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Showing posts from May 18, 2014

'No Place to Hide,' by Glenn Greenwald

No Place to Hide Edward Snowden , the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State By  Glenn Greenwald (Metropolitan Books; 259 pages; $27) Edward Snowden leaked his cache of secret NSA documents to journalist Glenn Greenwald last year thanks in part to a delayed  New York Times  story on surveillance. In mid-2004, James Risen and Eric Lichtblau had an exclusive on President  George W. Bush 's warrantless eavesdropping program, but the Times held it for 15 months, until after Bush's re-election. Executives at the Times were told if they ran it, they'd be helping terrorists. "Snowden had been clear from our first conversation about his rationale for distrusting" the Times and other mainstream outlets, writes Greenwald in his highly anticipated new book. " 'Hiding that story changed history,' (Snowden) said." "No Place to Hide" is indeed a meditation on hiding. It takes its title from the late  U.S. Sen. Frank Church , who investigate

Coups and terror are the fruit of Nato's war in Libya

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The dire consequences of the west's intervention are being felt today in Tripoli and across Africa, from Mali to Nigeria Firefighters and rescuers extinguish a fire following a bomb blast in central Jos, Nigeria. Photograph: Str/AFP/Getty Images Iraq may have been a blood-drenched disaster and Afghanistan a grinding military and political failure. But Libya was supposed to have been different. Nato's war to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi in 2011 was hailed as the liberal intervention that worked. The western powers might have had to twist the meaning of the UN resolution about protecting civilians, the city of Sirte might have been reduced to rubble, large-scale ethnic cleansing taken place and thousands of civilians killed. But it was all in a noble cause and achieved without Nato casualties. This wasn't Bush and Blair, after all, but Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy. The people were free, the dictator was dead, a mooted massacre had been averted – and all this without an

Tunisian soldier killed in landmine explosion near Algerian border

A Tunisian soldier was killed and five wounded on Friday in a landmine explosion near the Algerian border where security forces have been hunting Islamist militants, the army said. There have been several blasts from improvised mines in the remote area of Mount Chaambi, southwest of the capital Tunis. Officials said Islamists planted mines months ago to hinder troop movements. Tunisian security forces backed by jets and helicopters last month began an operation to root out al Qaeda-linked militants from a hideout in the Chaambi mountains. ‮‮‮‮‮‮‮‮‬‬‬‬‬‬‬One soldier was killed and five wounded in a landmine blast in Mount Chaambi," army spokesman Taoufik Rahmouni told Reuters. Since Tunisia's uprising in 2011, security forces have been battling militants from the hardline Islamist movement Ansar al-Sharia, which the United States in January listed as a foreign terrorist organization. One of the Arab world's most secular countries,  Tunisia  has been moving towar

Twenty Malian soldiers killed in failed assault on rebel town: minister

About 20 Malian soldiers were killed and 30 wounded in a failed attempt by government forces to retake the Tuareg separatist stronghold of Kidal this week, the defense minister said. The fighting, the worst since the government and separatist groups signed a preliminary peace agreement last year, threatens to sink struggling negotiations to end a long cycle of Tuareg uprisings and plunge Mali's desert north back into war. "There were killed and wounded on both sides. We have around 30 wounded ... and then we have some 20 dead unfortunately," Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga said in an address broadcast on state television late on Thursday. The army launched Wednesday's assault on Kidal after clashes erupted at the weekend during a visit to the town by recently appointed Prime Minister Moussa Mara.   Eight civilians, including six government workers, were killed when the separatists attacked the local governor's office. Another 32 civil servants taken ho

Obama's Drone War Shows No Signs of Ending

WASHINGTON/SANAA (Reuters) - When a barrage of drone-fired missiles hit al Qaeda cells in Yemen in mid-April and killed dozens of militants, the results were strikingly different from a mistaken U.S. attack on a Yemeni wedding convoy just four months earlier. But even though the drones apparently found their targets this time, they were still blamed for a number of civilian deaths. It was a stark reminder that a year after Obama laid out new conditions for drone attacks around the world, U.S. forces are failing to comply fully with the rules he set for them: to strike only when there is an imminent threat to Americans and when there is virtually no danger of taking innocent lives. Although Obama promised greater transparency in his speech at the National Defense University, U.S. lawmakers are increasingly critical of the secrecy surrounding the operations. Despite some spectacular drone hits that took out militant leaders in places such as Yemen and Pakistan, there are growin

Al Qaeda gunmen storm Yemeni city of Seyoun, 30 killed

Aden (Yemen):  At least 30 people were killed in an overnight raid by gunmen on a city in southeastern Yemen, residents and a local official said on Saturday, as al Qaeda continues its fightback against a government offensive in the country. Armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and explosives, attackers drove in from the surrounding desert on 15 pickup trucks into Seyoun after detonating a car bomb at the entrance to the city in Hadramout province. Al Qaeda has carried out many hit-and-run attacks since the Yemeni army drove it from its southern strongholds in Abyan and Shabwa provinces last month. The West is concerned the group could use Yemen, which borders major oil producer Saudi Arabia, as a base for international attacks. The militants targeted at least seven locations, including the main military posts, the local police headquarters, bank branches and the airport. Calling the raid a “treacherous terrorist act”, the commander of the local military division said the army

Britain’s anti-immigration party UKIP surges in local elections

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Britain’s UK Independence Party surged to its best ever performance in local council elections on Friday, boosting the hopes of Nigel Farage’s anti-EU and anti-immigration group for the European parliament polls. Farage said his party were now “serious players” after taking votes from the three main parties, posing a headache for Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of general elections in May next year. Elections for some local councils in England and Northern Ireland were held on Thursday alongside the European parliament vote, the results of which will not be announced until Sunday. “The UKIP fox is in the Westminster hen house,” a beaming Farage said on Friday as the first results came through. Nigel Farage celebrates with a pint after early local election results. Photo: EPA Despite his party having no seats in the British parliament, the beer-swilling, chain-smoking Farage has led UKIP from fringe party to become a standard-bearer for the eurosceptic movement across the

