Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

November 4, 2013 By Fausta

Brazil: Why bug Dilma?

Mary O’Grady explains Why the NSA Watches Brazil
Some of the world’s least free countries are the country’s most important foreign-policy partners.
Money quote:

Brazil’s best friends under the Workers’ Party of Ms. Rousseff and her predecessor, Lula da Silva, are Cuba, Iran and Venezuela. If U.S. spooks are not paying attention to Brazil, they’re not paying attention.

Dilma has plenty of baggage, too.

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Filed Under: Brazil Tagged With: Dilma Rousseff, Fausta's blog, National Security Agency, NSA

September 4, 2013 By Fausta

NSA spying: Mexico & Brazil not amused UPDATED

Brazil senate committee to probe US spying

Brazil’s senate has formed an Investigative Parliamentary Commission to follow up on reports that the US National Security Agency (NSA) spied on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
…
The committee, comprising 11 main members and seven substitutes, initially has 180 days to investigate claims that the NSA monitored emails between Rousseff and several of her top aides, and tapped her phone.

The investigative period can be extended by another 180 days if the commission needs more time.

They may also consider providing federal protection for Rio de Janeiro-based Glenn Greenwald and his partner David Miranda.

Over in Mexico, Mexico Summons U.S. Ambassador, Seeking Answers To Spying Claims

Mexico’s foreign ministry says that “alleged espionage activity involving Mexican citizens” is against international law and the charter of the United Nations.

Relations with Mexico have been strained following the Fast and Furious revelations.

UPDATE:
The Diplomad:

As I noted about the French, the Brazilians, especially, should keep quiet about espionage. They have an active intel organization which collects on foreigners and Brazilians in touch with foreigners. Whenever I was in Brazil, we always assumed our phones were tapped and, on occasion, being followed.

Chill, my Latin brothers, chill.

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Filed Under: Brazil, Mexico Tagged With: Fausta's blog, National Security Agency, NSA, smart diplomacy

July 12, 2013 By Fausta

I guess they don’t have smart phones in Russia?

Russian guard service reverts to typewriters after NSA leaks
Leaks by US whistleblower Edward Snowden have fuelled Russian suspicions over electronic communications
.

And no one would photograph or scan & email it?

In other Russian news,

SNOWDEN EMERGES: Accuses U.S. officials of ‘threatening behavior’…

REPORT: Has received asylum offers from Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador — and Russia…

Commercial flight ‘best bet for ticket to asylum’…

US intel braces for more NSA exposure…

Officials fear Snowden gained access to files on spying…

Secret files show scale of Silicon Valley co-operation on Prism…

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Filed Under: news, Russia Tagged With: Edward Snowden, Fausta's blog, National Security Agency, NSA

June 24, 2013 By Fausta

Where is Snowden?

John Le Carre meets Waldo in the latest caper involving the young high school dropout whipper-snapper who left a $120,000/yr gig and a stripper girlfriend and headed to China and Russia with four, count ’em, four computers full of high-level classified information.

You can’t make up this stuff; there’s even an empty chair (in the form of a vacant airplane seat):

[image]Olga Razumovskaya/The Wall Street Journal

No Sign of Snowden on Cuba Flight

Flight attendants on a flight from Moscow to Havana said Edward Snowden, the former security contractor wanted by U.S. authorities, wasn’t on board the flight.
…
Ecuador’s foreign minister said Mr. Snowden had arrived in Russia and the Ecuadorian government has been in touch with officials about Mr. Snowden’s request for asylum in Ecuador. Diplomatic cars from Ecuador’s embassy in Russia showed up at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, and a spokeswoman for the airport confirmed that Mr. Snowden was in the transit zone.

But Mr. Snowden wasn’t spotted in the airport, and no images or footage of him leaving the flight from Hong Kong surfaced. Passengers on the flight said some cars had met the airplane on the tarmac, leading to speculation that Mr. Snowden had been escorted off the flight privately.

Ecuador is cementing its reputation as a safe-haven for whistleblowers on the run, since Assange has roosted in their London embassy for a year.

