EL NUEVO CAPÍTULO DE LA REFORMA ENERGÉTICA: LAS LEYES SECUNDARIAS

Las tan discutidas leyes secundarias que normarán la reforma constitucional en materia energética fueron presentadas finalmente por el gobierno federal este 30 de abril. La oposición y los especialistas advierten que será en esta fase donde se consume la privatización de los energéticos del país.

Tribunal desecha amparo de legisladores contra reforma energética

Por Alfredo Méndez

El movimiento Constitucionalista en Defensa del Pueblo presentó la fecha de audiencia de amparo contra la reforma energética, en enero pasado. Foto: Jesús Villaseca

México, DF. Un tribunal federal desechó de manera definitiva la demanda de amparo que Manuel Bartlett, David Monreal Ávila, Layda Sansores y Ernestina Godoy Ramos promovieron para impugnar la reforma constitucional en materia energética del presidente Enrique Peña Nieto.

El primer tribunal colegiado en materia administrativa determinó que esta petición de amparo es notoriamente improcedente ya que la propia legislación en esa materia establece de manera expresa que no es posible impugnar mediante el juicio de garantías el procedimiento de reformas a la Carta Magna.

El pasado 29 de enero, de manera sorpresiva, la petición de amparo de los políticos mencionados fue admitida a trámite por el juez federal Fernando Silva, pero debido a que el Ministerio Público Federal (como representanta de los intereses de la federación en los juicios de amparo) interpuso recursos de revisión, ahora el tribunal colegiado determinó desechar la petición de los quejosos.

Hasta el momento todas las demandas de amparo que se han tramitado contra la reforma constitucional a los artículos 27 y 28 de la Carta magna (que modificaron el espectro normativo y regulatorio de Petróleos Mexicano) han sido desechadas por notoria improcedencia.

Bajarán precios del gas y electricidad, pero no de las gasolinas: Penchyna

Por Víctor Ballinas y Andrea Becerril

Los senadores Manuel Bartlet y David Penchyna tras conferencia de prensa sobre la ruta de discusión de las leyes secundarias sobre energía. Foto José Antonio López

México, DF. El presidente de la comisión de Energía, el priísta David Penchyna, aseguró que una vez aprobadas las leyes secundarias en materia energética “en 18 meses bajarán los precios del gas y la electricidad en el país”. En el caso de las gasolinas, aseguró el senador panista Jorge Luis Lavalle, “no bajarán. Las gasolinas se regirán por el mercado internacional y la oferta y la demanda”.

El priísta destacó que las reformas se consolidarán en 10 años. En el caso de los precios de las gasolinas, coincidió con el panista en que "no bajarán de precio". Y expuso  “habría que cuestionarnos si es conveniente que el gobierno siga subsidiando los precios a las gasolinas que en realidad se subsidia a los que más tienen”.

En conferencia de prensa para explicar el contenido de las iniciativas que envió el Ejecutivo en materia energética, los senadores del PRD Rabindranath Salazar, y el coordinador de los legisladores del PT, Manuel Bartlett, resaltaron que se requiere mayor tiempo para discutir y analizar y debatir estos temas, y el priísta Penchyna insistió en que entre el 23 y 28 junio podría estar listo el dictamen para aprobarlas.

Titular de CFE participará en primer videollamada sobre leyes energéticas

Por La Jornada En Línea

jue, 08 may 2014 18:02

El titular de CFE, Enrique Ochoa Reza. Imagen tomada de la cuenta en Twitter @EnriqueOchoaR

México, DF. Tal y como ayer lo anunció el gobierno federal a través de redes sociales, este jueves inicia una serie de Hangouts (videollamadas) sobre las leyes secundarias de la reforma energética. La primera sesión estará a cargo del director general de la Comisión Federal de Electricidad, Enrique Ochoa Reza.

