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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Vlad Putin: NSA surveillance needed to fight terrorism. |
| 2013-12-20 |
| MOSCOW (AyPee) -- President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that National Security Agency surveillance is necessary to fight terrorism, but added that the U.S. government must "limit the appetite" of the agency with a clear set of ground rules. We already have "ground rules".... get it all, 100% coverage. Putin's comment was surprising support for President Barack Obama's administration, which has faced massive criticism over the sweeping U.S. electronic espionage program. Surprising to some possibly. The Russian leader was speaking at his tightly choreographed annual press conference, a televised affair that stretched on for just over four hours and attracted hundreds of journalists from Russia's far-flung regions to a giant hall in a central Moscow business center. "Tightly choreographed" ....but the press was permitted to take photographs. The Kremlin sees the event as key in burnishing Putin's father-of-the nation image. Some journalists held signs -- or in one case a stuffed polar bear mascot for the Winter Games in Sochi -- in an effort to get called on for a question that could get special attention for their region. Father figure may work, messiah.... not so much. Putin, a 16-year KGB veteran and the former chief of Russia's main espionage agency, said that while the NSA program "isn't a cause for joy, it's not a cause for repentance either" because it is needed to fight terrorism .....and he is no doubt on some level of distribution. Probably he is, for strictly terrorism information, maybe for the entire Axis of Evil. Intel is shared among friendly governments--not everything, but things that are germane. I'm guessing FSB or GRU have received tips on Chechnya, Dagestan, and the other doings of the Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus. If it wasn't in place before, I'd guess it began with the Nord-Ost Theater outrage. Not that I know anything about the subject. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
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| Posted by: 3dc 2013-12-20 10:20 |
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| Posted by: P2kontheroad 2013-12-20 07:58 |
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| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-12-20 07:38 |
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| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-12-20 03:14 |
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| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-12-20 00:46 |