Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
U.S. Provides Military Aid to 3/4 of World’s Dictatorships
September 27th, 2017Via: Mint Press: Rich Whitney, an attorney and writer, sought to compare Freedom House’s rating system of political rights for 2015 to the U.S. government’s provision of military assistance – military training, military aid and weapons sales – to foreign nations that same year. Whitney’s stated goal was to determine whether the U.S. government actually […]
Japanese Banks Are Planning to Launch J-Coin, a Digital Currency Meant to Kill Off Cash
September 27th, 2017Via: MIT Technology Review: Japan’s central bank is backing a scheme that could see the the cash-dependent country move toward a digital currency built on blockchain technology. The J Coin, as it’s to be called, is under development by a group of Japanese banks with the blessing of financial regulators. According to the Financial Times […]
BYD Predicts Ambitious China Shift to Electric Cars by 2030
September 24th, 2017Via: Reuters: Chinese automaker BYD Co Ltd (002594.SZ) expects the country’s shift to cleaner new-energy vehicles (NEV) to be complete in just over a decade, an aggressive timeframe that would challenge traditional carmakers in the world’ top auto market. All vehicles in the country will be “electrified” by 2030, which could range from full electric […]
Trump Renews Post-9/11 State of Emergency
September 18th, 2017Via: USA Today: President Trump has become the third president to renew a post-9/11 emergency proclamation, stretching what was supposed to be a temporary state of national emergency after the 2001 terror attacks into its 17th year. But the ongoing effects of that perpetual emergency aren’t immediately clear, because the executive branch has ignored a […]
New Zealand: National MP Trained by Chinese Spies
September 14th, 2017Via: Newsroom: A National Party MP who studied at an elite Chinese spy school before moving to New Zealand has attracted the interest of our Security Intelligence Service. The list MP Jian Yang did not mention in his work or political CVs a decade he spent in the People’s Liberation Army-Air Force Engineering College or […]
Afghanistan: America’s Trillion Dollar War
August 29th, 2017Via: ZeroHedge: 16 years since the Bush administration launched its military intervention in Afghanistan, President Trump has announced his intention to increase the U.S. military presence in the country. As Statista’s Niall McCarthy notes, there are approximately 8,400 U.S. troops on the ground in Afghanistan and reinforcements could start arriving within days. Trump’s new strategy […]
Trump Expected to Lift Ban on Military Gear to Local Police Forces
August 27th, 2017Via: USA Today: The Trump administration is preparing to lift a controversial ban on the transfer of some surplus military equipment to police departments whose battlefield-style response to rioting in a St. Louis suburb three years ago prompted a halt to the program. The new plan, outlined in documents obtained by USA TODAY, would roll […]
CIA ‘Torture Psychologists’ Avoid Trial with Secret Settlement
August 18th, 2017Via: AFP: Two psychologists who helped design the CIA’s post-9/11 interrogation program settled a lawsuit Thursday by detainees alleging they were illegally tortured. The secret settlement in the suit, brought on behalf of two living ex-detainees and one who died of hypothermia after brutal questioning in US custody, avoided what would have been the first […]
Trump Threatens Venezuela with Unspecified ‘Military Option’
August 11th, 2017Via: Reuters: U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday threatened military intervention in Venezuela, a surprise escalation in Washington’s response to Venezuela’s political crisis. Venezuela has appeared to slide toward a more volatile stage of unrest in recent days, with anti-government forces looting weapons from a military base after a new legislative body usurped the authority […]
‘You Will Get Chipped – Eventually’
August 9th, 2017Mmm hmm. Via: USA Today: You will get chipped. It’s just a matter of time. … “It will happen to everybody,” says Noelle Chesley, 49, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “But not this year, and not in 2018. Maybe not my generation, but certainly that of my kids.” Related: Cyborgs at […]