Islamist militant leader in Egypt's Sinai killed

A militant Islamist leader in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula was shot dead on Friday by unknown assailants, security sources said, a few days before Egyptians vote for a new president,  Reuters reported. Egypt launched a wide-ranging campaign against militants in the Sinai after they stepped up attacks on police and army targets following the overthrow of elected President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist, by the military last July. The security sources said Shadi al-Menei and five others were killed in a firefight on the street in Maghara in central Sinai. Al-Menei was the head of Ansar Beit Al Maqdis, or Defenders of Jerusalem, which was responsible for several recent attacks on security forces in Egypt. A statement on the army spokesman's official Facebook page said the army had carried out an operation that resulted in the killing of six "extremely dangerous criminal elements" on Thursday. It did not name Menei and it was not immediately clear if the statement was re

California shootings leave seven dead in Santa Barbara

A series of drive-by shootings in the Californian city of Santa Barbara has left seven people dead, US police say. The shootings took place near a student campus belonging to the University of California-Santa Barbara. The suspected gunman is among the dead. University officials and the police issued alerts calling on people in the area to stay indoors. Source  http://bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27556097#TWEET1138166

At least 27 dead in overnight raid on Yemeni city

At least 27 people were killed in an overnight raid by dozens of al Qaeda militants on Yemeni government buildings and military posts in Seyoun, the second largest city in the south-eastern Hadramout province, a local official and residents said. The gunmen targeted the main military posts, the local police headquarters and bank branches and briefly captured some buildings before they withdrew in the morning, they said. Al Qaeda has conducted many hit-and-run attacks since the Yemeni army drove it from its strongholds in Abyan and Shabwa provinces, also in the south, last month.  Reuters  reported. Gulf Arab countries and the United States are concerned about violence in Western-allied Yemen, a neighbor of major oil exporter Saudi Arabia and home to one of al Qaeda's most active wings. The militants arrived in 15 pickup trucks from desert areas outside Seyoun and proceeded to attack various government buildings, a local security official said. "They wanted to captu

Armenian Armed Forces continue breaking ceasefire with Azerbaijan

The ceasefire on the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops was violated 29 times in different directions yesterday, the Azerbaijani defense ministry said on May 24. The armed forces of Armenia opened fire at the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces in the village of Kemerli in the Qazakh region from the positions in Barekamavan village of Armenia's Noemberyan region. The Azerbaijani armed forces' positions underwent fire in the village of Aghdam in the Tovuz region from the positions in Mosesgeh village of Armenia's Berd region. The armed forces of Armenia opened fire at the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces in the nameless heights in Qazakh region from the positions in Paravakar village of Armenia's Ijevan region. At the same time, Azerbaijani positions underwent fire from positions near the villages of Qarakhanbayli, Qorqan, Qoradiz of the Fizuli region, Yusifjanli, Shikhlar, Javakhirli and Sarijali of the Aghdam region, Chilyabur

At least three killed in suicide attack on Shi'ites in Yemen

A suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into a checkpoint manned by Shi'ite Muslim fighters in northern Yemen  on Friday, killing at least three people, officials and local people said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the sources said the attack in al Jawf province bore the hallmarks of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda militants, who have carried out similar attacks on northern Yemen's Shi'ite Houthi tribal group in the past. A Houthi source said the attacker had been heading for a Houthi cultural centre but when stopped at the checkpoint nearby, he detonated the car there. He said two Houthis were killed in the blast. Al Qaeda militants have a strong presence in Maarib province, next to al Jawf. At least 24 people have been killed this week in fighting between Shi'ite Muslim fighters and the army and allied Sunni tribesmen. Intense sectarian conflict this year has undermined attempts at national reconciliation in  Yemen . The Houthis - who

WikiLeaks names Afghanistan as second country where NSA records all mobile phone calls

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WikiLeaks has announced that Afghanistan is the second country to have been targeted by the NSA's massive cellphone data spying programme, defying warnings that the revelation would endanger lives. Julian Assange wrote on the whistle-blower site's page that the NSA "has been recording and storing nearly all the domestic [and international] phone calls". Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who first broke the Edward Snowden story and who now works with The Intercept website, had said his site would not reveal the name of the country for fear it would "lead to deaths". The Washington Post  has previously chosen not to disclose the name. In those reports, which revealed the Bahamas as one of "two or more" countries targeted by the NSA's powerful Somalget programme, the second was called "country x". But Assange, who called the programme an "ongoing crime of mass espionage", opposed the alleged "censorship", wh

Attacks kill 17 as pilgrims converge on Baghdad

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Violence in Baghdad and north Iraq killed 17 people on Friday as throngs of Shiite pilgrims converged on the Iraqi capital for annual commemoration rituals amid heavy security,  Alarabiya reported. The unrest comes as Iraq grapples with a protracted surge in bloodshed that has left more than 3,700 people dead so far this year and fueled fears the country is slipping back into all-out conflict. Friday's deadly violence struck in the capital and the restive northern province of Nineveh, leaving 17 people dead and 25 others wounded, security and medical officials said. Mortar fire in north Baghdad killed three people, while two men were shot dead in the west of the capital. The mortar rounds slammed into the Zahra neighborhood adjacent to Kadhimiyah, where tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims prepare to commemorate the death of a revered figure in Shiite Islam. For days worshippers from across the country have been walking to Kadhimiyah, site of a shrine dedicated to Imam