Svet

[Roger Sanchez]

Generalova & Diktatorova kći postala Precjednica.

South Korea's President-elect, Park Geun-hye, has said her victory will help the country's economy recover.Ms Park, the daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee, defeated her liberal rival Moon Jae-in. She will be South Korea's first female leader.Votes are still being counted, but Mr Moon has admitted defeat. Turnout was high in a poll dominated by economic and social welfare issues.Combined figures from the networks released after polls closed gave Ms Park 50.1% of the vote over Mr Moon's 48.9%.Ms Park, 60, will replace her party colleague Lee Myung-bak.He is stepping down as the law requires after his five-year term.

Mater joj je ubio sjevernokorejski assasin, ćaću joj je pred njenim očima ubio šef vlastite tajne službe... Kći se vratila na on d fejs of d plejs. Edited December 19, 2012 by Roger Sanchez

[nera]

[Skyhighatrist]

“Big H” credited With Killing Taliban Commander in Afghanistan

[Roger Sanchez]

Nadam se da će ovo u Vatikanu pročitat na vrijeme, prije nego što se daju placet za prelest.. :0.6:

[bergasa19]

Francuska: Ustavni sud odbacio novu poresku stopu za bogate

[dragance]

Velika glupost i populizam od samog starta. A vecina sada govori anketama da je Sarkozi bio efikasniji.

Edited December 29, 2012 by dragance

[Jozef K.]

Očekivao sam da su Francuzi pametniji i da neće da izglasaju ovog klovna za predsednika.

[Prospero]

malo o magnitskom, kongresu i ruskim ngo:

