The Philippines is a frontline of another cold war





Like in the Cold War, the United States is attempting to contain the influence of a great power rival in Southeast Asia. To counter China, the United States' approach to its relationship with the Philippines invokes déjà vu. Despite the passing of decades, the players, strategy and results remain the same.

First, the players. Many who have studied U.S.-Philippines relations during the Cold War focus on the relationship between President Reagan and the infamous Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. This is because Ronald Reagan was the quintessential "cold warrior" whose administration attempted to counter communist influence by supporting U.S.-aligned dictators the world over.



What gets less attention is President Carter's own complicity in propping up the Marcos regime. Carter, often categorized as a human rights-focused president, supported the Marcos regime after the declaration of martial law in the Philippines in an effort to keep U.S. access to military bases on the archipelago. While it is debatable whether Joe Biden is the new Jimmy Carter, he is a Democratic president who is claiming that his administration prioritizes human rights while navigating relationships with regimes that have dubious human rights records.

On the Philippines side, the comparison of President Rodrigo Duterte to Ferdinand Marcos is obvious: Duterte's drug war, encouragement of extrajudicial killings, shuttering of critical media and scoffing at international law echo the Marcos regime's myriad abuses. What's more, the children of both Marcos and Duterte are running on both parents' legacies in the Philippines presidential election.

Second, the strategy. The Philippines is, once again, seen as a geopolitically necessary bulwark against a superpower that threatens U.S. hegemony in the region. And again, the U.S. approach to containment is a prioritization of military superiority against China through access to bases on the Philippines.

To maintain access to these bases, the U.S. buys off the Philippine government with a steady stream of security assistance, turns a blind eye when atrocities are committed with said security assistance and reassures the Philippine government of lasting support whenever international or domestic criticisms are made.

Like in the first Cold War, the Philippine government is being given materials to engage domestic enemies, not foreign aggressors. Even with the most recently proposed arms sale of 10 F-16 fighter jets and a Harpoon Block II anti-ship missile system, the Philippines is no match for full-scale combat with the Chinese military and must rely on the military might of the U.S. to protect it. This approach does not foster sovereignty and self-determination; it leads to dependency and lackeyism.

Lastly, the results. In both cold wars, ordinary citizens at the crossroads of conflict were sacrificed. During the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, it is estimated that 3,257 people were murdered and 35,000 were tortured by the U.S.-backed Philippine security state. As of now, estimates put Duterte and his security forces' body count at approximately 30,000; this does not figure in the recent spate of killing human rights defenders. Along with Duterte's killings, his crackdown on critical media and political opposition mirrors Marcos's approach to dissent. As with most reigns of terror, we will not know the gravity or magnitude of the abuses committed until the regime has long disappeared.

What happened after Marcos's ouster was a critical reevaluation by the Filipino people of the Philippines' relationship with the United States due to the United States' unwavering support of Marcos.

As a result, the reawakened democracy voted in 1991 not to ratify a treaty that allowed the U.S. access to bases in the Philippines. It wasn't until 2014, with the signing of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, that the U.S. was allowed to fully station bases in the Philippines. If the U.S. is determined to follow the exact same approach in the new cold war with regards to the Philippines, a similar backlash is bound to occur.

Setting aside the questionable utility of participating in another cold war, the United States owes it to the people of the Philippines not to repeat the mistakes we made in the first Cold War. This starts with distancing ourselves from human rights abusers who will cause more harm than good in the long term, and taking steps to demonstrate that human rights are a priority.

One substantial way to do this is to limit U.S. military aid to the armed forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police. By withholding security assistance until perpetrators of human rights violations are held accountable for their actions, the U.S. creates an incentive for the government of the Philippines to develop a framework to address human rights concerns and gives the U.S. moral consistency when criticizing other states of human rights abuses.

Temperatures and sea levels are rising all over the world. Low-lying coastal cities are already dealing with disastrous floods and are desperately trying to find innovative ways to combat rising sea levels. Here are ten sinking cities that will soon be underwater.

The climate
disaster is here

Earth is already becoming unlivable. Will governments act to stop this disaster from getting worse?








b


The enormous, unprecedented pain and turmoil caused by the climate crisis is often discussed alongside what can seem like surprisingly small temperature increases – 1.5C or 2C hotter than it was in the era just before the car replaced the horse and cart.

These temperature thresholds will again be the focus of upcoming UN

climate talks at the COP26 summit in Scotland as countries variously dawdle or scramble to avert climate catastrophe. But the single digit numbers obscure huge ramifications at stake. “We have built a civilization based on a world that doesn’t exist anymore,” as Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University and chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, puts it.

The world has already heated up by around 1.2C, on average, since the preindustrial era, pushing humanity beyond almost all historical boundaries. Cranking up the temperature of the entire globe this much within little more than a century is, in fact, extraordinary, with the oceans alone absorbing the heat equivalent of five Hiroshima atomic bombs dropping into the water every second.

When global temperatures are projected to hit key benchmarksthis century
Average global surface temperature relative to a 1850-1900 baseline



Worst-case scenario

An unlikely pathway

where emissions

are not mitigated


Intermediate

A pathway where

emissions start

declining around 2040


Best-case

An unlikely pathway where

emissions start declining now and

global temperatures peak at +1.8C


Projected

to increase

by +1. 5C

+2.7F


2021


2050





2080


9 years


In 6


to 8 years


+2.0C

+3.6F


In 20


to 30 years


+2.5C

+4.5F


In 32


to 56

years


+3.0C

+5.4F


In 43 years

at the earliest

Guardian graphic. Source: IPCC, 2021: Summary for Policymakers. Note: The IPCC scenarios used for best-case, intermediate and worst-case scenarios are SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5.

Until now, human civilization has operated within a narrow, stable band of temperature. Through the burning of fossil fuels, we have now unmoored ourselves from our past, as if we have transplanted ourselves onto another planet. The last time it was hotter than now was at least 125,000 years ago, while the atmosphere has more heat-trapping carbon dioxide in it than any time in the past two million years, perhaps more.

