military industrial complex

U.S. tech sector feels pain from NSA PRISM revelations

"An industry group, the Cloud Security Alliance said last month that 10 percent of its non-US members have cancelled a contract with a US-based cloud provider, and 56 percent said they were less likely to use an American company. A separate report this month by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, or ITIF, a Washington think tank, said US cloud providers stand to lose $22 billion to $35 billion over the next three years due to revelations about the so-called PRISM program. Daniel Castro, author of the report, says a loss of trust in US tech firms could lead to 'protectionist' measures that hurt the fast-growing cloud sector." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. tech sector feels pain from NSA PRISM revelations

Passing Over Eisenhower

"Almost all of the major Internet industry giants are based in the United States. The tradition of strong entrepreneurship practiced in the US since their inception, mixed with their purchasing power and history of acquiring any sufficiently profitable venture or fascinating technology from abroad, has put the US into a prime position to be the global leader in provision of Internet services. That may just have ended. While US dominance over the roughly $11 trillion/year global Internet services market is still unchallenged, the damage that the revelations made about NSA’s vast global surveillance scheme may stymie their growth and perhaps even turn them into a localized recession." Continue reading →

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US Set to Launch ‘Iraq, The Sequel’, in Syria

"If you liked the run up to the US attack on Iraq, with the lurid fictional tales of mobile chemical weapons labs and Saddam's nukes, you will love 'Iraq, The Sequel', currently unfolding in Syria. It is everything the interventionists have been hoping for: a heady brew of Kosovo, Iraq, and Libya all rolled into one. The possibility for an infinitely more toxic conflagration is exponentially higher, to boot, adding for the interventionists much excitement to the mix. A fourth US warship capable of launching the type of cruise missiles that turned Libya to rubble and paved the way for al-Qaeda affiliates to take control of that country is now rushing to the waters off of Syria." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS Set to Launch ‘Iraq, The Sequel’, in Syria

General Wesley Clark: Wars Were Planned – Seven Countries In Five Years

"He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, 'I just got this down from upstairs' -- meaning the Secretary of Defense's office -- 'today.' And he said, 'This is a memo that describes how we're going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.' I said, 'Is it classified?' He said, 'Yes, sir.' I said, 'Well, don't show it to me.' And I saw him a year or so ago, and I said, 'You remember that?' He said, 'Sir, I didn't show you that memo! I didn't show it to you!'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGeneral Wesley Clark: Wars Were Planned – Seven Countries In Five Years

Transparent Hoax Could Lead to War

"Those rollicking jihadists, the Syrian rebels, love a joke: although they can be deadly serious – such as when they’re eating the internal organs of their enemies – what they enjoy more than anything is a really good prank. There was the time they claimed the Assad regime was killing babies in incubators – not very original, but hey, it worked for the Kuwaitis! Then there was the 'massacre' at Houla, which was alleged to have killed 32 children and over 60 adults: a photo started appearing in the mainstream media, documenting the slaughter. The state-supported BBC was first to run with it – until it was discovered the supposedly incriminating photo was taken in Iraq during the recent war." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTransparent Hoax Could Lead to War

If Chris Kyle Had Been a Muslim, We’d Call him an Extremist

"Imagine: A young Muslim from the Islamic world joins his country’s armed forces to fight an aggressive war against an overwhelmingly Christian nation. He gains accolades for his work as a sniper, executing his job with ruthless efficiency and little remorse. He admits to viewing the war he is fighting through the prism of religion. He gets a tattoo on his arm declaring that he embraces the concept of holy war. When parliamentarians in his own country question the conduct or course of the war, he states, 'How would they know? They’ve never even been in a combat situation.' That he became the author of a bestselling book, and served as a symbol of strength used by politicians." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIf Chris Kyle Had Been a Muslim, We’d Call him an Extremist

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

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’