North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
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Anti-Empire >>
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 18:30 | Calli Morganite
UCC has paid huge sums to a criminal professor
This story is not for republication. I bear responsibility for the things I write. I have read the guidelines and understand that I must not write anything untrue, and I won't.
This is a public interest story about a complete failure of governance and management at UCC.
Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 08:04 | Mind Agent
Socratic Dialog Between ChatGPT-5 and Mind Agent Reveals Fatal and Deliberate 'Design by Construction' Flaw
This design flaw in ChatGPT-5's default epistemic mode subverts what the much touted ChatGPT-5 can do... so long as the flaw is not tickled, any usage should be fine---The epistemological question is: how would anyone in the public, includes you reading this (since no one is all knowing), in an unfamiliar domain know whether or not the flaw has been tickled when seeking information or understanding of a domain without prior knowledge of that domain???!
This analysis is a pretty unique and significant contribution to the space of empirical evaluation of LLMs that exist in AI public world... at least thus far, as far as I am aware! For what it's worth--as if anyone in the ChatGPT universe cares as they pile up on using the "PhD level scholar in your pocket".
According to GPT-5, and according to my tests, this flaw exists in all LLMs... What is revealing is the deduction GPT-5 made: Why ?design choice? starts looking like ?deliberate flaw?.
People are paying $200 a month to not just ChatGPT, but all major LLMs have similar Pro pricing! I bet they, like the normal user of free ChatGPT, stay in LLM's default mode where the flaw manifests itself. As it did in this evaluation.
AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 20:00 | Mind Agent
Evaluating Semantic Reasoning Capability of AI Chatbot on Ontologically Deep Abstract (bias neutral) Thought
I have been evaluating AI Chatbot agents for their epistemic limits over the past two months, and have tested all major AI Agents, ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Perplexity, and DeepSeek, for their epistemic limits and their negative impact as information gate-keepers.... Today I decided to test for how AI could be the boon for humanity in other positive areas, such as in completely abstract realms, such as metaphysical thought. Meaning, I wanted to test the LLMs for Positives beyond what most researchers benchmark these for, or have expressed in the approx. 2500 Turing tests in Humanity?s Last Exam.. And I chose as my first candidate, Google DeepMind's Gemini as I had not evaluated it before on anything.
Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Fri Aug 01, 2025 23:54 | 1 of indy
We have all known it for over 2 years that it is a genocide in Gaza
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has finally admitted what everyone else outside Israel has known for two years is that the Israeli state is carrying out a genocide in Gaza
Western governments like the USA are complicit in it as they have been supplying the huge bombs and missiles used by Israel and dropped on innocent civilians in Gaza. One phone call from the USA regime could have ended it at any point. However many other countries are complicity with their tacit approval and neighboring Arab countries have been pretty spinless too in their support
With the release of this report titled: Our Genocide -there is a good chance this will make it okay for more people within Israel itself to speak out and do something about it despite the fact that many there are actually in support of the Gaza
China?s CITY WIDE CASH SEIZURES Begin ? ATMs Frozen, Digital Yuan FORCED Overnight Wed Jul 30, 2025 21:40 | 1 of indy
This story is unverified but it is very instructive of what will happen when cash is removed
THIS STORY IS UNVERIFIED BUT PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT AS IT GIVES AN VERY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT A CASHLESS SOCIETY WILL LOOK LIKE. And it ain't pretty
A single video report has come out of China claiming China's biggest cities are now cashless, not by choice, but by force. The report goes on to claim ATMs have gone dark, vaults are being emptied. And overnight (July 20 into 21), the digital yuan is the only currency allowed.
The Saker >>
Britain?s Free Speech Crisis Only Gets Worse Mon Oct 13, 2025 19:00 | Alex Klaushofer
How did Britain, the cradle of liberal democracy, come to have one of the most authoritarian censorship regimes in the world? Alex Klaushofer looks at the horror of the Online Safety Act and where it came from.
