Opinion: The Hypocrate States of America

Discussion in 'Social Security' started by MadPanda, Jul 19, 2013.

  1. MadPanda

    MadPanda New Member

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    Source: http://fnotw.org/Article/Full/1358
    from http://www.fnotw.org


    The fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked secret documents revealing NSA's massive spying operations within and beyond the American borders. The Americans say laws should be followed and Snowden brought to justice, but is that righteous?

    When Edward Snowden still was in Hong Kong, The Washington Post quoted an anonymous White House senior official saying that "If Hong Kong doesn't act soon, it will complicate our bilateral relations and raise questions about Hong Kong’s commitment to the rule of law."

    Also the Deputy Secretary of State, William Burns expressed the government's disappointment with the way China and Hong Kong handled Snowden's case, allowing the whistle-blower to take the plain to Moscow even though the US had revoked his passport and issued an arrest warrant on him. Burns added that what China did was not consisted with the new type of relationship the both the US and China seek to build.

    These accusations were not empty as Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the US (signed one year before it was handed over from British to Chinese control in 1996), yet Hong Kong was unwilling to arrest Snowden in response to the extradition request by the US.

    Obviously, this very strongly implies that Beijing was pulling the strings and walking over its own laws granting Hong Kong autonomic rights to follow its own legislation.

    The US government isn't happy with the way Russia is handling the issue either. Snowden has been stuck in the transit are of Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow since he arrived there from Hong Kong on 23 June.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the US have scared off all the other countries so no one wants to take Snowden, and in that way the US actually trapped him on Russian soil.

    Putin made a good point, yet the Russian authorities could still go on and arrest Snowden due to the international arrest warrant by the US. Russia has, however, refused to hand over Snowden to the US authorities, but also stated he can only stay in Russia if he stops leaking classified US information.

    Anyway, it seems like in the American point of view the US had all the reasons to be disappointed with the responses from China and Russia.

    However, at the same time in America...

    The discussion being about following the rule of law, let's bring forth some more facts. Guantanamo Bay. Bradley Manning.

    Despite the condemnation by the international community, the US have continued operating the internationally illegal detention and torture center of Guantanamo Bay. There they keep terror suspects and other "dangerous individuals", sometimes without any trial.

    Bradley Manning, another army whistle-blower arrested in 2010, has been detained and possibly even tortured without a trial for three years now. He is still being charged of serious offences including aiding the enemy, which can bring Manning a life imprisonment if convicted.

    No wonder Edward Snowden doesn't want to go back to the US.

    Snowden's revelations also gave daylight to the fact that the US is actually the biggest official hacker, hacking into Chinese, Hong Kong, Iranian and other countries' computer systems. To this day the US had repeatedly accused China of hacking into American corporate and government computers.

    Even the former US president Jimmy Carter has criticized the current government with harsh words over the unveiled NSA spying scandal, saying that the US laws legalizing the infringing of the privacy of its own citizens have gone way too far.

    For the sake of the US, it needs to be said that it is clear that the American government isn't the only government in the world that breaches the law and reaches its surveillance over their own citizens and beyond the country borders, they just were the first to get caught doing it.

    And telling others to follow the rules when you're not doing so yourself, that's what makes you a hypocritical. Just like the White House.

    Source: http://fnotw.org/Article/Full/1358
    from http://www.fnotw.org
     
  2. MadPanda

    MadPanda New Member

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    US House votes to continue NSA surveillance

    The US House of Representatives voted 205-217 in favor of continuing NSA’s current phone surveillance program. This is the first legislative decision of the NSA.
    The rejected amendment was introduced by Michigan Republican Justin Amash. It called for a funding cut for the NSA program which gathers details of every call made by or to a US phone, with or without suspicion.
    “Use of the same tactic every government throughout history has used to justify its violation of rights: fear.” – Justin Amash
    The US currently have a budget of $30 billion for intelligence services, all of which are classified.
    The administration and NSA have been in close door meetings with both Democrats and Republicans, lobbying them to vote against the amendment.

    Digital rights
    The aftershock of the NSA surveillance program is rippling through the media. Maybe it is time to settle the case with some declarations and clarifications of digital rights.

    UDDR (Universal Declaration of Digital Rights) is a non-profit organization established to promote and protect digital human rights.

    UDDR’s goal is to pass a declaration in the United Nations for digital rights.

    Since exposure of the NSA spying program by Edward Snowden in June, UDDR have been established gained popularity. It have over 100,000 Facebook likes and over 70,000 Twitter followers.

    The site is looking for $50,000 from crowdfunding to finance their project. The money will be used in writing the first draft of a declaration of digital rights; money is also used to “build a digital platform to refine or rewrite the draft with a community of privacy and human rights specialists and to develop a robust document that can be presented to the United Nations for endorsement and support” – quote from website.

    The team consists of several high caliber personel, including Derek Wyatt – a British MP for 13 years.

    Link to UDDR webpage
    http://uddr.org/
     

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