The New World Order

Kerry to offer outline of Mideast peace deal


MONDAY, DEC 30, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry will propose a framework for a final-status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians when he travels to the region this week.
State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said Monday that Kerry will discuss with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH'-hoo) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD' ah-BAHS') a framework that could serve as a guideline for addressing all core issues in the decades-long dispute.
Harf says it's not clear whether any agreement on the proposed framework would be reached during the trip, which begins on Wednesday.
The two sides resumed peace talks in July.
As a precondition, the Palestinians dropped a demand for a halt in Israeli settlement construction, and Israel agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners, including 26 it plans to free this week.

Pope Francis is the 'World's Parish Priest'




FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images

(VATICAN CITY) -- Pope Francis became the leader of the Catholic Church in March, bringing to the Vatican a series of firsts: the first pope to choose St. Francis as a namesake, the first Latin American pope, and the first Jesuit pope.

His conversational first words from St. Peter’s balcony asked the people to pray for him, ­­ a humble greeting that captured many hearts. The messages he has spread since then — those of tolerance, equality, and humanitarianism — made him one of This Week's "game changers" for 2013.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York explained “The Francis effect” in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

“This pope has successfully, finally shattered the caricature of the church that his predecessors have tried hard to do. What’s that caricature? That the church is kind of mean and dour and always saying no and always telling us what we can’t do and always telling us why we should be excluded,” Cardinal Dolan said. “He’s saying ‘Oh no, come on in, the church is about warmth and tenderness.’”

Pope Francis’ efforts are clearly working. In a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, 92 percent of American Catholics have a favorable opinion of the new pope, and 85 percent think he is moving the church in the right direction.

Cardinal Dolan said he knew Pope Francis would make positive change, but said the extent of his impact has been a pleasant surprise.

“What we were after was a good pastor with a track record of solid administration, fatherly warmth, tender care for his sheep, for his people, and boy, we got that on steroids with Pope Francis. He’s the world’s parish priest,” Dolan said.

Pope Francis is a star among both the young and the old, speaking out in new ways that excite believers and nonbelievers alike. Though he holds to the church doctrine, he strives to downplay what he calls the church’s obsession with social issues. Pope Francis has made headlines for saying that atheists can go to heaven and when asked about homosexuality, responded, “Who am I to judge?”

“The teaching of the church is a timeless gift, you can’t change it, it’s ours, we inherit it, we’re given it, but the way we gift wrap it, the way we make it more attractive, and more compelling to the world, that can always change, and that’s what Francis is saying,” Dolan said.

In Pope Francis’ first exhortation outlining his vision for the church, he took a critical stance against capitalism, denouncing society’s “idolatry of money” and an economy that kills.

“There’s only one God and money ain’t it,” Dolan agreed.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, the new head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, reinforced that Pope Francis is serious about Catholicism’s sacred tradition.

“He is giving us a new zeal, he’s giving us new expressions and a new method,” Kurtz said. “He is saying the same time-honored, beautiful message of Christ, but in a way that’s really touching hearts.”

But not everyone is touched. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said the pope’s recent criticisms of capitalism sound like “pure Marxism.”

Time Magazine, however, is not in the camp of pope criticizers, with the magazine recognizing Pope Francis’ widespread impact by naming him 2013′s Person of the Year. And the pope’s understated reaction? Most would say it was fitting.

“He doesn’t want to be the center of attention. He wants others to be the center,” Archbishop Kurtz said. “Gosh, that’s a great Francis effect, isn’t it?”
Kerry headed to Mideast

By DEB RIECHMANN Associated Press

WASHINGTON—John Kerry leaves Wednesday on his ninth trip to the Mideast as Secretary of State to resume talks with Israel and the Palestinians aimed at crafting a final status agreement to end the decades-long conflict.

"It's a commute, folks," Kerry joked Monday night about his frequent travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah, the first two stops on an eight-day trip that continues on to Vietnam and the Philippines.

Kerry spoke at the 100th anniversary dinner of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a leading international Jewish humanitarian organization that works in more than 70 countries and Israel.

In his speech, Kerry tried to allay fears that Israel is threatened by a first-step agreement that six world powers, including the U.S., recently negotiated with Iran to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has complained that the deal gave Iran too much relief while leaving Iran's nuclear infrastructure intact. Netanyahu, who believes Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, says Iran's military nuclear program must be dismantled.

"We will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. Not now. Not ever," Kerry said, reaffirming U.S. commitment to the security of Israel.

On the peace talks, Kerry said he and Netanyahu are "hand-in-hand" and "mind-in-mind" in how to proceed. He said that despite skepticism, he continues to believe that a final agreement between Israel and the Palestinians remains a possibility.

Kerry: Mideast Peace Deal Closest in Years

by Scott Bobb

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he believes Israel and the Palestinians are closer to a peace agreement than they have been in years at the end of a three-day trip to the region.

Kerry told reporters Friday before leaving Israel that despite the obstacles he was encouraged by the commitment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the pursuit of peace.

"Together there is no doubt in my mind we can reach an agreement that will support the peaceful and promising Palestine that the Palestinian people deserve alongside a prosperous and a more secure Israel," said Kerry.

Kerry's visit came amid reports that the talks were faltering over Israeli concerns about security in the West Bank and Palestinian anger over the continued construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The talks resumed four months ago after a three-year suspension. They are to continue for another five months.

Kerry dismissed media speculation of a breakdown in the talks saying the two sides have maintained regular discussions.

He also declined to provide details on reports that U.S. mediators have made proposals regarding security in the Palestinian territories but indicated that such an effort was underway.

"If Israel's security cannot be increased through this agreement it's very difficult to make an agreement," said Kerry. "So we are making certain that we are addressing each and every one of those questions."

Kerry also sought to ease Israeli alarm over the recently concluded interim agreement on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program.

Under the accord, Iran agreed to freeze any work on this program in exchange for a partial lifting of international economic sanctions that have hurt its economy.

Netanyahu has repeatedly called it a bad agreement. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Kerry said he was convinced that Israel is safer as a result of the accord.

"Israel and the United States are absolutely in synch (agreement), not an ounce of daylight between us, with respect to the need to make sure that Iran cannot achieve a nuclear weapon, will not in the future be able to achieve it and certainly cannot move towards it without the United States of America and Israel knowing that, and therefore being able to take steps to deal with that," Kerry said.

He said the accord provided the best opportunity to resolve the concerns of the international community and pledged to return to the region in a few weeks if necessary.
They’re Going to Dump the Fukushima Radiation Into the Ocean

Washington’s Blog   December 5, 2013

Tepco is planning on dumping all of the radioactive water stored at Fukushima into the ocean.

The industry-controlled nuclear regulators are pushing for dumping the radiation, as well.

As EneNews reports:

Juan Carlos Lentijo, head of IAEA’s mission to Fukushima Daiichi, Dec. 4, 2013: “Controlled discharge is a regular practice in all the nuclear facilities in the world. And what we are trying to say here is to consider this as one of the options to contribute to a good balance of risks and to stabilize the facility for the long term.”

Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority, Dec. 4, 2013: “You cannot keep storing the water forever. We have to make choice comparing all risks involved.”

