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German NSA Critic Denied Entry To the US
An anonymous reader writes "Major newspapers in Germany (FAZ, Die Welt, SZ, ...) and the Huffington Post report that the author Ilja Trojanow has been prevented from boarding a plane from Salvador da Bahia to the U.S. where he was invited to attend a conference. He had ESTA documents showing that his visit was approved as part of the Visa Waiver Program and was last year given a visa to teach at the university of Saint Louis. Trojanow was one of the initiators of an open letter (Google translation to English) urging Chancellor Merkel to take actions against NSA surveillance in Germany."
...critics of the NSA from entering our country?
Me neither.
Once again, Obama proves he's a worse President for civil liberties than Bush ever was.
Since we are going full-on Totalitarian Police State, can we get cool Hugo Boss suits with colorful arm bands?
Time for DHS/FEMA to start filling up those Concentration Camps they've been building.
Maybe he can't handle reject?
This pretty much blows away the "trust the government - it would never abuse its power" argument the apologists like to trot out so readily.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
You can thank the NSA for stopping this wanton criminal before he can enter the US.
Has America reached the point where criticizing the shit you do is grounds to deny entry when you don't pose a threat?
Enjoy it kids, your country has jumped the shark and is continuing its decline into a paranoid police state.
America is pretty much fucked at this point unless this can be fixed.
Freedom is slavery, bitches.
Nothing to see here. Move along. Or else.
... the story only shows that German media outlets are not familiar with US entry regulations. He says that he was denied a visa last year, which automatically disqualifies him from the visa waiver program. This is just a garden-variety ESTA issue, and most likely has nothing to do with his stance of the NSA surveillance.
OS Reviews: Free and Open Source Software
Probably more due to the fact that there simply isn't anyone around to process his visa and let him into the country.
Free speech in the US was over. Congratulations US. That was quick.
to think and do as we tell you.
... when you need it???
He has to stay outside the USA if the NSA wants to keep spying on him, as they have no capability to do so within our Free nation's borders.
"Schon vergangenes Jahr hatte das amerikanische Konsulat in München meinen Antrag auf ein Arbeitsvisum zum Zwecke einer Gastprofessur an der Washington University in St. Louis zuerst negativ beschieden und erst nach Protesten der UniversitÃt und einer erheblichen VerzÃgerung, die einen Teil des Semesters nutzlos vergehen lieÃY, das Visum erteilt"
Already last year had firstly denied the american consulat in Munic the request for work visa as guest professor in university st louis, and only after protest of the university et delay , with which made a part of the semester useless , gave the visa.
Therefore this is all US BS.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Land of the free to not enter.
This makes me ashamed of my country.
That, and he also had an ESTA confirmation. His name should not have been on the secret no-fly list and there shouldn't be a secret no-fly list in the first place.
Sorry, but barring Trojans from entering your systems is just basic computer security.
In Soviet Russia, our new overlords are belong to all your base.
I don't understand how Trojanow didn't slip by unnoticed. Perhaps a dropper would have helped.
there is no right to enter the USA unless you are a citizen
That's factually wrong - "resident aliens" to use the US governments description have a right to enter the US. This was the only reason I got a green card when living in the US because my job required travel to academic conferences and after one incident where I was almost denied entry with my J-1 visa simply because I was married to an American we applied for a green card because then it was impossible for them to refuse me entry and my job depended on being able to return.
However it also misses the point which is that your government thinks it is fine to exclude people from the US who disagree with its policies. If it is willing to do that to foreigners coming for rational academic debate how much longer do you think it will be before they find a way to silence your criticisms too?
Filter error: You can type more than that for your comment.
I CAN, BUT I WONT
Links or it didn't happen
There is no "University of St. Louis". There is University of Missouri, St. Louis; and there is Saint Louis University. That's why he was denied. Probbably had bombs in his pencils too.
I wish I was denied entry into the US, and I live here.
Where do you want them deported to? What is their country of origin?
(tip: It would seem "In Soviet Russia..." would make use of it, but no, they had their own. Quite different.)