En la cuenta @PresidenciaMX, el gobierno publicó un par de Twitters relativos a esta dinámica con los ciudadanos programada para las 19 horas.. En un primer mensaje hizo el recordatorio: ¡Participa! hoy el Dir. de @CFEmx@EnriqueOchoaR responderá a tus dudas sobre la #ReformaEnergética

En otro publicó: Hoy 1er. #Hangout (videollamada) sobre la #ReformaEnergética. ¡Infórmate!

Al respecto, algunos tuiteros publicaron:

@AnieTudor: @PresidenciaMX @CFEmx @EnriqueOchoaR Hay empresas privadas q venden la energía a la CFE, a qué precio la dan y se paga aunque no se use?

@olito34: para que queremos saver si todo es mentira siempre roban con los cobros

@vhcp: contesten las que ya hizo @AIfonsoCuaron

@PameJmeow: donde??? Hangouts en G+? Mas info por favor

@depaquillo:  Que pasara con los trabajadores del SUTERM. Por que se dejo de invertir en la propia CFEMás

Según la convocatoria difundida ayer, los ciudadanos podían hacer llegar sus preguntas sobre las leyes secundarias en materia energética hasta las 9 horas de este día al perfil del gobierno de la República en Google+.

Esta dinámica de diálogo o participación ciudadana en la materia se da semanas después de que el cineasta mexicano Alfonso Cuarón publicara dos cartas públicas dirigidas al presidente Enrique Peña Nieto. En la primera le cuestionó diez puntos sobre las reformas al sector y en la segunda le propuso realizar un debate ciudadano.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2014/04/30/el-nuevo-capitulo-de-la-reforma-energetica-las-leyes-secundarias

Must See: LAX shooting another false flag event sponsored by the US government. - Money is missing...

1: Video: Here

2: Video: here

Must See !!

Les ambassades australiennes utilisées pour espionner l'Asie (journal)

Les ambassades australiennes sont utilisées pour espionner des pays d'Asie dans le cadre d'un vaste réseau d'espionnage mené par les Etats-Unis, annonce jeudi le Sidney Morning Herald se référant aux révélations de l'ex-agent de la CIA Edward Snowden.

Selon ces informations, cette surveillance est dirigée par les services de renseignement américains et est effectuée à l'insu des ambassadeurs.

Elle est réalisée par le biais des ambassades australiennes à Bangkok, Jakarta, Hanoï, Pékin et Dili (Timor oriental) ainsi que des représentations de hauts commissaires à Kuala Lumpur et Port Moresby.

Le programme d'espionnage, qui porte le nom de Stateroom (Cabine), vise à intercepter des signaux radio, des appels téléphoniques ainsi que des communications par Internet.

Les services spéciaux australiens travaillent dans le cadre du système Five Eyes (cinq yeux) basé sur un accord de renseignement d'origine électromagnétique signé par cinq pays, à savoir les Etats-Unis, la Grande-Bretagne, le Canada, l'Australie et la Nouvelle Zélande.

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La France coopère avec la NSA qui, pourtant, la surveille

C’est un jeu en eaux troubles. D’un côté, le gouvernement français se montre indigné par les écoutes massives des services secrets américains sur son territoire. D’un autre côté, il s’avère que les services secrets français coopèrent eux-mêmes avec leurs homologues anglo-saxons. En effet, selon les médias allemands Sueddeutsche Zeitung et NDR, la France a signé un accord de coopération avec l’alliance des « Five Eyes », qui regroupent les services secrets des Etats-Unis, du Canada, du Royaume-Uni, de l’Australie et de la Nouvelle-Zélande.

Au travers de cet accord, les services français se sont engagés à fournir systématiquement des informations de surveillance à ce club secret, sans doute en échange d’autres informations et/ou de capacités technologiques. Les médias allemands s’appuient, pour affirmer cela, sur des documents d’Edward Snowden.

