NSA and Edward Snowden news items....
A Manifesto for the Truth
by Edward Snowden, November 04, 2013
This article by Edward Snowden was published Sunday in Der Spiegel.
In a very short time, the world has learned much about unaccountable secret agencies and about sometimes illegal surveillance programs. Sometimes the agencies even deliberately try to hide their surveillance of high officials or the public. While the NSA and GCHQ seem to be the worst offenders – this is what the currently available documents suggest – we must not forget that mass surveillance is a global problem in need of global solutions.
Such programs are not only a threat to privacy, they also threaten freedom of speech and open societies. The existence of spy technology should not determine policy. We have a moral duty to ensure that our laws and values limit monitoring programs and protect human rights.
Society can only understand and control these problems through an open, respectful and informed debate. At first, some governments feeling embarrassed by the revelations of mass surveillance initiated an unprecedented campaign of persecution to supress this debate. They intimidated journalists and criminalized publishing the truth. At this point, the public was not yet able to evaluate the benefits of the revelations. They relied on their governments to decide correctly.
Today we know that this was a mistake and that such action does not serve the public interest. The debate which they wanted to prevent will now take place in countries around the world. And instead of doing harm, the societal benefits of this new public knowledge is now clear, since reforms are now proposed in the form of increased oversight and new legislation.
Citizens have to fight suppression of information on matters of vital public importance. To tell the truth is not a crime.
Pakistan items....
US Broke Promise of No Drone Strikes During Pakistan Peace Talks
US Shrugs Off Criticism, Insists Talks 'An Internal Matter'
by Jason Ditz, November 03, 2013
A Friday drone strike which killed Pakistani Taliban (TTP) leader Hakimullah Mehsud was particularly galling, according to Pakistani officials, because they’d received specific promises that the US would not carry out any strikes during the Pakistani peace talks.
Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister for Pakistan’s Punjab Province and the younger brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says he was assured at “high levels” that there would be no drone strikes during the Sharif government’s peace dialogue with the TTP.
The US State Department shruggedoff the complaints, insisting that Pakistan’s peace talks were an “internal matter” and unrelated to the drone strike, even though it targeted Hakimullah and other leaders of the group Pakistan is trying to negotiate with.
The State Department statement urged those questioning their position to ask the Pakistani government for “further details.” Pakistan’s government has condemned the strike, saying the US “murdered” the peace talks and that not only had the strike killed the 25 people it hit, but would be responsible for future deaths coming from the lack of a peace deal.
The TTP had conditioned the talks on the end of US drone strikes, and its interim leadership has backed out of the talks for the time being, saying that they can’t negotiated a lasting peace with “US slaves” in the current government.
Hakimullah took over the TTP in 2009, after a drone strike killed Baitullah Mehsud. Hakimullah proved a much more aggressive leader than the sickly Baitullah, expanding the TTP far outside of Pakistan’s tribal areas. Asmatullah Bhittani is the interim leader now, with many seeing Khalid Sajna as likely to eventually be appointed the permanent leader.
Whoever takes over the reins, however, the peace process was likely dealt a mortal blow, at least for the time being, and Pakistani security forces remain on high alert pending retaliation.
Syria and Iran....
The fighters, loyal to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and Jabhat al-Nusra, have been ousted from 19 different towns across the area, and are said to be trying to regroup in the countryside.
Report: Kurds Oust al-Qaeda From 19 Towns in Syria’s Northeast
Series of Victories Shores Up Kurdish Autonomy
by Jason Ditz, November 04, 2013
Fighters for the Kurdish militias in Syria’s northeast have scored a series of decisive victories over al-Qaeda-backed Islamist rebels this weekend, according to reports from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The fighters, loyal to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and Jabhat al-Nusra, have been ousted from 19 different towns across the area, and are said to be trying to regroup in the countryside.
Still, with the Kurds having ousted AQI from the Yaaroubiyehborder crossing last week, the momentum is securely on their side, and West Kurdistan seems to be increasingly set up as an autonomous Kurdish statelet.
That could make the internal politics within the Kurdish factions even more important. Iraqi Kurdistan has backed the “Kurdish National Council” faction, which sees itself as part of the secular Syrian National Coalition (SNC) rebellion, while much of the fighting is by those loyal to the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which sees the Kurdish region as a distinct entity within Syria, neither pro-rebel or pro-Assad.
Syrian Opposition Rules Out Peace Talks
Won't Go to Geneva Unless It's to Talk Regime Change
by Jason Ditz, November 03, 2013
Syrian National Coalition (SNC) President Ahmad al-Jabra has ruled out his faction attending the Geneva II peace talks, or indeed any other peace talks, saying that they’d never meet with the Assad government, or with Iran.
Jabra said he would go to a future conference in Geneva so long as it was entirely a discussion of “a successful transfer of power” discussing the installation of his faction as the new government.
That’s clearly not happening, since the SNC doesn’t command the loyalty of very many of the rebel fighting forces on the ground, and even if they somehow were installed as the new government, the civil war would just transition to one between them and al-Qaeda.
That’s one of the many reasons why the Geneva II talks likely won’t happen at all, since none of the rebel groups have agreed to attend, and some of the biggest ones haven’t even been invited.
and...
US Promises to Consult Israel Before Any Deal With Iran
Israeli Security 'Paramount' in Any Negotiations
by Jason Ditz, November 03, 2013
In an interview with the Israeli media today, Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman assured that the United States would never agree to any deal with Iran without “consulting” Israel beforehand.
Sherman echoed comments from other US officials trying to placate Israel, which oppose diplomacy with Iran, saying that they consider a “bad deal” worse than no deal at all, and that Israeli security would be the paramount issue in all talks between the P5+1 and Iran.
She went on to insist that no deal was imminent, insisting the US hadn’t agreed to any deal and would not agree to any interim agreements that would lift any sanctions against Iran.
Lifting sanctions is likely a secondary concern at this point, with Israeli lobbying groups attempting to get more and more sanctions imposed, and the White House focusing primarily on convincing them to pause those increases for the time being.
| Syrian Rebels Lose Ground to Assad Forces; Opposition Commander Akaidi Resigns |
| Ryan Crocker: Talk to Iran, It Works |
Libya.....
East Libya Declares ‘Autonomy’ from Tripoli
Announcement Moves Cyrenaica Closer to Secession
by Jason Ditz, November 03, 2013
Top provincial leaders in Eastern Libya have announced to formation of an “autonomous regional government” that will operate in parallel with the central government in Tropli, the latest step toward independence in post-war Libya.
So far the movement is insisting they will stop short of outright secession, but today’s ceremony saw Libyan flags conspicuously absent, replaced by the flag of independent Cyrenaica.
Former air force commander Abd-Rabbu al-Barassi was declared the prime minister of the region. The central government has rejected the idea of “self rule” as unacceptable.
But there’s been a clear trend toward autonomy in Cyrenaica back to the rebellion against the Gadhafi regime. Cities like Benghazi have been virtually independent since then, with the central government’s control even in Tripoli incomplete at best.
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