Geopolitical Risk Theater Links: Thailand’s Hunger Games, ISIS Expansion, US 500th Drone Strike, Terror Not Excuse for Foreign Wars and more…

1 Hunger Games Thailand edition? : When Life Imitates 'The Hunger Games' in Thailand, the Atlantic November 21, 2014

2 Geopolitical blackmail continues: North Korea Conducts Ejection Test of Sub-Launched Missile Test indicates progress in submarine missile development Freebeacon.com November 21,2014

3 The nuclear race is ON: China's Nuclear Weapons Are Getting Bigger And More Destructive Business Insider November 20,2014

4 Hasn’t it been obvious? A Russia-China Military Alliance May Not Be As Far-Fetched As Many Think Business Insider November 21,2014 They are already part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which according to Wikipedia “is a Eurasian political, economic and military organization”

5 Like stocks, ISIS momentum keeps rollin’: ISIS Has An Important Iraqi City Surrounded Business Insider November 21, 2014

6 ISIS draws criticism from peer (ally?) Al Qaeda in Yemen rebukes ISIS CNN.com November 21, 2014 

7 If ISIS has international recruits, so does the Kurdish forces: Canadian veterans join Kurdish battle against ISIS RT.com November 22, 2014 

8 US government’s favorite assassin: America’s 500th Drone Strike Launched in Pakistan Six 'Suspects' Killed in Latest Attack Antiwar.com November 21, 2014 Question is who gets killed; militants or innocent bystanders labeled as militants? 

9 Oops, developing cracks on Western Sanctions against Russia? Serbia won’t join anti-Russian sanctions club despite EU pressure - Nikolic RT.com November 20, 2014 

Serbia is not planning to impose sanctions on Russia, said its President Tomislav Nikolic after meeting EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn. The latter said the EU expects Serbia to bring its policy in line with the European one if it seeks to enter the union.

Nikolic said that Serbia is not planning to introduce sanctions at the moment, though admitting the country is seeking EU membership which implies an obligation to pursue common policies, including foreign.

10 More beating of the war drums: Russia warns US against supplying ‘lethal defensive aid’ to Ukraine RT.com November 21, 2014

Moscow has warned Washington a potential policy shift from supplying Kiev with “non-lethal aid” to “defensive lethal weapons”, mulled as US Vice President visits Ukraine, would be a direct violation of all international agreements.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that reports of possible deliveries of American “defensive weapons” to Ukraine would be viewed by Russia as a “very serious signal.”

11 More testing of tolerance limits: NATO scrambles jets 400 times in 2014 as Russian air activity jumps Yahoo.com November 21, 2014

12 The slippery slope to totalitariansism: Terror Is Also Not a Reason or Argument for Foreign Wars Michael S. Rozeff Lew Rockwell Blog November 21,2014

Writes Michael Rozeff

But terror and terrorists cannot possibly justify such wars, and preventive wars at that. Terrorists are a problem that is unsettling, but it also has limited and sporadic sources, even if they can inflict great damage at times. The problem requires identification and location of terrorists. How can war, which is such a blunt instrument, an instrument of mass destruction, be justified against such a threat? How can the U.S. possibly use terrorist threats to justify the unseating and destroying of entire governments, the destroying of whole infrastructures, the throwing of countries and societies into massive turmoil, and the killing and wounding of innocent civilians in large numbers? How can the U.S. justify exacerbating religious and ethnic differences, ruining landmarks and turning countries into armed camps engaged in internecine warfare? There is absolutely no excuse for this. Terror, terrorism, terrorists and terror events provide absolutely no excuse for such huge human rights violations. 9/11 doesn’t justify this. Nothing can be brought forward that justifies it. There is zero moral justification for what America has done in the name of fighting terror.

Here at home, the federal government has militarized every force within all of its many agencies that do any kind of policing. Not only have local police forces become militarized, but so have every possible arm of the federal government. The Department of Homeland Security is but one umbrella for these many forces. By one count there are now more than 70 such militarized federal agencies. 

The government has used terror and terrorism as an excuse or pretext for militarizing itself and arming itself to the teeth. These forces stand ready to dominate Americans at every turn and create a nightmare police state in this country. Any excuse from a bomb threat to a hurricane can be used to mobilize one or more of these forces. One vindictive word or one phone call can unleash a number of SWAT teams against some innocent person or get them detained or get their names placed on a no-fly list or some other list.

