<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
Several years ago some domestick terrorists targeted the wrong building<br>
and blew up one in Oklahoma City in their misjudgment of where WDC is.<br>
<br>
Senator Fred Thompson said at that time that the first duty of
government is to defend<br>
itself. No doubt that is true and those who believe in the goodness of
the <br>
state should realize what a monster the goodness of government becomes
any<br>
time it perceives a threat of any sort, whether it be at the hand of
Occupy!,<br>
or the Tea Baggers, or some potentially successful political
counterforce,<br>
an anti-war movement, or some angry and misguided men who know how to
make bombs.<br>
<br>
Certainly journalists and poets are a serious threat to the state, and
it<br>
will react in what ever way necessary to neutralise any attack.<br>
<br>
Generally race-baiting and partisanism are used to neutralise any
serious political threats.<br>
Next the military and the police are used if it's an assembling group.<br>
In the case of pesky journalists, crony capitalism can be counted on to<br>
get the guy fired. That failing, they will go for jail time, even <br>
assassination if they are reasonably assured of getting away with it.<br>
<br>
On 10/29/13 4:27, Brussel Morton K. wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:BC8C4378-5949-4FA3-BC48-9FCEED8E45F5@comcast.net"
type="cite">Last article by Greenwald from The Guardian.<br>
<div><br>
<div>Begin forwarded message:</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div id="mimemail-body"
class="rules-action-mimemail-rules-portside-6">
<div id="center">
<div id="main">
<table
style="margin: 16px 0px; text-align: left; position: static; z-index: auto;"
border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="780">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#f9f9f9">
<table style="position: static; z-index: auto;" border="0"
cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="520">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#f9f9f9" width="28"> </td>
<td colspan="2" style="padding-bottom: 10px;"
bgcolor="#f9f9f9" valign="top" width="728">
<div>
<h2> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://portside.org/2013-10-27/europe-erupts-over-us-spying-nsa-chief-says-government-must-stop-media"><span
style="color: rgb(178, 34, 34);">As Europe Erupts Over US Spying, NSA
Chief Says Government Must Stop Media</span><span id="cke_bm_270E"
style="display: none;"> </span></a></h2>
</div>
<div> <span style="display: none;"> </span><br
class="webkit-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div> Glenn Greenwald<br>
<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date"
datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2013-10-25T00:00:00-04:00">October
25, 2013</span><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/25/europe-erupts-nsa-spying-chief-government">The
Guardian</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div><em>With General Alexander calling for NSA
reporting to be halted, US and UK credibility as guardians of press
freedom is crushed.</em></div>
</td>
<td bgcolor="#f9f9f9" width="28"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#f9f9f9" width="28"> </td>
<td colspan="2" style="padding-bottom: 10px;"
bgcolor="#f9f9f9" valign="top" width="728">
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><img
moz-do-not-send="true"
src="http://portside.org/sites/default/files/field/image/NSA%20Director.jpeg"
align="center" width="300px"><br>
<div
style="margin: 0pt auto; font-size: 10px; width: 300px;">NSA Director
General Keith Alexander, earlier this month, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/10/16/1381957734300/f740f8cc-5b6f-46b0-aacc-77c72c1d78ec-460x276.jpeg">Evan
Vucci/AP</a>, </div>
</div>
</div>
</td>
<td bgcolor="#f9f9f9" width="28"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#f9f9f9" width="28"> </td>
<td colspan="2" style="padding-bottom: 10px;"
bgcolor="#f9f9f9" valign="top" width="728">
<div>
<div id="article-body-blocks">
<p>The most under-discussed aspect of the <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/nsa"
title="More from the Guardian on NSA">NSA</a> story has long been its
international scope. That all changed this week as both <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/germany"
title="More from the Guardian on Germany">Germany</a> and France <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/angry-european-and-german-reactions-to-merkel-us-phone-spying-scandal-a-929725.html">exploded
with anger</a> over new revelations about pervasive NSA <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/surveillance"
title="More from the Guardian on Surveillance">surveillance</a> on
their population and democratically elected leaders.</p>
<p>As was true for <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/brazil"
title="More from the Guardian on Brazil">Brazil</a> previously,
reports about surveillance aimed at leaders are receiving most of the
media attention, but what really originally drove the story there were
revelations that the NSA is <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2013/10/21/france-in-the-nsa-s-crosshair-phone-networks-under-surveillance_3499741_651865.html">bulk-spying
on millions and millions</a> of <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/07/nsa-brazilians-globo-spying">innocent
citizens</a> in <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/nsa-spies-on-500-million-german-data-connections-a-908648.html">all
of those nations</a>. The favorite cry of US government apologists -–<em>everyone
spies!</em> – falls impotent in the face of this sort of ubiquitous,
suspicionless spying that is the sole province of the US and its four
English-speaking surveillance allies (the UK, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand).</p>
<p>There are three points worth making about these
latest developments.</p>
<p>• <strong>First</strong>, note how leaders such as
Chancellor <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/angela-merkel"
title="More from the Guardian on Angela Merkel">Angela Merkel</a>
reacted with basic indifference when it was revealed months ago that
the NSA was bulk-spying on all German citizens, but suddenly found her
indignation only when it turned out that she personally was also
targeted. That reaction gives potent insight into the true mindset of
many western leaders.</p>
<p>• <strong>Second</strong>, all of these governments
keep saying how newsworthy these revelations are, how profound are the
violations they expose, how happy they are to learn of all this, how
devoted they are to reform. If that's true, why are they allowing the
person who enabled all these disclosures – <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/edward-snowden"
title="More from the Guardian on Edward Snowden">Edward Snowden</a> –
to be targeted for persecution by the US government for the "crime" of
blowing the whistle on all of this?</p>
<p>If the German and French governments – and the
German and French people – are so pleased to learn of how their <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/privacy"
title="More from the Guardian on Privacy">privacy</a> is being
systematically assaulted by a foreign power over which they exert no
influence, shouldn't they be offering asylum to the person who exposed
it all, rather than ignoring or rejecting his pleas to have his basic
