The Coming Fight Over American Surveillance

The Coming Fight Over American Surveillance

But no threat of any kind is required to conduct surveillance under Section 702. The law permits surveillance of any foreigner abroad, as long as a significant purpose of the surveillance is to acquire “foreign intelligence information.” FISA defines this term extremely broadly to include any “information related to . . . the conduct of U.S. foreign affairs.” A conversation between friends about whether the United States should do more to support Ukraine would justify surveillance under this definition.

😳

Yurii Sheliazhenko: only nonviolence against the Russians

“War is a crime against humanity, and therefore we should be determined not to support any kind of war and we must fight for the elimination of all causes of war” [1]. Stark words, explicit as far as possible from the little freedom “granted” in Ukraine, those of Yurii Sheliazhenko, Ukrainian pacifist and nonviolent.

Yurii Sheliazhenko: only nonviolence against the Russians

Related:

Ukrainian Pacifist Movement: An interview With Its Leader Yurii Sheliazhenko

Cryptocurrency News: US Regulators Should ‘Maybe’ Ban Crypto + Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2022

Banking Committee Chair: US Regulators Should ‘Maybe’ Ban Crypto

The senator [Sherrod Brown] also pointed to numerous incidents to back up his claims, not just the recent collapse of FTX but also issues such as “the threat to national security from Korean cyber criminals to drug trafficking and human trafficking and financing of terrorism and all the things that can come out of crypto.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren unveiled a new bill governing cryptocurrencies earlier this month, dubbed the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Warren’s bill would look to force crypto asset providers to offer audited financial statements and impose bank-like capital requirements more in line with what is expected of traditional financial institutions. The act would also give the SEC increased powers to regulate the asset class.

Get ready for the Digital Dollar!

Related:

Read More »

The Flaws in the “Assessment” Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on China

By Alfred de Zayas

On 31 August 2022, the last day of Michelle Bachelet’s 4-year tenure as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office released a 46-page document, which I believe should be discarded as propagandistic, biased, and methodologically flawed. This document, which was not mandated by the Human Rights Council and responds to pressures on OHCHR by Washington and Brussels, bears the superficially neutral title “Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region”

The Flaws in the “Assessment” Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on China

Related:

Xinjiang-Related Report Shows OHCHR ‘Serves US & EU Geopolitics,’ Ex-UN Independent Expert Says

*Xinjiang*

Xinjiang-Related Report Shows OHCHR ‘Serves US & EU Geopolitics,’ Ex-UN Independent Expert Says

Xinjiang-Related Report Shows OHCHR ‘Serves US & EU Geopolitics,’ Ex-UN Independent Expert Says

“The UN Human Rights Council is in the service of US and EU geopolitics and pursues a skewed human rights policy – much lip service to universal principles, but selectivity in application, double-standards in assessment of country situations,” Professor Alfred de Zayas claimed.

“Experience shows in the cases of Belarus, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, etc. that the Western Information War has been effective in distorting the picture,” Professor Alfred de Zayas emphasized.

“The current proxy war against Russia is using Ukraine as a pawn with a view to weakening and destabilizing Russia. Among the activities of many US-funded organizations we recognize the systematic use of the Uyghur card against China, unfortunately with a degree of success.”

“Many NGO’s are financed directly or indirectly by the United States and its allies… The US National Endowment for Democracy finances a great number of non-governmental organizations and think tanks whose purpose is to disseminate fake news and skewed narratives about Cuba, Russia, Venezuela, etc. By virtue of the information war, ‘color revolutions’ have been conducted in many countries, including the run-up to the coup d’état against the democratically elected President of Ukraine, Victor Yanukovich, in February 2014,” the expert noted.

“It demeans the word and constitutes an insult against those who have been victims of genocide, including the genocides perpetrated against the Armenians, the Jews and gypsies during the second world war, the Tutsis of Rwanda, the Yemenis,” the former UN independent expert added.

He pointed out that this use of the term “genocide” by the US and others also constitutes a violation of article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which “prohibits war propaganda and incitement to racial hatred” and is contrary to the letter and spirit of the UN Charter and of the UNESCO constitution.

Previously:

Updated (with video): UN Accuses China of ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ in Xinjiang

*Xinjiang*

The Unjustified Criticism of High Commissioner Michelle Bachetlet’s Visit to China

As former UN rapporteurs we are committed to the promotion and protection of human rights in all corners of the world, including China. Progress can only be achieved on the basis on good faith implementation of the UN Charter and UN human rights treaties, and requires patience, perseverance, and international solidarity.

The Unjustified Criticism of High Commissioner Michelle Bachetlet’s Visit to China