La France n’est pas le seul pays à figurer dans ce premier cercle de collaboration rapprochée. Israël, la Suède et l’Italie ont également signé un accord similaire avec les « Five Eyes ». A ce titre, chaque pays a d’ailleurs reçu un nom de code : « Lustre » pour la France, « Ruffle » pour Israel et « Sardine » pour la Suède.  Si les membres des « Five Eyes » se sont engagés à ne pas s’espionner mutuellement, ce n’est visiblement pas le cas avec les pays qui ont signé ce type d’accord.

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Los siete pecados capitales de la reforma energética Peña/Videgaray/Aspe

La neoliberal reforma energéticade la triada Peña/Videgaray/Aspe comporta graves defectos estructurales que atentan contra la seguridad nacional y socavan la independencia de México, al que pretenden transformar, pero en el peor sentido, al punto de convertirlo en un país irrelevante como vulgar franquicia del irreductible binomio de la controvertida banca anglosajona y sus petroleras depredadoras.

La reforma de marras y amarres financieristas neoliberales es doblemente entreguista y masoquista cuando los mismos Peña y Videgaray fueron a claudicar a las oficinas del rotativo británico The Financial Times: socio del Grupo Pearson que administra conjuntamente a la polémica revista inglesa The Economist, propiedad de los banqueros Rothschild, controladores de la devastadora trasnacional petrolera BP.

El entreguismo neoliberal alcanzó niveles sicalípticos que rebasan lo grotesco cuando dos de los consejeros profesionales (sic) de Pemex –Fluvio Ruiz, impulsado por el sector antinacional del PRD, y Héctor Moreira Rodríguez, del PAN– regalan lo que no les pertenece e intrigan (literal) para dañar los intereses del México eterno: el primero, en flagrante colusión con el neocolonial Wilson Center, y el segundo fue a humillarse a las oficinas de Bloomberg, una vulgar agencia de noticias financieras de Nueva York.

La reforma, que no tiene nada demodernizadora porque regresa a México a la fase porfirista de finales del siglo 19, constituye más bien una contrarreforma: rema a contracorriente histórica cuando los soberanos países productores de hidrocarburos recuperan sus activos nacionales mediante la restatización y/o la renacionalización.

La contrarreforma de la triada neoliberal Peña/Videgaray/Aspe pretende resolver la gravísima crisis del gas (ver Bajo la Lupa, 6/10/13) que aqueja a México mediante su incrustación a la financierista burbuja estadunidense del shale gas (gas esquisto/lutitas).

Dejo para otra ocasión el análisis de la grave crisis del gas, que se cuece sola y que fue acentuada por la neoliberal kakistocracia (el gobierno de los peores) del PRI y el PAN, en colusión con el sector antinacional del PRD.

Hoy los principales turiferarios de la neoliberal contrarreforma energéticason los ex directores de Pemex y los ex secretarios de Energía, quienes abogan sin rubor su obscena desmexicanización y propician los siete pecados capitales que padece la entreguista/masoquistacontrarreforma:

1. Ausencia de transferencia de tecnología: en ninguna parte aparece el aprendizaje tecnológico del que México se da deliberadamente de baja, a diferencia de China, allá la tecnología se comparte y han creado la Universidad del Petróleo, de donde provienen los principales recursos humanos del Partido Comunista y su gobierno. La claudicantecontrarreforma no construye, sino que aniquila los pocos cuadros que quedan.

2. Desprecio al medio ambiente: se gratifica, en particular, a las depredadoras del Golfo de México: BP, Halliburton y Schlumberger, ya no se diga del mundo (v. gr. Chevron y ExxonMobil). No existen resguardos de seguridad contra su consabida devastación ambiental.

3.- Atentado a la seguridad nacional de México: para Estados Unidos los energéticos son la quintaesencia de su seguridad nacional, según su centro estratégico CSIS, mientras el México neoliberal itamita se hace riesgosamente dependiente de EU.

El neoliberalismo financierista local adopta a cambio de nada –en especial, en materia migratoria– la seguridad energética de Norteamérica (¡supersic!)mediante la cual EU controla(ría) los yacimientos y la producción de hidrocarburos de Canadá y México (pero sin mexicanos) para enfrentar su cruda energética.

