Monthly Archives: July 2017

India has failed Taslima Nasreen yet again: Freedom of speech is still a victim as govt, police pass the buck – Firstpost

Posted: July 31, 2017 at 10:00 am

India has failed Taslima Nasreen yet again. The fact that the Bangladeshi author was denied entry into Aurangabad in Maharashtra, despite BJP governments at the state and the Centre, indicates that there is no space for freedom of speech in India regardless of which political formation is in power.

Cartoon by Manjul

And this isn't the first time that Nasreen has faced bullying from fundamentalists in India. What makes her case truly tragic is that there is no one to speak up for her. In her work, Nasreen has often taken a stand against bigotry and intolerance in Islam and has largely been abandoned by the so-called liberals. Her ordeals, in India at least, sit at the intersection of constitutional ambiguity, pseudo-secularism, votebank politics, mob violence and the State's repeated and pathetic failure in implementing law and order.

It is bad enough that the exiled author, now a Swedish citizen, has to go through the annual humiliation of applying for an Indian visa. Now it appears that we are unable to ensure even her basic safety when she is in the country on a low-key, private visit. She intended to visit the Ajanta and Ellora caves but all she witnessed was the caving in of the Maharashtra Police.

Rahul Shrirame, deputy commissioner of police (Zone-II), told PTI that the author, who landed in Aurangabad around 7.30 pm on Saturday, was immediately sent back by a Mumbai-bound flight to avoid any "law and order problem" in the city.

Yashasvi Yadav, the city police commissioner, told The Times of India that the writer had not shared prior details of her visit with the cops, and "citing security reasons, we asked her to board the next flight, and she agreed".

File image of Taslima Nasreen. PTI

"There is already tension and tight security in the city because of the ongoing demolition of illegal religious structures. We cannot tackle more problems at this moment," another police officer was quoted as saying in the same report.

Interestingly, even as the police claimed that they were unaware of Nasreen's itinerary until an hour of her arrival, the protestors a motley crew led by AIMIM legislator Imtiyaz Jaleel possessed specific details of her programme. They knew when she would arrive and were ready at the airport gate with placards, while another group started creating a ruckus in front of the five-star hotel where she had booked a room in her friend's name.

Shrirame admitted that the protestors knew very specific details. "We are wondering about the source of such specific information. The protestors were aware of her entire schedule, including the places she would be visiting and the date she would be returning."

An argument is being made that it was Nasreen's decision to return to Mumbai. She acted out of own volition. This is hogwash. When cops are dropping large hints that her stay at Aurangabad could "create law and order problems", what is she to do? Take a risk? The law and order machinery is part of the state's coercive power. And it exists for a reason. It is the state's responsibility to ensure rule of law and it cannot put the onus on the individual. It is a pathetic attempt at blame-shifting and paints a miserable picture of the Devendra Fadnavis administration.

Sadly, the script follows the template set by the Left Front or Trinamool Congress governments in West Bengal. The "progressive" Left Front had repeatedly caved in before Islamists in banning Nasreen's bookDwikhandita in 2004, or in asking her to leave the state in 2007 to ensure peace.

Soon after coming to power, the Mamata Banerjee government in 2012 had cancelled the release of her book Nirbashan at the vaunted Kolkata Book Fair, and a year later, stopped the airing of a TV serial scripted by the acclaimed author. According to a report in The Indian Express, it was done under direct instructions from the chief minister.

This prompted Nasreen to tell the media that Mamata turned out to be harsher than the earlier Left regime. "I had expected the situation in West Bengal to change after Mamata came to power. But I was wrong. I found her harsher than the earlier Left Front government," she was quoted as saying.

Furthermore, in an interview to Catch News, the writer had blasted the TMC government for "creating a Frankenstein". "Mamata Banerjee's Muslim appeasement policy made these fundamentalists this violent. I remember, two years ago, when her government banned my TV script only to appease some Muslim fanatics. Now she is seeing the results of those actions. She has created a Frankenstein monster."

