IMF proposes a tax of about 10 % on Money in Bank Accounts for households with a positive asset.

IMF proposes a Tax on Money in Bank Accounts a tax of about 10 % for households with a positive asset. (armstrongeconomics).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is always the cheerleader to raise taxes to support government. They are instructing Germany to raise taxes and also talking about just imposing a 10% tax on all money that deposits in banks throughout Europe. Yes – you read that one correctly.

The IMF has told Germany it should raise its property tax, cut social welfare contributions and invest more to reduce income inequality. The demands are contentious in an election year. Once again the IMF has demanded higher taxes on savings deposits in Germany. Germany must do more for to raise taxes to impose more socialistic idea to somehow tax the rich to create a broader participation of all citizens in the fruits of economic growth, if somehow raising taxes actually ever creates economic growth. The IMF warns that there is a relatively high tax burden on lower incomes with a comparatively low burden on assets.

The IMF argues for higher taxes on property  are in fact necessary and that the government should demand higher wages to also give impetus to the growth in Germany, yet this is magically creating no inflationary impact. Years ago, Italy simply imposed a tax on money in one’s account. This was called a “capital levy”

The IMF has already calculated how much the measure would cost every Eurozone citizen:

“The amount of the tax would have to bring the European sovereign debt back to the pre-crisis level. In order to reduce the debt to the level of 2007 (for example in the euro area countries), a tax of about 10 percent is needed for households with a positive asset. “

As you can see, there is NEVER any discussion about reducing taxes or the size of government. The solution is always to raise taxes and to not even look at the old Italian trick of a 10% seizure of all cash in your account. We highly recommend to diversify to assets that are MOVABLE and not subject to taxation merely to possess. Hmmm.....Maybe electing a banker for President in France might help....

Merkel allegedly 'Proposed NATO Membership to Japan' in March 2015.

Merkel allegedly 'Proposed NATO Membership to Japan' in March 2015. (JapanNews).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly told Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe last year that his country could joint NATO counting on her support.

“We recognize the importance of maintaining dialogue with Russia.” This was inserted in a joint communique from the Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting held in Hiroshima at the Japanese government’s desire.

Ever since Russia annexed Crimea in southern Ukraine in March 2014, the G-7 nations have continued to impose sanctions against Russia. Among these countries, the United States is particularly distrustful of Russia and U.S. President Barack Obama even gave bitter but sincere advice to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who maintains a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The word “dialogue” was incorporated in the joint communique, according to a Japan-Russia diplomatic source, because “if Abe visits Russia before the G-7 Ise-Shima Summit to make progress in negotiations over the northern territories, Japan can claim that his visit will not cause disarray among the G-7 nations.”

The northern territories issue is a weighty task that Abe has been focusing on.

In March last year, visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel made an unexpected proposal to Abe during a dinner meeting.

“Shinzo, why not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization?” Merkel asked. “I can convince British Prime Minister Cameron and French President Hollande.”

Japan and Russia have long been caught in a dispute over the disputed islands referred to as the Northern Territories by Tokyo and the Kuril Islands by Moscow.

Abe reportedly said if Japan joined now, negotiations with Russia over the territories would stop. Read the full story here.

Video - Germany: Merkel allows trial to go ahead over satirical Erdogan poem

A recent poll of more than 61,000 German readers of Focus Online magazine showed 82 percent of those polled viewed the poem as defensible and some 78 percent thought the German government should defend Böhmermann. More on the legal case can be read here.

#Merkel and #EU representatives to go to #Turkey next week https://t.co/ixVx7Io2uO pic.twitter.com/8uhYlmUoSn

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) April 15, 2016

Germany - Merkel expects refugees to respect German laws and way of life.

Germany - Merkel expects refugees to respect German laws and way of life. (Tass).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expects migrants arriving in Germany to respect the local way of life and visit integration courses.

"I expect the people who are seeking our protection and shelter to be open towards our country and our way of life. Naturally, I expect them to respect our laws.

Those who have prospects to stay have the right to visit an integration course, which includes 600 hours of language studies. This should be taken into account," Merkel said in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Merkel told Bild am Sonntag that Germany would not give up a deficit-free budget because of the influx of refugees.

