(The guy seen with John McCain is a pure bred Operation Gladio supporter. Thailand, Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt... it's Gladio B and this guy is a perfect example of the kinds of democracies our country backs across the world. )

"In the majority of his motions he opposed the introduction of the Russian language as the second official state language, proposed recognition of the fighting role of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and Ukrainian Insurgent Army during World War II, called for the lustration of former communist officials, security service officers and undercover agents, and demanded the prohibition of communist ideology."

When left-wing groups tried to join the protests they were attacked and beaten by fascists. Svoboda are leading ideologically now. Fascism is like a fashion now, with more and more people getting involved." . Sergey Kirichuk

The United States' dragnet surveillance programs have set a dangerous precedent, encouraging other states to bolster their own snooping capabilities and engage in censorship under the guise of security, Human Rights Watch warned in its annual report.

"The importance of privacy, a right we often take for granted, was thrown into sharp relief in 2013 by the steady stream of revelations from United States government files released by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden," the New York-based group wrote in its 24th annual review of human rights practices around the globe.

"These revelations, supported by highly classified documents, showed the US, the UK, and other governments engaged in global indiscriminate data interception, largely unchecked by any meaningful legal constraint or oversight, without regard for the rights of millions of people who were not suspected of wrongdoing," the report said.

The report warns that the ease with which information is disseminated in the digital age has been matched by a commensurate growth in unchecked surveillance capabilities.

A retired US general who commanded NATO troops in Afghanistan for one year has warned that as the Middle Eastern nation sits on the brink of civil war, western forces must contend with widespread resentment about the US drone program.

General Stanley McChrystal, who led troops in Afghanistan from June 2009 to June 2010 before stepping aside after criticizing US President Obama in an interview with Rolling Stone, told the BBC that the West must help Afghanistan even after pulling out military forces.

He said that while the Taliban may not have the strength to fully re-take Afghanistan, the Islamist extremists would certainly be among the groups involved in an armed conflict.

"I think that would be a return - in the minds of the Afghans - to what they experienced in 1989," McChrystal said. "But I don't think the Taliban have the strength to come in and take over Afghanistan...There is enough capacity in that country, and certainly enough ties that bind to avoid that."

What has proven more difficult to avoid is the "tremendous amount of resentment" that US drones have caused throughout the region. When questioned about the future of surveillance and bombing conducted by the unmanned aerial vehicles, McChrystal said there is a danger that drones will be used as an "antiseptic."

Geneva 2 quickly descended into a war of words, with each successive speaker ratcheting up the rhetoric as tensions from the protracted civil war which has ravaged the country for three years quickly bled into the peace conference.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday kicked off the long-awaited international peace conference for Syria, opening the international bid to end the bloodshed.

Ban said the conference provided an opportunity for all sides to show unity, saying "today is a day of fragile but real hope."

The UN Chief pointed a finger at the Syrian government, saying if the democratic demands of the Syrian people had been listened to at the outset of the conflict, "we might not be here today." Ban painted a grim picture of a country racked by violence and lawlessness, urging all sides to put an end to terrorist attacks and unequivocally allow foreign aid into the country.

Taking the floor from Ban, Lavrov delivered his points in rapid fire succession, noting that the historical responsibility for peace rested on the heads of everyone in attendance.

The decision to try 9/11 suspects in military commissions only highlights how the US has yet to reckon with detainee abuse

On the same day President Barack Obama formally launched his re-election campaign, his attorney general, Eric Holder, announced that key suspects in the 9/11 attacks would be tried not in federal court, but through controversial military commissions at Guantánamo. Holder blamed members of Congress, who, he said, "have intervened and imposed restrictions blocking the administration from bringing any Guantánamo detainees to trial in the United States."

Nevertheless, one Guantánamo case will be tried in New York. No, not the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any of his alleged co-conspirators. This week, the New York state supreme court will hear the case against Dr John Leso, a psychologist who is accused of participating in torture at the Gitmo prison camp that Obama pledged, and failed, to close.

The case was brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Centre for Justice and Accountability (CJA) on behalf of Dr Steven Reisner. Reisner, a New York psychologist and adviser to Physicians for Human Rights, is at the centre of a growing group of psychologists campaigning against the participation of psychologists in the US government's interrogation programmes, which they say amounts to torture.

Unlike the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the largest association of psychologists in the world, has refused to implement a resolution passed by its membership barring APA members from participating in interrogations at sites where international law or the Geneva conventions are being violated. Reisner, a child of Holocaust survivors, is running for president of the APA, in part to force it to comply with the resolution.

John Leso
Torture Connection: Invented 'Category 3' interrogations

Major John Francis Leso

• 2002-2003 Member, Behavioral Science Consultation Team JTF-GTMO
• 2002 Author, interrogation protocol that relied in part on SERE "reverse-engineered" torture techniques
• 2002, 2003 Chief of the Clinical Psychology Service, Walter Reed Army Medical Center
• 2005 U.S. Embassy Austria
• 1996-current? Member, American Psychological Association (APA)

John Leso aided interrogators at Guantanamo, devised ways to increase prisoners' suffering

An army psychologist with no training or experience in interrogations, Dr. Leso in June 2002 became the first psychological clinician assigned to the new U.S. prison compounds at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As the first psychologist serving with one of the new Behavioral Science Consultation Teams (BSCTs) at Guantanamo, Leso was tasked with using his professional expertise to support interrogators by establishing procedures and general detention conditions that would break down the prisoners' mental and emotional resistance to interrogation.

Official logs from Guantanamo indicate that Leso participated in abusive interrogation sessions and advised interrogators on how to increase the suffering of prisoners.

