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Ex-KGB spy accused of Litvinenko murder says MI6 tried to recruit him
January 26, 2016 by Joseph Fitsanakis 1 Comment
A Russian former intelligence officer, who is accused by the British government of having killed another Russian former spy in London, said the British intelligence services tried to recruit him in 2006. British government prosecutors have charged Andrei Lugovoi with the killing of Alexander Litvinenko, a former employee of the Soviet KGB and one of its successor agencies, the FSB. In 2006, Litvinenko died in London, where he had defected with his family in 2000, following exposure to the highly radioactive substance Polonium-210. In July of 2007, the British government charged Lugovoi and another Russian, Dmitri Kovtun, with the murder of Litvinenko, and expelled four Russian diplomats from London. Last week, following the conclusion of an official inquest into the former KGB spy's death, the British government took the unusual step of summoning the Russian ambassador to London, to file an official complaint about Moscow's refusal to extradite Lugovoi and Kovtun to the United Kingdom.
But Lugovoi, who is now a member of the Russian Duma, denies any involvement in Litvinenko's murder and has dismissed as "completely absurd" the inquest's conclusion that he was behind the killing. Speaking last week on Russian television, Lugovoi reiterated his criticism of the report and claimed British intelligence had tried to recruit him shortly before Litvinenko's murder. The Duma member was a guest on This Evening, a high-profile talk show on Russia's Channel 1 television, hosted by Vladimir Sovolyev, a popular television personality and talk show host. Lugovoi told Sovolyev that he found it interesting that the British government "was always happy to grant me visas" to travel to the UK, even though London knew he was a former KGB spy. "Then, in May of 2006", approximately six months before Litvinenko was killed, "MI6 tried to recruit me", he added. He was referring to the Secret Intelligence Service, Britain's primary external intelligence organization.
The former KGB officer then reiterated his longstanding argument that he and Kovtun were also poisoned by the same Polonium given to Litvinenko by the person or persons who killed him. He told Sovolyev that, after meeting Litvinenko in London a few days before his death, he fell violently ill and had to spend several months in a Russian hospital recovering from radiation poisoning. Lugovoi also hinted that the British government may have killed Litvinenko for reasons of its own. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not comment on Lugovoi's statement, but said in a press release that London's accusations against the two former spies were "politically motivated" and "non-transparent". The UK maintains that Lugovoi and Kovtun fell ill because they did not handle the Polonium given to them by their handlers with the appropriate amount of care.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 26 January 2016 | Permalink
Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with Alexander Litvinenko, andrei Lugovoi, KGB, News, poisoning, Russia, suspicious deaths, UK
Britain summons Russian envoy to protest killing of ex-KGB spy in London
January 22, 2016 by Joseph Fitsanakis 3 Comments
The British government has taken the unusual step of summoning the Russian ambassador to London, following the conclusion of an official inquest into the death of a former KGB officer who is believed to have been killed on the orders of Moscow. Alexander Litvinenko, an employee of the Soviet KGB and one of its successor organizations, the FSB, defected with his family to the United Kingdom in 2000. But in 2006, he died of radioactive poisoning after meeting two former KGB/FSB colleagues, Dmitri Kovtun and Andrey Lugovoy, in London. A public inquiry into the death of Litvinenko, ordered by the British state, concluded this week after six months of deliberations involving sworn testimony by over 60 witnesses, including British intelligence officers who worked closely with Litvinenko.
In releasing the inquiry report, the presiding judge, Sir Robert Owen, said it was clear that Kovtun and Lugovoi "were acting on behalf of someone else" when they killed their former colleague in London. He added that members of the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, including the Russian president himself, had "motives for taking action" against Litvinenko, "including killing him". Moreover, President Putin's systematic protection of Lugovoi, the primary suspect in the case, whom Russia currently refuses to extradite to the UK, "suggest a level of approval for the killing" at the highest levels of the Russian government, said Sir Robert.
Speaking during a session in the British House of Commons on Thursday, the UK's Home Secretary Theresa May described Litvinenko's killing as "a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and civilized behavior". On the same day, David Lidington, a Minister of state at the British Foreign Office, who currently serves as the country's Minister for Europe, summoned the Russian Ambassador to London, Alexander Yakovenko, to file an official protest against Litvinenko's murder. Meanwhile, the British state has moved to freeze the assets of the two main suspects in the case, while British Prime Minister David Cameron said further punitive measures against Russia were possible. Speaking to reporters in Davos, Switzerland, where he is participating in the World Economic Forum, Cameron said Britain wanted to have "some sort of relationship" with the Kremlin in light of the situation in Syria. But Whitehall would "look very carefully at the report and all the detail" and would proceed "with clear eyes and a very cold heart", he said.
Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with Alexander Litvinenko, Alexander Yakovenko, KGB, News, poisoning, Russia, Sir Robert Owen, suspicious deaths, Theresa May, UK
Long-awaited British report to blame Kremlin for ex-KGB spy's death
The long-awaited concluding report of a public inquiry into the death of a former Soviet spy in London in 2006, is expected to finger the Russian state as the perpetrator of the murder. Alexander Litvinenko was an employee of the Soviet KGB and one of its successor organizations, the FSB, until 2000, when he defected with his family to the United Kingdom. He soon became known as a vocal critic of the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2006, Litvinenko came down with radioactive poisoning after meeting two former KGB/FSB colleagues, Dmitri Kovtun and Andrey Lugovoy, at a London restaurant. In July of 2007, after establishing the cause of Litvinenko's death, which is attributed to the highly radioactive substance Polonium-210, the British government officially charged the two Russians with murder and issued international warrants for their arrest. Whitehall also announced the expulsion of four Russian diplomats from London. The episode, which was the first public expulsion of Russian envoys from Britain since end of the Cold War, is often cited as marking the beginning of the worsening of relations between the West and post-Soviet Russia.
A public inquiry into the death of Litvinenko, ordered by the British state, has taken over six months to conclude. In the process, the judge in charge, Sir Robert Owen, has heard from 62 witnesses. The latter include members of the Secret Intelligence Service, known commonly as MI6, for which the late Russian former spy worked after his arrival in Britain. The release of the inquiry's report is expected this week. But British media have quoted unnamed "government sources" as saying that the long-awaited document will point to the Russian state as the instigator, planner and execution of Litvinenko's death. One source was quoted as saying that the report will identify "a clear line of command" and that "it will be very clear that the orders came from the Kremlin".
It is not believed, however, that the report will point to Russian President Vladimir Putin as having had a role in the former spy's murder. Nevertheless, there is speculation in London and Moscow about the British government's possible response to the inquiry's report. One unnamed source told the British press that the report's findings would place Whitehall "in a difficult position", given London's current cooperation with Russia in Syria. However, the government of British Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to face renewed pressure from the public and from opposition parties to take action against Russia, should it be confirmed this week that the Kremlin was indeed behind Litvinenko's killing.
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Murder suspect to give evidence on death of ex-KGB spy in London
June 16, 2015 by Joseph Fitsanakis Leave a comment
A Russian former intelligence officer, who is accused by the British government of having killed a former KGB spy in London, has agreed to testify at a public inquiry to be held in the British capital next month. British government prosecutors believe Russian businessman Dmitri Kovtun, who worked for the KGB during the Cold War, poisoned his former colleague in the KGB, Alexander Litvinenko, in 2006. Litvinenko was an officer in the Soviet KGB and one of its successor organizations, the FSB, until 2000, when he defected with his family to the United Kingdom. He soon became known as a vocal critic of the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2006, Litvinenko came down with radioactive poisoning soon after meeting Kovtun and another former KGB officer, Andrey Lugovoy, at a London restaurant. He was dead less than two weeks later.
In July of 2007, after establishing the cause of Litvinenko's death, which is attributed to the highly radioactive substance Polonium-210, the British government officially charged 1 Kovtun and Lugovoy with murder and issued international arrest warrants for their arrest. Soon afterwards, Whitehall announced the expulsion of four Russian diplomats from London. The episode, which was the first public expulsion of Russian envoys from Britain since end of the Cold War, is often cited as marking the beginning of the worsening of relations between the West and post-Soviet Russia.
Since 2007, when they were officially charged with murder, Kovtun and Lugovoy deny the British government's accusations, and claim that Litvinenko poisoned himself by accident while trading in illegal nuclear substances. The administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses to extradite the two former KGB officers to London, and has denounced the British public inquiry into Litvinenko's death as "a sham". However, last March Kovtun unexpectedly wrote to the presiding judge at the inquiry, Sir Robert Owen, offering to testify via a live video link from Moscow. On Monday, Sir Robert issued a statement 2 saying an agreement had been struck between Kovtun and the inquiry, and that the Russian businessman would testify from Moscow, "most likely towards the end of next month". Kovtun is expected to confirm that he met Litvinenko in London on the day the former KGB spy fell ill, but to insist that he had no role in poisoning him.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 16 June 2015 | Permalink: https://intelnews.org/2015/06/16/01-1715/
J. FITSANAKIS "Coroner's report sees Russian state behind ex-KGB spy's death" intelNews [23jan2014] ↩
