Blogger and journalist Glenn Greenwald, who along with Laura Poitras broke the story of Edward Snowden's NSA leaks, announced today that he is departing the Guardian newspaper to join a "new news venture backed by eBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar," reports Paul Farhi at The Washington Post. — Read the rest
"You not only shouldn't be afraid, but do not be afraid."
Glenn Greenwald conferenced in to the Socialism 2013 conference in Chicago, to speak about Edward Snowden's leaks about the NSA's surveillance program. Introduction by Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater and Dirty Wars, and Sherry Wolf, author of Sexuality and Socialism. — Read the rest
This month's Harper's Magazine includes a feature by Charles Glass about the growth of private security firms since 9/11, "The Warrior Class: A golden age for the freelance soldier."
— Read the restThe conclusion to the piece describes a series of videos shown to Glass by a source who had worked for the private-security company Blackwater (now Academi, formerly also Xe Services) in Iraq.
Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater (now rebranded "Xe") is building a stealth, American-led mercenary army in the United Arab Emirates "with $529 million from the oil-soaked sheikdom." The business plan, at least in part, appears to be to help autocratic regimes crush popular democratic uprisings—a response to "Arab Spring." — Read the rest
About an hour ago, six reporters with Al Jazeera were arrested in Cairo. This follows a crackdown on the news network's operations by the Egyptian government. Al Jazeera correspondent Dan Nolan live-tweeted the group's arrest, above.
Update: Reports are now circulating that they've been released, following a request from the US State Department Foreign Affairs Ministry. — Read the rest
Jeremy Scahill's brave and outraged "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" renders the story of the Blackwater mercenary group, and other mercenary groups that have seized the economic opportunities opened by the Bush regime's willingness to offer no-bid contracts and no-liability opportunities to fight America's wars. — Read the rest
* Last year, photographer Siege spent his life's savings on a trailer for his mom (above) and 13-year-old brother in Louisiana. Katrina destroyed their trailer home, and ate their belongings. Siege returned to Louisiana with his girlfriend to help them recover. — Read the rest