It isn't about the BJP, the Left Front, Congress (banning Salman Rushdie) or the TMC, however. It is about the State's failure to uphold an individual's rights before the coercive power of the collective. This mentality goes at the heart of the mob violence or lynching episodes in India where anyone can twist rules and break laws under the cover of a group.

The Constitution fails to protect the citizen, simply because far too many dilutions have been allowed to affect the sanctity of Article 19(1)(a). Free speech is one of the building blocks of democracy, but in India, in a radical sleight of competitive vote-bank politics, the fundamental right to express one's opinion has been totally usurped by one's right to feel offended.

In the current scenario, furthermore, there is another devious ploy at work. The AIMIM is catering to its electoral constituency in protesting against Nasreen (never mind that many of those protestors may not have read even one her books), while the BJP is scoring points in letting the author become a victim of Islamist intolerance. It's a zero sum, yet a win-win game for both.

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India has failed Taslima Nasreen yet again: Freedom of speech is still a victim as govt, police pass the buck - Firstpost

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Vice President Mike Pence: Russian ‘Aggression’ Makes NATO Necessary – NBCNews.com

Posted: at 9:57 am

Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a joint news conference with Estonia's President Kersti Kaljulaid, Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite and Latvia's President Raimonds Vejonis in Tallinn, Estonia, on Monday. Ints Kalnins / Reuters

President Trump had previously

No other president since NATO was founded in 1949 had questioned that principle until Trump, although he recently expressed support for NATO's Article 5.

Pence also stated that recent diplomatic action by Russia will not impact American commitments to the security of its NATO allies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that he was

The move came in the wake of new sanctions voted through by the U.S. Congress last week which aim to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria.

Recent diplomatic action taken by Moscow will not deter the commitment of the United States of America to our security, the security of our allies and the security of freedom loving nations around the world, Pence said.

[The U.S.] stands firmly behind our Article 5 pledge of mutual defense and an attack on one of us is an attack on us all, he added.

Estonian president, Kersti Kaljulaid, said the presence of Pence in Tallinn underlined the credibility of Article 5.

President Dalia Grybauskait of Lithuania, meanwhile, praised the decision of the U.S. Congress to pass new sanctions against Russia, describing it as a very good message.

Eoghan Macguire reported from London.

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United States mulls arming Ukraine as Russian menace grows near NATO border – USA TODAY

Posted: at 9:57 am

Russia keeps its promise and retaliates against the U.S.Just days after the White House announced President Trump will sign off on new sanctions passed in Congress. Buzz60

President Trump sits in the Oval Office on July 25, 2017.(Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP)

The U.S. military for the first time is putting together a plan to provide lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine to counter a growing Russian military menace to Ukraine and Europe.

The planning underway by the Joint Chiefs of Staff requires White House approval, which puts President Trump in a bind because it threatens to upend his hopes of improving relations with RussianPresident Vladimir Putin.

An official at the White Houses National Security Council told USA TODAY the U.S. government has not ruled out providing defensive weapons to Ukraine. The official requested anonymity because of the sensitive subject.

The issue is being debated in the White House as violence spikes in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed insurgents have stepped up attacks on Ukrainian government forces, and as Russia prepares for a large military exercise that analysts expect will put more tanks on the borders of Ukraine and NATO countries.

On Monday, Vice President Pence warned of the "specter of aggression" by Russia as he began a visit to the Baltic nation of Estonia, which worriesabout Russian threats. Estonia and two other formerSoviet republics, Latvia and Lithuania,now belong to NATO.

The proposal to arm Ukraine comes as Trumps prepares to sign new legislation that strengthenssanctions on Russia overits involvement in neighboring Ukraine, a move that prompted Putin Sunday to expel 755 American diplomats.

The logic behind arming Ukraine, which the Kremlin opposes, was endorsed this week by Trumps special representative to Ukraine, former NATO envoy Kurt Volker.

Defensive weapons, ones that would allow Ukraine to defend itself, and to take out tanks for example, would actually help" stop Russia threatening Ukraine, Volker said in a BBC interview published Tuesday.

