Red Alert - Dangers of the Internet

Yesterday, December 11, 2021, German cyber security authority BSI launched a RED ALERT regarding the use of a certain Java based logging utility.

On December 9, 2021, a zero-day arbitrary code execution vulnerability in Log4j 2 was reported and given the descriptor "Log4Shell". It has been characterized as "the single biggest, most critical vulnerability of the last decade".

Apache Log4j is a Java-based logging utility originally written by Ceki Gülcü. It is part of the Apache Logging Services, a project of the Apache Software Foundation. Log4j is one of several Java logging frameworks.

The critical security gap caused by Log4j is now being compared with critical gaps like Shellshock or Heartbleed that already endangered hundreds of million computer systems on the internet in 2014.

Last Update (Monday, December 13):
After the BSI warning had been upgraded, cyber security units of leading German enterprises reacted immediately. VW, Lufthansa, Deutsche Telecom and Hapag-Lloyd Shipping raised their levels of security measures and watched out for possible cyber attacks. [German Press]

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Apart from vulnerabilities of software structures, there are increasing dangers from the outside that are using such vulnerabilities to compromise business and private data in a most extensive way.

An Israeli spyware named Pegasus has become the most dangerous example of an aggressive software that is able to target selected Android and iOS smartphones to extract and download almost any relevant data which government authorities might be interested in. Originally written to enable the tracking of criminals and terrorists, this highly expensive software is only offered to governmental clients who have to sign a document that is intended to restrict the use of Pegasus spyware to the investigation of crime and terrorism.

However, human rights organizations are providing evidence that Pegasus has been used as well to target journalists and system critics in different countries. Both Ghana and Saudi Arabia are mentioned by international media in a relation with NSO's Pegasus. In the case of Saudi Arabia, the murder of system critic Jamal Khashoggi on the premises of Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 is still present in the memory of many people who suspect the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman as the initiator of that crime.

Under the Biden administration, the United States Commerce Department has now blacklisted NSO, the maker of Israeli spyware Pegasus, for maliciously targetting journalists.

According to US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, "The United States is committed to aggressively using export controls to hold companies accountable that develop, traffic, or use technologies to conduct malicious activities that threaten the cybersecurity of members of civil society, dissidents, government officials, and organisations here and abroad."

This looks very much different from earlier US security practice – even under the Obama administration - when National Security Agency NSA was sucpected of eavesdropping the smartphone of German chancellor Angela Merkel.

[Video Link: Pegasus snooping: US blacklists spyware
maker NSO Group for maliciously targetting journalists]

It seems that global distribution of high-end spyware has run out of control. Since private business took over, Israeli authorities have come under pressure for the first time to look into the proceedings of NSO on their own territory. And it should be noted that Israel, as well, is being suspected of targeting Palestinian politicians with Pegasus

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Indeed, it is from Israel that subversive software originally started. I remember having learned the expression "information mining" from an Israeli company that was offering a special software on the internet for those who were still disappointed by a too low performance of search engines in the first years of the internet.

Much later, Israel succeeded in planting its destructive virus "Stuxnet" into the hardware of Iran's Uranium enrichment facility and which led to the destruction of a certain amount of Uranium centrifuges.

[2012 Link: Iran - Before the Storm]

Now that "evil government hackers" from China, Russia and North Korea have joined the long-standing electronic spying activities of Israeli and US government services, things are out of control.

This happens at a time when communications technology has reached new levels of complexity, while online access to important infrastructure - like power and water supply -, not to mention all kinds of administrative data, has already become a matter of everyday practice.

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Those were the days when it was easy to track prominent visitors,
and easy for them to track me. Some seemed to like me, some not.

COVID - Incomplete Intestinal Flora and Vaccination

People lacking Bifidobacterium adolescentis in their intestinal flora showed subnormal antibody response to different COVID-19 vaccines. This was discovered in a cooperation between two independent research facilities at the University of HongKong.

Shenzhen News, December 3, 2021.

Joint research proved that over half of the people who received the Chinese SinoVac vaccine had a suboptimal antibody response. There was a close correlation between low antibody response and lack of a unique bacterium in our gut called Bifidobacterium adolescentis. Among BioNTech recipients, those who lacked Bifidobacterium adolescentis (and F. prausnitzii) also showed lower antibody response.

An evaluation given by a German medical journal (January 2021) is hinting at the use of antibiotics in some critical cases of Covid-19 and which was possibly leading to a disturbance of the intestinal flora.

The gut organ makes part of the human immune system and its cells can as well be infected by the corona virus. That is why a possible relation between intestinal flora on one side and antibody response to covid vaccines or the Long Covid sydrome on the other side cannot be excluded.

