

https://www.afr.com/technology/china-two-steps-ahead-on-cyber-says-former-nsa-director-20200909-p55u08

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10641562 (140818ZSEP20) Notable: Politicians’ families ‘targeted by China spies’, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Politicians_families_targeted_by_China_spies_.jpg, Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_his_wife_Jenny_and_his_daughters_Abbey_left_and_Lily.jpg, Andrew_Hastie_was_among_the_politicians_named_in_the_leaked_files.jpg

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Politicians’ families ‘targeted by China spies’

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The families of Australian politicians have been the target of open-source surveillance by a Chinese company that claims to have done work on behalf of Beijing’s intelligence agencies, cybersecurity experts claim.

The children or spouses of Scott Morrison, US Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos, his predecessor Joe Hockey and Parliament intelligence committee chairman Andrew Hastie have all been the subject of intelligence assessments, according to a database leak from a Chinese company.

The leaked database from Shenzhen Zhenhua Data indicates it has been conducting open source intelligence collection and forming assessments of people of note in targeted fields all around the world. In total, 2.4 million people and 650,000 organisations have been the target of the open-source surveillance activities, according to the leaked files, some of which have been seen by The Australian.

Those who have been tracked include prominent politicians — along with their partners and even children — academics, companies involved in defence contracts, military and defence organisations, think-tanks and even criminal networks including Mexican drug cartels.

More than 50,000 Americans and 35,000 Australians are included in the database, leaked by a whistleblower.

The most significant names in the Shenzhen Zhenhua database include US President Donald Trump, US Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her entire family including children Alexandra and Paul, along with Shinzo Abe, Vladimir Putin and his children.

There are also members of the British Royal Family and high-profile journalists, according to the database which was copied by a Chinese activist and leaked to an international group of cybersecurity analysts 18 months ago.

Members of the group include former Australian government cybersecurity contractor Robert Potter — based in Canberra — and Fulbright University academic Chris Balding.

Mr Balding, in an interview with Sky News Australia, said the group had gone to great lengths to verify the database, including having the data analysed by some intelligence agencies globally.

“We’ve done extensive background research to basically vet the individuals, the data where this comes from,” he said.

“We feel very confident in saying that not only does the company claim to work with Chinese military, Chinese security and intelligence, but that we can actually track the individuals that have written this code, the individuals that own this company and who they are connected to, who sits on the board of directors.

“(And) yes, they do actually in fact either work for the PLA or the Ministry of State Security.

“This information is being used by the Chinese state to try and target influence operations or intelligence operations around the world.”

Mr Potter added: “We put together a team of people, people like myself from defence backgrounds, former intelligence officers, current intelligence, current intelligence officers and we pulled our resources together.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10641566 (140819ZSEP20) Notable: Politicians’ families ‘targeted by China spies’, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Politicians_families_targeted_by_China_spies_2.jpg, Politicians_families_targeted_by_China_spies_3.jpg

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>>178645

2/2

Mr Potter, who has recently done cyber defence work for the US State Department in Washington through his company internet 2.0, said Shenzhen Zhenhua Data was gathering data globally and sending it back to a server in China.

“I would suggest that every person who has a profile in this database has probably been the victim of a pretty extensive breach of their privacy, not just in terms of the level of scraping that has occurred form the open source, collating that into a profile rendered in another country, taken from platforms where they didn’t really consent to this information being shared in that way,” he said.

“I think most people who sit in senior roles in government would expect a degree of intelligence activity, they probably wouldn’t expect it to come from the privacy sector.

“Open-source intelligence is probably one of the most underrated sources of intelligence.

“The Australian Strategic Policy Institute rates it as being responsible for 94 per cent of assessments that are made within the government.

“So it’s hugely important, even if it sits in the open space, when it’s then put together and is curated into a human terrain assessment of a country, it’s able to do global profiling of and for the purpose of targeting influence operations from there.”

Mr Balding said the open-source intelligence tracking of the children of high-profile figures was highly concerning, with data taken from sites including LinkedIn and Facebook and matched with biographical data and news mentions.

“It’s very possible to get a very, very detailed understanding of an individual or an institution,” he said.

“What we see is China seeking to gain influence and so we noticed this among the children of Australian politicians.

“We saw it among the children of politicians in other countries and we basically see large family networks mapped among not just prominent politicians like the Trump family but also business leaders and other influential individuals that are in a place to influence Chinese-related policy.”

