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Glenn Greenwald

Glenn Greenwald Books

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“Michael Ledeen—a contributing editor of National Review and a Freedom Scholar at the influential neoconservative think tank American Enterprise Institute—wrote on the National Review blog in November 2006: 'I had and have no involvement with our Iraq policy'. I opposed the military invasion of Iraq before it took place.' Ledeen, however, wrote in August 2002 of 'the desperately-needed and long overdue war against Saddam Hussein' and when he was interviewed for Front Page Magazine the same month and asked, 'Okay, well if we are all so certain about the dire need to invade Iraq, then when do we do so?' Ledeen replied: 'Yesterday.' There is obvious, substantial risk in falsely claiming that one opposed the Iraq War notwithstanding a public record of support. But that war has come to be viewed as such a profound failure that that risk, at least in the eyes of some, is outweighed by the prospect of being associated with Bush's invasion.”

WarPoliticsIraqHypocrisyCowardiceForeign PolicyIraq WarAnti War MovementSaddam HusseinRevisionism2006Neoconservatism2002Opposition To The Iraq War2003 Invasion Of IraqAmerican Enterprise InstituteFrontpage MagazineMichael LedeenNational Review
Book:A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency
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“It's almost hard to imagine anything more undemocratic than the view that political officials should not debate American wars in public, but only express concerns 'privately with the administration.' That's just a small sliver of Johnson's radicalism: replacing Feingold in the Senate with Ron Johnson would be a civil liberties travesty analogous to the economic travesty from, say, replacing Bernie Sanders with Lloyd Blankfein.”

WarPoliticsDemocracyEconomicsConservatismRight WingCivil LibertiesRadicalism2010Bernie SandersUnited States SenateUnited States Elections 2010Lloyd BlankfeinRon JohnsonRuss FeingoldUs Senate Wisconsin 2010
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“Every time I do an interview people ask similar questions, such as "What is the most significant story that you have revealed?" […] There really is only one overarching point that all of these stories have revealed, and that is–and I say this without the slightest bit of hyperbole or melodrama; it's not metaphorical and it's not figurative; it is literally true–that the goal of the NSA and it's five eyes partners in the English speaking world–Canada, New Zealand, Australia and especially the UK–is to eliminate privacy globally, to ensure that there could be no human communications that occur electronically, that evades their surveillance net; they want to make sure that all forms of human communications by telephone or by Internet, and all online activities are collected, monitored, stored and analyzed by that agency and by their allies. That means, to describe that is to describe a ubiquitous surveillance state; you don't need hyperbole to make that claim, and you do not need to believe me when I say that that's their goal. Document after document within the archive that Edward Snowden provided us declare that to be their goal. They are obsessed with searching out any small little premise of the planet where some form of communications might take place without they being able to invade it.”

DemocracyPrivacyAmerican PoliticsTotalitarianismSurveillanceEspionageAuthoritarianismDystopiaNsaBritish PoliticsSurveillance SocietyInternet PrivacyEdward SnowdenCanadian PoliticsAustralian PoliticsNew Zealand Politics
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“If you expose what it is that we’re doing, if you inform your fellow citizens about all the things that we’re doing in the dark, we will destroy you. This is what their spate of prosecutions of whistleblowers have [sic] been about. It’s what trying to threaten journalists, to criminalize what they do, is about. It’s to create a climate of fear, so that nobody will bring accountability to them. It’s not going to work. I think it’s starting to backfire, because it shows their true character and exactly why they can’t be trusted to operate with power in secret. And we’re certainly not going to be deterred by it in any way. The people who are going to be investigated are not the people reporting on this, but are people like Dianne Feinstein and her friends in the National Security Agency, who need investigation and transparency for all the things that they’ve been doing.”

PoliticsFearUnited StatesAccountabilitySecrecyTransparencyWashington DcThreatsNational Security AgencyDianne FeinsteinGlobal Surveillance Disclosures
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“[…] die Angst vor Überwachung aufgrund von Terrorgefahr ist dort [bei der Gemeinschaft der amerikanischen Muslime] besonders stark und tiefgreifend. Und die Muslime haben auch allen Grund dazu. 2012 enthüllten Adam Goldberg und Matt Apuzzo von Associated Press gemeinsame Pläne der CIA und des New Yorker Police Department, ganze muslimische Gemeinden in den USA physisch und elektronisch zu überwachen, selbst wenn nicht einmal der geringste Hinweis auf irgendwelche kriminellen Handlungen bestand. Die Auswirkungen auf ihr Leben beschreiben amerikanische Muslime oft so: Jeder neue Besucher einer Moschee wird als mutmaßlicher FBI-Spitzel betrachtet; im Freundes- und Familienkreis hält man sich in Gesprächen bedeckt, aus Angst, bespitzelt zu werden, und in dem Bewusstsein, dass jede vermeintlich amerikafeindliche Äußerung zum Anlass für Ermittlungen und sogar für Strafverfolgung genommen werden kann.”

