Uzbekistan: Wikileaks cable reveals president claimed Western democracy promotes homosexuality. US Diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks this week show that the President of Uzbekistan claimed his country would not back “Western style” democracy as it was associated with homosexuality.
Islam Karimov is the first president and effective dictator of Uzbekistan, having ruled since 1989 through a series of elections which were dubbed “neither free nor fair” by the United States. On Monday, Wikileaks published a US Diplomatic cable describing a meeting in 2006 between Mr Karimov and the South Korean President Roh Myu-Hyun, summarised by the then US ambassador John Purnell. The two men met to sign the ‘Declaration on Strategic Partnership’, in which both leaders agreed to promote democracy and human rights, However, Mr Karimov clarified that “Western-style” democracy was not appropriate for Uzbekistan, claiming the country’s 85% Muslim population would not accept it. Algeria shuts down internet and Facebook as protest mounts. Mike McConnell, the WashPost & the dangers of sleazy corporatism - Glenn Greenwald.
In a political culture drowning in hidden conflicts of interests, exploitation of political office for profit, and a rapidly eroding wall separating the public and private spheres, Michael McConnell stands out as the perfect embodiment of all those afflictions.
Few people have blurred the line between public office and private profit more egregiously and shamelessly than he. McConnell’s behavior is the classic never-ending “revolving door” syndrome: public officials serve private interests while in office and are then lavishly rewarded by those same interests once they leave. He went from being head of the National Security Agency under Bush 41 and Clinton directly to Booz Allen, one of the nation’s largest private intelligence contractors, then became Bush’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI), then went back to Booz Allen, where he is now Executive Vice President. [Booz Allen's] website states that the Booz Allen team “employs more than 10,000 TS/SCI cleared personnel.” More Fallout From Anonymous. More fallout from the Anonymous hacking of the shitshow fail parade that is HB Gary: ThinkProgress has learned that the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, the big business trade association representing ExxonMobil, AIG, and other major international corporations, is working with set of “private security” companies and lobbying firms to undermine their political opponents, including ThinkProgress, with a surreptitious sabotage campaign.According to e-mails obtained by ThinkProgress, the Chamber hired the lobbying firm Hunton and Williams to spearhead this effort.