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August 20, 2013
from truthdig:
The Moment the U.S. Ended Iran’s Brief Experiment in Democracy
Posted on Aug 20, 2013
By Robert Scheer
Sixty years ago this week, on Aug. 19, 1953, the United States, in collaboration with Britain, successfully staged a coup in Iran to overthrow democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh that a newly declassified CIA document reveals was designed to preserve the control of Western companies over Iran’s rich oil fields.
The U.S. government at the time of the coup easily had manipulated Western media into denigrating Mossadegh as intemperate, unstable and an otherwise unreliable ally in the Cold War, but the real motivation for hijacking Iran’s history was Mossadegh’s move to nationalize Western-controlled oil assets in Iran. According to the document, part of an internal CIA report:
“The target of this policy of desperation, Mohammad Mosadeq, [sic] was neither a madman nor an emotional bundle of senility as he was so often pictured in the foreign press; however, he had become so committed to the ideals of nationalism that he did things that could not have conceivably helped his people even in the best and most altruistic of worlds. In refusing to bargain—except on his own uncompromising terms—with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, he was in fact defying the professional politicians of the British government. These leaders believed, with good reason, that cheap oil for Britain and high profits for the company were vital to their national interests.”
There you have it, the smoking gun declaration of the true intent to preserve high profits and cheap oil that cuts through all of the official propaganda justifying not only this sorry attempt to prevent Iranian nationalists from gaining control over their prized resources but subsequent blood-for-oil adventures in Iraq and Kuwait. The assumption is that “the best and most altruistic of worlds” is one that accommodates the demands of rapacious capitalism as represented by Western oil companies. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_moment_the_us_ended_irans_brief_experiment_in_democracy_20130819/
Robert Scheer: The Moment the U.S. Ended Iran’s Brief Experiment in Democracy
from truthdig:
The Moment the U.S. Ended Iran’s Brief Experiment in Democracy
Posted on Aug 20, 2013
By Robert Scheer
Sixty years ago this week, on Aug. 19, 1953, the United States, in collaboration with Britain, successfully staged a coup in Iran to overthrow democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh that a newly declassified CIA document reveals was designed to preserve the control of Western companies over Iran’s rich oil fields.
The U.S. government at the time of the coup easily had manipulated Western media into denigrating Mossadegh as intemperate, unstable and an otherwise unreliable ally in the Cold War, but the real motivation for hijacking Iran’s history was Mossadegh’s move to nationalize Western-controlled oil assets in Iran. According to the document, part of an internal CIA report:
“The target of this policy of desperation, Mohammad Mosadeq, [sic] was neither a madman nor an emotional bundle of senility as he was so often pictured in the foreign press; however, he had become so committed to the ideals of nationalism that he did things that could not have conceivably helped his people even in the best and most altruistic of worlds. In refusing to bargain—except on his own uncompromising terms—with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, he was in fact defying the professional politicians of the British government. These leaders believed, with good reason, that cheap oil for Britain and high profits for the company were vital to their national interests.”
There you have it, the smoking gun declaration of the true intent to preserve high profits and cheap oil that cuts through all of the official propaganda justifying not only this sorry attempt to prevent Iranian nationalists from gaining control over their prized resources but subsequent blood-for-oil adventures in Iraq and Kuwait. The assumption is that “the best and most altruistic of worlds” is one that accommodates the demands of rapacious capitalism as represented by Western oil companies. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_moment_the_us_ended_irans_brief_experiment_in_democracy_20130819/
August 20, 2013
Fast-food workers demanding a livable wage of $15 an hour are pushing for a nationwide walkout on August 29, leading, fittingly enough, into Labor Day Weekend.
The campaign, which began in New York City in March and has since spread sporadically to other cities, is aimed at lifting wages from what campaign organizers say is a median of less than $9 an hour, an unlivable level just about anywhere in the country. More significantly, they also seek protections for workers seeking to organize unions at the worksites.
The targets are the biggest and best-known chains, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and KFC, among others. It’s unclear whether they include chains such as the California-based In-N-Out Burger, which pays a starting wage of $10.50 an hour, or stand-alones like Detroit’s Moo Cluck Moo, which pays workers $12 an hour.
