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nicolet1189

Beheading Video Stirs Debate On Social Media Censorship : NPR - 0 views

  • As an American journalist,
  • determining what is good or bad for their users
  • Twitter and others being proactive about censoring this information start to engage in a slippery slope
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • I don't want any government or industry to censor what I can and cannot say to my community in my attempt to ethically inform them
  • GREENE: Let me just make sure I understand this because it seems like a very important point - you're saying the New York Post, they are journalists; they made the decision on their own. You might say that it was a bad decision, but it was a news organization, a publisher, so to speak, making a decision about what to publish. Twitter, in the eyes of many of us, you know, is a platform for us to share. And that's a different thing for them to censor you or I or other people in terms of what we want to share or not.
  • Yeah, I would look at it as if the printing press operators decided that they wanted to censor the New York Post, right? That's if we view Twitter as a platform. Printing press operators wouldn't shape a newspaper
  • these organizations are really sophisticated with their propaganda, and this is just one video of many different types of strategies that they employ.
  • that by allowing this video to be available, it is helping ISIS - these militants - spread their propaganda
  • we were to have a technology company censoring images from the Vietnam War, think of the iconic images that would be censored and blanked.
  • Viewing a video, I feel like you need to make that decision. You need to make that decision. The government shouldn't make that decision for you. A tech company shouldn't make it for you.
  • these are the images that changed the tone, the country, the direction of that war
  • This one here is not the government censoring. This is a tech company that is censoring. Now, again, it's their platform. It's their rules. But it is something to be aware o
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    The beheading of James Foley by the Islamic State triggered debate. David Greene talks to Robert Hernandez, assistant professor at USC Annenberg, about censorship with new tech platforms like Twitter.
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    The beheading of James Foley by the Islamic State triggered debate. David Greene talks to Robert Hernandez, assistant professor at USC Annenberg, about censorship with new tech platforms like Twitter.
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    The beheading of James Foley by the Islamic State triggered debate. David Greene talks to Robert Hernandez, assistant professor at USC Annenberg, about censorship with new tech platforms like Twitter.
cramos8

Al Qaeda offshoot a prime suspect in Libya attack - 1 views

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    (CBS News) A radical Islamic group called Ansar al Sharia is, according to U.S. officials, the leading suspect in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans. The name means "Supporters of Islamic law" and U.S. officials describe it as an offshoot of al Qaeda.
wmulnea

OPEC and oil prices: Leaky barrels | The Economist - 1 views

  • OPEC, which produces about a third of the world’s daily consumption of 90m barrels of crude oil
  • cartel
  • anti-glut group
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • the country will produce 14m barrels a day (b/d) next year, on a par with Saudi Arabia
  • Iraqi oil exports, stricken by the war and its aftermath, are also set to increase.
  • Libya could be another source of production: its exports have collapsed to only a few hundred thousand barrels a day, against 1.6m in June last year.
  • OPEC’s best hope is continued American protectionism. Any easing of the restrictions on the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) or crude will exert more downward pressure on the oil price.
  • But that would cede market share to their hated rivals, Iran and Iraq.
  • America’s domestic production of crude (and gas, which displaces some oil) is rocketing.
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    This article briefly addresses the current global petroleum market, outlining the top national producers and their current import/export strategies. The article is a good overview of the global politcs affecting oil prices.
cramos8

Assault on U.S. consulate in Benghazi leaves 4 dead, including U.S. Ambassador J. Chris... - 1 views

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    U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens was among four Americans killed in an attack by Muslim protesters on the U.S. consulate compound in Benghazi.
cramos8

US Airstrikes Kill Three Top ISIS Leaders in Iraq - 0 views

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    Three senior ISIS leaders have been killed in recent weeks by U.S. airstrikes inside Iraq, including the terror group's right-hand man, the Pentagon confirmed. The news comes as the American commander leading the U.S. effort against ISIS in Iraq and Syria says coalition efforts are having a "significant impact" on the terror group's operations.
alarsso