Previous revelations from the international group of cybersecurity experts include a leak of facial recognition software used to identify minority groups, obtained by The Australian, and a leak of Wuhan laboratory databases, which showed significant parts had been deleted.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/politicians-families-targeted-by-china-spies/news-story/878eb8f132dd264645282683dbc4e1a6

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10641784 (140932ZSEP20) Notable: Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Dark to light my friend. They think we are going away but we are fighters and stronger up against the wall banding together!!, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: VRG_48.jpg

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Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweets

Just in case #JeanLucBrunel thought he wasn’t on our radar any longer here’s a throw back from 1988. Do you think a predator from that long ago has changed his ways? No way! https://youtu.be/53OyRG73_oU

#SexTraffickingPandemic #SaveOurChildren #TruthBeTold #GhislaineMaxwell #MC2Models

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1305265818955952128

Jean-Luc Brunel CBS 60 minutes 1988 Karin Models friend of Jeffrey Epstein

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53OyRG73_oU

—

Vermont Conservative @VermontConserv1

How many decades will Jean Luc Brunel get away with raping women?

This is atrocious!

https://twitter.com/VermontConserv1/status/1305276201594793984

—

??????? @mcwoodysio

Forever like the rest of these shadow ppl sad realization I know it angers me beyond belief

https://twitter.com/mcwoodysio/status/1305288830824648705

—

Dark to light my friend. They think we are going away but we are fighters and stronger up against the wall banding together!! WE ARE FIGHTERS!!!! #DarkToLight #Truth #SaveOurChildren @jebrittan2 @elizableu @teresajhelm

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1305291490290098176

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10641937 (141022ZSEP20) Notable: Not a ‘Victimless’ Crime: How Child Sex Abuse Dolls Facilitate Crimes Against Children, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: DJC_1.jpg, 1_More_child_sex_dolls.jpg

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>>178648

2/4

Child sex abuse dolls are intentionally designed to look and feel like a real child, to facilitate men’s embodied fantasy experience of raping a little girl. If they were nothing more than a latex sex toy, why should they be shaped like children? Why are some of these dolls marketed in a way that eroticises child abuse, with some appearing to be crying or in pain? The ability to simulate child sexual abuse is precisely the drawcard for users. Indeed, this is why some academics pitch child sex abuse dolls as an alternative to sexually abusing a child, because they believe the dolls could function as stand-ins for living children.

“YOU CAN’T RAPE A ROBOT”

Defenders of men’s access to female-bodied sex dolls and robots argue that they are objects, not moral agents, that they cannot be victims of rape or child sexual abuse and conclude there is no harm - as they say, “you can’t rape a robot.” But feminist objections to female-bodied sex dolls and robots have never focussed on harm to dolls and robots, or to inanimate objects, they are concerned with harm to women and children.

Sex dolls and robots function as a stand-in for a woman or child, and simulating rape or child sexual abuse on a doll or robot is a symbolic representation of the rape of a real woman or child. In his paper ‘Robots, Rape and Representation’ philosopher and Professor Robert Sparrow argues robots designed to facilitate rape fantasies are unethical, as a representation of the rape of a real woman, and an endorsement and encouragement of rape that may increase the rate of rape and that expresses disrespect of women.

“BETTER A ROBOT THAN A REAL CHILD”

Some academics and advocates for child sex abuse dolls claim paedophiles could use childlike dolls instead of children, and this would be a preferable outcome. Many of these advocates for child sex abuse dolls regard paedophilia as a legitimate sexual orientation, one that is unchangeable and outside the control of the individual, and are sympathetic to paedophiles with the view that sexual outlets should be made available to them.

University of Oslo researchers Ole Martin Moen and Aksel Braanen Sterri argue that if paedophiles have no control over their sexual preferences, using a child sex abuse doll or robot might be “one of the best strategies open to them, given the unfortunate situation in which they find themselves.” Likewise, author of Love and Sex with Robots, David Levy, told The Guardian, “It would be preferable for paedophiles to use robots as their sexual outlets than human children.”

But why is it positioned as either/or, as though the options are to make child sex abuse dolls or robots available to men, or for men to continue sexually abusing children? It is a flawed premise. There is no evidence that paedophiles will use child sex abuse dolls instead of and not in addition to children. And there’s a serious risk that child sex abuse dolls will strengthen and encourage users’ sexual desires for children.