“I wasn’t tuned in to the whole living-wage movement,” Moo Cluck Moo co-founder Harry Moorhouse recently told The Daily Beast. “We just felt that, for a variety of reasons, it was the right thing to do.” And it’s been effective at supporting worker morale and job performance. “What we found is that they are much more tuned in to their jobs. They work a lot more efficiently. They take direction pretty easily.” .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/fast_food_workers_super-size_their_walkout_20130820/?ln
Fast Food Workers Super-Size Their Walkout
Fast-food workers demanding a livable wage of $15 an hour are pushing for a nationwide walkout on August 29, leading, fittingly enough, into Labor Day Weekend.
The campaign, which began in New York City in March and has since spread sporadically to other cities, is aimed at lifting wages from what campaign organizers say is a median of less than $9 an hour, an unlivable level just about anywhere in the country. More significantly, they also seek protections for workers seeking to organize unions at the worksites.
The targets are the biggest and best-known chains, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and KFC, among others. It’s unclear whether they include chains such as the California-based In-N-Out Burger, which pays a starting wage of $10.50 an hour, or stand-alones like Detroit’s Moo Cluck Moo, which pays workers $12 an hour.
“I wasn’t tuned in to the whole living-wage movement,” Moo Cluck Moo co-founder Harry Moorhouse recently told The Daily Beast. “We just felt that, for a variety of reasons, it was the right thing to do.” And it’s been effective at supporting worker morale and job performance. “What we found is that they are much more tuned in to their jobs. They work a lot more efficiently. They take direction pretty easily.” .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/fast_food_workers_super-size_their_walkout_20130820/?ln
August 20, 2013
Worker "Disloyalty" Leads to Discharge; Employer Disloyalty Is Good for Business
Monday, 19 August 2013 11:09
By Ellen Dannin and Ann C Hodges, Truthout | Opinion
The National Labor Relations Act protects the right of employees to join together to change working conditions. The law, as written by Congress, has no exception to this protection. But that doesn't mean the courts couldn't create exceptions big enough to drive a fleet of trucks through.
In fact, the blanket protection Congress put into the NLRA has been eaten full of holes by judicial moths. It's hard to decide which of the judicial amendments creates the most outrageous exception to the law's protection, but making employee disloyalty into a cardinal sin certainly deserves an award for chutzpah and judicial overreach.
The basic problem is that the word is so vague, it is easy to manipulate. If asked what employee "disloyalty" is, many people might say "stealing employer property." Take organizing a union, for example, or employees' complaints about working conditions. The NLRA actually says that organizing unions and participating in concerted activity to change working conditions are protected. But these are also behaviors that judges have put into the category of disloyalty in some cases.
According to the Supreme Court in the 1953 case of NLRB v. Local 1229, IBEW (Jefferson Standard), disloyal employees lose the protections of the National Labor Relations Act, even though the employees' actions are precisely what Congress intended to protect. As time has passed, the category called disloyal actions has expanded, making it ever easier for employers to deprive workers of their rights under the law. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/18273-employee-disloyalty-leads-to-discharge-employer-disloyalty-is-good-for-business
Worker "Disloyalty" Leads to Discharge; Employer Disloyalty Is Good for Business
Worker "Disloyalty" Leads to Discharge; Employer Disloyalty Is Good for Business
Monday, 19 August 2013 11:09
By Ellen Dannin and Ann C Hodges, Truthout | Opinion
The National Labor Relations Act protects the right of employees to join together to change working conditions. The law, as written by Congress, has no exception to this protection. But that doesn't mean the courts couldn't create exceptions big enough to drive a fleet of trucks through.
In fact, the blanket protection Congress put into the NLRA has been eaten full of holes by judicial moths. It's hard to decide which of the judicial amendments creates the most outrageous exception to the law's protection, but making employee disloyalty into a cardinal sin certainly deserves an award for chutzpah and judicial overreach.
The basic problem is that the word is so vague, it is easy to manipulate. If asked what employee "disloyalty" is, many people might say "stealing employer property." Take organizing a union, for example, or employees' complaints about working conditions. The NLRA actually says that organizing unions and participating in concerted activity to change working conditions are protected. But these are also behaviors that judges have put into the category of disloyalty in some cases.