4. Nulidad geopolítica desde los energéticos del Golfo de México (que desean rebautizar como Golfo de EU) hasta el mar Mediterráneo (sic) de EU (sic): no toma en cuenta el incipiente nuevo orden multipolar y se aferra al caduco orden unipolar financierista. Las relaciones con EU deben ser óptimas e integrales (no parcelares a la conveniencia trituradora de Washington), pero no al grado de desaparecer a la nación mexicana.

5. Deserción de una banca nacional ex profeso que tome en consideración el inextricable binomio finanzas/hidrocarburos. Dada la coyuntura global y las condiciones regionales/locales, no me disgusta elmodelo Petrochina que conjuga a su poderosa banca estatal –inexistente en México, al que urge crear su propia banca desmantelada y donde muy bien pudieran participar las empresas privadas mexicanas en colaboración mixta con lo que queda del Estado nacional.

6. Castración financiera neoliberal: lacontrarreforma se rinde y se obnubila con las migajas de 10 mil millones de dólares al año de inversión por las trasnacionales anglosajonas y no explora siquiera la capacidad de financiamiento doméstico (reservas del Banco de México por más de 170 mil millones de dólares y potencial de inversión de nuestros fondos de pensiones –ahorros cautivos de los trabajadores mexicanos– que cuentan con más de 125 mil millones de dólares) y/o lanzamiento de ofertas iniciales públicas al estilo Petrobras y hasta la creación de joint ventures con los megabancos (no sólo con los insolventes 13 bancos de Wall Street, sino también con la banca china y/o los globales fondos soberanos de riqueza) para abrir un abanico de opciones favorables de inversión.

7. Carencia de refinerías: México importa insólitamente gasolina de EU por 50 mil millones de dólares al año, lo cual, por pereza mental, o por otro tipo de tratativas bajo la mesa, daña las finanzas de Pemex en forma anómala.

Cito textualmente un artículo de Sylvia Pfeifer de The Financial Times(14/10/13), el rotativo de cabecera de Peña y Videgaray, sobre la relevanciaestratégica –término abolido de la financierista teología entreguista-masoquista local– de la refinación: las refinerías son extensamente invisibles para el público en general, pero son activos estratégicos (¡supersic!) nacionales. Toman el petróleo crudo y lo convierten en gasolina, diésel y combustible de aviación que empodera (sic) el sistema mundial de transporte. Constituyen la materia prima del plástico mundial. ¡Nada más! Por lo visto, esto lo ignora la triada Peña/Videgaray/Aspe secuestrada teológicamente en su financierista Lecho de Procusto.

Cabe recordar el desolador aldeanismo con ínfulas globalizantes del fallido Plan Puebla-Panamá de la dupla Fox-Castañeda Gutman que planteaba construir cinco refinerías en Centroamérica y ninguna en México.

Conclusión: en toda estrategia existe la defensa y el ataque y lacontrarreforma Peña/Videgaray/Aspecoloca innecesariamente a México a la defensiva.

Peor que sus obscenos siete pecados capitales, la contrarreforma, debido a su deformación teológica financierista carente de visión holística –un genuinosíndrome Estocolmo–, es que no colige los alcances estratégicos de los hidrocarburos y claudica absurdamente antes de empezar a jugar –la humillación al Financial Times al estilo Canossade Enrique (sic) IV– frente al binomio trasnacional de la banca anglosajona y sus petroleras cuando la verdadera carta triunfal está en manos de México. ¡Increíble!

http://www.alfredojalife.com/los-siete-pecados-capitales-de-la-reforma-energetica-penavidegarayaspe/

L'ARMÉE US BIDONNAIT DES CÉRÉMONIES DE RETOURS DE CORPS

En fait, comme ABC News l'a révélé, tout est faux, et cela dure depuis 7 ans. L'avion ne vient pas de poser, généralement il n'est même pas en état de voler. Il est juste remorqué jusqu'au lieu de la cérémonie avant l'arrivée du public. On y place des boites de transfert couvertes d'un drapeau qui ressemblent ainsi à des cercueils, dans lesquels on a mis des restes humains conservés dans un laboratoire de la base où l'on tente de les identifier.