"A budget without any new debts is appropriate for countries with aging population. We seek to achieve this budget for the sake of future generations," the chancellor said.

A balanced and deficit-free budget is one of the key goals of Germany’s incumbent ruling coalition. First, it was adopted in 2015 and then in 2016 despite huge migrant flows. Prior to that, the government passed a deficit-free budget back in 1969. Read the full story here.

As from today Austria Introduces Daily Refugee Entry Quota.

As from today Austria Introduces Daily Refugee Entry Quota. (SP).

Starting from February 19, the republic will accept no more than 80 applications for refugee status per day and a maximum of 3,200 migrants seeking asylum in one of its neighboring states will be allowed to transit through Austrian territory.


Austria's move to toughen its border controls is supported by Slovenia, who also intends to implement a similar approach in solidarity.

Vienna has been criticized by the European Commission and a number of other EU bodies for imposing a cap on the number of asylum requests, viewed as a breach of the bloc’s human rights laws.

On Tuesday, the Austrian Interior Ministry also announced it would introduce stricter controls at 12 checkpoints along the country’s southern border in a bid to deter the unprecedented migrant inflow they had been experiencing. Read the full story here. 

'A ceiling of about 500,000 people with a right to asylum per year has been discussed in Berlin'

Flashback Nov. 2015.

 'A ceiling of about 500,000 people with a right to asylum per year has been discussed in Berlin' (Spiegel).

Gentiloni: As long as a certain problem primarily affects a different country, in this case Italy, one might not put it at the very top of one's list of priorities. The route for the refugees currently goes through Greece and the Balkans or through Italy; if there were a crisis in north-eastern Europe, Poland might just as well be affected. In this case we are dealing with mechanisms that we do not control. We need to change that. As Ms. Merkel has said, "We can handle it." But this "we" should be a European "we." We can't have a situation where everyone keeps criticizing the bouncer, meaning Greece.

SPIEGEL: What effect did the chancellor's refugee policies have on Italy?

Gentiloni: It had the effect of me agreeing with her. Europe can handle several hundreds of thousands of people every year who have a right to asylum.

SPIEGEL: A ceiling of about 500,000 people with a right to asylum per year has been discussed in Berlin for some time now.

Gentiloni: And a united Europe will also manage to send hundreds of thousands of migrants, who don't have the right to asylum, back to their homelands. Though that, given the number of flights necessary, would be of a scale reminiscent of the Berlin Airlift.

SPIEGEL: Does Europe need to be more clear that we can't take in everybody who is looking for a better life?

Gentiloni: The message that "we can't take in everybody" is imperative. At the same time, the decision as to who has a right to asylum needs to be made in Brussels. It is clear that several countries, in the Balkans for example, need to be considered countries of safe origin. But others like, in my opinion, Eritrea, undoubtedly need to be considered a country of origin with a valid claim to asylum. And with a third group of states, like Nigeria for example, each individual case needs to be evaluated. Then there are also very controversial cases like Afghanistan. In any case, united European action is needed. This argument for Europeanization may sound utopian, but there is no alternative.


SPIEGEL: So far, Italy has built three of the six promised "hotspots" for the registration of refugees. Thus far, they have had the reputation for being departure points for illegal immigrants. Your authorities have been hopelessly overwhelmed with the surge in refugees and their redistribution.

SPIEGEL: Do you think the future of the EU is at risk because of the refugee crisis?


Gentiloni: You could put it that way. Because this crisis has an effect on other things: on the referendum of the British about their exit from the EU or on the gains by populists in several countries. This mixture endangers the future of Europe. We are currently experiencing probably the toughest crisis in the history of the EU. The touchstone for whether we can overcome it will be the subject of immigration. Read the full story here.

Germany - Muslims 'Bully, Persecute and Harass' Christians in Refugee Camps.

Germany - Muslims 'Bully, Persecute and Harass' Christians in Refugee Camps. (SP).

Muslim refugees "bully, persecute and harass" Christians, who came to German refugee camps from the Middle East in search of a better life, the head of the St. George Monastery in Götschendorf, Hegumen Daniil, wrote in a letter to Peter Altmaier, who serves as the Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Affairs.