According to the Supreme Court in the 1953 case of NLRB v. Local 1229, IBEW (Jefferson Standard), disloyal employees lose the protections of the National Labor Relations Act, even though the employees' actions are precisely what Congress intended to protect. As time has passed, the category called disloyal actions has expanded, making it ever easier for employers to deprive workers of their rights under the law. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/18273-employee-disloyalty-leads-to-discharge-employer-disloyalty-is-good-for-business
August 20, 2013
Greece's Golden Dawn: A Wake-up Call for Europe
Tuesday, 20 August 2013 09:50
By Christopher Lawrence, Truthout | Op-Ed
[font size="1"]A member of Golden Dawn, the extremist right-wing political party, hangs the group's flags in a shop in Athens, Greece, March 15, 2011. Rights groups say that xenophobic violence has grown markedly in debt-racked Greece, and that the police are failing to take steps to stop it. (Photo: Nikos Pilos / The New York Times)[/font]
It is hard to convey the experience of economic and political collapse in Greece. In Athens, the city center is full of vacant, graffiti-covered storefronts. The only businesses that seem to be thriving are the pawn shops and the huge open-air heroin market that the police are apparently tolerating in the student neighborhood of Exarchia. For the first time since WWII, many Greeks are faced with hunger, homelessness and a lack of basic health care. Schools are struggling to provide lunch to the growing number of malnourished children. The public health system has collapsed, a sacrifice to austerity. HIV infection rates have doubled, and malaria is on the rise. Suicides have increased dramatically. The legitimacy of the political system, which was long dominated by two mainstream parties - the center-left PASOK and the center-right New Democracy - is under threat because of the parties' inability to offer either an alternative to the current austerity regime or a plausible strategy for surviving it. In the midst of this crisis, the neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn has become the fastest growing political movement in Greece, with some placing support above 20 percent.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. When Greece entered the European Union in the early '80s, hopes were high that it signaled a new era. Despite the common tendency toward fatalism, many Greeks hoped that the sad history of 20th century ethno-nationalism, a history of war, occupation and dictatorships, had finally closed. Now they feel that the rug has been pulled out from under them. Suddenly the beneficence of the EU, much of which was diverted into the pockets of the politicians and financiers with a nod and a wink, has become a noose around their necks. Among the Greek middle class, - which, thanks to the EU, has grown to include most farmers, small craftsmen and clerical workers - feelings of frustration and injustice are palpable. Not only has their new-found prosperity collapsed like a huge pyramid scam, but they are being pilloried in the international press as a bunch of lazy welfare cheats.
With Greece looking more and more like the Weimar Republic, Golden Dawn has found success following the Nazi playbook. Golden Dawn was founded in 1980 under the leadership of right-wing fanatic Nikolaos Michaloliakos. During the '80s and '90s, Golden Dawn was a tiny party on the far-right lunatic fringe. Their fetish for Nazi regalia won them few supporters in a country that had suffered horribly from the German occupation. Among other things, they claimed Christianity was a Jewish plot and advocated a return to worshiping the ancient Greek gods, positions which did not sit well with traditionally devout right-wing Greek nationalists. After several unsuccessful attempts to merge with other right-wing groups, Golden Dawn finally muted their more bizarre positions and concentrated on promoting a neo-fascist philosophy they branded as "social nationalism." They also shifted their recruiting efforts from the old right-wing organizations to the new generation of apolitical soccer hooligans.
