No Agenda 599 - "Nuclear Tipped"
by Adam Curry
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- TODAY
- Honorary Consul - Six from SXSW
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- Glitches in the Matrix
- Soldiers without identifying labels in Crimea
- Only laughter can repair personal glitches
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- Message to the Congress -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Iran
- Office of the Press Secretary
- TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
- Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with respect to Iran that was declared on March 15, 1995, is to continue in effect beyond March 15, 2014.
- The crisis between the United States and Iran resulting from the actions and policies of the Government of Iran has not been resolved. The Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) between the P5+1 and Iran went into effect on January 20, 2014, for a period of 6 months. This marks the first time in a decade that Iran has agreed to and taken specific actions to halt its nuclear program and to roll it back in key respects. In return for Iran's actions on its nuclear program, the P5+1, in coordination with the European Union, are taking actions to implement the limited, temporary, and reversible sanctions relief outlined in the JPOA.
- Nevertheless, certain actions and policies of the Government of Iran are contrary to the interests of the United States in the region and continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared with respect to Iran and to maintain in force comprehensive sanctions against Iran to deal with this threat.
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- Notice to the Congress -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Iran
- Office of the Press Secretary
- CONTINUATION OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT TO IRAN
- On March 15, 1995, by Executive Order 12957, the President declared a national emergency with respect to Iran, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706), to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States constituted by the actions and policies of the Government of Iran. On May 6, 1995, the President issued Executive Order 12959, imposing more comprehensive sanctions on Iran to further respond to this threat. On August 19, 1997, the President issued Executive Order 13059, consolidating and clarifying the previous orders. I took additional steps pursuant to this national emergency in Executive Order 13553 of September 28, 2010, Executive Order 13574 of May 23, 2011, Executive Order 13590 of November 20, 2011, Executive Order 13599 of February 5, 2012, Executive Order 13606 of April 22, 2012, Executive Order 13608 of May 1, 2012, Executive Order 13622 of July 30, 2012, Executive Order 13628 of October 9, 2012, and Executive Order 13645 of June 3, 2013.
- While the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) between the P5+1 and Iran that went into effect on January 20, 2014, marks the first time in a decade that Iran has agreed to and taken specific actions to halt its nuclear program and roll it back in key respects, certain actions and policies of the Government of Iran continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared on March 15, 1995, must continue in effect beyond March 15, 2014. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency with respect to Iran declared in Executive Order 12957. The emergency declared by Executive Order 12957 constitutes an emergency separate from that declared on November 14, 1979, by Executive Order 12170. This renewal, therefore, is distinct from the emergency renewal of November 2013.
- This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.
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- Sequestration Order for Fiscal Year 2015
- Office of the Press Secretary
- By the authority vested in me as President by the laws of the United States of America, and in accordance with section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act (the "Act"), as amended, 2 U.S.C. 901a, I hereby order that, on October 1, 2014, direct spending budgetary resources for fiscal year 2015 in each non-exempt budget account be reduced by the amount calculated by the Office of Management and Budget in its report to the Congress of March 10, 2014.
- All sequestrations shall be made in strict accordance with the requirements of section 251A of the Act and the specifications of the Office of Management and Budget's report of March 10, 2014, prepared pursuant to section 251A(9) of the Act.
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- MH370
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- Spy Satellites definitely have the data
- Transponder Heli experience
- Malaysia is a mulsim terrorist haven
- Still evidence of an Airbus vs Boeing war
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- U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Malaysia Airlines Plane Flew On for Hours - WSJ.com
- U.S. investigators suspect that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 stayed in the air for about four hours past the time it reached its last confirmed location, according to two people familiar with the details, raising the possibility that the plane could have flown on for hundreds of additional miles under conditions that remain murky.
- Aviation investigators and national security officials believe the plane flew for a total of five hours, based on data automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from the Boeing Co. 777's engines as part of a routine maintenance and monitoring program.
- That raises a host of new questions and possibilities about what happened aboard the widebody jet carrying 239 people, which vanished from civilian air-traffic control radar over the weekend, about one hour into a flight to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
- Six days after the mysterious disappearance prompted a massive international air and water search that so far hasn't produced any results, the investigation appears to be broadening in scope.
- U.S. counterterrorism officials are pursuing the possibility that a pilot or someone else on board the plane may have diverted it toward an undisclosed location after intentionally turning off the jetliner's transponders to avoid radar detection, according to one person tracking the probe.
- The investigation remains fluid, and it isn't clear whether investigators have evidence indicating possible terrorism or sabotage. So far, U.S. national security officials have said that nothing specifically points toward terrorism, though they haven't ruled it out.
- But the huge uncertainty about where the plane was headed, and why it apparently continued flying so long without working transponders, has raised theories among investigators that the aircraft may have been commandeered for a reason that appears unclear to U.S. authorities. Some of those theories have been laid out to national security officials and senior personnel from various U.S. agencies, according to one person familiar with the matter.
- At one briefing, according to this person, officials were told investigators are actively pursuing the notion that the plane was diverted "with the intention of using it later for another purpose."
- As of Wednesday it remained unclear whether the plane reached an alternate destination or if it ultimately crashed, potentially hundreds of miles from where an international search effort has been focused.
- In those scenarios, neither mechanical problems, pilot mistakes nor some other type of catastrophic incident caused the 250-ton plane to mysteriously vanish from radar.
- The latest revelations come as local media reported that Malaysian police visited the home of at least one of the two pilots.
- A Malaysia Airlines official declined to comment. A Boeing executive who declined to be named would not comment except to say, "We've got to stand back from the front line of the information."
- The engines' onboard monitoring system is provided by their manufacturer, Rolls-Royce PLC, and it periodically sends bursts of data about engine health, operations and aircraft movements to facilities on the ground.
- "We continue to monitor the situation and to offer Malaysia Airlines our support," a Rolls-Royce representative said Wednesday, declining further comment.
- "The disappearance is officially now an accident and all information about this is strictly handled by investigators," said a Rolls-Royce executive who declined to be named, citing rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency.
- As part of its maintenance agreements, Malaysia Airlines transmits its engine data live to Rolls-Royce for analysis. The system compiles data from inside the 777's two Trent 800 engines and transmits snapshots of performance, as well as the altitude and speed of the jet.
- Those snippets are compiled and transmitted in 30-minute increments, said one person familiar with the system. According to Rolls-Royce's website, the data is processed automatically "so that subtle changes in condition from one flight to another can be detected."
- The engine data is being analyzed to help determine the flight path of the plane after the transponders stopped working. The jet was originally headed for China, and its last verified position was half way across the Gulf of Thailand.
- A total flight time of five hours after departing Kuala Lumpur means the Boeing 777 could have continued for an additional distance of about 2,200 nautical miles, reaching points as far as the Indian Ocean, the border of Pakistan or even the Arabian Sea, based on the jet's cruising speed.
- Earlier Wednesday, frustrations over the protracted search for the missing plane mounted as both China and Vietnam vented their anger over what they viewed as poor coordination of the effort.
- Government conflicts and national arguments over crises are hardly unique to the Flight 370 situation, but some air-safety experts said they couldn't recall another recent instance of governments' publicly feuding over search procedures during the early phase of an international investigation.
- Authorities on Wednesday radically expanded the size of the search zone, which already was proving a challenge to cover effectively, but the mission hadn't turned up much by the end of the fifth day.
- Also on Wednesday, a Chinese government website posted images from Chinese satellites showing what it said were three large objects floating in an 8-square-mile area off the southern tip of Vietnam. The objects were discovered on Sunday , according to the website, which didn't say whether the objects had been recovered or examined.
- Ten countries were helping to scour the seas around Malaysia, including China, the U.S. and Vietnam. Taiwanese vessels are expected to be on the scene by Friday, with India and Japan having also agreed to join the search soon.
- In all, 56 surface ships were taking part in the search, according to statements issued by the contributing governments, with Malaysia providing 27 of them. In addition, 30 fixed-wing aircraft were also searching, with at least 10 shipboard helicopters available, mostly in the waters between Malaysia and Vietnam.
- China's government was especially aggrieved. More than 150 of the 239 people on board are Chinese, and family members in Beijing have at times loudly expressed their frustration over the absence of leads.
- More than a dozen Chinese diplomats met with Malaysian authorities in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday as tension grew over the search.
- "At present there's a lot of different information out there. It's very chaotic and very hard to verify," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a regular press briefing. "We've said as long as there is a shred of hope, you can't give up."
- The day before, Beijing pointedly pressed Malaysia to accelerate its investigation, which has been hampered by false leads on suspected debris and conflicting reports on radar tracking.
- Vietnam on Wednesday suspended its search flights after conflicting reports from Malaysia that authorities had tracked the plane to the Strait of Malacca before it disappeared.
- Gen. Rodzali Daud, Malaysia's air force chief, denied saying he had told local media that military radar facilities had tracked the plane there, saying they were still examining all possibilities. Vietnam later resumed normal search sweeps.
- Malaysian authorities divided the search area into several sectors on either side of the country, as well as areas on land.
- The challenge, said Lt. David Levy, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet, isn't so much coordination as the sheer size of the area involved. The search grids are up to 20 miles by 120 miles, and ships and aircraft employ an exhaustive methodical pattern "like mowing your lawn" in their search for the plane, he said.
- U.S. defense officials sought to play down any suggestion that the Malaysian government was doing a poor job with the search.
- "It is not unusual for searches to take a long time, especially when you are working with limited data," one official said.
- Aviation experts say the absence of an electronic signal from the plane before it disappeared from radar screens makes it difficult to pin down possible locations. Some radar data suggested the Boeing 777 might have tried to turn back to Kuala Lumpur before contact was lost, a detail that prompted a search for the plane on both sides of the Malaysian peninsula.
- A U.S. Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft has been searching the northern Strait of Malacca, west of Malaysia, while destroyers USS Kidd and USS Pinckney have been deploying helicopters in the Gulf of Thailand to the east.
- So far the U.S., like other nations taking part in the search, has had no success. Many aviation experts are concluding that searchers may not have been looking in the right places. Even if the plane broke up in midair, it would have left telltale traces of debris in the ocean. The cracks now emerging between some of the participants in the search could make it even more difficult.
- Diplomatic feuds over air disasters have generally erupted over the conclusions of the investigations, long after the initial search is over.
- The results of the 1999 crash of an Egyptair Boeing 767 en route to Egypt from New York, which killed 217 people, spawned a dispute between Washington and Cairo that strained ties for years. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the plane's co-pilot purposely put the twin-engine jet into a steep dive and then resisted efforts by the captain to recover control before the airliner slammed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nantucket. Egyptian authorities insisted the evidence indicated mechanical failure.
- Earlier, Washington and Paris butted heads over the investigation into the 1994 crash of a French-built American Eagle commuter turboprop near Roselawn, Ind. The French objected to the NTSB's conclusions that French regulators failed to take actions that could have prevented the accident.
- Earlier this week, Malaysian investigators said they were expanding their investigation to encompass the possibility of hijack or sabotage, and possible personal or psychological problems of the crew and passengers. But Malaysian officials haven't discussed transmissions regarding engine operations or offered any explanation for the primary and backup transponders' not working.
- '--Jon Ostrower, Trefor Moss, Gaurav Raghuvanshi, Josh Chin and Jeremy Page contributed to this article.
- Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
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- [Adam, is this bull crap?] Aviation is stuck in the 60s, a reflection on MH 370.
- When I trained as a pilot I was appalled at how 1960s aviation is. This will be hard for you to believe, but even when you have WiFi on the plane, commercial pilots in most cases do not have Internet in their cockpit, nor do they have satellite phones, nor GPS trackers. All they have to connect with ground is old style radios. And radios that sound awful. Radios are not safe, anyone for any reason can interfere with them. Indeed any person can buy an aviation radio without any kind of permit and start pretending he or she is a controller and aircraft have no way of verifying that they are indeed speaking to a real controller. Plus there is the confusion factor. When you train as a pilot, a lot of what you have to learn is how to understand controllers over a radio, a radio which has poor sound quality and leads to frequent mix ups because of the different accents and languages that are spoken around the world by controllers and pilots. While in theory all controllers should speak English, Spanish traffic controllers for example speak in Spanish to aircraft that have Spanish identifiers, or address them in Spanish, sometimes depriving other aircraft flown by non Spanish speaking pilots of information that could be useful to them. Moreover, radio frequencies forces pilots to listen to everything that is said to other aircraft until you are called, something that I find extremely distracting when piloting. Imagine if you had a telephone system in which you had to listen to everyone else's conversations until somebody finally spoke to you. Well that is what is happening in the air right now all over the world. Primitive. In my view it is indefensible that we send planes loaded with passengers over the oceans without Internet, real time voice communications nor GPS trackers. And even over land and near the coasts we use radars to know where aircraft are, but radars don't know really exactly where a plane is because radars are so slow at locating fast moving objects that by the time a controller sees you, you are somewhere else. And radars have very short range so we can't have radar coverage over oceans. The radar/transponder system is just obsolete. But still the norm.That Malaysian MH370 can disappear over the ocean and nobody knows exactly where, or the Air France 447 flight over the Atlantic went down and it took months to find the black box, is just irresponsible on the part of aviation authorities. My own Citation, a private jet, has a GPS tracker so we always know where it is. It cost less than $1000. We also have a satellite phone that allows the pilots to call for help anywhere in the world on concrete problems they may face that the radio operator may not be able to solve. Those also cost around $1000. And there is now Internet available to planes around in the world. But commercial planes, even when they have it for passengers, do not have it for pilots. And it is illegal to install equipment that is not approved by flying authorities around the world. Think of a product like the Dropcam and imagine it on all commercial aircraft showing ground personnel in real time everything that is happening in the cabin, cockpit and recording in real time, that combined with good communication with the pilots would make aviation much less of the black hole it is today.
- In some cases a passenger with WiFi on a commercial plane can have more vital information than the pilot in the cockpit. For example, weather information. A pilot has a weather radar but the passenger can have real time weather information along the route, and that is as useful and sometimes more useful. But pilots in many jurisdictions are not allowed to use iPads with real time weather information. Private aviation has incorporated iPads and real time weather info much faster than commercial aviation. A commercial plane radar sees the next dangerous clouds (CBs clouds that can bring an airliner down) and that is all they show. But the passenger with Internet can have information about dangerous weather activity all the way to the destination. The passenger sees beyond what the pilot sees. Why can't airlines have those tools if private jets already do? They cost very little more. Think of all the money we are spending on TSA and its equivalents to make aviation safe '-- can't we spend a little more and have truly connected planes? If all commercial aircraft had GPS trackers, at least we would known exactly where AF 477 or MH 370 went missing. We should have every commercial airliner install a GPS tracker. Secondly we should connect all flights to the Internet and provide pilots with real time weather information anywhere in the world to supplement their weather radars as most private jets already have. What I find especially dangerous are flights that cross the Equator, where there are the most high altitude CBs during the night when you can't see them. Thirdly, we should connect all FDRs (black boxes) to the Internet in real time so airlines know exactly what is happening to planes and alert pilots via the Internet and or satellite phones of unexpected dangers. Lastly we should give pilots a way to speak both over radio and over the internet/satellite connection so they can obtain help from their airlines or anyone else and not just that controller which has the radio that they can talk to. In many cases the communication could be via messaging that is directly sent to flying instruments and all the pilot has to do is hit OK. Right now the way things work is incredibly dated, is the best we had, in the 60s. A controller for example gives a certain aircraft a flying level while all the other pilots are listening in (in case the instruction is for them), then the pilots of the target aircraft have to acknowledge that they received the instructions, then the pilots of that aircraft have to remember what the instructions were (they are not sent in writing in any way and believe it or not, many pilots carry notepads tied to their legs not to forget and write them down while flying), then they have to go to their instruments, say the autopilot, then they have to input the new flight level in the autopilot, then they have to go to that flight level. Wouldn't it be much easier to get an instruction over the Internet, hit OK, and have that instruction go to the autopilot and the plane to that level?
- Or here is another example, ice detection. Right now the way pilots fight ice, and let's remember that ice brings down planes, is by guessing when ice forming conditions could be happening and activating anti icing. In many cases they have to look at their own wings to see if there is ice building up. Again here night and day are very different, as at night it is harder to see that you are going through ice forming clouds. Some pilots have to turn on lights that shine on the wings. All this activity should be improved with sensors and real time weather information. Sometimes pilots have to navigate, be on the radio, fight ice and fight CBs all at the same time. This is just not fair to pilots. And all this could be happening without radar coverage and radio coverage. It is a great workload, a lot of which could be automated and improved.
- Now the good news here is that we now have pilotless aircraft, drones, flying more and more frequently. It is my view that as driverless cars will show how to make driving safer, drones will show how to make flying safer.
- PS this is a first draft I will be improving this post tomorrow
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- Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 makes it clear: we need to rethink black boxes | Stephen Trimble | comment | theguardian.com
- A picture taken by a Vietnamese search team shows what may be debris from the Malaysia Airlines plane. Photograph: Tienphong/EPA
- Why is a normally safe aircraft '' the Boeing 777-200 '' missing over the South China Sea, with all 239 passengers and crew on board Malaysia Airlines flight 370 presumed dead?
- I'l tell you why: it was a fireball ignited by faulty lithium-ion batteries carried on board by cellphone-wielding passengers.
- No, it wasn't. It was a bomb planted by terrorists '' possibly the passengers who were reportedly carrying stolen passports.
- Rubbish: it was structural failure triggered by internal damage sustained in an airport fender-bender involving the same aircraft two years ago.
- These, of course, are not answers. It would be generous to call them theories. They are really a tiny sample in an online orgy of wild guesses that erupted on social media over the weekend, in the hours after the aircraft was reported missing off the coast of Malaysia.
- As search teams continue scanning the waves for signs of debris, these online truth-seekers should be asking a different question: why couldn't the plane itself tell us exactly what happened when it went off-radar?
- In one of the most galling anachronisms of modern aviation technology, the "black box" that carries most if not all of the answers seems to have vanished, too.
- Depending on the location of the wreckage, it could be days, months or even years before anyone turns up the black box '' which is usually orange '' and there remains a remote possibility that the device and its precious recordings of audio and flight sensor data will never be found at all.
- The ongoing mystery of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is the fault of a bizarre quirk in our networked society. Even cars have broadband connectivity now, but the modern jet airliner '' perhaps our most technologically evolved mode of transport '' still exists in the age of radio.
- Air traffic controllers today must orchestrate the most congested airspace using primarily voice commands. You can send and receive text messages from most aircraft, surf the web and even stream House of Cards. The system that powers the plane is limited to pre-dial-up internet connection speeds.
- There is simply no datalink onboard an aircraft with the bandwidth to continuously stream the volumes of data collected and stored during every second of a flight by the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.
- The result is a dangerous silence in the immediate and sometimes extended aftermath of what appears to be the worst airline crash in more than a decade. In the absence of data, the biological temptation to seek patterns within the flimsiest of available evidence is overwhelming.
- In the aftermath of the Air France flight 447 crash in 2009, speculation focused on particular technologies with the Airbus A330. It took nearly two years for an international search team to locate and raise the flight recorders lying at the bottom of 4,700 meters of water. The actual data told a different tale of a bizarre sequence of fatal errors made by a confused and disoriented flight crew attempting to fly through a major storm.
- Until the wreckage of Malaysian flight 370 is found, it is impossible to know how long it will take to recover that little box inside the 777-200.
- We shouldn't have to wait at all. There are technologies in existence or development today that can address this glaring gap in the aviation safety net.
- To be fair, it's not quite that easy. It's relatively simple and cheap for a black box to gather and store megabytes worth of flight data every second. It is much harder and much more expensive to continuously transmit that information by satellite or radio transmission.
- But even a little data is better than almost none, which the disappearance of flight 370 makes clear. It should be rather straightforward to install a processor connected to the black box that can select a subset of the most relevant data. A recent patent application filed by Boeing describes such a system, which specifies a limited data set including the precise location of the aircraft and the flight control inputs by the pilot or the automation system.
- There will be costs to mandating such a system, but the benefits are clear. Multi-national search and recovery teams involving a fleet of ships and search aircraft should no longer be necessary. Critical safety data could provide clues of system or structural failures much faster, making the entire air transport system safer.
- Most of all, the commercial aircraft upon which we depend for transportation and economic growth need to finally enter the Information Age. Then searches for missing planes won't have to resemble the hunt for Amelia Earhart.
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- Boeing says Malaysia jet not subject to FAA inspection order
- Boeing says Malaysia jet not subject to FAA inspection orderTop News
- Boeing says Malaysia jet not subject to FAA inspection order
- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co on Wednesday said the missing 777 Malaysia Airlines jetliner was not subject to a new U.S. safety directive that ordered additional inspections for cracking and corrosion on certain 777 planes.
- The Federal Aviation Administration last week ordered additional, repeated inspections of certain Boeing 777 aircraft, warning that corrosion and cracking could lead to rapid decompression and damage to the structure of the aircraft.
- The Federal Aviation Administration told airlines to inspect U.S. registered aircraft for cracking, corrosion and potential repairs after receiving a report about a 16-inch crack in the fuselage skin underneath an adapter for the airplane's satellite communications antenna.
- Boeing said it worked closely with the FAA to monitor the fleet for potential safety issues and take appropriate actions. But it said the 777-200ER Malaysia Airlines aircraft did not have that antenna installed and was not subject to the FAA order.
- An FAA spokesman on Wednesday also cautioned against linking the directive, one of hundreds issued annually by the agency, to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
- "There is absolutely no indication whatsoever that this had anything to do with the accident," said the spokesman, who also noted that airplanes were built with redundancies in the fuselage and inspection process to catch cracks or corrosion before they got bigger and caused problems.
- The FAA first proposed the additional inspections for 120 U.S.-registered aircraft in September before finalizing the directive in February and then publishing them in the U.S. Federal Register on March 5. The new rule takes effect April 9.
- "We are issuing this airworthiness directive to detect and correct cracking and corrosion in the fuselage skin, which could lead to rapid decompression and loss of structural integrity of the airplane," the agency said in the directive.
- Aviation authorities in other countries typically follow the FAA's lead in issuing such directives, but it was not immediately clear if Malaysia had already followed suit.
- A dozen countries, using 42 ships and 39 aircraft, are helping to search for the missing plane, which disappeared Saturday less than hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.
- (Reporting by Andrea Shalal, editing by Ros Krasny and Cynthia Osterman)
- Boeing says Malaysia jet not subject to FAA inspection orderTop News
- Boeing says Malaysia jet not subject to FAA inspection order
- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co on Wednesday said the missing 777 Malaysia Airlines jetliner was not subject to a new U.S. safety directive that ordered additional inspections for cracking and corrosion on certain 777 planes.
- The Federal Aviation Administration last week ordered additional, repeated inspections of certain Boeing 777 aircraft, warning that corrosion and cracking could lead to rapid decompression and damage to the structure of the aircraft.
- The Federal Aviation Administration told airlines to inspect U.S. registered aircraft for cracking, corrosion and potential repairs after receiving a report about a 16-inch crack in the fuselage skin underneath an adapter for the airplane's satellite communications antenna.
- Boeing said it worked closely with the FAA to monitor the fleet for potential safety issues and take appropriate actions. But it said the 777-200ER Malaysia Airlines aircraft did not have that antenna installed and was not subject to the FAA order.
- An FAA spokesman on Wednesday also cautioned against linking the directive, one of hundreds issued annually by the agency, to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
- "There is absolutely no indication whatsoever that this had anything to do with the accident," said the spokesman, who also noted that airplanes were built with redundancies in the fuselage and inspection process to catch cracks or corrosion before they got bigger and caused problems.
- The FAA first proposed the additional inspections for 120 U.S.-registered aircraft in September before finalizing the directive in February and then publishing them in the U.S. Federal Register on March 5. The new rule takes effect April 9.
- "We are issuing this airworthiness directive to detect and correct cracking and corrosion in the fuselage skin, which could lead to rapid decompression and loss of structural integrity of the airplane," the agency said in the directive.
- Aviation authorities in other countries typically follow the FAA's lead in issuing such directives, but it was not immediately clear if Malaysia had already followed suit.
- A dozen countries, using 42 ships and 39 aircraft, are helping to search for the missing plane, which disappeared Saturday less than hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.
- (Reporting by Andrea Shalal, editing by Ros Krasny and Cynthia Osterman)
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- Conflicting accounts of vanished Malaysia Airline Flight 370
- By Peter Symonds13 March 2014The fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and the 239 people on board remains shrouded in mystery, with slender and conflicting evidence and a rash of theories, magnified by the media, as to what took place.
- The lack of clarity is further compounded by the various competing interests at stake'--including Malaysia Airlines and Boeing, both seeking to protect their corporate images; the Malaysian government'--under criticism over its search operations; and the Chinese government, which is under pressure to provide answers about the whereabouts of the many Chinese passengers on the flight.
- The latest satellite images released by Chinese authorities showing a ''possible crash area'' has only added to the confusion. The pictures taken on Sunday show three large indistinct objects floating in waters south of Vietnam. They range in size from 13 by 18 metres to 22 by 24 metres. The location is relatively close to the northerly flight path taken by MH370, which took off from Kuala Lumpur early on Saturday morning, headed for Beijing. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane an hour later. The crew sent out no distress call.
- While the images could provide a much-needed breakthrough, there is no confirmation that the three objects are part of the plane's wreckage. Previous sightings by Vietnamese search planes of possible debris and large oil slicks proved to have no connection with an aircraft crash. A former US aviation safety director, Tom Haueter, told CNN he would be ''surprised'' if the objects came from a plane, saying anything of that size would not float. Another former US aviation official, Michael Goldfarb, was more optimistic, declaring that ''it's a high chance that they're going confirm that these [are] pieces of wreckage.''
- Diametrically opposed evidence comes from Malaysian military radar data that places an unidentified aircraft hundreds of kilometres to the west in the Malacca Strait or Andaman Sea. After conflicting reports from Malaysian authorities in previous days, Malaysian air force chief General Rodzali Daud confirmed yesterday that military radar detected an aircraft that could have been MH370 about 300 kilometres north of the Malaysian island of Penang. Daud could not confirm it was the missing flight. The radar data has been sent to US investigators for closer analysis.
- If the report turns out to be correct, it only compounds the mystery. It would mean that MH370 took off and headed north from Kuala Lumpur and, for reasons unknown, turned abruptly to the west. At about the same time, the plane's transponder malfunctioned or was turned off and Malaysia's air traffic control lost contact. The aircraft continued to fly west, across Malaysia, and was last detected to the north of Penang.
- Malaysian authorities clearly knew about the military radar data when they asked the Thai navy on Sunday to begin searching the Andaman Sea. Publicly, however, they made contradictory statements, adding to public confusion, the anger of relatives for news and consternation among the 12 countries involved in the search efforts.
- Vietnamese authorities yesterday suspended search flights, demanding clarification, but later resumed their operations. In what amounted to a rebuke to Malaysia, the Chinese foreign ministry declared: ''There's too much information and confusion right now. It is very hard for us to decide whether a given piece of information is accurate.''
- Media speculation about a possible terrorist hijacking was undermined after Interpol identified two passengers travelling on the flight on stolen passports. Both were Iranian citizens. Pouria Nourmohammadi Mehrdad, 18, and Delavar Seyed Mohammad Reza, 29, both appear to have been seeking to settle in Europe. Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble told the media: ''The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it was not a terrorist incident.''
- One possible explanation for the MH370 disappearance has received little press coverage. Last year, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned of a serious technical flaw in Boeing 777s, one of which was used in the flight. The FAA issued a worldwide alert over the dangers of cracking in the fuselage skin underneath the aircraft's satellite antenna that could lead to decompression and render the occupants, including the crew, unconscious.
- As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, a posting on the Professional Pilots Rumour Network explained: ''A slow decompression (e.g. from a golfball-sized hole) would have gradually impaired and confused the pilots before cabin altitude (pressure) warnings sounded... If the decompression was slow enough, it's possible the pilots did not realise to put on oxygen masks before it was too late.'' The site of the flaw could also account for the failure of satellite communications, including the aircraft's transponder. If that happened, the plane could continue to fly on automatically or veer off course, with the crew and passengers unconscious.
- The theory, of course, is speculative, but there are obvious reasons for both Boeing and Malaysian Airlines to downplay such a mechanical flaw. The FAA directive was issued after an inspection of a 14-year-old Boeing 777 discovered a 16-inch crack. The agency called for ''repetitive inspections of the visible fuselage skin and doubler'' to be incorporated into the routine maintenance schedule for the Boeing 777s worldwide.
- When contacted by Fairfax Media, a Boeing spokeswoman declared that it was up to individual airlines, not the manufacturer, to follow FAA directives. The article indicated that it was not known if Malaysia Airlines had incorporated the directive into the maintenance schedule for its Boeing 777 fleet. The airline made substantial losses over the past three years and last year cut its maintenance costs. It has emphasised its good safety record and the experience of the crew flying MH370.
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-
- Lockheed Martin Team Selected for FAA Satellite Navigation Program
- A national team led by Lockheed Martin has been selected by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to provide ground stations and broadcast services that will support satellite navigation signals for aviation use in the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). The award, with an initial amount of $38 M, has a potential value of $597 M, if contract options for additional satellite services are exercised.
- The FAA's two-year Geostationary Communications and Control Segment (GCCS) program also includes options that would lengthen the contract. These include options to lease satellite communications services on 10-year terms. Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management is the large system integrator for the program and will integrate elements of the GCCS system. Lockheed Martin is joined on this program by teammates, the Boeing Co. and Raytheon.
- "GCCS will enable WAAS realization and help make satellite-based navigation for aviation a reality," said Don Antonucci, president, Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management. "Our National Team will apply its collective expertise in helping the FAA realize its goal of improved safety and reliability for aviation users."
- WAAS is a GPS-based navigation and landing system for aviation use that will provide precision guidance to aircraft at thousands of airports and airstrips where there is currently no precision landing capability. WAAS improves the accuracy and ensures the integrity of navigation information from GPS satellites. The WAAS broadcast message improves GPS signal accuracy from 100 meters to approximately seven meters. GCCS will help provide the initial flight navigation capability for precision approaches to runway through the full operational capability of WAAS that will come later.
- Lockheed Martin and its teammates will provide ground uplink stations that collect GPS navigation data that has been corrected and enhanced for accuracy and also the technology to broadcast the data as signals to geostationary communications satellites. The satellites send the augmented GPS navigation signals to in-flight aircraft equipped to receive them. The FAA can exercise options for additional leased satellite communications services. Teammates Boeing and Raytheon provide expertise in areas of up-link communications and navigation services, respectively.
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- Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 'Phantom call' theory dismissed - CNN.com
- updated 8:19 AM EDT, Wed March 12, 2014
- Passengers' ringing cell phones led to speculation that flight MH370 hadn't crashedAircraft's disappearance remains shrouded in mystery"Phantom call" theory inconclusive, CNN hears(CNN) -- The mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 appeared to deepen as reports emerged that passengers' cell phones continued to ring long after the flight went missing Saturday.
- After the torment of not knowing what has happened to their loved ones, relatives of MH370 passengers had resorted to calling their phones, and were greeted with ringtones.
- The aircraft disappeared unexpectedly from tracking early Saturday. No distress call from the pilots was received, and search efforts to date have not yielded any conclusive results, only adding to the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the Beijing-bound flight.
- Speculation quickly mounted on social media that these "phantom calls" amounted to evidence that the flight had not crashed, as has been widely assumed.
- "Frustrated! ... There are reports from family members that phone calls to their missing loved ones have 'rung through,' indicating the phones aren't on the bottom of the ocean," one Facebook user surmised.
- However, technology industry analyst and "E-Commerce Times" columnist, Jeff Kagan told CNN that no conclusions can be reached concerning the ringing phones.
- When a cell phone rings, he told "The Situation Room," it first connects with the network and attempts to locate the end-user's phone.
- "If it doesn't find the phone after a few minutes, after a few rings, then typically, it disconnects and that's what's happening," he said.
- "So, they're hearing ringing and they're assuming it's connecting to their loved ones, but it's not. It's the network sending a signal to the phone letting them know it's looking for them."
- Kagan told Wolf Blitzer that the technology meant he couldn't speculate on what ringing phones in this situation could mean.
- "Just because you're getting ringing, just because the signs that we see on these cell phones, that's no proof that there's any -- that's just the way the networks work."
- Crowdsourcing volunteers comb satellite photos for Malaysia Airlines jet
- What we know and don't know
- CNN's Wilfred Chan contributed to this report
-
- Malaysia Air Force Chief Now Denying Making Major Claim He Reportedly Made Earlier About Missing Jet | TheBlaze.com
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- Adam Air Flight 574 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Adam Air Flight 574 (KI-574) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Adam Air between the Indonesian cities of Surabaya (SUB) and Manado (MDC)[2] that crashed into the Makassar Strait near Polewali in Sulawesi on 1 January 2007.[3] All 102 people on board died, the highest death toll of any aviation accident involving a Boeing 737-400.[4] A full national investigation was immediately launched into the disaster. The final report, released on 25 March 2008, concluded that the pilots lost control of the aircraft after they became preoccupied with troubleshooting the inertial navigation system and inadvertently disconnected the autopilot.[1]
- The crash is one of several transportation accidents, including the subsequent non-fatal crash of Adam Air Flight 172, which among them have resulted in large-scale transport safety reforms in Indonesia, as well as the United States downgrading its safety rating of Indonesian aviation, and of the entire Indonesian fleet being added to the list of air carriers banned in the EU. Adam Air was subsequently banned from flying by the Indonesian government, and later declared bankruptcy.[5]
- Flight 574 has the fourth highest death toll of any aviation accident in Indonesia after Garuda Indonesia Flight 152, Mandala Airlines Flight 091 and SilkAir Flight 185.
- History[edit]Aircraft[edit]The aircraft, a Boeing 737-4Q8, registration PK-KKW, was manufactured in 1989.[6][7] Prior to service with Adam Air, owned by ILFC the aircraft had been leased to seven airlines, including Dan-Air, British Airways, GB Airways, National Jets Italy, WFBN, Air One and Jat Airways.[8] The plane had 45,371 flying hours and was last evaluated and declared airworthy by the Indonesian transport ministry on 25 December 2005.[9] It was due to be checked again in late January 2007.[9] The Surabaya airport duty manager said that there were no technical problems with the aircraft prior to departure.[10]
- Flight deck crew[edit]The captain was 47-year-old Refri Agustian Widodo from Sidoarjo, Indonesia, who joined Adam Air in 2005. The first officer was 36-year-old Yoga Susanto, an employee of Adam Air since 2006.
- Flight chronology[edit]On 1 January 2007, at 12:55 local time (05:55 UTC), the plane departed from Juanda Airport, Surabaya, with 96 passengers (85 adults, 7 children and 4 infants)[11] and 6 crew on board.[2] The passenger list was composed mainly of Indonesian nationals; the only foreigners were an American family of three.[12] The two-hour flight, scheduled to arrive at Sam Ratulangi Airport, Manado, at 16:00 local time,[note 1] was as expected until the plane disappeared from air traffic control radar screens at Makassar, South Sulawesi, with the last contact at 14:53 local time (06:53 UTC). The last known beacon position was detected by a Singaporean satellite.[11] The altitude of the plane was shown as 35,000 feet (10,670 m) on the radar screen.[13]
- Weather in the region was stormy;[14] the Indonesian Bureau of Meteorology and Geophysics noted that the cloud thickness was up to 30,000 feet (9,140 m) in height and wind speed at an average of 30 knots (56 km/h) in the area.[15] Although the Juanda Airport operator, PT Angkasa Pura I, had given warnings to the pilot concerning the weather condition, the plane had departed as scheduled.[16] The plane ran into crosswinds of more than 70 knots (130 km/h) over the Makassar Strait, west of Sulawesi, where it changed course eastward toward land before losing contact.[17] In his last radio transmission, the pilot reported the crosswinds to be coming from the left, but air traffic control claimed that the winds should be coming from the right.
- Contrary to early reports, no calls for help were sent by the aircraft.[18][19]
- Search and rescue efforts[edit]False reports of discovery[edit]Initial reports indicated that the plane had been located in the mountainous region of Sulawesi around 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Polewali town and that there were 12 survivors. This led to the mobilization of an Indonesian Air Force plane carrying hundreds of search and rescue personnel.[3] However the team found no sign of aircraft wreckage at the reported crash site.[20] On 2 January 2007, the Indonesian transport minister confirmed that the plane had not yet been found and reports to the contrary were based on false rumors from local villagers passed on to local officers.[21] It later turned out that the 12 reported survivors were actually from the MV Senopati Nusantara, which sank two days earlier during the same storm.[22]
- Continued efforts[edit]A search and rescue team 3,600 members strong was mobilised.[23] One Boeing 737''200 Surveiller (a military surveillance plane), two infrared-equipped Fokker-50 aircraft from the Republic of Singapore Air Force,[24][25] a Navy Nomad plane and six helicopters were amongst many vehicles dispatched to aid searching for the missing plane from the air.[23][26] Indonesian sonar-equipped military aircraft and ships capable of detecting underwater metallic objects later joined the team, equipped with two mini remote-controlled submarines.[27][28] These searched the sea for five days between 3 and 8 January, without success.[29]
- Naval ships combed the Makassar Strait while military personnel went through jungles and mountains of Sulawesi.[30] In the face of heavy rain and strong winds in the area, the search efforts, coordinated from Makassar city, were focused in the area between the coastal town of Majene and the mountainous region of Toraja.[30] The search in the two areas was due to twin signals, each carrying different emergency locator transmitter frequencies, received by the Singaporean satellite and an Indonesian military air base.[31] The two separate locations produced on radar screens were a spot on the sea in Majene and on land in Rantepao, Tana Toraja.[32][note 2] Searches were then expanded throughout the Island of Sulawesi; some were triggered by unknown distress signals received by a commercial Lion Air flight and an airport.[33] A police officer at the Barru district police operational centre said that all the districts with stretches of coastline along the Makasser Strait had teams searching for the plane.[34]
- There were fears that the plane's tracking equipment and emergency locator beacon could have been damaged after the crash or weakened by interference, and that this would hamper the search.[35] The head of the National Search and Rescue Agency told the Associated Press that he believed the aircraft was probably lost at sea.[35] From 5 January 2007, the main focus of the search was relocated to areas south of Manado, after Manado's Sam Ratulangi Airport reported detecting a signal from the plane a day before.[36] However, the rugged terrain coupled with thick and low hanging clouds continued to hamper the search efforts, and three relatives of missing passengers who overflew part of the area on a military reconnaissance plane admitted that the chances of finding the plane were slim.[37] Officials said that it was unlikely any bodies had survived in one piece.[38] On 14 January, at Indonesia's request, Singapore sent four towed underwater locator beacon detectors, sometimes called Towed Pinger Locators, and six consultants in their use to aid in the search.[39][40] These would successfully locate the black boxes. On 24 January, the British ship MN Endeavour joined the search. The ship is operated by local mining firm PT Gema Tera Mustikawati and is usually used by oil and gas drilling companies to map the seabed.[41] By 24 January, the Indonesian government had spent an average of Rp 1 billion (about U.S.$110,000) a day on the search.[42]
- On 10 February, search operations were officially halted by the Search and Rescue Agency, according to Transportation Minister Hatta Rajasa, finalizing the legal status of both the plane and its passengers and crew. This announcement allowed the families of the victims to start the insurance claims process.[43]
- Discovery of wreckage[edit]Unidentified submerged objects[edit]On Monday, 8 January, three large metal objects, suspected to be wreckage, were detected by the Indonesian ship KRI Fatahillah's sonar.[44][45] First Admiral Gatot Subyanto of the Indonesian Navy indicated three locations, between 3''6 km (2''4 mi) apart, off Mamuju city on Sulawesi's western coast. Due to limitations of the navy's sonar equipment, it was not clear what the metal was,[44] and Indonesia had no other equipment of its own.[46] A U.S. Navy ship, Mary Sears, arrived in the area on 9 January with better equipment to help identify the objects, and on the same date a Canadian jet with five separate air crews, working in shifts, was sent to aid with aerial mapping of the suspected location.[47] The Indonesian Marine and Fishery Department has since suggested that the metal objects could instead be instruments deployed to study the underwater sea current.[45] A total of twelve Indonesian Navy ships were deployed in the area, including the KRI Ajak, KRI Leuser and KRI Nala.[48] Extra underwater equipment, including a metal detector and an undersea camera, was sent from the U.S., and arrived aboard the USNS Mary Sears on 17 January.[48][49] The black boxes were subsequently located elsewhere, in the waters in an area known as Majene, and a wide, sweeping search of the area revealed high amounts of scattered debris there, too. This debris was analyzed to confirm it belongs to the 737.[50]
- Floating debris[edit]The aircraft's right horizontal stabilizer was found by a fisherman, south of Pare Pare, about 300 m (980 ft) off the beach on 11 January,[51] although it was not originally handed in, as its discoverer thought it to be a piece of plywood, only later realizing it was a piece of the tail.[52] This was confirmed by the serial number on the stabilizer, 65 C 25746 76, which matched that of components on the missing 737.[53][54] The fisherman received a reward of 50 million rupiah (equivalent to about $5,500) for his discovery.[52] Later, other parts of the aircraft, including passenger seats, life jackets, a food tray, part of an aircraft tire, eight pieces of aluminum and fiber, an ID card, a flare and a headrest were also recovered from the area.[45][55][56] By 13 January, a piece of a wing was also recovered.[48] It is unclear whether the 1.5-metre (4 ft 11 in) long section was a section of the right wing or the left wing, although it was examined in an attempt to discover this.[52] The total count of recovered objects associated with aircraft, as of 29 January, was 206, of which 194 were definitely from the 737.[57] On 15 January, an unidentified fuel spill was spotted by the Singaporean reconnaissance aircraft along the western coast of Sulawesi,[34] but by the time a ship arrived to attempt to determine whether the spill came from the aircraft, it had been moved by strong currents.[58] Although it was searched for, it was not relocated. Pieces of clothing thought to belong to passengers were also recovered,[52] and on 15 January, pieces of human hair and what is thought to be human scalp were recovered from a headrest that had been pulled from the sea.[58] They were DNA tested to attempt to identify them; the results of this test are, however, unknown.[52]
- Black boxes[edit]On 21 January 2007, the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR), colloquially called black boxes, were located off the coast of West Sulawesi by the U.S. vessel Mary Sears.[59] The flight data recorder was located at 03°41'²02'"S118°08'²53'"E>> / >>3.68389°S 118.14806°E>> / -3.68389; 118.14806 at a depth of 2,000 m (6,600 ft), while the cockpit voice recorder was located at 03°40'²22'"S118°09'²16'"E>> / >>3.67278°S 118.15444°E>> / -3.67278; 118.15444 at a depth of 1,900 m (6,200 ft).[60] These positions indicate the black boxes were located approximately 1.4 km (0.87 mi) apart. The Indonesian vessel Fatahillah travelled to the location, while Mary Sears traveled to Singapore, arriving on 29 January to return the detector equipment used to locate the devices.[59] It did not travel immediately to Singapore because it was mapping the immediate area. The Mary Sears used its side scan sonar (SSS) unit to map an area of approximately 10.3 km² (3 sq nmi) around the recorders in high resolution, an operation which required 18 passes across the area at approximately 3 knots (6 km/h), taking six hours per pass including lining up for the next pass. It discovered a large amount of wreckage in the area, which is now considered to be all that remains of the aircraft.[59] A senior Indonesian marine official said on 24 January that he did not believe that the equipment required to retrieve the boxes from that depth is available in any Asian country.[61] The black boxes had a battery life of just 30 days, and would subsequently be unable to emit locator signals.[40]
- On 3 February, Indonesian naval vessel KRI Tanjung Dalpele took affected families out to the crash site where a memorial service was held, which included throwing flowers into the sea.[62]
- Salvage[edit]On 26 January 2007, a dispute arose between Adam Air and the Indonesian government regarding the retrieval of the black boxes. Due to the depth involved, recovery required an underwater remotely operated vehicle, but due to the cost of using this method of recovery'--especially since such equipment needed to be shipped in from elsewhere'--the government placed the responsibility for the cost of recovering the recorders on Adam Air. Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla went as far as to question the need to retrieve the black boxes at all, although experts said in response that the accident was of international significance as it could indicate a fault with the aircraft.[63] Adam Air said that in its opinion, the black boxes should be recovered, describing the accident as being relevant on both national and international levels, but refused to pay, saying that was the responsibility of the government.[64] Indonesia did request technical assistance from the United States, Japan and France.[65]Jim Hall, a former chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, said that it was essential the boxes be recovered quickly, as at that point their 30-day battery life was about to expire, which subsequently did happen. He cited problems such as poor visibility and strong currents making it difficult to recover the devices without the signal.[63] Setio Rahardjo, Head of National Committee for Transportation Safety, estimated that equipment for the salvage operation, if available, would cost $100,000 per day to hire in an operation that would take around ten days, equating to U.S.$1 million.[66]
- On 31 January it was reported that the U.S. had to withdraw the vessel Mary Sears from the searches, the U.S. military saying that the vessel had other duties. Further funding and help from the U.S. would have to be approved by the US Congress. At the same time, external companies were suggested as possible retrievers of the black boxes. Indonesia continued to seek help from other countries, like France and Japan. Setio Rahardjo maintained that Adam Air should be charged with the retrieval costs.[67]
- It was originally confirmed that Indonesia would not pay for the salvage operation, and neither could they force Adam Air to do so.[68] On 15 February, it was reported that Adam Air had been in contact with two salvage companies, Smit Internationale and Phoenix International, regarding the salvage operation.[69] It was Phoenix who supplied the Mary Sears with the necessary equipment for the search operation.[70] Adam Air received preliminary invoices and continued negotiations with the two companies.[68] Later, Adam Air announced that they did indeed intend to select a company to conduct the operation shortly and would pay for this themselves.[68]
- On 28 May, Adam Air announced they had signed a contract with Phoenix International, with original plans being for the recovery to occur in June, according to Aero News.[71] On 23 August, the Eas arrived in Sulawesi's Makassar port to begin salvage operations, which began with several days survey. The vessel was carrying a mini-submarine that can dive up to 6,000 m (20,000 ft), and was equipped with sonar and deep sea cameras.[72][73]
- A Phoenix International underwater robot scouring the sea off Majene for on Sulawesi finally retrieved the flight data recorder on 27 August and cockpit voice recorder on 28 August. The two devices were found at a depth of around 2,000 m (6,600 ft) and were 1,400 m (4,600 ft) apart. They had been moved 10''15 m (33''49 ft) from their original locations by powerful underwater currents.[74] The black boxes were sent to Washington for analysis. There was fear that the recovery efforts could fail due to data destruction caused by the long submersion.[75][76] The final cost of the salvage operation to retrieve the black boxes was US$3 million,[77] of which two million was contributed by the Indonesian government, with Adam Air paying for the rest.[78] Efforts continued with the hope of recovering various large pieces of wreckage from the seabed.[79]
- Investigation[edit]President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered a full investigation to discover the cause of the aircraft's disappearance, including the cause of any accident it may have had, before the main debris field had even been found. The investigation also looked at the airworthiness of the plane and standard procedure on airplane operations.[80] A team from the United States with representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and General Electric were sent to Indonesia to assist the Indonesian National Committee for Transportation in the investigation.[81][82]Patrick Smith, a U.S.-based airline pilot and aviation commentator, said that "Whatever happened to the plane, it was likely rapid and catastrophic," and said that an on-board explosion or metal fatigue-induced structural failure was the most likely cause of the accident.[82] A wider investigation into Indonesia's transport system as a whole was planned.[45] Eyewitnesses reported seeing a low-flying, unstable aircraft in the area that the wreckage has been recovered from, but lost sight of it after hearing a loud bang.[55] The chief of the Indonesian Plane Technicians group, Wahyu Supriantono, said that the plane was unlikely to have suffered an in-flight break up or explosion as the debris field would have been larger, and as a result, wreckage would have been discovered earlier.[83] The Indonesian KNKT, responsible for the investigation, said that even if the flight recorders were not retrieved, the agency still intended to publish a final report complete with a probable cause, saying they had other "facts and findings" that provide enough information to do so.[68]
- On 25 March 2008, the inquiry ruled that pilot error and a faulty navigation device downed the airliner.[1][84] While cruising at 35,000 feet (10,668 m), the pilots became preoccupied with troubleshooting the aircraft's two inertial reference systems (IRS), part of the navigation system. The autopilot became disengaged and the pilots failed to correct for a slow right roll even after a "bank angle" alarm sounded. Despite the bank angle reaching 100° with almost 60° nose down attitude, the pilots did not level the wings before trying to regain pitch control. The aircraft reached 490 knots (910 km/h) at the end of the recording, in excess of the aircraft's maximum rated speed for a dive (400 knots). The aircraft broke up in flight before impact, at which time the investigators concluded the aircraft was in a "critically unrecoverable state".[1]
- Maintenance concerns[edit]Investigators quickly became concerned about apparent poor maintenance and believed it might have played an important factor in the accident.
- Adam Air as a whole[edit]The safety record of Adam Air has been heavily criticized. Adam Air has reportedly bribed pilots to fly planes they knew were unsafe.[85] Pilots have reported repeated and deliberate breaches of international safety regulations, and aircraft being flown in non-airworthy states for months at a time. They claim that there have been such incidents as requests to sign documents to allow an aircraft to fly, while not having the authority to, and while knowing the plane to be unairworthy, flying a plane for several months with a damaged door handle, swapping parts between aircraft to avoid mandatory replacement deadlines, being ordered to fly aircraft after exceeding the take-off limit of five times per pilot per day, flying an aircraft with a damaged window, using spare parts from other aircraft to keep planes in the air, and ignorance of pilot's requests not to take off due to unsafe aircraft. The Associated Press quoted one pilot as saying that "Every time you flew, you had to fight with the ground staff and the management about all the regulations you had to violate." They also claimed that if pilots confronted their seniors in the airline, they were grounded or docked pay.[85][86]
- Specific aircraft[edit]Investigators discovered that the aircraft was the subject of a large number of complaints by pilots, called write-ups in the aviation industry. The highest number of complaints concerned the captain's side vertical speed indicator, which informs the air crew of the rate (in ft/min: Feet Per Minute) at which the airplane is ascending or descending. In all, 48 complaints were made regarding the instrument in the three months before the crash.[87] The aircraft's left right inertial reference system, which informs pilots what direction the aircraft is turning in, was complained about a total of thirty times.[87] The International Herald Tribune reported that this may be of particular significance.[87] The third most-complained about instrument was a fuel differential light, which received fifteen write-ups.[87] Numerous complaints were also received about inoperative cockpit instrument lights, as well as multiple other malfunctions.[87] Several complaints were made that the flaps, which modify drag and lift during take-off and landing, were jamming at twenty-five degrees upon landing, and there were two complaints that the weather radar was faulty.[87]
- Legal action[edit]Adam Air is being sued by Indonesian consumer and labor groups over the accident, for a total of one trillion rupiahs (US$100 million), to be paid to the families of the victims.[88] According to a lawyer for the families, speaking in a press conference along with the secretary for the Adam Air KI-574 Passengers' Families Association (formed in the aftermath of the disaster), 30 of the victims' families intend to sue Boeing instead of Adam Air over the accident. However, this does not necessarily mean that all of the others will sue Adam Air, as they may not necessarily exercise their right to sue at all.[89][90] Representatives of the families have explained that they believe the plane was brought down by a faulty rudder control valve, similarly to the accidents involving United Airlines Flight 585 and USAir Flight 427, which went down in the early 1990s. They have explained that, as a result, they are suing Boeing and Parker Hannifin, the valve's manufacturer, although airlines using the 737 have been warned about problems with the rudder control valves.[91]
- Reaction[edit]Political[edit]Vice President Jusuf Kalla described the disappearance as an "international issue."[92] A few days after the disappearance, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono set up the National Team for Transportation Safety and Security, partially as a response to the high number of recent transportation accidents in Indonesia, and partially as a direct response to the event.[93] The team was tasked to evaluate thoroughly the transport safety procedures and review the existing regulations on transportation.[93] It was not, however, to investigate accidents; the entity deemed responsible for this was the Komisi Nasional Keselamatan Transportasi (KNKT), or in English the National Transportation Safety Commission (NTSC), which is part of Departemen Perhubungan (Ministry of Transportation).[94]
- Adam Air[edit]Adam Air has been accused by multiple organizations of poor maintenance, and of ordering pilots to fly in all weather and regardless of aircraft conditions. Adam Adhitya Suherman, founder of the family-run airline, has personally denied these accusations, and has said that maintenance consumes "up 40 percent of our total operational costs".[95] Despite this denial of any responsibility for the crash, Adam Air has compensated the families of deceased passengers Rp 500 million (equivalent to about US$55,000 or '¬42,000) per passenger. It also compensated families of the flight crew.[42][96]
- There has been some call from relatives of the dead for Adam Air to build a memorial to the victims in Makassar, South Sulawesi. Adam Air said that if an agreement could be reached, then they would fulfill the request.[97]
- Aftermath[edit]Shortly after the crash, Adam Air changed the number of the regular Surabaya-Manado flight from KI574 to KI582.
- The Indonesian government announced plans immediately after the accident to ban jets over ten years of age for any commercial purpose.[98] Previously the age limit was 35 years or 70,000 landings.[99] Although this was in response to a large number of aircraft accidents, it was mainly in response to this accident and the Flight 172 incident. Indonesia also announced that the Transportation Ministry would be reshuffled in response to this accident, Flight 172 and the loss of the ferries MV Senopati Nusantara and Levina 1. Among those replaced were the directors of air and sea transports and the chairman of the National Committee for Transportation Safety.[100] Indonesia also introduced a new system of ranking airlines according to their safety record, with a level one ranking meaning the airline has no serious issues, a level two ranking meaning the airline must fix problems, and a level three rating forcing the airline to be shut down.[101]
- On 16 March 2007, the Indonesian government announced plans to shut down an unspecified Indonesian air carrier.[102] It was announced on 22 March that Adam Air was one of seven airlines that will have their licenses revoked within three months unless they could improve their safety standards.[103] The other six airlines involved were Batavia Air, Jatayu Airlines, Kartika Airlines, Manunggal Air Services, Transwisata Prima Aviation and Tri-MG Intra Asia Airlines.[103] The airlines were all targeted as a direct result of the crash, as they were in the third level of the ranking system introduced as a result.[citation needed] All 54 of Indonesia's airlines, including state-owned Garuda Indonesia, were told they would need to make some improvements, with none of them receiving a level one ranking.[104]
- It was reported on 28 June 2007, that Adam Air would escape closure and had been upgraded one rank in safety rating, to the middle tier. The airlines that have lost their licenses are Jatayu Gelang Sejahtera, Aviasi Upataraksa, Alfa Trans Dirgantara and Prodexim and the airlines that have been grounded pending improvements and facing potential licence revocation are Germania Trisila Air, Atlas Delta Setia, Survey Udara Penas, Kura-kura Aviation and SMAC.[105]
- On 16 April 2007, the American Federal Aviation Administration[106] responded to the results of the new airline survey by downgrading Indonesia's air safety oversight category from a 1 to a 2 because of "serious concerns" over safety. This means it views Indonesia's civil aviation authority as failing to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards.[107] As a direct result, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta issued a warning to all American citizens flying in or out of Indonesia to avoid using Indonesian airlines, and instead use international carriers with better safety reputations.[108] This was followed on 28 June 2007 by the addition of all Indonesia's airlines, none of which flew to Europe at the time, to the List of air carriers banned in the EU. Budhi Mulyawan Suyitno, Director-general of civil aviation at the Indonesian transport ministry, responded by saying that he felt Indonesia had made the improvements required by the EU.[109][110]
- Adam Air ceased operation on 18 March 2008 after its Air Operator's Certificate was suspended by the Indonesian government, and was officially suspended permanently on 18 June 2008.
- Flight 172[edit]On 21 February 2007, just 51 days after the loss of Flight 574, Flight 172, an Adam Air Boeing 737''300 aircraft (registration PK-KKV) flying from Jakarta to Surabaya had a hard landing at Juanda International Airport. The incident caused the fuselage of the plane to crack and bend in the middle, with the tail of the plane drooping towards the ground. There were no reports of serious injuries from the incident. As a result, six Adam Air 737s were grounded awaiting safety checks. Adam Air described this as "harsh punishment" for an accident it blamed on poor weather conditions, but Vice President Kalla had said that all Boeing 737-300s should be checked.[111]
- Alleged cockpit voice recording leakage[edit]In early August 2008, a five-minute-38-second digital recording allegedly retrieved from the plane's cockpit voice recorder was widely circulated on the Internet and transcribed by the media.[112][113] The recording, which had been publicly distributed through chain e-mails, begins with what is believed by some to be a conversation between pilot Refi Agustian Widodo and copilot Yoga Susanto before the crash. Approximately two minutes before the end of the recording the autopilot disconnect horn sounded, followed approximately a minute later by "bank angle" warnings from the GPWS and the altitude alerter. Immediately thereafter, as the airplane began its final dive, the shotgun-like sounds of engine compressor surges and the overspeed "clacker" could be heard along with two background voices screaming in terror, and shouting out the name of God. Towards the end of the recording there is a dramatic increase in windshield noise and two loud bangs (the second larger than the first) consistent with structural failure of the airplane, followed 20 seconds later by an abrupt silence. It is likely that, when the pilots regained visual ground contact, they quickly pulled up, overloading the horizontal stabilizer downwards and a main wing spar upwards.[114] It was dismissed by the officials who said that it was not authentic and was not the original recording.[115]
- Dramatization[edit]The crash was the subject of a Season 7 Episode of Mayday (also known as Air Crash Investigation) entitled 'Flight 574: Lost' (also aired as The Plane That Vanished in some countries).
- Nationalities of the passengers and crew[edit]Notable passengers[edit]Scott Jackson (aged 54), President director of PT Fendi Mungil[116]
- See also[edit]1 Cities on Java island, including Surabaya, observe one hour difference with cities on Sulawesi islands (UTC+7 and UTC+8 respectively).2 An aeroplane has two ELTs: one, a portable unit, is located in the cockpit, emits on 121.5 MHz, and is activated by the plane ditching at sea; the other, a fixed ELT near the tail, emits on 406 MHz and is activated by a crash landing.References[edit]^ abcdIonides, Nicholas (25 March 2008). "Final report: Adam Air 737 plunged into sea after pilots lost control". Flight International. Archived from the original on 27 March 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2008. ^ ab"Plane Carrying 102 Missing in Indonesia". Forbes. 1 January 2007. Archived from the original on 3 January 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2007. ^ abNorton, Jerry (1 January 2007). "Wreckage of plane found in Indonesian mountains". Yahoo!, Reuters. Retrieved 3 January 2007. [dead link]^"Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on February 8, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2014. ^"EU removes Indonesia's flag carrier Garuda from bloc's airline blacklist". Washington Examiner. 14 July 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2010. ^"Nasib 96 Penumpang, Pilot dan Kru Tidak Diketahui" (in Indonesian). Kompas. Archived from the original on 4 January 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2007. ^Accident information : Boeing 737 AdamAir PK-KKW '' airfleets.net. Retrieved 25 September 2007^"AdamAir PK-KKW Airfleets". Airfleets. Archived from the original on 7 January 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2007. ^ ab"Missing airliner not located: Indonesian officials". Reuters. Retrieved 3 January 2007. [dead link]^"Now, search on for missing plane". Singapore: The Electric New Paper. Archived from the original on 21 January 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2007. ^ ab"Adam Air News Alert". Adam Air. Retrieved 3 January 2007. ^"Three from Bend on plane that crashed in Indonesia". The Bend Bulletin. Retrieved 9 January 2007. ^"Search on for Missing Indonesian Plane". Focus News Agency. 1 January 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2007. ^"Flight missing in bad weather". Edmonton sun.com. Retrieved 1 January 2007. [dead link]^"Jatuhnya Pesawat Adam Air di Sulawesi Barat Adalah Akibat Cuaca Buruk" (in Indonesian). Adam Air. Retrieved 2 January 2007. ^"President welcomes S`porean and US offer to help find missing Adam Air plane". ANTARA. 4 January 2004. Archived from the original on 13 January 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2007. ^"Lost plane 'battled 130 km/h winds'". CNN. 6 January 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2007. [dead link]^"Missing Indonesian jet did not call for help". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 4 January 2007. ^"Indonesian jet didn't send out distress signal". GlobeandMail.com. Retrieved 4 January 2007. ^"Rescuers have not found Indonesia plane wreck: military". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 5 January 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2007. ^"Confusion mounts over Java plane". BBC News. 2 January 2007. Archived from the original on 4 January 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2007. ^Black Box from Missing Indonesian Plane May Have Been Found[dead link]'' Desatres.org. Retrieved 29 January 2007.^ abAhmad Pathoni (7 January 2007). "Indonesia steps up search for missing plane". swissinfo. Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2007. ^"Singapore to help Indonesia locate missing Adam Air jet". Channel News Asia. 3 January 2007. Archived from the original on 4 January 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2007. ^"Kirim 2 Fokker, Singapura Siapkan Infra Red Cari AdamAir". Detik.com. 3 January 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2007. ^"Two mily planes help search for missing Adam Air". ANTARA. 3 January 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2007. ^"Search intensifies for missing Adam Air 737". Air Transport World Magazine. 4 January 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 8 January 2007. ^"Cari Bangkai AdamAir, TNI AL Kerahkan KRI Bersonar" (in Indonesian). Detik.com. 4 January 2007. Archived from the original on 5 January 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2007. ^Unmanned undersea vehicle searching for missing Indonesian plane '' Xinhua. Retrieved 16 January 2007^ abAhmad Pathoni (3 January 2007). "Anger as Indonesia resumes search for airliner". Reuters. Retrieved 3 January 2007. [dead link]^"Possible in-flight blast caused plane crash on land and sea". Asianews.it. Archived from the original on 22 January 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2007. ^"Bisa Jadi Pesawat AdamAir Meledak di Udara". Detik.com. Archived from the original on 7 January 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2007. ^"Pesawat Lion Air Terima Sinyal Bahaya di Laut Banda". Liputan 6 SCTV. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2007. ^ abIndonesia Plane Crash Still A Mystery '' AllHeadlineNews.com '' retrieved on 17 January 2007^ ab"Ocean scoured for Indonesia jet". CNN. Archived from the original on 5 January 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2007. ^"Indonesia shifts search for missing plane after beacon signal". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 6 January 2007. Retrieved 5 January 2007. ^"Daunting task as Indonesia steps up airliner search". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 9 January 2007. Retrieved 8 January 2007. ^Indonesia plane search narrows after debris found '' thestar.com '' Retrieved on 12 January 2007^Singapore's Navy joins search for missing Indonesian airliner '' channelnewsasia.com '' Obtained on 16 January 2007.^ abAdam Air 737 Black Box Detected '' Airwise Press Release '' Obtained on 25 January 2007.^British ship joins search of Indonesian plane '' People's Daily Online '' Obtained on 26 January 2007.^ abLesson learned from accidents '' The Jakarta Post '' Obtained on 24 January 2007.[dead link]^Missing airliner's status is final, minister says '' The Jakarta Post '' Obtained on 10 February 2007.[dead link]^ ab"Airline hunt spots metal in sea". BBC. 8 January 2007. Archived from the original on 10 January 2007. Retrieved 8 January 2007. ^ abcdMore Adam Air plane wreckage discovered '' The Daily Telegraph (Australia) '' Obtained on 11 January 2007^Indonesia: metal object detected during plane search '' Xinhua. Retrieved 16 January 2007^"Kanada Kirim Sebuah Pesawat Bantu Cari Adam Air". Media Indonesia. 9 January 2007. Archived from the original on 4 October 2007. ^ abcTechnical help awaited as plane search continues '' The Jakarta Post[dead link]^Metal Detector Arrives To Help Locate Missing Indonesian Airplane '' Playfuls.com '' Retrieved on 17 January 2007.^Black Box Found From New Year's Day Plane Crash'' KOIN News 6. Retrieved 25 January 2007. Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine^"Tail of missing Indonesian plane found". Sydney Morning Herald. 10 January 2007. ^ abcdeIndonesia to DNA test human fragments in plane hunt '' Boston.com '' Obtained on 15 January 2007[dead link]^Adam Air Plane Trail Found in Parepare Bay '' AgoraVox '' Obtained on 15 January 2007^Pieces of missing plane found in Indonesian waters '' KARE 11.com. Retrieved 11 January 2007^ ab"Fishermen find parts of jetliner". CNN. Retrieved 11 January 2007. ^"Parts of lost Indonesian jet found". Al Jazeera. 11 January 2007. Retrieved 11 January 2007. ^Adam Air black box detected, search for plane slowed '' e-Travel Blackboard '' Press Release. Retrieved 29 January 2007^ abInvestigators say fuel spill may be from downed Indonesian jetliner '' Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA. Retrieved 15 January 2007^ abcUSNS Mary Sears, Search Team Return From Successful Mission In Indonesia. Retrieved 30 January 2007.^"SAR Team Stops Search For Adam Air Plane". Bernama.com.my. Retrieved 28 October 2010. ^/Missing Adam Air Plane Blackbox Detected '' Bernama.com- Obtained on 24 January 2007^Families commemorate air accident dead at watery wreckage site '' monstersandcritics.com. Retrieved 3 February 2007.^ ab"Experts say investigation into Indonesian plane crash important to global aviation safety". International Herarld Tribune. 26 January 2007. Archived from the original on 26 February 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2007. ^Indonesian airline, government battle over retrieval of black box'--monstersandcritics.com (news section)'--Obtained on 26 January 2007.^Indonesia Seeks Help To Retrieve Crashed Jetliner's "black Box"'--Playfuls.com'--Obtained 29 January 2007.^Government Asks Adam Air to Pay for Salvage '' TempoInteractive. Retrieved 2 February 2007.^US can't help RI retrieve black box '' The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 3 February 2007.[dead link]^ abcdIndonesia's aviation safety agency to publish preliminary report into New Year's Day Adam Air crash despite failure to locate black boxes '' www.flightglobal.com. Retrieved 5 March 2007.^Indonesia's Adam Air to continue expansion. Retrieved 15 February 2007.^Phoenix international details key role in locating lost Adam Air Flight 574 '' shephard.co.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2007.[dead link]^Adam Air To Retrieve Black Box From New Year's Day Crash '' Aero News. Retrieved 31 May 2007. Published 28 May 2007.^Retrieval efforts to begin for blackbox of sunken Indonesian jetliner '' International Herald Tribune '' 23 August 2007 '' Retrieved on the same date^Ship arrives in Indonesia to seek plane's black box '' Reuters '' 23 August 2007 '' Retrieved on the same date^Crashed Adam Air black box arrives in Makassar '' The Jakarta Post '' 31 August 2007 '' Obtained same date.[dead link]^Black box retrieved from crashed Indonesian plane '' Reuters '' 28 August 2007 '' Retrieved on the same date^Adam Air 737 recorders finally retrieved from seabed '' by Flight Global's Nicholas Ionides '' 28 August 2007 '' Retrieved on the same date^Black Box of New Year plane crash found '' Asia News '' 29 August 2007 '' retrieved on the same date.^Adam Air black box retrieved by salvage team '' Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo '' The Jakarta Post '' 29 August 2007 '' Obtained same date.^Crashed jet's black box found '' Stephen Fitzpatrick '' The Australian '' 29 August 2007 '' Obtained same date^"Missing Indonesian aircraft still missing despite claims of survivors" (Press release). e-Travel Blackboard. Archived from the original on 4 January 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2007. ^"Mountains searched for Indonesian aircraft". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 4 January 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2007. ^ abU.S. Aviation Experts Are Helping With the Investigation '' KNX '' retrieved on 7 January 2007.[dead link]^Wreckage of missing Indonesian plane found '' The Brunei Times Obtained on 12 January 2007[dead link]^"Pilots blamed in Indonesian crash". BBC. 25 March 2008. Archived from the original on 26 March 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2008. ^ abFalling skies for Indonesian aviation '' Asia Times '' Obtained on 27 January 2007.^Pilots concerned over Indonesia airlines '' phillbyblurbs.com. Retrieved 27 January 2007.^ abcdefAdam Air jet subject of pilot complaints before crash '' iht.com. Retrieved 30 January 2007.^"Indonesian airline hit with lawsuit over crash". The Australian. January 10, 2007. Retrieved 27 January 27, 2007. ^"Adam Air families to sue Boeing". The Jakarta Post. 7 February 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2007. ^PRESS DIGEST-Indonesian General News '' Reuters '' Accessed 7 February 2007.^Victims of crash sue Boeing in US '' Gulf Times. Retrieved 24 March 2007.^Missing airliner 'international issue': Indonesian VP '' The Vancouver Sun '' retrieved on 7 January 2007.^ abPresident forms national team to evaluate transportation safety, security '' ANTARA News. Retrieved 20 January 2007^Komisi Nasional Keselamatan Transportasi (KNKT) official site. Retrieved 20 January 2007.^"Adam Air denies cost-cutting measures". The Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2007. ^Indonesian airline to give US$55,000 to relatives of crash victimsInternational Herald Tribune (Asia-Pacific section) '' Accessed 24 January 2007.^"Relatives pay last respects in sea ritual". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 4 February 2007. ^Plane ban after 'crack' landing '' www.theage.com.au. Retrieved 28 February 2007.^"Indonesia eyes ageing planes". Television New Zealand. 28 February 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2011. ^Indonesia plans to reshuffle transportation ministry after accident: paper '' People's Daily Online. Retrieved 1 March 2007.^Indonesia may expand inspection of Boeing jets '' Accident prompts scrutiny of 737-300s '' seattlepi.nwsource.com. Retrieved 1 March 2007.^Adam Air braces for possible closure after string of plane accidents '' The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 16 March 2007.[dead link]^ ab"Take These Chains and Set me Free". Jakarta Post. Retrieved 22 March 2007. ^"All 54 Indonesian airlines told to raise safety standards". The Brunei Times. March 24, 2007. Retrieved 24 March 2007. ^Safety concerns ground 9 Indonesian airlines '' ABC News '' 26 June 2007 '' Retrieved 28 June 2007^FAA IASA Program^F.A.A. Downgrades Indonesian Air System '' The New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2007.^US Warns Against Flying Indonesian Airlines '' Aero-News '' 21 April 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2007^EU bans 'unsafe' airlines from flights to the continent '' The Guardian '' 28 June 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2007^EU bans all Indonesian airlines from its airspace[dead link]'' Reuters '' 28 June 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2007^Checks urged after passenger jet cracks on landing '' stuff.co.nz '' Published Saturday, 24 February 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2007.[dead link]^"Okezone: Rekaman Kotak Hitam Pesawat Adam Air". Video.okezone.com. Retrieved 28 October 2010. ^"RI may be in breach of ICAO regulation over "Adam Air" recording". The Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2010. ^Nograhany Widhi K (8 April 2008). "Detikcom: Rekaman Adam Air Dari Cockpit Bukan ATC". Retrieved 4 February 2014. ^"Adam Air recording 'not original'". The Jakarta Post. 4 August 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2014. ^"Three Oregonians aboard Indonesian plane that vanished". 3 January 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2013. External links[edit]Coordinates: 03°40'²44'"S118°09'²4'"E>> / >>3.67889°S 118.15111°E>> / -3.67889; 118.15111
- Incidents resulting in at least 50 deaths shown in italics Deadliest incident shown in Bold SmallCaps
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- Co-pilot of missing Malaysian Airlines jet once hosted me in cockpit for entire flight, claims woman | euronews,
- The co-pilot of the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft once invited two women into a plane's cockpit for the entire flight, it's been claimed.