Snowden is jumping from the pan into the fire, if he’s actually heading to Ecuador, a small country with such lighweight international “pull” that it hasn’t been able to get the UK to grant Assange safe passage to the airport, and more importantly, a country whose latest law,

The Communications Law that the Ecuadorian National Assembly approved on June 14, 2013, seriously undermines free speech. The law includes overly broad language that will limit the free expression of journalists and media outlets.

A country that, in effect, is turning against the culture of whistle-blowing.

The Wall Street Journal reported that “Mr. Snowden wasn’t spotted in the airport, and no images or footage of him leaving the flight from Hong Kong surfaced“. With four computers’ worth of secrets, you can bet Smiley’s people are after him.

For now, journalists from AP, AFP, BBC and NBC News, among others, are trapped on a 12-hour flight from Moscow to Cuba.

UPDATE,
Talked about Snowden in Silvio Canto’s podcast.

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Filed Under: China, Ecuador, Russia Tagged With: Edward Snowden, Fausta's blog, National Security Agency, NSA

June 23, 2013 By Fausta

Snowden: “Put him on a plane to Venezuela”? UPDATED

!:30PM THIS JUST IN: Looks like they’re putting him on a plane to Quito.
ECUADOR SAYS SNOWDEN SEEKING ASYLUM THERE

Earlier today,
Life imitates the Cohen brothers (video NSFW), and Putin may have channeled J. K. Simmons:


WIRE: SNOWDEN LEAVES FOR VENEZUELA VIA RUSSIA, CUBA

Reuters says

Itar-Tass cited its source as saying Snowden would fly from Havana to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.

Other reports name Ecuador and Iceland,

Separately, the South China Morning Post, the city’s leading English-language newspaper, said that Mr. Snowden had boarded a 10:55 a.m. flight on Sunday headed to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport. The paper said that Moscow wasn’t his final destination, citing Ecuador and Iceland as possible destinations.

For now, it’s all a “where’s Waldo?” moment.

UPDATE,

#Russia's Interfax news agency reports Venezuelan diplomat picked Snowden up in a car on tarmac at Moscow airport. Whisked him away #NSA

— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) June 23, 2013

Interfax: Snowden overnights at Venezuelan embassy. Diplomatic car from plane to embassy. Formally never steps in #Russia, so no visa needed

— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) June 23, 2013

Rick Moran:

If Snowden is, in fact, on his way to Venezuela, Wikileaks has a very strange notion of a “democratic country.” Freedom House, in their 2013 report on “Freedom in the World,” lists Venezuela as “partly free,” which may be a generous designation given that the internal security apparatus is run by Cubans and that “Chavista” bully boys routinely show up at opposition rallies to threaten and intimidate opponents. Snowden, who claimed he wanted to end up in a country with democratic values, could have made a better choice.


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Filed Under: China, Cuba, Ecuador, Fausta's blog, Russia, Venezuela Tagged With: Edward Snowden, Fausta's blog, Iceland, National Security Agency, NSA

June 10, 2013 By Fausta

Snowden is in Hong Kong?

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden headed to Hong Kong after releasing a series of sensitive documents to the Washington Post.

Hong Kong is part of China, a country that has blocked access to my blog at times. Not the most transparent place for internet communications.

Now he’s seeking asylum in Iceland, which means he’s hoping that

  • the Chinese won’t deport him to the USA
  • Iceland will grant him asylum

    Kristín Árnadóttir, Icelandic ambassador to Beijing, told the South China Morning Post that Snowden needs to be in Iceland in order to apply for asylum.

  • the Chinese will grant him safe passage to Iceland.

So far, he’s checked out of his hotel.

Memeorandum is abuzz,

 Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

Code name ‘Verax’: Snowden, in exchanges with Post reporter, made clear he knew risks  —  He called me BRASSBANNER, a code name in the double-barreled style of the National Security Agency, where he worked in the signals intelligence directorate.  —  Verax was the name he chose for himself, “truth teller” in Latin.
Discussion: Firedoglake, FishbowlDC, The Fix, The Daily Caller, Daily Mail, The Heritage Foundation, Wired, Althouse, Little Green Footballs and The Huffington Post,more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:

 Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Greenwald Says ‘There’s A Lot More Coming,’ Argues NSA Revelations Don’t Harm Security  —  The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald on Monday defended the 29-year-old who served as the source of one of the biggest intelligence leaks in history, arguing that the revelations of the National Security …
Discussion: Hot Air, Guardian and The Daily Banter

 The Atlantic Online:

Edward Snowden in Hong Kong  —  I’m glad we have this information; I am sorry we are getting it from Hong Kong.  —  Three points:  —  1) I believe what I wrote two days ago: that the United States and the world have gained much more, in democratic accountability, than they have lost …
Discussion: Talking Points Memo, News Desk,CANNONFIRE, The Dish, Pressing Issues and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

 New York Times:

Booz Allen Grew Rich on Government Contracts  —  WASHINGTON — Edward J. Snowden’s employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, has become one of the largest and most profitable corporations in the United States almost exclusively by serving a single client: the government of the United States.
Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, The Fix, First Read, Booman Tribune, The Caucus, Business Insider and Telegraph

 Daniel Ellsberg / Guardian:

Edward Snowden: saving us from the United Stasi of America  —  Snowden’s whistleblowing gives us a chance to roll back what is tantamount to an ‘executive coup’ against the US constitution  —  In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden’s release …
Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Daily Beast, Taylor Marsh, The Verge, U.S. News, Pressing Issues, Althouse and News Desk, more at Mediagazer »

 Jia Lynn Yang / Washington Post:
Hong Kong hotel says Edward Snowden was there, but checked out Monday10 minutes ago

Discussion: Slashdot, The Gateway Pundit, CNN,Business Insider, Outside the Beltway and China Real Time Report

 Hadas Gold / Politico:
Donald Trump: Edward Snowden ‘a bad guy’

Discussion: msnbc.com and The Hill

 Guardian:
Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations

Discussion: The Raw Story, New York Times, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake,ThinkProgress, USA Today, Washington Post, The Atlantic Online, China Real Time Report, immi.is, Power Line, Politico, Wonkblog, BBC, msnbc.com, Daily Mail, News Desk, Activist Post, Capital New York, Daily Kos, Yahoo! News, The BRAD BLOG, The Week, Business Insider, Infowars, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland,Hot Air, New Republic, Mediaite, kottke.org, Wall Street Journal, Reuters,ViralRead, The Sun, TechCrunch, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The PJ Tatler, Doug Ross, The Agonist, Good Gear Guide, The Daily Caller, Althouse, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Secrecy News, RT, Informed Comment, Telegraph,Towleroad News #gay, Prairie Weather, FP Passport, KALW, The Gateway Pundit, AMERICAblog, Gawker, americanthinker.com, Boing Boing, AMERICAN DIGEST, The Hill, Balloon Juice, First Read, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Impolitic, PoliticusUSA, UrbanGrounds, Post Politics, Forbes, NO QUARTER USA NET, The Dish, The BLT, Little Green Footballs, Washington Examiner, Fox News Insider, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, Lawfare,Hit & Run, The Hinterland Gazette, Runnin’ Scared, Instapundit, Vox Popoli,Wired, American Power, CANNONFIRE, Whiskey Fire, The Verge, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Scared Monkeys, U.S. News, Washington Free Beacon,Liberal Values, AllThingsD, GigaOM, LewRockwell.com Blog, emptywheel,Engadget and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

 Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Greenwald: NSA leak doesn’t jeopardize national security

Discussion: Prairie Weather

 Julian Borger / Guardian:
Edward Snowden’s choice of Hong Kong as haven is a high-stakes gamble

Discussion: U.S. News, Politico, Daily Mail, Hot Air, Reuters, BuzzFeed,American Power, Business Insider, The Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit andTelegraph

 Booz Allen Hamilton:
Booz Allen Statement on Reports of Leaked Information

Discussion: Business Insider, Guardian, U.S. News, The Week, msnbc.com, The Hinterland Gazette, Daily Kos, New York Times, Forbes, Yahoo! News, USA Today, Firedoglake, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland, Engadget, Gawker and Hit & Run,more at Mediagazer »

 Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
DOJ launches criminal probe of NSA leaker

Discussion: Politico
 Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
What’s the Deal with Hong Kong?