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Congreso debe reformar la Constitución para permitir consulta popular, M...

Daily Quote

Gen. Keith Alexander, the head of the NSA and US Cyber Command, told lawmakers that he didn't think there was any “upper limit” with regards to how many telephone records the government wants to collect. When asked if the agency's goal was to collect the phone records of all Americans, Alexander said, “I believe that it is in the nation's best interest to put all the phone records into a lockbox.”....

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Espionnage des transactions bancaires des citoyens du monde par les USA

« Ils craignent les terroristes comme la peste après les événements tragique du 11 septembre et les mesures qu’ils ont prises depuis se sont avérées efficaces. Certaines d’entre elles étaient peu recommandables mais les juristes savent que la loi peut être enfreinte si son respect entraîne des conséquences bien plus terribles. »

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Lire la suite: http://french.ruvr.ru/2013_09_19/Les-cartes-de-credit-des-europeens-dans-le-collimateur-de-la-NSA-9506/

PALLYWOOD en Syrie : un mort se réveille et se marre !

25 Fast Facts About The Federal Reserve – Please Share With Everyone You Know

Michael Snyder

Economic Collapse

September 16, 2013

As we approach the 100 year anniversary of the creation of the Federal Reserve, it is absolutely imperative that we get the American people to understand that the Fed is at the very heart of our economic problems.  It is a system of money that was created by the bankers and that operates for the benefit of the bankers.  The American people like to think that we have a “democratic system”, but there is nothing “democratic” about the Federal Reserve.

Image: Federal Reserve

Unelected, unaccountable central planners from a private central bank run our financial system and manage our economy.  There is a reason why financial markets respond with a yawn when Barack Obama says something about the economy, but they swing wildly whenever Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke opens his mouth.  The Federal Reserve has far more power over the U.S. economy than anyone else does by a huge margin.  The Fed is the biggest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world, and if the American people truly understood how it really works, they would be screaming for it to be abolished immediately.  The following are 25 fast facts about the Federal Reserve that everyone should know…

#1 The greatest period of economic growth in U.S. history was when there was no central bank.

#2 The United States never had a persistent, ongoing problem with inflation until the Federal Reserve was created.  In the century before the Federal Reserve was created, the average annual rate of inflation was about half a percent.  In the century since the Federal Reserve was created, the average annual rate of inflation has been about 3.5 percent, and it would be even higher than that if the inflation numbers were not being so grossly manipulated.

#3 Even using the official numbers, the value of the U.S. dollar has declined by more than 95 percent since the Federal Reserve was created nearly 100 years ago.

#4 The secret November 1910 gathering at Jekyll Island, Georgia during which the plan for the Federal Reserve was hatched was attended by U.S. Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Department A.P. Andrews and a whole host of representatives from the upper crust of the Wall Street banking establishment.

#5 In 1913, Congress was promised that if the Federal Reserve Act was passed that it would eliminate the business cycle.

#6 The following comes directly from the Fed’s official mission statement: “To provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system. Over the years, its role in banking and the economy has expanded.”

#7 It was not an accident that a permanent income tax was also introduced the same year when the Federal Reserve system was established.  The whole idea was to transfer wealth from our pockets to the federal government and from the federal government to the bankers.

#8 Within 20 years of the creation of the Federal Reserve, the U.S. economy was plunged into the Great Depression.

#9 If you can believe it, there have been 10 different economic recessions since 1950.  The Federal Reserve created the “dotcom bubble”, the Federal Reserve created the “housing bubble” and now it has created the largest bond bubble in the history of the planet.