Global Alert - New Corona Variant

Last Update (November 27/28):
- Israel closes its borders to all foreign visitors for a period of two weeks says prime minister.
- Germany restricted air traffic coming from further African destinations like Botswana, Lesotho,
Malawi and Zimbabwe, countries situated in the neighbourhood of the South African Republic,
after the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 was found in air passengers who recently entered
Germany. Only German citizens and other permanent residents are allowed to enter and are
subject to quarantine.
- Measures are intended to provide further time for national health authorities to evaluate the
dangers of the omicron variant and possible counter measures.
- Zhang Wenhong 张文宏, a high-ranking expert for infectious diseases and connected with
the Communist Party of China confirmed the necessity of an observation period of two weeks
for a comprising evaluation of the corona variant. He shows himself convinced that China can
cope with the omicron virus strain. PR China and Hong Kong already detected omicron infected
persons on their territories.

- News on the spotting of the omicron variant in covid infected travellers from South Africa are
developing in different European countries like Great Britain, Italy, the Czech Republic and the
Netherlands.

The original article was
continuously updated on
the day of publishing:

A brandnew fast-spreading variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in South Africa. Researchers are racing to determine whether it poses a threat to COVID vaccines’ effectiveness.

An expert group of World Health Organization (WHO) is meeting today on the subject. It already labelled the strain — currently known as B.1.1.529 — as a 'variant of concern' and named it 'omicron' according to the Greek naming system for coronavirus variants.

Researchers spotted B.1.1.529 in genome-sequencing data from Botswana. The variant stood out because it contains more than 30 changes to the spike protein — the SARS-CoV-2 protein that recognizes host cells and is the main target of the body’s immune responses. Many of the changes have been found in variants such as δ (Delta) and α (Alpha) and are linked to heightened infectivity and the ability to evade infection-blocking antibodies.

But the variant’s apparent sharp rise in South Africa’s Gauteng province — home to Johannesburg — is also setting off alarm bells. Cases increased rapidly in the province in November, particularly in schools and among young people.

The variant harbours a spike mutation that allows it to be detected by genotyping tests that deliver results much more rapidly than genome sequencing.

German authorities immediately declared South Africa a 'COVID variant region' and ordered restrictions on air traffic between both countries starting tonight. This comes at a time when infection rates in Germany are peaking, due to a lack of acceptance of the prescribed corona vaccinations and other protective measures within a population group which is resistant to advice. Public vaccination centers became deserted after a 65% vaccination rate had been reached and were subsequently closed in September. In November the situation changed dramatically. As intensive care beds are now running out at some hospitals in Southern Germany, German Air Force prepares to provide transport capacities in order to transfer critical cases of covid-19 to Northern German locations.

European Union (EU) authorities triggered off a general alert for its member nations. A first case of infection with the new covid variant has already been detected in Belgium.

Israel is known for having put on traffic restrictions to some African regions much earlier. A Chinese source referring to Taiwan health authorities just reported: (The new variant) is expected to become the next wave of mainstream virus strains in South Africa .....預估可能成為下一波南非主流病毒株

Additional News on COVID Research:

A new protein vaccin, developed at the University of Tübingen (Germany), should enable an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 on the basis of detecting certain characteristic protein snippets of the corona virus. The spike protein itself, and which is being targeted by other vaccins, would not play a role in the detection of the virus and the generation of an immune response. Changes to that protein will therefore have no consequences for the vaccin's effectiveness. The protein vaccin has been developed for a group of patients already suffering from immune deficiency and is intended to be applied to certain cancer patients. However, compulsory evaluation of experimental data could take some further time.

The evaluation of an Israeli health insurer on the efficiency of vaccination has been quoted by British and German medical journals. The data are indicating that the risk of re-infection with SARS-CoV-2 increases earlier than previously assumed after a full vaccination just 90 days after the second dose of the mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 (BioNTech-Pfizer).

US Trading Confiscated Iranian Oil

Latest News added below on 2021-11-10

Update included in the following text on 2021-11-05:

Yesterday, 2021-11-03, the international program of the Arabic news channel 《Al-Jazeera》 reported on a close encounter between US warships and vessels of the Iranian revolutionary guard near the coast of Oman. It seems, Iranian coast guard hurried to the relief of an oil tanker navigating under the flag of Vietnam. Iran says its military units thwarted a US attempt to "steal Iranian oil" by confiscating the tanker. The incident should have happened on October 24.

《Al-Jazeera》الجزيرة
2nd news video published on 2021-11-03, 1st to contain Iranian video material.

《Al-Mayadeen》قناة الميادين , a pro-Iranian TV channel broadcasting in Arabic on 2021-11-03:

جرأة إيرانية كبيرة في مواجهة الأميركيين تجبرهم على التراجع

Great Iranian courage in a confrontation with the Americans forced them to retreat.