- Jonti Roos, from South Africa, says Fariq Abdul Hamid entertained her and a friend while flying from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur in 2011.
- ''We were standing in line at the boarding gates with everybody else when the pilot and co-pilot walked past us, came back and asked us if we would like to sit with them in the cockpit during the flight, so obviously we said yes,'' she told Australian news programme A Current Affairs.
- Roos said that even though both pilots were friendly and gave them a lot of attention, she felt 'they were very competent in what they were doing'. But both, she said, were smoking throughout the flight.
- The blonde also said she did not want to imply that Hamid was to blame for anything that may have happened to the Malaysia Airlines flight.
- Roos said she was shocked to see Hamid's name among the list of those on the missing plane and her first reaction was to call her friend who had been on the flight with.
- Malaysia Airlines said in a statement: ''We have not been able to confirm the validity of the pictures and videos of the alleged incident. However, we urge the media and general public to respect the privacy of the families of our colleagues and passengers. It has been a difficult time for them.''
-
- Missing flight MH370: Co-pilot entertained Melbourne woman and friend on a previous international flight | The Mercury
- Appearing on A Current Affair, a former passenger talks of her meeting with co-pilot Fariq Ab Hamid from the missing Malaysian airlines plane MH370. Courtesy: ACA Nine Network
- Family members of missing Malaysia Airlines passengers on board MH370 vent their frustration at officials at Beijing Airport. Courtesy: The Straits Times.
- The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 baffles experts. Courtesy: FOX News
- Fun on the job ... Jaan Maree poses with co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid on a flight from Phuket to KL in December 2011. Picture: A Current AffairSource: Supplied
- Fingerprints from mystery passengers being analysedSearch area widened as still no sign of missing aircraftPolice release photo of one of the passengers on a stolen passport A CO-PILOT at the controls of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 invited a Melbourne tourist and her friend into the cockpit where he smoked, took photos and entertained the pair during a previous international flight.
- In a worrying lapse of security, it's been revealed pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid and his colleague broke Malaysia Airline rules when they invited passengers Jonti Roos and Jaan Maree to join them in the cabin for the one-hour flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur.
- Ms Roos, who is travelling around Australia, told A Current Affair she and Ms Maree posed for pictures with the pilots, who smoked cigarettes during the midair rendez-vous.
- ''Throughout the entire flight they were talking to us and they were actually smoking throughout the flight which I don't think they're allowed to do,'' Ms Roos said.
- Happy snap ... Jonti Roos and Jaan Maree with co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, right, in December 2011. Picture: A Current Affair.Source: Supplied
- ''At one stage they were pretty much turned around the whole time in their seats talking to us.
- ''They were so engaged in conversation that he took my friends hand and he was looking at her palm and said 'your hand is very creased. That means you're a very creative person' and commented on her nail polish.''
- Mr Hamid identified the South African natives as they waited in the boarding queue at Phuket airport in December 2011.
- As they took their seats on the aircraft, an air steward approached the women and invited them to join the pilots in the cockpit.
- Despite pictures exposing the gross misconduct of the distracted pilots, Ms Roos said she wasn't concerned for her safety.
- ''I did feel safe. I don't think there was one instance where I felt threatened or I felt that they didn't know what they were doing,'' she said.
- The whole time I felt they were very friendly. I felt they were very competent in what they were doing.
- Not camera shy ... Jonti Roos and Jaan Maree in the cockpit of a Malaysia Airlines flight from Phuket to KL in December 2011. Picture: A Current Affair.Source: Supplied
- ''We wished they (would) stop smoking because it is such a confined space. But you can't exactly tell a pilot to stop smoking.''
- The plucky pilots reportedly wanted Ms Roos and Ms Maree to change their travel arrangements and extend their stay in Kuala Lumpur and join them on a night on the town.
- Ms Roos said she was shocked to learn Mr Hamid was at the helm of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight.
- ''I thought it was crazy. I was just completely shocked. I couldn't believe it,'' she said.
- ''When I saw all his friends and family posting on his wall my heart really broke for them and my heart broke for the family of the passengers. It's just a really sad story.''
- Special access ... Jaan Maree in the cockpit of a Malaysia Airlines flight in December 2011. Picture: A Current Affair.Source: Supplied
- POLICE RELEASE IDENTITY OF ONE STOLEN PASSPORT HOLDER
- Malaysian police tonight revealed one of the passengers using a stolen passport on the missing jetliner was an Iranian asylum seeker.
- Police chief Tan Sri Khalid Tan Sri identified the man as Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad and said the 19-year-old boarded the plane on an Austrian passport whose owner had previously reported it stolen.
- He said police believed he was travelling to Germany.
- While the second passenger using a stolen passport has not been identified yet, Khalid added that he did not believe Mehrdad was involved in any terrorism-related activities.
- ''We believe he is not likely to be a member of any terror group and we believe he was trying to migrate to Germany,'' Malaysia's national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said.
- Revealed ... a Malaysian police official displays photographs of the two men who boarded the Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight using stolen European passports to the media.Source: AFP
- Asked why police believed this, Khalid said authorities had been in contact with his mother, who was waiting for him to reach Frankfurt, but he gave no further details.
- However, he said police were still considering all possibilities in terms of criminal involvement in the plane's disappearance, when asked whether police thought the revelation made them consider terrorism less likely in the case.
- DID FLIGHT MH370 STALL BEFORE CRASHING?
- ''At this moment, I would not say less likely. Same weightage to all until we finish our investigations,'' Khalid said.
- He also contradicted an earlier statement made by Malaysia's aviation chief that five people did not board the plane, saying they did not exist and everyone who booked a seat was on the flight.
- FISHERMAN SAW 'LOWFLYING LIGHTS'
- Authorities are also investigating several reports of locals claiming to have seen the lights of a low-flying aircraft in an area off the Malaysian coast, just below the Malay-Thai border.
- It is this area which is now included in the widened search area for missing Malaysia AirlinesFlight MH370.
- A fisherman who was in his boat at sea, says that at about 1.30am he saw the lights of a low-flying aircraft in the area of Kuala Besar.
- Azid Ibrahim told The Star newspaper in Malaysia that the plane was flying so low that the lights were ''as big as coconuts''.
- And another man, about 30km south of Kota Bharu, is reported to have seen ''bright white lights'' from what he thought was a fast-descending aircraft at about 1.45am on Saturday morning.
- He has since reported what he saw to authorities after seeing the lights from his home that evening.
- THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES OF MISSING FLIGHT MH370
- DESPERATE SEARCH FOR MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT MH370
- Malaysia Airlines said in a statement that the search and rescue teams (SAR) have expanded the scope beyond the flight path to the West Peninsular of Malaysia at the Straits of Malacca. The authorities are looking at a possibility of an attempt made by MH370 to turn back to Subang.
- The search sphere now includes land on the Malaysian peninsula itself, the waters off its west coast and an area to the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, an area far removed from flight MH370's scheduled route.
- The news of the search being widened comes as Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department said it had received a report from the crew of a Cathay Pacific plane flying from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur at about 3pm Saturday that more debris was spotted near Vung Tau, off southeast Vietnam, The South China Morning Post reports.
- It is not known if the debris is from the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft.
- Prayer ... Students in East China pray for the passengers from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. Picture: TwitterSource: Supplied
- As the search for the missing Boeing 777 continues into its fourth day, it also emerged that the aeroplane underwent maintenance on February 23, 12 days before it went missing bound for Beijing, China.
- ''The maintenance was conducted at the KLIA hangar and there were no issues on the health of the aircraft,'' Malaysia Airlines said. Its next check was due on June 19.
- In limbo ... Sarah Nor, 55, the mother of 34-year-old Norliakmar Hamid, a passenger on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.Source: AFP
- FINGERPRINTS BEING ANALYSED BY FBI
- In other news, fingerprints from the mystery passengers travelling on missing Flight MH370 with stolen passports are being analysed by the FBI as it emerged they were reportedly Iranians looking for a new life in Europe.
- The men are believed to have bought the fake travel documents because they were ''looking for a place to settle'' and it is thought their plane tickets were purchased in Thailand by an Iranian middleman known as ''Mr Ali''.
- The news came as officials reacted with scepticism to a claim of responsibility for the plane's disappearance from a previously unheard of Chinese terror group.
- READ MORE: SHADOWY GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY
- With authorities still scratching their heads about exactly what has happened to the Malaysia Airlines flight and conflicting information deepening the anguish of relatives, much of the focus of the investigation has fallen on those on board.
- Director-general of Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, revealed late last night that the two men travelling on stolen passports were not Asian-looking as had been earlier speculated.
- He said they had passed through all ''security protocols'' before boarding the flight, which disappeared with 239 passengers on board, including six Australians, in the early hours of Saturday en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
- Under pressure ... an official in Malaysia is besieged by journalists.Source: AP
- ''We have looked at the footage of the video and the photographs and it is confirmed now that they are not Asian-looking men,'' Mr Rahman told a press briefing in Kuala Lumpur.
- ''They have gone through screening, their baggage has been screened, their cabin baggage has been screened and they complied fully with the protocols of immigration security.''
- READ MORE: TEARS FLOW FOR MISSING AUSSIES
- The CCTV footage in question has reportedly been given to international security agencies and is expected to be released publicly at some stage.
- He said authorities were now investigating the possibility of a stolen passport syndicate but he would not be drawn on what the mystery men looked like.
- Initial reports that Mr Rahman had implied the men looked like African-Italian soccer star Mario Balotelli were clarified by Malaysia this afternoon.
- Officials pointed out that Mr Rahman was actually saying a person's appearance is not necessarily a reliable indicator of their nationality, using the footballer as an example.
- Balotelli is Italian, having been born in Italy to Ghanaian parents.
- Unwitting example ... AC Milan footballer Mario Balotelli.Source: AFP
- Two European names were on the passenger list for the missing flight but neither Christian Kozel, an Austrian, nor Luigi Maraldi from Italy, ever boarded the plane '-- instead two passengers used their passports, which had been stolen from the men in separate incidents in Thailand.
- A man who says he is a friend of the two unidentified passengers has now told how they were Iranian nationals who travelled to Kuala Lumpur from Tehran several days ago.
- According to London's Daily Telegraph, the unnamed friend told BBC Persia that the pair bought the stolen passports in the Malaysian capital as well as tickets to Amsterdam via Beijing.
- The BBC's Bahman KalbasiSource: Supplied
- One of the men wanted to eventually end up in Frankfurt, where his mother lives, while the other wanted to travel to Denmark.
- BBC Persia's UN correspondent Bahman Kalbasi said he was told the pair were ''looking for a place to settle''.
- READ MORE: RELATIVES CALL MOBILES OF PASSENGERS
- Malaysia and neighbouring Thailand, where the passports were originally stolen, host large and established Iranian communities.
- Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the duo's tickets had been arranged for by an Iranian known only as ''Mr Ali''. According to Thai police, his full name is Kazem Ali.
- A travel agent in Thailand told the newspaper that Mr Ali first asked her to book cheap tickets to Europe for the pair on March 1.
- The tickets expired before Mr Ali called her again last Thursday to rebook them on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. A friend of Mr Ali's paid cash for the tickets.
- Benjaporn Krutnait, owner of the Grand Horizon travel agency in Thailand, said she had known the Iranian for about three years and he had booked tickets through her agency before.
- There is no evidence Mr Ali knew the two men were travelling on stolen passports and, according to NBC News, he has come forward to authorities after learning they were under suspicion.
- He is currently believed to be in Iran.
- Authorities have made no comment on these reports but Thai police are thought to have visited two Pattaya travel agencies on Monday, who are believed to be involved in selling the tickets.
- ANALYSING THE INTELLIGENCE
- Malaysian authorities have released thumbprints of the pair that were taken at the airport check-in at Kuala Lumpur to intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world.
- ''They will compare that to what we have in our terrorist databases. These are lists of people on no-fly lists, people with possible terrorist connections, people we have reasons to be suspicious of,'' US lawmaker Peter King told CNN.
- ''We have these listings, and those names and those biometrics will be compared to those.''
- Images of the men has also been shared.
- READ MORE: WHY THE BLACK BOX WON'T HELP
- There has been no further update on the five passengers who checked in for flight MH370 but didn't board the plane. They had their luggage removed from the hold.
- Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said they were being investigated but he didn't say whether this was suspicious.
- Aviation industry figures said five passengers failing to board an international flight was not unusual.
- Searching ... Indonesian Navy pilots looking for the missing plane.Source: AP
- ''To have that many people '-- five to 10 '-- as no-shows is relatively common, particularly if they are connecting from elsewhere,'' they said.
- They said a passenger's failure to board can simply be the result of a late connecting flight, a missed connection or simply changing their mind. If anything, they said it was an increasing problem due to the popularity of online check-in, which allows a passenger to register their intention to board the flight up to several days ahead.
- While there has been a claim of responsibility of some kind for the disappearance of the flight by a shadowy group called the Chinese Martyrs' Brigade, officials are sceptical and have said it could be a hoax.
- The group '-- unheard of before now '-- on Sunday sent an email to journalists across China that read: ''You kill one of our clan, we will kill 100 of you as payback,'' but the message provided no other details.
- Prayers ... candles are lit in Kuala Lumpur to send a message of hope.Source: AP
- Thailand's role as a hub for criminal networks using false documents is now in the spotlight after the stolen passports sparked fears of a terror attack.
- The revelation has triggered a probe by Malaysian authorities, who are working with other intelligence agencies including the FBI.
- READ MORE: DAUGHTER'S TWEETS TO MISSING FATHER
- ''Thailand has been used by some international terrorist groups as a zone of operation, to raise funds or to plan attacks,'' said Rommel Banlaoi, an analyst on terrorism in South-East Asia.
- In 2010, two Pakistanis and a Thai woman were arrested in Thailand on suspicion of making false passports for al Qaeda-linked groups, as part of an international operation linked to the 2008 attacks in Mumbai and the Madrid train bombings in 2004.
- In shock ... relatives of passengers from the missing flight in Beijing.Source: AFP
- But Banlaoi stressed that the false passports used on the Malaysia flight ''could also be linked to other criminal activities, like illegal immigration''.
- ''Thailand is a destination for international crime organisations who use it to secure travel documents, financial documents,'' a Thai intelligence source said.
- READ MORE: STOLEN PASSPORTS REVEAL SECURITY LOOPHOLE
- ''It's not just linked to terrorism but to other crimes. It's a complex network, connected to other networks.''
- TRACKING STOLEN PASSPORTS TRAIL
- The intricate web of clues surrounding the stolen passports includes Thais and foreigners, passport thieves, counterfeiters, intermediaries and clients, Banlaoi said.
- Thai police have announced an investigation into a possible passport racket on the resort island of Phuket '-- Maraldi's passport was stolen there in 2013 and Kozel's on a flight from Phuket to Bangkok, according to authorities in Vienna.
- Message of hope ... a poster carrying words of support for the passengers.Source: AFP
- Flight information seen by the AFP news agency shows that two tickets in Kozel and Maraldi's names were issued in Pattaya, a beach resort south of Bangkok, on March 6, 2014, and were paid for in Thai baht.
- READ MORE: PASSENGER LIST A RICH HUMAN TAPESTRY
- Geographically well-placed and with a major international airport, Thailand is best known for being a hub for drug and wildlife trafficking, including elephant ivory from Africa.
- But it also supplies documents to illegal immigrants moving within or passing through the region.
- The route of the two unknown MH370 passengers '-- from Kuala Lumpur via Beijing then on to Europe '-- was ''a typical path'' for illegal immigrants, one diplomatic source said, adding that a large proportion of passports stolen from tourists in Thailand were then used for illegal immigration.
- ''They (the passports) are genuine, so they find someone who looks like the owner, or they falsify the first page,'' the source said.
- The ease with which police officials can be paid off also helped the industry to thrive.
- ''The police can turn a blind eye if you have the money,'' he added.
- New scope ... Mr Rahman briefs the media with the latest.Source: Getty Images
- The search effort for the missing plane, involving at least 34 aircraft and 40 ships from several countries, has been widened to a 100-nautical mile (185-kilometre) radius from the point the plane vanished from radar screens between Malaysia and Vietnam early Saturday with no distress signal.
- READ MORE: THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES
- Despite their best efforts, search teams have so far failed to find any trace of actual debris.
- Laboratory analysis of oil samples from slicks spotted in the days after the disappearance showed they were not from the Malaysia Airlines jet but were a type of fuel used by ships, the Maritime Enforcement Agency said in Kuala Lumpur.
- The area became a focus for frantic international search efforts for the Boeing 777 after large tongues of oil were found in the water on Saturday, hours after the plane dropped off the radar.
- In a day of conflicting information which deepened relatives' anguish, initial reports of debris off southern Vietnam were ruled out, before an aircraft spotted another object which appeared to be a life raft.
- Malaysia said it was sending ships to investigate the raft sighting, but a Vietnamese vessel that got there first found only flotsam in the busy shipping lane.
- Vigil ... people in Kuala Lumpur are praying for a miracle.Source: AFP
- ''When we reached the site we recovered only a mouldy cable reel cover,'' Vietnamese army deputy chief of staff Vo Vo Tuan said.
- ''I think there was only one suspect floating object there,'' he said, conceding the amount of rubbish floating in the sea made it hard to be ''100 per cent sure'' the ship had reached the location of the reported raft.
- Boeing has joined an official US team investigating the disappearance, saying it would act as technical adviser to the US National Transportation Safety Board team already in South-East Asia to offer assistance.
- A satellite imaging company from the US has even asked for public help in analysing high-resolution images for any sign of the missing airliner.
- Passport fears ... a passenger checks in at a Malaysia Airlines counter in Beijing.Source: AP
- Central Queensland University aviation expert Ron Bishop said the continuing lack of debris from the jet pointed towards the aircraft hitting the water intact.
- He said that if the aircraft broke up at a cruising altitude, he would expect evidence of items from the plane floating over a 15-20km expanse of ocean.
- ''If it exploded midair, all the seat cushions would float, paper, magazines, anything made out of paper or wood would float,'' he said.
- ''If it impacted the water in one piece, it possibly impacted at a high speed that drove everything into the water and meant that nothing floated out. And if it did, it would just be small stuff.''
- ''It could be like the Titanic and drill right into the water.''
- He said this might have trapped any remaining oil within the aircraft. However, if it did leak out, it could easily be carried away on the current, leaving little trace of the aircraft.
- ''It's pretty spooky when this happens and is particularly upsetting for the families who just want to know what occurred,'' he said.
- ''It becomes like Bermuda Triangle stuff.''
- While suggesting it was very unlikely the Boeing 777 crashed on land, Mr Bishop said it was possible.
-
- MISSING MAS FLIGHT: M'sian fishermen report seeing lights 'falling at high speed' - ANN
- Publication Date : 11-03-2014
- The authorities in Kelantan, north peninsula Malaysia, have their hands full after receiving at least two reports from the public that they saw an aircraft flying low on the same day Malaysian Airlines MH370 vanished.
- In his report, the owner of a fishing boat claimed that he saw an airplane flying low while he was at sea with a friend about 14.4km from Kuala Besar in Pantai Cahaya Bulan here at 1:30am on Saturday.
- Azid Ibrahim, 66, said the aircraft was heading towards international waters.
- According to him, the plane was flying so low that he could see the lights ''as big as coconuts''.
- He said he saw the aircraft with his friend Pak De while five other anglers were asleep in the boat.
- In a report which appeared on a local English news portal, a man in Ketereh, 30km south of Kota Baru, claimed that he saw ''bright white lights'' which he believed to be that of an aircraft descending at high speed at 1:45am the same day the jetliner went missing.
- Businessman Alif Fathi Abdul Hadi, 29, said he was in the compound of his home when he saw the aircraft flying low, heading for Bachok and descending fast.
- He said he only found out about the missing jetplane the next day and decided to lodge a report at the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency office in Tok Bali late Sunday evening.
-
- Federal Register | Special Conditions: Boeing Model 777-200, -300, and -300ER Series Airplanes; Aircraft Electronic System Security Protection From Unauthorized Internal Access
- Final Special Conditions.
- These special conditions are issued for the Boeing Model 777-200, -300, and -300ER series airplanes. These airplanes, as modified by the Boeing Company, will have novel or unusual design features associated with the architecture and connectivity of the passenger service computer network systems to the airplane critical systems and data networks. This onboard network system will be composed of a network file server, a network extension device, and additional interfaces configured by customer option. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.
- Effective Date: The effective date of these special conditions is November 18, 2013.
- Varun Khanna, FAA, Airplane and Flight Crew Interface Branch, ANM-111, Transport Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton, Washington 98057-3356; telephone 425-227-1298; facsimile 425-227-1149.
- On August 21, 2012, The Boeing Company applied for a change to Type Certificate No. T00001SE Rev. 30 dated June 6, 2012 for installation of an onboard network system, associated line replaceable units (LRUs) and additional software functionality in the Boeing Model 777-200, -300, and -300ER Series Airplanes. The Boeing Model 777-200 airplanes are long-range, wide-body, twin-engine jet airplanes with a maximum capacity of 440 passengers. The Boeing Model 777-300 and 777-300ER series airplanes have a maximum capacity of 550 passengers. The Model 777-200, -300, and -300ER series airplanes have fly-by-wire controls, software-configurable avionics, and fiber-optic avionics networks.
- The proposed architecture is novel or unusual for commercial transport airplanes by enabling connection to previously isolated data networks connected to systems that perform functions required for the safe operation of the airplane. This proposed data network and design integration may result in security vulnerabilities from intentional or unintentional corruption of data and systems critical to the safety and maintenance of the airplane. The existing regulations and guidance material did not anticipate this type of system architecture or electronic access to aircraft systems. Furthermore, regulations and current system safety assessment policy and techniques do not address potential security vulnerabilities, which could be caused by unauthorized access to aircraft data buses and servers.
- Under Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) 21.17, The Boeing Company must show that the Model 777-200, -300, and -300ER series airplanes meet the applicable provisions of 14 CFR part 25, as amended by Amendments 25-1 through 25-128.
- If the Administrator finds that the applicable airworthiness regulations (i.e., 14 CFR part 25) do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for the Boeing Model 777-200, -300, and -300ER series airplanes because of a novel or unusual design feature, special conditions are prescribed under § 21.16.
- Special conditions are initially applicable to the model for which they are issued. Should the type certificate for that model be amended later to include any other model that incorporates the same novel or unusual design feature, the proposed special conditions would also apply to the other model under § 21.101.
- In addition to the applicable airworthiness regulations and proposed special conditions, the Boeing Model 777-200, -300, and -300ER series airplanes must comply with the fuel vent and exhaust emission requirements of 14 CFR part 34 and the noise certification requirements of 14 CFR part 36 and the FAA must issue a finding of regulatory adequacy under § 611 of 92, the ''Noise Control Act of 1972.''
- The FAA issues special conditions, as defined in 14 CFR 11.19, under § 11.38, and they become part of the type-certification basis under § 21.17(a)(2).
- The Boeing Model 777-200, -300, -300ER series airplanes will incorporate the following novel or unusual design features: An onboard computer network system, and a network extension device. The network extension device will improve domain separation between the airplane information services domain and the aircraft control domain. The proposed architecture and network configuration may be used for, or interfaced with, a diverse set of functions, including:
- 1. Flight-safety related control and navigation systems,
- 2. Operator business and administrative support (operator information services),
- 3. Passenger information systems, and,
- 4. Access by systems internal to the airplane.
- The integrated network configurations in the Boeing Model 777-200, -300, and -300ER series airplanes may enable increased connectivity with external network sources and will have more interconnected networks and systems, such as passenger entertainment and information services than previous airplane models. This may enable the exploitation of network security vulnerabilities and increased risks potentially resulting in unsafe conditions for the airplanes and occupants. This potential exploitation of security vulnerabilities may result in intentional or unintentional destruction, disruption, degradation, or exploitation of data and systems critical to the safety and maintenance of the airplane. The existing regulations and guidance material did not anticipate these types of system architectures. Furthermore, 14 CFR regulations and current system safety assessment policy and techniques do not address potential security vulnerabilities which could be exploited by unauthorized access to airplane networks and servers. Therefore, these special conditions are being issued to ensure that the security (i.e., confidentiality, integrity, and availability) of airplane systems is not compromised by unauthorized wired or wireless electronic connections between the airplane information services domain, aircraft control domain, and the passenger entertainment services.
- For the reasons discussed above, these special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.
- As discussed above, these special conditions are applicable to the Boeing Model 777-200, -300, -300ER series airplanes. Should The Boeing Company apply at a later date for a change to the type certificate to include another model on the same type certificate incorporating the same novel or unusual design feature, the special conditions would apply to that model as well.
- This action affects only certain novel or unusual design features on Boeing Model 777-200, -300, -300ER series airplanes. It is not a rule of general applicability.
- The substance of these special conditions has been subjected to the notice and comment period in several prior instances and has been derived without substantive change from those previously issued. It is unlikely that prior public comment would result in a significant change from the substance contained herein. Therefore, the FAA has determined that prior public notice and comment are unnecessary, and good cause exists for adopting these special conditions upon publication in the Federal Register.
- The authority citation for these special conditions is as follows:
- 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113, 44701, 44702, 44704.
- Accordingly, pursuant to the authority delegated to me by the Administrator, the following special conditions are issued as part of the type certification basis for Boeing Model 777-200, -300, -300ER series airplanes modified by The Boeing Company.
- 1. The applicant must ensure that the design provides isolation from, or airplane electronic system security protection against, access by unauthorized sources internal to the airplane. The design must prevent inadvertent and malicious changes to, and all adverse impacts upon, airplane equipment, systems, networks, or other assets required for safe flight and operations.
- 2. The applicant must establish appropriate procedures to enable the operator to ensure that continued airworthiness of the aircraft is maintained, including all post STC modifications that may have an impact on the approved electronic system security safeguards.
- Acting Manager, Transport Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service.
- [FR Doc. 2013-27343 Filed 11-15-13; 8:45 am]
-
- Malaysia Airlines plane 'turned back and flew across the Malay peninsula' | world | theguardian.com
- The mystery of the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft deepened on Tuesday, as a senior military official suggested it had not only turned around but flown back across the Malay peninsula.
- Flight MH370 was bound for Beijing when it vanished in the early hours of Saturday morning with 239 people on board. Until Tuesday, the last known contact with the flight was thought to be around 1.20am '' 40 minutes after take-off from Kuala Lumpur '' after the plane had crossed Malaysia's east coast and was flying over the South China Sea towards Vietnam.
- But air force chief Tan Sri Rodzali Daud said the plane was detected at 2.40am near Pulau Perak, an island in the Malacca Strait, several hundred kilometres north of Kuala Lumpur.
- "After that, the signal from the plane was lost," he told the Berita Harian, a Malay-language newspaper.
- An unnamed military official told Reuters news agency: "It changed course after Kota Bharu [on the east coast] and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Malacca Strait."
- Pilots are supposed to inform their airlines and air traffic control if they change course. MH370 never did so; nor did it issue a distress call.
- It is unclear why the west coast contact, if correct, was not made public until now. Asked on Monday why crews were searching the strait, the country's civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told reporters: "There are some things that I can tell you and some things that I can't."
- Malaysian officials have given ambiguous, inaccurate and at times directly contradictory information since the aircraft's disappearance, raising concerns about the response among families of the passengers.
- Authorities did not discuss why the aircraft might have turned around. One possibility is that it ran into unspecified difficulties and the crew judged it better to return to an airport that they knew well.
- The head of the international police agency said terrorism seemed a less likely possibility as the expanding hunt for the aircraft entered its fourth day.
- "The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it is not a terrorist incident," said Ronald Noble of Interpol. He added that the two Iranian passengers travelling on stolen passports were unlikely to have been terrorists.
- Malaysian authorities have said their minds remain open to all possibilities. The inspector-general of police said officers were examining whether hijacking, sabotage or the crew and passengers' personal or psychological problems could be responsible.
- "Other than mechanical problems, these are the main areas of concern," said Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.
- Asked what he might mean by personal problems, he gave the example of someone who had bought a large insurance policy which would benefit family members. He did not specify what he meant by psychological issues, but some aviation specialists have cited the example of the Egypt Air crash in 1990. The disaster was widely ascribed to pilot suicide, although Egypt never accepted that finding.
- Asked about the plane at an event in Washington, John Brennan, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said terrorism could not be ruled out.
- Dan Macchiarella, chair of the aeronautical science department at Embry Riddle Aviation University in Daytona Beach, Florida, noted that if a jet at such a high altitude experienced engine problems, it might still be able to glide "for a very, very long distance", given the altitude and speed involved.
- But he added: "It's pretty baffling: whatever happened on that flight deck, the pilots did not do what pilots do. They aviate, they navigate and they communicate. If something happens at altitude, the first thing they want to do is ... squawk emergency."
- His colleague Les Westbrooks, an associate professor of aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle, said it was possible but highly unlikely that the radio systems had failed. He said he suspected catastrophic failure and doubted that the aircraft turned around, because if it had time to do so it would have had time to make a radio call.
- He added that it was possible something happened but the pilots maintained control initially, "continuing on to try to land in possibly Vietnam or somewhere else... [and] then the situation got worse".
- If the plane did turn and reach the Strait of Malacca then the transponder, which should communicate with civil radar, does not appear to have been working. Experts say it is highly unusual for the device simply to fail, but that it might do so if the antenna outside the plane was damaged.
- Another possibility is that the crew turned it off for unknown reasons.
- "If the crew knew that they were flying in a non-radar environment, they might very well turn the transponders off. Not necessarily that that's standard operating procedure '' but they're up there, [they might just think] nobody's interrogating this; let's just turn it off," he said, suggesting the crew could have sought "to save wear and tear on the electronics".
- The other possibility is that the plane simply blew up at the last point where its transponder communicated with the radar, he said.
- The west coast reading was on military radar, which does not rely on communicating with a transponder as civilian radar does. That may explain the uncertainty over whether MH370 was detected or not.
- "The military radar sends out a signal and paints a skin '' it gets the type, speed and altitude of the aircraft," noted Macchiarella.
- In addition to the multinational effort to search expanded areas of sea off both the east and west coasts of the Malay peninsula, the hunt for clues has spread to land.
- Malaysia Airlines said authorities were searching the Malaysian peninsula, while the Vietnamese military said its units were hunting for any sign that the aircraft might have crashed into remote mountains or uninhabited jungle areas in its territory.
- Around two-thirds of the 227 passengers on board were Chinese. Family members waiting at a hotel in Beijing were still clinging to hope, despite being warned to prepare for the worst.
- "I hope it is a hijacking, then there will be some hope that my young cousin has survived," one man told AFP news agency. "My uncle and aunt had an emotional breakdown: they are not eating, drinking and sleeping and could not face coming here."
- Malaysia Airlines said in a statement: "We regret and empathise with the families and we will do whatever we can to ensure that all basic needs, comfort and psychological support are delivered. We are as anxious as the families to know the status of their loved ones."
-
- Emergency Transponder Squawk Codes
- One of the biggest falters in emergencies is the pilots failure to properly communicate the emergency. Knowing the emergency transpondersquawk codes can help ATC evaluate your situation and notify help sooner or aid in getting you to the nearest airport.
- Below are the 3 squawk codes every pilot should commit to memory:
- 7500 '' Hijack7600 '' Lost Comm (radio failure)7700 '' Emergency
- An easy way to remember this: 75 taken alive, 76 technical glitch, 77 going to heaven.
- Tagged as: Flight Training
-
- SXSW
-
- 2 Dead, 23 Injured in SXSW Car Accident | Music News | Rolling Stone
- Two people were killed and 23 others injured at South by Southwest Thursday morning after a car drove through a temporary barricade set up for the festival, Austin police confirmed to Rolling Stone.
- The accident occurred at 12:30 a.m. Austin time on the corner of E. 10th St. and Red River St. after the driver, a lone male whose name has not been released, hit multiple people on the busy street set up for a House of Vans show at The Mohawk.
- Lt. Brian Moon of Austin Police Department told Rolling Stone that a Vehicular Homicide Unit and DWI Unit are investigating the driver for driving under the influence. At a press conference held shortly after the incident, Art Acevedo, Austin chief of police, said the suspect was currently in custody and will be charged with two counts of capital murder and 23 counts of aggravated assault.
- The incident started after a police officer began checking for DWIs. The suspect, fearing arrest, weaved his silver Toyota sedan through a gas station and sped off, driving the wrong way down a one-way street. The officer turned on his lights and pursued the suspect. A second officer stationed at a nearby barricade was forced to move to avoid being struck by the suspect, who proceeded to further accelerate, drive through the barricade and strike multiple pedestrians.
- The suspect continued driving "at a high rate of speed" for two blocks before hitting a taxi and two people on a moped. The two moped passengers, one male and one female, were pronounced dead on the scene. Austin police said they will not release the identities of the deceased until further notice.
- The suspect exited his car after running over the moped and proceeded to flee on foot, where he was apprehended and tased by an Austin police officer before being taken into custody.
- "As a result of this person's reckless and willful disregard for the safety of the people, we have two individuals who are now dead," Acevedo said. The entire incident lasted under two minutes.
- Moon said the 21 victims transported to local hospitals have injuries ranging from "minor to critical." Most of the victims were pedestrians, though two people in a taxi were also hospitalized. "This is extremely unusual," says Moon. "There have been some very rare instances of vehicles striking pedestrians in the entertainment area, but this is the first time it's ever affected a SXSW event."
- Inside the Mohawk, veteran punk band X were halfway through their set when the accident occurred. When management first told the crowd that there had been an incident outside, some people laughed, thinking it was a joke. The audience was initially told they could stay, but the room quickly evacuated. One Rolling Stone writer who was at the Mohawk heard an audience member telling friends that he saw bodies flying in the air.
- Outside, a crowd of people had been waiting on line for Tyler, the Creator's set, which was subsequently cancelled in light of the accident. Tyler tweeted after the accident, "Show Isnt Happening, Something Sad Happened. I'm Bummed. Fuckk man." "We had a large crowd," said Acevedo. "I just thank God that a lot of the folks had already been pushed on the sidewalk or this could have been a lot worse."
- "We do these events very well," Acevedo added. "But you cannot stop a person who decides, rather than face potential drunk driving charges, to continue at a high rate of speed, go around a uniformed officer forcing him to run out of the way, then at a high rate of speed show total disregard for the sanctity of human life."
- Asked if the pursuit policy had contributed to the accident in any way, Acevedo replied, "There is only one person who's responsible for this."
- Austin police are asking any witnesses to the crime to call them at 512-974-5186 or e-mail at police3@austintexas.gov.
- Additional reporting by Gavin Edwards.
-
- Drunk Googlers Are the New Popular Kids
- Austin, TX '-- Strip away the pretension of the panels, and SXSW is pure leisure time. This rowdy crew swapped contraband wine bottles through the end of the night at one of this week's high budget parties, commanding the room, Google lanyards swinging. Now just think: soon every bar will look just like this.
-
- SnowJob
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The message is: ecryption and proxies=crappy quality
-
- Edward Snowden SXSW: Full Transcription and Video '-- [ INSIDE ]
- As a service to the public and fellow news junkies, we transcribed Snowden's SXSW conversation today. For the Inside live blog, including video clips, click here.
- Ben Wizner: Okay. I think we'll get started. There wasn't a lot of applause when we came on stage. I guess you are here to see somebody else. My name is Ben Wizner I'm joined by my colleague Chris Soghoian from the ACLU. And maybe we can bring up on screen the main attraction.
- Ben: With his very clever green screen. Please bear with us today. The technology may have some kinks. The video may be a little bit choppy. Our friend is appearing through seven proxys so if the video is a little slow - you are joining us for the event that one member of Congress from the great state of Kansas hoped would not occur. He wrote to the organizers of SXSW urging them to rescind the invitation to Mr. Snowden. The letter included this very curious line, ''The ACLU would surely concede that freedom of expression for Mr. Snowden has declined since he departed American soil.'' Now no one disputes that freedom of expression is stronger here than there but if there is one person for whom that is not true, it's Ed Snowden. If he were here in the United States he would be in a solitary cell subject to special administrative measures that would prevent him from communicating to the public and participate in the historic debate that he helped launch. We are really delighted to be here.
- One more bit of housekeeping as I'm sure most of you know you can ask questions for Mr. Snowden on Twitter using the hashtag asksnowden some group of people back stage will decide which of these questions we see here and will try to leave at least 20 minutes or so for those questions.
- As I said, Ed Snowden's revelations and courageous journalism of people like Bart Gellman who you heard and Glen Greenwald, Poitras and others has really launched an extraordinary global debate. You might think of that debate as occurring over two tracks. There is a debate in Washington in the halls of power about law and policy about what democratic controls we need to rein in NSA spying. That takes place in courts that are considering the legality, the constitutionality of these programs in the legislature considering legislation. There is a very different conversation that you hear in conference rooms in technology companies. Particularly among people working on security issues. And those people are talking less about the warrant requirement for meta data and more about why the hell the NSA is systematically undermining common encryption standards that we all use. Why is the NSA targeting telecommunications companies, internet companies, hacking them to try to steal their customer data. Basically manufacturing vulnerabilities to poke holes in the communication systems that we all rely on. We are hoping to mostly focus on that latter conversation here and with that in mind, Ed, if you're with us maybe you could say a few words about why you chose for your first public remarks to speak to the technology community rather than say the policy community in Washington.
- Ed: Well, thank you for the introduction. I will say SXSW and the technology community - people who are in the room in Austin they are the folks that really fix things who can enforce our rights for technical standards. Even when Congress hadn't yet gotten to the point of creating legislation to protect our rights in the same manner. When we think about what is happening at the NSA for the past decade ________ the result has been an adversarial internet. Sort of global free fire zone for governments that is nothing that we ever asked for. It is not what we want. It is something that we need to protect against. We think about the policies that have been advanced the sort of erosion of ______amendment protections the proactive seizure of communications. There is a policy response that needs to occur. There is also a technical response that needs to occur. It is the development community that can really craft the solutions and make sure we aresafe.
- The NSA the sort of global mass surveillance that is occurring in all of these countries. Not just the US it is important to remember that this is a global issue. They are setting fire to the future of the internet. The people who are in this room now you guys are all the firefighters and we need you to help us fix this.
- Ben: You heard Ed say the NSA offensive mass surveillance the manufacturing of vulnerabilities is setting fire to the future of the internet. Do you want to comment on that?
- Chris: Sure. So many of the communications tools that we all rely on are not as secure as they could be. Particularly for the apps and services that are made by small companies and small groups of developers security is often an afterthought if it is a thought at all. And really what that has done is enable global passive surveillance by the US but by other governments too. What I think has been the most lasting impression for me from the last eight months is the fact the real technical problems the NSA seems to have are not how do we get people's communications but how do we deal with the massive amount of communication data that we are collecting. The actual collection problem doesn't seem to be a bottleneck for the NSA. That is because so many of the services that we are all relying on are not secure by default. I really think for this audience one of the things we should be thinking about and hopefully taking home is we need to lock things down. We need to make services secure out of the box and that is going to require a rethink by developers. It is going to require the developers to start to think about security early on rather than later on down the road.
- Ben: Let me pick up on that. Ed, you submitted written testimony last week to the European Parliament. I want to quote a very short part of that and have you elaborate on it. You said in connection with mass surveillance the good news is that there are solutions. The weakness of mass surveillance is that it can very easily be made much more expensive through changes in technical standards. What kind of changes were you talking about and how can we ensure that we make mass surveillance more expensive and less practical?
- Ed: The primary challenge that mass surveillance faces from any agency and any government in the world is not just how do you collect the communications as they cross the wires and find their way through the network, but how do you interpret them? How do you understand? How do you _____back down and analyze them? And ____ at least the easiest to _____ basis by encryption. There are two methods of encryption that are generally used. One is deeply problematic. One of those is what is called key _____ it is sort of what we are using with like Google type services ____ type services right now where I encrypt a video chat and I send it to Google. Google decrypts it and re-encrypts it to you guys. End to end encryption where it is from my computer directly to your computer makes mass surveillance impossible at the network level without a encrypting _____ and they are very expensive. By doing end to end encryption you force what they are called ______ global passive adversaries to go for the end points that is the ____ computers. And the result of that is a constitutional, more carefully overseeing sort of intelligence gathering model. Where if they want to gather somebody's communications they have to target them specifically. They can't just target everybody all the time and then when they want to read your stuff they go back in a time machine and say what did they say you know in 2006. They can't pitch exploits in every computer in the world without getting caught. That is the value of end to end encryption and that is what we need to be thinking about. We need to go how can we enforce those protections in a simple, cheap, effective way that is invisible to users. I think that is the ____.
- Ben: Chris, one of the problems with end to end encryption is that many of us get email service from advertising companies that need to be able to read the emails in order to serve us targeted ads. But what are steps that even a company like Google that is an advertising company but companies like that can do to make mass surveillance more difficult? Are there things or do we need new business models to accomplish what Ed is talking about?
- Chris: In the last eight months the big Silicon Valley technology companies have really improved their security in a way that was surprising to many of us who have been urging them for years to do so. It took Yahoo - Yahoo was kicking and screaming the whole way but they finally turned on SSL encryption in January of this year after Bart Gellman and Ashkan Sholtani shamed them on the front page of the Washington Post. The companies have locked things down but only in a certain way. They have secured the connection between your computer and Google's server or Yahoo's server or Facebook's server, which means that governments now have to go through Google or Facebook or Microsoft to get your data. Instead of getting it with AT&T's help or Verizon's help or Comcast's or any party that watches the data as it goes over the network. I think it is going to be difficult for these companies to offer truly end to end encrypted service simply because it conflicts with their business model. Google wants to sit between you and everyone you interact with and provide some kind of added value. Whether that added value is advertising or some kind of information mining. Improved experience telling you when there are restaurants nearby where you can meet your friends. They want to be in that connection with you and that makes it difficult to secure those connections.
- Ben: Is this the right time for a shout out to Google that is in this conversation with us right now?
- Chris: So loo the irony that we are using Google Hangouts to talk to Ed Snowden has not been lost on me or uh our team here. And I should be clear - we are not getting any advertising support from Google here. The fact is that the tools that exist to enable secure end to end encrypted video conferencing are not very polished and particularly when you are having a conversation with someone who is in Russia and who is bouncing his connection through several proxies the secure communications tools tend to break. This in fact I think reflects the state of - the state of play with many services. You have to choose between a service that is easy to use and reliable and polished or a tool that is highly secure and impossible for the average person to use. I think that reflects the fact that the services that are used by large companies with the resources to put 100 developers on the user interface those are the ones that are not optimized for security and the tools that are designed with security as the first goal are typically made by independent developers and activists and hobbyists and they are typically tools made by geeks for geeks.
- What that means is the regular users have to pick. They have to pick between a service they cannot figure out how to use or a service that is bundled with their phone or bundled with their laptop and works out of the box. And of course rational people choose the insecure tools because they are the ones that come with the devices they buy and work and are easy for people to figure out.
- Ben: Let's bring Ed back into this. In a way, this whole affair began with Glenn Greenwald not being able to use PGP which is somewhat of a joke in the tech community, but really not outside of the tech community. PGP is not easy to install. It is not easy to use. Using Tor, using Tails I feel like I need new IT support in my office just to be able to do this work. So you know you are addressing an audience that includes a lot of young technologists. Is there a call to arms for people to make this stuff more useable so that not only technologists can use it?
- Ed: There is. I think we are actually seeing a lot of progress being made here. Whisper systems _____ of the world are focusing on new user experience, new UIs and basically ways for us to interact with cryptographic tools. This is the way it should be. What happens ____ the user it happens by default. We want secure services that aren't opt in. It has to pass the Greenwald test. Any journalist in the world gets an email from somebody saying hey I have something the public might want to know about they need to be able to open it. They need to be able to access that information. They need ____ communications whether they are a journalist or an activist. This is something that people need to be able to access. The way we interact right now is not good. If you have to go to the command line people aren't going to use it. If you have to go three menus deep people aren't going to use it. It has to be out there. It has to happen automatically. It has to happen seamlessly. And that is ____.
- Ben: Who are we talking to now, Chris? Are we talking to technology companies? Are we talking to foundations to support the development of more usable security? Are we talking to developers? Who is the audience for this call to arms?
- Chris: I think the audience is everyone. But we should understand that most regular people are not going to go out and download an obscure encryption app. Most people are going to use the tools that they already have. That means that they are going to be using Facebook or Google or Skype. A lot of our work goes into pressuring those companies to protect their users. In January of 2010 Google turned on SSL. The lock icon on your web browser. They turn it on by default for Gmail and it previously had been available. It was available through an obscure setting. The 13 of 13 - 13 of 13th configuration options. Of course no one had turned it on. When Google turned that option on suddenly they made passive bulk surveillance of their users communications far more difficult for intelligence agencies. They did so without requiring that their users take any steps. One day their users just logged into their mail and it was secure. That is what we need. We need services to be building security in by default and enabled without any advanced configuration.
- That doesn't mean that small developers cannot play a role. There are going to be hot new communications tools. WhatsApp basically came out of nowhere a few years ago. What I want is for the next WhatsApp or next Twitter to be using encrypted end to end communications. This can be made easy to use. This can be made useable but you need to put a team of user experience developers on this. You need to optimize. You need to make it easy for the average person. If you are a start up and you are working on something bare in mind that it is going to be more difficult for the incumbents to deliver secure communications to their users because their business models are built around advertising supported services. You can more effectively and more easily deploy these services than they can. I think if you are looking for an angle here I think we are slowly getting to the point where telling your customers hey, $5.00 a month for encrypted communications no one can watch you. I think that is something that many consumers may be willing to pay for.
- Ed: If I could actually ____ on that real quick. One of the things I would say to a large company is not that you can't collect any data it is that you should only collect the data and hold it for as long as necessary for the operation of the business. Recently _____ one of the security ____ hacked and they actually stole my passport my passport and my registration forms and posted them to the internet when they faced the site. Now I submitted those forms back in 2010. Why were those still on a web facing server? Was it still necessary for business? That is a good example of why these things need a job. Whether you are Google or Facebook you can do these things in a responsible way where you can still get the value out of these that you need to run your business. _____ without the users ____.
- Ben: So we didn't have great audio here on that response, but what Ed was saying is that even companies whose business models rely on them to collect and aggregate data you don't need to store it indefinitely once his primary use had been accomplished. His example was that some company was hacked and they found some of his data from four years ago. That clearly there was no business reason for them to still to be holding onto.
- Let's switch gears a little bit. Last week, Ed, General Keith Alexander who heads the NSA testified that he believes that the disclosures of the last eight months have weakened the country's cyber defenses. Some people might think there is a pot and a kettle problem coming from him but what was your response to that testimony?
- Ed: So it is very interesting to see officials like Keith Alexander talking about damage that has been done to the defense of our communications. Because more than anything there have been two officials in America who have harmed our internet security and actually our national security so much of our country's economic success is based on our intellectual property. It is based on our ability to create and share and communicate and compete. Now those two officials are Michael Hayden and Keith Alexander, two directors of the National Security Agency in the post 9/11 era who made a very specific change. That is they elevated offensive operations that is attacking over the defense of our communications. They began ____ the protections of our communications. This is a problem for one primary reason - that is America has more to lose than everyone else when an Attack ______ when you are the one country in the world that has sort of a vault that is more full than anyone else's it doesn't make sense because if you attack it all day you never defended ______ and it makes even less sense when the standards for vaults worldwide to have a backdoor anyone can walk into. When he says these things have weakened national security no these are improving our national security. These are improving our national security. These are improving the communications not just around _____but everyone in the world because we rely on the same standards. We rely on the ability to trust our communications. Without that we don't have anything. Our economy cannot succeed.
- Ben: Chris, Richard Clarke testified a few weeks back it is more important for us to defend ourselves against attacks from China than to attack China using our cyber tools. I don't think everybody understands there is any tension whatsoever with those two goals. Why are they in opposition to each other.
- Chris: As a country we have public officials testifying in Washington saying that cyber security is now the greatest threat this country faces. Greater than terrorism. We have had both the director of the FBI and the director of National Intelligence say this in testimony to Congress. I think it is probably true that we face some sort of cyber security threat. I think that our systems are not as safe as they could be and we are all vulnerable to compromise in one way or another. What is clear is that this government isn't really doing anything to keep us secure and safe. This is a government that has prioritized for offense rather than defense. You know, if there were 100% increase in murders in Baltimore next year the chief of police of Baltimore would be fired. If there were a 100% increase in phishing attacks successful phishing attacks where people's credit card numbers get stolen, no one gets fired. As a country we have basically been left to ourselves. Every individual person is left to fend for themselves online and our government has been hoarding information about information security vulnerabilities. In some cases there was a disclosure in the New York Times a report in the New York Times last fall revealing the NSA has been partnering with US technology companies to intentionally weaken the security of the software that we all use and rely on. The government has really been prioritizing its efforts on information collection. There is this fundamental conflict there is tension that a system that is secure is difficult to surveil and a system that is designed to surveil is a target waiting to be attacked. Our networks have been designed with surveillance in mind.
- We need to prioritize cyber security and that's going to mean making surveillance more difficult. Of course the NSA and our partners in the intelligence world are not crazy about us going down that path.
- Ben: So Ed, if the NSA is willing to take these steps that actually weaken security, that spread vulnerabilities that make it in some sense easier not just for us to do surveillance but for others to attack they must think there is an awfully good reason for doing that. That there are bolt collection programs that these activities facilitate the collected ____ _mentality that it really works. This is a very, very effective surveillance method that is keeping us safe. You sat on the inside of the surveillance systems for longer than people realize. Do these mass surveillance programs do what our intelligence officials promise to Congress that they do? Are they effective?
- Ed: ''They are not. That is actually something I'm a little bit sympathetic to and we got to turn back the block a little bit and remember that they thought ___ was a great idea but no one had done it before, at least publicly. So they went ''hey! we can spy on the world all at once. It will be great, we'll know everything.'' But the reality is, when they did it, they found out that it didn't work. But it was a ___ so successful in collecting data. So great at the contract that no one wanted to say no. But the reality is now, we have reached point where a majority of people's telephone communication are being recorded - we got all these metadata that are being stored - years and years. But two independent White House investigations found that it is has not helped us at all, have not helped us. Beyond that, we got to think about what are we doing with those resources, what are we getting out of that? As I said in our European Parliament testimony, we've actually have tremendous intelligence failures because we're monitoring the internet; we're monitoring, you know, everybody's communications instead of suspects' communications. That lack of focus have caused us to miss news we should have had. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Boston Bombers. the Russians have warned us about it. But we didn't a very poor job investigating, we didn't have the resources, and we had people working on other things. If we followed the traditional model, we might have caught that. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab the underwear bomber, same thing. His father walked into a US Embassy, he went to CIA officer and said my son is dangerous. Don't let him go to your country. Get him help. We didn't follow up, we didn't actually investigate this guy. We didn't get a dedicated team to figure what was going on because we spent all of this money, we spent all of this time hacking into Google and Facebook to look at their data center. What did we get out of that? We got nothing. And there are two White House investigations that confirm that.
- Ben: Chris, if as Ed says these bulk collection programs are not that effective, the resources that go into this would be better directed at targeted surveillance. Why are they dangerous?
- Chris: Why are they dangerous? Because the government is collecting, is creating this massive database of everyone's private information. In an NSA building somewhere probably in Maryland there is a record of everyone who has ever called an abortion clinic, everyone who has called an Alcoholics Anonymous hotline, anyone who has ever called a gay bookstore. And they tell us don't worry we aren't looking at it or we aren't looking at it in that way. We aren't doing those kinds of searches but I think many Americans would have good reason to not want that information to exist. I think regardless of which side of the political spectrum you are you probably don't want the government to know that you are calling an abortion clinic or calling a church or calling a gun store and you may think quite recently, that is none of the government's business. I think when you understand that the government can collect this information on this scale they can hang onto it and figure out uses for it down the road I think many Americans are quite fearful of this slippery slope this surveillance that happens behind closed doors. Even if you trust this administration that we have right now you know the person who sits in the oval office changes every few years. You may not like the person who is going to sit there in a few years with that data that was collected today.
- Ben: Ed, we lost you for a moment. Can you still hear us?
- Ben: Okay. Just before this began I got an email from Sir Tim Burners Lee the creator of the world wide web who asked for the privilege of the first question to you. I think I am willing to extend that to him. He wanted to thank you. He believes that your actions have been profoundly in the public interest.
- Ben: That was applause if you couldn't hear it. He asks if you could design from scratch an accountability system for governance over national security agencies what would you do? It is clear that intelligence agencies are going to be using the internet to collect information from all of us. Is there any way we can make oversite more accountable and improved?
- Ed: You know that is a very interesting question. It is also a very difficult question. Oversight models these are things that are very complex. They have a lot of moving parts. And when you add in secrecy you add in public oversight it gets complex. We have got a good starting point. That is what you have to remember. We have an oversight model that could work. The problem is we overseers aren't interested in oversight. When we've got seven intelligence communities, house intelligence communities that are _____ to the NSA instead of holding them accountable. When we have James Clapper the director of National Intelligence in front of them and he tells a lie that they all know is a lie because they are rigged on the program because they have the questions a day in advance. And no one says anything. Allowing all Americans to believe this is a true answer. That is an incredible dangerous thing. That's the ____. When I would say how do we fix our oversight model, how do we structure the oversight model that works. The key fact is accountability. We can't have officials like James Clapper who can lie to everyone in the country. Who can lie to the Congress and face no not even - not even a criticism. Not even a strong worded letter, the same thing with courts. In the United States we have open courts that are supposed to decide and settle constitutional issues to interpret and apply the law. We also have the FISA court which is a secret rubber stamp court . But they are only supposed to approve warrant applications. These happen in secret because you don't at want people to know hey the government wants to surveil you. At the same time a secret court shouldn't be interpreting the constitution when only NSA's lawyers are making the case on how it should be viewed. Those are the two primary factors that I think need to change.
- The other thing is we need public advocates. We need public representatives. We need public oversight. Some way for trusted public figures sort of civil rights champions to advocate for us and protect the structure and make sure it is been fairly applied. We need a watch dog that watches Congress. Something that can tell us hey these guys didn't tell you that he just lied to you. Because otherwise how do we know? If we are not informed we can't consent to these policies. And I think that is danger.
- Ben: For what it's worth my answer to Sir Tim is Ed Snowden. Before these disclosures all three branches of our government had gone to sleep on oversight. The courts had thrown cases out as he said, Congress allowed itself to be lied to. The executive branch did no reviews. Since Ed Snowden and since all of us have been read into these programs we are actually seeing reinvigorated oversight. It is the oversight that the constitution had in mind, but sometimes it needs a dusting off. And Ed has been the broom.
- Chris: I just wanted to also note that without Ed's disclosures many of the tech companies would not have improved their security either at all or at the rate that they did. The PRISM story although there was a lack of clarity initially on what it really said, put the names of billion dollar American companies on the front page of the newspaper and associated them with bulk surveillance. You saw the companies doing everything in their power publicly to distance themselves and also show that they were taking security seriously. You saw companies like Google and Microsoft and Facebook rushing to encrypt their data center to data center encryption. Connections rather. You saw companies like Yahoo finally turning on SSL encryption, Apple fixed a bug in its address book app that allowed Google users' address books to be transmitted over networks in unencrypted form. Without Ed's disclosures there wouldn't have been as much pressure for these tech companies to encrypt their information.
- There are going to be people in this audience and people listening at home who are going to think what Ed did was wrong. But let me be clear about one really important thing; his disclosures have improved internet security. And the security improvements we have gotten haven't just protected us from bulk government surveillance. They have protected us from hackers at Starbucks who are monitoring our wifi connections. They have protected us from stalkers and identity thieves and common criminals. These companies should have beene encrypting their information before and they weren't. And it really took you know, unfortunately the largest and most profound whistle blower in history to get us to the point where these companies are finally prioritizing the security of their users' communications between them and the companies, but we all have Ed to thank for us. I really just cannot emphasize enough without him we would not have Yahoo users getting SSL. We would not have this data going over the network in encrypted form. It shouldn't have taken that. The company should have done it by themselves. There should have been regulation or privacy regulators who are forcing companies to do this, but that isn't taking place. It took Ed to get us to a secure place.
- Ben: Alright. Great. Remember the hashtag is askSnowden. We will take our first question. Please forgive pronunciations from Max Zurkenden. The question for Ed and Chris too - why is it less bad if big corporations get access to our information instead of the government? Ed, did you hear it?
- Ed: Yes. I - I did. This is something that has actually been debated. We see people's opinions - people's sort of responses to this evolving which is good. This is why we need to have these conversations because we don't know. Right now, my thinking, I think the majority's thinking is that the government has the ability to deprive you of rights. Governments around the world whether it is the United States government, whether it is the Yemeni government whether it is Zair any country they have police powers, they have military powers, they have intelligence powers they can literally kill you, they can jail you, they can surveil you. Companies can surveil you to sell you products, to sell you information to other companies. That can be bad, but you have legal records. First off, it is typically a voluntary contract. Secondly, you have got court challenges you could use. If you challenge the government about these things and the ACLU itself has actually challenged some of these cases, but government throws it out on state secrecy and says you can't even asked about this. The courts aren't allowed to tell us whether it is legal or not because we are just going to do it anyway. That's the difference and it is something we need to watch out for.
- Ben: Chris, do you want to address it or should we take the next question?
- Chris: Sure. Just quickly. I am not crazy about the amount of data that Google and Facebook collect. Of course, everything they get the government can come and ask for too. There is the collection that the government is doing by itself and then there is the data that they can go to Google and Facebook and force them to hand over. We should remember that the web browser you are most likely using, the most popular browser right now is Chrome, most popular mobile operating system is now Android, many of the tools that we are using whether web browsers or operating systems or apps are made by advertising companies. It is not a coincidence that Chrome is probably a less privacy preserving browser. It is tweaked to allow data collection by third parties. The Android operating system is designed to facilitate disclosure of data to third parties. Even if you are okay with the data the companies are collecting you should also note that the tools that we use to browse the web and the tools that ultimately permit our data to be shared or prevent it from being shared are made by advertising companies. This makes the NSA's job a lot easier. If the web browsers we were using were locked down by default the NSA would have a much tougher time. But advertising companies are not going to give us tools that are privacy preserving by default.
- Ben: Let's take another question from Jodi Serrano. To Snowden from Spain. Do you think the US surveillance systems might encourage other countries to do the same?
- Ed: Yes. This is actually one of the primary dangers not just of sort of the NSA's activities but of not addressing and resolving the issues. It is important to remember that American's benefit profoundly from this. Because again as we discussed we got the most to lose from being hacked. At the same time every citizen in every country has something to lose. We all are at risk of unfair, unjustified, unwarranted interference in our private lives. Throughout history we have seen governments sort of repeat the trend where it increased and they get to a point where they have crossed the line. We don't' resolve these issues if we allow the NSA to continue unrestrained. Every other government the international community will accept this as a sign, as the green light to do the same. And that is not what we want.
- Chris: I mean I think there is a difference between surveillance performed by the NSA and surveillance performed by most other governments. It is not really illegal it is more of a technical one. That is the whole world sends their data to the United States. Americans are not sending their data to Spain, Americans are not sending their photographs to France. This means that the US because of Silicon Valley because of the density of tech companies throughout the country the US enjoys an unparalleled intelligence advantage that every other government just doesn't have. And if want the rest of the world to keep using US tech companies. If we want the rest of the world to keep trusting their data to the United States then we need to respect them. We need to respect their privacy and the way that we protect the privacy of Americans right now. I think the revelations over the past eight months have given people of other countries very reasonable reason to question whether they should be trusting their data to United States companies. I think we can get that trust back through legal changes. I think tech companies can also do a lot to get that trust back by employing encryption and other privacy technologies. The best way to get your user's trust is to be able to say when the government comes to you sorry we don't have the data or sorry we don't have the data in a form that will be of any use to you. That is how you win back the trust of people in Brazil and Germany and people around the world.
- Ben: So let me just cut in with a question here. I do think that a certain degree of perhaps hopelessness may have crept in to the global public with this constant constant of stories about the the NSA's capabilities the GCHQ's capabilities and activities. All the ways to get around defenses. Chris I hear you and Ed going back to encryption again and again as being something that still works. Maybe if you take a moment Ed after the discussions we have had about how NSA has worked to weaken encryption should people still be confident that the basic encryption that we use protects us from surveillance or at least mass surveillance?