The Frivolous U.S.-Russian RelationshipRobert W. Merry|December 31, 2012The conventional account of what’s happening in U.S.-Russian relations these days goes something like this: Some Americans, notably Maryland’s Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin, were outraged when a Russian lawyer named Sergei Magnitsky was arrested on what appeared to be trumped up charges and then died in police custody. It seemed to be all too typical of Russian human rights abuses, and Cardin pushed for legislation to sanction Russians involved in such abuses by denying them entrance to the United States and use of its banking system.Russian leaders were furious when Congress passed the "Magnitsky Rule" as part of legislation repealing a relic of the Cold War called the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. They were further enraged when President Obama signed the legislation on December 14. So the Russian legislature, in what seemed like an action of pique, promptly passed legislation to ban the adoption of Russian children by U.S. families. It was designed to get the attention of Americans and it succeeded, as the move received widespread and prominent play throughout the U.S. media.Oh, and incidentally, the Russian legislation, in a more direct response to the Magnitsky Rule, allows for the imposition of sanctions against U.S. officials thought to have violated human rights. Also, it bars any political activity by Russian nongovernmental organizations receiving funding from the United States.As I say, that’s the conventional version. It would appear that diplomatic relations between the two countries have descended to a level of abject pettiness, notwithstanding the serious issues separating them.Now let’s look at what’s really going on. It wasn’t widely reported in the U.S. media, but the Magnitsky Rule was far more than a mere symbolic gesture reflecting America’s devotion to the rule of law. It was a dagger pointed at the heart of Russia’s existing governmental structure. The question that caused jitters in Moscow centered on who would get on the U.S. list of Russian officials who couldn’t come to America or do business here—and how would they get placed on the list. To understand the significance of this, it’s helpful to look at both the Senate and House versions of the legislation as it made its way through Congress.Cardin’s Senate version did not single out Russia specifically but rather applied to anyone around the world guilty of human rights violations. It was global in scope and hence didn’t carry the sting of insult that would emerge with a single-nation target. Beyond that, the power to put specific individuals on the list was left in the hands of State Department officials, who would operate behind a veil of secrecy.The House version was directed exclusively at Russia, and the sanctions list would be maintained in the open. Further, certain designated members of Congress, based on committee assignments and chairmanships, were empowered to put forth names of Russian officials they felt should be on the Magnitsky List. Their selections could be aired publicly pending a State Department review.Here’s where the Magnitsky legislation became a powerful salient directed against the Russian government. Opposition forces in Russia have ongoing access to favored legislators in the United States, and this provision of the bill gave them potent leverage against government officials whose actions were considered offensive by the opposition. They can say: If we don’t like your policies, we’ll get you on the Magnitsky List.That’s a designation that no Russian official would want to hazard. But the problem for Russia’s government officials would be much more severe if the European Union were to adopt the Magnitsky principle, as many adherents of the U.S. legislation are urging. That’s because, while few Russian officials visit America for pleasure or buy vacation homes here, many have substantial property and financial interests in Europe.Thus, when Russian government leaders complain about U.S. meddling in their internal affairs, they’re not talking just about symbolic actions. They’re talking about an effort on the part of the United States to alter the balance of political power in the Russian polity.That’s why it’s a bit amusing to see the U.S. coverage of the new Russian law banning the adoption of Russian children by Americans. Human rights groups churn out literature decrying the use of young children as political footballs in a senseless diplomatic game. But that’s mostly a smokescreen. President Obama reportedly asked Putin to ensure the Russian reaction to Magnitsky wouldn’t be harmful economically, and Putin complied because he wants U.S. investment. Instead, he went after American heartstrings.But the serious piece was the ban on NGO activity for those who accept American money. The Russian political opposition operates largely under the auspices of NGOs, and many of them take substantial amounts of American money. Hence, this provision destroys the leverage these opposition groups felt they had won through the Magnitsky Rule. If they use the threat of the Magnitsky List to keep government officials back on their heels, Putin will simply put them out of business through application of the new NGO rule.Thus do we see that this Magnitsky-adoption drama is anything but petty. Big issues are at stake, particularly for Putin and his government. But it does seem frivolous. Why, we might ask, are two major powers with much at stake in their relationship spending so much time, energy and wiles getting into each other’s knickers? And why do U.S. leaders feel such a need to hammer away at Russia’s internal structures when there are so many more important matters facing the two countries, matters that could be dealt with far more easily and effectively if these frivolous gestures didn’t get in the way?This is not to minimize the seriousness of the trend in Russia toward increasingly authoritarian behavior on the part of its leaders, starting with Putin. Nor does it question the seriousness of official corruption in that country, also unfortunately on the rise and a blight on its society and people. Such lapses justify stern American expressions of opprobrium.At the same time, Russia is hardly as repressive as many other nations, including U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. And it certainly isn’t more corrupt than, say, Afghanistan, where the United States has been investing significant blood and treasure to protect the current government. Hence, it seems unwise as well as unseemly for America to put forth legislation so easily interpreted as an anti-Putin bill and so easily viewed as designed to bring the Russian government to its knees.Perhaps this latest round of gotcha diplomacy can be deftly contained by Obama and Putin when the two men meet early in the new year. But this byplay is on the cusp of spinning out of control, with serious consequences for the U.S.-Russian relationship. That wouldn’t be in Russia’s interest. But, more significantly for Americans, it wouldn’t be in the U.S. interest either.Robert W. Merry is editor of The National Interest and the author of books on American history and foreign policy. His most recent book is Where They Stand: The American Presidents in the Eyes of Voters and Historians.

Edited December 31, 2012 by buffalo bill

[bigvlada]