Other Arabic language sources confirmed the Iranian news, showing matching videos of the incident that were taken from different positions (view from Iranian helicopter, view inside helicopter, view from Iranian vessel). What happened: Some helicopter operated by the Iranian revolutionary guards landed on the tanker and deployed a special forces unit to prevent US troops from taking over the ship. At the same time, a US warship close to the tanker, was confronted at very short distance by different Iranian military vessels including speedboats.

The Arabic and Iranian news make sense when related to another incident that already took place off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February this year:

观察者网：美国扣押伊朗油轮卖掉船上200万桶原油，获利1.1亿美元
The Chinese source 《Observer Network》 reported on 2021-06-01:
The US Energy Information Administration released the US oil import and export data for March on the 28th [of May]. Some traders noticed that the import data showed US imports from Iran in March. Some 33,000 barrels of crude oil should have been imported. However, as early as 2018, the United States imposed trade sanctions on Iran's crude oil exports.

The Associated Press AP reported on the 31st, citing court documents and government statistics, that this batch of "imported" crude oil was "confiscated" from Iran. The United States seized an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of the UAE in February this year and sold 2 million barrels of crude oil on board, and finally made a profit of 110 million U.S. dollars.

Footnote added on 2021-11-10:

According to Iranian sources, the Vietnamese tanker "Sothys" was guided to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas where it was unloaded and recently released. The tanker is now anchoring near the indicated position off the coast of Oman.

_________________________

In 2018 my blog reached 250.000 visitors. At that time, I listed some remarkable guests together with satellite images of their locations and related information. Using the official statistics, only anonymous entities like government offices, universities, civil or military units of all kind could be identified. No living humans, known or unknown to the public, were personally identified, even though, one might have second thoughts about those who visited my blog, when it comes to rare coincidence.

After presenting the results of my visitor count, I stopped publishing, because visitor identification on an advanced level was no longer available and the success of my blogspots could not be verified any longer to such extent. Things had generally become more difficult.

However, there are still many visitors from the U.S.A., France and other regions who keep visiting blueprinteditor.blogspot.com . As a proof for that development, I decided to add latest statistics.

Welcome Back !

In the second year of the pandemic, there is still such thing as "homeschooling", even at
Hogwart's where Voldemort can finally be tracked by his IP address and Dumbledore now
belongs to a Covid-19 risk group.

DDR - Kultur zum Untergang

Als am 9. November 1989 die Berliner Mauer fiel und den Untergang der DDR besiegelte, fand gerade eine Tournee des DDR-Buchhandels in der Bundesrepublik statt.

Die Ausstellung "Bücher aus der DDR" schloss am 9. November in Heidelberg um dann am 6. Dezember in München wieder zu eröffnen. Die Veranstaltung des Börsenvereins der Deutschen Buchhändler zu Leipzig war möglich auf der Grundlage eines Kulturabkommens, das DDR und BRD am 6. Mai 1986 geschlossen hatten.




Die Eröffnung in München am Nikolaustag 1989 nahm allerdings einen anderen Verlauf als geplant und ähnelte eher einer Vereinigungsfeier mit Sekt. Es soll auch Besucher gegeben haben, die sich an den ausgestellten Büchern erfreuten, die meisten aber unterhielten sich angeregt mit den aufgekratzten DDR-Damen über die Mauer-Öffnung. Nur eine von ihnen muss sich anscheinend nicht gefreut haben (Zitat: "Die hat vielleicht ein Gesicht gemacht"). Das war wohl die Aufpasserin von der Stasi.

Bei einer Durchsicht des Ausstellungskatalogs fielen mir einige Titel des DDR-Autors Volker Braun auf, die ich meinen Lesern nicht vorenthalten möchte.

Der eine oder andere Titel wäre sicher auch heute noch verwendbar:

Immer gern gelesen !

Volker Braun, Jahrgang 1939, war ein prominenter Autor der DDR und gleichzeitig jemand, der besonders schwer unter der Zensur des Systems zu leiden hatte und seine Gedichte und Prosa nur unter besonderen Schwierigkeiten veröffentlichen konnte.

Möglicherweise war es gerade diesem Umstand zu verdanken, dass seine Werke in den Katalog einer Ausstellung von DDR-Büchern im Westen aufgenommen wurden. Schließlich war der DDR daran gelegen, sich im Westen als weltoffen zu präsentieren, solange das eigene Volk selbst nicht zu viel von diesem kritischen Autor zu sehen bekam. Seine Buchtitel allein lesen sich dabei fast schon wie ein Programm.

Als ein konstruktiver Kritiker der DDR würde Volker Braun die Bezeichnung "Kultur des Untergangs" vermutlich nicht akzeptieren. Und so zeigt der folgende Vers aus einem seiner Gedichte eben nur einen Aspekt seiner Haltung, die stets auch eine gegenteilige Sichtweise beinhaltete, also ganz im Sinne des dialektischen Materialismus:

… Klein klebt die Landschaft unter den Füßen fest
Kleinlich wird der Wurf, eh die Saat den Boden trifft
Bis das Land, das allen gehört, auch auf alle hört.