ANON. "Litvinenko inquiry: Key suspect Kovtun to give evidence" BBC [15jun2015] ↩
Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with Alexander Litvinenko, Andrey Lugovoy, Dmitri Kovtun, KGB, News, poisoning, Russia, Sir Robert Owen, suspicious deaths, UK
Ex-KGB spy killed in London 'warned Italy about Russian terror plot'
March 31, 2015 by Joseph Fitsanakis 1 Comment
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org
A witness has told a British inquiry investigating the murder of ex-KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko that the former spy may have been killed because he warned Italian authorities about an impending Russian terror plot. Litvinenko was an employee of the Soviet KGB and one of its successor organizations, the FSB, until 2000, when he defected with his family to the United Kingdom. He soon became known as a vocal critic of the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2006, Litvinenko came down with radioactive poisoning soon after meeting former KGB/FSB colleague Andrey Lugovoy at a London restaurant. Many suspect that the Russian government is behind Litvinenko's murder.
Speaking in a London court on Monday, Italian newspaper editor and politician Paolo Guzzanti said he believed Litvinenko was murdered by the Kremlin because he was helping Italian authorities assess a series of Soviet and Russian intelligence operations in the country. Guzzanti was speaking as the former president of the so-called Mitrokhin Commission, a parliamentary board set up in 2002 to investigate past intelligence operations by the Soviet KGB in Italy. Most of the work of the Commission stemmed from the revelations in the Mitrokhin Archive, named after Vassili Mitrokhin, who for three decades was the archivist in the KGB's First Chief Directorate. Mitrokhin defected to the Britain in 1992, taking with him a treasure trove of documents about Soviet intelligence activities that took place abroad during the Cold War.
Guzzanti told the inquiry that Litvinenko had cooperated with the Mitrokhin Committee and had even shared information with one of its consultants, Mario Scaramella, about ongoing attempts by the FSB to organize terrorist strikes in Italy. According to Guzzanti, Litvinenko informed Scaramella that Russian intelligence operatives were helping transport weapons from Ukraine to Italy in order to assassinate Guzzanti and thus sabotage the work of the Mitrokhin Committee. Based on Litvinenko's information, Scaramella accused Alexander Talik, a Ukrainian former officer of the KGB who lived in Naples, Italy, of helping Russian intelligence operatives smuggle guns into the country. Talik and a number of his accomplices were promptly arrested by Italian authorities after they found several weapons and grenades in their possession. According to Guzzanti, Litvinenko's role in stopping the alleged assassination attempt against him and other members of the Mitrokhin Committee was what led to the Kremlin's decision to murder the former KGB spy.
At the end of Monday's proceedings, the inquiry directors announced the would adjourn until the next provisional hearing, which has been scheduled for July 27.
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Coroner's report sees Russian state behind ex-KGB spy's death
January 23, 2014 by Joseph Fitsanakis Leave a comment
A previously classified report by the British government official who certified the 2006 death of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko states that the Russian state was directly implicated in the murder. Litvinenko was an employee of the Soviet KGB and one of its successor organizations, the FSB, until 2000, when he defected with his family to the UK. He soon became known as a vocal critic of the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2006, Litvinenko came down with radioactive poisoning soon after meeting former KGB/FSB colleague Andrey Lugovoy at a London restaurant. Many suspect that the Russian government is behind Litvinenko's murder. In February of last year, Litvinenko's family accused the British government of trying to block a probe into the murder case, after British Foreign Secretary William Hague limited the scope of a public inquest in to the matter on national security grounds. Supporters of Litvinenko have argued that White Hall has played down the Litvinenko murder case in order to preserve its trade ties with Russia's government-owned energy companies. Members of the murdered spy's family are now pushing for a full public inquiry into the incident, and are currently making the case before a specially appointed panel of judges at the High Court. In the course of this appeal, a previously classified document has emerged, which contains the report of Sir Robert Owen, the coroner who first examined the available evidence immediately after Litvinenko's death. According to the document, which has been seen by the BBC, the coroner concluded that, based on "documents held by the UK government", the "culpability of the Russian state in the death of Alexander Litvinenko" could be established "prima facie". Read more of this post
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Further evidence shows Litvinenko worked for MI6 when killed
November 29, 2013 by Joseph Fitsanakis 1 Comment
In 2012, a court in the United Kingdom was told that former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who died of poisoning in 2006, had been working for British and Spanish intelligence when he was killed. Now British newspaper The Independent says it has proof that the late Russian spy provided "expert analysis" on Russian politics for British intelligence, shortly before his death. Litvinenko was an employee of the Soviet KGB and one of its successor organizations, the FSB, until 2000, when he defected with his family to the UK. He soon became known as a vocal critic of the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2006, Litvinenko came down with radioactive poisoning soon after meeting a former KGB/FSB colleague, Andrey Lugovoy, at a London restaurant. Many suspect that the Russian government is behind Litvinenko's murder. But the dead spy's family has argued for years that his killers did not only kill an intelligence defector, but also an officer of British intelligence. On Thursday, The Independent said it had seen a diplomatic memo that was given to Litvnenko for analysis by British external intelligence agency MI6. The document, known in the British Foreign Office lingo as a "diptel" (diplomatic telegram), was dispatched to several British embassies around the world in 2000. It includes a descriptive analysis of a confidential meeting in London between British intelligence officials and Sergei Ivanov. Currently a political powerhouse in Putin's administration, Ivanon was at the time an unknown quantity in Western circles. He had entered politics after having spent nearly two decades working for Soviet and Russian external intelligence. The diptel seen by The Independent outlines the exchange of views between Ivanov and the British officials during the meeting, and evaluates his stance on a broad range of issues, ranging from the rise of Islamic militancy, to China, the Middle East, and the role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Read more of this post
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May 22, 2013 by Ian Allen 7 Comments
►►Russian ex-spy 'would testify' in Litvinenko inquiry. The 2006 murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has never been solved and remains the subject of conflicting narratives and still-deepening intrigue over who may have killed him and why. Now a key witness, a US-based former Russian spy who worked with Litvinenko in the months leading up to his death, says he is willing to give evidence at a public inquiry. British police considered him such a vital witness that they visited the US three times to persuade him to give evidence at the inquest.
►►Assange reveals GCHQ messages discussing extradition. Authorities at GCHQ, Britain's eavesdropping agency, face embarrassing revelations about internal correspondence in which WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is discussed, apparently including speculation that he is being framed by Swedish authorities seeking his extradition on rape allegations. The records were revealed by Assange himself in a Sunday night interview with Spanish television. A message from September 2012, apparently says: "They are trying to arrest him on suspicion of XYZ. It is definitely a fit-up. Their timings are too convenient right after Cablegate".
►►North Korean defector accused of spying by his sister. Earlier this year, Yoo Woo-sung, one of the most prominent North Korean defectors living in South Korea, was arrested on charges of espionage. Now court documents have shown that Yoo was arrested after testimony from his sister, who said he had been sent on a mission by North Korea's secret police to infiltrate the defector community and pass back information about the people he met. The Washington Post reports that defectors from the North are increasingly facing the brunt of this suspicion.
►►Iran hangs two men for spying for Israel and US. Mohammad Heydari was found guilty of passing intelligence on "security issues and national secrets" to Israeli Mossad agents in exchange for cash. Kourosh Ahmadi was convicted of providing intelligence to the CIA, Tehran's prosecutor's office said. It is not clear when Heydari and Ahmadi were arrested or where they were tried. Their execution was handed down by Tehran's Revolutionary Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court, Iran's Fars news agency reported.
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News you may have missed #826 (suspicious deaths edition)
March 14, 2013 by intelNews 4 Comments
►►Key suspect in Russian spy murder refuses to cooperate. Andrey Lugovoi, who is now an elected official in Russia, says he will not talk even by video to British investigators about the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in London just over six years ago. The murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, has never been solved and remains the subject of conflicting narratives and still-deepening intrigue over who may have killed him and why.
►►Exhumation of Neruda's remains set for April. A court in Chile has set April 8 as the date for the exhumation of the remains of the Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda, as part of an inquest into his death. The poet and leftwing activist died 12 days after a military coup replaced the socialist President Salvador Allende with General Augusto Pinochet. The poet's family maintains that he died at 69 of advanced prostate cancer. But in 2011, Chile started investigating allegations by his former driver, Manuel Araya Osorio, that the poet had been poisoned.
►►Venezuela to investigate Chavez murder allegations. Venezuelan officials have said they will set up an inquiry to investigate suspicions that President Hugo Chavez was "murdered by foreign agencies". Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told the BBC the United States and Israel were to blame for Chavez's death, and that he had no doubt that Chavez's death was an act "similar to Yasser Arafat's". Earlier this week, the US expelled two Venezuelan diplomats following the expulsion of two American officials from Caracas.