political rights protected, and thus leaving him vulnerable to being
imprisoned for decades by the US government?</p>
<p>Aside from the treaty obligations these nations have
to protect the basic political rights of human beings from persecution,
how can they simultaneously express outrage over these exposed
invasions while turning their back on the person who risked his liberty
and even life to bring them to light?</p>
<p>• <strong>Third</strong>, is there any doubt at all
that the US government repeatedly tried to mislead the world when
insisting that this system of suspicionless surveillance was motivated
by an attempt to protect Americans from The Terrorists™? Our reporting
has revealed spying on <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://epoca.globo.com/tempo/noticia/2013/08/carta-em-que-o-atual-bembaixadorb-americano-no-brasil-bagradece-o-apoio-da-nsab.html">conferences
designed to negotiate economic agreements</a>, the Organization of
American States, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/09/nsa-spying-brazil-oil-petrobras">oil
companies</a>, ministries that <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://m.g1.globo.com/fantastico/noticia/2013/10/american-and-canadian-spies-target-brazilian-energy-and-mining-ministry.html">oversee
mines and energy resources</a>, the democratically elected leaders of
allied states, and entire populations in those states.</p>
<p>Can even President Obama and his most devoted
loyalists continue to maintain, with a straight face, that this is all
about Terrorism? That is what <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/140155/henry-farrell-and-martha-finnemore/the-end-of-hypocrisy#">this
superb new Foreign Affairs essay by Henry Farrell and Martha Finnemore</a>
means when it argues that the Manning and Snowden leaks are putting an
end to the ability of the US to use hypocrisy as a key weapon in its
soft power.</p>
<p>Speaking of an inability to maintain claims with a
straight face, how are American and British officials, in light of
their conduct in all of this, going to maintain the pretense that they
are defenders of press freedoms and are in a position to lecture and
condemn others for violations? In what might be the most explicit
hostility to such freedoms yet – as well as the most unmistakable
evidence of rampant panic – the NSA's director, General Keith
Alexander, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/10/nsa-chief-stop-reporters-selling-spy-documents-175896.html">actually
demanded</a> Thursday that the reporting being done by newspapers
around the world on this secret surveillance system be halted (Techdirt
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131024/18093325010/keith-alexander-says-us-govt-needs-to-figure-out-way-to-stop-journalists-reporting-snowden-leaks.shtml">has
the full video here</a>):</p>
<blockquote class="quoted">
<p>The head of the embattled National Security
Agency, Gen Keith Alexander, is accusing journalists of "selling" his
agency's documents and is calling for an end to the steady stream of
public disclosures of secrets snatched by former contractor Edward
Snowden.</p>
<p>"I think it's wrong that that newspaper reporters
have all these documents, the 50,000 – whatever they have and are
selling them and giving them out as if these – you know it just doesn't
make sense," Alexander said in an interview with the Defense
Department's "Armed With Science" blog.</p>
<p><em>"We ought to come up with a way of stopping it.</em> I
don't know how to do that. That's more of the courts and the
policy-makers but, from my perspective, it's wrong to allow this to go
on," the NSA director declared. [My italics]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are 25,000 employees of the NSA (and many tens
of thousands more who work for private contracts assigned to the
agency). Maybe one of them can tell The General about <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0403_0713_ZS.html">this
thing called "the first amendment"</a>.</p>
<p data-inview-name="12th para">I'd love to know what
ways, specifically, General Alexander has in mind for empowering the US
government to "come up with a way of stopping" the journalism on this
story. Whatever ways those might be, they are deeply hostile to the US
constitution – obviously. What kind of person wants the government to
forcibly shut down reporting by the press?</p>
<p>Whatever kind of person that is, he is not someone
to be trusted in instituting and developing a massive bulk-spying
system that operates in the dark. For that matter, nobody is.</p>
<h2> Leaving</h2>
<p>As many of you likely know, it was announced last
week that I am leaving the Guardian. My last day here will be 31
October, and I will write my last column on that date.</p>
</div>
<div> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder">
</div>
</div>
</td>
<td bgcolor="#f9f9f9" width="28"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4"
background="http://portside.org/sites/default/files/images/bkg_grey_gradient.png"
height="29"> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
<td style="" valign="top"><br>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder">
</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="780">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="9" height="10"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="28"> </td>
<td valign="top" width="217">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="325">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td height="17" valign="top">
<h3> Portside aims to provide material of interest to
people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to
change it.</h3>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
<td width="28"> </td>
<td style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;" valign="top"
width="325">
<div style="margin-bottom: 3px;"> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://portside.org/submit"
style="color: rgb(97, 97, 97); font-weight: normal;">Submit via web</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 3px;"> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:portside@portside.org"
style="color: rgb(97, 97, 97); font-weight: normal;">Submit via email</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 3px;"> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://portside.org/faq"
style="color: rgb(97, 97, 97); font-weight: normal;">Frequently asked
questions</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 3px;"> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://portside.org/subscribe"
style="color: rgb(97, 97, 97); font-weight: normal;">Manage
subscription</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 3px;"> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://portside.org/archive"
style="color: rgb(97, 97, 97); font-weight: normal;">Search Portside
archives</a></div>
</td>
<td width="14"> </td>
<td width="14"> </td>
<td width="28"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="9" height="50"> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>To unsubscribe, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="x-msg://245/&*TICKET_URL%28portside,SIGNOFF%29;">click here</a>.
</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<pre wrap="">
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
_______________________________________________
Peace-discuss mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss">https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>