Xinhua, Dec. 4, 2013: Lentijo said that TEPCO should weigh the possible damaging effects of discharging toxic water against the total risks involved in the overall decommissioning work process. [...] Tanaka highlighted the fact that while highly radioactive water could be decontaminated in around seven years, the amount of water containing tritium will keep rising, topping 700,000 tons in two years. [...] nuclear experts have repeatedly pointed out that [tritium] is still a significant radiation hazard when inhaled, ingested via food or water, or absorbed through the skin. [...] fisherman, industries and fisheries bodies in the Fukushima area and beyond in Japan’s northeast, have collectively baulked at the idea of releasing toxic water into the sea [...] TEPCO will be duty-bound to submit assessments of the safety and environmental impact [...]

NHK, Dec. 4, 2013: IAEA team leader Juan Carlos Lentijo [...] said it is necessary and indispensable to assess the impact the tritium discharge might have on human health and the environment, and to get government approval as well as consent from concerned people.

Japan Times, Dec. 4, 2013: “Of course . . . public acceptance for this purpose is necessary,” said Lentijo, adding strict monitoring of the impact of the discharge would also be essential.

AFP, Dec. 4, 2013: [L]ocal fishermen, neighbouring countries and environmental groups all oppose the idea.

See also: Gundersen: They want to dump all Fukushima’s radioactive water in Pacific — Tepco: It will be diluted, then released — Professor suggests pumping it out in deep ocean (VIDEOS)

In the real world, there is no safe level of radiation.

And there are alternatives.

Dr. Arjun Makhijani – a recognized expert on nuclear power, who has testified before Congress, served as an expert witness in Nuclear Regulatory Commission proceedings, and been interviewed by many of the largest news organizations – told PBS in March:

We actually sent a proposal to Japan two years ago, some colleagues of mine and I, saying you should park a supertanker or a large tanker offshore, and put the water in it, and send it off someplace else so that the water treatment and the water management is not such a huge, constant issue. But [the Japanese declined].

Tepco – with no financial incentive to actually fix things – has been insanely irresponsible and has only been pretending to contain Fukushima. And see this.

Unfortunately, Japan has devolved into crony capitalism … and even tyranny.

So instead of doing something to contain the radiation, they’re going to dump it.
8 striking parallels between the U.S. and the Roman Empire

Is our republic coming to an unceremonious end? History may not be on America's side

Steven Strauss

1 — Staggering Increase in the Cost of Elections, with Dubious Campaign Funding Sources: Our 2012 election reportedly cost $3 billion. All of it was raised from private sources – often creating the appearance, or the reality, that our leaders are beholden to special interest groups. During the late Roman Republic, elections became staggeringly expensive, with equally deplorable results. Caesar reportedly borrowed so heavily for one political campaign, he feared he would be ruined, if not elected.

2 — Politics as the Road to Personal Wealth: During the late Roman Republic period, one of the main roads to wealth was holding public office, and exploiting such positions to accumulate personal wealth. As Lessig notes: Congressman, Senators and their staffs leverage their government service to move to private sector positions – that pay three to ten times their government compensation. Given this financial arrangement, “Their focus is therefore not so much on the people who sent them to Washington. Their focus is instead on those who will make them rich.” (Republic Lost)

3 — Continuous War: A national state of security arises, distracting attention from domestic challenges with foreign wars. Similar to the late Roman Republic, the US – for the past 100 years — has either been fighting a war, recovering from a war, or preparing for a new war: WW I (1917-18), WW II (1941-1945), Cold War (1947-1991), Korean War (1950-1953), Vietnam (1953-1975), Gulf War (1990-1991), Afghanistan (2001-ongoing), and Iraq (2003-2011). And, this list is far from complete.

4 — Foreign Powers Lavish Money/Attention on the Republic’s Leaders: Foreign wars lead to growing influence, by foreign powers and interests, on the Republic’s political leaders — true for Rome and true for us. In the past century, foreign embassies, agents and lobbyists have proliferated in our nation’s capital. As one specific example: A foreign businessman donated $100 million to Bill Clinton‘s various activities. Clinton “opened doors” for him, and sometimes acted in ways contrary to stated American interests and foreign policy.

5 — Profits Made Overseas Shape the Republic’s Internal Policies: As the fortunes of Rome’s aristocracy increasingly derived from foreign lands, Roman policy was shaped to facilitate these fortunes. American billionaires and corporations increasingly influence our elections. In many cases, they are only nominally American – with interests not aligned with those of the American public. For example, Fox News is part of international media group News Corp., with over $30 billion in revenues worldwide. Is Fox News’ jingoism a product of News Corp.’s non-U.S. interests?

6 — Collapse of the Middle Class: In the period just before the Roman Republic’s fall, the Roman middle class was crushed — destroyed by cheap overseas slave labor. In our own day, we’ve witnessed rising income inequality, a stagnating middle class, and the loss of American jobs to overseas workers who are paid less and have fewer rights.

7 — Gerrymandering: Rome’s late Republic used various methods to reduce the power of common citizens. The GOP has so effectively gerrymandered Congressional districts that, even though House Republican candidates received only about 48 percent of the popular vote in the 2012 election — they ended up with the majority (53 percent) of the seats.

8 — Loss of the Spirit of Compromise: The Roman Republic, like ours, relied on a system of checks and balances. Compromise is needed for this type of system to function. In the end, the Roman Republic lost that spirit of compromise, with politics increasingly polarized between Optimates (the rich, entrenched elites) and Populares (the common people). Sound familiar? Compromise is in noticeably short supply in our own time also. For example, “There were more filibusters between 2009 and 2010 than there were in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s combined.”

As Benjamin Franklin observed, we have a Republic — but only if we can keep it.
9 Signs That China Is Making A Move Against The U.S. Dollar

Michael Snyder

On the global financial stage, China is playing chess while the U.S. is playing checkers, and the Chinese are now accelerating their long-term plan to dethrone the U.S. dollar. You see, the truth is that China does not plan to allow the U.S. financial system to dominate the world indefinitely. Right now, China is the number one exporter on the globe and China will have the largest economy on the planet at some point in the coming years. The Chinese would like to see global currency usage reflect this shift in global economic power.

At the moment, most global trade is conducted in U.S. dollars and more than 60 percent [2] of all global foreign exchange reserves are held in U.S. dollars. This gives the United States an enormous built-in advantage, but thanks to decades of incredibly bad decisions this advantage is starting to erode. And due to the recent political instability in Washington D.C., the Chinese sense vulnerability. China has begun to publicly mock the level of U.S. debt, Chinese officials have publicly threatened to stop buying any more U.S. debt, the Chinese have started to aggressively make currency swap agreements with other major global powers, and China has been accumulating unprecedented amounts of gold. All of these moves are setting up the moment in the future when China will completely pull the rug out from under the U.S. dollar.

Today, the U.S. financial system is the core of the global financial system. Because nearly everybody uses the U.S. dollar to buy oil and to trade with one another, this creates a tremendous demand for U.S. dollars around the planet. So other nations are generally very happy to take our dollars in exchange for oil, cheap plastic gadgets and other things that U.S. consumers “need”.