"I'm not again predicting where we go on this. That's a matter for further discussion and decision. But I think that argument that it would be provocative to Russia or emboldening of Ukraine is just getting it backwards," he said.

Nineteen Ukrainian troops have been killed and 65 injured in Julyin shelling, sniper fire and firefights, according to the Ukraine Crisis Media Center in Kiev.

After nine Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a series of attacks on July 19,State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert blamed "so-called separatists" who she said areRussian-led and Russian-backed."

Nauert said Russias military is in Ukraine leading and advising anti-government forces, a claim Putin has repeatedly denied. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has not decidedwhether to recommend lethal aid to Ukraine, Nauert said Thursday.

Air Force Gen. Paul Selva testified before the Senate Armed Services Committeeon July 18that the Joint Chiefs of Staff and European Command are preparing a proposal to arm Ukraine.

"It will be more than just a military recommendation," Selva said. "This will be a policy choice on whether or not we're going to give the Ukrainian government the tools they need to defend themselves against what we believe to be a Russian-supported insurgency movement in the Donbass" region of eastern Ukraine.

Such planning marks a change in U.S. thinking about the conflict since it began in 2014, when President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said more weapons would provoke a Russian escalation and military buildup.

But the Russians are doing all this anyway, and now threatenother NATO countries in eastern Europe, said Phillip Karber, a former Defense Department official under President Ronald Reagan who now heads the Potomac Foundation in Vienna, Va. Theres a realization that there has to be a response, at least by the military.

Karberhas recommended in briefings on Capitol Hill and with defense and White House officials that the U.S. provideUkraine with anti-tank weapons that would blunt an armored advance by Russia. Russia has reconstituted, moved or upgraded three large military units, which are now positioned near Russias western border, opposite Ukraine and U.S. allies in Eastern Europe, Karber said.

Russia brought back the First Guards Tank Army, which was disbanded after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ending the Cold War. That unit is now manned with veteran professional soldiers rather than conscripts or reservists, and will be sent to Belarus, north of Ukraine, to take part in the military exercises thatRussia holds every few years.

The Russianmilitary recently moved the 20th Army, a combined infantry and mechanized unit, from near Moscow to near the Ukrainian border opposite the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, roughly midway between Ukraines north and south, Karber said.

And Russians 8th Army has been deployed near the Russian city of Rostov, near southeastern Ukraine. Two headquarterssubordinate to the 8th Army are stationed in insurgent-held Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, Karber said.

Russias exercises, which date back to the Soviet era during the 1970s and 1980s, were revived in 1999 by Putin when he became prime minister, Karber said.

The last exercise took place in 2013, and involved a simulated attack on a NATO country and the simulated use of nuclear weapons. Russia ordered 200 railway cars to transport tanks for the drill.

This year, Russia ordered 4,000 rail carsto move the 1st Guards Armys tanks to Septembers exercise, Karber said.

That will be the largest buildup since the Cold War and right up against the Baltics, he said, referring to former Soviet republics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, now NATO members. Its a big deal.

John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who isat the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, D.C., joined Karber and former NATO commander Gen. Philip Breedlove ata recent event in Washington to urge arming Ukraine with defensive weapons.

If Trumps special envoy Volker wants a real shot at getting a change in this war, he has to raise the cost to the Kremlin, Herbst said. He needs to persuade the Kremlin that aggressionis not a winning option, he said.

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Pence to Visit Estonia, Georgia, Montenegro on NATO, Russia – Voice of America

Posted: at 9:57 am

WASHINGTON

Vice President Mike Pence visits three countries in Russia's neighborhood beginning Monday to signal support for them and NATO while drawing a line against aggression.

Pence's trip to Estonia, Georgia and Montenegro is viewed as a follow-up to President Donald Trump's visit to Europe earlier this month. Then, Trump used stops in Poland and Germany to try to pull off a tricky balancing act of improving ties with Moscow while also presenting the U.S. as a check against Russia's moves in the region.

Pence's mission will be encouraging those countries to continue to ally with the West and resist Russia's attempts to splinter the NATO alliance.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have previously been dispatched to try to allay the concerns of countries near Russia that the U.S. really will stand behind NATO and support the sovereignty of non-member former Soviet republics.

