Security

Russia-NATO: Moscow mission sums up 25 years of myths vs reality
Russia’s permanent mission to NATO has prepared a report summing up complicated relations between the alliance and Moscow over the last 25 years, which differs substantially from what the report calls NATO’s simplified “black and white” picture. The ‘Russia-NATO: facts and myths’ report investigates in detail the difference between NATO’s declared efforts to maintain peace and sec [...]
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60% of Russians see US as threat & hindrance to development – poll
Over half of Russians think the United States poses a threat to their country and will create barriers for Russia's economic development, but only 5 percent thought the US could defeat Russia in an all-out war. The share of Russians who perceive the United States as a general threat is 59 percent, according to the latest research released by the independent pollster Levada Center on Tuesday. [...]
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Off the rails: US railway crisis blamed on lack of funding, crumbling infrastructure
The US is no stranger to fatal railway accidents: over the last decade, dozens of lives were lost, and hundreds of people injured in train wrecks. All this is due to lack of funding, infrastructure and development, critics say. The latest Amtrak train crash has left at least six people killed and dozens injured, with the cause of the crash remaining unknown. [...]
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German govt actively assisted NSA in mass surveillance – WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks has released new documents showing the German government and the country's intelligence agency, the BND, were actively helping the NSA to spy on European citizens and companies. Berlin had previously denied these allegations. Papers leaked by WikiLeaks, which revealed transcripts from the first 10 months of the inquiry (started in May 2014), showed that the German government had writt [...]
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NSA ‘asked’ Germany’s BND to spy on Siemens over alleged links with Russian intel
The NSA has reportedly sought the help of Germany's intelligence agency in spying on Munich-based Siemens over the company's suspected business with Russian intelligence, Bild am Sonntag newspaper revealed. Siemens has denied any connection with Russia. The revelation came from an unknown US intelligence source speaking to Germany’s Bild am Sonntag, and is the latest report in a spy scandal i [...]
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Chinese warships to join Russian Navy in Black Sea, Mediterranean for historic drill
Two Chinese missile frigates will enter the Russian Black Sea naval base of Novorossiysk for the first time in history. They will then conduct joint exercises with Russia in the Mediterranean. The Linyi and the Weifang will enter the port of Novorossiysk on May 8 to take part in Victory Day celebrations, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. [...]
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Snowden says Australia watching its citizens “all the time,” slams new metadata laws
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden accused Australia of undertaking mass surveillance of its citizens and passing laws on the collection of metadata that he says do not protect society from acts of terrorism. Snowden, addressing the Progress 2015 conference in Melbourne via satellite link, criticized Australia's new metadata laws, which allow the government and intelligence agencies to keep a con [...]
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White House psychologist implicated in CIA torture now helping FBI
Before the dust has had a chance to settle on the report detailing the American Psychologists Association's complicity in the CIA torture program, the psychologist found to have violated the ethics code now appears to be helping the FBI do the same thing. In late April, a 60-page report entitled 'All the President’s Psychologists' pointed to Susan Brandon as the White House architect behind t [...]
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US-led airstrikes kill 52 Syrian civilians in a day, not 1 ISIS fighter – monitor
US-led airstrikes have killed 52 Syrian civilians in one day, a monitoring group reports. There was fighting in the vicinity, but the strike allegedly failed to kill even a single Islamist fighter. "Airstrikes by the coalition early on Friday on the village of Birmahle in Aleppo province killed 52 civilians," the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. [...]
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Government ‘backdoors’ to bypass encryption will make them vulnerable to attacks – industry experts
At a congressional hearing on Wednesday, witnesses said creating a way to grant authorities access to encrypted communications to aid in criminal probes will inevitably by exploited by adversaries. Amid a growing reliance within the tech industry to enable [...]
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Canadian troops in Ukraine could help train far-right extremists
It is impossible for Canadian military personnel in Ukraine to weed out far-right militants when training, as some of the groups have been absorbed into the military, James Bissett, former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria told RT. The Canadian government seems confident that it can weed out far right extremists from the troops they will be training. Do you share that opti [...]
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Khamenei accuses US of creating Iran nuclear weapons “myth”
Iran's supreme leader says the United States has created the “myth” of nuclear weapons to paint Tehran as a “source of threat.” The tough rhetoric comes days before nuclear talks are set to resume in Vienna. "They created the myth of nuclear weapons so they could say the Islamic Republic is a source of threat,” Khamenei said in a televised address to a hall of several hundred military [...]
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“We’re not interested in a fair fight” – US army commander urges NATO to confront Russia
US army commander in Europe says Russia is a “real threat” urging NATO to stay united. The alliance is not interested in a “fair fight with anyone” and wants to have “overmatch in all systems,” Lieutenant-General Frederick "Ben" Hodges believes. “There is a Russian threat," Hodges told the Telegraph, maintaining that Russia is involved in ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. [...]
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Obama downplays Russia S-300 supply to Iran, “jaws drop” in Israel
US President Barack Obama has admitted he was "surprised" that Moscow held back resumption of S-300 supplies to Iran for so long. Some Israeli officials are reportedly saying the prospect of derailing the Iran nuclear talks is now zero. After President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban on S-300 supply to Iran last Monday, Obama made his first official comment on Friday. [...]
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Putin makes it clear that Moscow will continue to stand up to America
Much commentary about Russia is hyperbolic and infused with emotive exaggeration. By contrast, Vladimir Putin's 13th annual Q&A was an extremely calm and assured affair. So that’s a baker’s dozen for Putin: Thirteen years of a unique question and answer marathon which has no comparison that I know of in the rest of the world.   [...]
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Personal details of murdered journalist & ex-MP found posted on Ukrainian ‘enemies of state’ database
The journalist and ex-MP who were gunned down in Kiev this week were on an ‘enemies of the state’ database – a social media website supported by the aide to Ukraine's interior minister. The bloggers also have a Twitter account to share "successes." [...]
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Arms embargo & sanctions on rebels: Yemen resolution up for vote at UN Security Council
The UN Security Council is set to vote on a resolution drafted by Gulf Arab states seeking to impose an arms embargo on Yemeni rebels. Russia earlier suggested an all-inclusive ban on arms sales and to push all sides to the negotiations table. The draft resolution being put to the vote on Tuesday envisions an asset freeze and a travel ban on Ahmed Saleh, the former head of Yemen’s elite Repub [...]
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Too little too late? NSA starting to implement “Snowden-proof” cloud storage
The NSA is implementing a huge migration to custom-designed cloud architecture it says will revolutionize internal security and protect against further leaks by data analysts with unfettered access to classified information. Put simply, the NSA hopes to keep future Edward Snowdens out by employing a cloud file storage system it built from scratch. [...]
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Russians arrive in Scotland to inspect NATO exercise, confusing Euroskeptics
To the befuddlement of Euro critics, Russian inspectors have arrived in the UK to oversee a mass NATO training exercise taking place in Scotland. Despite current tensions between the West and Russia, the team from the Russian National Nuclear Threat Reduction Center is permitted to visit the country to observe military activities as part of a reciprocal agreement contained in the 2011 version o [...]
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