Major exporting nations accumulate huge piles of our dollars, but instead of just letting all of that money sit there, they often invest large portions of their currency reserves into U.S. Treasury bonds which can easily be liquidated if needed.

So if the U.S. financial system is the core of the global financial system, then U.S. debt is “the core of the core” as some people put it. U.S. Treasury bonds fuel the print, borrow, spend cycle that the global economy depends upon.

That is why a U.S. debt default would be such a big deal. A default would cause interest rates to skyrocket and the entire global economic system to go haywire.

Unfortunately for us, the U.S. debt spiral cannot go on indefinitely. Our debt is growing far, far more rapidly than our GDP is, and therefore our debt is completely and totally unsustainable.

The Chinese understand what is going on, and when the dust settles they plan to be the last ones standing. In the aftermath of a U.S. collapse, China anticipates having the largest economy on the planet, more gold than anyone else, and a respected international currency that the rest of the globe will be able to use to conduct international trade.

And China is not just going to sit back and wait for all of this to happen. In fact, they are already doing lots of things to get the ball moving. The following are 9 signs that China is making a move against the U.S. dollar…

#1 Chinese credit rating agency Dagong has downgraded U.S. debt [3]from A to A- and has indicated that further downgrades are possible.

#2 China has just entered into a very large currency swap agreement with the eurozone that is considered a huge step toward establishing the yuan as a major world currency. This agreement will result in a lot less U.S. dollars [4] being used in trade between China and Europe…

The swap deal will allow more trade and investment between the regions to be conducted in euros and yuan, without having to convert into another currency such as the U.S. dollar first, said Kathleen Brooks, a research director at FOREX.com.

“It’s a way of promoting European and Chinese trade, but not doing it with the U.S. dollar,” said Brooks. “It’s a bit like cutting out the middleman, all of a sudden there’s potentially no U.S. dollar risk.”

#3 Back in June, China signed a major currency swap agreement with the United Kingdom [5]. This was another very important step toward internationalizing the yuan.

#4 China currently owns about 1.3 trillion dollars of U.S. debt, and this enormous exposure to U.S. debt is starting to become a major political issue [6] within China.

#5 Mei Xinyu, Commerce Minister adviser to the Chinese government,warned this week [7] that if the U.S. government ever does default that China may decide to completely stop buying U.S. Treasury bonds.

#6 According to Yahoo News [8], China has already been looking for ways to diversify away from the U.S. dollar…

There have been media reports this week that China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the body that handles the country’s $3.66 trillion of foreign exchange reserve, is looking to diversify into real estate investments in Europe.

#7 Xinhua, the official news agency of China, called for a “de-Americanized world [9]” this week, and also made the following statement about the political turmoil in Washington: “The cyclical stagnation in Washington for a viable bipartisan solution over a federal budget and an approval for raising debt ceiling has again left many nations’ tremendous dollar assets in jeopardy and the international community highly agonized.”

#8 Xinhua also said the following about the U.S. debt deal on Thursday [10]: “[P]oliticians in Washington have done nothing substantial but postponing once again the final bankruptcy of global confidence in the U.S. financial system”. The commentary in the government-run publication also declared that the debt deal “was no more than prolonging the fuse of the U.S. debt bomb one inch longer.”

#9 China is the largest producer of gold in the world, and it has also been importing an absolutely massive amount of gold [11] from other nations. But instead of slowing down, the Chinese appear to be accelerating their gold buying. In fact, money manager Stephen Leeb says that his sources are telling him that China plans to buy another 5,000 tons of gold [12]. There are many that are convinced that China eventually plans to back the yuan with gold [13] and try to make it the number one alternative to the U.S. dollar.

So exactly what would happen if the Chinese announced someday that they were going to back their currency with gold and would no longer be using the U.S. dollar in international trade?

It would change the face of the global economy almost overnight. In a previous article [13], I described some of the things that we could expect to see happen…

If China does decide to back the yuan with gold and no longer use the U.S. dollar in international trade, it will have devastating effects on the U.S. economy. Demand for the U.S. dollar and U.S. debt would drop like a rock, and prices on the things that we buy every day would soar. At that point you could forget about cheap gasoline or cheap Chinese imports. Our entire way of life depends on the U.S. dollar being the primary reserve currency of the world and being able to import things very inexpensively. If the rest of the world (led by China) starts to reject the U.S. dollar, it would result in a massive tsunami of currency coming back to our shores and a very painful adjustment in our standard of living. Today, most U.S. currency is actually used outside of the United States [14]. If someday that changes and we are no longer able to export our inflation that is going to mean big trouble for us.

The fact that we get to print up giant mountains of money and virtually everyone around the world uses it has been a huge boon for the U.S. economy.

When that changes, the word “catastrophic” is not going to be nearly strong enough to describe what is going to happen.

According to a Rasmussen Reports survey that was released this week, only 13 percent [15] of all Americans believe that the country is on the right track. But the truth is that these are the good times. The American people haven’t seen anything yet.

Someday people will look back and desperately wish that they could go back to the “good old days” of 2012 and 2013. This is about as good as things are going to get, and it is only downhill from here.

Rebel Leader: Malaysia Plane Filled with Already Dead Bodies



MOSCOW (AP) — A top pro-Russia rebel commander in eastern Ukraine has given a bizarre version of events surrounding the Malaysian jetliner crash — suggesting many of the victims may have died days before the plane took off.
The pro-rebel website Russkaya Vesna on Friday quoted Igor Girkin as saying he was told by people at the crash site that "a significant number of the bodies weren't fresh," adding that he was told they were drained of blood and reeked of decomposition.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 was shot down Thursday, killing all 298 people aboard. The plane was flying 10,000 meters above an area where Ukrainian forces have been fighting separatist rebels. Each side accuses the other of downing the plane.

U.S. intelligence authorities said a surface-to-air missile brought down the plane, and U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the U.N. Security Council in New York on Friday that the missile was likely fired from a rebel-held area near the Russian border.

Girkin, also known as Strelkov and allegedly a former Russian military intelligence agent, said he couldn't confirm the information. But it's sure to add to the intense emotions surrounding the crash, with the rebels accused of shooting down the plane.

Girkin said "Ukrainian authorities are capable of any baseness."

He claimed that a large amount of blood serum and medications were found in the wreckage.