Discussion: Guardian and Business Insider
 Brian Knowlton / The Caucus:
Feinstein ‘Open’ to Hearings on Surveillance Programs

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland and Lawyers, Guns & Money
 Guardian:
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: ‘I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things’ – video

Discussion: CBS News, The Huffington Post, Democracy in America, The Hill,Hullabaloo, emptywheel and Washington Free Beacon
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Filed Under: government, internet Tagged With: Edward Snowden, Fausta's blog, National Security Agency, NSA

June 7, 2013 By Fausta

Person(s) of Interest

No, not them,

Us,

NSA, FBI secretly mining data from Internet firms...
'THEY QUITE LITERALLY CAN WATCH YOUR IDEAS AS YOU TYPE'...

MICROSOFTYAHOOGOOGLEYOUTUBEFACEBOOKSKYPEAPPLE...
Top-secret PRISM program... 
Vast Data Trove...
Billions of Phone Calls...

THE INTERNET FROM HELL
 

 

US intelligence chief denounces info ‘leak’…

NYT: Obama has lost all credibility…

Paper ‘quietly changes published editorial to make less damning’…

 Washington Post:

U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program  —  The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs …
+

Discussion: Firedoglake, Politico, Wake up America, Business Insider, The Plum Line,The Next Web, AEIdeas, ThinkProgress, Wired, Shakesville, The Week,americanthinker.com, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, The Fix, Yahoo! News, GigaOM, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, AMERICAblog, CANNONFIRE,Daily Mail, WJLA-TV, Gawker, The Volokh Conspiracy, The PJ Tatler, CBS Denver,ABCNEWS, Right Wing News, Weasel Zippers, CBS News, The Verge, Booman Tribune, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, ABCNEWS, The Gateway Pundit,Mashable, msnbc.com, TalkLeft, San Francisco Bay Guardian, The Spectacle Blog,Power Line, Daily Kos, Hit & Run, Balloon Juice and ProPublica, more at Mediagazer »

RELATED:

 New York Times:

President Obama’s Dragnet  —  Within hours of the disclosure that the federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every …
Discussion: American Prospect, Yahoo! News, Crooks and Liars, Bloomberg,Colorlines, Weasel Zippers, DownWithTyranny!, Guardian, Slate, Washington Post, National Review, CBS News, Conservative Intelligence …, Via Meadia,CBS Boston, Israel Matzav, Ed Driscoll, Right Turn, Los Angeles Times, Pressing Issues, ParaPundit, Politico, Outside the Beltway, Lawfare, Mediaite, The Next Web, Wired, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Pundit & Pundette, Firedoglake, Business Insider, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller and Law Blog, more atMediagazer »

 Guardian:

NSA taps into internet giants’ systems to mine user data, secret files reveal  —  • Top secret PRISM program claims direct access to servers of firms including Google, Facebook and Apple  —  • Companies deny any knowledge of program in operation since 2007
Discussion: Washington Monthly, BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Daniel W. Drezner, New York Times, TechCrunch, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos, BuzzFeed, GigaOM, AllThingsD,Balloon Juice, Informed Comment, TIME, msnbc.com, BBC, Boing Boing, The Hill, The Moderate Voice, The Next Web, Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette,Pressing Issues, Washington Post, The Agonist, Associated Press, The Raw Story, The Atlantic Online, The Week, The Verge, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland,Yahoo! News, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Samizdata, VodkaPundit, Hit & Run,Mashable and Politico


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Filed Under: Barack Obama, Fausta's blog, government, news Tagged With: Fausta's blog, National Security Agency, NSA

June 6, 2013 By Fausta

FYI,

in case you missed it,

NSA is collecting the phone records of MILLIONS of Verizon customers daily under top secret order issued in April and it lasts into July

  • A copy of a secret order shows that the National Security Agency ordered Verizon to hand over millions of phone records with no specific explanation
  • Order extends from April 25 until July 19
  • Comes just after news of the Department of Justice spying on journalists

Because of the lack of distinction, it means that the phone records are not just being collected for suspected terrorists, but the company’s entire consumer base.

Meanwhile, Obama and Google swap staff


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Filed Under: Barack Obama, government Tagged With: Fausta's blog, National Security Agency, NSA

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