#10 According to an official government report, the Federal Reserve made 16.1 trillion dollars in secret loans to the big banks during the last financial crisis.  The following is a list of loan recipients that was taken directly from page 131 of the report…

Citigroup - $2.513 trillion

Morgan Stanley - $2.041 trillion

Merrill Lynch - $1.949 trillion

Bank of America - $1.344 trillion

Barclays PLC - $868 billion

Bear Sterns - $853 billion

Goldman Sachs - $814 billion

Royal Bank of Scotland - $541 billion

JP Morgan Chase - $391 billion

Deutsche Bank - $354 billion

UBS - $287 billion

Credit Suisse - $262 billion

Lehman Brothers - $183 billion

Bank of Scotland - $181 billion

BNP Paribas - $175 billion

Wells Fargo - $159 billion

Dexia - $159 billion

Wachovia - $142 billion

Dresdner Bank - $135 billion

Societe Generale - $124 billion

“All Other Borrowers” - $2.639 trillion

#11 The Federal Reserve also paid those big banks $659.4 million in fees to help “administer” those secret loans.

#12 The Federal Reserve has created approximately 2.75 trillion dollars out of thin air and injected it into the financial system over the past five years.  This has allowed the stock market to soar to unprecedented heights, but it has also caused our financial system to become extremely unstable.

#13 We were told that the purpose of quantitative easing is to help “stimulate the economy”, but today the Federal Reserve is actually paying the big banks not to lend out 1.8 trillion dollars in “excess reserves” that they have parked at the Fed.

#14 Quantitative easing overwhelming benefits those that own stocks and other financial investments.  In other words, quantitative easing overwhelmingly favors the very wealthy.  Even Barack Obama has admitted that 95 percent of the income gains since he has been president have gone to the top one percent of income earners.

#15 The gap between the top one percent and the rest of the country is now the greatest that it has been since the 1920s.

#16 The Federal Reserve has argued vehemently in federal court that it is “not an agency” of the federal government and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

#17 The Federal Reserve openly admits that the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks are organized “much like private corporations“.

#18 The regional Federal Reserve banks issue shares of stock to the “member banks” that own them.

#19 The Federal Reserve system greatly favors the biggest banks.  Back in 1970, the five largest U.S. banks held 17 percent of all U.S. banking industry assets.  Today, the five largest U.S. banks hold 52 percent of all U.S. banking industry assets.

#20 The Federal Reserve is supposed to “regulate” the big banks, but it has done nothing to stop a 441 trillion dollar interest rate derivatives bubble from inflating which could absolutely devastate our entire financial system.

#21 The Federal Reserve was designed to be a perpetual debt machine.  The bankers that designed it intended to trap the U.S. government in a perpetual debt spiral from which it could never possibly escape.  Since the Federal Reserve was established nearly 100 years ago, the U.S. national debt has gotten more than 5000 times larger.

#22 The U.S. government will spend more than 400 billion dollars just on interest on the national debt this year.

#23 If the average rate of interest on U.S. government debt rises to just 6 percent (and it has been much higher than that in the past), we will be paying out more than a trillion dollars a year just in interest on the national debt.

#24 According to Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress is the one that is supposed to have the authority to “coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures”.  So exactly why is the Federal Reserve doing it?

#25 There are plenty of possible alternative financial systems, but at this point all 187 nations that belong to the IMF have a central bank.  Are we supposed to believe that this is just some sort of a bizarre coincidence?

This article was posted: Monday, September 16, 2013 at 5:49 am

Tags: business, economics, money

USA - Manipulation - Journalism...

Russia: UN chem attack report doesn’t show whodunit

Russia’s UN representative says the newly unveiled report on the chemical attack of August 21 in Syria offers no “bulletproof data or conclusions” on who ordered it. The US and UK say the study confirms the regime was behind the attack.

“The report is diligent but very technical. It avoids categorical judgments and inferences, and it needs to be studied,” Vitaly Churkin told the Russian media at the UN headquarters in New York. 