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British government tries to block probe into ex-KGB officer's murder
February 27, 2013 by Joseph Fitsanakis 4 Comments
The family of a Russian spy, who died of poisoning after defecting to Britain, has accused the British government of trying to cover up the affair in order to avoid embarrassing Russia. Alexander Litvinenko was an employee of the Soviet KGB and one of its successor organizations, the FSB, until 2000, when he defected with his family to the United Kingdom. He soon became widely known as a vocal critic of the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2006, Litvinenko came down with radioactive poisoning soon after meeting a former KGB/FSB colleague, Andrey Lugovoy, at a London restaurant. He died in hospital three days later. A public inquest into Litvinenko's murder had been scheduled for May, 2013. On Tuesday, however, it was revealed that the British government had filed a written petition to limit the information disclosed in the inquest. According to The London Times, British Foreign Secretary William Hague filed a Public Interest Immunity Certificate (PIIC), which, if allowed to stand, would limit the scope of the inquest on national security grounds. It is believed that the government wishes to block information linking Litvinenko to the Secret Intelligence Service —also known as MI6— Britain's primary external spy agency. Last December, Ben Emmerson, the lawyer representing Litvinenko's widow, claimed that the late Russian spy was a "registered and paid" agent of MI6 and Spanish intelligence at the time of his death. Read more of this post
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Litvinenko was working for UK, Spanish intelligence when he was killed
December 14, 2012 by Joseph Fitsanakis 2 Comments
A lawyer representing the family of a KGB defector to Britain, who died of poisoning in 2006, has told a court hearing in London that the late spy was working for British and Spanish intelligence at the time of his death. Alexander Litvinenko was an employee of the Soviet KGB and one of its successor organizations, the FSB, until 2000, when he defected with his family to the United Kingdom. He soon became known as a vocal critic of the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2006, Litvinenko came down with radioactive poisoning soon after meeting a former KGB/FSB colleague, Andrey Lugovoy, at a London restaurant. Speaking at a preliminary court hearing on Thursday, in light of an upcoming British government inquiry into Litvinenko's death, Ben Emmerson, QC, said that the late Russian spy was a "registered and paid" asset of the Secret Intelligence Service. This is not the first time that Litvinenko has been linked to the SIS —known informally as MI6— Britain's external spy agency. Litvinenko's widow, Marina, made similar claims to the British press in January of this year. But yesterday's testimony by her legal team provided the public record with further revelations about her husband's connections with British intelligence. The court heard that Litvinenko received a regular stipend from MI6 either in cash or via electronic transfer and that he had been provided with an encrypted telephone, which MI6 used to contact him on a routine basis. The night before his poisoning, said Emmerson, Litvinenko had met his MI6 handler, who went by the operational alias MARTIN. Read more of this post
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September 26, 2012 by Ian Allen 7 Comments
►►Britain to hold inquest over death of ex-KGB officer. Britain and Russia appear to be on a collision course over the death of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian intelligence officer who died in 2006 after ingesting polonium-210, a rare radioactive isotope. Britain's Crown Prosecution Service has accused Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, both former KGB agents, for the death of Litvinenko. Russia has refused British requests to extradite the two, leading to a row with Moscow and the tit-for-tat expulsion of Russian and British diplomats. Until now, the British Foreign Office had attempted to limit the scope of an inquest into the death of Litvinenko, fearing further diplomatic fallout. But coroner Sir Robert Owen said last week that he endorsed a previous ruling by his predecessor in the case, Andrew Reid, that there should be an "open and fearless" investigation into the matter.
►►Ex-CIA operative who illegally sold arms to Libya dies. Edwin P. Wilson, a former CIA officer who was convicted in 1983 for illegally shipping 20 tons of C4 plastc explosives to Libya, has died aged 84. In his trial he claimed he had shipped the weapons to Libya at the request of the CIA, because, as he said, the agency was trying to establish good relations with the Libyan government. But the court did not buy his story, so he spent over 20 years in prison, mostly in solitary confinement, until his release in 2004. He maintained his innocence to the very end.
►►Analysis: Libya an opportunity for CIA if it sticks around. The attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including a US ambassador and two former Navy SEALs, has led Americans to vacate Benghazi for their safety, even though various militant groups continue their operations. It is a disaster for US intelligence efforts in the region, especially since the attack has made brutally clear how real the jihadi threat in eastern Libya remains. But there may be the smallest of silver linings to this black cloud, if American operatives are able to capitalize on it. The aftermath of the attack shows widespread displeasure with Benghazi's jihadist groups, with thousands marching in protest. That is an opportunity the CIA could use to rebuild its intelligence gathering.
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August 10, 2012 by intelNews Leave a comment
►►Egypt sacks spy chief after border attacks. Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi sacked the Director of the General Intelligence Directorate, Murad Muwafi, two generals and the governor of north Sinai region on Wednesday, after gunmen killed 16 border guards there on Sunday before last. Mowafi was the most high-profile official who lost his job, forced into early retirement as Egypt's intelligence agencies were criticized for missing or ignoring warnings about the attack.
►►Photos reveal CIA deep-sea rescue of a spy satellite. On July 10, 1971, America's newest photo reconnaissance satellite, the KH-9 Hexagon, dropped a capsule loaded with film toward the Earth. Due to a technical error, the capsule sunk in the Pacific Ocean. Last week, the CIA declassified documents and photographs showing how it went 16,000 feet into the sea to recover the Hexagon capsule.
►►Pre-inquest review into death of ex-KGB officer Litvinenko. A British High Court judge will soon hold a pre-inquest review into the death of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, officials have said. Litvinenko, who was working for MI6 following his defection from Russia, is believed to have been poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in London, in November 2006. British prosecutors accuse former KGB operatives Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun for the murder. However, earlier this year Lugovoy reportedly passed a lie detector test on the subject of Litvinenko's death, which was administered in Moscow by the British Polygraph Association.
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April 30, 2012 by intelNews Leave a comment
►►US spies clash with military over outsourcing spy satellites. Members of the US intelligence community and the military are finding themselves on opposite sides regarding the future of American spy satellites. Since the US first began using satellites to collect intelligence data, the government largely relied on its own technology. But in recent years, as private companies have developed sophisticated satellites of their own, Washington has been increasingly relying on commercial sources for spy missions. Now senior intelligence officials have urged the Obama administration to move away from relying on commercial satellite imagery.
►►Israeli ex-spy criticizes plans for war with Iran. Many Israeli retired officials have criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, but the censure from Yuval Diskin, who stepped down as head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service last year, was especially harsh. "I have no faith in the prime minister, nor in the defense minister", Diskin said in the remarks broadcast by Israeli media on Saturday. "I really don't have faith in a leadership that makes decisions out of messianic feelings". Speaking in New York, former Mossad Director Meir Dagan said simply that Diskin "spoke his own truth".
►►Litvinenko's widow still waiting for answers. In 2000, after Vladimir Putin became President of the Russian Federation, KGB/FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko fled with his family to the UK, where they claimed political asylum and, later, British citizenship. During his time in London, Litvinenko consulted for MI5 and MI6, worked at a corporate security agency, and wrote two books, including Blowing Up Russia, which alleged that the Russian apartment bombings of 1999 were organized by the FSB, to justify war with Chechnya and sweep Putin into power. He died in 2006 of radioactive poisoning. Six years on, Litvinenko's widow, Marina, says she is still waiting for answers.
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Ex-KGB spy Litvinenko was working for MI6 when he died
Confidential documents leaked to the British press show that a leading medical examiner wants to reinspect the 2006 death of a former Soviet intelligence officer, in light of new revelations. Alexander Litvinenko was an employee of the Soviet KGB and its successor organization, the FSB, who in 2000 defected with his family to the United Kingdom. He soon became known as an increasingly vocal critic of the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2006, Litvinenko came down with radioactive poisoning soon after meeting a former colleague, Andrey Lugovoy, in a London restaurant. The latter is believed by British authorities to have assassinated Litvinenko "with the backing of the Russian state". Although much of the case remains shrouded in mystery, an important new clue was added to the equation in October, when Litvinenko's widow publicly admitted that her husband had been a paid employee of British intelligence services MI5 and MI6. Marina Litvinenko told British tabloid newspaper The Mail on Sunday that Alexander had advised both agencies on "combat[ing] Russian organized crime in Europe". She had previously denied rumors that her husband had been working for British intelligence when he was killed —ostensibly by the Russian government. The revelation appears to have prompted a British coroner to request that the medical investigation into Litvinenko's death be reopened. Documents leaked to The Mail on Sunday appear to show that Andrew Reid, a coroner at St Pankras Hospital in London, has formally requested that both MI5 and MI6 release all of their internal files on Litvinenko, in the context of a new investigation. Read more of this post
Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with Alexander Litvinenko, Andrew Reid, Andrey Lugovoy, assassinations, defectors, FSB, KGB, Marina Litvinenko, MI5, MI6, News, Russia, suspicious deaths, UK, USSR