Since 1970, the Earth’s temperature has raced upwards faster than in any comparable period. The oceans have heated up at a rate not seen in at least 11,000 years. “We are conducting an unprecedented experiment with our planet,” said Hayhoe. “The temperature has only moved a few tenths of a degree for us until now, just small wiggles in the road. But now we are hitting a curve we’ve never seen before.”

No one is entirely sure how this horrifying experiment will end but humans like defined goals and so, in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, nearly 200 countries agreed to limit the global temperature rise to “well below” 2C, with an aspirational goal to keep it to 1.5C. The latter target was fought for by smaller, poorer nations, aware that an existential threat of unlivable heatwaves, floods and drought hinged upon this ostensibly small increment. “The difference between 1.5C and 2C is a death sentence for the Maldives,” said Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, president of the country, to world leaders at the United Nations in September.

There is no huge chasm after a 1.49C rise, we are tumbling down a painful, worsening rocky slope rather than about to suddenly hit a sheer cliff edge – but by most standards the world’s governments are currently failing to avert a grim fate. “We are on a catastrophic path,” said António Guterres, secretary general of the UN. “We can either save our world or condemn humanity to a hellish future.”

Heatwaves

Earth’s atmosphere, now saturated with emissions from human activity, is trapping warmth and leading to more frequent periods of extreme heat
Oregon, US
June 2021: A cooling shelter
Yokohama, Japan
July 2021: Staff sprinkles water to cool down patrons
Seville, Spain
August 2021: A billboard shows 47C (117F)
Karachi, Pakistan
September 2021: A zookeeper bathes an elephant

Photographs: Clockwise from top-left, Maranie Staab/Reuters, Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images, Rizwan Tabassum/AFP via Getty Images, Cristina Quicler/AFP via Getty Images


This year has provided bitter evidence that even current levels of warming are disastrous, with astounding floods in Germany and China, Hades-like fires from Canada to California to Greece and rain, rather than snow, falling for the first time at the summit of a rapidly melting Greenland. “No amount of global warming can be considered safe and people are already dying from climate change,” said Amanda Maycock, an expert in climate dynamics at the University of Leeds.

A “heat dome” that pulverized previous temperature records in the US’s Pacific northwest in June, killing hundreds of people as well as a billion sea creatures roasted alive in their shells off the coast, would’ve been “virtually impossible” if human activity hadn’t heated the planet, scientists have calculated, while the German floods were made nine times more likely by the climate crisis. “The fingerprint of climate change on recent extreme weather is quite clear,” said Michael Wehner, who specializes in climate attribution at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “But even I am surprised by the number and scale of weather disasters in 2021.”

Frequency and intensity of once-a-decade heatwave events



Global

warming

level


Increase in

heatwave

temperature


Heatwave

frequency


Historical

1850-1900


A once-a-decade event ...


-


+1.0C

Present


... now happens 2.8x a decade


+1.2C


+1.5C

In 6-8 years


4.1x


+1.9C


+2.0C

In 20-30 years


5.6x


+2.6C


+4.0C

Unlikely this

century


9.4x


+5.1C

Guardian graphic. Source: IPCC, 2021: Summary for Policymakers. Note: The projected year ranges for when warming thresholds will be hit are based on IPCC scenarios SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5.

After a Covid-induced blip last year, greenhouse gas emissions have roared back in 2021, further dampening slim hopes that the world will keep within the 1.5C limit. “There’s a high chance we will get to 1.5C in the next decade,” said Joeri Rogelj, a climate scientist at Imperial College London.

For humans, a comfortably livable planet starts to spiral away the more it heats up. At 1.5C, about 14% of the world’s population will be hit by severe heatwaves once every five years. with this number jumping to more than a third of the global population at 2C.

Beyond 1.5C, the heat in tropical regions of the world will push societies to the limits, with stifling humidity preventing sweat from evaporating and making it difficult for people to cool down. Extreme heatwaves could make parts of the Middle East too hot for humans to endure, scientists have found, with rising temperatures also posing enormous risks for China and India.

A severe heatwave historically expected once a decade will happen every other year at 2C. “Something our great-grandparents maybe experienced once a lifetime will become a regular event,” said Rogelj. Globally, an extra 4.9 million people will die each year from extreme heat should the average temperature race beyond this point, scientists have estimated.

At 2C warming, 99% of the world’s coral reefs also start to dissolve away, essentially ending warm-water corals. Nearly one in 10 vertebrate animals and almost one in five plants will lose half of their habitat. Ecosystems spanning corals, wetlands, alpine areas and the Arctic “are set to die off” at this level of heating, according to Rogelj.

Change in fraction of land annually exposed to heatwaves:




+1.5C

+2.7F

We'll reach this threshold





In 6


to 8 years






Change from 1986-2006
0+61.8%
Insufficient model agreement

Guardian graphic. Source: Climate Analytics. Note: In the data, a heatwave is when a relative indicator based on air temperature and an absolute indicator based on the air temperature and relative humidity are projected to exceed exceptionally high values, according to an analysis of four climate models. When the two of the four models don’t agree, they are not visualized.


In the next decade, heatwaves could make the American South, Central America, Cuba and coastal regions of Mexico much less livable.








By the end of the century, the hottest regions of North America may be unlivable without major adaptions.

Floods

Earth’s hotter climate is causing the atmosphere to hold more water, then releasing the water in the form of extreme precipitation events
Kolkata, India
September 2021: A woman exits a bus onto a flooded street
Agen, France
September 2021: Firefighters inspect a flooded street
Al Khaburah, Oman
October 2021: Flooded streets after Cyclone Shaheen
Ayutthaya, Thailand
October 2021: A boy walks through floodwaters

Photographs: Clockwise from top-left, Indranil Aditya/NurPhoto via Getty Images, Philippe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images, Jack Taylor/AFP via Getty Images, Oman News Agency via AP


Across the planet, people are set to be strafed by cascading storms, heatwaves, flooding and drought. Around 216 million people, mostly from developing countries, will be forced to flee these impacts by 2050 unless radical action is taken, the World Bank has estimated. As much as $23tn is on track to be wiped from the global economy, potentially upending many more.

