enhanced_deficit
05-25-2018, 11:38 AM
Our closest non-blowback-genrator ally and only non-racist democracy in mideast interferred in our democracy slash Republic in a very creepy way?
A shadowy Israeli firm is accused of trying to undermine the Iran deal
By Richard Engel and Aggelos Petropoulos and Kennett Werner
25/05/2018
https://static.euronews.com/articles/3163586/603x339_3163586.jpg (http://www.euronews.com/2018/05/25/black-cube-inside-shadowy-israeli-firm-accused-trying-undermine-iran-n877511)
As Rebecca Kahl remembers it, something felt odd about the initial email. It came in May 2017 from a woman named Adriana Gavrilo, who claimed to work for a London-based private equity firm. She was writing to Kahl with an offer: Her firm wanted to support the Washington public school where Kahl sends her daughter and helps lead a fundraising committee.
"I'm not sure how this woman found me," Kahl said in a recent interview with NBC News. "I wasn't employed by the school. I was not on the school's website."
Kahl responded by connecting Gavrilo with school administrators. But Gavrilo's reply made it clear that she wanted to meet only with Kahl.
At that point Kahl mentioned the exchange to her husband, Colin, who had been an assistant to President Barack Obama and national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden. They agreed that it smelled fishy, and Rebecca stopped responding. The exchange died.
A year later, it turns out that the Kahls were right: Something was amiss. Gavrilo was a fake identity, one of several assumed by an operative working for Black Cube, a shadowy Israeli private security firm.
Internal Black Cube documents obtained by NBC News and interviews of sources with direct knowledge of Black Cube's operations reveal a business intelligence company with governmental contracts and a special department for politically motivated work.
A source familiar with Black Cube's outreach to the Kahls told NBC News that it was part of an effort to discredit Obama administration officials who had worked on the Iran nuclear deal - and, by extension, the deal itself. Black Cube sought evidence of nefarious behavior, such as financial or sexual impropriety, by the deal's architects, including Colin Kahl. Operatives hoped to obtain such evidence by befriending their targets or their targets' associates.
Also targeted was Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser under Obama, whose wife, Ann Norris, was approached by a Black Cube operative about consulting on a political drama for TV. Norris had previously worked at the State Department.
http://static.euronews.com/articles/3163586/400x237_nbc-180525-ben-rhodes-mn-1605_876a52bfa821d749d12cbe6393b821f2.jpg
Ben Rhodes was a deputy national security adviser in the Obama White House. Carolyn Kaster
The undercover campaign to discredit the Iran deal was first reported by the British newspaper The Observer (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/05/trump-team-hired-spy-firm-dirty-ops-iran-nuclear-deal) and by The New Yorker (https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/israeli-operatives-who-aided-harvey-weinstein-collected-information-on-former-obama-administration-officials).
In a statement to NBC News, Black Cube said it has no relationship to the Iran nuclear deal.
"Anyone who claims otherwise or anyone suggesting Black Cube is targeting U.S. officials is misleading their readers and viewers," the statement said.
"Luckily," it continued, "the Mossad and the CIA are capable to deal with the Iran nuclear deal and other issues of national security without relying on the expertise of Black Cube."
The firm added that it "always operates in full compliance of the law in every jurisdiction in which it conducts its work."
In the end, Black Cube's Iran-deal spying yielded no compromising information, and in early May, Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the nuclear deal. But the use of the shadowy firm continues to draw scrutiny. On Friday, Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee wrote to the founders of Black Cube requesting documentation related to its Iran work (https://democrats-oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/2018-0524.EEC%20Engel%20to%20Zorella%20Yanus-Black%20Cube.pdf).
Marketing its links to Israeli intel
Black Cube made headlines last fall after revelations that it had been hired to intimidate and disparage accusers of Harvey Weinstein (https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-army-of-spies), as well as reporters investigating the Hollywood producer.
The firm was founded by former Israeli military officers in 2011. It retains close ties to the Israeli intelligence community, and many of its recruits are former Mossad agents.
Its government work has occasionally landed Black Cube at the center of sensitive political disputes across the globe, while raising serious ethical and legal questions. For example, in Romania, two Black Cube operatives were arrested (https://www.timesofisrael.com/israelis-arrested-for-spying-on-romanian-anti-corruption-czar/) on suspicion of spying on the country's anti-corruption prosecutor in 2016.
"When the Romania affair came out in the news, several people on the corporate side left," said another source — a former Black Cube insider — who spoke on the condition of anonymity since he also feared reprisals. "It created a rift in the company and several people quit almost immediately."
