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ISurfTooMuch writes "If you're a city employee in Anniston, AL, you'd better watch what you say on Facebook. Under a proposal being considered by the City Council, employees would be banned from posting anything 'negative' or 'embarrassing' about the city. Note that they aren't talking about official city pages here, but employees' personal pages. Anyone care to educate these clowns on the existence of the First Amendment?" Read more of this story
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| schliz writes "Judging by the time it took for Egypt to go offline and back online, the Internet Society speculates that the country's connectivity is controlled by a 'series of phone calls', rather than a 'kill switch'. The Government-imposed internet blackout lasted five days, beginning last Friday, and ending on Wednesday." Read more of this story |
| An anonymous reader writes "With Homeland Security continuing to seize domain names without warning and without giving site operators a chance to respond to charges, it appears that at least some people in the US government are quite concerned about this turn of events. Techdirt has a copy of the full letter Senator Wyden has sent to both Attorney General Eric Holder and ICE director John Morton, asking a series of pointed questions concerning the domain seizures and how they impact due process, free speech and sovereign rule in foreign countries." Read more of this story |
| databuff writes "The April 4 launch of the $3 million Heritage Health Prize has been announced by the Heritage Provider Network, a network of doctors. The competition challenges data hackers to build algorithms that predict who will go to the hospital in the next year, so that preventative action can be taken. An algorithm might find that somebody with diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol is a 90 per cent risk for hospitalization. Knowing this, it might be cheaper for an HMO to enroll them in an exercise program now rather than pay the likely hospital bill. The competition takes the same approach as the $1 million Netflix Prize, but solves a far more significant problem." Read more of this story |
| PatPending tips a Wall Street Journal report claiming that hackers have repeatedly broken into the computer networks of the company running the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. "The exchange's trading platform-the part of the system that executes trades-wasn't compromised, these people said. However, it couldn't be determined which other parts of Nasdaq's computer network were accessed. Investigators are considering a range of possible motives, including unlawful financial gain, theft of trade secrets and a national-security threat designed to damage the exchange. The Nasdaq situation has set off alarms within the government because of the exchange's critical role, which officials put right up with power companies and air-traffic-control operations, all part of the nation's basic infrastructure." Read more of this story |
| BEIJING - Wide swathes of northern China are suffering through their worst drought in 60 years -- a dry spell that could have a serious economic impact worldwide if it continues much longer, experts say. Some areas have gone 120 days without any significant rainfall, leaving more than five million hectares (12.4 million acres) of [...]
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| SANTA FE - The assassination of Leon Trotsky in Mexico City, where he was famously killed with an ice pick to the head, was organized from a drugstore in the US, according to a former CIA agent. The KGB agent who planned the Bolshevik revolutionary's 1940 assassination first established a safe house in Santa Fe, [...] |
| GENEVA (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George W. Bush, under fire from human rights group over allegations of ordering torture, has canceled a visit to Switzerland where he was to address a Jewish charity gala. Bush was to be the keynote speaker at Keren Hayesod's annual dinner on February 12 in Geneva. But pressure has [...] |
| Prices of everything from bread to transportation have skyrocketed, salaries have not been paid and people are exhausted from policing their own streets night after night. In the past five days, the cost of making a phone call has nearly doubled. |
| Augenzeugenbericht aus Ägypten - Ich spürte wie meine Schritte immer langsamer wurden. Es roch nach Rauch in der Luft, ich rieb mir kurz die Augen. Tränengas. Vor mir standen zwei beige Panzer, ich hörte Schüsse in der Luft. Mir kamen Verletzte entgegen. Blut floss über ihre Gesichter, sie hielten die Haende über ihre Wunden. Zahlreiche von ihnen hatten bereits ihre Verletzungen mit Mullbinden versorgt. Ich konnte aus der Ferne Steine fliegen sehen. Die Schreie der Menschen klangen panisch |
| Video - Mubarak's Sicherheitstruppen überfahren wahllos Demonstranten. Dass diese aus Angst nicht anhalten, da sie sonst vieleicht samt Fahrzeug von der Masse umgeworfen werden, ist in dieser Situation nicht erkenntlich. Steht es ihnen doch sicher frei, jederzeit zu stoppen und ihre Uniform abzulegen und das den anderen auch zu zeigen |
| Der italienische Energiekonzern Enel hat in der Nähe von Venedig ein mit Wasserstoff gespeistes Kraftwerk in Betrieb genommen. Die im Lagunenort Fusina neben dem Kohlekraftwerk "Andrea Palladio" errichtete Anlage ist auf eine Gesamtkapazität von 16 Megawatt ausgelegt |
| Es bestehe der Verdacht, dass über längere Zeit systematisch minderwertige technische Mischfettsäure zu teurem Futterfett verarbeitet worden sei. Der Erlös für eine Tonne Industriefett liege bei 500 Euro, eine Tonne Futterfett bringe das Doppelte ein. Derzeit werden die Lieferströme zwischen Petrotec, Olivet sowie Harles und Jentzsch von den Staatsanwaltschaften Itzehoe und Oldenburg untersucht |
