The goal of the United States, which they are rapidly approaching fulfilling, is to be able not just to collect and monitor everybody’s electronic communications, but to store them for increasingly long periods of time. They are building a massive facility in Utah that has as its purpose storage of electronic data that they are collecting. They are collecting electronic data in such large quantities that they are incapable of storing it for very long, and they want to make sure that they can keep it for as long as they want.
Media
Before we Bomb Syria, Shouldn’t we Seek Proof of Guilt?
In a criminal trial, doubt simply has to be reasonable to prevent conviction. But where has reason gone in this episode? The ridiculous William Hague, who seems to have become sabre-rattler in chief just as this country has sunk to the level of a third-rate military power, talks and acts as if the matter is settled. Our Prime Minister has abandoned one of his holidays ( and who can blame him? It appears to be taking place solely for PR reasons) to hurry back to London for a meeting of the grandiosely-titled ‘National Security Council’. Not only is this name copied from the Americans. It is a body which we managed very well without for many centuries of free and independent (and secure) existence. Do these people think they are in an episode of ‘The West Wing’, that seductive drama of power-pornography, in which minor politicians imagine themselves as mighty political hunks?
What Manning Revealed
The revelations below were compiled for the book in March 2011–many others followed, including the important Gitmo files (see my piece about them) in April 2011. Here is a NYT take on just part of those Gitmo files: “What began as a jury-rigged experiment after the 2001 terrorist attacks now seems like an enduring American institution, and the leaked files show why, by laying bare the patchwork and contradictory evidence that in many cases would never have stood up in criminal court or a military tribunal.” So even this accounting below is far from complete.
Snowden accuses UK government of leaking documents about itself in smear campaign
Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden have struck back at an Independent story purportedly written from a Snowden leak — and at the UK government. Earlier today, The Independent reported that the UK’s GCHQ agency operated a secret surveillance station somewhere in the Middle East, apparently breaking its first piece of news from Snowden’s findings.
Cameron should probe Miranda detention, return data
It is clear that the police officers who questioned Miranda did not suspect him of terrorism, as they focused their interrogation on Greenwald’s, Poitras’s, and the Guardian’s reporting on state surveillance programs. Rather, it appears they abused the law to circumvent routine safeguards of the confidentiality of sources and to obtain access to journalistic material. The U.S. has confirmed that it was notified of Miranda’s detention, which suggests a coordinated effort.
General Command of Army and Armed Forces refutes allegations on use of chemical weapons in Damascus Countryside
The statement said that the allegations of terrorist gangs and the channels that support them about the Syrian Army’s use of chemical weapons constitute a desperate attempt to cover up the defeats they are suffering on the ground, and that these allegations reflect their hysteria, disorder and breakdown.
Government Threats to Journalist’s ‘Signaling Rise of Fascism’ – WikiLeaks
The Guardian’s editor Alan Rusbridger said that UK authorities raided the paper’s London office to destroy hard drives in a bid to stop further damaging publications. RT talks to WikiLeaks spokesperson, Kristinn Hrafnsson.
Photojournalist Kate Brooks Reveals the Human Cost of War
Immediately after the September 11 attacks, the then 24-year-old photographer Kate Brooks set out to document the impact of war on civilians. Since then, she has covered major conflicts throughout the Middle East and Afghanistan, including the American invasion of Iraq, the 2006 Lebanon War, and more recently the Libyan revolution. “When it comes to military force and going into conflicts, people are very short sighted about what it’s actually going to mean,” says Brooks. “Civilians are always the ones who pay the biggest price in any conflict.”
Why won’t BBC let Nigel Kennedy denounce Israeli apartheid?
While we’re used to the realities of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land being airbrushed from BBC output, a new, alarming and very real trend has emerged — that of pro-Palestinian sentiment actively being censored by the broadcaster.
A note from Roger Waters: To My Colleagues in Rock and Roll
Nigel Kennedy the virtuoso British violinist and violist, at The Recent Promenade Concerts at The Albert Hall in London, mentioned that Israel is apartheid. Nothing unusual there you might think, then one Baroness Deech, (Nee Fraenkel) disputed the fact that Israel is an apartheid state and prevailed upon the BBC to censor Kennedy’s performance by removing his statement. Baroness Deech produced not one shred of evidence to support her claim and yet the BBC, non political, supposedly, acting solely on Baroness Deech’s say so, suddenly went all 1984 on us.
Detaining My Partner: A Failed Attempt At Intimidation
David was unable to call me because his phone and laptop are now with UK authorities. So I don’t yet know what they told him. But the Guardian’s lawyer was able to speak with him immediately upon his release, and told me that, while a bit distressed from the ordeal, he was in very good spirits and quite defiant, and he asked the lawyer to convey that defiance to me. I already share it, as I’m certain US and UK authorities will soon see.
UK: Today’s detention of a Guardian employee at Heathrow was unwarranted and unlawful
“David’s detention was unlawful and inexcusable. He was detained under a law that violates any principle of fairness and his detention shows how the law can be abused for petty vindictive reasons.








