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'Hackers' give orders to German missile battery

German-owned Patriot missiles stationed in Turkey were briefly taken over by hackers,

according to media reports on Tuesday.

The attack took place on anti-aircraft ‘Patriot’ missiles on the Syrian border. The American-made weapons had been stationed there by the Bundeswehr (German army) to protect Nato ally Turkey.

According to the civil service magazine, the missile system carried out “unexplained†orders. It was not immediately clear when these orders were carried out and what they were.

Attackers might have gained access in two different ways, one that takes over the operating of the missile system and one that steals data from it.

In June 2015 Germany announced that it would replace its Patriot missiles with MEADS, an air defence system designed in cooperation with the USA and Italy.

http://www.thelocal.de/20150707/german-missiles-taken-over-by-hackers

Die Welt google transl.

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Africa develops slowly

because it was destroyed by centuries of colonization, now by aids, religious extremism, lack of education, they have raw materials, natural resources, but all is robbed by corporations who (although officially colonies exist no more) act like there were still colonialism , just local governments are easy to corrupt because living level is even beyond what we would call poverty, also lack of state-structures and clan-structures cause many tribal-wars,

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Beyond Greece, the world is filled with debt crises

Drama in Athens reflects a bigger truth: precarious countries across the globe

owe trillions of dollars to lenders and investors who must be repaid

Yet new analysis by the Jubilee Debt Campaign reveals that Greece’s plight is far from unique: more than 20 other countries are also wrestling with their own debt crises. Many more, from Senegal to Laos, lie in a debt danger zone, where an economic downturn or a sudden jump in interest rates on world debt markets could lead to disaster.

But it’s not just in the developing world where low interest rates and the legacy of the crisis have increased the temptation to paper over the cracks with borrowed money. Jubilee found that net cross-border lending worldwide, including the private sector as well as governments, has increased from $11.3 trillion in 2011 to $13.8tn in 2014 – and forecasts that it will reach $14.7tn this year.

That’s a 30% rise in just four years and a sign that the “global imbalances†many experts saw as a key cause of the crisis are far from resolved.

The lacklustre global recovery has also been a factor in driving up debt levels as policymakers seek to restore pre-crisis living standards.

“All this debt is probably being accumulated because other sources of growth are increasingly in decline,†says Russell Jones. “There’s a lot of pressure on governments and central banks to keep things going at the old rate.â€

Countries currently in government external debt crisis

  • Armenia
  • Belize
  • Costa Rica
  • Croatia
  • Cyprus
  • Dominican Republic
  • El Salvador
  • The Gambia
  • Greece
  • Grenada
  • Ireland
  • Jamaica
  • Lebanon
  • Macedonia
  • Marshall Islands
  • Montenegro
  • Portugal
  • Spain
  • Sri Lanka
  • St Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Tunisia
  • Ukraine
  • Sudan
  • Zimbabwe

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/11/beyond-greece-world-filled-debt-crises

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“All this debt is probably being accumulated because other sources of growth are increasingly in decline,†says Russell Jones. “There’s a lot of pressure on governments and central banks to keep things going at the old rate.â€

I disagree with Russell Jones.

That kind of external debt issues have been happening over an over along the 20th century (Specially in Africa and in South America), it's nothing new.

The problem in certain authoritarian regimes, but also in certain democracies is that the leadership can access to a lot of credit because they are countries, and countries are not meant to fall in bankruptcy. And people tend to believe that their elected Govs will act in a responsible manner.

It gets worst in certain democracies, where as the rulers only serve for a limited time, so they can "afford" getting as much in debt as they want to gain immediate public favor because its gonna be the next gov the one that will have to face the harsh consequences. I'm afraid it is an inherent part of the current capitalist system.

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Wesley Clark Calls for Internment Camps for "Radicalized" Americans

Retired US general and former Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark on Friday

called for World War II-style internment camps to be revived for “disloyal Americans.â€

In an interview with MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts in the wake of the mass shooting in Chatanooga, Tennessee, Clark said that during World War II, “if someone supported Nazi Germany at the expense of the United States, we didn’t say that was freedom of speech, we put him in a camp, they were prisoners of war.â€

He called for a revival of internment camps to help combat Muslim extremism, saying, “If these people are radicalized and they don’t support the United States and they are disloyal to the United States as a matter of principle, fine. It’s their right and it’s our right and obligation to segregate them from the normal community for the duration of the conflict.â€

The comments were shockingly out of character for Clark, who after serving as supreme allied commander of NATO made a name for himself in progressive political circles. In 2004, his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination was highly critical of the Bush administration’s excessive response to the 9/11 terror attacks. Since then, he has been a critic of policies that violate the Geneva Convention, saying in 2006 that policies such as torture violate “the very values that [we] espouse.â€

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/20/chattanooga-wesley-clark-calls-internment-camps-disloyal-americans/

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http://wpolityce.pl/swiat/260032-nowa-nadzieja-dla-asii-bibi-sad-najwyzszy-uniewaznil-wyrok-smierci

highest court of Pakistan took positively claim of sentencing to death Christian woman for blasphemy against Prophet,

but case was sentenced for further proceeding and she is yet not free neither she has allowance to leave Pakistan

a real refugee - Christian sentenced under Sharia

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The BRICS countries just launched a rival to the IMF and the World Bank

The so-called emerging BRICS countries are made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and their "New Development Bank" has been seen as a challenge to the Washington-based International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Operations would begin late this year or early in 2016, he added.