| Die Führung der serbischen Ex-Provinz soll in den illegalen Organhandel verstrickt sein. Beweise verschwanden. Nur unwillig und erst nach massivem Druck des Europarates hat die Rechtsstaatlichkeitsmissionen der Europäischen Union im Kosovo Ermittlungen gegen den Regierungschef und ehemaligen Kommandanten der paramilitärischen Organisation UÇK, Hashim Thaci, aufgenommen |
| Der Meldung zufolge geht es um einen neuen Offshore-Fund, das sog. "Leviathan-Feld", rund 140 Km westlich der nordisraelischen Hafenstadt Haifa in einer Meerestiefe von rund 5100 Metern unter dem Meeresspiegel gelegen, in dem laut im Dezember 2010 veröffentlichten Schätzungen rund 450 Mrd. Kubikmeter Erdgas lagern |
| A US envoy says Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak should stay in office during a power transition, as protesters demand his resignation. |
| What cannot but strike the eye in the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt is the conspicuous absence of Muslim fundamentalism. In the best secular democratic tradition, people simply revolted against an oppressive regime, its corruption and poverty, and demanded freedom and economic hope. The cynical wisdom of western liberals, according to which, in Arab countries, genuine democratic sense is limited to narrow liberal elites while the vast majority can only be mobilised through religious fundamentalism or nationalism, has been proven wrong. The big question is what will happen next? Who will emerge as the political winner? |
| Security forces in Colombia arrest eight former policemen on charges of colluding with a drug gang and turning a blind eye to the gang's attacks on civilians. |
| Die Panzer in Kairo sind sind M60 A3Ö. Woher das Ö? Richtig! 2002 standen sie noch in Zwölfaxing (Österreich) und wurden dann für 31 Mio € an Ägypten verkauft |
George W. Bush has canceled a visit to Switzerland due to the risk of legal action against him for alleged torture [link]
| A retired diplomat who carried a US message to Egypt's Hosni Mubarak last week and on Saturday said he should stay in office during a transition, was speaking as a private citizen, a US official said. "Frank Wisner was speaking as a private citizen... analyst... not as a representative of the US government," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. |
| Photo - Ein Bild von sonst kleinen Problemen, deren Lösung in Ägypten aber derzeit im Zweifel über vieles entscheiden kann: Aktivisten sind auf dem Tahrir Platz um einen Mehrfach-Steckdose versammelt, um ihre Mobiltelefone aufladen zu können |
| Ich glaube, dass die Führerschaft von Mubarak weiter von Bedeutung ist, sagte der von US-Präsident Barack Obama als Sondergesandter nach Ägypten geschickte Frank Wisner am Samstag in einer Videoschaltung zur Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz |
| Je länger die Unruhen in Ägypten dauern, desto nervöser reagieren die Israelis. Eine große Mehrheit hat Angst vor einem Wandel, weil nicht klar ist, wer im Nachbarland die Macht übernimmt. Ministerpräsident Netanjahu setzt auf die Stärke der eigenen Streitkräfte |
| Uri Avnery - WIR SIND inmitten eines geologischen Geschehens. Ein Erdbeben von historischen Dimensionen verändert die Landschaft unserer Region. Berge werden zu Tälern, Inseln tauchen aus dem Meer auf, Vulkane bedecken das Land mit Lava. Die Menschen fürchten sich vor der Veränderung. Wenn dies geschieht, neigen sie dazu, dies zu leugnen, zu ignorieren, geben vor, dass nichts wirklich Bedeutendes geschieht |
| Rund 10'000 Personen haben sich in Mailand an einer Protestkundgebung gegen den italienischen Premierminister Silvio Berlusconi beteiligt. Aus ganz Italien strömten Demonstranten zur Kundgebung, die von der Oppositionsbewegung «Freiheit und Gerechtigkeit» organisiert wurde. |
| The united front among Egyptian opposition parties fractured Saturday as several of them began negotiating with Vice President Omar Suleiman, despite earlier promises that they would not agree to talks until President Hosni Mubarak stepped down. |
| The Obama administration Saturday expressed disappointment that major Egyptian opposition groups had not turned out for what they hoped would be a key meeting with Egypt's vice president on political reform, and called on them to begin discussions immediately. A senior administration official said major opposition groups continue to hold back, apparently fearful that they would lose leverage if they begin talks before Mubarak surrenders power. "The major players still haven't shown up," the official said. |
FBI raids Georgia Tech student dorms, apparently seeking Wikileaks sympathizers [link]
| A huge police operation keeps rival protesters from the English Defence League and United Against Fascism apart during demonstrations in Luton. |
| Unter dem Druck der Oppositionsproteste ist die Führungsriege der ägyptischen Regierungspartei zurückgetreten. Indes hat der TV-Sender Al-Arabiya die Meldung zurückgezogen, derzufolge auch Präsident Mubarak seinen Sitz als Parteichef abgegeben hat |
10 Things Conservatives Don't Want You To Know About Ronald Reagan
Tomorrow will mark the 100th anniversary of President Reagan's birth, and all week, conservatives have been trying to outdo each others' remembrances of the great conservative icon. Senate Republicans spent much of Thursday singing Reagan's praise from the Senate floor, while conservative publications have been running non-stop commemorations . Meanwhile the Republican National Committee and former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich are hoping to make few bucks off the Gipper's centennial.
