– History is Repeating – German Government Launches Investigation of Journalists for Treason (Liberty Blitzkrieg, July 31, 2015):
If it were up to the Federal Attorney General and the President of the German Domestic Security Agency, two of our reporters would soon be in prison for at least two years. Today, we were officially informed about investigations against our Markus Beckedahl, Andre Meister and an unknown“ party. The accusation: Treason.
– From Netzpolitik.org: Suspicion of Treason“: Federal Attorney General Announces Investigation Against Us In Addition To Our Sources
Widespread outrage across Germany is erupting following the revelation that the nation’s Attorney General has launched an investigation into treason charges for two journalists working for Netzpolitik.
The charge is treason. The crime is journalism.
We learn from the Guardian that:
Germany has opened a treason investigation into a news website a broadcaster said had reported on plans to increase state surveillance of online communications.
German media said it was the first time in more than 50 years journalists had faced treason charges, and some denounced the move as an attack on the freedom of the press.
“The federal prosecutor has started an investigation on suspicion of treason into the articles … published on the internet blog Netzpolitik.org,” a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office said.
The public broadcaster ARD reported Netzpolitik.org had published an article on how the BfV was seeking extra funding to increase its online surveillance, and another about plans to set up a special unit to monitor social media, both based on leaked confidential documents.
“This is an attack on the freedom of the press,” Netzpolitik.org journalist Andre Meister, targeted by the investigation along with editor-in-chief Markus Beckedahl, said in a statement. “We’re not going to be intimidated by this.”
Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing accurately notes the shadiness and hypocrisy of it all:
The German prosecutors who dropped all action against the US and UK spy-agencies who trampled German law and put the whole nation, up to and including Chancellor Angela Merkel, under surveillance, have decided instead to open an investigation into the bloggers at Netzpolitik, who revealed the wrongdoing.
Netzpolitik are an important source of independent news, analysis and campaigning for privacy and freedom in Germany. This is a genuinely shameful moment for the nation. We stand with Netzpolitik and its supporters around the world.
While this is horrible news, there is a silver lining. The main reason the German government feels a need to go overtly fascist, is because they are scared shitless. They are scared of the truth, of the light and of their own citizens. Such a corrupt and compromised government can’t last very long.
Additionally, we should commend the bravery of the journalists involved. As reported by the Intercept:
Asked if Netzpolitik would continue to report using materials gained from whistleblowers, Meister replied, “That’s our job, so of course we will continue to report about publicly relevant information, which obviously includes information from whistleblowers from state and private entities. As a matter of fact, just [yesterday] we have exposed the new ‘cyber strategy’ of the German Federal Military ‘Bundeswehr’ about offensive cyber attacks.”
“If anything, all the support is showing that we must be doing the right thing, so we will continue what we do and maybe even step up the pace. … To paraphrase a Google engineer after yet another NSA leak: ‘Fuck those guys!’”
Bravo. These guys deserve our complete and total support.
For related articles, see:
Standard & Poor’s Warns on Germany as Anti-Euro Political Party Soars in Popularity
Video of the Day – “End the Fed” Rallies are Exploding Throughout Germany
Martin Luther King: “Everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was Legal”
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
German, US and UK spy-agencies are all in the same club.
Our governments and the media are under the control of a power elite and so is “Bilderberg” Merkel, who is nothing more than another elite puppet – like Obama, Bush, Clinton, Blair, Cameron etc. – serving its masters, which is why ... We Are On Our Own.
It is the same all over the western world, the Euro and the US. Since this clown who manages to fool so many of the people most of the time has taken power, all whistle blowers and true reporters have been sidelined or eliminated.
Even Ed Schultz, the only guy on cable news who decried the corporate strangling of unions and the ending of decent paying jobs has been fired from MSNBC….the so-called liberal cable news that isn’t channel. They got rid of Keith Olbermann over three years ago, he is now covering sports….he dared to speak the truth.
Even the Wall Street Journal, the paper that warned accurately of the upcoming crash of 2008-2009 has been struck down by corporate greedy guts…..What I find the most appalling is that nobody says a word. Youth doesn’t seem to care…….they just want the latest smart phone, and to be seen with the right people…….