 Sanctions Pile Up, Russians’ Alarm Grows Over Putin's Tactic

 

MOSCOW — Russia, facing the toughest round of Western sanctions imposed since the Ukraine crisis erupted, has adopted a nonchalant public stance, with President Vladimir V. Putin emphasizing the importance of self-reliance and a new poll released Tuesday indicating a “What, me worry?” attitude among the bulk of the population.
But beneath that calm facade, there is growing alarm in Russia that the festering turmoil in Ukraine and the new round of far more punitive sanctions — announced Tuesday by both European nations and the United States — will have an impact on Russia’s relations with the West for years to come and damage the economy to the extent that ordinary Russians feel it.
 Until now, Mr. Putin’s tactics seemed to be working. Russia was feeding the separatist insurgency in Ukraine without leaving distinct fingerprints — able to press Kiev to come to terms while avoiding a rupture with Europe that would alienate Russia’s business elite. But that strategy is beginning to crumble, battered under successive shock waves generated by the crisis.
More frequent and prominent critics are saying that Mr. Putin and the hard-line leaders in the Kremlin overreached by suggesting that Russia, far more dependent than the old Soviet Union on international trade and financial markets, could thrive without the West.
“They were not anticipating the West to make radical moves, costly moves,” said Nikolai Petrov, an independent political analyst. “What is happening is different from what they wanted and what they expected.”
He and others pointed to the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 over embattled southeastern Ukraine on July 17 as upsetting the balancing act that Mr. Putin had managed to pull off to maintain support from the public, hard-line nationalists, the security services, the oligarchs and the more liberal business community.
“Until this catastrophe, Putin’s calculations were pretty good in terms of being able to win any tactical battle,” Mr. Petrov said.
The Kremlin had been counting on its ability to maintain just enough instability in Ukraine to keep the country dependent on Russian good will, while making Europe and the United States cautious about intervening too assertively there.
Right after this weekend, when the likelihood of more serious European sanctions materialized, Mr. Putin met with advisers to say that Russia needed to become self-reliant. He was referring to arms production previously done in Ukraine, but the sentiment echoed in other fields.
“No matter what the difficulties we may encounter, and to be honest, I do not really see any big difficulties so far,” he said, according to a transcript on the Kremlin website, “I think that they will ultimately work to our advantage because they will give us the needed incentive to develop our production capability in areas where we had not done so yet.”
Domestically, grumbling over the creeping isolationism has grown louder. Roughly 50 percent of the economy is state-run, and the loyalty of those who direct such companies to Mr. Putin remains absolute. But the rest are changing.
“It is still a very polite version: ‘Maybe something is going wrong,' ” said Sergei Petrov, an opposition member of Parliament and the founder of Rolf, one of the biggest car importers in Russia. “They would never say it to you, a foreigner, but I hear more and more critics.”
A former finance minister and a close Putin ally, Alexei Kudrin, voiced rare public criticism of Kremlin policy in an interview last week with the state-run news agency ITAR-TASS.
Mr. Kudrin said he was worried that the Ukraine crisis would drive Russia into a “historic confrontation” that would retard the country’s development across the board.
The business community was dismayed by the amount of anti-Western comments on television and radio, he said, indicating a “fundamental” shift that made the West Russia’s adversary again.
“Things are different in business,” he said. “Businessmen want to work, to invest, build factories and develop trade.”
Some analysts saw that interview as a sign that Mr. Putin was looking for a way out, preparing to abandon the Ukraine separatists publicly. They linked it to a similar sentiment in a column in the newspaper Kommersant on Tuesday, by a journalist close to the president, suggesting that he had allowed the black boxes from the Malaysian airliner to be sent to the West because he did not fully trust the information he got from his advisers.
But there has been no direct indication from Mr. Putin that he wants to change tacks.
Officially, Russia tried to play down the airplane disaster, which killed all 298 people on board, although some news outlets raised questions from the start. The front page of the government-owned Russkaya Gazeta the day after the crash put the report on the bottom half — the top story was that Russians were eating less bread and potatoes.
The general sense here was that the West was again piling on Russia without evidence — that it was a political issue.
“In my opinion, we face a critical situation today,” Lev Gudkov, the director of the Levada Center, an independent polling organization, told a weekend seminar audience. “But our society does not realize it against a backdrop of patriotic and chauvinistic euphoria.”
That euphoria was rooted in the relatively bloodless, seemingly costless annexation of Crimea in March. The public expected that the rest of the crisis in Ukraine would be resolved with similar ease.
“The situation began changing dramatically after the crash of the Boeing,” Mr. Gudkov said. “According to our research, reaction inside the country was quite weak, but the Western European public has drastically changed its attitude towards Russia.”
Indeed, poll results released Tuesday by the Levada Center showed the Russian public barely concerned about sanctions. More than 60 percent of respondents thought they would have little or no impact on them. Mr. Putin remains hugely popular.
The official attitude was also calm. “We can’t ignore it,” the foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, said at a news conference on Monday when asked about the expected sanctions. “But to fall into hysterics and respond to a blow with a blow is not worthy of a major country.”
Continue reading the main story
Mr. Lavrov also expressed disappointment that the Ukraine crisis was damaging relations between Russia and the West, but said repeatedly that it was the fault of Western capitals because they had encouraged Kiev to fight rather than negotiate.
“No one is pleased with the deterioration of relations between the partners,” he said. “We are trying to influence the situation in Ukraine to move it from the military confrontation to political negotiations.”
But others were less sanguine as the sanctions piled up.
Beyond sanctions, an arbitration court in The Hague ruled Monday that Russia should pay former Yukos shareholders $50 billion for breaking up the oil and gas company decade ago. The ruling added an element of uncertainty to dealing with Gazprom and Rosneft, the two state-controlled giants of the Russian energy economy that absorbed Yukos holdings.
Economic issues are likely to broaden the split between the more liberal economists and the conservative members of the security services, analysts said. Mr. Putin makes all the crucial decisions, however, and no one is likely to challenge him directly.
“There is a split, but the antiwar party lacks the instruments to force Putin into practical action,” said Vladimir Milov, a former deputy energy minister turned opposition politician.
Kremlin officials seeking to break with the West believe that whatever financing they lose there, they can regain from China or India, Mr. Milov said, without realizing that neither banking system is geared to provide the billions in long-term credit that Russian companies routinely got from Western banks.
 Indeed, at a recent dinner party, a Kremlin confidant said that the future would be all about “Russian might and Chinese wealth.” Did the West not worry, he mused aloud, that China would be the big winner?
Over all, Mr. Milov said, the outlook seems bleak.
“We are sliding into something which is clearly becoming a long-term standoff, and Putin looks committed and not ready to give up,” he said. “It is a bad sign that everything is becoming a long-term problem.”

Pope Attacks Global Economics For Worshipping 'God Of Money'

By Philip Pullella

CAGLIARI, Sardinia (Reuters) - Pope Francis made one of his strongest attacks on the global economic system on Sunday, saying it could no longer be based on a "god called money" and urged the unemployed to fight for work.

Francis, at the start of a day-long trip to the Sardinian capital, Cagliari, put aside his prepared text at a meeting with unemployed workers, including miners in hard hats who told him of their situation, and improvised for nearly 20 minutes.

"I find suffering here ... It weakens you and robs you of hope," he said. "Excuse me if I use strong words, but where there is no work there is no dignity."

He discarded his prepared speech after listening to Francesco Mattana, a 45-year-old married father of three who lost his job with an alternative energy company four years ago.

Mattana, his voice trembling, told the pope that unemployment "oppresses you and wears you out to the depths of your soul".

The crowd of about 20,000 people in a square near the city port chanted what Francis called a prayer for "work, work, work". They cheered each time he spoke of the rights of workers and the personal devastation caused by joblessness.

The pope, who later celebrated Mass for some 300,000 people outside the city's cathedral, told them: "We don't want this globalised economic system which does us so much harm. Men and women have to be at the centre (of an economic system) as God wants, not money."

