USA

Greenwald, Scahill vow to unmask NSA’€™s “€˜US assassination program”
American investigative journalists Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald say they have teamed up to prepare a report on the National Security Agency's role in what one of them described as the "US assassination program." “The connections between war and surveillance are clear. I don't want to give too much away but Glenn and I are working on a project right now that has at its center how the Nation [...]
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Obama speaks to Iran’s Rouhani, believes resolution of nuclear issues is possible
For the first time in more than 30 years the President of the United States has spoken with Iran's leadership. Barack Obama announced he believes the two sides can reach a deal regarding the future of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. From the White House Friday afternoon, Obama said he just got off the phone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and discussed “our ongoing efforts to reach [...]
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NSA uses metadata “to create sophisticated graphs” of US citizens’€™ social connections
The US National Security Agency has been exploiting US citizens' personal information drawn from its large collection of metadata to create complex graphs of social connections for foreign intelligence purposes, the latest Snowden leaks have revealed. Documents obtained by the New York Times from the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden say that the practice has been going on since November 2010, [...]
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UN Security Council unanimously adopts Syria resolution
The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution outlining the details of taking under international control and ultimately destroying Syria’s chemical arsenal. "Today's historic resolution is the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the council immediately after the vote. [...]
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American exceptionalism an “€˜outdated”€™ concept
The longstanding notion of US exceptionalism has deep roots in the American psyche, but as the world experiences a “tectonic shift in global geopolitics” the very idea of Washington’s superiority is being challenged, analyst Eric Draitser told RT. Earlier this week, President Barack Obama reaffirmed Washington's desire to engage in the affairs of other states, particularly in the Mi [...]
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Pentagon denies $200 million request for Guantanamo upkeep
A US military request for funding to renovate the prison base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was denied by Pentagon officials in the Obama administration who, while pledging to close the prison, have been consistently prevented from doing so by Congress. General John F. Kelly, the chief of US Southern Command and the officer in charge of Guantanamo Bay, requested $195.7 million to update and modify the p [...]
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Intelligence agencies want ‘all the phone records,’ defend surveillance programs
Leading members of the United States intelligence community continued to defend the government's vast surveillance programs in Washington on Thursday and suggested that those agency's capabilities exceed what's been previously reported. During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon, lawmakers asked representatives from the National Security Agency, [...]
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“€˜Inhuman sanctions”€™ by US fail to achieve political goals, as people suffer
Washington seems certain that exerting sanctions on countries is the safest way to achieve their foreign policy goals. In reality economic and political sanctions do little to control the governments they target, hitting ordinary citizens hard instead. “The aim of sanctions is to harm the state. But the real victims are ordinary, regular people. Experience has shown that there’s a huge wedge b [...]
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Obama’s “independent” NSA review board staffed with administration insiders
President Barack Obama said in August that an independent panel will review the United States€™ surveillance capabilities in the wake of damaging NSA leaks. One month later, though, that group'€™s game plan is being called into question. A steady stream of disclosures credited to former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden have revealed since June previously unreported details about the Nati [...]
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Freedom of speech? College student stopped from handing out copies of the Constitution
A college student from California is making waves this week after being told he could'€™t pass out copies of the United States Constitution on campus. Robert Van Tuinen, 25, was attempting to hand out complimentary copies of the US Constitution at Modesto Junior College in central California on Tuesday when a police officer informed him that he could only distribute pamphlets on campus if done f [...]
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Venezuela asks UN to take action against US over visa dispute
Venezuela has sent a letter to the UN chief asking him to take measures against the United States over the denial of visas for some members of its delegation who are scheduled to attend the UN General Assembly in New York. The letter sent by Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, requests that the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon take action in response to the apparent denial of visas, w [...]
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