Why are wiretaps so important?

White House Defends Its Wiretapping Of Millions Of US Citizens

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/06/2013 - 09:44 Blink and you have likely missed Obama's latest Watergate moment, this time following the disclosure that the White House has instructed the NSA to collect millions of daily phone records from Verizon (and likely all other carriers). What is surprising to us is that this is even news. We reported on just this in March of 2012 with “We Are This Far From A Turnkey Totalitarian State" - Big Brother Goes Live September 2013" and then again in April 2012 "NSA Whistleblower Speaks Live: "The Government Is Lying To You" using an NSA whistleblower as a source. Still, no matter the distribution platform, it is a welcome development for the majority of the population to know that the same Stazi tactics so loathed for decades in the fringes of the "evil empire" are now a daily occurrence under the "most transparent administration in history." This is especially true in the aftermath of the recent media scandals involving the soon to be former Attorney General.

from zero hedge!

Add this to extra judicial executions, arrest without trial, guantanamo style, and oh so many other things, like drones, open market operations, huge deficits and debt: I mean, I love the country, I just can't stand the scene.

 

Whats happening in Turkey - Yemen, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq what is causing the problem?

A collection of viewpoints;


This is another Arab Spring but instead of rebelling against a secular government and installing an Islamist government the opposite is happening. The seculars are rebelling against the Islamist government.

"It is the age-old clash between left and right, young ways against old ways, liberal-minded versus conservative-minded, religious versus secular. It's those who don't have power against those who do have power. There will never be a time when all is peace and harmony forever after. The best that can be achieved is to build the capacity for change into the system. Let the change-makers control the steering wheel, which is what they do well, while keeping the other hand near the brake so as to rein in over-exuberance." 

somebody else said this, it is a collage of comments from CBC's forum.

 Religious people tend to hold firmly on the brake so as to stay in one place, regardless of whether it's a good place to stay, while some young people want to move on, regardless of whether they have a good place to go. Progress comes out of the tension between left and right.

Are the current riots the product of great freedoms within Turkish society?  or could this have anything to do with Islam's intrusion into government?
Authoritarian government, if enough people stand together, may not survive. Democracy in action in the face of creeping fascism takes one single spark to get it going.

Power hungry leaders reform in bits and pieces over a long period. They build prisons, police forces, the military and it's marching orders as your rights and freedoms are minimized. Controlling leaders can take over with a snap of the fingers. Many countries never saw it coming till it was too late. Then absolute power corrupted absolutely.If Harper and his 'reformers' had their way, that's the kind of gov/t we'd have. We should be on guard against any who would take us there. The diverse society of Turkey and its long history, as an inheritor to Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire, is reflected in its people. They are fiercely proud, multifaceted, and in tune with the world around them. They worry rightly that the growing conservative movement in the government will harm their society, and the invasive influence of reactionary Islam stands against the secular nation they've built.

Turkey experienced Mongol invasions, power struggles, centuries-old tussle between Christianity and Muslim cultures. Turkish people treasure and respect the secular approach introduced by Ataturk many years ago. Erdogan has become unpopular with his government's violent reaction against the first demonstration.

The Turkish authorities treated protestors certain ways. These ways communicated the message of the Government. Those protesters subjected to day 1. Used technologies such as smart phones and accessed social media. Uploading and streaming content sharing the realities, first hand live action. Youtube deserves a prize for providing the platform for content to reach outside of Turkey to those around the world so they maylearn what actually happening within Turkey. Today the quarter million strong civil service is walking off the job and taking a two day strike action in support of Secular Educated Protesters. That seems to be the key demo: young urban educated secularist generally middle class people. The Average Joe Uprising. This seems to be a Secular movement primarily aimed at what is perceived as Erdogan's move towards Islam and away from democracy. That is what my 'guy on the ground' has said, even though it appears to have sparked over a 'save the trees' protest in a park, the dry tinder that caught is the idea that Turkey was moving towards Iran in its political circles.

Turks don't want to see their Country become another Iran. If they don't act now, they may not get the chance later.tens of thousands were out in the streets yesterday, and for very good reasons. In the past decade, a growing number of journalists, trade unionists and intellectuals have been jailed and assaulted by an increasingly hostile police force. Secularism is under threat as Islamist elements are trying to erase modern freedoms. The general populace of Turkey is not so interested in regressing their society back to the year 1200.

The educated secular class will refuse to go backwards in time though military industrialists, who are presently salivating over this scenario may profit from it.

In Izmir the police were brutally attacking young adults on the causeway strolling hand in hand, presumably out to enjoy the evening air.  The problem is that orderly, non-violent demonstrations get subverted by unemployed and mainly-young males interloping and sparking increased police violence. We've seen this in Canada (Toronto summit, Montreal, Vancouver). This can be a combination of deliberate plotting by political extremists (Anarchists) and just to wildness of impulsive youth. Young people with no sense of responsibility, or accountability, coupled with a sense of entitlement, possibly fueled by drugs and alcohol can make for a very volatile situation.
Ways must be found to exclude these elements from demonstrations, so the original responsible message is not discredited.

