soundsgreat
soundsgreat's JournalMerkel: Maidan shootings have to be investigated
press conference on Brussels, today
http://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/DE/Mitschrift/Pressekonferenzen/2014/03/2014-03-07-pk-merkel-bruessel.html
Frage: Mich würde noch interessieren, wie Sie diese Berichte empfunden haben, die sich aus dem abgehörten Telefonat zwischen Frau Ashton und dem estnischen Außenminister ergeben haben, dass nämlich womöglich die Opposition auf dem Maidan für die Gewalttaten verantwortlich gewesen ist.
Bundeskanzlerin Merkel: Für mich gibt es aus dieser letztgenannten Frage nur eine Antwort: Es muss in der Ukraine - das ist ja auch Teil des Papiers vom 21. Februar gewesen - untersucht werden, wer dort Gewalt angewendet hat. Das ist, glaube ich, im allseitigen Interesse. Es sind ja auch in der Ukraine dazu schon eine Vielzahl von Materialien bereitgestellt oder gesichert worden. Ich glaube, dass die neue ukrainische Regierung genau dazu auch bereit ist.
Translation:
Question: I'd like to know how you perceived the reports which came up after the surveilled phone call between Lady Ashton and the Estonian foreign minister, i. e. that possibly the opposition on the Maidan was responsible for the violence.
Chancellor Merkel: There is only one answer to this question: In the Ukraine, it has to be investigated - which is also part of the paper from February 21 - who committed the violence there. This is in the interest of everyone, I believe. In the Ukraine, a lot of material has already been provided and secured. I believe that the new Ukrainian government is ready to do that.
Watertown residents gather to discuss lockdown ramifications a year later
Source: Wicked Local Watertown
Nearly a year after the massive manhunt for suspected Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev some Watertown residents and local attorneys are wondering, was the lockdown constitutionally justified?
The National Lawyers Guild Massachusetts’ Chapter hosted a panel of three attorneys, including the moderator, on the lockdown at First Parish Church in Watertown Wednesday, Mar. 5. The panel discussed the effects of the lockdown and its impact on civil liberties and listened to residents in the audience who shared their experiences from Apr. 19.
*snip*
Marta Manzelli who lives on Center Street, which is right next to Franklin Street where Tsarnaev was captured, said she was told she couldn’t leave her house shortly after the lockdown originally ended.
She said she was going downstairs to check on her neighbor, who lived below her, when she was told by men armed with assault rifles that she couldn’t leave.
"It was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever gone through," Manzelli said. "I’ve still got PTSD, I can’t deal with helicopters. I’ve never had guns pointed at me, and to have them with these guys in these desert swat outfits and all these vehicles, I felt so powerless in my own home I can’t express it."
Read more: http://watertown.wickedlocal.com/article/20140306/NEWS/140307677
Estonian Foreign Minister: Maidan snipers belonged to "new coalition"
leaked phone call to Catherine Ashton, the EU "foreign minister".
PAET: In fact - and that was quite disturbing - the same Olga told that well. All evidence shows that people who were killed by snipers from both sides, among policemen and people from the streets, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides.
ASHTON: So that..huh...
PAET: So that. Then she also showed me some photos she said that as medical doctor she can say that it is the same handwriting, same type of bullets and it's really disturbing that now the new coalition, that they don't want to investigate what exactly happened. So that there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind snipers there were...it was not Janukovich but it was somebody from the new coalition.
The phone call has been confirmed by Paet.
Judge sets Nov. 3 trial date for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Source: Boston Globe
A federal judge in Boston today set a November trial date for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the young man charged in the deadly Boston Marathon bombings that shook the nation last year, raising again the specter of terrorism on American soil.
US District Court Judge George A. O’Toole slated the trial for Nov. 3, much sooner than the earliest date suggested by defense attorneys in the high-profile death penalty case.
Judge O’Toole said the government’s request for a trial this fall was more reasonable than the defense’s. The defense had asked for a trial in September 2015, at the earliest.
Defense attorneys also argued today that they are not getting access to evidence they need to prepare their case, including 2,000 items still being analyzed at FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va.
Read more: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/02/12/judge-sets-november-trial-date-for-boston-marathon-bombing-suspect-dzhokhar-tsarnaev/JNcq6FzQewvCtgYAO2smSM/story.html
What the article doesn't convey is that Judy Clarke, Tsarnaev's attourney, was upset about the fact that the prosecution has still not given them all of the evidence they have against him. Here are some tweets from David Frank of Mass Lawyers Weekly:
Clarke: discovery in this case has been way outside the norm "in my experience." FYI - this is not Clarke's first death penalty case
And she goes so far to attack the judge:
Judy Clarke: "You have a black robe & it took you that long to get an answer from govt on discovery!"
Whenever the Boston Marathon Bombing pops here on DU, people are quick with saying that there's no doubt that the Tsarnaevs did it.
If that is so, why is the prosecution still stonewalling and hesitates to provide the defense with the documents they need to defend Tsarnaev?
Hackers sue German government over NSA spying
Source: Associated Press
BERLIN (AP) — A group of computer hackers and human rights campaigners in Germany say they are suing their government for allegedly breaking the law by aiding foreign spies.
