Category: Brazil

FBI Calls End-to-End Encryption ‘Deeply Concerning’ as Privacy Groups Hail Apple’s Advanced Data Protection as a Victory for Users

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

FBI Calls End-to-End Encryption ‘Deeply Concerning’ as Privacy Groups Hail Apple’s Advanced Data Protection as a Victory for Users

While privacy groups and apps applaud Apple for the expansion of end-to-end encryption in ‌iCloud‌, governments have reacted differently. In a statement to The Washington Post, the FBI, the largest intelligence agency in the world, said it’s “deeply concerned with the threat end-to-end and user-only-access encryption pose.” Speaking generally about end-to-end encryption like Apple’s Advanced Data Protection feature, the bureau said that it makes it harder for the agency to do its work and that it requests “lawful access by design.”

“This hinders our ability to protect the American people from criminal acts ranging from cyber-attacks and violence against children to drug trafficking, organized crime, and terrorism,” the bureau said in an emailed statement. “In this age of cybersecurity and demands for ‘security by design,’ the FBI and law enforcement partners need ‘lawful access by design.'”

Former FBI official Sasha O’Connell also weighed in, telling The New York Times “it’s great to see companies prioritizing security, but we have to keep in mind that there are trade-offs, and one that is often not considered is the impact it has on decreasing law enforcement access to digital evidence.”

Related:

Apple says it will allow iCloud backups to be fully encrypted

Apple Details Plans to Beef Up Encryption of Data in Its iCloud

The United States wants a multinational armed force in Haiti BUT…

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

The United States wants a multinational armed force in Haiti BUT…

The Biden administration is discussing with other nations to form a multinational armed intervention force, but the United States refuses to send its own troops. They supported a resolution in favor of a “rapid armed intervention force”, but the resolution is still not voted on at the UN Security Council, encountering reluctance from Russia and China.

Related:

Haiti Still Needs Foreign Strike Force to Confront Gangs, Official Says

How the NED has Sabotaged Haitian Democracy and Sovereignty

French ambassador: US ‘rules-based order’ means Western domination, violating international law

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

France’s ex US Ambassador Gérard Araud criticised Washington for frequently violating international law and said its so-called “rules-based order” is an unfair “Western order” based on “hegemony.” He condemned the new cold war on China, instead calling for mutual compromises.

French ambassador: US ‘rules-based order’ means Western domination, violating international law

UNGA passes unbinding resolution to ask Russia make reparation to Ukraine; China votes against

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)2 Comments

The United Nations General Assembly on Monday (November 14) voted to approve a resolution which calls for Russia to be held responsible and make reparations to Ukraine.

Russia, China and Iran are among the 14 members that voted against while 73 abstained, including Brazil, India and South Africa.

China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, explained China’s opposition, pointing out that the resolution lacks both legal basis and practical precedent, and was put to vote without proper discussion and consultation or responding to concerns of UN member states.

He further stressed that all countries that had suffered from historic international injustices including colonialism, foreign intervention, unilateral sanction, economic embargo and so on, are entitled to demand reparations.

UNGA passes unbinding resolution to ask Russia make reparation to Ukraine; China votes against via ShanghaiEye魔都眼

Related:

UN calls on Russia to pay Ukraine reparations

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, speaking on the topic of the resolution, called it a legally insignificant document. “At the same time, the co-authors cannot help but realize that the adoption of such a resolution will entail consequences that can boomerang back to them,” Nebenzia said.

He added that the resolution intended to legalize the seizure of Russian assets previously frozen by Western countries.

U.S. privately asks Ukraine to show it’s open to negotiate with Russia

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

So much propaganda to sift through!?! 🙄

U.S. privately asks Ukraine to show it’s open to negotiate with Russia

The request by American officials is not aimed at pushing Ukraine to the negotiating table, these people said. Rather, they called it a calculated attempt to ensure the government in Kyiv maintains the support of other nations facing constituencies wary of fueling a war for many years to come.

The discussions illustrate how complex the Biden administration’s position on Ukraine has become, as U.S. officials publicly vow to support Kyiv with massive sums of aid “for as long as it takes” while hoping for a resolution to the conflict that over the past eight months has taken a punishing toll on the world economy and triggered fears of nuclear war.

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Steve Bannon Calls On Brazil’s Bolsonaro To Not Concede

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

After a tight race, Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva will become the next president of Brazil. The far-left former Brazilian president won 50.83 percent of the vote, with over 98 percent of votes counted in the extremely tight run-off election on Sunday. Incumbent Jair Bolsonaro won 49.17 percent of the vote, compared to 50.83 by Lula da Silva, who was convicted in 2017 for money laundering though a court threw out his conviction in March 2021.

Steve Bannon Calls On Brazil’s Bolsonaro To Not Concede

NATO in the Amazon: Petro Plays with Fire

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

By Roger D. Harris on October 26, 2022

NATO recently expanded to Sweden and Finland, has been de facto incorporated in Ukraine, and may extend to Georgia. Now, NATO’s entry into the Amazon is in the works under the aegis of newly elected President Gustavo Petro of Colombia.

NATO in the Amazon: Petro Plays with Fire

Related:

The US warns Petro of the danger of falling into the hands of China:

The Government of Colombia replies to Washington that if it wants to prevail over Beijing, it must finance the purchase of land from ranchers to distribute among the peasants

Quid pro quo?!

Hungarian Opposition Received Millions from the USA

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

A foundation led by prominent critics of the Hungarian government and conservative forces in general allegedly helped the Hungarian opposition’s electoral campaign with significant funds from the United States. According to a Hungarian government politician, this could have amounted to “abusing the law.”

Hungarian Opposition Received Millions from the USA

Related:

The National Security Committee to Investigate the Opposition’s Foreign Funding

Action for Democracy targets Hungary & ‘kleptocratic autocrats’

How JFK Sacrificed Adlai Stevenson and the Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

How JFK Sacrificed Adlai Stevenson and the Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis

In those interim years, the fictional story of how the missile crisis was resolved became foreign-policy folklore. None of the early memoirs by top Kennedy aides, such as Schlesinger and Sorensen, contained the real history. These incomplete accounts became the basis of the foreign-policy models and paradigms in political scientist Graham Allison’s highly influential book, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis. A full generation of scholars, analysts, foreign-policy makers, and even presidents learned the wrong lessons from the most significant superpower conflict in modern history.

Sixty years later, however, the Biden administration at least has a more complete record of history to draw on as U.S. policymakers and the world confront another time of crisis in the nuclear age. How applicable the lessons of the missile crisis will prove to be in preventing an escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war remains unknown. But the mantra of reason that Stevenson shared with Kennedy in October 1962 seems more relevant than ever: “Blackmail and intimidation never, negotiation and sanity always.”

Related:

The Cuban Missile Crisis @ 60 How John F. Kennedy Sacrificed His Most Consequential Crisis Advisor