Egypt Restores Feared Secret Police Units

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Photo Credit: APEgypt’s interim government was accused of attempting to return the country to the Mubarak era on Monday, after the country’s interior ministry announced the resurrection of several controversial police units that were nominally shut down following the country’s 2011 uprising and the interim prime minister was given the power to place the country in a state of emergency.

Egypt’s state security investigations service, Mabahith Amn ad-Dawla, a wing of the police force under President Mubarak, and a symbol of police oppression, was supposedly closed in March 2011 – along with several units within it that investigated Islamist groups and opposition activists. The new national security service (NSS) was established in its place.

But following Saturday’s massacre of at least 83 Islamists, interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim announced the reinstatement of the units, and referred to the NSS by its old name. He added that experienced police officers sidelined in the aftermath of the 2011 revolution would be brought back into the fold.

Police brutality also went unchecked under Morsi, who regularly failed to condemn police abuses committed during his presidency. But Ibrahim’s move suggests he is using the ousting of Morsi – and a corresponding upsurge in support for Egypt’s police – as a smokescreen for the re-introduction of pre-2011 practices.

Ibrahim’s announcement came hours before Egypt’s interim prime minister was given the power to place the country in a state of emergency – a hallmark of Egypt under Mubarak.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rand Paul: Use Egypt’s Foreign Aid to Rebuild our Crumbling Bridges Here at Home

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Photo Credit: APAimages/Rex FeaturesRand Paul targets Egypt aid

By Julian Pecquet. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) plans to use next week’s vote on transportation spending to end aid to Egypt following the ouster of the country’s freely elected president.

Paul’s amendment comes as a growing number of senators are rebelling against the White House’s decision not to call Mohamed Morsi’s ouster a military coup, a declaration that would automatically freeze the $1.5 billion in mostly military aid the U.S. provides every year.

The foreign aid skeptic proposes spending the money on the country’s crumbling bridges instead, an issue that has bipartisan appeal.

“It is no secret that our nation’s roads and bridges are crumbling at an increasing rate, many of which are in critical stages of disrepair,” Paul said in introducing the amendment.

“Instead of sending taxpayer money to countries that are ineligible to receive our aid, like Egypt, we should be directing that money to these pressing domestic needs.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Morsi supporters pledge to stand firm after massacre

By Patrick Kingsley. Supporters of the overthrown Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi have pledged to maintain their weeks-old sit-in in east Cairo, despite the massacre of scores of their comrades by state officials on Saturday.

At least 65 pro-Morsi protesters were shot dead during an eight-hour attack by police officers and armed men dressed in civilian clothes. An ambulance official said the death toll was 72; the Muslim Brotherhood said 66 had died and a further 61 were braindead in hospital.

“No one’s going anywhere,” said Abdel-Rahman Daour, one of several spokespeople at the sit-in outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. “We either have freedom or we die. We’re not going to live in a country without freedom.”

Tens of thousands of Morsi supporters have camped outside the mosque since late June when the president’s overthrow began to seem likely. Egypt’s interior minister has made it clear that he intends to clear Rabaa as soon as possible, and Saturday’s massacre in a nearby street was considered an attempt to intimidate the protesters.

On Friday hundreds of thousands of anti-Morsi protesters turned out in support of a call by Egypt’s army chief, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, for a crackdown on what he called terrorists – a move sceptics saw as a veiled threat to protesters at Rabaa. Read more from this story HERE.

Snowden Claims US Will Use Torture or Worse if He is Returned but Holder Promises Not to Execute Him

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Photo Credit: APThe US has told the Russian government that it will not seek the death penalty for Edward Snowden should he be extradited, in an attempt to prevent Moscow from granting asylum to the former National Security Agency contractor.

In a letter sent this week, US attorney general Eric Holder told his Russian counterpart that the charges faced by Snowden do not carry the death penalty. Holder added that the US “would not seek the death penalty even if Mr Snowden were charged with additional, death penalty-eligible crimes”.

Holder said he had sent the letter, addressed to Alexander Vladimirovich, Russia’s minister of justice, in response to reports that Snowden had applied for temporary asylum in Russia “on the grounds that if he were returned to the United States, he would be tortured and would face the death penalty”.

