7 Jul, 2023 19:06

French police gain remote spying powers – media

A new law allows authorities to activate the cameras and microphones of suspects’ cell phones

Police in France gained the power to remotely activate and monitor the camera, microphone, and GPS of a suspect’s devices under a so-called “justice reform bill” that passed the National Assembly on Wednesday, according to media reports.

The legislation, which passed with a majority of 80-24, allows police to use laptops, cars, phones, and other connected electronics in order to monitor terrorism suspects, as well as those suspected of organized crime and delinquency.

The bill reportedly includes exemptions for “sensitive professions” such as journalists, judges, lawyers, doctors, and MPs.

Lawmakers with President Emmanuel Macron’s party added an amendment limiting remote spying to “when justified by the nature and seriousness of the crime” and “for a strictly proportional duration” not exceeding six months. Police will only be able to use geolocation when investigating crimes that carry at least a five-year prison sentence, and a judge must sign off on every use of the powers.

The new measures “raise serious concerns over infringement of fundamental liberties,”digital rights advocacy group La Quadrature du Net said in a statement. It claimed that the “right to security, right to a private life, and to private correspondence” hung in the balance, as well as “the right to come and go freely.”

Because the bill is vague about what constitutes a serious crime, the government could use the new police powers to silence political activists and others who pose no real threat to the state, the group argued.

The Paris Bar, a professional group of 30,000 lawyers, warned in a statement that the bill constituted a “particularly serious breach of respect for privacy,” arguing it “cannot be justified by the protection of the public order”and complaining it did not prohibit police from snooping on protected conversations between lawyer and client.

Insisting the new police powers would only be used on “dozens of cases a year,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti argued “people’s lives will be saved” by beefed-up surveillance.“We’re far away from the totalitarianism of 1984,” he said.

The justice reform bill passed the Senate last month in its original form, and now must be approved as amended.

Last week, France erupted into massive, violent riots following the police shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk as he allegedly attempted to flee a traffic stop in Nantes. The officer who shot the youth was arrested and charged with voluntary homicide.

In response to the violence, which has led to over 4,000 arrests across the country, with 1,200 of those estimated to be minors, Macron has proposed a social media kill-switch to prevent young people from coordinating actions.

(Sundance warned about this earlier this week. The revolt was almost like the FF of 911 that pushed the Patriot Act that Bush wanted so badly! https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/07/03/beware-france-macron-moves-to-shut-down-internet-communication-to-block-rebellious-uprisings/ Beware France – Macron Moves to Shut Down Internet Communication to Block Rebellious Uprisings)

https://www.rt.com/news/579352-france-police-spying-powers-phones/

>>19140559

“Insisting the new police powers would only be used on “dozens of cases a year,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti argued “people’s lives will be saved” by beefed-up surveillance.“We’re far away from the totalitarianism of 1984,” he said.” (But always inching forward)

This statement by the Minister is very telling because he’s saying we are getting there but not quite yet and because this law is exactly what “1984” taught about. The state will infringe and infringe until they actually announce “1984” is here,“1984” exists here and now, its exactly what the MO ruling on free speech was aboutThe government doesn’t believe they were violating free speech, but the really know they were, because thats how you succeed at tge ultimate STATE of control!

7 Jul, 2023 18:18

White House confirms transfer of controversial cluster bombs to Ukraine

Washington has approved the transfer despite knowing the risk to civilians, the US national security adviser has said

US President Joe Biden has approved the supply of cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of the Pentagon’s 42nd arms package for Kiev’s forces. The White House said that Biden made the decision despite the risk of harm to civilians.

The president approved the transfer based on “unanimous” advicefrom his national security team, National Security AdviserJake Sullivantold reporters on Friday.

US officials “recognize that cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance. This is why we deferred the decision for as long as we could,” Sullivan said, before arguing thatthe supply of cluster bombs is not “that much of an addition of civilian harm,” as Russia has allegedly used them in Ukraine already.

