Thread: Edward Snowden and his stay in Russia

Originally Posted by Deborski

Major opinion shifts, in the US and Congress, on NSA surveillance and privacy | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Poll shows that for the first time since 9/11, more Americans are worried about civil liberties than terrorism.

From article:

"Overall, 47% say their greater concern about government anti-terrorism policies is that they have gone too far in restricting the average person's civil liberties, while 35% say they are more concerned that policies have not gone far enough to protect the country. This is the first time in Pew Research polling that more have expressed concern over civil liberties than protection from terrorism since the question was first asked in 2004."

Could Americans be starting to wake up at long last? (I mean, apart from you, Deborski, lol!)
Terrorism is just a bogeyman and an excuse for starting wars, spying on citizens and much more.

The UK had IRA who killed lots of people, Spain had ETA,Germany had RAF, Russia has Dagestan/Chechnya Etc!!

None flipped out like the USA did over 9/11.
And guess what; IRA agreed to a peace treaty, ETA voluntarily put down their arms, the RAF members got old and decided they had enough of fighting the system and Chechnya did --- whatever they did -- but at least they stopped killing regular Russians.

There is no need to turn the whole world upside down, start wars and become Big Brother from 1984 just because of one terrorist attack!

Although I'm no conspiracy theorist it's certainly INTERESTING to note that 9/11 gave the US government and top corporations carte blanche to start wars, start snooping, sell weapons like there's no tomorrow, create a whole privately employed army in the Middle East, start the drone programme and what not.
Reminds me of a Ludlum novel I read many years ago, where private weapons/security interests set off a bunch of disasters, to turn the whole planet into a Big Brother states so they could rake in the profits from it. To many of thew private corporations in the USA, Osama bin Laden is the best thing that ever happened to their balance sheets.

Originally Posted by Doomer

That's a little bit too much of the black paint
How many unarmed US citizens did the US killed willingly?

The point is: They don't CARE who dies as they try to kill "terrorists".
And besides, one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighters. The people they are killing are in most cases religious people who also happen to be anti-imperialist and supporters of Islam in their countries. Why should they deserve to die for that?
If they have to die, let their own governments take care of it; it's nothing to do with the USA.

But for some reason the USA reckons it's entitled to go in anywhere it likes and kill off people it doesn't like. It's revolting.
One day Yemen, the next day...... your country or mine!!!

The USA is totally out of control. Like a rapist who thinks he's entitled to sleep with any woman he likes, and whoever doesn't accommodates gets beaten up, or even killed. That's a good allegory of the behaviour of the USA in the Middle East, East Asia and South America over the last half century!

Originally Posted by Doomer

CPUs of many computers in the world are made in the USA
China doesn't have much of technology to produce competitive stuff on their own

Last I heard, most of the components for CPUs were made in China, Taiwan.... S. Korea, Israel... Japan

Originally Posted by Hanna

Could Americans be starting to wake up at long last? (I mean, apart from you, Deborski, lol!)
Terrorism is just a bogeyman and an excuse for starting wars, spying on citizens and much more.

The UK had IRA who killed lots of people, Spain had ETA,Germany had RAF, Russia has Dagestan/Chechnya Etc!!

None flipped out like the USA did over 9/11.
And guess what; IRA agreed to a peace treaty, ETA voluntarily put down their arms, the RAF members got old and decided they had enough of fighting the system and Chechnya did --- whatever they did -- but at least they stopped killing regular Russians.

There is no need to turn the whole world upside down, start wars and become Big Brother from 1984 just because of one terrorist attack!

Although I'm no conspiracy theorist it's certainly INTERESTING to note that 9/11 gave the US government and top corporations carte blanche to start wars, start snooping, sell weapons like there's no tomorrow, create a whole privately employed army in the Middle East, start the drone programme and what not.
Reminds me of a Ludlum novel I read many years ago, where private weapons/security interests set off a bunch of disasters, to turn the whole planet into a Big Brother states so they could rake in the profits from it. To many of thew private corporations in the USA, Osama bin Laden is the best thing that ever happened to their balance sheets.

If what I see on Facebook is any indicator, then people are definitely waking up. When the Snowden story first broke, I heard a lot of people calling him "traitor" and now I am hearing more concern from those very same people, not about Snowden, but about the police state we live in. Then again, it's only Facebook. But the poll I posted above gives me hope that this could be a new trend.

I think America's biggest problem right now, what is causing this police state as well as our military aggression overseas, is greed, bottom line. The military-industrial complex is the strongest in our nation. It has bought and paid for all of our political representatives, so that they no longer represent the people but rather the lobbyists who bribe them (legally).

If we could eliminate public campaign funding, and ensure that every candidate gets equal and fair publicity, we might have a chance at turning things around I think. That was the original goal of the Occupy movement, before they got sidetracked trying to protest everything at the same time. But I have little hope that this will ever change, especially given prevalent attitudes in the United States.

I do know, however, that every time I gather with my friends, the overriding concern everyone has is the militarization of America, the loss of our freedoms, and the burgeoning police state. What we can actually DO about it is a completely different matter, unfortunately. I think nothing will change until some breaking point is reached, and people are still far too comfortable (and distracted) for that to happen here.

Originally Posted by Hanna

Last I heard, most of the components for CPUs were made in China, Taiwan.... S. Korea, Israel... Japan

I don't think CPUs have components
CPU is a chip that is "grown" on silicon base.

Originally Posted by Doomer

I don't think CPUs have components
CPU is a chip that is "grown" on silicon base.

True. It's more like etching a pattern of transistors from a solid plate of transistors that are just pure silicon.