Glenn Greenwald Accused of Cybercrimes by Prosecutors in Brazil

Glenn Greenwald is now officially Next.

Greenwald has been accused of hacking the phone calls of Brazil's Justice Minister Sergio Moro when he was the judge overseeing the corruption case that ultimately cost former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva his freedom.

Greenwald and the Intercept published phone conversations between Moro and prosecutors in the corruption investigation that showed the judge conspiring with prosecutors... so Greenwald unearthed... wait for it... corruption.

The Intercept and Greenwald have done excellent work in uncovering the festering rat's nest of scandal and corruption in Brazil. Please start here with their statement on the accusations: https://theintercept.com/2020/01/21/glenn-greenwald-brazil-denunciation/

You can read more about the news of the newly-debuted Witch Hunt of Glenn Greenwald here:
https://nationalpost.com/news/world/brazil-prosecutors-charge-the-interc...

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accused of the 'crime' of
exposing corruption in the ruling class
the truth hurts the powerful
so we are put in chains

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17 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

Better not tell the people about government corruption and crimes or you will be arrested.

Whatta world...

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19 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

who receive any governmental information that wasn't released through official channels. In the U.S., the Espionage Act and associated conspiracy statutes, along with various wiretap and anti-hacking laws, have the same effect. In the UK and other Commonwealth countries, there is an Official Secrets Act that does the job.

Basically, if you publish anything that is classified secret, or any unreleased information that was stored or communicated by an official over a voice data or computer network, you're an enemy of the state. Virtually all unauthorized government information is not knowable under pain and penalty of the law.

You, citizen, are entitled to know nothing except what they want you to know.

Therefore, the idea that there really is freedom of the press in the "democracies" is a lie, as is the reality of democracy in the world today.

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22 users have voted.
Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@leveymg

can be charged against just about anybody, if you are willing to go out a few degrees of separation...

"Criminal association" is just a fancy way of saying "we can call you guilty if we want to."

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3 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Raggedy Ann's picture

the muslims.........................

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10 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

earthling1's picture

Either way, genuine "journalists" are very nearly disappeared from the earth.
I'm curious though. What do the tenured journalism professors at our ivy league colleges have to tell their students about what the profession has become.
Because, at some point no student will want to invest huge sums of money into a degree in jouralism only to be sandbagged for life.
And consequently, no students means no more use for "learned professionals".
Kind of a "Duh" moment in the halls of higher education.
Can anyone shed any light on this viewpoint?

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15 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

@earthling1 when I was writing this earlier today, I was trying to channel my feelings into words. I couldn't. This is so outrageous yet expected yet demoralizing yet par for the course.

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7 users have voted.
Roy Blakeley's picture

@earthling1 Most journalists do not cover things that are overly controversial, and many are just trying to get and keep a job. I am noticing that some newspapers are hiring a lot of people right out of college as reporters. My guess is that they are energetic and work cheap.

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3 users have voted.
earthling1's picture

@Roy Blakeley
Even the local morning news is tainted.
For instance; My local ABC tv affiliate is showing a street scene from a chopper overhead with a female "reporter" voiceover describing how two kids were struck and killed by a truck. She reports that the kids were in the street when hit and there may not have been sidewalks available to them.
The chopper overhead clearly shows no sidewalks. So I assumed the reporter did not have access to the video footage.
Moments later, they cut to her standing on the scene, with the missing sidewalks clearly revealed behind her, while she reads from her smartphone the rest of her "report".
I see this kind of news all the time. The words being spoken do not match the facts the video is showing.
It's like everything is scripted now. It has to go through channels to.be messaged and approved.
The modern journalist is just a bobblehead programmed to utter words.
Max Headroom come to life.

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10 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

@earthling1 but the reality was quite different. I learned the paradox first hand when I was attending J-school at BU at that time. On the one hand, The Boston Globe published an Op-ed I wrote about why mass civil disobedience at the Seabrook, NH nuclear power plant had been successful because of excessive force used by the cops and National Guard against non-violent protesters. I was a witness and participant at the receiving end of teargas and mace. On the other hand, I was approached for CIA recruitment (which I turned down) by one of the Journalism School's professors.

That myth of reform from within underpinning the larger myth of American Democracy was known then to be a semi-transparent contradiction, but increasingly the Powers That Be don't even bother to sustain appearances. Forty years later, such illusions aren't viewed as effective, so the rhetoric has been largely dispensed with, these days. The elite in all the "professions" that deal with the reality of working under an Oligarchy in an Empire in Decline understand that.

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11 users have voted.

@leveymg

On the other hand, I was approached for CIA recruitment (which I turned down) by one of the Journalism School's professors.

that is the shit and I believe it. The events of 2016 broadened my perspective by several miles. There have been rumors that some "liberal" websites either harbor or are headed by CIA operatives for the purpose of controlled opposition. In a few cases, highly vocal, prominent people have just up and disappeared from forums. One of these cases involved someone who had been the subject of CIA rumors but who seemed very real to me, and I still worry about them. Another case involved a commenter who had an endless supply of excellent links which made him appear almost super-humanly intelligent, but he pushed Russiagate and TDS to the hilt and was clearly too smart to actually believe that stuff. Then, concurrent with the incident that compromised Seymour Hersh's privacy a couple of years ago, he abruptly dropped off the face of the earth. I wondered if there could have been CIA-linked elements involved in that incident and if this guy may have been CIA.