Cluster munitions are banned in more than 120 countries because when they detonate, they release many small ‘bomblets’ over a wide area, with these unexploded elements posing severe risks to civilians for years after fighting ends.

The US, Ukraine, and Russia are not parties to the ban. The US, however, has prohibited exports of the armaments with a ‘dud’ rate of more than 1%, but this restriction can be lifted by presidential waiver.

The cluster bombs sent to Ukraine will have a failure rate of up to 2.35%, Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters on Friday. Kahl claimed that Ukrainewould not use thesemunitions in“civilian-populated urban areas,” despite Kiev’s track record of using Western-supplied weapons systems against civilians in Donetsk and Lugansk. (They are constantly shelling civilian areas, and the US has known this since 2014! Liars)

Kahl explained that thecluster munitions in question will be dual-purpose improved conventional munitions(DPICM), which can be fired from Ukraine’s NATO-supplied 155mm artillery systems. Asked whether the US decided to send DPICM shells due to a shortage of conventional 155mm rounds, Kahl seemingly confirmed the shortfall, explaining that the cluster shells would serve as a “bridge” until NATO members could ramp up production of conventional shells.

Kahl refused to say how many DPICM rounds would be sent to Ukraine, butsaid that there are “hundreds of thousands” of such shells in US stockpiles, which could potentially be doled out to Kiev over multiple military aid packages.

https://www.rt.com/russia/579358-us-ukraine-cluster-munition/

7 Jul, 2023 19:16

Most French blame liberal immigration rules for riots – poll

More than 70% of respondents want the influx of immigrants reduced, Le Figaro has found

Some 59% of the French public want the government to tighten a forthcoming immigration bill in response to a recent wave of nationwide violence. While the government insists that the rioters were “90% French,”opposition politicians have described the unrest as thebeginnings of a “race war.”

The French government has been working on a sweeping immigration bill since late last year, and lawmakers are expected to vote on a final version this fall. While the bill will make it easier for legal immigrants to obtain work permits, it grants the government more extensive powers to deport foreign aliens.

However, 59% of the French public think that the bill should be toughened in light of last week’s nationwide riots, according to a poll published by Le Figaro on Thursday. According to the newspaper, almost six in ten French people view the riots as “the consequence of the failures of our migration policy.”

The violence erupted after police shot and killed a French-Algerian teenager when he refused to comply at a traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on June 27. Although the officer responsible was charged with homicide, riots soon engulfed the country. Widespread arson and vandalism occurred, and rioters attacked police with fireworks and molotov cocktails, while some were filmed brandishing military-grade firearms.

The violence was primarily instigated by youths from immigrant backgrounds. TheFrench government has attempted to downplay the ethnic nature of the violence, with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin stating on Wednesday that of more than 3,500 people arrested during the riots, only 10% were foreigners.

“The issue today is young offenders, not foreigners,” Darmanin said, noting that those responsible were “90% French.”

Darmanin’s figures do not account for second- and third-generation immigrants. Despite their French passports, these “delinquents…shout their hatred of France and burn its flag,” MEP François-Xavier Bellamy wrote in Le Figaro on Wednesday. “Naturalization does not mean assimilation,” Bellamy added.

“It’s not riots, it’s guerrilla warfare. A challenge to France, to our institutions, by a population that seeks secession,” MP Nicolas Dupont-Aignan declared on Friday. A week earlier, former presidential candidate Eric Zemmour described the then-raging riots as “a race war,”solely attributable to “the number of immigrants” in France.

According to Le Figaro’s poll, the French public favors such harsh measures. Some 71% called for “a reduction in migratory flows”in response to the unrest, 75% called for dual nationals convicted of rioting to be stripped of French citizenship, and 90% demanded a heavier police presence in affected neighborhoods.

https://www.rt.com/news/579356-france-riots-poll-immigrants/

>>19140704

7 Jul, 2023 11:05

Exit Schengen to tackle riots – French MP

The country has too many migrants and has failed to integrate them, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan has argued

France must leave the Schengen zoneif it wants to tackle repeated riots, opposition MP Nicolas Dupont-Aignan has said. The lawmaker claimed the violence is the result of failed attempts to integrate an excessive number of migrants.