China’s Paid Trolls: Meet the 50-Cent PartyThe Chinese government hires people to distort or deflect conversations on the web. Ai Weiwei persuades an “online commentator” to tell all.By Ai Weiwei Published 17 October 2012In February 2011, Ai Weiwei tweeted that he would like to conduct an interview with an “online commentator”. Commentators are hired by the Chinese government or the Communist Party of China to post comments favourable towards party policies and to shape public opinion on internet message boards and forums. The commentators are known as the 50-Cent Party, as they are said to be paid 50 cents for every post that steers a discussion away from anti-party content or that advances the Communist Party line.Below is the transcript of Ai’s interview with an online commentator. As requested, an iPad was given as compensation for the interview. To protect the interviewee, relevant personal information has been concealed in this script.Question: What’s your name, age, city of residence and online username?Answer: I cannot make my name public. I’m 26. I have too many usernames. If I want to use one, I just register it. I won’t mention them here.What do you call the work you do now?It doesn’t matter what you call it: online commentator, public opinion guide, or even “the 50-Cent Party” that everyone’s heard of.What is your level of education and work experience? How did you begin the work of guiding public opinion?I graduated from university and studied media. I once worked for a TV channel, then in online media. I’ve always been in the news media industry, for four or five years now.Over a year ago, a friend asked me if I wanted to be an online commentator, to earn some extra money. I said I’d give it a try. Later, I discovered it was very easy.When and from where will you receive directives for work?Almost every morning at 9am I receive an email from my superiors – the internet publicity office of the local government – telling me about the news we’re to comment on for the day. Sometimes it specifies the website to comment on, but most of the time it’s not limited to certain websites: you just find relevant news and comment on it.Can you describe your work in detail?The process has three steps – receive task, search for topic, post comments to guide public opinion. Receiving a task mainly involves ensuring you open your email box every day. Usually after an event has happened, or even before the news has come out, we’ll receive an email telling us what the event is, then instructions on which direction to guide the netizens’ thoughts, to blur their focus, or to fan their enthusiasm for certain ideas. After we’ve found the relevant articles or news on a website, according to the overall direction given by our superiors we start to write articles, post or reply to comments. This requires a lot of skill. You can’t write in a very official manner, you must conceal your identity, write articles in many different styles, sometimes even have a dialogue with yourself, argue, debate. In sum, you want to create illusions to attract the attention and comments of netizens.In a forum, there are three roles for you to play: the leader, the follower, the onlooker or unsuspecting member of the public. The leader is the relatively authoritative speaker, who usually appears after a controversy and speaks with powerful evidence. The public usually finds such users very convincing. There are two opposing groups of followers. The role they play is to continuously debate, argue, or even swear on the forum. This will attract attention from observers. At the end of the argument, the leader appears, brings out some powerful evidence, makes public opinion align with him and the objective is achieved. The third type is the onlookers, the netizens. They are our true target “clients”. We influence the third group mainly through role-playing between the other two kinds of identity. You could say we’re like directors, influencing the audience through our own writing, directing and acting. Sometimes I feel like I have a split personality.Regarding the three roles that you play, is that a common tactic? Or are there other ways?There are too many ways. It’s kind of psychological. Netizens nowadays are more thoughtful than before. We have many ways. You can make a bad thing sound even worse, make an elaborate account, and make people think it’s nonsense when they see it. In fact, it’s like two negatives make a positive. When it’s reached a certain degree of mediocrity, they’ll think it might not be all that bad.What is the guiding principle of your work?The principle is to understand the guiding thought of superiors, the direction of public opinion desired, then to start your own work.Can you reveal the content of a “task” email?For example, “Don’t spread rumours, don’t believe in rumours”, or “Influence public understanding of X event”, “Promote the correct direction of public