Dear friend,
The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund is pleased to announce an important victory in the ongoing case of peace activist Ray McGovern, the former CIA analyst, who was brutalized and arrested by officers in 2011 for standing in silent protest during a speech given by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
(27.8.2014) Call for and uphold an arms embargo on all parties to the conflict. U.S. arms and military assistance to the government forces and ethnic militias in Iraq, in addition to arming Syrian rebel groups, have only fueled the carnage, in part due to weapons intended for one group being taken and used by others. All armed parties have been accused of committing gross violations of human rights. Along with Russia, work with key regional players such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait to take independent initiatives and meaningful steps towards an arms embargo on all parties in the conflict.
Russland versucht zu verhindern, dass nichts abgeschaltet wird, unter welchen Umständen auch immer… Leider befindet sich ein Teil der Komponenten der Infrastruktur nicht auf dem Territorium Russlands und wird von außen her gesteuert“, sagte der Minister.
Über die Causa Wulff war viel in der Presse zu lesen – darunter immer wieder auch Details, die nicht für die Öffentlichkeit bestimmt waren. Wo die undichte Stelle lag, ist unklar, doch einiges spricht dafür, dass die Informationen von der zuständigen Staatsanwaltschaft Hannover weitergegeben worden sein könnten. Nun ermittelt die StA Göttingen wohl gegen die einstigen Wulff-Ermittler.
Regardless of what the U.S. government is doing to track Tor, trying to limit what its subscribers do with Web access would draw an immediately uproar. Instead, Comcast is defending itself and saying that users are welcome to use Tor if wanted:
Customers are free to use their Xfinity Internet service to visit any website or use it however they wish otherwise,“ according to a statement from Comcast. „Like virtually all ISPs, Comcast has an acceptable use policy or AUP that outlines appropriate and inappropriate uses of the service. Comcast doesn‘t monitor users‘ browser software or web surfing and has no program addressing the Tor browser.“
Apparently the US intelligence community has decided that they should start trying to totally rewrite the history of two of its top officials directly lying to Congress. First up: Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper. This lie is the famous one, in which while testifying before Congress, Senator Ron Wyden engaged in this exchange:
This time around the Kurds will not invite the usual criticism from Turkey and Iran. That is because, by fighting the IS, the Kurds are also protecting the borders of Iran and Turkey.
Earlier it was reported that more than 20 settlements on the Syrian-Turkish border came under the control of the militants from the Islamic State.
European Parliament resolution on human rights in Azerbaijan is prejudiced and biased, the Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Chairman of the Yeni Azerbaijan ruling party Ali Akhmedov said in a statement posted Sept.19 on the website of NAP.
The U.S. is not a neutral mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; it is an active participant and is guilty of the crimes being committed by Israel against Palestinians, most recently, the mass killings and destruction Israel wrought on the Gaza Strip during the summer. The reality that the U.S. is an active supporter of unimaginable suffering may very well be the motivating force behind the U.S.’s adamant attempts to block the Palestinians from using any of the internationally recognized tools of accountability to hold Israel responsible, such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. When an indigenous, stateless population is blocked access to opportunities for justice by superpowers like the U.S., something is wrong—deadly wrong.
Network performance monitors Renesys noted a break in the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) cable between 15 and 16 September. Internet speeds in Vietnam plummeted as a result of the break, and Vietnamese industry insiders have pointed out that the cable breach occurred ‘somewhere between Hong Kong and Vietnam’. According to a spokesperson from the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications (VNPT) group, the incident caused a reduction of about 40% of capacity of international internet bandwidth from Vietnam to Hong Kong and the United States on all networks. Previously, in July this year, the AAG suffered several weeks of disruption after a cut 18km off the coast of Vung Tau, in southern Vietnam. On that occasion, the cable was reconnected, welded and reburied under the seabed by early August.
Reports say authorities have cut off mobile telephone and Internet connections in the capital, although landlines appear to be working.
Shiite rebels and Sunni militiamen battled in Sanaa for a second day Friday in battles that have killed at least 120 people and have shaken the Yemeni capital with thousands fleeing their homes.