Some of the most dire impacts revolve around water – both the lack of it and inundation by it. Enormous floods, often fueled by abnormally heavy rainfall, have become a regular occurrence recently, not only in Germany and China but also from the US, where the Mississippi River spent most of 2019 in a state of flood, to the UK, which was hit by floods in 2020 after storms delivered the equivalent of one month of rain in 48 hours, to Sudan, where flooding wiped out more than 110,000 homes last year.

Frequency and intensity of once-a-decade heavy precipitation events



Global

warming

level


Heavy precipitation

frequency


Increase in

wetness


Historical

1850-1900


A once-a-decade event ...


-


+1.0C

Present


... now happens 1.3x a decade


+6.7%


+1.5C

In 6-8 years


1.5x


+10.5%


+2.0C

In 20-30 years


1.7x


14.0%


+4.0C

Unlikely this

century


2.7x


+30.2%

Guardian graphic. Source: IPCC, 2021: Summary for Policymakers. Note: The projected year ranges for when warming thresholds will be hit are based on IPCC scenarios SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5.

Meanwhile, in the past 20 years the aggregated level of terrestrial water available to humanity has dropped at a rate of 1cm per year, with more than five billion people expected to have an inadequate water supply within the next three decades.

At 3C of warming, sea level rise from melting glaciers and ocean heat will also provide torrents of unwelcome water to coastal cities, with places such as Miami, Shanghai and Bangladesh in danger of becoming largely marine environments. The frequency of heavy precipitation events, the sort that soaked Germany and China, will start to climb, nearly doubling the historical norm once it heats up by 2C.

Change in the mass of precipitation:




+1.5C

+2.7F

We'll reach this threshold





In 6


to 8 years






Change from 1986-2006
0+36.0%-2.6%
Insufficient model agreement

Guardian graphic. Source: Climate Analytics. Note: The data shows where rainfall and snowfall are projected to change compared to the 1986-2006 average, according to an analysis of four climate models. When the two of the four models don’t agree, they are not visualized.


The earth's warming in the next decade will likely cause less rainfall in the northwest region of the US, as well as central America and the Caribbean islands.








The southern parts of the continent will likely experience periods of severe drought by the end of the century, while the north-east US in particular gets increasing amounts of extreme rainfall.

Wildfires

Earth’s hotter atmosphere soaks up water from the earth, drying out trees and tinder that amplify the severity of wildfires
Woololoo, Australia
February 2021: A wildfire destroyed over 30 homes
Ogan Ilir, Indonesia
August 2021: Indonesian firefighters try to extiguish a peatland fire
Chefchaouen, Morocco
August 2021: A woman looks at wildfires tearing through a forest
California, US
September 2021: Flames consume a house in the Fawn Fire

Photographs: Clockwise from top-left, Greg Bell/DFES via AP, Muhammad A.F/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images, Ethan Swope/AP, Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images


Virtually all of North America and Europe will be at heightened risk of wildfires at 3C of heating, with places like California already stuck in a debilitating cycle of “heat, drought and fire”, according to scientists. The magnitude of the disastrous “Black Summer” bushfire season in Australia in 2019-20 will be four times more likely to reoccur at 2C of heating, and will be fairly commonplace at 3C.

A disquieting unknown for climate scientists is the knock-on impacts as epochal norms continue to fall. Record wildfires in California last year, for example, resulted in a million children missing a significant amount of time in school. What if permafrost melting or flooding cuts off critical roads used by supply chains? What if storms knock out the world’s leading computer chip factory? What happens once half of the world is exposed to disease-carrying mosquitos?

“We’ve never seen the climate change this fast so we don’t understand the non-linear effects,” said Hayhoe. “There are tipping points in our human-built systems that we don’t think about enough. More carbon means worse impacts which means more unpleasant surprises.”

Change in fraction of land annually exposed to wildfires:




+1.5C

+2.7F

We'll reach this threshold





In 6


to 8 years






Change from 1986-2006
0+0.2%
Insufficient model agreement

Guardian graphic. Source: Climate Analytics. Note: The data shows where the annual aggregated of areas burned by wildfires is projected to change, according to an analysis of four climate models. When the two of the four models don’t agree, they are not visualized.


The American West has already experienced unprecedented wildfires, but that's only going to get worse. In addition, Canada, Texas and parts of Mexico will also be at greater risk.








By the end of the century, virtually the entire continent will likely be at significantly greater risk of wildfires, regularly smothering the landmass in flames or smoke.

Crop failure

Unpredictable weather, like too much or too little rainfall, decreases the quantity and quality of crop yields
La Ceiba Talquezal, Guatemala
May 2017: Crops on a hillside damaged by deforestation, pests and prolonged droughts
New South Wales, Australia
October 2019: A farmer stands in a paddock of failed wheat crop
Lusaka, Zambia
January 2020: Poor crops after the lack of normal summer rainfall
Badghis, Afghanistan
September 2021: A farmer holds a handful of failed wheat from his crop

Photographs: Clockwise from top-left, Marvin Recinos/AFP via Getty Images, David Gray/Getty Images, String/EPA, World Food Program/Reuters


There are few less pleasant impacts in life than famine and the climate crisis is beginning to take a toll on food production. In August, the UN said that Madagascar was on the brink of the world’s first “climate change famine”, with tens of thousands of people at risk following four years with barely any rain. Globally, extreme crop drought events that previously occurred once a decade on average will more than double in their frequency at 2C of temperature rise.

Heat the world a bit more than this and a third of all the world’s food production will be at risk by the end of the century as crops start to wilt and fail in the heat.

Frequency of once-a-decade crop drought events



Global

warming

level


Crop drought

frequency


Historical

1850-1900


A once-a-decade event ...


+1.0C

Present


... now happens 1.7x a decade


+1.5C

In 6-8 years


2.0x


+2.0C

In 20-30 years


2.4x


+4.0C

Unlikely this

century


4.1x

Guardian graphic. Source: IPCC, 2021: Summary for Policymakers. Note: The projected year ranges for when warming thresholds will be hit are based on IPCC scenarios SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5.