The fact that the issue is framed as a choice between child sex abuse dolls or living children, as though those are the only options – that men be granted access to child sex abuse dolls or offend against actual children – is evidence of how men’s sexual desires go unchallenged. Men’s sexual preferences, even their desires to rape children, are elevated to the status of ‘needs’ that must be accommodated. Why are men’s sexual desires above scrutiny? Why can’t they be challenged? Men’s complete sexual freedom should not be prioritised over the rights of women and girls.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10641949 (141023ZSEP20) Notable: Not a ‘Victimless’ Crime: How Child Sex Abuse Dolls Facilitate Crimes Against Children, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: 1_Child_sex_dolls.jpg, Child_sex_abuse_doll_suitcase.jpg

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>>178649

3/4

There is no evidence for the previously popular idea that men perpetrate sexual violence against women, children and other men due to uncontrollable sexual desire, or because they do not have sufficient outlet for their ‘urges’. There is also no evidence that child sex abuse dolls will lead to a reduction in the abuse of children.

There is no shortage of sexual outlets available to men outside of intimate relationships. They can pursue casual sexual encounters through dating or hook-up apps, they can access an endless supply of pornography, webcam models, OnlyFans, or engage in cybersex. There are thriving legalised and decriminalised sex industries where men have their pick of prostituted women for sex on demand, and now, sex doll brothels.

Despite having access to all these sexual outlets, men have not stopped raping. On the contrary, men’s sexual violence remains prevalent throughout the world.

The argument then that child sex abuse dolls could prevent individuals who would otherwise rape children from doing so, also fails to consider the wider cultural context in which these products are manufactured - a system of institutionalised male dominance, the routine sexual objectification of women and a culture that eroticises girls.

Girls are routinely presented as sexually available and appealing. Many women report first experiencing sexual attention from adult men as children. “Teen porn” is consistently one of Pornhub’s most popular search terms. “Barely Legal” pornography depicting teens with pigtails, flat chests and braces is widely available. School girls are fetishised, and sexy school girl costumes are sold in mainstream retailers. Collective Shout has exposed major bookstores and online marketplaces selling erotic e-books that feature incest and child abuse, and Instagram’s hosting sexualised images of underage and even pre-pubescent girls.

Can we really separate men’s demand for child sex abuse dolls modelled on the bodies of pre-pubescent girls from a wider culture in which girls are sexualised and treated as appropriate objects of men’s sexual entertainment? The answer isn’t in finding new ways to cater to men’s sexual desires, but to go to the source, and address the cultural factors at play that encourage and legitimise predatory attitudes towards girls.

“CHILD SEX ABUSE DOLLS COULD PREVENT CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE”

Supporters of child sex abuse dolls claim they could prevent the sexual abuse of living children. But there is no evidence for this, and it’s difficult to imagine how research of this nature could be carried out in an ethical way. A 2019 report from the Australian Institute of Criminology suggests the opposite is true. The authors reviewed the research on sex dolls, child sexual exploitation material and sexual offending against children and concluded there was no evidence that child sex abuse dolls will prevent child sexual abuse, and that they could increase the risk of child abuse. From the report:

“[It is] reasonable to assume that interaction with child sex dolls could increase the likelihood of child sexual abuse by desensitising the user to the physical, emotional and psychological harm caused by child sexual abuse and normalising the behaviour in the mind of the abuser.”

The report also suggests child sex offenders could use the childlike dolls as a tool to groom children for sexual abuse, just as predators have used pornography to groom children.

“IT’S A VICTIMLESS CRIME”

Some advocates characterise the use of child sex abuse dolls as a ‘victimless’ crime, putting childlike dolls in the same category as sexualised depictions of children in drawings or cartoons, or artificial or computer-generated child abuse material, because no child is being abused in their production. Under Australian law, this content constitutes illegal child sexual exploitation material, as depictions of child sexual abuse (including virtual child sexual abuse) are thought to normalise the sexual use and abuse of children and encourage offenders.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10652576 (150347ZSEP20) Notable: Q Post #4710 - Seth Rich, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Q_4709.jpg, Q_4710.jpg

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Q Post #4709

Sep 14 2020 20:35:44 (EST) NEW

Julian Assange

Q

https://qanon.pub/#4709

—

Q Post #4710

Sep 14 2020 20:35:55 (EST) NEW

Seth Rich

Q

https://qanon.pub/#4710

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10653978 (150654ZSEP20) Notable: Julian Assange extradition delayed by further tech, coronavirus issues, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: WikiLeaks_founder_Julian_Assange_is_seen_in_a_prison_van_travelling_to_Westminster_Magistrates_Court_in_London_on_December_20_2019.jpg, Filmmaker_John_Pilger_stands_with_supporters_of_the_Wikileaks_founder_Julian_Assange_as_they_gather_outside_the_Old_Bailey.jpg

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Julian Assange extradition delayed by further tech, coronavirus issues

London: The extradition hearing for Julian Assange has been plagued by technical difficulties, throwing proceedings into further delay because of coronavirus.