opinion on XXXX”, “Explain and clarify XX event; avoid the appearance of untrue or illegal remarks”, “For the detrimental social effect created by the recent XX event, focus on guiding the thoughts of netizens in the correct direction of XXXX”.What are the categories of information that you usually receive?They are mainly local events. They cover over 60 to 70 per cent of local instructions – for example, people who are filing complaints or petitioning.For countrywide events, such as the Jasmine Revolution [the pro-democracy protests that took place across the country in 2011], do you get involved?For popular online events like the Jasmine Revolution, we have never received a related task. I also thought it was quite strange. Perhaps we aren’t senior enough.Can you tell us the content of the commentary you usually write?The netizens are used to seeing unskilled comments that simply say the government is great or so and so is a traitor. They know what is behind it at a glance. The principle I observe is: don’t directly praise the government or criticise negative news. Moreover, the tone of speech, identity and stance of speech must look as if it’s an unsuspecting member of public; only then can it resonate with netizens. To sum up, you want to guide netizens obliquely and let them change their focus without realising it.Can you go off the topic?Of course you can go off the topic. When transferring the attention of netizens andblurring the public focus, going off the topic is very effective. For example, during the census, everyone will be talking about its truthfulness or necessity; then I’ll post jokes that appeared in the census. Or, in other instances, I would publish adverts to take up space on political news reports.Can you tell us a specific, typical process of “guiding public opinion”?For example, each time the oil price is about to go up, we’ll receive a notification to “stabilise the emotions of netizens and divert public attention”. The next day, when news of the rise comes out, netizens will definitely be condemning the state, CNPC and Sinopec. At this point, I register an ID and post a comment: “Rise, rise however you want, I don’t care. Best if it rises to 50 yuan per litre: it serves you right if you’re too poor to drive. Only those with money should be allowed to drive on the roads . . .”This sounds like I’m inviting attacks but the aim is to anger netizens and divert the anger and attention on oil prices to me. I would then change my identity several times and start to condemn myself. This will attract more attention. After many people have seen it, they start to attack me directly. Slowly, the content of the whole page has also changed from oil price to what I’ve said. It is very effective.What’s your area of work? Which websites do you comment on? Which netizens do you target?There’s no limit on which websites I visit. I mainly deal with local websites, or work on Tencent. There are too many commentators on Sohu, Sina, etc. As far as I know, these websites have dedicated internal departments for commenting.Can you tell which online comments are by online commentators?Because I do this, I can tell at a glance that about 10 to 20 per cent out of the tens of thousands of comments posted on a forum are made by online commentators.Will you debate with other people online? What sorts of conflicts do you have? How do you control and disperse emotion?Most of the time we’re debating with ourselves. I usually never debate with netizens and I’ll never say I’ve been angered by a netizen or an event. You could say that usually when I’m working, I stay rational.When the government says, “Don’t believe in rumours, don’t spread rumours,” it achieves the opposite effect. For example, when Sars and the melamine in milk case broke out, people tended to choose not to trust the government when faced with the choices of “Don’t trust rumours” and “Don’t trust the government”.I think this country and government have got into a rather embarrassing situation. No matter what happens – for example, if a person commits a crime, or there’s a traffic accident – as long as it’s a bad event and it’s publicised online, there will be people who condemn the government. I think this is very strange.This is inevitable, because the government encompasses all. When all honour is attributed to you, all mistakes are also attributed to you. Apart from targeted events, are individuals targeted? Would there be this kind of directive?There should be. I think for the Dalai Lama, there must be guidance throughout the country. All people in China hate the Dalai Lama and Falun Gong somewhat. According to my understanding, the government has truly gone a bit over the top. Before I got involved in this circle, I didn’t know anything. So I believe that wherever public opinion has been controlled relatively well, there will always have been commentators involved.How do your superiors