Páginas vistas

martes, 31 de diciembre de 2013

Happy New Year

Highland School of Technology, Gastonia, NC.
Quiero desear un feliz año 2014 a todos/as los que han tenido la generosidad de pasar por mi blog. Que tengan un nuevo año con trabajo.Con dignidad ciudadana. Y a ser posible, si el cuerpo aguanta, con buena salud. 
Gracias a esos 790 amigos/as que dedicaron algún instante a acompañarme durante el presente mes de diciembre, que es tan complicado. 

Me ha gustado mucho que una de las entradas más vistas correspondiera a un  reportaje que hice en la Habana (Cuba). Me comprometo a publicar en enero una entrevista, exclusiva para mi blog, realizada a Patricio La Guardia Font. 

También parece que les ha agradado la historia del veterano estadounidense que pirateaba DVD´s nuevos para enviárselos a las tropas de su país destacadas en Medio Oriente. "El héroe pirata" llamé a Hyman Strachman, un abuelo combatiente con un par. Great soldier. Siria, y los avatares de las guerras activas también recibieron mucho interés durante el verano. 

Los amigos/as amigas estadounidenses ocuparon el primer puesto en la lista geográfica anual de visitantes. Gracias. Thank you all. God bless you. God bless America. Please, tell President Obama to bring your soldiers back asap. Tell him to fight poverty. To provide American people with an universal health care system. To improve public education.
I invite you all to visit Spain. We have a great country. And you are very wellcome here.

Por detrás de Estados Unidos, figuran España y Alemania. Pues gracias tios/as, amigos/as, lo que les de la gana vamos. La entrada "Mensaje a los prófugos de ETA", escrita en 2012, ha recibido más de 500 hits. Y las de los San Fermines, claro. Gora Sanfermín. Gora Euskadi. Ya estoy contado los días para irme a Iruña. 

Una confesión personal: hubiera querido recibir el 2014 en la Puerta del Sol de Madrid. Mi Madrid que la excelentísima Doña señora Botella de Aznar, no se merece. Así que gatos y gatas, en Chueca, en Preciados, en la calle Serrano, en Parque de las Avenidas, en  la calle Pez Volador, estoy allí. Pongamos que siempre hablo de Madrid.

La lista de visitantes abarca, para mi sorpresa y gratitud, amigos/as de todas partes del planeta: Mexico (lindo y querido), Francia, Lituania, Rusia, Cuba, Ucrania, Venezuela, China, y un montón variopinto adicional, siempre según datos de Blogger-Google.
 Dice Google que suman 20.776. Yo no me lo creo.

SOS Climate change


Un reciente estudio de la Universidad de New South Wales, en Australia, confirma el calentamiento global del planeta y señala sus consecuencias. La Tierra se calienta y el homo sapiens tiene la culpa. Quienes quieren hacernos creer que es mera propaganda ecologista mienten. Que tomen nota los grandes contaminadores. "Una subida de 4C puede ser catastrófica", afirma el profesor Steven Sherwood, al frente del equipo investigador australiano. Ninguno de los que lean el presente post estará vivo en 2100. Casi es un consuelo.

"According to a new scientific study:
The scientist leading the research said that unless emissions of greenhouse gases were cut, the planet would heat up by a minimum of 4C by 2100, twice the level the world's governments deem dangerous.
The research indicates that fewer clouds form as the planet warms, meaning less sunlight is reflected back into space, driving temperatures up further still. The way clouds affect global warming has been the biggest mystery surrounding future climate change.
Professor Steven Sherwood, at the University of New South Wales, in Australia, who led the new work, said: "This study breaks new ground twice: first by identifying what is controlling the cloud changes and second by strongly discounting the lowest estimates of future global warming in favour of the higher and more damaging estimates."
"4C would likely be catastrophic rather than simply dangerous,"  "For example, it would make life difficult, if not impossible, in much of the tropics, and would guarantee the eventual melting of the Greenland ice sheet and some of the Antarctic ice sheet", with sea levels rising by many metres as a result. (Short abstract  from "The Guardian").

Liebe Shumi...

Aguanta Shumi. Tu puedes. Eres duro y valiente.Te quiero. I love you. Ich liebe dich. Je te adore. You are the champion of the world.