Assange is fighting the US Department of Justice's request for him to be extradited to the US to face 18 charges of violating the Espionage Act. The charges relate to the publication of more than half a million US defence and diplomatic documents on the WikiLeaks website.

The charges carry a maximum 175 years jail term.

Court officials in London spent more than an hour trying to establish a video link to the United States to hear the evidence of Eric Lewis, a US attorney who opposes Assange's extradition.

"No publisher of information has ever been successfully prosecuted for publishing national security information ever," Lewis said.

He told the court that if convicted, the 49-year-old would likely spend the rest of his life in jail.

"Under the best-case scenario we are looking at a sentence somewhere between, 20 years, if everything goes brilliantly to 175 years," he said.

Lewis spent around 90 minutes giving evidence before an audio clip interrupted his testimony. The judge walked out as the tech troubles interfered with the hearing which was then adjourned until lunch.

But after lunch court officials could not re-establish a link to Lewis and the hearing was called off for the rest of the day and will resume on Tuesday.

It is not the first time that the hearing has experienced difficulties connecting to, or hearing clearly, witnesses who are choosing to give evidence remotely as a result of the pandemic.

The hearing only resumed at the Old Bailey in central London on Monday following a two-day break after a coronavirus scare, when the wife of one of the lawyers representing the US government developed symptoms which she feared might be COVID-19.

The test proved negative and her diagnosis was no more than a common cold.

But when court resumed on Monday, Assange's legal team asked District Judge Vanessa Baraitser to order that everyone must wear masks in the courtroom.

She refused.

"Those that wish to wear masks in the well of the court are welcome to do so unless they are directly addressing the court and I understand masks are available for this purpose," she said.

"But there is no obligation to do so and I make no direction ... in this regard."

She instead said that anyone, including Assange who is sitting behind a glass wall in the dock, could wear a mask if they wished.

Assange wore a mask to his extradition hearing for the first time but his QC Mark Summer claimed there had been "difficulties in getting him masks."

Assange's extradition hearing was already delayed by several months due to the pandemic. Assange has subsequently claimed that his incarceration is a risk to his health, exacerbated by coronavirus.

He is being held at Belmarsh prison on London's outskirts. His extradition hearing is expected to run until October.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/assange-extradition-delayed-by-further-tech-coronavirus-issues-20200914-p55vma.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10654134 (150739ZSEP20) Notable: Banned Chinese scholar says guilty of emojis, not security risk in Australia, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Chen_Hong_director_of_the_Australian_Studies_Centre_at_the_East_China_Normal_University_in_Shanghai_is_seen_in_Shanghai_China_in_this_handout_image_taken_March_2020.jpg

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>>178593

>>178595

Banned Chinese scholar says guilty of emojis, not security risk in Australia

1/2

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A Chinese scholar banned from Australia on security grounds says he has become critical of Canberra in recent years but is no security risk, adding his biggest contribution to a WeChat group at the centre of a security investigation was usually an emoji.

A decision by Australia’s national security agency to cancel the visas of two Chinese academics of Australian literature has embroiled Canberra’s oldest soft power programme in China in a bitter diplomatic dispute.

One of the banned academics, Chen Hong, had drawn recent attention for criticising the Australian government in the Chinese newspaper The Global Times.

Chen told Reuters in an interview that he became critical of Australia after 2017, when Canberra began a “heatbreaking” noisy political debate about Chinese influence.

“I don’t think Australia is a country that should be clamping down on voices,” Chen said.

“In my classroom my students all know that I am an ‘Australianist’,” he said.

Chen teaches Australian culture at the East China Normal University in Shanghai, where he is director of the Australian Studies Centre.

Chen first visited Australia as a 24-year-old at the personal invitation of former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam.

Whitlam established diplomatic relations between Australia and China in 1972, and later headed the government’s Australia China Council, which helped fund the study of Australian literature in Chinese universities.

ASIO RAIDS

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation moved in August to cancel Chen’s visa, and that of Li Jianjun, director of the Australian Studies Centre at Beijing Foreign Studies University, labelling them a risk to national security, Chen confirmed.

