Transparency: Let the People Know, Put Full Texts of Government Contracts Online

Each year hundreds of billions of dollars in federal government contracts, grants, leaseholds and licenses are awarded to corporations. In an era of massive outsourcing to large private corporations, regular disclosure of how the U.S. government spends its citizens' tax dollars at all levels is extremely important for a healthy democracy. When citizens and voters have access to clear and concise information about the inner workings of their government and representatives, they can cast informed votes. However, when this information remains in the shadows, citizens are left without access to the information necessary for them to properly exercise their civic powers and responsibilities, argues a former U.S. presidential candidate.

This abuse of the Patriot Act must end

President Obama falsely claims Congress authorised all NSA surveillance. He also defended and has tried to deflect criticism by claiming "every member of Congress has been briefed" on the mass surveillance program. That too was false. Only some members of Congress were briefed – particularly those on the intelligence committees, while the rest of U.S. Congress did not even know about it.. The administration claims authority to sift through details of our private lives because the Patriot Act says that it can. The U.S. Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, who was the actual author the Patriot Act, say that this is an abuse of that law and vehemently disagrees...in his own words.

War and Rape Go Hand-in-Hand: Is Reform Possible in the U.S. Military?

There is a “schizophrenic situation” that exists within the US military. Women are advancing in the military ranks at an unprecedented rate and they recently were legally accepted in combat roles. The top brass have no problem welcoming women into the ranks of the military since in a volunteer military women are essential. However, at the lower levels, on what the U.S. military likes to call “the granular level” where individual male and female soldiers engage with each other as comrades and peers, many red-blooded young male soldiers do not treat women as equals.The anti-rape rhetoric is only for PR and does not apply to them. The sorry track record of commanders dismissing indictments and convictions would seem to reinforce this view as John Grant explains.

Being strong: National security guarantees for Russia

The world is changing, and in a world of economic and other upheaval, there is always the temptation to resolve one’s problems at another’s expense, through pressure and force. President Vladimir Putin makes a case that Russia will not be able to strengthen their international position, develop their economy or its democratic institutions if they are unable to protect Russia -- if they fail to calculate the risks of possible conflicts from outside forces, secure their military-technological independence and prepare an adequate military response capability as a last-resort response to some kind of challenge. In other words, the Russian President of a nation rich with natural resources should not tempt anyone by allowing themselves to be weak.

Confirmed: NSA collection of millions of phone records ‘renewal of ongoing practice’ since 2006

U.S. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the US Senate Intelligence committee, has said that the state has been collecting the telephone records of millions of US Verizon customers since 2006, and the order is a three-month renewal of a 7-year continuing practice. She said that since it is carried out by the U.S. foreign intelligence surveillance under the business records section of the George W. Bush's Patriot Act, it is lawful.

Africa used as ‘Guinea Pig’, US and European Nations Exploit, Only Pretend to help...

Zambian President Michael Sata said Africa has been made into a "guinea pig" in the last 50 years by America and European nations that pretend to help transform the continent but in fact only enrich themselves, leaving the continent poorer. Acknowledging that the current problems in Africa were also caused by Africans themselves, the president said that AFRICA must liberate itself from developed countries that have exploited the continent's mineral resources for a long time.

Russian Deputy director of Kamchatka airport murdered for being gay

Russian investigators have opened a criminal case against three residents of Ust-Bolsheretsky district of Kamchatka for murdering a 39 year old deputy director of the airport "Ozernaya" who was killed "for his untraditional sexual orientation."

Turkish Prime Minister and govt websites hacked by #SEA #OpTurkey Hacktivists

Anonymous hacktivists and Syrian Electronic Army(SEA) carried out a series of cyber attacks against Turkish Government following the violence of the police against peaceful protesters. The attack was in support of the ongoing anti-government protests. Anonymous hacked the Prime Minister’s official website and gained access to staff email addresses, passwords and phone numbers. Anonymous is said to have compromised the email addresses, passwords and phone numbers. However, they didn't share any data. Meanwhile, Syrian Electronic Army attacked the same website and leaked more than 60 email addresses, passwords.

UK House of Lords: The Baroness Lady Liz Barker comes Out during Equal Marriage...

During the UK House of Lords debate on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, the Baroness Lady Liz Barker stood to make a speech in which she spoke of her love for another woman – revealing publicly for the first time that she, herself, is in a same-sex relationship.

Top Obama appointees use secret email accounts

Some of President Barack Obama's political appointees are using secret government email accounts to conduct official business, The Associated Press found, a practice that complicates agencies' legal responsibilities to find and turn over emails under public records requests and congressional inquiries.

Control of al-Qusayr is game changer in Syria

Al-Qusayr is on the Damascus-Homs highway, and thus by gaining control of the area, the Syrian government has cut the supply route of the rebels operating in the Homs region, which could force them to retreat from their strongholds. If the government of President Bashar al-Assad can gain full control over al-Qusayr, which they have as of June 5, 2013, it would be a massive setback for the United States, Israel, and the reactionary Arab states, which have spent billions of dollars to support the rebels fighting against the Syrian government.

Turkey’s PM Erdogan calls the protesters ‘radical’ ‘thieves’

Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed from the very beginning of the protests in Turkey, that he would not lend any importance to the demonstrators, and described the protesters as ‘thieves.’