This almost sounds like something that someone would make up. Why the hell would the US Govt. want so much unrest all over the world? Haven't they learned from their screw ups in the past [0]? US supported Egyptian army is doing god knows what in Egypt; the US has been involved in the two biggest wars in recent memory (Iraq, Afghanistan), and in not-so-covert operations in countries like Pakistan, Syria and the like.…
US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest
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Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest
#12I'm really curious about this paragraph:
"...launched shortly after the 2009 arrest in Cuba of American contractor Alan Gross. He was imprisoned after traveling repeatedly to the country on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand Internet access using sensitive technology that only governments use."
expand internet access with technology only governments use? Is this just some shoddy reporting from a writer who doesn't understand technology or something else?
Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest
#13This is such a bizarre story. It doesn't even seem like it was "the US" as much as it was an overeager and undersupervised team within USAID. It's sad, too, because USAID does good work in a lot of places around the world, and that works is undermined if (rightly or wrongly; seemingly rightly in this case) host governments think that USAID is an arm of the US intelligence community.
For better or worse, U.S. foreign aid and assistance are instruments of U.S. foreign policy. Just look at the list of countries and how much they receive. It's not exactly correlated to the amount of poverty and hunger among recipient countries.
"instrument of US foreign policy" != "arm of the US intelligence services"
Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest
#14This almost sounds like something that someone would make up. Why the hell would the US Govt. want so much unrest all over the world? Haven't they learned from their screw ups in the past [0]? US supported Egyptian army is doing god knows what in Egypt; the US has been involved in the two biggest wars in recent memory (Iraq, Afghanistan), and in not-so-covert operations in countries like Pakistan, Syria and the like.…
It would have been more relevant if [0] were OPERATION MONGOOSE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Project
Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest
#15This almost sounds like something that someone would make up. Why the hell would the US Govt. want so much unrest all over the world? Haven't they learned from their screw ups in the past [0]? US supported Egyptian army is doing god knows what in Egypt; the US has been involved in the two biggest wars in recent memory (Iraq, Afghanistan), and in not-so-covert operations in countries like Pakistan, Syria and the like.…
This is a direct result of their (continued) fuck-ups. No one will ever be able to look favourably upon the USG again. This is quickly leading to the country's demise as a perceived 'world power'. Unfortunately, military might is next to useless in restoring reputation.
>This is quickly leading to the country's demise as a perceived 'world power'.
Oh really, is there even a single metric supporting your wishful thinking. Those hoping for the demise of the US are going to be in for a few disappointing decades, probably more.
Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest
#16You could read this as a cautionary tale about the difficulty in launching a social networking service: Even with $1.6 million cash (earmarked for a development project in Pakistan) and 500,000 mobile phone subscriber records (stolen from the incumbent telecom), their free service couldn't reach 5% market penetration and was shut down when it ran out of money.
Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest
#17This is such a bizarre story. It doesn't even seem like it was "the US" as much as it was an overeager and undersupervised team within USAID. It's sad, too, because USAID does good work in a lot of places around the world, and that works is undermined if (rightly or wrongly; seemingly rightly in this case) host governments think that USAID is an arm of the US intelligence community.
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Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest
#18[deleted]
Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
For better or worse, U.S. foreign aid and assistance are instruments of U.S. foreign policy. Just look at the list of countries and how much they receive. It's not exactly correlated to the amount of poverty and hunger among recipient countries.
"instrument of US foreign policy" != "arm of the US intelligence services"
Here's how I see it. As the government of the US relies on information mostly from US intelligence services when figuring out foreign policy, US intelligence services have a large influence on US foreign policy, and by extension it also has a substantial influence on the instruments used to implement such a policy.
Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest
#20This almost sounds like something that someone would make up. Why the hell would the US Govt. want so much unrest all over the world? Haven't they learned from their screw ups in the past [0]? US supported Egyptian army is doing god knows what in Egypt; the US has been involved in the two biggest wars in recent memory (Iraq, Afghanistan), and in not-so-covert operations in countries like Pakistan, Syria and the like.…
Unrest supports the war machine. Also, pushing capitalist powers expands markets for the industries lobbying government.