inspect and assess your work?The superiors will arrange dedicated auditors who do random checks according to the links we provide. Auditors usually don’t assess, because they always make work requirements very clear. We just have to do as they say and there won’t be any mistakes.How is your compensation decided?It’s calculated on a monthly basis, according to quantity and quality. It’s basically calculated at 50 yuan per 100 comments. When there’s an unexpected event, the compensation might be higher. If you work together to guide public opinion on a hot topic and several dozen people are posting, the compensation for those days counts for more. Basically, the compensation is very low. I work part-time. On average, the monthly pay is about 500-600 yuan. There are people who work full-time on this. It’s possible they could earn thousands of yuan a month.Do you like your work?I wouldn’t say I like it or hate it. It’s just a bit more to do each day. A bit more pocket money each month, that’s all.What’s the biggest difficulty in the work?Perhaps it’s that you have to guess the psychology of netizens. You have to learn a lot of writing skills. You have to know how to imitate another person’s writing style. You need to understand how to gain the trust of the public and influence their thoughts.Why can’t you reveal your identity? Why do you think it’s sensitive?Do you want me to lose my job? Whatever form or name we use to post on any forums or blogs is absolutely confidential. We can’t reveal our identity, and I definitely wouldn’t reveal that I’m a professional online commentator.If we do, what would be the purpose of our existence? Exposure would affect not just me, it would create an even greater negative effect on our “superiors”.What do you mean by “superiors”?Our superior leaders – above that should be the propaganda department.Is your identity known to your family? Your friends?No. I haven’t revealed it to my family or friends. If people knew I was doing this, it might have a negative effect on my reputation.You say: “If I reveal inside information, without exaggeration this could lead to fatality.” Do you think that the consequence would be so serious?With my identity, I’m involved in the media and also the internet. If I really reveal my identity or let something slip, it could have an incalculable effect on me.If you say you want to quit, will there be resistance? Are there any strings attached?Not at all. This industry is already very transparent. For me, it’s just a part-time job. It’s like any other job. It’s not as dark as you think.How many hours do you go online each day and on which sites? Do you rest at the weekend?I go online for six to eight hours nearly every day. I’m mainly active on our local BBS and some large mainstream internet media and microblogs. I don’t work over weekends, but I’ll sign in to my email account and see if there’s any important instruction.In daily life, will you still be thinking about your online work?Now and then. For example, when I see a piece of news, I’ll think about which direction the superiors will request it to be guided in and how I would go about it. It’s a bit of an occupational hazard.Do you watch CCTV News and read the People’s Daily?I usually follow all the news, particularly the local news. But I generally don’t watch CCTV News, because it’s too much about harmony.Do you go on Twitter? Who do you follow?Yes. I follow a few interesting people, including Ai Weiwei. But I don’t speak on Twitter, just read and learn.How big a role do you think this industry plays in guiding public opinion in China?Truthfully speaking, I think the role is quite big. The majority of netizens in China are actually very stupid. Sometimes, if you don’t guide them, they really will believe in rumours.Because their information is limited to begin with. So, with limited information, it’s very difficult for them to express a political view.I think they can be incited very easily. I can control them very easily. Depending on how I want them to be, I use a little bit of thought and that’s enough. It’s very easy. So I think the effect should be quite significant.Do you think the government has the right to guide public opinion?Personally, I think absolutely not. But in China, the government absolutely must interfere and guide public opinion. The majority of Chinese netizens are incited too easily, don’t think for themselves and are deceived and incited too easily by false news.Do you have to believe in the viewpoints you express? Are you concerned about politics and the future?I don’t have to believe in them. Sometimes you know well that what you say is false or untrue. But you still have to say it, because it’s your job. I’m not too concerned about Chinese politics. There’s nothing to be concerned about in Chinese politics.http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2012/10/china’s-paid-trolls-meet-50-cent-party