ASIO has declined to comment on its reasons.

Chen said the men were members of a WeChat group with a New South Wales (NSW) state Labor politician and his staffer, whose homes were raided in June by federal police in a foreign interference investigation.

China’s foreign ministry said Chinese journalists in Australia were also searched by ASIO, but ASIO has declined to comment, and the government has said only that it takes foreign interference seriously and ASIO acts on evidence.

High Court documents lodged by the NSW politician’s staffer, who is challenging the foreign interference law, show the investigation centres on a private social media group.

Chen says the WeChat group included two Chinese journalists and was used to organise a dinner on one of his visits to Sydney.

Afterwards, people who attended the dinner continued to post photographs and newspaper articles. Chen says he was the least active member, and usually responded with an emoji or meme.

“I cannot establish any remote link between what I have been doing and the allegations that I constitute a risk to Australian security,” he said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10654137 (150740ZSEP20) Notable: Banned Chinese scholar says guilty of emojis, not security risk in Australia, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Chen_Hong_director_of_the_Australian_Studies_Centre_at_the_East_China_Normal_University_in_Shanghai_and_former_Australian_Prime_Minister_Gough_Whitlam_are_pictured_in_Xiamen_China_in_this_1990_handout_image.jpg

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>>178656

2/2

Western Sydney University, where Li is studying for a PhD, told Chinese students in an email it was supporting Li to seek a review of the visa cancellation.

The university told Reuters in a statement Li had an “impressive track record”. The visa decision was a matter for government, it said, adding it supported new government guidelines on foreign interference.

Jocelyn Chey, a former Consul-General in Hong Kong who also helped establish the Australia China Council in 1979, says she regards Li as “one of our best friends in China”.

“Any time I have heard him speak about Australia it has been very positive,” she told Reuters in an email.

POLITICAL RESEARCH

Two Australian academics who knew Chen said they were surprised by his recent criticism of the Australian government.

“From an Australian point of view, he seems to slip between academic work and journalism and the (China Communist) Party line,” said Greg McCarthy, a former chair of Australian studies at Peking University.

McCarthy said he believes Chen felt betrayed as the diplomatic dispute between Canberra and Beijing worsened after 2017.

“Chen stepped into the middle of politics with a background in literature and an idealised version of Australia,” he said.

Chen’s engagement with Australia began in 1987 with a PhD on Australia’s Nobel laureate Patrick White and he began studying in Australia in 1991. When he returned to Shanghai in 1994, he was asked by his university to interpret for another former prime minister, Bob Hawke, on a business trip.

Chen’s university encouraged him to “diversify” from Australian literature, he said, so he “expanded research to Australian politics and foreign affairs”.

He said the Global Times is the only English-language newspaper that offers opportunities in China to have his articles published, and his criticism of Australia is aimed at improving relations. He said he continues to write on Australian culture in Chinese literary journals.

Chen visited Australia six times in 2019, including one visit at the invitation of the Chinese embassy, which organised for three Chinese academics to meet with Australian think-tanks - including the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, labelled as “anti-China” by Beijing.

The Chinese embassy paid for his $1,000 airfare, he said. “You can’t buy someone for that,” he added.

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-australia-china-scholars-interview-idUKKBN2650SI

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10654454 (150903ZSEP20) Notable: Australian Signals Directorate Tweet: “Every organisation in the #FiveEyes relationship contributes uniquely to the greater endeavour.”, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: ASD_1.jpg, Eh7HPYVUYAM0XR0.jpg

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>>178463

>>178464

Australian Signals Directorate Tweet

“Every organisation in the #FiveEyes relationship contributes uniquely to the greater endeavour.” In her inaugural public speech, Director-General ASD highlighted the importance of our international alliances.

https://www.asd.gov.au/publication/speech-transparently-secret-asd

https://twitter.com/ASDGovAu/status/1305700215286976512

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10664636 (160523ZSEP20) Notable: Assange defence questions why Obama didn't seek to prosecute him, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Julian_Assange_arrives_at_a_British_court_in_April.jpg

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Assange defence questions why Obama didn't seek to prosecute him

London: A US attorney supporting Julian Assange claims the WikiLeaks founder will not get a fair trial if he is extradited to the United States to face charges of violating the Espionage Act.

Assange is facing 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act for encouraging former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into defence systems. Manning passed more than half a million secret diplomatic and military cables to Assange who published them on the WikiLeaks website.

