FP Passport | FOREIGN POLICY

Just How Far Will the Empire Strike Back ?

▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/08/28/just_how_far_will_the_empire_strike_back

j’ai justement évoqué cette possibilité [de continuité territoriale] dans un post seenthis un peu plus tôt ce matin [et foreign Policiy parle ici d’axe d’expansion...]

Throughout the crisis in eastern Ukraine, a persistent mystery has complicated efforts to resolve a standoff that has erupted into open warfare: What does Russian President Vladimir Putin want?

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_images/140828_Ukraine_ConflictArea%20med.jpg

In the last two days, Russian troops have attempted to relieve pressure on their separatist allies in Donetsk and Luhansk by opening what amounts to a third front south of the two breakaway cities. On Wednesday, Ukrainian troops, who had been steadily advancing on separatist forces in the east, beat a hasty retreat from Novoazovsk, where they were routed by troops and armor streaming across the Russian border. Novoazovsk lies a mere 20 miles from the southeastern port city of Mariupol, a city of 500,000.

#ukraine #russie #crimée

Iran Is Deploying Drones in Iraq. Wait, What ? Iran Has Drones ?

BY ELIAS GROLL
JUNE 25, 2014 - 06:19 PM

▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/06/25/iran_is_deploying_drones_in_iraq_wait_what_iran_has_drones

With the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham showing no sign of letting up its military offensive in northern Iraq, Iran is moving to bolster the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad. Tehran has reportedly sent senior Revolutionary Guard commanders to advise the government in Baghdad and is sending planeloads of materiel to support the Iraqi army. A perhaps more surprising development: Iran is deploying drones in Iraqi skies.

Iran has been developing drones since the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, and although the military capabilities of those drones have been frequently disputed, Tehran has supplied drones to its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, and deployed drones in Syria. Its fleet of drones vary in technological sophistication but are a testament to Iran’s commitment to innovative military technology, even in the face of Western sanctions.

Mohajer

Iran’s first drone, the Mohajer, was developed by the country’s armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war to provide surveillance and intelligence. WIth Iranian forces sustaining heavy losses against their Iraqi opponents, the drone was developed to reduce casualties and prevent Iranian troops from walking into ambushes. The drone was at one point reportedly equipped with rocket-propelled grenades, which would make it one of the first weaponized drones.

A variation of the early model reportedly is still in use. This 2012 video shows what is believed to be a Mohajer-variant operating in the skies over Syria:

Mirsad

The Mirsad, Arabic for “ambush,” is an updated version of the Mohajer and has caused all kinds of nightmares for the Israeli military. Iran is thought to have supplied Hezbollah forces in Lebanon with a stock of Mirsad drones, which the terror group has used to penetrate Israeli air defenses. In 2012, one of the drones entered Israeli air space, spent 30 minutes over the town of Nahariya, then returned to Lebanon. The Israeli air force failed to intercept it.

“Today we are uncovering a small part of our capabilities, and we shall keep many more hidden,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallahsaid in a televised address, during which he claimed responsibility for the drone. “It is our natural right to send other reconnaissance flights inside occupied Palestine ... This is not the first time and will not be the last. We can reach any place we want.”

Karrar

Although little is known about the actual capabilities of Iran’s drones, its leaders are eager to show them off as the latest and greatest in military technology. Below, former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seen at a 2010 unveiling ceremony for the Karar drone, which is capable of carrying an explosive load. The name means “striker” in Farsi.

Powered by a turbojet engine with a 250-pound bomb slung underneath and capable of carrying munition as heavy as 450 pounds, the Karrar has a purported range of 600 miles, which is still short of reaching Israel from Iran. When it was unveiled, military experts argued that the Karrar was built more for domestic consumption than for its military value.

Ababil

Named for the Farsi word for “swallow,” the Ababil is a reconnaissance drone that Iran has reportedly deployed in the skies over Iraq in response to the latest crisis. Like other Iranian drones, the Ababil has been deployed widely in the Middle East, including in Israel by Hezbollah, and in Syria. In 2012, Syrian rebels capturedan Ababil and posted a video of the vehicle (it’s the larger of the two):

A weaponized version of the Ababil has also penetrated Israeli airspace on multiple occasions. During the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, an Ababil loaded with at least 60 pounds of explosives made it to the outskirts of Haifa before being shot down by an Israeli fighter jet. Another was shot down over Western Galilee. A third was knocked out of the sky near the Lebanese city of Tyre.