BBC News - Assad says Syria is informed on anti-IS air campaign - 0 views

  • The US National Security Council has denied co-ordinating with the Syrian government.
  • Mr Assad also denied
  • barrel bombs
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • ebel-held areas
  • we don't have barrels."
  • the barrel bomb has become the most notorious weapon in the regime's arsenal.
  • haven't heard of the army using barrels, or maybe, cooking pots."
    • alarsso
       
      not a real answer...obviously acting stupid
  • Islamic State's (IS) seizure of large parts of Syria
  • prompted
  • "#Duma_is_being_exterminated"
    • alarsso
       
      who is he??
  • consider working with the Syrian leader to combat the group
  • we cannot be in an alliance with countries which support terrorism," he said.
  • refuse to talk with American officials
  • "because they don't talk to anyone, unless he's a puppet",
  • "There are no indiscriminate weapons. When you shoot you aim, and when you shoot, when you aim, you aim at terrorists in order to protect civilians... You cannot have war without casualties."
  • Human rights activists say
  • dropped
  • government forces
  • at high altitudes
  • impossible to target with precision,
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    A somewhat in-depth interview with Assad concerning Syria's present state, answers to questions of bombing Syrian cities, and Syria's foreign relations. Interview taken 1 week ago
tdford333

Did Obama's Drone War Help Cause Yemen's Collapse? - 1 views

  • There’s long been concern that the strikes have been driving sympathy and support for al-Qaida
  • in the time since the drone campaign was launched, al-Qaida has only grown in size, two pro-American governments have been overthrown, and the country is on the brink of splitting in two.  
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    This is a blog article that raises the question of whether the US drone war in Yemen has caused more harm than good. The author notes how the indiscriminate death of innocents in drone attacks creates hatred for the US.
fcastro2

Turkish Military Evacuates Soldiers Guarding Tomb in Syria - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • The Turkish Army sent armored troops deep into Syria late Saturday on a rescue mission, to recover the remains of a major historical figure and to evacuate the guards at his besieged tomb
  • The tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, is 20 miles south of the Turkish border, but it has been considered Turkish territory under a 1921 treaty with France
  • there were no clashes during the mission and only one casualty, a soldier who was killed in an accident
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  • He said Turkey notified the Syrian government, rebel leaders and the coalition forces fighting the Islamic State about the operation.
  • 572 troops, 39 tanks, 57 armored vehicles and 100 other vehicles were involved
  • Turkish flag was lowered, and the tomb and security station were destroyed to prevent any possible use by extremists.
  • operation was prompted by the chaos and instability in Syria
  • clashes were likely to erupt nearby between forces of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and Kurdish troops known as pesh merga, and that the tomb could become a target.
  • “The Suleyman Shah tomb has been a point of vulnerability for Turkey for a long time, and with this operation, such weakness has been eliminated
  • “The Islamic State could have used the presence of the tomb as leverage in case of any confrontation with Turkey
  • in accordance with the 1921 treaty, a new tomb for Suleyman Shah was being established in a part of Syria that is under Kurdish control
  • when conditions in Syria permitted, the tomb would be moved back again to the site that was evacuated, near the village of Karakozak
  • Tensions have mounted around the tomb since March, when the Islamic State took control of the surrounding area and began threatening to destroy the tomb unless guards there lowered the Turkish flag.
  • The militant group raided Turkey’s consulate in Mosul, Iraq, last June and seized 46 Turks and 3 Iraqis as hostages; they were released three months later on terms that were not disclosed
  • crisis discouraged Turkey from joining the United States-led military coalition conducting strikes against the Islamic State, though Turkey has cooperated with the United States in other ways,
  • Turkey has lobbied intensively for international military action in Syria, including no-fly zones and a presence on the ground to strengthen the more moderate Syrian rebel groups who are fighting both the extremists and the Syrian government.
  • Syrian government issued a statement on Sunday calling the military operation a “flagrant aggression” because Turkey did not wait for permission from Damascus to mount i
  • The Kurds were aided by airstrikes and other support from the American-led coalition
  • Mr. Ulgen, the analyst, said the choice of route was a sign of some improvement in relations between the Turkish government in Ankara and the Syrian Kurds, whom the Turks have regarded with deep suspicion.
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    The Turkish government recently went into an extremist-controlled territory in order to evacuate a tomb of a major historical figure, and the soldiers who guarded it. The safe passage of this mission has shown that the relations between Turkey and Syria have gotten a bit better. 
kdancer

The ISIS Challenge - 0 views

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    The use of U.S. military force against ISIS is a significant escalation whose long-term significance is elusive. The announced justification for the military strikes combined a humanitarian rationale (the exigent need of the Yazidis stranded on their bleak mountain) with the threat that ISIS posed to American citizens in the Kurdish capital of Erbil.
kdancer

Seeking Political Solutions to the ISIS Crisis - 0 views

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    recent gains by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq and the well-publicized executions of captured American freelance journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff have once again drawn U.S. military assets and personnel into a civil war.
wmulnea

