Category Archives: Just strange

Muammar Gaddafi in his tent in Donald Trump’s… – Historical Times

http://historicaltimes.tumblr.com/post/140653461895/muammar-gaddafi-in-his-tent-in-donald-trumps

Muammar Gaddafi in his tent in Donald Trump’s garden on a trip to the UN New York, 2009

Middle East – Gulf States declare Lebanon’s Hezbollah a terrorist group – France 24

{US and NATO needs more than a 10-foot pole to distance themselves from Saudi-led war against Shia}

Wednesday’s move against Hezbollah reflects deeper regional divisions between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite powerhouse Iran, Hezbollah’s patron. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Iran earlier this year after protesters angry over the kingdom’s execution of influential Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr set fire to the Saudi Embassy and another diplomatic mission inside Iran. Saudi Arabia in 2014 designated a Saudi affiliate of Hezbollah a terrorist group along with the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaida, Yemen’s Shiite Houthis and other groups. The GCC announcement came a few hours after a televised speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in which he harshly criticized Saudi Arabia for punitive measures that targeted Lebanon recently, including the halt in aid and Gulf travel warnings. He repeated his accusations that Saudi Arabia was directly responsible for some of the car bombings in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq and denounced Saudi “massacres” in Yemen. “Who gives Saudi Arabia the right to punish Lebanon and its army and Lebanese people living in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf just because Hezbollah is speaking out? We urge Riyadh to settle accounts with Hezbollah and not all the Lebanese,” he said. He also accused Saudi Arabia of seeking to cause strife between Sunnis and Shiites everywhere in the world and said its execution of al-Nimr in January came in that context.

Source: Middle East – Gulf States declare Lebanon’s Hezbollah a terrorist group – France 24

Saudi Arabia, UAE urge citizens against traveling to Lebanon | News | DW.COM | 23.02.2016 {Cutting off noses to spite… themselves?}

Now, the countries’ anger has turned toward Lebanon for its support of Hezbollah, an Iran-backed, Shiite terrorist organization, as well as embattled President Bashar al Assad, whom those countries want to see ousted. Billions in aid halted Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE specified why they were calling on their citizens not to go to Lebanon. However, their announcement followed a decision by Saudi Arabia to halt a deal to arm the Lebanese army with some $4 billion (3.7 billion euros) in weapons, citing the country’s refusal to condemn the embassy attacks in Tehran. In a statement carried by Saudi Arabia’s state news agency, the government called Lebanon’s support for Iran “regrettable and unjustified” and “inconsistent with the fraternal relations between the two countries.” Relations in the Middle East have become fraught as Saudi Arabia and Iran compete for influence in the region. The two countries’ support for opposing sides in the ongoing Syrian conflict has contributed considerably to the tensions.

Source: Saudi Arabia, UAE urge citizens against traveling to Lebanon | News | DW.COM | 23.02.2016

Customer Letter – Apple — back door

A Dangerous Precedent Rather than asking for legislative action through Congress, the FBI is proposing an unprecedented use of the All Writs Act of 1789 to justify an expansion of its authority. The government would have us remove security features and add new capabilities to the operating system, allowing a passcode to be input electronically. This would make it easier to unlock an iPhone by “brute force,” trying thousands or millions of combinations with the speed of a modern computer. The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge. Opposing this order is not something we take lightly. We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the U.S. government. We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications. While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.

Rather than asking for legislative action through Congress, the FBI is proposing an unprecedented use of the All Writs Act of 1789 to justify an expansion of its authority. The government would have us remove security features and add new capabilities to the operating system, allowing a passcode to be input electronically. This would make it easier to unlock an iPhone by “brute force,” trying thousands or millions of combinations with the speed of a modern computer. The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge. Opposing this order is not something we take lightly. We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the U.S. government. We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications. While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.

Source: Customer Letter – Apple

SPLC’s Intelligence Report: Amid Year of Lethal Violence, Extremist Groups Expanded Ranks in 2015 | Southern Poverty Law Center

The hate groups listed in this report include neo-Nazis, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, Klansmen and black separatists. Other hate groups on the list target LGBT people, Muslims or immigrants, and some specialize in producing racist music or propaganda denying the Holocaust.

Source: SPLC’s Intelligence Report: Amid Year of Lethal Violence, Extremist Groups Expanded Ranks in 2015 | Southern Poverty Law Center

Beijing ‘deploys’ surface-to-air missiles on disputed island in South China Sea – nedhamson@gmail.com – Gmail

Gmail is email that’s intuitive, efficient, and useful. 15 GB of storage, less spam, and mobile access.