Many different aspects of the climate crisis will destabilize food production, such as dropping levels of groundwater and shrinking snowpacks, another critical source of irrigation, in places such as the Himalayas. Crop yields decline the hotter it gets, while more extreme floods and storms risk ruining vast tracts of farmland.

Change in fraction of land annually exposed to crop failure:




+1.5C

+2.7F

We'll reach this threshold





In 6


to 8 years






Change from 1986-2006
0+2.4%
Insufficient model agreement

Guardian graphic. Source: Climate Analytics. Note: The data shows where the annual yield of four crops (maize, wheat, soybean, and rice) is projected to fall short of the 2.5th percentile of pre-industrial levels, according to an analysis of four climate models. When the two of the four models don’t agree, they are not visualized.


Crop failures in the US midwest and Mexico will likely get worse in the next decade.








By the end of the century, Mexico and Central America, a region already seeing farmers turn into climate migrants, will likely experience significantly worse crop yields.


Despite the rapid advance of renewable energy and, more recently, electric vehicles, countries still remain umbilically connected to fossil fuels, subsidizing oil, coal and gas to the tune of around $11m every single minute. The air pollution alone from burning these fuels kills nearly nine million people each year globally. Decades of time has been squandered – US president Lyndon Johnson was warned of the climate crisis by scientists when Joe Biden was still in college and yet industry denial and government inertia means the world is set for a 2.7C increase in temperature this century, even if all emissions reduction pledges are met.

By the end of this year the world will have burned through 86% of the carbon “budget” that would allow us just a coin flip’s chance of staying below 1.5C. The Glasgow COP talks will somehow have to bridge this yawning gap, with scientists warning the world will have to cut emissions in half this decade before zeroing them out by 2050.

“2.7C would be very bad,” said Wehner, who explained that extreme rainfall would be up to a quarter heavier than now, and heatwaves potentially 6C hotter in many countries. Maycock added that much of the planet will become “uninhabitable” at this level of heating. “We would not want to live in that world,” she said.

A scenario approaching some sort of apocalypse would comfortably arrive should the world heat up by 4C or more, and although this is considered unlikely due to the belated action by governments, it should provide little comfort.

Every decision – every oil drilling lease, every acre of the Amazon rainforest torched for livestock pasture, every new gas-guzzling SUV that rolls onto the road – will decide how far we tumble down the hill. In Glasgow, governments will be challenged to show they will fight every fraction of temperature rise, or else, in the words of Greta Thunberg, this pivotal gathering is at risk of being dismissed as “blah, blah, blah”.

“We’ve run down the clock but it’s never too late,” said Rogelj. “1.7C is better than 1.9C which is better than 3C. Cutting emissions tomorrow is better than the day after, because we can always avoid worse happening. The action is far too slow at the moment, but we can still act.”

