Dialectical Maneuvers

EU warns Obama of ‘grave consequences’ facing Europeans from NSA intel scandal

"Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice Commissioner, wrote a letter on Monday to US Attorney General Eric Holder demanding 'swift and concrete' answers about the spy scheme when they meet in Dublin on Friday. 'Programmes such as PRISM and the laws on the basis of which such programmes are authorised could have grave adverse consequences for the fundamental rights of EU citizens,' she wrote. Her questions to Holder include whether EU citizens were targeted by the US programmes, whether Europeans would be able find out whether their data has been accessed, and whether they would be treated similarly to US nationals in such cases." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEU warns Obama of ‘grave consequences’ facing Europeans from NSA intel scandal

Ron Paul ‘Worried’ U.S. Might Kill Snowden With Drone

"'I'm worried about somebody in our government who might kill him, with a cruise missile or a drone missile.' 'We live in a bad time where American citizens don't even have rights and that they can be killed,' Paul continued. 'But the gentleman is trying to tell the truth about what's going on, he is not defecting, there's no signs of that happening. It's a shame we're in an age where people who tell the truth about what the government is doing gets into trouble.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul ‘Worried’ U.S. Might Kill Snowden With Drone

EU wants privacy guarantees from U.S. amid PRISM crisis

“The EU said Tuesday it will seek a strong commitment from the United States to respect the rights of European citizens, following revelations that Washington is running a worldwide Internet surveillance programme. Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice Commissioner, ‘will raise … Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEU wants privacy guarantees from U.S. amid PRISM crisis

Guardian publishes third secret NSA document, on US cyberwar plans

"The document orders various government agencies to prepare for offensive cyberwarfare operations and says the government will 'identify targets of national importance.' The article quotes an intelligence source with knowledge of NSA programs as saying the directive makes US complaints about China's state-sponsored hacking 'hypocritical,' because the US has 'participated in offensive cyber operations and widespread hacking.' Some of the talking points in the directive were declassified in January, but the emphasis on offensive hacking wasn't made public, nor was the order to create a specific target list." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGuardian publishes third secret NSA document, on US cyberwar plans

Where Was Mainstream News While the Surveillance State Was Expanding?

"An honest report would explain how what is obviously one of the biggest stories of the modern era has gone unreported by Reuters and by the mainstream media in general. An honest report would address the aggregate courage of the alternative media in covering the rise of the surveillance state while being marginalized by the formal media and disparaged as being agents of 'conspiracy theories.' But instead, we get articles like this one, reporting that is good and serious as far as it goes ... but it surely doesn't go very far. What's needed is investigate reporting. Instead, we are presented with a kind of catalogue." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhere Was Mainstream News While the Surveillance State Was Expanding?

Microsoft joins FBI in ‘major assault’ on one of world’s largest cyber crime rings

"Microsoft Corp and the FBI, aided by authorities in more than 80 countries, have launched a major assault on one of the world’s biggest cyber crime rings, believed to have stolen more than $500 million from bank accounts over the past 18 months. Microsoft said its Digital Crimes Unit on Wednesday successfully took down at least 1,000 of an estimated 1,400 malicious computer networks known as the Citadel Botnets. Citadel infected as many as 5 million PCs around the world and, according to Microsoft, was used to steal from dozens of financial institutions. The criminals remain at large and the authorities do not know the identities of any ringleaders." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMicrosoft joins FBI in ‘major assault’ on one of world’s largest cyber crime rings

Lies the IMF Tells

"The International Monetary Fund has published a scathing internal self-assessment of its bailout of Greece three years ago. It isn't pretty. The IMF underestimated the damage that fiscal austerity would do to the Greek economy in its earliest rescue of the nation in 2010. It was too slow to promote a write-down of the nation's debts to more sustainable levels. And it was compromised by a sometimes unwieldy partnership with major European institutions in what became known as the 'troika.' The IMF could have handled its 2010 bailout of Greece quite a bit better, a staff review found." Continue reading →

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National weather agency spared from furloughs after rash of tornadoes

"Forecasters at the National Weather Service (NWS) will not be forced to take furloughs during the summer hurricane season following the recent destruction caused by tornadoes in Oklahoma, CNN reported on Saturday. The NWS was part of the initial plan by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to impose as many as 20 mandatory days off without pay for its 12,000 employees in July and September, a move caused by federal budget cuts. The cuts would have taken effect during what forecasters predicted would be an abnormally severe hurricane season." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNational weather agency spared from furloughs after rash of tornadoes

Stockholm’s unrest stoked by unemployment

"Although the social democratic government did succeed in creating more affordable housing by the mid-seventies, little else went to plan. Middle-class Swedes moved out, and when the country in the past decade welcomed hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia, among others, the apartments they were allocated were often in areas like Husby. Housing segregation is often named as one of the reasons it takes the average immigrant to Sweden years, not months, to find work. Even among the second generation, many say they rarely make it to a job interview." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStockholm’s unrest stoked by unemployment