"Christian asylum seekers from Syria, Eritrea and elsewhere suffer bullying, persecution and harassment at the hands of their Muslim neighbors in refugee camps. This is also true of the Yazidi religious minority. Sometimes, bullying ends in injuries and death threats," he detailed in the letter, which was also published on Facebook.

Hegumen Daniil singled out Muslims, who converted to Christianity, as the group that runs the highest risk of being abused. "They should fear for their life," he warned, "since Muslim radicals treat 'apostates' as if they have no right to live."

These people often choose to spend the night at a church like the Trinity Lutheran Church in southwest Berlin, not a refugee camp.

Harassment has forced many Christians, who fled violence in the Middle East, to consider returning home. They, according to Hegumen Daniil, look back at their life in war-torn countries and view it as "a lesser evil" compared to their present-day state.

Hegumen Daniil called this environment "shameful." He also pointed out that German law enforcement officers rarely try to resolve religious conflicts. "Whatever the reason might be, this is where the fundamental rights in this country need to be protected. There is no alternative." Read the full story here.

'Yes We scan' - NSA monitors WiFi on US planes ‘in violation’ of privacy laws

'Yes We scan' - NSA monitors WiFi on US planes ‘in violation’ of privacy laws.(RT).

In a letter leaked to Wired, Gogo, the leading provider of inflight WiFi in the US, admitted to violating the requirements of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). 

The act is part of a wiretapping law passed in 1994 that requires telecoms carriers to provide law enforcement with a backdoor in their systems to monitor telephone and broadband communications.
Gogo states in the letter to the Federal Communications Commission that it added new capabilities to its service that go beyond CALEA, at the behest of law enforcement agencies.

“In designing its existing network, Gogo worked closely with law enforcement to incorporate functionalities and protections that would serve public safety and national security interests,” Gogo attorney Karis Hastings wrote in the leaked letter, which dates from 2012.

He did not elaborate as to the nature of the changes, but said Gogo “worked with federal agencies to reach agreement regarding a set of additional capabilities to accommodate law enforcement interests.”

Gogo, which provides WiFi services to the biggest US airlines, are not the only ones to adapt their services to enable spying. Panasonic Avionics also added “additional functionality” to their services as per an agreement with US law enforcement, according to a report published in December.

The deals with security services have civil liberties organizations up in arms. They have condemned the WiFi providers’ deals with authorities as scandalous.

“Having ISPs [now] that say that CALEA isn’t enough, we’re going to be even more intrusive in what we collect on people is, honestly, scandalous,” Peter Eckersley, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Wired.

The powers of the National Security Agency and other US law enforcement agencies have come under harsh criticism since the data leaks from whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the extent to which they monitor citizens’ communications. In particular, critics have taken issue with the NSA’s mass, indiscriminate gathering of metadata which has been described as “almost Orwellian in nature” and a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia has filed a lawsuit against the US agency and is pushing to have the case heard in the US Supreme Court. Last week the Supreme Court said that Leon would have to wait for a ruling from the lower court before his case could be heard.

Since the NSA scandal blew up last year, prompting widespread public anger in the US and internationally at the violation of privacy rights, President Barack Obama’s administration has reluctantly taken some modest steps to curb the powers of the agency.


At the beginning of this year, Obama announced that the NSA would no longer be able to monitor the personal communications of world leaders. In addition, last month Obama formally proposed to end the NSA’s bulk data collection, proposing legislation that would oblige the agency to get a court order to access information through telecoms companies.

"Yes We Scan" - NSA's Secret Toolbox: Unit Offers Spy Gadgets for Every Need.

"Yes We Scan" - NSA's Secret Toolbox: Unit Offers Spy Gadgets for Every Need.(Spiegel).

The NSA has a secret unit that produces special equipment ranging from spyware for computers and cell phones to listening posts and USB sticks that work as bugging devices. Here are some excerpts from the intelligence agency's own catalog.Read the full story here.

White House panel: Little to no indication mass NSA surveillance thwarts terrorism.

White House panel: Little to no indication mass NSA surveillance thwarts terrorism. (RT).

Geoffrey Stone, a University of Chicago law professor, told NBC he was “absolutely” shocked when the review panel’s findings turned up little to no indication that terrorist activity had been identified by the controversial National Security Agency practiced.

