Friday, May 31, 2013

ΙΧΝΕΙ ΤΟΥΣ ΤΟΝΟΥΣ

Κεδίκογλου: Καμία διαφωνία επί της ουσίας μεταξύ ΝΔ-ΠΑΣΟΚ για το αντιρατσιστικό

Κεδίκογλου: Καμία διαφωνία επί της ουσίας μεταξύ ΝΔ-ΠΑΣΟΚ για το αντιρατσιστικό
«Eπί της ουσίας, δηλαδή στην ανάγκη καταπολέμησης του ναζισμού, της ξενοφοβίας, του ρατσισμού, στην καταδίκη κάθε βίαιου επεισοδίου με βάση τέτοια κριτήρια, δεν υπάρχει καμία διαφωνία. Διαφωνία υπάρχει ως προς το απαιτούμενο εργαλείο. Η ΝΔ θεωρεί ότι το υφιστάμενο νομικό πλαίσιο, με συγκεκριμένες προσθήκες, βελτιώσεις και με την επικαιροποίησή του, είναι επαρκέστατο. Η ΔΗΜΑΡ και το ΠΑΣΟΚ έχουν διαφορετική άποψη. Πιστεύω, λοιπόν, ότι στη συζήτηση στη Βουλή θα έχουν την ευκαιρία, νηφάλια να δουν ποιο είναι το αποτελεσματικότερο εργαλείο», δήλωσε στο ραδιοσταθμό ALPHA 9,89 ο κυβερνητικός εκπρόσωπος Σίμος Κεδίκογλου.
Ο κ. Κεδίκογλου εξήγησε ότι «δεν πρέπει να «θυματοποιηθεί», να φανεί ότι θυματοποιείται η Χρυσή Αυγή». Πρέπει να υπάρξει by the book (σσ όπως ορίζουν οι κανόνες). Βάσει του νόμου, συγκεκριμένες πράξεις κολάζονται. Έχουμε επαρκέστατο νομικό οπλοστάσιο και είναι θέμα εφαρμογής αυτών των διατάξεων. Με τη συμπλήρωση των αναφορών στο Ολοκαύτωμα, στις γενοκτονίες των Ποντίων, των Αρμενίων, των Μικρασιατών, γιατί κι εκεί η οικογένειά μου έχει το δυστυχές προνόμιο να έχει πληρώσει φόρο αίματος. Κατάγομαι από τη Μικρά Ασία. Από την 11μελή οικογένεια του παππού μου επέζησαν μόνο δύο», ανέφερε.
Πηγή: AΠE-MΠΕ

Giant Asteroid to Sail Past Earth Today: Watch it Live

A huge asteroid is set to cruise by Earth Friday afternoon (May 31), making its closest approach to our planet for at least the next two centuries.
Asteroid 1998 QE2 will come within 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers) of Earth at 4:59 p.m. EDT (2059 GMT) Friday — about 15 times the distance from our planet to the moon.
There's no chance the 1.7-mile-wide (2.7 km) 1998 QE2 will hit us, researchers say. That's a good thing, because a strike by such a bigspace rock would cause catastrophic damage, potentially wiping out our species. [Potentially Dangerous Asteroids (Images)]
In general, scientists think any asteroid bigger than 0.6 miles, or 1 km, could end human civilization if it hit us. For comparison, the object that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago is thought to have been about 6 miles (10 km) wide.
Asteroid 1998 QE2 won't put on a show for skywatchers. At its closest pass, the space rock will still be 100 times fainter than the dimmest star visible to naked-eye observers under clear and dark skies, experts say.
But several different organizations, including the Slooh Space Telescope and the Virtual Telescope Project, will broadcast live views of the near-Earth asteroid's close approach from professional-quality observatories around the world. You can watch their 1998 QE2 webcasts here at SPACE.com, starting at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT).
"It will be fun to actually watch it change position," Astronomy magazine columnist Bob Berman, who will participate in Slooh's show, said in a statement. "As Slooh's Space Cameras image it directly [Friday] afternoon, we will all be reminded that asteroids of this size have changed the biosphere of our planet in the past, and even set the stage for the present dominion of humans."
Scientists are already watching 1998 QE2 closely, in an attempt to learn more about the asteroid's characteristics and orbit. A team of radio astronomers using NASA's Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., for example, just learned that the asteroid is actually a binary system, with a 2,000-foot-wide (600 m) moon circling the larger space rock.
Researchers plan to use the Goldstone facility as well as the huge Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to watch 1998 QE2 through June 9, NASA officials said.
Asteroid 1998 QE2 was first spotted in August 1998 by astronomers working with MIT's Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research program in New Mexico. The space rock's name is not an homage to England's Queen Elizabeth II, or to the famous ocean liner. Rather, it's just the moniker assigned under the established alphanumeric scheme that lays out when asteroids are discovered.
The approaching 1998 QE2 is part of a near-Earth population that likely numbers in the millions. To date, just 10,000 of these relatively close-flying space rocks have been discovered.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @SpacedotcomFacebook orGoogle+. Originally published on SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.   YAHOO NEWS