But Reagan was not the man conservatives claim he was. This image of Reagan as a conservative superhero is myth, created to untie the various factions of the right behind a common leader. In reality, Reagan was no conservative ideologue or flawless commander-in-chief. Reagan regularly strayed from conservative dogma - he raised taxes eleven times as president while tripling the deficit - and he often ended up on the wrong side of history, like when he vetoed an Anti-Apartheid bill.
ThinkProgress has compiled a list of the top 10 things conservatives rarely mention when talking about President Reagan:
1. Reagan was a serial tax raiser. As governor of California, Reagan " signed into law the largest tax increase in the history of any state up till then." Meanwhile, state spending nearly doubled . As president, Reagan "raised taxes in seven of his eight years in office," including four times in just two years. As former GOP Senator Alan Simpson, who called Reagan "a dear friend," told NPR, "Ronald Reagan raised taxes 11 times in his administration - I was there." "Reagan was never afraid to raise taxes ," said historian Douglas Brinkley, who edited Reagan's memoir. Reagan the anti-tax zealot is "false mythology," Brinkley said.
2. Reagan nearly tripled the federal budget deficit. During the Reagan years, the debt increased to nearly $3 trillion, " roughly three times as much as the first 80 years of the century had done altogether." Reagan enacted a major tax cut his first year in office and government revenue dropped off precipitously. Despite the conservative myth that tax cuts somehow increase revenue, the government went deeper into debt and Reagan had to raise taxes just a year after he enacted his tax cut. Despite ten more tax hikes on everything from gasoline to corporate income, Reagan was never able to get the deficit under control.
3. Unemployment soared after Reagan's 1981 tax cuts. Unemployment jumped to 10.8 percent after Reagan enacted his much-touted tax cut, and it took years for the rate to get back down to its previous level. Meanwhile, income inequality exploded. Despite the myth that Reagan presided over an era of unmatched economic boom for all Americans, Reagan disproportionately taxed the poor and middle class, but the economic growth of the 1980′s did little help them. "Since 1980, median household income has risen only 30 percent, adjusted for inflation, while average incomes at the top have tripled or quadrupled," the New York Times' David Leonhardt noted .
4. Reagan grew the size of the federal government tremendously. Reagan promised "to move boldly, decisively, and quickly to control the runaway growth of federal spending ," but federal spending " ballooned " under Reagan. He bailed out Social Security in 1983 after attempting to privatize it, and set up a progressive taxation system to keep it funded into the future. He promised to cut government agencies like the Department of Energy and Education but ended up adding one of the largest - the Department of Veterans' Affairs , which today has a budget of nearly $90 billion and close to 300,000 employees . He also hiked defense spending by over $100 billion a year to a level not seen since the height of the Vietnam war.
5. Reagan did little to fight a woman's right to chose. As governor of California in 1967, Reagan signed a bill to liberalize the state's abortion laws that " resulted in more than a million abortions ." When Reagan ran for president, he advocated a constitutional amendment that would have prohibited all abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother, but once in office, he " never seriously pursued " curbing choice.
6. Reagan was a "bellicose peacenik." He wrote in his memoirs that "[m]y dream…became a world free of nuclear weapons." "This vision stemmed from the president's belief that the biblical account of Armageddon prophesied nuclear war - and that apocalypse could be averted if everyone, especially the Soviets, eliminated nuclear weapons," the Washington Monthly noted . And Reagan's military buildup was meant to crush the Soviet Union, but "also to put the United States in a stronger position from which to establish effective arms control " for the the entire world - a vision acted out by Regean's vice president, George H.W. Bush, when he became president.