[salkodinamitas]

Što mene ne nađe, za iPad bi mu opisao i susret sa Elvisom.. Mada, možda je Ai Weiwei pametniji neg što izgleda pa je uz kafu završio posao i još uredniku mazno i tablet

[borris_]

Hollande upravo najavio francusku intervenciju u Maliju. Otvara se novi front.

[Bane5]

nece to biti nista posebno, pocistice islamske ekstremiste (i deo tuarega) iz gradova. oni ce se opet povuci u pustinju i nastaviti svoju borbu gerilskim putem.

[Parsons]

grcki parlament smanjio poreze za bogate (zarada iznad 100 000 €) sa 45% na 42% :ziga:

[Indy]

Ostace im za jednu dobru veceru vise (ovo za porez).----Da li se sad ratuje protiv (manje-vise) istih u Maliju koji se podrzavaju drugde po Sev. Africi/ME? Jbo lud zbunjenog.

[bigvlada]

Retio Uses Social Media to Fight Drug War Corruption In MexicoA new app for Apple devices allows users to report violence, road blocks and police abuse.by Priscila Mosqueda Published on Monday, October 1, 2012, at 6:12 CSTA screenshot of of the Retio app in action.While Google chairman Eric Schmidt was declaring technology to be the solution to Mexico’s drug violence, two kids from Mexico were already expanding coverage of their citizen-sourced crime reporting app to the entire country.After visiting Juarez in July, Schmidt suggested Google’s intelligence capabilities could be used to facilitate information-sharing about cartel activity among police and citizens. A great idea—and one that Mario Romero and Jose Antonio Bolio, two friends from Merida, Yucatan, had already started implementing with their free app, Retio.The application allows citizens to report shootings, murders and assaults as well as broken traffic lights, road blocks (illicit and otherwise), abandoned cars, police abuse and instances of corruption via Twitter. Contributors use the handle for the corresponding city, e.g. @RetioDF for Mexico, D.F., and tweet a description of the problem, sometimes with photo evidence.An automatic system categorizes the report by type of issue, deletes spam and retweets from the feed. While anyone with a Twitter account can contribute information and access the website and search their city or state, only iPhone and iPad users can download the app. Users search by type of incident or by looking at a map – reports link to the GPS location when possible. Retio users can also map each others’ entries as posts almost always include cross streets.“The original goal was to organize and optimize Twitter to avoid different problematic situations that people face every day in Mexican cities,” Romero says. “Users in different cities started using hashtags to inform themselves of these type of situations, but it wasn’t an ideal solution – our plan was to build a better tool to resolve this and we’ve been able to do that. But we’re still not done.”Romero, a 29-year-old who studied industrial engineering, says he and Bolio, 24, started working on the project in January 2011. Retio launched online in Merida in July then expanded to Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara, Mexico’s three largest cities, by August. By February 2012 they launched the iPhone app and extended coverage to all states.As of Monday morning, Retio’s Mexico City feed had nearly 62,000 tweets and more than 6,000 followers. Monterrey showed a similar ratio, but Ciudad Juarez, whose Twitter account was created in July 2012, only had two tweets and 14 followers.“We’ve seen the same pattern repeated in several cities,” Romero says. “Few users at first, but an accelerating growth as more users join when a ‘viral’ effect is produced.”In Mexico, citizens have used social media to warn others in their community about shootings, muggings and areas to avoid for years. Retio adds a forum for reporting corruption and misbehavior by authorities.“We also believe it is important for authorities to know they are being watched by the citizenry at all times and behave accordingly,” reads the site’s FAQ. Retio’s creators say the newfound transparency will help inhibit extortion, arbitrary detentions and other abuses of power.But unlike Blog del Narco, Retio makes no promises of anonymity to its users. The co-founders don’t hide behind a cloak of firewalls and are listed by name and photo, along with friends who often help out with the site and app.“We haven’t received any threats, although the reaction of some authorities has not been ideal,” Romero says, adding that both the police and municipal officials responsible for fixing potholes and keeping streetlights working are none too pleased about Retio.“The system forces an instant transparency as far as attention to citizens, and that’s something they’re not used to yet,” he says. “As far as the criminals, especially narcos, I think they would probably be more worried about other types of reports, like journalistic investigations that expose them and their connections, than about citizens alerting each other about shootings and risky situations.”Currently, Twitter feeds are available for every state and for many cities within each state. Romero says the next step will be to expand to other countries, which he says they will begin before the year is up.“We believe that even though the distribution of the types of problems is different among different cities, even among cities in Mexico, the advantages offered by the collaboration and coordination between citizens are universal.”http://www.texasobserver.org/retio-uses-social-media-to-fight-drug-war-corruption-in-mexico/Ovo deluje interesantno, mogli bi i mi da uvedemo nešto slično.