Exclusive: Former WikiLeaks Employee Tells All

It’s now been more than three years since the world saw the horrifying footage of the “Collateral Murder” video: civilians mown down in a ghastly battlefield error. Their would-be rescuer—a father taking his children to school—similarly shot to pieces by a U.S. helicopter gunship, its pilots chatting and laughing as if playing a video game.
And for those who kept watching, an aspect of the footage often forgotten: a Hellfire missile fired into a building, with no regard of the passerby just outside. Waiting a mere few seconds longer could’ve kept him safe—but no. Amid the revulsion at the earlier horror of the clip, this became a mere background detail.
That footage was just the start of a string of ever-larger WikiLeaks document releases, reporting, and revelations that shook the faith of many around the world in the U.S. government’s activities—from revelations of death squads operating in Afghanistan, through complicity in torture in the Iraq documents, to evidence of spying on U.N. diplomats in U.S. Embassy cables.
Now, two years after the last release of that kind of significance—the Guantánamo files—comes an opportunity to reflect on WikiLeaks; its most famous source, Bradley Manning; and its ever-divisive founder, Julian Assange.
That opportunity is the release of Alex Gibney’s We Steal Secrets, a fast-paced, two-hour foray through the story of WikiLeaks, its founder, and what happened next. It’s a film that’s been roundly condemned by Julian Assange and his remaining supporters long before they’ve gone to the trouble of seeing it. Why?
One all-too-plausible reason is that Gibney’s fil—spoiler alert, if it’s possible to spoil a documentary—is perhaps the nearest you can come to living the WikiLeaks experience without having actually been there.
For me, the film was more like déjà vu—something I’d lived once already. From summer 2010, WikiLeaks became my life for months. First, at the U.K.-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, I was part of the team working for 10 weeks investigating the Iraq War Logs for Al Jazeera English and Arabic, Channel 4’s flagship Dispatches documentary, and iraqwarlogs.com.
I then went a step further, working directly for WikiLeaks for several months on the embassy cables—analyzing the cables, distributing them to staff, writing press releases, appearing on TV, and more.
It was groundbreaking, important journalism, but it was done against the backdrop of an organization crumbling under pressure, crossing ethical boundaries, and placing people needlessly in danger.
For me, it was too much, and I left. Since then, in a leak of the script of Gibney’s film, WikiLeaks has posted that I sold them out for cash (nope), was a wanna-be spy who interviewed for MI5 (nope), and stole their data—including, bizarrely, my own copy of a gag order they asked me to sign to stop me speaking out on what I didn’t like.
Seeing yourself portrayed by WikiLeaks is like walking through a circus hall of mirrors: there’s just enough resemblance for you to recognize yourself, but you’re seriously distorted—and usually in a way that makes you look grotesque.
Many made their mind up on Julian Assange long ago—but here, for the record, is what really happened in those fateful few months.
The honeymoon phase was real: WikiLeaks and its partners were doing important work on revelatory documents, and the reaction against it was often abhorrent—Assange and WikiLeaks received death threats on U.S. television, were subject to blockades from the world’s biggest payment providers (Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal), and underwent U.S. grand-jury investigations.
The pressure and the stress were real, and needless. But the atmosphere of paranoia and defensiveness they created led to WikiLeaks committing serious misdeeds of its own—too serious to ignore.