7. Reagan gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants. Reagan signed into law a bill that made any immigrant who had entered the country before 1982 eligible for amnesty. The bill was sold as a crackdown, but its tough sanctions on employers who hired undocumented immigrants were removed before final passage. The bill helped 3 million people and millions more family members gain American residency. It has since become a source of major embarrassment for conservatives.
8. Reagan illegally funneled weapons to Iran. Reagan and other senior U.S. officials secretly sold arms to officials in Iran , which was subject to a an arms embargo at the time, in exchange for American hostages. Some funds from the illegal arms sales also went to fund anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua - something Congress had already prohibited the administration from doing. When the deals went public, the Iran-Contra Affair, as it came to be know, was an enormous political scandal that forced several senior administration officials to resign.
9. Reagan vetoed a comprehensive anti-Apartheid act. which placed sanctions on South Africa and cut off all American trade with the country. Reagan's veto was overridden by the Republican-controlled Senate. Reagan responded by saying " I deeply regret that Congress has seen fit to override my veto," saying that the law "will not solve the serious problems that plague that country."
10. Reagan helped create the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. Reagan fought a proxy war with the Soviet Union by training, arming, equipping, and funding Islamist mujahidin fighters in Afghanistan. Reagan funneled billions of dollars, along with top-secret intelligence and sophisticated weaponry to these fighters through the Pakistani intelligence service. The Talbian and Osama Bin Laden - a prominent mujahidin commander - emerged from these mujahidin groups Reagan helped create, and U.S. policy towards Pakistan remains strained because of the intelligence services' close relations to these fighters. In fact, Reagan's decision to continue the proxy war after the Soviets were willing to retreat played a direct role in Bin Laden's ascendency.
Conservatives seem to be in such denial about the less flattering aspects of Reagan; it sometimes appears as if they genuinely don't know the truth of his legacy. Yesterday, when liberal activist Mike Stark challenged hate radio host Rush Limbaugh on why Reagan remains a conservative hero despite raising taxes so many times, Limbaugh flew into a tirade and demanded, " Where did you get this silly notion that Reagan raised taxes? "
| Anti-government protesters demand Mubarak's immediate departure, but he refuses to go.
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| The protests spreading across north Africa and the Middle East don't yet have a name.
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| 16.25 Uhr Der Sohn des Diktators, Gamal Mubarak, ist als Chef der Nationalpartei NDP entmachtet worden. Nachfolger ist Hossam Badrawi. |
| Ägyptens Präsident Hosni Mubarak ist von seinem Amt als Parteichef der Nationaldemokratischen Partei zurückgetreten. Das berichten die Nachrichtensender Al Arabija und Al Dschasira übereinstimmend. Das Staatsfernsehen berichtete, dass das gesamte Exekutivkomitee der regierenden NDP geschlossen zurückgetreten sei |
| Analysis: Regardless of the outcome in Cairo, it's a rough road ahead for US interests.
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I've owned my own business for 4 years. In the last year my market disappeared by 91% so it's time to work for people again... for a while. One of the offers I got was for a Blue Chip here in Seattle. The offer was as a Crane Mechanic. Fine. I can make $75,000 to pay the bills until I can get back to making money. I get the offer and the Intellectual Property section has 11 paragraphs laying out full ownership of all thought. Paragraph 12 says if it's not relevant to our business, you did it on your own, it's yours. So I move forward to today, orientation. They have a Corporate Ethics Advisor there. She starts going into talking about notifying the company of anything that you do. A real example was the concern of writing a Ph d. Thesis and the college's claim of ownership of that paper. Her assertion was that you should ask for permission from the company. WTF! I object on mic. The short is, "What I do outside of work is of no concern to the company." She takes it further and says that if you were to publish a book on poetry (she specifically asked if someone wrote poetry to show how far it should be taken), you should run it by the Ethics Department. So I grab my things in this room of 164 new hires, walk to the side and ask someone, "How do I quit?" (I hadn't even met my manager.)
Why the hell would you give up your right to thoughts outside of work? Why would you sign paperwork saying that you'll ask Daddy's permission to think outside of work? I signed on to be a Crane Mechanic. I'm not signing on to develop anything or manage anything. Whistle blows, I put wrench down and go to my life. End of the deal. If they want to protect their end product, the processes they use, etc, I get it. But to reach outside of their scope is offensive. I didn't sign on to be property.
How many of you have signed these contracts and why? (I understand short term need, but don't you immediately find other opportunities?)