A roadside bomb targeting a Lebanese army patrol in the border town of Arsal has killed two soldiers, according to a military source who spoke to Anadolu Agency.
ISIS tables language on Israeli inclusion in visa waiver program; Long-stalled bill passes upper chamber, declaring Israel „major strategic partner.“
It‘s a sign of the times that online companies’ transparency reports are starting to include a new section: the Hall of Shame. Automattic, the company behind WordPress, is the latest to do so, highlighting examples of copyright and trademark overreach by prominent figures like Janet Jackson, as well as more local businesses, organizations, and individuals attempting to silence criticism and other noninfringing speech. It even highlighted one example we‘ve written about—and even dedicated a short video to—in which a baked goods company misused trademark to go after bloggers talking about derby pie, a common regional dessert in the Southern U.S. And WordPress is only the latest company to name-and-shame takedown abusers—the Wikimedia Foundation made a major splash last month when it highlighted the copyright saga behind a notorious monkey selfie.
(17.7.2014) Google now admits it was wrong to require real names on Google Plus, and it’s apologized for taking so long, causing “unnecessarily difficult experiences for some of our users.” Too bad it had to learn the hard way, but better late than never.
Apple made big news today by announcing that they are no longer able to extract data from iOS devices for law enforcement agencies. The company had, for several years, offered a popular service for police in which it would extract data from seized PIN- or password-protected devices (if you don‘t have a PIN or password, then the government doesn‘t need Apple‘s help to get your data). The message from Apple is clear: they don‘t like being in the surveillance business, and are doing everything they can to get out of it, while still offering usable products to the general public.
Vor langer Zeit wurde eine Ladung Akkordeons von Deutschland nach Buenos Aires geschickt. Die Akkordeons erreichten nie ihr Ziel. Und die Reise wird zur Legende.
Washington hopes the 15-member Security Council would approve it unanimously on Sept. 24.
„Wir helfen bereits der syrischen Opposition, darunter auch militärisch“, sagte Obama am Donnerstag. „Unsre neuen Anstrengungen umfassen Lieferungen von Rüstungen und Ausbildung der syrischen Oppositionskämpfer.“ Arabische Staaten würden das neue Hilfsprogramm unterstützen, so Obama weiter.
„This morning at 9:40 (0740 GMT) our Rafale jets launched a first strike against a logistics depot of the terrorists,“ President Francois Hollande‘s office said a statement issued shortly after the raids.
Egypt has signed oil and gas exploration deals worth $187 million with several Western companies and a Tunisian firm, the petroleum ministry said on Friday, Al Arabiya reported.
The agreements cover seven exploration areas. Germany‘s RWE won two exploration blocks in the Gulf of Suez, while Tunisia‘s HBSI, Canada‘s TransGlobe and Italy‘s Edison secured five blocks in Egypt‘s western desert.
The political machine of the European Union is undergoing a major makeover. Elections recently took place for Members of the European Parliament, bringing in many new faces. Later this year, a new array of Commissioners will take up jobs in the European Commission. The third main player in the EU political system is the Council of the European Union, a more anonymous kind of body, which consists of a varying group of ministers from the 28 member states who meet to discuss key areas. It may be shadowy, but can provide important hints about what is happening behind the scenes in Brussels.
(19. März) Birthrates Fall in Thailand, Raising Concerns about Aging Population
Total Fertility per woman:
World:
1970-1975: 4,4
1990-1995: 3,0
2005-2010: 2,5
2010-2015: 2,5
(22. Mai 2001) There has been enormous concern about the consequences of human population growth for the environment and for social and economic development. But this growth is likely to come to an end in the foreseeable future. Improving on earlier methods of probabilistic forecasting1, here we show that there is around an 85 per cent chance that the world‘s population will stop growing before the end of the century. There is a 60 per cent probability that the world‘s population will not exceed 10 billion people before 2100, and around a 15 per cent probability that the world‘s population at the end of the century will be lower than it is today.