Liptauer is a soft, unripened cheese made from sheep's milk that comes from Lipto in what is now Liptov in northern Slovakia. The word Liptauer has become synonymous with the spread it is made with.
Romanian Brindza, or a combination of dry curd or farmers, cottage, ricotta or cream cheese and sour cream can be used in place of Liptauer. If you can't find dry curd cheese, you might want to make your own farmers cheese from scratch.
Liptauer cheese spread is typically eaten as an appetizer or snack with dark rye bread, radishes, hard-cooked eggs, green onions, green pepper, and beer. Hungarians, Czechs, Austrians and some Scandinavians all claim it as their own.
Sieve cheese into a medium bowl. Beat in butter. Add remaining ingredients, combining thoroughly. Adjust seasonings. Refrigerate at least 2 hours for flavors to marry. Remove from refrigerator 15 minutes before serving.
Variations: Capers and chives may be added and sieved cottage cheese or cream cheese can be used in place of Liptauer, brindza or farmers cheese. If you want to turn this into a veggie dip, add 1/3 cup sour cream.


I once flew Etihad Airways to Australia. It seemed an easy decision, because it was the cheapest option, but the entertainment system crashed, the food was ropey and spending New Year's Eve in Abu Dhabi was possibly the most dispiriting few hours of my life. Manchester City fans must experience a similar feeling every fortnight, but they probably think it's worth giving their hard-earned brass to one of the richest families on Earth in return for occasional silverware. The Mansours have certainly delivered on that score, unfortunately at the same time they've ripped the tradition from the club.
Not that City ever had the grand tradition of their rivals United, the history of Real Madrid or even – I hate to say it – Liverpool or Arsenal. Apart from a few minor successes half a century back, City's more recent achievements have been purchased with oil money. Even if they win ten Champions League titles in a row, they won't acquire a tenth of United's lustre and glamour. For evidence, look at each club's greats. United have Charlton, Best, Duncan Edwards; City have Bell, Summerbee, Colin Lee. Efficient players admittedly, but without a shadow of the class or dignity of a Red, let alone the excitement. It's no coincidence City fans celebrate each lacklustre victory by turning their backs on the players.
When I tell people I'm a Manchester United fan who was actually born in the city, they all say the same thing: "But...I thought everyone in Manchester supports City?" It's a myth, I tell them – far more people support United than City in Manchester, just as they do all over the world – and always will.
I'm also frequently accused of being a "glory hunter" despite the fact I started supporting United in 1974, the year we were sent down (not, contrary to myth, as a result of Denis Law's back-heel). If that makes me a glory hunter, what words would you use to describe someone in KL or Kunming who decides that this season they're nothing they'd rather do than watch Pep shuffling a procession of interchangeable £100m pound players? Has he ever actually built a great team, rather than made tweaks to already good ones?
As a United fan, I suppose I should be thanking Guardiola for one thing: it may finally shake us from our current stupor and make us more determined to put the Blues back in their little box, keep the upstart neighbours quiet by throwing a party of our own. When United finally see sense and dump Van Gaal (and hopefully Woodward) in favour of Jose Mourinho or Ryan Giggs – who would be my choice – there will be a new determination to show City who's boss around town.
For Guardiola, it must have seemed an easy decision to opt for nouveau-riche City over United. But as my experience with Etihad Airways demonstrated, an easy decision is not always the right one, and Pep's choice may return to haunt him. For one thing, his new employer's idea of loyalty may not match what Pep was hoping for when Sheikh Mansour proposed. At any moment Mansour could get bored like a sulky teenager, pack up his bags and go buy an NFL franchise, leaving City with an echoing stadium, eye-watering debts and a name forever tarnished.
In choosing a club of almost limitless riches, dubious tradition, and a soulless new stadium over the greatest club on Earth, Pep has – as so often in his supposedly illustrious career – taken the easy route; he probably knows it, deep down, when he looks in the bathroom mirror. And from now on his CV, along with all the trophies and all the fame, will have one word indelibly added – the same word that will be whispered wherever he leads the Blues: Coward.