One controversy provided the backdrop of all of WikiLeaks' activities during these months: Assange’s Swedish sex case. Two women accused Assange of sexual assaults, relating to either tearing a condom or initiating unprotected sex while his partner was sleeping.
Only three people know exactly what happened on the two nights that led to Assange’s prosecution, and it’s for the courts to establish more. It’s not for me or the media to judge Assange’s guilt. But the witness statements make it clear this was no set-up job: the accounts are messy, difficult, and the undisputed facts show a picture far more complex than a honey trap. That wasn’t enough to stop Assange—and members of his legal team, through insinuation—to set the ball rolling on three years of abuse, denigration, and suspicion against his two accusers.
One of the key instigations was this quote: “I’m not saying it was a honey trap. I’m not saying it was not a honey trap,” Assange told John Humphreys, the anchor of a major U.K. radio show, initiating an open season of speculation, abuse, death threats, and more against his accusers.
Whatever happened to those women three years ago, they’ve certainly gone through hell since.
As Assange was remanded in custody for a week in December 2010, Kristinn Hrafnsson, the silver-haired Icelandic journalist who is the second-most high-profile WikiLeaker, and I conferred on how to handle the media strategy, as every mainstream outlet ran the “Will WikiLeaks collapse without its founder?” story.
We agreed on a simple line: Julian was WikiLeaks’ founder and editor, and had its full support—but his court issues were a private matter, and we were getting on with publishing 251,000 embassy cables.
That line wasn’t acceptable to Julian. Within 24 hours, once he’d had word, he reversed it. Julian’s fight was WikiLeaks’ fight. This was a freedom-of-speech issue, not a sex-offense trial. We’d just have to live with it. Consequently, for the last three years, huge and significant Internet freedom issues have played second fiddle to one man’s melodrama.
All of that is distasteful. But it’s not why I quit.
The reason I quit was because of a friend of Julian’s whose activities were unstomachable and unforgivable. That man was Israel Shamir. Shamir is an anti-Semitic writer, a supporter of the dictator of Belarus, and a man with ties and friends in Russian security services. He and Julian—unknown to us—had been in friendly contact for years. It was a friendship that would have serious consequences.
Introduced to WikiLeaks staff and supporters under a false name, Shamir was given direct access to more than 90,000 of the U.S. Embassy cables, covering Russia, all of Eastern Europe, parts of the Middle East, and Israel. This was, for quite some time, denied by WikiLeaks. But that’s never a denial I’ve found convincing: the reason I know he has them is that I gave them to him, at Assange’s orders, not knowing who he was.
Why did this prove to be a grave mistake? Not just for Shamir’s views, which are easy to Google, but for what he did next. The first hints of trouble came through contacts from various Putin-influenced Russian media outlets. A pro-Putin outlet got in touch to say Shamir had been asking for $10,000 for access to the cables. He was selling the material we were working to give away free, to responsible outlets.
Worse was to come. The NGO Index on Censorship sent a string of questions and some photographic evidence, suggesting Shamir had given the cables to Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Europe’s last dictator. Shamir had written a pro-Belarus article, shortly before photos emerged of him leaving the interior ministry. The day after, Belarus’s dictator gave a speech saying he was establishing a WikiLeaks for Belarus, citing some stories and information appearing in the genuine (and then unpublished) cables.
Assange refused and blocked any attempts at investigation, and released public statements that were simply untrue.