"The world has become an idolator of this god called money," he said.

Sardinia's coast is famous for its idyllic beaches, exclusive resorts and seaside palatial residences of some of the world's richest people, including former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and a host of Hollywood actors.

But much of the island, particularly its large cities and the vast agricultural and industrial interior, has been blighted by the economic crisis, with factories closed and mines operating at low capacity.

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT, CLOSING MINES

Cagliari has a youth unemployment rate of about 51 percent. The Sulcis area in the southwest of the island is threatened with more unemployment from the looming closures of the Carbosulcis coal mine and an aluminum smelter.

The pope made clear that his assessment was not limited to the local situation.

"It is not a problem of Italy and Europe ... It is the consequence of a world choice, of an economic system that brings about this tragedy, an economic system that has at its centre an idol which is called money," he said to the cheers of the crowd.

While Francis's predecessor Benedict also called for changes to economic systems, he was more likely to use dense intellectual language.

Francis, who as bishop of Buenos Aires sided with unemployed workers in their conflict with government austerity plans, ended his improvised speech with a prayer asking God to "give us work and teach us to fight for work".

Francis said he did not want the crowd to see him as a smiling "cordial manager of the Church who comes here and says to you 'have courage'".

He added: "I don't want this. I want this courage to come from inside me and push me to do everything I can as a pastor and a man."

Francis brought tears to the eyes of some in the crowd when he told his own family's story of emigration from Italy to Argentina and how they lost everything in the Great Depression.

"I was not born yet, but as a child I remember hearing talk of this suffering," he said.

Francis said globalization had brought with it a culture where the weakest in society suffered the most and often, those on the fringes "fall away", including the elderly, who he said were victims of a "hidden euthanasia" caused by neglect of those no longer considered productive.

"To defend this economic culture, a throwaway culture has been installed. We throw away grandparents, and we throw away young people. We have to say no to his throwaway culture. We want a just system that helps everyone," he said.
Pope Francis: It's Time For The Catholic Church To Be More Inclusive

In an interview released Thursday, Pope Francis said the Catholic Church has gotten itself wrapped up in "small things, in small-minded rules", when it comes to the church's hard-line aversion to homosexuality, contraception and abortion. If the church does not change its ways, the Pope says, "the moral edifice of the Church is likely to fall like a house of cards."

"We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods," the Pope added. “But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.”

On the issue of homosexuality, the Pope made it clear that condemnation of those who are gay is not something in which the church should take part.

“In Buenos Aires I used to receive letters from homosexual persons who are ‘socially wounded’ because they tell me that they feel like the church has always condemned them. But the church does not want to do this,” Pope Francis said.

“Religion has the right to express its opinion in the service of the people, but God in creation has set us free: it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person," he continued. “A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality,” he continued. “I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person.”

The Pope also touched on the role of women in the church, hinting that it is time to carve out a true place for females in the Catholic Church.

“The church cannot be herself without the woman and her role,” he said. “The woman is essential for the church. Mary, a woman, is more important than the bishops ... We must therefore investigate further the role of women in the church. We have to work harder to develop a profound theology of the woman. Only by making this step will it be possible to better reflect on their function within the church. The feminine genius is needed wherever we make important decisions.”

The Pope's words in the interview, which was conducted over three meetings in August and published in the Italian Jesuit monthly La Civilta Cattolica, is being applauded by liberal Catholics.

"This pope is rescuing the Church from those who think that condemning gay people and opposing contraception define what it means to be a real Catholic," said John Gehring, Catholic program director for the liberal group Faith in Public Life. "Francis is putting a message of mercy, justice and humility back at the center of the church's mission. It's a remarkable and refreshing change."

But the candid words of the 76 year-old Pope, who said he "has never been a right-winger", will likely not sit well with conservative Catholics. Last week, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island said he was upset that Pope Francis had not yet spoken out on the "evils of abortion" as a means to discourage activists who support reproductive choice.

Despite the hard focus many Catholic conservatives have on the social issues of homosexuality, abortion and contraception, Pope Francis, who has invited the needy in to the Vatican for a meal and personally called a rape victim, insists that it is time for the church to put energy towards attacking some of the world's real problems, like hunger and homelessness.

“This church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people," Francis said in the interview. "We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity.


 Full Interview Here
Putin’s Emergency Warning to America

World News

A potential US strike on Syria is fraught with dangerous consequences

Vladimir Putin
September 12, 2013

MOSCOW — RECENT events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.

Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America’s consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.

No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.

The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.

Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria? After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all.

From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today’s complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”

But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.

No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.

The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen nonproliferation, when in reality this is being eroded.

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.

A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action.

I welcome the president’s interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations.

If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

Vladimir V. Putin is the president of Russia.

Pope Francis Embraces Divided Middle East Leaders

Pope Francis embraces divided Middle East leaders and presides over Christian, Jewish and Muslim prayers at Vatican in bid to revive collapsed peace talks






  • Pope Francis welcomed both presidents to Vatican for peace prayers
  • Israeli president Shimon Peres arrived first followed by Mahmoud Abbas
  • Attended a service incorporating Jewish, Christian and Muslim prayers
  • Took place in the Vatican garden - under the shadow of St. Peter's Basilica
  • Vatican officials say there is no political agenda behind the meeting

  • Pope Francis waded into Middle East peace-making this evening by welcoming both the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to the Vatican for an evening of prayers.
    Israeli President Shimon Peres was the first to arrive at the Vatican hotel where Pope Francis lives, followed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. 
    Francis warmly greeted both and met privately with each one before heading out to the Vatican garden for the service.
    Their meeting came just weeks after the last round of peace negotiations, sponsored by the U.S.,  collapsed.

  • Vatican officials have insisted Pope Francis has no political agenda by inviting the two leaders to pray at his home other than to rekindle a desire for peace among the two parties. 
    However, the meeting could have significance on the ground beyond mere symbolism.
    The meeting will also cement Francis' reputation as a leader unhindered by diplomatic and theological protocol who is willing to go out on a limb for the sake of peace.
      'In the Middle East, symbolic gestures and incremental steps are important,' noted the Rev. Thomas Reese, a veteran Vatican analyst for the National Catholic Reporter. 
      'And who knows what conversations can occur behind closed doors in the Vatican.'
      The unusual prayer summit was a feat of diplomatic and religious protocol, organized in the two weeks since Francis issued the surprise invitation to Peres and Abbas from Manger Square in Bethlehem.

    • It took place in the Vatican gardens in the shadow of St. Peter's Basilica, the most religiously neutral place in the tiny city-state.
      It incorporated Jewish, Christian and Muslim prayers - delivered in Hebrew, English, Arabic and Italian.
      The prayers focused on three themes common to each of the religions: thanking God for creation, seeking forgiveness for past wrongdoing and praying to God to bring peace to the region.
      Francis, Peres and Abbas were expected to deliver brief remarks, shake hands and plant an olive tree together in a sign of peace.
      The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians was also present to give a united Christian front.

