REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Russian president Vladimir Putin has passed a draconian law that calls for the arrest of anyone who is openly gay or supportive of gay rights.
–Russia‘s upper house of parliament on Wednesday passed a controversial bill banning the distribution of so-called “gay propaganda” to minors, which critics have said will be used to justify homophobic actions and arbitrary prosecution of- gays.
-President Vladimir Putin said: “We ask that (other countries) do not interfere in our regulation,”
–The law will “ensure informational safety of minors from propaganda… that negatively impacts a child’s character,” said senator Lyudmila Bokova, who introduced the bill and urged everyone to approve it.
WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday told President Obama to take a flying leap by refusing to turn over spy-secrets leaker Edward Snowden — who for a third day remained lounging in a Moscow airport.
“Snowden is a free person,” Putin proclaimed during a news conference in Turku, Finland, where he feigned annoyance at getting dragged into the closely watched incident.
“I’d prefer not to deal with this issue at all,” he said. “It’s like shearing a piglet — too much squealing, too little wool.
In a historic twist of irony, the president of Russia who formerly headed the secretive KGB spy agency is now lecturing the president of the United States on protecting the privacy of citizens. Russia’s Vladimir Putin, in a meeting with RT (Russia Today) journalists, said data surveillance is acceptable, but only if it’s done within the law.
“Such methods are in demand. But you can’t just listen to the phone call in Russia; you need a special order from court,” Putin said.
“This is how this should be done in civilized society while tackling terrorism with the use of any technical means. If it is in the framework of the law, then it’s OK. If not it is unacceptable.”
The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In 2011, the Russian officials intercepted a call between Boston bomber mother Zubeidat Tsarnaev and her dead son Tamerlan. The secretly recorded conversation prompted the Russian government to warn US authorities about their concerns that the mother and son could be involved in radical Islamic extremists. She was also recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who was under FBI investigation in an unrelated reason. FBI conducted their investigation on Tamerlan but found him not connected to any terror ties and closed the case in 2011.
When the Russian authorities alerted the CIA later in 2011 about the mother and son possible terror ties, that’s when they were both put on a watch list , an act followed right away by FBI, Homeland Security and the State Department. Zubeidat was recorded telling her son to go to Palestine but Tamerlan said he did not speak their language there. The Boston bombers’ uncle Ruslan Tsarni said that the mother has “big-time influence” on Tamerlan’s deep involvement on radical Islam.
The Associated Press interviewed by telephone in Dagestan, Russia, the father of the two Muslim brothers suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing. The father said his fugitive son is a “true angel” and an “intelligent boy” studying medicine. The father is claiming this is all a set up. The AP reached Tsarnaev through phone number given by relatives here in US.
The family originally came from Muslim Chechnya before they moved to Dagestan in Russia, another Muslim province near Chechnya.
English: From a mass game in North Korea, 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
North Korea sent letters to countries like Russia, England and the European Union telling them to evacuate their embassies in Pyongyang before April 10 saying they won’t be able to “guarantee the safety of embassies and other international organizations in the country in the event of conflict.”
Kim Jong-Un, North Korea’s 28-year-old dictator who succeeded his father Kim Jong-Ill in 2011 , is still an unknown player to the rest of the world. His most recent spotlight was few months ago when former NBA player Dennis Rodman visited North Korea and showed pictures of them watching a basketball game. Kim also made a headline a year ago when N. Korean news took seriously the satirical The Onion News when they named him as the Sexiest Man Alive for 2012. But in the past few days, the Disney-character and amusement-park loving dictator is playing a dangerous game that could disrupt the whole world.
The Hollywood obsessed dictator may have watched too many American movies growing up that he may now think he can use the world as playground for his war fantasies. For now, the world has no choice but to watch with all seriousness this little kid dictator on how far he’s going to take his rhetoric game and if he is really going to attack South Korea, Japan and US as he claimed recently.
Copyright 2013 Ketchie V. Schauf
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