Attorneys and experts appearing on his behalf have already told the court that his extradition is a "political prosecution" that was never advanced by the Obama administration but taken up by President Donald Trump, who has held both supportive and negative views of WikiLeaks over time.

Ex-US Justice Department official Thomas Durkin appeared via video link from the United States on behalf of Assange's legal team as the hearing, which was frequently hit by technical difficulties for another day, resumed.

"It seems very clear to me that the Obama administration made a decision not to prosecute," Durkin said. "I think that's what happened, they decided not to go ahead ... and for Donald Trump's political purposes they decided to reinstate the charges."

In 2013, The Washington Post reported that the Obama administration had all but concluded it would not pursue Assange because they could not do so without also pursuing media outlets that published WikiLeaks cables, including The New York Times, the Post and Britain's Guardian newspaper.

Lawyers for the US government have repeatedly stressed throughout the extradition hearing that the charges laid against Assange relate to offences of computer hacking and only the publication of informants names.

In domestic matters, the US Justice Department, under Attorney-General William Barr, has pursued what appears to be a pro-Trump political agenda, issuing an early conclusion on the Mueller Report into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign, then commissioning a probe into the origins of the Mueller report.

In London, under cross-examination by James Lewis, the QC representing the US government, Durkin conceded he did not have any first-hand knowledge of why the case against Assange never went ahead when Obama was in power.

"All your knowledge about their deliberations derives from newspapers articles, is that right?"

"Of course," Durkin agreed.

Under re-examination by Assange's lawyers, Durkin, who worked in the Justice Department for six years, said he never saw any reports contradicting newspaper reports surrounding the decision of whether or not to pursue Assange.

"If the Obama administration had intended to prosecute Assange, it would be my opinion that they would have corrected those stories in some way," he said.

Lewis asked Durkin: "Are you saying that Mr Assange will not get a fair trial in the US or are you just saying it's going to be difficult?"

"I don’t believe he would be able to get what I would consider to be a fair trial in the United States," Durkin said.

Durkin said Assange faced the rest of his life in jail if extradited to the United States where he would be pressured into accepting a plea bargain, pleading guilty to reduce his sentence to avoid what he called the "trial tax," where prosecutors call for lengthy sentences as a way of punishing criminals who exercise their right to a trial.

Durkin completed giving evidence by confirming that the was being paid by Assange's legal team for his time and expert testimony.

But when asked if he would disclose the sum, Durkin said: "Only if the judge will redact [the amount] so that my other clients can't see" he said.

Lewis laughed and said: "I'm not going to press that."

On Wikileaks, Trump has held a variety of views, some of them contradictory.

Trump told supporters "I love Wikileaks" in the same year that the website published Democratic National Committee emails, which multiple US intelligence agencies concluded were stolen by Russian hackers.

However, he has also attempted to distance himself from Assange, saying he doesn't know anything about him.

Trump said it was "OK with me" if Assange was arrested in 2017.

Assange is in remand in Britain's Belmarsh Prison while his extradition hearing takes place at the Old Bailey in London.

The hearing resumes on Wednesday and is likely to run until early October.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/assange-defence-questions-why-obama-didn-t-seek-to-prosecute-him-20200915-p55w09.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10664658 (160527ZSEP20) Notable: Julian Assange, like Jeffrey Epstein, may not be safe in US prison, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_man_wears_a_Donald_Trump_mask_as_supporters_of_the_WikiLeaks_founder_Julian_Assange_gather_outside_London_s_Old_Bailey_court_on_Monday.jpg

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Julian Assange, like Jeffrey Epstein, may not be safe in US prison

Julian Assange may not be safe in a US correctional centre, like the now dead accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, a London court has been told.

US lawyer Tom Durkin, a defence counsel of 47 years experience, told Assange’s extradition hearing in the Old Bailey that he had low confidence that the Australian WikiLeaks founder would be safe from harm because like Epstein, Assange likely has private compromising information on many powerful people.

In his written testimony, contested fiercely by the US prosecutors, Mr Durkin alleged that Assange, medically assessed as facing serious depression and Asperger’s Syndrome, will not receive adequate mental health care in a US prison.

Mr Durkin said the operating procedure around suicidal prisoners in US correctional facilities has failed.

“Jeffrey Epstein, then one of the highest profile prisoners in the US prison estate who was famously accused of sex trafficking and awaiting trial, committed suicide while ostensibly being guarded continuously in the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York; the two cameras that were supposed to be filming his cell malfunctioned the night he did so.