A Chinese analyst denied the BRICS bank was aimed at challenging other multilateral agencies.

China will be the biggest AIIB shareholder at about 30%, according to the legal framework signed late last month by 50 founding member countries.

The US and Japan — the world's largest and third-largest economies, respectively — have declined to join the AIIB.

Moscow, which has suffered huge currency fluctuations and struggled to attract investors since the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine, sees the bank and a BRICS currency reserve pool as an alternative to international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank, which are dominated by the US.

The BRICS nations represent 40% of the world's population and previously agreed to establish the bank, with estimated capital of $100 billion (90 billion euros).

http://uk.businessinsider.com/afp-new-brics-bank-opens-for-business-in-china-xinhua-2015-7?r=US&IR=T

Edited by oxmox

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how nepotism is treated/fought/perceived around a globe ?

i am asking this question cause i worked over decade in "public sector" in "post commie" country and such things here in Poland are one of most basic things deciding about position, job, oportunity, salary in public sector or even state-contracts with privated industry, 

how it is treated across the globe "it is not important what you know, it is important whom you know"

 

last time i witnessed following situation:

one of ministries here, a person works in department where her/his education is totally different than required (lets say there is required technical university and person lets say graduated philosophy or ethnography - studies which usually end with unemployment and "washing dishes in Mc" and private business sector call such education "useless") , 

person has bigger salary than others , person doesn't do too much alone but others must do for that person and that person "utilizes" other people work (1, 2, 3 people prepared something, this person receives it, signs paper that it is her/his job and get bonus for it), moreover this person even say "i have no clue what you talk about this technical stuff, for me it sounds bullshit all those technical words that i do not understand hahaha" (more over, other person lost job/function to give this person higher position)  and even head/director/foreman afraids to harm that person cause this person is relative to one politician/someone important/someone high ranked in other institution 

edit:

i know example of second person - this second person (without skills) has speeches prepared for her, and she say those speeches/lectures, she get extra money for it (called "training") and in fact she simply read ms powerpoint presentations made by others, but she is "very good expert" according to director, altough without ms powerpoint files prepared by people below - she would not be able to do any "lecture" (cause she simply doesn't know it, she read what other person prepared her)

so person A earns 2000 PLN and he makeks powerpoint files , she (daughter of someone important) gets 3000 + 1000 for "lectures" (which were prepared by mr A)

in normal business /private proprerty company/ noone would hire such person like she is, but in public sector it is different,

 

how does it work around globe ? how it is fought ? any global stats ? i do not call it corruption cause corruption is connected with bribe , this simply nepotism in public sector

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Former United Nations President taking $1.3m in bribes  (BBC)

US authorities have charged a former United Nations General Assembly president with taking bribes from a Chinese billionaire.

New York prosecutors said John Ashe "converted the UN into a platform for profit" as he helped real estate mogul Ng Lap Seng gain government contracts.

 

Mr Ashe is accused of taking $1.3m, spending the cash on luxury goods.

 

"In return for Rolex watches, a basketball court and bespoke suits, John Ashe sold himself and the global institution he led," said US Federal Attorney Preet Bharara. "United by greed, they converted the UN into a platform for profit."

 

 

Prosecutors say Mr Ashe used his position as permanent resident to the United Nations for Antigua and Barbuda and General Assembly head to introduce a UN document supporting a multibillion-dollar UN-sponsored conference centre that Mr Ng hoped to build as his legacy in Macau, where he lived.

 

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34459205

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The Arab Winter (The Economist)

 

Five years after a wave of uprisings, the Arab world is worse off than ever.

But its people understand their predicament better.

 

On January 14th those protesters forced Zein al Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia’s dictator for the previous quarter-century, from office.

What followed was not easy

But in 2015 the country became the first Arab state ever to be judged fully “free†by Freedom House.

 

 

There were six Arab countries in which massive peaceful protests called for hated rulers to go in the spring of 2011.

None of the other uprisings came to a happy end.

 

Arab_Winter.png

 

* Libya and Yemen have imploded, their central states replaced in whole or part by warring militias,

  some backed by foreign powers, some flying the flags of al-Qaeda or Islamic State.

 

* Egypt and the island kingdom of Bahrain are now yet more autocratic, in some ways, than when the protests began.

 

* And Syria has descended into an abyss.

  Half its cities lie in ruins, much of its fertile land has been abandoned; millions have been displaced within the country,

  millions more have fled beyond it; hundreds of thousands have died;   there is no end in sight.