"Doctors treating Michael Schumacher, who remains in a critical condition after a skiing accident in Méribel in the Alps, have given an update on his condition after having carried out a second operation late on Monday. They said:
• There has been a slight improvement in Schumacher's condition
• The doctors are unable to say he is out of danger and the coming hours remain critical
• The first operation, on Sunday, was to eliminate extradural haematoma (bleeding outside the actual brain) and to reduce pressure
• On Monday morning Schumacher remained in an acute situation with intracranial hypertensions (pressure inside the skull)
• Doctors carried out treatments, which they did not detail, and there was a slight improvement which allowed them to carry out a controlled scan with respiratory assistance without further risk
• The scan showed signs which the doctors said were "unexpected" and they discussed treatment with Schumacher's family
• The scan had shown haematoma within the brain. One particular haematoma on the left was more accessible and could be eliminated without risk. Some haematoma were not accessible
• The doctors operated at 10pm on Monday to eliminate the larger haematoma in a procedure lasting two hours
• A control scan carried out on Tuesday morning showed that haematoma was evacuated successfully. The scan also showed other lesions in the brain
• The plan for next 24 hours is to correct a number of continuing anomalies
• This is a phase of stability - which was not the case on Monday - but it remains too premature to speculate about his prognosis
• There are no plans to move Schumacher back to Germany at the moment

• The doctors do not intend to update again until there is a change in Schumacher's condition or further intervention. 
(Información actualizada a 7:49 31/12/13. The Guardian)

lunes, 30 de diciembre de 2013

Concert de Nadal 2013

Església de San Pere a Figueres.

ETA y el adiós a las armas

He escrito una carta a los reyes magos de Oriente. Esos sabios que adoraron un niño humilde nacido en un establo. Se resume a un deseo: quiero que lo que queda de ETA entregue las armas. Que pidan perdón a todos/as los que sufrieron las consecuencias de su lucha armada. Y que también se concedan la oportunidad de ser libres. Que se honre a  los/as caídos en una guerra cruenta y estéril.
Que estalle de una vez la paz digna que nos merecemos.
Logotipo de ETA en  Sopelana.
.

Der Spiegel vs NSA

Es la historia interminable. Una mezcla de 1984 y Matrix. Gracias a Snowden se ha destapado una pequeña parte de la red digital dentro de  la que sobrevivimos. Espían luego existen. Les dejo el link. Feliz  de año a los/as de la NSA. Quieren todo el poder y la gloria. Aleluya.

Foto de noticiasin.com

"A top-secret National Security Agency hacking unit infiltrates computers around the world and breaks into the toughest data targets, according to internal documents quoted in a magazine report on Sunday.
Details of how the division, known as Tailored Access Operations (TAO), steals data and inserts invisible "back door" spying devices into computer systems were published by the German magazine Der Spiegel.
The magazine portrayed TAO as an elite team of hackers specialising in gaining undetected access to intelligence targets that have proved the toughest to penetrate through other spying techniques, and described its overall mission as "getting the ungettable". The report quoted an official saying that the unit's operations have obtained "some of the most significant intelligence our country has ever seen".
NSA officials responded to the Spiegel report with a statement, which said: "Tailored Access Operations is a unique national asset that is on the front lines of enabling NSA to defend the nation and its allies. [TAO's] work is centred on computer network exploitation in support of foreign intelligence collection."

