Tag Archive for: Democracy

Hacking Democracy (2006) – The A.V. Club


Synopsis

The film the voting machine corporations don’t want you to see. HACKING DEMOCRACY follows investigator/grandmother, Bev Harris, and her citizen-activists as they set out to uncover how America counts its votes. Proving the votes can be stolen without a trace culminates in a duel between the Diebold corporation’s voting machines and a computer hacker – with America’s democracy at stake.

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The Day – ‘Democracy of the free world is at stake’


Democratic nations of the world must unite. Putin, the communist dictator of Russia who is engaged in a war on Ukrainian people to overthrow their Democratic nation, is guilty of genocide. Thousands of civilians have been murdered. Due to the threat of a nuclear war, what are the options for the current situation in Ukraine? Cyber warfare, or the end of Democracy? Negotiations are the first option, but when “War Crimes” have been committed as verifiable, and negotiations are not working, how do you enforce the penalty? This is the time to forget the political theater. If we do not, you will not have to worry about Democrats, Republicans and independents opinions or elections. A dictator will tell you what to do. Democratic nations of the world must unite. The Democracy of the free world is at stake. Putin’s goals do not stop with Ukraine. We as the United States must stand together as leaders of the “Free World.”

William Giustini

New London

 

 

 

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Defining democracy down. Preemptive blame for a prospective invasion. The Corpse Bride Diet and other temptations of social media.


At a glance.

  • Defining democracy down.
  • Preemptive blame for a prospective invasion.
  • The Corpse Bride Diet and other temptations of social media.

Pushing a “positive” message (as opposed to merely sowing confusion).

As we saw last week, China has been working to push an alternative picture of democracy, the “whole-process people’s democracy” outlined by the State Council of the People’s Republic white paper, “China: Democracy That Works.” The overarching goal is to contrast China’s mode of social organization with America’s process-bound cynicism, all, of course, to the advantage of China and the disadvantage of America.

Beijing’s news outlet CGTN has been running a multi-part series, “America: War by another name,” which it describes as “a special eight-part series that explores the sinister motivations for [America’s] warmongering.” Part six came out this week, and it’s devoted to “American Cyber Hegemony: Science fiction turned into reality.” The upshot of the article is that US institutional paranoia has led the Americans to become the leading proponents of both cyberespionage and cybersabotage. The US strategy, CGTN explains, has these four phases, roughly strategy, organization, operations, and intelligence:

  • “First, the U.S. has formulated and promoted an increasingly offensive cyber security strategy, rendering cyberspace in perpetuated instability. With strategic competition as the focal point, the four U.S. governments since the 20th century [those would be the Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations, and CGTN says elsewhere that Washington’s hegemonic ambitions in cyberspace go back to President Clinton] have embarked on a three-phase process of establishing, managing and controlling the cyber network – all in an attempt to write the rules and gain absolute strategic advantages in cyberspace…. From a passive defensive strategy that protected key infrastructure and beefed up the management system, the U.S. has gradually turned to an active defensive strategy that systematically built cyberspace deterrence to fend off threats, and then to a forward defensive strategy that pre-emptively attacks potential targets of threat actors. America’s increasingly expansive…

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The EU Remains the Best Advocate for Global Democracy


Russian president Vladimir Putin enjoys running circles around the European Union (EU). China may cherry-pick partners among EU members. Turkey can destabilize the region by releasing migrants. Even Belarus challenges the EU in a way unthinkable only a few years ago. Events may yet take a turn for the worse in the Caucasus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Ukraine with rumors of military action launched by Russia.

Europe’s lack of hard power may be laid bare in the months to come. Europe is not projecting military power, not invading other countries, not threatening neighbors, not waging cyber warfare, and not operating a global intelligence network. It is also not using its considerable economic power to pursue political goals.

These weaknesses, in a strange way, also reveal Europe’s sole strength.

Europe is gradually becoming the last genuine defender of democracy and human rights. A few countries outside of Europe may also claim this title, but they are far between. Europe is not flawless, but compared to illiberal democracies, autocratic or authoritarian regimes, it remains a beacon.

The EU is often depicted as an undemocratic bureaucracy run by technocrats in Brussels. This is incorrect. No decision is taken by the EU without approval in the European Council. Each member state is represented by a minister sent by their national government and held accountable by their national parliament. Most decisions require the consent of both the Council and the European Parliament, which is composed of 705 members elected directly by the European people. This relationship between the Council and the Parliament is somewhat akin to that of the Senate and the House of Representatives in the United States, but less confrontational. The European Commission, the executive institution of the EU, consists of one member nominated by each member state. The Commission can only take office after a vote of approval in the directly elected European Parliament. The Parliament also has the ability to dismiss and dissolve the European Commission.

Several countries in Central and Eastern Europe are not role models of democracy. But this critique is overblown. Observers outside Central and Eastern Europe…

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