Strife in Libya Could Presage Long Civil War - NYTimes.com - 1 views

  • Salah Badi, an ultraconservative Islamist and former lawmaker from the coastal city of Misurata.
  • Mr. Badi’s assault on Libya’s main international airport has now drawn the country’s fractious militias, tribes and towns into a single national conflagration that threatens to become a prolonged civil war. Both sides see the fight as part of a larger regional struggle, fraught with the risks of a return to repressive authoritarianism or a slide toward Islamist extremism.
  • the violence threatens to turn Libya into a pocket of chaos destabilizing North Africa for years to come.
  • ...37 more annotations...
  • Ansar al-Shariah, the hard-line Islamist group involved in the assault on the American diplomatic Mission in Benghazi in 2012
  • Their opponents, including the militias stocked with former Qaddafi soldiers
  • The ideological differences are blurry at best: both sides publicly profess a similar conservative but democratic vision.
  • an escalating war among its patchwork of rival cities and tribes.
  • Motorists wait in lines stretching more than three miles at shuttered gas stations, waiting for them to open. Food prices are soaring, uncollected garbage is piling up in the streets and bicycles, once unheard-of, are increasingly common.
  • Tripoli, the capital and the main prize, has become a battleground
  • The fighting has destroyed the airport
  • Constant shelling between rival militias has leveled blocks
  • Storage tanks holding about 25 million gallons of fuel have burned unchecked for a month
  • with daily blackouts sometimes lasting more than 12 hours.
  • many Libyans despaired of any resolution
  • In Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, the fighting has closed both its airport and seaport, strangling the city.
  • the rush toward war is also lifting the fortunes of the Islamist extremists of Ansar al-Shariah, the Benghazi militant group.
  • The United Nations, the United States and the other Western powers have withdrawn their diplomats and closed their missions
  • “We cannot care more than you do,” the British ambassador, Michael Aron, wrote
  • Until now, a rough balance of power among local brigades had preserved a kind of equilibrium, if not stability
  • the transitional government scarcely existed outside of the luxury hotels where its officials gathered, no other force was strong enough to dominate. No single interest divided the competing cities and factions.
  • But that semblance of unity is now in tatters, and with it the hope that nonviolent negotiations might settle the competition for power and, implicitly, Libya’s oil.
  • In May, a renegade former general, Khalifa Hifter, declared that he would seize power by force to purge Libya of Islamists, beginning in Benghazi. He vowed to eradicate the hard-line Islamists of Ansar al-Shariah, blamed for a long series of bombings and assassinations.
  • General Hifter also pledged to close the Parliament and arrest moderate Islamist members
  • he has mustered a small fleet of helicopters and warplanes that have bombed rival bases around Benghazi, a steep escalation of the violence.
  • moderate Islamists and other brigades who had distanced themselves from Ansar al-Shariah began closing ranks, welcoming the group into a newly formed council of “revolutionary” militias
  • a broad alliance of Benghazi militias that now includes Ansar al-Shariah issued a defiant statement denouncing relative moderates like the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood. “We will not accept the project of democracy, secular parties, nor the parties that falsely claim the Islamic cause,”
  • the general’s blitz has now stalled, it polarized the country, drawing alarms from some cities and tribes but applause from others.
  • the loudest applause came from the western mountain town of Zintan, where local militia leaders had recruited hundreds of former Qaddafi soldiers into special brigades
  • the rival coastal city of Misurata, where militias have allied with the Islamists in political battles and jostled with the Zintanis for influence in the capital
  • the Misurata and Islamist militias developed a reputation for besieging government buildings and kidnapping high officials to try to pressure the Parliament. But in recent months the Zintanis and their anti-Islamist allies have stormed the Parliament and kidnapped senior lawmakers as well.
  • the newly elected Parliament, led at first, on a seniority basis, by a member supportive of Mr. Hifter, announced plans to convene in Tobruk, an eastern city under the general’s control.
  • About 30 members, most of them Islamists or Misuratans, refused to attend,
  • Tripoli’s backup airport, under the control of an Islamist militia, has cut off flights to Tobruk, even blocking a trip by the prime minister.
  • a spokesman for the old disbanded Parliament, favored by the Islamists and Misuratans, declared that it would reconvene in Tripoli
  • In Tobruk, a spokesman for the new Parliament declared that the Islamist- and Misuratan-allied militias were terrorists, suggesting that Libya might soon have two legislatures with competing armies
  • Each side has the support of competing satellite television networks financed and, often, broadcast from abroad, typically from Qatar for the Islamists and from the United Arab Emirates for their foes.
  • Hassan Tatanaki, a Libyan-born business mogul who owns one of the anti-Islamist satellite networks, speaking in an interview from an office in the Emirates. “We are in a state of war and this is no time for compromise.”
  • Fighters and tribes who fought one another during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi are now coming together on the same side of the new fight, especially with the Zintanis against the Islamists. Some former Qaddafi officers who had fled Libya are even coming back to take up arms again.
  • “It is not pro- or anti-Qaddafi any more — it is about Libya,” said a former Qaddafi officer in a military uniform
  • Beneath the battle against “extremists,” he said, was an even deeper, ethnic struggle: the tribes of Arab descent, like the Zintanis, against those of Berber, Circassian or Turkish ancestry, like the Misuratis. “The victory will be for the Arab tribes,”
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    Article explains the civil war that is erupting in Libya. Islamist extremists are trying to take over the country and towns and tribes of Libya are choosing sides. Tripoli has been the biggest battle ground and its airport was destroyed.
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    This NYT article gives an excellent outline of the prominent factions fighting in Libya, and the purpose and goals of those factions as of Aug, 2014.
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    This NYT article gives an excellent outline of the prominent factions fighting in Libya, and the purpose and goals of those factions as of Aug, 2014.
kdancer