On the one hand, it's like, what kind of person would choose to be a cheating, lying, backstabbing pos? Otoh, I find myself wondering if the CIA is similar to Scientology in that once you're in, you can't get out, in which case, some of these people may regret their decision and in fact live in fear or at least with a feeling of being trapped.

Without "empire" and power-mongers, there would be no place in the world for CIA, KGB, etc. If our side wins the eventual revolution, we're going to have to clean that shit up and out.

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12 users have voted.

Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl

Wally's picture

@laurel

Why would they let any one out? Coz they are nice, kind and understanding folks who only want what's best for the world and everybody in it?

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G29DXfcdhBg]

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4 users have voted.

@Wally as openly as I just did, because that could begin the defanging process. Maybe young people should be routinely warned about such traps before they head off to college or out into the world. Maybe some kindly billionaire could start a secluded, protected rehabilitation center in a foreign country somewhere for people like my "friend" who might have gone in for youthful thrills and chills and now just want out.

Well, I guess it's time to rummage around in existential angst for awhile before getting on with the now somewhat more attractive little mundane tasks of the day...

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6 users have voted.

Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl

earthling1's picture

@laurel
Is a magnet for drones these days.

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5 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Wally's picture

@laurel

I have a feeling, maybe I'm wrong, you misunderstood my analogy.

To hopefully clarify, I don't think the CIA or any agency in the IC will let any one out once somebody joins, much like the organizational "they" Silvio is referencing.

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3 users have voted.

@Wally I understood your analogy, appreciated it, and thought it aligned perfectly with my Scientology analogy. I also enjoyed the Sopranos clip with yet another pang for the loss of Gandolfini.

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0 users have voted.

Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Wally

[video:https://youtu.be/S-IkWpm7TS0]

Wink

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2 users have voted.

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@laurel @laurel operate around the world." The prof. was a defected Polish military officer, so I'm sure he saw things through that lens, rather differently than I.

In later years, I met many people with similar attitudes about the Soviet Union when I was preparing political asylum applications for refugees from Soviet occupied client states like Ethiopia. But, I also did asylum cases for victims of persecution in the formerly U.S.-controlled neighboring East Africa state of Somalia. Indeed, even the torture techniques were similar, as was the astonishing personal bravery and grace of the survivors who had suffered so terribly from the Cold War.

I think history has proven me right about the reason I gave for saying no. I'm happy with the choice I made.

At the same time, I have met people who have retired after careers in the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies, and I found them to be decent human beings and good neighbors who went out their way to try to do the right thing. They too show grace as survivors.

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7 users have voted.

@leveymg there have to be scores or even hundreds of CIA or ex-CIA who are in fact decent people. John Kiriakou and Valerie Plame come to mind. But odds are it was wise of you to refuse the offer (and yeah it's understandable that it would have been flattering).

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1 user has voted.

Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl

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15 users have voted.

"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

snoopydawg's picture

@Fishtroller 02

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14 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@snoopydawg

hitting closer to the bone than I usually expect from him.

It's one thing to say Wall St committed crimes and got away with it; that bankers and oil barons own our government; that wealth inequality, formerly known as holy-fuck-half-the-country-is-poor, is wrong; that rich people ought to pay taxes--and should not be above the law.

It's another to go after the military industrial complex and the spooks.

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2 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Fishtroller 02 for him to say/do something about Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning as well. I ask 'why the silence' on them both and others are tweeting 'say his name!'.
Ignoring Julian Assange's plight for over a decade is the reason attacks on those that expose the truth has everything to do with why this is happening to Glenn Greenwald.

I only remember hear a vague, and brief mention of Assange by Bernie and that has to have been a couple of years ago, at least, but Elizabeth wasn't vague at she called him a "bad actor', so forget the Courts she has already passed judgement of guilt.

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13 users have voted.
Wally's picture

@aliasalias

and other whistleblowers. Yes, I know Assange is not charged as such but Manning is and much of the case against Assange is predicated on what Manning is alleged to have done. Take away culpability on Manning's part and that's a good thing for Assange.

I've written to a couple of his staff people I managed to find emails for to let them know I support Assange and hope that Bernie does the right thing when (and if) he has the power to do something about it.

I urge other folks to write to him and his staff directly as the most effective way of making something good happen vis-a-vis Assange rather than just do the twitter thing which will probably just result in cutting down the number of people voting for Bernie.

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11 users have voted.

@Wally @Wally in the tweets, but what I do see is the chance to put this long ignored issue in a spotlight and a few people posted links to UN's rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer calling his confinement by it's real name 'torture'.
One important thing to note is that if the extradition of Julian Assange to the US happens it will be too late to do anything as that particular Court has a 100% conviction record on 'national security' cases before it.
Julian Assange's extradition will be decided long before the election and that is if he is still alive and with or without Manning's testimony in the US he already faces charges under the 'espionage act' for publishing 'classified material'.