“It was, ‘Huh, hello? What are we doing here?’” he said. “The results were very thin.”

The NSA program was one of the first Snowden leaks to be made public in The Guardian and The Washington Post earlier this year. It was revealed that the agency does not listen in on telephone conversations in the US, but does compel major telecommunication companies like Verizon and AT&T to turn over the records – including the time and length of the call as well as the numbers dialed - belonging to millions of Americans.

Stone was among the five members of the White House review panel who were handpicked by the Obama administration to consider if major changes should be enacted to the NSA programs. The group began work on August 27 and has since met with executives from Google and Facebook, as well as lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and even the chief judge of the FISA court.

The panel recommended this week that the massive collection of phone records be stopped immediately to protect Americans’ privacy. They issued this recommendation upon finding that it was “not essential in preventing attacks.”

That assertion blatantly contradicts statements made by President Obama and intelligence leaders for over six months.

“Lives have been saved,” Obama told reporters when the Snowden leak was first reported. “We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information.”
Yet Stone spared no sympathy for Snowden, saying that the former NSA contractor was wrong to release so much information regarding national security.

“My empathetic view is that a person who has access to classified information – the revelation of which could damage national security – should never take it upon himself to reveal that information,” he said.

Admitting he was using a “somewhat inflammatory” example, Stone compared Snowden’s actions to a crazed gun control advocate.
“Suppose someone decides we need gun control and they go out and kill 15 kids and then a state enacts gun control?” he said, decrying the whistleblower for putting the nation “at risk.”

This week’s recommendation quietly noted that the phone collection program, which uses Section 215 of the Patriot Act as legal justification, has “only made a modest contribution to the nation’s security.” It went on to note that “there has been no instance in which NSA could say with confidence that the outcome [of a terror investigation would have been any different” without section 215, as quoted by NBC.

It also proposed applying oversight to the US’ surveillance on targets outside the country, and increasing internal security in an attempt to stop future leaks. These points came as somewhat of a surprise to some pundits, who dismissed the White House panel as a political ploy that would have no real impact on the security vs. privacy discussion.
“That was stunning. That was the ballgame,” one congressional intelligence official told NBC. “It flies in the face of everything they have tossed at us.”
The President is expected to address the recommendation, and possibly enact some of the proposed changes, sometime in January.

“The message to the NSA is now coming from every branch of government and from every corner of our nation: You have gone too far. The bulk collection of Americans’ data by the US government must end,” Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters Friday. “This momentous report from the President’s closest advisers is a vindication of the efforts of a bipartisan group of legislators that has been working for years to protect Americans’ privacy by reining in these intelligence authorities.”

Related:

Obama defends NSA programs during rare White House press conference

Yahoo announces plan to encrypt all customer data, email by 2014.

Yahoo announces plan to encrypt all customer data, email by 2014.(RT).

Mayer published the news in an announcement to customers on Yahoo’s Tumblr page. She acknowledged that the changes are in response to the NSA leaks that began in June, which have outraged the public and challenged internet leaders to come up with an answer. 

“We’ve worked hard over the years to earn our users’ trust and we fight hard to preserve it. As you know, there have been a number of reports over the last six months about the US government secretly accessing user data without the knowledge of tech companies, including Yahoo,” she wrote. 
“I want to reiterate what we have said in the past: Yahoo has never given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency. Ever. There is nothing more important to us than protecting our users’ privacy.” 

Mayer said the changes will be implemented by the first quarter of 2014. 
The statement comes less than one month after The Washington Post revealed that the NSA infiltrated the main communication links between Yahoo and Google centers located around the world. By doing so, the NSA essentially gave itself the ability to collect information from hundreds of users’ accounts, most of whom are Americans.  
Working in conjunction with the GCHQ, its British intelligence counterpart, the NSA processed 181,280,466 records showing which users sent or received emails, when they did so, and other context such as text, audio, and video. This program is in addition to the court-approved PRISM program, according to the Post report based on documents obtained by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. 
Yahoo recently announced that the company plans to better protect the privacy of Yahoo Mail by introducing Secure Sockets Layer - known as SSL - encrypting with a 2048-bit key. According to Mayer’s announcement, the company plans to build on that.
“We will encrypt all information that moves between our data centers by the end of Q1 of 2014,” she wrote, adding that Yahoo plans to “offer users an option to encrypt all data flow to/from Yahoo by the end of Q1 2014, work closely with our international Mail partners to ensure that Yahoo co-branded Mail accounts are https-enabled.” 
This announcement comes after Google went public with a similar encryption initiative that aims to turn messages from text into gibberish when Google is forced to turnover data by court order. Eric Grosse, vice president for security engineering at Google, told The Washington Post in September that such efforts are likely to continue. 