    • Vatican officials have described the prayer evening as something of a 'time-out' in political negotiations, merely designed to rekindle the desire for peace through prayers common to all the main faith traditions in the Holy Land.
      But even Francis' secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has said the power of prayer shouldn't be discounted for its ability to change the reality on the ground.
      'Prayer has a political strength that we maybe don't even realize and should be exploited to the full,' he said at the end of Francis' trip. 
      'Prayer has the ability to transform hearts, and thus to transform history.'
      That said, no concrete results are expected: Peres has no formal role in peace negotiations, holds a largely ceremonial post and leaves office at the end of the month.
      But Nadav Tamir, a political adviser to Peres, said Sunday the Israeli government authorized the trip and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in 'constant contact' with Peres.

    • Speaking on Israeli Army Radio, Tamir stressed the meeting was not political, even though he said Peres and Abbas were expected to discuss political developments when they meet in private after the prayer.
      Netanyahu had urged the world to shun Abbas' new unity government which took office last week because it is backed by the Islamic militant group Hamas. His pleas have been ignored by the West, with both the U.S. and the European Union saying they will give the unity government a chance.
      Peres' participation thus undermines Netanyahu's attempts to isolate the Palestinians, and instead adds to the growing isolation of Netanyahu's hard-line position. 
      Netanyahu's office has declined repeated requests for comment about the Vatican summit.

    • Nevertheless, Tamir stressed that the meeting had a different aspect to it.
      He said: 'The government of Israel decided not to hold political negotiations, but we aren't talking about political negotiations. 
      'We are talking about a different gesture, a spiritual gesture, an act of public diplomacy.'
      Abbas told Italian daily La Repubblica that Francis' invitation was 'an act of great courage'
      'Nothing should stop us in the search for solutions so that both of our people can live in their own sovereign state,' he was quoted as saying in Sunday's editions.
      • Iranian official warns U.S.-led strike will engulf entire region

      By Hussein Dakroub   The Daily Star

      BEIRUT: A senior Iranian official warned Monday that a U.S.-led military strike on Syria would engulf the entire region and threaten American and Israeli interests.
      The statement by Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Iranian parliamentary committee for national security and foreign policy, was the latest in a series of stern warnings issued by Iranian and Russian officials against a possible Western military strike on Syria to punish the regime over its alleged use of chemical weapons.
      “We think that self-restraint shown so far by U.S. President Barack Obama, this American approach, serves America’s interests on the one hand, and the interests of the Zionist entity’s security on the other, because any political miscalculation in this regard could negatively backfire on the situation in the region as a whole,” Boroujerdi told reporters following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri at the latter’s residence in Ain al-Tineh.
      Boroujerdi spoke in Farsi and his remarks were translated into Arabic by an interpreter.
      The Iranian official arrived in Beirut Monday from Damascus to brief Lebanese officials on the conflict in Syria and discuss its repercussions on Lebanon.
      Boroujerdi, who issued a similar warning a day earlier during a trip to Syria where he met with President Bashar Assad, also said that the U.S. Congress should “bow to the will of the American people and take the right decision to put a brake to the American military approach against Syria.”
      “We think that the American public is sensitive toward and is opposed to any military aggression against Syria given the failed U.S. military experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.
      Last week, Obama said he would seek the authorization of Congress for a military strike on Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons.
      Obama has accused the regime of using poisonous gas on Syrian citizens on several occasions this year including the Aug. 21 attack which U.S. intelligence says killed over 1,400 people in a Damascus suburb.
      Boroujerdi said his talks with Assad focused on three main issues: defense of the resistance and Syria as a major pillar in the resistance axis, Iran’s strong and absolute opposition to any foreign military action against Syria, and its total condemnation of the use of chemical weapons “because this constituted a great danger to world and regional peace.”
      He said that during his visit to Damascus he found daily life was normal, while the morale of Syrian officials, including Assad, was high.
      The Iranian official also met with Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam and several parliamentarians.
      “We presented a detailed report about the results of our official visit to Syria and the important meetings we had with President Assad, the parliament speaker, the prime minister and the foreign minister,” Boroujerdi told reporters after talks with Salam at the latter’s residence in Mseitbeh.
      Boroujerdi said he had affirmed Iran’s support for Syria, describing Tehran’s key Arab ally as “the principal foundation and the vital pillar in the resistance axis in the region.”
      “We informed Salam of Iran’s firm opposition to any form of foreign military aggression against Syria,” he said.
      Salam and Boroujerdi also discussed bilateral relations and expressed hope that a Lebanese government would be formed.
      “We hope that the obstacles still facing the formation of a new government under Salam are eliminated because this matter serves the interest of the Lebanese,” he said.
      The Iranian official also voiced his country’s support for Lebanon’s stability and national unity.
      “As you know the Islamic Republic of Iran has always affirmed its principled stance in supporting national unity as well as sovereignty, calm and stability in this brotherly country because we think that this matter greatly serves regional security and stability,” he said.
      Boroujerdi will Tuesday meet with President Michel Sleiman, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.
      Boroujerdi also held a meeting with Lebanon’s foreign affairs parliamentary committee headed by MP Abdel-Latif Zein.
      The talks, attended by lawmakers Nawaf Musawi, Yassine Jaber, Joseph Maalouf and Khodr Habib, touched on the repercussions of the Syrian conflict on Lebanon, particularly in terms of security.
      Last week, the head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard warned that a U.S. strike would trigger “reactions beyond” Syria and bolster extremism. And Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said an attack on Syria would be a “disaster” for the entire region.



      NSA Uses Supercomputers To Crack Web Encryption, Files Show

       Michael Winter, USA TODAY September 5, 2013

       Snowden documents reveal spy agency campaign to compromise online privacy for national security.

      U.S. and British intelligence agencies have cracked the encryption designed to provide online privacy and security, documents leaked by former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden show.

      In a clandestine, decade-long effort to defeat digital scrambling, the National Security Agency, along with its British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), have used supercomputers to crack encryption codes through "brute force" and have inserted secret "back doors" into software with the help of technology companies, The Guardian,The New York Times and ProPublica reported Thursday.

      The NSA has also maintained control over international encryption standards.

      As the Times points out, encryption "guards global commerce and banking systems, protects sensitive data like trade secrets and medical records, and automatically secures the e-mails, Web searches, Internet chats and phone calls of Americans and others around the world."

      The American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a federal suit challenging the government's collection of telephone communications data, immediately called the NSA's efforts to defeat encryption "recklessly shortsighted'' and are making the Internet less secure for all.

      In a statement, the ACLU said the actions will "further erode not only the United States' reputation as a global champion of civil liberties and privacy but the economic competitiveness of its largest companies.''

      "The encryption technologies that the NSA has exploited to enable its secret dragnet surveillance are the same technologies that protect our most sensitive information, including medical records, financial transactions and commercial secrets," said Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. "Even as the NSA demands more powers to invade our privacy in the name of cybersecurity, it is making the Internet less secure and exposing us to criminal hacking, foreign espionage, and unlawful surveillance.''

      The spy agencies have focused on compromising encryption found in Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), virtual private networks (VPNs) and 4G smartphones and tablets. The NSA spent $255 million this year on the decryption program -- code named Bullrun -- which aims to "covertly influence" software designs and "insert vulnerabilities into commercial encryption systems" that would be known only to the agency.

