U.K. Home Office Warns Airlines Not To Fly NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden To Britain

Heathrow Airport in west London Credit: Press Association

Prism Revelations: Home Office Warns Airlines Not To Fly NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden To Britain -- The Independent

Carriers who fly him to the UK are told they face fines and the costs of his detention.

Airlines have been warned by the Home Office not to fly the CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden to Britain as he would be turned away on arrival.

The move signals the Government’s determination to avoid a repeat of the controversy over the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for nearly a year, after being granted asylum by the South American nation.

Read more ....

More News On Britain Issuing A Global Warning To Airlines To Not Let NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Fly To The U.K.

Britain to airlines: Don't let Edward Snowden fly to U.K. -- CBS/AP
Edward Snowden: UK warning aims to keep away US leaker -- BBC
Edward Snowden: Don't fly NSA whistleblower to UK, airlines told -- The Guardian
Britain issues global warning to airlines not to let CIA leaker Edward Snowden board a flight to the UK -- Daily Mail
Malaysia Airlines says UK asked carrier not to fly Snowden to Britain -- AFP

WNU Editor: Edward Snowden is not going to fly to England.

How Did NSA Leaker Snowden Steal All Of Those NSA Secrets

Snowden didn't seem to have to work very hard to grab top secret classified government info. REUTERS/Bobby Yip

How Edward Snowden Stole His Cache Of NSA Secrets -- The Week

The NSA leaker reportedly just walked out of work with some of America's big secrets on a thumb drive in his pocket.

A week after Edward Snowden's leaks about National Security Agency surveillance and data-gathering were first reported, and four days after he revealed himself as the leaker, the news media is figuring out how the 29-year-old IT systems administrator managed his potentially huge data heist.

If you're concerned about national security, the new revelations will probably dismay you; if you appreciate leaking of government secrets, Snowden's technique is likely encouraging: Theft by thumb drive.

The NSA and other spy and military agencies have long known the dangers of the innocent-seeming portable USB flash drive. In October 2008, the NSA discovered that a thumb drive loaded with malware had infected the military's secure internal network. The Pentagon then (at least temporarily) banned the use of thumb drives — NSA commanders even reportedly ordered USB ports filled in with liquid cement.

Read more ....

Update #1: Snowden smuggled out data on thumb drive, officials say -- L.A. Times
Update #2: NSA leaker Ed Snowden used banned thumb-drive, exceeded access -- Washington Times

My Comment: Someone was asleep on the job .... permitting an active USB port was just an open invitation for someone like Edward Snowden to grab what he wanted. Then again .... Edward Snoeden does not strike me as a stupid guy .... he probably knew what he had to do in order to obtain the information that he wanted.How Did NSA Leaker Snowden Steal All Of Those NSA Secrets

Israel And U.S. Coordinating How To Target Assad’s Military Arsenal

Syrian Civil War: Israel and U.S. Coordinating How to Target Assad’s Arsenal -- Time

52 days after an Israeli general publicly declared that Syria has used chemical weapons against rebels, the Obama administration reached the same conclusion, and used the finding to justify announcing it would send small arms to the side of the victims. “I will not say ‘We told you so,’ only, okay, the proof is there, so there’s no more question about it,” says Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor, taking with a smile the easy part of the equation now laid before Israel. As for the hard part: “Now, what should be done? It’s not for Israel to say, because the international involvement in this should not include Israel. Israel follows very closely developments there. It’s very concerned about activity on its borders. But we’re not aspiring to be involved in any action about what’s happening in Syria.”

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Here's a map of the 23 places the U.S. will bomb if there's a Syria no-fly-zone.

President Obama To Speak On Syria Next Week

 

White House: Obama To Speak On Syria In Coming Days -- Politico 

President Obama hasn't spoken publicly about his administration's evidence that Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime has crossed his "red line" with its use of chemical weapons, but the White House indicated Friday that he will soon speak out.

 "I'm certain he's going to have opportunities to speak to it, for instance, over the course of the several days that he'll be traveling to Europe. He himself is the one who laid out the red line publicly," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters Friday.

He later added: "You can fully expect that the president will be heard on these issues repeatedly in the coming days, and the announcement we made yesterday very much reflected his guidance because he was the one who directed the intelligence community to pull together this assessment and directed us to make it public." But Rhodes didn't indicate that Obama has any plans to address the nation in domestic remarks before he heads to Europe.

Read more ....  

My Comment: Before reading this article from the Politico, I was just about to write a post on "Where is President Obama?". President Obama will also need to address the NSA surveillance scandal, and explain why has he expanded this policy when he vowed as candidate Obama in 2007 that he was going to abolish it.