Geopolitical Risk Theater Links: More NATO-Russia Encounters, Military Balance in Asia, Blowback on Canada’s Interventions

Updates on the geopolitical risk theater:

1  Financial Times Nato fighter jets intercept Russian military aircraft October 29

An excerpt 

More than two dozen Russian military aircraft, including six nuclear bombers, have conducted “significant military manoeuvres” on the edges of Nato and European airspace in the past 24 hours, causing jets to be scrambled from eight countries as well as Nato’s own Baltic air policing force.

The incidents – three of which occurred on Wednesday and one on Tuesday – followed last week’s violation of Nato airspace by a Russian spy plane, the first since the end of the cold war. Taken together they constitute the most serious air provocation mounted by the Kremlin against the alliance this year, if not in more than a decade, according to Nato officials…

“These sizeable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace,” Nato said in a detailed statement issued from its headquarters in Belgium…

The most significant intercept on Wednesday occurred in the North Sea. A force of eight Russian aircraft, including four Tu-95 long-range strategic nuclear bombers and four refuelling aircraft, were detected flying in formation at about 3am central European time flying from mainland Russia over the Norwegian Sea.

Six aircraft turned back, but two bombers continued southwards, close to the Norwegian coast and followed by F16s sent to intercept them by the Royal Norwegian air force. When the Russian aircraft then turned over the North Sea, RAF Typhoons were scrambled to intercept as they approached UK airspace. Portuguese fighters were later deployed as they came near the Iberian peninsula.

The aircraft did not file flight plans, had turned off their transponders and did not respond to any radio calls from civilian or military controllers.

2 TheAviationist.com German Typhoons have intercepted 7 Russian Air Force combat planes over the Baltic Sea today October 28

3 Vietnamese government blows hot and cold on China

a. Wall Street Journal Frontiers, Vietnam and China Agree to Better Manage Sea Disputes October 28

b. Economic Times, India to supply Vietnam with naval vessels amid China disputes October 28

4 Telegraph Mystery submarine sighting gives clue to Russia's Arctic ambitions October 28

5 RT.com France to hand over first Mistral helicopter carrier on Nov 14 – Russia October 29

6 Telegraph Seven reasons why Russia is spying on its neighbours October 29

7 RT.com Russian nuclear sub test-fires Bulava strategic missile October 30

8 RT.com Contract soldiers outnumber conscripts in Russian military – Defense Minister October 29

9 Al-Arabiya News ISIS fighters seen with advanced antiaircraft missiles October 28

Images from a video released by ISIS captured a fighter firing Chinese-made surface-to-air missile FN6 – and blowing an Iraqi army MI-35M during a battle in the oil-rich town of Baiji, north of Baghdad, according to the New York Times. Two crew members were reportedly killed as a result.

10 Al-Arabiya News ISIS militants execute more than 40 tribesmen in Iraq’s Anbar October 29

11 Spiegel Bound for Syria: German Kurds Join Fight against Islamic State October 29

12 Thomson Reuter’s Knowledge Effect: Military Balance in Asia Oct 27

13 ForeignAffairs.com Don't Mistake Russia for Iran Why the Same Sanctions Strategy Won't Work October 20

Given that Russia has reached out to many Chinese companies to help mitigate the pain caused by U.S. and EU sanctions, the United States would likely be risking dramatically more diplomatic tension with the Chinese by imposing such sanctions again. And that could complicate other issues in the U.S.–China relationship.

There’s another reason why potential new Russia sanctions that set East Asian banks and companies in U.S. sights might not be as effective as policymakers hope. Unlike Iran, Russia has a large, globally-integrated economy. It is more than five times the size of the Iranian economy and is an attractive investment opportunity. For many companies -- big banks in particular -- their business with Iran was not worth losing access to U.S. financial markets. However some firms, particularly in China, may conclude that their strategic interests and financial future lie with Russia. If they make this decision, there is very little the United States can do to get them to cooperate again

14 Laurence Vance The Newest Problem in the Military Lew Rockwell Blog October 28

Whether to call your commanding officer “sir” or “ma’am.” According to the William Institute, a think tank at UCLA that addresses lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues: “About 15,500 transgender people are serving in the military.” Service members are not permitted to take hormones to change their gender, but some have done so anyway. Things are getting pretty comical right now, especially regarding the use of restrooms, as this article shows. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has indicated that he is open to studying the transgender ban in the military. I predict that the military will lift the ban and be flooded with people who want to change their genders—at taxpayer expense of course.