TLDR: I lasted 2.5 hours working for a Blue Chip company because they openly were claiming to own, and have first rights of refusal to my thoughts. [link]
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| Belgrade sees its biggest anti-government protest in years as tens of thousands of disenchanted Serbs demand early elections. |
| Politik und Medien lassen islamistische Dschihadisten wie Pilze aus dem Boden schießen - Bei den Taliban hingegen verfolgt man die Verhältnisse in Deutschland und weiß daher, dass Anschläge die Stimmung zugunsten des Afghanistan-Einsatzes kippen könnten und somit einen Abzug deutscher Truppen unrealistischer machen würden. Auch aus diesem Grund haben die Taliban kein Interesse daran, Anschläge in Deutschland zu begehen |
| Es ist grotesk, tragisch, beschämend, was die politisch Verantwortlichen des Westens zurzeit auf der Weltbühne aufführen! Warum sagen die Kanzlerin, Präsident Obama, der sonst so lautstarke Sarkozy oder der englische Premier Cameron nicht, was der Rest der freien Welt denkt? "Mubarak muss gehen, sofort! Ohne Bedingungen!" |
WikiLeaks cables: millions in overseas aid to Africa was embezzled [link]
| WiSoPo wies bereits vor einer Woche auf die Gefahren hin, die von einem Umsturz(versuch) in Saudi-Arabien ausgehen. Das die USA eine militärische Intervention im größten Ölproduzenten-Staat der Welt plant, überrascht nicht, da die USA ohne den Verbündeten Saudi-Arabien ihren durch den Öl-Handel gedeckten Dollar wegschmeißen kann |
| The New Start nuclear arms treaty limiting the number of atomic warheads the US and Russia are allowed to possess, comes into effect. |
| Erdogan tells Mubarak to step down, offering Turkey's own political model as a way forward.
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| Ägyptischen Demonstranten soll erstmals gelungen sein, eine von der Polizei geplante Einkesselungsaktion mit technischen Mitteln zu verhindern. Das System besteht bislang aus einem Twitterfeed, einem Text-basierten Warnservice und aus eine Online-Demo-Karte, die laufend aktualisiert wurde und über Smartphones verfügbar war. Gleichzeitig tweetete Sukey kurze Zusammenfassungen der Ereignisse, zudem auch, wo sich die Demonstranten befinden und insbesondere, wo sich die Polizei gerade zum Kesselbau anschickte. So waren die Demonstranten der Polizei stets eine Nasenlänge voraus |
| Thousands of English Defence League supporters have taken to the streets of Luton to demonstrate. |
| Torrential rain has led to flash flooding in the southern Australian state of Victoria. |
| Der Nervenkrieg um die Zukunft Ägyptens geht weiter: Präsident Husni Mubarak zeigte nach dem abgelaufenen Rücktritts-Ultimatum der Opposition demonstrativ Präsenz. Am Samstag tagte er im Präsidentenpalast mit Mitgliedern der neuen Regierung |
"American commentators in general, view the revolution as all about the United States and Israel. It's almost as if the Egyptians don't matter." [link]
Ronald Reagan Myth Doesn't Square with Reality - He actually raised taxes 11 times and increased spending. [link]
Kucinich Requests To See Bradley Manning, Soldier In Solitary Confinement For Alleged Leaks
Now, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates inquiring about Manning's condition, protesting the Army's treatment of him and requesting a visit with the imprisoned solider. In the letter, Kucinich writes that, if Manning is need of mental health treatment, the "Army must end the extreme conditions of" his confinement or at the "very least… explain the justification " for taking such extreme measures during his imprisonment:
Now, reports indicate that the Army has taken Pfc. Manning, a soldier with documented mental health problems, and confined him under conditions that are almost guaranteed to exacerbate his mental health problems. If true, the Army's treatment would obviously constitute "cruel and unusual punishment" in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
If these reports are true, the Army must end the extreme conditions of Private Manning's confinement, and provide him with the mental health treatment that the Army recognized he needed even before his deployment to Iraq. At the very least, the Army must explain the justification for confining someone with mental health problems under conditions that are virtually certain to exacerbate those problems and explain the danger he now presents that only these extreme conditions of confinement can avoid.
While Manning's treatment has made waves in the media, it is important to remember that solitary confinement is a practice that is common in America's prison system. A 1999 report by the Department of Justice found that some states locked up as many as 20 percent of their prisoners into penal systems that placed them under solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.
Last month, leading human rights groups Amnesty International and the Physicians for Human Rights both sent letters to the Department of Defense protesting Manning's treatment; they noted that solitary confinement is widely used across the United States, it is almost unheard of for it to be used against a prisoner like Manning who has yet to even be convicted of a crime.
