Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
Egypt Simmering as Protests Spread; Regime Blocks Access to Twitter
January 25th, 2011Via: Christian Science Monitor: Egypt’s protests today appear to be the largest public call for democratic reform and an end to the Mubarak regime for years. The scope of Egypt’s protests today, calling for greater freedom and downfall of strongman President Hosni Mubarak, is unprecedented. Though tens of thousands took to the streets of Cairo […]
Jesse Ventura Sues TSA Over Pat-Downs
January 25th, 2011Via: KSTP: Former governor Jesse Ventura never shied away from a battle during his one term as Minnesota’s chief executive. Now, as a “television performer,” as he describes himself in a new lawsuit, the former pro-wrestler is trying to launch a legal smackdown against the agencies that are supposed to protect the flying public. In […]
Large Leak of Documents ‘Reveal Slow Death of Middle East Peace Process’
January 24th, 2011I have no idea what to make of this. It’s massive and I haven’t looked and any of the documents yet. Here it is, but, as always, with a grain of salt… or CAST LEAD as the case may be. Via: Guardian: The biggest leak of confidential documents in the history of the Middle East […]
Peter Dale Scott: The Doomsday Project, Deep Events, and the Shrinking of American Democracy
January 24th, 2011Via: Asia Pacific Journal: In recent years I have become more and more concerned with the interactions between three important and alarming trends in recent American history. The first is America’s increasing militarization, and above all its inclination, even obsession, to involve itself in needless and pernicious wars. The second, closely related, is the progressive […]
China Bank Moves to Buy U.S. Branches
January 24th, 2011Via: Wall Street Journal: China’s biggest bank signed an agreement that would make it the first Beijing-controlled financial institution to acquire retail bank branches in the U.S., though regulators could still block the deal. Under the deal, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., by some measures the world’s largest bank, agreed to acquire a […]
Federal Reserve Creative Accounting to Avoid Insolvency?
January 23rd, 2011Mmm hmm. Via: Reuters: Concerns that the Federal Reserve could suffer losses on its massive bond holdings may have driven the central bank to adopt a little-noticed accounting change with huge implications: it makes insolvency much less likely. The significant shift was tucked quietly into the Fed’s weekly report on its balance sheet and phrased […]
FAA Warns of Ongoing GPS Issues in Southeastern U.S. Due to Defense Department ‘Tests’
January 21st, 2011Interestingly (instinctively?), Cryptogon readers have been buying Finding Your Way Without Map or Compass by Harold Gatty for years. This one gets a tick in the Social Engineering box because of how the machine gets people to internalize and rely on whiz bang technology that can then be withdrawn with the flip of a switch. […]
AIRprint Device Reads Fingerprints from Two Meters Away
January 20th, 2011Via: Technology Review: Over the years, fingerprinting has evolved from an inky mess to pressing fingers on sensor screens to even a few touch-free systems that work at a short distance. Now a company has developed a prototype of a device that can scan fingerprints from up to two meters away, an approach that could […]
What Is Plan B if China Dumps Its U.S. Debt? Try to Get Americans to Buy More
January 19th, 2011Your what hurts? Via: Reuters: When borrowing money it’s always good to have a Plan B in case a big creditor pulls the plug. That should be true whether the sum is a few thousand dollars or about a trillion, the size of the United States government’s debt to China. With Chinese President Hu Jintao […]
Ex Tunisia President’s Wife Left with 1.5 Tons of Gold
January 18th, 2011Via: CNBC: The French government suspects that former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his family may have fled the country with 1.5 tons of gold, French daily Le Monde reported Monday. According to the French secret service, Leila Trabelsi, the wife of the ex-president, went to the Central Bank of Tunisia to fetch […]