The concerns stem from Trump's suggestion during the campaign that the U.S. might not defend NATO allies and his apparent desire for closer relations with Russia. Trump received criticism on his first European trip for passing up the chance to affirm the NATO mutual defense commitment clause known as Article 5, which frames an attack on one as an attack on all. Trump did affirm U.S. support for Article 5 on his second trip to Europe.

The vice president is expected to deliver a message of support for U.S. trade and investment with the countries while underscoring the U.S. commitment to the security of the three nations, according to senior administration officials who briefed reporters about the trip on the condition that they not be identified by name. Pence also will stress the values of freedom of speech, democracy and religious tolerance.

In Estonia, Pence is expected to highlight bilateral ties with the U.S., particularly on trade, investment and cyber issues. Pence also is expected to thank Estonian officials for their approach to "burden-sharing,'' diplomatic speak for agreeing to spend a full share of 2 percent of their GDP on defense, the administration officials said.

The vice president also is expected to underscore the U.S. commitment to NATO, which sees Russia as a security threat and offers protection to concerned member states near Russia's borders.

In Georgia, Pence is expected to highlight U.S. support for its sovereignty and territorial integrity, the officials said. Georgia is the only country on the trip that is not a NATO member and, like Ukraine, has seen Russian encroachment on its territory. The administration officials said the U.S. is encouraging Georgia to continue to make reforms to its judiciary and expand anti-corruption efforts.

In Montenegro, Pence will celebrate that nation as the newest NATO ally.

On Wednesday, he'll attend the Adriatic Charter Summit in Podgorica, Montenegro, to highlight the U.S. commitment to the Western Balkans and underscore the importance of good governance, political reforms and rule of law. Also expected to attend are the leaders of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.

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NSA whistleblower Snowden: VPN ban makes Russia ‘less safe and less free’ – ZDNet

Posted: at 9:57 am

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden argues that Russia's decision to outlaw VPNs is a "tragedy of policy".

Edward Snowden has laid into the Russian government for banning the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and other tools that people can use to circumvent censorship and surveillance.

Russian president Vladimir Putin signed the law on Sunday, prompting a Twitter tirade from Snowden, the US National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower who has been sheltering in Moscow since 2013.

Snowden called the decision a "tragedy of policy" that would make Russia "both less safe and less free". He also linked the government's move to China's crackdown on VPN technology, which led Apple to pull dozens of VPN apps from its Chinese App Store over the weekend.

"Whether enacted by China, Russia, or anyone else, we must be clear this is not a reasonable 'regulation,' but a violation of human rights," Snowden wrote, arguing that, "If the next generation is to enjoy the online liberties ours did, innocuous traffic must become truly indistinguishable from the sensitive."

He also appeared to urge tech industry workers to push back against the anti-VPN trend.

Linking Russia's move to China's crackdown on VPN technology, Snowden urged tech workers to be vigilent.

Snowden is these days the president of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. In line with his 2013 decision to expose the NSA's mass-surveillance activities, he has long been an advocate of individuals being able to protect their communications and online activities.

However, he has previously warned against people relying too much on VPNs, because their operators may be vulnerable to hacks or subpoenas that could expose users.

The former NSA contractor originally fled from the US to Hong Kong, where he famously started working with newspapers to expose the agency's activities.

Then, while apparently trying to fly to Latin America, Snowden found himself stranded at a Moscow airport because the US had cancelled his passport. The Russians granted him asylum, which was extended for "a couple more years" in January this year.

During his stay there, Snowden has occasionally voiced strong criticism of Russia's surveillance policies.

In mid-2016, when the Russian government introduced a data-retention law and forced communications providers to help decrypt people's messages, the American said the legislation was "an unworkable, unjustifiable violation of rights that should never have been signed".

In 2014, he also denounced the so-called Blogger's Law, which imposed restrictions on what bloggers can write.