“As people examine it, everyone can draw their own conclusion, but I hope that won’t be driven by political motives.” 

However US President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, said in a statement the technical evidence of high-grade sarin revealed in the report "reinforces our assessment that these attacks were carried out by the Syrian regime, as only they had the capability to mount an attack in this manner."

Earlier, Washington envoy to the UN Samantha Power said the study proved that “only the regime” had the capacity to carry out the attack on a Damascus suburb that the US claims took more than 1,400 lives. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague also said the findings were “fully consistent” with the previous British stance that Bashar Assad’s forces were responsible for the attack. 

Churkin said that suggestions the attack was a rebel provocation “cannot be shrugged off”. 

The 38-page report was compiled by a UN expert team, which inspected Damascus at the end of last month, and collected over 30 samples from victims and the environment. Its authors state that it found “clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin” were released on “a relatively large scale” during the August attack. The report doesn't blame either of the sides.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has labeled the incident a “war crime”. 

Churkin also told journalists “not to jump to conclusions” when questioned about whether Cyrillic alphabet markings, which were found on fragments of rockets reportedly used in the attack, proved that they were in possession of government forces. He said that UK and US assertions that rebels do not have the capacity to execute a large scale gas attack were “not grounded in reality”. 

Last week, Russia and the United States put forward a proposal that would see Syria hand over its chemical weapons to international observers. Syria has also applied to join the Chemical Weapons Convention - an international treaty that regulates the destruction of such weapons - next month.

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Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo file motions to reveal NSA data requests

Facebook and Yahoo, have joined Google and Microsoft in addressing the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to legally allow them to make public the data requests received from the NSA as part of the infamous PRISM program.

Microsoft and Google filed motions to the FISA court in August, but the proceedings were delayed at the US government’s request to allow time to negotiate. Since then no common ground has been found between the state and the tech giants. 

On Monday, Google updated its request, asking for the company to be “allowed to publish detailed statistics about the types (if any) of national security requests we receive under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including Section 702.” 

“Given the important public policy issues at stake, we have also asked the court to hold its hearing in open rather than behind closed doors. It's time for more transparency," Google’s director of law enforcement and information security, Richard Salgado, and the director of public policy and government affairs, Pablo Chavez, wrote in a blog post. 

The company’s stance is that “the levels of secrecy that have built up around national security requests undermine the basic freedoms that are at the heart of a democratic society." 

Microsoft also amended its petition on September 9 as it earlier pledged to work with Google in their bid to release Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) request information. 

Meanwhile, the battle for transparency was joined by Facebook and Yahoo!, who also decided to file their claims to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.    

The US government hasn’t done enough to “adequately address” the public concerns about “whether their information is safe and secure with internet companies,” says Facebook's vice president and general council, Colin Stretch. 

"We believe there’s more information that the public deserves to know, and that would help foster an informed debate about whether government security programs adequately balance privacy interests when attempting to keep the public safe," he said. 

In its petition, Facebook asked to publish the total number of orders it receives relating to physical searches, business records and wiretap orders, as well as the total number of users, who had their messages and other personal content released to the NSA.

Yahoo filed a petition similar to Google's as the company named specific FISA orders, on which it wanted to publish more details. 

The company says it has been unable to engage fully in the debate about whether the government has“properly used its powers”, because it has imposed a restraint on Yahoo's freedom of speech.

"We believe that the US government's important responsibility to protect public safety can be carried out without precluding internet companies from sharing the number of national security requests they may receive," Ron Bell, general counsel for Yahoo, Is cited by the Guardian. 

"Ultimately, withholding such information breeds mistrust and suspicion – both of the United States and of companies that must comply with government legal directives," he added. 

Google and Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo have been allegedly been involved in giving the National Security Agency access to customer data under the program known as Prism. The Internet giants are now determined to correct “false claims” and reports about what they have provided to the government. 

Yahoo spokeswoman Suzanne Philion explained in an e-mail to AP that "these actions stem from a common interest in ensuring that we can provide the most accurate information to the public about the national security requests we receive from the US government." 