“It’s an arms race,” he said. “We see these government agencies as among the most skilled players in the game.” 

Germany, Brazil submit UN draft resolution to end mass surveillance.

Germany, Brazil submit UN draft resolution to end mass surveillance.(RT).

The draft resolution did not point fingers at any specific country, but UN diplomats said it was in response to recent revelations of US mass surveillance programs, Reuters reported.

The text of the resolution asks the 193-nation assembly to declare that it is "deeply concerned at human rights violations and abuses that may result from the conduct of any surveillance of communications, including extraterritorial surveillance of communications.”
The circulated draft also urges member states "to take measures to put an end to violations of these rights and to create the conditions to prevent such violations, including by ensuring that relevant national legislation complies with their obligations under international human rights law.”

It is expected that the draft resolution will be debated in the General Assembly's Third Committee, which deals with human rights issues.
"We have received the draft and will evaluate the text on its merits," said an official at the US mission to the United Nations. 
Several diplomats said they expect the resolution to receive support from the vast majority of UN member states.
The goal of the resolution is to gain wide international support and spread moral and political values on the subject of surveillance. 

The resolution’s intention is to call on member states “to establish independent national oversight mechanisms capable of ensuring transparency and accountability of State surveillance of communications, their interception and collection of personal data.”

It would also ask UN human rights chief Navi Pillay to publish a report "on the protection of the right to privacy in the context of domestic and extraterritorial, including massive, surveillance of communications, their interception and collection of personal data.”

US global surveillance sparked international outrage following leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and German Chancellor Angela Merkel found themselves in the middle of the controversy after reports emerged that both leaders were spied on by the NSA.
The US has stated that it is not spying on Merkel will not do so in the future. However, Washington has not commented on possible past surveillance.

Meanwhile, spy chief Keith Alexander has blamed US diplomats for ordering the surveillance of EU politicians. The White House is seeking to distance itself from the scandal, intimating the NSA was acting of its own volition. 

In a video conference to London on Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry addressed accusations that the NSA recorded millions of European citizens’ telephone calls. Kerry conceded that US surveillance has “in some cases...reached too far” and said the NSA had been conducting its espionage on “automatic pilot.”

Snowden may testify in Merkel phone tapping case without leaving Russia.

Drawing by Natalia Mikhaylenko

Snowden may testify in Merkel phone tapping case without leaving Russia.(RBTH).

Ex-U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden may testify in the case of Washington's monitoring of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone without leaving Russia, a source familiar with the situation told Interfax.

Snowden may answer German prosecutors' questions either via e-mail or in person in Russia, he said.
"Snowden's travel outside of Russia is practically ruled out. In this case, he will lose his refugee status and may be turned over to Washington by U.S. allies," the source said.

"However, in principle, the German Prosecutor General's Office may send its representatives to Russia or forward its questions to Snowden in written form," he said.

"This matter should be given serious consideration at the interstate level," he said.
German parliamentarian Hans-Christian Stroebele said earlier that Edward Snowden was prepared to testify before the German Prosecutor General's Office in the case of U.S. intelligence services' tapping of Merkel's phone.

Snowden fled to Hong Kong in May 2013 and then released classified information regarding the U.S. special services' online surveillance activities. Following this, Snowden arrived in Moscow on June 23.
The United States revoked his passport and he was to stay in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. Russia gave one-year asylum to Snowden on August 1 and he was able to leave the airport the same day.

EU delegation left with more questions than they arrived with, Washington’s answers don’t justify NSA spying.

EU delegation left with more questions than they arrived with, Washington’s answers don’t justify NSA spying. (RT).