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Coco Chanel the Nazi spy: New document reveals that fashion designer worked for Hitler's military intelligence French documentary claims late fashion designer worked for the Nazis Had relationship with senior Gestapo officers during Second World War Code-named 'Westminster'- referring to her affair with Duke of Westminster Exploited friendship with Winston Churchill to try and strike truce in 1943 Other French stars' relationships with the Nazis also called into question Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier and Sacha Guitry all said to have had links French researchers claim to have found indisputable evidence that Coco Chanel worked as a spy for the Nazis during the Second World War. A written record made public for the first time in a documentary broadcast on French television last night is said to prove that the late fashion designer was a member of Abwehr - Adolf Hitler's secret military intelligence agency. The documentary also raised questions about the role played by other French celebrities during the Second World War, including singers Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier and dramatist Sacha Guitry. +7 Claim: A document made public for the first time in a documentary broadcast on French television last night is said to prove that Coco Chanel was a member of Abwehr - Adolf Hitler's secret military intelligence agency     The newly revealed document suggests that while working for the Nazis, Coco Chanel (pictured left and right) went by the codename 'Westminster' - a reference to her affair with the Duke of Westminster in the 1920s L'Ombre d'un Doute [The Shadow of a Doubt], broadcast on the state-owned France 3 channel yesterday evening, countered the French government's official claim that almost every well-known figure from the time either joined the Resistance movement or simply boycotted the Nazis. Although the claim has long been considered spurious by French historians, the issue of doubt has largely been ignored by mainstream French broadcasters. +7 Links: Coco Chanel is pictured with Winston Churchill's son Randolph at Ascot in the mid-1930s According to the documentary, Chanel's involvement with the Nazis began around the time of the collapse of the French army in 1940. She returned to Paris shortly after and moved in to the Ritz Hotel, which was doubling as the Luftwaffe's French headquarters at the time. She soon began an affair with a senior Gestapo officer by the name of Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage and became so closely acquainted with the Nazi upper echelons that she was sent to Madrid in 1943 where she exploited her past acquaintance with Winston Churchill to try and strike a truce with British officers stationed there. Churchill allegedly ignored the offer, with historian Henry Gidel saying Chanel 'displayed incredible megalomania and naivety in imagining that she could change Churchill's mind.' The newly revealed document suggests that while working for the Nazis, Chanel went by the codename 'Westminster' - a reference to her affair with the Duke of Westminster in the 1920s. Her official Abwehr number was F-7124 according to official Nazi record - which has been secretly held in the French Ministry of Defence archives for the past seven decades. The host of the documentary, historian ******* Ferrand, went on to claim that Chanel used her Nazi influence to try and reclaim the perfume business she sold to a Jewish family in 1924. +7 The documentary claims Edith Piaf (pictured) accepted two invitations to perform at private Nazi functions   Ties: The documentary's claims that singer Maurice Chevalier (left) and dramatist Sacha Guitry (right) were linked to the Nazis largely centred on the idea that the stars' careers flourished in occupied France Justine Picardie reveals the complexity of Chanel's relationships   Ferrand said the fashion designer had hoped that Nazi rules banning Jews owning businesses may lead to the company being confiscated and given back to her, but it later merged that the Wertheimer family had already sold their stake in Chanel perfume to a German businessman. The documentary's claims that Piaf, Chevalier and Guitry were linked to the Nazis were less fleshed-out and largely centred on the idea that the stars' careers flourished in occupied France - with Piaf also accepting two invitations to perform at private Nazi functions. The documentary claimed that officials in post-War France scrubbed the celebrities' records of Nazi links and invented ties to the Resistance movement in order to help rebuild the country's reputation. AT LEAST 1,000 ex-Nazis were hired by the U.S. as spies during the Cold War... and the CIA even helped them move to America Newly disclosed government records indicate the CIA and FBI ignored potential war crimes when they hired these ex-Nazis in the 1950s and 1960s Turned Nazis performed a variety of spy tasks from training for a possible invasion of USSR to laying communication cables in East Germany  While death camp wardens and Gestapo officers were being tried at Nuremberg in the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. was putting other former Nazis on the payroll. It has been revealed through recently disclosed government documents and interviews that at least 1,000 ex-Nazis were recruited by the American military, FBI and CIA to become Cold War spies and informants, the New York Times reports. Not only did they hire former Third Reich members suspected of carrying out war crimes, they went so far as to help their spies immigrate to the U.S. and cover up their involvement in the war in an attempt to protect them from the U.S. Justice Department's own Nazi hunters. And that estimate is considered conservative by the historians who were tasked by the government to declassify the war-crime records. Scroll down for video +6 Working for us: It has been revealed that at least 1,00 former Nazi police officials and collaborators were recruited by the FBI and CIA in the aftermath of World War II to become Cold War spies for the U.S. Above, Adolph Hitler greets SS officers at his birthday on April 20, 1937 'U.S. agencies directly or indirectly hired numerous ex-Nazi police officials and East European collaborators who were manifestly guilty of war crimes,' University of Florida historian Norman Goda told the Times. 'Information was readily available that these were compromised men.' Records reveal that these spies and informants were recruited from every level of the fallen Nazi regime, from SS officers to Adolf Eichmann's own mentor and 'master race' proselytizer. U.S. agencies directly or indirectly hired numerous ex-Nazi police officials and East European collaborators who were manifestly guilty of war crimes. Information was readily available that these were compromised men Norman Goda, historian, University of Florida In the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, longtime FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and CIA Chief Allen Dulles were in agreement that these former Nazis would be more helpful to the U.S. as Soviet spies than in prison.  In Maryland, Army officials trained Nazi officers for a possible invasion of Russia while in Connecticut an ex-Nazi guard was hired to study Soviet-bloc postage stamps for possible hidden messages. In Virginia, a former top adviser to Hitler himself gave classified briefings on the Soviets while ex-SS officers living in East Germany lay surveillance cables and tracked train movements. However, the records also showed that many of these former Nazis ended up not being effective spies, and some were even double agents. One of the more senior Nazis recruited by the U.S. was Aleksandras Lileikis, who was connected to the mass murder of 60,000 Jews in a Lithuanian ghetto. Nazi spies found on the coast of Maine in 1942   War criminal: The CIA knew of Aleksandras Lileikis' possible connection to the mass murder of Jews in Vilna, Lithuania, but they hired him anyway to become a spy in East Germany in 1952. Four years later they helped him move to the U.S. (his immigration picture on the right) +6 Above, a view of the ghetto in Vilna, Lithuania where nearly 60,000 Jews stayed before their deportation to death camps Lileikis also worked for the CIA after the war, and the agency even wrote in documents their knowledge of his war crimes. They wrote that Lileikis worked 'under the control of the Gestapo during the war' and that he 'was possibly connected with the shooting of Jews in Vilna'. Lileikis was hired to spy in East Germany in 1952, and the agency paid him $1,700 a year and eventually helped him immigrate to the U.S. four years later. He lived here for forty years before he was discovered in 1994 living outside Boston, and prosecutors moved to put to deport him. A CIA lawyer called the Justice Department telling them 'you can't file this case.' The CIA and Justice Department allegedly came to an agreement that Lileikis would not be put on trial if the agency turned over their evidence showing the former Nazi was turned into a U.S. spy. Ultimately, they let Lileikis get deported before making public their embarrassing past of hiring ex-Nazis. And even though they wrote about his involvement in the liquidation of the Vilna ghetto in internal memos, their official comment was that they were not aware of any war crimes. 'There is no evidence, that this Agency was aware of his wartime activities,' the CIA said in a 1995 statement. Another senior Nazi turned-American-spy was Otto von Bolschwing, who was a mentor and top aide to Adolph Eichmann - one of the masterminds of the Holocaust. It shouldn't have happened. He never should have been admitted to the United States. It wasn't consistent with out values as a country. Gus von Bolschwing, son of ex-Nazi turned U.S. spy Otto von Bolschwing Despite writing papers on how to terrorize Jews, the CIA hired Bolschwing as a spy in Europe and eventually moved his family to New York City in 1954 as 'a reward for his loyal postwar service and in view of the innocuousness of his [Nazi] party activities'. But when Eichmann was captured living in Argentina in 1960, Bolschwing feared he too would be exposed and put on trial as a conspirator with the creator of the 'Final Solution'. The CIA however reassured Bolschwing that they would protect him, and he did live freely in the U.S. for another 20 years before Nazi hunters tracked him down and moved to deport him from the country. Bolschwing agreed to give up his citizenship in 1981, and he died a few months later. Bolschwing's son, 75-year-old Gus Von Bolschwiung, is critical of his father's post-war counter-intelligence career. 'They used him, and he used them,' Gus von Bolschwing told the Times. 'It shouldn’t have happened. He never should have been admitted to the United States. It wasn’t consistent with our values as a country'  None of these ex-Nazi spies are known to be alive today. Eichmann's man: Otto von Bolschwing (left) was a mentor and top aide to Adolph Eichmann (right), one of the masterminds of the Holocaust. He was hired by the U.S. to spy in Europe in the aftermath of World War II. He lived in the U.S. for more than two decades before he was discovered by Nazi hunters and deported   It was one of Churchill’s most daring – and successful – plans of World War II. The creation of a secret spy network manned by ordinary men and women desperate to do their bit to beat the Nazis. Now the daring exploits of these half-forgotten heroes of the Special Operations Executive, or SOE, are fully revealed in a new TV series, Secret War. Take the amazing story of the Polish aristocrat Krystyna Skarbek. She joined the fight against Hitler when she was parachuted into France, where she employed her magnetic and flirtatious personality to persuade the Gestapo to release a team of fellow SOE agents they had captured. Seductive: Casino Royale's Vesper Lynd, played by Eva Green, was based on Krystyna Skarbek James Bond author Ian Fleming, who is thought to have been Krystyna’s lover, based Bond girl Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale and Tatiana Romanova in From Russia With Love on her. Tragically, after being awarded the OBE and George Medal for her exploits, Krystyna was stabbed to death in London by a spurned lover in 1952. Equally fearless was Violette Szabo, whose story was featured in the classic film Carve Her Name With Pride. Violette was the daughter of an English father and a French mother, and married to a French Foreign Legion officer. After her husband’s death at the battle of El Alamein, Violette was desperate to fight the Nazis. She completed her first mission in occupied France successfully, despite being arrested and talking her way out of trouble. She was not so lucky on her next mission, which coincided with D-Day. She ran into an SS Panzer Division while working with the French Resistance, and was wounded and captured in a shoot-out. Tortured by the Gestapo in Paris, she gave nothing away and was executed at Ravensbruck concentration camp. She was 23. Her daughter Tania went to Buckingham Palace to collect her mother’s George Cross in 1946, aged just four. Clever: Krystyna Skarbek used her 'flirtatious personality' Bruno Gimpel is one of the Secret War's few survivors. 'I was only 17 in 1944, and was running around with a revolver and a sub-machine gun,’ he recalls proudly. ‘What boy wouldn’t have enjoyed that?’ Bruno’s war began in June 1940 when, as the 13-year-old youngest son of an Italian banker living in London, he heard Italy’s Fascist dictator, Mussolini, had joined Hitler’s war against Britain. ‘My father and elder brother were interned as enemy aliens, and my mother and I were put on a troop ship with other members of Britain’s Italian community, and swapped in neutral Lisbon for a ship carrying Italy’s British community.’ After the Allies invaded Italy in 1943, Bruno and his mother took to the hills, where the 16- year-old was contacted by an SOE mission parachuted in to make contact with Italian partisans fighting behind the German lines. ‘I was recruited because I could speak English and Italian,’ says Bruno, who had a ringside seat for some of the war’s fiercest fighting – including Operation Tombola, when an SAS unit of just 40 men stormed the German 51st Division HQ manned by over 300 soldiers. Did Bruno ever think his life might end violently? ‘When you are young you don’t think about such things,’ he answers modestly. After the war, Bruno became an accountant in Milan. He looks back on his days as a guerrilla fighter as the most fulfilling of his life. And the best memory of all? ‘Getting my own back on my two elder brothers who sat out the war in England. They’d always looked down on me as a bambino, but the war made me a man.’