Source: Beijing ‘deploys’ surface-to-air missiles on disputed island in South China Sea – nedhamson@gmail.com – Gmail

Why Narendra Modi’s government is at war with students | Opinion | DW.COM | 16.02.2016 (Was only a matter of time before Hindu Nationalists showed their fascist core!)

Both the government and its political supporters are upping the ante with overblown and anti-leftist nationalism. Virtually every institution and individual is being marked as either traitorous or nationalist. Since JNU is considered a leftist bastion, Hindu nationalists are demanding on Twitter that the university be shut down, and the demand to arrest “traitors” is trending on Twitter. One section of the political divide has assumed the monopoly over the power to issue certificates of patriotism. Shivam Vij writes for DW from India It has long been a grouse of Hindu nationalists that intellectual spaces in India, such as academia and English-language media, are dominated by leftist elements. Since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, the government has tried to install right-wing heads in many such institutions, the key criterion being political affiliation and not talent. This in itself caused protests. But now the nationalists seem to have decided to go a step further, turning students into political prisoners and taking to vigilantism and violence with impunity, as the police often stand by and do nothing. On Monday, journalists, academics and activists were attacked by lawyers close to the ruling party. “We’ll break your phones and your bones,” they said. Journalists were punched, slapped and abused, called terrorists and asked to leave.

Source: Why Narendra Modi’s government is at war with students | Opinion | DW.COM | 16.02.2016

Mitch McConnell Says the Next President Should Appoint Scalia’s Successor – So much for supporting the US Constitution!

Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader and Republican of Kentucky, said in a statement that the next president, not President Obama, should appoint a successor to Justice Antonin Scalia.

Source: Mitch McConnell Says the Next President Should Appoint Scalia’s Successor

Tortured Italian student died ‘slow death’: Egypt official

The Egyptian Association for Rights and Freedoms documented 314 cases of forced disappearances in 2015, said lawyer Halem Henish. Most later turned up in prison, but at least five were found at the morgue, including one with signs of torture like burns and electric shocks.He said the group has documented 35 disappearances so far in 2016, including at least two of whom died.Meanwhile, in Regeni’s hometown of Fiumicello in northeastern Italy, townspeople were “destroyed” by the news of his death, said Mayor Ennio Scridel. The town of 5,000 declared Sunday a day of mourning.”If you go into a bar, you see dark faces, silences, looks that let escape all the sadness of a small community like ours,” Scridel told Sky Tg24. He described Regeni as “an extraordinary person, who comes from a good family.”News of Regeni’s death prompted Italy’s economic development minister, Federica Guidi, to cut short a visit to Cairo and head home. Guidi had been heading a delegation of 60 business people to help companies set up business in Egypt.Italian Premier Matteo Renzi spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi by telephone and pledged to coordinate efforts with Italian authorities to “unravel the mystery” surrounding Regini’s death, el-Sissi’s office said.The Italian news agency ANSA said a seven-person team of Italian and Interpol investigators was heading to Cairo on Friday to participate in the inquiry.Egyptian authorities have come under criticism for lack of transparency in several investigations, particularly the Oct. 31 crash of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai Peninsula and the September killing of eight Mexican tourists and four Egyptian guides by a security forces helicopter that opened fire on their desert safari. In both cases, authorities banned media reports on the investigations.

Source: Tortured Italian student died ‘slow death’: Egypt official

Donald Trump Is the Most Dangerous Man in the World – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Trump Wants A Ruthless America”Believe me, I’ll change things. And again, we’re going to be so respected. I don’t want to use the word ‘feared,'” he told the audience. But that is precisely what Trump wants: to be feared. His bid for the White House, long ridiculed, is a fight for a ruthless, brutal America. Behind his campaign slogan “Make America great again!” is the vision of a country that no longer cares about international treaties, ethnic minorities or established standards of decency.Trump wants to attack head-first again. The 69-year-old embodies a new harshness and brutality, and both a physical and emotional crudeness. Trump has launched an uprising of the indecent, one that is now much bigger than he himself, a popular movement of white, conservative America that after eight years under Democratic President Barack Obama, yearns for a leader who will usher in the counter-revolution.

Source: Donald Trump Is the Most Dangerous Man in the World – SPIEGEL ONLINE