“Mr Epstein was reported to have private, compromising information on many powerful people, just as Mr Assange likely does. My confidence that he (Assange) will be safe from harm —whether inflicted by himself or others — is low.’’

Epstein was found dead in his cell on August 10, 2019 and his death was ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York medical examiner. However Epstein’s lawyers believed the evidence was far more consistent with murder.

Mr Durkin also told the court that Assange would have to reveal sources who provided data and information to WikiLeaks if he agreed to any US plea bargain.

He said a realistic assessment of Assange’s sentencing, if found guilty on the current indictment, would be 30 to 40 years or an effective life sentence given Assange was 49 years of age. He said there was a “trial tax’’ which offers an incentive to plead guilty. “You get penalised for going to trial,’’ he said.

Mr Durkin said that any plea deal would involve Assange’s full co-operation with the authorities including revealing sources of information given to WikiLeaks.

“Absolutely, co-operation always has to be what government requires: complete full and truthful,’’ he told the court.

Mr Durkin said pleading guilty could reduce the sentencing by three levels, but based on his experience he believed Mr Assange’s sentencing would be in the highest ranges of the Federal sentencing levels of level 38 to level 43, which translates to 235 months to a life sentence.

Earlier another experienced US lawyer Eric Lewis warned that the latest US indictment, issued two months ago expands on the earlier 18 charges and has exposed Assange to ever greater jail terms.

He said the US sentencing judge would look to adjust any sentence because the latest indictment broadens the charges to involve activity involving extensive participants, another involves a teenager, another involves a specialist skills such as his computer technical skills and another could involve obstruction while trying to prevent the identification of Chelsea Manning as a source.

He added that a further adjustment could be made if government officials are identified as a result of the WikiLeaks disclosures.

He said the court has power to accumulate the 18 counts but not above the maximum term of 175 years.

He agreed there was a real risk Assange would spend the rest of his life in prison.

The trial continues.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/julian-assange-a-victim-of-trumps-deflection/news-story/c25a0b296c7c213bb2361a0788b9360c

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10664820 (160558ZSEP20) Notable: Spread of fake news around US fires 'strikingly similar' to Australian summer, researchers say - James Purtill - abc.net.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Bidwell_Bar_Bridge_California_on_September_9_Suspected_fake_news_bots_are_amplifying_viral_claims_that_arsonists_are_lighting_the_fires.jpg, Police_in_Oregon_have_debunked_the_antifa_arson_rumour_but_not_before_it_went_viral.jpg

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Spread of fake news around US fires 'strikingly similar' to Australian summer, researchers say

By James Purtill - Tuesday 15 September 2020

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Back in January, when huge areas of the east coast of Australia were on fire, researchers at Queensland University of Technology announced that a targeted, coordinated online campaign was trying to mislead the public by promoting the debunked idea that arson was the main cause of the fires.

Twitter accounts suspected to be bots or trolls were driving the popular #ArsonEmergency hashtag, the researchers had found. This was deflecting attention away from a more obvious cause: climate change.

For many Australians, the development brought home the fact that the disinformation strategies used to great effect in the 2016 US presidential election could be applied to their own country, and there was very little they could do.

Nine months later, huge areas of the west coast of the United States are on fire, and false claims of arson are spreading online.

Anonymous accounts, some of them bots, are wrongly asserting that hundreds of arsonists have been arrested, and that some of the fires had been started deliberately by left-wing and environmental activists to force people to leave their homes. Police say this has meant some residents have refused to evacuate.

Like in Australia, authorities have said there is no substance to the claim of widespread arson, but the rumours persist, fanned by news outlets publishing reports of isolated arrests or made-up data.

The researchers who conducted the Australian analysis say the spread of misinformation in the US is "strikingly similar" to what they saw earlier this year.

As well as this, an initial analysis of Twitter hashtags shows suspicious bot activity.

Suspicious bot activity around arson hashtags

The Hoaxy tool maps the 'diffusion' of tweets into clusters, and ranks the accounts on their likelihood of being a bot. For the hashtag #arson, the tool says three of the four most prominent accounts are highly likely to be bots. The account with the most popular #arson tweet is the White House correspondent for Fox News (though his tweet was about an act of urban arson and was not linked to the wildfires).