- Ed: Right. The bottom line I have repeated this again and again is that encryption does work. We need to think of encryption not as this sort of arcane black art. What is sort of a basic protection it is a defense against the dark arts for the digital realm. This is something we all need to be not only implementing but actively researching and improving on an academic level. The grad students of today and tomorrow need to keep today's threat on online to inform tomorrows. We need all those brilliant Belgian cryptographers to go alright we know that these encryption algorithms we are using today work typically it is the random number generators that are attacked as opposed to the encryption algorithms themselves. How can we make them ____ how can we test them? This is _____ it is not going to go away tomorrow, but it is the steps we take today. The moral commitment. The philosophical commitment, the commercial commitment to protect and enforce our liberties through technical standards to allow us to reclaim the open and trusted.
- Ben: Chris, very briefly, you hang out with cryptographers. They are not happy campers these days.
- Chris: No. Of all the stories that have come out the one that has had the biggest impact in the security community is the story - is the news that the NSA has subverted the design of cryptographic and random number generator algorithms. I think it is fair to say there is a group in the cryptographic community now who have become radicalized as a result of these disclosures and cryptographers actually can be radicals. They are not just mild mannered people. We should remember that regular consumers do not pick their own encryption algorithms. Regular consumers just use the services that are provided to them. The people that pick the crypto that pick particular algorithms, pick the key sizes they are the security engineers at Google and Facebook and Microsoft. And the cryptographers who are working with open source projects. And those people are all really pissed. And I think that's good. Those people should be mad and those people can make a difference. The fact that these disclosures have so angered the security community I think is a really good sign. Ultimately, the tools that come out in six months or a year or two years are going to be far more secure than they were before. That is because that part of a tech community feel like they were lied to.
- Ben: Let's take a couple of more questions from Twitter. Melissa Nixsik I hope. What steps do you suggest the average person take now to ensure a more secure digital experience? Is there anything we can do on individual level to confront the issues of mass surveillance that we are talking about today. Ed, it's okay if the answer is no.
- Ed: There are basic steps it is a really complicated subject matter today. And that is the difficulty. Again it is the Glenn Greenwald test. How do you answer this? For me there are a couple of key technologies; there is full disk encryption to protect your actual physical computer and devices in case they are seized. Then there are network encryption which are things like SSL that added sort of transparency we can't help that. You can install a couple of browser plug ins. NoScript to block Active X attempts in the browser, Ghostery to block ads and tracking cookies. But there is also TOR, TOR T O R is a mixed routing network which is very important because it is encrypted from the user through the ISP to the end of sort of a cloud a network of routers that you go through. Because of this your ISP, your communications provider can no longer spy on you be default. The way they do now, today when you go to any website. By using TOR you shift their focus to either attacking the TOR cloud itself which is incredible difficult, or to try to monitor the exits from TOR and the entrances to TOR and then try to figure out what fits. And it is very difficult. Those basic steps will encrypt your hardware and you encrypt your network communications you are far, far more hardened than the average user - it becomes very difficult for any sort of a mass surveillance. You will still be vulnerable to targeted surveillance. If there is a warrant against you if the NSA is after you they are still going to get you. But mass surveillance that is untargeted and collect-it-all approach you will be much safer.
- Ben: You know, when there is a question about average users and the answer is TOR we have failed.
- Chris: I will just add to what Ed said in saying that a privacy preserving experience may not be a secure experience and vice versa. I am constantly torn. I personally feel like FIrefox is the more privacy preserving browser, but I know that Chrome is the more secure browser. I am stuck with this choice am I more worried about passive surveillance of my communications and my web browsing information or am I more worried about being attacked? I go back and forth on those. I think until we have a browser or a piece of software that optimizes for both privacy and security I think users are going to be sort of stuck with two bad choices. I'll just note that in addition to what Ed said I mean I really think that consumers need to rethink their relationship with many of the companies to whom they entrust their private data. I really think what this comes down to is if you are getting the service for free the company isn't going to be optimizing your experience with your best interest in mind. I am not going to say if you are not paying for the product you are the product. We pay for our telephone calls, we pay for our wireless service and those companies still treat us like crap. But you know if you want a secure online back up service you are going to have to pay for it. If you want a secure voice or video communications product you are going to have to pay for it. That doesn't mean you have to pay thousands of dollars a year, but you have to pay something so that company has a sustainable business model that doesn't revolve around collecting and monetizing your data.
- Ben: Okay. We have another question about encryption from Sean. Isn't it just a matter of time before NSA can decrypt even the best encryption? I am particularly interested in your answer to this in light of your confidence that data that you were able to take is secure and has remained secure.
- Ed: Let's put it this way - the United States government has assembled a massive investigation team into me personally, into my work with journalists and they still have no idea you know what - what documents were provided to the journalists, what they have, what they don't have. Because of encryption works. Now the only way to get around that, is to have a computer that is so massive and so powerful you can work the entire universe into the energy power into this decryption machine and they still might not be able to do it. Or you break into the computer and try to steal their keys and bypass the encryption. That happens today and that happens every day. That is the way around it.
- Now, there are still ways to protect and encrypt data that no one can break. That is by making sure the keys are never exposed. If the key itself can't be observed the key can't be stolen. THe encryption can't be ______. And any cryptographer any mathematician in the world will tell you that the math is sound. The only way to get through encryption on a target basis particularly when you start railing encryption, not using one algorithm but every algorithm you are using _____ you are using all kinds of sophisticated techniques to make sure that no one person, no single point of failure exist there is no way in there is no way around it. That is going to continue to be the case I think until our understanding of mathematics and physics changes fundamentally.
- Chris: I will just add that -
- Ed: If I could follow up on that I would say the US government's investigation supports that. We have both public and private acknowledgements that they know at this point the Russian government, the Chinese government any other government has possession of any of this information. And that would be easy for them to find out. Remember these are the guys that are spying on everyone in the world. They have got human intelligence assets embedded in these governments. They have got electronic signal assets in these governments. If suddenly the Chinese government knew everything the NSA is doing we would notice the changes. We would notice the changes, we would see official communicating and our assets will tell us hey somewhere they have a warehouse they put you know, a thousand of their most skilled researchers in there. That has never happened and it is never going to happen.
- Chris: I will just add that I think Ed's right. If the government really wants to get into your computer if they want to figure out what you are saying and who you are saying it to they will find a way. But that won't involve breaking the encryption that will involve hacking into your device. Whether your phone or your laptop they will take advantage of either vulnerabilities that haven't been patched or vulnerabilities that no one knows about. But hacking technologies don't scale. If you are a target of the NSA it is going to be game over no matter what. Unless you are taking really, really sophisticated steps to protect yourself - but most people that will be beyond their reach. But encryption makes bulk surveillance too expensive. Really the goal here isn't to blind the NSA. The goal isn't to stop the government from going after legitimate surveillance targets. The goal here is to make it so that they cannot spy on innocent people because they can't. RIght now so many of our communications our telephone calls, our text messages, our emails, our instant message are just there for the taking. And if we start using encrypted communication services suddenly it becomes too expensive for the NSA to spy on everyone. Suddenly they will need to actually have a good reason to dedicate those resources to either try and break the encryption or to try and hack into your device. So encryption technology even if imperfect has the potential to raise the cost of surveillance to the point that it no longer becomes economically feasible for the government to to spy on everyone.
- Ben: Can we get another question on the screen from Twitter? Please? Thanks. Okay. Good question from David Myer. Is it possible to reap the benefits of big data on a societal level while not opening ourselves to constant mass surveillance? How do we enjoy the scientific benefits even some of the commercial benefits of this without turning ourselves into a dystopian surveillance state? In two minutes or less. Ed?
- Ed: This is a really difficult question. There are a lot of advancements in things like encrypted search to make the data unreadable format, or supply warrants or something. But in general it is a difficult problem. The bottom line is data should not be collected without people's knowledge and consent. If data is being clandestinely acquired and the public doesn't have any way to review it and it is not legislatively authorized, it is not reviewed by courts, it is not consonant with our constitution that is a problem. So if we want to use that it makes the result of a public debate which has been ______ -
- Ben: Chris, you want to take on that question?
- Ben: We have another question that is about everyday users. Maybe you can give us another one because I think we have answered this one. Friends, backstage? Okay. From Tim Shurack[ph] Wasn'tSA mass surveillance the solution - Chris can you read that?
- Chris: Wasn't NSA's mass surveillance a solution to the internet driven by privatization and the handing over of our signals intelligence analysis to SCIC - isn't this a result of letting contractors in to run the show?
- Ed: So the problem is when the NSA gets a pot of money they don't typically develop the solutions themselves. They bring in a bunch of contractors the _____ SCIC's the khakis they say hey what can you guys do for us? What solutions are you working on and they get the gigantic _____ works. And the problem is you got contractors and private companies at that point influencing policy. It was not uncommon for me at the NSA as a private employee to write the same point papers and kind of policy suggestion that I get as an official employee of the government at the CIA. The problem with that is you have people who aren't accountable. They have no sort of government recourse against them who are saying yes let's do that, let's put all this money in mass surveillance _____pitch but it doesn't serve the public interest. One thing you've seen recently is the government has gone and changed their talking points. They have moved their verbiage away from public interest into national interest. We should be concerned about that because with national interest talking about the state becomes distinct from the public interest, what benefits the people. We really are at the point where we have to marry those up or it gets harder and harder to control and we risk losing control of a representative democracy.
- Ben: So Ed maybe let me ask you what will turn out to be a final question - in your early interviews with Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras you said that your biggest fear was that there would be little or no reaction to these disclosures. Where you sit now how satisfied are you with the global debate that you helped to launch and do you feel that it was worth the price that you've paid in order to bring us to this moment?
- Ed: When I came public with this it wasn't so i can sort of single-handedly change the government, tell them what to do and override what the public thinks was ____. What I wanted to do was inform the public so they could make a decision and provide their consent for what we should be doing. And the results of these revelations, the results of all the incredible responsible and careful reporting that by the way have been coordinated with the government, and the government never said any single one of these stories have risk a human life. The result is that the public has benefited, the government has benefited, and every society in the world has benefited. We are in secure place. We have more secure communications. And we are going to have a better sort of civic interaction as a result of understanding what's being done in our name and what's being done against us. And so when it comes to will I do this again, the answer is absolutely yes. Regardless of what happens to me, this is something we had the right to know. I took an oath to support and defend the constitution and I saw that the constituted was violated on a massive scale. The interpretation of the 4th amendment has been changed (clap). Thank you. The interpretation of the constitution has been changed in secret from no unreasonable search and seizure to hey, any seizure is fine, just don't search it. That is something that the public ought to know about.
- Ben: You can see behind Ed isa green screen of is that Article 1 of the constitution?
- Ben: We the people - there is another organization here that is also interested in the constitution. I would be remiss if I didn't say to all of you that the ACLU has a table - table 1144. I promise that it will not all be about surveillance. There will also be marijuana. So please come and say hi to us if you are not members of the ACLU it is cheap to sign up. We have ACLU whistles. We have t-shirts that you can get with membership. You can talk to me and CHris a little bit more about the work we are doing and our other ACLU colleagues. And with that I would really like all of us to thank Ed Snowden for choosing this venue for this conversation.
- Ed: Thank you all very much.
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- SXSW: That's All Folks!
- Snowden spoke at SXSW and all I got was this lousy'...
- Edward Snowden: Live today from underneath Putin's wing! Edward spoke at the prestigious South by Southwest Interactive conference at noon ET via a webcast from his safe house in Moscow. Somehow, the ACLU and SXSW coordinators got access to the whistle-blower through Vladimir's gatekeepers. (Does the ACLU have a special phone line to the Kremlin?!)
- Chaperoning Snowden Chairing the event was Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy & Technology Project and Edward Snowden's legal advisor; also talking is Christopher Soghoian, the ACLU's principal technologist.
- You can catch an audio of Snowden's talk here: be prepared for a lot of distortion'' distortion from being bounced off seven proxies, or just poorly set up AV? You decide!
- It doesn't really matter that we can't hear Snowden, I guess, because Christopher and Ben tell us how to interpret what Snowden says and what the answers to important questions are. If I remember correctly, the ACLU also sent a chaperone to Bill Binney's talk at MIT in Dec 2012, months before Snowden's leaks broke.
- The thrust of Christopher's argument is that the government should step in to help keep us safe from government spying. Oh yeah, and Christopher has taken a page out of Jacob Appelbaum's NSA playbook: the big tech companies (Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo) have improved their security and the government is becoming more accountable. Now that these NSA-complicit mega tech firms are encrypting everything, ''we're at a secure place now,'' according to Christopher. God help us all.
- Ed's talking about the need for conversation on government spying; the ACLU'ers are talking about how it's so great that we're all safe now.
- Snowden took questions from Twitter; these questions were pre-screened by an undisclosed group of people 'in the back'. Questions from important people like Tim Berners-Lee got precedence. (If the US military and Tim both invented the internet, what does that mean about Tim?)
- What does Snowden say himself? It's very hard to tell. He appears to say that ''the encryption algorithms used today work'', with provisos that are too unclear to hear in the audio I could find. Christopher says that the ''security community'''' the people paid by Google and other NSA partner companies'' will fix compromised cryptography programs in the future. So don't worry about it, Joe Voter.
- Snowden appears to say that ''attacking Tor by itself is incredibly hard,'' but ''if the NSA is after you they're still going to get you''. Christopher seemed to agree with Ed's opinion, when asked the following:
- When there is a question about protecting regular people, and the answer is Tor?
- ''We've failed,'' the panelists [Christopher and Edward] say.
- 'The panelists'' opinion shows tweets like the following from The Wall Street Journal'sWilson Rothman to be pure misinformation.
- Snowden's own leaks show Tor to be vulnerable; the only responsible thing to do would be to advise people not to use The Onion Router. Snowden doesn't appear to do this.
- The other key point that the ACLU wants to drive home is that encryption, while imperfect, makes dragnet surveillance too expensive. It appears that the encryption the ALCU is talking about is encrypting data as it's delivered over the web.
- When Bill Binney talked about encryption in Dec 2012, he called it a red flag for the NSA: they think you're worth watching if you use encryption to send information. It's putting a target on your back. That aside, encryption is only good if you decrypt the information on a computer that doesn't have contact with the internet, from which back doors in other unrelated programs could be accessed and used to harvest your data. Snowden doesn't appear to address this problem either; which is irresponsible.
- The show's over folks, because Snowden's NSA KGB now. I don't think he can be trusted because of the compromised position Putin and Obama have put him in. He wasn't given a free microphone in this interview, because what he says is so distorted that we must rely on his ACLU handlers for 'interpretation'. Don't forget to pick up your ACLU whistle on the way out.
- P.S. I will be looking for transcripts of this talk and will update this post as I find out more. In the meantime, if you're interested in keeping your data secure, I think your time is better spent thinking along the lines of Poul-Henning Kamp.
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- NSA posed as FACEBOOK in effort to infect 'millions' of computers with malware, Snowden documents reveal
- According to the latest collection of national security details leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency impersonated Facebook in an attempt to trick users into downloading malicious code in its attempt to install malware on 'millions' of computers.
- The intelligence agency reportedly deployed malware code tailored to target specific machines. Once inside, the code gives the NSA total control of the computer.
- The NSA dubbed the Facebook trick QUANTUMHAND.
- The program was first reported by Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept.
- 'In some cases the NSA has masqueraded as a fake Facebook server, using the social media site as a launching pad to infect a target's computer and exfiltrate files from a hard drive,' Greenwald reports, based on classified documents given to him by Snowden.
- '[The NSA] has sent out spam emails laced with the malware, which can be tailored to covertly record audio from a computer's microphone and take snapshots with its webcam,' Greenwald reports. 'The hacking systems have also enabled the NSA to launch cyberattacks by corrupting and disrupting file downloads or denying access to websites.'
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- Increasing Collection Capacity by Increasing Implants
- 20140312-Intercept-Increasing Collection Capacity by Increasing Implants
- Document embed code:https://www.eff.org/files/2014/03/12/20140312-intercept-increasing_collection_capacity_by_increasing_implants.pdf
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- How the NSA Plans to Infect 'Millions' of Computers with Malware
- Top-secret documents reveal that the National Security Agency is dramatically expanding its ability to covertly hack into computers on a mass scale by using automated systems that reduce the level of human oversight in the process.
- The classified files '' provided previously by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden '' contain new details about groundbreaking surveillance technology the agency has developed to infect potentially millions of computers worldwide with malware ''implants.'' The clandestine initiative enables the NSA to break into targeted computers and to siphon out data from foreign Internet and phone networks.
- The covert infrastructure that supports the hacking efforts operates from the agency's headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, and from eavesdropping bases in the United Kingdom and Japan. GCHQ, the British intelligence agency, appears to have played an integral role in helping to develop the implants tactic.
- In some cases the NSA has masqueraded as a fake Facebook server, using the social media site as a launching pad to infect a target's computer and exfiltrate files from a hard drive. In others, it has sent out spam emails laced with the malware, which can be tailored to covertly record audio from a computer's microphone and take snapshots with its webcam. The hacking systems have also enabled the NSA to launch cyberattacks by corrupting and disrupting file downloads or denying access to websites.
- The implants being deployed were once reserved for a few hundred hard-to-reach targets, whose communications could not be monitored through traditional wiretaps. But the documents analyzed by The Intercept show how the NSA has aggressively accelerated its hacking initiatives in the past decade by computerizing some processes previously handled by humans. The automated system '' codenamed TURBINE '' is designed to ''allow the current implant network to scale to large size (millions of implants) by creating a system that does automated control implants by groups instead of individually.''
- In a top-secret presentation, dated August 2009, the NSA describes a pre-programmed part of the covert infrastructure called the ''Expert System,'' which is designed to operate ''like the brain.'' The system manages the applications and functions of the implants and ''decides'' what tools they need to best extract data from infected machines.
- Mikko Hypponen, an expert in malware who serves as chief research officer at the Finnish security firm F-Secure, calls the revelations ''disturbing.'' The NSA's surveillance techniques, he warns, could inadvertently be undermining the security of the Internet.
- ''When they deploy malware on systems,'' Hypponen says, ''they potentially create new vulnerabilities in these systems, making them more vulnerable for attacks by third parties.''
- Hypponen believes that governments could arguably justify using malware in a small number of targeted cases against adversaries. But millions of malware implants being deployed by the NSA as part of an automated process, he says, would be ''out of control.''
- ''That would definitely not be proportionate,'' Hypponen says. ''It couldn't possibly be targeted and named. It sounds like wholesale infection and wholesale surveillance.''
- The NSA declined to answer questions about its deployment of implants, pointing to a new presidential policy directive announced by President Obama. ''As the president made clear on 17 January,'' the agency said in a statement, ''signals intelligence shall be collected exclusively where there is a foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose to support national and departmental missions, and not for any other purposes.''
- ''Owning the Net''The NSA began rapidly escalating its hacking efforts a decade ago. In 2004, according to secret internal records, the agency was managing a small network of only 100 to 150 implants. But over the next six to eight years, as an elite unit called Tailored Access Operations (TAO) recruited new hackers and developed new malware tools, the number of implants soared to tens of thousands.
- To penetrate foreign computer networks and monitor communications that it did not have access to through other means, the NSA wanted to go beyond the limits of traditional signals intelligence, or SIGINT, the agency's term for the interception of electronic communications. Instead, it sought to broaden ''active'' surveillance methods '' tactics designed to directly infiltrate a target's computers or network devices.
- In the documents, the agency describes such techniques as ''a more aggressive approach to SIGINT'' and says that the TAO unit's mission is to ''aggressively scale'' these operations.
- But the NSA recognized that managing a massive network of implants is too big a job for humans alone.
- ''One of the greatest challenges for active SIGINT/attack is scale,'' explains the top-secret presentation from 2009. ''Human 'drivers' limit ability for large-scale exploitation (humans tend to operate within their own environment, not taking into account the bigger picture).''
- The agency's solution was TURBINE. Developed as part of TAO unit, it is described in the leaked documents as an ''intelligent command and control capability'' that enables ''industrial-scale exploitation.''
- TURBINE was designed to make deploying malware much easier for the NSA's hackers by reducing their role in overseeing its functions. The system would ''relieve the user from needing to know/care about the details,'' the NSA's Technology Directorate notes in one secret document from 2009. ''For example, a user should be able to ask for 'all details about application X' and not need to know how and where the application keeps files, registry entries, user application data, etc.''
- In practice, this meant that TURBINE would automate crucial processes that previously had to be performed manually '' including the configuration of the implants as well as surveillance collection, or ''tasking,'' of data from infected systems. But automating these processes was about much more than a simple technicality. The move represented a major tactical shift within the NSA that was expected to have a profound impact '' allowing the agency to push forward into a new frontier of surveillance operations.
- The ramifications are starkly illustrated in one undated top-secret NSA document, which describes how the agency planned for TURBINE to ''increase the current capability to deploy and manage hundreds of Computer Network Exploitation (CNE) and Computer Network Attack (CNA) implants to potentially millions of implants.'' (CNE mines intelligence from computers and networks; CNA seeks to disrupt, damage or destroy them.)
- Eventually, the secret files indicate, the NSA's plans for TURBINE came to fruition. The system has been operational in some capacity since at least July 2010, and its role has become increasingly central to NSA hacking operations.
- Earlierreports based on the Snowden files indicate that the NSA has already deployed between 85,000 and 100,000 of its implants against computers and networks across the world, with plans to keep on scaling up those numbers.
- The intelligence community's top-secret ''Black Budget'' for 2013, obtained by Snowden, lists TURBINE as part of a broader NSA surveillance initiative named ''Owning the Net.''
- The agency sought $67.6 million in taxpayer funding for its Owning the Net program last year. Some of the money was earmarked for TURBINE, expanding the system to encompass ''a wider variety'' of networks and ''enabling greater automation of computer network exploitation.''
- Circumventing EncryptionThe NSA has a diverse arsenal of malware tools, each highly sophisticated and customizable for different purposes.
- One implant, codenamed UNITEDRAKE, can be used with a variety of ''plug-ins'' that enable the agency to gain total control of an infected computer.
- An implant plug-in named CAPTIVATEDAUDIENCE, for example, is used to take over a targeted computer's microphone and record conversations taking place near the device. Another, GUMFISH, can covertly take over a computer's webcam and snap photographs. FOGGYBOTTOM records logs of Internet browsing histories and collects login details and passwords used to access websites and email accounts. GROK is used to log keystrokes. And SALVAGERABBIT exfiltrates data from removable flash drives that connect to an infected computer.
- The implants can enable the NSA to circumvent privacy-enhancing encryption tools that are used to browse the Internet anonymously or scramble the contents of emails as they are being sent across networks. That's because the NSA's malware gives the agency unfettered access to a target's computer before the user protects their communications with encryption.
- It is unclear how many of the implants are being deployed on an annual basis or which variants of them are currently active in computer systems across the world.
- Previous reports have alleged that the NSA worked with Israel to develop the Stuxnet malware, which was used to sabotage Iranian nuclear facilities. The agency also reportedly worked with Israel to deploy malware called Flame to infiltrate computers and spy on communications in countries across the Middle East.
- According to the Snowden files, the technology has been used to seek out terror suspects as well as individuals regarded by the NSA as ''extremist.'' But the mandate of the NSA's hackers is not limited to invading the systems of those who pose a threat to national security.
- In one secret post on an internal message board, an operative from the NSA's Signals Intelligence Directorate describes using malware attacks against systems administrators who work at foreign phone and Internet service providers. By hacking an administrator's computer, the agency can gain covert access to communications that are processed by his company. ''Sys admins are a means to an end,'' the NSA operative writes.
- The internal post '' titled ''I hunt sys admins'' '' makes clear that terrorists aren't the only targets of such NSA attacks. Compromising a systems administrator, the operative notes, makes it easier to get to other targets of interest, including any ''government official that happens to be using the network some admin takes care of.''
- Similar tactics have been adopted by Government Communications Headquarters, the NSA's British counterpart. As the German newspaper Der Spiegelreported in September, GCHQ hacked computers belonging to network engineers at Belgacom, the Belgian telecommunications provider.
- The mission, codenamed ''Operation Socialist,'' was designed to enable GCHQ to monitor mobile phones connected to Belgacom's network. The secret files deem the mission a ''success,'' and indicate that the agency had the ability to covertly access Belgacom's systems since at least 2010.
- Infiltrating cellphone networks, however, is not all that the malware can be used to accomplish. The NSA has specifically tailored some of its implants to infect large-scale network routers used by Internet service providers in foreign countries. By compromising routers '' the devices that connect computer networks and transport data packets across the Internet '' the agency can gain covert access to monitor Internet traffic, record the browsing sessions of users, and intercept communications.
- Two implants the NSA injects into network routers, HAMMERCHANT and HAMMERSTEIN, help the agency to intercept and perform ''exploitation attacks'' against data that is sent through a Virtual Private Network, a tool that uses encrypted ''tunnels'' to enhance the security and privacy of an Internet session.
- The implants also track phone calls sent across the network via Skype and other Voice Over IP software, revealing the username of the person making the call. If the audio of the VOIP conversation is sent over the Internet using unencrypted ''Real-time Transport Protocol'' packets, the implants can covertly record the audio data and then return it to the NSA for analysis.
- But not all of the NSA's implants are used to gather intelligence, the secret files show. Sometimes, the agency's aim is disruption rather than surveillance. QUANTUMSKY, a piece of NSA malware developed in 2004, is used to block targets from accessing certain websites. QUANTUMCOPPER, first tested in 2008, corrupts a target's file downloads. These two ''attack'' techniques are revealed on a classified list that features nine NSA hacking tools, six of which are used for intelligence gathering. Just one is used for ''defensive'' purposes '' to protect U.S. government networks against intrusions.
- ''Mass exploitation potential''Before it can extract data from an implant or use it to attack a system, the NSA must first install the malware on a targeted computer or network.
- According to one top-secret document from 2012, the agency can deploy malware by sending out spam emails that trick targets into clicking a malicious link. Once activated, a ''back-door implant'' infects their computers within eight seconds.
- There's only one problem with this tactic, codenamed WILLOWVIXEN: According to the documents, the spam method has become less successful in recent years, as Internet users have become wary of unsolicited emails and less likely to click on anything that looks suspicious.
- Consequently, the NSA has turned to new and more advanced hacking techniques. These include performing so-called ''man-in-the-middle'' and ''man-on-the-side'' attacks, which covertly force a user's internet browser to route to NSA computer servers that try to infect them with an implant.
- To perform a man-on-the-side attack, the NSA observes a target's Internet traffic using its global network of covert ''accesses'' to data as it flows over fiber optic cables or satellites. When the target visits a website that the NSA is able to exploit, the agency's surveillance sensors alert the TURBINE system, which then ''shoots'' data packets at the targeted computer's IP address within a fraction of a second.
- In one man-on-the-side technique, codenamed QUANTUMHAND, the agency disguises itself as a fake Facebook server. When a target attempts to log in to the social media site, the NSA transmits malicious data packets that trick the target's computer into thinking they are being sent from the real Facebook. By concealing its malware within what looks like an ordinary Facebook page, the NSA is able to hack into the targeted computer and covertly siphon out data from its hard drive. A top-secret animation demonstrates the tactic in action.
- The documents show that QUANTUMHAND became operational in October 2010, after being successfully tested by the NSA against about a dozen targets.
- According to Matt Blaze, a surveillance and cryptography expert at the University of Pennsylvania, it appears that the QUANTUMHAND technique is aimed at targeting specific individuals. But he expresses concerns about how it has been covertly integrated within Internet networks as part of the NSA's automated TURBINE system.
- ''As soon as you put this capability in the backbone infrastructure, the software and security engineer in me says that's terrifying,'' Blaze says.
- ''Forget about how the NSA is intending to use it. How do we know it is working correctly and only targeting who the NSA wants? And even if it does work correctly, which is itself a really dubious assumption, how is it controlled?''
- In an email statement to The Intercept, Facebook spokesman Jay Nancarrow said the company had ''no evidence of this alleged activity.'' He added that Facebook implemented HTTPS encryption for users last year, making browsing sessions less vulnerable to malware attacks.
- Nancarrow also pointed out that other services besides Facebook could have been compromised by the NSA. ''If government agencies indeed have privileged access to network service providers,'' he said, ''any site running only [unencrypted] HTTP could conceivably have its traffic misdirected.''
- A man-in-the-middle attack is a similar but slightly more aggressive method that can be used by the NSA to deploy its malware. It refers to a hacking technique in which the agency covertly places itself between computers as they are communicating with each other.
- This allows the NSA not only to observe and redirect browsing sessions, but to modify the content of data packets that are passing between computers.
- The man-in-the-middle tactic can be used, for instance, to covertly change the content of a message as it is being sent between two people, without either knowing that any change has been made by a third party. The same technique is sometimes used by criminal hackers to defraud people.
- A top-secret NSA presentation from 2012 reveals that the agency developed a man-in-the-middle capability called SECONDDATE to ''influence real-time communications between client and server'' and to ''quietly redirect web-browsers'' to NSA malware servers called FOXACID. In October, details about the FOXACID system were reported by the Guardian, which revealed its links to attacks against users of the Internet anonymity service Tor.
- But SECONDDATE is tailored not only for ''surgical'' surveillance attacks on individual suspects. It can also be used to launch bulk malware attacks against computers.
- According to the 2012 presentation, the tactic has ''mass exploitation potential for clients passing through network choke points.''
- Blaze, the University of Pennsylvania surveillance expert, says the potential use of man-in-the-middle attacks on such a scale ''seems very disturbing.'' Such an approach would involve indiscriminately monitoring entire networks as opposed to targeting individual suspects.
- ''The thing that raises a red flag for me is the reference to 'network choke points,''' he says. ''That's the last place that we should be allowing intelligence agencies to compromise the infrastructure '' because that is by definition a mass surveillance technique.''
- To deploy some of its malware implants, the NSA exploits security vulnerabilities in commonly used Internet browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.
- The agency's hackers also exploit security weaknesses in network routers and in popular software plugins such as Flash and Java to deliver malicious code onto targeted machines.
- The implants can circumvent anti-virus programs, and the NSA has gone to extreme lengths to ensure that its clandestine technology is extremely difficult to detect. An implant named VALIDATOR, used by the NSA to upload and download data to and from an infected machine, can be set to self-destruct '' deleting itself from an infected computer after a set time expires.
- In many cases, firewalls and other security measures do not appear to pose much of an obstacle to the NSA. Indeed, the agency's hackers appear confident in their ability to circumvent any security mechanism that stands between them and compromising a computer or network. ''If we can get the target to visit us in some sort of web browser, we can probably own them,'' an agency hacker boasts in one secret document. ''The only limitation is the 'how.'''
- Covert InfrastructureThe TURBINE implants system does not operate in isolation.
- It is linked to, and relies upon, a large network of clandestine surveillance ''sensors'' that the agency has installed at locations across the world.
- The NSA's headquarters in Maryland are part of this network, as are eavesdropping bases used by the agency in Misawa, Japan and Menwith Hill, England.
- The sensors, codenamed TURMOIL, operate as a sort of high-tech surveillance dragnet, monitoring packets of data as they are sent across the Internet.
- When TURBINE implants exfiltrate data from infected computer systems, the TURMOIL sensors automatically identify the data and return it to the NSA for analysis. And when targets are communicating, the TURMOIL system can be used to send alerts or ''tips'' to TURBINE, enabling the initiation of a malware attack.
- The NSA identifies surveillance targets based on a series of data ''selectors'' as they flow across Internet cables. These selectors, according to internal documents, can include email addresses, IP addresses, or the unique ''cookies'' containing a username or other identifying information that are sent to a user's computer by websites such as Google, Facebook, Hotmail, Yahoo, and Twitter.
- Other selectors the NSA uses can be gleaned from unique Google advertising cookies that track browsing habits, unique encryption key fingerprints that can be traced to a specific user, and computer IDs that are sent across the Internet when a Windows computer crashes or updates.
- What's more, the TURBINE system operates with the knowledge and support of other governments, some of which have participated in the malware attacks.
- Classification markings on the Snowden documents indicate that NSA has shared many of its files on the use of implants with its counterparts in the so-called Five Eyes surveillance alliance '' the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
- GCHQ, the British agency, has taken on a particularly important role in helping to develop the malware tactics. The Menwith Hill satellite eavesdropping base that is part of the TURMOIL network, located in a rural part of Northern England, is operated by the NSA in close cooperation with GCHQ.
- Top-secret documents show that the British base '' referred to by the NSA as ''MHS'' for Menwith Hill Station '' is an integral component of the TURBINE malware infrastructure and has been used to experiment with implant ''exploitation'' attacks against users of Yahoo and Hotmail.
- In one document dated 2010, at least five variants of the QUANTUM hacking method were listed as being ''operational'' at Menwith Hill. The same document also reveals that GCHQ helped integrate three of the QUANTUM malware capabilities '' and test two others '' as part of a surveillance system it operates codenamed INSENSER.
- GCHQ cooperated with the hacking attacks despite having reservations about their legality. One of the Snowden files, previously disclosed by Swedish broadcaster SVT, revealed that as recently as April 2013, GCHQ was apparently reluctant to get involved in deploying the QUANTUM malware due to ''legal/policy restrictions.'' A representative from a unit of the British surveillance agency, meeting with an obscure telecommunications standards committee in 2010, separately voiced concerns that performing ''active'' hacking attacks for surveillance ''may be illegal'' under British law.
- In response to questions from The Intercept, GCHQ refused to comment on its involvement in the covert hacking operations. Citing its boilerplate response to inquiries, the agency said in a statement that ''all of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorized, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight.''
- Whatever the legalities of the United Kingdom and United States infiltrating computer networks, the Snowden files bring into sharp focus the broader implications. Under cover of secrecy and without public debate, there has been an unprecedented proliferation of aggressive surveillance techniques. One of the NSA's primary concerns, in fact, appears to be that its clandestine tactics are now being adopted by foreign rivals, too.
- ''Hacking routers has been good business for us and our 5-eyes partners for some time,'' notes one NSA analyst in a top-secret document dated December 2012. ''But it is becoming more apparent that other nation states are honing their skillz [sic] and joining the scene.''
- Documents published with this article:
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- Public feud between CIA, Senate panel follows years of tension over interrogation report - The Washington Post
- For years, a small group of Senate staffers made regular commutes to a Virginia office used by the CIA, took the elevators down to the basement and tapped the keypad combination to an unmarked door.
- Inside, a collection of eight or so computers were loaded with millions of CIA cables, memos and other records that documented what many regard as one of the darker chapters of the agency's history '-- its use of harsh interrogation measures to get terrorism suspects to talk.
- The bulk of the research was completed more than a year ago, yielding a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee that amounts to a damning chronicle of that CIA program. But the struggle to shape whether and how that history is presented to the public has triggered a fight between the CIA and the committee over what happened behind that locked door.
- The dispute, which spilled into public view this week, centers on whether the committee broke laws in obtaining a set of documents the agency never intended to share, or whether the CIA broke laws in its searches of committee computers to see how those files ended up in the panel's possession.
- The documents themselves would seem to be of little significance. Created at the direction of then-CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, they were meant to take inventory of the records being turned over to Congress and, in some cases, anticipate in written asides how damaging some of that material might be in the committee's hands.
- Nevertheless, control of those ''Panetta review'' documents could be critical to whether that report comes to be seen as an exhaustive and accurate accounting of the CIA's interrogation operations or, as many agency officials contend, a flawed document that reaches deeply misguided judgments about the program and whether it worked.
- In her speech Tuesday on the Senate floor, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, acknowledged that the review documents are not even cited in the committee's final report. But she made clear that the Panetta review could be a powerful shield for the committee against any CIA effort to criticize or discredit its final report.
- Last year, CIA Director John Brennan hand-delivered a lengthy CIA rebuttal to the committee's report, raising objections to many of its findings and cataloguing dozens of alleged errors. Feinstein said that feedback is at odds with the Panetta review, which ''corroborates critical information in the committee's 6,300-page study that the CIA's official response either objects to, denies, minimizes or ignores.''
- ''These Panetta review documents were in agreement with the committee's findings,'' Feinstein said. ''That's what makes them so significant and important to protect.''
- It may also explain why the CIA initially sought to get the documents back. When that failed, the agency took the extraordinary step of referring the matter to the Justice Department for a possible criminal probe into how the committee gained access to the Panetta documents on the computer system set up by the CIA, then secretly made off with a printed copy that now resides in a safe in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill.
- In a speech delivered just hours after Feinstein's appearance on the Senate floor, Brennan urged ''members of the Senate to take their time, to make sure that they don't overstate what they claim.''
- ''Appropriate authorities right now, both inside of CIA as well as outside of CIA, are looking at what CIA officers as well as [Intelligence Committee] staff members did,'' Brennan said. He also outlined the broader stakes, saying he and others ''owe it to the women and men who basically did their duty in executing this [interrogation] program to try to make sure that any historical record is a balanced and accurate one.''
- The rupture has revealed aspects of the agency's relationship with one of its main external watchdogs that rarely surface in public view. Feinstein's decision to launch a public attack on the CIA also exposed new details about the course of a politically charged investigation that has been shrouded in secrecy for nearly five years.
- The probe was launched in 2009, nearly three years after the CIA's network of secret overseas prisons had been emptied, with the detainees seen as most valuable '-- and subjected to some of the harshest interrogation measures '-- transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
- The investigation grew out of a smaller, earlier arrangement in which the CIA agreed to give committee aides access to some of the records of the interrogation program, partly to placate members outraged by the revelation that CIA officers had destroyed videotapes of some of those early sessions.
- Staff members who reviewed those files discovered that ''the interrogations and the conditions of confinement at the CIA detention sites were far different and far more harsh than the way the CIA had described them to us,'' Feinstein said.
- At the time, President Obama was newly sworn in and had made dismantling the program one of his first acts in office. His characterization of the program as torture had angered many in the George W. Bush administration and CIA veterans, sparking an intense public debate.
- Feinstein, who had recently become chairman of the committee, envisioned the investigation as a way to answer one of the most contentious questions: whether harsh interrogation measures, including the simulated-drowning technique known as waterboarding, worked.
- In March 2009, the committee voted 14 to 1 to open its formal probe. Only Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), who later became the ranking Republican on the panel, voted against it.
- The committee wanted the CIA to turn over all of its documents relating to the program. But Panetta, newly installed as agency chief, proposed an alternative: putting the files on computers at a secret CIA facility miles from agency headquarters, where committee investigators could scour the documents.
- The digital pile was unwieldy, with no index or structure. Investigators organized their searches around names of CIA prisoners, scanning for any references to Khalid Sheik Mohammed and others who had been held at the secret CIA sites.
- Bipartisan backing for the probe unraveled when it became clear that CIA operatives, who also faced a Justice Department criminal inquiry, were not going to cooperate.
- ''I thought the investigation would be totally lacking'' without the ability to interview CIA employees involved in the program, said former senator Christopher ''Kit'' Bond (Mo.), who was the ranking Republican. He and other GOP members backed out.
- Republicans also voiced concern that the report would be shaped by political interests.
- The partisan split extended through the staff ranks. Republican aides who had been reviewing documents alongside their Democratic counterparts were soon kept out of the document facility by a newly installed security keypad on the door, officials said. They were later given access in a separate room so they could keep reviewing the raw files and possibly submit dissenting views on the final report.
- Suspicion between the CIA and the Democratic staff also grew. Feinstein said investigators noticed that hundreds of documents had been removed from the database in 2010 with no explanation, possibly reeled back by agency officials worried that they could expose the names of sources and methods too sensitive to be disclosed.
- The White House was called in to settle the dispute. But Feinstein cited that episode as one reason the committee later took printed copies of the Panetta review without notifying the agency, in apparent violation of the two sides' arranged rules.
- Precisely how the committee obtained that document remains unclear. Feinstein said it was found on the shared database using a search tool provided by the agency. ''The committee staff did not hack into CIA computers to obtain these documents,'' she said.
- The CIA has declined to comment on the matter, but Brennan has struck a pose of confidence that an FBI investigation will uncover evidence that the committee's actions were not as benign as Feinstein claimed.
- U.S. officials said the network set up under Panetta included three distinct areas, each sealed off by a firewall '-- one accessible only to the committee, one exclusively for the CIA, and a shared space in the center where the agency could put records it wanted to share.
- ''The firewall was breached,'' said a U.S. official briefed on the matter. ''They figured out a work-around.''
- If true, that would represent an embarrassing lapse in security in the computer system assembled by the agency. But, to agency officials, such a breach and a concern about getting caught would explain why the committee last year began asking for documents it already had.
- Committee officials flatly deny that the files were obtained through surreptitious means.
- The dispute has exposed a thicket of potential conflicts. Among them is the fact that the CIA's acting general counsel, who Feinstein said is named in the report more than 1,600 times, made the criminal referral about committee staff to the Justice Department.
- The fallout has also focused attention on Feinstein and Brennan, revealing a deep rupture between two of the most powerful figures in the U.S. intelligence community that has the potential to spill into other areas where spy agencies rely on Feinstein as an ally.
- Feinstein has been among the most ardent backers of the CIA's drone campaign, for example, citing a deep confidence in the information that she and her staff have gleaned from frequent and detailed briefings provided by the same agency she has now accused of a pattern of misconduct and deception.
- Brennan is widely respected for his integrity and deep experience in intelligence work. But some congressional officials this week questioned whether his indignation at the committee's charges '-- and a tendency to dig in his heels when challenged '-- had worsened the conflict.
- ''How this will be resolved will show whether the intelligence committee can be effective in monitoring and investigating our nation's intelligence activities,'' Feinstein said, ''or whether our work can be thwarted by those we oversee.''
- Julie Tate contributed to this report.
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- CIA caught spying on US Senate
- 10 March 2014Over the past several days, it has emerged that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been illegally spying on the US Senate Intelligence Committee'--the very legislative body that is charged with overseeing and regulating the agency'--in flagrant violation of legality and the constitutional separation of powers.
- Among the basic conceptions of the revolutionaries who created the American system of government was the conviction that the natural trajectory of government, left unchecked, was toward executive tyranny. To combat this tendency, the Founders designed a system in which state power was divided among separate branches of government. The separate branches, under a system of ''checks and balances,'' were meant to limit the powers of the other branches. Legislative oversight of federal agencies, including intelligence agencies, is one historical outgrowth of this conception.
- The revelations of CIA spying on Congress underscore the fact that America is run by an unelected, unaccountable military/intelligence apparatus. It is this apparatus, in conjunction with the corporate-financial elite, that dictates official policy in Washington, irrespective of which political party is in power.
- The outlook of those who run this apparatus is one of utter impunity and contempt for basic democratic principles. In the day-to-day activities of the intelligence agencies'--spying, conspiracy, infiltration, subversion, torture, assassination'--the limitations imposed by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and existing law are seen merely as impediments to be evaded or overridden. This contempt for democratic rights is consistent with a political system that as a whole carries out its reactionary foreign and domestic policies over the heads of the population, which overwhelmingly opposes them.
- The CIA spying scandal has its origins in a Senate investigation into the CIA system of abductions (''renditions''), secret prisons (''black sites'') and torture dating from the period following September 11, 2001. It goes without saying that these CIA practices were and remain completely illegal, violating both US and international law.
- To date, under the Obama administration's slogan of ''looking forwards not backwards,'' not one individual involved has been criminally prosecuted or otherwise held accountable. Instead, the Obama administration has threatened to prosecute (and has actually prosecuted) anyone from within the agency who publicly revealed the agency's activities. The Senate Intelligence Committee has produced, but not publicly released, a 6,300-page report documenting these crimes.
- The CIA lied to the Senate Intelligence Committee in an effort to cover up its activities. In September of last year, CIA Director John Brennan, appointed by President Obama, filed a 122-page answer to the committee's report that purported to rebut the committee's findings. This answer was later exposed as a fraud when the Senate committee obtained a document reviewing CIA practices prepared for Brennan's predecessor, Leon Panetta.
- While the CIA granted the Senate Intelligence Committee restricted access to certain documents, requiring Senate staff to physically attend a facility set up by the CIA for that purpose, the CIA had attempted to conceal the Panetta document from the investigation. Senator Mark Udall, a member of the committee, said the Panetta document was ''consistent with the [Senate] Intelligence Committee's report'' and ''conflicts with the official CIA response to the committee's report.''
- Finally, having committed these crimes and then lied about them, the CIA retaliated against the Senate Intelligence Committee staffers who viewed the Panetta document by spying on them and monitoring their computers.
- The revelations of executive spying on Congress bring to mind the Watergate scandal of 1972-74, which involved the Nixon administration's illegal attempts to spy on and discredit political opponents. In the wake of that scandal, no less than 43 people were prosecuted, convicted and jailed, while Nixon himself was forced to resign in the face of near-certain impeachment and removal from office by Congress.
- A far different response greets the exposure of executive criminality 40 years later. The media has expressed indifference to the story and the episode has thus far generated no significant response from anywhere in the political establishment.
- The Senate Intelligence Committee did refer the CIA's actions to the Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution. The CIA's provocative response was to demand that instead of prosecuting the CIA, the Department of Justice prosecute the Senate staffers for allegedly gaining ''unauthorized access'' to ''classified'' material.
- In recent weeks, the American political establishment supported an armed coup in Ukraine by a coalition of far-right and fascist forces, recklessly bringing the world to the brink of a nuclear conflict between the United States and Russia. One of the US-backed parties, Svoboda, has called for the summary execution of all ''Russian-speaking intellectuals'' and all ''members of the anti-Ukrainian political parties,'' while publicly denouncing Jews as enemies of the Ukrainian people. A government that forges such alliances abroad is perfectly capable of developing similar forces at home.
- The ''military-industrial complex'' against which Eisenhower warned in 1961 has massively increased its size and power. In numbers, resources, wealth, connections and influence, the 21st century American military/intelligence/corporate-financial complex dwarfs anything Eisenhower could have imagined. Congress is subservient and impotent before it, and the president functions largely as its public relations representative and functionary.
- A major factor in the ever more reckless and aggressive foreign policy of the United States is the unprecedented scale of social inequality within the country and the explosive social conditions that it produces. One motivation behind repeated military interventions is the desire to divert social and political opposition outward. At the same time, the rise of an unimaginably rich oligarchy at one pole of society and ever-greater misery and poverty at the other pole is incompatible with democratic forms of rule.
- The American ruling class is terrified above all that a movement will develop in the working class against capitalism. The growing list of police state measures'--NSA spying, drone assassinations, internment without trial, renditions'--are directed against popular opposition.
- US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently told an audience in Hawaii that ''you are kidding yourself if you think'' there will not be mass internment in the United States along the lines of the internment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War. Doubtless, ''classified'' lists of ''enemies of the state'' have already been drawn up. While American political functionaries mouth empty phrases about ''freedom and democracy,'' their open support for out-and-out fascists in the Ukraine indicates where they really stand. The defense of basic democratic rights necessitates that the military/intelligence complex be permanently broken up and abolished. All of the intelligence agencies must be disbanded, all of their ''classified'' files must be published, and all of the poison fruit of their illegal spying operations must be destroyed. In order to accomplish these necessary tasks, a confrontation with the capitalist system that has produced this complex cannot be avoided.
- The world capitalist crisis has generated untenable levels of social inequality worldwide and in the United States in particular. Social inequality drives the collapse of democracy and the turn towards a police state, together with the bloody and provocative expansion of American militarism abroad. The only means of halting and reversing these processes'--which lead inevitably to totalitarianism, mass poverty and world war'--is the independent mobilization of the working class on the basis of a socialist program.
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- Is Edward Snowden lying?
- I've written several articles questioning Edward Snowden's past history. (Full blog archive here.)
- Now, another serious point comes to light.
- Snowden claims he raised concerns about NSA spying more than 10 times before he went rogue with stolen files.
- Here is the quote from the Washington Post (March 7):
- ''Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden said he repeatedly tried to go through official channels to raise concerns about government snooping programs but that his warnings fell on the deaf ears. In testimony to the European Parliament released Friday morning, Snowden wrote that he reported policy or legal issues related to spying programs to more than 10 officials, but as a contractor he had no legal avenue to pursue further whistleblowing.
- '''Yes [said Snowden]. I had reported these clearly problematic [NSA] programs to more than ten distinct officials, none of whom took any action to address them'...'''
- As I've written before, we are supposed to believe that the NSA, the biggest, richest, and smartest spying agency in the world just happened to forget to secure its own data against theft from its own employees and hired hands.
- NSA just forgot to do that. No compartmentalization of secret data. Just a clear open shot all the way to the top for an internal analyst who wanted to take tens of thousands of files. Or a million files. Snowden waltzed into work, and was given free access to everything and grabbed it.
- But if Snowden is telling the truth now, in his latest statement, the likelihood of his data grab shrinks even further.
- Because according to Snowden, he raised concerns about illegal NSA spying to his own supervisors and executives more than 10 times, before he walked away from his job with all those files.
- Snowden painted a target on his chest with his complaints about illegal spying. But no red flags were raised at the NSA. Nobody put Snowden under close inspection.
- Nobody said, ''Hey, this kid is trouble. Big trouble. He's working for us and he's objecting to our programs, policies and secret operations. We have to track every move this kid makes. We have to spy on every inch of his life, at work and at home.''
- Checking news stories about Snowden's work history at NSA, the longest period he was alleged to be there was four years. Which means Snowden was filing roughly three claims of illegal spying per year with his bosses. Could he be more obvious? And yet no one at NSA thought he was a risk. No one put a heavy watch on his activities and caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.
- And finally, when Snowden told his superiors he was leaving his job to seek medical treatment, no one interceded. No one reacted with suspicion.
- Snowden, working at NSA, became familiar enough with the Agency's complex architecture to steal anywhere from 20,000 to 1.2 million files, also lodged over 10 complaints about illegal NSA spying, and walked away into the night without so much as a peep from the biggest spying apparatus in the world.
- If you believe that, I've got beachfront condos for sale on Jupiter.
- For background, here is an excerpt from a piece I wrote last July about Snowden, the NSA, and the inconsistencies in the official story:
- Let's begin here: If you absolutely must have a hero, watch Superman movies.
- If your need for a hero is so great, so cloying, so heavy, so juicy that it swamps your curiosity, don't read this.
- If you can't separate the value of Snowden's revelations from the question of who he is, if you can't entertain the notion that covert ops and intelligence-agency games are reeking with cover stories, false trails, and limited hangouts, you need more fun in your life.
- Okay. Let's look at Snowden's brief history as reported by The Guardian. Are there any holes?
- In 2003, at age 19, without a high school diploma, Snowden enlists in the Army. He begins a training program to join the Special Forces. At what point after enlistment can a new soldier start this elite training program?
- Snowden breaks both legs in an exercise. He's discharged from the Army. Is that automatic? How about healing and then resuming service?
- If he was accepted in the Special Forces training program because he had special computer skills, then why discharge him simply because he broke both legs?
- ''Sorry, Ed, but with two broken legs we just don't think you can hack into terrorist data anymore. You were good, but not now. Try Walmart. They always have openings.''
- Snowden shifts jobs. Boom. He's now in the CIA, in IT. He has no high school diploma.
- In 2007, Snowden is sent to Geneva. He's only 23 years old. The CIA gives him diplomatic cover there. He's put in charge of maintaining computer-network security. Major job. Obviously, he has access to a wide range of classified documents. Sound a little odd? He's just a kid. Maybe he has his GED. Otherwise, he still doesn't have a high school diploma.
- Was Snowden being groomed for an operation that was to come? Was he, knowingly or unknowingly, being set up to do something big?
- Snowden says that during this period, in Geneva, one of the incidents that really sours him on the CIA is the ''turning of a Swiss banker.'' One night, CIA guys get a banker drunk, encourage him to drive home, the banker gets busted, the CIA guys help him out, and then with that bond formed, they eventually get the banker to reveal deep secrets to the Agency.
- This sours Snowden? He's that na¯ve? He doesn't know by now that the CIA does this sort of thing all the time? He's shocked? He ''didn't sign up for this?'' Come on.
- In 2009, Snowden leaves the CIA. Why? Presumably because he's disillusioned. Or did he actually stay on with the CIA as a covert operative?
- It should noted here that Snowden claimed he could do very heavy damage to the entire US intelligence community in 2008, but decided to wait because he thought Obama, just coming into the presidency, might keep his ''transparency'' promise.
- After two years with the CIA in Geneva, Snowden really had the capability to take down the whole US inter-agency intelligence network, or a major chunk of it? Or did he have an inflated sense of self-importance'--in which case, he would have made a good target for a later mission ''to shake up the whole world.''
- In 2009, Snowden leaves the CIA and goes to work in the private sector. Dell, Booze Allen Hamilton. In this latter job, Snowden is assigned to work at the NSA.
- He's an outsider, but, again, he claims to have so much access to so much sensitive NSA data that he can take down the whole US intelligence network in a single day. The. Whole. US. Intelligence. Network.
- This is Ed Snowden's sketchy legend. It's all red flags, alarm bells, sirens, flashing lights.
- ''Let's see. We have a new guy coming to work for us here at NSA today? Oh, a whiz kid. Ed Snowden. Outside contractor. Booz Allen. He's not really a full-time employee of the NSA. Twenty-nine years old. No high school diploma. Has a GED. He worked for the CIA and quit. Hmm. Why did he quit? Oh, never mind, who cares? No problem.
- ''Tell you what. Let's give this kid access to our most sensitive data. Sure. Why not? Everything. That stuff we keep behind 986 walls? Where you have to pledge the life of your first-born against the possibility you'll go rogue? Let Snowden see it all. Sure. What the hell. I'm feeling charitable. He seems like a nice kid.''
- Here is a more likely scenario.
- Snowden never took any of those thousands of documents on an NSA computer. Never happened. He didn't hack in. He didn't steal anything.
- He was working an op, either as a dupe or knowingly. He was working for'...well, let's see, who would that be?
- Who was he working for before he entered the private sector and wound up at NSA?
- Would that be the same CIA who hates the NSA with a venomous fervor?
- Would that be the same CIA who's been engaged in a turf war with NSA for decades?
- The same CIA who's watched their own prestige and funding diminish, as human intelligence has given way to electronic snooping?
- Yes, it would be. CIA just can't match the NSA when it comes to gathering signals-intell.
- Wired Magazine, June 2013 issue. James Bamford, author of three books on the NSA, states:
- ''In April, as part of its 2014 budget request, the Pentagon [which rules the NSA] asked Congress for $4.7 billion for increased 'cyberspace operations,' nearly $1 billion more than the 2013 allocation. At the same time, budgets for the CIA and other intelligence agencies were cut by almost the same amount, $4.4 billion. A portion of the money going to'...[NSA] will be used to create 13 cyberattack teams.''
- That means spying money. Far more for NSA, far less for CIA.
- People at the CIA, who were planning this operation for quite some time, were able to access those NSA documents, and they gave the documents to Snowden and he ran with them.
- The CIA, of course, couldn't be seen as the NSA leaker. They needed a guy. They needed a guy who could appear to be from the NSA, to make things look worse for the NSA and shield the CIA.
- They had Ed Snowden. He had worked for the CIA in Geneva, in a high-level position, overseeing computer-systems security.
- Somewhere in his CIA past, Ed meets a fellow CIA guy who sits down with him and says, ''You know, Ed, things have gone too damn far. The NSA is spying on everybody all the time. I can show you proof. They've gone beyond the point of trying to catch terrorists. They're doing something else. They're expanding a Surveillance State, which can only lead to one thing: the destruction of America, what America stands for, what you and I know America is supposed to be. The NSA isn't like us, Ed. We go after terrorists for real. That's it. Whereas NSA goes after everybody. We have to stop it. We need a guy'...and there are those of us who think you might be that guy'...''
- During the course of this one disingenuous conversation, the CIA is killing 37 innocent civilians all over the world with drones, but that's beside the point. Ahem.
- Ed says, ''Tell me more. I'm intrigued.''
- Put two scenarios on the truth scale and assess them. Which is more likely? The tale Snowden told to Glenn Greenwald, with all its holes, with its super-naive implications about the fumbling, bumbling NSA, or a scenario in which Snowden is the CIA's boy?
- And if Snowden is still working for the CIA, he and his buds aren't the only people who want to take the NSA down a notch. No. Because, for example, NSA has been spying on everybody inside the Beltway.
- Spying on politicians with secrets.
- So imagine this conversation taking place, in a car, on a lonely road outside Washington, late at night. The speakers are Congressman X and a private operative representing the NSA:
- ''Well, Congressman, do you remember January 6th? A Monday afternoon, a men's room in the park off'--''
- ''What the hell are you talking about!''
- ''A stall in the men's room. The kid. He was wearing white high-tops. A Skins cap. T-shirt. Dark hair. Scar across his left cheek. Blue tattoo on his right thigh.''
- ''We have very good audio and video. Anytime you want to watch it, let me know.''
- ''Right now, Congressman? We want you to come down hard on Snowden. Press it. He's a traitor. He should tried and convicted.''
- The Congressmen pulls himself together:
- ''Yeah, well, of course I'll pound on Snowden publicly and call him a traitor. Sure. But I have to tell you, I know a dozen Washington players who'd like the NSA to take a hit. They're pissed off. They don't like to be spied on.''
- If you're a Congressman or a Senator, and you have nasty little secrets, and you know NSA is spying on you, because it's spying on everyone in the Congress, who's your potential best friend?
- Somebody who can go up against the NSA, somebody who wants to go up against the NSA.
- It's not perfect, but it's the best you can do.
- You get down on your knees and pray that Ed Snowden is still working for the CIA.
- Who else, besides the CIA and numerous politicians inside the Beltway, would be aching to take the NSA down a notch? Who else would be rooting hard for this former (?) CIA employee, Snowden, to succeed?
- How about certain players on Wall Street?
- Still waiting to be uncovered? NSA spying to collect elite financial data, spying on the people who have that data: the major investment banks. NSA scooping up that data to predict, manipulate, and profit from trading markets all over the world.
- A trillion-dollar operation.
- Snowden worked for Booz Allen, which is owned by the Carlyle Group ($170 billion in assets). Carlyle, the infamous. Their money is making money in 160 investment funds.
- A few of Carlyle's famous front men in its history: George HW Bush, James Baker (US Secretary of State), Frank Carlucci (US Secretary of Defense and CIA Deputy Director), John Major (British Prime Minister), Arthur Levitt (Chairman of the SEC).
- Suppose you're one of the princes in the NSA castle, and Ed Snowden has just gone public with your documents. You're saying, ''Let's see, this kid worked for Booz Allen, which is owned by the Carlyle Group. We (NSA) have been spying over Carlyle's shoulder, stealing their proprietary financial data. What are the chances they're getting a little revenge on us now?''
- So there is the CIA, Congress, and Wall Street players, all of whom would like, privately, to get the NSA off their backs.
- Snowden's true CIA bosses know how to access NSA files. They do it, and they give those files to their secret front man, Snowden.
- Perhaps we could be talking about a small number of genuine patriots within the CIA who want to take down the NSA a few notches, for laudable reasons.
- But if you don't like this CIA-Snowden scenario, feel free to assume the NSA is such a competent and brilliant organization when it comes to spying on the global population'...but they just can't get it together to stop one man from logging in and stealing their own farm and strolling away.
- They can't stop one man, who now says he filed over 10 official complaints about illegal spying while he was working at their Agency.
- The author of two explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED and EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at www.nomorefakenews.com.
- Would you like to learn more?
- Secrets for Sale? '' The Greenwald/Omidyar/NSA connection
- Jon Rappoport's Spygate archive
- History'... Interview: Jon Rappoport / ''How to Analyze News in Context of History''
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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- BBC News - Senate intelligence head says CIA 'searched computers'
- 11 March 2014 Last updated at 16:29
- Senate intelligence committee chairwoman Senator Dianne Feinstein said the alleged CIA conduct could have violated federal laws The head of the US Senate intelligence committee has publicly accused the CIA of improperly accessing computers used by congressional staff.
- Senator Dianne Feinstein said on the Senate floor that such activities "may have undermined the constitutional framework" of government oversight.
- The Senate panel was investigating allegations of abuse during a CIA detention and interrogation programme.
- A CIA internal watchdog has been tasked with looking into the alleged hacking.
- "I am not taking it lightly," Ms Feinstein said of the matter on Tuesday, adding that the CIA may have violated federal laws in its alleged conduct.
- But CIA director John Brennan rejected the Senate allegations.
- "The CIA was in no way spying... on the Senate," he told MSNBC on Tuesday.
- The agency is accused of secretly removing documents from computers used by the Senate intelligence committee during an investigation into alleged CIA abuse.
- Those computers were provided by the CIA to congressional members of staff at a secure site so that Senate investigators could review millions of pages of top secret documents.
- The alleged CIA abuse stemmed from a detention and interrogation programme under former President George W Bush.
- Ms Feinstein has previously said that the committee's 6,000-page "comprehensive review" - completed in 2013 and encompassing six million pages of records - found that the CIA programme had yielded little or no significant intelligence.
- On Tuesday, the Senate intelligence committee chairwoman reportedly said such improper access to congressional networks, if true, amounted to attempted intimidation of investigators.
- She also said she had requested an apology from the agency and an acknowledgment that the search was inappropriate, but had "received neither" despite sending letters to the agency requesting information on 17 and 23 January.
- Ms Feinstein noted that CIA inspector general David Buckley had been tasked with looking into the alleged actions.
- She said he had already referred the matter to the Department of Justice, "given the possibility of a criminal violation by CIA personnel".
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- Speech or Debate Clause - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The Speech or Debate Clause is a clause in the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 6, Clause 1). The clause states that members of both Houses of Congress
- ...shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their attendance at the Session of their Respective Houses, and in going to and from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
- The intended purpose is to prevent a President or other officials of the executive branch from having members arrested on a pretext to prevent them from voting a certain way or otherwise taking actions with which the President might disagree.
- A similar clause in many state constitutions protects members of state legislatures in the United States. Legislators in non-U.S. jurisdictions may be protected by a similar doctrine of parliamentary immunity.
- Case law[edit]Gravel case[edit]On June 15, 1971, SenatorMike Gravel (D-Alaska) received a copy of the Pentagon Papers from Ben Bagdikian, an editor at The Washington Post.[1] Over the next several days, Gravel (who was dyslexic) was assisted by his congressional office staff in reading and analyzing the report.[1] Worried his home might be raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Gravel smuggled the report, which filled two large suitcases, into his Senate office, which was then guarded by disabled Vietnam veterans.[1]
- On the evening of June 29, 1971, Gravel attempted to read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record.[2] A lack of a quorum, however, prevented the Senate from convening.[1][2] As chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds, Gravel convened a meeting of the subcommittee and spent an hour reading part of the Pentagon Papers into the record.[1] Prevented by his dyslexia from continuing, Gravel had the remainder of the Pentagon Papers entered into the record.[1][2]
- Gravel arranged to have the Pentagon Papers published by a private publisher, Beacon Press, a non-profit book publisher owned by the Unitarian Universalist Association.[2]
- A federal grand jury was empaneled to investigate possible violations of federal law in the release of the report. Leonard Rodberg, a Gravel aide, was subpoenaed to testify about his role in obtaining and arranging for publication of the Pentagon Papers. Senator Gravel intervened and asked a court to quash the subpoena, contending that forcing Rodberg to testify would violate the Speech or Debate Clause.[3] A federal district court refused to grant the motion to quash but did agree to proscribe certain questions.[4] The trial court also held that publication of the Pentagon Papers by a private press was not protected by the Speech or Debate Clause.[4] The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's ruling, although it modified the categories of barred questions.[5] The United States appealed the barring of questions, and Senator Gravel appealed the ruling regarding publication. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.[6]
- In Gravel v. United States,408 U.S. 606 (1972), the Supreme Court held (5-4) that the privileges of the Speech or Debate Clause extend to Congressional aides. Rejecting the reasoning of the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court held, "...the privilege available to the aide is confined to those services that would be immune legislative conduct if performed by the Senator himself," the Court declared.[7]
- The Court refused to protect congressional aides either from prosecution for criminal conduct or from testifying at trials or grand jury proceedings involving third-party crimes.[8] The Supreme Court also vacated the lower court's order permitting some questions and barring others, concluding that if the testimony is privileged then the privilege is absolute.[9]
- The Supreme Court upheld the district court ruling regarding private publication. "[Private] publication by Senator Gravel through the cooperation of Beacon Press was in no way essential to the deliberations of the Senate; nor does questioning as to private publication threaten the integrity or independence of the Senate by impermissibly exposing its deliberations to executive influence."[10][11][12][13]
- The Gravel case narrowed the protections offered by the Speech or Debate Clause.[14]
- William Jefferson[edit]FBI raid[edit]In May 2006, following an FBI raid on the Capitol Hill office of Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA), some members of Congress have criticized the FBI's search as an unconstitutional breach of this clause. Those who support the FBI's position contend that the clause did not apply to the search of Jefferson because he was alleged to have committed felonies of accepting bribes, obstructing a previous search, and storing in a freezer the money he accepted in bribery. Also, Jefferson was not arrested at the House, and the FBI investigation does not concern anything Jefferson said at Congress.
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the search was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court declined to review the D.C. Circuit Court's decision.[15] The search of the accused Jefferson's House office was found to be unconstitutional because of a ''filter team's'' review of all legislative files in that office.
- Indictment[edit]On September 24, 2008, Jefferson argued before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that as his legislative acts were part of the evidence used to indict, they fell under the Clause and the indictment should be vacated. The Court of Appeals rejected this contention.[16]
- John Murtha Haditha defamation case[edit]On August 6, 2006, Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Frank D. Wuterich, who led a squad of Marines into Haditha, Iraq that killed 24 civilians, filed suit for libel and invasion of privacy. Wuterich claims that Congressman John Murtha's comments at a news conference on May 17, 2006 and, in subsequent television interviews, tarnished the Marines' reputation and constituted an invasion of privacy.