Unlike other Greek far-right groups, who tend to get bogged down in obscure ideological debates, Golden Dawn, from the early '90s on, emphasized street-fighting and other forms of direct action. These tactics are attractive to many young men schooled in soccer violence. Gangs of Golden Dawn thugs in black tee shirts began appearing at Communist and anarchist protests and instigating brawls, sometimes resulting in serious injuries. Several prominent Golden Dawn members have been charged with assault or attempted murder as a result of party actions. During the Bosnian conflict, Golden Dawn supplied volunteers for a Greek unit of the Bosnian Serb army, some of whom participated in the siege and massacre at Srebrenica in 1995. There are also reports that Golden Dawn infiltrated the protests of 2008 that followed the police killing of a young anarchist and acted as provocateurs in the subsequent riots that resulted in widespread destruction and two deaths. ........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/18239-greeces-golden-dawn-a-wake-up-call-for-europe
Greece's Golden Dawn: A Wake-up Call for Europe
Greece's Golden Dawn: A Wake-up Call for Europe
Tuesday, 20 August 2013 09:50
By Christopher Lawrence, Truthout | Op-Ed
[font size="1"]A member of Golden Dawn, the extremist right-wing political party, hangs the group's flags in a shop in Athens, Greece, March 15, 2011. Rights groups say that xenophobic violence has grown markedly in debt-racked Greece, and that the police are failing to take steps to stop it. (Photo: Nikos Pilos / The New York Times)[/font]
It is hard to convey the experience of economic and political collapse in Greece. In Athens, the city center is full of vacant, graffiti-covered storefronts. The only businesses that seem to be thriving are the pawn shops and the huge open-air heroin market that the police are apparently tolerating in the student neighborhood of Exarchia. For the first time since WWII, many Greeks are faced with hunger, homelessness and a lack of basic health care. Schools are struggling to provide lunch to the growing number of malnourished children. The public health system has collapsed, a sacrifice to austerity. HIV infection rates have doubled, and malaria is on the rise. Suicides have increased dramatically. The legitimacy of the political system, which was long dominated by two mainstream parties - the center-left PASOK and the center-right New Democracy - is under threat because of the parties' inability to offer either an alternative to the current austerity regime or a plausible strategy for surviving it. In the midst of this crisis, the neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn has become the fastest growing political movement in Greece, with some placing support above 20 percent.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. When Greece entered the European Union in the early '80s, hopes were high that it signaled a new era. Despite the common tendency toward fatalism, many Greeks hoped that the sad history of 20th century ethno-nationalism, a history of war, occupation and dictatorships, had finally closed. Now they feel that the rug has been pulled out from under them. Suddenly the beneficence of the EU, much of which was diverted into the pockets of the politicians and financiers with a nod and a wink, has become a noose around their necks. Among the Greek middle class, - which, thanks to the EU, has grown to include most farmers, small craftsmen and clerical workers - feelings of frustration and injustice are palpable. Not only has their new-found prosperity collapsed like a huge pyramid scam, but they are being pilloried in the international press as a bunch of lazy welfare cheats.
With Greece looking more and more like the Weimar Republic, Golden Dawn has found success following the Nazi playbook. Golden Dawn was founded in 1980 under the leadership of right-wing fanatic Nikolaos Michaloliakos. During the '80s and '90s, Golden Dawn was a tiny party on the far-right lunatic fringe. Their fetish for Nazi regalia won them few supporters in a country that had suffered horribly from the German occupation. Among other things, they claimed Christianity was a Jewish plot and advocated a return to worshiping the ancient Greek gods, positions which did not sit well with traditionally devout right-wing Greek nationalists. After several unsuccessful attempts to merge with other right-wing groups, Golden Dawn finally muted their more bizarre positions and concentrated on promoting a neo-fascist philosophy they branded as "social nationalism." They also shifted their recruiting efforts from the old right-wing organizations to the new generation of apolitical soccer hooligans.
Unlike other Greek far-right groups, who tend to get bogged down in obscure ideological debates, Golden Dawn, from the early '90s on, emphasized street-fighting and other forms of direct action. These tactics are attractive to many young men schooled in soccer violence. Gangs of Golden Dawn thugs in black tee shirts began appearing at Communist and anarchist protests and instigating brawls, sometimes resulting in serious injuries. Several prominent Golden Dawn members have been charged with assault or attempted murder as a result of party actions. During the Bosnian conflict, Golden Dawn supplied volunteers for a Greek unit of the Bosnian Serb army, some of whom participated in the siege and massacre at Srebrenica in 1995. There are also reports that Golden Dawn infiltrated the protests of 2008 that followed the police killing of a young anarchist and acted as provocateurs in the subsequent riots that resulted in widespread destruction and two deaths. ........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/18239-greeces-golden-dawn-a-wake-up-call-for-europe
August 20, 2013
Not Too Big to Jail: Eliot Spitzer Is Wall Street’s Worst Nightmare
Posted on Aug 19, 2013
By Ellen Brown, Web of Debt
Before Eliot Spitzer’s infamous resignation as governor of New York in March 2008, he was one of our fiercest champions against Wall Street corruption, in a state that had some of the toughest legislation for controlling the banks. It may not be a coincidence that the revelation of his indiscretions with a high-priced call girl came less than a month after he published a bold editorial in the Washington Post titled “Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration Stopped the States from Stepping in to Help Consumers.” The editorial exposed the collusion between the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and Wall Street in deregulating the banks in the guise of regulating them, by taking regulatory power away from the states. It was an issue of the federal government versus the states, with the Feds representing the banks and the states representing consumers.