UsaAngstParanoiaSelf RegulationMuslims
Book:No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State
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“The Obama administration, which has brought more prosecutions against leakers than all prior presidencies combined, has sought to create a climate of fear that would stifle any attempts at whistle-blowing. But Snowden destroyed that template. He has managed to remain free, outside the grasp of the United States; what's more, he has refused to remain in hiding but proudly came forward and identified himself. As a result, the public image of him is not a convict in orange jumpsuit and shackles but and independent, articulate figure who can speak for himself, explaining what he did and why.”

NsaEdward SnowdenMass SurveillanceGlenn Greenwald
Book:No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State
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“It is hard to imagine having a government more secretive than the United States. Virtually everything that government does, of any significance, is conducted behind an extreme wall of secrecy. The very few leaks that we’ve had over the last decade are basically the only ways that we’ve had to learn what our government is doing.”

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Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“The many pro-surveillance advocates I have debated since Snowden blew the whistle have been quick to echo [Google CEO] Eric Schmidt's view that privacy is for people who have something to hide. But none of them would willingly give me the passwords to their email accounts, or allow video cameras in their homes.”

PeopleGivingHas BeensHomeViewsAccountsGive MeCamerasVideoPrivacyEchoesGoogleCeoEmailSurveillanceEricSnowdenPasswordsVideo CamerasSchmidt
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“All of the evidence highlights the implicit bargain that is offered to citizens: pose no challenge and you have nothing to worry about. Mind your own business, and support or at least tolerate what we do, and you'll be fine. Put differently, you must refrain from provoking the authority that wields surveillance powers if you wish to be deemed free of wrongdoing. This is a deal that invites passivity, obedience, and conformity. The safest course, the way to ensure being “left alone,” is to remain quiet, unthreatening, and compliant.”

IfsWayMindCoursesLeftWishChallengesDealsWorrySupportFineCitizensQuietAuthorityEvidenceObedienceConformityInvitesTolerateProvokingSurveillanceBargainsRefrainOwn BusinessLeft AloneHighlightsPassivityImplicitWrongdoingMind Your Own BusinessMind Your Own
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“As always with any discussion of elite immunity, it's crucial to note that what makes this development such a particularly warped travesty is that the very same elites who enjoy this immunity have created the world's largest, and the Western world's most oppressive and merciless, penal state for ordinary citizens.”

WorldStatesEnjoyDevelopmentCitizensOrdinaryNotesWesternDiscussionCrucialElitesWestern WorldImmunityOrdinary CitizensTravesty
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“The domestic NSA-led Surveillance State which Frank Church so stridently warned about has obviously come to fruition. The way to avoid its grip is simply to acquiesce to the nation's most powerful factions, to obediently remain within the permitted boundaries of political discourse and activism. Accepting that bargain enables one to maintain the delusion of freedom - "he who does not move does not notice his chains," observed Rosa Luxemburg - but the true measure of political liberty is whether one is free to make a different choice.”

WayDoeDifferentStatesMovingPoliticalChoicesNationsChurchPowerfulLibertyAcceptingActivismBoundariesChainsDelusionMost PowerfulFrankDiscourseSurveillanceBargainsNsaFactionsFruitionRosaPolitical DiscourseDifferent ChoicesSurveillance State
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“[I]t's impossible to evade the fact that Endless War will inevitably degrade the citizenry of the country that engages in it. A country which venerates its military above all other institutions, which demands that its soldiers be spoken of only with religious-like worship, and which continuously indoctrinates its population to believe that endless violence against numerous countries is necessary and just - all by instilling intense fear of the minorities who are the target of that endless violence - will be a country filled with citizens convinced of the virtues and nobility of aggression.”

BelieveWarCountryFactsReligiousVirtueViolenceImpossibleMilitaryCitizensDemandWorshipInstitutionsFilledSoldierPopulationConvincedEndlessIntenseMinoritiesTargetAggressionNobilityDegradeCitizenryEndless War
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“The Obama administration already claims the power to wage endless and boundless war, in virtually total secrecy, and without a single meaningful check or constraint. No institution with any power disputes this. To the contrary, the only ones which exert real influence - Congress, the courts, the establishment media, the plutocratic class - clearly favor its continuation and only think about how further to enable it.”

ThinkingWarRealClassInfluenceMediaClaimsInstitutionsCourtCongressContraryFavorsMeaningfulEndlessChecksAdministrationEstablishmentDisputesSecrecyConstraintsBoundlessContinuation
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“The second term of the Bush administration and first five years of the Obama presidency have been devoted to codifying and institutionalizing the vast and unchecked powers that are typically vested in leaders in the name of war. Those powers of secrecy, indefinite detention, mass surveillance, and due-process-free assassination are not going anywhere. They are now permanent fixtures not only in the US political system but, worse, in American political culture.”

YearsFirstsHas BeensWarPoliticalCultureNamesProcessTermLeaderFiveMassDuesAdministrationPermanentFive YearsDevotedPresidencySecrecySurveillancePolitical SystemsAssassinationDetentionDue ProcessFixturePolitical Culture
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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