 

 

 

 

A Chinese spy ship has been spotted off the coast of Hawaii during a giant U.S.-led naval exercise.

The vessels crashed the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) drill which involves 22 countries, 40 ships and more than 250,000 soldiers.

Despite the potential threat to U.S. security, Beijing's defence ministry said they had the right to send in the intelligence boats, even though four ships and 1,000 of their soldiers were already part of the operation.

U.S. Marine Corps have shown off a new amphibious vehicle in Hawaii (shown). The Ultra Heavy-lift Amphibious Connector (Uhac) can travel on land and sea.

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Warfare: The Chinese vessels were spotted at the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) drill where the U.S. Navy was showing off one of its new amphibious vehicles (pictured)

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Presence: The Chinese naval destroyer Haikou (left) and frigate Yueyang were already involved in the drill

The Navy played down any intelligence risk associated with the vessels and noted that China also sent a similar ship to monitor the same exercise two years ago.

'We've taken all necessary precautions to protect our critical information,' said Captain Darryn James, chief spokesman of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. 'We expect this ship will remain outside of U.S. territorial seas and not operate in a manner that disrupts the ongoing Rim of the Pacific maritime exercise.'

In a statement, China's Defence Ministry, said its naval vessels had the right under international law to operate 'in waters outside of other country's territorial waters'.

'China respects the rights granted under international law to relevant littoral states, and hopes that relevant countries can respect the legal rights Chinese ships have,' it added.

U.S. officials hope China's participation in RIMPAC will help resolve tensions but analysts believe their presence may help Beijing strengthen its naval capability,

+4

Military might: The drill off the coast of Hawaii involves 22 nations, as well as 49 surface ships (including new U.S. machinery), and more than 200 aircraft

The U.S. also conducts surveillance operations in international waters and airspace and the Navy did not voice protest over the appearance of the vessel.

Still, James said he was unaware of any participant doing something similar since the RIMPAC drills began in 1971.

'To my knowledge, this is the first time a nation has ever sent a surveillance ship near Hawaii while also having invited ships participating in the RIMPAC exercise,' James said.

The Chinese ships participating in the drills are missile destroyer Haikou, missile frigate Yueyang, supply ship Qiandaohu and hospital ship Peace Ark. 

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Future of warfare: The US displayed a prototype of its new amphibious transport vehicle, the Ultra Heavy-Lift Amphibious Connecter (UHAC). It can drive onto the shore and scale objects up to three metres high on land

The exercises come at a time when tensions are high between Beijing and U.S. allies such as Japan and the Philippines over China's pressing of territorial claims in the South and East China Seas.

They also come after a dispute between China and Vietnam that led to one of the worst breakdowns in ties since they fought a brief war in 1979.

A Chinese spy ship has been spotted off the coast of Hawaii during a giant U.S.-led naval exercise.

The vessels crashed the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) drill which involves 22 countries, 40 ships and more than 250,000 soldiers.