      The documents leaked by Snowden, who has been granted temporary asylum in Russia, do not name specific companies or encryption technologies, and refer to customers and users as "adversaries."

      The NSA calls its decryption efforts the "price of admission for the U.S. to maintain unrestricted access to and use of cyberspace."

      A 2010 memo describing an NSA briefing to British agents about the secret hacking said, "For the past decade, N.S.A. has led an aggressive, multipronged effort to break widely used Internet encryption technologies. Cryptanalytic capabilities are now coming online. Vast amounts of encrypted Internet data which have up till now been discarded are now exploitable."

      The GCHQ is working to penetrate encrypted traffic on what it called the "big four" service providers — Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Microsoft's Hotmail.

      One document shows that by 2012, the British agency had developed "new access opportunities" into Google's systems.

      Major tech companies did not immediately respond. In the past, they have said they cooperate with government agencies only as prescribed by law.

      The NSA says code-breaking is fundamental to its mission of protecting national security by deciphering communications from terrorists, spies or other U.S. adversaries.

      During the 1990s, the agency fought unsuccessfully to have a secret government portal included in all encryption protocols.

      Experts and critics say that while "back doors" may help intelligence gathering, they weaken the Web's overall security and trust, and could be used against Americans.

      "The risk is that when you build a back door into systems, you're not the only one to exploit it," Matthew Green, a cryptography researcher at Johns Hopkins University, told the Times. "Those back doors could work against U.S. communications, too."

      Bruce Schneier, a security technologist, examined the documents before they were published and authored an analysis for the Guardian. He told USA TODAY that they are the biggest revelations yet from the documents leaked by Snowden and said they show NSA has "subverted" much of the Internet and tech companies that form its backbone.

      "They fundamentally undermine the social contract of the Internet — which is that you get what you think you get and it works,'' Schneier said. "An agency has subverted vast swaths of this to turn the Internet into a surveillance engine. Now the Internet doesn't do what people thought it did.''

      "They've done it through secret agreements with companies, so essentially all the companies you deal with on the Internet have been lying to you. They have basically sucked the trust out of the Internet — the NSA and these companies. It's a public-private partnership to turn the internet into a surveillance engine.''

      The Center for Democracy and Technology, a non-profit group that advocates for a free Internet, called the NSA efforts "a fundamental attack on the way the Internet works.''

      "In an era which businesses as well as the average consumer trust secure networks and technologies for sensitive transactions and private communications online, it's incredibly destructive for the NSA to add flaws to such critical infrastructure," said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, CDT Senior Staff Technologist.

      "The NSA seems to be operating on the fantastically naïve assumption that any vulnerabilities it builds into core Internet technologies can only be exploited by itself and its global partners. The NSA simply should not be building vulnerabilities into the fundamental tools that we all rely upon to protect our private information," Hall added.

      The Times and ProPublica said intelligence officials asked them not to publish the article, arguing that the revelations "might prompt foreign targets to switch to new forms of encryption or communications that would be harder to collect or read."

      After removing "some specific facts," they chose to publish "because of the value of a public debate about government actions that weaken the most powerful tools for protecting the privacy of Americans and others."

      ProPublica published a separate article explaining its decision to publish:
      The story, we believe, is an important one. It shows that the expectations of millions of Internet users regarding the privacy of their electronic communications are mistaken. These expectations guide the practices of private individuals and businesses, most of them innocent of any wrongdoing. The potential for abuse of such extraordinary capabilities for surveillance, including for political purposes, is considerable. The government insists it has put in place checks and balances to limit misuses of this technology. But the question of whether they are effective is far from resolved and is an issue that can only be debated by the people and their elected representatives if the basic facts are revealed.

      The non-profit news organization noted that "American history is replete with examples of the dangers of unchecked power operating in secret," specifically the President Nixon, who "tried to subvert law enforcement, intelligence and other agencies for political purposes, and was more than willing to violate laws in the process."

      "Such a person could come to power again. We need a system that can withstand such challenges. That system requires public knowledge of the power the government possesses. Today's story is a step in that direction," ProPublica wrote.
      Iran will support Syria 'to the end': military chief

      By Yahoo.news

      Iran will support Syria "until the end" in the face of possible US-led military strikes, the chief of Iran's elite Quds Force unit was quoted Thursday by the media as saying.

      Iran is Syria's main regional ally and some analysts believe a wider goal of US President Barack Obama's determination to launch a strike against the Damascus regime is to blunt Tehran's growing regional influence and any consequent threat to Washington ally Israel.

      "The aim of the United States is not to protect human rights ... but to destroy the front of resistance (against Israel)," Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani was quoted as saying.

      "We will support Syria to the end," he added in a speech to the Assembly of Experts, the body that supervises the work of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

      He did not elaborate on the nature of the support and Iran has constantly denied allegations by Western powers that it has sent military forces to prop up President Bashar al-Assad's embattled regime.

      A year ago, the chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said that members of the Quds Force foreign operations unit were in Syria but only to provide Assad's government with "counsel and advice".

      Soleimani accused the US of using its claims that Syria's forces had unleashed chemical weapons on civilians last month as a "pretext" to try to topple Assad's regime.

      Iran's Defence Minister Hossein Dehqan, meanwhile, ruled out sending troops or weapons to Syria.

      "The Syrians do not need us to provide them with weapons because they have a defensive anti-aircraft system themselves," he was cited in the local media as saying.

      President Hassan Rowhani said Iran will do "everything to prevent" an attack on the Syrian regime, according to extracts from statements he made before the Assembly of Experts published in the media.

      "Any action against Syria is against the interests of the region but also against the friends of the United States in this region," he said.

      "Such action will help nobody."

      The US, France and other countries accuse Assad's forces of launching chemical weapons attacks on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21, which they say killed hundreds.

      Obama is seeking congressional backing as well as broader international support for punitive strikes on Assad's regime.

      Iran has warned that any military action against Syria risks sparking a broader regional conflagration.
      Pope: Abandon "Futile" Military Syria Solution

      Associated Press   Sep. 05, 2013

      VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis urged the Group of 20 leaders on Thursday to abandon the "futile pursuit" of a military solution in Syria as the Vatican laid out its case for a negotiated settlement that guarantees rights for all minorities, including Christians.

      In a letter Thursday to the G-20 host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Francis lamented that "one-sided interests" had prevailed in Syria, preventing a diplomatic end to the conflict and allowing the continued "senseless massacre" of innocents.

      "To the leaders present, to each and every one, I make a heartfelt appeal for them to help find ways to overcome the conflicting positions and to lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution," Francis wrote as the G-20 meeting got under way in St. Petersburg.

      Francis has ratcheted up his call for peace in Syria amid threatened U.S.-led military strikes following an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus.

      He will host a peace vigil in St. Peter's Square on Saturday, a test of whether his immense popular appeal will translate into popular support for his peace message.

      On Thursday, the Vatican summoned ambassadors accredited to the Holy See to outline its position on Syria, with Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's foreign minister, noting that the Aug. 21 attack had generated "horror and concern" from around the world.