“I am the only one to ask for the reestablishment of national borders and for leaving Schengen,” the self-described Gaullist politician told the CNews television channel on Friday.

Dupont-Aignan claimed that the entire French political class was opposed to the idea, although rightwing lawmaker Marine Le Pen did include it as part of her unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2017.

Le Pen subsequently toned down her anti-EU rhetoric during the 2022 election cycle, but pledged to impose border checks – a measure that critics said violated the spirit of the Schengen free travel agreement.

Dupont-Aignan, who is the only MP from his Debout la France (France Arise) party in the national parliament, was commenting on the latest round of riots to grip the country under President Emmanuel Macron.

The MP accused the government of inaction and insisted Macron’s policy has led to “forces of order” being diminished and barely able to defend essential services.

“It’s not riots, it’s guerrilla warfare. A challenge to France, to our institutions, bya population that seeks secession,” Dupont-Aignan declared.

The latest violence was sparked by the killing of a 17-year-old boy of Moroccan and Algerian descent by a police officer during a traffic stop on June 27.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin estimated this week that the number of participants in the riots was between 8,000 and 12,000, with “only 10%” of them being non-French citizens. Most of the people arrested were aged 17 or 18, but some were as young as 11, senior officials reported to the Senate on Wednesday.

(Note: The Schengen: Area Luxembourgish: is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice policy of the European Union (EU), it mostly functions as a single jurisdiction under a common visa policy for international travel purposes. The area is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement and the 1990 Schengen Convention, both signed in Schengen, Luxembourg.)

https://www.rt.com/news/579333-france-exit-schengen-riots/

>>19140807

Kek

7 Jul, 2023 18:12

Russia points to root causes of migration

Western meddling in the Middle East and North Africa is driving the crisis, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova has said

Solving the problem ofmass migrationrequires addressing theWestern meddlinginto the affairs of other countries and destabilization of their governments, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

During her daily news briefing, Zakharova was asked to comment on unspecified media reports in “unfriendly countries” about Moscow allegedly weaponizing migration against the EU.

“We believe that migration in this direction is the result of irresponsible and reckless interference by Western countries in the internal affairs of sovereign states, in order to destabilize them and forcefully change objectionable governments in the region, ”Zakharova said, noting that most migrants come to the EU from the Middle East and North Africa.

The countries responsible should deal with the consequences, one of which is a “massive flow of migrants and refugees,” she said.

Moscow’s position is that the best way to solve the migration problem is to “eliminate the root causesthat force people to leave their homeland,” including political settlement of ongoing conflicts, economic aid, and strengthening governments in the fight against terrorism, according to the spokeswoman.

Mass migration into Europe began following the so-called Arab Spring of 2011, which saw “color revolutions” in several North African countries and Western-backed regime change operations in Libya and Syria. Once the most prosperous country in Africa, Libya has been torn by civil war ever since, while the neighboring region of Sahel has had to deal with Islamist militants. Syria almost fell to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorists until Russia and Iran intervened in 2015.

The EU has sought to spread the burden of handling the migrants and asylum-seekers through apolicy of “mandatory solidarity,”adopted at a ministerial meeting in early June, but Hungary has since signaled it intends to reject the proposal.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an estimated 94,000 migrants had arrived on EU shores as of July 3, compared to 189,000 in 2022. The vast majority of arrivals, some 85,000, have been by sea. The crossing has also been more hazardous this year, with more than 2,000 deaths recorded so far, compared to 2,400 in all of 2022.

https://www.rt.com/news/579355-zakharova-migrants-root-causes/