Five years later, Spitzer has set out to take some of that local regulatory power back, in his run for New York City comptroller. Mounting the attack against him, however, are not just Wall Street banks but women’s groups opposed to this apparent endorsement of the exploitation of women. On August 17th, the New York Post endorsed Spitzer’s opponent and ran a scathing cover story attempting to embarrass Spitzer based on the single issue of his personal life.
Lynn Parramore, who considers herself a feminist, countered in an August 8th Huffington Post article that it is likely to be in the best interests of the very women who are opposing him to forgive and move on. His stand for women’s reproductive rights and other feminist issues is actually quite strong, and his role as Wall Street watchdog protected women from predatory financial practices. As New York Attorney General, he was known as the “Sheriff of Wall Street.” He is one of the few people with not only the insight and experience to expose Wall Street corruption but the courage to go after the perpetrators. .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/not_too_big_to_jail_eliot_spitzer_is_wall_streets_worst_nightmare_20130819/?ln
Not Too Big to Jail: Eliot Spitzer Is Wall Street’s Worst Nightmare
Not Too Big to Jail: Eliot Spitzer Is Wall Street’s Worst Nightmare
Posted on Aug 19, 2013
By Ellen Brown, Web of Debt
Before Eliot Spitzer’s infamous resignation as governor of New York in March 2008, he was one of our fiercest champions against Wall Street corruption, in a state that had some of the toughest legislation for controlling the banks. It may not be a coincidence that the revelation of his indiscretions with a high-priced call girl came less than a month after he published a bold editorial in the Washington Post titled “Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration Stopped the States from Stepping in to Help Consumers.” The editorial exposed the collusion between the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and Wall Street in deregulating the banks in the guise of regulating them, by taking regulatory power away from the states. It was an issue of the federal government versus the states, with the Feds representing the banks and the states representing consumers.
Five years later, Spitzer has set out to take some of that local regulatory power back, in his run for New York City comptroller. Mounting the attack against him, however, are not just Wall Street banks but women’s groups opposed to this apparent endorsement of the exploitation of women. On August 17th, the New York Post endorsed Spitzer’s opponent and ran a scathing cover story attempting to embarrass Spitzer based on the single issue of his personal life.
Lynn Parramore, who considers herself a feminist, countered in an August 8th Huffington Post article that it is likely to be in the best interests of the very women who are opposing him to forgive and move on. His stand for women’s reproductive rights and other feminist issues is actually quite strong, and his role as Wall Street watchdog protected women from predatory financial practices. As New York Attorney General, he was known as the “Sheriff of Wall Street.” He is one of the few people with not only the insight and experience to expose Wall Street corruption but the courage to go after the perpetrators. .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/not_too_big_to_jail_eliot_spitzer_is_wall_streets_worst_nightmare_20130819/?ln
August 20, 2013
from truthdig:
The Moment the U.S. Ended Iran’s Brief Experiment in Democracy
Posted on Aug 20, 2013
By Robert Scheer
Sixty years ago this week, on Aug. 19, 1953, the United States, in collaboration with Britain, successfully staged a coup in Iran to overthrow democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh that a newly declassified CIA document reveals was designed to preserve the control of Western companies over Iran’s rich oil fields.
The U.S. government at the time of the coup easily had manipulated Western media into denigrating Mossadegh as intemperate, unstable and an otherwise unreliable ally in the Cold War, but the real motivation for hijacking Iran’s history was Mossadegh’s move to nationalize Western-controlled oil assets in Iran. According to the document, part of an internal CIA report:
“The target of this policy of desperation, Mohammad Mosadeq, [sic] was neither a madman nor an emotional bundle of senility as he was so often pictured in the foreign press; however, he had become so committed to the ideals of nationalism that he did things that could not have conceivably helped his people even in the best and most altruistic of worlds. In refusing to bargain—except on his own uncompromising terms—with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, he was in fact defying the professional politicians of the British government. These leaders believed, with good reason, that cheap oil for Britain and high profits for the company were vital to their national interests.”