The latest law, banning VPNs, will come into effect in November this year. It is mainly intended to stop Russians viewing websites that are on the official state blacklist.

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We Can’t Live in Fear of Our Own Intelligence Community | The … – The American Conservative

Posted: at 9:56 am

Privacy march, Washington D.C, 2013. Credit: James Bovard

U.S. intelligence agencies are telling us not to worry about the FISA Amendments Act, a 2008 law that allows the NSA to tap into the communications of non-U.S. persons who are outside the U.S., even though this lawsidestepsthe Fourth Amendment as it allows the NSA to record the emails and phone calls of U.S. citizens who happen to be communicating with people overseas.

How many American citizens is the government listening in on? We dont know, as the intelligence agencies told Congress they cant say just how many American citizens theyve eavesdropped on (without warrants).

Despite this, they say Congress should just renew the controversial section 702 of the Act before it expires in December; in fact, they want it to be made permanent law.

Congress would probably do this too if it wasnt for the fact that theyve recently learned their privacy is also at stake. Recent unmaskings show that even a congressmans conversations with a foreign official might go public with their names un-redacted. Then, even if the member of Congress didnt do anything wrong, what they said and whom they spoke with could quickly be taken out of context by the media outlets that root for the opposing team.

We cannot live in fear of our own intelligence community, said Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). They have such power to suck up every bit of every transmission, every communication we ever made. We cant just have them willy-nilly releasing that to the public.

In this case Paul is not a lone gadfly. Politicians from Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), arent so keen about what this law can do to them. Theyve learned that this is a new age when elected officials, not just privacy advocates, fear not just leaked facts, but innuendo and out-of-context spin from off-camera conversations or email exchanges.

Some Republicans even used a debate at a recent congressional hearing to suggest Obama administration officials had purposely unmasked elected officials and then leaked the info to harm Trump administration officials. Specifically, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power have been accused of unmasking Trump administration officials and expanding who could see the documents in an effort to get them to leak.

All of this is very new and confusing to our politicians. But, as fiction can gaze just beyond the headlines to show us where we are going and how we might keep our freedom in this changing world, my novel Kill Big Brother takes this plot to its dramatic end. What I found while researching and writing the book is there are ways to keep our intelligence agencies strong enough to protect us while keeping our freedom.

This begins with enforcing a change in mindset. Too often our intelligence agencies, as law enforcement will, have their eyes so fixed on the problemsterrorism, ransomware wielded by criminal syndicatesthey lose sight of the freedom they are supposed to be protecting.

So what should Congress do with Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act?

First, they shouldnt make it permanent law, as Congress needs to revisit this issue periodically as events and technology change.

Next, Congress should require the intelligence agencies to report by specified dates how many U.S. citizens have been listened to or have had their emails viewed as a result of this provision in the lawand not just general numbers, but real data. The law sunsets in December, so Congress should use this deadline to pressure the intelligence community to get these answers now.

Congress should then update the law by setting up a legal apparatus that will help to quickly, in this modern world, give the NSA and more the ability to get approval or to, in some cases, get approval within a certain time period after the fact for listening in on communications that might include U.S. citizens. Yes, this means stripping away the NSAs ability to listen away with no checks or balances from Congress or the courts. The Fourth Amendment protections need to be respected. If technology makes it possible for the NSA to listen in on conversations,then the NSA, with all of its vast resources, can propose ways for technology to help create a fast approval and oversight process.

Civil libertarians shouldnt forget that U.S. intelligence agencies have an almost impossible task. They have to find terrorists and others who are plotting to do us harm in an age when encryption and other technologies allow even unsophisticated criminals to hide their communications. But then, history is also a teacher heresimply empowering secretive government organizations can lead to some undesirable places.

Also, encryption and other technologies have become an important part of modern commerce. There is no turning back the clock. What it comes down to is that good police work is called for, not broad new powers for a Big Brother state.

Few Americans now know that under Section 702 the FISA Amendments Act the government now collects millions of communications annually from American citizens, according to research done by The Washington Post. Part of the way the NSA does this is by temporarily copying internet traffic going in and out of the U.S. As a result, they are copying and potentially searching emails between journalists and their sources, communications protected by attorney-client privilege, and lawful conversations elected officials are having with foreigners.