Disturbingly, Assange seems to have a personal motivation for staying friendly with Shamir. Shamir’s son, Johannes Wahlstrom, is apparently being called as one of Assange’s defense witnesses in his Swedish trial. That’s not the only time self has come before principle.
On other occasions, Assange’s selfishness needlessly risked WikiLeaks financial future.
When first trying to gain bail money, Assange sought to empty WikiLeaks’ bank accounts to pay the cash (a scheme which would never have worked given the rules). But luckily for WikiLeaks, the trustees of the organization’s then-main bank account, the Wau Holland foundation, rightly refused the request, which would have all but cleared out the account. Given the duration of the banking blockade, that money eventually had to last around 18 months. Had Assange got his way, the money that got WikiLeaks through the blockade wouldn’t have been there.
The final straw was—as it always is—the attempted cover-up. In November 2010, WikiLeaks asked everyone who worked there to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) covering the material we were being given access to—not to sell it, disclose without permission, or similar. Given the importance of what we were working on, that seemed reasonable. Everyone, including me, signed.
By January, the situation had changed. With me and others concerned about what we saw as ethical lapses left, right, and center, Assange produced a new NDA, silencing anyone who signed it for a full decade against saying a word about WikiLeaks activities, on the pain of millions of dollars of penalties.
Faced with the bizarre situation of being asked to sign a gag order by a whistleblowing organization, I, alone, refused. Encouraged by Julian (I later learned), WikiLeaks staffers kept me up until 3 a.m. pressuring me to sign. Early the next morning, I awoke with Assange sat on my bed, pressuring me to sign—even before I was dressed. I held out, eventually left our remote location, and didn’t go back.
This is the mess you get into when you buy into the “noble lie,” as Julian willingly does.
Eventually, you’ve got to back your claims up. And that’s what is needed: people to really believe in the principles WikiLeaks supposedly stands for, rather than in a cartoon hero or villain figure.
The consequences of mistakes, of arrogance, of division, are all too real.
Assange isn’t entirely venal. His problem is “noble cause” corruption: behavior he’d rightly condemn in others, he excuses in himself, because he believes, at his core, he is the good guy.
Myself, I’m reminded of the conclusion of George Orwell’s Animal Farm: Julian Assange has become everything he originally, rightly, despised.
There is, though, one happier lesson from WikiLeaks, that is rightly highlighted in Gibney’s film: we haven’t paid enough attention to Bradley Manning. Manning is too easy to turn into a poster boy, an easy icon, a cause.
Manning the human is more complex, more flawed, more fascinating, and more inspiring.
Gibney’s focus on Manning’s flaws and conviction alike shows the human story at the center of WikiLeaks. It shows the need to support people like Manning.
And it shows that whistleblowers aren’t cartoon heroes made of different stuff to everyone else.
Anyone has the potential to do what Manning did: act on conscience to break the rules in a good cause. And because of that, despite the rows and betrayals, the WikiLeaks story remains one that can give everyone a lot of reason to hope.
Related from The Daily Beast
Like us on Facebook - Follow us on Twitter - Sign up for The Cheat Sheet Newsletter                                     the Daily Beast.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (R) sits during an interview with journalists from Argentina in Damascus in this handout photograph distributed by Syria's national news agency SANA on May 18, 2013. SANA/Handout via Reuters (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST MEDIA) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