domingo, 29 de diciembre de 2013

EPPK planta a ETA

P002_f01_29225
"El Colectivo de Presos y Presas Políticos Vascos (EPPK) ha dado un paso inédito hasta la fecha, con importantes implicaciones y mucho recorrido por delante, después de un debate interno de meses sobre la situación política y, en concreto, en torno a las recomendaciones del Foro Social. Según ha comunicado en una declaración adelantada ayer por NAIZ y Berria.info, está dispuesto a abordar las opciones legales para superar las medidas de excepción y volver finalmente a casa, «aun cuando ello para nosotros implícitamente conlleve la aceptación de nuestra condena».
La trascendencia del mensaje queda remarcada por un formato también nuevo. Junto a la habitual declaración por escrito (en su versión original íntegra en las páginas 6-7), EPPK ha remitido esta vez la grabación de la lectura del mensaje, en euskara. Lo enuncia Marixol Iparragirre, una de las seis portavoces del Colectivo, presa actualmente en Réau-Sud Francilien, cerca de París. Se inserta en un vídeo, con una fotografía fija de Iparragirre y el logotipo de EPPK como fondo, que incluye rótulos con la traducción al castellano del mensaje. Puede verse completo en NAIZ.
Mediante esta declaración, el Colectivo da a conocer que «asumimos toda nuestra responsabilidad sobre las consecuencias derivadas de nuestra actividad política en el conflicto político. Asimismo, mostramos nuestra voluntad para analizar la responsabilidad de cada uno de nosotros, dentro de un proceso acordado que reúna las condiciones y garantías suficientes».
«Estamos dispuestos, dentro de un plan de actuación global, a estudiar y tratar la posibilidad de que el proceso que culmine con nuestra vuelta a casa se efectúe de manera escalonada, mediante compromisos individuales y en tiempo prudencial», especifica, lo que supone una relevante novedad.
En la misma línea, EPPK expone que «podríamos aceptar que nuestro proceso de vuelta a casa -nuestra excarcelación y de manera prioritaria nuestro traslado a Euskal Herria- se efectuase utilizando cauces legales, aun cuando ello para nosotros implícitamente conlleve la aceptación de nuestra condena». Y añade aquí que «compartimos que tanto la ley como su aplicación cumplen una función esencial de cara al futuro, ya que han de ser utilizadas para fortalecer los pasos que hayan de darse».
Esta disposición constructiva no es óbice para que EPPK deje claro igualmente que «es necesario derogar toda situación y medida de excepción. Adaptar el entramado jurídico a la situación política. Cambiar radicalmente la política penitenciaria y priorizar el fin de la dispersión. Reconocer nuestros derechos, posibilitar nuestra vuelta a casa e impulsar la solución integral a la actual situación política», enumera.
Estas concreciones se agrupan en ocho puntos que fijan la posición de EPPK. En los primeros, el Colectivo remarca que «el origen político del conflicto exige asimismo una solución política», lo que requiere «una hoja de ruta firme». Sitúa la clave de la resolución en que se garantice la posibilidad de desarrollar democráticamente todos los proyectos políticos, de modo que «debemos evitar cualquier salida parcial o falsa para impedir que el conflicto se perpetúe». En esta solución necesariamente «integral» se habla de encarar las consecuencias del conflicto desde una perspectiva global, con el apunte de que «reconocemos con toda sinceridad el sufrimiento y daño multilateral generados».
En paralelo, el Colectivo recuerda que «en toda esta maquinaria la tortura constituye un elemento esencial, que exige que la política penitenciaria y los procedimientos judiciales sean revisados y evaluados, y reparado el daño causado».
Como posición general, EPPK especifica su reconocimiento del nuevo escenario creado por el fin de la lucha armada de ETA, que ya asumió en Gernika en junio de 2012, pero va más allá: «En lo sucesivo renunciamos al empleo del método utilizado en el pasado para hacer frente a la imposición, represión y vulneración de derechos. Nuestro compromiso con el nuevo escenario es absoluto y nos reafirmamos en nuestra decisión de fortalecerlo y consolidarlo». (Información procedente del diario donostiarra "Gara").

sábado, 28 de diciembre de 2013

codón desastre: Regalos en Figueres

codón desastre: Regalos en Figueres

Regalos en Figueres


Regalar un bon manjar nadalenc: en el bar "País de Vent" , por las fiestas navideñas, ofrecen vales para obsequiar una comida o menú. Sus platos casolanos son deliciosos. Yo recomiendo la paella, la "vedella amb bollets" y los postres. Están en Facebook. El ambiente es tranquilo y acogedor.
Aquí les dejo 2 ideas para sus regalos navideños, en caso de que residan en Figueres. He tenido en cuenta un presupuesto razonablemente ajustado, pero al mismo tiempo la calidad. Bon Nadal.
Llibres Low Cost
Regalar libros: si visitan la librería "Llibres LowCost" encontrarán un interesante catálogo que incluye literatura infantil, arte, en preciosas ediciones, clásicos en inglés y castellano, libros de cocina prácticos y bonitos. Yo me regalé una versión en inglés del "Orlando" de Virginia Wolff. Y encontré también un libro de Aleida March, la compañera del Che, que no había visto en ninguna parte. Me encanta el trato que uno recibe cuando entra en un comercio excelente. Se encuentra en la calle Méndez Núñez. Están en Facebook. 

Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year

No he conseguido resistirme a la tentación de palabras llamativas, casi perlas linguísticas, para el prestigioso Oxford Dictionaries. Muchos de tales famosos palabros (no son insultos eh), han nacido on line, han crecido y se han reproducido. Algunas son muy ingeniosas como "sharknado", para designar un tornado fenomenal. Una joyita variopinta resulta "selfie". 
Aunque no pertenezco a la Real Academia de la Lengua Española (que pule, limpia y da esplendor a nuestro bello idioma) como reconozco ser una marisabidilla (lean Quevedo en caso de no enterarse), yo solita y conmigo he seleccionado algunos de los vocablos que han estado presentes en la lengua (afilada como la mía) de muchos  españoles/as: crisis, con distintos adjetivos acompañantes (jodida, prolongada), paro, (que dice el Spanish King que le quita el sueño (?), prima de riesgo, que nadie sabe qué es pero que nos fastidia y cómo, corrupción, políticos sinvergüenzas, Bárcenas, aborto (que no es sinónimo de interrupción de embarazo sino de una normativa retrógrada), mareas de diferentes colores, que son manifestaciones ciudadanas pacíficas contra los recortes sociales, y por último, the last but not the least, I I A independencia a a a, que tiene que ver con Cataluña (o de forma cariñosa y felina CAT & UÑA), bueno, si les parece  vayan por YouTube y escuchen la versión catalana independentista del Fum Fum Fum.
 Les deseo lo mejor en 2014 a todas/os los generosos visitantes de codondesastre.

Edición de 1941 del "Ulysses" 
"Oh hi, is that a selfie of you twerking in the middle of a sharknado? Such is the pleasurable speed of linguistic invention that this perfectly normal sentence would have been incomprehensible to most people only a year ago. The word "selfie" first appeared in an Australian online forum in 2002, but this was the year it earned the title of Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year. Oxford's editors also admired the word's fecund capacity for variation: a "shelfie" is a picture of your shelves, a "drelfie" a picture of you while drunk and a "belfie" is a picture of your arse.
Speaking of arses, a strong challenger to "selfie" was "twerk", a verb that was thrust to prominence by Miley Cyrus's remarkable performance at the MTV video music awards in August. Oxford speculates that it is "probably an alteration of work". I am no expert, but it seems to me more plausibly a portmanteau of "twist" and "jerk".
Some new or unusual words see topical spikes in popularity then die away again. You can probably guess why "papabile" (Pope-worthy) became briefly common in February and March. "Sharknado", an excellent term for a tornado on the winds of which are borne live sharks, spiked in July around the release of a cable TV movie of that name, though the word was actually coined two years ago by an American high-school Latin teacher, Mike Kubik, as an awe-inspiring name for the lacrosse team he coached.
Not mentioned by the Oxford editors (or yet in their dictionary) is "listicle". This term, which has seen a strong increase in Google searches this year, describes an article in the form of a numbered list. I'm told that it reminds some dirty-minded readers of testicle, but if the burgeoning prevalence of listicles online is any indication, it's one to keep in your pocket.
A different emphasis on linguistic fashion is provided by Merriam-Webster, which nominated "science" as its word of the year: people looked it up in their dictionary nearly three times more often than in 2012. The editors pointed out that a lot of major political issues involve science, and suggested that the critical kickings given to Malcolm Gladwell's latest book might also be relevant. An army of Breaking Badbinge-watchers joyously responded in the style of their beloved Jesse: "Science, bitch!"

sábado, 21 de diciembre de 2013

La Coral Polifónica de Figueres

Dani Mancebo al frente de la Polifónica de Figueres.

Noten el fresco del siglo XII en San Tomás de Fluviá , una diminuta joya del románico catalán. La misa quedó preciosa. Y la cena posterior Mmmmmm. Bon Nadal amics/as.