Just imagine if a new Edward Snowden leaked this data, information that currently can be used in domestic criminal and civil proceedings, without a warrant. Our right to communicate privately, via Fourth Amendment protections, is paramount to our freedom; also, the First Amendment right to free speech is dampened by this lack of privacy. The U.S. intelligence agencies should be reminded that telling us to give up what they are supposed to be protecting also kills our liberty.

Frank Miniter is the author ofKill Big Brother, a novel that shows how we can keep our freedom in this digital age.

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MMA Legend Royce Gracie on the Second Amendment – Shooting Illustrated (press release) (blog)

Posted: at 9:55 am

If youve heard of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, mixed-martial arts or the UFC, the reason is Royce Gracie. In the early 1990s, his dominance of the octagon brought his familys style of jiu-jitsu into the American mainstream, and the martial art has become immensely popular around the world ever since. In addition to his hand-to-hand combat skills, Gracie is also a fan of firearms and the Second Amendment. Editor-in-Chief Ed Friedman sat down with Gracie to discuss his career, his love of freedom and his interest in guns.

SI: How did you get interested in firearms?

Royce Gracie: Growing up in Brazil, my dad had a few guns on our farm. Its part of martial arts. Sure, they say its empty hands, but so many styles use weapons, so its part of the martial arts culture. When I came to America and saw the freedom that we have, I was blown away. Back in the early days, we had a friend who would take us to the range, and wed shoot 100 rounds through a .45 ACP 1911. Our goal was to make the bullseye disappear, and I got the shooting bug. Shooting is an art. You need to know what youre doing, how to be safe, to recognize the skill needed to control that power. Its a lot like martial arts in that way.

SI: What makes someone who is so skilled in unarmed self-defense feel the need to own firearms?

Royce Gracie: What if theres more than one person? What if the adversary is armed? If its just one guy whos not armed, yeah, I can take care of him. But what if he pulls a gun? What if theres more than one attacker and they have knives? What happens if theres a terrorist attack? Ive got a mentality that Im going to try to stop an attack no matter what, but if hes got a gun, thats suicidal if Im not armed. Also, if a criminal is attacking other people, its not always feasible for even someone with my skills to stop that attack without a firearm.

Attackers arent going to make it a fair fight. They launch surprise assaults; they try to take you out to get to your family or your property. Its not the octagon. Theres no referee. And if he pulls a weapon, hes not just trying to fight mehes trying to kill me. At that point, youd be crazy to try to go hand to hand. I have a gun to defend myself if the situation escalates like that.

SI: Tell me a little about the situation in Brazil as it pertains to gun ownership and crime.

Royce Gracie: Brazil never had the degree of freedom we have in the U.S., but you used to be able to buy some guns. There were restrictions, but there were shops we could go to. Then, they essentially banned civilian ownership guns in what they said was an effort to fight crime. That resulted in the criminals arming themselves to the teeth. I mean, they had RPGs and machine guns. They get it from corrupt officials. Violence got out of control after that. It was like the law switched to protect the bad guys. So at the same time they disarmed the law-abiding citizens, they made life easier on the criminals. The murder rate went through the roof. Its so bad, the prisoners in jails get better food than the police!

SI: Why do people sign up for your classes? What is it about Brazilian jiu-jitsu that is so popular?

Royce Gracie: The main reason people go to any martial arts school is to gain confidence by learning skills. They may have had something happen to them or seen a situation that they didnt know how to react to. That stays with themthey dont go right away to learn about self-defense, but that thought stays filed away. Then one day a friend will say Hey, Im learning this martial art; lets go check it out. Then they go to class and start to get the hang of it. Its a lot of the same reasons why people buy a gun for the first time. People realize theyre vulnerable, but it often takes a while. Its not like they see a fight and say, I need to learn a martial art, but a while later that thought comes to the front and they sign up for a class. Its really all about the skills you need to be confident. Parents sign their kids up for the same reason; for the confidence that can come with the discipline that martial arts provide.