There you have it, the smoking gun declaration of the true intent to preserve high profits and cheap oil that cuts through all of the official propaganda justifying not only this sorry attempt to prevent Iranian nationalists from gaining control over their prized resources but subsequent blood-for-oil adventures in Iraq and Kuwait. The assumption is that “the best and most altruistic of worlds” is one that accommodates the demands of rapacious capitalism as represented by Western oil companies. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_moment_the_us_ended_irans_brief_experiment_in_democracy_20130819/
Robert Scheer: The Moment the U.S. Ended Iran’s Brief Experiment in Democracy
from truthdig:
The Moment the U.S. Ended Iran’s Brief Experiment in Democracy
Posted on Aug 20, 2013
By Robert Scheer
Sixty years ago this week, on Aug. 19, 1953, the United States, in collaboration with Britain, successfully staged a coup in Iran to overthrow democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh that a newly declassified CIA document reveals was designed to preserve the control of Western companies over Iran’s rich oil fields.
The U.S. government at the time of the coup easily had manipulated Western media into denigrating Mossadegh as intemperate, unstable and an otherwise unreliable ally in the Cold War, but the real motivation for hijacking Iran’s history was Mossadegh’s move to nationalize Western-controlled oil assets in Iran. According to the document, part of an internal CIA report:
“The target of this policy of desperation, Mohammad Mosadeq, [sic] was neither a madman nor an emotional bundle of senility as he was so often pictured in the foreign press; however, he had become so committed to the ideals of nationalism that he did things that could not have conceivably helped his people even in the best and most altruistic of worlds. In refusing to bargain—except on his own uncompromising terms—with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, he was in fact defying the professional politicians of the British government. These leaders believed, with good reason, that cheap oil for Britain and high profits for the company were vital to their national interests.”
There you have it, the smoking gun declaration of the true intent to preserve high profits and cheap oil that cuts through all of the official propaganda justifying not only this sorry attempt to prevent Iranian nationalists from gaining control over their prized resources but subsequent blood-for-oil adventures in Iraq and Kuwait. The assumption is that “the best and most altruistic of worlds” is one that accommodates the demands of rapacious capitalism as represented by Western oil companies. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_moment_the_us_ended_irans_brief_experiment_in_democracy_20130819/
August 19, 2013
http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/people_peepers_20130818/
The Liberty vs Security Debate (cartoon)
http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/people_peepers_20130818/
August 19, 2013
Is Glenn Greenwald's journalism now viewed as a 'terrorist' occupation?
David Miranda's detention shows that being the partner of the man who interviewed the NSA whistleblower is enough to see you treated like a terrorist
Simon Jenkins
theguardian.com, Monday 19 August 2013 04.48 EDT
The detention at Heathrow on Sunday of the Brazilian David Miranda is the sort of treatment western politicians love to deplore in Putin's Russia or Ahmadinejad's Iran. His "offence" under the 2000 Terrorism Act was apparently to be the partner of a journalist, Glenn Greenwald, who had reported for the Guardian on material released by the American whistleblower, Edward Snowden. We must assume the Americans asked the British government to nab him, shake him down and take his personal effects.
Miranda's phone and laptop were confiscated and he was held incommunicado, without access to friends or lawyer, for the maximum nine hours allowed under law. It is the airport equivalent of smashing into someone's flat, rifling through their drawers and stealing papers and documents. It is simple harassment and intimidation.
Greenwald himself is not known to have committed any offence, unless journalism is now a "terrorist" occupation in the eyes of British and American politicians. As for Miranda, his only offence seems to have been to be part of his family. Harassing the family of those who have upset authority is the most obscene form of state terrorism.
Last month, the British foreign secretary, William Hague, airily excused the apparently illegal hoovering of internet traffic by British and American spies on the grounds that "the innocent have nothing to fear," the motto of police states down the ages. Hague's apologists explained that he was a nice chap really, but that relations with America trumped every libertarian card. ................................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/19/glenn-greenwald-journalism-david-miranda-detention
Is Glenn Greenwald's journalism now viewed as a 'terrorist' occupation?