El PP: ¿también odia a las mujeres?



La nueva "Ley Orgánica de Protección de la Vida del Concebido", normativa que regula la interrupción del embarazo en España, es restrictiva, con sólo tres supuestos, viene a ser un chador obligatorio a la española, una fatwa terrible y degradante. El Estado español se abroga el derecho de constituirse padre, patrón y tutor de la mujeres, ese "Estado vetusto, cuasi victoriano, producto y manifestación de las irreconciliables contradicciones de clase", estigmatiza una práctica médica y la retrotrae a un pasado inaceptable. Que no responde a los avances de la genética. Ni contempla la posibilidad de detectar de forma temprana malformaciones en el feto. Es un embrión, no un concebido. Señalo que me parece correcta la objeción de conciencia de aquellos facultativos para los que dicha intervención represente una violación de sus principios éticos. Pero espero que, ante una emergencia, estén obligados a cumplir con sus obligaciones como galenos, como manda la legislación y hasta inclina la doctrina cristiana.
Según Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, secretario general del PSOE, "va contra la libertad de las mujeres y las trata como "incapaces. Lo más importante es el compromiso de parar esto. Vamos a parar esto. Nos están quitando al libertad y tenemos que hacer que paguen por ello", ha asegurado durante la clausura de un acto celebrado en la sede de los socialistas de Ferraz bajo el título En defensa de la libertad de las mujeres.

Viva Bolivia

El cohete boliviano lanzado desde China. Evo Morales presenció ese momento.

The best beard of 2013

10 best: Fidel Castro
Aunque sus enemigos (que son muchos y poderosos) lo quieren muerto y bien muerto. Fidel Castro está vivo. Reflexiona. Piensa. Escribe sus "Reflexiones" en su reposo del guerrero. Rodeado de su familia (una colección de Alex, Alejandros Alexei etc, sin olvidar al físico nuclear Castro Díaz Balart. Fíjense en la mirada. Está muy lúcido el Comandante. Y se morirá cuando le toque. La historia lo absolverá (o no). Pero de lo que no hay duda es que habrá un antes y un después de Fidel.

My "Simpsons (foster) family

Al Jean, writer and producer of The Simpsons
Es Al Jean. El creador de "The Simpsons", que viene a ser como mi familia desde que di con ellos en los lejanos noventa. Adoro a Marge, a Lisa, Bart es el hijo que me hubiera gustado domesticar. Y Homer el tío más repelentemente tierno que he conocido (de forma virtual). Adoro al gato "Snow Ball I",  etc ya que siempre se muere. Le debo a Alan Jean momentos muy felices. Por eso en Xmas me daré un banquete simpsoniano. No son perfectos.Tal vez a veces se imitan a si mismos. Pero qué familia estadounidense no incurre en el aburrimiento.

Homer and Bart Simpson with celebrity guests including Ricky Gervais, Russell Brand and Halle Berry

"The show has tackled homosexuality several times, notably in a 2005 episode in which Springfield legalises same-sex weddings and Marge's sister, Patty, comes out as gay. Marge eventually accepts her. Homer, initially hostile, becomes a minister and erects a sign – "Will marry anyone to anything" – after discovering he can charge couples $200. Conservative groups complained, but it was the season's highest-rated show.
Government snooping is a recurring theme. In the 2010 episode To Surveil with Love, authorities suspend civil liberties after a radiation leak from Homer's gym bag. An English security consultant played by Eddie Izzard installs security cameras to spy on townspeople, prompting rebellion. They then learn they were being taped for a British reality TV show called American Oafs.
"I could see us doing something about phone-hacking," says Jean, unabashed that Murdoch newspapers are at the heart of the scandal. The mogul has voiced himself as a "billionaire tyrant" in two episodes. The writers have also poked fun at their own network. "We can push it pretty far," says Jean.
Revelations about NSA surveillance may generate fresh storylines, but Edward Snowden is unlikely to star after Julian Assange's trumpeted cameo for the 500th episode last year drew a disappointing audience. At least in cartoons, leakers have limited impact".