SI: What can people expect to learn in a Royce Gracie-taught class?

Royce Gracie: I teach them self-defense. I dont teach competition. Martial arts were made to defend yourself. A lot of schools teach you how to score points, but thats not real life. Competition can ruin a martial art. I teach how to defend yourself in a street-fight situation. Why do you buy a gun? Sure, there are a small number of people who want to be the best competitive shooter in the world, but for most of us, its for self-defense. And maybe that leads to competition, which is fine, but thats not why you signed up for a martial arts class or why you bought that first gun.

SI: What drew you to the NRA? How important is the Second Amendment to you?

Royce Gracie: The National Rifle Association is the front line of keeping my right to keep and bear arms. Thats the way I look at it. I really respect the NRA, because I know from experience, from what happened to Brazil, how important the Second Amendment is. It is my right to defend myself, and the NRA makes sure that right will be there. Look what happened when they took those rights away in Brazil, in Venezuelait is vital to keep that right.

Want to take a class with Royce Gracie? Visit NRACarryGuardExpo.com today to sign up for the (limited-space) Brazilian jiu-jitsu class he will teach at the inaugural Carry Guard Expo in Milwaukee, WI, Aug. 25 to 27. Gracie will teach paying attendees several moves that could come in handy should you find yourself in a close-quarters criminal attack. He will also be signing autographs at the show. In addition, there will be seminars from world-class instructors like Steve Tarani, Travis Doc T and many others, so you wont want to miss the best event for those interested in self-defense.

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There Is Basically No Dark Web. It’s Only A Few Webpages TOR Co-founder – Fossbytes

Posted: at 9:54 am

Short Bytes: Talking at the DEF CON convention in Las Vegas, the TOR Project co-founder Roger Dingledine said that the dark web doesnt exist and its just a few web pages. He added that media has wrongly labeled it as a heaven for illegal activities. Also, only 3% of TOR users connect to a hidden .onion website.

At the DEF CON convention in Las Vegas, on Friday, Roger Dingledine, one of the three TOR Project founders, said that there are tons of misconceptions about the same. According to The Register,Dingledine bashed the journalists for giving a bad name to the TOR network by calling it a heaven for pedophiles and terrorists.

There is basically no dark web. It doesnt exist. Its only a very few webpages, he told.

If youre interested in numbers, only 3% of TOR users connect to a hidden .onion website, said Dingledine. This means that majority of users are using it for simply analyzing their activities on the indexed web. They are, most probably, using it for stopping the website owners from tracking them.

According to his data, surprisingly, Facebook is the most popular website visited by TOR users. Today, more than a million people visit Facebook using TOR browser, thanks to the networks hidden service launched in 2014.

Dingledine also made attempts to calm down those who feared that different intelligence agencies have already cracked TOR and compromised the integrity. Intelligence agencies didnt need to set up their own stepping-stone nodes he said, since they could if they wanted to just monitor those who did run them, as reported by The Register.

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Is Kazakhstan the next cryptocurrency hotspot? – Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)

Posted: at 9:53 am


Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)
Is Kazakhstan the next cryptocurrency hotspot?
Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)
Back in 2014, Kairat Kelimbetov, then-head of Kazakhstan's National Bank suggested that Bitcoin could be a form of financial pyramid scheme. The common belief among Kazakhstani officials was that cryptocurrencies could undermine the country's already ...

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Is Kazakhstan the next cryptocurrency hotspot? - Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)

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Cryptocurrency 101 – TechJuice – TechJuice (press release) (blog)

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Cryptocurrency is the talk of the town now, its everywhere, from thousands of digital coin ATMs installed over the world to the hospital in Pakistan offering to accept the digital currency. Among all the debate about its legality and profitability, an unfamiliar mind finds itself confused over the word cryptocurrency. Now we are going to discuss all the whats and the hows of cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency is a digital currency which is created and accessed electronically and can be used to buy things electronically. Just like dollar, rupees or yen, various conventional currencies circulating today, there are more than 900 cryptocurrencies available. Most famous of them is Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency invented in 2009. Ethereum, Litecoin, Factom and dozen others are also used in a fair amount.