SYRIA

Syria 'receives' Russian S-300 air defense system

Russian S-300 air defense missile systems have arrived in Syria, according to the Syrian president. Israel has long feared the delivery of the long-range missiles, calling them a "threat" to its own security.
In an interview with Lebanese broadcaster, Al-Manar TV, the Syrian president confirmed that Damascus had received the surface-to-air missile system from Russia. The quotes were released in a preview for an interview slated to be aired later on Thursday.
"Syria has got the first batch of Russian S-300 missiles ... The rest of the shipment will arrive soon," President Bashar al-Assad said.
Western countries and Israel have repeatedly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for allowing weapons shipments to the Assad regime. However, Moscow contends that the deliveries stem from contracts completed prior to the start of the Syrian civil war.
In recent weeks, Israel had indicated it would be prepared take action to halt an S-300 delivery, which it deems a threat to its own citizens. An official speaking on the condition of anonymity to Reuters news agency said that Israel was trying to verify the Thursday report.
President al-Assad told Al-Manar on Thursday that his army would "respond immediately to any new Israeli aggression" on Syria.
The Israeli military has already conducted airstrikes against arms shipments outside of its own territory. Earlier this month, it destroyed Iranian weapons outside of Damascus believed to be headed to Shiite militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to media reports.
Syrian rebels 'hindering' peace efforts
The news of the S-300 defense system delivery came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Syria's opposition coalition of interfering with international efforts to end the civil war, which recently entered its third year.
"We are under the impression that the National Coalition (SNC) and its regional sponsors are doing everything so as not to allow the start of the political process and achieve military intervention in Syria through any means possible," Lavrov told reporters, referring to stalled progress on organizing a Russia-US backed international peace conference, dubbed Geneva 2.
Lavrov was also referring to the EU's decision to allow an arms embargo to expire at the end of the month, which would allow member states to ship weapons to the opposition fighters.
The Syrian government has agreed to attend Geneva 2. However, the SNC refuses to attend without the guarantee of al-Assad's unconditional resignation.
"The [SNC] is not prepared to take part in the conference without preconditions. These conditions are impracticable. And in general, nobody should be throwing ultimatums around," Lavrov said.
There was no immediate response from the opposition coalition.
International leaders worry that delaying peace talks could allow the turmoil in Syria to spread through the region.
A major battle for the strategic border town of Qusair, now entering its second week, has highlighted the danger to Lebanese security. Their involvement has thus far sparked violence in Tripoli in Beruit between ethnic Shiite and Sunnis, who support the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition, respectively.
At least 80,000 have died in the Syrian civil war, according to UN figures. Several million people have been displaced within Syria and over 1 million more into neighboring countries.
kms/pfd (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)     dw de
German passports over a map of Europe (Photo: Fotolia/m.schuckart)

IMMIGRATION

Schengen states to granted more control over borders

Schengen countries are to be given more room for maneuver when it comes to introducing border controls. Changes were put in place after a dispute between Paris and Rome over an influx of migrants from North Africa.
Participating members will be allowed to introduce border controls in future when faced with the entry of a large number of illegal immigrants, the European Council of Ministers revealed on Thursday.
Under the current rules of the Schengen "border free" area, people are allowed to travel across 26 signatory countries without showing their passports. However, member states can currently reinstate border checks for up to 30 days if public policy or internal security comes under threat.
Such measures have been introduced in the past where countries have been hosting high-profile international events like political summits or sporting competitions.
However the new rules, which still have to be formally approved by the European Parliament and individual states, mean it will be possible to set up border controls for renewable six-month periods for a maximum of two years.
The measures are intended, in part, to allow Schengen countries to respond when other member states fail to secure their own outer borders to a degree that could be deemed detrimental to the rest of the Shengen area.
The new measures would "create a more robust and rigorous system to oversee the implementation of the Schengen agreement," said Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter, who led negotiations with the European Parliament on behalf of member states.
"This will enhance the security and stability of the Schengen border-free arrangements for the benefit of the many millions of citizens who avail of them each year," he added.
Spat between France and Italy
Changes to the current arrangement were demanded after a dispute arose between France and Italy over an influx of immigrants from Tunisia following the uprising that toppled former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Italy was accused of encouraging undocumented North African migrants to move to other parts of the Schengen area, with former colonial power France a popular destination for many. There are also concerns about immigration across Greece's porous border with Turkey.
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich welcomed the reforms. "With the procedures that have been adopted we maintain the balance between a respect for the national sovereignty of the member states over the safety of their citizens and the necessary handling of matters at a European level," said Friedrich.
Italian grants to immigrants
The German government warned individual state authorities in late March to expect more arrivals from Italy, where refugee camps were being closed.
Germany's biggest selling newspaper Bild on Thursday voiced outrage at the fact that the Italian government had given grants of up to 500 euros ($650) to African migrants at its temporary refuge centers, as a "reward to leave." Bild claimed that the migrants were advised to move to Germany.
However, the Italian ambassador to Berlin told the ANSA news agency that this was untrue. "It is not true that the money was given with the advice to go to Germany. This is a slanderous and unpleasant interpretation given by the German press," said Menzione.
rc/msh (AFP, dpa)       dw de

