Bankocracy

Syrian rebels’ pledge of allegiance to al Qaeda complicates Western intervention strategies

[April 2013] "The West is floundering over how to respond to Syria’s worsening civil war, especially after a leading Islamist rebel group pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda, opposition officials and experts say. The move by the Al-Nusra Front this week has complicated efforts by US and European officials to come up with unified strategy to support the rebels battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. After pushing for weeks to lift a European embargo so arms could be supplied to the rebels, France and Britain have recently backed away from the initiative amid fears weapons could fall into the wrong hands." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSyrian rebels’ pledge of allegiance to al Qaeda complicates Western intervention strategies

CFR Head Richard Haass: U.S. is going to take military action against Syria

"Richard Haass, the president on the Council on Foreign Relations, said Monday he was almost certain the United States was going to attack Syria. 'Secretary Kerry went far out on a limb, both in the content and, as you say, the tone,' he told CNN. 'So, sure, I would frankly be surprised and then some if the United States now did not probably together with a few other countries take some military action.' 'You’re probably looking at sea launch cruise missile, probably some airborne cruise missiles, but something along those lines I think would be the most natural sort of response for the United States to launch at this point,' Haass said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCFR Head Richard Haass: U.S. is going to take military action against Syria

John Kerry: Syria guilty of ‘a moral obscenity’

"Speaking amid reports that Washington and its allies are preparing to launch a punitive cruise missile strike on Syrian targets, US Secretary of State John Kerry accused Bashar al-Assad’s regime of engaging in a cover-up. Kerry said Washington would provide more evidence of who was behind the attack, and that US President Barack Obama was determined that the guilty would face consequences. With China and Moscow expected to boycott any resolution backing a military strike, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the West could act even without full UN Security Council backing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJohn Kerry: Syria guilty of ‘a moral obscenity’

Man on Ecstasy parties in his underwear for hours on Angela Merkel’s empty jet

"Once on board, he stripped down to his underwear, punched buttons in the cockpit, sprayed fire extinguisher foam in the cabin and danced on a wing. Police received an alarm at 8:40 p.m. when Volkan T. was in the cockpit, but he wasn’t apprehended until nearly 12:30 a.m. when a police dog bit him on the leg. The man led a combined force of civilian police, Bundeswehr soldiers and private security guards on a merry chase around the Airbus 319 aircraft, which is also used by other high-ranking German officials like President Joachim Gauck. The plane was loaded with eight tons of fuel and could technically have taken off had someone with expertise been at the controls." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMan on Ecstasy parties in his underwear for hours on Angela Merkel’s empty jet

German chancellor Angela Merkel to make campaign stop in Dachau

"Angela Merkel will become the first German chancellor to visit the former Nazi concentration camp Dachau as she steps up warnings about the far-right threat while campaigning for a third term. In her weekly podcast, Merkel on Saturday warned ahead of the visit that Europeans must remain vigilant against Holocaust deniers and right-wing extremists. Merkel will hold a campaign rally the same evening in the town of Dachau ahead of a Bavarian state poll and the German general election next month. [A recent Neo-Nazi murder trial] exposed serious failings of the German security services, which had focused their investigation almost entirely on Germany’s large Turkish community." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGerman chancellor Angela Merkel to make campaign stop in Dachau

Why NSA Snooping Is Bigger Deal in Germany

"While the U.S. has few laws concerning data privacy, Germany has something unknown to Americans: 17 state data protection supervisors (one national and one for each state), who watch over the compliance of authorities and companies with data privacy laws. After the Snowden revelations, they have discontinued giving out new licenses to companies under the so-called Safe Harbor principles, which are meant to guarantee that personal data is only transferred to countries with sufficient data protection, for example when Germans use American companies’ cloud storage space. The supervisors consider user data in the hands of U.S. companies not safe anymore." Continue reading →

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Is Windows 8 a Trojan Horse for the NSA? The German Government Thinks So

"The German Government is now deeply suspicious that the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) technology built into a growing number of Windows 8 PCs and tablets is creating a gigantic back door for NSA surveillance, leaked documents have suggested. During TCG meetings, German officials appear to have expressed concern about the potential for abuse but were 'rebuffed,' Zeit claims. The documents also refer to the NSA having representation at the meetings and the statement 'the NSA agrees' in the context of leaving the technology in its current (presumably unreformed) state." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs Windows 8 a Trojan Horse for the NSA? The German Government Thinks So

NSA promises transparency by launching new Tumblr blog

"IC on the Record will host official statements, declassified documents, speeches, interviews, fact sheets and videos among other content. Plans for the blog were announced by President Barack Obama earlier in August, as part of promises for more transparency on the activities of the US intelligence community in the wake ofrecent revelations about the NSA and its PRISM program of electronic surveillance. The IC on the Record blog was launched with a post by US director of national intelligence James Clapper, who has been criticised recently after he apologised for misleading a Senate hearing by denying that the NSA collects information about US citizens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA promises transparency by launching new Tumblr blog

Dan Rather: NSA ‘is demolishing the trust in the government’

"AXS TV anchor Dan Rather and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Wednesday night said the National Security Agency couldn’t justify its sweeping surveillance powers. An internal audit found the NSA had violated its own privacy rules due to errors, such as using wrong the area codes. On Wednesday, it was revealed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had halted an NSA online surveillance program because the agency was unable to separate American emails from foreign emails. Rather said he was skeptical that the NSA’s actions could simply be attributed to ineptitude." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDan Rather: NSA ‘is demolishing the trust in the government’

NSA admits: Our analysts ‘willfully violated’ rules of surveillance system

"'NSA takes very seriously allegations of misconduct, and co-operates fully with any investigations – responding as appropriate,' the NSA said in a statement. 'NSA has zero tolerance for willful violations of the agency’s authorities.' It said none of the abuses involved violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or the Patriot Act – violations of which have been highlighted by the Guardian based on documents leaked by the whistleblower Edward Snowden. Instead, the abuses were related to misuse of the 1981 Executive Order 12333, which governs how US intelligence operations are used." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA admits: Our analysts ‘willfully violated’ rules of surveillance system