The campaign to discredit the Iran deal is the first public case of the firm's apparent meddling in U.S. politics.
Black Cube's political work frequently intersects with Israel's foreign policy priorities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, has campaigned vociferously against the Iran deal.
"They would never work against Israeli interests," said the source who was familiar with Black Cube's Iran work. He likened the firm to an "almost privatized wing of Mossad."
He also suggested there was little chance that the Israeli government or its intelligence agencies were unaware of Black Cube's work to discredit the Iran deal.
The same source said the Iran operation was launched just days after President Donald Trump visited Israel in May 2017 (https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/trump-s-first-foreign-trip/trump-s-israel-visit-5-key-issues-n762531). The source said he was told that the work was being carried out "for Trump," but there is no evidence that the Trump administration had anything to do with the operation, which may have been commissioned by an outside group or agency with no connection to the administration. The identity of Black Cube's client on the Iran work remains a mystery.
"You'll never find their name on a contract," the source said. "I can't prove that it was the administration other than what I was told."
But, he added, "Why spend time and money to make the whole the deal look rotten, unless you're obsessed with destroying Obama's legacy?"'
The Black Cube statement said the company "has no relation whatsoever to the Trump administration, to Trump aides, to anyone close to the administration, or to the Iran nuclear deal."
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
A 'nasty, nasty business'
In their first joint interview about the undercover operation, the Kahls expressed dismay at Black Cube's tactics. Colin called it a "nasty, nasty business." To come after him through his wife and daughter "crosses so many lines," he said.
NBC News obtained Black Cube's research file on the Kahls, which contained their address, the names of their relatives and other personal details. But it also had mistakes, such as the make of their car and their daughter's birth year.
"It's creepy to know that someone was trying to dig up your profile and the names of your in-laws and your kids and your wife and where you live," said Colin, when presented with the file. "That's pretty sleazy."
The idea that the couple could be the target of a foreign intelligence operation had occurred to the Kahls, but it seemed unlikely with Colin out of government. "We're also just not that important of people," Rebecca joked.
..
A now-familiar playbook
Black Cube's tactics relating to the nuclear deal - including its use of aliases and its targeting of journalists - resemble its approach in its work for other clients.
As part of the company's work for Weinstein, a Black Cube operative befriended the actress Rose McGowan while posing as an investment manager focused on women's empowerment at a London-based firm, according to emails between her and McGowan obtained by NBC News. The operative used the alias Diana Filip in the Weinstein scheme, according to the emails. That bogus firm was the same that Gavrilo, in reaching out to Rebecca Kahl, claimed as her employer.
The identity of Diana Filip was revealed to be an Israeli army veteran named Stella Penn Pechanac by the British tabloid The Daily Mail. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5064027/Israeli-military-vet-duped-Rose-McGowan-revealed.html)
Elsewhere, Black Cube's underhanded tactics have been revealed to the embarrassment of its clients.
Hired by a Canadian investment company in a dispute with another firm, a Black Cube operative attempted to embarrass an Ontario superior court judge who had ruled unfavorably for Black Cube's client by trying to induce him to make anti-Semitic comments (http://nationalpost.com/feature/exclusive-the-judge-the-sting-black-cube-and-me). The effort went nowhere, and Black Cube's client in that case is now mired in lawsuits.
http://www.euronews.com/2018/05/25/black-cube-inside-shadowy-israeli-firm-accused-trying-undermine-iran-n877511
Related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh04uu1EkIU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh04uu1EkIU
Un-Related
Trump is a Friend of Zion (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?522256-Trump-is-a-Friend-of-Zion&)
Loyal Trump supporter Scaramucci says Trump is "not blackmailable" (https://youtu.be/snCX2X0D9V8?t=129)
Scaramucci : Michael Cohen Is 'Doing Well' But Stormy Daniels Situation Is 'Stressful' | MSNBC
https://youtu.be/snCX2X0D9V8?t=129
Israeli Intelligence Company Formed Venture With Trump Campaign Firm Cambridge Analytica
Psy-Group is owned by entrepreneur Joel Zamel, who has been questioned by special-counsel investigators
May 23, 2018
WASHINGTON—A company owned by Joel Zamel, an Israeli entrepreneur whose work has drawn the scrutiny of special counsel Robert Mueller, formed a strategic partnership with a data firm for President Donald Trump’s campaign in a joint bid to win business from the U.S. government and other clients after the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Psy-Group, one of Mr. Zamel’s firms, signed a memorandum of understanding with Cambridge Analytica LLC, a digital media firm that helped propel Mr. Trump to...