Sein Kommentar zur deutschen Wiedervereinigung 1990 endete jedenfalls mit der Zeile:

„Wann sag ich wieder mein und meine alle.“

_______________________________________________

Ein umfangreicher Zeitzeugenbericht, entstanden zum 20. Jahrestag
der Wiedervereinigung, beschreibt die Wahrnehmung der DDR aus
der Sicht eines Westberliners: "Die ruinierte Auferstehung"

China und die DDR - Zwei sozialistische Experimente

Der Oktober 1949 war ein denkwürdiger Monat für den Sozialismus. Während in Mitteleuropa die DDR gegründet wurde, entstand in Ost- asien die Volksrepublik China. Zwei dem Namen nach sozialistische Staaten, die auf derselben Idee basierten, aber in ihrer Gestaltung unterschiedlicher nicht sein konnten. Auch das klägliche Ende der DDR und das erfolgreiche Überleben der VR China sind letztlich das Ergebnis grundsätzlicher Unterschiede. Die DDR war von ihrem Beginn an bereits als Satellitenstaat der Sowjetunion geplant, wenn auch die gemeinsame Führung durch den Kommunisten Wilhelm Pieck und den Sozialdemokraten Otto Grotewohl für den einen oder anderen Heimkehrer aus dem Exil noch Hoffnungen auf den Neubeginn in einem besseren, sozialistischen Deutschland nährte. Der Zusammenschluss von KPD und SPD zur SED war von Beginn an eine Zwangsmassnahme, die keinen Widerspruch duldete und die nicht zuletzt von Stalins Statthalter Walter Ulbricht, einem kalten Opportunisten, organisiert wurde. Darüber hinaus, führte die enge wirtschaftliche Abhängigkeit der DDR von der Sowjetunion zu einer Behinderung der Bemühungen, eine leistungsfähige Volkswirtschaft aufzubauen. Eine missglückte Planwirtschaft tat ihr Übriges, und irgendwann kam der Zeitpunkt, an dem sich alle, Bürger wie Partei- kader, mit der Situation abfanden. Lethargie senkte sich über das Land, und eine vergreisende politische Führung übte sich im Prakti- zieren von Ritualen. Dies führte 1989 bekanntlich zum politischen und wirtschaftlichen Bankrott und in der Folge zum Kollaps der DDR. Abb.: Der TianAnMen - Platz vor der "Verbotenen Stadt" Anders verlief die Entwicklung der VR China. Am Ende des 2. Weltkriegs, nachdem japanische Truppen das Land verlassen hatten, war China wieder das, was es seit dem Zerfall des Kaiserreiches unverändert gewesen war: Eine riesige, praktisch unregierbare Landmasse, in der regionale Herren nach eigenem Gutdünken herrschten und immer noch Leibeigenschaft und Skaverei existierten. Ein grosser Teil der Bevölkerung vegetierte in extremer Armut. Die nationale Regierung der Kuomintang kontrollierte nur bestimmte Regionen, und ihre Armee versuchte den zunehmenden Einfluss der Kommunisten zu bekämpfen, was ihr zunächst auch gelang. So begann der berühmte Lange Marsch der Kommunisten in den Jahren 1934 und 1935 als eine Flucht vor den Regierungstruppen. Auf diesem Marsch der 90.000, den nur ca. 10% der ursprünglichen Teilnehmer überlebten, wurde Mao Zedong zum Anführer. Es gelang ihm und seinen Mitstreitern, die Bevölkerung des Landes für seine Ideale einzunehmen. Bauern, die fremde Soldaten bisher nur als gewalttätige Plünderer kennen gelernt hatten, waren auf einmal bereit, deren Gedankengut zu übernehmen. Als Mao Zedong im Oktober 1949 schließlich die Volksrepublik China ausrief, waren immer noch wichtige Kämpfe auszufechten bis die Volksrepublik China zu einem einheitlichen Staatsgebilde wurde. Die Einigung Chinas ist das eigentliche Verdienst Maos, unabhängig von seinen Fehlern und Verfehlungen, die das Land 1966 ins Chaos der Kulturrevolution stürzten. Dabei muss betont werden, dass Mao sich schon früh von der politischen Linie abgrenzte, die von der verbündeten Sowjetunion vorgegeben wurde. Sein persönliches Verhältnis zu Stalin war ambivalent, das heißt er ließ sich von Stalin nichts gefallen. Sein Nachfolger Deng Xiaoping hatte früh erkannt, dass eine permanente Revolution die Ressourcen des Landes sinnlos vergeudet, und verkündete 1978 seine Wirtschaftspolitik, die zu einer teilweisen Öffnung Chinas führte. Obwohl Deng wegen seines Vorgehens gegen die Demokratie-Bewegung Chinas im Jahr 1989 vom Wohltäter zum Unterdrücker wurde, blieb seine Wirtschaftspolitik ein Segen für das Land. Sieht man heute chinesische Touristen in München, die sich an den Schaufenstern mit Luxusuhren die Nasen platt drücken, dann ahnt man, wie sehr sich China seither verändert haben muss. Bei meinem Besuch in Peking in den späten 1990er Jahren gab es hier schon moderne Einkaufszentren und eine MacDonalds-Filiale mit einem eher bescheidenen Angebot. Soweit ich mich erinnere, wurde nur ein einfacher Burger angeboten, den man bei uns als "Basic" bezeichnen würde, und ein paar junge Leute saßen vor ihrem Milchshake. Es schien offensichtlich, dass der Besuch eines westlichen Burger-Restaurants eher ein Statussymbol als Normalität war, selbst im Geschäftszentrum der Hauptstadt. Es gab in der Umgebung auch einige Bettler, die verstohlen in den Abfallkörben suchten und auch ihre Landsleute ansprachen. Einen ausländischen Touristen