At least nine people have been killed in a US assassination drone attack in eastern Afghanistan, Press TV reports. ● Local sources said on Saturday that the airstrike hit an area in the province of Nuristan. The victims were members of the Taliban militant group, the sources said. The Taliban, however, have made no comments on the fatal incident so far. On January 14, a similar US airstrike in Parwan Province killed seven children and one woman. Many people have lost their lives in US-led airstrikes and operations in various parts of Afghanistan since the invasion of the country in 2001, with Afghans becoming increasingly outraged at the deadly assaults. The United States claims the airstrikes target militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims.

Moon of Alabama ■ The still ongoing revelations about aggressive NSA spying on the world have led to hopes that some restrictions would be introduced to it. But that is not going to happen. All President Obama is going to do about it is holding a nice speech that promises to mostly kick the can over to Congress where any reform is bound to die. The NYT previews that speech under the somewhat misleading headline: Obama to Place Some Restraints on Surveillance: President Obama will issue new guidelines on Friday to curtail government surveillance, but will not embrace the most far-reaching proposals of his own advisers and will ask Congress to help decide some of the toughest issues, according to people briefed on his thinking....The result seems to be a speech that leaves in place many current programs, but embraces the spirit of reform and keeps the door open to changes later. ■ Rejecting most of the advice of his own hand selected review committee will reinforce the impression that it is not the president that has upper hand over the security services but that the NSA itself is the one that sets the policies. Even the NSA collection of U.S. phone metadata, which in over a decade has not helped in even one terrorism case, will be kept in its current form. ■ There is need for a new Internet based on open source and publicly reviewed hardware and software. Proprietary systems can not be trusted. The EU (ex-Britain) could launch a program to develop such a network. This would be a decade long public effort comparable to the development of the Ariane rockets and the Airbus industry. Both these projects succeeded despite U.S. efforts to sabotage them. A precondition of such a new program are EU laws for strict privacy and laws that forbid its own security services to preemptively try to manipulate the development of the new network systems. Only with such laws, and severe penalties in place, could such a development create the trust that has been lost in the Internet in its current form. [Image: FreeAnons]

Kara Brandeisky: Four Questionable Claims Obama Has Made on NSA Surveillance
Jason Ditz: Obama Unveils Vague NSA ‘Reforms,’ Denies Wrongdoing
Eric London & Barry Grey: Obama defends police state spying
Stephen Lendman: Obama's War on Freedom

CS Monitor: Reaction to Obama's NSA speech ranges from lukewarm to skeptical

Over a year later, the Obama administration has finally confirmed that Islamic extremists were responsible for the terrorist attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, in Sept. 2012. This undermines then-Hillary Clinton’s State Department and its vehement denial that the Benghazi terrorist attack that was the result of an anti-Muslim YouTube video. This morning, the State Department announced that the Muslim extremists group Ansar al-Sharia was responsible for the attacks. According to Secretary of State John Kerry, two branches of Ansar al-Sharia participated in the terrorist attack—the Benghazi branch and the Darnah branch. Darnah is a port city in Libya, approximately 180 miles northwest of Benghazi. Ansar al-Sharia’s Tunisia branch was also behind an attack on Americans in Tunis last year.

● Australian Foreign Minister said, in an interview with the “Times Of Israel” newspaper, that the international community should refrain from labeling Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal, and claimed that Israel “has the right to build its settlements”. Julie Bishop strongly denounced European countries that are “pressuring” Israel into stopping its illegitimate settlement activities, and said that she would like to see “which International Law declared those settlements illegal”. Her statements completely ignore the Fourth Geneva Convention Article Number 49 that states, “The occupying power shall not move parts of its civilian population into territory it occupies”. ● In addition, the UN Security Council issued at least six resolutions, ignored by Israel, stating that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the occupied territories, including resolution number 465 that describes Israel’s settlement activities as clear violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The resolution states that Israel is seriously violating the Fourth Geneva Convention, article number 49, regarding the protection of civilians.

As US “aid” to Israel now reaches well over $3 billion per year, American taxpayers will be interested to know that at least a third of that money–$1 billion—will be spent by the Israeli government on “strengthening the Jewish identity of Diaspora Jews” all over the world. ● According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the Jerusalem Post reported that the “initiative, to be developed and implemented jointly with overseas Jewish communities, was first announced in November, but government officials did not share dollar amounts or other details at the time. “The initiative,” the JTA continued, “is aimed at Jews between the ages of 12 and 35, and will include programming in seven content areas: immersive experiences; follow-up; Israel and peoplehood education in formal institutions and informal settings; serving ‘the global good’; Jewish life and Israel engagement on campuses; and the immigration of young professionals.” “Among the ideas being considered are a world Jewish peace corps; Hebrew-language courses in public schools in cities with large Jewish populations; the expansion of Birthright-like programs to younger age groups; and increasing financial support for Jewish summer camps.” Birthright is a massive program to promote Jewish endogenous marriage explicitly preserve the Jewish genome!

Jerusalem Post: Israel to spend billions on initiative to bolster Jewish identity in Diaspora

American lawmakers have strongly criticized the American Studies Association (ASA) for deciding to boycott Israel for human rights violations. In a letter signed by 134 House members, the organization is accused of bigotry for boycotting Israeli academic institutions in protest of Tel Aviv's brutal treatment of Palestinians. Sixty-nine Democrats and 65 Republicans signed onto the letter, which was organized by Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.). The boycott decision is part of a larger international effort to win boycotts of Israeli institutions over its policies toward Palestinians. The American Studies Association is a professional group of about 4,000 scholars who study US history and culture.

Congresman Peter Roskam takes money from Israel...
WRMEA: Pro-Israel PAC Contributions to 2012 Congressional Candidates
David Letwin: Backlash against boycotting Israel’s universities reeks of hypocrisy