- A federal judge ruled on September 28, 2007 that Murtha must testify at the Haditha defamation case. Commentators have expressed concern that Murtha was acting as lawmaker and was therefore protected by the Speech or Debate Clause.[17] Murtha, the Justice Department, and the House's General Counsel never filed an appeal. In 2009, an appellate court dismissed the case citing Mr Murtha's role as a lawmaker.[18] The appellate court dismissed Mr Murtha from the case pursuant to the Westfall act which immunizes Federal employees for official acts[19]
- See also[edit]References[edit]^ abcdef"How the Pentagon Papers Came to be Published by the Beacon Press: A Remarkable Story Told by Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, Dem Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel and Unitarian Leader Robert West." Democracy Now. July 2, 2007. Accessed June 14, 2008.^ abcd"Preface." In The Pentagon Papers: The Defense Department History of United States Decision making on Vietnam. Vol. 1. Senator Gravel Edition. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971.^Gravel v. United States,408 U.S. 606, 608-609 (1972).^ abUnited States v. Doe,332 F.Supp. 930 (Mass.1971).^United States v. Doe,455 F.2d 753 (CA1 1972).^Gravel v. United States,405 U.S. 916 (1972).^Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 622, 627.^Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 622.^Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 627-629.^Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 625.^Associate JusticePotter Stewart dissented in part, concluding that the Court had too narrowly construed the protections granted by the Speech or Debate Clause. Justice Stewart would have extended the protections of the clause to cover testify before a grand jury about preparing for legislative acts. Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 629ff.^In his dissent, Associate JusticeWilliam O. Douglas argued that the private publication was an adjunct of speech or debate function of Senator Gravel, and was therefore protected speech. Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 633ff.^In his dissent, Associate JusticeWilliam J. Brennan, Jr. disagreed with the majority's narrow construction of the Speech or Debate Clause, and defined a much broader conception of the right. Brennan, joined by Justices Douglas and Marshall, would also . Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 633ff.^"Evidentiary Implications of the Speech or Debate Clause." Yale Law Journal. 88:6 (May, 1979); "The Speech or Debate Clause Protection of Congressional Aides." Yale Law Journal. 91:5 (April 1982); Epstein, Lee and Walker, Thomas G. Constitutional Law for a Changing America: Institutional Powers and Constraints. 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2004. ISBN 1-56802-822-9^David Stout, "Justices Let Stand Ruling on Illegal F.B.I. Search," New York Times, March 31, 2008.^U.S. court of Appeals ruling, 12 November 2008.^John Bresnahan (2007-09-28). "Federal judge orders Murtha to testify in Haditha defamation case". Politico. Retrieved 2007-09-30. ^http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/14/frank-wuterich-cant-sue-m_n_186706.html^http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-dc-circuit/1262084.htmlExternal links[edit]
-
- Sen. Feinstein Says CIA Searched Senate Intel Panel's Computers, May Have Violated 4th Amendment: NBC News
- The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that the CIA searched the panel's computers and that the search may have violated the Constitution.
- "The CIA just went and searched the committee's computers," California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in a lengthy speech on the Senate floor, calling the the matter a "defining moment" for the oversight of the Intelligence Committee.
- "I have grave concerns that the CIA's search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied by the United States Constitution, including the speech and debate clause," she said. "It may have undermined the Constitutional framework essential to effective congressional oversight of intelligence activity or any other government function."
- More from NBC News: Forgotten? Syria's Littlest Victims Struggle to SurviveHow Pope Francis Became a Catholic Rock StarCo-Pilot Once Let Women Into Cockpit: Report
- Pete Marovich | Bloomberg | Getty Images
- Feinstein added that the search may also have violated the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and an executive order that prohibits the CIA from conducting domestic searches or surveillance.
- She said she has asked for an apology and an acknowledgment that the CIA's actions were wrong but that "I have received neither."
- The inspector general of the CIA has turned the matter over to the Justice Department for investigation, Feinstein said.
- (Read more: The CIA's Cold War gadgets'... inspired by Bond)
- The search came as the Intelligence Committee attempted to investigate the CIA's detention and interrogation practices that took place when current CIA Director John Brennan directed the program.
- Feinstein says the committee obtained the review from the CIA because it was provided to them as part of a searchable database of documents. The CIA has alleged that the committee may have obtained that document illegally.
- The California senator said she made the public accusations "reluctantly" but felt she must speak up amid "inaccurate" information about her panel and the intelligence community.
- "Since January 15th, 2014, when I was informed of the CIA search of this committee's network, I've been trying to resolve this dispute in a discreet and respectful way," she said. "I have not commented in response to media requests for additional information on this matter, however the increasing amount of inaccurate information circulating now cannot be allowed to stand unanswered."
- '--By Kasie Hunt of NBC News.Carrie Dann contributed to this report.
- The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said the CIA searched the panel's computers and that the search may have violated the Constitution.
-
- An online Magna Carta: Berners-Lee calls for bill of rights for web | tech | theguardian.com
- The inventor of the world wide web believes an online "Magna Carta" is needed to protect and enshrine the independence of the medium he created and the rights of its users worldwide.
- Sir Tim Berners-Lee told the Guardian the web had come under increasing attack from governments and corporate influence and that new rules were needed to protect the "open, neutral" system.
- Speaking exactly 25 years after he wrote the first draft of the first proposal for what would become the world wide web, the computer scientist said: "We need a global constitution '' a bill of rights."
- Berners-Lee's Magna Carta plan is to be taken up as part of an initiative called "the web we want", which calls on people to generate a digital bill of rights in each country '' a statement of principles he hopes will be supported by public institutions, government officials and corporations.
- "Unless we have an open, neutral internet we can rely on without worrying about what's happening at the back door, we can't have open government, good democracy, good healthcare, connected communities and diversity of culture. It's not naive to think we can have that, but it is naive to think we can just sit back and get it."
- Berners-Lee has been an outspoken critic of the American and British spy agencies' surveillance of citizens following the revelations by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. In the light of what has emerged, he said, people were looking for an overhaul of how the security services were managed.
- His views also echo across the technology industry, where there is particular anger about the efforts by the NSA and Britain's GCHQ to undermine encryption and security tools '' something many cybersecurity experts say has been counterproductive and undermined everyone's security.
- Principles of privacy, free speech and responsible anonymity would be explored in the Magna Carta scheme. "These issues have crept up on us," Berners-Lee said. "Our rights are being infringed more and more on every side, and the danger is that we get used to it. So I want to use the 25th anniversary for us all to do that, to take the web back into our own hands and define the web we want for the next 25 years."
- The web constitution proposal should also examine the impact of copyright laws and the cultural-societal issues around the ethics of technology.
- While regional regulation and cultural sensitivities would vary, Berners-Lee said he believed a shared document of principle could provide an international standard for the values of the open web.
- He is optimistic that the "web we want" campaign can be mainstream, despite the apparent lack of awareness of public interest in the Snowden story.
- "I wouldn't say people in the UK are apathetic '' I would say that they have greater trust in their government than other countries. They have the attitude that we voted for them, so let them get on and do it.
- "But we need our lawyers and our politicians to understand programming, to understand what can be done with a computer. We also need to revisit a lot of legal structure, copyright law '' the laws that put people in jail which have been largely set up to protect the movie producers '... None of this has been set up to preserve the day to day discourse between individuals and the day to day democracy that we need to run the country," he said.
- Berners-Lee also spoke out strongly in favour of changing a key and controversial element of internet governance that would remove a small but symbolic piece of US control. The US has clung on to the Iana contract, which controls the dominant database of all domain names, but has faced increased pressure post-Snowden.
- He said: "The removal of the explicit link to the US department of commerce is long overdue. The US can't have a global place in the running of something which is so non-national. There is huge momentum towards that uncoupling but it is right that we keep a multi-stakeholder approach, and one where governments and companies are both kept at arm's length."
- Berners-Lee also reiterated his concern that the web could be balkanised by countries or organisations carving up the digital space to work under their own rules, whether for censorship, regulation or commerce.
- We all have to play a role in that future, he said, citing resistance to proposed copyright theft regulation.
- He said: "The key thing is getting people to fight for the web and to see the harm that a fractured web would bring. Like any human system, the web needs policing and of course we need national laws, but we must not turn the network into a series of national silos."
- Berners-Lee also starred in the London 2012 Olympics, typing the words "this is for everyone" on a computer in the centre of the arena. He has stuck firmly to the principle of openness, inclusivity and democracy since he invented the web in 1989, choosing not to commercialise his model. Rejecting the idea that government and commercial control of such a powerful medium was inevitable, Berners-Lee said it would be impossible: "Not until they prise the keyboards from our cold, dead fingers."
- As a boy growing up in south-west London, Tim Berners-Lee was a keen trainspotter, which led to his interest in model railways and then electronics.
- But computers were already familiar concept in the family home '' both his parents worked on the creation of the world's first commercially built computer, the Ferranti Mk1.
- Berners-Lee got a first in physics at Oxford and then worked in a series of engineering roles. But it was at Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, in Geneva where he embarked on projects which would lead to the creation of the world wide web.
- His aim was to allow researchers all over the world to share documents and his first proposals were judged as "vague but interesting" by a manager at Cern.
- He combined existing technology such as the internet and hypertext and combined them to produce an immense interconnected document storage system. Berners-Lee labelled it the world wide web, although his Francophone collaborators found it difficult to pronounce.
- The web was first open to new users in 1991, and in 1992, the first browser was created to scan and select the millions of documents which already existed.
- Although the web has seen the creation and loss of countless fortunes, Berners-Lee and his team ensured that it was free to use for everyone.
- Berners-Lee now works through various organisations to ensure that the web is accessible to all and that the concept of the neutrality of the net is observed by governments and corporations. Conal Urquhart
-
- Web We Want | Celebrating the free, open, universal Web
- Sixty-five years ago, this vision was laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today, we can't achieve it without an open, universal Web. The Web enables everyone on the planet to participate in a free flow of knowledge, ideas, collaboration and creativity. And it must be nurtured and protected.
- But now the actions of some companies and some governments threaten our fundamental freedoms on the Web.
- In the last few years, citizens around the world '-- from Finland to Brazil, from Mexico to the USA, from the Philippines to Russia '-- have rallied to stop bad laws and build a positive agenda for a Web that empowers all of us. With your help, we can help these movements grow and win victories in every country.
- That's why the Web We Want campaign is calling on people around the world to stand up for their right to a free, open and truly global Internet. The first step: Drafting an Internet Users Bill of Rights for every country, proposing it to governments and kickstarting the change we need. There are three ways to get started:
- Add your name to the Web We Want mailing list to the right. We'll keep you informed as our campaign begins to gather momentum.Start a national dialogue about the Web that your country wants.Draft an Internet Users Bill of Rights for your country, for your region or for all. From national regulations to an international convention, we can work together to propose the best legislation to protect our rights.Right now the U.N. is requesting an investigation into global online surveillance. As more and more people awaken to the threats against our basic rights online, we must start a debate '-- everywhere '-- about the Web we want. This process is just getting started. Add your name to our mailing list today and we'll follow up soon with next steps.
-
- Ukraine
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Perhaps meant only to discredit the Obama administration?
- NATO Troops on Ploish Ukraine border would spark real tension
- Putin will respond with troops in eastern and southern Ukraine
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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- McCain 8 bags of money Ukraine
- Press TV has conducted an interview with Vyacheslav Matuzov, political expert, to further discuss Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign a trade deal with the EU.
- What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
- Press TV: Mr. Matuzov, we know that Yanukovych and the Russian President Vladimir Putin are discussing expansion of ties on energy, space, investment and other sectors and we know that there has also been some talks about Russia giving Ukraine a much needed loan.
- Would you agree however with those who say that Viktor Yanukovych is trying to salvage his own political fate and is giving in to Russian pressure?
- Matuzov: Well Russia does not press Ukraine at all. Of course Russia is interested to keep Ukraine close to Russia politically, economically but it does not use its pressure to be interpreted as an intervention in internal affairs of Ukraine. It is in the contrary.
- We watched today what is going on from the Eastern Europe. Europe parliamentarians are coming to Kiev demonstrating and even camping. Polish parliamentarians are camping in Kiev in Maidan, main square of Kiev city. And so yesterday Russian TV showed John McCain arrival to Kiev and he brought with him some luggage, diplomatic luggage, eight big bags: one of them only was set for ... [his] diplomatic car and the seven other big bags were placed in Ukrainian cars and they said that it is money. Huge amount of money brought to spread, to support opposition.
- I asked where is international law? How is it possible to intervene in such ugly way in the internal disturbed situation in Ukraine?
- Money, money and all this was spread [among opposition]and made based on huge amounts...
- So I think that not Russian intervention but European, American intervention, direct appearance in demonstrations, appearance among oppositions, take and flow, making some speeches, encouraging for revolution.
- That I can say, I as a former diplomatic, my job, I cannot even imagine such kind of behaviors are suitable for current international law, independent state of Ukrainian state. I think that it is for West to think over. Russia does not [go] against Europe ...Press TV: Mr. Matuzov, do you think that Yanukovych or Ukraine basically is now standing in front of a big decision and that is a choice between Brussels and Moscow and this is the only way forward, a balance cannot be struck at this stage?
- Matuzov: Of course. Yanukovych wants to join Europe and [have] friendly relations with all European countries, with European Union and Russia too. We are not reluctant to join European community but there are economical side of this issue.
- If you look at Russian-European relations, all Russians efforts to avoid any Schengen visa problem and so on and open door to Europe, they are closed doors, but they want to enter Russian internal market economically through Ukraine.
- Ukraine has no frontiers with Russia and all borders between Russia and Ukraine are open for goods, for a change of people and so on. When they enter economically, open doors to European goods to Ukraine, all European goods come to Russia immediately and Russia will construct a big defensive line between Ukraine and Russia.
- They prohibit Ukraine goods to come to Russia to market it and I think that it will be great blow to Ukrainian economy. I do not like and I do not think Putin like to make damages to Ukraine economy but he will do this because it is defending measures to Russian economy.
- And all those who are speaking about Russian reluctant to come to Europe, it is a false position. We are with Europe but we want to be on equal base but not of that of as a market for European goods.
- Ukraine said it needs one hundred sixty billion euro as result of cutting relations with Russia. I think that Yanukovych refused to sign the agreement because of economical reasons not because of Russian pressure.Press TV: Mr. Matuzov, would you say that it would be a mistake for Ukraine to join the EU or even to be part of that membership, the association membership because economically it would be damaging?
- Matuzov: Of course it is an understandable issue for Ukrainians. I think that when we are watching demonstrations in Kiev today, we should take into consideration one very important thing. It is population of Western regions of Ukraine but Southern region, Eastern region they are against this immediate association with Europe because it cuts all relations political, private and economic relations with Russia. They are with keeping good relations with Russia.
- This current Ukrainian government, current Ukrainian President was elected president, majority of Ukraine elected him and government is absolutely ... and I think that it is the minority who are demonstrating today in Kiev not majority ...
- I am afraid that ... Ukraine will be divided in pieces. I am against it but all those in Europe who are encouraging such kind of decision, they are pushing Ukraine to catastrophic decision to divide the country and it will be blown up and I think it is a dangerous way.
- I think they will find a way out, ... a right solution.
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- What the European Union said in 2012 about its current fascist allies in Ukraine
- By Alex Lantier12 March 2014Since last month's putsch in Kiev, the US and European media have denounced reports from Russia and internationally of fascist involvement in the new, Western-backed Ukrainian regime.
- The media has attacked such reports as ''empty'' (New York Times), ''a fancy'' (Guardian), ''Putin plays the Nazi card'' (Fox News), and ''the supreme lie'' (Le Monde). One source that inspires total confidence, Russian oligarch and convicted felon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, speaking on Monday to a right-wing crowd in Kiev, summed up the line of the corporate media. He called reports of fascist influence over the new regime ''lying Russian propaganda.''
- To evaluate this torrent of pro-fascist apologetics, it is worth recalling what the European Union itself said only two years ago about its current partners in Kiev. Today, the far-right Svoboda party holds top ministerial positions (deputy prime minister, education, ecology, and agriculture) and advisory posts in a regime that enjoys the economic and military backing of the EU and Washington.
- Svoboda was condemned in an official resolution voted and adopted by the European Parliament. The document, titled ''European Parliament of 13 December, 2012 on the Situation in Ukraine,'' is available online.
- In section 8 of the resolution, the EU's legislative body declares itself ''concerned about the rising nationalistic sentiment in Ukraine, expressed in support for the Svoboda party, which, as a result, is one of the two new parties to enter the Verkhovna Rada,'' the Ukrainian parliament.
- Stating that ''racist, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic views go against the EU's fundamental values,'' the European Parliament ''therefore appeals to pro-democratic parties in the Verkhovna Rada not to associate with, endorse, or form coalitions with this party.''
- When the imperialist powers embarked on a critical foreign policy operation, however'--the installation of a pro-Western regime in Kiev'--they easily overcame whatever scruples EU legislators may have had about Svoboda's racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. It fell to a corrupt media, academic and cultural elite to package the resulting collaboration with fascists as a struggle for democracy, misleading the public through a combination of complicit silence and active falsification.
- The author also recommends:
- The fascist danger in Ukraine[6 March 2014]
- Ukraine and the pro-imperialist intellectuals[5 February 2014]
- Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
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- Statement of G-7 Leaders on Ukraine
- Office of the Press Secretary
- We, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission, call on the Russian Federation to cease all efforts to change the status of Crimea contrary to Ukrainian law and in violation of international law. We call on the Russian Federation to immediately halt actions supporting a referendum on the territory of Crimea regarding its status, in direct violation of the Constitution of Ukraine. Any such referendum would have no legal effect. Given the lack of adequate preparation and the intimidating presence of Russian troops, it would also be a deeply flawed process which would have no moral force. For all these reasons, we would not recognize the outcome. Russian annexation of Crimea would be a clear violation of the United Nations Charter; Russia's commitments under the Helsinki Final Act; its obligations to Ukraine under its 1997 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership; the Russia-Ukraine 1997 basing agreement; and its commitments in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994. In addition to its impact on the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea could have grave implications for the legal order that protects the unity and sovereignty of all states. Should the Russian Federation take such a step, we will take further action, individually and collectively. We call on the Russian Federation to de-escalate the conflict in Crimea and other parts of Ukraine immediately, withdraw its forces back to their pre-crisis numbers and garrisons, begin direct discussions with the Government of Ukraine, and avail itself of international mediation and observation offers to address any legitimate concerns it may have. We, the leaders of the G-7, urge Russia to join us in working together through diplomatic processes to resolve the current crisis and support progress for a sovereign independent, inclusive and united Ukraine. We also remind the Russian Federation of our decision to suspend participation in any activities related to preparation of a G-8 Sochi meeting until it changes course and the environment comes back to where the G-8 is able to have a meaningful discussion.
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- Ukraine Refocuses Debate on US Missile Defense
- Tensions with Russia over Ukraine have led lawmakers and former military leaders to suggest the Obama administration take a tougher defensive posture toward Russia and revisit previous U.S. plans to build land-based missile defense technology in Poland and the Czech Republic.
- "There are military options that don't involve putting troops on the ground in Crimea. We could go back and reinstate the ballistic missile defense program that was taken out. It was originally going to go in Poland and Czech Republic. Obama took it out to appease Putin," former Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation program.
- The prior plan he mentioned involved constructing missile silos in Poland with Ground Based Interceptors, or GBIs, and radar in the Czech Republic. It was implemented and begun when Cheney was in office as vice president during the George W. Bush administration.
- While development of the missile silos in Poland had already begun, this plan was canceled in 2009 when the Obama administration reset relations with Russia. Russia had been strongly opposed to the construction of any kind of missile defense technology close to its borders.
- Resetting relations with Russia paved the way for the Obama administration to broker the New START Treaty in 2010 -- a U.S.-Russian bilateral agreement to limit ICBMs, launchers and warheads.
- Also speaking on CBS' Face the Nation, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., questioned the Russian reset policy and said the current administration should revisit missile defense in light of the problems in Ukraine.
- "I think we should definitely revisit missile defense. I think if President Obama himself revisited missile defense that would be a very strong signal. I think you could charitably describe the reset policy as naive wishful thinking," he said.
- In place of the Ground Based Interceptor site in Poland, the Obama administration chose to implement what's called the European Phased Adaptive Approach -- an effort to use ship-based Aegis radar and Standard Missile-3 technology to provide a protective envelope for missile defense.
- Known as Aegis Ashore, the plan calls for land-based missile defense sites in Romania by 2015 and Poland by 2018, said Rick Lehner, spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency.
- Lehner did not comment on various opinions about restarting land-based European GBI development, but did say the Pentagon's Aegis Ashore effort was progressing. Development of the Aegis Ashore site in Romania is already underway, he said.
- "The program of record is Aegis Ashore in Romania and Poland. It will be operational by the end of 2015," he explained. "We will have our first Aegis Ashore flight test from Hawaii in the next three to four months."
- The Romanian Aegis Ashore site will be configured to fire the SM-3 IB interceptor missile, Lehner said. However, the Polish site for 2018 will be able to fire the larger, more powerful SM-3 IIA missile, which has a longer range, he added.
- Unlike the SM-3 weapon, land-based GBIs like those planned for Poland are designed to knock ICBMs out of the sky during the midcourse phase of flight when the incoming missile is in space.
- "The GBIs are primarily designed against the type of ICBMs that could be developed by North Korea and Iran -- and the Aegis Ashore technology is designed for use against short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles," Lehner said.
- Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, or BMD, has historically been a ship-based integrated missile defense system that uses radar to identify approaching targets in tandem with SM-3 interceptor missiles engineered to knock them out of the sky.
- In existence since 2004, Aegis BMD is now operating on 28 Navy ships and with a number of allied nations. U.S. allies with Aegis capability include the Japan Self Defense Forces, Spanish Navy, the South Korean Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, Italy, Denmark and others, MDA officials said.
- The system uses the AN/SPY-1 radar, multiple variants of SM-3 missiles and various software configurations to ensure targets are located, tracked and destroyed.
- SM-3 missile technology is capable of what's called mid-course phase missile defense. However, it's only effective against short- to intermediate-range missile threats. Ground Based Interceptors, by contrast, are able to provide full mid-course defense against high-flying, fast-moving ICBMs.
- "A GBI can go and hit something that is way out there. It is an extremely big and extremely fast warhead. The standard missile is based on an anti-aircraft missile. It is a relatively small missile," said Daniel Goure, vice-president of the Lexington Institute, a Va.-based think tank.
- Goure said ICBMs can travel as fast as 17,000 miles an hour.
- There appear to have been many factors informing the decision to abandon the land-based GBI site in Poland, Goure said.
- Signing the New START Treaty, improving relations with Russia and accommodating their concerns about missile defense technology appear to have been a large part of the strategic calculus.
- At the same time, the administration seems to believe that the Aegis Ashore system will be sufficient to meet regional threats. The decision seems to have, in part, been based on the belief that Iran was not likely to possess an ICBM in the near future, Goure said.
- "The Obama administration rejected the Bush administration's idea that you would need a GBI site in Europe to protect the U.S. coastline," Goure said.
- Consequently, the thinking with the European Phased Adaptive Approach seems to be that Aegis Ashore will succeed in defending Europe and the Middle Eastern partners, and the continental U.S. will be protected from threats by the GBIs the U.S. currently has at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
- In fact, last year the Pentagon announced it would be increasing the number of GBIs from 30 to 44 at those locations in an effort to strengthen missile defense.
- Another missile defense related option might be for the U.S. to restart research and development of the SM-3 IIB program, an effort designed to engineer a standard missile that is capable of destroying ICBMs, Goure said.
- "There was going to be a version of the standard missile, the Aegis SM-3 IIB, that was going to be ICBM capable, and in a gesture to Putin that was canceled. The Russians have been opposed to any deployment of missile defense in Europe," he said.
- -- Kris Osborn can be reached at Kris.Osborn@monster.com.
- (C) Copyright 2014 Military.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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- With eye on Crimea, U.S. starts military drills on Russia's doorstep | Reuters
- WARSAWMon Mar 10, 2014 7:06pm EDT
- U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun is escorted by a Turkish Navy Coast Guard boat as it sets sail in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Black Sea March 7, 2014.
- Credit: Reuters/Murad Sezer
- WARSAW (Reuters) - The United States will signal its resolve to protect its NATO allies near Russia's borders on Tuesday with the start of the first joint military training exercises in the region since the Kremlin intervened in Ukraine.
- In the Black Sea, across the water from the Crimean Peninsula where Russian military groups have seized control from Ukrainian authorities, a U.S. navy destroyer will take part in maneuvers with Romanian and Bulgarian warships.
- To the north in Poland, U.S. fighter jets are arriving at the central Lask air base to take part in joint exercises, with Poland's president expected to review the maneuvers.
- The United States stressed that both training drills were planned before the Ukraine crisis, but they are also a signal of support for NATO members nervous that if Russia is prepared to intervene in Ukraine, they could be next.
- The exercises underline that it is Washington which has so far taken the lead in the international response to Russia's actions in Ukraine, while the European Union, hampered by the need for consensus among its members, has been less bold.
- In Poland - a staunch U.S. ally still haunted by decades of Russian domination during the Cold War - officials say the scope of the air exercise was beefed up specifically in response to the Russian intervention in Crimea.
- Speaking on Monday at a Polish rocket defense site, not far from the Russian Baltic Fleet's base at Kaliningrad, Polish defense minister Tomasz Siemoniak said the exercise was to have been smaller, involving only transport aircraft.
- But Siemoniak said that after the Russian military intervention in Crimea, Warsaw asked the Pentagon to send fighter jets instead. At least 12 F-16 fighters would be arriving in Poland this week, with 300 service personnel.
- "This was our request," said Siemoniak. "We really appreciate that the reaction was that quick and significant."
- Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski is scheduled on Tuesday to visit Lask, which is expected to be the focus of the exercises.
- The Kremlin has said it acted to protect Russian citizens in Crimea from attack, and denies invading the region.
- In a separate deployment since the Ukraine crisis began, extra U.S. military aircraft have arrived in Lithuania to take part in regular NATO air patrols over the Baltic states.
- The alliance also said on Monday that it would start reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in neighboring Ukraine. NATO ambassadors gave the go-ahead to the AWACS flights, acting on a recommendation by the alliance's top military commander, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, a NATO spokesman said.
- The U.S. warship taking part in the Black Sea maneuvers is the USS Truxtun, a guided-missile destroyer with about 300 crew which is part of the U.S. Sixth Fleet headquartered in Italy.
- Joining it in the exercises will be the Bulgarian naval frigate Drazki, and three Romanian naval vessels, Bulgaria's defense ministry said in a statement. The drill would take place in international waters southeast of the Romanian port of Constanta, it added.
- Constanta lies about 350 km (220 miles) from the Crimean port of Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea fleet leases a base.
- "The goal of the exercise is to increase the operational compatibility within NATO members' navy vessels, to improve the mutual understanding and to increase the crews' preparedness at sea," the ministry said.
- It was not expected the exercise would involve any live-firing. The U.S. military said last week the presence of the USS Truxtun had been planned weeks in advance, and that the exercises were routine.
- (Additional reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia, Radu Marinas in Bucharest and David Mardiste in Tallinn; editing by David Stamp)
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- US builds up military forces, threatens end to diplomacy over Ukraine
- By Chris Marsden10 March 2014Washington spent the weekend ramping up pressure on its allies to intensify the provocations and threats against Russia over Ukraine.
- On Friday, President Barack Obama spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. On Saturday he held talks with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Fran§ois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. He also held a conference call with the presidents of the ex-Soviet Republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia'--Andris Berzins, Dalia Grybauskaite and Toomas Ilves, respectively.
- A White House communication spoke of universal agreement ''on the need for Russia to pull its military forces back to their base'' and for ''the deployment of international observers and human rights monitors to the Crimean peninsula.''
- An even more threatening pose was struck by Secretary of State John Kerry. According to a State Department spokesman, Kerry warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that ''continued military escalation and provocation in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine, along with steps to annex Crimea to Russia, would close any available space for diplomacy'...''
- Last Thursday, Crimea's regional government announced a referendum for March 16 on whether to become part of Russia. Obama's spokesman described the referendum as ''a violation of Ukraine's constitution'' and a ''violation of international law.''
- British Foreign Secretary William Hague told the BBC that Europe would face the ''great danger of a real shooting conflict'' if Russian forces moved beyond the Crimean peninsula to enter eastern Ukraine. Diplomatic pressure and economic sanctions would not remove Russian forces from the Crimea, he told the Andrew Marr Show. Asked whether Britain and the European Union would advise the Ukrainians not to take up arms against the Russians, he replied in the negative saying, ''It is not really possible to go through different scenarios with the Ukrainians and say: in these circumstances you shoot and in these you don't.''
- In Kiev, Ukraine's US-imposed prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, pledged that his government would not give a ''single centimetre'' of Ukrainian land to Russia. Yatsenyuk flies to Washington on Wednesday for discussions at the White House on the military and financial situation, White House officials told CNN.
- Official threats of retaliatory action usually involve economic and political sanctions, but the US has above all been busy isolating Russia through a sustained military build-up in conjunction with states on Russia's periphery.
- Last Friday, the USS Truxtun crossed into the Black Sea from Turkey's Bosphorus in what was said to be a ''previously planned'' training exercise together with the Bulgarian and Romanian navies. The USS Truxton is a destroyer with a crew of 300, equipped with anti-ship missiles. It was stationed in Greece as part of a strike group headed by the aircraft carrier USS George W. Bush, the world's largest warship, and replaced the USS Taylor, which ran aground in the Turkish port of Samsun last month'--an indication of the permanent US presence in the region that is now being beefed up.
- The US will send 12 F-16 fighter jets, a Boeing KC-135 refuelling Stratotanker and 300 service personnel to Poland next week for an expanded training exercise. Four F-15s currently fly air patrols over the Baltic States as part of a ten-year-old NATO mission, and the US already has a training squadron of F-16 fighters and Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport planes in Poland. NATO scrambled jets over 40 times last year in response to Russian jets approaching Baltic borders.
- The Eastern European and Baltic States are playing a leading role in whipping up a pro-war atmosphere against Russia, including convening a meeting of NATO last week to discuss their ''fears'' of Russian expansionism.
- Reuters noted that Poland is discussing modernising its military, including plans to spend $45 billion in the next decade to build a new missile defence system and upgrade its weapons systems, including transport helicopters and tanks.
- Lithuanian Defence Minister Juozas Olekas told Reuters: ''After the events in Ukraine, the Russian aggression, the need to increase spending will be better understood by Lithuanian people, and there will be more support for it.''
- Sweden's deputy prime minister, Jan Bjorklund, last week called for a ''doctrinal shift'' in Swedish defence policy in the context of discussions on whether it should fully join NATO.
- Pre-arranged military manoeuvres are only one of a series of ''happy coincidences'' indicating that the US planned the crisis that supposedly began with ''spontaneous'' pro-European Union protests after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych backed away from an EU Association Agreement last November.
- For example, the United States assumed control of NATO's air policing duties over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in January, taking over from Belgium. According to Fox News, a statement issued at the time said the mission ''not only protects the integrity of NATO airspace, it illustrates the alliance's core function of collective defence.''
- The US has spent the past two decades seeking to eliminate Ukraine as a strategic buffer between Russia and the West, sponsoring the ''Orange Revolution'' in 2004 in an ultimately abortive attempt to install a wholly pro-Western government. Washington and its allies have tried to do the same in other former Soviet states by integrating them into the structures of NATO and the European Union, encouraging Georgia, in particular, and former Soviet republics in Central Asia to take the path of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
- Washington has been funnelling money into the region for years and has now opened the taps all the way. According to an admission in December by Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, the US had invested ''over $5 billion'' to ''ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine.''
- Others states involved in US machinations are no less financially beholden to Washington. Last Monday, the European Commission (EC) was involved in procedures demanding that Bulgaria abandon an agreement with the US on the provision of economic, technical and other types of assistance on the grounds that the deal was in breach of EU directives because of violations of competition principles. A report noted that between 1990 and 2007, Bulgaria received $600 million from the US under the agreement. Of this, fully 99.14 percent went to defence.
- There is little wonder that Lavrov responded to Kerry's phone call by declaring that the crisis in Ukraine was ''created artificially for purely geopolitical reasons.''
- In Ukraine, the newly-installed regime is relying on various oligarchs to rule the country in alliance with far-right and fascist groups. In recent days, several oligarchs have been appointed to top government jobs, including leadership of regional administrations in the east that have been the scene of pro- and anti-government demonstrations and conflicts.
- Ihor Kolomoyskyi was named head of Dnepropetrovsk Regional Administration, while Sergey Taruta, the country's 16th richest man, was appointed as the new regional governor of Donetsk. Kolomoisky, a metals, banking and media tycoon worth $2.4 billion, told the Associated Press that his task would be to quell any unrest in his region, which was, he claimed, being fomented by agents from Russia.
- Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man, worth an estimated $15.4 billion and until recently a major backer of Yanukvoych's Party of Regions, has also been lined up to demand national unity.
- The former US ambassador to Ukraine, John Edward Herbst, was unapologetic, telling the AP: ''The oligarchs taking on this responsibility is a demonstration of their commitment to an independent, sovereign and territorially integrated Ukraine.''
- Yesterday saw rallies by pro-government forces to honour the birth 200 years ago of poet Taras Shevchenko, known as the father of the Ukrainian language. The rallies led to clashes with pro-Russian groups in Sevastopol in Crimea.
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- Russia Preparing Counterproposals Over Ukraine | TheBlaze.com
- KIEV, Ukraine (AP) '-- Russia said Monday it is drafting counterproposals to a U.S. plan for a negotiated solution to the Ukraine crisis, denouncing the new Western-backed government as an unacceptable ''fait accompli'' and claiming that Russian-leaning parts of the country have been plunged into lawlessness.
- Demonstrators hold placards as they protest against Russian agression in the Ukraine in front of the White House on March 6, 2014 in Washington, DC. US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted Thursday that the 'Crimea is Ukraine,' after pro-Moscow lawmakers on the tense peninsula voted to have their region become part of Russia. 'Crimea is part of the Ukraine. Crimea is Ukraine. And we support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and the government of Ukraine needs to be involved in any decision' on whether the peninsula would split off, he told journalists in Rome. AFP PHOTO / Karen BLEIER KAREN
- The Kremlin moves came as Russian forces strengthened their control over Crimea, less than a week before the strategic region is to hold a contentious referendum on whether to split off and become part of Russia.
- In a televised briefing with President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said proposals made by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry are ''not suitable'' because they take ''the situation created by the coup as a starting point,'' referring to the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Kremlin president, Viktor Yanukovych.
- Referring to a document he received from Kerry explaining the U.S. view of the situation in Ukraine, Lavrov said: ''To be frank, it raises many questions on our side.''
- ''Everything was stated in terms of allegedly having a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and in terms of accepting the fait accompli,'' he said.
- Lavrov said Kerry delayed a visit to Moscow to discuss the situation, and Russia had decided to prepare new proposals of its own, though he did not say what they were.
- ''We suggested that he come today '... and we were prepared to receive him. He gave his preliminary consent. He then called me on Saturday and said he would like to postpone it for a while,'' the minister said.
- But in Washington, State Department officials said that it was Russia's refusal to discuss the American proposals that was hurting prospects for a negotiated solution '-- in particular, the idea of direct talks between Russian officials and those of the new Ukrainian government.
- ''We are still awaiting a Russian response to the concrete questions that Secretary Kerry sent Foreign Minister Lavrov on Saturday in this regard,'' State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
- ''Secretary Kerry made clear to Foreign Minister Lavrov that he would welcome further discussions focused on how to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine if and when we see concrete evidence that Russia is prepared to engage on these proposals,'' she said.
- The statement said Kerry, in weekend discussions with Lavrov, reiterated Washington's demand that Moscow pull back its troops from Ukraine and end attempts to annex the Crimean peninsula. Kerry also called on Russia to cease what the statement described as ''provocative steps'' to allow diplomatic talks to continue.
- U.S. officials described a series of diplomatic maneuvers between Washington and Moscow over the weekend that initially led to an invitation for Kerry meet with Putin on Monday. The offer expired, however, after the two sides could not quickly agree to a page-and-a-half outline for potential negotiations that, above all, demanded Ukraine's borders remain intact, according to the officials who were not authorized to be quoted by name.
- The U.S. outline did call for ways to address any Russian concerns about the government turnover in Kiev that Moscow is calling a coup, and it introduced the potential for investigations into acts of violence by any party to the conflict, the officials said. Left unsaid, however, was precisely how those concerns might be assuaged, or what government would be tasked with leading such an investigation.
- The U.S. outline also called on Russia to pull back from Crimea, both in military force and in influence, to halt the local government there from holding a March 16 vote on whether it should separate from Ukraine, the officials said. It further sought to gain Russian support for placing international monitors in Crimea, allowing the International Monetary Fund to work with Ukraine and backing a May 25 national election set by Kiev.
- Meanwhile, Ukraine's foreign minister said Monday that his country was practically in a state of war with Russia, whose forces have effectively taken control over the Crimean Peninsula in what has become Europe's greatest geopolitical crisis since the end of the Cold War.
- ''We have to admit that our life now is almost like '... a war,'' Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsya said before meeting his counterparts from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. ''We have to cope with an aggression that we do not understand.''
- Deshchytsya said Ukraine is counting on help from the West. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is to meet with President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday.
- On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the lawlessness it said ''now rules in eastern regions of Ukraine as a result of the actions of fighters of the so-called 'Right Sector,' with the full connivance'' of Ukraine's new authorities.
- Right Sector is a grouping of far-right and nationalist factions whose activists were among the most radical and confrontational of the three-monthlong demonstrations in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, which eventually ousted Yanukovych.
- The Kremlin statement also claimed Russian citizens trying to enter Ukraine have been turned back at the border by Ukrainian officials.
- Pro-Russia sentiment is high in Ukraine's east and there are fears Russia could seek to incorporate that area as well.
- Obama has warned that the March 16 referendum in Crimea would violate international law, and Putin countered that in phone calls with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Minister David Cameron.
- ''The steps taken by the legitimate leadership of Crimea are based on the norms of international law and aim to ensure the legal interests of the population of the peninsula,'' Putin said, according to the Kremlin.
- Meanwhile, Obama spoke by telephone with Chinese President Xi Jinping late Sunday, trying to court China's support for efforts to isolate Russia over its military intervention in Ukraine.
- Obama appealed to Beijing's vehement opposition to outside intervention in other nations' domestic affairs, according to a White House statement.
- Obama ''noted his overriding objective of restoring Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and ensuring the Ukrainian people are able to determine their own future without foreign interference,'' the statement said, adding that the two leaders ''agreed on the importance of upholding principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.''
- China has been studiously neutral since the Ukraine crisis began and it remained unclear whether China would side with the U.S. and Europe or with Moscow.
- The U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, met on Ukraine for the fifth time in 10 days to hear a closed-door briefing from Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev. The council has been unable to take any action because Russia has veto power.
- In Kiev, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the businessman and Putin critic who was once Russia's most famous prisoner, said Monday his country is ruining its longstanding friendship with Ukraine.
- ''The question of Crimea's fate is very painful both for Ukrainians and for Russians. It's not just a simple territorial dispute for some extra square kilometers,'' Khodorkovsky told a packed hall at Kiev Polytechnic University.
- ''For Russians, it's a sacred place, an important element in our historical memory and the most painful wound since the Soviet collapse,'' Khodorkovsky said. Nevertheless, he said, the symbolism of Crimea for Russians cannot justify ''such a blatant incursion into the affairs of a historically friendly state.''
- He called for Crimea to remain part of Ukraine, but with broader regional powers and the protection of the rights of Russian speakers there.
- Khodorkovsky, once Russia's wealthiest man, was pardoned last December by Putin. Many believe he was convicted of tax violations and other crimes and sent to prison on trumped-up charges.
- On Sunday, Khodorkovsky almost wept as he urged a large crowd in Kiev's center not to believe that all Russians support their government's actions in Crimea.
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- Washington Asks Saudi Arabia to Finance the Crisis in Ukraine
- By DNA | March 11, 2014 (whatsupic) '' Washington asks Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait to contribute $15 billion in a package of financial assistance to help Ukraine's struggling economy.
- The European diplomats revealed that after the Ukrainian Finance Minister declared Kiev is in dire need for international urgent aid, Washington urged certain rich Arab counties including K.S.A, Qatar and Kuwait to set up an aid fund in order to save Ukraine from an economic catastrophe.
- According to the divulged confidential information, Washington exhorted PGCC Arab countries to donate around $15 billion while U.S. and other Western countries pledged to provide Kiev with $10 billion in loans and grants over the coming 3 years.
- According to EU sources, the U.S. State Department officials informed the pertinent authorities in Riyadh, Doha and Kuwait city that they must make financial contributions in an attempt to curry support for the new admiration in Kiev and to create a fallacious belief that deadly unrest salvaged Ukraine from Russian domination and also the political and financial disengagement from Moscow will provide jobs for tens of thousands unemployed young Ukrainians.
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- What is behind the warmongering of the German media?
- 12 March 2014Rarely before has the German media been brought so much into line. Two weeks after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was chased out of office by armed gangs of fascists, the television hosts and newspapers are virtually unanimous in support for the confrontational course adopted by Berlin and Washington towards Russia.
- Hardly any critical voices can be heard. On the contrary, the newspapers seek to outdo each other in fomenting the conflict and demanding that the government take a tougher stance against Russian President Vladimir Putin. The S¼ddeutsche Zeitung demands ''threats and punishments'' instead of ''talks'' while the Frankfurter Allgemeine calls on the ''free world'' to deploy the ''means of deterrence.''
- The media are availing themselves of distortions and lies that are reminiscent of Goebbels' propaganda techniques.
- They downplay or conceal the role of militant fascists during the putsch in Kiev, as well as the presence of three fascist ministers in the new government supported by the European Union. The three are members of Svoboda, which has close ties to Germany's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD), Hungary's Jobbik, the French National Front and other neo-fascist parties in Europe.
- As recently as December 2012, the European Parliament adopted a resolution describing Svoboda as ''racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic,'' and appealed ''to the pro-democratic parties in the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian parliament]'' not to ''associate with, endorse or form coalitions with this party.'' Fifteen months later, the Svoboda leaders and ministers are regular visitors in European government offices and are celebrated as democratic freedom fighters.
- Above all, the media is suppressing the historical background of the actions taken by the German government in Ukraine. The country has been twice occupied by German troops in the First and Second World Wars. It was the scene of unspeakable crimes. The parallels between past and present are striking.
- On August 11, 1914, only a few days after the outbreak of the First World War, in a decree to the German ambassador in Vienna, German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg wrote that the ''bringing about of an insurgency in Ukraine'''--i.e., the triggering of an uprising with the aim of bringing to power a pro-German government'--was an important war aim and a ''weapon against Russia.''
- Historian Fritz Fischer, in his book Germany's Aims in the First World War, the classic work on the subject, writes, ''So the German Reich leadership did not first come upon the idea of creating an independent Ukrainian state in early 1918 in Brest-Litovsk, but already in the second week of the war declared the separation of Ukraine from Russia to be the goal of official German policy and be preserved as a long-term goal in the event of a dictated peace.''
- After the German Reich had forced the young Soviet government to give up its claims to the Ukraine in March 1918, in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, it went to work determinedly. After letting the powerless Ukrainian Rada call upon it ''to help,'' Germany occupied the Ukraine, established a pseudo-democratic government dependent on Berlin and began single-mindedly to organise agriculture, iron ore and coal mines, railways and banks in the interest of the German economy.
- When differences with the Rada emerged, the German Army organized a coup and summarily installed the former Tsarist Guards officer and landowner Pavlo Skoropadski as the ''hetman'' of Ukraine. Only with the defeat on the Western Front and the November Revolution in Germany did this nightmare meet an end.
- The Nazi's policy of conquest in the Second World War fit seamlessly with the German war aims in the First World War. Once again, the Ukraine, now part of the Soviet Union, served as a staging area against the Russian heartland. Once again, Germany sought to bring the vast acreage of farmland and natural resources of the Ukraine into the service of its war economy. Once again, it relied upon the support of local collaborators.
- A central role was played by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) of Stepan Bandera, who is now revered by Svoboda as a model and hero. Cooperation between Bandera and the Nazis was not only of a tactical nature, but also extended to the Holocaust. For example, on June 30, 1941, before the invasion of the regular German troops, the wing of the OUN led by Bandera carried out a massacre in the city of Lviv in which about 7,000 communists and Jews were killed.
- The fact that the German government is collaborating with those who worship such a Nazi collaborator would earlier have raised the alarm for any critical journalist. Today, it is taken for granted, accepted, trivialized and justified. And all in the interest of a policy that is not only destabilising the entire region, but also raises the danger of an international armed conflict and fatal nuclear war.
- How can this change be explained?
- First, it has been prepared over a long time. Ever since German reunification in 1991, Berlin has extended its political and economic influence systematically to the east. The former Eastern Bloc countries are today almost all members of the EU and NATO. They serve German industry as an extended workbench, with wages that are in part lower than in China.
- The appetite of German imperialism does not stop at the borders of the former Soviet Union. For a long time'--and not without success'--Germany tried to pursue its business interests there in consultation with the Putin regime, which represents the interests of Russian oligarchs. This eventually failed because of the attitude of the United States, that wants to diminish the international weight of Russia for geostrategic reasons'--especially after Putin got in the way in Syria and Iran, and granted asylum to the whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
- Now German foreign policy is swinging back toward a collision course with Russia, and is reconnecting with its historical traditions.
- Secondly, the aggressive foreign policy is closely related to the intensification of the attacks on the working class in Germany and throughout Europe. Since the financial crisis of 2008, Berlin has dictated austerity measures and labour market policies for the EU, forcing large parts of the population to work harder and harder for diminishing wages. It has set an example in Greece, where the standard of living of the vast majority of the population has been reduced by 40 percent in a few years. Also the EU's association agreement with Ukraine is tied to massive social cuts and a three-fold increase of the gas price.
- At the same time, a small upper layer has acquired fabulous riches, dominates the political parties and the media, and engages ever more openly in dictatorial methods to defend its rule. It is now exhibiting the same ruthlessness in its foreign policy. Class war at home and war abroad are inseparably connected.
- Thirdly, the rightward shift in foreign policy has been ideologically prepared. The historian Ernst Nolte, who in 1986 initiated the so-called historikerstreit (''historians' dispute'') with his trivialization of Nazism, has been systematically rehabilitated following German reunification. In 2000, he was awarded the Konrad Adenauer Prize of the Deutschland Stiftung (Germany Foundation), which before him was given to Helmut Kohl and Wolfgang Sch¤uble.
- In February this year, Der Spiegel published a long article rehabilitating Nolte. J¶rg Baberowski, Professor of East European History at Humboldt University, is quoted as saying: ''Nolte was done an injustice. Historically speaking, he was right.'' In the same article, Baberowski's colleague Herfried M¼nkler describes the research of Fritz Fischer on German war aims as ''outrageous, in principle.''
- Apart from the World Socialist Web Site, no one has condemned these revolting statements. They have been accepted without comment'--at least in the academic world and the media. The way for collaboration with fascist tendencies and support for aggressive military foreign policy has been systematically prepared.
- It is high time to oppose this development, which threatens today's younger generation with similar disasters as their great-grandfathers experienced between 1914 and 1945. This requires a political perspective that focuses on the struggle for social equality, the international unity of the working class and the abolition of the capitalist system, which has nothing to offer humanity except war and social counterrevolution.
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- Kiev to build new army, impose austerity as civil war threatens Ukraine
- By Alex Lantier12 March 2014The new, right-wing Ukrainian regime that seized power on February 22 announced plans to raise a new army amid rising tensions with Russia, and in the run-up to a March 16 referendum on Crimean independence.
- The Kiev regime's unelected president, Oleksandr Turchynov, called for military mobilization and the formation of a new National Guard. He said, ''It's necessary to create the National Guard on the basis of Ukrainian troops, whose purpose will be to protect the country and citizens against all criminals, external and internal aggression. It's necessary to announce partial mobilization into the National Guard and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.''
- Turchynov said Ukraine has only 6,000 operational troops, compared to 200,000 Russian troops on Ukraine's eastern border.
- Kiev would ask the United States and its allies for help in building the new army, Turchynov added. ''The parliament's primary task is to ask countries that are guarantors of our security to fulfill their commitments,'' he said.
- The announcement came amid talks in Kiev with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to impose deep cuts on Ukrainian workers to plug Ukraine's 50 billion hryvnia ($5.4 billion) budget deficit. The vast wealth of Ukraine's oligarchs, which has been left untouched by the fascist-led putsch, is not to be harmed. Rather, plans are for workers to pay with cuts to pensions and energy subsidies that are critical to keep home heating affordable.
- US-backed former central banker Arseniy Yatseniuk will be meeting today with US President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
- The saber-rattling in Kiev came as the Crimean Parliament in Simferopol voted 78-3 yesterday to declare Crimea an independent state in the lead-up to the March 16 referendum, which will also decide on whether Crimea will attach itself to Russia. It cited the separation of Kosovo from Serbia, under the auspices of the United States and the EU, as a legal precedent for the move.
- The parliament also banned fascist or pro-Nazi parties, like the Right Sector militia that led the street fighting during the Western-backed February 22 putsch in Kiev, stating that they ''pose a threat to Crimea's security.''
- The Kiev regime said Crimea had until tonight to cancel the referendum, while US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt said Washington would not recognize the result of the referendum.
- Many inhabitants of Crimea, a majority-Russian speaking peninsula that hosts a major Russian naval base at Sevastopol, fear the new regime in Kiev. It has proposed to deprive Russian of its status as an official language and includes fascist parties that have called for liquidating Russian speakers (See, ''The fascist danger in Ukraine''). In recent weeks, Russian forces and self-defense groups have taken over Crimea, isolating forces loyal to Kiev in their bases.
- Pro-Kiev and pro-Moscow sources have traded accusations of violence targeting their supporters in majority Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement Monday declaring that ''lawlessness now rules in eastern regions of Ukraine as a result of the actions of fighters of the so-called 'Right Sector,' with the full connivance'' of Ukraine's new regime.
- Viktor Yanukovych, the Russian-backed president ousted in the February 22 putsch, spoke from Rostov-on-Don, Russia to denounce the Kiev regime and accuse it of unleashing civil war. Noting the role of ''neo-Nazi'' elements, Yanukovych said any elections organized by the Kiev regime would be ''illegitimate.''
- Though he initially negotiated similar cuts in an abortive deal with the EU, Yanukovych called planned austerity measures ''inhumane and directed against the people.'' He also said that he expected to soon be returning to Kiev.
- Ukraine's downward spiral towards social devastation and civil war underscores the reactionary character of the US and EU intervention to topple Yanukovych by supporting far-right groups in street battles with Yanukovych's ''Berkut'' riot police.
- Amid broad popular opposition in the Crimea and other regions of the country to imperialist-backed fascist groups, the Kiev regime has been unable to impose its authority. The southern and eastern Ukraine have become the center of an escalating geo-strategic stand-off between Kiev and the Western powers, on the one hand, and the Crimea and Moscow on the other.
- The Kremlin's attempts to seek some sort of accommodation with the West and the new regime have been rebuffed, with US Secretary of State John Kerry suddenly scrapping his plans to travel to Moscow over the weekend.
- European officials met in London yesterday, threatening Russia with sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told France Inter radio that sanctions against Russia could begin this week if Moscow ignores Western demands on Ukraine. ''If they respond positively, [US Secretary of State] John Kerry will go to Moscow and then sanctions will not be immediate. If they do not respond or if they respond negatively, there will be a series of sanctions that could be taken as early as this week,'' Fabius said.
- After the London meetings, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the EU would impose sanctions on Russia starting the day after the referendum, regardless of its outcome. ''When it comes to sanctions on Russia, a decision has in fact already been made, especially on the procedure of introducing sanctions,'' Tusk said. ''The consequence of this will be the start of sanctions on Monday.''
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel denounced Russia for ''stealing'' Crimea before an assembly of parliamentarians of her Christian-Democratic Union (CDU), in a speech that participants described as ''emotional.''
- Calling for ''a definite hardness'' in dealing with Russia, Merkel said, ''The procedure in Crimea is an annexation that one cannot allow Russia to get away with.''
- Moves to economically isolate Russia, a $2 trillion economy, from Western markets will have explosive economic and political consequences, however. Russian exports to Europe account for 15 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and while Russia itself only purchases 1 percent of European exports, Europe depends on it for approximately one-third of its supply of natural gas.
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- Appeasement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- ''How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing.
- '''--Neville Chamberlain, 27 September 1938, 8 p.m. radio broadcast, on Czechoslovak refusal to accept Nazi demands to cede border areas to Germany.
- Appeasement in a political context is a diplomatic policy of making political or material concessions to an enemy power in order to avoid conflict.[1]
- The term is most often applied to the foreign policy of the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain towards Nazi Germany between 1937 and 1939. His policies of avoiding war with Germany have been the subject of intense debate for seventy years among academics, politicians and diplomats. The historians' assessments have ranged from condemnation for allowing Adolf Hitler's Germany to grow too strong, to the judgement that he had no alternative and acted in Britain's best interests. At the time, these concessions were widely seen as positive, and the Munich Pact concluded on 30 September 1938 among Germany, Britain, France and Italy prompted Chamberlain to announce that he had secured "peace for our time".[2]
- The aftermath of the First World War[edit]Chamberlain's policy of appeasement emerged from the failure of the League of Nations and the failure of collective security. The League of Nations was set up in the aftermath of World War I in the hope that international cooperation and collective resistance to aggression might prevent another war. Members of the League were entitled to the assistance of other members if they came under attack. The policy of collective security ran in parallel with measures to achieve international disarmament and where possible was to be based on economic sanctions against an aggressor. It appeared to be ineffectual when confronted by the aggression of dictators, notably Germany's occupation of the Rhineland, and Italian leader Benito Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia.
- Invasion of Manchuria[edit]In September 1931, Japan, a member of the League of Nations, invaded northeast China, claiming it as not only Chinese but a multi-ethnic "Manchuria" region. China appealed to the League and the United States for assistance. The Council of the League asked the parties to withdraw to their original positions to permit a peaceful settlement. The United States reminded them of their duty under the Kellogg-Briand Pact to settle matters peacefully. Japan was undeterred and went on to occupy the whole of Manchuria. The League set up a commission of inquiry that condemned Japan, the League duly adopting the report in February 1933. Japan resigned from the League and continued its advance into China. Neither the League nor the United States took any action. "Their inactivity and ineffectualness in the Far East lent every encouragement to European aggressors who planned similar acts of defiance."[3] However the U.S. issued the Stimson Doctrine and refused to recognize Japan's conquest, which played a role in shifting U.S. policy to favor China over Japan late in the 1930s.[4]
- Abyssinia crisis[edit]Mussolini had imperial ambitions in Abyssinia. Italy was already in possession of neighbouring Eritrea and Somalia. In December 1934 there was a clash between Italian and Abyssinian troops at Walwal, near the border between British and Italian Somaliland, in which Italian troops took possession of the disputed territory and in which 150 Abyssinians and 50 Italians were killed. When Italy demanded apologies and compensation from Abyssinia, Abyssinia appealed to the League, Haile Selassie famously appealing in person to the assembly in Geneva. The League persuaded both sides to seek a settlement under the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 but Italy continued troop movements and Abyssinia appealed to the League again. In October 1935 Mussolini launched an attack on Abyssinia. The League declared Italy to be the aggressor and imposed sanctions, but coal and oil were not included; blocking these, it was thought, would provoke war. Albania, Austria and Hungary refused to apply sanctions; Germany and the United States were not in the League. Nevertheless, the Italian economy suffered. The League considered closing off the Suez Canal also, which would have stopped arms to Abyssinia, but, thinking it would be too harsh a measure, they did not do so.[5]
- Earlier, in April 1935, Italy had joined Britain and France in protesting against Germany's rearmament. France was anxious to placate Mussolini so as to keep him away from an alliance with Germany. Britain was less hostile to Germany, set the pace in imposing sanctions and moved a naval fleet into the Mediterranean. But in November 1935, the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Samuel Hoare and the French Prime Minister, Pierre Laval, had secret discussions in which they agreed to concede two-thirds of Abyssinia to Italy. However, the press leaked the content of the discussions and a public outcry forced Hoare and Laval to resign. In May 1936, undeterred by sanctions, Italy captured Addis Ababa, the Abyssinian capital, and proclaimed Victor Emmanuel III the Emperor of Ethiopia. In July the League abandoned sanctions. This episode, in which sanctions were incomplete and appeared to be easily given up, seriously discredited the League.
- Remilitarization of the Rhineland[edit]Under the Versailles Settlement, the Rhineland was demilitarized. Germany accepted this arrangement under the Locarno Treaties of 1925. Hitler claimed that it threatened Germany and on 7 March 1936 he sent German forces into the Rhineland. He gambled on Britain not getting involved but was unsure how France would react. The action was opposed by many of his advisers. His officers had orders to withdraw if they met French resistance. France consulted Britain and lodged protests with the League, but took no action. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin said that Britain lacked the forces to back its guarantees to France, and that in any case public opinion would not allow it. In Britain it was thought that the Germans were merely walking into "their own back yard". Hugh Dalton, a Labour Party MP who usually advocated stiff resistance to Germany, said that neither the British people nor Labour would support military or economic sanctions.[5] In the Council of the League, only the Soviet Union proposed sanctions against Germany. Hitler was invited to negotiate. He proposed a non-aggression pact with the Western powers. When asked for details he did not reply. Hitler's occupation of the Rhineland had persuaded him that the international community would not resist him and put Germany in a powerful strategic position.[citation needed]
- The conduct of appeasement, 1937''39[edit]In 1937 Stanley Baldwin resigned as Prime Minister and Neville Chamberlain took over. Chamberlain pursued a policy of appeasement and rearmament.[6] Chamberlain's reputation for appeasement rests in large measure on his negotiations with Hitler over Czechoslovakia in 1938.
- The Anschluss[edit]When the German Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire were broken up in 1918, Austria was left as a rump state with the adopted name "German-Austria" with the vast majority of the Austrians wanting to join Germany. However, the victors agreements of World War I (Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain) strictly forbade union between Austria and Germany, as well as the name "German-Austria", which reverted to "Austria" after the emergence of the First Republic of Austria in September 1919. The constitutions of both the Weimar Republic and the First Austrian Republic included the aim of unification, which was supported by democratic parties. However, the rise of Hitler dampened the enthusiasm of the Austrian government for such a plan. Hitler, an Austrian by birth, became a pan-German from a very young age and had promoted a Pan-Germanism vision of a Greater German Reich from the beginning of his career in politics and stated in Mein Kampf (1924) that he would attempt a union of his birth country Austria with Germany, by any means possible and by force if necessary. By early 1938, Hitler had consolidated his power in Germany and was ready to implement this long-held plan.
- The Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg wished to pursue ties with Italy, but turned to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania (the Little Entente). To this Hitler took violent exception. In January 1938 the Austrian Nazis attempted a putsch, following which some were imprisoned. Hitler summoned Schuschnigg to Berchtesgaden in February and demanded, with the threat of military action, that he release imprisoned Austrian Nazis and allow them to participate in the government. Schuschnigg complied and appointed Arthur Seyss-Inquart, a pro-Nazi lawyer, as interior minister. To forestall Hitler and to preserve Austria's independence, Schuschnigg scheduled a plebiscite on the issue for 13 March. Hitler demanded that the plebiscite be canceled. The German ministry of propaganda issued press reports that riots had broken out in Austria and that large parts of the Austrian population were calling for German troops to restore order. On 11 March, Hitler sent an ultimatum to Schuschnigg, demanding that he hand over all power to the Austrian Nazis or face an invasion. The British Ambassador in Berlin registered a protest with the German Government against the use of coercion against Austria. Schuschnigg, realizing that neither France nor the United Kingdom would actively support him, resigned in favour of Seyss-Inquart, who then appealed to German troops to restore order. On 12 March the 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht crossed the Austrian border. They met no resistance and were greeted by cheering Austrians. This invasion was the first major test of the Wehrmacht's machinery. Austria became the German province of Ostmark, with Seyss-Inquart as governor. A plebiscite was held on 10 April and officially recorded a support of 99.73 percent of the voters.[7]
- Although the victorious Allies of World War I had prohibited the union of Austria and Germany, their reaction to the Anschluss was mild.[8] Even the strongest voices against annexation, particularly those of Fascist Italy, France and Britain (the "Stresa Front") were not backed by force. In the House of Commons Chamberlain said that "The hard fact is that nothing could have arrested what has actually happened [in Austria] unless this country and other countries had been prepared to use force."[9] The American reaction was similar. The international reaction to the events of 12 March 1938 led Hitler to conclude that he could use even more aggressive tactics in his plan to expand the Third Reich. The Anschluss paved the way for Munich in September 1938 because it indicated the likely non-response of Britain and France to future German aggression. Again, it must be remembered that the whole world was knee-deep in economic depression at this time, and the allies of World War I were in no condition to advance militarily on anyone. Across the Atlantic, the United States had its own economic woes, not the least of which was mass unemployment. Further, and perhaps most importantly[according to whom?], Americans were in no mood to go to war again over European "squabbles" over boundaries or ethnic governments.
- The Munich Agreement[edit]Under the Versailles Settlement, Czechoslovakia was created with territory of the Czech part more or less corresponding to the Czech Crown lands as they had existed within the Austria-Hungary and before, including the border areas with a majority German population called as Sudetenland. In April 1938, Sudeten Nazis, led by Konrad Henlein, agitated for autonomy. Chamberlain, faced with the danger of a German invasion, warned Hitler that Britain might intervene. Hitler ordered an attack on Czechoslovakia. Lord Runciman was sent by Chamberlain to mediate in Prague and persuaded the Czech government to grant the Sudeten virtual autonomy. Henlein broke off negotiations and Hitler railed against Prague.[10]
- In September, Chamberlain flew to Berchtesgaden to negotiate directly with Hitler, hoping to avoid war. Hitler now demanded that the Sudetenland should be absorbed into Germany, convincing Chamberlain that refusal meant war. Chamberlain, with France, told the Czech president that he must hand to Germany all territory with a German majority. Czechoslovakia would thus lose 800,000 citizens, much of its industry and its mountain defences in the west. In effect, the British and French pressed their ally to cede territory to a hostile neighbour to prevent annihilation.
- Hitler then informed Chamberlain that Germany was about to occupy the Sudetenland and that the Czechoslovaks had to move out. The Czechoslovaks rejected the demand, as did the British and the French. Mussolini persuaded Hitler to put the dispute to a four-power conference. Czechoslovakia was not to be a party to these talks. On 29 September, Hitler, Chamberlain, douard Daladier (the French Prime Minister) and Mussolini met in Munich. They agreed that Germany would complete its occupation of the Sudetenland, but an international commission would consider other disputed areas. Czechoslovakia was told that if it did not submit, it would stand alone. At Chamberlain's request, Hitler signed a peace treaty between the United Kingdom and Germany. Chamberlain returned to Britain promising "peace for our time". In March 1939, Chamberlain foresaw a possible disarmament conference between himself, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini and Joseph Stalin; his home secretary, Samuel Hoare, said, "These five men, working together in Europe and blessed in their efforts by the President of the United States of America, might make themselves eternal benefactors of the human race."[11] That month, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist, divided among Germany, Hungary, Poland, and an independent Slovakia.
- Outbreak of war[edit]On 1 September 1939, German forces invaded Poland; Britain and France joined the war against Germany. Chamberlain's conduct of the war was not popular and, on 10 May 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister. In July, some politicians inside and outside the government were still willing to consider Hitler's peace offer, but Churchill would not.[12] Chamberlain died on 9 November the same year. Churchill delivered a tribute to him in which he said, "Whatever else history may or may not say about these terrible, tremendous years, we can be sure that Neville Chamberlain acted with perfect sincerity according to his lights and strove to the utmost of his capacity and authority, which were powerful, to save the world from the awful, devastating struggle in which we are now engaged." [13]
- Changing attitudes to appeasement[edit]As the policy of appeasement failed to prevent war, those who advocated it were quickly criticized. Appeasement came to be seen as something to be avoided by those with responsibility for the diplomacy of Britain or any other democratic country. By contrast, the few who stood out against appeasement were seen as "voices in the wilderness whose wise counsels were largely ignored, with almost catastrophic consequences for the nation in 1939''40".[14] More recently, however, historians have questioned the accuracy of this simple distinction between appeasers and anti-appeasers. "Few appeasers were really prepared to seek peace at any price; few, if any, anti-appeasers were prepared for Britain to make a stand against aggression whatever the circumstances and wherever the location in which it occurred."[14]
- After the First World War[edit]'Germany and Europe'
- ... My dream is of a British statesman who could say to his countrymen: ''You are sick of war, weary of entanglements. There are some who would have you renounce both. I offer you instead a heavier load of foreign responsibilities, a risk of new war. Because that is the only road to lasting peace. Since the War, British policy has been shuffling, timid, ignoble. Be bold at last, and give a lead to Europe, by offering to form with France and whatever other European states will join, a League within the League, of nations pledged to submit all disputes to the League, but pledged also to fight without hesitation in defence of any member of the group who is attacked. If Germany will join, so much the better; though Germany as she is never will. If America, better still; for the present America is a broken reed. All the more honour for us to accept a responsibility if she refuses.
- ''The way will not be easy. We shall often regret the day we pledged ourselves to bear taxation in peace and face death in war for interests and frontiers not our own. But no interest is more really our own than the reign of law between nations.''
- That is little likely to happen. Only an Abraham Lincoln takes risks of that sort with a nation. But this is not because the ordinary politician is wiser; it is because the ordinary politician does not realise the latent force of idealism, all the stronger with the decay of the religions which gave it other outlets, ready in the world of to-day for any leader with the courage to use it; and so easily abused accordingly by the rulers of Moscow and Berlin.
- [From a letter by F. L. Lucas of King's College, Cambridge, British anti-appeasement campaigner, to The Week-end Review, 21 October 1933]Chamberlain's policy was in some respects a continuation of what had gone before and was popular until the failure of the Munich Agreement to stop Hitler in Czechoslovakia. "Appeasement" had been a respectable term between 1919 and 1937 to signify the pursuit of peace.[15] Many believed after the First World War that wars were started by mistake, in which case the League could prevent them, or that they were caused by large-scale armaments, in which case disarmament was the remedy, or that they were caused by national grievances, in which case the grievances should be redressed peacefully.[5] Many thought that the Versailles Settlement had been unjust, that the German minorities were entitled to self-determination and that Germany was entitled to equality in armaments.