The Chaos Computer Club and the International League for Human Rights said they submitted a criminal complaint Monday claiming that Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government tolerated spying and effectively even helped members of the U.S. National Security Agency and Britain’s GCHQ to spy on German citizens.
The groups point to documents released by NSA leaker Edward Snowden as evidence.
In a statement they say the criminal complaint is meant to spark a “long-overdue investigation by federal prosecutors” into alleged lawbreaking by German officials and foreign spies.
Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/02/03/hackers_sue_german_government_over_nsa_spying/
Are you opposed to fracking? Then you might just be a terrorist
From North America to Europe, the 'national security' apparatus is being bought off by Big Oil to rout peaceful activism.
Over the last year, a mass of shocking evidence has emerged on the close ties between Western government spy agencies and giant energy companies, and their mutual interests in criminalising anti-fracking activists.
Activists tarred with the same brush
In late 2013, official documents obtained under freedom of information showed that Canada's domestic spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), had ramped up its surveillance of activists opposed to the Northern Gateway pipeline project on 'national security' grounds. The CSIS also routinely passed information about such groups to the project's corporate architect, Calgary-based energy company, Enbridge.
The Northern Gateway is an $8 billion project to transport oil from the Alberta tar sands to the British Columbia coast, where it can be shipped to global markets. According to the documents a Canadian federal agency, the National Energy Board, worked with CSIS and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to coordinate with Enbridge, TransCanada, and other energy corporations in gathering intelligence on anti-fracking activists - despite senior police privately admitting they "could not detect a direct or specific criminal threat."
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/jan/21/fracking-activism-protest-terrorist-oil-corporate-spies
It looks like we're steadily on the road to corporate fascism. 
TPP: Poison for Community Resilience
by Richard Heinberg
The entire text of TPP is vast—thousands of pages—and it contains little-known provisions that would give companies sweeping powers to sue local governments or entire countries over any law a company deems an impediment to reaping maximum profits. For example, if a city, county, or state were to ban fracking within its jurisdiction, oil companies could overturn the ban and sue for millions of dollars in lost profits. Want to label GM foods? Sorry, that’s a barrier to trade. Want local schools to buy healthy food from local farmers? Nope, that might violate the rights of Big Ag. Want to protect a forest? Stand aside, you’re in the way of profits.
Congress is about to vote on whether to fast-track TPP. If approved, fast tracking would mean an up-or-down vote with no possibility for Representatives or Senators to reject or amend any provision within the Treaty. If fast track fails, the Treaty will immediately bog down in legislative limbo, so this vote effectively seals TPP’s fate. Who’s for fast track? Pro-big-business Republicans and pro-big-business Democrats. Who’s against it? Rabid-right Republicans who want to deny President Obama any legislative achievement whatever, and pro-labor, pro-environment Democrats. The latter groups, contradictory as their interests may otherwise be, just might control enough votes to kill TPP.
For the community resilience movement, a great deal rides on this vote. TPP would grease the tracks leading to ecosystem ruin while frustrating efforts to build sustainable local economies. Educate yourself on the issue (see this fact sheet) and let your congressional representatives know what you think.
http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-01-15/tpp-poison-for-community-resilience
A letter from Snowden 10/31/13
attested by German MP Christian Stroebele who just came back from a meeting with Snowden in Moscow.
Embassy Espionage: The NSA's Secret Spy Hub in Berlin
Source: Spiegel
According to SPIEGEL research, United States intelligence agencies have not only targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone, but they have also used the American Embassy in Berlin as a listening station. The revelations now pose a serious threat to German-American relations.
It's a prime site, a diplomat's dream. Is there any better location for an embassy than Berlin's Pariser Platz? It's just a few paces from here to the Reichstag. When the American ambassador steps out the door, he looks directly onto the Brandenburg Gate.
When the United States moved into the massive embassy building in 2008, they threw a huge party. Over 4,500 guests were invited. Former President George H. W. Bush cut the red-white-and-blue ribbon. Chancellor Angela Merkel offered warm words for the occasion. Since then, when the US ambassador receives high-ranking visitors, they often take a stroll out to the roof terrace, which offers a breathtaking view of the Reichstag and Tiergarten park. Even the Chancellery can be glimpsed. This is the political heart of the republic, where billion-euro budgets are negotiated, laws are formulated and soldiers are sent to war. It's an ideal location for diplomats -- and for spies.
Research by SPIEGEL reporters in Berlin and Washington, talks with intelligence officials and the evaluation of internal documents of the US' National Security Agency and other information, most of which comes from the archive of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, lead to the conclusion that the US diplomatic mission in the German capital has not merely been promoting German-American friendship. On the contrary, it is a nest of espionage. From the roof of the embassy, a special unit of the CIA and NSA can apparently monitor a large part of cell phone communication in the government quarter. And there is evidence that agents based at Pariser Platz recently targeted the cell phone that Merkel uses the most.
Read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/cover-story-how-nsa-spied-on-merkel-cell-phone-from-berlin-embassy-a-930205.html
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