(18.7.2017) Facebook declined comment. Google and Apple did not respond to requests for comment.
The companies‘ relative inactivity is explained by several legal challenges in Europe to an agreement between the United States and the European Union, known as the Privacy Shield, the sources said.

In recent times, executive officials rule empires. They may be prime ministers, presidents, autocrats, dictators, generals or a combination of them. Imperial rulers largely ‘legislate’ and ‘execute’ strategic and tactical policies. In a crisis executive officials may be subject to review by competing legislators or judges, leading to impeachment (soft coup d’état. Normally, the executive centralizes and concentrates power, even as they may consult, evade or deceive key legislators and judicial official. At no point in time or place do the voters play any significant role.

Mit einem Spitzentreffen will Frankreichs Präsident Emmanuel Macron zu einer Krisenlösung im bürgerkriegserschütterten Libyen beitragen. Auf dem Schloss von La Celle Saint-Cloud vor den Toren von Paris werden am Dienstag (15 Uhr) der Ministerpräsident der international anerkannten Übergangsregierung, Fayez al-Serraj, und der Militärführer Khalifa Haftar erwartet.

Die EU-Marinemission „Sophia“ geht in die Verlängerung. Italien hat seine Blockade in letzter Minute aufgegeben.

Die Lage in Syrien hat sich beruhigt. Die Konfliktparteien sollen diese Gelegenheit nutzen und Gespräche aufnehmen um zu einer Lösung im Syrien-Konflikt zu kommen. Dies sagte der Sondergesandte der chinesischen Regierung für Syrien, Xie Xiaoyan, am Montag auf einer Pressekonferenz in Ankara.

North Korea is “The longest running failure in the history of American espionage.”
That’s the assessment of Donald P. Gregg, arguably, the man who knows more about North Korea than any living American.
Gregg, 89, is a retired State Department and CIA veteran, a North Asia specialist, and a recipient of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal. He says the absence of direct dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea has to change. “We can’t deal with them if we don’t understand them, and we won’t understand them if we aren’t talking to each other,” he says.

Y, who served as a senior official in Liaoning provincial government situated on the China-North Korea border, said, „North Korea is not opposed to inter-Korean dialogue itself. It wouldn‘t want to talk for nothing.“ He said it‘s obvious that North Korea rejected the South‘s recent proposal for military talks. He claimed that the North Korea might accept the South‘s offer if the South shows a positive attitude toward signing of Pyongyang-Washington peace agreement, saying, „I recently met a senior official of the North Korean Embassy. He talked about a precondition to the talks. It was South Korea‘s acceptance and support for conclusion of Pyongyang-Washington peace treaty.“

(24.7.2017) More than a week has passed since the South Korean government offered military and humanitarian talks to North Korea.

(22.7.2017) Is North Korea agonizing? Just not interested? Something else?

(21.7.2017) Die südkoreanische Regierung hat Nordkorea angesichts dessen ausbleibender Reaktion auf das Gesprächsangebot erneut aufgefordert, in einen Dialog einzuwilligen.

Das Verteidigungsministerium schlug dem Norden vor, dass Vertreter der Militärbehörden am 21. Juli zusammenkommen. Thematisiert werden soll der Stopp jeglicher feindseliger Handlungen an der militärischen Demarkationslinie, die die militärischen Spannungen erhöhen.

Die Möglichkeit, dass die Türkei die S-400 kaufe, sei alarmierend, sagte der Vorsitzende des Vereinigten Generalstabs der US-Streitkräfte, Joseph Dunford, früher auf einem Sicherheitsforum in Aspen (US-Bundesstaat Colorado).

„Warum soll das alarmieren?“, meinte aber seinerseits der türkische Präsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Die Resolution des UN-Sicherheitsrats sollte keine wirtschaftliche Abschnürung Nordkoreas bezwecken, hieß es.

Die USA hatten nach dem Test einer Interkontinentalrakete durch Nordkorea am 4. Juli einen Resolutionsentwurf für Sanktionen gegen das Land ausgearbeitet und den anderen Vetomächten vorgelegt. Laut Informationen werden unter anderem der Stopp von Öllieferungen an Nordkorea und das Verbot der Beschäftigung nordkoreanischer Arbeiter im Ausland gefordert.

(29.4.2017) Es ist offensichtlich, dass Nordkoreas Regime ein großer Fan der Kriegslobby des „Westens“ ist. China muss diesem Regime und ganz Korea jetzt genau den denkbar größten Gefallen tun, den es nicht will, und ihm endlich den Saft abdrehen.

Und zwar umgehend.

According to a report published last month on the official website of the People‘s Liberation Army (PLA), a „newly formed border defense brigade“ is conducting patrols to gather intelligence, assess the situation and more accurately map out the border.
Another report said the „whole area“ has newly been placed under „24-hour video surveillance“ including drones, patrol cars and high-tech cameras.

The North Korean regime has responded to CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s comments on regime change in Pyongyang.

A foreign ministry spokesman was quoted in the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) threatening a nuclear strike to “the heart of the U.S.” should the American secret service attempt to remove Kim Jong Un from power.

Hawaii‘s Emergency Management Agency released an ominous statement on how to survive and proceed in the event of a nuclear attack.

Citizens of Hawaii are advised to look out for emergency sirens, alerts, wireless notifications, or flashes of „brilliant white light“ that will indicate that a nuclear detonation is incoming or underway.

Fleets of big black trucks, harbor boats and aircraft, equipped with radiation sensors and operated by specially trained law enforcement teams, are ready to swing into action in Los Angeles for a catastrophe that nobody even wants to think about: a North Korean nuclear attack.

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The security guard‘s release and the embassy staff‘s evacuation was made possible after a phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan‘s King Abdullah. During their conversation, the king urged Netanyahu to solve the crisis surrounding the Temple Mount as quickly as possible, specifically calling on Netanyahu to remove the metal detectors as soon as possible.

It wasn’t clear whether the deal — which was coordinated with White House aides Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, who was dispatched to the region on an emergency mission — would be enough to ease tensions with the Palestinians, who saw the devices as an assertion of Israeli sovereignty over the hilltop, to which they also lay claim.

Zuvor hatten Israels Inlandsgeheimdienst und andere Sicherheitsexperten Ministerpräsident Benjamin Netanjahu gewarnt, der Streit um die Metalldetektoren könne gefährlich eskalieren.

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Das Unterstützungsprogramm für die syrischen Rebellen war 2013 unter seinem Amtsvorgänger gestartet worden. Seitdem wurden Tausende Rebellenkämpfer ausgebildet und bewaffnet. Der politische Rückhalt für die islamistischen Rebellen ließ in den USA allerdings nach.

To the extent that democracy and human rights are fragile everywhere, our fight for these values must be carried out daily by each and every citizen. Everyone has to be an advocate of freedom of the press considering that it is the guarantee of other rights, and has a crucial role in solving problems and making good decisions. The fight for freedom of the press in Turkey is a fight for all of us. It is therefore incumbent upon us all to show solidarity with the truth-tellers of Cumhuriyet, who indeed have shown that the emperor has no clothes.