Is this what it will take for Christians to end their love affair with the military? Too bad that the military bombing and killing people all over the world is not enough.

15 Ron Paul Once-Peaceful Canada Turns Militaristic; Blowback Follows, October 26

How the world has changed. Canada’s wise caution about military adventurism even at the height of the Cold War has given way to a Canada of the 21st century literally joined at Washington’s hip and eager to participate in any bombing mission initiated by the D.C. interventionists.

Considering Canada’s peaceful past, the interventionist Canada that has emerged at the end of the Cold War is a genuine disappointment. Who would doubt that today’s Canada would, should a draft be re-instated in the US, send each and every American resister back home to face prison and worse?

…

That is the danger of intervention in other people’s wars thousands of miles away. Those at the other end of foreign bombs – and their surviving family members or anyone who sympathizes with them – have great incentive to seek revenge. This feeling should not be that difficult to understand.

Seeking to understand the motivation of a criminal does not mean that the crime is justified, however. We can still condemn and be appalled by the attacks while realizing that we need to understand the causation and motivation. This is common sense in other criminal matters, but it seems to not apply to attacks such as we saw in Canada last week. Few dare to point out the obvious: Canada’s aggressive foreign policy is creating enemies abroad that are making the country more vulnerable to attack rather than safer.

My comments

Increasing tensions in the global military arena not only heightens risks of a world war, they also increase domestic societal frictions via the degradation of the community’s moral fiber. 

In the economic context, excessive military build up leads to the incremental impoverishment of the population as more resources are being diverted to non-productive and importantly towards socially destructive activities. Divisive geopolitics leads to protectionism which aggravates tensions.

In addition, military spending serves as an invisible transfer of wealth to the politically connected defense suppliers and contractors and affiliates and the bureaucracy.

In the political context, militarization leads to less civil liberties. Worst, deepening militarization has the tendency for society to evolve towards a police state.

Graphic of the Day: The Militarization of the US Local Police

From the New York Times: (bold mine)

During the Obama administration, according to Pentagon data, police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.

The equipment has been added to the armories of police departments that already look and act like military units. Police SWAT teams are now deployed tens of thousands of times each year, increasingly for routine jobs.Masked, heavily armed police officers in Louisiana raided a nightclub in 2006 as part of a liquor inspection. In Florida in 2010, officers in SWAT gear and with guns drawn carried out raids on barbershops that mostly led only to charges of “barbering without a license.”

(from Mark Perry)

Why are the local police massively arming?

Congress created the military-transfer program in the early 1990s, when violent crime plagued America’s cities and the police felt outgunned by drug gangs. Today, crime has fallen to its lowest levels in a generation, the wars have wound down, and despite current fears, the number of domestic terrorist attacks has declined sharply from the 1960s and 1970s. 

Police departments, though, are adding more firepower and military gear than ever. Some, especially in larger cities, have used federal grant money to buy armored cars and other tactical gear. And the free surplus program remains a favorite of many police chiefs who say they could otherwise not afford such equipment. Chief Wilkinson said he expects the police to use the new truck rarely, when the department’s SWAT team faces an armed standoff or serves a warrant on someone believed to be dangerous…

Pentagon data suggest how the police are arming themselves for such worst-case scenarios. Since 2006, the police in six states have received magazines that carry 100 rounds of M-16 ammunition, allowing officers to fire continuously for three times longer than normal. Twenty-two states obtained equipment to detect buried land mines.

Worst case scenarios? Hmmm. If incidences of crime and terrorist attack has been falling, then what possible worst scenarios can there be?   

Has the US local police been preparing for a real life RED DAWN (pick your version 2012 or 1984)? 

Or could they be expecting an invasion from Martians ala Mars Attacks (1996) or from other aliens like the War of the Worlds (2005)? 

Or has the US government merely embraced Paul Krugman's prescription to fix the economy through fiscal spending based on an imaginary "alien invasion"?

Or has local police authorities been preparing for war against the citizenry? 

Or could all these be part of a gradualist scheme to impose a police state?

Don’t worry be happy, stock markets are at record highs!