anzubetteln war aber anscheinend tabu. Die Bettler gingen mir sogar aus dem Weg, vermutlich aus Angst vor der Polizei. Aus Indien war ich da ganz andere Szenen gewohnt. Ein blinder Bettler saß in einer dunklen Straßenunterführung und spielte voller Hingabe auf seiner ErHu, einem traditionellen Musik- instrument. Hin und wieder tastete er seine Umgebung nach den Münzen ab, die ihm seine Landsleute achtlos hingeworfen hatten. In einer gut besuchten Garküche versuchte eine ärmlich aussehende alte Frau vergeblich, ihre dicken silbernen Armreifen an die Gäste zu verkaufen. Einer von ihnen, ein junger Mann mit abgetragenem Militärmantel, wies in meine Richtung, aber die Frau, die vermutlich zu einer nationalen Minderheit gehörte, schüttelte nur den Kopf und verließ dann auffallend schnell den Raum. Sicher ist aber, dass es heute vielen Chinesen besser geht als der Generation ihrer Eltern. In gleichem Maße nimmt auch die Akzeptanz des Systems bei der beruflich erfolgreichen Elite zu, Überwachung und Sozialpunktesystem können anscheinend mühelos ausgeblendet werden. Irgendwie erinnert mich das alles an eine alte Kabarettnummer der (West-)Berliner Stachelschweine aus der Zeit des kalten Krieges. Da hieß es, man solle sich einen demokratischen Staat vorstellen, in dem aber die Volkswirtschaft den materiellen Ansprüchen der Bürger nicht gerecht wird, sodass eine Mangelsituation herrscht. Auf der anderen Seite hätte man aber ein totalitäres Regime, in dem die materiellen Wünsche der Bürger leicht zu erfüllen wären. Die Frage stellte sich nun, in welche Richtung man in diesem Fall fliehen würde. Abb.: Chinas Ministerpräsident Zhou Enlai trifft seinen Amtskollegen Otto Grotewohl (1954) Um den Kreis zu schließen, fehlt hier nur noch ein Schlusswort zum Verhältnis zwischen der DDR und der Volksrepublik China. Einige deutsche Fluggäste, die mit mir zusammen aus Peking abflogen, kamen offensichtlich aus den neuen Bundesländern und machten kein Hehl daraus, welcher Firma sie nahestanden. Aus ihren Sprüchen und dem auffallend rotzigen Auftreten ging hervor, dass sie sich im sozialistischen China zu Hause fühlten. Einen, der zu dieser Gruppe gehörte, hatte ich schon wenige Tage zuvor bei einem Besuch des Himmelstempels und durch puren Zufall dabei beobachtet, wie er einem Chinesen mit Ballonmütze diskret ein Bündel Banknoten in die Manteltasche schob. Da zu jener Zeit kaum noch ein Bewohner Pekings solch eine Kopfbedeckung trug, konnte man schon fast vermuten, dass es sich hierbei um eine Art Erkennungszeichen handelte. Ich bin danach auch prompt von der Videokamera dieses „Landsmannes“ heimlich von der Seite aufge- nommen worden. Anscheinend war ich aber nicht der einzige, dem diese Leute unangenehm auffielen. Wie dem auch sei: Der Glaube an eine sozialistische Freundschaft zwischen DDR und Volksrepublik China schien mir damals schon eine krasse Fehleinschätzung zu sein. Es war eher so, dass China mit den Bundesbürgern einträglichere Geschäfte machen konnte als mit DDR-Vertretern. Immerhin muss es 1989 in China einen Horchposten des Bundesnachrichtendienstes an der Grenze zur Sowjetunion gegeben haben, wie in der Presse bekannt wurde. Die Furcht vor Auslieferung an China war deshalb ein wichtiger Grund für politische Flüchtlinge der chinesischen Demokratiebe- wegung, eher in Frankreich als in Deutschland unterzutauchen. Ein wenig bekannter Fall ist die Entführung eines chinesischen Diplomaten in unmittelbarer Nähe seiner Botschaft in Ost-Berlin durch die Staatssicherheit. Der Diplomat, dem man eine absurde Agententätigkeit vorwarf, wurde in Isolationshaft gehalten und erst Jahre später, nachdem die Bundesregierung von seiner Existenz erfahren hatte, aus humanitären Gründen und zusammen mit anderen Häftlingen frei gekauft. Hier veröffentlichte er seine Geschichte und wurde später auch von den chinesischen Behörden, die ihn lange für einen Überläufer gehalten hatten, rehabilitiert. Epilog: Während sich die DDR im Jahre 1989 bekanntermaßen selbst erledigt hat, feiert die Volksrepublik China an ihrem 70. Jahrestag nach wie vor wirtschaftliche und technologische Erfolge, wenn auch um den Preis einer Einschränkung persönlicher Freiheiten als Folge ihrer ideologi- schen Basis. Die weitere Entwicklung Chinas bleibt sicher spannend, wohin sie auch immer führen mag. Dagegen hat es das 40jährige Experiment DDR am 30. Jahrestag seines Scheiterns verdient, in Vergessenheit zu geraten und sein kühles Grab in den Geschichtsbüchern zu finden. Denn man muss hier realistisch sein: Nachfolgende Generationen werden vermutlich jeden runden Jahrestag des Mauerfalls und der Wiedervereinigung mit den Worten quittieren: Das Beste an der DDR war demnach ihre Auflösung, und die muss wirklich spektakulär gewesen sein ! Ulysses am 3. Oktober 2019 Ein umfangreicher Zeitzeugenbericht, entstanden zum 20. Jahrestag der Wiedervereinigung, beschreibt die Wahrnehmung der DDR aus der Sicht eines Westberliners: "Die ruinierte Auferstehung"