      "Confronted with similar acts one cannot remain silent, and the Holy See hopes that the competent institutions make clear what happened and that those responsible face justice," Mamberti told the 71 ambassadors gathered.

      He didn't refer explicitly to the threat of military strikes to punish the Syrian regime for the attack. But he said the main priority was to stop the violence which he said risked involving other countries and creating "unforeseeable consequences in various parts of the world."

      The Vatican, he said, called for a return to dialogue and for the country to not be split up along ethnic or religious lines.

      Minorities, including Christians, must have their basic rights guaranteed, including their right to profess their religion, he said. And he called for the opposition to distance itself from extremists, isolate them "and openly and clearly oppose terrorism" — a reference to the al-Qaida-affiliated rebels fighting against the government.

      The Assad family's four-decade iron rule over Syria long has rested on support from the country's ethnic and religious minorities, including Christians, Shiite Muslims and Kurds. The Assad family and key regime figures are Alawites, followers of an offshoot of Shiite Islam, while most rebels and their supporters are Sunni Muslims.

      As a result, the Catholic Church has toed a careful line on Syria, staying largely silent at the start of the civil war even after the regime's brutal crackdown on dissent. As the violence raged, the Vatican stepped up its call for dialogue. And amid the U.S. threat of military intervention, Vatican and church officials have warned that a world war could erupt, with Christians in the region bearing the brunt of the fallout.

      On Wednesday, the head of Francis' Jesuit order, the Rev. Adolfo Nicolas, told a Catholic news agency that military action by the U.S. and France would be an "abuse of power."

      "I cannot understand who gave the United States or France the right to act against a country in a way that will certainly increase the suffering of the citizens of that country, who, by the way, have already suffered beyond measure," he was quoted as saying in the interview, the text of which was released by a Vatican-affiliated spokesman.

      This week, Syrian government troops have been battling al-Qaida-linked rebels over Maaloula, a regime-held Christian village in western Syria. Some of its 2,000 residents still speak a version of Aramaic, the ancient language of biblical times believed to have been spoken by Jesus.
      WW3? Syrian, Iranian Officials Say Israel Will Be “Set On Fire” If US Strikes

      Netanyahu calls up reserve forces; Huge US military build up in Qatar; Russia evacuates citizens from Syria

      Steve Watson   Prisonplanet.com    Aug 28, 2013

      Senior Syrian and Iranian officials have again warned that should the US pursue military action in Syria, the state of Israel will find itself firmly and immediately in their crosshairs.

      “If Damascus comes under attack, Tel Aviv will be targeted too and a full-scale war against Syria will actually issue a license for attacking Israel,” said a Syrian army official in comments to Iran’s Fars News Agency].

      “We are rest assured that if Syria is attacked, Israel will also be set on fire and such an attack will, in turn, engage Syria’s neighbors,” the official said, maintaining anonymity during the interview.

      The army official also stated that if the US chooses to help Al Qaeda-linked jihadists in Syria, their will be significant blowback in Israel.

      “Weakening the central government in Damascus will actually start growing attacks on Israel and will create insecurity for that regime,” he said.

      “Thus, a U.S. attack on Syria will herald frequent strikes and attacks on Israel, not just by Damascus and its allies in retaliation, but by extremist groups who will find a ground for staging their aspirations,” the official added.

      Senior Iranian officials echoed the comments, with Hossein Sheikholeslam, the director-general of the parliament for International Affairs telling Fars News that “the Zionist regime will be the first victim of a military attack on Syria.”

      Iranian Member of Parliament Mansur Haqiqatpur was also quoted as saying that “In case of a U.S. military strike against Syria, the flames of outrage of the region’s revolutionaries will point toward the Zionist regime.”

      The fresh threats come in the wake of similar comments made earlier in the week by Syrian Deputy Information Minister Halaf Al-Maftah who warned that Israel will “come under fire” should the United states strike against the Assad regime. He added that the Syrian government has “strategic weapons aimed at Israel,” and warned that “If the US or Israel err through aggression and exploit the chemical issue, the region will go up in endless flames, affecting not only the area’s security, but the world’s.”

      Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom quoted Muftah as also warning “It’s possible to say unambiguously that a process of war against Syria could lead to an all-out world war. The responsibility for that will rest on the US and the Zionist entity’s shoulders.”

      The Beirut Daily Star quoted a “senior source close to” Hezbollah as saying that in the event of major Western strike against Syria “Hezbollah will fight on various fronts,” and predicting an immediate “inferno of a war with Israel.”

      Pro-Hezbollah cleric, Afif Nabulsi, who is closely aligned with the Syrian and Iranian governments, was also quoted as saying that “any [US] strike against Syria will be met by harsh responses against US interests in the region and against Israel directly.”

      Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stated in a radio interview that the country would retaliate if Israel “exploits a strike against Syria to attack Hezbollah.”

      In response to the threats, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said “The State of Israel is ready for any scenario.” Following a meeting with security officials in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said “We are not part of the civil war in Syria, but if we identify any attempt whatsoever to harm us, we will respond and we will respond in strength.”

      According to Israeli intelligence website DEBKAfile, the Israeli security cabinet held another emergency meeting today, ordering the partial mobilization of select, qualitative IDF reserve forces: Rocket, Air Force, missile interception, Home Defense command and intelligence units.

      DEBKAfile’s military sources report that an American military operation on Syria is scheduled to start Friday night, early Saturday Aug. 30-31. The report adds that US forces are finalizing a a major buildup at the huge US Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

      “US air force reinforcements in Qatar will stand ready to rush to the aid of US allies – Israel, Jordan and Turkey – in the event of their coming under Syrian Scud attack.” the report states, adding that on the opposite side the Syrian army has been scattering personnel, weapons and air assets to pre prepared fortified shelters in order to limit damage and losses.

      “Syrian army command centers in Homs, Hama, Latakia and the Aleppo region were also being split up and dispersed, after a tip-off to Syrian and Russian intelligence that they would be targeted by the US strike.” the report adds.

      The Associated Press also reports that Israel has ordered a special call-up of hundreds of reserve troops to beef up civil defense preparations and to operate air-defense units near the border. Defense officials have confirmed the deployment of Iron Dome and Patriot missile-defense batteries in areas near the Syrian border, stating that they believe a US strike on Syria is imminent.

      Israeli security and rescue forces are also engaged in a two-day drill in the Golan Heights along the Syrian border.

      The intelligence supposedly handed to the US and its allies suggesting that the Syrian army was involved in the chemical attacks last week is said to have come predominantly via Israeli intelligence agencies.

      While Chinese and Russian officials continue  to warn of the grave global consequences of a US strike on Syria, Russian citizens are currently being evacuated out of the country.

      Meanwhile even firebrand broadcaster Glenn Beck has come out against intervention in Syria, warning that because of China and Russia’s alignment with Iran and Syria, a wider war in the middle east would mean that the US “would not survive”.

      Beck warned that “this is World War 3 in the making,” noting the Obama administration is on the exact same destructive warpath that the Bush government set out on 12 years ago.

      Beck desperately appealed to his conservative listener base to find common ground with real liberals and hold huge anti-war rallies
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