Fotros

The Fotros might be described as the Iranian equivalent of the American Predator. With a reported range of more than 1,200 miles and the ability to stay in the air for 30 hours, the Fotros is equipped with missiles and serves a similar combat function to its American equivalent. Although it’s unclear whether the plane’s actual capabilities measure up to the way Iranian military officials describe it, the Fotros has been touted as a strategic step forward by Iran. "This drone is able to carry out reconnaissance missions and carry air-to-surface rockets for combat operations,’’ state media quoted Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan as saying when the drone was unveiled in last year.

In the video below, the Fotros can be seen at a trade expo and taking off from a runway.

Yasir

U.S. armed forces probably don’t see it as a compliment, but the Yasir is a ripoff of an American design. After capturing an American ScanEagle, a relatively small surveillance drone, Iran announced in 2012 that it had begun production on a copy. Last year, Iranunveiled the resulting vehicle, which appears to differ little from the American version. The American ScanEagle has a 10-foot wingspan and can stay aloft for about 20 hours, cruising at about 70 miles per hour.

The ScanEagle isn’t the only American drone captured by Iran. In 2011, Iran claimed to have hacked and captured an RQ-170 stealth drone, one of the most advanced in the U.S. arsenal. Iran claims to have copied that drone as well.

The models they have shown off, however, aren’t the most convincing.

How 5 Countries in the Middle East Could Become 14 - Graphic - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/09/29/sunday-review/how-5-countries-could-become-14.html?_r=0

For the record, c’était en septembre 2013. Les fans de carto sur Seenthis doivent pouvoir en proposer d’autres... (les légendes apparaissent avec le lien).

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/newsgraphics/2013/0929-syria/0929-syria.jpg

Bugged Bears, Spy Irons, and the Pope: Global Spying Went Nuts Today | FP Passport
▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/30/this_is_the_day_spying_allegations_went_totally_insane

The #NSA has in all likelihood been spying on the Pope, at least if a report in the Italian magazine Panorama is to be believed. The NSA was monitoring calls into and out of the residence where then-Cardinal Jose Bergoglio was staying during the Conclave. So were the analysts at the NSA just trying to get a leg up in their betting pool on the next pope? No, claims Panorama, which describes the surveillance efforts as part of the agency’s efforts to determine leadership intentions.

Raid américain en Libye : Tripoli demande des explications (6/10/13)
▻http://www.lemonde.fr/libye/article/2013/10/06/raid-americain-en-libye-tripoli-demande-des-explications_3490760_1496980.htm

Le gouvernement libyen affirme, dimanche 6 octobre, ne pas être au courant de la capture sur son territoire de Nazih Al-Ragye, plus connu sous le nom d’Abou Anas Al-Libi, un leader présumé d’Al-Qaida, par des forces américaines. « Le gouvernement libyen suit les informations sur l’enlèvement d’un des citoyens libyens recherché par les autorités des Etats-Unis (...) Dès qu’il a entendu l’information, le gouvernement libyen a contacté les autorités américaines pour leur demander des explications à ce sujet », a indiqué le gouvernement de transition dans un communiqué publié à Tripoli.

Le gouvernement libyen a par ailleurs exprimé son « souci de voir les citoyens libyens jugés dans leur pays, quelles que soient les accusations à leur encontre ». Il a rappelé que la Libye était liée aux Etats-Unis par un « partenariat stratégique », en particulier dans les domaines de la sécurité et de la défense. « Le gouvernement espère que ce partenariat stratégique ne sera pas pénalisé par cet incident », a-t-il ajouté.

Abou Anas Al-Libi, qui figure parmi les personnalités les plus recherchées par le FBI – qui avait offert 5 millions de dollars pour sa capture –, pourrait être transféré aux Etats-Unis pour y être jugé. Il a été accusé par une cour fédérale américaine d’avoir joué un rôle-clé dans les attentats contre les ambassades américaines de Dar es-Salaam et Nairobi en 1998.