Despite the potential threat to U.S. security, Beijing's defence ministry said they had the right to send in the intelligence boats, even though four ships and 1,000 of their soldiers were already part of the operation.

+4

Warfare: The Chinese vessels were spotted at the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) drill where the U.S. Navy was showing off one of its new amphibious vehicles (pictured)

+4

Presence: The Chinese naval destroyer Haikou (left) and frigate Yueyang were already involved in the drill

The Navy played down any intelligence risk associated with the vessels and noted that China also sent a similar ship to monitor the same exercise two years ago.

'We've taken all necessary precautions to protect our critical information,' said Captain Darryn James, chief spokesman of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. 'We expect this ship will remain outside of U.S. territorial seas and not operate in a manner that disrupts the ongoing Rim of the Pacific maritime exercise.'

In a statement, China's Defence Ministry, said its naval vessels had the right under international law to operate 'in waters outside of other country's territorial waters'.

'China respects the rights granted under international law to relevant littoral states, and hopes that relevant countries can respect the legal rights Chinese ships have,' it added.

U.S. officials hope China's participation in RIMPAC will help resolve tensions but analysts believe their presence may help Beijing strengthen its naval capability,

+4

Military might: The drill off the coast of Hawaii involves 22 nations, as well as 49 surface ships (including new U.S. machinery), and more than 200 aircraft

The U.S. also conducts surveillance operations in international waters and airspace and the Navy did not voice protest over the appearance of the vessel.

Still, James said he was unaware of any participant doing something similar since the RIMPAC drills began in 1971.

'To my knowledge, this is the first time a nation has ever sent a surveillance ship near Hawaii while also having invited ships participating in the RIMPAC exercise,' James said.

The Chinese ships participating in the drills are missile destroyer Haikou, missile frigate Yueyang, supply ship Qiandaohu and hospital ship Peace Ark. 

+4

Future of warfare: The US displayed a prototype of its new amphibious transport vehicle, the Ultra Heavy-Lift Amphibious Connecter (UHAC). It can drive onto the shore and scale objects up to three metres high on land

The exercises come at a time when tensions are high between Beijing and U.S. allies such as Japan and the Philippines over China's pressing of territorial claims in the South and East China Seas.

They also come after a dispute between China and Vietnam that led to one of the worst breakdowns in ties since they fought a brief war in 1979.

During the drill, the U.S. Marines displayed  a prototype of its new amphibious transport vehicle.

The Ultra Heavy-Lift Amphibious Connecter (UHAC) concept is designed to power across the water with a payload of nearly 200 tons at up to 20 knots (23 mph).

It is capable of driving up on to the shore and over the top of obstructions up to 10 ft (3 m) high

 

Russian spy chiefs ordered Anna Chapman to seduce whistleblower Edward Snowden, claims defector  Ex-KGB agent Boris Karpichkov makes claims over proposal background Alleges that plan was launched for Chapman to keep Snowden in Moscow This would be so the Russians could continue to question him, he claims They apparently met just once - but Chapman proposed in tweet last year +6 Ex-spy: Anna Chapman has become a celebrity in Russia since she was deported there four years ago Former intelligence agent Anna Chapman was told by Russian spy chiefs to seduce Edward Snowden, a defector claimed today. Ex-KGB agent Boris Karpichkov alleged that a plan was launched for Chapman, 32, to keep US whistleblower Snowden, 31, in Moscow - so the Russians could continue to question him. The two were said to have met just once - but Chapman proposed in a tweet in July 2013. Mr Karpichkov told journalist Nigel Nelson for the Sunday People: ‘If Snowden had accepted he would have a right to Russian citizenship. That would lock him in Russia. As a citizen he’d need permission to leave.’ Mr Karpichkov - who fled to Britain after 15 years as a KGB agent, but is still in contact with sources in Moscow - said Snowden became ‘concerned about what the consequences would be’ of being attached to Chapman. Former Conservative MP Rupert Allason, better-known now as spy writer Nigel West, said that Chapman was ‘sophisticated enough to live with an American’. Mr Allason told the Sunday People: ‘There aren’t many of those in the FSB (formerly the KGB). She would be prepared to use her obvious gifts.’ In September 2013, Chapman refused to answer questions about the proposal in a bizarre five-minute interview with NBC, and walked out after she was asked about the tweet. She has never publicly commented on it. Chapman, the daughter of a senior KGB agent, was arrested in 2010 with nine others, accused of working for a spy ring for Russia's external intelligence agency. +6 Edward Snowden is wanted in the US after leaking classified details of government surveillance programmes   Anna Chapman was arrested in 2010 with nine others, accused of working for a spy ring for Russia's external intelligence agency. She pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy and was deported back to Russia in 2010 She pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy and was deported back to Russia in July 2010 as part of a prisoner swap. She has since become a celebrity in Russia. She married British public schoolboy Alex Chapman in 2002 and the pair moved to London, but divorced in 2006. When unmasked as a Russian agent, she was stripped of her British passport. Since returning to Moscow, Chapman - dubbed a 'femme fatale' - has carved out a lucrative career as a TV presenter, model and owner of a fashion brand. Question: They were said to have met just once - but Chapman proposed to Snowden in a tweet in July 2013 In the spotlight: Since returning to Moscow, Chapman has carved out a lucrative career as a TV presenter, model and owner of a fashion brand Snowden left his long-term girlfriend Lindsay Mills in Hawaii when he fled the US, and was granted asylum in Moscow in August 2013, after six weeks of waiting at the city's airport. In the summer Snowden was reunited in Russia with Miss Mills, a pole-dancer. The pair were pictured together on a theatre date in Moscow. Snowden now has a three-year residency permit. He is wanted in the US after leaking classified details of government surveillance programmes. His critics view him as a traitor, while supporters see him as a hero who spoke up for civil liberties.