Trump - American Top Liar

Updates added on May 6/8 :
About 'Donald Trump's Financial Losses' and
'Fund Raising for the Presidential Campaign'

These days US president Trump is celebrating the anniversary of Trump's 10.000th lie since the beginning of his administration. Here is what the British paper The Guardian wrote about Trump on April 29, 2019:




Editor: An important quotation from the article was inserted
into the picture to ensure a better understanding of the item.



From some of these lies one might come to think that Donald Trump is harbouring warm feelings towards Germany. At least, the US ambassador to Berlin seems to believe that. - Or could it be that Trump is only trying to please his German "pawnbroker" Deutsche Bank, thus telling them to keep silent when US Congress investigators are knocking at their door, requesting the inspection of Trump's financial records ?

President Donald Trump, who won the presidency in part on his image as a successful business mogul, lost $1.17 billion over 10 years on failed business deals, according to tax records obtained by the New York Times. [Bloomberg / NY Times on May 8, 2019]

Raising Money for Presidential Campaigns

More about fund raising for presidential campaigns in an
article published by The New York Times on April 26, 2019:



" Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidential campaign announced Friday that it had raised $6.3 million in its opening 24 hours, surpassing the first-day totals of his rivals and easing concerns among some supporters over whether he would be able to compete financially in the Democratic primary.

.....

Mr. Biden’s campaign said 96,926 people had contributed in the first day, and that 65,000 of the donations were from people who were not previously on his email list of supporters.

The campaign said 97 percent of online donations were below $200, but it declined to disclose the share of overall contributions that were below that threshold. The average given per donor was about $65, higher than the first-day averages reported by some rivals. "

美国前副总统拜登宣布参加2020年大选。在宣布竞选的24小时之后其竞选团队表示，已经筹得了630万美元。这些线上捐款人来自全美50个州，平均每人捐出了65美元，97%的线上捐款都在200美元以下。

The Mueller Report put in a Nutshell

Last Update added below on April 22.



BBC - The Mueller Report in 60 Seconds !

According to the Mueller Report there is evidence that US president D. Trump tried to obstruct justice about 10 times. Now it's time for a Congress Hearing of special counsel Robert Mueller that might lead to further inquiries into the matter.

BBC Update on April 20 :
Elizabeth Warren is now the first Democratic presidential candidate to call for Mr Trump to be impeached. "The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty," said the Massachusetts senator.


More information available from NHK World - Japan on April 19, 2019 :



" A probe by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller says President Donald Trump instructed a White House counsel to tell the Justice Department to fire Mueller.

The Justice Department has made public its report on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

The report said that when Trump was notified in May of 2017 that Mueller had been appointed special counsel, Trump said, "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency." [Editor's Note: It was the then Secretary of Justice Jeff Sessions, an ultra-conservative pro-Trump hardliner, who informed the president. Sessions left on Trump's request after the 2018 midterm elections.]