10 Reasons Why America Should Let Others Destroy ISIS and End Perpetual Military Involv... - 0 views

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    U.S. troops have been in combat longer than at any point in American history. In addition to two major wars, U.S. Special Forces were deployed to 133 countries (approximately 70 percent of the nations on the planet) in 2014. It makes little sense to continue with the same tactic of perpetual war, without any assurance of a better strategic outcome.
mcooka

FRONTLINE/World I Pakistan: The Lost Generation I Watch Full Program Online I PBS - 0 views

  • In Pakistan, public education has become a battleground. Members of Fatma’s local school council are outraged, saying the elite only care about themselves and keep the poor illiterate to stay in power.
  • Across town, another kind of school is functioning quite well. It has plenty of room and even provides free tuition and a hot meal. It is one of the country’s many madrassas, or religious schools, which are becoming an increasingly popular option for poor parents.
  • the Ministry of Education’s curriculum wing, the staff has been working on removing the militaristic tone of the curriculum. But the textbooks still include passages like these: “For the past three centuries the Europeans have been working to subjugate the countries of the Muslim world” and “The Christians and Europeans were not happy to see the Muslims flourishing in life. They were always looking for opportunities to take possession of territories under the Muslims.”
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • But ironically, others fear that the money will never reach the schools, anymore than the $100 million in U.S. aid over the past three years has.  Reformers believe the problems that Pakistani children face are so deep that money alone will not be enough to fix them
  • Just a few months ago, Paracha led a protest against the latest American aid package, which includes hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for education reform. The religious parties say the United States. is using the aid to try to hijack Pakistani societ
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    Education in Pakistan. The Threat to the elite and the poor illiterate suffering.
natphan

U.N. halts Syria talks as government closes in on Aleppo - 0 views

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    Turkey asks the United States to take more decisive action against Russia, a request that makes the notion of an armed Russian-American conflict more realistic.
aromo0

The Changing and Terrifying Nature of the New Cyber-Warfare | Vanity Fair - 0 views

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    "Casualities" in cyber warfare are piling up, industries such as banks and telecommunications industries are suffering greatly. The white house is attempting to step in to halt these cyber attacks.
ralph0

As Syria Devolves Further, Allies Criticize American Policy - The New York Times - 0 views

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    It really frustrates me that the US is often very outspoken about rights, freedom and democracy. Yet time and time again, I have seen that politics are nothing more than a pursuit of interests. The US continues its "ambiguity" of action in Syria, essentially furthering the spread of chaos. Now Turkey, and important US ally is frustrated that the US has been siding with alleged Kurdish terrorist groups.
mwrightc

ISIS is broke, and only accepting payments in US dollars | New York Post - 1 views

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    Faced with a cash shortage in its so-called caliphate, the Islamic State group has slashed salaries across the region, asked Raqqa residents to pay utility bills in black market American dollars, and is now releasing detainees for a price of $500 a person. After America blew up Isis's money hideout, they have hit a skid with the money not coming in and the war still raging on.
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    The US was able to commit such detrimental airstrikes to ISIS currency storage facilities that the "caliphate" is now cutting salaries. Millions of their finances have been drained since this attack.
cthomase

Building a New Foundation for Stability in Libya - 0 views

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    The Center for American Progress, a liberal think-tank in Washington DC, proposed various ideas to help build a stable government in Libya. They give several proposals that take on different ideas from the perspectives on globalization.
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