 

Ten of the greatest: Espionage coups

 

From the Enigma cipher machine used during World War II to the Cambridge spies, The Enigma cipher machine was the basis of German secret communications during World War II. The chances of anyone who didn't know the settings being able to break it were infinitesimal, and so the Germans believed it to be impregnable. The code-breakers at Bletchley Park, a collection of Britain's most brilliant mathematicians and intellectuals, were aided in their task by a design flaw in the machine and errors by German operators. From 1940 they were decrypting German intelligence signals picked up by wireless intercept stations and producing a stream of material codenamed 'Ultra', which Churchill described as the secret weapon that won the war.

The Engima cipher machine was the basis of German secret communications during World War II but there was a design flaw in the machine and errors by German operators

 

2. GEORGE SCOVELL, 1812

Scovell  was a forerunner of the code-breakers of the 20th century. A member of Wellington's staff during the Peninsular War with the French, Scovell was responsible for intercepting and decoding the enemy's communications, which then were made by enciphered dispatch. In spring 1811 the French, aware that their codes were being cracked, introduced something more sophisticated. Scovell cracked it in two days. At the end of 1811 they brought in the Great Paris Code. Scovell set to work, and by December 1812, when a letter to Napoleon was intercepted, he was able to decipher it and thus provide Wellington with information vital to his victory in June 1813. In later life he was knighted and became a general and Governor of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Sir George Sovell was responsible for intercepting and decoding the enemy's communications during the Peninsula War with the French

3. THE CAMBRIDGE SPIES, 1934

Probably the ablest group of spies ever to work for a foreign intelligence service. They were recruited during the Thirties by Arnold Deutsch of the OGPU, predecessor of the KGB. First was Kim Philby, who later joined MI6. Philby recommended Donald Maclean of the Foreign Office and Guy Burgess of the BBC and later MI6. Burgess recommended Anthony Blunt, who worked for MI5; Blunt recommended John Cairncross of the Foreign Office. Between them these five provided their Soviet masters with a stream of information from the heart of the British government.

 

 

 

Anthony Blunt and four others formed the ablest group of spies ever to work for a foreign intelligence service

4. ELYESA BAZNA (CICERO), 1943

Elyesa Bazna (Cicero), valet to the British ambassador to Turkey during WWII, photographed documents and sold the film to the Germans - but they didn't make as much use of his material as they could have. After the war, when Bazna tried to spend his ill-gotten gains, he discovered the Germans had paid him in counterfeit money. He was played by James Mason  in Five Fingers in 1952.

 

 

 

James Mason (right) played Elyesa Bazna (Cicero) in Five Fingers in 1952

5. APHRA BEHN, 1666

Aphra Behn was a writer whose wit and ability brought her to the attention of the court of Charles II. After the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1665, Behn was recruited to go as a political spy to Antwerp. She cultivated many contacts and sent a stream of reports back home, notably giving advance warning of a Dutch operation to sail up the Thames and burn the English ships. Unfortunately most of her information was disregarded and she was never paid. Having spent all her money in the King's service, she was thrown into a debtors' prison. On her release, disgusted with political service, she supported herself by writing and became one of the first English female professional writers.

Aphra Behn was recruited to go as a political spy to Antwerp in 1665 after the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War

6. KLAUS FUCHS, 1944

In 1949, to the shock of Western governments, the Soviet Union exploded a test atomic bomb - a coup for the Russians, but the beginning of a new, more dangerous, phase in the Cold War.

At about the same time, newly decrypted Soviet intelligence messages revealed that plans of the first US atomic bomb had been leaked late in WWII by a British scientist.

An investigation pointed to several possible traitors, and under questioning Klaus Fuchs, a physicist who had worked in the U.S. on the Manhattan Project, admitted he had given the Soviets all the information he had about the bomb. Fuchs, a German communist who had come to Britain before the war and had been given British nationality to work on top-secret projects, was one of several scientists to betray atomic secrets.

 

 

 

Physicist Klaus Fuchs (left) admitted he had given the Soviet Union all the information he had about the atomic bomb (right) which they exploded in 1944

Colonel Oleg Penkovsky provided MI6 with details about Soviet missiles in 1960

7. OLEG PENKOVSKY, 1962

Penkovsky was a Soviet military intelligence (GRU) officer, who first approached the Americans in 1960, but was rejected by the CIA. MI6 believed he was genuine, and in their hands he provided details about Soviet missiles and guidance systems, which revealed that the Soviets weren't as advanced as the West had thought.

His information proved vital in defusing the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was betrayed, arrested in October 1962 and executed. His courier, British businessman Greville Wynne, was arrested and later released in a spy swap.

8. FRANCIS WALSINGHAM, 1586

I've never much liked Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's spymaster, but I admire the patience and tradecraft that brought about his great espionage coup. Elizabeth refused to condemn Mary Queen of Scots without evidence of a plot, so Walsingham sent an agent to Mary, posing as a Catholic friend, who suggested to her a secret system of communicating via messages stuffed in beer casks. She later used the system to give her consent to an invasion plot by Anthony Babington, with Spanish collusion. Babington was arrested and died under torture and Elizabeth agreed to Mary's execution.

 

 

 

Francis Walsingham (left) tricked Mary Queen of Scots (left, being executed) into giving her consent to an invasion plot against Elizabeth I

9. CROSS SYSTEM, 1941

The messages deciphered at Bletchley Park gave MI5 early warning of German spies being sent to Britain, with the result that most were easily picked up and imprisoned or executed. It occurred to MI5 that it would be more useful to persuade the captured spies, in return for their lives, to work for the British by double-crossing the Germans, and thus began the Double Cross system, by which a stream of disinformation was fed to the Nazis. By spring 1942, it was clear that MI5 controlled all the agents operating in Britain and that the Germans were being successfully deceived by their inaccurate reports. Double Cross agents fed false information on the location of V1 and V2 rocket landings, causing the programming to be altered, and played a vital part in misleading Hitler about the location of the D-Day landings.

A wireless message sent to the Germans by Spanish born double-agent Juan Pujol Garcia, code named Garbo

10. OLEG GORDIEVSKY, 1983

Former Soviet spy Oleg Gordievsky receives the Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and Saint George from Queen Elizabeth II