Εφτασαν στη Συρία οι πρώτοι ρωσικοί S-300, λέει η Δαμασκός

ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΣΗ: 13:11 |
O πρόεδρος της Συρίας Μπασάρ αλ Άσαντ εμφανίζεται να δηλώνει ότι η Δαμασκός «έχει παραλάβει το πρώτο φορτίο ρωσικών S-300, και το υπόλοιπο πρόκειται να φτάσει σύντομα».
Εφτασαν στη Συρία οι πρώτοι ρωσικοί S-300, λέει η Δαμασκός
Will Justin Trudeau be the next PM? Angus Reid wants your opinion, now
      
Παραδόθηκε στη Συρία το πρώτο ρωσικό φορτίο εξελιγμένων συστημάτων αεράμυνας, όπως εμφανίζεται να δηλώνει ο σύρος πρόεδρος Μπασάρ αλ Άσαντ.

Στη συνέντευξή του στο λιβανέζικο κανάλι της Χεζμπολάχ, η οποία θα μεταδοθεί το βράδυ της Πέμπτης, ο Άσαντ σημειώνει ότι θα ακολουθήσουν και άλλα ρωσικά φορτία S-300.

Η συνέντευξη δόθηκε στο Al Manar και σε αναφορές του καναλιού πριν τη μετάδοσή, ο Άσαντ εμφανίζεται να δηλώνει ότι η Δαμασκός «έχει παραλάβει το πρώτο φορτίο ρωσικών S-300, και το υπόλοιπο πρόκειται να φτάσει σύντομα».

Το Ισραήλ ανέφερε ότι «ελέγχει την αναφορά», σύμφωνα με ανώνυμο αξιωματούχο της ισραηλινής κυβέρνησης που επικαλείται το Reuters. Το Ισραήλ έχει προσπαθήσει να πιέσει να μην παραδοθούν S-300 στη Συρία και την Τρίτη ανέφερε πως δεν είχαν φτάσει ακόμη φορτία προς τη Δαμασκό.

Παράλληλα, η Μόσχα κατηγόρησε την συριακή αντιπολίτευση ότι με την στάση της προσπαθεί να τορπιλίσει την πρωτοβουλία για ειρηνευτική διάσκεψη.

Αναφερόμενος στον όρο των αντικαθεστωτικών για απομάκρυνση του Άσαντ, ο ρώσος υπουργός Εξωτερικών Σεργκέι Λαβρόφ είπε πως «δημιουργείται η εντύπωση ότι ο Εθνικός Συνασπισμός και οι περιφερειακοί του σπόνσορες κάνουν ό,τι μπορούν για να μην ξεκινήσει διαδικασία πολιτικής λύσης και να επιτύχουν στρατιωτική επέμβαση στη χώρα».

Σφοδρές μάχες στο Κουσέιρ

Στο συριακό έδαφος, οι συγκρούσεις στο Κουσέιρ συνεχίζονται και οι αντικαθεστωτικοί απηύθηναν έκκληση για βοήθεια.

«Έχουμε 700 ανθρώπους τραυματίες στο Κουσέιρ και σε 100 απ' αυτούς χορηγείται οξυγόνο. Η πόλη είναι πολιορκημένη και δεν υπάρχει τρόπος να φθάσει ιατρική βοήθεια» ανέφερε ο Μάλεκ Άμαρ, αντικαθεστωτικός στο Κουσέιρ, όπως μεταδίδει το Reuters.

Σύμφωνα με το πρακτορείο, οι αντικαθεστωτικοί λένε πως τουλάχιστον 50 όλμους πέφτουν κάθε ώρα. Οι δυνάμεις του Άσαντ, στο πλευρό των οποίων βρίσκονται και μαχητές της Χεζμπολάχ, φαίνεται ότι προελαύνουν ακόμη γρηγορότερα μετά την ανακατάλψηη της κοντινής αεροπορικής βάσης της Νταμπαά.  TA  NEA.GR