"Protesters are labeled as extremists or terrorist and police are sent out to put them down before they even have a chance to make their voices heard. In fact, increasingly any individual or group who even disagrees with government positions is dismissed as a radical. Using this kind of language allows governments to paint them as illegitimate and therefore justify the use of repression. It seems as though heads of state everywhere are reading from the same speaking notes every time a protest movement occurs. This is not just happening in Turkey, it is happening right here in Canada and across the "democratic" world. Furthermore, this trend to delegitimize and criminalize protest seems to be intensifying at an alarming rate. I wish citizens of so-called "democratic" nations would wake up and understand how dangerous this is. We are sitting back and allowing one of the most basic democratic freedoms to be undermined." There is a disturbing and growing trend- Increased government intolerance and belligerence towards the average citizen who see's government's abuse of their power's on the masses to stem the financial tide created not by the dish washer, bus driver or office clerk but by the very rich and some of their foolish money making schemes on the bond market for instance. The average person I suspect is feeling like an ATM machine where every time the government needs more cash it's nickle and dime the masses. I do not remember a time when any government has enacted or created laws that benefit the vast majority of citizen's. It's always we can't afford this and you can't have that but oil and gas companies and banks get subsides, the poor SOL. We contribute money to terrorist's ripping up Syria while disabled member's of the public suffer in abject poverty. If the people at the top of the food chain had the planet's people in mind all these protests would be like canary in the coal mine harbinger's of troubles ahead. Instead the power's that be keep ignoring or worse exasperating these situation's by increasing the burden on the general public while allowing the rich to get off Scott free. The using of terrorist's and their ilk by certain government's around the world to create turmoil is also not lost on some in the public who see the agenda's of some as being counter productive to a more balanced and just society. The top of the food chain needs to come clean or the protest and upheaval will just get worse.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22767622

    "Turkey Deputy PM Arinc says initial protests 'just'

    "The original protests over the redevelopment of an Istanbul park were "just and legitimate", Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc has said.".

   Developers and the Government .... sound familiar? Preston Manning and his 'charitable Manning Center' have been caught interfering in Municipal politics in Calgary. They are trying to get councillors sympathetic to Developers on council. This event in Turkey speaks volumes about Developers. This park with the 600 trees is 'stunningly' beautiful and do Developers care? Do politicians care? No 'just' the people care.
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/05/31/calgary-preston-manning-homebuilders-ch.html


It is a clash of civilizations within the confines of Turkey.On the one hand you have the rise of Islam spreading like wildfire throughout the world.On the other hand you have a country that has tried to promote itself as secular and modern, which in some ways is true, but in other ways Turkey is still a very repressive and backwards country with a bloody past and present that it tries to hide. The attempts by Turkey to manufacture and control its image are thwarted by the free flow of information it cannot control.


Turkey is divided country - you have on one side urbanized population in big mediterranean and black sea cities and
on the other side "religious nuts" in Central Turkey and in regions bordering Iran and Iraq ....
Erdogan is the choice of the "nuts" - he always wins in these provinces - like Republican always win in Texas and Utah. Erdogan received 51% of the vote in the last election - relying principally upon the rural ignorant that support the black and white simplicity of the Koran and who have very little education or worldly experience.

    Unfortunately this "majority" and Erdogan's simplistic view of democracy allows him the right to stomp on all parts of the secular and favor the Islamic traditions his country has tried for so long to overcome. Erdogan's programs support his own religious beliefs and are designed to reinforce the misogynistic, and all consuming teachings of islam which does not include the golden rule among any of its principles

Erdogan is a very dangerous man. In an often missed interview he once gave after first being elected he likened his leadership of the Justice and Development Party as similar to that of a bus driver, and if his bus had to stop at a bus stop called democracy so be it, but that was not the final destination he had in mind.

An Islamist regime will always be a totalitarian regime. -No exceptions, Not even Turkey! Within every religious person is a theocrat waiting to destroy the rights of others.

Democracy needs to protect the minority to work and this is a lesson that no Islamic country has adopted. Islam is a one way ticket to religious and mindless theocracy a true revolution of and by the ignorant.

When a minority want to sacrifice common park land in the middle of a city for a mosque, well, it is in reality Islam fascist rule. As any Muslim, there can only be Islam.

Just like the Harper government, they do what they want without regard to what the people want. The majority of people were never for defective F35s, GM, bank, Air Canada and other bailout-taxation, nor debt but voters have been too apathetic to revolt. THey appear to accept the ruse of western democracy and a rigged ballot where the government always wins.