Interesting…

Americans are Ditching Citizenship in Record Numbers, Part 3

The more desperate a government is as to apply more punitive Financial Repression measures via higher taxes, more regulations and mandates, inflation and etc…, the more we should expect the productive segment of the society to flee. I previously noted how Americans have been ditching their citizenship in record numbers here and here

Here is an update from the Wall Street Journal (hat tip Zero hedge)

Last year saw a record for expatriations by U.S. taxpayers, exceeding by two-thirds the previous high set in 2011.

According to the Treasury Department, 630 individuals renounced their U.S. citizenship or ended their long-term U.S. residency by turning in their green cards during the fourth quarter.

The fourth-quarter figure brought to 2,999 the total number of expatriations for 2013. The previous record was 1,781 in 2011, said Andrew Mitchel, a tax lawyer in Centerbrook, Conn., who tracks the data.

The Treasury is required by law to publish a list of the names of expatriates quarterly. The list doesn't indicate when people expatriated or why. It also doesn't distinguish between people giving up passports and those turning in green cards.

Mr. Mitchel attributed the surge to increased awareness of the obligation to file U.S. tax returns, the increasing burden of compliance and the fear of large penalties for failure to file U.S. returns.

"Above all, fear seems to be driving this increase in expatriations," Mr. Mitchell said.

And if the productive segment of society leaves, who is going to do the investing? And if the number host declines, where will political parasites get their sustenance?

Americans Are Ditching Citizenship in Record Numbers, Part 2

As I noted last May, the rate of wealthy Americans renouncing on their citizenship due to deepening political repression and the prospect of higher taxes, has been accelerating. Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and celebrity Tina Turner embodies this hastening trend. 

Amazingly, despite the stiff or the punitive exit tax or expatriation tax, the rate exodus has nearly doubled from 670 from the first quarter to last quarter's 1,131.

Sovereign Man’s Simon Black explains:

A massive 1,131 individuals renounced their US citizenship last quarter, according to data that has yet to be officially released (though I was able to procure an advanced copy).

This is a HUGE jump.

Compared to the same quarter last year in which 188 people renounced their US citizenship, this year’s number is over SIX TIMES higher.

Not to mention, it’s 66.5% higher than last quarter’s 679 renunciations.

This brings the total number of renunciations so far this year to 1,810.

While still embryonic, it’s difficult to ignore this trend– more and more people are starting to renounce their US citizenship.

After all, the number of people who renounced citizenship this past quarter is roughly the same as the number of people who renounced for the previous four quarters COMBINED.

"Nationalism" losing its luster… Again from Mr. Black

This movement shouldn’t be that surprising for a species that began as nomadic hunter gatherers, or for a society that was founded by foreigner settlers in search of a better life.

Yet, in a rather anomalous twist, the emotional ties we have for our passports are incredibly strong.

It doesn’t matter where you’re from– the United States, Sweden, New Zealand, or Venezuela… many people all over the world are inculcated from birth with a sense that their country is ‘better’ than all the others.

We grow up with the songs, the flag waving, and the parades until the concept of motherland becomes deeply rooted in our emotional cores.

Not to mention, when so many of our friends and neighbors unquestionably fall in line, it’s a powerful social reinforcement that only strengthens the bond.

We come to view our nationalities rather ironically as a big piece of our core individuality. I am an American. I am a Canadian. I am an Austrian. Instead of– I am a human being.

It has taken decades… centuries even… to reach this point. So the fact that more and more people are making the gut-wrenching decision to ditch their US passports is truly a powerful trend.

Indeed, we are all human beings regardless of the supposed social divisions caused by race or geographic boundaries.

And if we are to talk about “race”, as I earlier pointed out, we are all “Africans” by genetic origins (mtDNA and paternal Y-chromosome). 

To quote National Geographic’s lead scientist Spencer Wells on the National Geographic-IBM’s Genographic Project

You and I, in fact everyone all over the world, we’re literally African under the skin; brothers and sisters separated by a mere two thousand generations. Old-fashioned concepts of race are not only socially divisive, but scientifically wrong.

(italics mine)

The mental concept of nationalism signifies a legacy of the tribal hunter-gatherer age. Then, the dearth of division of labor and trade made man’s survival entirely dependent on the limited scope of land which sustained them, thus, social bonds among tribes and neighbors were forged to resist against intrusions by marauders. Tribalism set stage for the 'nationalist' order.

Yet as trade or voluntary exchange or markets expanded, the importance of territorial boundaries has vastly been diminished. In essence, trade knows of no boundaries. It is the politicians who create such borders and barriers to trade.