Sorry, the Tunisian « Sex Jihad » Is a Fraud - By David Kenner | FP Passport
▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/09/26/sorry_the_tunisian_sex_jihad_is_a_fraud

It’s the story that launched 1,000 headlines. And it’s not hard to see why: Tunisian Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou announced last week that Tunisian women were traveling to Syria to wage “sex jihad,” where they were having sex with “20, 30, [or] 100” militants, before returning pregnant to Tunisia.

There’s only one problem — there’s no evidence it’s true. The Tunisian Interior Ministry has so far failed to provide any further information on the phenomenon, and human rights activists and journalists have been unable to find any Tunisian woman who went to Syria for this purpose.

(le titre aurait été plus percutant sans le bizarre « sorry »)

#manipulation #médias #Syrie

« Chemical attack » kills scores near Damascus, Syrian opposition claims
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/chemical-attack-kills-scores-near-damascus-syrian-opposition-clai

An apparent chemical attack in rebel-held districts near the Syrian capital of Damascus killed scores of people on Wednesday, wire services reported.

Ce matin, les activistes annonçaient 213 morts. Dans l’après-midi 650 mort. Désormais 1300 morts.

How 36 Egyptian Prisoners Suffocated to Death in the Back of a Police Van

▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/20/how_36_egyptian_prisoners_suffocated_to_death_in_the_back_of_a_p

Of all the ways to die, this was one of the most horrible. On Monday, the Egyptian government acknowledged that its security forces had killed 36 Islamist prisoners the day before — the first time mass casualties had occurred involving Egyptians in government custody. Security officials said that the prisoners had rioted while in a prison truck and captured a guard, causing the officers to respond by firing tear gas and the prisoners to die of asphyxiation. If that’s the case, crowd control experts say, the prisoners perished in agony — gasping for air and incapable of resisting their guards.

The incident underlines the brutality of the struggle between the new Egyptian government and its opponents.

Obama appelle à réformer le « Patriot Act »
►http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2013/08/09/obama-appelle-a-reformer-le-patriot-act_3459795_651865.html

Obama persiste et signe : la surveillance est maintenue, ainsi que le caractère secret du tribunal chargé de la superviser.

Parmi les mesures envisagées, le président américain a évoqué le renforcement de la supervision par la Cour de surveillance du renseignement étranger (la FISC), un tribunal secret de onze juges qui autorise la NSA à réclamer auprès des opérateurs téléphoniques et Internet les données de leurs clients.

How Much Has Really Changed at America’s ’Black Prison’? | FP Passport
▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/25/how_much_has_really_changed_at_americas_black_prison

The reality of life at #Bagram stands in stark contrast to the principles outlined at the outset of the Obama administration. “The message we are sending around the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism, and we are going to do so vigilantly; we are going to do so effectively; and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals,” Obama said in outlawing harsh interrogation methods in January, 2009.

While the worst abuses of the Bush era have been curtailed, the differences between Obama and his predecessor are ones of degree, not kind.

▻http://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/the-other-guantanamo-6-afghans-still-struggling-for-sovereignt

@DavidKenner “Here is my breakdown of Egypt’s death toll since June 30. I count 266 Egyptians killed, or 9.5 per day.”

▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/27/egypts_death_toll_skyrockets

La guerre Wikipedia sur le « coup d’Etat » en Egypte | Slate.fr
▻http://www.slate.fr/monde/75067/guerre-wikipedia-coup-etat-egypte-morsi via @op

Traduction de cet article : ▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/07/the_wikipedia_war_over_egypts_coup

Soit dit en passant, le débat n’est pas limité aux utilisateurs anglophones de #Wikipedia. La page en arabe correspondant aux évènements égyptiens est titrée « Coup d’Etat du 3 juillet 2013 en #Egypte ». Et la première rubrique dans la discussion associée est ouvertement intitulée : « Révolution ou coup d’Etat ?! »

#controverse #plo

The PRISM spin war has begun
▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/06/07/the_prism_spin_war_has_begun

...

Google’s statement hinges on three key points: that it did not provide the government with “direct access” to its servers, that it did not set up a “back door” for the NSA, and that it provides “user data to governments only in accordance with the law.”