“These claims are entirely without merit,” Holder said. In addition to his assurance that Snowden would not face capital punishment, the attorney general wrote: “Torture is unlawful in the United States.”

In the letter, released by the US Department of Justice on Friday, Holder added: “We believe that these assurances eliminate these asserted grounds for Mr Snowden’s claim that he should be treated as a refugee or granted asylum, temporary or otherwise.”

Read more from this story HERE.

US Calls on Egypt to “Pull Back from the Brink” While the Muslim Brotherhood Announces the “Free Egyptian Army” Plan

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Photo Credit: Amru Salahuddien/CorbisEgypt: John Kerry calls for leaders to ‘pull back from the brink’

By Reuters. The United States has urged Egypt to “pull back from the brink” after security forces killed dozens of supporters of the deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

US secretary of state John Kerry spoke to two senior members of Egypt’s army-installed interim cabinet, expressing his “deep concern”.

“This is a pivotal moment for Egypt,” he said in a statement. “The United States … calls on all of Egypt’s leaders across the political spectrum to act immediately to help their country take a step back from the brink.”

Thousands of Brotherhood supporters were hunkered down in a vigil at a Cairo mosque on Sunday, vowing to stand their ground despite the imminent threat of a move to disperse them.

Saturday’s bloodshed, following huge rival rallies, left an unknown number of people dead. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: WNDMuslim Brotherhood declares ‘Free Egyptian Army’ plan

By F. Michael Maloof. The head of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has declared that his organization plans to create a “Free Egyptian Army” in an effort to reinstate Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Mohammad Morsi, who recently was removed in a coup by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, according to report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Muslim Brotherhood Chairman Mohammad Badie who, like Morsi, already has been arrested for inciting violence, said that the Free Egyptian Army intends to “put their viewpoints into action” to return their elected president.

Badie’s announcement to create the Free Egyptian Army mirrors action by the Syrian opposition in creating the Free Syrian Army, which has been fighting against the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Badie has been jailed on allegations of inciting the violent demonstrations by Brotherhood supporters resulting in more than 100 deaths. His announcement suggests the prospect of increased confrontations with the Egyptian military, leading to greater instability and the prospect of civil war itself, analysts say.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood renounced violence some 30 years ago when it entered into mainstream politics, even though its goal remains to Islamize the Egyptian society by promoting Islamic, or Shariah law. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: MANU BRABO/APEgypt: Military accused of killing over 100 Muslim Brotherhood followers

By Ruth Sherlock, and Magdy Samaan, and Harriet Alexander. The Muslim Brotherhood said that 66 people were killed and another 61 were “brain dead” on life support machines, after a violent repression of a protest by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. The health ministry put the toll from the night’s violence at 72.

“They were not shooting to wound, they were shooting to kill,” said Gehad El-Haddad, Brotherhood spokesman. “The bullet wounds are in the head and chest.”

The Sunday Telegraph saw the aftermath of the violence first hand on Saturday at a makeshift field hospital close to the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, where dozens of corpses were laid out in a room and blood soaked the carpets.

Hundreds of wounded lay resting and groaning on floor. Doctors and volunteers sought to treat the injured with minimal first aid kits.

Many aimed chants at Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the head of the armed forces, saying: “The people want to execute the butcher.” Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Circumvents Congress Again, Orders Millions in Aid to Palestinians

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Photo Credit: APPresident Obama on Friday afternoon ordered another waiver of congressional restrictions on direct funding of the Palestinian Authority, clearing the way for more U.S. aid.

In the one-page order, Mr. Obama said he was taking the action due to the “national security interests” of the U.S. The move comes as the administration is preparing to host renewed direct talks in Washington between Palestinians and Israelis for the first time since 2010.

The president in March directed about $500 million to be sent to the Palestinian Authority, also waiving the restrictions set by Congress.

Read more from this story HERE.

Edward Snowden’s Not the Story. The Fate of the Internet Is

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Photo Credit: Tatyana Lokshina/APRepeat after me: Edward Snowden is not the story. The story is what he has revealed about the hidden wiring of our networked world. This insight seems to have escaped most of the world’s mainstream media, for reasons that escape me but would not have surprised Evelyn Waugh, whose contempt for journalists was one of his few endearing characteristics. The obvious explanations are: incorrigible ignorance; the imperative to personalise stories; or gullibility in swallowing US government spin, which brands Snowden as a spy rather than a whistleblower…

As an antidote, here are some of the things we should be thinking about as a result of what we have learned so far.