Mueller Probe Expands to Israeli Entrepreneur With U.A.E. Ties
Investigation has sought testimony regarding work of Joel Zamel, founder of several private consulting firms
The work of two of Mr. Zamel’s companies—Wikistrat and the Psy Group—has increasingly drawn the interest of the special counsel as part of the continuing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Little is known publicly about the work of the Psy Group. According to a person familiar with the firm’s operations, it did mainly private intelligence gathering work. One of its main rivals was Black Cube—another Israeli firm which has achieved notoriety after it used by Harvey Weinstein to counter probes into his alleged sexual abuse.
Several people linked to the firm are veteran Israeli intelligence officials, with experience in areas that include in psychological operations. According to the firm’s marketing materials reviewed by the Journal, Psy-Group offered clients an array of services—including “honey traps,” a term used by spy agencies for an intelligence-gathering tactic using romantic or sexual relationships to extract information.
Publisher of the ‘Atlanta Jewish Times’ suggests Mossad should assassinate Obama (http://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/publisher-of-the-atlanta-jewish-times-suggests-mossad-should-assassinate-obama.html)
Adam Horowitz on January 20, 2012
ohn Cook reports at Gawker (http://gawker.com/5877892/): Andrew Adler, the owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, a weekly newspaper serving Atlanta’s Jewish community, devoted his January 13, 2012 column to the thorny problem of the U.S. and Israel’s diverging views on the threat posed by Iran. Basically Israel has three options, he wrote: Strike Hezbollah and Hamas, strike Iran, or “order a hit” on Barack Obama (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/284979-ajt.html). Either way, problem solved!
Here’s how Adler laid out “option three” in his list of scenarios facing Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu (the column, which was forwarded to us by a tipster, isn’t online, but you can read a copy here (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/284979-ajt.html)):
Three, give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place, and forcefully dictate that the United States’ policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies.
Yes, you read “three” correctly. Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel’s existence. Think about it. If I have thought of this Tom Clancy-type scenario, don’t you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel’s most inner circles?
Another way of putting “three” in perspective goes something like this: How far would you go to save a nation comprised of seven million lives…Jews, Christians and Arabs alike?
You have got to believe, like I do, that all options are on the table.
A shadowy Israeli firm is accused of trying to undermine the Iran deal
By Richard Engel and Aggelos Petropoulos and Kennett Werner
25/05/2018
https://static.euronews.com/articles/3163586/603x339_3163586.jpg (http://www.euronews.com/2018/05/25/black-cube-inside-shadowy-israeli-firm-accused-trying-undermine-iran-n877511)
As Rebecca Kahl remembers it, something felt odd about the initial email. It came in May 2017 from a woman named Adriana Gavrilo, who claimed to work for a London-based private equity firm. She was writing to Kahl with an offer: Her firm wanted to support the Washington public school where Kahl sends her daughter and helps lead a fundraising committee.
"I'm not sure how this woman found me," Kahl said in a recent interview with NBC News. "I wasn't employed by the school. I was not on the school's website."
Kahl responded by connecting Gavrilo with school administrators. But Gavrilo's reply made it clear that she wanted to meet only with Kahl.
At that point Kahl mentioned the exchange to her husband, Colin, who had been an assistant to President Barack Obama and national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden. They agreed that it smelled fishy, and Rebecca stopped responding. The exchange died.
A year later, it turns out that the Kahls were right: Something was amiss. Gavrilo was a fake identity, one of several assumed by an operative working for Black Cube, a shadowy Israeli private security firm.
Internal Black Cube documents obtained by NBC News and interviews of sources with direct knowledge of Black Cube's operations reveal a business intelligence company with governmental contracts and a special department for politically motivated work.
A source familiar with Black Cube's outreach to the Kahls told NBC News that it was part of an effort to discredit Obama administration officials who had worked on the Iran nuclear deal - and, by extension, the deal itself. Black Cube sought evidence of nefarious behavior, such as financial or sexual impropriety, by the deal's architects, including Colin Kahl. Operatives hoped to obtain such evidence by befriending their targets or their targets' associates.
