Bottom Line Up Front:
A serious military escalation is underway in Libya as General Khalifa Haftar and his forces move to take Tripoli.
The battle is now unifying a range of violent non-state actors with the recognized interim government against Haftar, who is receiving significant external state support.
Since taking office in 2013, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has done little to alleviate the problems in the military. The best-known projects during her tenure were kindergartens for the soldiers' families; the procurement of flat screen television sets and mini-fridges for the barracks; the announcement of efforts to make the German army "more attractive for gay, lesbian and transgender people"; buying uniforms for pregnant soldiers, and making battle tanks suitable for pregnant soldiers. As worthwhile as these efforts may be, they do little to address the core problems.
"Apparently the readiness of the Bundeswehr is so bad that the public should not be allowed to know about it." — Tobias Lindner, a Greens Party member, serving on the budget and defense committees.
Underlying global efforts to counter fake news, psychological warfare and malicious manipulation of public opinion is a far more fundamental battle: the global campaign by civilisationalists, autocrats, authoritarians and illiberals to create a new world media order that would reject freedom of the press and reduce the fourth estate to scribes and propaganda outlets.
Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law at the University of Illinois pre-recorded this interview for the tenth Unity4J Vigil which took place on 30 December 2018.
The jaws of power
“The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.” John Adams, (1735-1826)
“EXIT NATO!” – was the glaring title on a huge screen greeting the several hundred participants of the Anti-NATO Conference in Florence, Italy, on 7 April 2019. Officially it was called The International Conference on the 70th Anniversary of NATO, sponsored by Global Research of Canada and the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW). I had the privilege to attend this important forum.
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) today called on members of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary to use their Tuesday hearing on hate crimes and white nationalism to hold the tech industry accountable for its failure to permanently remove extremist and terrorist content in disregard for public safety and security, particularly in the wake of the New Zealand shootings. Ahead of Facebook and Google’s testimony, CEP is releasing a list of questions with the aim of holding tech companies accountable for their inaction regarding extremist content online.
Following Mark Zuckerberg’s Op-Ed in Support of Regulation, Facebook Must Cease all Related Lobbying Work
Last weekend, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called for governments and regulators to become involved in censoring harmful content online. However, Mr. Zuckerberg’s call was intentionally heavy on idealism and rhetoric, and light on specifics. Once more, the company’s PR strategy is carefully calibrated to give the public very little understanding of how Mr. Zuckerberg plans to support his words with action.
Bottom Line Up Front:
The U.S. is continuing its aggressive campaign against the growing influence of Chinese telecom giant Huawei as countries move toward 5G infrastructure.
Particularly noteworthy is the adoption of Huawei infrastructure by ‘Five Eyes’ countries, America’s closest and most trusted allies in information sharing and intelligence cooperation.
The U.S. and many others fear using Huawei is essentially allowing the Chinese government to access sensitive or vital systems and infrastructure.
Some of the ‘Five Eyes’ are still considering using Huawei in some fashion, a choice that could have enormous repercussions for the entire group.
The United States’ campaign for allies and others to refrain from using Huawei products, services, and infrastructure is an ongoing legal issue as well as a contest over which company will provide the lion’s share of global infrastructure for the emerging 5G age of wireless communication. In essence, it is a struggle to control the world’s wireless networks.
Industry Must Fulfill Promises to Adopt Effective Standards and Policies or Face Regulation
The recent New Zealand attacks have once again made clear that the tech industry’s preferred paradigm of self-regulation has failed. Tech companies have been unable or unwilling to establish clear standards of what constitutes impermissible extremist and terrorist material, or deploy adequate tools to quickly and completely remove such content.