Why the Egyptian Army Won't Shoot Protesters: "My monthly wage is 1,100 Egyptian pounds (188 dollars)... No one can afford to live on these wages." [link]
Israel wants to hire PR firms in 10 countries to improve its reputation. Norwegian PR firms have refused. [link]
| eldavojohn writes "The US government's Broadcasting Board of Governors has revealed in a completed FOIA request the development, testing and planned use of Feed Over E-mail (FOE) to push news through China's firewall. This FOIA request (PDF) indicates that the US government is interested in making sure Chinese people receive up-to-date news, and it wants to expand the arsenal of anti-censorship tools (for news at least). The FOE project is GPLv3 and maintained by Sho Ho of BBG." Read more of this story |
Al Jazeera has tried to leverage its visibility on Twitter with Promoted Tweets and a Promoted Trending Topic to get into one place that's harder to access than Egypt - U.S. TV markets. It wants entrance into a market that has largely shut it out for mostly unspecified reasons. [link]
Mike Huckabee Calls for Execution of PFC Manning for WikiLeaks Cable Leak [link]
| Bevor sie Fördergelder verteilt, will sich die Bundesregierung von Projekten gegen Rechtsextremismus künftig eine politisch unbedenkliche Gesinnung bescheinigen lassen. Nicht nur im Bundestag wächst der Widerstand gegen die verfassungsrechtlich problematische "Demokratieerklärung" |
| Tunisian police kill two people in the north-western town of Kef, during an attack on the local police station by protesters. |
| Birds living around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident have 5% smaller brains, an effect directly linked to lingering background radiation, scientists say. |
| Die Europäische Union fordert weiterhin nicht den Rücktritt von Ägyptens Staatschef Hosni Mubarak. Selbst auf eine Forderung nach vorgezogenen Neuwahlen konnte sich ein Gipfeltreffen der 27 Staats- und Regierungschefs in Brüssel nicht einigen |
| Jemens Staatspräsident hat seinen ägyptischen Amtskollegen aufgefordert, die Auseinandersetzungen mit seinen Gegnern friedlich zu lösen sowie dem Land zur Sicherheit und Stabilität zu verhelfen |
| Dutzende Israelis haben aus Protest gegen den Anstieg der Brennstoffpreise im Norden der besetzten Gebiete eine Protestkundgebung abgehalten. Die Protestdemonstration fand in Beit Lid im Norden der besetzten palästinensischen Gebiete statt |
| "Als Einstieg in den Ausstieg" begrüßte Jürgen Grässlin, Bundessprecher der Deutschen Friedensgesellschaft den Rüstungsexportstopp an Ägypten. Vakant sei weiterhin die Frage "der fortwährenden Waffentransfers an menschenrechtsverletzende Staaten, wie Brasilien, Indonesien, Israel, Kolumbien, Libyen, Malaysia, Mexiko, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi-Arabien, Singapur, Thailand, Russland, die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate und viele anderer mehr", so Grässlin |
| Er soll bei der Münchener Sicherheitskonferenz gesagt haben: "Heute steht nicht nur die Weltwirtschaft, sondern die Weltordnung auf dem Spiel … Wenn Europa nicht mehr in der Lage ist, einen angemessenen Beitrag zu leisten, dann könnten sich die Vereinigten Staaten anderswo nach Partnern umsehen." Herrgott - hat dieser Homunculus minor Rasmussen das Volk noch immer nicht gehört? |
| Warnings against travel to Tunisia are lifted as the Foreign Office says there is a "reduced threat" following recent political unrest. |
| Warum fehlen bei den vielen Protesten, die derzeit wie eine Welle die gesamte arabische Welt erschüttern, diesmal die Aufnahmen brennender US-amerikanischer Flaggen, fragt die Washington Post verwundert. Spielen die USA und all das, wofür sie stehen, in den Köpfen der Demonstranten von Tunesien über Ägypten und Jordanien bis hin in den Jemen keine Rolle mehr? Besorgt fragen sich Politanalysten in Washington, ob das »postamerikanische Zeitalter« bereits begonnen hat |
| In Kairo haben sich auf dem Tahrir-Platz am Freitag mehr als eine Million Menschenver sammelt, auch in fast allen großen Städten des Landes wie Alexandria, Mansoura und Suez hat es Massendemonstrationen geben. Aber nicht nur Ägypten befindet sich in Aufruhr: Proteste wurden aus dem Sudan, Yemen und Jordanien gemeldet, und via Internet wird zu Protesten in Algerien, Libyen und Bahrain aufgerufen. Damit ist bald vielleicht ein Golfstaat betroffen und mit Libyen ein wichtiger Ölexporteur |