Because, in the late 1940s, it was basically the only industrial power not deeply into reconstructing their torn economy and infrastructure. Not because any other country recognized the moral supremacy of the USA's national definitions, not because the USA grants anybody guarantees to dissent.
The United Nations is juridically akin to the various embassies. It is international territory, not USA territory. It might be phisically located in Manhattan, New York, but is not because New York is (or ever was) the hippest place to talk freely about the evil bad guys.
Reciting it however doesn't make you any less unreasonable than your government.
Many politicians are completely blind to the difference between Laws, Morality, and Reason, using the former as a synonym for both the later, they are not able to entertain hypothetical thinking about law, because they are ether unable or unwilling to question them. Don't be as single minded as those people, your government is no more concrete than mine.
What, where the stories read like fairy tales and the comments are more vile than you-tube's. Stop reading the big corporate news, its got about 2% real facts in it, I'd say the same about SD but most of the time I can't parse the summary. Should I make up cool names like the smarmy Liberals and say things like Fawx News and the like and throw in words like misogynist meter, Occums Razor, and anything anti-religion?
Cheers
Just heard some sad news on talk radio - horror/fiction writer Tom Clancy was found dead in his home this morning. There weren't any more details yet. I'm sure we'll all miss him, even if you weren't a fan of his work there's no denying his contribution to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
FTA:
"The woman told me curtly and without emotion that entry to the United States was being denied to me - without giving any reason," Trojanow told the German newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Tuesday.
It then later says that his co-author CLAIMS he was denied entry for his views. At no point does the article state why he was denied entry. Tying it to the NSA is the European Media trying to make a story out of nothing. It is largely an opinion piece based on very little evidence.
As for the Huffington Post article - well, it IS the Huffington Post. Whether you trust them or not is really more of where your personal views stand.
There just really is not enough information given. He was denied entry. That is all we know. Everything else is circumstancial evidence.
The people's and country's interests are always going to be against the government's interests. Recognizing that, and then having the government submit to us all, is kind of the whole point of America.
Unfortunately, we've become a nation of bad dog owners. Our dog misbehaves and doesn't submit. Cesar Milan tells us to use calm assertive energy (i.e. votes) to dominate the misbehaving dog, but we essentially don't vote. (Even when we bother to show up at the polls, we tend to check the "R" or "D" instead of any serious candidates, and we even advocate against allowing candidates onto the ballots.) And instead of that calm assertiveness, we react with excitement (TP, OWS) which doesn't accomplish anything.
We need the Government Whisperer! Come, Government Whisperer! Come train us, and rehabilitate our government.
It feels wrong, and you put into words exactly why it's wrong. I wish i hadn't posted so soon.
# Make sure no trojan horses access our borders
if ($session->individual('81938523')->findWords('trojan')) {
$session->borderControl()->denyEntry('individual', '81938523');
$session->close();
}
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... time... to... die...
We're friendly and we're not obsessed with threats that aren't real. :D
There are even certain places where you can go and wave at the US border weenies and they can't to sh1t about it.
Who is in it now?
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
“When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.” - John Basil Barnhill 1914
In 1914 who could have predicted the NSA? Today it would write “When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is the NSA. America is what you get when you have both"
They told me that if we voted for Mitt Romney, that we'd lock anyone who was critical of the government out of the US.
They were right.
I was trying to figure out where he was invited to teach, this strange place called "Saint Louis". Took me awhile to translate this to St Louis. Weird that I've never seen it written out...
Apologists, please extract your heads from your own asses before your fellow citizens are compelled to do it for you. The NSA and many, many other revelations have firmly ripped away the curtain you're trying so very very hard to clutch about your loins. If we ever had representative democracy in this country, it is now surely gone. All of us have to take the measure of our own hearts and decide how much we're willing to do to get it back. Me, I'll gladly give my life if it means my kids won't grow up slaves; I can't help it, it's how I'm wired. You may be different. But whether you do a lot or a little, it all helps. The key thing is to refuse to play the game of the usurpers any more, to not play along or acquiesce to their evil. That, and only that, is the beginning of a return to freedom.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
was last year given a visa to teach at the university of Saint Louis.