Is Glenn Greenwald's journalism now viewed as a 'terrorist' occupation?
David Miranda's detention shows that being the partner of the man who interviewed the NSA whistleblower is enough to see you treated like a terrorist
Simon Jenkins
theguardian.com, Monday 19 August 2013 04.48 EDT
The detention at Heathrow on Sunday of the Brazilian David Miranda is the sort of treatment western politicians love to deplore in Putin's Russia or Ahmadinejad's Iran. His "offence" under the 2000 Terrorism Act was apparently to be the partner of a journalist, Glenn Greenwald, who had reported for the Guardian on material released by the American whistleblower, Edward Snowden. We must assume the Americans asked the British government to nab him, shake him down and take his personal effects.
Miranda's phone and laptop were confiscated and he was held incommunicado, without access to friends or lawyer, for the maximum nine hours allowed under law. It is the airport equivalent of smashing into someone's flat, rifling through their drawers and stealing papers and documents. It is simple harassment and intimidation.
Greenwald himself is not known to have committed any offence, unless journalism is now a "terrorist" occupation in the eyes of British and American politicians. As for Miranda, his only offence seems to have been to be part of his family. Harassing the family of those who have upset authority is the most obscene form of state terrorism.
Last month, the British foreign secretary, William Hague, airily excused the apparently illegal hoovering of internet traffic by British and American spies on the grounds that "the innocent have nothing to fear," the motto of police states down the ages. Hague's apologists explained that he was a nice chap really, but that relations with America trumped every libertarian card. ................................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/19/glenn-greenwald-journalism-david-miranda-detention
August 19, 2013
Published on Aug 13, 2013
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the Fatberg of Fraud clogging up the global financial system and JPMorgan's role in depositing the wet wipes of financial products into that system. In the second half, Max talks to Rob Kirby of KirbyAnalytics.com about Mark Carney and his merry band of bankers as the Lone Ranger box office disaster, they've all made their fees while the shareholders and stakeholders eat the losses. Kirby also predicts lower rates due to central bank intervention via Interest Rate Swaps and Forward Rate Agreements.
Keiser Report: Wet Wipes for Incontinent Banksters
Published on Aug 13, 2013
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the Fatberg of Fraud clogging up the global financial system and JPMorgan's role in depositing the wet wipes of financial products into that system. In the second half, Max talks to Rob Kirby of KirbyAnalytics.com about Mark Carney and his merry band of bankers as the Lone Ranger box office disaster, they've all made their fees while the shareholders and stakeholders eat the losses. Kirby also predicts lower rates due to central bank intervention via Interest Rate Swaps and Forward Rate Agreements.
August 19, 2013
Coastal Cities Face $1 Trillion Floods by 2050
Posted on Aug 19, 2013
By Tim Radford, Climate News Network
LONDON—By 2050, flood damage in the world’s coastal cities is expected to reach $1 trillion a year as sea levels rise and global warming triggers new extremes of heat, windstorm and rain.
More than 40% of these prodigious costs could fall upon just four cities – New Orleans, Miami and New York in the US and Guangzhou in China.
Stephane Hallegatte of the World Bank in Washington and colleagues looked at the risks of future flood losses in the 136 largest of the world’s coastal cities.
Any coastal city is always at some risk – by definition it is at sea level, and often on an estuary or floodplain, and very often began as a seaport. .........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/coastal_cities_face_1_trillion_floods_by_2050_20130819/?ln
Coastal Cities Face $1 Trillion Floods by 2050
Coastal Cities Face $1 Trillion Floods by 2050
Posted on Aug 19, 2013
By Tim Radford, Climate News Network
LONDON—By 2050, flood damage in the world’s coastal cities is expected to reach $1 trillion a year as sea levels rise and global warming triggers new extremes of heat, windstorm and rain.
More than 40% of these prodigious costs could fall upon just four cities – New Orleans, Miami and New York in the US and Guangzhou in China.
Stephane Hallegatte of the World Bank in Washington and colleagues looked at the risks of future flood losses in the 136 largest of the world’s coastal cities.
Any coastal city is always at some risk – by definition it is at sea level, and often on an estuary or floodplain, and very often began as a seaport. .........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/coastal_cities_face_1_trillion_floods_by_2050_20130819/?ln
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