- Most Conservative politicians were in favour of appeasement, though Churchill said their supporters were divided.[16] It was accepted by most of those responsible for British foreign policy in the 1930s, by leading journalists and academics and by members of the royal family, such as Edward VIII and his successor, George VI.[14]
- Churchill was unusual in believing that Germany menaced freedom and democracy and should be resisted over Czechoslovakia. A week before Munich he warned, "The partition of Czechoslovakia under pressure from England and France amounts to the complete surrender of the Western Democracies to the Nazi threat of force. Such a collapse will bring peace or security neither to England nor to France."[16] But Churchill's leadership of Britain during the war and his role in creating the post-war consensus against appeasement has tended to obscure the fact that "his contemporary criticism of totalitarian regimes other than Hitler's Germany was at best muted".[14] Not until May 1938 did he begin "consistently to withhold his support from the National Government's conduct of foreign policy in the division lobbies of the House of Commons", and he seems "to have been convinced by the Sudeten German leader, Henlein, in the spring of 1938, that a satisfactory settlement could be reached if Britain managed to persuade the Czech government to make concessions to the German minority."[14]
- The Labour Party opposed the Fascist dictators on principle but until the late 1930s it also opposed re-armament and it had a significant pacifist wing.[17][18] In 1935 its non-pacifist wing persuaded its pacifist leader George Lansbury to resign, to be replaced by Clement Attlee, and in 1937 Ernest Bevin and Hugh Dalton persuaded the party to oppose appeasement.[19]
- Czechoslovakia did not concern most people until the middle of September 1938, when they began to object to a small democratic state being bullied.[5][20] Nevertheless, the initial response of the British public to the Munich agreement was generally favourable.[5] As Chamberlain left for Munich in 1938, the whole House of Commons cheered him noisily. On 30 September, on his return to Britain, Chamberlain delivered his famous "peace for our time" speech to delighted crowds. He was invited by the royal family on to the balcony at Buckingham Palace before he had reported to Parliament. The agreement was supported by most of the press, only Reynold's News and the Daily Worker dissenting.[5] In parliament the Labour Party opposed the agreement. Some Conservatives abstained in the vote. However, the only MP to advocate war was the Conservative Duff Cooper, who had resigned from the government in protest against the agreement.[5]
- The journalist Shiela Grant Duff's Penguin Special, Europe and the Czechs was published and distributed to every MP on the day that Chamberlain returned from Munich. Her book was a spirited defence of the Czech nation and a detailed criticism of British policy, confronting the need for war if necessary. It was influential and widely read. Although she argued against the policy of "peace at almost any price"[20] she never actually used the word "appeasement" and did not take the personal tone that Guilty Men was to take two years later.
- SPLENDID ISOLATION( ''The British policeman should stick to his own beat.'' - Evening Standard, April 22, 1935 )
- ...Paris may pass in gas and flame and blood ''We shall sit safe behind our sundering flood.Berlin may build a Holier Inquisition ''It will but mean an extra-late edition.Hitler be hailed through all a wrecked Ukraine ''We shall just read, and turn to golf again.For God, the day our guardian seas He took,Gave us the broad breast of a Beaverbrook;Round us, though fails the Channel '' never fear! ''Still lie the stainless depths of Rothermere.[From a verse-satire by F. L. Lucas on the pro-appeasement British press barons; New Statesman and Nation, 11 May 1935, p. 669]A few on the left said that that Chamberlain looked forward to a war between Germany and Russia.[5] The Labour Party Leader Clement Attlee claimed in one political speech in 1937 that the National Government had connived at German rearmament "because of its hatred of Russia."[17] British Communists, following the Party line defined by Joseph Stalin,[21] argued that appeasement had been a pro-fascist policy and that the British ruling class would have preferred fascism to socialism. The Communist MP Willie Gallacher said "that many prominent representatives of the Conservative Party, speaking for powerful landed and financial interests in the country, would welcome Hitler and the German Army if they believed that such was the only alternative to the establishment of Socialism in this country."[22] This view has persisted on the far-left.[23]
- Once war broke out, appeasement was blamed for the failure to stop the dictators. The Labour MP Hugh Dalton identified the policy with wealthy people in the City of London, Conservatives and members of the peerage who were soft on Hitler.[24] The entry of Churchill as Prime Minister hardened opinion against appeasement and encouraged the search for those responsible. Three British journalists, Michael Foot, Frank Owen and Peter Howard, writing under the name of "Cato" in their book Guilty Men, called for the removal from office of fifteen public figures they held accountable, including Chamberlain and Baldwin. The book defined appeasement as the "deliberate surrender of small nations in the face of Hitler's blatant bullying." It was hastily written and has few claims to historical scholarship,[25] but Guilty Men shaped subsequent thinking about appeasement and it is said[26][27] that it contributed to the defeat of the Conservatives in the 1945 general election.
- The change in the meaning of "appeasement" after Munich was summarised later by the historian David Dilks: "The word in its normal meaning connotes the pacific settlement of disputes; in the meaning usually applied to the period of Neville Chamberlain premiership, it has come to indicate something sinister, the granting from fear or cowardice of unwarranted concessions in order to buy temporary peace at someone else's expense."[28]
- After the Second World War: historians[edit]Churchill's book The Gathering Storm, published in 1948, made a similar judgment to Guilty Men, though in moderate tones and with some claim to scholarship. This book and Churchill's authority confirmed the orthodox view.
- Historians have subsequently explained Chamberlain's policies in various ways. It could be said that he believed sincerely that the objectives of Hitler and Mussolini were limited and that the settlement of their grievances would protect the world from war; for safety, military and air power should be strengthened. Many have judged this belief to be fallacious, since the dictators' demands were not limited and appeasement gave them time to gain greater strength.
- In 1961 this view of appeasement as avoidable error and cowardice was set on its head by A.J.P. Taylor in his book The Origins of the Second World War. Taylor argued that Hitler did not have a blueprint for war and was behaving much as any other German leader might have done. Appeasement was an active policy, and not a passive one; allowing Hitler to consolidate himself was a policy implemented by "men confronted with real problems, doing their best in the circumstances of their time". Taylor said that appeasement ought to be seen as a rational response to an unpredictable leader, appropriate to the time both diplomatically and politically.
- His view has been shared by other historians, for example, Paul Kennedy, who says of the choices facing politicians at the time, "Each course brought its share of disadvantages: there was only a choice of evils. The crisis in the British global position by this time was such that it was, in the last resort, insoluble, in the sense that there was no good or proper solution."[29]Martin Gilbert has expressed a similar view: "At bottom, the old appeasement was a mood of hope, Victorian in its optimism, Burkean in its belief that societies evolved from bad to good and that progress could only be for the better. The new appeasement was a mood of fear, Hobbesian in its insistence upon swallowing the bad in order to preserve some remnant of the good, pessimistic in its belief that Nazism was there to stay and, however horrible it might be, should be accepted as a way of life with which Britain ought to deal."[30]
- The arguments in Taylor's Origins of the Second World War (sometimes described as "revisionist"[5][31]) were rejected by many historians at the time and reviews of his book in Britain and the United States were generally critical. Nevertheless, he was praised for some of his insights. By showing that appeasement was a popular policy and that there was continuity in British foreign policy after 1933, he shattered the common view of the appeasers as a small, degenerate clique that had mysteriously hijacked the British government sometime in the 1930s and who had carried out their policies in the face of massive public resistance; and by portraying the leaders of the 1930s as real people attempting to deal with real problems, he made the first strides towards attempting to explain the actions of the appeasers rather than merely to condemn them.
- In the early 1990s a new theory of appeasement, sometimes called "counter-revisionist",[31] emerged as historians argued that appeasement was probably the only choice for the British government in the 1930s, but that it was poorly implemented, carried out too late and not enforced strongly enough to constrain Hitler. Appeasement was considered a viable policy, considering the strains that the British Empire faced in recuperating from World War I, and Chamberlain was said to have adopted a policy suitable to Britain's cultural and political needs. Frank McDonough is a leading proponent of this view of appeasement and describes his book Neville Chamberlain, Appeasement and the British Road to War[32] as a "post revisionist" study.[33] Appeasement was a crisis management strategy seeking a peaceful settlement of Hitler's grievances. "Chamberlain's worst error," says McDonough, "was to believe that he could march Hitler on the yellow brick road to peace when in reality Hitler was marching very firmly on the road to war." He has criticised revisionist historians for concentrating on Chamberlain's motivations rather than how appeasement worked in practice '' as a "usable policy" to deal with Hitler. James P. Levy argues against the outright condemnation of appeasement. "Knowing what Hitler did later," he writes, "the critics of Appeasement condemn the men who tried to keep the peace in the 1930s, men who could not know what would come later. ... The political leaders responsible for Appeasement made many errors. They were not blameless. But what they attempted was logical, rational, and humane."[34]
- After the Second World War: politicians[edit]Statesmen in the post-war years have often referred to their opposition to appeasement as a justification for firm, sometimes armed, action in international relations.
- U.S. President Harry S. Truman thus explained his decision to enter the Korean War in 1950, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden his confrontation of EgyptianPresidentGamal Abdel Nasser in the Suez Crisis of 1956, U.S. President John F. Kennedy his "quarantine" of Cuba in 1962, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson his resistance to communism in Indochina in the 1960s, and U.S. President Ronald Reagan his air strike on Libya in 1986.[35]
- During the Cold War, the "lessons" of appeasement were cited by prominent conservative allies of Reagan, who urged Reagan to be assertive in "rolling back" Soviet-backed regimes throughout the world. The Heritage Foundation's Michael Johns, for instance, wrote in 1987 that "seven years after Ronald Reagan's arrival in Washington, the United States government and its allies are still dominated by the culture of appeasement that drove Neville Chamberlain to Munich in 1938.[36]
- British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher invoked the example of Churchill during the Falklands War of 1982: "When the American Secretary of State, Alexander Haig, urged her to reach a compromise with the Argentines she rapped sharply on the table and told him, pointedly, 'that this was the table at which Neville Chamberlain sat in 1938 and spoke of the Czechs as a faraway people about whom we know so little'." [37] The spectre of appeasement was raised in discussions of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.[38] U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair also cited Churchill's warnings about German rearmament to justify their action in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq War.[39] In May 2008, President Bush cautioned against "the false comfort of appeasement" when dealing with Iran and its President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.[40] Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali demands a confrontational policy at the European level to meet the threat of radical Islam, and compares policies of non-confrontation to Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler.[41] The policy of the West towards China on Tibet is considered by some Tibetan representatives as appeasement.[42]
- See also[edit]References[edit]^Appeasement - World War 2 on History^Hunt, The Makings of the West p.861^David Thompson, Europe Since Napoleon, (1964), p.691^Clauss, E. M. (1970). "The Roosevelt Administration and Manchukuo, 1933?1941". The Historian32 (4): 595''611. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.1970.tb00380.x. edit^ abcdefghiTaylor, A.J.P., English History, 1914''1945, 1965^Mujtaba Haider Zaidi "Chamberlain and Hitler vs. Pakistan and Taliban" The Frontier Post Newspaper, July 03, 2013 URL: http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/24108/^Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power (2006) pp 646''58^Alfred D. Low, The Anschluss Movement 1931''1938 and the Great Powers (1985)^Shirer, William L. (1984). Twentieth Century Journey, Volume 2, The Nightmare Years: 1930''1940. Boston: Little Brown and Company. p. 308. ISBN 0-316-78703-5. ^Donald Cameron Watt, How War Came: The Immediate Origins of the Second World War (1989) ch. 2^International: Peace Week, Time magazine, 20 March 1939^Richard Overy, "Civilians on the frontline", The Second World War '' Day 2: The Blitz, The Guardian/The Observer, September 2009^Churchill's tribute to Chamberlain, 12 November 1940^ abcdeOxford Dictionary of National Biography^Medlicott, W.N., Review of "The Roots of Appeasement" by M.Gilbert (1966), in The English Historical Review, Vol. 83, No. 327 (Apr., 1968), p. 430^ abChurchill, W, The Gathering Storm (1986), p.290 ISBN 039541055^ abRichard Toye, The Labour Party and the Economics of Rearmament, 1935''1939^Rhiannon Vickers , The Labour Party and the World: The evolution of Labour's foreign policy, Manchester University Press, 2003, Chapter 5^A.J.Davies, To Build A New Jerusalem: The British Labour Party from Keir Hardie to Tony Blair, Abacus, 1996^ abGrant Duff, S., Europe and the Czechs, Penguin, 1938^Teddy J. Uldricks, "Russian Historians Reevaluate the Origins of World War II," History & Memory Volume 21, Number 2, Fall/Winter 2009, pp60-82 (in Project Muse)^Willie Gallacher, The Chosen Few, Lawrence and Wishart, 1940^See, for example, Clement Leibovitz and Alvin Finkel, In Our Time: The Chamberlain-Hitler Collusion, Monthly Review Press, 1997 ISBN 0-85345-999-1^Dalton, H. Hitler's War, London, Penguin Books, 1940^Oxford Dictionary of National Biography^David Willets and Richard Forsdyke, After the Landslide, London: Centre For Policy Studies, 1999^Hal G.P. Colebatch, "Epitaph for a Liar", American Spectator, 3.8.10^Dilks, D.N., "Appeasement Revisited", Journal of Contemporary History, 1972^Kennedy, Paul M. (1983). Strategy and Diplomacy, 1870''1945: Eight Studies. London: George Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-00-686165-2. ^Gilbert, M., The Roots of Appeasement, 1968^ abDimuccio, R.A.B., "The Study of Appeasement in International Relations: Polemics, Paradigms, and Problems", Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 35, No. 2, March 1998^Frank McDonough, Neville Chamberlain, Appeasement and the British Road to War, Manchester University Press, 1998^See, for example, McDonough, F., Brown, R., and Smith, D., Hitler, Chamberlain and Appeasement, 2002^James P. Levy, Appeasement and rearmament: Britain, 1936''1939, Rowman and Littlefield, 2006^Beck, R.J., "Munich's Lessons Reconsidered", International Security, Vol. 14, No. 2, (Autumn, 1989), pp. 161''191^"Peace in Our Time: The Spirit of Munich Lives On", by Michael Johns, Policy Review, Summer 1987.^Harris, Kenneth (1988). Thatcher. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 135. ISBN 0-00-637457-3. ^Vuilliamy, E., "Bosnia: The Crime of Appeasement", International Affairs , 1998, pp. 73''91 Year: 1998^"Appeasement: The Gathering Storm (Teachers Exercises)". Churchill College Cambridge. ^Thomas, E., "The Mythology of Munich", Newsweek, 23 June 2008, Vol. 151, Issue 25, pp. 22''26^(Dutch)Confrontatie, geen verzoening, de Volkskrant, 8 April 2006, copy here^Penny McRae, "West appeasing China on Tibet, says PM-in-exile", AFP, Sep 15, 2009Further reading[edit]Adams, R.J.Q.,British Politics and Foreign Policy in the Age of Appeasement, 1935''1939 (1993)Alexandroff A. and Rosecrance R., "Deterrence in 1939," World Politics, Vol. 29, No. 3. (Apr., 1977), pp. 404''424.Beck R.J., "Munich's Lessons Reconsidered" in International Security, 14, 1989Cameron Watt, Donald. How War Came: Immediate Origins of the Second World War, 1938-39 (1990)Cole, Robert A. "Appeasing Hitler: The Munich Crisis of 1938: A Teaching and Learning Resource," New England Journal of History (2010) 66#2 pp 1''30.Doer P.W., British Foreign Policy 1919''39 (1988)Dutton D., Anthony Eden: A Life and ReputationDutton D., Neville ChamberlainFaber, David. Munich, 1938: Appeasement and World War II (2009) excerpt and text searchFarmer A., British Foreign and Imperial Affairs 1919''39Hill C., Cabinet Decisions on Foreign Policy: The British Experience, October 1938 '' June 1941, 1991Jenkins R., BaldwinJenkins, R., ChurchillJohns, Michael, "Peace in Our Time: The Spirit of Munich Lives On", Policy Review magazine, Summer 1987Levy J., Appeasement and Rearmament: Britain, 1936''1939, 2006McDonough, F., Neville Chamberlain, appeasement, and the British road to war, Manchester '' New York (Manchester University Press), 1998Mommsen W.J. and Kettenacker L. (eds), The Fascist Challenge and the Policy of Appeasement, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1983 ISBN 0-04-940068-1.Neville P., Hitler and Appeasement: The British Attempt to Prevent the Second World War, 2005Owen P., The Parting of Ways: A Personal Account of the Thirties, 1982, ISBN 0-7206-0586-5Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Proponents and Critics of AppeasementPeden G. C., "A Matter of Timing: The Economic Background to British Foreign Policy, 1937''1939," in History, 69, 1984Post G., Dilemmas of Appeasement: British Deterrence and Defense, 1934''1937, Cornell University Press, 1993Rock S.R., Appeasement in International Politics, 2000Rock W.R., British Appeasement in the 1930sShay R.P., British Rearmament in the Thirties: Politics and Profits, Princeton University Press, 1977Thorpe D.R., EdenWheeler-Bennett J., 'Munich: Prologue to Tragedy, New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1948
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- Day 5 at the Paralympics: Russia Breaks Records, McKeever on Top
- SOCHI, March 12 (R-Sport) '' With the Sochi Paralympics barely half-finished, host nation Russia beat its record Winter Games medal haul Wednesday, claiming 11 of 18 medals on offer in the cross-country skiing 1km sprints.
- Elsewhere, Canada's Brian McKeever won his ninth career Paralympic gold medal and Russian-born US athlete Tatyana McFadden, a star of the Summer Paralympics as a wheelchair racer, claimed her first medal in winter sport.
- In the Alpine events, Germany enjoyed a good day with two gold medals, while the Canadian and Russian wheelchair curling teams qualified for the semifinals.
- Following the sprints, host nation Russia has a total medal haul of 47, nine more than its previous Winter Paralympic best from Vancouver 2010. Sixteen of those are gold medals, ensuring Russia leads the medal table, with second-placed Germany on six golds.
- Russia has dominated cross-country skiing throughout the Paralympics to date and that was typified in the men's standing sprint, where the six men in the final were all Russians.
- Kirill Mikhaylov raced to victory in 3 minutes 53.5 seconds, beating 20km gold medalist Rushan Minnegulov by just 0.3 seconds. "I'm happy because this is a load off my mind. It was a Russian final and yes, it is hard to compete against my friends," Mikhaylov said.
- Vladislav Lekomtsev, 19, finished third to win his third medal of the Games, following his victory in the 7.5km biathlon event and bronze in the 20km cross-country. Those three medals ensured Russia beat its Vancouver tally of 38 and its record of 13 gold medals from Turin 2006.
- McKeever, 34, and his guide Graham Nishikawa dominated their rivals in the men's visually impaired category, claiming his ninth career gold and second of the Sochi Paralympics after victory in the men's 20km race two days before.
- Despite colliding with his guide and falling, McKeever won in 3 minutes 59.6 seconds to beat Swedish youngster Sebastian Modin, 19, into second place by 1.8 seconds. The bronze medal went to Russia's Oleg Ponomaryov, a further 3.6 seconds down.
- "We didn't panic," McKeever said of the fall. "There was the instant F-bombs, but once we got up we realized we were still in the race."
- Earlier, McFadden missed out on gold in the women's sitting event by just 0.1 seconds but still celebrated wildly, while Norway's Mariann Marthinsen claimed the gold in 2 minutes 45.6 seconds.
- Germany's Andrea Eskau finished 0.8 seconds further back in the bronze medal position, but she was disqualified for an apparent violation of the rules by interfering with another competitor's line. The medal passed to the fourth-place finisher, Russia's Marta Zainullina.
- US medal hope Oksana Masters briefly led, but faded and finished fourth after Eskau's disqualification.
- "It started at 10 a.m., so it felt like a marathon today. It's such a tough field and my only goal was to make it in the final," McFadden said of the lengthy qualifying process for the final. "I really did not expect to win a medal here."
- Russian Paralympic star Roman Petushkov became the first athlete at the Sochi Paralympics with four gold medals after winning the sitting sprint race. The 36-year-old, who earlier won two biathlon races and the 15km skiing event, managed to overcome his younger compatriot Grigory Murygin by just 1.2 seconds, winning in a time of 2 minutes 29.4 seconds.
- "Today I got really well fired up, because I want to bring my country lots and lots and lots of happiness," Petushkov told R-Sport. "And now I want to bring some more."
- It is the second medal for the 19-year-old Murygin, who also took bronze in the 12.5km biathlon competition. The bronze went to Ukraine's Maksym Yarovyi, who added the medal to his silver in the 7.5km biathlon.
- There was more success for Russia in the women's standing sprint, where Anna Milenina took gold in a time of 4 minutes 26.9 seconds, winning by 4.5 seconds from Ukraine's Iuliia Batenkova, with third place for Russian Alyona Kaufman, 0.3 seconds further back.
- The women's visually impaired final brought Russia yet another gold medal as Mikhalina Lysova claimed her third gold medal of the Games with her guide Alexei Ivanov, winning in a time of 4 minutes 11.5 seconds.
- The silver went to Russian Elena Remizova, 5.6 seconds behind, with Ukrainian bronze medalist Oksana Shyshkova finishing 13.1 seconds back to stop a Russian podium sweep as host nation athlete Yulia Budaleeva trailed in fourth.
- In cross-country sprints at the Paralympics, skiers with more severe disabilities are given head starts over their more mobile opponents.
- In the Alpine events at Rosa Khutor, Germany came out on top, but not without controversy.
- German 18-year-old Anna-Lena Forster won gold at her first Paralympics on Wednesday, skiing to victory in the women's sitting slalom.
- Forster led after the first run and held on to first place by 0.81 seconds despite dropping time on the second run to eventual silver medalist Kimberly Joines of Canada.
- "It's incredible. I'm really happy about that," said Forster. "I couldn't believe it when I was at the finish and saw the No. 1 on the screen. I couldn't believe it because the run didn't feel good."
- Her win is Germany's second of the day in Alpine skiing after Andrea Rothfuss won gold in the standing slalom, and took Germany to six gold medals for the Games. The bronze in the sitting slalom went to Laurie Stephens of the United States, who finished four seconds off the pace.
- However, after the event finished, it was announced that German skier Anna Schaffelhuber could be reinstated by the race jury after being disqualified from the first run for missing a gate. In the second run, Schaffelhuber skied an apparently unofficial run before the other athletes, which could conceivably give her an overall time should her appeal against the disqualification succeed. A decision is expected Thursday.
- In the standing slalom, Rothfuss, 24, had a solid 2.45 second lead after the first run and avoided mistakes in the second to claim her first Paralympic gold by the vast margin of 6.85 seconds, adding it to five medals from the Turin and Vancouver Games.
- "When I crossed the finish line, I knew I'd made it," said Rothfuss, who was born without a left hand. "It's a huge relief after the last couple of days. They were very hard on me."
- Russia's Inga Medvedeva claimed her second silver of the Games after she also came second in the downhill competition on Saturday.
- "Today was not my day and today I didn't expect a medal," said Medvedeva. "My leg hurts very much and the only thing I wanted was to finish the race."
- Petra Smarzova of Slovakia managed to fight her way from the fifth place to the podium on the second run, leaving Russia's Maria Papulova fourth.
- Russian skier Alexandra Frantseva produced a quick second run to snatch slalom gold from Britain's Jade Etherington in the visually impaired category.
- Frantseva, 26, won in a time of 2 minutes 1.24 seconds after overtaking Etherington on the second run, posting a winning margin of 0.65 seconds.
- Frantseva, from Russia's Far East, had trailed Etherington by 0.55 seconds after the first run at Rosa Khutor but her second attempt of 59.82 seconds was a full 1.20 seconds faster than the Briton's.
- For the Russian and her guide Pavel Zabotin, it was third time lucky after they won bronze in Saturday's downhill and silver in Monday's super G. Etherington collects her third medal of the Games to go with downhill silver and super G bronze.
- The bronze medal in the slalom went to Slovakian skier Henrieta Farkasova, who finished 1.70 seconds behind Frantseva.
- Russia and Canada secured places in the semifinals of the wheelchair curling after winning their morning session games.
- In a repeat of the Vancouver 2010 final, Jim Armstrong's Canada beat South Korea 10-4 to move to a 6-1 win-loss record for the tournament, enough to guarantee the Canadians a place in Saturday's semifinals.
- In the meantime, the host team Russia went to the top of the table after demolishing Britain 11-2 and edging out Norway 6-5. Andrei Smirnov's team has seven wins and one defeat.
- Russia's coach Anton Batugin told R-Sport: ''From a psychological point of view, the Brits weren't in the best shape after their defeat to Finland [13-4 on Tuesday].''
- Despite two heavy defeats in a row, Britain remains third, along with Slovakia, which managed to end its three-game losing streak with an 11-4 pounding of Norway.
- On Thursday, the only gold medals on offer are in three men's slalom events, while hockey semifinals take center stage for much of the day. Russia takes on Norway and reigning champion the United States faces Canada. Curling preliminaries conclude.
- Germany is second behind Russia in the medal table, with Ukraine third on three gold medals ahead of Austria, Canada and Japan.
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- Sochi Paralympics confronts Russia's attitude towards disabled - World - CBC News
- At the age of 10, Yulia Simonova broke her back while performing gymnastics. The accident marked the beginning of life in a wheelchair '-- and an end to any kind of social life for a young schoolgirl.
- ''I couldn't go to school anymore because it wasn't acceptable,'' said Simonova, who is now 30 and lives in Moscow. ''Teachers came to my place and explained to me the lesson, gave me homework, and it was kind of boring.''
- Today, Simonova works with disability advocacy group, Perspektiva, to ensure that children with disabilities go to regular schools, instead of staying at home or being sent to a distant special school.
- Over the past decade of work with Perspektiva, she's witnessed changes in her country to make it more accessible to those with disabilities, especially in the past five years as Russia geared up for the 2014 Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Games.
- The International Paralympic Committee describes the Paralympics as not just a sporting event, but the opportunity to make the biggest impact on a host country's attitude.
- In Russia's case, there is no doubt it has come a long way since it last hosted the Olympic Games in 1980. Back then, the Soviet Union refused to hold the Paralympics on its soil, saying it didn't have any citizens with disabilities.
- ''To now be there 34 years later with a Paralympic Winter Games is testament to a changing Russia,'' says Craig Spence, communications director for the International Paralympic Committee.
- In fact, 78 Russian athletes will compete in the five sports at the Sochi Paralympics, which began Friday. That's twice the number that attended the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
- Isolated at homeThe $50-billion revamp of the Black Sea resort was aimed, in part, at making Sochi accessible to all. Organizers invested in ramps and made sure buildings were outfitted with elevators.
- But Human Rights Watch (HRW) suggests the accessibility makeover applies solely to downtown Sochi. Those living outside the core remain unaffected, as do those in many small centres.
- Yulia Simonova visits schools as part of her work with advocacy group Perspektiva to help them become inclusive to those with disabilities. (Courtesy of Yulia Simonova)
- A report by HRW tells the story of a 26-year-old Sochi woman with cerebral palsy who lives outside the core and rarely leaves her apartment building because it lacks a ramp and a working elevator.
- ''When I met her, she was just sitting at home, and had been for four months,'' said Andrea Mazzarino, the Human Rights Watch disability rights researcher who wrote the 200-page report.
- It has been estimated that more than 13 million people '-- about a tenth of Russia's population '-- live with disabilities.
- The Human Rights Watch report acknowledges that Russia has taken steps to address the deeply-rooted discrimination lingering from the Soviet era.
- The country's made strides, mostly in cities, to provide accessible public transport and buildings. But even though Russia instituted fairly progressive laws, they are not consistently enforced, the report says.
- That leaves unchanged problems such as doorways that are too narrow and wheelchair ramps that are perilously steep, causing isolation for some.
- Simonova has also witnessed these gaps in access.
- When she leaves her home in Moscow, she can't even cross the road without help. There's no curb cut allowing her to wheel across the street. Nor can she use public transportation since only some of the buses are modified to allow wheelchairs aboard.
- ''It's improving, but we still need to move forward a lot,'' she says.
- 'Window of opportunity passed'Since Russia won the right in 2007 to host the these Games, the country has been taking steps toward more inclusion.
- In 2011, Russia started a four-year plan to invest in improved access for those with disabilities to education, health care, transportation and other public services. However, funds were doled out only to those regions that helped pay a portion of the cost.
- The following year, Russia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a treaty guaranteeing those with disabilities the same rights as others.
- Last year, a new education law came into effect that gave children the right to study at mainstream schools.
- At that time, about two-fifths of the approximately 450,000 school-age children with disabilities in Russia attended regular schools. Almost an equal number were deemed "uneducable," while more than one in 10 attended special needs schools far from home.
- ''Now teachers and parents and others, they understand what inclusive education means because five years ago, they didn't even know'... how to include children with disabilities," says Simonova.
- Still, Human Rights Watch's Mazzarino believes more could have been done in the years leading up to the Sochi Games if the global community, including the International Paralympic Committee, put more pressure on Russia.
- ''The window of opportunity for pushing Russia in Sochi has passed because the Paralympics are upon us now,'' said Mazzarino.
- The International Paralympic Committee says it doesn't take an activist role in making these kinds of changes, though it has a ''property that has the ability to change the world'' by breaking down stereotypes, said Spence.
- Simonova agrees. The Paralympics "shows our society that people with disabilities are the same people and they can do sports activities, they can travel, they can have families and children,'' she says.
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- Paralympics: Canada, Russia Continue to Lead Wheelchair Curling | Sochi 2014 | RIA Novosti
- Russia Stuns US for 2-1 Victory in Sochi Sledge Hockey20:09 11/03/2014 Russia's underdog sledge hockey team stunned the United States in a 2-1 win at the Sochi Paralympics on Tuesday amid sporting and political tension between the two countries.
- Sledge Hockey20:09 11/03/2014 The Paralympic version of ice hockey was included in the program in 1994. Sledge hockey players compete on sledges specifically designed for the game.
- Russian Supermodel Propels Sochi Paralympics to Record Sales19:25 11/03/2014 With her willowy figure and smouldering stare, supermodel Natalia Vodianova is the epitome of modern beauty for many in her native Russia. But what if she had a prosthetic leg?
- Ukraine's Lukyanenko Races to 2nd Sochi Paralympic Gold16:20 11/03/2014 Ukraine's Vitaliy Lukyanenko won his second race at the Sochi Paralympic Games on Tuesday, shining at the 12.5-kilometer visually impaired biathlon.
- Paralympics: Russia's Lysova Clinches Biathlon Golden Double16:10 11/03/2014 Russia's domination at the Sochi Paralympics biathlon track continued as Mikhalina Lysova clinched her second gold of the Games on Tuesday.
- Paralympics: Karachurin Continues Russia's Gold Streak in Biathlon14:30 11/03/2014 Azat Karachurin continued host nation Russia's rich vein of form in Sochi Paralympic biathlon Tuesday, striking gold in the men's 12.5-kilometer standing race.
- Paralympics: Kaufman Wins 2nd Gold in Sochi Biathlon14:01 11/03/2014 Russia's Alena Kaufman grabbed her second gold at the Sochi Paralympics on Tuesday, winning the biathlon 10-kilometer standing event.
- Paralympic Biathlon: Russian Storms to 3rd Gold in Sochi13:08 11/03/2014 Russia's Roman Petushkov claimed his third gold medal at the Sochi Paralympic Games on Tuesday, leading a host nation podium sweep in the biathlon 12.5-kilometer sitting event.
- Germany's Wicker Wins Chaotic Paralympic Biathlon in Fog11:51 11/03/2014 Germany's Anja Wicker emerged victorious after thick fog caused chaos at the shooting range in the Sochi Paralympic women's 10-kilometer sitting biathlon.
- Day 3 at the Paralympics: Britain Ends Wait for Gold, 8th Win for McKeever02:40 11/03/2014 Monday at the Sochi Paralympics saw Britain win its first-ever gold medal at a Winter Games, while for Canadian skier Brian McKeever, victory was positively routine as he claimed his eighth gold.
- Paralympics: Host Russia Charges to Top in Wheelchair Curling22:21 10/03/2014 The Russian wheelchair curling team joined Canada at the top of the round robin table at the Sochi Paralympics, winning two games on the third day of competition Monday.
- Russia's Remizova Wins 4-Athlete Race in Paralympic Cross-Country15:29 10/03/2014 Russia's Elena Remizova won a race containing just four athletes to take Paralympic gold in the women's 15km cross-country ski event for visually impaired athletes.
- Alpine Skiing: Schaffelhuber Wins 2nd Sochi Paralympic Gold13:41 10/03/2014 Germany's Anna Schaffelhuber grabbed her second gold at the Sochi Paralympic Games on Monday, scorching to victory at the sitting super G event.
- Sochi Paralympics: Russia's Minnegulov Extends Cross-Country Dominance13:14 10/03/2014 Russia continued its domination of Sochi Paralympic cross-country skiing as Rushan Minnegulov sped to victory in the men's 20km standing event.
- France's Bochet Wins Second Gold Medal of Sochi Paralympics12:40 10/03/2014 French skier Marie Bochet won her second gold medal of the Sochi Paralympics on Monday with victory in the women's standing super G.
- Paralympics: Gallagher Ends British Wait for Winter Paralympic Gold12:24 10/03/2014 Britain won its first ever Winter Paralympic gold medal Monday as skier Kelly Gallagher triumphed in the women's visually impaired super G.
- Paralympics: Canada Pounds Norway in Sledge Hockey on Day 223:05 09/03/2014 In a battle between two former Paralympic sledge hockey champions, Canada pounded Norway 4-0 in Sochi on Sunday to secure a spot in the semifinals.
- U.S. Paralympian McFadden Elated to Compete for Russian Family in Sochi21:18 09/03/2014 U.S. Paralympic star Tatyana McFadden told R-Sport on Sunday she was delighted to be able to compete in front of her Russian birth mother for the first time at the Sochi Games.
- Ukraine's Pavlenko Wins Paralympic Cross-Country Gold in Sochi13:33 09/03/2014 Ukraine won its second gold medal of the Sochi Paralympics on Sunday with victory for Larisa Pavlenko in the women's 12km cross-country sit-skiing.
- Paralympics: Japan's Kano Continues Dominance in Alpine Skiing13:23 09/03/2014 Japanese skier Akira Kano stormed to his second Sochi Paralympic gold on Sunday, destroying the field in the men's sitting super G event.
- Paralympics: Russia Sweeps Podium in Cross-Country Skiing12:56 09/03/2014 Roman Petushkov became the first athlete to win two gold medals at the Sochi Paralympics on Sunday as Russia swept the podium in the men's 15km cross-country sit-skiing.
- Sochi Paralympics: Austria's Salcher Wins 2nd Gold12:13 09/03/2014 Markus Salcher of Austria won his second Alpine skiing gold medal at the Sochi Paralympics Sunday, sweeping to victory in the super G standing event.
- History of the Paralympic Games11:41 09/03/2014 The Paralympic Games have grown from a small gathering of British WWII veterans in 1948 to become one of the largest international sporting events. The term 'Paralympics' have first come into official use during the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul.
- Alpine Skiing: Krako Defends Paralympic Super-G Title11:40 09/03/2014 Three-time Vancouver Paralympic champion Jakub Krako took his first gold medal at the Sochi Games on Sunday, retaining his title in the visually impaired super G competition.
- Day 1 at the Paralympics: Russia Shoots to Top of Medal Table02:31 09/03/2014 Host nation Russia dominated the first day of the Winter Paralympics in Sochi, finishing Saturday top of the medal table with four golds.
- Under Putin's Gaze, Russia Starts Paralympic Hockey With Defeat23:59 08/03/2014 Russia started the Sochi Paralympic sledge hockey tournament with a 3-2 shootout defeat to South Korea in the preliminary round as President Vladimir Putin looked on.
- At Top of Medal Table, More Paralympic Success Awaits Russia - Minister18:03 08/03/2014 After sweeping to the top of the Sochi Paralympic medal table on the first day of competition, yet more success still awaits host nation Russia, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told R-Sport on Saturday.
- Ukraine's Lukyanenko Defies Russian Domination to Win Paralympic Gold15:07 08/03/2014 Ukraine's Vitaliy Lukyanenko resisted a strong Russian challenge to win the men's 7.5km visually impaired biathlon Saturday and deny the host nation a fifth gold of the Sochi Paralympics.
- Russia's Lekomtsev Wins Biathlon Thriller at Paralympics13:58 08/03/2014 Originally posted at 12:58.Russia's Vladislav Lekomtsev took the third gold medal for the host nation at the Sochi Paralympics on Saturday, winning a thrilling men's 7.5km standing biathlon race.
- Gold, Silver for Russia in Paralympic Women's Biathlon13:51 08/03/2014 Host nation Russia continued its strong start to the Sochi Paralympics on Saturday as Mikhalina Lysova and Yulia Budaleeva stormed to gold and silver in the women's 6km visually impaired biathlon.
- Sochi Paralympics: Japan's Kano Takes Downhill Gold13:21 08/03/2014 Japanese skier Akira Kano won Sochi Paralympic gold in a men's sitting downhill event that was marred by several heavy crashes Saturday.
- Russia's Kaufman Charges to Paralympic Biathlon Gold13:17 08/03/2014 Originally posted at 12:56.Alena Kaufman won Russia its second gold medal of the Sochi Paralympics on Saturday with victory in the women's standing 6km biathlon event.
- Alpine Skiing: Santacana Wins Paralympic Gold for Spain12:54 08/03/2014 Spain's Jon Santacana successfully defended his Paralympic downhill skiing title in the visually impaired class at the Sochi Games on Saturday.
- Paralympics: Germany's Schaffelhuber Wins Downhill Skiing Gold12:52 08/03/2014 Germany's Anna Schaffelhuber edged out her rivals at Rosa Khutor on Saturday to win the women's sitting downhill ski event.
- First Biathlon Gold of Sochi Paralympics Goes to Germany's Eskau12:50 08/03/2014 Germany's Andrea Eskau won the first biathlon gold medal of the Sochi Paralympics on Saturday with victory in the women's 6km sitting event.
- Paralympic Skiing: Austria's Salcher Claims Standing Downhill Gold12:45 08/03/2014 Markus Salcher of Austria won the Sochi Paralympic gold in the downhill standing event on Saturday, bringing his country its first medal of the Games.
- Paralympics: Bochet Takes Gold in Women's Standing Ski Downhill12:43 08/03/2014 French skier Marie Bochet won gold at the Sochi Paralympics on Saturday in the women's standing downhill skiing, the 20-year-old underlining her status as one of the world's most promising disabled athletes.
- Russia Wins First Gold Medal at Sochi Paralympics in Biathlon12:37 08/03/2014 Host nation Russia won its first gold medal at the Sochi Paralympics on Saturday with victory for Roman Petushkov in the men's 7.5km sitting biathlon.
- Sochi Paralympics Medal Count11:30 08/03/2014 Daily updates
- Italian Paralympic Hockey Player Fails Doping Test07:33 08/03/2014 Italian sledge hockey forward Igor Stella will not take part in the 2014 Sochi Paralympics after failing a doping test, a spokesperson for his team said Friday.
- Russian Sledge Hockey Player Hopes for Unbeaten Run in Sochi02:57 08/03/2014 Russia's sledge hockey team intends to storm through the Sochi Winter Games unbeaten despite appearing at its first Paralympics, forward Dmitry Lisov said.
- Putin Opens Winter Paralympics in Sochi22:01 07/03/2014 Originally posted at 21:42Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the 11th Paralympic Winter Games open Friday at a grandiose opening ceremony in Sochi.
- Ukraine Rules Out Boycott of Sochi Paralympics for Now '' Official18:02 07/03/2014 The head of Ukraine's Paralympic Committee says the country has decided against boycotting the Sochi Winter Games, but adds the team may leave if relations between his country and Russia deteriorate further.
- Sochi Paralympics Set to Open With Unity-Inspired Ceremony16:55 07/03/2014 Unity and inclusiveness will be the watchwords for the Sochi Paralympic opening ceremony Friday, with an appearance from Russia's fairytale firebird, creative director Konstantin Ernst has said.
- From Sochi to Magadan and Back: The Paralympic Flame Travels Around Russia16:14 07/03/2014 The Paralympic torch relay has returned to Sochi, where it began its journey on February 26. Watch this video by RIA Novosti to see the torchbearers carrying the Paralympic flame throughout the country.
- Putin Attends Raising of Russian Flag at Sochi Paralympic Village22:23 06/03/2014 The Russian flag was ceremonially raised Thursday at the mountain village for the Sochi Paralympics with President Vladimir Putin in attendance.
- Paralympic Torch Relay: From Moscow to Sochi19:54 06/03/2014
- Ukraine Boycott of Russian Paralympics Hangs in Balance '' IPC19:19 06/03/2014 Ukraine remains undecided over whether to boycott the Sochi Paralympics less than 48 hours before the Games begin, International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence said Thursday.
- Sochi Paralympic Winter Games14:27 06/03/2014 Paralympic Games will be held from March 7 to March 16 in Sochi
- Putin to Attend Paralympic Opening Ceremony13:28 05/03/2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that he will attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympics in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi.
- Medvedev Urges Sochi Organizers 'Not to Relax' Ahead of Paralympics18:26 03/03/2014 Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said that even though the Winter Olympics are over, organizers should not relax yet as the country still needs to put on a worthy Paralympics.
- Paralympic Torch Lit by a Huge 'Heart' in Moscow14:37 03/03/2014 The Moscow leg of the Paralympic torch relay began at the All-Russian Exhibition Center in the Russian capital on Sunday. Watch this video of the Paralympic torch being lit by a huge symbolic heart.
- Sochi Paralympic Flame Reaches Moscow15:27 02/03/2014 The flame for the Sochi Paralympics reached the Russian capital on Sunday, five days before the start of the Games.
- Sochi Paralympic Flame Lit in St. Petersburg15:21 01/03/2014 The flame for the Sochi Paralympics was lit Saturday during a ceremony in St. Petersburg.
- Paralympic Torch Relay Kicks Off at Russia's Easternmost Point17:03 26/02/2014 Festivities for the Paralympic Games, scheduled to begin in Russia's southern city Sochi on March 7, kicked off on Wednesday as the Paralympic torch relay started its first leg of a 10-day journey from Russia's easternmost point.
- Sochi Paralympic Ticket Sales Open Amid Fears of Empty Seats16:29 27/09/2013 Ticket sales for next year's Winter Paralympics in Sochi opened on Friday, but Russia's top Paralympic official warned that the competition could be marred by swathes of empty seats.
- RIA Novosti named official host national news agency for Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games14:52 02/04/2013 The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has named Russian News & Information Agency RIA Novosti as the official host national news agency for the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympic Games.
- New Russian Paralympic Center to Open by 201515:59 20/03/2013 An $81 million high-tech training complex for Paralympians in Russia will open the city of Ufa by 2015, local officials said Wednesday.
- Sochi Improving Disabled Access - Paralympic Official17:21 13/02/2013 Next year's Paralympic host city of Sochi is rapidly improving access for disabled people, the head of the Russian Paralympic Committee said Wednesday.
- Hotel Prices in Sochi for the 2014 Olympic and Paralympics Games20:07 07/02/2013 The Russian government will limit the maximum price for the hotel rooms in Sochi during the Olympics.
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- NBC Olympics announces television schedule for Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games
- Feb 19Television schedule set for Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter GamesBy United States Olympic Committee | Feb. 19, 2014, 10 a.m. (ET)
- Andy Yohe, a two-time Paralympic medalist, is the captain of the 2014 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team.STAMFORD, Conn. '-- NBC Olympics and the United States Olympic Committee will present an unprecedented 52 hours of coverage of the upcoming Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games across NBC and NBCSN including 27 hours of live coverage, beginning with the Opening Ceremony on March 7 at 11 a.m. ET on NBCSN. TeamUSA.org will live stream all events from the Paralympic Winter Games.
- NBC Olympics' coverage will include all five Paralympic winter sports '' alpine skiing (which includes snowboarding), biathlon, cross-country skiing, wheelchair curling and sled hockey '' spread across 11 days of coverage on NBC and NBCSN.
- NBCSN will provide 48 of 52 total hours of coverage, as well as live coverage nearly every day of the Paralympic Winter Games. NBC's coverage is highlighted by the sled hockey gold medal game on March 15 at 1 p.m. ET.
- ''We are looking forward to covering the Sochi Paralympic Winter Games and telling the amazing stories of these great athletes across multiple platforms in partnership with the U.S. Olympic Committee,'' said Gary Zenkel, President, NBC Olympics. ''With the support of our six corporate partners '' who were critical to providing this unprecedented level of coverage '' Paralympic fans can now consume more Winter Games coverage in the U.S. than ever before, whether they are at home or on the go.''
- This unprecedented 2014 Paralympic Winter Games coverage is made possible through the support of the broadcast and streaming sponsors BMW, BP, Citi, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Procter & Gamble and The Hartford, marking the first time the media delivery has been exclusively sold to USOC sponsors.
- ''NBC Olympics' commitment to airing the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games marks a significant turning point for the Paralympic Movement in the United States,'' said Scott Blackmun, United States Olympic Committee chief executive officer. ''Americans have always been interested in the inspiring stories of our Paralympians. With the Paralympic Games on television, Americans will be able to experience the thrill of sport, which is what the Paralympic Movement is about. The Paralympic Games are not about disability. The Paralympic Games are about athletes competing to be the best in the world. Behind the commitment of our broadcast partner and our sponsors, we are excited to bring this world class sporting event to Americans.''
- The Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games will feature nearly 700 athletes with a physical disability or visual impairment from 45 countries competing in six sports. The Games feature 72 medal events (34 men, 34 women, four mixed). Team USA will compete in each of the sports contested in Sochi with an estimated team of 77 athletes.
- For the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, the U.S. sent 50 athletes, winning four gold medals, five silver medals and four bronze medals, finishing fifth overall in the medal count. In 2010, Andy Soule (Pearland, Texas), a U.S. Army veteran who will compete in Sochi, won a bronze medal in the men's sitting 2.4-kilometer individual pursuit biathlon event, becoming the first U.S. biathlete to medal at an Olympic or Paralympic Winter Games.
- NBCSN will present up to nine hours of alpine skiing coverage beginning March 8 with live downhill coverage at 1 a.m. ET. Coverage continues March 10 with live coverage of the super G at 2 a.m. ET and concludes with coverage of the giant slalom on March 16 at 4:30 a.m. ET. Athletes expected to compete in Paralympic alpine skiing events include Alana Nichols, the first U.S. female athlete to win gold in both the Summer and Winter Games (wheelchair basketball in Beijing, alpine skiing in Vancouver).
- Alpine Skiing (Downhill) -LIVE
- Alpine Skiing (Super G) ''LIVE
- Alpine Skiing (Giant Slalom) -LIVE
- NBCSN will present coverage of the debut of snowboarding at the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi. Three hours of snowboarding coverage will air on March 14 beginning at 3 a.m. ET . Athletes expected to compete in the Paralympic debut of snowboarding include gold-medal contenders Amy Purdy and Evan Strong.
- Snowboarding (snowboard cross)
- NBCSN will air 6.5 hours of live cross-country skiing coverage from the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games. Coverage begins March 9 on NBCSN at 1 a.m. ET and continues on March 15 at 3:30 a.m. Tatyana McFadden, a three-time Paralympian in track and field and 10-time Paralympic medalist, will compete in cross-country skiing for the first time at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi.
- Cross-Country Skiing -LIVE
- Cross-Country Skiing -LIVE
- NBC and NBCSN will provide eight hours of sled hockey coverage, including Team USA vs. Russia on March 11 at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, live semifinals coverage on March 13 on NBCSN and the sled hockey final on NBC on March 15 at 1 p.m. ET. Team USA is led by captain Andy Yohe, who was a member of the Team USA squad that won gold in Vancouver, and goaltender Steve Cash, who did not allow a single goal in five games in Vancouver. The team also boasts four players who have served in the U.S. military; Sergeant Jen Lee (U.S. Army, active), and purple heart recipients Paul Schaus (U.S. Marine Corps), Josh Sweeney (U.S. Marine Corps) and Rico Roman (U.S. Army).
- Sled Hockey '' Team USA vs. Russia
- Sled Hockey Semifinal -LIVE
- Sled Hockey Semifinal -LIVE
- NBCSN will present 5.5 hours of wheelchair curling hockey coverage from the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi. Coverage of wheelchair curling begins with Team USA against China on Wednesday, March 12 at 1:30 a.m. ET. NBCSN will also air the wheelchair curling final on Saturday, March 15 at 6:30 p.m. ET.
- Wheelchair Curling '' Team USA vs. China -LIVE
- NBCSN's coverage of the biathlon from the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games will air March 11 at 2 a.m. ET.
- In addition, coverage of the biathlon and all Paralympic winter sports will be highlighted across NBCSN's 11.5 hours of daily coverage spanning five days, recapping the day's biggest events, providing highlights and in-depth analysis throughout the Games. Coverage of the Paralympic Winter Games concludes on March 22 at 1 p.m. ET on NBC with a one-hour special looking back at top moments from this year's competition.
- NBC and NBCSN's coverage schedulefor the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games
- Alpine Skiing (Downhill) -LIVE
- Paralympics Day 1 Coverage
- Cross-Country Skiing - LIVE
- Paralympics Day 2 Coverage
- Alpine Skiing (Super G) - LIVE
- Paralympics Day 3 Coverage
- Sled Hockey '' Team USA vs. Russia
- Wheelchair Curling '' Team USA vs. China - LIVE
- Paralympics Day 5 Coverage
- Sled Hockey Semifinal - LIVE
- Sled Hockey Semifinal -LIVE
- Paralympics Day 7 Coverage
- Cross-Country Skiing - LIVE
- Alpine Skiing (Giant Slalom) -LIVE
- Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games Review Show
- * All dates and times subject to change
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- BBC News - Russia Lenta.ru editor Timchenko fired in Ukraine row
- 12 March 2014Last updated at 13:57 ET The chief editor of popular Russian news website Lenta.ru has lost her job over an interview it published with a far-right Ukrainian nationalist.
- Galina Timchenko was fired after the state media regulator issued the website with a warning for publishing material of an "extremist nature".
- She will be replaced by Alexei Goreslavsky, who until recently headed a staunchly pro-Kremlin website.
- Her departure comes after several recent attacks on independent media.
- Continue reading the main storyStephen EnnisBBC Monitoring
- The abrupt removal of Ms Timchenko is being seen as yet another blow to the country's embattled independent media.
- One of the most respected figures on the Russian media scene, she has been at Lenta.ru from the start and became editor-in-chief in 2004.
- "Under her guidance, Lenta.ru became the best web publication in Russian," liberal journalist Aleksandr Plyushchev wrote.
- Her successor, Alexei Goreslavsky, until recently headed the staunchly pro-Kremlin website, Vzglyad.ru. According to opposition activist and blogger Leonid Volkov, he was also a media adviser on the campaign that helped elect Sergei Sobyanin, an ally of President Putin, as Moscow mayor last September.
- Her departure is being seen as another blow to freedom of speech in Russia.
- A statement by the editorial staff reflected on the "dramatic decline" in the scope for free journalism in Russia: "The problem is not that there is nowhere left for us to work. The problem is that there is nothing left, it seems, for you to read."
- The decision to dismiss Ms Timchenko was made by Lenta.ru's owner Alexander Mamut. It was immediately criticised by the website's editorial staff who complained of direct pressure being placed on them and a "dramatic decline" in the scope for free journalism in Russia.
- "The dismissal of an independent chief editor and the appointment of a person who can be controlled from outside, including directly from offices in the Kremlin - that is already a violation of the media law," read the statement signed by 69 Lenta staff on the website's front page.
- Writing on her Facebook page, Ms Timchenko said simply: "That's it. Thank you, it was interesting."
- Media regulator Roskomnadzor cited an interview published two days earlier with a leading member of the Ukrainian ultra-nationalist group, Right Sector, referring to a hyperlink in the text that led to its leader, Dmitriy Yarosh.
- It said the material contained statements inciting ethnic hatred. A Moscow court issued an arrest warrant for Mr Yarosh on Wednesday on charges of inciting terrorism.
- Founded in 1999, Lenta is considered one of Europe's most visited news websites and last year became part of Mr Mamut's Afisha-Rambbler-SUP media group.
- It is the latest media outlet in Russia to come under the scrutiny of the authorities:
- State news agency Ria Novosti was closed last year and relaunched under a new editor Independent TV channel Dozhd (Rain) was dropped by leading cable and satellite operators Radio station Ekho Moskvy's director-general, Yuriy Fedutinov, was replaced Ekho's veteran editor-in-chief Aleksey Venediktov, whose future is also being considered, condemned Ms Timchenko's removal as a "clearly political decision".
- Mr Mamut, a 54-year-old billionaire who also owns UK bookshop chain Waterstone's, has an estimated fortune of $2.3bn, according to Forbes.
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- Foreign hands behind tension in Venezuela
- Press TVVenezuela has witnessed demonstrations against and in support of the administration of President Nicolas Maduro over the past few weeks.
- The protests began in the western states of Tachira and Merida and then spread to the capital, Caracas.
- Three people have reportedly been killed by gunmen in Caracas.
- The backdrop to the demonstrations against the government is the issue of crime and corruption. Opponents of the government say the government is responsible for economic woes, claiming that its policies have led to a shortage of essential goods and a high inflation rate.
- President Maduro says the United States is backing the opposition to launch a coup d'(C)tat in the country.
- Maduro has also blamed the opposition for the security and economic problems.
- Meanwhile, US Vice President Joe Biden has claimed that the political and social situation in Venezuela is alarming.
- Washington accuses the Maduro administration of 'inventing' US conspiracies to distract attention from troubles in Venezuela.
- US Secretary of State John Kerry has also slammed the Venezuelan president for using force against anti-government protesters. However, Maduro says Kerry's remarks have given violent groups a green light to continue brutalities.
- Venezuela's two-time presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles, who leads the opposition, has urged his supporters to take to the streets of Caracas and elsewhere around the country.
- The Organization of American States (OAS) recently offered its full support for a peace initiative by the Venezuelan government and the continuation of a ''national dialogue'' in Venezuela. Twenty-nine OAS states voted in favor of the declaration with only the United States, Canada and Panama objecting.
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- Agenda 21
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- Student written request
- I've recently begun college, and my teacher for Critical Thinking &
- Reasoning brought up the subject of manmade global warming on my first day.
- Being a No Agenda listener, my ears perked and I began trying to remember
- what your guys' hypothesis on it is.
- I'm wondering if you could write a quick synopsys of your or John's outlook
- on global warming/climate change, as I understand the societal point of
- view stems from computer generated models predicting the future? He did say
- literally all scientists are on board that it's manmade; I even asked to
- clarify, 'literally all scientists', and he assured me that they are.
- This is not a paper or homework, simply something I hope to share with the
- teacher. I have a vague idea from listening to the shows, but I'm hoping
- you could provide me just a few sentences to pass along to my teacher that
- explain the contrary opinions of 'global warming' in that the earth is
- actually on a cooling trend.
- I've scoured the noagendaplayer.com for any relevant segments, but I can't
- seem to find the episode where you talk about the 1% of scientists that
- disagree, and their propositions to explain climate change.
- (Monthly donor using chrishansson@hotmail.com, again, sorry for the
- mutliple email addresses! Convenience you know..)
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- Global warming: Who pressed the pause button? | The Economist
- BETWEEN 1998 and 2013, the Earth's surface temperature rose at a rate of 0.04°C a decade, far slower than the 0.18°C increase in the 1990s. Meanwhile, emissions of carbon dioxide (which would be expected to push temperatures up) rose uninterruptedly. This pause in warming has raised doubts in the public mind about climate change. A few sceptics say flatly that global warming has stopped. Others argue that scientists' understanding of the climate is so flawed that their judgments about it cannot be accepted with any confidence. A convincing explanation of the pause therefore matters both to a proper understanding of the climate and to the credibility of climate science'--and papers published over the past few weeks do their best to provide one. Indeed, they do almost too good a job. If all were correct, the pause would now be explained twice over.
- This is the opposite of what happened at first. As evidence piled up that temperatures were not rising much, some scientists dismissed it as a blip. The temperature, they pointed out, had fallen for much longer periods twice in the past century or so, in 1880-1910 and again in 1945-75 (see chart), even though the general trend was up. Variability is part of the climate system and a 15-year hiatus, they suggested, was not worth getting excited about.
- An alternative way of looking at the pause's significance was to say that there had been a slowdown but not a big one. Most records, including one of the best known (kept by Britain's Meteorological Office), do not include measurements from the Arctic, which has been warming faster than anywhere else in the world. Using satellite data to fill in the missing Arctic numbers, Kevin Cowtan of the University of York, in Britain, and Robert Way of the University of Ottawa, in Canada, put the overall rate of global warming at 0.12°C a decade between 1998 and 2012'--not far from the 1990s rate. A study by NASA puts the ''Arctic effect'' over the same period somewhat lower, at 0.07°C a decade, but that is still not negligible.
- It is also worth remembering that average warming is not the only measure of climate change. According to a study just published by Sonia Seneviratne of the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, in Zurich, the number of hot days, the number of extremely hot days and the length of warm periods all increased during the pause (1998-2012). A more stable average temperature hides wider extremes.
- Still, attempts to explain away that stable average have not been convincing, partly because of the conflict between flat temperatures and rising CO2 emissions, and partly because observed temperatures are now falling outside the range climate models predict. The models embody the state of climate knowledge. If they are wrong, the knowledge is probably faulty, too. Hence attempts to explain the pause.
- In September 2013 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change did so in terms of fluctuating solar output, atmospheric pollution and volcanoes. All three, it thought, were unusually influential.
- The sun's power output fluctuates slightly over a cycle that lasts about 11 years. The current cycle seems to have gone on longer than normal and may have started from a lower base, so for the past decade less heat has been reaching Earth than usual. Pollution throws aerosols (particles such as soot, and suspended droplets of things like sulphuric acid) into the air, where they reflect sunlight back into space. The more there are, the greater their cooling effect'--and pollution from Chinese coal-fired power plants, in particular, has been rising. Volcanoes do the same thing, so increased volcanic activity tends to reduce temperatures.
- Gavin Schmidt and two colleagues at NASA's Goddard Institute quantify the effects of these trends in Nature Geoscience. They argue that climate models underplay the delayed and subdued solar cycle. They think the models do not fully account for the effects of pollution (specifically, nitrate pollution and indirect effects like interactions between aerosols and clouds). And they claim that the impact of volcanic activity since 2000 has been greater than previously thought. Adjusting for all this, they find that the difference between actual temperature readings and computer-generated ones largely disappears. The implication is that the solar cycle and aerosols explain much of the pause.
- There is, however, another type of explanation. Much of the incoming heat is absorbed by oceans, especially the largest, the Pacific. Several new studies link the pause with changes in the Pacific and in the trade winds that influence the circulation of water within it.
- Trade winds blow east-west at tropical latitudes. In so doing they push warm surface water towards Asia and draw cooler, deep water to the surface in the central and eastern Pacific, which chills the atmosphere. Water movement at the surface also speeds up a giant churn in the ocean. This pulls some warm water downwards, sequestering heat at greater depth. In a study published in Nature in 2013, Yu Kosaka and Shang-Ping Xie of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in San Diego, argued that much of the difference between climate models and actual temperatures could be accounted for by cooling in the eastern Pacific.
- Every few years, as Dr Kosaka and Dr Xie observe, the trade winds slacken and the warm water in the western Pacific sloshes back to replace the cool surface layer of the central and eastern parts of the ocean. This weather pattern is called El Ni±o and it warms the whole atmosphere. There was an exceptionally strong Ni±o in 1997-98, an unusually hot year. The opposite pattern, with cooler temperatures and stronger trade winds, is called La Ni±a. The 1997-98 Ni±o was followed by a series of Ni±as, explaining part of the pause.
- Switches between El Ni±o and La Ni±a are frequent. But there is also a long-term cycle called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), which switches from a warm (or positive) phase to a cool (negative) one every 20 or 30 years. The positive phase encourages more frequent, powerful Ni±os. According to Kevin Trenberth and John Fasullo of America's National Centre for Atmospheric Research, the PDO was positive in 1976-98'--a period of rising temperatures'--and negative in 1943-76 and since 2000, producing a series of cooling Ni±as.
- But that is not the end of it. Laid on top of these cyclical patterns is what looks like a one-off increase in the strength of trade winds during the past 20 years. According to a study in Nature Climate Change, by Matthew England of the University of New South Wales and others, record trade winds have produced a sort of super-Ni±a. On average, sea levels have risen by about 3mm a year in the past 30 years. But those in the eastern Pacific have barely budged, whereas those near the Philippines have risen by 20cm since the late 1990s. A wall of warm water, in other words, is being held in place by powerful winds, with cool water rising behind it. According to Dr England, the effect of the trade winds explains most of the temperature pause.
- If so, the pause has gone from being not explained to explained twice over'--once by aerosols and the solar cycle, and again by ocean winds and currents. These two accounts are not contradictory. The processes at work are understood, but their relative contributions are not.
- Nor is the answer to what is, from the human point of view, the biggest question of all, namely what these explanations imply about how long the pause might continue. On the face of it, if some heat is being sucked into the deep ocean, the process could simply carry on: the ocean has a huge capacity to absorb heat as long as the pump sending it to the bottom remains in working order. But that is not all there is to it. Gravity wants the western-Pacific water wall to slosh back; it is held in place only by exceptionally strong trade winds. If those winds slacken, temperatures will start to rise again.
- The solar cycle is already turning. And aerosol cooling is likely to be reined in by China's anti-pollution laws. Most of the circumstances that have put the planet's temperature rise on ''pause'' look temporary. Like the Terminator, global warming will be back.
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- Report: UN officials hid overblown global warming estimates | The Daily Caller
- The United Nations doesn't want you to know the facts about global warming, according to a new report out of Europe.
- Over the years climate scientists have been reducing their estimates of how much global warming will occur over the next 70 to 100 years if atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were doubled '-- an estimate called ''climate sensitivity.''
- But readers of the most recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment would be ignorant of this, according to a report by the UK's Global Warming Policy Foundation.
- The IPCC's fourth climate assessment in 2007 estimated that the Earth would warm 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century '-- this estimate was in a range of warming from 2 to 4.5 degrees Celsius. But as the 2000s wore on and little warming occurred, climate scientists began to lower their climate sensitivity estimates from 3 to 2 degrees Celsius in a century and only 1.5 degrees of warming in the next 70 years.
- But this revelation was only hinted at in the IPCC's 2013 climate assessment. Instead of lowering their central climate sensitivity measure down from 3 degrees Celsius, the IPCC simply did not give a central estimate and just reduced its lower-bound warming estimate from 2 to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Now the IPCC's warming range for the next hundred years is 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius.
- ''Good empirical evidence of both long-term warming and that over a seventy year period now imply very different expectations of future warming than do climate models '-- some 40% to 50% lower to 2081-2100,'' according to the study by independent UK climate scientist Nic Lewis and Dutch science writer Marcel Crok.
- ''This is almost certainly the most important finding of climate science in recent years, particularly since there are good reasons to doubt the reliability of climate model forecasts,'' the authors continue.
- ''However, in its report the IPCC only alludes to this issue in an oblique fashion,'' the authors add. ''Moreover, rather than reducing its best estimate of climate sensitivity in the light of the new empirical estimates, it simply reduced the lower bound of the uncertainty range and omitted to give a best estimate, without adequately explaining why it had been necessary to do so.''
- The IPCC only added a paragraph on why they did not give central climate sensitivity estimate in the technical summary of its final report '-- published in January 2014, four months after the report's initial release.
- Climate sensitivity is used by policymakers to predict global temperature increases and economic costs, and therefore is a crucial estimate to nail down. In the U.S., the Obama administration is using the UN's climate sensitivity measures to come up with its ''social cost of carbon'' (SCC) estimate, which applies monetary damages to each ton of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere.
- Last year, the Obama administration raised the SCC from from $21 per ton to $37 per ton before the president went public with his plans to cut U.S. emissions 17 percent by 2020. Raising the SCC inflates the benefits of policies that reduce carbon emissions, therefore, giving more justification to Obama's fight against global warming.
- ''The shift to a cleaner energy economy won't happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way,'' Obama said in his 2014 State of the Union Address. ''But the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. And when our children's children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say, 'Yes, we did.'''
- But the recent GWPF report casts doubt on Obama's justification for raising the SCC to $37 per ton, as it was based on the UN's misleading climate assessment. If the IPCC can no longer give a central climate sensitivity estimate, can the Obama administration credibly peg a price to carbon dioxide emissions?
- ''It should be obvious that no SCC estimates should be published until a credible climate sensitivity probability distribution is developed,'' wrote attorney Francis Menton in his comments to the White House on the SCC changes. ''This multi- agency effort has relied on the IPCC work, but IPCC's own results imply that the U.S. government should stop publishing any estimates of SCC until such a credible distribution exists.''
- The Obama administration, however, has showed no indication that it intends to scale back its SCC estimate or scrap it altogether.
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- Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
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- Arctic at its warmest for 40,000 years - News in Brief - The Ecologist
- Researchers have tracked the retreat of the snow line to find tiny plants exposed that had been frozen over 40,000 years ago.
- Ice in the Arctic continues to retreat. The season without ice is getting longer by an average of five days every 10 years.
- And in some regions of the Arctic, the autumn freeze is now up to 11 days later every decade.
- The findings come in a new study in Geophysical Research Letters - 'Changes in Arctic melt season and implications for sea ice loss' by Stroeve et al.
- They means that a greater proportion of the polar region for a longer timespan no longer reflects sunlight but absorbs it. This change in albedo - the scientist's term for a planet's reflectivity - means that open sea absorbs radiation, stays warmer, and freezes again ever later.
- None of this is news: sea ice in the Arctic has been both retreating and thinning in volume for four decades.
- Researchers have tracked the retreat of the snow line to find tiny plants exposed that had been frozen over 40,000 years ago: the implication is that the Arctic is warmer now than it has been for 40 millennia.
- This warming threatens the animals that depend for their existence on a stable cycle of seasons and is accelerating at such a rate that the polar ocean could be entirely free of ice in late summer in the next four decades.
- So Julienne Stroeve, of University College London and her colleagues have provided yet further confirmation of an increasing rate of change in the region in their latest study.