He is still listed as faculty at Washington University in St. Louis http://german.wustl.edu/people/trojanow_ilja
FWIW, That institution is one of the top research university's internationally (Ivy-league). It's not to be confused with the University of Missouri, St. Louis (a state school), or Saint Louis University (a Jesuit school). All three are, however, very fine institutions.
Is "you're free to say what you want, but we'll punish you for it"
Bush did different bad things, but mostly the bad things compound.
There are other informative links here : http://www.metafilter.com/132486/Snowden-documents-shed-light-on-Shiban-Akbar-and-Trojanov-cases
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
"We are the country that hosts the damn UN."
Except Switzerland, Austria, and Kenya.
Geneva - "The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) is the second largest United Nations centre after the Headquarters in New York. UNOG is housed in the Palais des Nations, an outstanding testimony to twentieth century architecture, situated in a beautiful park overlooking Lake Geneva, with a splendid view of the Alps and, on a clear day, Mont Blanc.
The League of Nations was established in 1919 following the devastation caused by the First World War. It was decided to erect a building at par with the League’s aspirations for the creation of a more stable world. The Palais was erected between 1929 and 1938 and donations from Member States have largely contributed to its interior design.
The Palais stands in the 45-hectare Ariana Park among majestic trees many of which are over 100 years old. The City of Geneva has made the park available to the United Nations for its offices for as long as the United Nations exists."
Vienna - "Along with New York, Geneva and Nairobi, Vienna is one of the four headquarters of the United Nations. The Vienna International Centre (VIC), commonly known as "UN City", was designed by Austrian architect Johann Staber and construction costs were borne by the host country. Opened on 23 August 1979, it has been rented to the United Nations for 99 years at a symbolic rate of 1 Austrian schilling (7 Euro cents) annually.
The VIC complex, which covers an area of 180,000 m, has extraterritorial status; it accommodates about 4,200 international civil servants from over 100 countries and its 14 conference rooms host an average of 2,000 conferences annually. Located at the Centre are the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PrepCom), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), as well as a number of smaller UN Offices and entities.
On daily guided tours, visitors can learn about the work of the United Nations and experience the Vienna International Centre's striking architecture and vibrant, cosmopolitan atmosphere. Special programmes for children and school groups are available and visitors can also book a lecture or specialized tour on the art on display at the VIC."
Nairobi - "Established in 1996, the United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON) is the only UN Headquarters in Africa and in the global south. The United Nations compound is located in Gigiri, on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, which is said to enjoy an almost perfect climate with warm sunny days and cool evenings.
The UN presence in Kenya dates back to the 1950s when Kenya was still a colony of the United Kingdom. After Kenya gained its independence in 1963, the UN expanded its presence in the country, especially when it became host to the fledgling United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1973. Originally located at Uchumi House in the Nairobi city centre, UNEP was soon moved to the Kenyatta Conference Centre in 1974, before moving to its current location in Gigiri in 1975. In 1978, United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, now known as United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) also joined UNEP in Gigiri.
The Visitors’ Service in Nairobi conducts guided tours on Mondays to Fridays, year-round. Visitors are briefed on the role of the United Nations as well as the functions of its funds, programmes and specialized agencies, especially those based in Nairobi. Special briefings by representatives of various UN offices in Kenya are also offered upon request. Following the briefing, visitors enjoy a walking tour of the complex which includes stops at various symbolic gifts donated to the UN, including the 1998 Bomb-blast Memorial Garden, which pays tribute to the in
If it's worth doing, it's worth doing for money.
"Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told a Senate panel that an estimated 70% of intelligence employees had been placed on unpaid leave." -- CNN
Cool. It is hard not to gloat.
Bah, humbug!
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
We are entering a time when all will turn against us. - Paul Atreides
I have huge ethical and moral problems with the suspending free speech. However it seems to me that the US government regards suspending free speech more as a legal problem.
