John Glaser: Think back a couple weeks and recall the political narratives accompanying Obama’s pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, the journalist and Harvard scholar at the forefront of the debate over humanitarian interventions for the past decade. Foreign Policy’s John Hudson described Power’s “staunch advocacy of U.S. intervention on moral grounds.” Max Boot said she is a “principled advocate of humanitarian intervention.” But now that the post-military coup U.S.-backed Egyptian autocracy has slaughtered more than 500 people in the streets, asks Jacob Heillbrunn at The National Interest, where is Samantha Power?

■ The 28-year-old was held for nine hours, the maximum the law allows before officers must release or formally arrest the individual. According to official figures, most examinations under schedule 7 – over 97% – last under an hour, and only one in 2,000 people detained are kept for more than six hours. Miranda was then released without charge, but officials confiscated electronics equipment including his mobile phone, laptop, camera, memory sticks, DVDs and games consoles.
■ Since 5 June, Greenwald has written a series of stories revealing the NSA's electronic surveillance programmes, detailed in thousands of files passed to him by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The Guardian has also published a number of stories about blanket electronic surveillance by Britain's GCHQ, also based on documents from Snowden. While in Berlin, Miranda had visited Laura Poitras, the US film-maker who has also been working on the Snowden files with Greenwald and the Guardian.
■ "This is a profound attack on press freedoms and the news gathering process," said Greenwald. "To detain my partner for a full nine hours while denying him a lawyer, and then seize large amounts of his possessions, is clearly intended to send a message of intimidation to those of us who have been reporting on the NSA and GCHQ. The actions of the UK pose a serious threat to journalists everywhere.

BBC: Snowden case: Brazil 'concerned' after UK detention ● The Brazilian government issued an official statement soon after the release of Mr Miranda. The foreign ministry document says there was no justification for detaining an "individual against whom there are no charges that can legitimate the use of that [anti-terror] legislation". It also says Brazil expects incidents "such as the one that happened to the Brazilian citizen today" not to be repeated.

Annie Machon: UK freedoms, farewell! Detention of Miranda reveals vindictiveness of wounded police state ● As the definition of terrorism has expanded to cover activists, placard wavers, protesters and now, apparently, the partners of journalists, the arrest of Glenn Greenwald's partner is just another nail in the coffin of British Freedoms. He was detained for the maximum period allowed under the draconian terms of Schedule 7 of the UK's Terrorism Act (2000). His apparent "crime"? To be the partner of campaigning journalist Glenn Greenwald, who broke the Edward Snowden whistleblowing stories. Miranda's detention has caused outrage, rightly, around the world.

Justin Raimondo: Despicable Brits target Glenn Greenwald’s partner ● Although Greenwald is increasingly the target of a concerted attack on his character and journalistic credentials, the authorities have so far left the dirty work to their journalistic Praetorian Guard, the David Gregorys, the Walter Pincus types, and the Mike Grunwalds of this world. This action by the British government – and does it make me a "conspiracy theorist" to think this was carried out at the direction of their Washington overseers? – crosses a very distinct line, the boundary between a free society that recognizes the rule of law and an authoritarian state that manipulates the law to serve its own purposes. ● Miranda is not a journalist. His identity and his relationship to Glenn has only recently been revealed by the spotlight shown on his partner: a recent New York Times profile of Ms. Poitras was set in the Miranda-Greenwald household, in Brazil, when Poitras was visiting. ● To target Miranda is to cross into Soviet territory: the KGB, in their war on dissidents, also victimized loved ones, often sending entire families to the gulag. ● By citing the "Terrorism Act" as justification for their actions, the Brits violated their own procedures, as this paragraph from their Code of Practice makes clear: "The purpose of questioning and associated powers is to determine whether a person appears to be someone who is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. The powers, which are additional to the powers of arrest under the Act, should not be used for any other purpose."

The writer and journalist Will Self was stopped by police while out walking with his son because they suspected he was a paedophile, he has said. ● The 51-year-old, Booker Prize-shortlisted author, who also regularly appears on television, was enjoying a long walk with his 11-year-old when a squad car and a police van stopped him on a Yorkshire roadside. Self, author of Great Apes and Umbrella, was questioned about what he and the schoolboy were doing out walking together and his details were checked on the Police National Computer (PNC), he said. Self, an enthusiastic rambler, and his son set off in July from London to Whitby, north Yorkshire, on their walking holiday. “No Englishman enjoying a ramble with his son should face examination by police at the roadside on suspicion of being a sexual predator,” Self wrote in the Mail on Sunday.

The Guardian: Will Self: I was reported as 'suspected paedophile' when out with my son

The BBC has confirmed that it will censor a statement made by violinist Nigel Kennedy from its television broadcast of his performance with the Palestine Strings at a prestigious music festival last week. In his statement at the Proms, Mr. Kennedy used the word “apartheid” to describe the world in which his Palestinian colleagues live. Click here for a recording of the actual statement the BBC is excising from its broadcast.

■ “It’s a bit facile to say it, but we all know from the experience of this night of music, that giving equality and getting rid of apartheid gives a beautiful chance for amazing things to happen.”

According to The Jewish Chronicle, BBC governor Baroness Deech called for an apology from Mr. Kennedy and said that “the remark was offensive and untrue. There is no apartheid in Israel.” Not only is there no apartheid in Israel, she claimed, but nor is there any in Gaza or the West Bank. (She made no mention of East Jerusalem.) In fact, nearly all aspects of Apartheid, as defined by the UN, apply to Israel in all four of its guises: domestically, its military occupation of the West Bank, its military ‘annexation’ of East Jerusalem, and its siege of Gaza.

from the either-you-help-us-spy-on-people-or-you're-a-criminal dept. ● The saga of Lavabit founder Ladar Levison is getting even more ridiculous, as he explains that the government has threatened him with criminal charges for his decision to shut down the business, rather than agree to some mysterious court order. The feds are apparently arguing that the act of shutting down the business, itself, was a violation of the order:

...a source familiar with the matter told NBC News that James Trump, a senior litigation counsel in the U.S. attorney’s office in Alexandria, Va., sent an email to Levison's lawyer last Thursday – the day Lavabit was shuttered -- stating that Levison may have "violated the court order," a statement that was interpreted as a possible threat to charge Levison with contempt of court.

AWIP: Email service Lavabit abruptly shut down citing government interference

The unethical and legally questionable statement made by TIME magazine’s senior national correspondent has been met with a barrage of criticism. Although Michael Grunwald deleted the comment and apologized, WikiLeaks is still pushing for his resignation. ● The scandal was sparked by a Twitter post on Grunwald’s account which stated that he is eager to write an article on Julian Assange’s execution by a drone. WikiLeaks tweeted that they have sent a letter to the publication demanding Grunwald’s resignation. They have said that the magazine must show that journalists calling for the murder of other journalists is “never acceptable.”

Common Dreams: Yearning for Assassination of Julian Assange Puts "Journalist" Under Fire

Video-sharing site YouTube deactivated Press TV's official page without explanation after the Israeli-American Anti-Defamation League (ADL) ordered it to terminate the Iranian channel's live broadcast. ● "We have not been able to upload new videos on our official YouTube page since July 25. Both YouTube and (its parent company) Google have declined to comment," said Press TV Newsroom Director Hamid Reza Emadi. He added that YouTube was "in fact responding to an ADL order to stop us from revealing Israeli crimes to the world." An article on ADL's official website has accused Press TV of bypassing the West's sanctions by broadcasting live via YouTube and other internet and mobile platforms.