The post Britain’s Free Speech Crisis Only Gets Worse appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Nigel Farage Blames Starmer After Reform Council Leader, 19, is Physically Attacked in Street Mon Oct 13, 2025 17:42 | Will Jones
Nigel Farage last night accused Keir Starmer of "disgraceful" rhetoric after Britain's youngest council leader, George Finch, 19, was physically attacked in the street by a man calling him "racist" and a "fascist".
The post Nigel Farage Blames Starmer After Reform Council Leader, 19, is Physically Attacked in Street appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
NHS Nurses Who Refused to Share Changing Room With Man Now Face Misconduct Probe for Telling Story Mon Oct 13, 2025 15:44 | Will Jones
The four Darlington NHS nurses who refused to share a changing room with a male colleague now face a misconduct probe for telling their story and raising awareness of their treatment.
The post NHS Nurses Who Refused to Share Changing Room With Man Now Face Misconduct Probe for Telling Story appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Trump Should Win the Nobel Peace Prize ? But He Won?t Mon Oct 13, 2025 13:34 | Ramesh Thakur
Trump may have missed out on this year's Nobel Peace Prize, but his stunning success in ending the Gaza conflict should mean he bags it next year, says Ramesh Thakur. But he won't ? the Norwegians will never allow it.
The post Trump Should Win the Nobel Peace Prize ? But He Won’t appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
All 20 Israeli Hostages Released After 738 Days in Captivity in Gaza Mon Oct 13, 2025 11:10 | Will Jones
All 20 living hostages were released today after 738 days in captivity in Gaza following?a Donald Trump-brokered deal between Israel and Hamas that aims to bring an end to the war.
The post All 20 Israeli Hostages Released After 738 Days in Captivity in Gaza appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en
Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en
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Voltaire Network >>
international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
other press
Wednesday June 07, 2006 06:40
by anon
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Jump To Comment: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1The American response describe the report as press clippings but one of those press clippings was a semior CIA official concerns over the European black prisons which led to their closure, so maybe that sorta thing works.
Bertie Ahern response is 'if anybody had any evidence they should produce it'
and ours is "Under the European Convention of Human Rights, governments are not only obliged not to do these things, they are obliged to put in place legislation to make it impossible for these things to happen," quoting Mr Davis' spokesman, Matjaz Gruden."
Dail on CoE renditions report
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20060607...ge=11
Aengus O'SFetc ask some interesting questions
Tis gratifying to see the work of Tim Hourigan, Conor Cregan, Ed Horgan and others like them, finally get some of the attention it merits.
Bertie should announce a date for a general election, and then hand himeslf and the others complicit in international crimes against humanity over to the relevant authorities.
Amnesty International Irish Section and the Irish Centre for Human Rights held a seminar in Dublin on May 9 where international human rights experts discussed the obligations of states that have not adequately recognised their responsibility where their territory may have been used to facilitate renditions.
Panelists included UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, Legal Advisor to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mona Rishmawi, and member of the UN Human Rights Committee and Co-Director of the Centre for Human Rights, University of Nottingham, Michael O’Flaherty.
It concluded that a state is not entitled to insist that there must be clear evidence of a specific detainee on board an aircraft before it will act. If there are reasonable grounds to believe that in certain defined contexts there is a general risk that the human rights of certain passengers will be violated, states must act.
"States could make overflight permission conditional upon respect for express human rights clauses. Compliance with procedures for obtaining authorisation for overflight or landings must be strictly monitored. Whenever necessary, the right to search civil planes must be exercised," said Amnesty International Irish Section Secretary General, Colm Ó Cuanacháin.
The seminar concluded that, where a state permits the transit of a foreign aircraft that it knows or ought to know is en route to or returning from a rendition mission, but is not actually carrying detainees at that time, the state may bear some responsibility and jurisdiction. This has significant implications for Ireland, which appears to have operated on the premise that its responsibility and jurisdiction are engaged only where there is clear evidence of detainees physically transiting Irish territory. It also has implications for the US assurances Ireland has requested and received, which appear to address only such direct transfers.
Rather than waiting for information to be uncovered by the media and non-government organisations, states should disclose the full extent of their actions and practices in combating and investigating terrorism, or in facilitating other states to do so, and offer explanations as to how these actions and practices comply with international law.
