In einem umfangreichen Debattenbeitrag prangert der Snowden-Vertraute und Mitbegründer der Enthüllungsplattform The Intercept, Glenn Greenwald, die Kriminalisierung von Kritik an Israel an. Aktivisten, die sich für Palästinenser-Rechte einsetzen, werden gezielt attackiert und zensiert. Nicht nur in Israel, sondern in allen westlichen Staaten und verstärkt auch an US-amerikanischen Universitäten. Darin sieht Greenwald eine virulente Gefahr für die Meinungsfreiheit in westlichen Staaten.

During a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Josh Earnest apparently kept brushing aside questions about the order to Apple to remove certain security features that would enable the FBI to brute force the passcode and decrypt the contents of Syed Farook‘s iPhone. However, eventually he insisted that the DOJ is not asking for a backdoor:

The powerful explosion triggered by terrorists in the heart of Ankara on Wednesday evening forced Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to cancel his trip to Brussels. Davutoglu was supposed to participate in the EU Summit and talk about solutions in the Refugee Crisis. Consequently, the three-party meeting between Greece, Germany and Turkey was canceled. And so was the meeting of another 11 EU countries with the Refugee Crisis high on the agenda.

The United States government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.

This moment calls for public discussion, and we want our customers and people around the country to understand what is at stake.

The FBI just got a judge to order Apple to create a backdoor into the iPhone — putting all of our safety at risk by exposing personal information to hackers, criminals, terrorists, and government spies. For more details and background, read the story in Wapo, this analysis by Techdirt, and and the response from Apple.

Now comes the Federal government, using the arcane All Writs Act of 1789, to try to force Apple to provide a backdoor to the iPhone. The government is demanding Apple disable the password protection feature which erases the phone after 10 failed password attempts. Although Apple has provided generous assistance to prosecutors in the past, this time its CEO, Tim Cook, is rejecting search warrants.

This case does not involve just one iPhone, but all such phones, because once the security of the iPhone is defeated, encryption is demolished, everyone becomes a suspect, everyone’s privacy , the security of everyone’s information is compromised. Anti-democratic regimes abroad will increase telephone surveillance and political dissidents will be endangered.

The United States has not backed the proposal on no-fly zones in Syria. Spokesman for the US-led military campaign against Islamic State Army Colonel Steve Warren said Wednesday it was not the right time for a no-fly zone over northern Syria. He also said the creation of these zones would be costly in terms of equipment and personnel.

(8.5.2015) Nachdem der „Untersuchungsausschuss“ des Bundestages gestern wieder einmal alles tat um Theorien der gelernten Hilflosigkeit an sich selbst zu üben, machen wir diesem heute wieder einmal Beine. Und wieder einmal kürzere. Denn offensichtlich scheint es im Feld etwas Verwirrung zu geben: Parlament, Parteien und „Untersuchungsausschuss“ sind bezüglich der Aktivitäten von Geheimdiensten und Regierung keineswegs so ahnungslos wie sie immer tun.

Ganz im Gegenteil.

Zum anderen hatte auch die G-10-Kommission auf Herausgabe der Liste geklagt.

„70 militants have been eliminated, over 60 were injured as a result of airstrikes of the Syrian Air Force against Daesh command posts in the regions of Jeb Ghabsha, Al-Bab…in the Aleppo province.“

(16.2.2016) The United Nations Security Council expressed concern during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday over Turkish shelling of Kurdish YPG militia targets in Syria and called on Turkey to abide by international law, the council president Venezuela said.