And in the understanding of the potential loss of usufruct and privileges from wangling resources from the citizenry, the political class resists such dynamic by selling "nationalism" as a way to maintain the status quo by curbing people’s ability to freely transact with each other.

Modern day nationalism represents no more than the populist justifications that bequeaths to the political class the power to tax and the power to extend political control over their respective constituents in the name of “feel good” pseudo- social belongingness.

And why are Americans are exiting? Back to Mr. Black:

So what’s driving it? Taxes… and the search for liberty.

For many, their tax bills constitute a financial breaking point. Particularly for people who spend most of their time outside of the United States and are constantly hamstrung by worldwide taxation and information disclosures, the burden for many of them has just become too much to bear.

The US government figured this out some years ago and began charging an exit tax to certain high income / high net worth expatriates seeking to renounce.

This applies to anyone whose average US tax liability over the last five years was about $150,000 (the equivalent of roughly $500,000 in taxable income in 2012 dollars), and/or has a net worth of at least $2 million on the date of expatriation. Curiously this net worth figure does not adjust with inflation.

The ironic thing is that in the “Act of July 27, 1868″, the United States Congress declared that “the right of expatriation is a natural and inherent right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Yet I would expect that as the number of expatriates continue to grow, this exit tax will become more and more onerous as the government tries to trap people, and their wealth, in the country.

I would like to add that aside from taxation and political repression, financial intrusion has been compounding to the incentives of Americans to exit.

The US is the only country who taxes her citizens on a worldwide basis. This means offshore Americans are taxed twice—one in the country where they operate, and second by the US government.

Yet the US government will expand the dragnet of taxation and of the intrusion of financial privacy via the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA).

FACTA will force Americans to disclose to the US government all foreign held financial accounts and will force domestic banks operating under the FACTA framework to share information with the US Internal Revenue Services (IRS)

So FACTA essentially will undermine the supposed 'sovereignty' of other governments as US policies now dictate (by virtue of what seems as a foreign policy erected on the premise of 'might is right') on domestic politics.

The jurisdictions covered by FACTA has now expanded to include about 83 countries, which includes, Germany, Israel, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines.

So far only the Swiss government appear to be resisting the US overlord's FACTA framework and where Swiss banks have reportedly been shunning accounts of American citizens.

So deepening political interventions, the prospects of bigger taxes and loss of financial privacy, as well as, economic uncertainty via monetary policies, appear to motivate wealthy Americans to opt out. 

And as the taxpayer base of the US erode, the fragile fiscal balance of the US will increasingly operate under duress from the growing mismatch between revenues and expenditures. A looming debt based welfare crisis will further this trend.

Despite heavy exit taxes, the growing 'opt out' option is increasingly a disturbing sign, not only for the US political economy which should have a leash effect on the world, but importantly for the US dollar standard.

On Internet Searches: Big Brother is Watching You

George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 looks increasingly prescient as evidenced by the slippery slope transformation of the US into a police state.

From Simon Black of the Sovereign Man:

In any discussion about privacy, there’s invariably someone who says, “Well, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.”

What a bunch of baloney. This may be one of the most ignorant statements ever uttered yet it’s held by a wide majority of people who still trust their governments.

Yesterday the Guardian newspaper published yet another example of why this thinking is completely fallacious.

On Wednesday of this week, Michele Catalano and her husband, both residents of Long Island, were greeted by a knock at the door by a counter-terrorism task force.

Apparently their Google searches had aroused intense suspicion. She was looking for pressure cookers online. Her husband was searching for backpacks.

Ordinarily those two items would seem completely harmless. But in such an absurd, security-conscious world where finger-nail clippers are considered deadly weapons, a pressure cooker and a backpack are viewed as vital tools in a terrorist’s toolkit… practically WMDs.

And so, Big Brother’s crew of six government agents arrived to the family’s home with weapons in holster, and their vehicles tactically positioned to block any exit from the premises.

The husband was questioned, and the agents searched the house looking for any other terrorist clues.

And in their conversation, the agents proclaimed that they do this “about 100 times a week.”

Apparently this is what passes as a free society these days, where even the most harmless online interactions end up being scrutinized by armed agents.

And thanks to a never-ending and expanding apparatus of online surveillance, governments have the means to monitor… almost everyone.

