Dialectical Maneuvers

Al-Qaeda ‘targeting European rail network’: report

"Al-Qaeda is plotting attacks on Europe’s high-speed rail network, German mass circulation daily Bild reported, citing intelligence sources. The extremist group could plant explosives on trains and tunnels or sabotage tracks and electrical cabling, said Bild. Bild said the information came from the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States, which had listened in to a conference call involving top Al-Qaeda operatives. The attacks on Europe’s rail network was a 'central topic' of this call, Bild said. Authorities in Germany have responded to the threat with discrete measures such as deploying plain-clothed police officers at key stations and on main routes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAl-Qaeda ‘targeting European rail network’: report

Leaping to Conclusions

"When I read this news item, I was shocked at the flimsiness of it as a justification for the US to attack Syria. What the nation’s political leaders are saying is so irrational, so superficial, so hasty and so ill-considered. I feel as if the country is being run by people lacking in stability of temperament, emotional control, judgment, patience, experience, understanding and maturity. I don’t think they understand how to do good via neutrality. They are men of power, action, and intervention, who do not understand the consequences of their actions. They seem to have made up their minds and now do not want to be bothered by anything that might possibly paint a different picture." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLeaping to Conclusions

United Nations to question U.S. over spying allegations

"The United Nations will approach the US government over a report by a German magazine that US intelligence spied on video conferences by top UN officials, a spokesman said Monday. 'We are aware of the reports, and we intend to be in touch with the relevant authorities on this,' a UN spokesman, Farhan Haq, told reporters, adding that this meant the US administration. Haq told reporters the 1961 Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations has become 'well established international law, therefore member states are expected to act accordingly to protect the inviolability of diplomatic missions.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUnited Nations to question U.S. over spying allegations

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

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

Government plans to euthanize hundreds of desert tortoises after budget cuts to refuge

"The Desert Tortoise Conservation Center — a 23-year-old federal refuge in Las Vegas for the threatened species — has collected only $290,000 from its primary funding source of local developer fees over the last 11 months, the AP reports. The center can’t count on the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or Nevada Department of Wildlife to make up the shortfall on the center’s $1 million annual operating budget because of federal and state budget constraints. The result? Center administrators are planning to close the 220-acre facility in 2014 and euthanize about half of the 1400 tortoises under their protection." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment plans to euthanize hundreds of desert tortoises after budget cuts to refuge

Terrorism: The Latest Salvo on LNG Exports

"In the latest twist, a U.S. lawmaker said capitalizing on the natural gas boom through exports would expose the country to national security risks from terrorism. Several news outlets, citing unnamed or anonymous sources, reported al-Qaida militants killed four soldiers in their sleep in an attack on Balhaf, the country's lone liquefied natural gas export terminal. Drone strikes over Yemen increased in the wake of an early August security warning linking al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to Yemen's al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and a security source working in the energy sector said the raid on Balhaf was in response to those incidents." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTerrorism: The Latest Salvo on LNG Exports

Hackers who targeted media last year now targeting think tanks

"The hackers who penetrated the computer network of The New York Times last year have resurfaced with an attack on 'an organization involved in shaping economic policy,' experts warned Monday. The security firm FireEye said the original perpetrators 'appear to be mounting fresh assaults that leverage new and improved versions of malware.' Chinese officials repeatedly denied responsibility for the attacks, and since then the United States has in turn been accused of penetrating foreign networks through the spy programs revealed by leaker Edward Snowden. FireEye said it had detected 'a retooling of what security researchers believe is a massive spying operation based in China.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHackers who targeted media last year now targeting think tanks

White House Picks Creepy Panel to Review NSA Programs

"A group of veteran security experts and former White House officials has been selected to conduct a full review of U.S. surveillance programs and other secret government efforts disclosed over recent months, ABC News has learned. The recent acting head of the CIA, Michael Morell, will be among what President Obama called a 'high-level group of outside experts' scrutinizing the controversial programs. Joining Morell on the panel will be former White House officials Richard Clarke, Cass Sunstein and Peter Swire. An announcement is expected Thursday, a source with knowledge of the matter told ABC News’ Jon Karl." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhite House Picks Creepy Panel to Review NSA Programs

NSA spied on Americans until a judge ruled it illegal in 2011

"The National Security Agency spied on electronic communications between Americans in a program that was later scrapped after a judge ruled it illegal in 2011, US officials said Wednesday. The court’s opinions are usually top secret but the move to release the documents came amid a firestorm over revelations of sweeping surveillance operations, following bombshell disclosures from a former US intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden. Officials said the court rulings had been declassified to better inform the public about how the eavesdropping programs are carried out, and that a mistake had occurred due to a technical problem." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA spied on Americans until a judge ruled it illegal in 2011