I am so glad Christine designed my website and business card for my ceramics and sculptures.
She quickly designed a clean and attractive website. She photoshopped the photos that I provided her to maximize their impact.
"Christine works at lightning speed and with impressive creativity to keep my organization's website looking fresh, up to date, and informative. When my input lacks creative zest, she digs up and adds related videos or information to grab attention.
The rave reviews for the design of my website, Dissident Prof, keep coming in. Christine is almost a mind reader when it comes to implementing a design idea; this English professor appreciates that! Her turnaround time is yesterday (well, actually, today when needed).


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Janzi 2021 Awards: Pallaso and Azawi top in Musical sect, Liam Voice, Levixone Among Top WInners
Happening for the very first time, the Janzi Awards that seek to honor and celebrate artistic and creative excellence of Ugandans in the Creative and Arts Industry, went down over the weekend. The two-day awarding ceremony went down at the Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala ― this is where winners in the 96 categories and […]
Women Entrepreneurs benefit from URSB, Partners Training on Trademarks.
In a bid to support female-led micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) protect their innovations through trademarking, three partnering entities organized a series of national workshops for women entrepreneurs. The organizations were the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Grooming a Successful Woman with Intellectual Mind (GSWIM). The three partners handed over trademark certificates […]
Over 2,000 Covidiots' Passports Terminated By Nigerian Government.
The Nigerian government has suspended passports of more than 2,000 Nigerians indicted for violating Covid-prevention protocols after returning from abroad. Dr Mukhtar Mohammed, who sits on the president's Covid committee, said that the passports would remain suspended for a year according to a BBC report. As the country anticipates a third wave of infections, Nigeria […]
WCW: Media Mogul Flavia Tumusiime
Today we crush on renowned media personality, Flavia Tumusiime, 'A heroine to many' because of her life story, progression and how she has managed to remain relevant against all odds. Flavia Tumusiime has not only built her name on media grounds but also as an actress, voice-over artist, emcee and author of 30 Days of […]
A nut ought to be tightened in artistic content creation
What reasons fight to explain the changing artistic content day after day? Undoubtedly, some of these are generational influences, the internet, gimmickry, the need to make a killing and many more reasons. Back in the day, a generation and more ago; artistry content had a clearer direction than it is presently. What content was put […]
Money & Power: The Enemies Of Change.
The quest for political change in Uganda has been on for quite a long period of time, but my focus will be on the recent political activities during and aftermath of the 2021 general elections, we can't deny the fact their good number of Ugandans who would love to see a change in the country's […]
Keep Your Children Away From My 'Immoral' Music. Kapa Cat.
The world changes every other sunrise and this whole criterion seems more irreversible everyday than anyone can imagine. Especially socially, how behavior is being bent by the environments all around us. When it comes to the music industry, this change never only promoted high quality audio and videos only, but also brushed down the decency […]
I feel More Comfortable Around Winnie Nwagi Than Anyone Else. – Chozen Blood.
The 'Sharpshooter' singer, Chozen Blood has severally in the past been rumoured to be an item with fellow singer Winnie Nwagi and perhaps, the truth of the matter never reveals itself leaving most of the social media in-laws parallel to the truth. However, these have given all signs that would portray reality in what most […]
Kenya's Ban On Ugandan Maize Is Uganda's Fault.
A few days ago Kenya's Agriculture and Food Authority announced a ban on the importation of maize from Uganda citing high levels of mycotoxins that are beyond safety limits.In a letter dated 5th March 2021 addressed to Pamela Ahago, the Commissioner of Customs Kenya Revenue Authority, the Acting Director-General of Kenya's Agriculture and Food Authority […]
By Derrick Asaba Musicians have over the years recorded songs some of which play for days, months, years and others, for generations. The explanation to this phenomenon is merely a union of a number of elements that characterise the inception of the song. A bet is, some just walk in the recording studio for the […]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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By using metals.
Metals have a convenient property called conduction, in which the electrons in the metal are not bound to just one atom at a time as in other materials, but are free to wander from atom to atom. This allows the metals to conduct electricity, because electricity is just charged particles moving through something like a wire.
Many other things can also conduct electricity. For example, hydrochloric acid is a good conductor. When hydrogen chloride (HCl) dissolves in water, it breaks up into hydrogen ions (H+) and chloride ions (Cl-). These electrically charged particles can move through the water. Moving charged particles is electricity.
If we put a strip of aluminum into the acid, and a strip of copper into the acid, and then connect the two metal strips to a meter, we can watch the electricity being created. Copper holds onto electrons more tightly than aluminum does. Electrons start to move from the aluminum, through the meter, to the copper.
This leaves the aluminum with a positive charge. It attracts the negative chloride ions to it, through the water. The chloride ions attract positive aluminum ions away from the metal strip, into the water, where they form an aluminum chloride solution.
At the copper strip, the extra electrons attract the hydrogen ions in the solution to migrate towards the copper. When they get there, they can steal the electrons, to become hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas bubbles up out of the solution.
This keeps up until there is no more aluminum left on the aluminum strip. All the electrons flowing from the aluminum to the copper have been moving the needle of the meter, showing us that electricity has been produced.
‹ How do we get electricity? up How do solar panels work? ›