Of course, they want us to think that we have nothing to fear as long as we have nothing to hide. But a rational, thinking person has got to see the writing on the wall at this point and realize how out of control the police state has become.

Remember, there are a number of ways to safeguard your web browsing, search experience, email, and phone calls. And we’ve put a lot of great resources together for you in this free guide, something that we call ‘How to give the NSA the finger.’

In the 1984 novel, when asked by a skeptical Outer Party member (Winston Smith) to a Inner Party official (O'Brien) on how Power is used to control others, the latter's reply: (bold mine)  (quote from Thirdworldtraveler.com)

By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress toward more pain. The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love and justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy- everything. Already we are breaking down the habits of thought which have survived from before the Revolution. We have cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future there will be no wives and no friends. Children will be taken from their mothers at birth, as one takes eggs from a hen. The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty toward the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always-do not forget this, Winston-always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face-forever." 

Big Brother is Watching You

Edward Snowden statement: "It was the right thing to do and I have no regrets"

In Moscow, whisteblower Edward Snowden lashes back at the US government.

From the Guardian (hat tip lewrockwell.com)

Full transcript of the statement made by Edward Snowden, in which he accepts all offers of asylum he has been given

Statement by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, posted by WikiLeaks:

Friday July 12, 15:00 UTC

Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone's communications at any time. That is the power to change people's fates.

It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice – that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.

I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."

Accordingly, I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice.

That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets.

Since that time, the government and intelligence services of the United States of America have attempted to make an example of me, a warning to all others who might speak out as I have. I have been made stateless and hounded for my act of political expression. The United States Government has placed me on no-fly lists. It demanded Hong Kong return me outside of the framework of its laws, in direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement – the Law of Nations. It has threatened with sanctions countries who would stand up for my human rights and the UN asylum system. It has even taken the unprecedented step of ordering military allies to ground a Latin American president's plane in search for a political refugee. These dangerous escalations represent a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America, but to the basic rights shared by every person, every nation, to live free from persecution, and to seek and enjoy asylum.

Yet even in the face of this historically disproportionate aggression, countries around the world have offered support and asylum. These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless. By refusing to compromise their principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of the world. It is my intention to travel to each of these countries to extend my personal thanks to their people and leaders.

I announce today my formal acceptance of all offers of support or asylum I have been extended and all others that may be offered in the future. With, for example, the grant of asylum provided by Venezuela's President Maduro, my asylee status is now formal, and no state has a basis by which to limit or interfere with my right to enjoy that asylum. As we have seen, however, some governments in Western European and North American states have demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law, and this behavior persists today. This unlawful threat makes it impossible for me to travel to Latin America and enjoy the asylum granted there in accordance with our shared rights.

This willingness by powerful states to act extra-legally represents a threat to all of us, and must not be allowed to succeed. Accordingly, I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America, as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted. I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably.

If you have any questions, I will answer what I can.

Thank you.

Quote of the Day: We need whistle-blowers

The U.S. government is on a secrecy binge. It overclassifies more information than ever. And we learn, again and again, that our government regularly classifies things not because they need to be secret, but because their release would be embarrassing.

Knowing how the government spies on us is important. Not only because so much of it is illegal -- or, to be as charitable as possible, based on novel interpretations of the law -- but because we have a right to know. Democracy requires an informed citizenry in order to function properly, and transparency and accountability are essential parts of that. That means knowing what our government is doing to us, in our name. That means knowing that the government is operating within the constraints of the law. Otherwise, we're living in a police state.

We need whistle-blowers.

This is from renowned security technologist expert Bruce Schneier  writing at the Atlantic

Americans Are Ditching Citizenship in Record Numbers

While many aspire to become US citizens, most don’t realize that the gradualist transition of the US into a banana republic via the deepening of financial repression policies (via intensifying inflationism, taxations, various controls, mandates and etc…), the growing police state and the unwieldy welfare-warfare state has been prompting for a growing number of wealthy Americans to flee their land of birth. 

More have been joining the bandwagon personified by celebrity Tina Turner’s abandonment of what seems as a scuttling of the  former “land of the free” ship

From the Fortune Magazine:

Americans are ditching their U.S. passports in record numbers, a sign of growing frustration with a system that taxes U.S. citizens on their global wealth whether they live in Montana or Mongolia.