In the wake of the first NSA disclosures by the agency’s former contractor Edward Snowden, lawmakers in the US and abroad have debated whether or not the secretive surveillance programs, such as Prism, strike the proper balance between privacy and security. 

President Barack Obama and his administration has made numerous claims that those operations exist with significant oversight to prevent any abuses, including constitutional violations, but other documents released by Snowden in the wake of the first disclosures have shown that the NSA has accidentally collected personal correspondence of Americans at least thousands of times annually. 

According to their latest report, the federal government is spending millions to find a way to keep those companies collecting data that invades the privacy of those outside the US. 

According to the latest Snowden leak, released earlier this month, the NSA and its British counterpart have circumvented the encryption methods used to secure emails, chats and essentially most Internet traffic that was previously thought to be protected from prying eyes. 

The price tag for such an endeavour, the Guardian reported, is around a quarter-of-a-billion dollars each year for just the US, and involves not just intricate code-breaking, but maintaining partnerships with the tech companies that provide seemingly secure online communications. 

“The files show that the National Security Agency and its UK counterpart GCHQ have broadly compromised the guarantees that Internet companies have given consumers to reassure them that their communications, online banking and medical records would be indecipherable to criminals or governments,” James Ball, Julian Borger and Glenn Greenwald reported.

The director of US national intelligence, James Clapper, has responded by saying the government would simply not be doing its job if it did not use legally dubious techniques to track down communications. 

“Throughout history, nations have used encryption to protect their secrets, and today, terrorists, cyber-criminals, human traffickers and others also use code to hide their activities,” read the statement issued on September 6.

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Intl experts have strong proof images of chemical victims fabricated – Moscow

Footage and photos of the alleged chemical attack in Syria, which the US cites as the reason for a planned military intervention, had been fabricated in advance, speakers told a UN human rights conference in Geneva.

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Members of the conference were presented accounts of international experts, Syrian public figures and Russian news reporters covering the Syrian conflict, which back Russia’s opposition to the US plans, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

The speakers argued that the suspected sarin gas attack near Damascus on August 21 was likely a provocation of the rebel forces and that a military action against the President Bashar Assad government will likely result in civilian casualties and a humanitarian catastrophe affecting the entire region. 

The possible attack by US military without a UN Security Council mandate would violate international law and should be prevented by the United Nations, some of the speakers said.

Evidence for the Russian case, including numerous eyewitness reports and results of investigations of the chemical weapon incident by activists, was handed over to a UN commission of experts probing the Syrian crisis, the ministry said.

The Obama administration voiced an intention to use military force in Syria after reports of mass deaths in Eastern Houla, a neighborhood of Damascus, which killed more than 1,400 people according to US estimates. Washington says the deaths was due to a chemical weapons attack of the Syrian army on rebel forces and says it plans to use force to prevent such incidents in the future.

Russia is convinced that the chemical incident was a provocation by rebel forces, which staged a false flag attack to drag the US into the conflict and capitalize on the damage that the Syrian army is likely to sustain in the American intervention.

An increasing number of reports is backing Russia’s position, with local witnesses, US and British formerintelligence professionals and Europeans recently released from rebel captivity all speaking for a provocation scenario.

In the latest development this week a possible way to de-escalate the tension was voiced, which would involve the Assad government handing over control of his chemical arsenal to the international community. The plan was backed by Russia and China, while Syria said it will review it.

Mixed signals over the plan came from the US. The US State Department initially said Secretary of State John Kerry, who initially voiced a possible disarmament, saw it as a rhetorical move and didn’t expect Bashar Assad to actually disarm. But later President Obama said such a move from Damascus would make him put the military action plan on pause.

Meanwhile RT learned that Syrian rebels might be planning a chemical weapons attack in Israel from. The possible attack would be carried out from the territory supposedly controlled by the Syrian government and would trigger another round of escalation, leaving little hope of defusing the tension.

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