Prisoners under Leso abused to point of hospitalization

The BSCT teams were charged with establishing conditions that would maximize prisoners' mental, emotional, and physical distress, in hopes of breaking down their resistance to interrogation. For example, Dr. Leso was involved in sessions with prisoner Mohammed al Qahtani that included intravenous administration of large quantities of fluids; when al Qahtani requested permission to go to the bathroom, he was chained in place and told to urinate on himself. Also, al Qahtani twice needed hospital treatment for hypothermia inflicted intentionally when he was kept naked in chilled cells.

Prosecutors in Milan are investigating Silvio Berlusconi for alleged witness corruption following two high-profile trials relating to parties held at his luxurious villa.

Though widely expected, the new investigation will nonetheless come as a blow to the former Italian prime minister as he seeks to shore up his political influence in the wake of his conviction for tax fraud and expulsion from parliament last year.

A total of 45 people, including Berlusconi, his two chief defence lawyers and several young women, are reported to be under investigation in the new inquiry, which was announced by chief prosecutor Edmondo Bruti Liberati.

Prosecutors will be investigating allegations that witnesses who testified on behalf of the 77-year-old in the so-called "Ruby" trial - in which he was accused of paying for sex with an underage sex worker and then abusing his office to cover it up - and a related trial were corrupted.

Lawyers for Berlusconi have previously denied the allegations, and on Thursday the leader of the centre-right Forza Italia party issued a statement reiterating his belief that he is being hounded by a leftwing judiciary bent on his destruction.

"I am here, and am staying here, strongly conscious of the responsibility that comes from the trust and the votes of the people," he said in a statement. "I am staying on the field, more convinced than ever that I must fight on to the end to see the triumph of what I deeply believe in."

Full name: John Francis Leso
Health Profession: Psychologist
Branch/Rank: Army Major
Site: Guantanamo Bay
[B6, B4, B1, C1, D3]

Dates: June 2002 - mid-January 2003
[B1, C1, D3]

Position: Behavioral Science Consultation Team (BSCT) psychologist with the Interrogation Control Element (ICE) of JTF-GTMO.
[B6, B4, B1, C1, D3]

Reported Involvement: Dr. John Leso was the first BSCT psychologist at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base (GTMO), and while in this role, he participated in the torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment [A1, B4, D2, B13] of Mohammed al Qahtani. [A1, B1, B5] A DoD log of the interrogation of Mr. al Qahtani shows that Dr. Leso observed at least two abusive interrogation sessions and, on at least one occasion, advised the interrogators on how to increase Mr. al Qahtani's suffering.[B4]

It is not yet publicly known whether he participated in other sessions in which Mr. al Qahtani was abused, but draft BSCT policies and statements by his colleagues suggest that the question warrants further investigation. [B7, D5, D6]

Also worthy of further investigation is the question of whether, as a BSCT charged with supporting the GTMO task force's interrogation mission, Dr. Leso participated in the interrogation of other detainees during his time at GTMO. [B7, D1, C1] This question is vital to determine whether he was involved in the abusive treatment of other men and boys interrogated at GTMO between June 2002 and January 2003. [D5, A2, B12]

Additionally, Dr. Leso - a clinical psychologist with no training in interrogation prior to arriving at GTMO - helped craft a policy of torture at GTMO by designing psychologically and physically abusive interrogation techniques and detention conditions. Together with psychiatrist Dr. Paul Burney, Dr. Leso co-wrote a draft interrogation policy memo for GTMO that incorporated illegal techniques adapted from methods used by the Chinese and North Korean governments against American prisoners of war. Their memo eventually formed the basis for a memo signed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in December 2, 2002, in which the Secretary authorized at least eleven abusive interrogation techniques that were similar or identical to the ones presented by Drs. Leso and Burney. [B1, B6, B8, B9, B10, B11, B6] Many of the techniques and conditions that Dr. Leso helped put in place were applied to Mr. al Qahtani [B4, B1] and many of the men and boys held at GTMO. [B1, D5] Eventually, similar techniques were also used on prisoners held in Department of Defense custody in Iraq and Afghanistan. [B1]

This time, the Federal Reserve has created a truly global problem. A big chunk of the trillions of dollars that it pumped into the financial system over the past several years has flowed into emerging markets. But now that the Fed has decided to begin "the taper", investors see it as a sign to pull the "hot money" out of emerging markets as rapidly as possible.

This is causing currencies to collapse and interest rates to soar all over the planet. Argentina, Turkey, South Africa, Ukraine, Chile, Indonesia, Venezuela, India, Brazil, Taiwan and Malaysia are just some of the emerging markets that have been hit hard so far.

In fact, last week emerging market currencies experienced the biggest decline that we have seen since the financial crisis of 2008. And all of this chaos in emerging markets is seriously spooking Wall Street as well.

The Dow has fallen nearly 500 points over the last two trading sessions alone. If the Federal Reserve opts to taper even more in the coming days, this currency crisis could rapidly turn into a complete and total currency collapse.

A lot of Americans have always assumed that the U.S. dollar would be the first currency to collapse when the next great financial crisis happens. But actually, right now just the opposite is happening and it is causing chaos all over the planet.

A Republican candidate for the Florida House of Representatives is in hot water after he agreed Monday that President Barack Obama should be hanged for treason.

Joshua Black, an African-American, agreed to the idea of hanging the president after a Twitter user sent him the following public message: "I'm past impeachment. It's time to arrest and hang him high."

"Agreed," Black tweeted in response.

A Republican candidate for the Florida House in a nearby district, Chris Latvala, was quick to denounce Black.

"[Y]ou aren't seriously calling for the killing of Obama are you?" Latvala asked, adding that Black is an "embarrassment."