The latest bold-faced names to relinquish their U.S. citizenship include Mahmood Karzai, a brother of Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, according to federal data released Wednesday. Also on the list, published quarterly by the Internal Revenue Service, is Isabel Getty, the daughter of jet-setting socialite Pia Getty and Getty oil heir Christopher Getty.

In total, more than 670 U.S. passport holders gave up their citizenship -- and with it, their U.S. tax bills -- in the first three months of this year. That is the most in any quarter since the I.R.S. began publishing figures in 1998. And it is nearly three-quarters of the total number for all of 2012, a year in which the wealthy songwriter-socialite Denise Rich (christened "Lady Gatsby" by Yachtingmagazine) and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin joined more than 932 other Americans in tossing their passports.

If the recent quarter's pace continues, 2013 will become a landmark year for saying goodbye to America, tax-wise.

Given the prohibitive costs from the exit tax which used to be an obstacle for emigration, the record number of Americans renouncing their citizenship means that the cost of residency has grown much bigger than the costs of the exit.

With productive capital fleeing, what remains in the US will be the political parasites. All these signifies as ominous signs for the US political economy, US financial markets and the US dollar standard. Again these are the side-effects of incumbent political trend as expressed via policies.

Free Market’s Response to Government Drone Spying: The Drone Shield

The US government has been foisting the legitimization of the use of drones (as many as 30,000) to patrol the skies to allegedly to maintain ‘public safety’. 

While there may be emergent anti-drone technology such as the laser weapon system, the free markets seems to have a cheaper response to the threat of UAV government surveillance or of the intrusion to privacy: the Drone Shield 

From the USNews.com (hat tip EPJ)

Worried about drones spying on you? Soon, a device might be able to send you text and email alerts that let you know when a drone is nearby.

A Washington, D.C.-based engineer is working on the "Drone Shield," a small, Wi-Fi-connected device that uses a microphone to detect a drone's "acoustic signatures" (sound frequency and spectrum) when it's within range.

The company's founder, John Franklin, who has been working in aerospace engineering for seven years, says he hopes to start selling the device sometime this year. He is using the Kickstarter-like Indiegogo to finance the project.

The device will cost $69 and will be about the size of a USB thumb drive. It will use Raspberry Pi – a tiny, $25 computer – and commercially available microphones to detect drones. He says he imagines that people will attach the Drone Shield to their fences or roofs to protect their home from surveillance.

"People will get the alert and then close their blinds," Franklin says.

Every attempt by governments to establish a police state through technology will eventually be met by a pushback from the markets.

In the future, drones will likely be used more by the markets.

On the Boston Bombing and the US Police State

Mainstream media has been projecting that the Boston bombing incident has been a triumph of government over terrorism.

But there has been more than meets the eye. Many of things has been occurring beyond the surface.

There was supposedly a police drill that happened “complete with bomb squads and rooftop snipers” at the start of the race. A mere coincidence?

Suspected terrorists have reportedly been “manipulated and harassed” by US authorities for years even before the atrocious act.

Here is Daniel McAdams at the Lew Rockwell Blog:

As Infowars reports, the Boston Bomber the Younger had been manipulated and harassed by the FBI for years. How many of the post-9/11 wannabe terrorists have been actually developed, nurtured, and supported by the FBI and other US intelligence agencies? All of them? These guys too? Will no one but LRC and Alex Jones ask the question?

Hemingway was a paranoid who killed himself over his delusions that he was being followed and manipulated by the US intelligence agencies. What a kook! Until it came out that he was in fact being followed and manipulated by US intelligence agencies.

How much more power and money do they have now, sixty years and many convenient terrorist attacks later? How many of these terrorists are the creation of the FBI and homeland security and the shadow government? Sure, it's kooky to even ask the question. But evidence shows this is a very kooky time. Maybe we can ask the Black and Tans what they think about it... Whoa, I sound like a kook.

UPDATE: In answer to my questions above, it turns out even the establishment New York Times reports that "Of the 22 most frightening plans for attacks since 9/11 on American soil, 14 were developed in sting operations." In other words, two-thirds of the planned terrorist attacks against us were hatched by our own government!

TV personality Glenn Beck points to a supposed cover up by the White House on an alleged involvement of a Saudi national. Conspiracy theory?

The manhunt against 2 bombers turned part of Boston into a virtual police state. People homes had been raided even without search warrants. More photos here. And such martial law tactics used to happen only in banana republics. Not anymore. 