Cryptocurrency serves the same purpose as conventional currency except for the one main difference: it is decentralized i.e. there is no central bank regulating it. There is no intermediary present between two dealing parties. In the case of conventional currencies, banks have all the record and they charge fees for their services. However, in the case of cryptocurrency, there are no banks present to cut fees. It is the anonymity ensured by the absence of intermediary which has made it famous; just like in emails and phone calls, where our message travels from A to B without relying on a third-party, thus ensuring our privacy.

But the question arises who regulates the transactions? What if someone just duplicates their cryptocurrency or uses it for more than one transaction? To solve this problem, an online public ledger, Blockchain, keeps and updates all the record of transactions. It is the technology at the heart of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It uses cryptography to make transactions secure and makes them publicly available while ensuring the users anonymity, thus also helping to reduce fraud. Since it is publicly available, the whole community can verify the authenticity of a transaction.

State Bank of Pakistan hasnt announced any regulations for the cryptocurrency, which means that digital currency neither holds the status of money nor it is illegal to use. However, earlier this year, FBR launched action against those involved in money laundering and tax evasion through digital currency, and SECP warned the public to beware of scams in cryptocurrency. Apart from this, there arent any comments by the Government of Pakistan.

The majority of countries have no legislation regarding any digital currency. Japan has given it the status of legal tender. However, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and few other countries have declared it illegal, citing their concern over its possible use in money laundering.

The reason for the absence of any clear legislation is that the cryptocurrency is still in developing phase and a very small fraction of public uses it. Unless major investors enter this market, we cannot expect a word about its legality from the government.

Because of the absence of any third party, it offers a number of benefits.

No one knows how much digital currency you have and what transaction you have made unless you make your online wallet public. Compared to conventional currency, where banks carry all the information regarding your balance and transactions, it is up to you how much information you want to share with others.

Whenever you make a transaction, data is updated on Blockchain, an online ledger, but your identity is kept private. If someone wants to verify a transaction they would look it up in Blockchain, but they wont know your name. However, this privacy must not be confused with complete anonymity; you are still required to prove your identity while signing up.

Of what use a currency is if you cannot buy things with it. Many websites accept cryptocurrency as payment. For instance, Overstock.com accepts Bitcoins as payment and the good thing is they also ship to Pakistan. You can also top up your prepaid mobile phone using Bitrefill. Freelancers also prefer to use cryptocurrency, as it reduces their transaction fees and increases their earning by 2% to 5%.

Yes, there are many risks and disadvantages of using cryptocurrency.

There are a limited number of coins at the moment and demand varies from day to day. The rate of digital currency adoption may hamper or increase depending on the press coverage and other factors. But point needing emphasis is that overall trend is upwards. Earlier this year Bitcoin surpassed the value of one ounce of gold. Around the same time, it also dropped by 30%. Its a high-risk medium and you better not keep your savings in it.

You wont find any ATM for cryptocurrency in Pakistan. There arent any local retailers offering to accept any digital currency. So, you cant simply go out in the market and use cryptocurrency; it still has a lot of growing to do. The price that vendor cuts for processing your transaction keep changing, servers often dont work and it takes a whole day to do just one transaction. Cryptocurrency is new to this world and is still under development, but still, it is improving with every passing day.

World of cryptocurrency is an uncharted territory. It is so new that there isnt any legislation regarding its taxation. The government hasnt classified it either as a commodity or a currency. There are no statements regarding taxation of cryptocurrency. There is still a lot of confusion about its taxability. So, in order to avoid trouble, it is advisable to establish a record keeping system and keep a track of when is cryptocurrency acquired and when it is disposed of.

In the next story, I will tell you about the most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin. I will also give you a detailed explanation on what you can do to buy Bitcoin or other coins in Pakistan.

Feel free to drop your questions below for further discussion.

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Cryptocurrency 101 - TechJuice - TechJuice (press release) (blog)

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