viernes, 20 de diciembre de 2013

El arte de ser felíz

Creating an authentic life

By Polly Campbell 

Bueno, le enmiendo  la plana a señora Campbell: pienso que a la vida hay que echarle coraje. Y que es la verdadera base de la autenticidad. Con miedo no vamos a ninguna parte.Tampoco la búsqueda de la iluminación, sea lo que sea lo que se entienda por tal estado de crecimiento personal, obvia el destino de los humanos: somos mortales. Polvo y cenizas. Mejor que sea polvo enamorado. Yo les recomendaría, antes que las obras de Cambell,  "El arte de ser felíz" de Arthur Schopenhauer. No obstante aquí van cinco consejos de Cambell y uno mío, mucha gracia bajo presión, que decía Hemingway.

Campbell is the author of Imperfect Spirituality: Extraordinary Enlightenment for Ordinary People and How to Reach Enlightenment. She is also a blogger at imperfectspirituality.comThe Huffington Post and Psychology Today.

"Here are five ways to get started:
1. Redefine your values. It’s hard to behave in an authentic way if you do not know what you value and desire. Often, we hold tight to the same values we grew up with, when we need to reevaluate what feels right to us now and align our actions around those things. Get clear on what you care about and authenticity will take hold.
2. Foster an open mind. Authenticity flourishes when we experience the world wholly, from every perspective. Rigid, good/bad thinking keeps us trapped in judgment and limitation, which causes us to shut down our vulnerable, authentic self. Challenge yourself to look at all sides of the situation. Be open.
3. Fill in the blank: If you really knew me you’d know this: ___________.This is a prompt Robbins gives to seminar participants. Not only does it prompt introspection and allow people to reveal essential aspects of themselves, it also builds trust, credibility and confidence with the person you are sharing it with. Authenticity does sometimes feel scary and vulnerable, but it also builds intimacy.
4. Notice when you are being inauthentic. Robbins suggests that you pay attention to those times when you are insincere in your speech, or when you are acting in a way that doesn’t align with your core values. Then explore the fears and beliefs that may create those barriers to your authenticity.
5. Trust your intuition. Often, we feel out of sync when we are acting inauthentic. Things just don’t feel right. Pay attention to those hunches, physical sensations and impressions. They can be your instincts telling you that you are not being genuine. When you are on track and authentic, you’ll feel that too.
I felt at ease and in flow when I left public relations behind a year later to write full-time. Finally, I was truly myself. Authentic. And, while the writing business has blossomed, I’m still learning how to live authentically even 20 years later. That journey is ever-shifting as I learn more about myself.
“Who we are evolves and changes,” Robbins says. “This is a dynamic process and one we can keep moving into at deeper levels. Feel that, pay attention to that. This is less about a destination than a journey of going deeper to keep discovering and unfolding new pieces of ourselves as we go.”



Navidad felina

Quiero compartir una portada que me ha gustado mucho. Y el contenido también.

GCHQ Bude: The Global Big Brother

No se pierdan los reportajes de "Der Spiegel", "The Guardian" y "The New York Times" sobre el espionaje conjunto de Estados Unidos y Gran Bretaña. Aquí va un avance de "Der Spiegel" y los enlaces.
 Yes, Snowden endlish kapput 

"The American spy stayed in northern Cornwall for three weeks. He was delighted with the picturesque setting, with its dramatic cliffs and views of the Atlantic.
ANZEIGE
In a classified report, the NSA employee also raved about the British signals intelligence agency GCHQ's field of antennas, located high above the Atlantic coast, about 300 kilometers (190 miles) west of London. Her Majesty's agents have been working at the site, where 29 satellite antennas are aimed at the sky, for decades. The Cornwall intelligence base, once part of the Echelon global signals intelligence network, was previously known as "Morwenstow." Today the site is known as "GCHQ Bude."
In addition to its geographical conditions, which are ideal for monitoring important communications satellites, Bude has another site-specific advantage: Important undersea cables land at nearby Widemouth Bay. One of the cables, called TAT-14, begins at German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom's undersea cable terminal in the East Frisia region of northern Germany.
There were suspicions as early as this summer that the British intelligence service in Bude was eavesdropping on German targets. Now documents from the archive of US whistleblower Edward Snowden contain the first concrete evidence to support this suspicion: German telephone numbers. SPIEGEL, Britain's Guardian and the New York Times, as part of a joint effort, were able to view and evaluate the material".