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Zyn / Ghost Pines Zinfandel 2017
Ghost Pines Zinfandel 2017
Qty: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 132 144 156 168 180 192 204 216 228 240 252 264 276 288 300 312 324 336 348 360 372 384 396 408 420 432 444 456 468 480
Vintage Learn how vintages work
In certain cases, ZYN is unable to guarantee vintages due to the Alberta Government distribution system. ZYN will do its best to ensure that the vintages on its website are updated and accurate. If ZYN cannot fulfill your order with the requested vintage, you will be contacted and you may choose to either accept the available vintage or cancel the product.
For more information email team@zyn.ca or call (403) 543-8900.
Returns Policy How to return product
ZYN will accept returns. If the item(s) is in saleable condition, it will be fully refunded. If the item has been shipped outside Calgary, the shipping charges are the responsibility of the purchaser. Faulty items will be evaluated on an individual basis before a decision is made.
Shipping Policy Learn about ZYN's Shipping Policy
ZYN delivers within the City of Calgary for a flat fee. For deliveries outside Calgary, additional charges will apply at the point of checkout.
ZYN uses, whenever possible, couriers with temperature-controlled vehicles. The shipping charges include proper packaging to ensure safe delivery of your order. This includes heavy duty boxes, industrial packing peanuts, and other protective material and/or Styrofoam shippers.
All orders are shipped via courier and require complete mailing address and telephone number for daytime delivery. Orders cannot be shipped to a post office box.
Please allow 1 to 5 days for delivery within Calgary and 3 to 12 days outside of Calgary.
Terms & Conditions Please review ZYN's Terms & Conditions
You don't need an account to shop at ZYN.ca, however, there are a number of advantages to becoming a ZYN Member:
Checkout will be a breeze. You can choose to save your address and credit card information so that you don't have to enter it every time you place an order.
View your order history any time. You can check to see if an order is processing, ready for pickup, scheduled for delivery or complete.
At this time, ZYN only accepts Canadian VISA, MasterCard, American Express or Discover credit cards online.
Your credit card will not be charged until ZYN can confirm the products you ordered are available. If some items are out of stock, we will contact you as to how you would like to proceed with your order.
All products are subject to availability. If a product is not available, you will be notified and a substitution will be offered or you will be credited back for the product(s).
Bottle Deposits
The Beverage Container Recycling Program was implemented in Alberta on December 1, 1997. ZYN must charge a bottle deposit fee on all recyclable bottles and cans sold through our website. The bottle deposit fees are as follows:
Up to 1 litre: 10¢ / Over 1 litre: 25¢
Orders can be cancelled via email within 2 hours of the order being placed without charge. A restocking fee may apply if the order is cancelled after 2 hours of it being placed.
At the heart of every glass of Ghost Pines is the notion that world-class wines are made from quality grapes – grapes that span many appellations. An unconventional view against today's backdrop of single-appellation wines, the Ghost Pines philosophy is a modern take on visionary winemaker Louis M. Martini's approach to winemaking. In the 1930s, Martini didn't think about appellation boundaries. He simply sought the best grapes from the best vineyards to craft his unforgettable wines, long before American Viticulture Areas (AVAs) were established in California. Seventy-five years later, Napa's historic Louis M. Martini Winery launched Ghost Pines to give Aaron Piotter and a talented group of forward-thinking winemakers the freedom to blend the finest grapes across appellations. The result is a collection of sophisticated wines that illustrate the best characteristics of each varietal and region, balancing elegance with structure, intensity with nuance. Echoing the unharnessed, free-form character of its namesake tree, Ghost Pines embodies the progressive spirit of California winemaking: no boundaries, no limits.
This Ghost Pines Zinfandel blends fruit from San Joaquin and Sonoma counties to accentuate the best of what each of these phenomenal Zinfandel-producing counties has to offer. Rich and complex, this Zin opens with aromas of ripe raspberry jam, cracked pepper and toasty oak. On the palate, the wine offers intense, jammy flavors of black cherry, boysenberry, brown spice and cola framed by lush structure and a long, multi-layered finish.
The Prisoner Red Blend 2019
Quilt Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve 2016
Glenfarclas 21 Year Old
Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2018


Pull-apart Yam chocolate Brownies 🍫 .
- 1 c chopped @hukitchen simple dark chocolate .
- 1.5 c almonds .
- 1/2 c almond flour .
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder .
- 9 to 10 pitted medjool dates .
- 1 medium size yam, baked, peeled and chopped .
- 1/4 c sunbutter .
- pinch of himalayan pink salt .
1. Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper. Place the chocolate in the freezer .
2. Spread the almond on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes. Place the yam (can use sweet potato) on an oven rack .
3. Remove almonds from the oven and blend in food processor, until finely grated. Make sure you don't over process. Transfer to a mixing bowl .
4. Place the chocolate in food processor and blend until it is in small pieces. Transfer to the mixing bowl. Add the cocoa powder, almond flour, and salt .
5. Place the dates, yam, and sunbutter in a food processor and blend until smooth. Spoon into the bowl with your dry ingredients .
6. Spoon the batter into baking pan and bake for 25 minutes. Let cool and slice the brownie into squares .
***you will know the yam is ready once the skin has "popped." Remove it from the oven, peel away the skin and slice to blend easily.


A warm welcome to each of our new and continuing students as we begin their 2014 academic year.
This year we will continue to implement a performance culture across our school that has high expectations of each individual, students and staff, as we continue our determination to ensure that every student can be 'the best that they can be'.
A deserving reward for Joshua's many years of focussed study, personal persistence and determination to achieve his goals. In 2014 Joshua will continue his studies at the Queensland University of Technology.
Our 2014 Student Leaders – Bradley Fuller, Jordana Wale, Emma Kyle, and Nick Bennett.
These exit results demonstrate a very strong performance and recognise the outstanding efforts of students, quality support from parents and expert teaching by the school team.
A firm reminder to everyone that our school is located on the intersection of two very busy arterial roads. It is imperative that students and visitors exercise considerable common sense when crossing roads while arriving and departing from school. The speed limit within the school grounds is <20kph and there are busy times before and after school when it is more appropriate to stop, drop and go at the front gate rather than drive your child all the way into the grounds.
Monday, February 24 will be the first senior study day for 2014. Students in Years 10, 11 & 12 will not attend regular school classes and will have an opportunity to work on assessment and teacher set work at home.
Junior school students, Years 7, 8 & 9 will attend regular classes at school on February 24.
The expectation of our team and our community is that our students will be well presented and wear their school uniform each day to school. One of the concerns continually voiced is the shorts/skirts worn by some of our girls (way too short). Where this is a problem in 2014, parents can expect a phone call asking to bring a replacement pair of shorts to school. Please be prepared if this is a continual issue with your daughter.


The human race has continuously evolved due to the innovations, experiments and ambitious endeavors of people throughout history. One of the greatest things someone can do is maximize his or her potential in an area of their choice. The society around us has benefited enormously from the research and training that's shaped the world and made it a better place to live.
The United States of America recognizes the need to provide funding for research and training so that we can continue to develop and advance in various areas. Hence, the government offers grants, loans and other forms of monetary assistance for the same.
One of the most important aspects of learning and developing the future generation is providing them the best education. The United States Government has taken conscious effort to provide funding and research assistance in areas such as electronics and computer technology, construction, engineering (as well as college grants), and a plethora of others. Students in trade school institutions that are recognized by the Federal Government are also eligible.
The amount of work you'll have to do to just compile the list of training grants is immense. Hence, it's best if you opt to utilize the services of people who're experienced and know all there's to know about applying for grants. In addition to research and training grants, we will also help you find the right Pell Grant or other type of grants or funding for your graduate school.
The best part of working with GovernmentGrants.us is that we've done the hard work for you. You no longer need to run around searching for the best grant opportunities.


It's just one of a number dangerous incidents involving selfies in the country.
AN INDIAN TEENAGER shot himself in the head with his father's gun while trying to take a selfie.
The 15-year-old is being treated in hospital at Pathankot in Punjab state and is expected to survive, according to the city's deputy police superintendent, Manoj Kumar.
The accident happened on Friday evening when the schoolboy was playing at home with the licensed revolver which is normally kept in a wardrobe.
"The boy's father and family said that he was trying to take a selfie with his gun," Kumar said.
We will speak to the boy when he is declared medically fit. We think that part of the blame obviously goes to the father for not keeping his loaded gun under lock and key at their home.
A teenager was run over and killed in the southern Indian city of Chennai in February as he tried to take a selfie in front of an oncoming train.
In January, police in the western city of Mumbai moved to crack down on dangerous selfies after a man drowned trying to save a girl who fell into the sea while snapping one.
Police identified 16 dangerous selfie spots in Mumbai and asked the local council to erect warning signs and deploy lifeguards.
A man was seriously injured in April by an elephant when he tried to snap a selfie with the chained animal at a festival in Kerala, according to the Hindustan Times on Sunday.


