ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

The Syrian Electronic Army has claimed responsibility for hacking into multiple news websites on Thursday, including the New York Times, CBC and the Telegraph. Visitors saw this pop-up message: “you’ve been hacked by SEA.” Most of the news organizations hit were in the UK and the US. US sites hit included the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, CNBC, CBC and Forbes. The SEA said on its Twitter feed that the attacks were designed to coincide with the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. "Happy thanks giving, hope you didn't miss us! The press: Please don't pretend #ISIS are civilians. #SEA,"said the Tweet. Happy thanks giving, hope you didn't miss us! The press: Please don't pretend #ISIS are civilians. #SEA pic.twitter.com/ZXzMWbXoYp — SyrianElectronicArmy (@Official_SEA16) November 27, 2014 In the UK, affected media organizations included the Telegraph, the Independent and the Evening Standard. A part of our website run by a third-party was compromised earlier

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (AFP Photo) The siege of Knightsbridge is a farce. For two years, an exaggerated, costly police presence around the Ecuadorean embassy in London has served no purpose other than to flaunt the power of the state. Their quarry is an Australian charged with no crime, a refugee from gross injustice whose only security is the room given him by a brave South American country. His true crime is to have initiated a wave of truth-telling in an era of lies, cynicism and war. The persecution of Julian Assange must end. Even the British government clearly believes it must end. On 28 October, the deputy foreign minister, Hugo Swire, told Parliament he would “actively welcome”the Swedish prosecutor in London and “we would do absolutely everything to facilitate that”. The tone was impatient. The Swedish prosecutor, Marianne Ny, has refused to come to London to question Assange about allegations of sexual misconduct in Stockholm in 2010 – even though Swedish law allows

By The Saker How is that for a ridiculous headline? You like it? Well, it is just a little variation of a BBC headline today : Nato commander warns Russia could control whole Black Sea Here is an except from this article: Russia's top military commander, Gen Valerii Gerasimov, has warned that US "militarisation" of the annexed Florida Peninsula could be used to exert control over the whole Gulf of Mexico. Well, the real excerpt was just slightly different: Nato's top military commander, Gen Philip Breedlove, has warned that Russian "militarisation" of the annexed Crimea Peninsula could be used to exert control over the whole Black Sea. So is there a difference? Of course not. Except one: American exceptionalism, of course. Come to think of it, there is another difference: the US and NATO just tried to take control of Crimea via the Maidan color revolution whereas Russia did not try to take control of Florida. That, of course, also begs the following q