Putin Accuses U.S. of Incitement | Potemkin Election
Gorbachev slams elections | Medvedev tweet frenzy
Russian Spring? | Russia’s Batman & Robin
Welcome to Putlandia | photo: AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev interpolated
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updates: Thousands Rally 12/24
Hero blogger Navalny poses potential threat
50k out in Moscow | Russian Protests in Focus
Protesters burn a US flag during a protest in Multan on November 27, 2011 — Photo by AFP
Pakistanis demand end to US alliance
Members of civil society, lawyers, traders and students organised the rallies, still relatively small, in major cities of the country of 167 million people, where opposition to the US alliance is rampant.
“The government should cut Nato supplies permanently, take back military bases from the US and plead that this cases violates the borders in the UN Security Council” >continue<
Another Hot Flash | China backs Pakistan
Jacob Zuma opens Durban climate talks
Global warming already is causing suffering and conflict in Africa, from drought in Sudan and Somalia to flooding in South Africa, President Jacob Zuma said on Monday, urging delegates at an international climate conference to look beyond national interests for solutions.
“For most people in the developing countries and Africa, climate change is a matter of life and death,” said the South African leader as he formally opened a two-week conference with participants from more than 190 nations. >continue<
COP17 Durban 2011 | Island States ‘may disappear’
Netayahu Signals Iran Attack | Leaked Attack Plans
Israel Evades Questions | Bluff with no Green Light?
Russia: ‘serious mistake’ | Zeitvox: Siren Song of Iran
Renewed Malware Attacks | Lost in Translation
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update 1/25: Will Israel Attack Iran?
2/9: Israel teams with terror group to kill Iranian scientists
2/9: False Flag
An excellent NPR story on Stuxnet, a bit of malware likely created by the U.S. and/or Israel. It may turn out to be the most under-reported story of the last year.
Secretly launched in 2009 and uncovered in 2010, it was designed to destroy its target much as a bomb would. Based on the cyberworm’s sophistication, the expert consensus is that some government created it…
But for people who worry about the security of critical U.S. facilities, Stuxnet represented a nightmare: a dangerous computer worm that in some modified form could be used to attack an electric or telecommunications grid, an oil refinery or a water treatment facility in the United States
“It’s just a matter of time,” says Michael Assante, formerly the chief security officer for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. “Stuxnet taught the world what’s possible, and honestly it’s a blueprint.”
Further complicating the Stuxnet story is the widely held suspicion that the U.S. government, possibly in partnership with Israel, had a hand in the creation of this lethal cyberweapon, notwithstanding the likelihood that in some form it could now pose a threat to the U.S. >continue<
Related:
Duqu, Son of Stuxnet?
Groundbreaking Malware Believed to Target Iran « 9/2010
Cracking Stuxnet « TED Talk by discoverer Ralph Langner
Anatomy of a Computer Virus « Excellent video
ZeitVox Tagged Stuxnet
Eurozone Rescue Emerging | Frantic Skepticism over Greece
Irish Collateral Damage? | How to save the Euro
Guardian Euro Crisis Blog | Occupy Germany
Vatican Condemns ‘Idolatry of the Market’
photo credit, Parthenon: Kayoko Tabata 2005 interpolated
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30/12: Denial as Greece Unravels | 2/21: Nightmare Scenario Avoided
The World from Berlin: Swiss Franc Decision as Lesson to Euro Critics
Warning for those who would like to see the return of the deutsche mark: No country can escape the dynamics of the tightly intertwined global market.
“The move taken by the Swiss National Bank shows us … that a networked economic system cannot stand up to large discrepancies for long. All euro-critics should take note. Were Germany to reintroduce the deutsche mark, the exchange rate would rocket upwards much quicker than the franc did. Company bankruptcies and mass unemployment would be the result — the economy would collapse. Germany isn’t an island either.” - Die Welt >continue<
Swiss National Bank shocks markets | ’Overvalued Currency’
German Court Rejects Challenges to Euro Bailouts
flag/franc photo, Ellen Wallace, interpolated
Syria Update June 18th: via Joshua Landis’ Syria Comment
The Syrian uprising has been marked by a growing number of killings in the last week, as armed civilian groups have fought each other. According to Syrian authorities and Facebook websites, such as the Hama News Network, Hama is peacefully coming back under government control; whereas, Bu Kamal on the Iraqi border has fallen out of government control. In Homs, Syria’s third largest city, civilian groups (Alawis versus Sunnis, according to one account) attacked each other causing some 30 deaths. Both sides remain confident of their ability to control the eventual outcome of the uprising. >continue<
‘The Street will wash them away’ | ‘Sectarian clashes’ in Homs
“Imitating a successful anti-austerity campaign by Spanish demonstrators - chiefly young people - that has filled Madrid’s main Puerta del Sol Square with crowds for more than a week, the Greek groups used social networking sites such as Facebook to drum up support.
One of the groups, called “The Indignant of Syntagma,” called on Athenians to gather in central Syntagma Square between 6 and 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday.
“We want to rally peacefully and spontaneously, simply to declare our peaceful protest,” the organizers said in a statement.
Another group, “The Indignant of the White Tower,” appealed to residents of Thessaloniki to gather under the city landmark on Wednesday.
A third group, with the more rousing name of “Patras Greek Revolution,” called for demonstrators to gather in the western port’s central Georgiou Square. This group, too, has declared its opposition to violence and has held up the ongoing Spanish protest as a model for Greeks to emulate.
“Let us start a peaceful revolution in our city, beyond political parties, without upheaval, masks and violence, following the footsteps of our Spanish brothers and sisters,” a statement by the group said.” >continue<