Reporting from Our Partners


jueves, 19 de diciembre de 2013

Merry Spanish Xmas

Es una de las/os "Funny Girls" de Blackpool. Son drags. Son hombres, mujeres y lo que les de la gana. Bailan, cantan  y actúan. Es burlesque del bueno. Triunfa la "Marca España".

2013: el año de Edward Snowden




He elegido como la persona del año 2013 a  Edward Snowden, por su contribución a la democracia real. Creo que lejos de perjudicar a Estados Unidos, ha destapado  prácticas inaceptables contra la libertad de los ciudadanos. "No se espía a los amigos", dijo Merckel. Los gobiernos  deberían colaborar en beneficio de todos. El futuro de Snowden es incierto. Espero y deseo que finalmente llegue a un pacto con las autoridades estadounidenses. Les dejo un  resumen del diario "The Guardian", al que estoy suscrita y sigo. Espero que les sea útil.

Secret order compels US telecoms firm to disclose records of domestic calls

THE STORY

The first revelation from the NSA files shows the agency continuing a controversial programme to collect the phone records ("metadata") of millions of Americans – a scheme begun under George W Bush, but widely believed to have been scrapped by Barack Obama. The initiative, re-authorised in July and again in October, allows the agency to store details of who Americans contact, when and for how long. The agency is not, however, allowed to store the contents of calls.

THE REACTION

"In a digital era, privacy must be a priority. Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?"
– Former vice-president Al Gore
"Public hearings are needed to address the recent disclosures and the American people have the right to expect straight answers from the intelligence leadership to the questions asked by their representatives."
– Senator Ron Wyden

THE FALLOUT

The Obama administration releases hundreds of pages of confidential documents about the programme, showing that aspects of the surveillance had at one stage been judged unconstitutional by secret oversight courts. In July, a House amendment to remove funding from domestic phone records collection comes within 12 votes of success, surprising the press and House leadership alike. In September the secretive foreign intelligence surveillance court (Fisc) declassifies its legal reasoning for approving the NSA telephone metadata programme periodically over the past six years.

PRISM

Mass data mining from the servers of America's biggest tech companies

THE STORY

A top-secret $20m-a-year (£12m) NSA surveillance programme, offering the agency access to information on its targets from the servers of some of the biggest American technology companies: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, AOL, PalTalk and Yahoo. The UK eavesdropping agency GCHQ has access to Prism data. NSA documents suggest it uses Prism to access information "directly from the servers" of US companies – a claim they deny.

THE REACTION

"In liberal democracies the security services don't get to do what they do without broad public understanding and support … My community has to show a lot more leg or nobody is going to give us the authorisation."
– General Michael Hayden, former head of the NSA and CIA
"As loth as I am to give any credit to what's happened here, I think it's clear that some of the conversations this has generated, some of the debate, actually needed to happen."
– James Clapper, the director of US national intelligence

THE FALLOUT

The leaks lead to three bills before Congress and two presidential reviews. One bill bans the collection of internet communication data and stops snooping on Americans without a warrant. Another, backed by Dianne Feinstein, proposes greater transparency and a third calls for an
end to bulk data collection and the reform of Fisa courts. Obama has set up a panel to review snooping and a separate executive review.

TEMPORA

GCHQ taps online traffic from undersea cables and shares data with NSA

THE STORY

Britain's GCHQ spy agency operates a mass-interception network based on tapping fibre-optic cables, and uses it to create a vast "internet buffer" named Tempora – a kind of Sky+ for huge amounts of data flowing in and out of the UK. GCHQ keeps the content of messages for three working days, and the metadata for up to 30 days. The system is part of GCHQ's stated goal to "master the internet". It emerges that several major companies have given GCHQ secret unlimited access to their network of undersea cables.

THE REACTION

"We now know GCHQ is routinely hoovering up and storing … the internet communications of millions of innocent people, turning us all from citizens into suspects. As far as I am aware, parliament has not sanctioned this. Can the minister please tell the house whether this blanket snooping on all of us is authorised by a minister, and if so, under which section of which act of parliament?"
– Lord Strasburger, Liberal Democrat peer
"The accusations against Great Britain sound like a Hollywood nightmare."
– Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, German justice minister

THE FALLOUT

The legality of Prism and Tempora is being challenged at the European court of human rights by three privacy and free expression advocacy groups: English PEN, Open Rights Group and Big Brother Watch. The government and telecoms companies are facing a separate legal challenge at the UK's investigatory powers tribunal over Tempora, brought by Privacy International. Parliament's intelligence and security committee, which oversees GCHQ, MI5 and MI6, is to investigate the extent and scale of surveillance. In parliament there have been two debates, and the heads of the three intelligence services have given evidence in public for the first time.

CRACKING CRYPTOGRAPHY

Covert NSA collaboration with tech industry to build in security defects

THE STORY

The NSA and GCHQ cracks much of the encryption technology that underpins the safety and security of the internet, protecting emails, banking, commercial transactions and official records. The NSA's $250m-a-year project works overtly and covertly with industry to weaken security software, hardware equipment and global standards on security, with experts warning that this leaves all internet users more vulnerable. The programmes are named Bullrun for the NSA, and Edgehill for GCHQ.

THE REACTION

"The NSA … is making the internet less secure and exposing us to criminal hacking, foreign espionage and unlawful surveillance."
– Christopher Soghoian, American Civil Liberties Union
"Any deliberate subversion of cryptographic systems by the NSA is simply a bad idea, and should stop … there are plenty of other more targeted techniques they can use that do not reduce the security of the internet for all of its users."
– Economist editorial

THE FALLOUT

Companies and organisations that rely on secure, encrypted communications are looking at setting up new software and systems, distancing themselves from the government-run National Institute of Standards and Technology. One email service, Lavabit, closes down rather than hand over its encryption keys to US authorities. Owner Ladar Levison is facing court action.

CYBERWAR

President orders list of global targets to further American interests

THE STORY

Barack Obama directs his senior national security and intelligence officials to draw up a potential target list for international cyber-attacks that will "advance US objectives around the world". The unpublished 18-page directive states that these so-called "offensive cyber effects operations" will give "little or no warning" and would have potential effects ranging from "subtle to severely damaging". It also raises the possibility of cyber actions inside the US.

THE REACTION

Chinese media condemned Washington for its "hypocrisy", saying that Snowden's revelations had "smashed the image of the US as a cyber-liberty advocate". It added that the US had implicated Beijing in state-sponsored hacking for months.
"China has denied such attacks while defending itself as a victim of cybercrimes.
Snowden's testimony now certainly adds a dose
of conviction to the Chinese government's statements."
– China's official newswire, Xinhua

THE FALLOUT

The revelations emerge around the time of a summit between Obama and Xi Jinping when the US president confronted his Chinese counterpart about China's alleged attacks on western targets. They cause severe embarrassment to the Obama administration, as the US repeatedly accuses other countries, particularly China, of aggressive cyber-tactics. Since the revelations those claims, and with them much of the US's diplomatic clout on the matter, are being openly questioned.

WORLD LEADERS

THE STORY

US intelligence agents track leaders' calls after being given their numbers by an official in another US government department, leaked documents reveal. Files show that the agency encourages senior officials in its "customer departments" – White House, state and Pentagon – to "share their Rolodexes" so that it can obtain contact details of foreign leaders for its surveillance systems. The revelation adds to diplomatic tensions between the US and its allies, after it is claimed that the phone of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel was tapped for 10 years.

THE REACTION

"Tampering in such a manner in the affairs of other countries is a breach of international law and is an affront of the principles that must guide the relations among them, especially among friendly nations."
– Dilma Rousseff, Brazilian president
"We need to have trust in our allies and partners, and now this must be established again. I repeat that spying among friends is not acceptable against anyone, and that goes for every citizen in Germany."
– Angela Merkel, German chancellor

THE FALLOUT

The US's standing around the world takes a huge hit as allies find out they are often the target of the NSA's spying operations. Rousseff cancels an official visit to the US and politicians across South American and Europe line up to criticise the extent of the snooping. Obama contacts the French president, François Hollande, to try to limit the damage, but the row reaches a new peak when Merkel phones Obama to angrily complain about the US bugging her phone.