- The scientists examined satellite imagery of the Arctic for the last 30 years, on 25 square kilometer grid, to work out the albedo of each square for every month they had data.
- Their headline figure of five days is an average: in fact the pattern of freeze and thaw in the Arctic varies. In one region the melt season has been extended by 13 days, in another the melt season is actually getting shorter.
- This increasing exposure to summer sunlight means that ever greater quantities of energy are being absorbed.
- "The extent of sea ice in the Arctic has been declining for the last four decades", said Professor Stroeve. "And the timing of when melt begins and ends has a large impact on the amount of ice lost each summer.
- "With the Arctic region becoming more accessible for longer periods of time, there is a growing need for improved prediction of when the ice retreats and reforms in the water."
- Tim Radford writes for Climate News Network.
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- Richard Branson sides with Apple CEO against climate change deniers | The Verge
- Inspired by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Virgin founder Richard Branson has taken to his blog to say that businesses should begin standing up against climate change deniers. "While Tim told sustainability skeptics to 'get out of our stock,'" Branson writes, "I would urge climate change deniers to get out of our way." Cook's statements came at a recent shareholders meeting, where he soundly shot down a proposal rooted in climate change denial that would have had Apple putting its bottom line above its interests in sustainability. Cook said that those who would prefer Apple do everything purely for profit simply shouldn't invest.
- Likewise, Branson says that businesses and other organizations should never be purely focused on the bottom line. He quotes a statement from Cook, "We want to leave the world better than we found it," and writes that the same is true for Virgin. "This goes for Virgin too," Branson writes, "and should go for every single organization in the world." In particular, Branson suggests that climate change should be among the easier causes for disparate groups of people to get behind because it's so pervasive. As for why deniers should start believing, Branson keeps his argument simple: "If 97 percent of climate scientists agreeing that climate-warming trends over the past century are due to human activities isn't compelling data, I don't know what is."
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- Businesses should stand up to climate change deniers - Virgin.com
- Conservative think tank the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) - Apple shareholders - criticised Cook for pursuing sustainability programs, questioned the impact of combating climate change on the bottom line, and demanded return on investment on all environmental initiatives.
- Tim took a crucial stand: he told shareholders who oppose Apple's commitment to sustainability to "get out of the stock".
- He also commented on how doing business sustainably can actually improve the bottom line. This is something we strongly believe in at The B Team, which is working hard to encourage better ways of doing business for the wellbeing of people and the planet. We wholeheartedly support him.
- Cook also touched upon what should be at the heart of any business '' its purpose. ''We do a lot of things for reasons besides profit motive," he said. "We want to leave the world better than we found it." This goes for Virgin too, and should go for every single organisation in the world.
- The NCPPR stated there is an ''absence of compelling data" on climate change. If 97% of climate scientists agreeing that climate-warming trends over the past century are due to human activities isn't compelling data, I don't know what is.
- The Elders are carrying out a year of action on climate change. As Chair Kofi Annan said: ''If ever there were a cause which should unite us all, old or young, rich or poor, climate change must be it.''
- Meanwhile, The Carbon War Room is working extremely hard to combat climate change by empowering market-driven solutions. We are all incredibly excited about the progress of the 10 Island Challenge and moving Necker Island towards a renewable future.
- More businesses should be following Apple's stance in encouraging more investment in sustainability. While Tim told sustainability sceptics to ''get out of our stock'', I would urge climate change deniers to get out of our way.
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- Japanese government signals restart of nuclear power plants
- By Will Morrow10 March 2014Three years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Japanese government is moving to restart the country's nuclear plants, all of which remain shut down. A draft energy plan released late last month officially designates nuclear power as a long-term base power source, setting the stage for the resumption of nuclear plant operations.
- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is preparing to restart the nuclear industry despite overwhelming popular opposition. Yesterday thousands of anti-nuclear protesters marched in Tokyo and several other cities to voice their determination to block Abe's plan.
- The earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 caused a partial meltdown of three of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant owned and run by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The operation to dismantle the reactors and clean up the site will take decades to complete.
- Fukushima itself is the scene of an ongoing disaster. Nearly 140,000 residents were forced to evacuate in 2011 and have been told it could be years before they can return. Many have been moved to cramped government-allocated accommodation, including in abandoned schools, with several families to a room.
- There are widespread concerns about the possibility of another disaster resulting from cost-cutting by private nuclear companies and their longstanding collusion with government nuclear regulators. Between 300 and 400 tonnes of contaminated radioactive groundwater at Fukushima now flow every day into the ocean. TEPCO, the plant's private operator, has been left in charge of the clean-up effort and has overseen repeated spills of nuclear water, including one on February 20. (See: ''Japan: New radioactive water leak at Fukushima'')
- Since September last year, all of the country's nuclear plants have been shut down, only the second time such a situation has occurred in 40 years. The government's new Basic Energy Plan states that nuclear power, which previously made up 30 percent of Japanese economic supply, ''is an important baseload electricity source.''
- The document says that the government will ''carefully consider the scale of the nuclear power plants'' it will maintain, a statement widely understood to signal the possible construction of even more nuclear power reactors. The draft also states, in an attempt to placate mass opposition to the restarting of plants, that nuclear energy dependence would be ''reduced as much as possible.'' But the document also refrains from giving a precise estimate as to what fraction of total energy production will be provided by nuclear power.
- Prime Minister Abe is acting on behalf of the nuclear industry and big business as a whole, which is seeking to lower energy costs. In a column on February 26, the conservative Yomiuri Shimbun responded to the government's draft energy plan, stating: ''We believe the government's draft shows we are headed in the right direction.'' The newspaper called on both political parties ''not to be swayed by antinuclear sentiment and make judgments based on Japan's serious power situation.''
- As a result of the nuclear plant shutdown, Japan has been forced to increase imports of liquefied natural gas by 23 percent since 2011. This has led to increases in energy prices of up to 50 percent for businesses, fuelling demands for a restarting of nuclear reactors.
- According to Nippon.com, Japanese ministry of finance preliminary trade statistics for 2013 showed a record trade deficit of ¥11.47 trillion, up from ¥6.94 trillion the year before. Imports of crude oil were also up by 16.3 percent since 2012 and accounted for more than 20 percent of total imports.
- Despite the increase in energy prices, repeated polls have shown a clear majority of the population opposed to the return of nuclear energy generation. A poll conducted by the Asahi Shinbum a week before the February 9 Tokyo election found that 74 percent of respondents wanted nuclear power eliminated completely. Another survey conducted on February 22''23 by the Fuji Television network found 53 percent of 1,000 respondents opposed restarting any nuclear reactors.
- Despite mass opposition among Tokyo residents, the media has cynically declared that the results of the Tokyo election constituted a mark of approval for nuclear power. Tsugumasa Muraoka, the candidate backed by Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, won the election despite his pro-nuclear stance, defeating two anti-nuclear candidates. The election campaign was dominated by economic and social issues and the turnout was just 46.1 percent.
- Underscoring the thoroughly anti-democratic character of the government's nuclear agenda, Abe intentionally delayed publishing its draft Basic Energy Plan until after the Tokyo election, in order to prevent it from becoming a focus of the election.
- The opposition DPJ has attempted to campaign on the basis of ending all nuclear production in Japan. However, the DPJ was in government at the time of the Fukushima disaster and restarted the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui prefecture in July 2012, in the face of mass opposition. Up until May 2012, all nuclear plants had been temporarily shut down for maintenance checks but had not reopened due to popular opposition. The Oi plant'--the only running power station'--was only closed for maintenance last September.
- The government's Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) is currently reviewing applications from seven utilities to restart 16 nuclear reactors, and further applications to begin operations are expected. There is widespread mistrust in the NRA however, an organisation established through the merger of two previous regulatory authorities, which were deeply implicated in collaborating with the major nuclear companies and lax safety requirements.
- The Abe government is also determined to keep the nuclear industry operating to maintain Japan's capacity to produce nuclear weapons. Alongside its nuclear reactors and large plutonium stockpile, the Japanese government is currently in the commissioning stages of the Rokkasho plutonium reprocessing facility. According to a May 2013 article in the Wall Street Journal, the facility is capable of producing up to nine tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium each year'--enough to manufacture 2,000 nuclear bombs.
- Abe, backed by the Obama administration's aggressive ''pivot to Asia'' aimed at diplomatically and military encircling China, has ratcheted up tensions with Beijing over disputed islands in the East China Sea. His government has boosted the military budget and is seeking to remove constitutional and legal constraints on the aggressive use of Japan's armed forces. Any open move to acquire nuclear weapons would provoke widespread public opposition in the country, where the US dropped two atomic bombs in 1945. Nevertheless by keeping the nuclear industry operating the Abe government keeps that option open.
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- Neil deGrasse Tyson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Neil deGrasse TysonBorn(1958-10-05) October 5, 1958 (age 55)Manhattan, New York City, United States[1]ResidenceManhattan, New York City, United StatesFieldsAstrophysics, physical cosmology, science communicationInstitutionsHayden Planetarium, PBS, Planetary SocietyAlma materColumbia University(MPhil, PhD)University of Texas at Austin(MA)Harvard University(AB)The Bronx High School of ScienceInfluencesIsaac Newton, Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Albert EinsteinNotable awardsNASA Distinguished Public Service MedalNeil deGrasse Tyson (//; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. He is currently the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space and a research associate in the department of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. From 2006 to 2011, he hosted the educational science television show NOVA ScienceNow on PBS and has been a frequent guest on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Jeopardy!. Tyson is the host of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a sequel to Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage television series starting March 2014.[2]
- Early life[edit]Tyson was born as the second of three children in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, and was raised in the Bronx.[1] His mother, Sunchita Marie (Feliciano) Tyson, was a gerontologist, and his father, Cyril deGrasse Tyson, was a sociologist, human resource commissioner for the New York City mayor John Lindsay, and the first Director of Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited.[3][4]
- From kindergarten through high school Tyson attended public schools in New York City, all in The Bronx, which included PS 36, PS 81, Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy (MS 141), and the Bronx High School of Science (1972''76)[5] where he was captain of the wrestling team, and editor-in-chief of the school's Physical Science Journal. Tyson had an abiding interest in astronomy since he was nine years old, following his visit to Pennsylvania and seeing the stars, saying "it looks like the Hayden Planetarium".[6] He obsessively studied astronomy in his teens, and eventually even gained some fame in the astronomy community by giving lectures on the subject at the age of fifteen.[7] Tyson recalls that "so strong was that imprint [of the night sky] that I'm certain that I had no choice in the matter, that in fact, the universe called me."[6]
- Astronomer Carl Sagan, who was a faculty member at Cornell University, tried to recruit Tyson to Cornell for undergraduate studies.[3] In an interview with writer Daniel Simone,[8] Tyson said:
- Interestingly, when I applied to Cornell, my application dripped of my passion for the study and research of the Universe. Somehow the admissions office brought my application to the attention of the late Dr. Sagan, and he actually took the initiative and care to contact me. He was very inspirational and a most powerful influence. Dr. Sagan was as great as the universe, an effective mentor.
- Tyson chose to attend Harvard University, however, where he majored in physics and lived in Currier House. He was a member of the crew team during his freshman year, but returned to wrestling, eventually lettering in his senior year. In addition to wrestling and rowing in college, he was active in dance, in styles including jazz, ballet, Afro-Caribbean, and Latin Ballroom.[9] Tyson earned a Bachelor of Arts in physics from Harvard in 1980 and began his graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin; he was unable to complete his Ph.D. because his thesis committee voted to dissolve itself [10]and he received a Master of Arts in astronomy in 1983. In 1985, he won a gold medal with the University of Texas dance team at a national tournament in the International Latin Ballroom style. He was a lecturer at the University of Maryland from 1986-1987.[11] In 1988, Tyson was accepted into the astronomy graduate program at Columbia University, where he earned a Master of Philosophy in astrophysics in 1989, and a Doctor of Philosophy in astrophysics in 1991[12] under the supervision of Professor R. Michael Rich (now at UCLA). Rich obtained funding to support Tyson's doctoral research from NASA and the ARCS foundation [13] enabling Tyson to attend international meetings in Italy, Switzerland, Chile, and South Africa [14] and to hire students to help him with data reduction. [15] In the course of his thesis work, he observed using the 0.91 m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, where he obtained images for the Caln/Tololo Supernova Survey[16][17][18] helping to further their work in establishing Type Ia Supernovae as standard candles. These papers comprised part of the discovery papers of the use of Type Ia supernovae to measure distances, which led to the improved measurement of the Hubble constant[19] and discovery of dark energy in 1998.[20][21] He was 18th author on a paper with Brian Schmidt, a future winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, in the study of the measurement of distances to Type II Supernovae and the Hubble constant.[22]
- During his thesis work at Columbia University, Tyson became acquainted with Princeton Prof. David Spergel at Princeton University, who visited Columbia University in the course of collaborating with his thesis advisor on the Galactic bulge. [23][24][25] Tyson was a postdoctoral research fellow at Princeton University from 1991 to 1994 and it was during this period that the project to renovate the Hayden Planetarium was conceived.
- Tyson's research has focused on observations in cosmology, stellar evolution, galactic astronomy, bulges, and stellar formation. He has held numerous positions at institutions including the University of Maryland, Princeton University, the American Museum of Natural History, and Hayden Planetarium.
- Tyson has written a number of popular books on astronomy. In 1995, he began to write the "Universe" column for Natural History magazine. In a column he authored for the magazine in 2002, Tyson coined the term "Manhattanhenge" to describe the two days annually on which the evening sun aligns with the cross streets of the street grid in Manhattan, making the sunset visible along unobstructed side streets. Tyson's column also influenced his work as a professor with The Great Courses.[26]
- In 2001, US President George W. Bush appointed Tyson to serve on the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry and in 2004 to serve on the President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, the latter better known as the "Moon, Mars, and Beyond" commission. Soon afterward he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by NASA.[27]
- In 2004, he hosted the four-part Origins miniseries of PBS's Nova,[28] and, with Donald Goldsmith, co-authored the companion volume for this series, Origins: Fourteen Billion Years Of Cosmic Evolution.[29] He again collaborated with Goldsmith as the narrator on the documentary 400 Years of the Telescope, which premiered on PBS in April 2009.
- As director of the Hayden Planetarium, Tyson bucked traditional thinking in order to keep Pluto from being referred to as the ninth planet in exhibits at the center. Tyson has explained that he wanted to look at commonalities between objects, grouping the terrestrial planets together, the gas giants together, and Pluto with like objects and to get away from simply counting the planets. He has stated on The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and BBC Horizon that this decision has resulted in large amounts of hate mail, much of it from children.[30] In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) confirmed this assessment by changing Pluto to the dwarf planet classification. Daniel Simone wrote of the interview with Tyson describing his frustration. "For a while, we were not very popular here at the Hayden Planetarium."
- Tyson recounted the heated online debate on the Cambridge Conference Network (CCNet), a "widely read, UK-based Internet chat group" following Benny Peiser's renewed call for reclassification of Pluto's status.[31] Peiser's entry, in which he posted articles from the AP and The Boston Globe spawned from The New York Times's article entitled "Pluto's Not a Planet? Only in New York".[32][33]
- Tyson has been vice president, president, and chairman of the board of the Planetary Society. He was also the host of the PBS program Nova ScienceNow until 2011.[34] He attended and was a speaker at the Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival symposium on November 2006. In 2007, Tyson was chosen to be a regular on The History Channel's popular series The Universe.
- In May 2009, he launched a one-hour radio talk show called StarTalk, which he co-hosted with comedienne Lynne Koplitz. The show was syndicated on Sunday afternoons on KTLK AM in Los Angeles and WHFS in Washington DC. The show lasted for thirteen weeks, but was resurrected in December 2010 and then, co-hosted with comedians Chuck Nice and Leighann Lord instead of Koplitz. Guests range from colleagues in science to celebrities such as Gza, Wil Wheaton, Sarah Silverman, and Bill Maher. The show is also available via the internet through a live stream or in the form of a podcast.[35]
- In April 2011, Tyson was the keynote speaker at the 93rd International Convention of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society of the Two-year School. He and James Randi delivered a lecture entitled Skepticism, which related directly with the convention's theme of The Democratization of Information: Power, Peril, and Promise.[36] In 2012, Tyson announced that he would appear in a YouTube series based on his radio show StarTalk. A premiere date for the show has not been announced, but it will be distributed on the Nerdist YouTube Channel.[37] On February 28, 2014, Tyson was a celebrity guest at the White House Student Film Festival.[38]
- "[A] most important feature is theanalysis of the information thatcomes your way. And that's what Idon't see enough of in this world.There's a level of gullibility thatleaves people susceptible to beingtaken advantage of. I see scienceliteracy as kind of a vaccine againstcharlatans who would try to exploityour ignorance."
- Tyson has argued that the concept of intelligent design thwarts the advance of scientific knowledge.[41][42][43]
- He has written and broadcast extensively about his views of science, spirituality, and the spirituality of science including the essays, "The Perimeter of Ignorance"[44] and "Holy Wars",[43] both appearing in Natural History magazine and the 2006 Beyond Belief workshop.[45][46] Tyson has collaborated with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and presented talks with him on religion and science.[47] When asked if he believed in a higher power, Tyson responded:
- Every account of a higher power that I've seen described, of all religions that I've seen, include many statements with regard to the benevolence of that power. When I look at the universe and all the ways the universe wants to kill us, I find it hard to reconcile that with statements of beneficence.[48]
- In an interview with Big Think, Tyson said agnosticism was the best description of his views about truth values of claims pertaining to the existence of God(s), but that "at the end of the day I'd rather not be any category at all."[49][50] Similarly, during the interview "Called by the Universe: A conversation with Neil deGrasse Tyson" in 2009, Tyson said: "I can't agree to the claims by atheists that I'm one of that community."[51]
- Tyson lived near the World Trade Center and was an eyewitness to the September 11, 2001 attacks. He wrote a widely circulated letter on what he saw.[52] Footage he filmed on the day was included in the 2008 documentary film 102 Minutes That Changed America.[53]
- On June 6, 2008, after the conclusion of the Democratic presidential primaries, Tyson wrote an op-ed in The New York Times in which he presented a statistical analysis of then recent polling data. From this analysis, Tyson concluded that in a hypothetical election held on the day of the publication of his article, Barack Obama would lose to John McCain, whereas Hillary Clinton would beat McCain.[54]
- Tyson collaborated with the organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), on a public service announcement that stated, "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that kindness is a virtue."[55] He also granted PETA an interview, in which he discussed the concept of intelligence (both of human and other animals), the failure of humans to heretofore communicate meaningfully with other animals, and the need of humans to be empathetic.[56]
- Tyson is an advocate for expanding the operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Arguing that "the most powerful agency on the dreams of a nation is currently underfunded to do what it needs to be doing",[57] Tyson has suggested that the general public has a tendency to overestimate how much revenue is allocated to the space agency. At a March 2010 address, referencing the proportion of tax revenue spent on NASA, he stated, "By the way, how much does NASA cost? It's a half a penny on the dollar. Did you know that? The people are saying, 'Why are we spending money up there...' I ask them, 'How much do you think we're spending?' They say 'five cents, ten cents on a dollar.' It's a half a penny."[57]
- In March 2012, Tyson testified before the United States Senate Science Committee, stating that:
- Right now, NASA's annual budget is half a penny on your tax dollar. For twice that'--a penny on a dollar'--we can transform the country from a sullen, dispirited nation, weary of economic struggle, to one where it has reclaimed its 20th century birthright to dream of tomorrow.[58][59]
- Inspired by Tyson's advocacy and remarks, Penny4NASA, a campaign of the Space Advocates nonprofit,[60] was founded in 2012 by John Zeller and advocates the doubling of NASA's budget to one percent of the Federal Budget, or one "penny on the dollar".[61]
- Media appearances[edit]As a science communicator, Tyson regularly appears on television, radio, and various other media outlets. He has been a regular guest on The Colbert Report, and host Stephen Colbert refers to him in his comedic book I Am America (And So Can You!), noting in his chapter on scientists that most scientists are "decent, well-intentioned people", but, presumably tongue-in-cheek, that "Neil DeGrasse [sic] Tyson is an absolute monster."[62] He has appeared numerous times on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He also has made appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and The Rachel Maddow Show.[63] He served as one of the central interviewees on the various episodes of the History Channel science program, The Universe. Tyson participated on the NPR radio quiz program Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! in 2007.[64] He has appeared several times on Real Time with Bill Maher, and he was also featured on an episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? as the ask-the-expert lifeline.[65] Tyson has also spoken many times on Philadelphia morning show Preston and Steve on 93.3 WMMR, as well as on SiriusXM's Ron and Fez.
- Tyson has been featured as a guest interviewee on The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Radiolab, Skepticality, and The Joe Rogan Experience podcasts and has been in several of the Symphony of Science videos.[66][67]
- In 2007, Tyson was the keynote speaker during the dedication ceremony of Deerfield Academy's new science center, the Koch Center. He emphasized the impact science will have on the twenty-first century, as well as explaining that investments into science may be costly, but their returns in the form of knowledge gained and piquing interest is invaluable. Tyson has also appeared as the keynote speaker at The Amazing Meeting, a science and skepticism conference hosted by the James Randi Educational Foundation.[68]
- Tyson made a guest appearance as himself in the episode "Brain Storm" of Stargate Atlantis[69] alongside Bill Nye and in the episode "The Apology Insufficiency" of The Big Bang Theory.[70] Archive footage of him is used in the film Europa Report.
- Tyson is also a frequent participant in the website Reddit's AMAs (Ask Me Anythings) where he is responsible for three of the top ten most popular AMAs of all time.[71]
- Tyson also made an appearance in an episode of Martha Speaks as himself.[72]
- In Action Comics #14 (January 2013), which was published November 7, 2012, Tyson appears in the story, in which he determines that Superman's home planet, Krypton, orbited the red dwarf LHS 2520 in the constellation Corvus 27.1 lightyears from Earth. Tyson assisted DC Comics in selecting a real-life star that would be an appropriate parent star to Krypton, and picked Corvus, which is Latin for "Crow",[73][74] and which is the mascot of Superman's high school, the Smallville Crows.[75][76]
- In May 2013, the Science Laureates of the United States Act of 2013 (H.R. 1891; 113th Congress) was introduced into Congress. Neil deGrasse Tyson was listed by at least two commentators as a possible nominee for the position of Science Laureate, if the act were to pass.[77][78]
- In a May 2011 StarTalk Radio show entitled The Political Science of the Daily Show, Tyson notes that he donates all income earned as a guest speaker.[79]
- On March 8th, 2014 Tyson made a South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive keynote presentation at the Austin Convention Center.[80]
- Personal life[edit]Tyson lives in Lower Manhattan with his wife and two children.[81][82] He met his wife, Alice Young, in a physics class at the University of Texas. They married in 1988 and named their first child Miranda after one of Uranus' moons.[83] Tyson is a fine-wine enthusiast whose collection was featured in the May 2000 issue of the Wine Spectator and the Spring 2005 issue The World of Fine Wine.
- Selected awards and honors[edit]Awards[edit]Selected honorary doctorates[edit]1997 York College, City University of New York2000 Ramapo College, Mahwah, New Jersey2000 Dominican College, Orangeburg, New York2001 University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia2002 Bloomfield College, Bloomfield, New Jersey2003 Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts2004 College of Staten Island, City University of New York2006 Pace University, New York City2007 Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts2007 Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts2008 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania2010 University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama2010 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York2010 Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, Connecticut2011 Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania2012 Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts2012 Western New England University, Springfield, MassachusettsHonors[edit]2000 Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive, People Magazine[85]2001 asteroid named: 13123 Tyson, renamed from Asteroid 1994KA by the International Astronomical Union2001 The Tech 100, voted by editors of Crain's Magazine to be among the 100 most influential technology leaders in New York2004 Fifty Most Important African-Americans in Research Science[86]2007 Harvard 100: Most Influential Harvard Alumni Magazine, Cambridge. Massachusetts2007 The Time 100, voted by the editors of Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential persons in the world[87]2008 Discover Magazine selected him one of the "50 Best Brains in Science".[88]Selected bibliography[edit]List of books by Tyson:[89]
- The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries (a 6-part lecture series from the Great Courses)[90]References[edit]^ abThe Science Foundation (January 1, 2011). "Neil deGrasse Tyson '' Called by the Universe". YouTube. Retrieved February 9, 2012. ^"2013-2014 New Series: Cosmos '' A Spacetime Odyssey". Fox. Retrieved December 22, 2013. ^ abWhitaker, C. (August 2000). "Super Stargazer". Ebony55 (10): 60. ^"Advance Reading for Keynote address". CornerstoneLiteracy.org. Retrieved September 4, 2009. ^SiriusXM (March 6, 2014). "Opie & Anthony: Neil deGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson ft. Rich Vos & Bob Kelly (03/06/14)". YouTube. Retrieved March 6, 2014. ^ abteridon (January 29, 2010). "Stephen Colbert Interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson at Montclair Kimberley Academy". YouTube. ^"Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson '' The Prodigy Astronomer". Parlemagazine.com. October 5, 1958. Retrieved 2013-05-27. ^Tyson, P. (July 28, 2004). "A Conversation With Neil deGrasse Tyson". PBS. Retrieved October 25, 2009. ^"Black News and News Makers in History: Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson". September 28, 2010. Retrieved October 9, 2013. ^Cahalan, Rose (February 28, 2012). "Star Power". The Alcalde. Retrieved March 1,2014. ^"curriculum vitae". ^Tyson, N. D. (1992). A study of the abundance distributions along the minor axis of the Galactic bulge (PhD thesis). Columbia University. Bibcode:1992PhDT.........1T. ^"5000 Alumni at work in the US". ^"curriculum vitae". ^Tyson, N. D.; Gal, R. R. (1996). "An exposure guide for taking twilight flatfields with large format CCDs". The Astronomical Journal105 (3): 1206. ^Wells, L. A.; et al. (1994). "The Type IA supernova 1989B in NGC 3627 (M66)". The Astronomical Journal108 (6): 2233. Bibcode:1994AJ....108.2233W. doi:10.1086/117236. ^Hamuy, M.; et al. (1996). "BVRI Light Curves for 29 Type IA Supernovae". The Astronomical Journal112 (6): 2408. arXiv:astro-ph/9609064. Bibcode:1996AJ....112.2408H. doi:10.1086/118192. ^Lira, P.; et al. (1998). "Optical light curves of the Type IA supernovae SN 1990N and 1991T". The Astronomical Journal115: 234. arXiv:astro-ph/9709262. Bibcode:1998AJ....115..234L. doi:10.1086/300175. ^Freedman, W. L. et al. (2001). "Final Results from the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project to Measure the Hubble Constant". The Astrophysical Journal553 (1): 47. arXiv:astro-ph/0012376. Bibcode:2001ApJ...553...47F. doi:10.1086/320638. ^Riess, A. G.; et al. (1998). "Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant". The Astronomical Journal116 (3): 1009. arXiv:astro-ph/9805201. Bibcode:1998AJ....116.1009R. doi:10.1086/300499. ^Perlmutter, S.; et al. (1999). "Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae". The Astrophysical Journal517 (2): 565. arXiv:astro-ph/9812133. Bibcode:1999ApJ...517..565P. doi:10.1086/307221. ^Schmidt, B. P.; et al. (1994). "The expanding photosphere method applied to SN 1992am AT CZ = 14 600 km/s". The Astronomical Journal107 (4): 1444. Bibcode:1994AJ....107.1444S. doi:10.1086/116957. ^Zhao, H.-S.; Spergel, D.N.; Rich, R.M. (1994). "Signatures of bulge triaxiality from kinematics in Baade's window". The Astronomical Journal108: 2154. ^Zhao, H.-S.; Spergel, D.N.; Rich, R.M. (1995). "Microlensing by the Galactic Bar". The Astrophysical Journal440: 13. ^Zhao, H.-S.; Rich, R.M.; Spergel, D.N. (1996). "A consistent microlensing model for the Galactic bar". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society282: 175. ^"Neil deGrasse Tyson". The Great Courses. Retrieved June 13, 2012. ^ ab"Symposium Awards". National Space Symposium. Retrieved October 25, 2010. ^WGBH Educational Foundation (2004). "NOVA '' Origins". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved June 7, 2009. ^Tyson, Neil deGrasse; Goldsmith, Donald (2004). Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0-393-05992-2. ^The Colbert Report, August 17, 2006^Tyson, Neil deGrasse (19 January 2008). The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 194. ^Change, Kenneth (22 January 2001). "Pluto's Not a Planet? Only in New York". New York Times. ^Peiser, Benny (31 January 2001). "CCNet Special: Renewed Call for Reclassification of Pluto's Status". CCNet. ^"NOVA '' scienceNOW '' PBS". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved June 7, 2009. ^"StarTalk Radio Show". Retrieved May 30, 2011. ^Phi Theta Kappa Honors Seminar Series. Austing Community College. Retrieved 2013-02-26 ^Nerdist Channel Sneak Peek (March 27, 2012) from YouTube^http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/students-are-stars-white-house-film-festival-n40846^"TSN: Called by the Universe". Thesciencenetwork.org. Retrieved 2012-08-26. ^"Called by the Universe | Neil deGrasse Tyson". Haydenplanetarium.org. Retrieved 2012-08-26. ^"YouTube '' Neil deGrasse Tyson on "Intelligent Design" at "Beyond Belief", Youtube". Youtube.com. Retrieved February 3, 2012. ^"Neil deGrasse Tyson : "The Perimeter of Ignorance"". Haydenplanetarium.org. Retrieved February 3, 2012. ^ abHoly Wars from PBS^The Perimeter of Ignorance from Tyson's website^Beyond Belief 2006: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival from The Science Network^Beyond Belief '06 '' Neil deGrasse Tyson (Monday, November 5) from YouTube^"Richard Dawkins website". Richarddawkins.net. Retrieved February 3, 2012. ^"YouTube video". Youtube.com. April 9, 2010. Retrieved February 3, 2012. ^Chris Mooney (February 28, 2011). "Neil deGrasse Tyson '' Communicating Science". Point of Inquiry (Podcast). Center for Inquiry. Retrieved March 3, 2011. "Widely claimed by atheists, Tyson is actually an agnostic." ^Tyson, Neil deGrasse. "Neil explains his views on youtube". Big Think on YouTube. Retrieved 15 June 2012. ^Neil deGrasse Tyson - Called by the Universe on YouTube^"The Horror, The Horror" from Tyson's website^102 Minutes That Changed America (2008)(TV) '' Credits^Neil deGrasse Tyson (June 6, 2008). "Vote by Numbers". The New York Times. Retrieved June 7, 2009. ^"Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson's Interview With PETA". Retrieved August 6, 2011. ^"Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson's Exclusive PETA Interview". Retrieved August 6, 2011. ^ ab"Neil deGrasse Tyson at UB: What NASA Means to America's Future". University at Buffalo Communications. 2 April 2010. Retrieved 30 Nov 2012. ^"Past, Present, and Future of NASA '' U.S. Senate Testimony". Hayden Planetarium. 7 Mar 2012. Retrieved 4 Dec 2012. ^"Past, Present, and Future of NASA '' U.S. Senate Testimony (Video)". Hayden Planetarium. 7 Mar 2012. Retrieved 4 Dec 2012. ^"About Us - Space Advocates". Space Advocates. Retrieved 2014-02-05. ^"Why We Fight '' Penny4NASA". Penny4NASA. Retrieved 30 Nov 2012. ^Colbert, Stephen (2007). I Am America (And So Can You!). New York: Grand Central Publishing Hachette Book Group USA. ISBN 0-446-58050-3. ^"Watch | Neil deGrasse Tyson". Haydenplanetarium.org. Retrieved February 3, 2012. ^Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! from NPR^"Episode 201 guest stars". HBO. Retrieved February 9, 2011 & August 5, 2011. ^"Episode: A Theory of Everything? Podcast". PodcastDirectory. Retrieved February 3, 2012. ^"Episode: Proving String Theory Podcast". PodcastDirectory. Retrieved February 3, 2012. ^Neil deGrasse Tyson, Keynote Speech at TAM 6 on Adventures in Science Illiteracy or Brain Droppings of a Skeptic on YouTube uploaded by User ChristopherHitchslap^""Stargate: Atlantis" Brain Storm (2008)" at the Internet Movie Database^""The Big Bang Theory" The Apology Insufficiency (2010)" at the Internet Movie Database^"Inside the Reddit AMA: The Interview Revolution That Has Everyone Talking". Forbes. Retrieved 5 May 2012. ^Amanda Kondolojy, "Popular Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson Guest Stars in Brand-New 'Martha Speaks' Episode", TV vy the Numbers, June 7, 2012.^Wall, Mike (November 7, 2012). "Superman's Home Planet Krypton 'Found'". Scientific American^Potter, Ned (November 5, 2012). "Superman Home: Planet Krypton 'Found' in Sky". ABC News.^Gregorian, Dareh (November 5, 2012). "NYER is 'super' smart". New York Post.^Henderson, David (November 5, 2012). "Neil deGrasse Tyson Consults On ''Action Comics'' #14, Finds Krypton In Real Life". Multiversity Comics.^Marlow, Jeffrey (9 May 2013). "The Science Laureate of the United States". Wired Magazine. Retrieved 12 September 2013. ^raatz (8 May 2013). "I nominated Neil deGrasse Tyson as U.S. Science Laureate". The Daily Kos. Retrieved 11 September 2013. ^"The Political Science of the Daily Show Podcast". PodcastDirectory. Retrieved May 23, 2011. ^Gallaga, Omar (March 8, 2014). "SXSW Keynote: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson". austin360.com. Austin360. Retrieved March 9, 2014. ^"Profile on Official Tyson website". Haydenplanetarium.org. Retrieved February 3, 2012. ^"Dr Neil DeGrasse Tyson '' TAM6", 2008, Vimeo, 38:33 mark, accessed March 4, 2011.^Rogers, Patrick (February 28, 2000). "Night Vision". People.com. Retrieved 2014-14-02.^Tyson's website. Honors listing.^"Neil De Grasse Tyson: Sexiest Astrophysicist". People Magazine54 (20). November 13, 2000. Retrieved December 16, 2011. ^"50 Of the Most Inspiring African Americans", Edited by Patricia Hinds, 2002, Essence Books (New York), p. 145.^Michael D. Lemonick (May 3, 2007). "Neil deGrasse Tyson". Time '' The Time 100. Retrieved June 7, 2009. ^Powell, Corey (November 19, 2008). "The 50 Most Important, Influential, and Promising People in Science". Discover Magazine. Retrieved October 25, 2009. ^"Books by Neil deGrasse Tyson". haydenplanetarium.org. Retrieved October 25, 2009. ^http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1816External links[edit]
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- Michio Kaku '' long history of antinuclear activism
- Did you know that Michio Kaku has been actively opposed to the use of nuclear energy for at least 16 years? He was so worried about the use of the technology that he participated in organized protests against NASA's use of radioisotope thermal generators (RTGs) to provide a steady flow of power to the Cassini spacecraft. It's difficult to think of a more benign, yet exciting, application that takes advantage of the incredible energy density available by tapping into atomic nuclei.
- Here is a quote from a CNN article dated October 4, 1997 titled Dozens arrested in protest of plutonium-fueled space mission:
- The Cassini rocket will be powered by 72 pounds of plutonium '-- the most ever rocketed into space. Protesters say that if the rocket explodes it could sprinkle deadly poison for hundreds of miles.
- ''Winds can blow (plutonium) into Disney World, Universal City, into the citrus industry and destroy the economy of central Florida,'' said Michio Kaku, a protesting physics professor from New York. He claimed that casualties could run as high as a million people if there were an accident.
- Anyone who understands the way that RTGs are designed and tested to ensure safety would recognize that claim as something that only the most adamant of antinuclear activists would accept as even remotely possible. Anyone who dreams of long distance space travel or enjoys the fruits of unmanned exploratory probes like Cassini would know that both of those would be impossible without tapping atomic energy.
- Just imagine what we would not know if Kaku's protests against the Cassini, with its plutonium powered RTGs, had been successful. The huge library of data and photographs that the unmanned spacecraft has collected over the last 16 years would not exist.
- The Cassini mission would not have been the only one scrapped. Without plutonium powered RTGs, there would also have been no Rover missions to Mars. Any device landed on the red planet would have been essentially immobile and limited to whatever scraps of energy could be stored in a chemical battery or collected from a sun on a dusty planet where maximum available solar energy is already less than 60% of what it is on Earth.
- Though Kaku's history of antinuclear activity is not news to everyone''there is a RationalWiki page about him that mentions his anti-Cassini protests''I knew nothing about it until yesterday when an Atomic Insights contributor posted a comment with a link to the CNN article.
- This helps to explain my long-standing confusion about Kaku's apocalyptic post-Fukushima commentary. I've always wondered how a scientist could be so ill-informed about such an important technology, but now I realize that Kaku is just one more articulate antinuclear activist with a physics degree who's scientific explorations had nothing to do with nuclear energy.
- Though I can't prove it now, I suspect that his activism helped launch his entertainment career. It has certainly increased his visibility during the past three years.
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- EUROLand
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- Spanish government abolishes prosecutions under universal jurisdiction laws
- By Alejandro L"pez13 March 2014Spain's right-wing Popular Party (PP) government has placed a ban on attempts to pursue justice for crimes under universal jurisdiction laws. PP spokesman Alfonso Alonso declared it was necessary to eliminate universal jurisdiction because it ''only brings conflict.''
- Universal jurisdiction refers to the idea that a state may prosecute individuals who are not its citizens, who have committed serious crimes, including crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and torture outside its territory or against its nationals. Under the new law, prosecutions can only be brought if they involve a Spanish citizen, victims who had Spanish nationality at the time of the events, or if the person accused of the crime lives in Spanish territory.
- The new law means an end to a dozen investigations including:
- ' The investigation of CIA rendition flights that landed in Spain after 9/11
- ' The murder of Spanish cameraman Jos(C) Couso in Iraq by US troops in 2003
- ' The 2012 Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza
- ' The kidnap, torture and murder of Spanish United Nations official Carmelo Soria in 1976 by the National Intelligence Directorate of Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet
- ' The prosecution of China for genocide, torture and crimes against humanity in Tibet
- ' The complaint against four former SS soldiers by a survivor and the families of five Spanish victims of the Nazi concentration camps
- ' The lawsuit involving the alleged killing by the military in 1989 of five Spanish Jesuits in the Central American University in El Salvador
- ' The investigation of several former top Guatemalan officials charged with genocide and torture committed against the Mayan population
- ' The investigation of former officials of the Rwandan government for the genocide of four million people and the murder of nine Spaniards in the 1990s
- ' The investigation into the attack by Iraqi special forces in 2011 against the Ashraf refugee camp, in which 35 people are said to have died and 337 injured
- ' The lawsuit into the alleged crimes of genocide, murder, torture and illegal detention of Sahwaris by the Moroccan authorities
- ' The alleged crimes of genocide and torture against followers of the Falun Gong in China
- The universal jurisdiction concept is rooted in the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The signatory nations passed laws to ''provide effective penal sanctions'' for persons ''committing, or ordering to be committed'... grave breaches'' of the Conventions. Article 129 demanded that each signatory ''shall be under the obligation to search for persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed, such grave breaches, and shall bring such persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts.''
- The United States and other major powers have always used the Conventions in a highly selective manner, seeking to prosecute international human rights violators deemed hostile to their strategic interests, while opposing universal jurisdiction proceedings brought against themselves and their allies.
- Spain integrated the doctrine into its national legislation in 1985, empowering the High Court to prosecute criminal acts such as genocide, terrorism and piracy, as well as ''any other which, according to international covenants and treaties, should be prosecuted in Spain.''
- The most famous case occurred when investigative judge Baltasar Garz"n sought the extradition of Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet in 1998, while he was on a visit to the UK. Pinochet was charged with murder and the forced disappearance of more than 3,100 Chileans and foreigners during the military coup he led in 1973 and his subsequent 17-year dictatorship. Pinochet was eventually returned to Chile on the grounds that he was too old and ill to stand trial. The governments of Chile, Spain and Britain manoeuvred to ensure that he was not extradited to Spain to face trial.
- In the aftermath of the Pinochet trial, the Spanish political establishment became increasingly uneasy about the application of universal jurisdiction and judges issuing arrest warrants without taking into account foreign diplomatic relations, especially with allied countries. The unease increased when the family of cameraman Jos(C) Couso, shot by US troops while filming in Iraq, brought a High Court case in 2005 demanding the extradition of the US soldiers involved.
- Shortly after, Garz"n announced he was considering an investigation into the ''criminal responsibility'' of then US President George W. Bush, former Spanish Prime Minister Jos(C) Mara Aznar and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
- Behind the scenes the Socialist Party (PSOE) government, which was promoting a public image of independence from US imperialism, was busily working to prevent the prosecution of US officials. US Madrid embassy cables released by WikiLeaks revealed how PSOE officials and top judges collaborated with US officials to prevent any prosecutions taking place (see: ''Spain's Socialist Party government colluded with US to conceal Iraq war crimes'').
- Eduardo Aguirre, US ambassador to Spain, commented, ''while we are careful to show our respect for the tragic death of Couso and for the independence of the Spanish judicial system, behind the scenes we have fought tooth and nail to make the charges disappear.''
- Garz"n was debarred from the Spanish courts in 2012 in an attempt to prevent him investigating the crimes of fascism in Spain.
- The latest moves by the PP government came in response to the High Court issuing international arrest warrants for top Chinese Communist Party leaders, including former president Jiang Zemin, ex-Premier Li Peng and three other top Chinese officials for alleged torture and genocide in Tibet during the 1980s and 1990s. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying declared, ''China is extremely dissatisfied with and resolutely opposed to the wrong actions of the relevant Spanish [court]'... Whether or not this issue can be appropriately dealt with is related to the healthy development of ties. We hope that the Spanish government can distinguish right from wrong.''
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- UN: 100,000 have fled Darfur fighting in 6 weeks
- UNITED NATIONS (AP) '-- Approximately 100,000 people have fled their homes in Sudan's Darfur region because of an upsurge of violence in the last six weeks, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said Wednesday.
- Herve Ladsous said this adds to the nearly 2 million people displaced by the Darfur conflict, including 400,000 last year.
- Darfur has been gripped by bloodshed since 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum, accusing it of discrimination and neglect.
- Ladsous told reporters after a closed meeting of the U.N. Security Council that he presented members with a proposal to improve the performance of the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, whose primary role is protecting civilians.
- U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power urged the peacekeepers to be more "aggressive and steadfast" in protecting civilians and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid
- Ladsous blamed the latest violence on community strife, tribal warfare, competition for resources, a lack of money, and the return of men who went to Central African Republic as mercenaries.
- Last Saturday, the AU-U.N. mediator for Darfur completed talks with the leaders of two of Darfur's rebel groups, seeking a solution to the conflict.
- Power noted that the government of Sudan said in January it was prepared to lead a political dialogue, including all sides in the political spectrum as well as armed groups that have renounced violence. She urged all armed groups to end their attacks and join the political dialogue.
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- etymology of boss - Google Search
- boss (n.1) - Online Etymology Dictionaryboss (n.1) · Look up boss at Dictionary.com: "overseer," 1640s, American English,from Dutch baas "a master," Middle Dutch baes, of obscure origin. If original ...boss - Wiktionary[edit]. From Middle English bos, bose, boce, from Old French boce (''lump, bulge,protuberance, knot''), from Old Frankish *bottja ("a ...etymology - What's the origin and popularity of the word "boss" in the ...english.stackexchange.com/.../whats-the-origin-and-popularity-of-the-word- boss-in-the-context-of-refering-t- Cached - SimilarJun 26, 2013 ... The player is just meeting him for the first time, and he doesn't have anyrelationship with Gary that would justify him being treated as a boss.What is the Origin of the Word "Boss"? - CBS Newswww.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-boss/- CachedOct 17, 2007 ... My fellow bloggers over at BNET Intercom have revealed some fun facts aboutNational Boss Day (which is today, by the way, lest you forget to ...Boss | Define Boss at Dictionary.comBoss definition, a person who employs or superintends workers; manager. ... UseBoss in a sentence .... Online Etymology Dictionary, (C) 2010 Douglas HarperOrigin of the word boss - WikiAnswers"'Origin of term: the boss attended to the grain going into the thresher; the second-man watched after the ...Etymology means the study of the origin of words.List of English words of Dutch origin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaen.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Dutch_origin- Cached - SimilarHowever, this list also includes some words of which the etymology is ... Some ofthese words, such as cookie and boss and aardvark, are without a doubt of ...Urban Dictionary: bossIncrediably Awesome; miraculous; great. Dude, did you see that chick? She'sfuckin' Boss! by John December 15, 2002. 3467 863. Mugs & shirts Buy ''boss'' ...boss - WordReference.com Dictionary of Englishboss - WordReference English dictionary, questions, discussion and forums. ...Etymology: 19th Century: from Dutch baas master; probably related to Old High ...Boss - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionarya : a protuberant part or body
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- Ban Bossy. Encourage Girls to Lead
- When a little boy asserts himself, he's called a ''leader.'' Yet when a little girl does the same, she risks being branded ''bossy.'' Words like bossy send a message: don't raise your hand or speak up. By middle school, girls are less interested in leading than boys'--a trend that continues into adulthood. Together we can encourage girls to lead.
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- California activists seek to redefine quiet, consensual sex as rape through Senate Bill 967 - Liberty Unyielding
- For example, my wife and daughter never ask for, or seek, permission before they hug me. Precisely because they know it would be welcome. Explicit consent is unnecessary when something is harmless and unobjectionable (or downright enjoyable, like sex between married couples).
- By contrast, grudgingly consensual sex acts, like those between a prostitute and her clients, are generally preceded by explicit discussion and verbal agreement, because one party wants sex, while the other merely puts up with it to obtain money or other benefits. A verbal request followed by an explicit ''yes'' often reflects an imbalance in sexual desire between partners, not the ideal in which both partners deeply want it. Rather than disrupting the rhythms of a couple's lovemaking by requiring explicit discussion, these people should recognize that an explicit ''yes'' is not the ideal. When I told one of my past housemates, a court reporter who has taken depositions in sexual harassment and assault cases, about a similar proposed definition at Harvard, where I got my law degree, she was amazed. She could not think of anything more awkward than being asked point blank for sex by a would-be partner.
- In addition to endangering privacy rights, SB 967 also contains provisions that could undermine students' due process rights, such as mandating a low standard of proof for discipline, and encouraging anonymous allegations, as I explained in a letter published last month in the Sacramento Bee. The bill's requirements apply not just to public colleges, but also to certain private colleges.
- On February 25, the University of California system appears to have essentially adopted most of the requirements of SB 967, in a new policy defining ''sexual assault'' and ''sexual violence,'' defining it to include some conduct that is not violent at all. What concerns me most is that the policy defines ''sexual assault'' to require ''unambiguous'' ''affirmative'' consent prior not just to penetration (which is not always unreasonable if consent is defined to include non-verbal cues as well as verbal responses), but also ''physical sexual activity'' in general. Effectively, this might ban foreplay as it commonly occurs among married and unmarried couples alike. Things like vaginal intercourse generally are in fact preceded by non-verbal affirmative permission, since it generally requires physical movements by both parties to facilitate.
- But most ''sexual activity'' falling short of actual intercourse (i.e., foreplay) is not preceded by affirmative permission or consent. Instead, it is often acquiesced in by the recipient as part of a process of gradual escalation in which each partner engages in a new form of intimate contact that that the other acquiesces in. For example (and I regret the necessity of providing these graphic examples, which are necessary for the sake of clarity), the husband starts touching or licking his wife's breasts to see if she likes it and to turn her on, or the wife grabs the husband's member while in bed with him engaging in foreplay (to get him firm enough for penetration), that might constitute sexual assault under this policy, even if it is welcome and enjoyed.
- Why? because it is not preceded by ''an affirmative . . . decision'' to consent by the recipient, but rather is initially acquiesced in. The ''consent'' follows the activity, rather than preceding it, meaning the activity was potentially non-consensual for at least a brief time before the recipient became aware of it and consented to it. These activities are essential to foreplay, and are a step-by-step process that would be ruined by explicit discussion at every step (it would ruin the mood, thus defeating the very purpose of foreplay). My wife would be very annoyed if we verbally discussed these things. Thus, both husband and wife are defined as sexual assault perpetrators by this bill. Requiring consent in advance under these circumstances is sexually repressive and unfair. Foreplay is a long progression of steadily escalating intimacy in which each partner alternately initiates and acquiesces in deeper intimacies, not a sudden act that requires prior discussion.
- Yet, the University of California policy says:
- ''Sexual Assault occurs when physical sexual activity is engaged without the consent of the other person or when the other person is unable to consent to the activity. . . .Consent is informed. Consent is an affirmative, unambiguous, and conscious decision by each participant to engage in mutually agreed-upon sexual activity. . .Consent means positive cooperation in the act or expression of intent to engage in the act . . . Consent to some form of sexual activity does not imply consent to other forms of sexual activity. Consent to sexual activity on one occasion is not consent to engage in sexual activity on another occasion. A current or previous dating or sexual relationship, by itself, is not sufficient to constitute consent. . .Consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual encounter.''
- Although this language is vague (at one point, it allows consent to be based on ''positive cooperation,'' which might extend beyond consent in advance), it clearly defines some sex and sexual activity as sexual assault on campus, even if it would be perfectly legal off campus (it does so even more clearly than SB 967 does). It does that even though college students are largely adults who have the right to vote, get married, and serve in the military. For example, students have First Amendment rights that are largely ''coextensive'' with their rights in society generally, as the Supreme Court has indicated in decisions such as Papish v. University of Missouri Curators, Healy v. James, and Rosenberger v. University of Virginia. (Disclosure: I used to practice education law for a living.).
- The assumption seems to be that California's general definition of sexual assault, which applies off campus, is too narrow. But this assumption is dubious, and in a few rare situations, the existing California definition of sexual assault may already be too broad. Men and women involved in sexual relationships learn the intimate preferences of their partners. As a result, they often know without discussion when their partner desires sex, and can often tell in advance from context whether their partner will welcome a particular sexual act. For example, the former girlfriend of a college hallmate of mine at the University of Virginia would sometimes awaken him through oral stimulation, evincing her desire for intercourse, which generally ensued between them without discussion. Under existing California law, this pleasurable activity is already treated as sexual assault, since a California appellate decision ruled that people cannot consent to future sex while incapacitated. But every person who heard this anecdote thought my hallmate was a lucky man, not a victim of sexual assault (the pleasure of sex may in some cases be enhanced by the element of surprise). Thus, the current California legal definition of sexual assault already appears to be too broad, not too narrow, in such situations.
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- For Some In Bergen County Longterm Unemployment May Mean Long Term Jail - Bergen Dispatch
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly unemployment report on Friday, March 7 and although the national unemployment rate remained steady at 6.7% the bad news was the number of long term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 203,000 in February to 3.8 million nationwide.The percentage of jobless Americans who have been unemployed for longer than 6 months remains close to historic levels. By comparison, before the ''Great Recession,'' the highest long-term unemployment rate ever recorded since 1948 was 26 percent.
- These long-term unemployed are looking for work in an economy that still has nearly 2 million fewer jobs than when the ''Great Recession'' started in December of 2007. This jobs deficit leaps to over 8 million when accounting for growth in the potential labor force, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
- Back in December over 90,000 people in New Jersey saw an end to their unemployment with the expiration of federal emergency benefits. This was the highest share of any state. Another 89,000 New Jersey residents are also set to lose their benefits during the first six months of 2014 as 63 weeks of unemployment is shrinking to 26 according to a report published by the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee.
- For the Bergen County Jail this means big business.
- In Bergen County being unemployed may get you thrown in jail. Bergen County residents who are jobless and have fallen behind on child support or alimony payments face indefinite incarceration in the Bergen County Jail's ''Work Release'' program.
- Brought before a judge every two weeks unemployed parents incarcerated in the ''work release'' program are required to report their efforts in finding a job. Being unemployed in Superior Court in Bergen County is considered to be by choice and puts you in contempt of court.
- For the long term unemployed this may mean a long term in jail.
- Parents incarcerated in the Bergen County Jail's ''work release'' are required to pay the County of Bergen $ 10.00 per day for ''room and board'' - $50 per week. For some an additional $70 per week is due to the County for a GPS tracking bracelet.
- Kevin Macfie, a Bergen County father, has been incarcerated over 400 days since he was arrested for child support arrears in January 2013. Macfie spent another 344 days incarcerated between December 2011 and November 2012. Macfie has only been a free man for 55 days in the past two years and during part of that time he was the subject of an arrest warrant which is automatically issued when two support payments are missed.
- Macfie was being held in the Bergen County Jail for over a year with the court demanding he pay $7,500 to be released. Recently his ''condition of release'' was reduced to $1,000 which Macfie does not have. ''It might as well be $10,000'' Macfie told the Bergen Dispatch. If he could find employment Macfie would need to save the $1,000 plus pay his weekly support amount of $284 plus the work release fees before being released.
- ''I have not seen my son in years'' Macfie told the Bergen Dispatch ''I don't expect to ever get out of here. I lost my car, my apartment and all of my belongings. I wouldn't know what to do if I did get out.''
- Jorge Reynaldo, a Bergen County father of three daughters spent 6 months in the Bergen County Jail's general population after refusing to sign the ''work release'' agreement.
- Reynaldo, a former commodity broker who earned at one time over $250K per year lost his job to technology when the trading floor was automated. Jorge, then, 48 years old with no college degree, found himself unemployed and ordered to pay $4300 per month in spousal and child support.
- This was not Reynaldo's first experience with the Bergen County Jail; in 2011 he spent 10 months in the ''work release'' program when over 80% of his gross earnings were taken by the jail under the terms of the ''work release'' contract. In 2013 Reynaldo refused to sign that contract.
- Despite his refusal to ''opt'' in to the work release program Jorge was ordered in to the 'work release'' by Judge Ronnie Jo Siegal. Siegal told Reynaldo that he would have to comply with the work release program because it was now a ''court order''.
- To add to Reynaldo's punishment Siegal also ordered to wear a GPS ankle bracelet so she could track his efforts to find work.Beyond the parents held in Bergen County Jail's N5, the ''work release'' housing unit, dozens of other Bergen County parents are held on ''house arrest'' and required to wear a GPS ankle bracelet.
- Detainees must only leave there homes to attend work or search for work and must spend their nights and weekends at home or face a violation which can lead to incarceration.
- Another Bergen County man, a 54 year old father of seven children has three of those children living with him, one is with the mother and three are emancipated. Despite the fact that he cares for three young children he has been arrested three times since 2011 and has spent as long as sixty days in the Bergen County Jail for failing to make alimony payments of almost $700 per week.
- While caring for his three children their mother pays no child support to him and repeated motions filed with the court to seek child support and modify his alimony payments have been denied.
- Enforcement hearing held in a make-shift courtroom inside the Bergen County Jail
- ''Look For Work'' Release
- Released from jail each morning at 5:30am, before breakfast, unemployed inmates hit the streets hungry, with no money and expected to find a job. For those who are lucky enough to find work this is not enough to secure their release. Inmates are expected to work, comply with the work release hours and surrender their paycheck to the work release program.
- One inmate who is working and is ordered to pay just $75 per week toward support arrears surrendered his paycheck of $539 to the work release staff. The $75 had already been deducted by his employer from his net pay yet ten days later he received only $189 back from the Sheriff's office - $350 taken without explanation.
- Another inmate who spent six months looking for work while in the ''work release'' program managed to find a job. Surrendering his paycheck weekly, the jail deducted his child support payment, work release fees of $50 per week and $70 per week, the additional fee for an ankle bracelet he is required to wear. The deductions left him without even the bus fare to get to work.
- ''It's not easy employing these guys'' his employer told the Bergen Dispatch. ''I feel bad for him and have to buy lunch and lend him money to get to work, he is a good worker but most employers would not want to deal with this.''
- One inmate when told he would be remanded to work release told the judge he did not want to be in work release. ''I have no money'' he told the judge, ''all I can do is sit at the bus stop all day; I can't afford to go anywhere''.
- In December 2013 the Bergen Dispatch reported that more than a dozen Bergen County parents being held in the work release program filed appeals contesting their incarceration. Those appeals made their way to the New Jersey Supreme Court and on December 6, 2013 Chief Justice Stuart Rabner issued the following order:
- This matter having come before the Court on defendant's application for emergent relief pursuant to Rule 2:9-8, seeking a stay of the trial court's order of incarceration for non-payment of child and/or spousal support; and it appearing that defendant was represented by counsel; and defendant having asserted in an application for permission to file an emergent motion before the Appellate Division that "no ability to pay finding has ever been made in [this] case"; and a single judge of the Appellate Division having denied defendant's application for leave to file an emergent motion on short notice; and the undersigned having reviewed the papers submitted by defendant; it is hereby
- ORDERED that the trial court provide the following information to the Clerk of the Supreme Court no later than 4:00 p.m. on December 10, 2013:
- 1. whether an initial hearing was held in connection with the order of coercive incarceration in this matter, at which time the court found, "before ordering coercive incarceration '...that the parent was capable of providing the required support, but willfully refused to do so," Pasqua v. Council, 186 N.J. 127, 141 n.2 (200); and
- 2. the order or statement of reasons from the hearing, if one was held, and it is further
- ORDERD that, if the trial court determines that no hearing consistent with Pasqua, supra, and Administrative Directive #15-08, was held in this matter, the trial court shall vacate that portion of the pending order that directs defendant's incarceration and shall release defendant forthwith, and the trial court shall schedule and conduct an appropriate hearing within thirty days.Dated: December 6, 2013 - Chief Justice Stuart Rabner
- Having been denied the due process required by New Jersey law the Bergen County Superior Court released those defendants and the other parents held in the work release that same day.In April 2013 the N5, work release, housing unit held 42 inmates and was at its maximum capacity, 60 more parents were incarcerated in general population waiting for a spot. On December 6, 2013 there was only one inmate left, Jorge Reynaldo. Jorge remained the only work release inmate for over two weeks.
- ''It was pretty strange being the only one in work release'' Reynaldo told the Bergen Dispatch, ''but it felt good knowing so many had been released''.
- The Bergen County Superior Court had so matter-of-factly been incarcerating ''deadbeat'' parents that it actually refused to give them the required hearing under New Jersey law.
- Mark Musella, one of the public defenders who is paid by Bergen County to represent inmates at enforcement hearings, told the Bergen Dispatch ''I used to ask for ability-to-pay hearings but they told me to stop.'' When pressed who ''they'' are Musella responded in a voice mail ''I don't ask for ability pay hearings because I was told that defendants must make a separate motion to request ability to pay hearings with notice to both parties. I advise defendants that they should make that motion.''
- Immediately on Friday, December 6, Judge Gary Wilcox began telling parents facing incarceration that ''this is now an ability-to-pay hearing''. Wilcox, along with Judges Siegal and Venezia have, since December, been conducting what they call an ability-to-pay hearing immediately when a parent arrested on a child support warrant first appears in court.
- At a hearing witnesses are heard and documents presented but in Bergen County if you are arrested on a warrant for unpaid support you better bring your witnesses and documents with you to jail because your ability-to-pay hearing is '' right now.
- With little or no opposition from Public Defenders Mark Musella and Carl Losito the Bergen County work release population has begun to swell.
- Round Two For The Parents
- Meeting every morning wen released at 5:30am at the McDonalds on Essex Street in Hackensack inmate parents now being held in the work release start the day off with a brain storming session about what steps they could take to fight their incarceration.
- A couple of appeals in late December were rejected by the courts as not being emergent. Permission to file an emergent appeal was the first step to getting the cases reviewed and without that permission an appeal could take six months or longer to be heard.
- On February 24 Adnan Manla, a Bergen County father being held in the work release filed an application for permission to file an emergent appeal. That request was granted and on February 26 Mr. Manla filed an emergent appeal challenging Bergen County's legal justification for his incarceration.
- On March 5, 2014 Appellate Division Judge Ellen Koblitz ordered Manla's release from the Bergen County Jail's work release. Judge Koblitz's order read:
- ''Any enforcement of Adnan Manla's child support obligation, short of incarceration, may continue. Mr. Manla's immediate release should not be delayed because of fees assessed for his participation in the work release program.''
- Mr. Manla, unemployed and deemed to be indigent by the court, challenged the order to incarcerate him as not being based on a proper finding that he has the required ability-to-pay the amount of money required by the court for his release.Incarceration for failing to pay court ordered support is only permitted to be done to coerce payment from someone who has the ability to pay but refuses to do so. For Manla and the other unemployed parents being held for thousands of dollars in back support they lack the means to comply with the orders holding them in jail.
- After Manla received permission to file his appeal another inmate, a 53 year old out-of-work mechanic filed with the court and received permission to file his appeal. That appeal is pending before Judge Koblitz and a decision is expected sometime next week.
- On Monday several other inmates are expecting to file their applications with the Appellate Division. All are unemployed, have been deemed indigent by the court yet are being held in a court supervised job search program that far overreaches what New Jersey law allows the County of Bergen to do. Breaking News - Law Suit Filed Over Bergen County Work Release ProgramA class action law suit was filed against the County of Bergen challenging the county's practice of charging inmates in the Bergen County work release program a daily fee for room a...
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- Obama Nation
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- Obama Will Seek Broad Expansion of Overtime Pay
- In 2012, the share of the gross domestic income that went to workers fell to 42.6 percent, the lowest on record.
- Under current federal regulations, workers who are deemed executive, administrative or professional employees can be denied overtime pay under a so-called white-collar exemption.
- Under the new rules that Mr. Obama is seeking, fewer salaried employees could be blocked from receiving overtime, a move that would potentially shift billions of dollars' worth of corporate income into the pockets of workers. Currently, employers are prohibited from denying time-and-a-half overtime pay to any salaried worker who makes less than $455 per week. Mr. Obama's directive would significantly increase that salary level.
- In addition, Mr. Obama will try to change rules that allow employers to define which workers are exempt from receiving overtime based on the kind of work they perform. Under current rules, if an employer declares that an employee's primary responsibility is executive, such as overseeing a cleanup crew, then that worker can be exempted from overtime.
- White House officials said those rules were sometimes abused by employers in an attempt to avoid paying overtime. The new rules could require that employees perform a minimum percentage of "executive" work before they can be exempted from qualifying for overtime pay.
- (Read more: $10.10 minimum wage could hit total employment: CBO)
- "Under current rules, it literally means that you can spend 95 percent of the time sweeping floors and stocking shelves, and if you're responsible for supervising people 5 percent of the time, you can then be considered executive and be exempt," said Ross Eisenbrey, a vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research organization in Washington.
- Jared Bernstein, the former chief economic adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and the former executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class, embraced Mr. Obama's move.
- "I think the intent of the rule change is to make sure that people working overtime are fairly treated," he said. "I think a potential side effect is that you may see more hiring in order to avoid overtime costs, which would be an awfully good thing right about now."
- Mr. Bernstein, now a senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal research group, and Mr. Eisenbrey wrote a paper last year urging the administration to raise the salary threshold for overtime to $984 a week. Their study estimated that in any given week, five million workers earning more than the current threshold of $455 a week and less than $1,000 a week are likely to be exempted from overtime. President Bush raised the threshold to $455 in 2004.
- Mr. Bernstein said, "Remember, inflation has eroded this threshold a great deal over the years, so it's hard to see why it's unfair to make that adjustment."
- White House officials said that in California an employer cannot deny overtime pay to a salaried worker who makes less than $640 a week. In New York, the threshold is $600 a week. Under recently passed laws, the California threshold is set to rise to $800 per week in 2016, and the New York threshold to $675.
- If the changes to the overtime regulations are made, it will fall to the Labor Department's wage and hour administrator to put them into effect. That position has been vacant since Mr. Obama took office. David Weil, a professor at the Boston University School of Management, is the latest nominee for the post. He is awaiting confirmation.
- '--By Michael D. Shear and Steven Greenhouse of The New York Times
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- Everything must go: There's a flood of store closings - Mar. 7, 2014
- Things aren't looking good for brick and mortar retailers.
- It may be too soon to write brick-and-mortar's obituary, but it's not looking good.
- Radio Shack(RSH) announced Monday it will close up to 1,100 stores, or 20% of its locations in North America. On Thursday Staples(SPLS, Fortune 500) said it will close 225 stores.
- "It's a tough decision to close stores. But it's something every good retailer does," said Staples CEO Ron Sargent in a call with investors. "Stores have to earn the right to stay open."
- Other troubled retailers are also downsizing. J.C. Penney(JCP, Fortune 500) has announced plans to close 33 locations. Sears Holdings(SHLD, Fortune 500) is closing its flagship Chicago store and it's expected to shutter another 500 Sears and Kmart locations soon, according to Cowen retail analyst John Kernan.
- Even Macy's(M, Fortune 500), which is doing relatively well, announced it is closing five stores as part of a cost-cutting effort.
- Related: Radio Shack closing 1,100 stores
- Office Depot(ODP, Fortune 500) is also expected to shed some of the excess stores created by its recent purchase of OfficeMax. And there is a possible tie-up between Men's Wearhouse(MW) and Jos. A. Bank(JOSB) that will also probably lead to store closings.
- Stores in prime locations should find new tenants fairly quickly, says Greg Apter, who is president of Chicago-based Hilco Real Estate and specializes in retail space. Other, less desirable locations will probably have to find non-retail tenants -- converting into everything from warehouses and churches to indoor go-cart tracks.
- Store closings typically come early in the year, after retailers close their books on the fourth-quarter's critical holiday shopping season.
- "I'm not worried. What we're seeing is a continuation of a transition to a new, leaner industry that will continue," said Michael Niemira, vice president of research for the International Council of Shopping Centers.
- Staples to close 225 stores
- Part of the problem for stores is that there is just too much retail space in many markets. There are about 46 square feet of retail space for every man, woman and child in the United States, according to Robin Lewis, CEO of The Robin Report, a retail strategy newsletter. That's five times the space than in any other country,
- "We've had overcapacity in this country for a long, long time," said Lewis. "The economy now has gotten to the point where it is forcing [retailers] to contract."