According to Chris Soghoian, a tech expert and privacy researcher at the American Civil Liberties Union, the phrase “direct access” connotes a very specific form of access in the IT-world: unrestricted, unfettered access to information stored on Google servers. In order to run a system such as PRISM, Soghoian explains, such access would not be required, and Google’s denial that it provided “direct access” does not necessarily imply that the company is denying having participated in the program. Typically, the only people having “direct access” to the servers of a company like Google would be its engineers. (Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has issued a similarly worded denial in which he says his company has not granted the government “direct access” to its servers," but his language mirrors Google’s denial about direct access.)

A similar logic applies to Google’s denial that it set up a “back door.” According to Soghoian, the phrase “back door” is a term of art that describes a way to access a system that is neither known by the system’s owner nor documented. By denying that it set up a back door, Google is not denying that it worked with the NSA to set up a system through which the agency could access the company’s data.

According to Soghoian, the NSA could have gained access to tech company servers by working with the companies to set up something similar to an API — a tool these firms use to give developers limited access to company data. Google has denied that an API was used, but that denial doesn’t exclude the possibility that a similar tool was used.

To protect itself against allegations that it inappropriately compromised user data, Google further notes in its statement that the company provides “user data to governments only in accordance with the law.” Despite the outrage directed at the NSA and the Obama administration, PRISM — as currently described — is in all likelihood within the bounds of the law. In the aftermath of the 2005 disclosure that the Bush administration had carried out a warrantless wiretapping program, Congress passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 and the Protect America Act of 2007. But those laws did not outlaw the kinds of actions carried out by PRISM.

As for Google’s claim to have never heard of PRISM, would the intelligence officials who reportedly collaborated with Google have used the program’s actual codename?

The tech companies alleged to have participated in PRISM aren’t the only ones who appear to be spinning PRISM to their advantage.

On Friday, U.S. government sources told Reuters that PRISM was used to foil a 2009 plot to bomb the New York City subway. In all likelihood, such counter-leaks will continue in the days ahead as intelligence officials try to portray the program as essential to national security.

Fake fake news: The Iranian time machine | FP Passport
▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/04/11/fake_fake_news_the_iranian_time_machine

A good rule of thumb for news in the Internet age: If there’s a “Ha, ha, silly foreigners” story circulating on the Internet, and if 90 percent of the people writing about it are citing the Telegraph, it’s probably mostly fake, or at least highly misleading. (See Putin’s Boyz II Men booty call or Sarkozy’s fromage fatwa.

I suspect this is the case with the story of an Iranian scientist claiming to have invented a time machine, which has been making the rounds today. (To be clear, I realize that no one actually thinks he did invent the time machine. I’m disputing whether or not the news story is real.)

Are we moving toward a dataless war ? | FP Passport
▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/03/11/are_we_moving_toward_a_dataless_war

Drone Strike Data

Following increased scrutiny of drone warfare in Congress and a savvy investigation by the Air Force Times, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) conceded on Saturday that it was no longer providing specific data about drone strikes in Afghanistan in its monthly reports. It also removed drone strike data from previous monthly reports on its website. The reason? According to U.S. Central Command, those reports were “disproportionately focused” on drone strike data. ISAF emphasized that drones are predominantly used for surveillance and that “only about 3% of all RPA sorties over Afghanistan invol[ve] kinetic events,” which is another way of saying: We don’t like the way you’re interpreting our information, so we’re going to give you less information.

Insurgent Attacks

The number of insurgent attacks was one of the most widely cited statistics in the decade-long Afghan war, but it’s no longer provided to the public as of last week. The change in policy came about after the Associated Press forced ISAF to concede that it incorrectly cited a 7 percent drop in insurgent attacks in 2012. (In reality, the number of Taliban attacks had remained the same.) After that embarrassment, ISAF acknowledged that its reporting methods were flawed. Instead of fixing the problem, however, it decided to stop publishing the data altogether.

(...)

At the time, Wired’s Spencer Ackerman put the policy change in vivid context. “This means ISAF is denying you a major metric for assessing the durability and the lethality of the insurgency, as well as, by inference, its freedom of movement,” he said. “When U.S. officials in the future claim that they’re making progress, you will not be able to access the data underlying their claims.”

Freedom of Information Act Requests

Another method journalists rely on for obtaining military records about the war is by filing Freedom of Information Act requests. But getting the government to acquiesce to these requests has been increasingly difficult when they pertain to national security issues, an Associated Press investigation today indicates:

The U.S. government, led by the Pentagon and CIA, censored files that the public requested last year under the Freedom of Information Act more often than at any time since President Barack Obama took office, according to a new analysis by The Associated Press. The government frequently cited national security as the reason.