Bots are retweeting bots. One suspected bot account with thousands of followers tweeted that arson and not climate change caused the US fires. This was then retweeted by dozens of suspected bots, as well as by accounts that appear to be genuine, including, for example, a father of four and Arsenal supporter in Bristol.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10665334 (160731ZSEP20) Notable: Dr Russell McGregor Tweet: Aussie WHISTLEBLOWER INSIDER gives first-hand EVIDENCE of #Spygate origin prior to Candidate Trump running!, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: 13643_1.jpg, 13643_2.jpg, 13643_3.jpg, 13643_4.jpg, 13643_5.jpg

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Reposts from Q Research General #13643

>>104173 (pb)

>>104174 (pb)

>>104175 (pb)

Aussie WHISTLEBLOWER INSIDER gives first-hand EVIDENCE of #Spygate origin prior to Candidate Trump running!

https://twitter.com/KillAuDeepState/status/1305831248330256389

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1305831248330256389.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/10679059 (170812ZSEP20) Notable: Julian Assange interrupts extradition hearing again, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Vietnam_era_whistleblower_Daniel_Ellsberg_in_2010.jpg, Julian_Assange_is_taken_from_court_in_London_in_May.jpg, WikiLeaks_founder_Julian_Assange.jpg

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>>178573

Julian Assange interrupts extradition hearing again

London: Julian Assange has again interrupted his extradition hearing, claiming that he never put informants lives at risk, when he published hundreds of thousands of State Department documents on his WikiLeaks website.

The 49-year-old intervened in his extradition hearing for the second time since it's resumption at the Old Bailey in London last week, earning him another stern reprimand from the judge hearing his case.

Assange cried out from the dock after lunchtime during evidence being given by former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the classified Pentagon Papers that revealed the US government knew it would not win the Vietnam War based on existing resources.

Ellsberg was pursed under the Espionage Act as is Assange. All charges against him were eventually dropped and he has become a vocal supporter of Assange as well as Chelsea Manning, who leaked to Assange the hacked files. Ellsberg also supports Edward Snowden who leaked classified documents he had access to as a CIA subcontractor.

The United States government has asked Britain to extradite Assange to face 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act with most charges relating to computer hacking.

However, the US government is pursuing Assange over the publication of unredacted documents which exposed the names of informants. The distinction the US government is repeatedly trying to make separates Assange from the press which also published information revealed by WikiLeaks but without naming journalists, human rights advocates and dissidents who were informing on their governments and repressive regimes.

Ellsberg confirmed that when he leaked his cache of documents, he withheld four volumes of documents. But he said that the only withheld these because they related to negotiations which he did not want to jeopardise.

Assange's outburst came as the QC representing the US government, James Lewis, was cross-examining Ellsberg.

Lewis cited an Ethiopian journalist who fled the country after being interrogated and threatened once he was outed as having been a source for the United States.

Lewis also read out media reporting of a Chinese national named in the WikiLeaks cables reported being harrassed by non-state groups. The Chinese national fled to the United States.

Ellsberg claimed to have never seen evidence that an informant exposed by WikiLeaks was harmed or killed in retaliation.

"I find the government highly cynical ... am I right in believing not one of them who was subject to threats or interrogation by these brutal and ruthless regimes actually suffered physical harm?

"Were any of the threats carried out? Even one? Isn't the answer no?" Ellsberg said.

"The rules are you don't get to ask questions, I do," said Lewis.

Assange also rejected the claims that he put lives at risk.

"Through his rhetorical sleight of hand he is suggesting that I put lives at risk," Assange said from the dock.

"This must be corrected.

"The damage to me will be irreparable if the media reports that I harmed people, when it is not true," he said.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser reprimanded Assange, for the second time in as many weeks.

"I have warned you about this before, you are not entitled to interfere like this," she said.

The extradition hearing has previously been told that Osama bin Laden had WikiLeaks documents in his compound on the night that he was killed by US Navy Seals in a dramatic helicopter raid in Pakistan in 2011.

The court also heard from former Der Speigel journalist John Goetz, one of the original members of the consortium of media outlets to partner with WikiLeaks and publish the contents of their documents.

Goetz, a US journalist based in Berlin said that Cryptome and not WikiLeaks was the first website to publish the unredacted documents in full.

When asked under cross-examination, he said he had left Der Spiegel when it combined with Le Monde, The New York Times, The Guardian and El Pais to condemn WikiLeaks decision to publish the names of informants, marked as "Strictly Protect" in the official cables.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/julian-assange-interrupts-extradition-hearing-again-20200917-p55wd9.html

Follow-up thread

>>175353

>>175353

Follow-up thread