[GEOTV] With its ban of X, which went into effect on Saturday, Brazil joins a small club of countries to have taken similar measures against the social network, most of them run by authoritarian regimes.
Beyond permanent bans, some nations have temporarily restricted access to X, formerly Twitter, which has often been used by political dissidents to communicate.
These have included Egypt in 2011 during the Arab Spring uprisings, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... in 2014 and 2023, and Uzbekistan around that country's 2021 presidential election.
Here is a list of some of the others:
China
Beijing banned Twitter in June 2009 — before it secured the prominent place it enjoyed in Western media and politics for much of the 2010s.
The block came two days before the 20-year anniversary of the government's crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations in the capital's Tiananmen Square.
Since then, many Chinese people have turned to home-grown alternatives such as "Weibo" and "WeChat".
Iran
Twitter was also blocked by Tehran in 2009, as a wave of demonstrations broke out following a contested June presidential election.
The network has nevertheless been used since then to pass information to the outside world about dissident movements, including the demonstrations against Iran's repression of women's rights since late 2022.
Turkmenistan
Isolated Central Asian country Turkmenistan blocked Twitter in the early 2010s alongside many other foreign online services and websites.
Authorities in Ashgabat surveil closely citizens' usage of the internet, provided through state-run monopoly operator TurkmenTelecom.
North Korea ...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche... Pyongyang opened its own Twitter account in 2010 in a bid to woo foreigners interested in the country.
But the application has been blocked along with Facebook, Youtube and gambling and pornography websites since April 2016.
Internet access beyond a few government websites is under tight government watch in the regime, with access restricted to a few high-ranking officials.
Myanmar
X has been blocked since February 2021 in Myanmar, when authorities took aim at the app for its use by opponents of the military coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government.
Since then, the junta has kept a tight grip on internet access in the country.
Russia
Access to Twitter was throttled from 2021 by Moscow, which complained the site was allowing users to spread "illegal content".
A formal ban came in March 2022, just after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Many Russian users continue to connect to X via VPN services that allow them to get around the block.
Pakistain
X has been banned since parliamentary polls in February this year. Pakistain's government says the block is for security reasons.
Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... Nicolás Maduro ...Commie el presidente para la vida of Venezuela, successor to Hugo Chavez. Nick is his country's attempt at producing a Muammar Qadaffy, except that even though his country's sitting on an enormous puddle of oil, he can't manage to get it out of the ground. Unlike Qadaffy and Hugo Chavez, he's not dead yet... , who was declared winner of July's presidential election despite grave suspicions of fraud, ordered access to X suspended for 10 days on August 9 as security forces were violent mostly peacefully putting down nationwide demonstrations.
The block has remained in place beyond the expiry of the 10-day period.
Brazil
The country's block on X has come from the judiciary, via Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes.
He has highlighted the reactivation of accounts that had been ordered suspended by Brazilian courts.
Users connecting to X via a VPN face a fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) per day.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/01/2024 00:00 ||
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#1
Hmmmm. I would not have included Brazil on the list of favorite misinformation experts. But then, it's only the judiciary, not 'the will of the people'.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/01/2024 12:06 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] Bombastic university protests fuel a record-breaking rise in reported incidents of Jew-hatred — but the type and scope of divestment they seek is often contrary to British law
For decades, the prestigious London School of Economics has been seen as a hotbed of student radicalism and left-wing politics.
But this summer the school has struck twin blows against anti-Israel student protesters — taking legal action in June to end a monthlong occupation of a university building and last month robustly rejecting the demands of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The stance by the London School of Economics (LSE) reflects the failure of BDS campaigners to advance their goals on Britannia’s campuses despite a wave of pro-Paleostinian protests and a surge in antisemitic incidents in the UK following the October 7 Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... -led terror onslaught and the subsequent war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... According to the latest analysis by the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism and provides protection for Jewish venues, there has been "a significant rise in anti-Jewish hate incidents in higher education settings." January to June 2024 saw a record half-year figure and a sharp increase of 465% over the same period in 2023. Nearly three-quarters of incidents — in which the victims or offenders were students or academics, or which involved student unions, societies or other representative bodies — contained discourse relating to Israel, Paleostine and the Middle East, compared to 52% of all incidents nationally.
The Union of Jewish Students agrees. "Following a year where Jewish students have experienced the worst campus antisemitism crisis — that continues to unfold — a renewed campaign of BDS that targets Jewish life on campus is misguided, disruptive, and unacceptable," a union spokesperson said in a statement. "BDS is a divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... movement prioritizing a single narrative instead of nuanced and respectful discussion. It divides peers, alienates Jewish students and creates an atmosphere that can and has fueled antisemitism on campuses across the UK."
Since October 7, there has been a jump in anti-Israel campaigning on campuses. Student unions have passed motions attacking the Jewish state and demanding university authorities heed the demands of the BDS movement.
But, as has often been the case in the past, events at the LSE have drawn the most media attention. Anti-Israel, pro-Paleostinian students occupied a building on the school’s central London campus in mid-May and issued a laundry list of demands they wanted fulfilled if they were to vacate. These included divestment from "any and all companies identified as complicit in crimes against the Paleostinian people"; a ban on "representatives of the Israeli state or Zionist holy warriors" speaking at the university; and a bar on "active or reserve IDF members who have participated in genocidal acts or war crimes" enrolling at the university as students.
The students also demanded the university issue a public statement in collaboration with the Paleostine, Islamic and other pro-BDS societies "expressing unwavering solidarity with Paleostinian liberation," and trash its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.
At graduation ceremonies in July, students receiving their degrees unfurled Paleostinian flags and banners accusing the university of being "an Islamophobic institution." Unsurprisingly, Jeremy Corbyn, the far-left former leader of the Labour Party, addressed students at the encampment, telling them they were "on the right side of history."
Nonetheless, anti-Israel campaigners appear to have largely faltered in their efforts to use the conflict to push their agenda.
In June, the LSE went to court and became the first UK university to take legal action to end an anti-Israel encampment on its campus. The school’s administration has also taken a tough line against students’ BDS demands.
In a report issued in July, the LSE’s governing council said the school would not adopt the divestment policy demanded by the students which, in effect, encompassed all companies "that do business in or with the State of Israel."
The council’s report argues its decision is consistent with LSE’s environmental, social and governance policy, noting the "impossibility of distinguishing this conflict from so many others of concern to different groups within the LSE community."
The council rejected demands that the university back the Paleostinian cause, saying its duty was to preserve "free expression and thought on campus and protect the academic freedom of all our faculty and students." The Israeli-Paleostinian conflict, it said, is "an ongoing geopolitical dispute with many complex dimensions as to which members of our community hold a wide range of views and positions."
And the council said it would protect "protest and criticism," before pointedly adding "so long as it does not cross the line into harassment or hate and does not impede the teaching, research, and learning opportunities of others."
LEARNING FROM THEIR YANKEE COUNTERPARTS
Inspired by similar efforts in the US, the summer saw pro-Paleostinian encampments appear at universities across the country, including at elite "Russell Group" colleges, such as the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Exeter, and the LSE. In some instances, welcome talks at open days for prospective students were invaded — on occasion, with the permission of staff — by pro-Paleostinian activists. Elsewhere, summer exams were disrupted, canceled and moved due to students barricading themselves in buildings.
The organization UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has been keeping a close eye on developments, warning student unions and university administrators when their actions are likely to breach various British laws which regulate and have an impact upon the higher education sector.
Student unions, for instance, are charities and are barred from campaigning on issues beyond those directly affecting student life.
Those who administer university pension funds — a key target for activists calling for divestment from Israel and companies linked to the Jewish state — are subject to complex legislation. They are, for instance, not allowed to make decisions which might risk significant financial damage to the fund or which might not command broad support from the beneficiaries of the funds — primarily, former university staff.
More broadly, given their reliance on taxpayer funding, universities have to comply with regulations that bar them from allowing politics to influence their purchasing decisions.
Finally, the UK’s Equality Act is stringent and bars discrimination, harassment and victimization on the basis of factors including race (which covers nationality and ethnic origin), religion, or philosophical belief (which may include anti-Zionism), while public order legislation criminalizes threatening or abusive language and stirring up racial or religious hatred. The Terrorism Act bans the expression of views supportive of proscribed terrorist organizations, such as Hamas.
UKLFI has demanded tougher action by universities to protect Jewish students against antisemitism, harassment and discrimination, while warning them of the perils of acceding to the — often illegal — demands made by anti-Israel activists on campuses.
"We are concerned that they are responding to these unlawful encampments by giving in, which will only cause more trouble in future," Jonathan Turner, UKLFI’s chief executive, told The Times of Israel. "They really shouldn’t allow the intimidation by the encampments to affect their policies. It’s one thing to hear reasoned argument from people behaving in a civilized way, but paying off, as it were, those who are making it extremely unpleasant for many of the other students is not actually the best course."
In April, for instance, UKLFI told the University of Exeter, which is ranked one of Britannia’s top universities, that the "current situation" on the campus was "unacceptable" for Jewish students.
It highlighted "extremely aggressive" weekly anti-Israel protests which were accompanied by chants of "genocide," "murderers" and "from the river to the sea." Jewish students, the letter said, were now being forced to cover up outward signs of their Jewish identity and walk in groups. It also detailed instances of lecturers describing the October 7 massacre as "resistance," and PhD students making "viciously antisemitic" comments in an online group.
In June, UKLFI claimed that Oxford University’s "appeasement" had encouraged disruption which had led to the cancellation of some exams, while others took place amid noisy anti-Israel protests. The exam papers of Israeli, Jewish and Zionist students, who had been the "targets of such venomous hostility and threatening behavior," should be marked more generously than those of other students, UKLFI argued, noting anti-discrimination legislation.
And last month, UKLFI wrote to the vice-chancellor of Bristol University — another top UK institution — after masked anti-Israel protesters disrupted visiting day lectures, and were then permitted or encouraged by staff to deliver speeches labeling the university "complicit in the genocide in Gaza" because it had failed to break ties with arms companies. Anyone choosing to attend Bristol University, the protesters told prospective students and their parents, had a "duty to resist" Israel’s "genocide." The "uninterrupted hate speech," and the role of staff in facilitating it, warned UKLFI, breached the university’s obligations under the Equality Act.
FOCUS ON PENSION FUNDS
A number of student unions — including at the University of Manchester and University of Nottingham — that passed motions calling for BDS campaigns have been forced to reverse course by their trustees following warnings by UKLFI and legal advice that advocating on issues not directly affecting students would breach their status as charities.
Turner believes the situation at UK universities is "not quite as bad" as the "horrifying" position on many US campuses.
Nonetheless, pro-Israel groups are not complacent about the potential threat posed by BDS on British campuses. Turner cites the University of Edinburgh’s response to an anti-Israel encampment which included instructions to its fund manager to pause the purchase of new shares in Amazon and Alphabet (Google’s parent company). Amazon and Google are targeted by the BDS movement because they have contracts with the Israeli government to provide cloud technology.
In a letter to the university’s vice-chancellor in June, UKLFI warned that, if the instruction affected the institution’s pension fund, the university could be opening itself up to legal action.
UKLFI is also concerned about decisions made by the University of Aberdeen in response to a pro-Paleostinian student encampment.
Aberdeen has pledged a review of its investments and its contracts with IT giant HP and fast-food company Subway. (HP provides and operates technology for the Israeli government while Subway’s local franchises are accused of offering in-kind donations to the IDF).
And although the university responded to the encampment’s demand of a boycott of Israeli academic institutions by defending academic freedom, it went on to say that it had no active agreements with Israeli universities and no intention of embarking on new ones.
Britannia’s previous Conservative government was pushing an anti-BDS bill through parliament when the general election was called. While the new Labour administration hasn’t proposed reviving the bill, Turner believes the UK’s existing laws remain "quite strong."
[IsraelTimes] Jess Phillips says she sought medical attention at Birmingham hospital for trouble breathing, was seen by Palestinian doctor who apparently prioritized her due to her political views.
The UK’s minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, Jess Phillips, has suggested she received quicker medical care through the National Health Service (NHS) because she voted for a ceasefire in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Speaking at an event titled "An Evening With Jess Phillips" earlier this month, Phillips told attendees of an episode she had where she had difficulty breathing, according to multiple reports.
"Me lips had gone blue, and I couldn’t breathe," she recounted to the audience, saying that she subsequently sought help at a Birmingham hospital.
Describing the scene at the hospital, Phillips was quoted as saying she had "genuinely seen better facilities, health facilities, in war zones [and] in developing countries around the world."
She eventually reached the front of the queue, Phillips continued, "undoubtedly" because of who she was and because the doctor who saw her was Paleostinian.
Phillips explained that the doctor helped her get through because she resigned from the Labour frontbench in November, while Labour was still the opposition, to vote for a resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... "I got through because of who I am. Also the doctor who saw me was Paleostinian, as it turns out. Almost all the doctors in Birmingham seemed to be," she said, according to the Daily Mail.
The doctor "was sort of like, ’I like you, you voted for a ceasefire,'" Phillips recounted, adding that she appeared to have received faster care for that reason.
After the UK election in July, Phillips decried the abuse she and her activists had suffered at the hands of some pro-Paleostinian protesters in what she dubbed "the worst election I have ever stood in."
In her victory speech after she narrowly held her Birmingham Yardley seat, which was accompanied by heckles of "shame on you" and "free Paleostine," Phillips described an instance when a man screamed at a woman who was distributing leaflets for her and cases when her campaign team had their tires slashed.
She also said she believed that candidates standing on the pro-Gaza platform were "deplorable" and that they "have done absolutely nothing to help a single person in Gaza" other than bullying and picking on "mainly women."
Her story about the NHS was criticized by many who said that as a public servant, she should not have accepted preferential treatment, and some who questioned how someone who was known to be pro-Israel or recognizably Jewish would have been treated in comparison.
Phillips has refused or not responded to multiple British publications’ requests for comment on the story.
In a letter published in the Lancet medical journal in November, two doctors, David Katz and Fiona Sim, on behalf of the Jewish Medical Association wrote that many Jewish healthcare professionals had been the victims of "unacceptable and explicit antisemitism" since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7 with the terrorist organization’s attack on Israel that resulted in some 1,200 people being murdered, and 251 hostages taken.
They wrote that the abuse included doctors who openly expressed support for Hamas’s attack, including one who mocked people fleeing from the Supernova music festival where hundreds of people were murdered by terrorists.
"Although these attacks might have come from a small number of people, it is nonetheless a serious problem," they wrote. "Patients, and their families, need to feel safe in the knowledge that those entrusted with their care never express racist — including antisemitic — views."
Swanning around as if Turkey can actually afford to be the sultanate he pretends it to be. Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... stated that Ottoman Turkish forces are fulfilling their duties to the fullest in all their areas of operation, including Syria, northern Iraq, Libya, and Somalia.
Speaking at the diploma ceremony of the National Defence University Military Academy in Ankara, he emphasised that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... ’s military presence in these regions is part of its broader strategy to maintain national security and protect its interests.
Erdogan highlighted that anyone who tries to limit Turkey’s vision to its 782,000 square kilometres of land is out of touch with the country’s ambitions, or simply unaware of its strategic goals.
He underscored Turkey’s commitment to extending its influence and safeguarding its interests beyond its borders, citing the importance of maintaining a proactive and expansive defence policy.
In Libya, Turkey’s military involvement is grounded in the security and military cooperation agreement signed in 2019 with the outgoing Government of National Accord (GNA). This agreement, which includes provisions for training, advisory services, and equipment support, was designed to help the GNA fend off the advance of rival forces and establish stability in the region.
Under the terms of this agreement, Turkey has provided military support, including dronezaps and military advisers.
Erdogan’s remarks reaffirm Turkey’s resolve to maintain its military presence in these regions, asserting that the country’s actions are not just about defence, but also about expanding its sphere of influence and protecting its geopolitical interests.
He pointed out that Turkey’s involvement in Libya is a strategic move that aligns with its broader goals of regional influence and security, particularly in areas crucial to its national interests.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/01/2024 00:00 ||
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[11127 views]
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Turkey uses only a few of its nationals to do its work in Libya. Mostly, Turkey hires displaced Syrians to do its work. About 500 of the latter have died but very few Turks.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/01/2024 0:07 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Turkey's Mohammed Ali revived. Erdogan enjoys backing losers -- in Sudan, Libya, Lebanon, Gaza. The sooner Turkey is expelled from NATO the better.
[IsraelTimes] Channel 12 says army data indicates 3,800 of the attackers were members of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force
New assessments indicate twice as many Gazooks breached the border into Israel on October 7 than previously believed, Channel 12 reported Saturday, citing data compiled by the Israel Defense Forces’ Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Division.
Some 3,800 hard boyz from the Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... terror group’s elite Nukhba forces smashed through the border fence, the report said, among a total of 6,000 Gazooks who crossed into Israel that day.
Hitherto, figures made public indicated that some 3,000 Hamas-led hard boyz participated in the invasion, massacre and hostage-taking that day. That number did not take into account Gazooks who crossed the fence and participated in the atrocities but were not Hamas members, nor did it differentiate between Nukhba hard boyz and other Hamas terrorists.
It was unclear from the report what the status was of the 2,200 other Gazooks who infiltrated Israel on October 7. Presumably, many were civilians, as extensive footage of the onslaught showed many enter to loot and take part in the assault, while others were likely members of other Hamas units or other terrorist organizations such as the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... The TV report also said that the border was breached in 119 spots — again, about double the previously widely cited figure of 60 breaches in the Gaza-Israel fence.
Additionally, 1,000 hard boyz inside Gaza were involved in firing rockets at Israel that day, the report said, meaning that a total of some 7,000 Gazooks took part in the onslaught.
Some 5,000 rockets were fired at Israel on October 7, with 3,000 of them in the first four hours of the onslaught, according to the IDF.
Channel 12 said the data was submitted to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.
In response to the report, Channel 12 quoted the IDF Spokesman’s Office as saying that the IDF’s operational probe of the events surrounding October 7 has not yet been completed, and is continuing in accordance with situational assessments and operational needs.
Upon completion, the findings will be made public, the front man’s office said.
The October 7 massacre saw hard boyz kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnap 251, all while committing widespread atrocities and mass sexual assault. Over 350 people were killed at a music festival and whole families were executed in their homes.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