| In der arabischen Welt wird heute das gesamte Ausmaß westlicher Unmenschlichkeit deutlicher als je zuvor. Inzwischen geben es selbst die hartgesottensten Hofjournalismus der Westlichen Welt offen zu. In Ägypten wurde nahezu drei Jahrzehnte lang mit Notstandgesetzen tyrannisiert. In Ägypten wurde mit US-Hilfe gefoltert. In Ägypten hat der Staat im Laufe der Jahre tausende Menschen ermordet. In Ägypten wurden Wahlen massiv gefälscht. Der von der Westlichen Welt gestützte Machthaber wurde vom eigenen Volk als Pharao bezeichnet und empfunden. Er ist ein Massenmörder, Despot, Menschenrechtverbrecher, Demokratieverhinderer und so weiter und so fort. Das alles wird von den westlichen Medien inzwischen unverblümt zugegeben |
| The Foreign Secretary William Hague tells a conference that the UK has been targeted by cyber-criminals and a "hostile" intelligence agency. |
| Die Protestwelle rollt weiter. Auch in Marokko rufen jetzt junge Regierungskritiker zu Demonstrationen auf. |
| Avi Primor, Israels Ex-Botschafter in Deutschland, über die Angst seiner Landsleute vor einem islamistischen Ägypten, das Abrücken Washingtons von Mubarak und die Chance auf Frieden in Nahost. sueddeutsche.de: Israel nimmt bislang für sich in Anspruch, die einzige Demokratie der Region zu sein, nun erkämpfen sich die Menschen in den Nachbarländern ihre Rechte - das sollte doch Hoffnung machen. Primor: Eigentlich schon, ja. Die beschriebene Furcht vieler meiner Landsleute und unserer Regierung teile ich nicht. |
| MediaCAT, a firm that worked with ACS: Law to pursue alleged illegal file-sharers, has ceased trading. |
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Foreign journalists reporting on the anti-government protests have increasingly been under attack by supporters of President Hosni Mubarak's government. Pro-government forces have detained, beaten or arrested dozens, if not hundreds, of reporters in the past few days as they were trying to get the story out to the world. CNN's Anderson Cooper reported that he and his crew were repeatedly beaten. An ABC News correspondent and his crew were carjacked and threatened with beheading .
Naturally, the crackdown - believed to be the work of the Egyptian government - has been widely criticized. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that the attacks were an assault on free speech and called on the Mubarak government to allow journalists to report without impediment.
Yet, many on the right don't see it that way. A writer on Andrew Breitbart's "Big Peace" website said yesterday , "I don't have a great deal of sympathy for those who have been attacked," he said, adding, "[W]hen they take huge risks for the sake of ratings and then find themselves in trouble, it's hard to take seriously." Fox News has had at least three of its reporters harassed or beaten, yet Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade "sarcastically" praised the Egyptian government's thuggery skills. "You got to hand it…to the forces out there that seem to be pro-Mubarak who are beating up every news source," he said.
And the New Republic's Marty Peretz accused journalists in Egypt of " professional narcissism ," saying they should've expected to get beaten. But perhaps comments from right-wing radio host Mike Gallagher win the most insensitive prize. Gallagher not only suggested that ABC's Christiane Amanpour might join "Death to America" chants there, but - with clear homophobic undertones - attacked Cooper for getting beaten, even saying that he may have "enjoyed it a little bit":
GALLAGHER: Maybe that isn't where you ought to go wandering around Anderson, all, what are you about 5'7" - 5'8"? What do you go Anderson about 160? With your little perfectly quaffed grey hair and your little delicate features you might not want to go over to Egypt and walk around the middle of a crowd that's screaming "death to America." … I wonder if Christine [sic] Amanpour wasn't right there with them. "Death to America! Down with America!" [...]
Hey Anderson, were you really punched 10 times in the head? Come on. It almost sounds like he enjoyed it a little bit. … "Oh I was punched 10 times in the head." Well that's what happens when you go into a bunch of rioters, dopey.