The European Union’s delegation of politicians trusted with getting answers from Washington over the National Security Agency’s (NSA) espionage programs in the EU left with more questions than they arrived with.
The heated condemnation of the reports the US eavesdropped on millions of calls as well as the communication of EU leaders was dampened by spy Director Gen. Keith Alexander.
“It is much more important for this country that we defend this nation and take the beatings than it is to give up a program that would result in us being attacked,” Alexander told House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.

Furthermore, he said that the reports in European media alleging the NSA recorded millions of personal phone calls were “completely false.”

Addressing allegations of EU complicity in the spying he said that some data had been provided “to NSA by foreign partners,” but it is “not information that we collected on European citizens.”
“It represents information that we and our NATO allies have collected in defense of our countries and in support of military operations," said Alexander.

Following the meeting members of the delegation told RT’s Gayane Chichikyan that espionage on such a scale could not be justified by the American fight against terrorism.

Spanish MEP Salvador Sedo said that Alexander gave some statistics and an explanation neither of which “clarify the situation.” “This is not justifiable,” said Sedo, adding that the tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone was not included in Alexander’s explanation.

A group of German officials are also in Washington this week to address allegations of the NSA eavesdropping on the Chancellor phone.

RT’s correspondent, Gayane Chichikyan, described the EU delegation’s visit as purely “symbolic.”
“They came to Washington, expressed reserved indignation and then agreed to cooperate further. This is something that we’ve seen before,” said Chichikyan.


The EU delegation left Washington on Wednesday and it remains to be seen what action will be taken in relation to the talks with US officials. European leaders have threatened to suspend the multi-billion ‘Safe Harbor’ trade pact as a measure against US spying. The deal allows American companies to collect data on clients, something that the EU believes is being undermined by the NSA.Read the full story here.

"Yes We Can" - EU calls for suspension of multi-billion ‘Safe Harbor’ deal over NSA spying.

"Yes We Can" - EU calls for suspension of multi-billion ‘Safe Harbor’ deal over NSA spying.(RT).

The EU’s top politicians have slammed Washington for a “breakdown of trust” and seek guarantees for the safety of EU customer data.

“For ambitious and complex negotiations to succeed there needs to be trust among the negotiating partners,” EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said Wednesday in a speech at Yale University.

The Safe Harbor agreement has been in place for 13 years and it allows over 4,300 American companies to collect and process sales, emails and photos from EU customers. In order for firms to be able to collate this information they have to comply with seven directives to prevent data loss and disclosure.

However, EU officials believe the system is flawed and can be manipulated by the NSA. “If you look at the US legal environment, there is no adequate legal protection for EU citizens,” said the European Parliament’s leading data protection lawmaker Jan Philipp Albrecht after talks with officials in Washington.

In the light of the spy scandal the EU has threatened to suspend the treaty pending stipulated changes that would sure up security. EU leaders are expected to urge the US to strengthen its privacy laws to allow European citizen more control over how their private data is used.

If the ‘Safe Harbor’ pact is suspended it could have a massive knock-on effect, costing the US and EU billions of dollars in trade. Moreover, the pact allows US companies to get around the lengthy approval procedure by the European data protection authorities, without it some US firms would be forced to stop doing business in the EU.

“I don’t think the US government can be convinced by arguments or outrage alone, but by making it clear that American interests will suffer if this global surveillance is simply continued,” said Peter Schaar, the head of Germany’s data protection watchdog.


If Washington fails to comply with the EU’s demands then it could further endanger a free trade deal which could add an estimated $138 billion a year to each economy’s gross domestic product.

Reding warned that if changes were not made to US privacy regulations, negotiations for the free trade agreement could easily be “derailed.”

Negotiations on the conditions of the transatlantic agreement are due to resume in December and a decision is likely to be reached by the end of the year.

The revelations of the NSA’s spying activities in Europe scandalized the 28-nation bloc. Security leaks released by former CIA worker Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA taps millions of phone calls across the continent and stores the collected information in its data banks.

Furthermore, the security disclosures indicate the NSA not only monitors citizens it suspects are involved in terrorism, but also businessmen and high-profile politicians. ......AND THE VATICAN!

In the wake of the scandal the White House has launched an inquiry into its intelligence-gathering practices. Hmmm.........