The first is that the days of the internet as a truly global network are numbered. It was always a possibility that the system would eventually be Balkanised, ie divided into a number of geographical or jurisdiction-determined subnets as societies such as China, Russia, Iran and other Islamic states decided that they needed to control how their citizens communicated. Now, Balkanisation is a certainty.

Second, the issue of internet governance is about to become very contentious. Given what we now know about how the US and its satraps have been abusing their privileged position in the global infrastructure, the idea that the western powers can be allowed to continue to control it has become untenable.

Third, as Evgeny Morozov has pointed out, the Obama administration’s “internet freedom agenda” has been exposed as patronising cant. “Today,” he writes, “the rhetoric of the ‘internet freedom agenda’ looks as trustworthy as George Bush’s ‘freedom agenda’ after Abu Ghraib.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Over 1000 Inmates Escape Libyan Jail Near Benghazi

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Photo Credit: David Holt LondonMore than 1,000 detainees escaped from a prison near the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi in a massive jailbreak Saturday, as protesters stormed the offices of political parties in Libya’s main cities.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the jailbreak at the Koyfiya prison came as part of the protests or if inmates received outside help. Protesters had massed across the country angry over the killing of an activist critical of the country’s Muslim Brotherhood group.

Those who escaped either face or were convicted of serious charges, a security official at Koyfiya prison said, confirming the jailbreak. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to speak to journalists.

There also was confusion initially about how many prisoners broke out, with numbers of escapees ranging as high as 1,200.

Benghazi’s security situation is among the most precarious in post-revolution Libya. Last year, the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed in an attack there.

Read more from this story HERE.

Russia Won’t Extradite Snowden to US

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Photo Credit: ReutersMoscow says security agency FSB is in talks with the FBI over Snowden. But the whistleblower will not be extradited to the US, a Kremlin spokesman said, adding he’s sure the fugitive NSA contractor will stop harming Washington if granted asylum in Russia.

“Russia has never extradited anyone, and will not extradite,” said Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Russian President is not handling the case of the former CIA employee Edward Snowden, as “Snowden has not made any request that is subject to consideration by the head of the state,” Peskov added.

The issue of Snowden asking for temporary asylum “was not and is not on Putin’s agenda,” Peskov continued, saying that it lies in the sphere of the countries’ security agencies.

Head of the FSB Aleksandr Bortnikov and FBI Chief Robert Muller are engaged in the discussion over Snowden, Putin’s spokesman said Friday.

Read more from this story HERE. Please note that the source story is from RT News. RT News originates from Russia and has alleged connections to the Russian government.

Military Experts Warn US Losing Iraq as Violence Escalates

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Photo Credit: APAs violence and political turmoil tear through a war-wrecked Iraq, military experts are warning Congress that Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist cells are regrouping and working together not only in Iraq but in the entire region to undo a decade of U.S.-led progress.

“We left (Iraq) on the edge of being stable,” Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, a former military intelligence officer, told Fox News.

While saying it’s clear the job was “not done,” he warned: “Al Qaeda as an entity is coming back strong within the region and is doing things to destabilize governments, which, at this point in time, are still friendly to us.”

On Thursday, Iraq’s parliament speaker painted a grim picture of a crumbling country that is taking another beating by terrorists.

“The situation is grave,” Osama al-Nujaifi said during a press conference.

Read more from this story HERE.

British Government Embraces ‘Self-Deportation’ With ‘Go Home Or Face Arrest’ Billboards

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The British government has brought in two vans to circle around London, displaying billboards that warn undocumented immigrants to “Go Home Or Face Arrest.”

The effort, which is being piloted by the U.K’s Home Office — similar to our Department of Homeland Security — is meant to encourage people to leave the country before they are deported. As part of the effort, the vans not only display a number that undocumented people can text for help, but also show the tally of people who have been arrested in the area where the vans are circling:

Photo Credit: Gov.uk

The vans are driving through six London boroughs — Hounslow, Barking & Dagenham, Ealing, Barnet, Brent and Redbridge. Those neighborhoods have particularly high immigrant populations.

Read more from this story HERE.