I remember how we spoke out against things, and got some changed when I was young. I clearly remember the Peace March of Spring, 1967, in San Francisco. At the time, I was in high school, and I remembered sensing it was an historic event. It only lasted a few weeks, but for a while, we could walk freely without fear of harm…….By the time the so-called Summer of Love happened, the real players had left. The pimps and the curious had moved into San Francisco en masse…..and the time of peace was over.
Historically, it was similar to the French Commune of 1871, and just like it, it was over very quickly. For a time, man was peaceful, the aggression that is so integral to our nature was set aside…………………
I was so young and naive, it was an amazing time, but we also had all our civil rights, and a free press. All of those wonderful things are gone, and nobody (save a few of us who are still alive and remember) gives a damn.
As my friend, Bill, often reminds me, we are old and passing on, we are of little interest to the people who have taken over western civilization. Those of us who care are a small minority……I guess it is always this way….The 18th century enlightenment was an amazing era for mankind, it generated a triple society made up of upper, middle and lower class people…….Most of history has embraced the traditional society, a small ruling class, and a majority lower one….No middle classes allowed.
One of the things one learns in the study of history is that there are certain social rules. One involves the Rules of Revolution…..One of the key essential to those rules is that there can be no revolution without a middle class. A middle class is essential because the society needs people with a stake in the system in order to risk life and limb to stand up against greedy gut oppressors.
Without one, there can be no orderly revolt.
I remember the day the market fell 777 points. A group of us were talking that night…..all of us had a stake in the system, and were upset. A man came up to us and laughed. He said he had nothing anyway, so he didn’t care, and tough luck for us…….
That brought home the truth of that social rule better than any history lesson I ever received……Without a stake in the game, people will do nothing.
For a while, man walked in enlightenment and hope, and I am grateful to have lived in that time. For a while, man lived better than he ever lived in known history……..Now, apathy and total media control over the message has extinguished that light, and darkness is upon man once again……
How heartbreaking……..
As for history repeating itself in Germany, the takeover seems to have happened throughout western civilization, not just the Euro….Except for this site, and a few in the UK, nobody in the west seems to know or care.
I know a woman whose response to my comment the government can now remove passports without due process was that ISIS is breeding terrorists….I said ISIS was created by our own people, she didn’t want to hear it. She said there were too many terrorists now.
I pointed out the Confederate flag (that wasn’t) debacle and that since the media created that issue, there were more church burnings and KKK rallies than in the last 20+ years…..She was silent………………..That doesn’t fit the propaganda she absorbs daily………………..The media is so powerful, people don’t even care it is all lies.
The US is doing the same stuff, look at Ed Snowden……He lives in Russia in fear for his life. If the US gets hold of him, he will never see the light of day, or get a fair trial for his entire life. Not only is this against every principle of the US constitution (which has been shredded by these bastards), it is against all rules in western civilization. But, lets look at Germany!!!
The takeover happened in the US in the Coup of 2000. The corporate media didn’t say a word….I remember so clearly those of us who protested could find no avenue to get out our message & most Americans slept through it. The crash of 2001 & the resulting crash of 2008-09 ought to have awakened all of them. Instead, they drink from the propaganda Fountain of Oblivion, and deny what has happened to us and our country.
Germany is doing what the Germans always do, this time using finances instead of armies……..The German takeover of Europe is monetary, and the debt level of all the Euro nations (including Germany) is unsustainable……
Germany is now using the debt Russia owes them to recover Prussia….they want to restore the Prussian good name……..Lets forget the Nazi stuff, they plan to take a leaf out of the US playbook with the Confederacy……Rewrite history, and forget the bad stuff. Lets recover Prussia and focus on all the Marine ethics, claiming them as their legacy. Lets forget the 6 million Jews, the 9 million Polish, the 10 million Gypsies……and all the others they slaughtered.
Perhaps they won’t do that again?
Sure.
People are inherently savage, and nothing can be done to change their nature……..The Germans, just like everyone else, are no different.