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America's Surveillance Society
by Stephen Lendman
It's not new. It's longstanding. State-of-the-art technology makes it easy. It's more intrusive than ever. It's lawlessly out-of-control.
On July 6, The New York Times Times headlined "In Secret, Court Vastly Broadens Powers of NSA," saying:
More than a dozen Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) "classified rulings created a secret body of law giving the (NSA) power to amass vast collections of data on Americans while (allegedly) pursuing not only terrorism suspects, but also people possibly involved in nuclear proliferation, espionage, and cyberattacks, officials say."
More on this below. Spying is the national pastime. Legal standards no longer apply. Anything goes is policy. America's a total surveillance society. Big Brother more than ever is real.
Bradley Manning: Aiding the Enemy Charge Sticks
Manning's an American hero. He's no criminal. He's being hung out to dry wrongfully. It's for doing the right thing. He's a 2013 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.
He exposed US lawlessness. He spoke truth to power. He did so courageously. He challenged American imperial rampaging. Everyone has a right to know.
He's been secretly tried. Kangaroo court military injustice awaits him. It's baked in the cake. Doing so sends a message. It threatens other potential whistleblowers. Stay quiet or be treated like Manning.
He said America's "obsessed with capturing and killing people. Collateral murder" is policy. Human life has no value. Advancing America's imperium is prioritized.
US Courts Approve Indefinite Detention and Torture
by Stephen Lendman
America's a police state. It's ruthless. Iron fist authority rules. International law's quaint and out-of-date. US statute protections aren't worth the paper they're written on.
Constitutional rights don't matter. They never did for most people. It's truer now than ever. They're null and void. Executive diktat power rules. Congress and federal courts go along. They're complicit.
They support sweeping lawlessness. It's unprecedented. It affects domestic and geopolitical issues. No one's safe anywhere.
Obama has life and death powers. He can order anyone murdered. He can do so on his say alone. US citizens are as vulnerable as foreign nationals.
Snowden: Nobel Peace Prize Nominee
by Stephen Lendman
Swedish Sociology Professor Stefan Svallfors nominated him. He praised his "heroic effort at great personal cost."
He revealed NSA's lawless global spying. He told millions worldwide what they need to know. He did so at great risk.
He deserves high praise, not persecution. He showed "individuals can stand up for fundamental rights and freedoms," said Svallfors.
His nominating letter states:
"Best committee members!
I suggest that the 2013 Peace Prize (be) awarded to the American citizen Edward Snowden.
Edward Snowden has - in a heroic effort at great personal cost - revealed the existence and extent of the surveillance, the US government devotes electronic communications worldwide.
New EU Guidelines on Israel
by Stephen Lendman
A previous article discussed them. They pertain to illegal Israeli West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan settlements. They leave besieged Gaza unaddressed. It's a glaring omission. It's dismissive of 1.7 million Gazans. Their rights don't matter. Israel's suffocating them illegally. A humanitarian crisis persists.
Dealing with it responsibly is urgent. EU nations don't care. It's off their radar. So is militarized occupation too horrific to tolerate.
Long overdue Palestinian self-determination's not recognized. Full EU affirmation awaits. It's not forthcoming. Israeli lawlessness matters more. Palestinian rights don't matter.
Perhaps baby steps are better than none. They will be if implemented. Rhetoric most often belies policies. Will this time be different?
According to EU officials:
The Economist's Question on Obama's Promise of Open Government, "Is it naive to think Mr Obama really believed this stuff?" YES.
Nicholas C. Arguimbau
Houston, The Economist "Secret government: America against democracy," http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2013/07/secret-government is a compelling and scary analysis of secret government in America - a nation that has become a caricature of ithe open government President Obama promised when he came to office. There is nothing new about broken campaign promises. Obama, however, has taken that many steps farther. He offered us a vision in 2008 of a nation of open government, democracy operating as it was designed to operate. Reality is now so stunningly different that his maintenance of the same vision has become virtually psychotic. When President Obama was running for office, he promised that his first acts in office would be to issue executive orders adopting a policy of transparency for his presidency, and ease of access to presidential documents. . He clearly identified the documents by which his intent on the subject was to be assessed. As Houston notes, Obama had firmly announced,
The Death Merchants of Tel Aviv
Link: http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/the-death-merchants-of-tel-aviv.html
By Gilad Atzmon
As of the end of 2012, there were “6,684 individuals dealing with security exports in 1,006 companies and 312 independent businesses. The Israeli Defence Export Controls Agency issued 1,900 marketing permits and 8,716 export permits.”
Apparently some 6,684 Israelis are making a living selling death around the world. They are serving an industry that produces more than 150,000 jobs. However, the most crucial question here is how did the Jewish State become a death factory? Early Zionism promised, indeed, to bring to the world a ‘new Jew’ – a productive, proletarian authentic human being driven by ethics and humanism. But, it didn’t take long for the Jewish State to reveal its real supremacist inclinations and plunderous pragmatism.
Snowden in Russia
by Stephen Lendman
Snowden remains in Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport transit zone limbo. Russia's his safest option.
Traveling elsewhere's too risky. It's hazardous. He's seeking temporary asylum. Odds are he'll get it.
Moscow won't extradite him. It has no treaty obligation to do so. Washington never repatriated Russian defectors. Heavy US pressure's exerted anyway.
Few countries resist. Few push back effectively. China can do it. So can Russia. On the one hand, Putin values good relations. On the other, he won't be bullied. Supporting Snowden's politically advantageous. According to Der Spiegel: His activist status largely united a "deeply divided society. Whether conservative or liberal, anti- or pro-American, Putin supporter or opponent - they have all voiced support for granting (him) asylum."
Targeting Free Expression in Israel
by Stephen Lendman
During previous Knesset session proceedings, MKs Ofir Akunis and Faina Kirshenbaum legislation to limit NGO funding was defeated.
Last week, MKs Ayelet Shaked and Robert Ilatov proposed their version. They call it a "softer version of the NGO bill."
It's harsh, not soft. It prohibits NGOs from receiving more than NIS 20,000 from "foreign entities" if they, their members, employees, or anyone related to them engages in one or more of the following practices directly or indirectly:
● calling for Israeli soldiers to be tried in international courts;
Israel Waging Undeclared War on Syria
by Stephen Lendman
Israel reflects the worst of rogue state governance. It's contemptuous of international laws, treaties, conventions, its own statutes, and High Court decisions.
It's out-of-control. It's unaccountable. It makes its own rules. It maintains lawless militarized occupation harshness. It force-feeds austerity on its own citizens. It suffocates 1.7 million Gazans. It attacks other countries with impunity.
It's waging undeclared war on Syria. It's partnering with Washington doing so. It supports terrorist fighters. It supplies arms and munitions. It hospitalizes wounded ones.
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