First I want to mention that US courts just ruled that no warrant is required for anyone to monitor your email (more), or anything else that passes over the internet. This isn't just about government monitoring, this includes private monitoring, as long as the information being monitored is temporarily “stored” on a computer that the person doing the monitoring owns. Since nearly every TOS and privacy policy has a “we can change this any time we want for any reason” clause, take seriously what you store on other people's computers. Here's some info on what I store about you on IAM.
A few days ago I mentioned that the US was moving seven of its carrier fleets off the Chinese coast (the largest such maneuver in US naval history) and would be staging war games with the Taiwanese. That situation has just escalated with China staging its own massive war games to rehearse an invasion of Taiwan and defense against US forces (more). While it is highly unlikely that China can currently win such a confrontation, it is a guarantee that it will make a ton of money for the defense contractors and kill a lot of innocent people in the process if it happens…
Catching up on two more stories, the US pilot that “willfully” bombed Canadian troops was given only a slap on the wrist: a fine of $1,400 per dead Canadian (more). In addition, US courts have blocked a lawsuit by Sibel Edmonds, saying it would be damaging to national security (more). For those of you who didn't read the interview, she's the translator accusing the FBI of corruption, sabotage, and intimidation, and saying that they've been infiltrated by criminal groups, foreign intelligence agencies, and corporate spies. And her talking about it is the threat to national security?
Africa continues to be an escalating mess as well. Tunisia, backed by the US, has its own torture prisons for Islamists (more), and Equatorial Guinea, another US-backed oil nation with a rich-poor ruling structure very close to Saudi Arabia's just executed a dozen rebels and tortured anyone they thought might be even related to them (more) because of their attempts to extract the country from the grip of the oil companies. In Sudan of course the killing continues despite the cease-fire (more)… Why am I telling you this? Because there are more people in Africa dying of AIDS than live in all of Canada (more), the countries are only a step away from anarchy, and without hope for the future, they are the perfect breeding ground for terrororists (more), to say nothing of the humanitarian issues. Too bad Bush doesn't want to allow condoms in Africa (more) for “religious” reasons.
Finally, since people always ask me if Americans can apply for refugee status in Canada, here's the case to watch. Jeremy Hinzman, a former US soldier who faces the death penalty in America for desertion (more, google) had his case reviewed yesterday and it is being taken seriously. This only applies to soldiers right now, both because of the illegal nature of the Iraq war, and due to the fact that it's a death penalty violation.
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