... how important is this? This fellow is a foreign national who is actively working against the interests of the United States, at least as the Obama administration believes it to be. Having said that, all this has done is prevent this person from coming to the United States and speaking in person. This does not prevent him from returning to Germany and giving his talk remotely via the Internet. Undoubtedly, the NSA will be listening in but is unlikely to interfere. Part of the right to freedom of speech and expression is to receive it. American citizens have the right to listen to what he says without U.S. government interference.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
That other half's position was that they were a new country. So another point of view of the Civil War is that for some reason our country shrunk a bunch, then invaded and took over another country that allowed us to grow back to the same size.
But that would be as nonsensical as your point of view. They were traitors and Lincoln did what was necessary. The constitution clearly covers this in Article I Section 8 with two simple words giving Congress powerful instructions as to what to do in a situation like this: "suppress Insurrections"
I would also direct you to "a well regulated militia" being a part of the 2nd amendment and "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union" being before "suppress Insurrections". As in your right to your gun is under the idea that you would fight for your country.
It was never about protection. All those idiots who tell you what the framers want never cite shit or when they do, they do so betting you'll never look.
So, the U.S. keeps letting Muslims into the country but they denied a frickin German from entering?? WTF is wrong with this picture!?
Retarded government can't tell good people from bad people!
Did they mean the private St. Louis University? There is no "University of St. Louis."
Don't forget that the US never paid their bills to the UN.... And they are the only one!
One problem is that the UN is billing the US for stuff that it agreed not to bill the US for. As part of an agreement in 1995 that split funding of the UN-peacekeeping operations from other UN-operations (because many countries have withheld payment because of political disputes over peacekeeping operations), the UN agreed to limit the US contribution for peacekeeping operations to 25%.
In case anyone is interested, here are the top 10 peacekeeping assesments that the UN has come up with for 2013...
1.United States (28.38%) // noticiably higher than 25%
2.Japan (10.83%)
3.France (7.22%)
4.Germany (7.14%)
5.United Kingdom (6.68%)
6.China (6.64%)
7.Italy (4.45%)
8.Russian Federation (3.15%)
9.Canada (2.98%)
10.Spain (2.97%)
The total arrears from the 31 countries which were assesed for peackeeping are $4.77 billion. Of that amount, the US is in arrears about $736 million (which included the erroneous assessments accumulated at 31% level). Much of these arrears are becaues of political disputes countries have with specific peacekeeping missions resulting in their withholding of money. Yes the US is not the only one! And not even the majority of the dollar amount either.
Despite this agreement, from 1995 to 2000, the UN had been erroneously assessing the US 31% even though it promised that it would eventually get that number down to 25%. The reason that they were doing that is that the money had already been spent, so someone needs to pay it and even though the UN broke the agreement, the UN unilaterally decided that the US needed to pay a higher share of the deficit (instead of assessing everyone the agreed upon percentage amount, the US was out-voted and assessed a higher rate).
Don't get me started on how the UN blows through their peacekeeping budget, we are simply talking about percentage assessments here, what's a fair agreed upon percentage is fair, right?
As a goodwill gesture in 2001 (I wonder who was president then? also, did something happened that year?), the US unilaterally temporarily upped their contribution level to ~28% to support more operations (it backed it down to 27.1% a few years later). Eventually, the US were making the new payment level of 27.1%, and the UN seemed to be trending down to 25%, (meaning the deficit relative to the 25% level was still increasing, but at a slower pace). Of course, the UN still considered the original accumulated deficit in the years when the US was billed a 31% assessment as unpaid (and overpayment of 27.1% over 25% was credited to the deficit even though the number was in dispute).
Then in 2010, the US (I wonder who was president then?) decided to up the percentage to 27.3% to attempt to pay off the bills faster as part of a campaign promise. Sadly, the UN took this as a weakening of the resolve of the US to enforce the orginal 25% agreement and upped the percentage to match 27.3% contribution made by the US (and still against the original 25% agreement) that leaving the original disputed deficit and not allowing the US to pay down any bills. I think someone may have gotten the Nobel peace prize for that political maneuver...
Of course the US is responsible for over 25% of the noUN operating budget as well. So when the US doesn't pay up, it hurts more than most (although we aren't the only ones in arrears their either).
I guess 1st amendment rights extend only to U.S. citizens.