Although the administration answered more overall requests last year than ever before, it more often withheld information, citing national security provisions:

In a year of intense public interest over deadly U.S. drones, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, terror threats and more, the government cited national security to withhold information at least 5,223 times - a jump over 4,243 such cases in 2011 and 3,805 cases in Obama’s first year in office. The secretive CIA last year became even more secretive: Nearly 60 percent of 3,586 requests for files were withheld or censored for that reason last year, compared with 49 percent a year earlier.

Other federal agencies that invoked the national security exception included the Pentagon, Director of National Intelligence, NASA, Office of Management and Budget, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Communications Commission and the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs.

All things considered, if the White House aims to make this the “most transparent administration in history,” March has been a lackluster month for its national security apparatus.

Air Force erases drone strike data amid criticisms | FP Passport
▻http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/03/08/air_force_erases_drone_strike_data_amid_criticism

Quietly and without much notice, the Air Force has reversed its policy of publishing statistics on drone strikes in Afghanistan as the debate about drone warfare hits a fever pitch in Washington. In addition, it has erased previously published drone strike statistics from its website.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_images/130308_Missing%20Drone%20Strike%20Data.jpg

Viral Video Hopes to Spur Arrest of War Criminal

►http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/03/kony-2012

Viral Video Hopes to Spur Arrest of War Criminal

By Spencer Ackerman March 7, 2012 |

2:30 pm

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

“The next 27 minutes are an experiment,” says the faceless narrator. “But in order for it to work, you have to pay attention.”

That’s the arresting introduction of Kony 2012, a viral documentary dedicated to stopping the war criminal Joseph Kony, head of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Kony is infamous for kidnapping children and turning them into child soldiers, among other atrocities.

But he’s not famous. That’s what the documentary, and the ambitious viral campaign it spearheads, is trying to change. It’s already attracted both a massive online audience — and a backlash.

The visually sophisticated documentary tells the story of the Lord’s Resistance Army’s brutal history in Uganda — it doesn’t say much about Kony’s flight to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic — mostly through the eyes of Jacob, a child refugee whose brother was killed by the militia. At one point, the boy says he would prefer to die rather than to live in the world Kony has made. It hits like an emotional sledgehammer.

And that lays the foundation for the campaign the movie essentially advertises. The nonprofit group behind it, Invisible Children, supports President Obama’s recent deployment of 100 military advisers to Uganda to help its army hunt Kony, a decision that required years of grassroots demands from humanitarian activists. In order to make sure the pressure keeps up, and Kony is ultimately arrested — this year — Invisible Children wants to plaster the cities of the world with red, visually striking KONY 2012 posters, stickers and t-shirts.

Angola offers help to struggling Portugal | FP Passport
►http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/11/18/angola_offers_help_to_struggling_portugal

Angola is prepared to help its former colonial power Portugal cope with its financial crisis, the oil-rich nation’s President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos said. After meeting visiting Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, he said solutions needed to be found. They should be “advantageous for both countries” and “in a spirit of solidarity and mutual help”, he said.

Analysts say Portugal’s economy is expected to contract by 2.8% next year and Angola’s to grow by 12%.

The IMF has agreed to give Portugal a $107bn bailout on condition that it introduces a wide range of economic reforms - including privatisation.

Analysts say Angola could buy stakes in some of the privatised companies.

Angola’s investments in Portugal have risen sharply in recent years. The figure in 2009 stood at $156m (£99m), compared to $2.1m in 2002, according to the Portuguese Institute of International Relations and Security (IPRIS), a Lisbon-based think-tank.

Angolan companies own the equivalent of 3.8% of companies listed on Portugal’s stock exchange, from banks to telecoms and energy, it says.

Here’s your reading list, Mr. President | FP Passport
►http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/12/heres_your_reading_list_mr_president

Caveat emptor: Many of these authors will take you outside the comfort zone of the Washington policy debate. What’s more, if you tried to gather them all in one room, you’d be virtually guaranteed a fight. But these blogs will also give you a more realistic sense of the political conversation in the Arab world. Don’t stay up too late - you have a full-time job, after all.