British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday his government was likely to act to stop newspapers publishing what he called damaging leaks from former U.S. intelligence operative Edward Snowden unless they began to behave more responsibly. ● "If they (newspapers) don't demonstrate some social responsibility it will be very difficult for government to stand back and not to act," Cameron told parliament, saying Britain's Guardian newspaper had "gone on" to print damaging material after initially agreeing to destroy other sensitive data.

Pathologist gives evidence to trial of three marines accused of murdering wounded prisoner in Afghanistan's Helmand province ● An injured Afghan insurgent was still alive when he was allegedly shot by a Royal Marine, a pathologist has told the court martial of three marines accused of his murder. Dr Nicholas Hunt said that although the Afghan was seriously injured and covered in blood he was clearly alive when a British serviceman shot him in the chest at close range with a 9mm pistol. The pathologist was giving evidence in the court martial of three marines, known only as A, B and C, who are accused of murdering the unknown Afghan national on 15 September 15 2011 in Helmand province.

Michael Snyder: 29 Incredible Facts Which Prove That Poverty In America Is Absolutely Exploding ■ Did you know that the number of Americans on welfare is higher than the number of Americans that have full-time jobs? Did you know that 1.2 million public school students in the U.S. are currently homeless? Anyone that uses the term "economic recovery" to describe what is happening in the United States today is being deeply insulting to the nearly 150 million Americans that are considered to be either "poor" or "low income" at this point. Yes, things are great in New York City, Washington D.C. and San Francisco, but almost everywhere else economic conditions continue to steadily get worse. The gap between the wealthy and the poor is at a level that America has never seen before, and this is beginning to create a "Robin Hood mentality" that could cause a tremendous amount of social chaos in the years ahead. Anger at the "haves" in America continues to rise at a very alarming pace, and the "have nots" are becoming increasingly desperate. At some point all of this anger is going to boil over, and you won't want to be anywhere around major population centers when that happens.

Activist Post: Local Departments Fortify Police State With Armored Personnel Carriers ● All across the country, preparations are being made for a massive assault on an enemy that has yet to be publicly defined. The preparations involve the procurement of Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) or Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), military equipment, and tactical training. These preparations, however, are not being undertaken by the US military in response to a potential outside invasion but, instead, by local police departments towards what one must logically assume is a domestic threat. But who, exactly, is the enemy that American police must feel the need to become so battle-hardened against? American police are not being trained to defend the American public – they are being trained to oppress them. In other words, the enemy for which local police departments all across the country are preparing to engage in outright combat against is the American people themselves.

Chancellor Merkel has put on a good show of being outraged by American spying. But, at the same time, she has impeded efforts to strengthen data security. Does she really want more privacy, or is she more interested in being accepted into the exclusive group of info-sharing countries known as the 'Five Eyes' club? Merkel [...] stated: "Unlike David [Cameron], we are unfortunately not part of this group." According to the New York Times, Germany has sought membership in the "Five Eyes" alliance for years, but has been turned down due to opposition, including from the Obama administration. But this could now change, the paper speculates.

Der Spiegel: The Chancellor and the NSA: Merkel Has Abandoned the Germans [July 16, 2013]

Israel Shamir: The Cape of Good Hope ■ First, the good news. American hegemony is over. The bully has been subdued. We cleared the Cape of Good Hope, symbolically speaking, in September 2013. With the Syrian crisis, the world has passed a key forking of modern history. It was touch and go, just as risky as the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The chances for total war were high, as the steely wills of America and Eurasia had crossed in the Eastern Mediterranean. It will take some time until the realisation of what we’ve gone through seeps in: it is normal for events of such magnitude. The turmoil in the US, from the mad car chase in the DC to the shutdown of federal government and possible debt default, are the direct consequences of this event. [...] As US hegemony declines, we look to an uncertain future. The behemoth might of the US military can still wreck havoc; a wounded beast is the most dangerous one. Americans may listen to Senator Ron Paul who called to give up overseas bases and cut military expenditure. Norms of international law and sovereignty of all states should be observed. People of the world will like America again when it will cease snooping and bullying. It isn’t easy, but we’ve already negotiated the Cape and gained Good Hope.

I noted the other day the reason the non-denial confirmation that NSA wiretapped Angela Merkel raised the stakes for what President Obama told the Chancellor in June about the spying. Did he give assurances she hadn’t been tapped? If he did, anonymous leakers from the NSA’s vicinity suggest, he knowingly lied.

PressTV: Spain opens inquiry into NSA spying operations - Video
AFP: France and Spain spied on their own citizens and handed data over to the NSA
Russia Today: Obama ‘knew and approved’ NSA spying on Chancellor Merkel – report

In Germany, Der Spiegel reported that the NSA’s Special Collection Service (SCS) had listed Merkel’s phone number since 2002. The number was still on the list – marked as “GE Chancellor Merkel” – weeks before Obama visited Berlin in June, raising the possibility that the German leader had been under surveillance for more than a decade. In an SCS document cited by the magazine, the agency said it had a “not legally registered spying branch” in the US embassy in Berlin, the exposure of which would lead to “grave damage for the relations of the United States to another government”. The White House refused to comment on that report – or others that emerged in Germany overnight, raising questions about how much Obama personally knew about the spy operation.

Stephen Lendman: Obama Encourages Spying on World Leaders ■ Obama encourages global spying. He wants world leaders monitored. He wants stepped up surveillance doing it. Despite official disclaimers, it continues. Obama lied claiming otherwise. He's a serial liar. He's a moral coward. He's a war criminal multiple times over. He did what supporters thought impossible. He exceeds the worst of George Bush. He plans lots more ways to prove it through 2016. Humanity may not survive the ordeal.

Paul Craig Roberts: Stasi In The White House ■ The tyrant’s speech of spectacular hypocrisy elicited from the invited audience applause on 36 occasions. Like so many others, Germans proved themselves willing to be used for Washington’s propaganda purposes. Here was Obama, who consistently lies, speaking of “eternal truth.” Here was Obama, who has constructed an international spy network and a domestic police state, speaking of “the yearnings for freedom.” Obama has turned America into a surveillance state that has far more in common with Stasi East Germany than with the America of the Kennedy and Reagan eras. Strange, isn’t it, that freedom was gained in East Germany and lost in America. At the Brandenburg Gate, Obama invoked the pledge of nations to “a Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” but Obama continues to violate human rights both at home and abroad. When the Berlin Wall came down, the Stasi Spy State that suffocates the soul moved to Washington. The Stasi is alive and well in the Obama regime. (Obama’s speech at the Brandenburg Gate)