Clapper: Obama was aware of NSA spying efforts.

Clapper: Obama was aware of NSA spying efforts.(Fars).

Despite US President Barack Obama rejecting the idea that he was aware of Washington’s spying on world leaders, the nation’s top spymaster said Tuesday that the president had been informed about the surveillance activities.

During a House Intelligence Committee hearing, National Intelligence Director James Clapper said that the National Security Agency and the CIA cannot tap into any leader’s private communications without permission from the White House.

The New York Times said Clapper did not specifically say whether Obama was told of the spying efforts, “but he appeared to challenge assertions in recent days that the White House had been in the dark about some of the agency’s practices.”

Clapper’s remark contradicts Obama’s claim that he didn’t know about the spying efforts.
The testimony came amid mounting questions about how the NSA collects information overseas, with congressional lawmakers calling for a review of surveillance programs.
Last week, revelations based on documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward J. Snowden showed that the US had monitored phone calls of 35 world leaders including that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported that NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander had briefed President Obama in 2010 that Merkel’s phone was being tapped. “Obama did not halt the operation but rather let it continue,” the paper said, citing a high-ranking NSA official.
President Obama has promised a “complete review” of overseas spying operations and reportedly apologized to Merkel and the presidents of France and Brazil, who were also subject to NSA surveillance.

Bild: "Obama wanted to know everything about Merkel, personally authorized espionage against Merkel"

Bild: "Obama wanted to know everything about Merkel, personally authorized espionage against Merkel".HT : Bild.(googletranslate).

Bild : "This report, the White House must deny on Sunday: The U.S. president has explicitly approved the eavesdropping attack against the Chancellor!"

According to a report in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" Obama assured the chancellor on Wednesday afternoon in a personal telephone conversation that he had known nothing of it.

Should the report be true, then at least that was a diplomatic white lie. For, according to information from Bild am Sonntag in U.S. intelligence circles of the President 2010 by NSA chief Keith Alexander was personally informed about the covert operation against Merkel.

"Obama did not stop the easedropping action, but it continue to operate," said one of the NSA operation against Merkel intelligence officials familiar Bild am Sonntag.

"Obama has not stopped the action, but continue to operate the wiretapping," said one of the NSA operation against Merkel intelligence officials familiar Bild am Sonntag.

The White House ordered the NSA a comprehensive dossier on the Chancellor. For Obama, the senior NSA man, Merkel did not trust, wanted to know everything about the German: "Who is this woman exactly"

For the high interest to the Obama eavesdroppers results also says: The findings of the NSA specialists were not, as usual, first in the intelligence headquarters at Fort Meade / Maryland, but went directly to the White House in Washington. 

Collected the information about Merkel on the fourth floor of the U.S. Embassy at the Brandenburg Gate. There, the secret force works with the latest technology, which recorded everything about the Merkel cell phone ran.Read the full story here.

BBC: US bugged Merkel's phone from 2002 until 2013, report claims

Germany, Brazil enlist 19 more countries for anti-NSA UN resolution.

Germany, Brazil enlist 19 more countries for anti-NSA UN resolution.(RT).

The news was reported by Foreign Policy magazine, which has also obtained a copy of the draft text.

The resolution was proposed earlier this week by Germany and Brazil, whose leaders have been some of the most vocal critics of the comprehensive spying methods of the US National Security Agency.

It appears to have gained additional traction after the Guardian newspaper published an internal NSA memo sourced from whistleblower Edward Snowden on Friday, which revealed that at least 35 heads of state had their phones tapped by American intelligence officials.

One of those is likely German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Earlier this week the White House failed to deny that her personal cell phone had been tapped in the past, though it claims that it no longer listens in on Merkel’s private conversations.

Other countries involved in the talks reportedly include Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guyana, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Liechtenstein, Norway, Paraguay, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay and Venezuela.



While the document does not single out the US as the chief electronic spy, its text seems to be a direct response to alleged NSA practices.

The draft says that UN member states are “deeply concerned at human rights violations and abuses that may result from the conduct of extra-territorial surveillance or interception of communications in foreign jurisdictions.”

