from the we-become-what-we-fear dept
Thu, Mar 30th 2023 10:49am – Mike Masnick
Earlier this month, we wrote about Mark Warner’s RESTRICT Act, mainly in the context of how it appeared to be kneejerk legislating in response to the moral panic around TikTok.
Senator Warner’s RESTRICT Act Is Designed To Create The Great Firewall Of America
America with Chinese Characteristics?! /sarcasm
Bill to Ban Tik Tok Would Give Government Sweeping Powers to Crackdown on Tech
A person who violates the act could be fined up to $1 million or punished with up to 20 years in prison. The broad and vague definitions in the legislation caused many to wonder if people could be handed such harsh punishments for using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to get around future government censorship that could come as a result of the bill.
A spokesperson for Warner insisted that the legislation wasn’t designed to target individual users and pointed to the language that says someone “must be engaged in ‘sabotage or subversion’ of American communications technology products and services, creating ‘catastrophic effects’ on US critical infrastructure, or ‘interfering in, or altering the result’ of a federal election, in order to be eligible for any kind of criminal penalty.”
But the bill will give the Commerce Secretary the authority to deem what is considered “sabotage or subversion” or any of the other threats listed above. The legislation has grave implications for civil liberties and could be used against any individuals or tech and media companies the Biden administration, or any future administration would want to target.
Previously:
Tik-Tok bills could dangerously expand national security state
Friday’s announcement that Iran and Saudi Arabia had restored bilateral ties for the first time in seven years marks a major geopolitical development in the Persian Gulf.
Will Regime-Change Now Come to Riyadh?
On the morning of March 3, an unmanned aerial vehicle of the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked a substation of the Transneft-Druzhba oil pipeline. This is reported by the Baza Telegram channel, citing a source familiar with the situation.
Telegram channels reported an attack on a substation of the Transneft-Druzhba oil pipeline by a Ukrainian UAV
Related:
Russia starts pumping Kazakh oil to Germany, flows to Poland halted
[2022] The Soviet pipeline that keeps Europe hooked on Moscow’s oil
Fears over Chinese purchases of US cropland are vastly overblown. Lawmakers should slow down before imposing damaging new restrictions.
No, China Isn’t Gobbling Up America’s Farms
Related:
Bill Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner
Bill Gates Finally Explains Why He’s Buying So Much U.S. Farmland
I’m more worried about ‘Farmer Bill’, who claims that he owns “less than 1/4000 of the farmland”.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the West formed what looked like an overwhelming global coalition: 141 countries supported a United Nations measure demanding that Russia unconditionally withdraw.
The West Tried to Isolate Russia. It Didn’t Work.
The “humanitarian exemptions”, on Syrian sanctions, are conditional!
The U.S. Treasury announced a decision on February 9 claiming to allow an easing of sanctions imposed on Syria for the ensuing six months until August 8, as part of “earthquake relief efforts.”
Did the U.S. really lift sanctions off Syria temporarily?
The decision allows for “third parties” to transfer aid to Syria without fear of U.S. sanctions, but should only be intended for aid to earthquake-effected areas. Nonetheless, the sanctions programs applied to Syria for many years, the most severe of which are the Caesar Act (2019) and Captagon Act (2022), provide for “humanitarian exceptions,” but are conditional on U.S. approval.
Related:
Did the U.S. lift sanctions on Syria?
So any earthquake relief effort must take place away from the Syrian state. In other words, it must contribute to undermining the sovereignty of the Syrian state, or it will not take place.
Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for February 13, 2023 + US sanctions deliberately compounding Syrian earthquake relief efforts:
West Admits Jets for Ukraine will Take Years + US Sanctions Blocking Syrian Earthquake Relief (Odysee) via The New Atlas
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A top U.N. humanitarian official said damage to roads, fuel shortages and harsh winter weather in Syria were hampering the agency’s response to an earthquake on Monday that killed more than 1,200 in the country and left millions in need of aid.
Quake Response in Syria Faces Obstacles, Says Top U.N. Aid Official
Previously:
Western selective humanitarianism, Syria earthquake falls on deaf ears
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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