 

*  With the exception of its far east and west—the oil-rich Gulf and quietly prospering Morocco,

   aloof behind a border with Algeria that has been sealed for 21 years—

   the rest of the Arab-world does not look much better.

 

* Iraq’s Shia south and Kurdish north and north-east are, in effect, separate countries, while in the war zone of its Sunni-dominated

  west the fearsomely brutal rule of the so-called Islamic   State has taken root.

 

* The Algerians and Sudanese have emerged from civil wars to find themselves still beholden to opaque and predatory army-backed cliques.

 

Palestinians, divided into rival cantons, are weaker and more isolated than ever.

 

* Jordan remains an island of calm preserved through fear: both the kingdom’s own people and the donor countries that prop

   it up are too spooked by the chaos buffeting its borders and   flooding it with refugees to talk much of political reform.

 

@

The "Arab Spring" did happening in more countries which are not mentioned in this press article, often quickly violently suppressed:

 

i.e.

* Bahrain

* Oman

* Kuwait

* Saudi Arabia

* United Arab Emirates

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring

 

In short, Arabs have rarely lived in bleaker times. The hopes raised by the Arab spring—for more inclusive politics and more responsive government, for more jobs and fewer presidential cronies carving up the economy—have been dashed. The wells of despair are overflowing.

 

......continue reading the article.

 

Economist

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Finally a confirmation of what already everybody knew in Germany

 

http://international.sueddeutsche.de/post/143690739565/ttippapiere

 

In german: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/-geheime-ttip-papiere-enthuellt-1.2975097-2

 

Fuck you USA

 

Sincerely, the european citizens 

(And fuck Merkel and our Industry as well while we are at it)

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It seems in Turkey there was a military coup.. Yet not clear who turned..

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Duterte says he wants U.S. special forces out of southern Philippines (Reuters, Sept. 12)

 

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday called for the withdrawal of U.S. military from a restive southern island,

fearing an American troop presence could complicate offensives against Islamist militants notorious for beheading Westerners.

 

more...

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-usa-duterte-idUSKCN11I10J

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Sorry, little necrobump* - i just stumbled upon this german taz newspost about china buffing it´s military spendings (like alot!) and before i could read two sentences that pic stole my attention:

*once hated, nearly a relic of a time gone by now 😄 <--- it italics the smileys!?! hot damn!

 

china-militaer-aufruestung-1.jpeg

 

Did they really build the Commanche that we (well, yanks) never got?

And why in the world would they repeat the same "i want a flying tank" redesign that happened on the apache?

 

Your thoughts?

 

 

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That's CAIC Z-10, which was always intended as a heavy attack helicopter. The lighter, more "Commanche-like" (even though Commanche evolved into a quite heavy machine itself) Chinese attack heli is the new Harbin Z-19. But even though light attack helis are seemingly more and more popular (after Tiger, A129 and now Z-19), the old heavy concept is far from dead yet - Russians are very into heavy attack choppers, and even USMC AH-1Z is heavier than Apache (Agusta A129 is also getting "thiccer" with the TAI T129 redesign, and possible AW249 development).

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Mhmm, that is pretty thicc, such curvy shapes... OK, I'll stop now. Is that a dark-Olivehawk in front of it?

  • Haha 1

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That's Harbin Z-20. Chinese bought a number of UH-60As in 1980s, but for whatever reason* decided to focus on a mix of light Z-9s (Eurocopter Dauphin), medium Mi-17s and heavy Z-8s (Eurocopter Super Frelon). Now they're looking for replacement for both Z-9 and Mi-17 and the "FakeHawk" is one of the contenders (the other is also an Airbus product, EC175).

 

* official story says due to embargoes after Tiananmen, but that somehow haven't prevented them from getting other tech from the west.

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19 hours ago, krzychuzokecia said:

That's CAIC Z-10, which was always intended as a heavy attack helicopter. The lighter, more "Commanche-like" (even though Commanche evolved into a quite heavy machine itself) Chinese attack heli is the new Harbin Z-19. But even though light attack helis are seemingly more and more popular (after Tiger, A129 and now Z-19), the old heavy concept is far from dead yet - Russians are very into heavy attack choppers, and even USMC AH-1Z is heavier than Apache (Agusta A129 is also getting "thiccer" with the TAI T129 redesign, and possible AW249 development).

 

Lot´s of reading up to do. From a glance at Wikipedia im surprised though how with the Z-10 they: quote "preferred a lighter-weight, more agile airframe with less emphasis on armor." and yet ended up with the NATO Code: BLOBMANCHE

 

As for Cobra being now heavier than the Apache ... i´m flabbergasted!

 

 

4 hours ago, krzychuzokecia said:

That's Harbin Z-20.

 

 

2:46 Can´t put a finger on it, but the backend of FakeHawk yells in a russian language at me. Like something they unwelded from old Mi helicopters 😄

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