21st Century Wire says…
A lot of people saw this coming. In the aftermath of the Westminster attack and then Amber Rudd‘s comments about WhatsApp, it was only a matter of time before another encroachment on encryption and privacy would occur.
Angela Merkel’s recent visit to Russia where the German Chancellor met with President Putin and attempted to lecture Russia, is emblematic of the hypocrisy of historically aggressive nations lecturing a Russian state whose many wars have been limited to defending itself against invasions.
Russian territory of course expanded over the centuries, but Russia never had the overseas and outwardly aggressive empires of the following countries.
Our point is that if journalists like Monbiot are serious about establishing the truth, they will test the French government and other claims against the arguments and evidence offered by dissidents. They will consider the different claims, and come to some kind of informed conclusion. What is not acceptable is that journalists should simply accept as Truth arguments made by Western governments openly seeking regime change in Syria and that have a spectacular track record of lying about claims supposedly justifying war.
While hard-line Remainers are convinced that people in poorer areas were somehow conned into voting against their own interests, Cornwall, the UK’s largest recipient of EU regional development funds, was widely mocked for voting Leave and then requesting reassurance that Westminster would fill the funding gap. As Cornish voters have clearly been aware, however, the money the EU has seen fit to spend in Britain is less than the amount the UK sends to the EU in the first place.
The British government has approved the planting of a new experimental crop of genetically modified “super wheat” despite fears that it could contaminate other crops and despite opposition from about 30 environmental groups. [1]
The GM wheat, engineered to use sunlight more efficiently, will be tested by researchers in Hertfordshire. The crops are touted for boosting yields by as much as 20% to 40% in the greenhouse.
Rothamsted Research’s Head of Plant Biology and Crop Science, Dr. Malcolm Hawkesford, explains:
Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.
— Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
Just in case you missed it, “strong and stable leadership” repeated ad nauseam is the campaign mantra of the Tory party for the incoming General Election. So just before our brains cease to function by the repetition of this empty slogan, let us unpick this mantra: strength in itself is not always good. One could be strong and wrong. Strength could be used by a bully to intimidate, and oppress the weak and vulnerable.
21st Century Wire says…
Apathy and apologism for the continued encroachment on digital/electronic privacy rights in the United Kingdom is still very high. We are told that it’s ‘for our safety’, in case of ‘terrorist attack’ at home or the threat of it from abroad. Many people still run with the programmed line of ‘nothing to fear if you’ve nothing to hide’.
Glenn Greenwald said it well in a discussion on ‘Why Privacy Matters’…
Britain is a few weeks away from a snap general election called by Prime Minister Theresa May. Presumably this has been suddenly sprung on a generally unsuspecting public because the ruling Tory junta think they will obtain an even larger parliamentary majority than they have now. Unfortunately they may be right.
So last week I received the campaign leaflet for Alexander Maughan, the young man representing the Tories where I live. The opening quote suggests I should vote for Mr Maughan “For a strong Conservative team working for you”.
Somalia partitioned under Italy, Britain, France
In 2016, Somalia was declared the most fragile state in the world – worse off than Syria. Famine struck yet again in 2017, compounded by President Trump’s attempt to ban Somalis from entering the US. But for the first time since 1991, when Somalia collapsed along with its one-time ally, the Soviet Union, Somalia now has functioning political institutions.
