Friday, December 12, 2014

US defence budget hiked to $560bn; Greek crisis 2.0? Not quite yet; Social media as weapon of mass destruction

1 US defence budget at $560bn (BBC) The US Senate has approved a new annual defence bill expanding the military campaign against Islamic State (IS). The bill approves a general Pentagon budget of $496bn plus $64bn for US wars abroad.

The US-led coalition has launched more than 600 air strikes against IS militant targets in Iraq since the campaign began on 8 August. The US, with Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has also carried out almost 500 attacks on IS in neighbouring Syria since 23 September.

Until now, US operations against IS had been funded from the existing Pentagon budget. The new bill, which was passed by 89 votes to 11, approves $3.4bn for the direct deployment of US forces against IS, and a further $1.6bn for training Iraqi Kurdish forces for two years.


2 Greek crisis 2.0? Not quite yet (San Francisco Chronicle) Greek stocks and bonds have been hammered this week, a reminder of the bad old days of Europe's debt crisis when the very future of the euro currency was called into question. Analysts say a repeat is unlikely though there's an outside chance that political turmoil will disrupt Greece's bailout lifeline and keep Greek markets, at the very least, on edge for weeks.

So far Greece's turmoil hasn't spread to other countries in the 18-country currency union, the way it did back in the crisis' most acute phase between 2010 and 2012. A key sign: Prices for government bonds of other heavily indebted eurozone countries — such as Spain and Italy — are not suffering in sync with Greek bonds, as they did before.

Why do people seem to think the doomsday scenario isn't likely? Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has moderated some of his statements recently. He has said any nonpayment of debts would first be discussed with creditors, and that private-sector creditors would be spared. That has people breathing easier that he'll eventually strike some sort of deal with international lenders.


3 Social media as weapon of mass destruction (Najla Al Rostamani in Khaleej Times) Social media has turned into the perfect battleground for anyone and everyone to take out their vengeance and biases, and show off their discriminatory attitudes and opinions.  It has grown to become the platform that allows the ugliest of all to go on the attack against all who stood in disagreement with them.

What is more worrying though is how social media is being utilised as a tool to spread rumours, 
wrong information, and misguided assumptions. The magnitude of such destructive behaviour is immeasurable.  And it reflects how ill equipped many can be when they are allowed a window to express their opinion or stance on matters.  In the so called age of information, has social media turned into the strongest, most powerful and ultimate platform of misinformation?

Like demagogues, they move in herds going on the attack and causing harm and havoc — knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally, but always damagingly. And at times, it seems that social media is being used as a tool that instills ignorance, prejudice, bigotry, and most important of all a means to dilute issues and underestimate problems. The entire process is driven by a ping pong match mentality — one that is based on abusive language, ill-founded accusations, and the tarnishing of reputations. All have to be repeated, and better still outmatched.

It is unfortunate that social media is being employed as a serious weapon of mass destruction of reputations and facts. Its nature of mass outreach has made it an excellent channel of disseminating wrongful acts and thoughts. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of all is its capacity to lead some masses into blindly becoming misinformation disseminators rather than challengers who opt to use their common sense to question the authenticity of what they are being fed. 

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