statism watch

Blame the looming threat of Chinese hackers… because people might not be stupid enough to buy the idea of an Al-Qaeda cyber terrorist.

Flashback: UK chases Obama on cybersecurity | Cybersecurity Is Framework For Total Government Regulation & Control Of Our Lives | Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar With Broad Mandate | EU wants ‘Internet G12′ to govern cyberspace | UK Home Secretary has secret plan to surveil, ‘Master the Internet’ | Put NSA in Charge of Cyber Security, Or the Power Grid Gets It | Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies | Pentagon spending millions to fix cyberattacks | Should Obama Control the Internet? | Cybersecurity law would give feds unprecedented net control | Munk Centre researchers discover botnet, call for international cyberspace ‘legal regime’ | NSA Dominance of Cybersecurity Would Lead to ‘Grave Peril’, Ex-Cyber Chief Tells Congress | Do We Need a New Internet? | Defense Contractors See $$$ in Cyber Security | RCMP to helm a Canadian “cyber-security strategy” | Law Professor tells tech conference: plans to shut down Internet already on deck

David Hencke, The Guardian
June 14, 2009

China and Russia said to be behind some attacks, US and Canada may join UK to fight off infiltration

A national cyber security centre to combat the growing threat of criminal gangs and foreign states hacking into Whitehall and big business is to be announced this month by the prime minister.

The centre will be the main theme of a revised national security strategy paper from No 10 which will place much greater emphasis on tackling the threat.

The organisation will be similar to an agency being created by Barack Obama who is appointing a cyber tsar to fight what the US president referred to last month as “weapons of mass disruption”.

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While it’s unlikely Mousavi represents any substantive change as a member of the Iranian ruling class, this trouble does highlight the schism among the factions in the old Iranian revolution’s core. No doubt other international forces are working on the best way to exploit this internal weakness, so we can but wish the reform movement the best of luck – they’re going to need it to avoid being crushed or appropriated by external interests.

Flashback: Blast at Iranian mosque raises tensions in run-up to presidential election | Netanyahu: We may be forced to attack Iran | Neo-cons still preparing for Iran attack | US scales up covert destabilization efforts in Iran, continues funding ‘al-Qaeda’ | Israelis ‘rehearse Iran attack’ | Bush ‘plans Iran air strike by August’ | U.S. Navy starts exercises in Gulf waters | U.S. National Intelligence Estimate: Iran stopped nuclear weapons work in 2003 | Cheney Orders Media To Sell Attack On Iran | Former CIA Officer – US Plans Nuclear Attack On Iran | U.S. sending third aircraft carrier to the Middle East | US aircraft carriers in Persian Gulf | Investigative Reporter Seymour Hersh: US Indirectly Funding Al-Qaeda Linked Sunni Groups in Move to Counter Iran

Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times
June 14, 2009

Rival candidates placed under house arrest as Ahmadinejad’s election sparks cries of foul play

TEHRAN – Huge swaths of the Iranian capital erupted in fiery riots that stretched into the early hours today as hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared victory in his quest for a second term amid allegations of widespread fraud.

There were also reports that his two rival candidates had been placed under house arrest.

At the same moment the president was promising a “bright and glorious future” for Iran in a late-night televised address, supporters of reformist rival Mir Hossein Mousavi were battling with police and militiamen in riot gear throughout Tehran in the most serious clashes in the capital since a student uprising 10 years ago.

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That’s real big of him. He’s still describing a people in thrall.

Flashback: Netanyahu: We may be forced to attack Iran | Israeli parliament approves Netanyahu’s new government

Rory McCarthy, The Guardian
June 14, 2009

Prime minister insists on recognition of Israel, remarks follow growing US pressure for peace

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, last night said for the first time he would accept an independent Palestinian state, but only on condition it was demilitarised and that the Palestinians recognised Israel as the state of the Jewish people.

In a key policy speech intended to address growing US pressure for a move towards peace in the Middle East, Netanyahu defended Israel’s position and said he wanted to make peace, but despite his mention of a Palestinian state he offered few substantial concessions.

He praised the Jewish settlers who live in east Jerusalem and on the occupied West Bank and refused US calls for a halt to all settlement growth. He also said Palestinian refugees, who were forced out or fled from their homes during the 1948 war, would not be allowed to return to what is today Israel. Jerusalem, he said, must remain united under Israeli control.

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