Also targeted was Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser under Obama, whose wife, Ann Norris, was approached by a Black Cube operative about consulting on a political drama for TV. Norris had previously worked at the State Department.
http://static.euronews.com/articles/3163586/400x237_nbc-180525-ben-rhodes-mn-1605_876a52bfa821d749d12cbe6393b821f2.jpg
Ben Rhodes was a deputy national security adviser in the Obama White House. Carolyn Kaster
The undercover campaign to discredit the Iran deal was first reported by the British newspaper The Observer (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/05/trump-team-hired-spy-firm-dirty-ops-iran-nuclear-deal) and by The New Yorker (https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/israeli-operatives-who-aided-harvey-weinstein-collected-information-on-former-obama-administration-officials).
In a statement to NBC News, Black Cube said it has no relationship to the Iran nuclear deal.
"Anyone who claims otherwise or anyone suggesting Black Cube is targeting U.S. officials is misleading their readers and viewers," the statement said.
"Luckily," it continued, "the Mossad and the CIA are capable to deal with the Iran nuclear deal and other issues of national security without relying on the expertise of Black Cube."
The firm added that it "always operates in full compliance of the law in every jurisdiction in which it conducts its work."
In the end, Black Cube's Iran-deal spying yielded no compromising information, and in early May, Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the nuclear deal. But the use of the shadowy firm continues to draw scrutiny. On Friday, Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee wrote to the founders of Black Cube requesting documentation related to its Iran work (https://democrats-oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/2018-0524.EEC%20Engel%20to%20Zorella%20Yanus-Black%20Cube.pdf).
Marketing its links to Israeli intel
Black Cube made headlines last fall after revelations that it had been hired to intimidate and disparage accusers of Harvey Weinstein (https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-army-of-spies), as well as reporters investigating the Hollywood producer.
The firm was founded by former Israeli military officers in 2011. It retains close ties to the Israeli intelligence community, and many of its recruits are former Mossad agents.
Its government work has occasionally landed Black Cube at the center of sensitive political disputes across the globe, while raising serious ethical and legal questions. For example, in Romania, two Black Cube operatives were arrested (https://www.timesofisrael.com/israelis-arrested-for-spying-on-romanian-anti-corruption-czar/) on suspicion of spying on the country's anti-corruption prosecutor in 2016.
"When the Romania affair came out in the news, several people on the corporate side left," said another source — a former Black Cube insider — who spoke on the condition of anonymity since he also feared reprisals. "It created a rift in the company and several people quit almost immediately."
The campaign to discredit the Iran deal is the first public case of the firm's apparent meddling in U.S. politics.
Black Cube's political work frequently intersects with Israel's foreign policy priorities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, has campaigned vociferously against the Iran deal.
"They would never work against Israeli interests," said the source who was familiar with Black Cube's Iran work. He likened the firm to an "almost privatized wing of Mossad."
He also suggested there was little chance that the Israeli government or its intelligence agencies were unaware of Black Cube's work to discredit the Iran deal.
The same source said the Iran operation was launched just days after President Donald Trump visited Israel in May 2017 (https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/trump-s-first-foreign-trip/trump-s-israel-visit-5-key-issues-n762531). The source said he was told that the work was being carried out "for Trump," but there is no evidence that the Trump administration had anything to do with the operation, which may have been commissioned by an outside group or agency with no connection to the administration. The identity of Black Cube's client on the Iran work remains a mystery.
"You'll never find their name on a contract," the source said. "I can't prove that it was the administration other than what I was told."
But, he added, "Why spend time and money to make the whole the deal look rotten, unless you're obsessed with destroying Obama's legacy?"'
The Black Cube statement said the company "has no relation whatsoever to the Trump administration, to Trump aides, to anyone close to the administration, or to the Iran nuclear deal."
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
A 'nasty, nasty business'
In their first joint interview about the undercover operation, the Kahls expressed dismay at Black Cube's tactics. Colin called it a "nasty, nasty business." To come after him through his wife and daughter "crosses so many lines," he said.
NBC News obtained Black Cube's research file on the Kahls, which contained their address, the names of their relatives and other personal details. But it also had mistakes, such as the make of their car and their daughter's birth year.
"It's creepy to know that someone was trying to dig up your profile and the names of your in-laws and your kids and your wife and where you live," said Colin, when presented with the file. "That's pretty sleazy."
The idea that the couple could be the target of a foreign intelligence operation had occurred to the Kahls, but it seemed unlikely with Colin out of government. "We're also just not that important of people," Rebecca joked.
..
A now-familiar playbook
Black Cube's tactics relating to the nuclear deal - including its use of aliases and its targeting of journalists - resemble its approach in its work for other clients.