"... More than 65 doctors from the UK, US, Australia, Germany, Italy and Sri Lanka have brought to the attention of a global audience the terrible dangers to Assange’s life. They wrote to Britain’s Conservative Home Secretary Priti Patel on Friday, warning, “Mr. Assange could die” because of years of arbitrary detention and his continued incarceration in almost permanent isolation in London’s Belmarsh maximum security prison.

The doctors insist that Assange be moved to a university teaching hospital, where he can be assessed and treated by an expert medical team. They stress, “The medical situation is thereby urgent. There is no time to lose.”

"The doctors were acutely concerned by the findings of Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, that Assange is suffering the effects of prolonged “psychological tortureafter nearly a decade of arbitrary detention and state persecution, which “may soon end up costing his life.” They saw how this warning by the world’s foremost authority on torture was simply dismissed by the UK government.

Following the harrowing account of Assange’s physical and mental condition given by former British diplomat and whistle-blower Craig Murray, who attended the October 21 Westminster Magistrates Court hearing at which Assange appeared, the doctors decided to act. They resolved that it was their professional duty to report “suspected torture of which they become aware, wherever it may be occurring… That professional duty is absolute and must be carried out regardless of risk to reporting doctors.”
(all emphasis mine)
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/26/pers-n26.html#pk_campaign=si...

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10 users have voted.
Wally's picture

@aliasalias

It would be nice if those doctors had some real political power.

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5 users have voted.
Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@aliasalias

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1 user has voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

with Katie Halper and Matt Taibi, Glenn Greenwald disclosed some hair-raising facts about life in Brazil under Bolsonaro. Because of his situation (politics, journalist, gay marriage, adoption of children) Glenn had realized that he would be a target and for this reason goes nowhere without a body guard. Hearing his story, I wanted to beg him to get himself and his family out of there ASAP. Wish he'd done it.

The interview includes a mix of topics, all of interest to C99 readers. This is the interview-only portion of the show, just under an hour:

[VIDEO:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h_44RKUGAg]

Additionally, Caitlin Johnstone has put up an excellent, well-researched piece on the Greenwald arrest in context of the larger war on journalism: https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/01/22/the-empires-war-on-oppositional-...

Her closing summary:

This is all being done to prevent the public from gaining a clear understanding of what’s really going on in their world, because if the public had a clear understanding of what’s going on in their world, the empire would forever lose its ability to control them and rule them.

Whoever controls the narrative controls the world. The imperialists understand this. The public, by and large, do not. And the imperialists intend to keep it that way.

Glenn Greenwald has spent the last three years being falsely smeared as a stooge of authoritarian governments while he was actually doing more damage to an authoritarian government than all of his critics combined. Public trust in oppressive institutions (like the oppressive institutions that empire loyalists have been protecting by smearing Greenwald as a Kremlin agent and a Putin puppet) can be severely weakened by the exposure of their dark underbellies to the light of truth.

The imperialists know this, and they are determined not to allow it to continue. Hence their persecution of Assange, and hence their persecution of Greenwald.

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14 users have voted.

Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl

@laurel at about 44:00. (We all have limited time, energy, etc.)

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6 users have voted.

Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl

Shahryar's picture

we've talked about the idea of emigrating but really, as I see it, any country that sounds good now because of values, freedom, living conditions, is subject to being taken over, either invaded by the United States or turned far right.

In this case, only a few years ago we thought Brazil might be an option. After all, Glenn Greenwald and husband found it a good place to live. And now this.

Perhaps Sweden, perhaps New Zealand. I would have thought Australia, maybe, but look at that cluck they have in power now.

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15 users have voted.
earthling1's picture

@Shahryar
Freedom is being squeezed into a tighter and smaller cubby hole on planet earth.
Freedom will become extinct very soon.

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9 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

TheOtherMaven's picture

How does it feel to be one of the "bad" journalists, Mr. Greenwald? Do you understand now that an attack on one is an attack on all?

It's hang together or hang separately. It always was. It always will be.

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8 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

@TheOtherMaven seemingly risked so much to help Snowden could then turn his back on Assange.

The only way to explain it is that the tiny percentage of the Snowden NSA trove publicly filtered and released by the Intercept, The Guardian and The New York Times was a limited, modified hangout.

All of the above are today much less trusted as a result of this and a multitude of other compromises and cooptation of "liberal" media by the US and UK intelligence services.

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5 users have voted.
Not Henry Kissinger's picture

@leveymg @leveymg

The only way to explain it is that the tiny percentage of the Snowden NSA trove publicly filtered and released by the Intercept, The Guardian and The New York Times was a limited, modified hangout.

that Glenn should have been awarded The Sy Hersh Limited Hangout Achievement Award (tm) for the way he managed the Snowden docs.

Who knows? Maybe somewhere in the basement at Langley, there's a plaque.

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3 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?