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| Wenn es um die Beschwörung von Freiheit und Demokratie geht, dann sind die Politiker in der EU immer vorne dabei, da aber jetzt in einem Land deren Einführung droht, zeigen sie sich ratlos, konsterniert, ja buchstäblich "not amused" |
| La Quadrature du Net hat von Wikileaks alle relevanten US-Kabel zu ACTA aus dem letzten Leak bekommen: WikiLeaks Cables Shine Light on ACTA History. Auf ihrer Seite beschreiben sie in einer Auswertung, wie die USA seit 2006 den ACTA-Prozess gesteuert haben, um ihre Interessen und die der US-Industrie-Lobbyies im Rahmen der Verhandlungen vorbereitet haben |
| Das Motto lautete: "Gegen die NATO-Kriegspolitik - Bundeswehr raus aus Afghanistan". Während der Demonstration wurde Reggae-Musik gespielt; die Veranstalter organisierten einen Ordnerdienst. |
| Die Regierungsparteien verlieren wegen der sozialen Not, die immer neue Streiks auslöst, in allen Umfragen drastisch an Zustimmung. |
| Lauscht man den westlichen Movern und Shakern in München, löst sich die Krise in Kairo bald in Wohlgefallen auf, im friedlichen Miteinander mit Amerikas gutem Freund Husni Mubarak. Wie soll das gehen? |
| Mahmoud, a 35-year-old teacher, talks of a revolution, but what he means is not so much people on the streets toppling a hated figure as how they see their relationship with this government and all future governments. "People have changed. They were scared. They are no longer scared. We are not afraid of his system any longer and when we stopped being afraid we knew we would win," he said. "We will not again allow ourselves to be scared of a government. We will not be afraid to say when we think the president is wrong or the government is bad. This is the revolution in our country, the revolution in our minds. Mubarak can stay for days or weeks but he cannot change that. We cannot go back." |
| January 27, 2011. Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the PBS NewsHour tonight with the most direct US governent comments yet... |
| February 05, 2011 In a phone call with Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, Vice President Biden called for President Hosni Mubarak to spell out when he intends to leave office... |
| June 4, 2009 "I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles -- principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings." |
| New Orleans lost nearly a third of its population after the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, census data shows. |
| The invasive usurpers from South America have proved difficult to fight with insecticides and other traditional measures. Scientists hope the new genetic information will help |
| Noch sitzt Mubarak auf jenem Thron, auf den ihn die Amerikaner vor 30 Jahren setzten. Ein gutbezahltes Amt, wie sich herausstellte. 40 Milliarden Dollar soll die Familie Mubarak auf die Seite geschafft haben. In die Schweiz? Gemäss Recherchen der "Handelszeitung", könnten ein paar Milliarden in Genf deponiert sein. Denn die Familie Mubarak pflegt Kontakte zu einem Direktionsmitglied der Genfer Union Bancaire Privée |
| Die Industrieinitiative Dii will bis 2012 Lobbyarbeit für das Wüstenstrom-Projekt Desertec leisten. Seit Tunesien und Ägypten gegen ihre despotischen Machthaber demonstrieren, rücken dabei Fragen in den Vordergrund, die über das Thema Energie hinausgehen. Aus München Georg Etscheit |
| Merkel, Sarkozy und Cameron mahnen Reformen in Ägypten an - es sollen aber Reformen unter der Führerschaft Mubaraks sein, finden sie. Denn Mubarak, so finden sie auch, sei ein Stabilitätsfaktor in jener Weltregion und im Hinblick auf Israel sei er derjenige, der weiterhin wünschenswert wäre |
Julian Assange: "We support a cause that is no more radical a proposition than that the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state. The state has asserted its authority by surveilling, monitoring and regimenting all of us, all the while hiding behind cloaks of security and opaqueness." [link]
| Einen Tag nach dem Besuch touristischer Megaprojekte durch Mexikos Präsident Felipe Calderón im südlichen Bundesstaat Chiapas kam es am Mittwoch dieser Woche zu einer Konfrontation zwischen Aktivisten von Basisorganisationen, die der zapatistischen Bewegung nahestehen, und Anhängern der ehemaligen Regierungspartei PRI |
| Foreign Office officials turned down the opportunity to speak to a British man held hostage in Mali before his execution because they did not want to be seen to negotiate with terrorists, cables obtained by WikiLeaks indicate. |
| und Hyperpropaganda hat Höchstkonkunktur! Ich war in der DDR groß geworden, ich kenne die DDR, ich kam in den Westen, ich bin im Westen was geworden, ich kenne den Westen - der Westen ist DDR zum Quadrat! |
| In Kolumbien haben nach Informationen des lateinamerikanischen Nachrichtensenders Telesur im Rahmen eines landesweiten Streiks über 100.000 Transportarbeiter ihre Arbeit für unbestimmte Zeit niedergelegt. Sie fordern die Rücknahme eines Regierungsdekrets, das die Frachtgebühren für den Binnentransport liberalisiert |
| Der frühere CIA-Agent Luis Posada Carriles steht in den USA vor Gericht. Nicht wegen seiner Verbrechen, sondern nur wegen seiner Falschaussagen |
A US Congressional hearing over a career CIA official's promotion turned into a heated exchange on Thursday, as Congress members accused America's intelligence community of failing to provide forewarning of the political instability in Egypt. Continue reading →  |
| Tahrir protesters reject Mubarak's party reforms, but economy starts to return to normal. read more |
| US President Barack Obama spoke Saturday to several foreign leaders about the unrest in Egypt, as Washington stepped up its diplomatic effort for a quick transition of power in the country roiled by 12 days of protests. Obama underscored the need for "an orderly, peaceful transition, beginning now," the White House said in a statement. [...] |
| British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned his country's long-standing policy of multiculturalism as a failure Saturday, saying it was partly to blame for fostering Islamist extremism. In a speech to the Munich Security Conference, Cameron said many young British Muslims were drawn to violent ideology because they found no strong collective identity in Britain. Signalling [...] |