Yet the martial law in Boston didn’t lead to the arrest of the second suspect, the community did.

From Boston.com (hat tip Professor David Henderson)

By 6 p.m., frustrated officials relaxed the rule and allowed residents to leave their homes. The people of Watertown began to venture outside.

But within an hour, the crack of gunshots again blasted through the neighborhood. ­Sirens blared, and officers on foot scrambled down Franklin Street.

Police found Dzhokhar ­Tsarnaev hiding on a boat stored in a backyard on ­Franklin Street. Police ­exchanged gunfire with him before capturing him alive. Spontaneous celebrations erupted across the region, from the ­Boston Common to the Back Bay streets near the bombing.

The boat’s owners, a couple, spent Friday hunkered down under the stay-at-home order. When it was lifted early in the evening, they ventured outside for some fresh air and the man noticed the tarp on his boat blowing in the wind, according to their his son, Robert Duffy.

The cords securing it had been cut and there was blood near the straps. Duffy’s father called police, who swarmed the yard and had the couple evacuated, Duffy said.

Residents, who had barricaded themselves in their homes for nearly 20 hours, were still deeply shaken.

Shaken by whom, the terrorists or by police action?
 
And in spite of the community lockdown, authorities “requested” or "chose" Dunkin Donuts to remain open, from another Boston.com article

On block after block of the Boston’s Financial District and Downtown Crossing, Starbucks shops went dark as the city locked down, spurred by a manhunt for the second marathon bombing suspect. Dunkin’ Donuts stayed open.

Law enforcement asked the chain to keep some restaurants open in locked-down communities to provide hot coffee and food to police and other emergency workers, including in Watertown, the focus of the search for the bombing suspect. Dunkin’ is providing its products to them for free.

Cronyism amidst the police state? Think of free lunches for authorities. No wonder the allure of the police state. 

Meanwhile while media blares about the virtues of capturing suspects of the Boston bombing, the US Senate passed a Cyber 'privacy-infringement' law without much ado from the public.

Former Texas Congressman Ron Paul writes,

While it did not receive nearly as much attention as the debate on gun control, the House of Representatives passed legislation with significant implications for individual liberty: the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). CISPA proponents claim that the legislation is necessary to protect Americans from foreign “cyber terrorists,” but the real effect of this bill will be to further erode Americans’ online privacy.

Boston bombing as a diversion tactic?

And the Boston incident had also been used as justification for a clampdown on people’s civil liberties. More from Mr. Paul

Sadly, I expect this week’s tragic attacks in Boston to be used to justify new restrictions on liberty. Within 48 hours of the attack in Boston, at least one Congressman was calling for increased use of surveillance cameras to expand the government’s ability to monitor our actions, while another Senator called for a federal law mandating background checks before Americans can buy “explosive powder.”

If there is any clue which the unfortunate Boston Incident tell us, it is that the US seems headed towards a police state.

For instance, 1.6 billion rounds of ammo have been recently purchased by the Department of Homeland Security.

From the Forbes.com

The Denver Post, on February 15^th, ran an Associated Press article entitled Homeland Security aims to buy 1.6b rounds of ammo, so far to little notice.  It confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security has issued an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition.  As reported elsewhere, some of this purchase order is for hollow-point rounds, forbidden by international law for use in war, along with a frightening amount specialized for snipers. Also reported elsewhere, at the height of the Iraq War the Army was expending less than 6 million rounds a month.  Therefore 1.6 billion rounds would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20+ years.  In America.

For what? Has the DHS been preparing for foreign invasion or the Red dawn? Or alien invasion?

The Boston incident adds to many more signs of America’s transition towards a police state or the "Road to serfdom".

Meanwhile a suicide bombing in Iraq claimed 32 lives and wounded 65 more. Yet such incident hardly gets into the headlines. Why?

Also a US Senator estimates death toll from US drones at 4,700 which included civilians. The senator says because of war, collateral damage is legit. Notice the self-contradiction?  In war, any American civilian fatalities are considered immoral, but foreign civilian deaths are justified. Could such kind of cavalier thinking and actions prompted for the growth of terrorism?

Yet along with the fast expanding police state is the widening dragnet of financial repression via QE, negative interest rates, more taxes, more regulations, FACTA and etc..

Americans seem to have forgotten the admonitions of Benjamin Franklin on sacrificing liberty for safety 

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.