As part of the company's work for Weinstein, a Black Cube operative befriended the actress Rose McGowan while posing as an investment manager focused on women's empowerment at a London-based firm, according to emails between her and McGowan obtained by NBC News. The operative used the alias Diana Filip in the Weinstein scheme, according to the emails. That bogus firm was the same that Gavrilo, in reaching out to Rebecca Kahl, claimed as her employer.
The identity of Diana Filip was revealed to be an Israeli army veteran named Stella Penn Pechanac by the British tabloid The Daily Mail. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5064027/Israeli-military-vet-duped-Rose-McGowan-revealed.html)
Elsewhere, Black Cube's underhanded tactics have been revealed to the embarrassment of its clients.
Hired by a Canadian investment company in a dispute with another firm, a Black Cube operative attempted to embarrass an Ontario superior court judge who had ruled unfavorably for Black Cube's client by trying to induce him to make anti-Semitic comments (http://nationalpost.com/feature/exclusive-the-judge-the-sting-black-cube-and-me). The effort went nowhere, and Black Cube's client in that case is now mired in lawsuits.
http://www.euronews.com/2018/05/25/black-cube-inside-shadowy-israeli-firm-accused-trying-undermine-iran-n877511
Related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh04uu1EkIU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh04uu1EkIU
Un-Related
Trump is a Friend of Zion (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?522256-Trump-is-a-Friend-of-Zion&)
Loyal Trump supporter Scaramucci says Trump is "not blackmailable" (https://youtu.be/snCX2X0D9V8?t=129)
Scaramucci : Michael Cohen Is 'Doing Well' But Stormy Daniels Situation Is 'Stressful' | MSNBC
https://youtu.be/snCX2X0D9V8?t=129
Israeli Intelligence Company Formed Venture With Trump Campaign Firm Cambridge Analytica
Psy-Group is owned by entrepreneur Joel Zamel, who has been questioned by special-counsel investigators
May 23, 2018
WASHINGTON—A company owned by Joel Zamel, an Israeli entrepreneur whose work has drawn the scrutiny of special counsel Robert Mueller, formed a strategic partnership with a data firm for President Donald Trump’s campaign in a joint bid to win business from the U.S. government and other clients after the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Psy-Group, one of Mr. Zamel’s firms, signed a memorandum of understanding with Cambridge Analytica LLC, a digital media firm that helped propel Mr. Trump to...
Mueller Probe Expands to Israeli Entrepreneur With U.A.E. Ties
Investigation has sought testimony regarding work of Joel Zamel, founder of several private consulting firms
The work of two of Mr. Zamel’s companies—Wikistrat and the Psy Group—has increasingly drawn the interest of the special counsel as part of the continuing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Little is known publicly about the work of the Psy Group. According to a person familiar with the firm’s operations, it did mainly private intelligence gathering work. One of its main rivals was Black Cube—another Israeli firm which has achieved notoriety after it used by Harvey Weinstein to counter probes into his alleged sexual abuse.
Several people linked to the firm are veteran Israeli intelligence officials, with experience in areas that include in psychological operations. According to the firm’s marketing materials reviewed by the Journal, Psy-Group offered clients an array of services—including “honey traps,” a term used by spy agencies for an intelligence-gathering tactic using romantic or sexual relationships to extract information.
Publisher of the ‘Atlanta Jewish Times’ suggests Mossad should assassinate Obama (http://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/publisher-of-the-atlanta-jewish-times-suggests-mossad-should-assassinate-obama.html)
Adam Horowitz on January 20, 2012
ohn Cook reports at Gawker (http://gawker.com/5877892/): Andrew Adler, the owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, a weekly newspaper serving Atlanta’s Jewish community, devoted his January 13, 2012 column to the thorny problem of the U.S. and Israel’s diverging views on the threat posed by Iran. Basically Israel has three options, he wrote: Strike Hezbollah and Hamas, strike Iran, or “order a hit” on Barack Obama (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/284979-ajt.html). Either way, problem solved!
Here’s how Adler laid out “option three” in his list of scenarios facing Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu (the column, which was forwarded to us by a tipster, isn’t online, but you can read a copy here (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/284979-ajt.html)):
Three, give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place, and forcefully dictate that the United States’ policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies.
Yes, you read “three” correctly. Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel’s existence. Think about it. If I have thought of this Tom Clancy-type scenario, don’t you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel’s most inner circles?
Another way of putting “three” in perspective goes something like this: How far would you go to save a nation comprised of seven million lives…Jews, Christians and Arabs alike?
You have got to believe, like I do, that all options are on the table.