SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Obama to Champion NSA Spying at Global Superpower Summit
Announcement comes as Administration faces deluge of criticisms at home and abroad.
Jun 14, 2013
President Obama will fiercely defend the NSA spying program to global economic superpowers at next week's G8 gathering in Northern Ireland, the White House announced today.
The revelation comes as Obama is pressed to defend the secretive and extensive program to his US constituents in the face of widespread outrage.
National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes declared today that the president will impress upon global leaders the important role the program plays in fighting terrorism.
"We will want to hear questions and have an exchange about these programs and other counterterrorism efforts," Rhodes said.
The embattled president appears to be digging in his heels as he faces broad criticisms, including from some of his closest allies in the European Union.
The White House announcement follows sharply-worded criticisms from the European Union written to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, expressing, "serious concerns about recent media reports that the United States authorities are accessing and processing, on a large scale, the data of European citizens using major US online providers."
The spying controversy could prove to be a thorn in the side of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade agreement under negotiation between the US and the EU that would mark the largest trade agreement in history, in a bid to hedge against China.
The New York Times predicts the agreement, to be discussed at the G8 meetings, could snag on EU concerns about privacy violations in light of the NSA spying scandal:
New concerns about widespread American spying on Internet and telephone traffic will make existing disagreements about data privacy, an important issue in Europe, even more fractious.
Critics have blasted the potential agreement, which focuses largely on eroding non-tariff "barriers" to trade, as a race to the lowest environmental, safety, and health standards.
The G8 gathering of the world's most powerful economies has been slammed by critics as an undemocratic, closed-door meeting that grabs power for the global 1% at the expense of the world's poor.
_____________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
President Obama will fiercely defend the NSA spying program to global economic superpowers at next week's G8 gathering in Northern Ireland, the White House announced today.
The revelation comes as Obama is pressed to defend the secretive and extensive program to his US constituents in the face of widespread outrage.
National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes declared today that the president will impress upon global leaders the important role the program plays in fighting terrorism.
"We will want to hear questions and have an exchange about these programs and other counterterrorism efforts," Rhodes said.
The embattled president appears to be digging in his heels as he faces broad criticisms, including from some of his closest allies in the European Union.
The White House announcement follows sharply-worded criticisms from the European Union written to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, expressing, "serious concerns about recent media reports that the United States authorities are accessing and processing, on a large scale, the data of European citizens using major US online providers."
The spying controversy could prove to be a thorn in the side of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade agreement under negotiation between the US and the EU that would mark the largest trade agreement in history, in a bid to hedge against China.
The New York Times predicts the agreement, to be discussed at the G8 meetings, could snag on EU concerns about privacy violations in light of the NSA spying scandal:
New concerns about widespread American spying on Internet and telephone traffic will make existing disagreements about data privacy, an important issue in Europe, even more fractious.
Critics have blasted the potential agreement, which focuses largely on eroding non-tariff "barriers" to trade, as a race to the lowest environmental, safety, and health standards.
The G8 gathering of the world's most powerful economies has been slammed by critics as an undemocratic, closed-door meeting that grabs power for the global 1% at the expense of the world's poor.
_____________________
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
President Obama will fiercely defend the NSA spying program to global economic superpowers at next week's G8 gathering in Northern Ireland, the White House announced today.
The revelation comes as Obama is pressed to defend the secretive and extensive program to his US constituents in the face of widespread outrage.
National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes declared today that the president will impress upon global leaders the important role the program plays in fighting terrorism.
"We will want to hear questions and have an exchange about these programs and other counterterrorism efforts," Rhodes said.
The embattled president appears to be digging in his heels as he faces broad criticisms, including from some of his closest allies in the European Union.
The White House announcement follows sharply-worded criticisms from the European Union written to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, expressing, "serious concerns about recent media reports that the United States authorities are accessing and processing, on a large scale, the data of European citizens using major US online providers."
The spying controversy could prove to be a thorn in the side of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade agreement under negotiation between the US and the EU that would mark the largest trade agreement in history, in a bid to hedge against China.
The New York Times predicts the agreement, to be discussed at the G8 meetings, could snag on EU concerns about privacy violations in light of the NSA spying scandal:
New concerns about widespread American spying on Internet and telephone traffic will make existing disagreements about data privacy, an important issue in Europe, even more fractious.
Critics have blasted the potential agreement, which focuses largely on eroding non-tariff "barriers" to trade, as a race to the lowest environmental, safety, and health standards.
The G8 gathering of the world's most powerful economies has been slammed by critics as an undemocratic, closed-door meeting that grabs power for the global 1% at the expense of the world's poor.
_____________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy