I’ve been writing for Little Atoms about a new paper on Twitter’s digital insurgency against the Islamic State’s unwanted occupation of its network, and I’m both impressed and a little disturbed by Fat Blue’s war readiness. … More Twitter’s warp speed whack-a-mole war on ISIS
Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins was born 100 years ago today. The Moomin books were a childhood favourite of mine. She created this amazing world full of weird fussy, angry, optimistic, loving and neurotic creatures who were all wonderfully sympathetic, even the scary ones. I re-read them as an adult and I was immediatly … More Love, war, tea and sympathy in Moominland
A really interesting discussion on wrier Hari Kunzru’s Facebook page over the weekend, with contributions from Salil Tripathi, Manick Govinda, William Dalrymple and others on Hari’s changing view of cultural sanctions on Israel since the start of the assault on Gaza. Hari wrote how he had been tipped over the edge by a few hideous … More A bloody writer writes: My patience is at an end
“Russia’s intelligence community is simply pandering to killer thugs in Eastern Ukraine in the dumb hope that engagement will pass for real influence. (Ref: Pakistani ISS spooks and the Taliban) Meanwhile Putin persists with the dumb hope that daily FSB reports on violent neighbourhood chaos that keeps other powers at bay will pass as a geopolitical strategy. (Ref: Pakistan and Afghanistan). Moscow thinks that managing the fallout from a long war is a desirable alternative to a long march to a lasting peace settlement (Ref: Israel). But unlike Israel, Russia is simply finding ways to manage its own impotence.” … More Adumbration: Impotent spooks & nationalist kooks with big missiles
Tired of having its surveillance powers pulled up short by the courts and independent watchdogs, the UK government is racing to pre-empt their rulings by slotting in make-shift legislation that will preserve sweeping new surveillance powers to target more people around the world. … More Turning a DRIP into a torrent of bulk surveillance
The government of Ukraine needs to do more to bring local human rights defenders into the process of bringing peace and justice to their troubled, divided country, even if the International Criminal Court (ICC) is allowed to take on an extended role of its own there. This appeal by a diverse group of 14 local … More Defending the rule of law in Ukraine
“In light of the absence of guidelines and oversight, together with its clandestine nature, this technology is uniquely vulnerable to misuse, By analyzing the tools and their proliferation at the hands of companies like Hacking Team and Gamma Group, we hope to support efforts to ensure that these tools are used in an accountable way, and not to violate basic principles of human rights and rule of law.” … More Surveillance: Guns for hire
According to Sri Lankan lore, I understand, you should keep an image of your devils close by, so you know what they look like – and where they are. Here’s mine, George W Bush and Tony Blair, photographed in April 2003 as I was on my way to Baghdad, the war just underway. The photo … More Keeping my Devils close
I thought it would come to nothing, but I was proven wrong. I underestimated the power of Colombo’s bluster to lose friends and influence where it mattered. The UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva has voted to conduct an independent investigation into Sri Lanka’s conduct of the closing years of its long and bloody war … More Blustering Colombo winds up the United Nations once too often
Already devalued by its members’ current records on rights issues from surveillance to homophobia, the principles of the Organisation for Security & Cooperation in Europe will be further tested at its summit in Kiev this week, as demonstrators pack its streets and its Ukrainian hosts violently flout the body’s own guidelines on rights to peaceful protest and media freedom. … More Ukraine’s government puts on a bad show ahead of OSCE summit