Snowden’s leaks over the past months have revealed that NSA intercepts data directly from data cables stationed around the world. Internal documents also showed that American intelligence staff did not need a warrant or any other legal basis to freely spy on a non-US citizen.

The proposed document also claims that “illegal surveillance of private communications and the indiscriminate interception of personal data of citizens constitutes a highly intrusive act that violates the rights to freedom of expression and privacy and threatens the foundations of a democratic society.”

As opposed to the targeted spying of the past, where agencies would tap a specific phone or intercept letters addressed to a person, new technologies mean that almost all data that passes through the internet is saved onto the NSA servers. This includes private emails, web searches, and personal data of billions of people. NSA agents then fish out the needed information with precise searches.


The resolution, which is expected to be presented in front of the U.N. General Assembly human rights committee before the end of the year, turns NSA’s activities into an issue of fundamental rights as opposed to international politics, requiring the High Commissioner for Human Rights to present the world community with a report on the issue.

The draft also asks to institute “independent oversight mechanisms” that would curb the untrammelled surveillance, though it does not specify how such a secretive activity could be effectively supervised.

NSA site down due to alleged DDoS attack.

NSA site down due to alleged DDoS attack.(RT).

The website for the United States National Security Agency suddenly went offline Friday.NSA.gov has been unavailable globally as of late Friday afternoon, and Twitter accounts belonging to people loosely affiliated with the Anonymous hacktivism movement have suggested they are responsible.

Twitter users @AnonymousOwn3r and @TruthIzSexy both were quick to comment on the matter, and implied that a distributed denial-of-service attack, or DDoS, may have been waged as an act of protest against the NSA

Allegations that those users participated in the DDoS — a method of over-loading a website with too much traffic — are currently unverified, and @AnonymousOwn3r has previously taken credit for downing websites in a similar fashion, although those claims have been largely contested.

The crippling of NSA.gov comes amid a series of damning national security documents that have been disclosed without authorization by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. The revelations in the leaked documents have impassioned people around the globe outraged by evidence of widespread surveillance operated by the NSA, and a massive “Stop Watching Us” rally is scheduled for Saturday in Washington, DC.

DDoS attacks are illegal in the United States under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or CFAA, and two cases are currently underway in California and Virginia in which federal judges are weighing in on instances in which members of Anonymous allegedly used the technique to take down an array of sites during anti-copyright campaigns waged by the group in 2010 and 2011. In those cases, so-called hacktivsits are reported to have conspired together to send immense loads of traffic to targeted websites, rendering them inaccessible due to the overload.

Updated:

NSA site went down due to 'internal error', not DDoS attack, agency claims

Ex-Mossad Head: Obama Spies on Us Jews, Too.

Ex-Mossad Head: Obama Spies on Us Jews, Too.(INN).By Maayana Miskin.

The White House listens to Israel’s calls, former Mossad head says. ‘When they think they need to bug phones, they do it.’

It is very likely that American spy agencies are listening in on Israeli leaders’ phone calls, as they are accused of having done in Germany and dozens of other countries, former Mossad head Danny Yatom told Maariv/nrg.“It could very well be that it happened here, too, because when the Americans think they need to listen in on someone, that’s what they do,” he stated.

The White House is probably particularly interested in hearing what Israeli leaders say about regional issues that America is involved in, such as Israel’s talks with the Palestinian Authority, or the deal that Western powers are likely to reach with Iran’s leaders over the Iranian nuclear program, he said.

United States President Barack Obama and his staff want to know what Israeli leaders really think “so that they can counter the arguments Israel brings up regarding these topics,” he explained.
America has been listening in on the leaders of friendly states for years, he noted, and if Israeli phones were bugged, “it wasn’t necessarily only in Netanyahu’s time.”

Yatom took a critical view of the American approach. “The Americans – rightly – see themselves as a superpower, but they are wrong in thinking they can do whatever they want… Ultimately if [allegations of eavesdropping] are proved true, the Americans will have no choice but to apologize for what they did, but they’ll keep doing it,” he said.

Allegations recently surfaced according to which US spy agencies monitored German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone conversations. White House spokespeople have denied the reports.
On Thursday, the Guardian reported that the American National Security Agency (NSA) monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders. The report was based on a document provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.