(28. Dezember 2010) Laut einer Studie der Vereinten Nationen (UNO) hat sich die weltweite Geburtenrate seit den 70er Jahren fast halbiert. Bereits 2001 berichtete eine Studie hochrangiger Wissenschaftler vom “Ende des Wachstums der Weltbevölkerung”. Währenddessen heulen uns imperialistische Menschenfeinde und neokonservative Berufsheuchler des blöden-superblöden Abendlandes über “demographischen Wandel” und “Überbevölkerung” die Ohren voll.
Laut den jährlichen UNO Berichten über die weltweite Geburtenrate (“World Fertility Patterns”) aus 2007 und 2009 hat sich die Geburtenrate des Menschen durch den weiblichen Mensch von statistisch 4.7 Geburten pro Frau in den Jahren 1970 bis 1975 auf 2.6 Geburten in 2000 bis 2005 und verblieb bei 2.6 Geburten in 2005 bis 2010
Nun sorgt eine Forschergruppe der Vereinten Nationen in New York mit einer pessimistischen Prognose für Aufsehen. Die Weltbevölkerung werde länger wachsen, als bisher angenommen, schreibt das Forscherteam um Patrick Gerland im Fachmagazin Science. Das Bevölkerungswachstum werde sich erst im 22. Jahrhundert stabilisieren.
The United Nations recently released population projections based on data until 2012 and a Bayesian probabilistic methodology.
…
…
The so-called war on terror is nearly 13 years old, but which rational human being will be cheering its success? We’ve had crackdowns on civil liberties across the world, tabloid-fanned generalisations about Muslims and, of course, military interventions whose consequences have ranged from the disastrous to the catastrophic. And where have we ended up?
Das US-Repräsentantenhaus hat am Mittwoch mit deutlicher Mehrheit dafür gestimmt, irreguläre Kampfverbände in Syrien zu bewaffnen. 273 Abgeordnete stimmten dafür, daß die von den USA als »moderate« Opposition bezeichneten Aufständischen mit 500 Millionen US-Dollar ausgerüstet werden sollen, 156 Abgeordnete stimmten dagegen.
…
…
Das also tut die Bundesregierung, um den größten Spähangriff aller Zeiten aufzuklären, um zum fortdauernden Grundrechtsbruch Licht ins Dunkel zu bringen: schwärzen. Vor dem gewählten Parlament. Als Note eine glatte Sieben.
…
…
(18. September 2014)
(27. August 2013) „Ein Militärschlag der USA droht den Konflikt in Syrien zu einem internationalen Krieg zu eskalieren“, warnt Christine Buchholz, Mitglied im Geschäftsführenden Vorstand der Partei DIE LINKE:
The most visible progressives at the hearing were the members of CodePink who held up signs throughout Kerry’s testimony that said: “U.S. Bombing Equals More Terrorism” and “More War Equals More Extremism.”
So wanderte meine Anzeige von Instanz zu Instanz, um dann endlich auf dem Tisch des Generalbundesanwaltes zu landen und dort liegt sie noch heute.
(26. August) von @faz_10vor8
Former CIA deputy director Mike Morell explained on „CBS This Morning“ that a group of militants from al Qaeda-central, near Pakistan‘s border with Afghanistan, have joined the fight in Syria…
„Der Programmbeirat kam aufgrund seiner Beobachtungen zu dem Schluss, dass die Berichterstattung im Ersten über die Krise in der Ukraine teilweise den Eindruck der Voreingenommenheit erweckt hat und tendenziell gegen Russland und die russischen Positionen gerichtet war.“
„While the NSA insisted it never did such things,“ Masnick continues, „this latest revelation suggests that the NSA clearly enabled the Israelis to do exactly that—often using communications and metadata of Americans, handed over willy-nilly to the Israelis to do just that.“
Dem Spiegel zufolge gibt es auch ein Dokument im Snowden-Fundus, das allerdings nicht veröffentlicht wurde, wonach die NSA auch bei der Deutschen Telekom und dem Kölner Provider Netcologne über einen solchen „Sigint collection point“, also einen Zugang für technische Signalaufklärung, verfügt
Im vergangenen Jahr hatte er bereits seinen Verzicht auf die Fraktionsspitze erklärt, nachdem bekanntgeworden war, dass er die Mutter seiner damaligen Freundin zur Pressechefin befördert hatte.