The US and the EU have agreed on new rules for sharing personal data across the Atlantic that will allegedly better protect Europeans’ privacy from US intelligence agencies after the previous Safe Harbour mechanism was deemed inadequate. “We have agreed with our US partners a new framework that will ensure the right checks and balances for our citizens,” said digital commissioner Andrus Ansip at a press conference in Strasbourg. The vital deal, called the 'Privacy Shield' was reached months after the so-called Safe Harbour agreement was annulled by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in October last year. The new 'Privacy Shield', the EU Commission believes, abides by the ECJ requirements to ensure stronger obligations that American companies, such as Facebook and Google, protect the personal data of Europeans. The new framework is expected to be in place in three months. “The US side has clarified that they do not carry out indiscriminate mass surveillance of Europeans

By by Gearóid Ó Colmáin Artificial mass migration as imperial policy has a long history. To illustrate this, we will cite a few historical examples. According to Bulgarian historian A, Eminov, civil wars in the Balkans in the 13th and 14th centuries led to significant population decline, which greatly facilitated colonisation of the Balkans by the Ottoman Empire. The deportation of nomads and organised transportation of Muslim refugees by the Ottoman Empire played a significant role in the colonisation of this region. Though Turks comprise over 8 percent of the Bulgarian population today, Turkey’s neo-Ottomanism has sparked accusations from Bulgaria’s nationalist party Attack that Turkey has plans to re-colonise the country. Bulgaria has the highest number of mosques in Europe per capita. Given the fact that Turkey is supporting the Islamic State in Syria, while harbouring neo-colonial plans for the Balkans, the decision by the Bulgarian government to erect a fence along the border w

By Stephen Lendman Turkey is a fascist police state, Erdogan a hoodlum, an international outlaw, a tyrannical regional scourge. His aggression against Turkish and Syrian Kurds, downing a Russian SU-24 bomber in Syrian airspace, committing other provocative acts against the Russian Federation, and now cross-border shelling of targets in Syria following permission from or complicity with Washington. Erdogan would never launch attacks outside his territory otherwise. Russia presented indisputable video evidence, showing Turkish military cross-border shelling, according to Defense Ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov, saying: “This is what we call a fact. This is irrefutable proof that Turkish armed forces shell borderline Syrian settlements with large-caliber artillery systems.” “We expect an immediate reaction and explanations of the actions of the Turkish military by NATO and the Pentagon.” Syria’s General Staff confirmed heavy self-propelled artillery deployments along its bor

U.S. troops are going back into Iraq, our presence in Libya is escalating, and Obama has widened the war in Afghanistan—all without much of a public debate. By Adam Johnson Anti-Gaddafi fighters in Libya in 2011. Photo Credit: Elizabeth Arrott/Voice of America/Wikimedia Commons Almost five years after the United States and its NATO allies launched a campaign in Libya to overthrow Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the United States is on the verge of massively escalating its military operations in the war-torn country. According to the New York Times, the new effort is “expected to include airstrikes and raids by elite American troops.” It is unclear how long this newest effort will last. The announcement comes on the heels of U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announcing combat troops were going back to Iraq last week . While U.S special forces have been conducting “clandestine reconnaissance missions in Libya to identify militant leaders and map out their networks” over the past year, the

By The Saker February 02, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Unz Review " - - This week was marked by major successes for the Syria military the Sheikh Miskeen region of the Daraa Province in the south of the country. In the meantime in the north, the Syrian Army continues its offensive north of the strategic Kuweires air base. But these military successes were eclipsed by rumors that the US was setting up and air base in northern Syria , possibly near Rmeilan , a town in the al-Hasakah Governorate in the northeast of Syria, and that this might be the preparation for a US ground intervention. Interestingly, the US media also began circulating rumors that the Russian were setting up a 2nd air base in northern Syria . Erdogan even declared that he “would not tolerate” a 2nd Russian air base in Kurdish Syria . And then, of course, there was the statement of Joe Biden who spoke of a US ‘military solution’ in Syria if no negotiated solution could be found . List