Trump reportedly called White House counsel Don McGahn several times during the following month and ordered him to tell the Justice Department to fire Mueller. McGahn did not carry out the order and resigned.

US Attorney General William Barr concluded that there was not enough evidence to show that Trump committed the crime of obstruction of justice.

Trump now insists he has been exonerated.

But the Mueller report said the investigators were unable to conclude that the president clearly did not obstruct justice. "

..............................

On April 22, 2019, the California based magazine Salon came about with a gloomy perception of America's "state of the interior" in the frame of Robert Mueller's report in its public version: "Robert Mueller has unveiled the failings of a vastly corrupt system. It's almost too late to save our democracy".

Having just finished the voluminous novel on US society, "4321", written by America's bestseller author Paul Auster, I cannot help quoting the name "Nobodaddy" which the novel's protagonist Ferguson applied to those who are really in power in his country. That's why I think you should read the complete Salon article and which is just about the "Nobodaddy Movement", starring the white and the rich and their influential networks:

Mueller report: A harsh indictment of Donald Trump — and also of America's leadership class.

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Only 8 hours after publishing, a related tweet of mine
already reached about 1.400 visitor impressions.



The 24-hours visitor statistics for "blueprint news"
covering April 26-27, 2019.

First Pictures of Black Hole

An update on Israeli Elections 2019
was added below on the same day.




A global astronomy project provided the first images ever taken from a black hole.



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Israeli Elections 2019:

While an official result is still missing, it is quite clear that Netanyahu will build a new government based on a coalition with right-wing and religious parties.

Today, one of Israel's most important newspapers Haaretz came with a rather gloomy comment on Israel having become a 'high-functioning illiberal democracy'. Such evaluation is fitting with an earlier comment, published by Haaretz only two days ago, and which is saying in its headline:
'With a Netanyahu victory, it's time we admit: Israel has become a dictatorship'.

[ Haaretz Opinion: 'American Jews, Don't Walk Away From Israel' ]

'Netanyahu's re-election is a black day for solidly liberal American Jews,
whose relations with a pro-Trump Israel were already in crisis.
But we can't give up.'


Haaretz Logo originally loaded from Wikipedia.
Haaretz was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now being published in both Hebrew and English. It is known for its left-wing and liberal stances on domestic and foreign issues. As of 2016, the paper had a weekday exposure rate of 3.9% in Israel. According to the US based Center for Research Libraries CRL, "Haaretz is considered the most influential and respected for both its news coverage and its commentary" among Israel's daily newspapers. [Wikipedia]

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Trump - The Jewish Connection

Important Updates added on April 6/7/9/10/15, 2019


The 'Court Jew', his position and function, has been depicted by
Hannah Arendt in 'The Origins of Totalitarianism' [German transl.]

Many US citizens would automatically relate Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump to some kind of a Jewish Connection in the White House.

This very connection together with Trump's recent political decisions about the status of Jerusalem and the Golan heights are raising fears within US opposition groups and abroad that president Trump might be constantly under the influence of Israel's leading class. Leaving aside the personal behaviour of both protagonists, the question of Kushner's security clearance therefore became a crucial item in the public.

As the Mueller report was restricted to searching for a Russian connection in the White House, its conclusion of no further indictments to follow doesn't necessarily mean that new investigations in a different direction are to be excluded.

On April 4, 2019, the New Zealand Herald reported about Jared Kushner's security clearance, and which was originally denied by White House career officials in charge of the matter, however, finally granted by their boss:




New Zealand Herald [April 4, 2019]

" The unnamed senior White House official whose security clearance was denied last year because of concerns about foreign influence, private business interests and personal conduct is presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to people familiar with documents and testimony provided to the House Oversight Committee.

Kushner was identified only as "Senior White House Official 1" in committee documents released this week describing the testimony of Tricia Newbold, a whistleblower in the White House's personnel security office who said she and another career employee determined that Kushner had too many "significant disqualifying factors" to receive a clearance.

Their decision was overruled by Carl Kline, the political appointee who then headed the office, according to Newbold's interview with committee staff.

The new details about the internal debate over Kushner's clearance revives questions about the severity of the issues flagged in his background investigation and Kushner's access to government secrets. "




Jared Kushner laughs off question about security clearance.
[Please note: This is pro-Trump channel Fox News]


A recent opinion poll published by The New York Times on April 1st, 2019, is evaluating public approval for Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner:



The New York Times [April 1st, 2019]




Investigative journalist on Ivanka and Jared in recently published book.

..............................

When US president Donald Trump publicly declares himself to be "Very Normal",
President A B Normal wants us to know he is as normal as anybody A B else !