"Today’s report is not the end of the debate. As the United States comes under increasing pressure to close Guantanámo, other members of the international community must decide whether they are on the side of human rights and the law or narrow political expediency," said Deputy-Director at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, Dr Vinodh Jaichand.
PDF: Full Report: Renditions and the Law (renditions seminar report may 2006.pdf - 152.36 kB) http://www.amnesty.ie/user/content/download/4489/23278/...6.pdf
PDF: Backround Paper (renditions seminar may 2006 background paper.pdf - 46.53 kB) http://www.amnesty.ie/user/content/download/4487/23272/...r.pdf
Previous reports
The German intelligence agency is admitting that it knew about the rendition by the US of a German citizen about two years ago, media reports say.
http://euobserver.com/9/21757
Labour Party representative to the Council of Europe, Eamon Gilmore, has said the Government cannot maintain the pretence that it is blameless regarding extraordinary rendition flights through Shannon Airport after the Council named Ireland as one of 14 countries that colluded with the CIA on these illegal flights.
Deputy Gilmore commented, “Today’s report from Council Rapporteur, Senator Dick Marty, is the latest damning evidence on the extent to which European Member States have been complicit in the US Governments’ illegal activities in Iraq. Specifically, it accuses Ireland of facilitating the passage and detention of unknown persons.
“The Government continually refused to inspect these planes, preferring to take the word of the US Government instead.
“Yet this report, following a separate Council of Europe report last March and numerous and repeated public criticisms from Irish and international human rights organisations, decimates the legitimacy of the Government’s line.
“Senator Marty clearly states that Ireland is among those countries who simply chose to ‘ignore’ these flights, rather than confront their brutal and ugly reality. Feigning ignorance is a pathetic excuse and the Government must admit this.
“It is clear that Member States are unable or unwilling to control foreign intelligence and security agencies such as the CIA. A new approach must now be devised to ensure a means of protecting against the alleged torture, ill-treatment and illegal transport of detainees by the US authorities.
“Given the importance of Senator Marty’s report, I will seek a full debate on its contents and conclusions at the next session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe at the end of this month.”
Below please find paragraphs 280-288 of the 'Conclusion' part of the Report. Ireland has been named, as illustrated in the map above, as a stop-over....and it is in the illustrious company of our EU partners: Portugal, Greece and our best friends the UK. It is noteworthy that in par 284, that while the authorship of the barbaric web is clearly put on the shoulders of the US, the Report notes"it is only through the intentional or grossly negligent collusion of the European partners that this “web” was able to spread also over Europe".
Enjoy:
280. Our analysis of the CIA 'rendition' programme has revealed a network that resembles a 'spider’s web' spun across the globe. The analysis is based on official information provided by national and international air traffic control authorities, as well as on other information including from sources inside intelligence services, in particular the American. This 'web', shown in the graphic239, is composed of several landing points, which we have subdivided into different categories, and which are linked up among themselves by civilian planes used by the CIA or military aircraft.
281. These landing points are used for various purposes that range from aircraft stopovers to refuel during a mission to staging points used for the connection of different 'rendition circuits' that we have identified and where “rendition units” can rest and prepare missions. We have also marked the points where there are known detention centres (Guantanamo Bay, Kabul and Baghdad…) as well as points where we believe we have been able to establish that pick-ups of rendition victims took place.
282. In two European countries only (Romania and Poland), there are two other landing points that remain to be explained. Whilst these do not fall into any of the categories described above, several indications have us believe that they are likely to form part of the ’rendition circuits’240. These landings therefore do not form part of the 98% of CIA flights that are used solely for logistical purposes241, but rather belong to the 2% of flights that concern us the most. These corroborated facts strengthen the presumption – already based on other elements - that these landings are detainee drop-off points that are near to secret detention centres.
283. Analysis of the network’s functioning and of ten individual cases allows us to make a number of conclusions both about human rights violations – some of which continue – and about the responsibilities of some Council of Europe member States.
