Smoking Gun Memo Changes Context of Middle East

“Smoking gun emails reveal Blair’s ‘deal in blood’ with George Bush over Iraq war was forged a YEAR before the invasion had even started. Leaked White House memo shows former Prime Minister’s support for war at summit with U.S. President in 2002. Bombshell document shows Blair preparing to act as spin doctor for Bush, who was told ‘the UK will follow our lead.’ Publicly, Blair still claimed to be looking for diplomatic solution – in direct contrast to email revelations. New light was shed on Bush-Blair relations by material disclosed by Hillary Clinton at the order of the U.S. courts.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/36595/Smoking-Gun-Memo-Changes-Context-of-Middle-East/

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UK surveillance “worse than 1984,” says new UN privacy chief

“The mandate of the new post of UN special rapporteur on privacy is broad. Cannataci, who is a professor of law at the University of Malta, and uses neither Facebook nor Twitter, is empowered to review government policies on digital surveillance and the collection of personal data, and to identify activities that harm privacy protection without any compelling justification. He can also give his views on how the private sector should be addressing its human rights responsibilities. His four main tasks: drawing up a universal law on surveillance; tackling the business models of the big Internet companies; defining what ‘privacy’ exactly entails; and raising awareness of these issues among the public.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/08/uk-surveillance-worse-than-1984-says-new-un-privacy-chief/

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Money Will Be Digital — But Will It Be Free?

“What a strange world we now live in. Total surveillance of every citizen’s transactions, without any basis or suspicion, is not just normal but presented as a virtue, a form of patriotism. Using cash or wishing to retain your financial privacy is inherently suspect, a radical position, soon to be a crime.  Using cash or wishing to retain your financial privacy is inherently suspect, a radical position, soon to be a crime.  A future where all payments are trackable is terrifying, but a world with centralized control over transactions would be even worse. Digital currency with centralized control means the eradication of property as a right.”

http://fee.org/freeman/detail/money-will-be-digital-but-will-it-be-free

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The EU Blacklist: A Warning for Investors to Stay Away?

“There are 30 ‘non-cooperative’ countries, including tiny Niue in Polynesia, a country of just 1,600 people living at a subsistence level. That the EU sees this country as a threat borders on the ridiculous and shows that their motives are about control and not an honest warning that a country is abetting terrorists. It seems increasingly clear that the EU took the shotgun approach here: anybody not in the US/EU club is characterized as ‘non-cooperative.’  Until now, the targeted countries have been tolerating this economic bullying, but this latest attack has provoked some pushback.”

http://www.internationalman.com/articles/the-eu-blacklist-a-warning-for-investors-to-stay-away

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Why an Arms Control Pact Has Security Experts Up in Arms

“Security researchers say a proposed set of export rules meant to restrict the sale of surveillance software to repressive regimes are so broadly written that they could criminalize some research and restrict legitimate tools that professionals need to make software and computer systems more secure.  Critics liken the software rules, put forth by the US Commerce Department, to the Crypto Wars of the late ’90s, when export controls imposed against strong encryption software prevented cryptographers and mathematicians from effectively sharing their research abroad. At issue is the so-called Wassenaar Arrangement, an international agreement proposed US rules are based upon.”

http://www.wired.com/2015/06/arms-control-pact-security-experts-arms/

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Greece defaults on $1.7 billion IMF payment

“Greece became the first developed country to default to the IMF, an organization of 188 nations that tries to keep the world economy stable.  Greece will now be cut off from access to IMF resources until the payment is made.  The move came hours after the country made a desperate attempt Tuesday to halt its plunge into economic chaos by requesting a new European bailout.  Greece asked for a two-year bailout from Europe, its third in six years.  Greek banks remained shut Tuesday and limits on cash withdrawals were in place as the country tried to stave off financial collapse before the vote. Daily withdrawals are limited to 60 euros, or about $67.”

http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/30/news/economy/greece-imf-default

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Trans Pacific Partnership Is about Control, Not Free Trade

“The TPP would only marginally improve free trade, but would export to other countries stronger copyright and patent standards, which would increase the costs these monopoly privilege systems impose on economies, reduce Internet and artistic freedom, increase the prices of pharmaceuticals, and reduce innovation.  Another perverse aspect of the IP treaties is that any significant improvement to US copyright law, which is widely seen as being out of control and in need of reform, would arguably be in violation of US obligations under the Berne Convention. So Congress ties its own hands by means of international agreements and then uses this as an excuse later for why IP reform is not possible.”

http://fee.org/anythingpeaceful/detail/trans-pacific-partnership-is-about-control-not-free-trade

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TISA: Another Leaked Secret Treaty Makes Secret Rules for the Internet

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“TISA also includes a prohibition on laws that require service providers to host data locally, which some countries have used to protect sensitive personal information, such as health data, from being snooped upon on foreign soil. There are arguments for and against such laws, and it is inappropriate that a secretive international agreement such as TISA should preempt these important debates.  The agreement would also require countries to introduce anti-spam laws. Although spam is bad, that doesn’t necessarily make anti-spam laws good. In practice such laws have generally been ineffective at best, and ripe for abuse at worst.”

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/05/tisa-yet-another-leaked-treaty-youve-never-heard-makes-secret-rules-internet

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Rand Paul Calls For Public Release Of Secret ‘ObamaTrade’ Deal Text

“The deal’s text is kept in a room behind double doors that each have signs: ‘No Public Or Media Beyond This Point.’   ‘It’s done like you’re going in to read a classified briefing though it’s not actually ‘classified.’ It’s called ‘confidential,’’ Paul said in an interview with Breitbart News outside the room after reading it. Paul and his legal staff spent about 45 minutes in the room reading the deal’s text.  When asked for some of the details that are inside the TPP agreement, Paul said he’s not allowed to tell us that. But he did say the secret trade deal that his Kentucky colleague, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), wants to rush through the Senate is about 800 pages long.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/13/exclusive-sen-rand-paul-visits-secret-room-to-read-obamatrade-calls-for-public-release-of-deal-text/

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Never Hand Over Your Gold To The Bank Of England For “Safekeeping”

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“With London, Paris, and Basel’s compliance, Nazi Germany looted 23.1 metric tons of gold without a shot being fired. More than two-thirds of that gold was traded with the Dutch and Belgian national banks and was eventually transported from Amsterdam and Brussels to the Reichsbank’s vaults in Berlin. Czechoslovakia’s diligent planning to safeguard its national gold reserves, together with its misplaced faith in the integrity of the new international financial system, had come to nothing. [..] Churchill himself demanded to know how the government could urge people to enlist in the military when it was ‘so butter-fingered that six million pounds of gold can be transferred to the Nazi government.'”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-01/what-happens-when-you-hand-over-your-gold-bank-england-safekeeping

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