- Competition from online retailers such as Amazon(AMZN, Fortune 500) hasn't helped. Radio Shack, Best Buy(BBY, Fortune 500) and other electronics retailers have become vulnerable to so-called "showrooming," in which consumers check out an item they want to buy in a store and then buy it at a lower price online.
- Related: J.C. Penney cutting 2,000 jobs
- Staples says it is looking to focus on online sales, which now account for nearly half of its revenue.
- The growth in online sales is simply making problems at some chains more severe, experts say, not causing the problem by itself.
- "It is too simple to say this is what Amazon has wrought," said Apter. "But the online business makes the market more saturated. That's enough to turn what might have been 100 store closings into 120."
- First Published: March 7, 2014: 7:20 AM ET
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- Global Debt Exceeds $100 Trillion as Governments Binge, BIS Says - Bloomberg
- The amount of debt globally has soared more than 40 percent to $100 trillion since the first signs of the financial crisis as governments borrowed to pull their economies out of recession and companies took advantage of record low interest rates, according to the Bank for International Settlements.
- The $30 trillion increase from $70 trillion between mid-2007 and mid-2013 compares with a $3.86 trillion decline in the value of equities to $53.8 trillion in the same period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The jump in debt as measured by the Basel, Switzerland-based BIS in its quarterly review is almost twice the U.S.'s gross domestic product.
- Borrowing has soared as central banks suppress benchmark interest rates to spur growth after the U.S. subprime mortgage market collapsed and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s bankruptcy sent the world into its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Yields on all types of bonds, from governments to corporates and mortgages, average about 2 percent, down from more than 4.8 percent in 2007, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Broad Market Index.
- ''Given the significant expansion in government spending in recent years, governments (including central, state and local governments) have been the largest debt issuers,'' according to Branimir Gruic, an analyst, and Andreas Schrimpf, an economist at the BIS. The organization is owned by 60 central banks and hosts the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a group of regulators and central bankers that sets global capital standards.
- Marketable U.S. government debt outstanding has surged to a record $12 trillion, up from $4.5 trillion at the end of 2007, according to U.S. Treasury data compiled by Bloomberg. Corporate bond sales globally jumped during the period, with issuance totaling more than $21 trillion, Bloomberg data show.
- Concerned that high debt loads would cause international investors to avoid their markets, many nations resorted to austerity measures of reduced spending and increased taxes, reining in their economies in the process as they tried to restore the fiscal order they abandoned to fight the worldwide recession.
- Adjusting budgets to ignore interest payments, the International Monetary Fund said late last year that the so-called primary deficit in the Group of Seven countries reached an average 5.1 percent in 2010 when also smoothed to ignore large economic swings. The measure will fall to 1.2 percent this year, the IMF predicted.
- The unprecedented retrenchments between 2010 and 2013 amounted to 3.5 percent of U.S. gross domestic product and 3.3 percent of euro-area GDP, according to Julian Callow, chief international economist at Barclays Plc in London.
- The riskiest to the most-creditworthy bonds have returned more than 31 percent since 2007, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data. Treasury and agency debt handed investors gains of 27 percent in the period, while corporate bonds worldwide returned more than 40 percent, the indexes show.
- To contact the reporter on this story: John Glover in London at johnglover@bloomberg.net
- To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Smith at ssmith118@bloomberg.netRobert Burgess
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- 99 Fists
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- 99fists-Dartmouth surrenders to threat of 'physical action' and offers $31 million
- Dartmouth College is teaching its student body a terrible lesson: physical threats against the rich pay off big-time. Alec Torres writes in National Review Online:Having been threatened with ''physical action'' by an unknown number of anonymous students if it did not respond to a list of more than 120 demands, the Dartmouth administration promptly surrendered last week and is planning on spending at least $31 million to satisfy the students' will.
- College President Phil Hanlon and Provost Martin Wybourne made a statement last Thursday in response to the so-called ''Freedom Budget'' '-- the eight-page letter and list of demands made by the anonymous students '' saying, ''Diversity is one of the cornerstones of our academic community and, like you, we want Dartmouth to be a campus where our students gain the confidence and skills to work and lead in a global society.''The initial student letter called for greater diversity in the faculty and post-doctoral program as well as an increase in enrollment for Black, Latino, and Native American students to 10 percent of the student population each. The anonymous students also demanded that all students be required to take classes on ''social justice'' and ''marginalization,'' that gender-neutral housing be available for all students, and that restrictions on the use of the term ''illegal immigrants'' be imposed.
- The college, which has a $3.7 billion endowment, is planning to spend the $31 million blackmail on several programs:
- Dartmouth plans to allocate $1 million to hire faculty ''who bring diverse perspectives to campus.''
- Call me a cynic, but I doubt that conservative perspectives are considered part of the diversity intended, even though conservative faculty members on Ivy League campuses are hard to find among all the liberals and leftists.
- Another $30 million will also be spent to bring in more minorities for the post-doctorate program.
- Post-docs are a way of bringing people to campus and checking them out without the fuss and bother of an actual faculty hiring, which could lead to awkward situations when faculty contracts are not renewed, or tenure is not offered. As a time-limited contract with no expectation of a permanent position, minorities can be evaluated with less risk of blowback when unqualified people are not taken on permanently.
- The college also promised to provide funds for financial aid students to participate in off-campus programs, will expand the E.E. Just program to support the academic success of minority students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and promised to ''do more.''
- Ed Lasky and I both believe it is possible that the anonymous threat may have been a satire. If so, the joke will be on the Dartmouth leadership which rushed to surrender. Dartmouth has embraced political correctness so fully that it is beyond satire.
- Dartmouth College is teaching its student body a terrible lesson: physical threats against the rich pay off big-time. Alec Torres writes in National Review Online:
- Having been threatened with ''physical action'' by an unknown number of anonymous students if it did not respond to a list of more than 120 demands, the Dartmouth administration promptly surrendered last week and is planning on spending at least $31 million to satisfy the students' will.
- College President Phil Hanlon and Provost Martin Wybourne made a statement last Thursday in response to the so-called ''Freedom Budget'' '-- the eight-page letter and list of demands made by the anonymous students '' saying, ''Diversity is one of the cornerstones of our academic community and, like you, we want Dartmouth to be a campus where our students gain the confidence and skills to work and lead in a global society.''
- The initial student letter called for greater diversity in the faculty and post-doctoral program as well as an increase in enrollment for Black, Latino, and Native American students to 10 percent of the student population each. The anonymous students also demanded that all students be required to take classes on ''social justice'' and ''marginalization,'' that gender-neutral housing be available for all students, and that restrictions on the use of the term ''illegal immigrants'' be imposed.
- The college, which has a $3.7 billion endowment, is planning to spend the $31 million blackmail on several programs:
- Dartmouth plans to allocate $1 million to hire faculty ''who bring diverse perspectives to campus.''
- Call me a cynic, but I doubt that conservative perspectives are considered part of the diversity intended, even though conservative faculty members on Ivy League campuses are hard to find among all the liberals and leftists.
- Another $30 million will also be spent to bring in more minorities for the post-doctorate program.
- Post-docs are a way of bringing people to campus and checking them out without the fuss and bother of an actual faculty hiring, which could lead to awkward situations when faculty contracts are not renewed, or tenure is not offered. As a time-limited contract with no expectation of a permanent position, minorities can be evaluated with less risk of blowback when unqualified people are not taken on permanently.
- The college also promised to provide funds for financial aid students to participate in off-campus programs, will expand the E.E. Just program to support the academic success of minority students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and promised to ''do more.''
- Ed Lasky and I both believe it is possible that the anonymous threat may have been a satire. If so, the joke will be on the Dartmouth leadership which rushed to surrender. Dartmouth has embraced political correctness so fully that it is beyond satire.
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- Elite$
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- Taxi Publication Threatens To Expose 'Secretly Gay' Aldermen If City Doesn't Ban Ride-Sharing CBS Chicago
- Get Breaking News FirstReceive News, Politics, and Entertainment Headlines Each Morning.
- Sign UpCHICAGO (CBS) '' A trade newspaper for the city's taxi industry has threatened to out five aldermen who it claims are ''secretly gay,'' unless the City Council bans ride-sharing services like Uber, Lyft, and SideCar.
- In an editorial in The Chicago Dispatcher, publisher George Lutfallah said the trade publication ''has learned that five of the city's 50 aldermen are closeted homosexuals. In the next issue of this newspaper, set to be published early next month, we will disclose their names unless our demands are met.''
- Among a list of 10 demands, Lutfallah said he wants the city to ban ride-sharing services, and to ''actively enforce'' the current regulations for taxis.
- ''The city is moving forward and will steamroll our industry if we don't act in earnest. They did it to my grandfather more than a hundred years ago when they destroyed his horse-drawn-carriage business by allowing horseless machines to carry people around the city,'' he wrote.
- Taxi Publication Threatens To Expose 'Secretly Gay' AldermenWBBM Newsradio's Steve MillerIt's unclear if the editorial was meant as satire, especially since Lutfallah also demanded the City Council ban the Internet and require people to buy newspapers; and change the name of the Willis Tower back to the Sears Tower. Those are two demands the City Council hardly has the power to meet or enforce.
- If aldermen do allow ride-sharing, Lutfallah suggested a number of regulations, some of them equally peculiar. He suggested ride-share drivers be required to get annual chest X-rays, ''like the city-endorsed doctor had me do to renew my chauffeur's license last month. The riding public has no idea if rideshare drivers have tuberculosis.''
- He also said the city should require GPS tracking of vehicles used by ride-sharing companies, ''so that our informant can keep telling us when Aldermen are taken from their homes and dropped off in Boys Town.''
- Lutfallah also lamented the number of women driving for ride-sharing services.
- ''One company boasts that 40 percent of its drivers are women. Taxi driving is a male-dominated profession and it should remain that way. The last place for a woman is behind the wheel. If a woman needs a ride somewhere, she will only feel safe if the driver is a man,'' he wrote.
- The bizarre editorial comes as aldermen are weighing an ordinance introduced by Mayor Rahm Emanuel that would impose new regulations on ride-sharing companies that already operate in the city with no official rules from the city.
- The measure would require ride-sharing companies to have insurance, pay a $25,000-a-year fee, and pay a $3.50-per-day-per-vehicle ground transportation tax.
- Cab companies argue those fees are insignificant compared to those imposed on the taxi industry, noting the medallion required for a licensed taxi costs about $350,000.
- Cab drivers have sued the city over the lack of regulations for ride-sharing companies, noting they are not required to operate vehicles that are accessible to the disabled, or to pick up anyone off the street.
- Ride-sharing services also do not have to take customers anywhere they want to go '-- they simply connect customers with drivers who might or might be willing to take them to a specific location. Customers can only sign up for ride-sharing services using smart phones and credit cards.
- ''These ridesharing vehicles are private cars. They don't even have the required roof light that indicates they are taxis, which makes it impossible for their riders to know they are getting in a vehicle that will transport them,'' Lutfallah wrote.
- He also acknowledged his threat to expose aldermen he claims are homosexual is controversial, but he claimed it's necessary.
- ''The five aldermen we will expose next month will only include those who have concealed their gay lifestyle to their constituents. They are public servants who have a duty to truthfully disclose their sexuality to the voters. They are living a lie,'' he wrote.
- Lutfallah declined comment on whether the editorial was serious or satirical.
- Bernard Cherkasov, CEO for Equality Illinois, said the intent did not matter, and he condemned what he called an ''outrageous attempt to blackmail the city of Chicago and scornfully humiliate members of the Chicago City Council.''
- ''However this article was intended, it is no joking matter. We call on the publication to immediately retract its extremely offensive article and apologize to the city's LGBT community, women drivers and customers, the City Council and the public at large. Such comments strike at the core of communities that are still fighting for full recognition and equality,'' he added in a written statement.
- ''The comments about women taxi drivers are equally objectionable and contemptible and patently false,'' he added.
- The Illinois Transportation Trade Association, which represents cab companies and taxi medallion holders, also condemned the Chicago Dispatch's editorial.
- ''The ITTA and our affiliated taxi companies unequivocally condemn the piece that ran in today's Chicago Dispatcher and the hateful message it sends. This misguided attempt at parody has no place in this discussion and demonstrates an extreme lack of judgment or sensitivity,'' ITTA vice president Angela Benander said in an email. ''This shameful editorial certainly does not represent the beliefs of our association, the thousands of hardworking employees in the transportation industry nor those of our valued customers.''
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- Interesting Photo Of The Recent Obama Florida Vacation'...
- Check out this photograph taken yesterday as the Obamas and their entourage prepare for departure from the sunny oasis of Florida to head back to the palatial surroundings of the White House.
- Note how the president's right hand is encircled around the First Lady's left wrist.
- Then note the always there presence of Valerie Jarrett, her eyes hidden behind a pair of shades. carrying a heavy bag of something.
- Michelle appears to be pulling away from her husband, toward Valerie Jarrett, while Valerie emits the strongest authoritative tone of anyone in the photo. Is it any wonder so many of the world's leaders look upon the current American president with such disdain and disregard?
- If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one certainly speaks volumes regarding the relationships within the Obama White House.
- Note: It was reported that Valerie Jarrett's new boyfriend, NBC sportscaster and longtime Muslim, Ahmad Rashad was with Jarrett and the First Couple in Florida as well. Wonder if he was doing so on the American taxpayers' dime?
- ____________________________
- This newest addition to the Bennington series is a gem of rare quality squarely placing Ulsterman at the top of the class for political thrillers. Buy the book, read it and enjoy. It will be the best $4.00 you have spent in a long time. -MARLOWE
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- Lady Gaga Foundation Spends More on Lawyers, Publicity and Consultants than on Charity | Showbiz411
- HomeUncategorizedLady Gaga Foundation Spends More on Lawyers, Publicity and Consultants than on...EXCLUSIVE Don't get me wrong: I like Lady Gaga and her parents. But celebrities probably shouldn't start charitable foundations. Now the latest federal tax report is in for Lady Gaga's Born this Way Foundation, and it's not good news. Despite spending $348,000 in 2012 on their outreach bus tour, the Born this Way Foundation otherwise managed to fritter away around $1.5 million on legal fees, publicity, and a website.
- The foundation, which lists Gaga's lovely mom, Cynthia Germanotta, as president, had a lot of expenses in 2012 that had nothing to do with helping anyone. They spent $300,000 on ''Strategic Consulting (web, digital),'' $62,836 on ''Stage Productions (Harvard, LA, UN),'' $50,000 on ''Social Media,'' and another almost $50,000 on ''Event Coordination.''
- Born this Way also spent: $808,661 on ''other''; $406,552 on ''Legal''; $150,000 on ''Philanthropic Consulting''; $60,000 on ''research''; 58,768 on ''Publicity fees''; $78,000 on ''travel''. They spent $72,000 on salaries'' presumably for running the Born this Way bus, although that episode had its own expense line.
- Under 'grants to organizations or individuals'': $ 5000. Five thousand dollars.
- They claimed net assets of $2.1 million. Donations came to $2.6 million, up from $1.4 million in 2011. But there's no detailed listing of contributors or donations. I suspect most of the money came from Lady Gaga's earnings. Where it went, and why it went there, is a mystery still.
- On top of that, it looks like Lady Gaga loaned Born this Way over $10,000 to pay expenses.
- Meantime, it's unclear that anyone was really helped by the Born this Way Foundation other than lawyers, consultants, publicists and travel agents.
- Gaga would have been better served just writing a check to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. It would have done more good, and quickly.
- AuthorRoger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.
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- Interesting Photo Of The Recent Obama Florida Vacation'...
- Check out this photograph taken yesterday as the Obamas and their entourage prepare for departure from the sunny oasis of Florida to head back to the palatial surroundings of the White House.
- Note how the president's right hand is encircled around the First Lady's left wrist.
- Then note the always there presence of Valerie Jarrett, her eyes hidden behind a pair of shades. carrying a heavy bag of something.
- Michelle appears to be pulling away from her husband, toward Valerie Jarrett, while Valerie emits the strongest authoritative tone of anyone in the photo. Is it any wonder so many of the world's leaders look upon the current American president with such disdain and disregard?
- If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one certainly speaks volumes regarding the relationships within the Obama White House.
- Note: It was reported that Valerie Jarrett's new boyfriend, NBC sportscaster and longtime Muslim, Ahmad Rashad was with Jarrett and the First Couple in Florida as well. Wonder if he was doing so on the American taxpayers' dime?
- ____________________________
- This newest addition to the Bennington series is a gem of rare quality squarely placing Ulsterman at the top of the class for political thrillers. Buy the book, read it and enjoy. It will be the best $4.00 you have spent in a long time. -MARLOWE
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- Schmidt says get STEM job or be on welfare
- Google's Eric Schmidt told a SXSW audience in Austin today that Google is ''very, very worried about'' the growing financial inequality and subsequent protests in San Francisco. ''The average person there has benefited from the automation, the globalization, the technology,'' he said, and predicted that inequality will become ''the No. 1 issue of democracies.''
- Schmidt was promoting his book, The New Digital Age, with his co-author, Jared Cohen, in a wide-ranging interview on privacy, government, and the social impacts of technology.
- Google has been embroiled in the unrest of growing financial inequality, with San Francisco activists targeting the company's private charter buses as a symbol of the social divide. A few economists we spoke to believe that the tech industry's presence in San Francisco has generally buffered the city's middle class from the ravages of recession, but skyrocketing rents have forced out many long-time residents.
- Technology can help some, but inequality is growing. ''The US labor market, and many others in Europe and elsewhere, have experienced sharply increasing inequality. Though other factors also do play a role, technological change is the most important driver of this explosion in inequality,'' MIT Professor Daron AcemoÄlu writes to me, echoing a common theme among labor economists.
- Schmidt proposed three solutions. First, support startups. ''When you look at the solutions to the problems that you're describing, which ultimately lead to severe joblessness, they all involve creating fast-growth startups.''
- Second is ''more education, more information, more connectivity.'' He and President Obama have both pushed for more education in science, technology, engineering, and math to help fill unmet demand for tech jobs. Schmidt predicts that jobs that are not related to ''creativity and caring'' will ultimately be eliminated by robots who can automate ''repetitive'' tasks '-- even knowledge workers, such as some reporters.
- Finally, there are upper limits to the number of people who can hold advanced STEM jobs. Those who lose out will need government assistance. Schmidt argued that society needs a ''safety net'' for those who lose their jobs so they can ''at least live somewhere and have healthcare.''
- Either way, change is coming. ''The longer term solution is to recognize that you can't hold back technology progress.''
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- Kale
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- Pizza Hut's Big Kale Secret'... '-- Health & Fitness '-- Medium
- 3. Kale Isn't That SpecialThe largest consumer of kale before the 2013 craze was Pizza Hut. Yes, the crust-stuffed so-greasy-you-really-should-wipe-it-down-with-windex pizza company was the largest consumer of this magical superfood before we all went nanners for it. The thing is, Pizza Hut used it as decoration for their salad bars. They didn't even feed it to people.
- This year I made the effort to eat more greens each day. Knowing that there's not much nutrition to iceberg lettuce, I preferred stuff like spinach, broccoli, and kale.
- To me, chewing kale is like chewing a cow's cud. But they say it's healthy for you. And there's one place I've ever eaten it where I actually enjoy it, my favorite hippie restaurant in Portland. It's called Prasad. It shares a space with a yoga studio. Yes, the employees have tattoos of lamps and piercings. And they had a delicious kale bowl with this wicked yummy mango salsa stuff. It's awesome, but I still felt like a cow eating it.
- Then I heard some guy on some podcast explain why kale is so terrible for your kidneys. It was the ''Bulletproof Diet'' guy who also recommends starting your morning with a tablespoon of butter in your coffee''--'no thanks. Something about normal kale has really high levels of something that wears down your kidneys. He said you can get around this if you eat Dinosaur Kale and steam it first. This is too much work and I've never found dinosaur kale at any Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, New Seasons''--'all the hippie grocery stores. As I'm writing this, I'm realizing how silly and disconnected my thinking is with this which leads me to my next point.
- 4. My Mindset Has A Bigger Impact On Health Than My Diet Or ExerciseAfter the ''kale isn't that special'' light bulb went off, I decided to cast aside any dieting trends or fads for the rest of my life''--'or at least for now. My thinking and emotions have a bigger impact on the quality of my life than anything else''--'including fitness and diet. If I'm happy, grateful, having fun, and doing what I want to do I am naturally drawn to put things in my body that maintain that juicy goodness. Somedays that's the kale bowl. Somedays that's a bright blue donut. Either way, it's OK. I am not an athlete or bodybuilder. Crossfit has never appealed to me. And spending hours in a gym each day is not my idea of fun anymore. Although it's nice to know there are people who do love that. Good for them. I'm sticking to snowboarding, surfing, and enjoyable walks.
- So screw the experts. The heck with the crossfit and the kale shakes''--'all they'll do is ruin my kidney's.
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- Poppie$tan
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- Big pharma warns Australia on poppy shortage - FirstWord Pharma
- Several drugmakers have asked Australia to expand its production of opium beyond the island of Tasmania amid fears that the production may not keep pace with demand, Financial Times reported Tuesday.GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and TPI Enterprises are among the companies urging Australia to permit opium production on the mainland for the first time.Jarrod Ritchie, chief executive of TPI, remarked: "There is increasing demand for pain relief drugs as the global middle classes expand. But there is a limit on the available land in Tasmania for growing."Figures released by the UN revealed that the demand for pain relief more than tripled between 1993 and 2012, with further increases expected as middle class consumers, especially in Asia, use more painkillers.Glynn Williams, president of Poppy Growers Tasmania, argued that Tasmania is an optimal location for opium production because of its climate and isolation from large population centres.GlaxoSmithKline previously suggested that Tasmania's 49-percent market share of opium production is threatened by "uncontrollable forces such as climatic events."To read more NewsPoints articles, click here.
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- Movie PR
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- France to return Nazi-looted art as 'Monuments Men' hits French screens | Jewish Telegraphic Agency
- (JTA) '-- Ahead of the French premiere of ''The Monuments Men,'' France said it will return three precious paintings to the heirs of their owners.
- The paintings are to be returned Tuesday, one day before the film on Nazi-looted art starring George Clooney debuts in France.
- The conjunction of the two events is ''an opportunity to remind people that Culture Minister Aurelie Flipetti is very attached to this gesture of remembrance,'' France's Culture Ministry told the French news agency AFP on Saturday.
- ''Portrait of a Woman,'' an 18th-century painting believed to be by Louis Tocque, will be returned to heirs of Berlin Jewish art dealers Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer.
- ''Virgin with Child,'' by Lippo Memmi or an associate, seized from banker Richard Soepkez in Cannes in 1944, and ''Mountain Landscape'' by the 17th-century Flemish master Joos de Momper, belonged to Baron Cassel van Doorn, a Belgian banker. Van Doorn, who had residences in France, had his property confiscated in 1943 although he was not Jewish, AFP reported.
- About 2,000 works whose owners have not been identified are being held in French museums.
- ''The Monuments Men,'' whose cast includes Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett and the French actor Jean Dujardin, tells the story of a group charged with finding and saving artworks and other culturally important items during World War II. It is based on a nonfiction book by Robert Edsel.
- ADVERTISEMENT: Looking for a Jewish camp? Visit OneHappyCamper.org and see if your child qualifies for $1000 of their first summer or introductory rates through BunkConnect, programs of Foundation for Jewish Camp.'
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- Magic Number
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- US pimps can pull in $33,000 a week, study finds - Yahoo News
- HomeMailNewsSportsFinanceWeatherGamesGroupsAnswersScreenFlickrMobileMoreCelebrityShineMoviesMusicTVHealthShoppingTravelAutosHomesYahoo NewsSearch NewsSearch WebSign InMailHelpAccount InfoHelpSuggestionsYahoo
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- HCDG
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- Charles Krauthammer: Stop the bailout, now - The Washington Post
- First order of business for the returning Congress: The No Bailout for Insurance Companies Act of 2014.
- Make it one line long: ''Sections 1341 and 1342 of the Affordable Care Act are hereby repealed.''
- End of bill. End of bailout. End of story.
- Why do we need it? On Dec. 18, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers was asked what was the administration's Plan B if, because of adverse selection (enrolling too few young and healthies), the insurance companies face financial difficulty.
- Jason Furman wouldn't bite. ''There's a Plan A,'' he replied. Enroll the young.
- But of course there's a Plan B. It's a government bailout.
- Administration officials can't say it for political reasons. And they don't have to say it because it's already in the Affordable Care Act, buried deep.
- First, Section 1341, the ''reinsurance'' fund collected from insurers and self-insuring employers at a nifty $63 a head. (Who do you think the cost is passed on to?) This yields about $20 billion over three years to cover losses.
- Then there is Section 1342, the ''risk corridor'' provision that mandates a major taxpayer payout covering up to 80 percent of insurance-company losses.
- Never heard of these? That's the beauty of passing a bill of such monstrous length. You can insert a chicken soup recipe and no one will notice.
- Nancy Pelosi was right: We'd have to pass the damn thing to know what's in it. Well, now we have and now we know.
- The whole scheme was risky enough to begin with '-- getting enough enrollees and making sure 40 percent were young and healthy. Obamacare is already far behind its own enrollment estimates. But things have gotten worse. The administration has been changing the rules repeatedly '-- with every scrimmage-line audible raising costs and diminishing revenue.
- First, it postponed the employer mandate. Then it exempted from the individual mandate people whose policies were canceled (by Obamacare). And for those who did join the exchanges, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is ''strongly encouraging'' insurers '-- during the ''transition'' '-- to cover doctors and drugs not included in their clients' plans.
- The insurers were stunned. Told to give free coverage. Deprived of their best customers. Forced to offer stripped-down ''catastrophic'' plans to people age 30 and over (contrary to the law). These dictates, complained an insurance industry spokesman, could ''destabilize'' the insurance market.
- Translation: How are we going to survive this? Shrinking revenues and rising costs could bring on the ''death spiral'' '-- an unbalanced patient pool forcing huge premium increases (to restore revenue) that would further unbalance the patient pool as the young and healthy drop out.
- End result? Insolvency '-- before which the insurance companies will pull out of Obamacare.
- Solution? A huge government bailout. It's Obamacare's escape hatch. And '-- surprise, surprise '-- it's already baked into the law.
- Which is why the GOP needs to act. Obamacare is a Rube Goldberg machine with hundreds of moving parts. Without viable insurance companies doing the work, it falls apart. No bailout, no Obamacare.
- Such a bill would be overwhelmingly popular because Americans hate fat-cat bailouts of any kind. Why should their tax dollars be spent not only saving giant insurers but also rescuing this unworkable, unbalanced, unstable, unpopular money-pit of a health-care scheme?
- The GOP House should pass it and send it to Harry Reid's Democratic Senate. Democrats know it could be fatal for Obamacare. The only alternative would be single-payer. And try selling that to the country after the spectacularly incompetent launch of '-- and subsequent widespread disaffection with '-- mere semi-nationalization.
- Do you really think vulnerable Democrats up for reelection will vote for a bailout? And who better to slay Obamacare than a Democratic Senate '-- liberalism repudiating its most important creation of the last 50 years.
- Want to be even bolder? Attach the anti-bailout bill to the debt ceiling. That and nothing else. Dare the president to stand up and say: ''I'm willing to let the country default in order to preserve a massive bailout for insurance companies.''
- In the past, Republicans made unrealistic and unpopular debt-ceiling demands '-- and lost badly. They learned their lesson. Last year, Republicans presented one simple unassailable debt-ceiling demand '-- that the Senate pass its first budget in four years.
- Who could argue with that? The Senate capitulated within two days.
- Who can argue with no bailout? Let the Senate Democrats decide: Support the bailout and lose the Senate. Or oppose the bailout and bury Obamacare.
- Read more from Charles Krauthammer's archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
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- Krauthammer: Obamacare has hidden insurance company bailout | PunditFact
- Bailout has never been a pretty word in politics or business and since the Great Recession, the stigma has only intensified. When Wall Street banks and automakers General Motors and Chrysler were awash in red ink, Washington threw them a $420 billion lifeline (of which $430 billion came back), while the Federal Reserve bought nearly $1.5 trillion worth of toxic mortgage-backed securities.
- Enter conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer with news of a new bailout. Krauthammer wrote in the Washington Post that "buried deep" in the Affordable Care Act is "a huge government bailout" to cover "up to 80 percent of insurance company losses."
- Krauthammer is talking about a couple of important pieces in the law that limit insurers' losses in the first few years of the program. Without those protections, most insurance companies likely would have avoided the government marketplaces where people can pick a health plan.
- Krauthammer, who is no fan of Obamacare, supports legislation to remove those protections for health insurance providers from the law.
- "Without viable insurance companies doing the work, it falls apart. No bailout, no Obamacare," he wrote.
- We wanted to look deeper into Krauthammer's assertion that these measures are bailouts, akin to the support offered to banks and car makers.
- A bridge over risky waters
- The Affordable Care Act does a complete number on the insurance game as Americans know it, at least in the individual and small group markets. Instead of companies making a profit through selling policies to the healthy and avoiding the ill, the law aims to pull carriers into a world where they insure everyone and compete based on efficiency and value. We're not saying that will necessarily happen, but that's the goal. In sickness and health and everything in between, that's the population the insurers must work with.
- The problem is, if you are an insurance company, how do you decide how much to charge in such a different landscape? Until you have a few years to see who is actually in the pool and how much health care they use, the uncertainty is way beyond your comfort zone.
- Enter the government and a few tricks to make the risk picture more manageable.
- The law forces insurers to share some profits and losses across health care plans. Money shifts from companies that paid out less than average in claims to companies that paid out more than average. It's a permanent program meant to help level the playing field.
- The law also protects insurers from suffering losses for providing insurance to higher cost customers -- to a point. The program is called reinsurance, and here's how it works. The law slaps a $63 fee or tax on most policies. That pool of money, which translates to $20 billion between 2014 and 2016, helps insurers pay for claims for people who require more medical attention. The reinsurance program lasts for only three years.
- A third part of the law, called a risk corridor, is another temporary program meant to mitigate an insurer's risk. It's the program that largely drives the concern over potential bailouts.
- The idea behind the corridor is that the government and insurers share risk for plans offered through the government marketplaces. Like the reinsurance program, it lasts only from 2014-16.
- Here's how it works. The government sets financial benchmarks for each plan offered on the marketplace. As long as insurers come close to that benchmark, nothing happens. If an insurer overperforms by up to 3 percent, they can keep the extra revenue. If they underperform by up to 3 percent, they are forced to absorb those additional costs.
- When the gaps get wider, however, money starts changing hands. If insurers beat their benchmark by 3-8 percent, they have to split that extra revenue with the federal government. If insurers beat the mark by more than 8 percent, the government receives 80 percent of that additional money.
- On the flip side, when insurers fail to meet their benchmarks the government helps absorb those costs. If insurers underperform by 3-8 percent, the government will cover half the extra cost. The government covers 80 percent of the costs after that.
- The Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan number cruncher of Congress, says all of these measures will be budget neutral. Some plans will share gains with the government and some will get checks from the government. Overall, the CBO predicts that the money going out will be matched by the money coming in. However, if the CBO is wrong, there is nothing to stop the money from flowing from the government to private insurers. There is no cap written into the law.
- The fear among conservatives is that ad hoc changes to the law since it passed could be creating a ripple effect where the marketplace insurance pools have more sick people and losses would rise. Hence, the concern over bailouts.
- We asked Krauthammer why he called this a bailout and he said he relied on the definition from Merriam-Webster. "The act of saving or rescuing something (such as a business) from money problems," he quoted. "A rescue from financial distress."
- Rescue is clearly the operative word. We looked at other definitions. The Palgrave Dictionary of Economics spoke of a rescue from "potential or actual insolvency." Investopedia had to prevent "the consequences that arise from a business's downfall."
- The country's recession bailouts fit these definitions nicely. First the private firms were in crisis and then the government stepped in with taxpayer dollars. For Scott Harrington, professor of health care management at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, Krauthammer's use of the word in the context of the Affordable Care Act gets the sequence wrong.
- "Bailouts involve ex post actions to address private sector screw-ups," Harrington said. "That's not what happened here."
- Although the government could end up writing some large checks, the system was not explicitly set up to do that. Companies are expected to try to make a profit, and they have yet to experience any losses.
- Mark A. Hall, professor of law and public health at Wake Forest University, took exception to Krauthammer's statement because Krauthammer writes as though all the money comes from American taxpayers.
- "A bailout is using general taxpayer revenues to help an industry or interest group," Hall said. "Here, the funding source is mainly from insurers themselves."
- Mary van der Heijde, a principal and actuary with the health care consulting firm Milliman, told PunditFact that Krauthammer's term "strikes me as an aggressive characterization." In her view, Krauthammer spoke only to the negative side of the program.
- "This (risk corridor) provision is applied uniformly, in that both gains and losses are shared with the government," van der Heijde said. "Not just losses."
- Melinda Buntin, chair of the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, noted that this is not the first time the government has used the risk corridor approach. It was part of the launch of the Medicare Part D prescription drug program.
- "Under that, insurers have actually incurred higher profits than expected on average and have thus paid money back into the government," Buntin said.
- Krauthammer said the Affordable Care Act contains a hidden government bailout for insurance companies that would cover up to 80 percent of their losses. The health care law does contain several mechanisms to mitigate potential losses for insurance companies, and the government stands to help absorb some losses up to 80 percent.
- But the government also stands to gain if insurance companies are able to turn profits, and the Congressional Budget Office has projected that the government would neither make nor lose money.
- Experts we spoke with also took issue with Krauthammer's use of the term "bailout." In the past decade, bailouts came after private businesses faced a financial crisis. The measures in the Affordable Care Act have a more complicated sequence that include a variety of outcomes.
- This claim is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it Half True.
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- Obamacare Individual Mandate Quietly Repealed for 2 Years
- (ActivistPost) - According to a technical bulletin released last week by the Department of Health and Human Services, the individual mandate for citizens to purchase healthcare through government-run exchanges or face a penalty appears to have been repealed for two years by way of new exemptions.
- Additionally, individuals who had their healthcare cancelled due to the passing of the Affordable Care Act may now be exempt altogether.
- The Wall Street Journal reported on how this repeal was buried and hidden from the public:
- This latest political reconstruction has received zero media notice, and the Health and Human Services Department didn't think the details were worth discussing in a conference call, press materials or fact sheet. Instead, the mandate suspension was buried in an unrelated rule that was meant to preserve some health plans that don't comply with ObamaCare benefit and redistribution mandates. Our sources only noticed the change this week.
- That seven-page technical bulletin includes a paragraph and footnote that casually mention that a rule in a separate December 2013 bulletin would be extended for two more years, until 2016. Lo and behold, it turns out this second rule, which was supposed to last for only a year, allows Americans whose coverage was cancelled to opt out of the mandate altogether.
- In 2013, HHS decided that ObamaCare's wave of policy terminations qualified as a ''hardship'' that entitled people to a special type of coverage designed for people under age 30 or a mandate exemption. HHS originally defined and reserved hardship exemptions for the truly down and out such as battered women, the evicted and bankrupts.
- The Wall Street Journal article speculates that the Obama Administration is attempting to ''pre-empt the inevitable political blowback from the nasty 2015 tax surprise of fining the uninsured for being uninsured'' and that keeping the mandate waiver secret is an attempt to keep Democratic voters in line while simultaneously continuing to sign up as many new ObamaCare users as possible.
- Tags: affordable care act, exemptions, government run exchanges, individual mandate, obamacare, penalty, repealedThis entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2014 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Dictatorship, Education/Mind Control, Fascism, Healthcare, NWO, Politics/Corrupt, Science/Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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- President's Funny or Die interview garners 19,000 clicks to HealthCare.gov | Twitchy
- This afternoon, White House senior communications advisor Tara McGuinness noted that comedy site FunnyorDie.com was the number one source of referrals to HealthCare.gov, thanks to President Obama's prerecorded interview with comedian and actor Zach Galifianakis.
- Now, the Department of Health and Human Services is reporting that its number one source of referrals garnered 19,000 clicks through to HealthCare.gov.
- That number does seem rather small, but as the Huffington Post's Sam Stein points out, that number includes only those who clicked at the end of the video.
- White House flack Dan Pfeiffer attempted to clarify things for Stein.
- As long as we have the White House's attention, there's still one number we're waiting to hear.
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- Holy Shit: Obama Suspends Individual Healthcare Mandate for Two Years
- WSJ reports:ObamaCare's implementers continue to roam the battlefield and shoot their own wounded, and the latest casualty is the core of the Affordable Care Act'--the individual mandate. To wit, last week the Administration quietly excused millions of people from the requirement to purchase health insurance or else pay a tax penalty.
- This latest political reconstruction has received zero media notice, and the Health and Human Services Department didn't think the details were worth discussing in a conference call, press materials or fact sheet. Instead, the mandate suspension was buried in an unrelated rule that was meant to preserve some health plans that don't comply with ObamaCare benefit and redistribution mandates. Our sources only noticed the change this week.
- That seven-page technical bulletin includes a paragraph and footnote that casually mention that a rule in a separate December 2013 bulletin would be extended for two more years, until 2016. Lo and behold, it turns out this second rule, which was supposed to last for only a year, allows Americans whose coverage was cancelled to opt out of the mandate altogether.
- In 2013, HHS decided that ObamaCare's wave of policy terminations qualified as a "hardship" that entitled people to a special type of coverage designed for people under age 30 or a mandate exemption. HHS originally defined and reserved hardship exemptions for the truly down and out such as battered women, the evicted and bankrupts.
- But amid the post-rollout political backlash, last week the agency created a new category: Now all you need to do is fill out a form attesting that your plan was cancelled and that you "believe that the plan options available in the [ObamaCare] Marketplace in your area are more expensive than your cancelled health insurance policy" or "you consider other available policies unaffordable."
- This lax standard'--no formula or hard test beyond a person's belief'--at least ostensibly requires proof such as an insurer termination notice. But people can also qualify for hardships for the unspecified nonreason that "you experienced another hardship in obtaining health insurance," which only requires "documentation if possible." And yet another waiver is available to those who say they are merely unable to afford coverage, regardless of their prior insurance. In a word, these shifting legal benchmarks offer an exemption to everyone who conceivably wants one.
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- Six Week Cycle
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- Is There a Drone Flying Around the Harlem Building Collapse? (Updated)
- New Yorkers were shocked on Wednesday morning when reports of a building collapse in Harlem hit the wires. It didn't take long for smartphone cameras to fill up everyone's social media feeds. But wait. In that one'... Is that'... a drone? (Update: Yep! It's some random guy's DJI Phantom 2.)
- Indeed, it looks like there's a drone flying around the disaster area. The better question, however, is whose drone is it?
- Local TV reporter Don Champion suggested that it was authorities using a drone to aid the investigation. This is not a crazy thought, as drones are already being used to help firefightersand police officers in cities around the world. It would also confirm rumors that the NYPD is experimenting with drones, which is really not a crazy thought especially since the NYPD chief said last year that he was interested in using drones in the city limits. When we called on Wednesday morning, the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information, for the NYPD says that the drone is not theirs. And I quote, "Why would we use drones?"
- Or there could be a simpler explanation. As the firefighters fought the blaze and investigators did their investigating, a New York Post employee named Adnan Islam was also tweeting out aerial images of the scenethat could have only come from a drone. Though they look like drone images, they were not. One of Islam's friends says that the pictures were actually taken from "a tall apartment building a few blocks away," where they live.
- A Daily Dot reporter also captured an image of a guy with a drone on a smoky-looking street. Apparently, it's just some random guy with a DJI Phantom 2 Vision. Animal New York talked to the urban drone pilot who said he wants to sell his aerial images to a news outlet. That would be a good idea if it weren't maybe possibly a little bit illegal. In fact, the legality of using drones for commercial purposes is entirely up in the air at the moment. The NYPD, however, typically does not tolerate people flying drones over Manhattan.
- We've reached out to other folks to find out more about the drone(s) that are flying around the Harlem building collapse and will update you when we hear back. In the meantime, it's always nice to see some drones doing some good.
- Images by Don Champion / Adnan Islam
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- Watson
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- The IBM Watson Food Truck Serves Dishes Designed by a Supercomputer
- The IBM Watson supercomputer, famous for its Jeopardy! game show appearances, is now appearing in the form of the IBM Watson Food Truck, which has created recipes in collaboration with chefs at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York.
- The recipes are designed using cognitive computing where chefs decide on a main ingredient to use, like pork, and then the computer determines what might go well with it out of millions of flavorful ingredients as determined by an index of global cuisine flavors. The chefs continue this process two or three flavors at a time until a dish is finished. IBM refers to this as a ''cognitive cooking'' process.
- Thee IBM Watson Food Truck first premiered at the IBM Pulse Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it will be at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas across from the convention center at the corner of Red River and 4th Street from March 7th to March 11th.
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- Baustin
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- How The FBI Has Been Working Hard To Deport Friends Of Guy They Killed During Interview About Boston Bombing | Crooks and Liars
- At a press conference in Moscow, the older Todashev displayed photos of his son's dead body in the morgue that he said showed he was shot six times in the torso and once in the back of the head. Three FBI agents initially said Todashev had lunged at his interrogator with a knife, but after others insisted Todashev was completely unarmed, two of them walked back that claim. Read more...
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- The US media returns to the mysterious death of Ibragim Todashev
- By Nick Barrickman and Patrick Martin11 March 2014More than nine months after the unexplained shooting death of Ibragim Todashev while he was being questioned by FBI agents in his Florida home about his relationship with Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the US media has suddenly revived interest in the case.
- According to the official story, Todashev apparently ''flipped out,'' attacking his questioners with a ''samurai sword'' hanging from his wall. Later reports alleged that his weapon had been a ''metal pole'' that ''might have been a broomstick.'' Later, it was suggested that Todashev may not have been armed at all.
- Since then, both the FBI and the Ocala County state's attorney's office have conducted investigations of Todashev's death, without putting anything on the public record. Last month both the federal and state agencies said they would release their reports on the case by the end of March.
- Last week , the monthly Boston magazine published a lengthy cover story on the Todashev case, focusing on allegations that Todashev and Tsarnaev may have both taken part in a triple-murder in Waltham, Massachusetts in September 2011, and arguing that a more thorough police investigation of those killings might have led to Tsarnaev's arrest and thus forestalled the Marathon bombing.
- ''This American Life,'' a program airing on National Public Radio, broadcast an hour-long report Friday, March 7, in collaboration with the Boston magazine investigation.
- The two reports provide new details about the ongoing efforts of federal and local authorities to cover up the killing of Todashev and its possible connection to the Waltham killings and the Boston Marathon bombing.
- Susan Zalkind, the author of the Boston magazine piece, entitled ''The Murders Before the Marathon,'' states, ''If Waltham police had figured out who hacked three men to death on September 11, 2011, there's a good chance we would not be talking about the Boston Marathon bombings.'' In this, her article follows the approach taken by the New York Times in the aftermath of Todashev's killing, which sought to portray the Boston Marathon events as an alleged ''failure to connect the dots.''
- The report delves into the circumstances surrounding the 2011 triple homicide in the Boston suburb of Waltham, for which Todashev had allegedly implicated Tsarnaev and himself before being shot to death by federal agents. The report states that local police ignored leads connecting Tamerlan Tsarnaev to the killings during the initial investigation, despite many friends of the deceased mentioning Tsarnaev by name as a close associate of Brendan Mess, one of the victims.
- Bellie Hacker, the mother of Erik Weissman, another victim, states of the police that ''they were basically waiting for someone to come forward and say who did it,'' adding that officers reassured her that ''someday down the line, someone is going to need a plea bargain.''
- The case was left largely untouched until the Boston Marathon events in 2013. Federal agents then moved quickly to establish the connections between Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the 2011 slaying. ''For the first time, Brendan Mess's younger brother Dylan and his friends were questioned about Tamerlan Tsarnaev,'' Zalkind writes, adding, ''the FBI agents wanted to know if either Brendan or Tamerlan was involved in organized crime. If Tamerlan had guns. Who else he sparred with. If Tamerlan prayed, if he preached.''
- The article then details the strange circumstances surrounding Ibragim Todashev's death, after he had been contacted by federal officials in the wake of the April 15 bombing.
- ''As best as I can tell, the FBI arrived on Ibragim's doorstep looking for a terrorist,'' Zalkind writes. She relates that officials had been in contact with him for nearly a month before his death in May.
- Nearly nine months since the killing, government officials have not produced an explanation as to how a potential key witness in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation, as well as an unsolved triple homicide, could be killed during an interrogation by a half dozen agents.
- The article details the efforts of authorities to pressure, intimidate, and bully the close friends and relatives of Todashev. Tatiana Gruzdeva, his live-in girlfriend, had initially been pressured by agents to provide information connecting Todashev to the Waltham incident. When she insisted she knew nothing, she was detained by immigration officers and threatened with deportation to her native Moldova, allegedly due to an expired work visa. Gruzdeva would later give an interview to Zalkind for Boston magazine, for which she would be again detained by officials and then finally deported.
- FBI agents aggressively questioned Ashurmamad Miraliev, another friend of Todashev, about his connections to Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon events and the Waltham murders. After having been denied a right to an attorney, Miraliev was then jailed before being deported to Tajikistan, having been forced to miss a hearing in court which would have allowed him to appeal for asylum in the US. Another friend, Khusen Taramov, was barred from re-entering the United States after having attended Todashev's funeral in Chechnya. (See ''Family of Boston Marathon bombing witness killed by FBI denounces federal harassment'') While the Boston article suggests that the attempts to intimidate the close friends and acquaintances of Todashev were part of an effort to learn more about his possible connections to terrorism, the thuggish behavior of authorities is indicative of the extent to which agents are willing to go in order to suppress anyone who may be in a position to contradict the official line about his death.
- Federal and state-level authorities have moved to silence any information pertaining to Todashev's death. This includes refusal to release the autopsy report of the killing, as well as denying any cooperation with an investigation launched by the American Civil Liberties Union last summer. Tellingly, Zalkind states that though numerous state prosecutors, police and federal agencies were contacted for information, none had responded for comment.
- On Monday, March 10, the Washington Post published an editorial headlined, ''A death unexplained: The FBI must come clean on the death about Ibragim Todashev's death.'' The commentary suggests the reason the establishment media has been compelled to return to this subject after ignoring it for months, referring to ''conflicting and downright strange leaked accounts'' of how Todashev died, which ''have been more than enough to fuel reasonable suspicions, let alone the multiple conspiracy theories reverberating globally via the Internet.''
- The Post expresses the hope that the forthcoming reports from the FBI and the Florida state's attorney will put such conspiracy theories to rest. The Boston magazine/NPR report serves that purpose through a diversionary effort: providing a valuable account of the failure of the police to seriously investigate the Waltham killings, and of the FBI's persecution of the friends and family of Ibragim Todashev, while remaining silent on the evidence of ties between the suspected Boston bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and US government agencies.
- Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed in a shootout with police just days after the Marathon bombing, and his brother Dzhokhar, who survived the shootout and now faces capital murder and terrorism charges, had a close family tie to American intelligence. Their uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, was married to the daughter of a high-ranking CIA official and ran an organization, the Congress of Chechen International Organizations, that provided material aid to Chechen separatists fighting against the Russian government. The group was headquartered at the home of Tsarni's father-in-law, Graham Fuller, a top-level CIA official in the 1980s.
- During the period in 2011 in which the Waltham murders took place, the FBI, tipped off by the Russian and Saudi Arabian authorities, had opened a file on Tamerlan Tsarnaev to investigate accusations of connections to radical Islam. Unaccountably, the security investigation was closed in 2012, and Tsarnaev was allowed to travel abroad to Dagestan in the Northern Caucasus where he attempted to establish ties with Islamic separatist movements in the region.
- In the lead up to the Boston Marathon bombing, local authorities were kept in the dark about the presence of the Tsarnaevs. Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis has testified that the FBI made no attempts in the run-up to the events to warn the city's law enforcement about the existence of a possible terror suspect, even as they were conducting an investigation into him.
- The voluminous detail in the Boston magazine/NPR investigation only underscores the vast amount that remains deliberately concealed and still to be uncovered about the Marathon bombing and its connection to the US national security apparatus.
- The author also recommends:
- Who is Ruslan Tsarni?[29 June 2013]
- Questions surrounding 2011 triple murder point to government cover-up in Boston Marathon bombing[12 July 2013]
- The FBI murder of Ibragim Todashev'--the man who knew too much?[31 May 2013]
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- There's Something Very Wrong with the Official Story About the Boston Bombings
- An exclusive WhoWhatWhy investigation has found serious factual inconsistencies in accounts provided by the only witness to the alleged confession of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.
- Why does this matter? Because this witness is the sole source for the entire publicly accepted narrative of who was behind the bombing and its aftermath'--and why these events occurred.
- In case we've forgotten how convoluted and murky the story initially seemed, let's recall how:
- -Tamerlan Tsarnaev, on a US security watch list since 2011 after the Russians provide a warning to American intelligence, goes overseas and allegedly exhibits further problematic behavior .
- -In April, 2013, a savage attack is unleashed at the Boston Marathon, disrupting an iconic American event. Innocent people lose limbs and lives, America is traumatized anew, and a large American city is ''locked'' down'' while normal processes and procedures are abandoned. We are told that Tsarnaev and his younger brother are responsible for all this''and for the cold-blooded execution of a campus police officer several days later.
- Yet our sense of certainty that the Tsarnaevs did this'--and did it alone, with no one else, including America's security apparatus, knowing a thing'--is actually dependent largely on the say-so of one person, one witness.
- Thus, the problems we have uncovered with the witness's testimony (as represented by law enforcement) now raise questions about almost everything concerning what has been described as the largest terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11.
- As the classic saying goes, ''A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.'' That is perhaps even more true in these days of Twitter and Facebook and instant blogging. When a big news story breaks, the first reports are often rife with misinformation based on a combination of innocent mistakes, sloppiness, conjecture, and poor communication. Yet it's also true that during those first 24 hours pieces of inconvenient truth may emerge that will soon be denied or even suppressed as the messy facts get neatly fashioned into an ''official story.''
- Such was the case with the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy: sheriff's deputies converging on the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas reported finding an entirely different type of gun than the one ultimately said to have been the murder weapon. And doctors at Parkland Hospital claimed initially that a shot had hit President Kennedy from the front, before they were told in no uncertain terms that they were mistaken, and a narrative formed around all the shots coming from behind'--and only from the Depository.
- Truth seekers know, from experience, to pay close attention to how a narrative changes in the first hours, days and weeks following an event of significance. And nowhere would that be truer than when the source of the changing story is the principal witness.
- The identification of the alleged Boston bombers, now a virtually unchallenged ''fact,'' is based largely on a single event: the supposed carjacking of a young man whose identity is still masked from public scrutiny. The public's understanding of what took place is based on this anonymous person's oft-cited claims to have witnessed a dual confession from Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who boasted of having committed both the bombing and a later murder of an MIT police officer.
- According to the widely accepted story of the horrific events of April 15-19, 2013, three days after the Marathon bombing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer was shot and within minutes, a young man in a Mercedes SUV was carjacked, across the river in the Brighton section of Boston. Police and media accounts have Tamerlan Tsarnaev abducting a young Chinese national (known publicly only by the pseudonymous first name ''Danny''). In these accounts, Tsarnaev tells Danny that he was responsible for both the Boston bombing and the MIT shooting.
- The alleged carjacking led to a law enforcement shutdown of the greater Boston area, a huge manhunt, and subsequent confrontations in which Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot and killed. His younger brother, Dzhokhar, was seriously wounded by multiple gunshots while hidden in a boat, before being apprehended by police.
- In the current ''official'' narrative, the Tsarnaev brothers took Danny on a wild 90-minute ride that traversed the Boston area and involved stops to extract money from Danny's bank account and then to buy gas for the brothers' planned escape from the Boston metro area.
- It was during a stop at a gas station, the story goes, that the younger brother went inside to pay for the gas. While the older brother was momentarily preoccupied with a GPS device, Danny made his escape and was soon sharing with law enforcement his claim that he had heard the crucial confession.
- But a 10-month investigation by WhoWhatWhy has found major inconsistencies in Danny's story '-- inconsistencies that call into question whether the authorities now prosecuting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for murder are leveling with the American people.
- The consensus narrative of the Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath, which began appearing in the media as early as the morning of April 19, goes something like this:
- For several days after the violence of Monday, April 15'--which killed three people and injured another 264'--an uneasy public waited nervously for word of who was behind the savage attack. The authorities were under intense pressure to produce results. The hours and days ticked by.
- Then, suddenly, action! At 5pm on Thursday afternoon, the FBI released pictures of two suspects. At approximately 10:20, violence exploded anew, in a different and wholly surprising direction. On the quiet nighttime streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts, an MIT campus police officer, Sean Collier, was apparently executed in cold blood by the panicked Tsarnaev brothers in a botched effort to get his gun. And then another newsflash: a young Boston man had been carjacked'--and after a bizarre, circuitous drive around the area, escaped to tell an astonishing tale: his captors had confessed to him their responsibility for both the Marathon bombing and the killing of Officer Collier.
- That turn of events ushered in a cavalcade of developments almost too rapid to follow. It justified the unprecedented military and law enforcement ''lockdown'' of Greater Boston and the intense manhunt that riveted the world and brought the Boston bombing story to a quick and dirty conclusion. In the early morning hours of April 19, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a firefight. His younger brother Dzhokhar escaped, but was discovered that evening hiding in a boat parked in a backyard, and was apprehended in critical condition after authorities fired a barrage of shots into the boat.
- This frontier-justice resolution of a national tragedy eventually led to a huge rally featuring the vice president as the key speaker, praising the bravery and responsiveness of the security state. A specialty beer and a charity event were fashioned around the tragic young officer, bike rides and a host of tributes to the ''first responder'' followed. In the end, everyone could feel good about their country, about the ''heroism'' of the lowly, underpaid campus cop, about the vaunted efficiency of their law-enforcement agencies. Stressed-out Bostonians, and Americans everywhere, could be reassured that all was well in the land.
- That is the generally established narrative. But after studying the various accounts provided by ''Danny'' to the media and law enforcement, WhoWhatWhy has found substantial inconsistencies on a range of points.
- Taken together, those inconsistencies demonstrate at minimum essential unreliability, and perhaps something much more troubling'...from a key witness offering damning life-or-death evidence in the worst terrorist attack since 9/11.
- Is Danny some pathological liar seeking fame? Or is he someone more sympathetic and perhaps vulnerable'--a foreign-national entrepreneur, with an uncertain immigration status, being squeezed by law enforcement to help quickly tidy up a messy disaster that caught our multi-billion-dollar-a-year national security apparatus off guard?
- Where was Danny Carjacked?
- Danny said: Brighton Avenue, Allston (across the river from Cambridge)
- Conflicting version:3rd Street, Cambridge , the Middlesex County District Attorney initially said.
- How Long Was Danny Held Hostage?
- Danny said: 90 minutes (reported by The Boston Globe, NBC and CBS).
- Conflicting version 1:30 minutes according to a joint statement by Middlesex acting district attorney Michael Pelgro, Cambridge police commissioner Robert Haas and MIT police chief John DiFava:
- ''Authorities launched an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the shooting. The investigation determined that two males were involved in this shooting.
- ''A short time later, police received reports of an armed carjacking by two males in the area of Third Street in Cambridge.
- ''The victim was carjacked at gunpoint by two males and was kept in the car with the suspects for approximately a half hour.''
- Conflicting version 2:''a few minutes,'' according to the Boston Globe and this report by the Associated Press , citing the Cambridge Police Department:
- ''Police said Friday at a Watertown news conference that one of the brothers stayed with the carjacking victim for a few minutes and then let him go.''
- Pervaiz Shallwani of the Wall Street Journal, one of the very few who was able to see at least part of the Cambridge police report, supports this shorter time span when he writes:
- ''Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the brothers accused of the bombing, crossed the Charles River into Boston and stole a Mercedes SUV at gunpoint, briefly holding the driver hostage, according to an excerpt from the Cambridge Police Department report filed by the driver and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.''
- How Did Danny Gain His Freedom?
- Danny said: He escaped when Tamerlan, seated next to him, was momentarily distracted, according the Boston Globe, NBC and CBS.
- Conflicting version 1:He simply got out of the car when both brothers were outside the car, having left him alone, according to WMUR.
- Conflicting version 2: The Tsarnaev brothers never held Danny as a captive, according to the Associated Press and Cambridge Police Department. They simply detained him for a few minutes, then left him by the roadside, essentially confiscating his vehicle. In this scenario, he had almost no interaction with the brothers, raising questions as to whether they would have confessed to the two crimes before taking off with his car.
- Tamerlan's Location When Danny Escapes?
- Conflicting version 1: Tamerlan was at the gas pump.
- Note: the conversation below includes paraphrasing of Danny's comments in an ABC (WMUR) interview with Nick Spinetto, April 22, 2013 . We replaced the paraphrases with Danny's actual comments whenever they were flashed on the screen'--presumably from a transcript of Spinetto's interview with Danny. While they are very similar to Spinetto's paraphrasing, we used the on-screen comments from Danny for greater precision.
- Spinetto: (On camera) Well, the carjacking victim is actually shaken to the core after being taken hostage by the Boston Marathon bombers. Today, he and I spoke at length. For safety reasons, he asked us not to reveal his name, but he did describe in vivid detail his capture by the wanted terrorists, those brutal minutes he thought he would die and, ultimately, his brave escape.
- Spinetto: (Voice over scene) Shortly after MIT police officer Sean Collier was killed, authorities received reports of an armed carjacking only minutes away. Monday, that carjacking victim was ready to tell his story, but not ready to do an on-camera interview. The man says it was Thursday night around 11, he was in his car pulled over to the side of the road, when a man approached holding a gun to the passenger side window.
- The victim said: ''the man asked if I knew about the Boston bombing explosion. He said: 'I did that.'''
- Court documents released Monday afternoon state: ''the man with a gun forced the victim to drive to a second location, where they picked up a second man. The two men put something in the trunk of the victim's vehicle.'' The contents are thought to be the ammunition and explosives used in a battle with police later that night. The carjacking victim says he was forced into the front passenger seat as one brother drove. Now a hostage, he says: ''They asked me where I'm from. I told them I'm Chinese. I was very scared. I asked them if they going to hurt me. They say they won't hurt me. I was thinking, I think they will kill me later.'' But if that was their plan, they wouldn't get the chance. The victim told us: ''My car is running out of gas, so they want to have some gas.''
- Spinetto: (On camera) The carjacking victim says that he drove, here, to this Shell station on Memorial drive. While one brother went inside to pay for the gas, the other pumped'... and that's when the victim took off.
- Spinetto: (Voice over scene) Of his daring escape, he says: ''I thought it was a very good chance for me to run. So, I made a judgment. I use my left hand to unbuckle my belt, my right hand to open door'... I jump out of the car, run away'-- across the street. The guy'... outside the car tried to catch me'... use his hand. Tried to catch me but I ran very fast. Couldn't capture me because I run very fast. I heard them'-- they said (expletive) when I get to run. I'm still'... I can't stop recording that moment when I was running out of the car'... I was running'... I was worried. It was very scary at that moment. For me, I'm so lucky.''
- Conflicting version 2: Tamerlan was in the car.
- Note: This version comes from an interview with Danny by CBS News' John Miller.
- Miller: So, when you get to the gas station, tell me what everybody does. Who does what, first, and then what happens?
- Danny: Okay, so, when we get it to the gas station'... hm'... Jahar [Dzhokhar] get out of the car, he took my'... credit card, trying to pump using my credit card. I was very lucky, the pump, it was only cash only. So, he look, looked at my window, say, asked me, [he] say: ''It's cash only!'' So, Tamerlan asked him to pay some cash inside.
- John Miller: So he has to go in the store.
- Danny: Jahar has to go into a store.
- John Miller: So now it's you and Tamerlan in the car.
- Danny: I was with Tamerlan, so, I think it's a very good chance for me, you know, there's only one person in the car right now'... and uh, I was, uh, trying to watch what, uh, Tamerlan is doing'... uh, I was trying to find the gun'... I didn't see the gun because the gun was put in the pocket of the, of the door.
- John Miller: Now, is Tamerlan sitting next to you in the car? Is he standing outside the car?
- Danny: He was sitting next to me. He was on the, uh, driver's seat, I was on the passenger seat.
- John Miller: So this, you think, this is your chance.
- Danny: This is my chance. So, I was'... struggling, you know, should I do this? Should I do this? Becau [sic]'... another good thing for me is the door was unlocked. The only thing I have to do is, use my left hand to unfasten the seatbelt, use my right hand to open the door.
- John Miller: So, the thing that you've been rehearsing in your mind, three steps, is now down to two.
- Danny: Down to two, yeah. So, that's [unintelligible] I found that Tamerlan used both his hands, like, play, like, doing some GPS thing, or something. So, I think it's very good for me.
- [YouTube version: includes comment that Tamerlan was ''fiddling'' with GPS.]
- John Miller: So he's got, he's got the gun in the side pocket of the door, he's got a GPS, his brother's in the gas station, and you say'... the time is now.
- Danny: Yeah, yeah'...the time is now, you know.
- John Miller: So how do you do that in your head? Do you say, 123'...?
- Danny: I was, I was counting- I was counting, I went, 1234. And I'... just do it! And ah, I did it.
- John Miller: So what happens?
- Danny: I jump out of the, jump, jump out of the, the vehicle, and I close the door, and I can feel, Tamerlan was trying to grab me, he didn't touch me, but I could feel him trying to grab me.
- John Miller: And now you're runnin'.
- Danny: I was run. I was runnin', I was running.
- Conflicting version 3:The New York Times version
- As if it weren't enough to discover these totally incompatible versions of whether he was carjacked at all, and if so, for how long, and whether he escaped or was released, there is yet another variation, courtesy of the ''newspaper of record,'' The New York Times, the preferred go-to place for official leaks.
- The article appeared on April 20 under the bylines of two Washington-based, veteran national security reporters. In the piece, almost entirely based on a narrative delivered to the world's most influential news organization by an unnamed source identified only as a ''senior law enforcement official,'' the official explains that
- ''It was only after the suspects decided not to kill the owner of a sport utility vehicle that had been carjacked and instead threw him out of his car around 1 a.m. '-- a decision that ultimately undid their plans to elude the authorities '-- that they re-emerged on the authorities' radar.''
- It is certainly interesting that in this interview, presumably viewed as crucial, and conducted within a day or so of the carjacking, a highly briefed official would get ''wrong'' such a central fact as Danny's manner of parting with the brothers.
- The Times account may have been the first ''official'' story of what happened. It would be many days before Danny's revised account of a dramatic escape would emerge. (If the Times ever published an explanation of how it got this so ''wrong'' in comparison with the eventual official narrative, we could not find it.)
- Also, in Danny's revised account, there is no mention that the suspects ''decide[d] not to kill'' him. Indeed, he said they made clear from the outset that they would not harm him. Putting together elements of these two different accounts, one could conclude that, in fact, the hijackers always meant not to harm him but only to use his car to escape what they took to be their own certain deaths if they remained in town during a police manhunt spurred by a ''cop killing'' that they had reason to think they would be accused of.
- Spinetto's interview with Danny tracks with the New York Times' version, and it is based not on a second-hand account from an unidentified law enforcement source but on a direct interview with Danny. So we thought it essential to ask Spinetto what he made of all this.
- Yet when WhoWhatWhy contacted Spinetto, he told us he could not speak with us unless the station manager at the Hearst-owned WMUR, Alisha McDevitt, approved. In an email, McDevitt wrote: ''We will not be able to approve this request.''
- To sum up, we see three very different versions.
- Version 1:Danny was essentially let go by his ''captors''
- Version 2:The brothers cared so little about him that he was left alone in the car, and then ''escaped.''
- Version 3:He ''bravely'' escaped when Tamerlan let his guard down and was momentarily distracted.
- The one thing we notice about the evolution of the Danny narrative is that the original story did little to support the notion that the brothers were cold-blooded, ruthless killers. Simply put, the story that is now cast in stone makes much more sense if the goal was to create an impression of the brothers as ideologically driven terrorists and the murderers of an innocent police officer.
- First Report of a Confession'--and to One or Both Crimes?
- The first ''dual confession'' report we could find, from the Associated Press, came early on the afternoon of April 19, from Edward Deveau, police chief of Watertown, the scene of a wild car chase during which Tamerlan Tsarnaev allegedly lobbed explosives at his pursuers before being gunned down.
- Later that night, NBC also reported the dual confession, attributing it to ''sources '':
- The carjacking victim was released unharmed at a gas station in Cambridge, sources said. He told police the brothers said they were the marathon bombers and had just killed a campus officer.
- By the next day, more news outlets (see this and this ) were picking up the dual admission.
- However, the Criminal Complaint, filed on the 21st, which states that Tamerlan admitted to Danny their role in the bombing, notably says nothing about an admission to having killed Collier.
- The man pointed a firearm at the victim and stated, ''Did you hear about the Boston explosion?'' and ''I did that.''
- On April 22,Nick Spinetto interviews Danny for WMUR and ABC. Interestingly, Spinetto has Danny admitting to the Marathon bombing, but, as with the Criminal Complaint, there is no mention of killing Officer Collier. This omission seems highly newsworthy on its own.
- On April 25, late in the evening, the Boston Globepublished on boston.com an article based on an interview with Danny by its reporter Eric Moskowitz, the most detailed account to date '--an account that has subsequently become the ''official'' carjacking narrative. It characterizes Tamerlan Tsarnaev's actions as follows:
- ''Don't be stupid,'' he told Danny. He asked if he had followed the news about Monday's Boston Marathon bombings. Danny had, down to the release of the grainy suspect photos less than six hours earlier.
- ''I did that,'' said the man, who would later be identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev ''And I just killed a policeman in Cambridge.''
- In interviews a few days after the Globe article, Danny's story had gelled. His account to CBS's John Miller is substantially similar to a contemporaneous interview with NBC's Matt Lauer.
- The question is, what happened between Danny's first interview and the subsequent ones that led to the changed narrative?
