Category Archives: National Security vs Police State

‘What Color Shirts’? Far-Right Ben-Gvir to Get Control Over Israeli National Guard

The former head of Israel’s police accused the national security minister of “dismantling Israeli democracy” and “turning Israel into a dictatorship.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 3-27-2023 by Common Dreams

Itamar Ben Gvir. Photo: @OldPrague/Twitter

Democracy defenders on Monday sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s agreement to place the country’s National Guard under the control of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right extremist who has advocated the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Netanyahu’s move is in exchange for a promise from Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party to remain in the prime minister’s governing coalition despite an earlier threat to exit if Netanyahu delayed a highly controversial judicial overhaul. Facing massive street protests and a general strike by the nation’s largest trade union, Netanyahu agreed on Monday to postpone the legislation until April or early May. Continue reading →

Israel’s military reservists are joining protests – potentially transforming a political crisis into a security crisis

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*A member of Israel’s military reserves takes part in a protest on March 16, 2023 in Bnei Brak, a city east of Tel Aviv.*
*Photo by Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images*

Dan Arbell, American University

The judicial overhaul plan of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, introduced in January, has thrown the country into its most severe domestic crisis since 1973. That crisis intensified on March 26, when Netanyahu fired the country’s defense minister, who had – less than 24 hours before – called on the government to delay its plans to reform the judiciary.

The plan has incited an unprecedented wave of controversy among Israelis, as hundreds of thousands of protestors have gathered for a 12th straight week across the country in opposition to the plan. Yet it’s not simply the persistence and size of the protest that is evidence of the crisis. It’s who is protesting. Continue reading →

20 years on, George W. Bush’s promise of democracy in Iraq and Middle East falls short

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*An Iraqi person walks down a road blocked by burning tires in Basra in August 2002.*
*Hussein Faleh/AFP via Getty Images*

Brian Urlacher, University of North Dakota

President George W. Bush and his administration put forward a variety of reasons to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In the months before the U.S. invasion, Bush said the looming conflict was about eradicating terrorism and seizing weapons of mass destruction – but also because of a “freedom deficit” in the Middle East, a reference to the perceived lag in participatory government in the region.

Many of these arguments would emerge as poorly grounded, given later events. Continue reading →

‘Shocking’: FBI Director Admits Agency Purchased Geolocation Data of Americans

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“Congress must fix this before considering any reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act this year,” said one advocate.

By Julia Conley Published 3-8-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Plann on Pexels

Privacy advocates on Wednesday said testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray at a U.S. Senate Select Intelligence Committee hearing offers the latest evidence that Congress must take action to keep the government from performing mass surveillance on people across the United States, as Wray admitted the bureau has purchased cellphone geolocation data from companies.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Wray at a hearing about national security threats whether the FBI purchases “U.S. phone geolocation information,” showing the location of users. Continue reading →

ACLU Obtains Docs Detailing FBI, Pentagon Development of Facial Recognition Tech

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“The continued proliferation of surveillance tools like facial recognition technologies in our society is deeply disturbing,” said Sen. Ed Markey, reintroducing a federal ban.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 3-7-2023 by Common Dreams

A Delta Air customer checks in at self-service kiosk using facial recognition option Photo: Delta News Hub/flickr/CC

Thousands of records about U.S. government involvement in the research and development of facial recognition technology—unveiled due to an ACLU lawsuit and first reported on Tuesday by The Washington Post—fueled fresh calls for a federal ban on such tools.

“Americans’ ability to navigate our communities without constant tracking and surveillance is being chipped away at an alarming pace,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told the Post. “We cannot stand by as the tentacles of the surveillance state dig deeper into our private lives, treating every one of us like suspects in an unbridled investigation that undermines our rights and freedom.” Continue reading →

People Fighting Back Against Rising Autocracy Offers Hope, Says Report

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“The level of democracy enjoyed by the average world citizen in 2022 is back to 1986 levels. This means that 72% of the world’s population, 5.7 billion people, live under authoritarian rule,” said V-Dem’s director.

By Jessica Corbett Published 3-2-2023 by Common Dreams

Lula’s campaign moves through São Paolo, Oct. 2022. Photo credit: Midia Ninja/CC

An annual report released Thursday by researchers in Sweden sounds the alarm about countries that are “undergoing autocratization” but also highlights how people around the world “have reclaimed democracy and stopped negative trends.”

The Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem) at the University of Gothenburg produces the world’s largest dataset on democracy, with over 31 million data points for 202 nations from 1789 to 2022. Its new report focuses on the state of countries last year. Continue reading →

50 Years On, Legacy of Wounded Knee Uprising Lives in Indigenous Resistance

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“We’re not the subjugated and disenfranchised people that we were,” said one Ponca elder who took part in the 1973 revolt. “Wounded Knee was an important beginning of that.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 2-27-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Comrade Stu/Twitter

As many Native Americans on Monday marked the 50th anniversary of the militant occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, participants in the 1973 uprising and other activists linked the deadly revolt to modern-day Indigenous resistance, from Standing Rock to the #LandBack movement.

On February 27, 1973 around 300 Oglala Lakota and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), seething from centuries of injustices ranging from genocide to leniency for whites who committed crimes against Indians, occupied the hamlet of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation for more than two months. The uprising occurred during a period of increased Native American militancy and the rise of AIM, which first drew international attention in 1969 with the 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. Continue reading →

Letting ‘Secrecy Prevail,’ SCOTUS Declines to Hear Challenge to NSA Mass Surveillance

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“If the courts are unwilling to hear Wikimedia’s challenge, then Congress must step in to protect Americans’ privacy,” said the Knight First Amendment Institute’s litigation director.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 2-21-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Kristina Alexanderson (Internetstiftelsen)/CC

Privacy advocates on Tuesday blasted the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the Wikimedia Foundation’s case against a federal program for spying on Americans’ online communications with people abroad.

The nonprofit foundation, which operates Wikipedia, took aim at the National Security Agency (NSA) program “Upstream” that—under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—searches emails, internet messages, and other web communications leaving and entering the United States. Continue reading →

Turkish President Erdoğan’s grip on power threatened by devastating earthquake

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*Erdoğan is facing criticism over his handling of the disaster.*
*Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images)*

Ahmet T. Kuru, San Diego State University

The earthquake that struck Turkey on Feb. 6, 2023, is first and foremost a human tragedy, one that has taken the lives of at least 45,000 people to date.

The disaster also has major implications for the country’s economy – the financial loss from the damage is estimated to be US$84 billion – and its politics.

Analyzing this human tragedy and its long-term implications for Turkey is difficult for me. I am a scholar of Turkish politics. But I also grew up in the affected region and lost relatives and friends in the cities of Antakya and Iskenderun. Nevertheless, I believe it is important to examine the implications of the earthquake on Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – not for reasons of political intrigue, but because it is crucial in determining how Turkey recovers from the disaster and better prepares itself in the future. Continue reading →

Warnings of ‘Dark Dictatorship’ in Israel as Protesters Rage Against Far-Right Judicial Reforms

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Around 100,000 Israelis took to the streets to protest the judicial overhaul, chanting, “No to dictatorship!”

By Jake Johnson. Published 2-13-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: @ulidabess/Twitter

Massive protests erupted in Israel on Monday as the country’s far-right government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, began advancing judicial reforms that would roll back judicial oversight of parliament and give lawmakers more control over Supreme Court appointments, proposed changes that opposition leader Yair Lapid decried as an attempt to impose a “dark dictatorship.”

As demonstrations raged—with participants chanting “democracy!” and “no to dictatorship!”—chaos broke out inside the Israeli Knesset after a key committee voted to move ahead with part of the legislation backed by Netanyahu and right-wing Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who are aiming to virtually eliminate the Supreme Court’s ability to strike down laws. Continue reading →

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Category Archives: National Security vs Police State

‘What Color Shirts’? Far-Right Ben-Gvir to Get Control Over Israeli National Guard

The former head of Israel’s police accused the national security minister of “dismantling Israeli democracy” and “turning Israel into a dictatorship.”

20 years on, George W. Bush’s promise of democracy in Iraq and Middle East falls short

People Fighting Back Against Rising Autocracy Offers Hope, Says Report

“The level of democracy enjoyed by the average world citizen in 2022 is back to 1986 levels. This means that 72% of the world’s population, 5.7 billion people, live under authoritarian rule,” said V-Dem’s director.

Turkish President Erdoğan’s grip on power threatened by devastating earthquake