US Policy

Russia hits back at US “€˜barefaced cynicism and double standards”€™ over Ukraine
The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused the US State Department of double standards and low-level propaganda after it published a list of President Vladimir Putin'€™s "€œfalse claims" about the events in Ukraine. [...]
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NSA files decoded: Edward Snowden’s surveillance revelations explained
In the last five months, the NSA's surveillance practices have been revealed to be a massive international operation, staggering in scope. But how do all of the NSA's programmes fit together -€“ and what does it mean for you? When Edward Snowden met journalists in his cramped room in Hong Kong's Mira hotel in June, his mission was ambitious. Amid the clutter of laundry, meal trays and his fou [...]
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The clash in Crimea is the fruit of western expansion
Seumas Milne: The external struggle to dominate Ukraine has put fascists in power and brought the country to the brink of conflict. Diplomatic pronouncements are renowned for hypocrisy and double standards. But western denunciations of Russian intervention in Crimea have reached new depths of self parody. [...]
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Edward Snowden  to speak at annual South by Southwest Festival
Edward Snowden, the man who blew the whistle on the U.S. National Security Agency in 2013 will be speaking on Monday, March 10th via satellite at the annual South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Texas. Joining Mr. Snowden is American Civil Liberties Union's technology expert, Christopher Soghoian. The discussion will cover NSA spying, and how& [...]
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Russia: We Won’t Repay the Bankers if U.S. Imposes Sanctions
Russia may also dump the dollar if sanctions move forward. A Kremlin economist, Sergei Glazyev, told RIA Novosti the Russian government may not repay loans owed to the financial cartel if the United States imposes sanctions on the country in response to the Crimea intervention. [...]
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26 top American corporations paid no federal income tax from “€™08 to €™12″€“ report
Twenty-six of the most powerful American corporations "such as Boeing, General Electric, and Verizon" €“ paid no federal income tax from 2008 to 2012, according to a new report detailing how Fortune 500 companies exploit tax breaks and loopholes. [...]
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Seriously, what?! Kerry tells Russia “you don’t invade a country on completely phony pretexts”
The US Secretary of State spoke today of the unacceptability of invading a sovereign country on phony pretexts in order to assert one’s own interests in the 21st century. But no, he was not speaking about the United States, as one might have thought. [...]
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GCHQ taught NSA how to monitor Facebook, Twitter in real time |€“ Snowden leak
British intelligence officials can infiltrate the very cables that transfer information across the internet, as well as monitor users in real time on sites like Facebook without the company's consent, according to documents leaked by Edward Snowden. The internal documents reveal that British analysts gave instruction to members of the National Security Agency in 2012, showing them how to spy on Fa [...]
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US plunges in World Press Freedom index after NSA leaks, attacks on whistleblowers
Press freedom in the United States has suffered "€œone of the most significant declines"€ in the last year after sacrificing information to national security, with the NSA surveillance scandal topping the list of wrongdoing. That’s according to The World Press Freedom Index for 2014 from Reporters Without Borders (RWB), which put the US in 46th place out of 180 countries, a 13-place drop fr [...]
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Record number of Americans renounce citizenship thanks to tightening tax laws
A record number of Americans renounced their citizenship or green cards in 2013, according to new data that may draw a complicated picture for US tax assessors who impose financial obligations on citizens living outside the country. [...]
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Obama’s Abuse of Power
The President and his Administration continue to disregard the Constitution. Senator Ted Cruz is one of the few politicians in Washington D.C. you can actually believe wants to restore the rule of law and limited government by reining in an absolutely out-of-control political cabal led by President Barack Obama. [...]
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Unbebiebable! MSNBC cuts Congresswoman during NSA LIVE to report… Justin Bieber
A US government privacy board dubs the NSA'€™s phone calls hoarding illegal and calls to shut... wait, it'€™s Justin Bieber. And so the Congresswoman being interviewed was dumped mid-sentence to report the "breaking news"€ of Bieber's DUI arrest. [...]
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NSA is after industrial spying -€“ Snowden to German TV
The NSA agency is not preoccupied solely with national security, but also spies on foreign industrial entities in US business interests, former American intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden, has revealed in an interview to German TV. [...]
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Veteran Gay Conservative Activist Leaves GOP—Calls Party “Hopelessly Out of Touch”
Jimmy LaSalvia denounces Republican "culture of intolerance." Gay political activist and longtime Republican, Jimmy LaSalvia, did not merely leave the GOP last week. He loudly denounced his former party for its "culture of intolerance" and predicted it will never "win another Presidential election." [...]
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Independent panel denounces “€˜chilling”€™ NSA program as illegal, demands end
An independent review board has labeled NSA hoarding of phone data "€˜illegal"€™, adding that while it poses a serious threat to civil liberties, it was unable to find a "€œsingle instance"€ of a threat to the US where the program made any difference. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) released an acerbic report stating that the statute upon which the NSA program was [...]
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Washington State Moves To Block NSA Surveillance
Washington State Rep. Matt Shea (R) has introduced a “Fourth Amendment Protection Act" that would block all unlawful NSA surveillance and lay the groundwork for other states to follow suit. House BIll 2272 (PDF), which also received bipartisan backing from Representatives Taylor, Moscoso, Overstreet, Scott, Blake, and Condotta, would codify Washington State’s refusal to allow the federal gover [...]
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Jesse Ventura goes off grid ‘so the drones can’t find me’
Surveillance drones haven't started hovering outside and above the homes of Americans en masse just yet, but former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura claims he's left the United States just in case. Ventura, a 62-year-old professional wrestler-turned-politician, says his new Ora TV program 'Off the Grid' is being filmed in secret somewhere in Mexico where the all-seeing eye of American unmanned [...]
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“Suspicious things going on”€™: UK, US aiming to block Iraq war inquiry
The US and Britain are trying to block the inquiry into the UK's involvement in the invasion of Iraq, anti-war activist Lindsey German told RT. Conversations between former British PM Tony Blair and former US President George W. Bush remain unattainable. [...]
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The 5 Worst Problems with 60 Minutes’ Love Note to the NSA
"It is often said NSA stands for "never say anything," but tonight the agency breaks with that tradition," John Miller, the reporter behind Sunday night's 60 Minutes report on the National Security Agency, announced bravely in the program's introduction. [...]
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