- Research assistance: James Henry
- Coming up in Part II: A closer look at Danny and his story
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- Sandy Hook
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- Andrew Solomon: The Father of the Sandy Hook Killer Searches for Answers : The New Yorker
- In Peter Lanza's new house, on a secluded private road in Fairfield County, Connecticut, is an attic room overflowing with shipping crates of what he calls ''the stuff.'' Since the day in December, 2012, when his son Adam killed his own mother, himself, and twenty-six people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, strangers from across the world have sent thousands upon thousands of letters and other keepsakes: prayer shawls, Bibles, Teddy bears, homemade toys; stories with titles such as ''My First Christmas in Heaven''; crosses, including one made by prison inmates. People sent candy, too, and when I visited Peter, last fall, he showed me a bag of year-old caramels. He had not wanted to throw away anything that people sent. But he said, ''I was wary about eating anything,'' and he didn't let Shelley Lanza'--his second wife'--eat any of the candy, either. There was no way to be sure it wasn't poisoned. Downstairs, in Peter's home office, I spotted a box of family photographs. He used to display them, he told me, but now he couldn't look at Adam, and it seemed strange to put up photos of his older son, Ryan, without Adam's. ''I'm not dealing with it,'' he said. Later, he added, ''You can't mourn for the little boy he once was. You can't fool yourself.''
- Since the shootings, Peter has avoided the press, but in September, as the first anniversary of his son's rampage approached, he contacted me to say that he was ready to tell his story. We met six times, for interviews lasting as long as seven hours. Shelley, a librarian at the University of Connecticut, usually joined us and made soup or chili or salads for lunch. Sometimes we played with their German shepherd. When Peter speaks, you can still hear a strong trace of rural Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, where he and his first wife'--Nancy, Adam's mother'--grew up. He is an affable man with a poise that often hides his despair. An accountant who is a vice-president for taxes at a General Electric subsidiary, he maintains a nearly fanatical insistence on facts, and nothing annoyed him more in our conversations than speculation'--by me, the media, or anyone else. He is not by nature given to self-examination, and often it was Shelley who underlined the emotional ramifications of what he said.
- Peter hadn't seen his son for two years at the time of the Sandy Hook killings, and, even with hindsight, he doesn't think that the catastrophe could have been predicted. But he constantly thinks about what he could have done differently and wishes he had pushed harder to see Adam. ''Any variation on what I did and how my relationship was had to be good, because no outcome could be worse,'' he said. Another time, he said, ''You can't get any more evil,'' and added, ''How much do I beat up on myself about the fact that he's my son? A lot.''
- Depending on whom you ask, there were twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight victims in Newtown. It's twenty-six if you count only those who were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School; twenty-seven if you include Nancy Lanza; twenty-eight if you judge Adam's suicide a loss. There are twenty-six stars on the local firehouse roof. On the anniversary of the shootings, President Obama referred to ''six dedicated school workers and twenty beautiful children'' who had been killed, and the governor of Connecticut asked churches to ring their bells twenty-six times. Some churches in Newtown had previously commemorated the victims by ringing twenty-eight times, but a popular narrative had taken hold in which Nancy'--a gun enthusiast who had taught Adam to shoot'--was an accessory to the crime, rather than its victim. Emily Miller, an editor at the Washington Times, wrote, ''We can't blame lax gun-control laws, access to mental health treatment, prescription drugs or video games for Lanza's terrible killing spree. We can point to a mother who should have been more aware of how sick her son had become and forced treatment.''
- Inadequate gun control and poor mental-health care are problems that invariably define the debate after atrocities such as the one at Newtown. But, important as those issues are, our impulse to grasp for reasons comes, arguably, from a more basic need'--to make sense of what seems senseless. When the Connecticut state's attorney issued a report, in December, CNN announced, ''Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza took motive to his grave.'' A Times headline ran ''CHILLING LOOK AT NEWTOWN KILLER, BUT NO 'WHY.' '' Yet no ''motive'' can mitigate the horror of a bloodbath involving children. Had we found out'--which we did not'--that Adam had schizophrenia, or had been a pedophile or a victim of childhood abuse, we still wouldn't know why he acted as he did.
- Interview subjects usually have a story they want to tell, but Peter Lanza came to these conversations as much to ask questions as to answer them. It's strange to live in a state of sustained incomprehension about what has become the most important fact about you. ''I want people to be afraid of the fact that this could happen to them,'' he said. It took six months after the shootings for a sense of reality to settle on Peter. ''But it's real,'' he said. ''It doesn't have to be understood to be real.''
- BACKGROUND: AP/Western Connecticut State University; Family Photograph: Courtesy Peter Lanza
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- Ottomania
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- Bulgaria plans gas pipeline to Turkey - ENERGY
- The planned pipeline between Bulgaria and Turkey will be approximately 114 kilometers in length and is due to be completed in two years. REUTERS Photo
- A Bulgarian delegation will pay a visit to Turkey to discuss a gas pipeline plan between parties that would diversify natural gas resources.An announcement from the Bulgarian authorities in the Turkish capital of Ankara said a group of experts, along with representatives of the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy and Energy, will soon negotiate a gas pipeline connection between the two countries.
- Bulgarian ministry officials announced their full support for the project and urged for a swift timetable in undertaking the project.
- The planned pipeline between Bulgaria and Turkey will be approximately 114 kilometers in length and is due to be completed in two years.
- Bulgaria currently receives 90 percent of gas from Russia and the country is concerned the recent events in Ukraine may disrupt the flow of gas through the pipelines.
- Last month, Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev and Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız announced the planned pipeline would play an important role in the diversification of gas supplies.
- Russia currently supplies 25 percent of Europe's gas imports and many European countries rely almost entirely on Moscow for their imported gas.
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- Turkey braces for coma boy's funeral
- 12 March 2014Last updated at 02:41 Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
- The BBC's Selin Girit witnesses Tuesday night's clashes in Istanbul
- The funeral is to take place in the Turkish capital Istanbul of a teenaged boy who died died nine months after being injured during anti-government protests.
- Berkin Elvan's death on Tuesday led to protests in cities across the country.
- President Abdullah Gul has appealed for calm ahead of his funeral.
- Berkin was injured while walking to buy bread in Istanbul in June. He was hit on the head by a tear gas canister at the height of the unrest.
- Correspondents say that his 269 days in a coma gripped the country and became a symbol of the heavy-handed tactics used by police to rein in the biggest demonstrations against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
- News of the boy's death - the eighth linked to last year's mass anti-government protests - triggered protests across the country. In Ankara, police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse some 2,000 protesters who chanted: "Government of Erdogan, government of corruption, resign, resign."
- Police pursued the protesters into side streets where small clashes continued.
- There was similar police action against thousands of protesters on both the European and Asian sides of Istanbul and in the cities of Mersin and Adana.
- 'Fabricated'The June protests started as a small environmental gathering to save an Istanbul park, but they quickly snowballed into a nationwide movement against the government of Mr Erdogan, which critics say has become increasingly authoritarian and corrupt.
- The sons of three cabinet ministers have been arrested and accused of corruption, while Mr Erogan himself has angrily condemned as fabricated an audio recording that appears to show him talking to his son about hiding large sums of money.
- He said last month that the recording, allegedly tapped and then posted on social media, was a "treacherous attack".
- It appears to reveal Mr Erdogan asking his son Bilal to dispose of millions of euros in cash from a house.
- The prime minister says that the corruption allegations are part of a plot to unseat him by US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally whose is thought to have millions of followers in Turkey.
- President Gul sent a message of condolence to Elvan's family in which he said that Turkey was going through difficult days and that the "mind of the state has become overwhelmed by anger and hatred".
- "This atmosphere of hatred is undermining society's need for love and peace and efforts to understand one another," he said. "Little 15-year old Berkin Elvan is the latest victim of this atmosphere."
- After Berkin's death was announced, his mother appeared outside Okmeydani hospital and was quickly surrounded by mourners. Tributes appeared on social media and hundreds of people gathered to show their anger.
- Riot police soon arrived at the scene and protesters attacked one of their vehicles.
- BBC Turkish correspondent Rengin Arslan said many in the crowd believed the police had not turned up at the hospital to ensure the safety of mourners but to make things worse.
- Further protests were reported in the coastal cities of Antalya and Izmir and in the capital, Ankara, where students boycotted classes and staged sit-ins.
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- BTC
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- Bitcoin refuses to flip: Virtual currency stays strong despite bankruptcies ... - Washington Post
- Future generations of Bitcoin billionaires may someday look back on 2014 with knowing smiles. Here was a year when thefts spread, exchanges collapsed, rates gyrated like a teenager's moods. And yet the buying of bitcoins showed no signs of abating.
- The past week was particularly extreme. The apparent suicide of an American business executive in Singapore was investigated for possible ties to her Bitcoin investments. A California man fingered as the currency's mysterious inventor reacted to his sudden fame by asking that journalists buy him lunch. After finishing his meal at a sushi restaurant, he went on to deny any role whatsoever in Bitcoin.
- Perhaps the most surprising development was that the virtual currency, despite wild fluctuations in value, continued to weather the mayhem. As the humans involved in the adventure looked increasingly vulnerable, Bitcoin looked comparatively solid, trading nearly 10 percent higher Saturday than a week before. Each bitcoin is worth more than $600 in recent trading.
- ''Bitcoin works really well,'' said Matthew Green, a Johns Hopkins University cryptographer who is working to develop a different virtual currency. ''All this craziness around Bitcoin isn't around Bitcoin itself. It's around the people.''
- Bitcoin, first issued in 2009, has gradually gained acceptance as a digital currency that, unlike dollars or euros, can move through the global trade system with low fees, relative privacy and no regulation. That has helped it flourish among technology enthusiasts and libertarians, as well as on marketplaces for illicit drugs and weapons.
- ''It's completely Wild West,'' said Garth Bruen, a security fellow at the Digital Citizens Alliance, a Washington-based advocacy group that combats online crime. ''There are a lot of people getting rich, and there are a lot of people stealing.''
- Bitcoin enthusiasts like to point out that the currency has proved resistant to tampering. The total number in circulation can never go beyond a set amount, and each bitcoin is protected by a distinct cryptographic code. If that code is lost, as has sometimes happened, the bitcoin disappears forever.
- But criminals have targeted the computers that store bitcoins in encrypted code, in depositories known as ''hot wallets.'' Over the past two weeks, it has become clear they have succeeded spectacularly in breaking those systems.
- The most famous example is Mt. Gox, the Tokyo-based exchange that filed for bankruptcy Feb. 28. It started as a site to trade cards for a popular game but shifted very profitably to Bitcoin, at one point becoming the biggest site for buying the virtual currency.
- Mt. Gox relied on technology that experts consider easy to use but hard to secure against hackers. When the exchange declared bankruptcy, it reported having lost more $400 million from theft.
- ''The [Bitcoin] system and protocol itself was and is still sound,'' Dustin D. Trammell, a Bitcoin investor and security expert, said in an e-mail exchange after the Mt. Gox bankruptcy. ''The currency exchange rate is holding stable during the fallout, and it really goes to articulate that Mt. Gox was simply a single bad actor, whether it be intentionally or just incompetence, in an otherwise solid fledgling financial industry.''
- Flexcoin, a Bitcoin bank based in Canada, followed with its own bankruptcy this past week, again reportedly because of losses to hackers. Criminals apparently relied on an old trick '-- once popular against ATMs '-- of trying to withdraw money faster than a bank can rectify accounts, allowing what amounts to a double-dipping of available funds.
- Hobbyists and speculators built the first generation of systems for storing and exchanging Bitcoin, despite having little of the expertise needed to run financial institutions, Green said. ''Look at it like somebody built a skyscraper out of wood,'' he said. ''That's what happened.''
- Amid the bankruptcies, news reports said that the suicide of a 28-year-old American woman in Singapore may have been related to her job as chief executive of a company that traded virtual currencies, and to her personal investment in bitcoins.
- The currency was created by a man who called himself Satoshi Nakamoto. Though the name was long thought to be a pseudonym, a Newsweek reporter found the California home of a Japanese American computer engineer who once went by that name before changing it several years ago.
- Presented with evidence that he was the Bitcoin inventor, the man appeared to confirm the discovery in an article posted online Thursday. But he recanted '-- after asking for lunch '-- when a mob of journalists appeared at his home. Newsweek has said it is standing by its story, which included other evidence and interviews with several of the man's relatives.
- Rising interest in Bitcoin has brought a flood of investments from venture capitalists, allowing for the development of exchanges that, experts say, are more likely to survive the attacks of hackers and other threats to the currency's stability. The number of merchants accepting bitcoins, meanwhile, has steadily grown, and several cities now have ATMs that trade in them, making exchanges easier.
- Bitcoins are traded directly between individuals, without a bank to act as an intermediary. The transactions are recorded on a Web-based public ledger, called a ''block chain,'' that provides a measure of transparency but also allows governments and others to potentially analyze transfers to determine who owns bitcoins and how they are being used. The exchanges are required by laws in the countries where they operate to record who buys bitcoins.
- The block chain is scrutinized so carefully that it may be difficult for those who have stolen bitcoins to trade them without being discovered. Experts say it also would be impossible for Nakamoto, the inventor, to cash in any of his personal trove of bitcoins '-- rumored to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars '-- without finally and definitively revealing his identity.
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- BBC News - New York regulator plans 'regulated' Bitcoin exchanges
- 11 March 2014Last updated at 17:39 ET New York's financial regulator has called on firms to submit proposals to set up "regulated" exchanges for digital currencies like Bitcoin.
- The state's Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) said it wanted to better protect consumers, and prevent money-laundering.
- It comes as a top Bitcoin exchange, Mt Gox, filed for bankruptcy last month.
- Bitcoins have been gaining in popularity recently, but they are not governed by any financial regulator.
- "The fact is that virtual currencies are unlikely to disappear entirely," said Benjamin Lawsky, New York's superintendent of financial services.
- Continue reading the main storyThe recent problems at Mt Gox and other firms further demonstrate the urgent need for stronger oversight of virtual currency exchanges''
- End QuoteBenjamin LawskySuperintendent of Financial Services, New York"As such, turning a blind eye and failing to put in place guardrails for virtual currency firms while consumers use that product is simply not a tenable strategy for regulators."
- 'Stronger oversight'The lack of any regulatory control or oversight of Bitcoins has triggered concerns on various fronts.
- It is difficult to trace transactions carried out using Bitcoins - one of the factors behind their popularity - and the currency has been linked to illegal activity online.
- Bitcoins are also seen by some as a route for tax evasion and money laundering.
- Russia has declared transactions using the digital currency illegal, China has banned its banks from handling Bitcoin trades, and there have been calls for the US to do the same.
- Singapore has imposed a tax on Bitcoin trading and using it to pay for services, after classifying it as goods, rather than a currency.
- Earlier this month, the Japanese government also said Bitcoin is not a currency and that some transactions using the virtual unit should be taxed.
- The collapse of Mt Gox has only added to the concerns.
- The firm filed for bankruptcy in Japan in February after losing about $473m (£284m) worth of customers' bitcoins to what it says was a hacking attack.
- "The recent problems at Mt Gox and other firms further demonstrate the urgent need for stronger oversight of virtual currency exchanges," said Mr Lawsky.
- "Consumers should understand and receive appropriate disclosures about the potential risks associated with using virtual currencies or any other financial product."
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- Vaccine$
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- Half of veterans prescribed medical opioids continue to use them chronically
- Of nearly 1 million veterans who receive opioids to treat painful conditions, more than half continue to consume opioids chronically or beyond 90 days, new research says. Results presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine reported on a number of factors associated with opioid discontinuation with the goal of understanding how abuse problems take hold in returning veterans.
- Study subjects were drawn from national Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA) data. Criteria for inclusion included at least 2 outpatient visits at a VHA facility in 2009 and at least 90 days of opioid use within a 180-day period. Opioid discontinuation was defined as no opioid use for at least 6 months. Funding for the study came from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
- Of 959,226 veterans who received an opioid prescription, 502,634 (representing 52.4% of the total sample) used opioids chronically.
- The preliminary analysis showed that certain factors were more likely to be present in veterans who continued to use opioids chronically: They include post-traumatic stress disorder, tobacco use, being married, having multiple chronic pain conditions, the use of multiple opioids and opioid dose above 100 mg per day.
- Some findings did not align with previous research in the fields of pain and addiction.
- "Unlike other samples, it appears that mental-health disorders and substance-use disorders are associated with increased rates of discontinuation in the VA," said Mark Sullivan, MD, PhD, who led a collaborative team of researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash., the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Ark., and the Research Triangle Institute in Research Triangle Park, N.C. "The exception is tobacco use, which is associated with a decreased likelihood of discontinuation."
- Dr. Sullivan emphasized that the veterans in the current study comprised the first sample where half of all opioid users were chronic users of greater than 90 days per year. Investigators examined demographic and clinical characteristics as well as treatment choices that could serve to predict opioid discontinuation. Pain characteristics and diagnoses related to medical conditions, mental health and substance abuse were included along with other medications, such as non-opioid pain relievers and those used to treat mental-health disorders.
- Dr. Sullivan said lack of reliable or interpretable data precluded researchers from looking at pain levels as predictors of opioid discontinuation. Neither did the research team study the reasons why patients had received high doses of opioids.
- Veterans are frequently prescribed opioids long term to treat painful conditions related to their military service. The current study built on past research from many of the same scientists showing that patients who misused opioids and who consumed high daily doses were among the least likely to discontinue opioids that had been prescribed on a chronic basis (Martin et al, J Gen Intern Med 2011; 26:1450-7). The previous study was not in veterans.
- The practice of prescribing opioids long term for pain is controversial amid reports of increasing addiction and deaths related to medical prescribing and illegal diversion of the medications. Thus, the scientific field has renewed interest in ascertaining how medical use in veterans and in the general population relates to the prevalence of opioid-use disorders. Research has been sparse; however, a systematic Cochrane review containing 26 studies totaling 4,893 patients receiving long-term opioid therapy showed many patients discontinue opioids due to nausea and other adverse events, but that those who can remain on opioids experience pain relief with few serious problems, including addiction.
- The above story is based on materials provided by American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM). Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
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- 2030
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- 2030-Space Odyssey: NASA will search for alien life in Jupiter's moon
- This is amazing news: NASA is sending a mission to Europa! If everything goes well, a robotic submarine may be landing on Jupiter's moon'--the world that scientists believe is the most likely to contain life in the Solar System'--by 2030, a real space odyssey. This has the potential to change the world.
- "Attempt no landings there," the aliens said at the end of 2010, a warning that Adam Steltzner'--the guy who spent nine years of his life putting the rover Curiosity on Mars in the most spectacular NASA mission since the Apollo program'--doesn't care about. This is his dream mission and the dream mission of every space scientists now at NASA, as he told me back in August 2012, after Curiosity's successful landing on Mars.
- Adam: The site in the solar system that we believe that is the most likely to contain life today is Europa. I want to lead a team to go under the ice, into the ocean of the moon Europa.
- Me: Get a submarine up there.
- Adam Steltzner told me then that he has already spent night after night sharing beers, drawing on a whiteboard, and talking about the potential mission scenarios with astrobiologist and planetary scientist Kevin Hand, one of the biggest experts in this moon.
- Priced around the same as Curiosity, he said this mission "will be very challenging, just there right amount of challenging, tough, like we like it, like our nation need it. We need something to strive for. And Europa is that," he says.
- This is it, yes. Despite the alien warnings, we are headed into the oceans of one of the most intriguing worlds in the solar system. And while it's not a manned mission, it still sends chills down my spine just to think about the possibilities.
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- 2030-Mind-to-mind thought talking possible by 2030, scientist says
- Today we enjoy basic conversations with our smart phone, desktop PC, games console, TV and soon, our car; but voice recognition, many believe, should not be viewed as an endgame technology. Although directing electronics with voice and gestures may be considered state-of-the-art today, we will soon be controlling entertainment and communications equipment not by talking or waving; but just by thinking!
- Forget Siri, if future-thinking researchers have their way, your brain could soon be chatting away on the phone. A new implant developed by UC-Berkeley neuroscientist, Robert Knight, could create a game-changing relationship between you and your machines. You may soon be able to transmit thoughts via the Internet using a translator chip implanted in the brain that converts thoughts into words.
- Enter University of Reading'sDr. Kevin Warwick, whose cutting-edge neural implant research has enabled him to control machines and communicate with others using only thoughts and physical motions.
- In 1998, Warwick implanted a transmitter in his arm enabling him to control doors and other devices. Then in 2002, this bold scientist, who had earned the nickname "Captain Cyborg" from his colleagues, implanted electrodes directly into his nervous system. This allowed a remote robot arm to mimic the actions of Warwick's own arm and enabled him to control a wheelchair with just his thoughts.
- Next, Warwick implanted a chip in his wife Irena's arm, linking their brains together through the Internet. "When she moved her hand three times," he said, "I felt three pulses and my brain recognized that my wife was communicating." This was the world's first electronic brain-to-brain communication.
- The goal of much of this research is to help patients rendered voiceless by strokes or other ailments speak their thoughts directly, much like Stephen Hawking, the famed physicist who speaks only with the aid of a computer synthesizer. Watch this TED Talk demonstration of a headset that reads brainwaves.
- Most brain implants consist of a tiny chip with electrodes, combining math and neuroscience. At their heart is an algorithm that deciphers the neural code that one layer of the brain sends to another.
- What might this revolutionary neuroscience lead too? Technologies from the movie Avatar, where people remotely piloted genetically-engineered aliens, could become reality in the decades ahead.
- Wake Forest's Sam Deadwyler and his team recently implanted microchips in monkeys to recapture lost decision-making processes, demonstrating that a neural prosthetic can recover cognitive function in the brain. The results suggest that neural implants could one day be used in humans to help decide whether to grab a cup of coffee, or remember where you left your keys. Read A Brain Implant that Thinks.
- More than 80,000 Parkinson's sufferers have found relief using a deep brain stimulator, and brain electronics were implanted into Alzheimer's patients this year in hopes to slow down this insidious killer.
- ' In addition, Henry Markram, leader of the International Swiss Blue Brain Project believes that by early 2020s, his organization will create an artificial brain with human-like intelligence and consciousness.
- Future thought talking might work like this: armed with innovative electronic implants that convert brain signals to recognizable speech, you simply think of whom you wish to communicate with, and with their approval, you're connected. In addition to reading each other's thoughts, you could also gaze through the other person's eyes; and even experience their feelings of joy, excitement, sadness, or depression.
- As more of the brain's mysteries are understood, experts predict that brain implants will play a more important role in humanity's future. G.tec Medical Engineering offers a variety of pocket-sized wireless brain-reading systems, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have created nanotube bio-transistors that will one day allow wiring prosthetic devices directly into the body's nervous system.
- At a recent interview, Dr. Warwick said, "We're looking at the first mainstream thought experiments within a decade, and by 2030, mind-to-mind communications could become a commercial reality." By late 2030s, many future watchers believe that thought talking will become routine. Society will one day accept; some even prefer; this revolutionary method of communicating. Comments welcome.
- Images:http://www.deviantart.com/art/Transistor-Blocks-205954425http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/dec/20/research.ithttp://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-artifical-arms-could-connect-nervous-system/http://www.deviantart.com/art/Nerve-Endings-68781388
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- 2030-ICTSD ' Divisions Apparent as EU Ministers Debate 2030 Climate, Energy Goals
- Discuss this articleShare your views with other visitors, and read what they have to say
- Over a dozen EU ministers have joined together to call for a rapid agreement on the trading bloc's 2030 climate and energy goals, either at a leaders' summit later this month or in June. This week's meetings marked the first occasion of the new framework being formally discussed at the ministerial level by the 28 member states.
- The self-dubbed ''green growth group'' - which includes the UK, France, Italy, and Germany, as well as other mainly western European countries - issued a statement stressing that climate policy should not be an enemy to competitiveness, warning that putting off an agreement would be a mistake.
- ''A delay risks undermining commercial sector confidence, deferring critical energy investments, increasing the cost of capital for these investments, and undermining momentum towards a global climate deal,'' their joint statement read.
- The EU's executive arm in January outlined a new 10-year climate and energy framework that would take effect from the end of this decade. The Commission's document calls for a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) target below 1990 levels and an EU-wide binding renewable energy target of at least 27 percent. (See Bridges Weekly, 23 January 2014)
- Opposition to an ambitious climate policy has largely been led by coal-reliant Poland, but resistance has also been seen from countries such as the Czech Republic and Bulgaria - all of whom are wary of burdensome targets that might limit their energy independence.
- British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey suggested that careful negotiations could work to bridge Europe's divide on climate policy.
- ''The Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, and Bulgarians have voiced some concerns and we need to listen to them, we need to find a way to meet their realistic asks,'' he told journalists.
- The green growth group also indicated that a speedy EU agreement would be important to adding momentum to current UN climate talks, which negotiators hope will lead to a deal during their meeting next year in Paris, France. Warsaw is particularly opposed to Europe taking the lead in these international negotiations, stating that the bloc's targets should be conditional and equivalent to efforts made by other global players.
- Marcin Korolec, Poland's deputy environment minister, warned reporters that expecting an agreement in March was ''a very optimistic approach.''
- ''The EU should present a provisional goal which will be finally accepted only if the new [2015] agreement will be understood by the EU as a universal one [applying to all large global players],'' Korolec added.
- Meanwhile, Commission climate chief Connie Hedegaard underlined that the ongoing Ukraine-Russia situation - which could put oil imports to Europe at risk - demonstrates the need for the EU to expand output from renewable sources in order to secure more energy autonomy. (For more on Ukraine, see related story, this issue)
- UK on-board for renewables
- Monday also saw the UK relax its position against the inclusion of a renewables target in the new framework, with Davey indicating his country would now support a binding EU-level target, as long as this did not involve nation-specific requirements.
- London had previously lobbied hard for a ''greenhouse gas (GHG) cuts only'' approach, while France and Germany called for ''robust'' renewable energy targets.
- Flexibility and competitiveness key
- In the two days of public debate by EU environment and energy ministers on the framework, a number of delegations applauded the flexibility afforded to individual economies to achieve the overall GHG target according to national circumstances, although questions were raised as to how this flexibility would work in practice.
- Council press releases also indicated that some participants suggested that future state aid rules should not reduce the flexibility needed to deliver on climate and energy objectives in an efficient way.
- Energy ministers further highlighted the need to achieve a truly integrated EU energy market and infrastructure, with a strong EU approach.
- A key message throughout the debates was that the 2030 framework should balance environmental sustainability, competitiveness, and security of energy supply. The need to keep energy prices down and guarantee the EU's competitiveness was also discussed - a recent inflammatory topic in politics across the trading bloc.
- Critics have suggested that EU's climate and energy policies are to blame for the growing energy price gap between member states and other major economies, although other camps argue that such prices have little bearing on bloc's overall competitiveness.
- Energy firms call for more urgent ETS reform
- Environment ministers generally slated the EU's Emissions Trade System (ETS) as a key instrument for reducing emissions, although further discussion on its future operation, as well as on the contribution of sectors currently outside the ETS, was also suggested.
- Slow growth in a post-crisis world has at times caused carbon permits to sink to basement trading prices of under '¬5 per metric tonne. Early this year, member states agreed to withhold up to 900 million carbon permits until 2019-2020, as a temporary solution. (See Bridges Weekly, 16 January 2014)
- The Commission's announcement in January included a legislative proposal for a more long-term ETS fix in the form of an ''automatic stabiliser'' by 2021 - which would mechanically adjust the supply of allowances in the EU carbon market according to pre-defined rules.
- On Monday, however, the CEOs of four Fortune 500 companies called for an urgent withdrawal of two billion carbon allowances from the EU's ETS. Alstom UK, Shell UK, Doosan and SSE suggested that the Commission's proposal for an automatic stabiliser was six years too far away.
- ''Two billion allowances are supressing cost efficient carbon abatement and delaying investments in energy efficiency and lower carbon processes, products, and services for the medium and long term,'' read the letter, seen by news agency EurActiv.
- The overall 2030 framework, as well as the Commission's communication on an ''industrial renaissance,'' will next be discussed at the heads of state and government level when EU leaders meet later this month. Greece, the current chair of the Council rotating presidency, will report on the outcome of this week's ministerial discussions.
- ICTSD reporting; ''UK supports non-binding renewable energy goal,'' EUROPEAN VOICE, 4 March 2014; ''Thirteen ministers urge EU to agree green energy goals in March,'' REUTERS, 3 March 2014; ''Energy firms call for urgent carbon market action,'' EURACTIV, 5 March 2014, ''EU's re-industrialisation dream 'hostage' of high energy prices,'' EURACTIV, 26 February 2014.
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- 2030-11.4m diabetics by 2030 if preventive steps not taken, moot told
- KARACHI: There are currently 7.1 million diabetics in Pakistan and if measures are not taken to redress the situation, the figure is projected to rise to approximately 11.4 million by 2030.This was stated at the 1st Sanofi International Diabetic Conference held at a local hotel. Speaking on the occasion, International Diabetes Federation (IDF) President Sir Michael Hirst pointed out that 1/8th of the global population will have diabetes or be at risk of developing diabetes by the year 2035.Diabetes is an increasingly serious social, economic and medical threat faced by all nations. It must specially be given high priority in the health policies of developing countries, as it is not just a health issue but a disease that hinders physical development and growth, said Hirst, who is a former member of the British parliament and served in a ministerial capacity during Prime Minister Margret Thatchers tenure.Hirst, who came to Pakistan on the personal invitation of Pakistan Diabetes Association Secretary General Prof Samad Shera, acknowledged Prof Sheras noble work for improving the lives of diabetics and the help he has afforded the IDF in formulation of localised strategies.Prevention is key, as it is the only way the spread of diabetes can be contained. However, we must also focus equally on treatment and make sure that no patient, no matter in which country, dies because he or she could not get insulin, he said.Sharing details of various IDF projects, Hirst highlighted the Life for Child and Insulin for Life programmes as important humanitarian missions that have been launched in 43 countries.He also emphasized on the vital role that the media can play in creating awareness about diabetes, explain its risks and treatment procedures. We can easily overcome the prevalent ignorance through effective collaboration with the media, said Hirst.The IDF president added that Pakistan has promised all international regulatory bodies that it will ensure the availability of essential diabetes drugs. Diabetes is not a disability and we must work together to curb its spread, he remarked.Responding to a question by media about whether a wild plant available in Pakistan does actually possess the ability to cure diabetes, Prof Shera stated that information has not be proven. Over 340 plants have been identified as having blood sugar lowering properties but there has been no scientific research as yet, he said.Sanofi Managing Director & General Manager Tariq Wajid also addressed the conference. The challenge is immense. We are working in partnership with various private hospitals and remain committed to improving diabetes control in Pakistan, he said.The finale of the conference was the launch of the KIDS project, a collaborative initiative between the IDF, DAP and Sanofi Diabetes. The project is aimed at fostering a safe and supportive school environment for children with diabetes. This will not only enable them to better manage their condition but will also prevent discrimination and increase awareness.
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- 2030-Great Barrier Reef could be destroyed by 2030 Greenfudge.org
- Home / Great Barrier Reef could be destroyed by 2030
- Posted by Nikki Anderssen in Climate Change, Conservation, Nature, Pollution, Science & Technology, 8 Mar 2014
- By the time today's teenagers are panicking about having turned 30, most of the Great Barrier Reef could be destroyed.
- According to a new report from researchers at the University of Queensland, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is in serious trouble. It's the Earth's largest living structure, and marine scientists say climate change could bring irreversible damage unless immediate action is taken.
- University of Queensland reef researcher Ove Hoegh-Guldberg says,
- If we don't increase our commitment to solve the burgeoning stress from local and global sources, the reef will disappear. This is not a hunch or alarmist rhetoric by green activists. It is the conclusion of the world's most qualified coral reef experts.
- Lead researcher and biologist Selina Ward wrote the new report ''Lights Out for the Reef'' and highlighted climate change-related impacts. Of particular concern are rising sea temperatures and increasing levels of carbon dioxide which lead to ocean acidification.
- GreatBarrierReef.FlickrCC.KyleTaylor
- The Great Barrier Reef is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.
- Last year UNESCO warned the Australian government the status of the reef could be downgraded due to several dozen local and federal projects that have the potential to cause further destruction to the reef. UNESCO says the site may be reclassified as a ''World Heritage Site in Danger'' unless ''urgent and decisive action'' is taken to preserve the environment surrounding the reef.
- The List of World Heritage Sites in Danger is ''designed to inform the international community of conditions which threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the World Heritage List, and to encourage corrective action.''
- But so far, that warning doesn't appear to have been taken seriously by Australian decision-makers. Since the warning was given, several threatening projects have received the green light by Australian authorities, such as increased dredging for the world's largest coal port along the Queensland coastline.
- Coral reefs provide essential protection for coastlines erosion and stormy seas, they filter and improve water quality and reefs support some of the greatest biodiversity on Earth. Humans are reliant upon the reefs to thrive within island communities and yet, human actions are threatening their existence now more than ever.
- According to a report from Australia's public broadcaster, ABC Science, conditions are looking even bleaker elsewhere.
- Although the best-protected reefs in the world, on the Great Barrier Reef, are the closest to pristine, they are also one-quarter to one-third of the way along the path to ecological extinction.
- Reefs in the western Atlantic have declined more severely than in Australia.
- This isn't just bad news for Australia, but for all islands surrounded by reef systems. While the Great Barrier Reef has been studied and observed by top scientists for decades, many other vital reef systems are just beginning to alert the attention of scientists, and show that recent waves of widespread degradation could be impossible to reverse.
- At least, for ''hundreds if not thousands of years''.
- This year's EARTH HOUR is dedicated to the Great Barrier Reef. Events will take place around the globe on March 29. Learn more about local events, including opportunities to visit the Great Barrier Reef with other participants, in this video:
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- VIDEOS
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- VIDEO-BBC News - China lost plane images 'a mistake'
- 13 March 2014 Last updated at 11:15
- Chinese satellite images that were said to show debris from a missing Malaysian airliner were released by mistake, Malaysia's transport minister says.
- Hishammuddin Hussein also denied a US report that the plane might have flown for hours after contact was lost with the Boeing 777.
- Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing late on Friday, with 239 passengers and crew on board.
- The minister said the disappearance of the plane was unprecedented.
- Mr Hussein told reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport that the Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur had said Beijing's satellite images were released by mistake and "did not show any debris from MH370".
- The three Chinese images appeared to show large, floating objects in the South China Sea The grainy satellite images were released by China's State Administration of Science on Wednesday.
- Mr Hussein also denied a report in the Wall Street Journal that the plane had sent engine data to the ground for more than four hours after it lost contact with air traffic control.
- He said that his team had spoken to Malaysian Airlines and Rolls-Royce, the engine's manufacturers, who both said that the report was "inaccurate".
- "The last transmission from the aircraft was at 0107 which indicated that everything was normal," Mr Hussein said.
- He added that efforts to locate the aircraft were ongoing, promising to "spare nothing in our efforts to find MH370".
- "There are currently 43 ships and 40 aircraft searching the South China Sea and Straits of Malacca," he said.
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- VIDEO-PRIUS-2 dead after car crashes into SXSW crowd | www.statesman.com
- A driver attempting to evade a drunk driving stop hurtled past a barricade on Red River Street and plowed through dozens of SXSW revelers, killing two and injuring 23 in a horrific scene early Thursday morning, police said. The street, home to many popular clubs hosting South by Southwest music showcases, had been closed to motorists and was crowded with music fans waiting to get into the Mohawk nightclub.
- According to police, the man, driving a small Toyota car, went the wrong way down Ninth Street after evading a stop at a gas station around 12:30 a.m., turned onto Red River and drove for more than two blocks, striking numerous pedestrians before hitting a scooter traveling on 11th Street, killing the man and woman on board. The driver then struck a taxi, injuring two, and crashed into a parked van, Police Chief Art Acevedo said.
- The man then attempted to flee on foot before he was stunned with a Taser gun and detained by the police officer who originally tried to pull the man over at a gas station on the frontage road of Interstate 35.
- Speaking to reporters on Red River Street, which was still littered with shoes, clothing and other debris from the incident, Acevedo vowed the man would face capital murder charges in the deaths of the two scooter riders and 23 counts of aggravated assault with a vehicle.
- Acevedo did not identify the suspect, who was alone in the car, but said police would provide more information later Thursday.
- Five people were critically injured and taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge within 15 minutes of the accident, emergency officials said.
- Scott Jakota, a musician from Indiana in town to play SXSW, said he was one of the first people hit. He said the driver ''gunned'' the car, ''and I was thrown up in the sky.'' He appeared to have a leg injury and was being helped by his friends.
- Ally Hulton, a 28-year-old from Los Angeles, was smoking a cigarette on the balcony of her friend's apartment on Red River when she saw a car drive down the street ''at full speed'' before hitting someone.
- It then appeared to accelerate into a crowd of people, she said.
- ''About 10 bodies went flying,'' Hulton said.
- A Statesman photographer on the balcony of the Mohawk at the time of the incident said he saw some bystanders attempting to provide first aid to victims while others sat stunned on curbs with their hands over their mouths. He said the band playing at the time, X, finished its set, unaware of what had happened.
- A large section of Red River will be closed for most of the day Thursday, although police hope to open intersections by morning rush hour.
- Shortly before 3 a.m. Mayor Lee Leffingwell expressed his condolences. ''Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims, as well as those being treated in area hospitals,'' Leffingwell said in a statement. ''The Austin Police department is investigating this matter as allegedly involving drunk driving. If this is true, this fact angers me. Drunk driving is never acceptable, and can lead to deadly consequences.''
- Transmission Events, which owns the Mohawk, said on Twitter: ''Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims and injured from tonight's tragedy. Please check and make sure everyone you know is home safe tonight.''
- Acevedo said an officer assigned to a DWI detail attempted to pull the driver over at the Shell gasoline station at Ninth Street and the frontage road of Interstate 35. Acevedo said the man weaved through the crowded station to avoid the officer and then ''accelerated at a high rate of speed'' the wrong way on Ninth Street before turning onto Red River. The barricade was manned by a police officer who was forced out of the way by the onrushing car.
- Acevedo said there was little that could have been done to stop the driver's rampage. ''This traffic management plan is a plan that has worked for many years, and obviously when we have something like this, we will review it,'' he said. ''But when somebody decides to do the things that this man did, it's part of life and ultimately we have to hold people accountable for their actions. This individual acted in a reckless, willful disregard for the people that were here at this event.''
- According to Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday, an APD officer who is part of a DWI task force attempted to stop a driver of a gray Toyota sedan at a Shell gas station on the Interstate 35 frontage road. The driver evaded the stop and weaved his way through the other cars at the station and headed west down Ninth Street, the wrong direction on a one-way street.
- At Red River, he took a right, barrelled through the barricade, which was manned by a police officer, who jumped out of the way to avoid being hit. The driver accelerated at a high rate of speed, according to Acevedo, and struck multiple pedestrians on Red River, which was closed to street traffic and was full of people lined up outside the Mohawk. He drove two blocks through the pedestrians and at 11th, he struck a moped with a man and woman, who both died at the scene, Acevedo said.
- The driver kept going, hit a taxi and a parked van, before jumping out of the car and fleeing on foot. The same officer who initiated the stop chased him all the way through and tased him, the police chief said.
- Twenty-three people were injured, five of them critical. The more seriously injured were transported to University Medical Center Brackenridge within 15 minutes of the accident, Acevedo said.
- The driver, who police have not yet identified, is in custody and will be charged with two counts of capital murder and 23 counts of aggravated assault with a vehicle.
- A large section of Red River will be closed for most of the day Thursday, although police hope to open intersections by morning rush hour.
- At least two are dead and 21 injured after a car drove through barricades and into a crowd of South of Southwest festival goers outside of the Mohawk music club on Red River Street downtown early Thursday morning, police officials say.
- Police, who are holding a news conference, said the driver was taken into custody.
- Lt. Brian Moon told the Associated Press that two victims were confirmed dead at the scene and that 21 others were transported to hospitals, about five to seven with serious injuries.
- John Wickham, owner of nearby Elysium, was on the upper level of the Mohawk during a SXSW showcase by X, and told the Statesman he saw a car coming down the street fast with a police car in pursuit. He saw the car hit several people. He said he did not see the police car hit anyone.
- Scott Jakota from Indiana said the car that came through the barricade was a gray Prius, and he was one of the first people hit. He said the driver gunned the car, ''and I was thrown up in the sky.'' He appeared to have a leg injury and was being helped by his friends.
- Red River Street was closed to traffic for several blocks, including the block in front of the Mohawk. Separate groups of SXSW badgeholders and non-badgeholders were lined up in the street at the time of the incident.
- Transmission Events, which owns the Mohawk, said on Twitter: ''Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims and injured from tonight's tragedy. Please check and make sure everyone you know is home safe tonight.''
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- VIDEO-'Dark Money' Blamed in Climate Debate | MRCTV
- MRC TV is an online platform for people to share and view videos, articles and opinions on topics that are important to them '-- from news to political issues and rip-roaring humor.
- MRC TV is brought to you by the Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization. The MRC is located at: 1900 Campus Commons Drive, Reston, VA 20194. For information about the MRC, please visit www.MRC.org.
- Copyright (C) 2014, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
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- VIDEO-Sebelius on Federal Intervention: 'We Really Need to Start at Birth' | MRCTV
- MRC TV is an online platform for people to share and view videos, articles and opinions on topics that are important to them '-- from news to political issues and rip-roaring humor.
- MRC TV is brought to you by the Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization. The MRC is located at: 1900 Campus Commons Drive, Reston, VA 20194. For information about the MRC, please visit www.MRC.org.
- Copyright (C) 2014, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
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- VIDEO-Networks Minimize Bad News for Dems, Tout Obama Shopping at the Gap | MRCTV
- More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.
- On Wednesday, the network morning shows gave a combined 53 seconds of air time to Democrats losing a bellwether congressional election in Florida and just 37 seconds to bad poll numbers for President Obama. Meanwhile, Obama shopping at the Gap and pushing regulations to force businesses to pay employees overtime wages got 3 minutes and 36 seconds of coverage.
- On NBC's Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie gushed: "You're at the Gap, you're trying to decide between the cranberry or maybe the indigo t-shirt, you look over and who is sizing up the same items but the leader of the free world....It happened to a store full of shoppers here in New York on Tuesday, President Obama popped in. "
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- VIDEO- MSM Attempts To Reignite FEARS Of U.S. RUSSIA NUCLEAR WAR! - YouTube
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- VIDEO- MSM Continues To Focus On "What Edward Snowden Didn't Say" Instead Of WHAT HE'S SAYING! - YouTube
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- VIDEO- Clear Evidence U.S. MSM Is Turning People Into Brain Dead Zombies That Can't Think For Themselves - YouTube
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- VIDEO- Interviewer Says Adam Lanza's Father Told Him He Wished His Son Had Never Been Born - YouTube
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- VIDEO- "We Have To Make A Few Changes And If We Make Them We're Gonna Trigger A New American Century" - YouTube
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- VIDEO-Amber Lyon reveals CNN lies and war propaganda - YouTube
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- VIDEO-FAIL: Democrat Claims Constitution is 400 Years Old - YouTube
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- VIDEO-NATIVE AD-Kissing YouTube video goes viral (oh, no, it's an ad) | Technically Incorrect - CNET News
- A video showing many pairs of strangers kissing for the first time fascinates millions -- 25 million, in fact. If only they knew the clip was flogging fashion.
- (Credit: Tatiana Pilieva/YouTube; screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)Here is the lesson from the Web this week: It takes just a couple of days to get 25 million people to pay attention.
- All you have to do is show them other people enjoying their first kiss. And, preferably, being slightly embarrassed about it because they're total strangers.
- This fine artistic ruse emerged on Monday, courtesy of filmmaker Tatiana Pilieva.
- Here were 10 pairs of people meeting for the very first time, locking eyes, and, shortly thereafter, lips.
- We sighed in wonderment. Well, not all of us. Some of us were suspicious about the fact that these people were, on the whole, remarkably pretty.
- Of course they'd want to kiss each other. Pretty people generally do. In fact, there is evidence that all pretty people ever do is kiss other pretty people.
- Moreover, these people seemed to have the casual, well-dressed air of models -- the sort of models you're supposed to believe are real people, but who actually aren't.
- More Technically IncorrectAnd so, once millions and millions stared at this video and marveled at the pairs that had been brought together, some news seeped onto Twitter.
- A fashion house called Wren Studio offered a tweet that read, in part, "To celebrate the debut of our Fall 14 collection, we asked 20 strangers to kiss for the first time."
- As Wren Studio's founder and creative director, Melissa Coker, told Fashionista: "I emailed a bunch of people I know, through my personal life, through Wren. I tried to be diverse. Some of them are musicians. But the guy with the tattoos, he actually works at Wren."
- Business Insider offers that the majority of the featured strangers were "models, actors, and musicians with plenty of experience acting in front of a camera."
- Well, indeed. Snogging a stranger on camera is not a simple task. Indeed, snogging a stranger in front of other people without a camera isn't always easy.
- Still, I am most impressed by the fact that this is an ad for the fall collection. There is symbolism here.
- You see how ahead of their (your) time these fashion people are? They know what you'll be thinking and feeling in six months' time.
- What you'll be thinking and feeling right now is whether any of the couples in the video are still together. And why some fashion studio had to spoil your fantasies.
- The Web giveth, the Web taketh away.
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- VIDEO- Conversation with CIA Director John O. Brennan - Council on Foreign Relations
- Speaker: John O. Brennan, Director, Central Intelligence AgencyPresider: Andrea Mitchell, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, NBC NewsMarch 11, 2014
- John O. Brennan discusses challenges to the intelligence community and reflects on his first year as CIA director.
- Terms of Use: I understand that I may access this audio and/or video file solely for my personal use. Any other use of the file and its content, including display, distribution, reproduction, or alteration in any form for any purpose, whether commercial, noncommercial, educational, or promotional, is expressly prohibited without the written permission of the copyright owner, the Council on Foreign Relations. For more information, write publications@cfr.org.
- The Most:Subscribe to The World This WeekAsk CFR ExpertsHow should the United States react to Al-Qaeda regaining influence in Iraq?
- Asked by Tyler Malcolm,Answered by David PalkkiAsk a Question
- See all the questions and answers
- New BooksBy All Means Necessaryby Elizabeth C. Economy and Michael LeviThis clear and authoritative book presents a sweeping account of China's global resource quest and the unrivaled expansion of its economy. More
- No Exit from Pakistanby Daniel S. MarkeyThe story of the tragic and often tormented relationship between the United States and Pakistan, and a call to prepare for the worst, aim for the best, and avoid past mistakes. More
- Pathways to Freedomedited by Isobel Coleman and Terra Lawson-RemerAn authoritative and accessible look at what countries must do to build durable and prosperous democracies'--and what the United States and others can do to help. More
- Independent Task Force ReportsDefending an Open, Global, Secure, and Resilient InternetThis Independent Task Force report finds that as more people and services become interconnected and dependent on the Internet, societies are becoming increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks.
- New Council Special Reports"Reorienting U.S.-Pakistan Strategyby Daniel S. MarkeyThe author examines Pakistan's complex role in U.S. foreign policy and advocates for a two-pronged approach that works to quarantine threats while integrating Pakistan into the broader U.S. agenda in Asia.
- Afghanistan After the Drawdownby Seth G. Jones and Keith CraneThe authors assess the political, security, and economic challenges facing U.S. policymakers in Afghanistan and evaluate a range of policy options.
- The Future of U.S. Special Operations Forcesby Linda RobinsonSpecial operations play a critical role in how the United States confronts irregular threats, but to have long-term strategic impact, the author argues, numerous shortfalls must be addressed.
- Complete list of Council Special Reports
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- VIDEO- Chris Soghoian Explains Edward Snowden's Appearance At The South By Southwest Festival - YouTube
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- VIDEO-Jay Carney Plugs Wife's Book from White House Podium | The Weekly Standard
- White House spokesman Jay Carney plugged his wife's book today at the White House press briefing:
- In response to a question about whether raising the minimum wage is good politics -- because it helps Democrats with women voters -- Carney said, "It's certainly the right thing to do regardless. What the assessments that have been done related to the minimum wage is that women would be affected more than men, because women tend to have minimum wage jobs, as I understand it -- not an economist -- in greater numbers than men do."
- He continued, bringing his wife's book into the discussion: "But here's the point, and I mentioned my wife's book on this, there is a macroeconomic benefit to making sure -- Womenomics available on Amazon, it came out in 2009. It might have been on the New York Yimes bestseller list. I'm only saying this because I happen to know because of that a little bit about this subject, that there are bottom line benefits to making sure that private sector and public sector make sure that the rules of the road if you will when it comes to our economy work for women because doing that is not just the right thing to do, it's economically beneficial. It helps the bottom line. It helps the country's bottom line and it helps private sector bottom line. So, again, I didn't mean to jump on you--but this is good for the economy. ... it's good for the economy, I promise you."
- "Your wife's wonderful," a journalist said in response.
- Carney's wife, ABC journalist Claire Shipman, published Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success in 2009.
- As Zeke Miller notes, Shipman has a new book coming out next month:
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- VIDEO-LiveLeak.com - Full Saddam Hussein Execution With English Subtitles *WARNING: GRAPHIC*
- This is the Saddam Hussein execution video with english subtitles. Some of the subtitles here have not been seen in other copies of the video before, only been written about. Parts where Hussein can be seen moving his mouth, the subtitles represnt eyewitness accounts of what he was saying and to the best ability of lip readers. Viewer Discretion is advised.
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- VIDEO-AUDIO- Edward Snowden and ACLU at SXSW - YouTube
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- VIDEO-Turkey: anger after boy dies following street battles | euronews, world news
- Protesters clashed with police in cities across Turkey on Tuesday evening. The protesters were angry after the death of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan who got caught up in street battles between police and protesters while going to buy bread for his family last summer.
- He was hit on the head by a tear gas canister suspected to have been fired by police. Berkin later slipped into a coma and died on Tuesday.
- It is another pre-election headache for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, already battling a corruption scandal which has become one of the biggest challenges of his decade in power.
- Police fired water cannon and tear gas at thousands of demonstrators.
- Crowds chanted ''government of Erdogan, government of corruption, resign resign'' and ''murderer Erdogan''.
- Earlier police broke up a crowd of more than two thousand students who blocked a highway to protest against Elvan's death.
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- VIDEO-President Barack Obama and Zach Galifianakis Insult Each Other on 'Between Two Ferns'
- ''If I ran a third time, it would be like doing a third 'Hangover' movie. It didn't work out too well, did it?''
- On a recent episode of Between Two Ferns, host Zach Galifianakis and his special guest President Barack Obama take turns verbally insulting each other. They hit on healthcare, The Hangover films, and the successful life of actor Bradley Cooper. We've previously written about Funny or Die and their Between Two Ferns series.
- President Barack Obama sits down with Zach Galifianakis for his most memorable interview yet.
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- VIDEO-Senator Feinstein DCA CIA Search Congress | Video | C-SPAN.org
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- *The transcript for this program was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.
- Hosting OrganizationMore Videos FromU.S SenateMore VideosRelated VideoMore information aboutSenator Feinstein (D-CA) on CIA Search of Congress' Computers
- 0 ViewsProgram ID:318232-6Category:Senate HighlightFormat:Senate HighlightLocation:Washington, District of Columbia, United StatesFirst Aired:Mar 11, 2014Last Aired:Mar 12, 2014Airing DetailsMar 11, 2014 | 12:14pm EDT | C-SPAN 1Mar 11, 2014 | 2:15pm EDT | C-SPAN 1Mar 11, 2014 | 5:52pm EDT | C-SPAN 1Mar 11, 2014 | 9:41pm EDT | C-SPAN 3Mar 12, 2014 | 3:27am EDT | C-SPAN 3Purchase a DVD or DownloadSenator Feinstein (D-CA) on CIA Search of Congress' Computers
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- VIDEO-2030-2030 cancer | Video | C-SPAN.org
- Created by an anonymous useron March 11, 2014
- 2030 Cancer clip at 06:45
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- *The transcript for this program was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.
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- VIDEO-WAR ON SCIENCE-Neil deGrasse Tyson tells CNN: Stop giving 'equal time to the flat Earthers' | The Raw Story
- By David EdwardsSunday, March 9, 2014 15:22 EDT
- Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of Fox's documentary series Cosmos, said on Sunday that the news media should stop trying to ''balance'' the debate on scientific issues by hosting people who deny science.
- In an interview on CNN's Reliable Sourcs, host Brian Stelter asked Tyson how to go about brokering a peace in the ''war on science.''
- ''Our civilization is built on the innovation of scientists and technologists and engineers who have shaped everything that we so take for granted today,'' Tyson pointed out. ''So some of the science deniers or science haters, these are people who are telling that to you while they are on their mobile phone.''
- ''They are saying, 'I don't like science. Oh, GPS just told us to go left,''' he laughed. ''So it's time for people to sit back and reassess what role science as actually played in our lives. And learn how to embrace that going forward, because with out it, we will just regress back into the caves.''
- Stelter observed that the news media often tried to balance the climate change debate, even when the two sides were not equal.
- ''What responsibility do you think the members of the media have to portray science correctly,'' the CNN host wondered.
- ''The media has to sort of come out of this ethos that I think was in principle a good one, but it doesn't really apply in science,'' Tyson explained. ''The principle was, whatever story you give, you have to give the opposing view. And then you can be viewed as balanced.''
- ''You don't talk about the spherical Earth with NASA, and then say let's give equal time to the flat Earthers,'' he added. ''Plus, science is not there for you to cherry pick.''
- Tyson recalled that he once said that ''the good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.''
- ''You can decide whether or not to believe in it, but that doesn't change the reality of an emergent scientific truth,'' he noted.
- Cosmos premieres Sunday night on the Fox broadcasting network at 9 p.m. ET.
- Watch the video below from CNN's Reliable Sources, broadcast March 9, 2013.
- David Edwards has served as an editor at Raw Story since 2006. His work can also be found at Crooks & Liars, and he's also been published at The BRAD BLOG. He came to Raw Story after working as a network manager for the state of North Carolina and as as engineer developing enterprise resource planning software. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidEdwards.
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- VIDEO-USDOJ: Briefing Room: Videos: The Attorney General's Weekly Video Message
- Attorney General's Weekly Video Message: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Attorney General Eric Holder reflects on Dr. King's vision of social and economic justice and our shared faith in the ideals upon which the American Republic was founded.
- The Attorney General's Weekly Video Message: Sentencing Reform
- Attorney General Holder today called on Congress to pass common-sense reforms like the bipartisan Smarter Sentencing Act, which would give judges more discretion in determining appropriate sentences for people convicted of certain federal drug crimes. These reforms would advance the goals of the Smart on Crime initiative - and other efforts that are currently underway - by fundamentally improving policies that exacerbate, rather than alleviate, key criminal justice challenges.
- The Attorney General's Weekly Video Message: Lifting the Hiring Freeze
- Attorney General Holder today announced the lifting of the Justice Department-wide hiring freeze that's been in place for just over three years. Thanks to additional resources provided by Congress, the Department will finally be able to fill critical vacancies, and resume the hiring process for federal agents, prosecutors, analysts, and the other staff we need to fulfill our mission.
- The Attorney General's Weekly Video Message: Protecting Consumers from Cybercrime and Identity Theft
- Attorney General Holder today called on Congress to create a strong, national standard for quickly alerting consumers whose information may be compromised by cyberattacks. This legislation would strengthen the Justice Department's ability to combat crime, ensure individual privacy, and prevent identity theft - while bringing cybercriminals to justice.
- Attorney General Holder Calls Rise in Heroin Overdoses 'Urgent Public Health Crisis,' Vows Mix of Enforcement, Treatment
- Calling the rise in overdose deaths from heroin and other prescription pain-killers an ½urgent public health crisis,½ Attorney General Eric Holder vowed Monday that the Justice Department would combat the epidemic through a mix of enforcement and treatment efforts. As an added step, the Attorney General is also encouraging law enforcement agencies to train and equip their personnel with the life-saving, overdose-reversal drug known as naloxone.
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- VIDEO-UFO, Strange Anomalies Show in Missing Plane Radar Golden Age of Gaia
- Stephen: The mystery of the missing flight continues '' and is possibly even increased '' by both these videos of the actual radar at the time. First tip thanks to Alice. Rumours are now circulating, even in the mainstream media, that many relatives were able to call the mobile phones of their loved ones and 'connect' before the call was abruptly cut off.
- From Alexandra Bruce, Forbidden Knowledge TV, via email and YouTube user DAHBOO7
- Alexandra writes: ''Seeing the radar playback of the moments leading up to the plane's disappearance, one may forgive Malaysia Airlines for not being more forthcoming, in this case '' because the radar playback is not only baffling, it shows two distinct anomalies, as pointed out by intrepid citizen-reporter and YouTube popstar, DAHBOO7.
- ''The radar playback depicts dozens of planes in flight over the region at the time. The first peculiarity is seen in the lower left of the screen. A round object appears in the vicinity of Flight 370 (and amid several others), which the radar does not automatically ''read'' as airplane.
- ''Suddenly, this round object takes the form of a ''plane'' on the radar screen and it accelerates at a rate of speed that must be at least five times the speed of the surrounding planes, heading eastward, over the South China Sea. Then, just as suddenly '' the object stops and appears to hover in place.
- ''During this same time, there is some evidence that shortly after crossing the Malaysian Peninsula, Flight 370 was in trouble. The radar shows that the plane took three sharp turns: right, left, right at an altitude of 35,000 feet and at a speed of 473 knots '' just before the radar readings instantly go from 35,000 feet to 0, with the plane still traveling at that speed for a few moments more, at 0 feet altitude before it vanishes from the screen. As of this writing, this plane remains missing, even though the sea is relatively shallow where it disappeared.
- ''As for the other object described here, it disappears, as well. There have been no reports about this object '' or plane, or what have you; whether it was a commercial airliner, like the many others in flight over the region during the final moments preceding the disappearance of Flight 370 '' but the object in question certainly didn't behave like a commercial airliner.
- ''Regardless of whether this mystery object had anything to do with the demise of Flight 370 '' what IS evident is that the radar readings shown in this clip captured signals from what for now, can only be termed a UFO.''
- Stephen: For verification, I've also included this second video of the radar for that same period of time by another YouTube user, Ridzuan Maidi.
- I note that just as the Malaysian Airlines flight appears to disappear from the radar screen, two , yes 2, other planes to the right and below the missing plane '' one of which is the very fast moving plane that DAHBOO7 notes that has by then stalled '' - also disappear off the screen at the exact same time.
- There is definitely something 'other worldly' going on here'...
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- VIDEO-Beyonce Joins Stars In 'Ban Bossy' Campaign
- A host of prominent women - including Beyonce and Victoria Beckham - have thrown their support behind a campaign against the word "bossy".
- The Ban Bossy campaign, run with Girl Scouts of the USA and Leanin.org, promotes leadership roles among young girls.
- Actresses Jennifer Garner and Jane Lynch, as well as Condoleezza Rice, a former US secretary of state, have also added their voices to discourage the use of the word, which campaigners say stops girls from speaking out.
- It adds that between primary school and secondary school, girls' self-esteem drops 3.5 times more than boys' and that by the age of 12 girls are much less interested in leading.
- Actress and comedian Jayne Lynch is among supporters of the campaignFacebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said she launched the campaign when she found most women she spoke to with careers in business had been called "bossy" at some point.
- "I was called bossy when I was in ninth grade," she said.
- "My teacher took my best friend Mindy aside and she said 'You shouldn't be friends with Shery - she's bossy'. And that hurt.
- "We call (women) too aggressive or other B-words in the workplace. They're bossy as little girls, and then they're aggressive, political, shrill, too ambitious as women."
- On her Twitter page, fashion designer Victoria Beckham wrote: "It is thought-provoking that a man in charge may be described as commanding, however a woman in the same situation may be called bossy."
- Glee actress Jane Lynch wrote: "I would tell my 10-year-old self not to be afraid to step up and say what you think. Do not be afraid to express your opinion.
- "Do not be afraid to suggest things. Do not be afraid to lead."
- Beyonce signs off the campaign ad, saying: "I'm not bossy, I'm the boss."
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- VIDEO_SPY SATELLITES-Ten countries scour sea for Malaysia jet lost in 'unprecedented mystery' | Reuters
- By Eveline Danubrata and Nguyen Phuong Linh
- KUALA LUMPUR/PHU QUOC ISLAND, VietnamMon Mar 10, 2014 4:01pm EDT
- 1 of 19. A military personnel looks out of a helicopter during a search and rescue mission off Vietnam's Tho Chu island March 10, 2014.
- Credit: Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha
- KUALA LUMPUR/PHU QUOC ISLAND, Vietnam (Reuters) - T he disappearance of a Malaysian airliner about an hour into a flight to Beijing is an "unprecedented mystery", the civil aviation chief said on Monday, as a massive air and sea search now in its third day failed to find any trace of the plane or 239 people on board.
- Dozens of ships and aircraft from 10 countries scoured the seas around Malaysia and south of Vietnam as questions mounted over possible security lapses and whether a bomb or hijacking attempt could have brought down the Boeing 777-200ER which took off from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
- The area of the search would be widened from Tuesday, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the head of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Authority, told reporters.
- A senior police official told Reuters that people armed with explosives and carrying false identity papers had tried to fly out of Kuala Lumpur in the past, and that current investigations were focused on two passengers who were on the missing plane with stolen passports.
- "We have stopped men with false or stolen passports and carrying explosives, who have tried to get past KLIA (airport) security and get on to a plane," he said. "There have been two or three incidents, but I will not divulge the details."
- Interpol confirmed on Sunday at least two passengers used stolen passports and said it was checking whether others aboard had used false identity documents.
- Azharuddin said a hijacking attempt could not be ruled out as investigators explore all theories for the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
- "Unfortunately we have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft, let alone the aircraft," he told a news conference. "As far as we are concerned, we have to find the aircraft. We have to find a piece of the aircraft if possible."
- Azharuddin also said the two men with stolen passports did not look like Asians, but he did not elaborate. Airport CCTV footage showed they completed all security procedures, he said.
- "We are looking at the possibility of a stolen passport syndicate," he said.
- About two-thirds of the 227 passengers and 12 crew now presumed to have died aboard the plane were Chinese. The airline said other nationalities included 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, five Indians, four French and three Americans.
- China urged Malaysia to speed up the search for the plane.
- "This incident happened more than two days ago, and we hope that the Malaysians can fully understand the urgency of China, especially of the family members, and can step up the speed of the investigation and increase efforts on search and rescue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Beijing.
- A senior source involved in preliminary investigations in Malaysia said the failure to find any debris indicated the plane may have broken up mid-flight, which could disperse wreckage over a very wide area.
- "The fact that we are unable to find any debris so far appears to indicate that the aircraft is likely to have disintegrated at around 35,000 feet," said the source.
- Asked about the possibility of an explosion, the source said there was no evidence of foul play and that the aircraft could have broken up due to mechanical causes.
- Still, the source said the closest parallels were the bomb explosions on board an Air India jetliner in 1985 when it was over the Atlantic Ocean and a Pan Am aircraft over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. Both planes were cruising at around 31,000 feet at the time.
- The United States extensively reviewed imagery taken by American spy satellites for evidence of a mid-air explosion, but saw none, a U.S. government source said. The source described U.S. satellite coverage of the region as thorough.
- Hopes for a breakthrough rose briefly when Vietnam scrambled helicopters to investigate a floating yellow object it was thought could have been a life raft. But the country's Civil Aviation Authority said on its website that the object turned out to be a "moss-covered cap of a cable reel".
- Flight MH370 disappeared from radar screens in the early hours of Saturday, about an hour into its flight from Kuala Lumpur, after climbing to a cruising altitude of 35,000 ft.
- Underlining the lack of hard information about the plane's fate, a U.S. Navy P-3 aircraft capable of covering 1,500 sq miles every hour was sweeping the northern part of the Strait of Malacca, on the other side of the Malaysian peninsula from where the last contact with MH370 was made.
- No distress signal was sent from the lost plane, which experts said suggested a sudden catastrophic failure or explosion, but Malaysia's air force chief said radar tracking showed it may have turned back from its scheduled route before it disappeared.
- The Boeing 777 has one of the best safety records of any commercial aircraft in service. Its only previous fatal crash came on July 6 last year when Asiana Airlines Flight 214 struck a seawall on landing in San Francisco, killing three people.
- The passenger manifest issued by the airline included the names of two Europeans - Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Maraldi - who were not on the plane. Their passports had been stolen in Thailand during the past two years.
- An Interpol spokeswoman said a check of all documents used to board the plane had revealed more "suspect passports", which were being investigated.
- "Whilst it is too soon to speculate about any connection between these stolen passports and the missing plane, it is clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport listed in Interpol's databases," Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said.
- A European diplomat in Kuala Lumpur cautioned that the Malaysian capital was an Asian hub for illegal migrants, many of whom used false documents and complex routes including via Beijing or West Africa to reach a final destination in Europe.
- "You shouldn't automatically think that the fact there were two people on the plane with false passports had anything to do with the disappearance of the plane," the diplomat said.
- "The more you know about the role of Kuala Lumpur in this chain, the more doubtful you are of the chances of a linkage."
- A Thai travel agent who arranged the tickets for the two passengers using the stolen passports said she had booked them on the flight via Beijing because they were the cheapest tickets, the Financial Times reported.
- The travel agent in the resort of Pattaya said an Iranian business contact she knew only as "Mr Ali" had asked her to book tickets for the two men on March 1.
- She had initially booked them on other airlines but those reservations expired and on March 6, Mr Ali had asked her to book them again. She told the newspaper she did not think Mr Ali, who paid her in cash and booked tickets with her regularly, was linked to terrorism.
- (Additional reporting by Siva Govindasamy, Niluksi Koswanage, Stuart Grudgings, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Yantoultra Ngui in KUALA LUMPUR, Ben Blanchard, Megha Rajagopalan and Adam Rose in BEIJING, Martin Petty in HANOI, Robert Birsel in BANGKOK, Alwyn Scott in NEW YORK, Naomi O'Leary in ROME, Tim Hepher in PARIS, Brian Leonal in SINGAPORE and Mark Hosenball and Ian Simpson in WASHINGTON; Writing by Alex Richardson; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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