Hollowing Out The U.S. Military Again

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, center, Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, left, and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meet with senior Defense Department and combatant commanders at the Pentagon, June 14, 2013. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo

A Hollow Military Again? -- James Kitfield, National Journal

The looming postwar drawdown of the U.S. armed forces will prove the most challenging of modern times.

Even in the best of times, U.S. leaders have stumbled trying to manage the tricky transition between war and what comes after. Following every “war to end all wars,” the American people demand a “peace dividend” that often cuts defense spending too deep for too long, eroding military preparedness. Congress resists shuttering unneeded bases, stopping unnecessary weapons production, or decommissioning excess reserve units that represent jobs in home districts. The result is military forces that are unbalanced and inefficient. The Pentagon plans to fight the last war, only with a smaller force, rather than adjusting adequately to new limitations and threats on the horizon.

Read more ....

My Comment: A depressing read .... because hollowing out the U.S. military is happening .... compounded further by the huge debts and obligations that the U.S. government is now faced with but not willing to confront.

It Will Take More Than Giving Small Arms To The Rebels To Change The Direction Of The Syrian Civil War

A general view shows damaged buildings and debris in Deir al-Zor, June 13, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Analysis: Transforming Syria's War Could Take More Than Arming Rebels -- Reuters

(Reuters) - - If the United States and allies genuinely want to change the course of the war in Syria, it may take considerably more than simply supplying the faltering opposition with weaponry.

Western officials say they still believe the ultimate endgame - and possibly the exit of Bashar al-Assad - will be through a negotiated settlement.

In the meantime, however, they say the war is increasingly tilting in what they see as the wrong direction, with Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters entering the fray on Assad's side. With government forces advancing on Aleppo, time may also be running out.

That, some analysts and officials believe, may now push Washington and others towards much more direct military action, perhaps targeted airstrikes or a limited "no-fly zone" over rebel held areas near the Jordanian border.

What happens next may come down to a personal decision for President Barack Obama.

Read more ....

My Comment: I do not see or understand the vision, goals, objectives, end game, strategy, purpose .... well you get the point .... from what the White House hopes to accomplish with this intervention. But what I do see is the U.S. getting directly involved in another Middle Eastern conflict which will only exacerbate the bloodshed and involve an even greater intervention of outside powers i.e. Hezbollah, Iran, and (of course) Russia. Bottom line .... the entire region is unstable with religion and sectarianism being the main driving force for this conflict .... and the U.S. wants to get involved in this mess with no end game sketched out?!?!?!

And where is the President of the United States? For crying out loud .... he is getting the U.S. involved in another war .... and he has disappeared???? No speech. No address to the nation. No comment. No press conference. Nothing. Just a promise that he will say something next week ?!?!?!?

Trust me on this one .... this is not going to end well.

Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- June 14, 2013

Syria’s Civil War: The Regime Digs In -- The Economist

President Bashar Assad and his forces have won a new lease of life.

“YA GHALI,” says a driver greeting the soldier manning a checkpoint of concrete blocks painted with the Syrian flag and plastered with pictures of Bashar Assad in regime-controlled central Damascus. This salutation was never in use in the capital before the war but is now standard at checkpoints. “Ghali”, or precious, is used in the coastal homeland of the Alawites, the sect from which Mr Assad hails. It is a sign both that the president is in control here and that, for all its talk of a state for all of Syria’s communities, his regime has been largely reduced to a sectarian militia, though the most powerful in the country.

Read more ....

Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials

Viewpoints: Arming the rebel groups in Syria -- BBC

US military aid to Syria rebels: Why Obama is starting with the minimum -- Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor

Peace untenable with Al Assad around -- Khalid Saleh, Gulf News

Peace in Syria? Talk to Iran -- Banafsheh Keynoush, Special for CNN

Iran elections: there's room for surprise, but the system will win out -- Michael Axworthy, The Guardian

Turkey’s agony – how Erdogan turned a peaceful protest into a violent nightmare -- Claire Berlinski, The Spectator

The reluctant hegemon: If Europe’s economies are to recover, Germany must start to lead -- The Economist

Nicaragua still thinks it can build a better canal than Panama after 200 years of trying -- Simone Foxman, Quartz

The ‘Cubanization’ of Venezuela -- Jose R. Cardenas, Washington Times

Can the NSA convince Americans to surrender privacy concerns? -- Aliyah Frumin, MSNBC

James Clapper’s ‘least untruthful’ answer -- Ruth Marcus, Washington Post

Edward Snowden's worst fear has not been realised – thankfully -- Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian

As public concerns grow, Congress spooked over spying -- David Lightman, McClatchy Washington Bureau

Why America's Shale Oil Boom Could End Sooner Than You Think -- Christopher Helman, Forbes