A real curiosity, this one. Originally invented for Queen Victoria, layers of breadcrumb-thickened custard are topped with jam and meringue. You can use any flavour jam you like. By adding cornflour and vinegar to the meringue mix, you achieve a lovely marshmallowy texture.
1) Mix together 3 egg yolks (keep the egg whites in a separate bowl) and 1 whole egg with the milk and lemon rind.
2) Add the breadcrumbs and the tablespoon of sugar.
3) Then pour the breadcrumb mixture into a heatproof baking dish.
4) Leave to stand for about 30 minutes for the breadcrumbs to absorb all the milk.
5) Bake at gas mark 2/150°C/300°F for 30 minutes until just set. Wait for it to cool, then spread carefully with the jam.
6) Whisk the egg whites until stiff and standing in peaks, then add 75g of sugar a third at a time, whisking well after each addition.
7) Fold in the vinegar and cornflour.
8) Pile the egg whites on top of the baked mixture and cook for 20 minutes more, until the meringue is tinged with brown and firm to the touch.


These computer generated images of the ERS-110 (or possibly ERS-111?) are taken from Sony's site. We're not quite sure what they were created for or why an actual AIBO wasn't used. But anyway, you can click on each of the images to open them up full size (1024×768), then right-click and save.


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Horror legend Barbara Crampton on her new film Jakob's Wife and 'awakening' for a second act
March 16, 2021, 12:54 AM ET
Credit: AMP International
Barbara Crampton's been around horror cinema long enough to be considered a living legend in the genre for her acting roles alone. Her sprawling body of work includes everything from 1980s classics such as Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986) to modern masterpieces such as You're Next (2011) and We Are Still Here (2015). However, Crampton is still branching out. Her latest film, Jakob's Wife, which premieres this week at SXSW, is part of her ongoing effort to take on more work as a producer, something she's also done with films such as Beyond the Gates (2016) and the recent remake of Castle Freak (2020).
Because of that, and the five-year road to finishing Jakob's Wife, Crampton carries a real emotional connection to the material as well as the title character — particularly in the transformative experience they share.
"It all comes from me," Crampton told SYFY WIRE when asked how much of her character, Anne, is pulled from her own experience. "I guess that's why I was attracted to the material because I had left the business for a while kind of in my middle-30s because I really wasn't getting any phone calls for any roles anymore. I wasn't getting auditions, and there just wasn't a lot for me to do. I was contemplating switching careers."
In 2000, she married her husband Robert Bleckman, with whom she has three children. "My life became more about being a mom than anything else, taking care of our family and our home," she shares. "And then it was sort of a chance happening that I received a call to be in You're Next a number of years ago. And when that happened, that was sort of a renewal for me, sort of bringing me back to the horror genre in a way that I hadn't anticipated."
She continues: "I didn't think that I was going to be working again. But when I did that film and I saw all these young people working on the movie and they were so dynamic and they were all hyphenates: working as actors and producers and writers and cinematographers and editors... everybody who worked on that movie did other things, I thought, 'Oh, this is what people do now.' When I started out in the '80s, I just stayed in my lane. I was an actor, and I waited for the phone to ring. But I had an awakening to myself, just as Anne does in the movie, and getting shown that the reason things stopped happening for me is because I wasn't doing anything either. I wasn't making it happen, and I had to make some things happen for myself."
Credit: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage via Getty Images
Directed by Travis Stevens (Girl on the Third Floor) from a script by Kathy Charles and Mark Steensland, Jakob's Wife follows Anne's dull existence as the supportive, dutiful, patient wife of a small-town minister (Larry Fessenden) who always seems to take up more space than she does. Still, Anne has projects of her own, and one of them leads to a chance encounter with "The Master," a life-changing experience that rekindles something in Anne she'd long ago thought was lost. We can't tell you much more than that about the film just yet, but it is a horror film, so it's safe to assume Anne's new sense of vitality will come with a cost.
It's that sense of "awakening," as she puts it, that helped draw Crampton into the original script and drove her to nurture the project along its long development road. For her, Anne was a character who hit close to home, and who grew even closer as the project evolved.
"So, I had a rekindling of my love for the horror genre and my love for acting, my love for working in the business, just as Anne has a rekindling," Crampton says. "So, I feel like it really mirrored what was going on with me in my life, and that's what attracted me to the story and to the material...
"When we were working on the script, we altered it a little bit to [fit me]," she continues. "Also, Travis, after he came on board [as director] about a year or so before we made the movie, he actually put things in the script that were just particular to me, asking me and asking Larry Fessenden about our own marriages and how we related to our partners and what kinds of things annoyed us about them, and vice versa. And Travis also put those things in the script. So there's a lot of things that are very personal to my relationship with my own husband."
Jakob's Wife arrives at a very good time to be a Crampton fan. The film will arrive in theaters and on-demand next month and hit Shudder late this year, as will Crampton's upcoming appearance in the second season of the horror streamer's hit Creepshow. Throw in other recent successes such as Sacrifice and the upcoming King Knight, and it's clear that Crampton's rekindling is still burning bright, something that's especially apparent when she speaks about her work as a producer. After all this time with horror films, she's still finding new ways to tell stories.
"Producing allows me to develop the project from the ground up," she says. "I really enjoy helping young filmmakers realize their vision from the script to filming the movie, editing — through all stages of post. A long time ago, someone told me that 'character is story and story is character.' In my early years, I was only concerned with my own character's journey but now I'm highly focused on how all the characters work together and complement each other to form the complete narrative. It's an exciting and satisfying vantage point to work from as I've gotten older. It's kind of like telling the story from the inside out after living a long life."
Jakob's Wife premieres March 17 at SXSW and hit theaters and on-demand platforms on April 16.
Jakob's Wife
How Netflix's spectacularly weird Love, Death & Robots came together
The best horror, sci-fi, and fantasy movies and shows we saw at SXSW 2021


