Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 71

A short quiz on the US, Israel, and 'rogue nation' status | Glenn Greenwald

A series of events just from this week makes clear who is actually violating the consensus of the international community

The phrase "rogue nation" is one of the terms that get tossed around often in political discourse without much effort devoted to its actual meaning. Let's try to apply this term to a series of events just from the last week, beginning with this one:

"The 193-nation UN General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the de facto recognition of a sovereign Palestinian sta...

Laptop seizures by US government highlight 9/11-era climate of fear | Glenn Greenwald

The treatment of dissidents is the true measure of how free a society is: consider today's examples from the US

Whenever I speak about the systematic abridgment of basic rights in the post-9/11 era, there is a point I try to make that is quite elusive yet, in my view, of unparalleled significance in understanding the implications of allowing this to happen. When a government is permitted to transgress the limits that have been imposed on its power (in the case of the US, imposed by the Constit...

Progressive media claims they'll be 'tougher' on Obama now | Glenn Greenwald

Given the rationale they have embraced, is there any reason to believe this will happen, or that it will matter if it does?

Last week, the Huffington Post's media reporter, Michael Calderone, wrote a long article on the widespread perception that MSNBC isn't so much a progressive network as it is "simply pro-Obama". Citing a new Pew study that found that MSNBC was actually more negative toward Romney than even Fox News was against Obama "and offered mostly positive coverage about Obama" - most...

Bradley Manning: a tale of liberty lost in America | Glenn Greenwald

The US does nothing to punish those guilty of war crimes or Wall Street fraud, yet demonises the whistleblower

Over the past two and a half years, all of which he has spent in a military prison, much has been said about Bradley Manning, but nothing has been heard from him. That changed on Thursday, when the 23-year-old US army private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks testified at his court martial proceeding about the conditions of his detention.

The oppressive, borderline-t...

AP's dangerous Iran hoax demands an accounting and explanation | Glenn Greenwald

Evidence proves that the graph trumpeted by AP as evidence of Iran's nuclear weapons program is an obvious sham

(updated below w/AP's response)

It's important to return to the story about AP's nuclear Iran "exclusive" which I wrote about yesterday. Although it was intuitively obvious that the graph trumpeted by AP as scary and incriminating of Iran's nuclear program was actually a farce, there is now new, overwhelming, very compelling scientific evidence that is the case. Whether as victim or r...

Times Bureau Chief in Jerusalem will now have her Facebook entries edited | Glenn Greenwald

The new measure slams shut an important window into a journalist's assumptions, and shows how constricted Israel discussion still is

While in Gaza reporting on the recent Israeli attack there, Judi Rudoren, the Jerusalem Bureau Chief for the New York Times, wrote several Facebook entries that caused substantial controversy. The episode began when she wrote a Times article on the funeral of the Dalu family, ten of whom (including several small children) were killed when an Israeli bomb destroye...

AP believes it found evidence of Iran's work on nuclear weapons | Glenn Greenwald

A primitive graph provided by 'a country critical of Iran's atomic program' indicts the news outlet more than Tehran

(updated below - Update II)

Uncritical, fear-mongering media propaganda is far too common to take note of each time it appears, but sometimes, what is produced is so ludicrous that its illustrative value should not be ignored. Such is the case with a highly trumpeted Associated Press "exclusive" from Tuesday which claims in its red headline to have discovered evidence of "Iran Wo...

AP believes it found evidence of Iran's work on nuclear weapons AP believes it found evidence of Iran's work on nuclear weapons AP believes it found evidence of Iran's work on nuclear weapons | Glenn Greenwald

A primitive graph provided by "a country critical of Iran's atomic program" indicts the news outlet more than Tehran

Uncritical, fear-mongering media propaganda is far too common to take note of each time it appears, but sometimes, what is produced is so ludicrous that its illustrative value should not be ignored. Such is the case with a highly trumpeted Associated Press "exclusive" from Tuesday which claims in its red headline to have discovered evidence of "Iran Working on Bomb".

What is this...

Obama: a GOP president should have rules limiting the kill list | Glenn Greenwald

The president's flattering view of himself reflects the political sentiments in his party and the citizenry generally

For the last four years, Barack Obama has not only asserted, but aggressively exercised, the power to target for execution anyone he wants, including US citizens, anywhere in the world. He has vigorously resisted not only legal limits on this assassination power, but even efforts to bring some minimal transparency to the execution orders he issues.

This claimed power has result...

Prosecution of Anonymous activists highlights war for Internet control | Glenn Greenwald

The US and allied governments exploit both law and cyber-attacks as a weapon to punish groups that challenge it

Whatever one thinks of WikiLeaks, it is an indisputable fact that the group has never been charged by any government with any crime, let alone convicted of one. Despite that crucial fact, WikiLeaks has been crippled by a staggering array of extra-judicial punishment imposed either directly by the US and allied governments or with their clear acquiescence.

In December 2010, after WikiL...