Donald Trump's Day Of Strange And Confusing Statements:
Trump repeatedly insisted his father was born in Germany.
This, however, is not true and he should really know it.
[MSNBC on April 2nd 2019]




But could we really expect an American Revolution " à la française ",
taking place in the United States in the middle of the 21st century ?
President Donald Trump would say: " All options are on the table ! "

..............................

The Liberals' Strategy of Using an Alleged Anti-Semitism
to Dishonor Influential Opponents from the Political Left.

The following quotation has been selected from an article written by Serge Halimi
for the reputed French paper Le Monde diplomatique and published in April 2019.



" What has succeeded against the far right, the Liberals intend to redo it against the left. They therefore seek to build against its possible progression a wall of values ​​that will make it suspect in turn. And thus to oblige those who no longer support the policies of the power to accommodate it anyway, to avoid their most powerful members from being stigmatized as ignoble.

As luck would have it, the slander of a left that had become anti-Semitic burgeoned at the same time in France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Once the target is designated, it is enough to find an awkward, outrageous or abject judgment on the Facebook page or on the Twitter account of a member of the political current they want to dishonor (..........). Then the media take over. One can also try to destroy an adversary by attributing to him an anti-Semitic fantasy which is foreign to him - of the type: democracy, journalism and finance are at the service of the Jews - as soon as this adversary formulates a criticism of the oligarchy, media or the bank.

..........

Equally threatening situation in the United States, since, according to President Donald Trump, with the election to Congress of several left-wing parliamentarians, " the Democratic Party has become an anti-Israel party, an anti-Jewish party ." " Democrats hate the Jewish people, " he adds.

..........

Jews have been murdered in France and the United States by anti-Semites. Such a tragedy should not serve as an ideological weapon for Mr. Trump, the Israeli government and forge intellectuals. If it is necessary to construct a cordon sanitaire, it protects us rather from those who impute to their adversaries an infamy of which they know they are innocent. "

..............................

Related news published on April 6 and 15, 2019:



And here come the consequences of Mr. Trump's public trolling
of Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar [BBC Tweet on April 15]:




Trump and the Jews



This came three days before Israel's general elections, and
which left Netanyahu in his position as a prime minister in
the frame of a new right-wing coalition.



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What about anti-Semitism ?

When it comes to the definition of anti-Semitism in the frame of the more general question of 'Who is a Semite ?', things become really difficult.

As a racial Semitic background can be found with a high percentage of all people living in the Mediterranian area, the Middle East, Turkey and the Caucasian region, any definition of Semitism / anti-Semitism based on racial origin will mainly point to the numerous populations of Arabs who are of Semitic origin and are speaking Arabic, a Semitic language, rather than target the Jews who are of Semitic origin as well and who are speaking Hebrew, another Semitic language.

Regarding the enmity between Jews and Arabs and which has surged after the foundation of the Jewish state of Israel, one might even come to think that 'Jews are the most ambitious anti-Semites'.

This however is not fitting with a historic definition of anti-Semitism and which came into being in Western Europe after 1870. From there, anti-Semitism is related to a negative attitude and hatred towards the Jews.

Nowadays, the meaning of anti-Semitism has undergone another and perhaps more dangerous change, not only in Europe but in North America as well.

Therefore, I cannot help quoting an interesting article I found on a website dedicated to the fight against racism:

Philo-Semitism in right-wing populist parties.

"For some years now, we have been hearing right-wing populist parties declare their support for the 'Judeo-Christian Occident' and their opposition to anti-Semitism.

The term 'Judeo-Christian Occident' obscures, euphemises and mocks the history of the Jewish minority in Europe. There are various reasons why tolerance and cosmopolitanism are practiced in the form of philo-Semitism (which roughly means respect and appreciation for everything Jewish).

The basis in this case is rather self-interest, and not a sincere interest in others.

After invoking a (supposed) Judeo-Christian sense of unity, statements are then usually made that are directed against the Muslim faith. Interreligious projects or projects that aim to stamp out prejudices and racism are not mentioned or are de-emphasised. The aim of such arguments is to construct groups based on a characteristic and set them against each other."

[GRA Foundation against racism, Switzerland]

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Genetic Science as quoted by what we call 'Bible Researchers' allegedly affirms that human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup J (J-P209) undoubtedly descended from Shem, one of the sons of biblical Noah. And it is Shem who is mentioned when it comes to the origin of the word 'Semite'.

The geographical distribution for populations represented by that DNA haplogroup, is being shown below. Its relation to Jewish, or in a wider sense, Semitic origin seems to be established, however, without any direct descent from mythological figures like Shem or Noah.



Additional information on genetic similarities between Jewish and Arab populations can be found
in a SCIENCE publication and which is referring to basic studies carried out in the US and Israel.
[SCIENCE - Jews and Arabs Share Recent Ancestry - 30 Oct. 2000].