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Home | George J. Marlin
Tags: Christmas | hoover
Books for Political Junkies on Your Christmas List
By George J. Marlin
Wednesday, 23 December 2015 10:07 AM Current | Bio | Archive
For readers who enjoy, as I do, giving books as Christmas presents to political junkie friends and relatives, here's my 2015 gift book picks:
Kissinger: 1923-1968, The Idealist by Niall Ferguson (Penguin Press, $39.95). Utilizing the former secretary of state's private papers, Harvard professor Ferguson has produced a magisterial biography of Kissinger's early years.
The book explains how Kissinger's youth in Nazi Germany and his World War II experiences as a GI in Europe, influenced his geo-political thinking. Ferguson also describes "Super K's" climb up the political greasy pole and why his call for "limited nuclear war" caught the attention of major political figures — John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Nelson Rockefeller, Richard Nixon — who sought his advice. I had trouble putting this book down and look forward to the second volume.
Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush by John Meacham (Random House, $35.00). Meacham, the author of credible biographies of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, has produced a work that will be the standard biography of the 41st president for years to come.
While one may disagree with his presidential decisions, after reading this book one cannot doubt that Bush is a man of extraordinary character who served his country with distinction before entering the White House as congressman, U.N. ambassador, CIA director, chairman of the Republican Committee during the Watergate era and as vice president.
Henry Clay: America's Greatest Statesman by Harlow Giles Unger (DaCapo Press, $25.99). The author of 11 biographies of America's Founding Fathers, the acclaimed biographer, Harlow Giles Unger, holds that the "Great Compromiser," Henry Clay, negotiated a series of policies known as the "American System" that created "physical, commercial, financial, and social links across the nation" that fostered economic unity and unprecedented property.
Clay, in the first half of the 19th Century, prevented dissolution of the young republic by reaching consensus with Northern and Southern foes. The congressional compromises Clay engineered, Lincoln said of his hero, thwarted civil war "by a power and influence which belonged to no other statesman of his age and times."
1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR by David Pietrusza (Lyons Press, $32.95). In 1932, voters in two Depression-battered nations, chose leaders they hoped would rescue them from hunger and hopelessness. In America, the choice was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who appealed to our better nature and reminded us that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
In Germany, the winner was Adolf Hitler, a loudmouth demagogue and racist who appealed to people's darkest side. Pietrusza's riveting book is a tale of two nations attempting to inch toward safety — with lessons for today.
Being Nixon: A Man Divided by Evan Thomas (Random House, $35.00). This is a very fair and balanced biography of the nation's 37th president. Thomas explains how Nixon, a complicated figure not made for public life, managed to match FDR's record of being on a national ticket for president or vice president five times by sheer-will power.
He also describes with great skill how Nixon, on the one hand, achieved détente with the Soviet Union and established relations with Red China, while, on the other hand, engaged in underhanded political tactics that led to his resignation in August 1974.
Politics Across The Hudson: The Tappan Zee Megaproject by Philip Mark Plotch (Rutgers University Press, $34.95) To get an inside view of N.Y. politics at its worst, read this book. Plotch tells the story of the decades-long struggle to replace the decrepit Tappan Zee Bridge. He reveals how cowardly and incompetent state officials squandered hundreds of millions of dollars on plans that were rejected and missed out on billions of federal money.
Even though Gov. Andrew Cuomo began the construction of a new bridge, the project is still a mess. Cuomo and the transit authority have been afraid to tell the public how much the new structure will actually cost, and how much tolls will have to be increased to pay off bonded debt and federal loans.
Happy reading in 2016.
George J. Marlin, a former executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the author of "The American Catholic Voter: Two Hundred Years of Political Impact." He also is a columnist for TheCatholicThing.org and the Long Island Business News. Read more reports from George J. Marlin — Click Here Now.
Posts by George J. Marlin
New York's Far Left Legislature Is Out of Control
The Declaration of Independence, Founding Fathers and the Natural Law
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For readers who enjoy, as I do, giving books as Christmas presents to political junkie friends and relatives, here's my 2015 gift book picks. Happy reading in 2016.
Christmas, hoover
Wednesday, 23 December 2015 10:07 AM
Michael Reagan
The Gipper's Corner
El Salvador President Takes Blame for Migrant Deaths, Offends Leftists
Patrick Buchanan
Conservative Cause
Trump Fuels a War in Pelosi's House
Maria McFadden Maffucci
Devoted to Life
Democrats, Media Ignore Pro-Life Group Delivering Border Aid
Jane Orient
What the Green New Deal Means for Medicine
Conservative Warrior
Candace Owens and Wayne Allyn Root in Las Vegas - Blexit Meets Jexit
Clare M. Lopez
In Defense of Liberty
Second 'Son of Hamas' Blows Whistle on Turkey Operations
Christopher Neiweem
Politics and Perception
More Congressional Funding Needed to Accelerate Aviation Infrastructure
Wendy L. Patrick
Similarity Seduces, But Which Traits Are Attractive?
Peter Pry
New Legislation Could Protect Electric Grids the Old Fashioned Way
All Insiders


text:
Humbug | December 5th - 7th
Academy of the New Church Secondary Schools present
'Humbug,' a 21 st -century twist on Ebenezer Scrooge, by John Wooten
Student production runs Dec 5-7 at Mitchell Performing Arts Center in Bryn Athyn
BRYN ATHYN, MONTGOMERY CO, PA (4 DECEMBER 2019)—Humbug, a re-imagined version of A Christmas Carol, forces audiences to look at Dickens's beloved 175-year-old tale of redemption with fresh eyes—which isn't a bad thing at any time of the year, but especially so at Christmas.
This holiday season, Academy of the New Church Secondary Schools present Humbug, a 21 st - century twist on Ebenezer Scrooge by John Wooten, at Mitchell Performing Arts Center in Bryn Athyn for four performances: Thursday and Friday, December 5 and 6, at 8pm and Saturday, December 7, at 2pm and 7pm.
As A Christmas Carol with a modern-day twist, Humbug follows the story of Eleanor Scrooge, a ruthlessly ambitious Wall Street executive who has an aversion to Christmas and an insatiable appetite for power. Locked in her office on a snowy Christmas Eve, Eleanor is determined to finish a corporate-takeover proposal when three "advisors" provide her with an eye-opening new appreciation for the holidays and the spirit of Christmas.
The cast of talented high school students from ANCSS brings Humbug to the stage as an upbeat and moving adaptation of the holiday classic that the whole family will enjoy.
"This entertaining show is about more than Christmas," says Baird Kistner, director. "It's a great moment to step back and look at the path our life has taken, to examine the roads not traveled, to see those moments that have shaped us as individuals, both good and bad.
"For our students and our audiences, I'd like them to see that life is more than grades or checking off boxes of achievements, but a series of opportunities to learn how to marry fun and function and find balance in their own lives."
The cast of characters is familiar, with a twist. Eleanor Scrooge is performed by junior Julie Gail of Huntingdon Valley, who was last seen as the Red Queen in the spring production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Senior Aurelle Odhner of Bryn Athyn is Eleanor's assistant Bobbie Cratchit, loyal, kind and generous, who nurtures her boss's soul even as she devotes her efforts to taking care of her ill son, Timmy, played by freshman Brian Frazier of Bryn Athyn. (View the full cast list here.)
Tickets are $10, $8 for students and children. Purchase online at https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=mimi, by phone at 267.502.4810 or at the door. Use the code "ChristmasSpirit" for $4 off of Thursday's opening night performance; "like" ANC Performing Arts' Facebook page for early discounts on other performances. MPAC is at 800 Tomlinson Rd, Bryn Athyn 19009.
This year's fall production is directed by Baird Kistner, assisted by Luke David and Brandy Rose. Set design and construction is by ANCSS's StageCraft Class (taught by Chris Waelchli) and Lori Odhner's Costuming Class created the costumes. Naomi Haus-Roth and Alison Cole oversaw MPAC management, lights, sound and props. The show is produced by Sarah Cooper Waelchli.
This production of Humbug is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc., A Concord Theatricals Company.
Performing Arts at ANC
The Academy of the New Church Secondary Schools' robust arts program includes not only classes in instrumental, choral and dance but also two plays a year, a year-round dance team, two-week summer acting camp for middle-schoolers and an intensive Performing Arts Portfolio class taught by Sarah Gladish and Chris Waelchli. Students interested in the backstage aspects of theater can take courses in set design or costuming. They can also participate as members of the stage crew or by joining the sound and lighting team.


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