War in Context - 18062013

War in Context

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• Europe must protect itself from America
• Rep. Grayson: The NSA claims it can ‘acquire the phone records of everyone, everywhere, forever. That is a farce.’
• These ‘build build build’ comments go to the heart of Israel’s problems
• Israel should give Rouhani a chance
• Israeli leaders respond with scowls to Rouhani’s election
• Video: Iran’s new president and the reformist movement
• Why Rouhani won — and why Ayatollah Khamenei let him
• An emerging Sunni-Shiite alliance in Baghdad
• Hamas and Hezbollah’s strained relations
• Egypt Brotherhood backs Syria jihad, denounces Shi’ites
• How the microbiome provides food for thought
• Music: Luisa Maita — ‘Maria e Moleque’
• Nick Turse: Blowback central
• Guantánamo’s 48 secret ‘indefinite detainees’ named for first time
• How dozens of companies know you’re reading about those NSA leaks
• Edward Snowden Q&A
• I fear the chilling effect of NSA surveillance on the open internet

Europe must protect itself from America Posted: 18 Jun 2013 11:25 AM PDT Jakob Augstein writes: On Tuesday, Barack Obama is coming to Germany. But who, really, will be visiting? He is the 44th president of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. He is an intelligent lawyer. And he is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. But is he a friend? The [...]

Rep. Grayson: The NSA claims it can ‘acquire the phone records of everyone, everywhere, forever. That is a farce.’ Posted: 18 Jun 2013 11:20 AM PDT

These ‘build build build’ comments go to the heart of Israel’s problems Posted: 18 Jun 2013 11:15 AM PDT Rachel Shabi writes: Just for a moment, let’s feign astonishment at this new revelation: Naftali Bennett has just become the latest Israeli official to declare the two-state solution a dead end. Speaking at a conference for Jewish settlers, he said the idea of negotiating for an independent Palestinian state alongside an Israeli one was “futile” [...]

Israel should give Rouhani a chance Posted: 18 Jun 2013 11:10 AM PDT Shlomi Eldar writes: It’s time we admitted the truth. Despite all the enormous efforts by the international intelligence community directed toward Iran in recent years, we really don’t know much about what is going on in the Land of the Ayatollahs. The United States, Israel and other Western nations have launched sophisticated cyber-attacks against the [...]

Israeli leaders respond with scowls to Rouhani’s election Posted: 18 Jun 2013 11:05 AM PDT Marsha B Cohen writes: For most Israeli politicians, the news of the election of moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani as president of Iran, is not good. That it is considered good news by anyone else makes it that much worse. In Poland last Wednesday, two days before Iranians went to the polls, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu [...]

Video: Iran’s new president and the reformist movement Posted: 18 Jun 2013 11:00 AM PDT

Why Rouhani won — and why Ayatollah Khamenei let him Posted: 18 Jun 2013 10:55 AM PDT Suzanne Maloney writes: One explanation is that the Ayatollah simply miscalculated and found himself, once again, overtaken by events when Rouhani’s candidacy surged with little forewarning. Indeed, it is likely that Khamenei really did expect Iranians to vote for the conservatives. After all, the conservatives have held all the cards in Iran since 2005; they [...]

An emerging Sunni-Shiite alliance in Baghdad Posted: 18 Jun 2013 10:50 AM PDT Mustafa al-Kadhimi writes: An alliance combining Shiite and Sunni currents in Baghdad succeeded last Saturday, June 15, in forming a local government without the participation of the State of Law Coalition. The latter was the largest winning bloc in the local elections held this past April. This step represents a development that will have major [...]

Hamas and Hezbollah’s strained relations Posted: 18 Jun 2013 10:45 AM PDT Al-Monitor reports: The conflict in Syria has stressed the relationship between the Palestinian Sunni Hamas movement and the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah organization, transforming it from one of “intimacy” between allies to a tension-inducing “quarrel” after Hamas took a position against the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah became involved militarily in supporting the [...]

Egypt Brotherhood backs Syria jihad, denounces Shi’ites Posted: 18 Jun 2013 10:40 AM PDT Reuters reports: Egypt’s ruling Muslim Brotherhood blamed Shi’ites for creating religious strife throughout Islam’s history, as the movement joined a call by Sunni clerics for jihad against the Syrian government and its Shi’ite allies. In a striking display of the religious enmity sweeping the region since Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah committed its forces behind Syrian President [...]

How the microbiome provides food for thought Posted: 18 Jun 2013 10:35 AM PDT UCLA Newsroom: UCLA researchers now have the first evidence that bacteria ingested in food can affect brain function in humans. In an early proof-of-concept study of healthy women, they found that women who regularly consumed beneficial bacteria known as probiotics through yogurt showed altered brain function, both while in a resting state and in response [...]

Music: Luisa Maita — ‘Maria e Moleque’ Posted: 18 Jun 2013 10:34 AM PDT

Nick Turse: Blowback central Posted: 18 Jun 2013 06:26 AM PDT The other day, Hamid Karzai, the U.S.-supported Afghan president who was once sardonically nicknamed “the mayor of Kabul,” had a few curious things to say about American policy in the Muslim world.  Karzai, of course, is a man whose opinions — whether on U.S. special operations forces and their (out of control) militias, U.S. night raids on Afghan homes, [...]

Guantánamo’s 48 secret ‘indefinite detainees’ named for first time Posted: 17 Jun 2013 09:06 PM PDT The Miami Herald reports: The Obama administration Monday lifted a veil of secrecy surrounding the status of the detainees at Guantánamo, for the first time publicly naming the four dozen captives it defined as indefinite detainees — men too dangerous to transfer but who cannot be tried in a court of law. The names had [...]

How dozens of companies know you’re reading about those NSA leaks Posted: 17 Jun 2013 09:06 PM PDT Electronic Frontier Foundation: As news websites around the globe are publishing story after story about dragnet surveillance, these news sites all have one thing in common: when you visit these websites, your personal information is broadcast to dozens of companies, many of which have the ability to track your surfing habits, and many of which [...]

Edward Snowden Q&A Posted: 17 Jun 2013 09:05 PM PDT 1) Why did you choose Hong Kong to go to and then tell them about US hacking on their research facilities and universities? 2) How many sets of the documents you disclosed did you make, and how many different people have them? If anything happens to you, do they still exist? Edward Snowden: 1) First, [...]

I fear the chilling effect of NSA surveillance on the open internet Posted: 17 Jun 2013 09:05 PM PDT Jeff Jarvis writes: I fear the collateral damage the NSA’s spying via technology will do to that technology. The essential problem is not the internet or internet companies or even the spies. The real problem is the law and what it does not prevent the American government from doing with technology, and how it does [...]