284. It must be emphasised that this report is indeed addressed to the Council of Europe Member states. The United States, an observer state of our Organisation, actually created this reprehensible network, which we criticise in light of the values shared on both sides of the Atlantic. But we also believe to have established that it is only through the intentional or grossly negligent collusion of the European partners that this “web” was able to spread also over Europe.
285. The impression which some Governments tried to create at the beginning of this debate – that Europe was a victim of secret CIA plots – does not seem to correspond to reality. It is now clear – although we are still far from having established the whole truth - that authorities in several European countries actively participated with the CIA in these unlawful activities. Other countries ignored them knowingly, or did not want to know.
286. In the draft resolution, which sums up this report’s conclusions, I have not directly named the countries responsible simply because there is not enough room in such a text to adequately develop the nuances of each individual case. In addition, we only know part of the truth so far, and other countries may still turn out to be implicated in light of future research or revelations. This explanatory note, however, explains the discovered facts in far greater detail. Finally, the purpose of this report is not to attribute ‘grades’ to different member states, but to try to understand what really happened throughout Europe and to stop certain violations shown from reoccurring in future. I would add that a key element seems to be the urgent need to improve the international response to the threat of terrorism. This response presently appears today as largely inadequate and insufficiently coordinated.
287. Whilst hard evidence, at least according to the strict meaning of the word, is still not forthcoming, a number of coherent and converging elements indicate that secret detention centres have indeed existed and unlawful inter-state transfers have taken place in Europe. I do not set myself up to act as a criminal court, because this would require evidence beyond reasonable doubt. My assessment rather reflects a conviction based upon careful examination of balance of probabilities, as well as upon logical deductions from clearly established facts. It is not intended to pronounce that the authorities of these countries are ‘guilty’ for having tolerated secret detention sites, but rather it is to hold them ‘responsible’ for failing to comply with the positive obligation to diligently investigate any serious allegation of fundamental rights violations.
288. In this sense, it must be stated that to date, the following member States could be held responsible, at varying degrees, which are not always settled definitively, for violations of the rights of specific persons identified below (respecting the chronological order as far as possible):
- Sweden, in the cases of Ahmed Agiza and Mohamed Alzery ;
- Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the cases of Lakhdar Boumediene, Mohamed Nechle, Hadj Boudella, Belkacem Bensayah, Mustafa Ait Idir and Saber Lahmar ( the “Algerian six“) ;
- The United Kingdom in the cases of Bisher Al-Rawi, Jamil El-Banna and Binyam Mohamed ;
- Italy, in the cases of Abu Omar and Maher Arar ;
- “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia“, in the case of Khaled El-Masri ;
- Germany, in the cases of Abu Omar, of the “Algerian six”, and Khaled El-Masri ;
- Turkey, in the case of the “Algerian six”.
289. Some of these above mentioned states, and others, could be held responsible for collusion – active or passive (in the sense of having tolerated or having been negligent in fulfilling the duty to supervise) - involving secret detention and unlawful inter-state transfers of a non specified number of persons whose identity so far remains unknown:
- Poland and Romania, concerning the running of secret detention centres;
- Germany, Turkey, Spain and Cyprus for being ’staging points’ for flights involving the unlawful transfer of detainees;
- Ireland, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Greece and Italy for being ‘stopovers’ for flights involving the unlawful transfer of detainees.
Ireland is expected to be one of 14 European countries to be named in a report by the Council of Europe on so-called rendition flights.
See also http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5054426.stm
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly rapporteur Dick Marty today revealed what he called a global ''spider’s web'' of CIA detentions and transfers and listed seven Council of Europe member states which could be held responsible, in varying degrees, for violations of the rights of named individuals by colluding in these operations. In a 67-page explanatory memorandum to his report, made public in Paris today at a meeting of the Assembly’s Legal Affairs Committee, he said: ''It is now clear… that authorities in several European countries actively participated with the CIA in these unlawful activities. Other countries ignored them knowingly, or did not want to know.'' (more ...)
Video of press conference (available around 4pm) http://assembly.coe.int/
Failte Ireland