The US government files charges against Snowden and asks Hong Kong to arrest him

Here is a follow-up on the last story I posted concerning Ed Snowden.

The article:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/21/charges-reportedly-filed-against-nsa-secrets-leaker/

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

to file charges - the verb 'file' is often used in regard to legal matters.  A person can 'file' a law suit if he/she wants to sue someone.  To sue someone means to bring a person to court in order to obtain money from that person.  The state can file criminal charges against a person.  To 'file' these charges means the accusations against a person are now official and the person must appear in court.  So basically 'charges' means the claim that a person has committed a crime.

espionage - spying; obtaining secret information and providing it to those who are not supposed to have it.

a leaker - someone who reveals secret information.  If you have a cup and it leaks, water comes out when it is not supposed to.

prosecutors - these are lawyers for the state who try to prove that people accused of crimes are guilty.

a sealed criminal complaint - this means that the people cannot read the complaint; it is a secret complaint.  a 'complaint' is the list of things a person supposedly did which supposedly broke the law.

classified - secret.  Classified information is only supposed to be seen by certain people in government.

an unauthorized person - someone who wasn't supposed to see classified information.

to detain - to stop a person from leaving; to keep a person in custody

provisional - it can be changed later

an arrest warrant - an official document that gives the police the right and ability to take a person into custody (to detain him).

a contractor for the NSA - he worked for a company which worked for the government.

a three-count complaint - supposedly he committed three crimes.

willful communication - he deliberately communicated secrets - he didn't accidentally co0mmunicate secrets.

to be outspoken - to have a strong opinion and to express it forcefully.

treason, treasonous - to do something to harm your country.

take him into custody - this is when the police arrest a person and take him to the police station.

to extradite him - to force him to leave Hong Kong and to come back to the United States to face justice.

disclosures - stuff he revealed, stuff he told the newspapers about.

to ignite - to start something.  When you start a fire you ignite a fire.

to disrupt - to mess up; to stop something from happening.
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If you like this blog and are benefitting from it, please consider buying my e-book on amazon.  It's a lot of fun and has really good vocabulary words and reading passages in it.  You'll also learn a lot about New York City and America through this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

If you want a free copy of the book, please e-mail me at djg51qu@gmail.com

I will be happy to send you a copy via Word attachment.  Please let me know whether you have Word 2010 or I should use an earlier version (like 2007 etc.)

"Argo" and The Iranian Hostage Crisis

The movie Argo won the "Oscar" award  for the best movie of 2012 recently.

This has created some controversy because the nation of Iran feels that the movie portrays its history inaccurately.

Here is a good link about the period of time in Iranian and US relations that the movie is about. This link provides a pretty objective account of what happened.  Basically from the 1950s through 1970s the US government supported the corrupt Shah of Iran against the will of the Iranian people.

When there was a revolution in the late 1970s, the US president - Jimmy Carter - probably should have supported the people of Iran, but he supported the corrupt Shah instead. The Shah was forced out of office and the US and Iran have had terrible relations since then.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/carter-hostage-crisis/

Vocabulary to help you read the article:

a controversy - a controversial issue is one about which there is heated (passionate, emotional) debate or argument

to portray s/t  (s/t = something) - to reveal or show something

objective - not 'subjective,' if a piece of news is objective, it tries to tell the truth about the situation directly, without favoring one side or the other; something objective is non-biased

corrupt - not honest; a corrupt politician is not trying to be of service to others - he/she tries to profit for him/herself

Shah - the title of the ex-leader of Iran; he was like a president or prime minister etc.

the will of the people - what the people want

a hostage -someone held by someone or others against his/her will; a captive

a crisis - a difficult situation that could lead to tragedy

a mob - a large group of people

to overrun - basically, to run over; if something is overrun by people, lots of people 'attack' something and take it over

to seize - to take control of

an oath - a formal promise

concentrated - focused

a dominant role - the main role

to stay on the sidelines - to just stand by and watch

advocating - encouraging, arguing for

charismatic - charming, likable

to oust - to get rid of, to eliminate

CIA - Central Intelligence Agency

to consolidate power - to centralize power and make it stronger

unprecedented prosperity - wealth that has never been experienced before

resentment - bad feelings

a confrontation - when two people or parties face each other in some type of conflict situation

clergy - religious people

to flee - to run away ---> flee, flew, flown

exile - to go into exile means to be forced to leave your home country for another

to toast s/o - to raise a glass of alcohol to someone and say something nice

as opposition mounted - as the number of people opposing something grew or became larger

to crack down on dissenters - to crackdown on means to get tougher with, to try to stop, to try to oppress.  If the government cracks down on a certain type of crime, they are trying to stop that crime

fueling more resentment - causing more bad feelings

to denounce - to say something is wrong

to inherit s/t - to receive something from someone before you.  If a relative dies, you might inherit some of his/her money

to heed advice - to follow advice

to suppress s/t - to try to stop something

to be reluctant to do s/t - to not really want to do something

a reprisal - an act of revenge, to hurt someone who has hurt you

to relent - to give in, to agree to do something you don't want to do

the room fell dead - the room became quiet

a retinue - followers

potent - powerful

to vow - to promise

the plight of s/o - the problems of someone

to embargo s/t - to stop buying something

oppression - force which stop something; political oppression is a type of force which is meant to harm some group or individual

sanctions - regulations that stop trade with a country

to freeze assets - to stop Iran from getting their money from US banks

to rally around s/o or s/t - to support someone; initially people supported Carter

mine the harbors - put explosive devices in the harbors to blow-up Iranian ships

to feel devastated - to feel terrible, to feel a sense of loss

to abort a mission - to stop a mission

gleeful - happy

stark - strong

impotence - weakness

multiple sclerosis - a type of disease

dispiriting - demoralizing, making a person lose hope or enthusiasm

a backdrop - the background

to thumb your nose at someone - to show contempt or hatred or disapproval

propaganda - positive stories (often in the news) told to promote the image of a government

chaotic - messy, not organized

to drag on - to take too long

a landslide victory - an easy and overwhelming victory

fraught with emotion - filled with emotion

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1)  Why do you think this movie was made, even though the events portrayed were from 1979?

2)  Do you think that Hollywood helps to promote American "propaganda"?

3)  "Argo" was not one of the most popular movies of 2012 and there seem to be many historical inaccuracies.  Why do you think this movie won the Oscar?

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Yes, I'm the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway.  
http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

If this page is useful to you, please buy the book (it's quite inexpensive and useful!!!!). If you don't have an e-reader, drop me a line at djg51qu@gmail.com and I'll send you a free copy via Word file. Let me know whether you have Word 2010 or an earlier version.
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Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia two years ago :P

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/

Torture Does Not Work

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States used various torture techniques to extract information from terrorist suspects.  All of these techniques were illegal and, according to experts on intelligence extraction, ineffective.

For instance, Khalil Sheik Mohammed, the "mastermind" behind the 9/11 attacks, was captured and tortured using a technique called "water-boarding."  According to this technique, a person is made to feel as if he is drowning until he reveals information.  The CIA did this to him over 180 times.

Did they obtain useful information?  No.  KSM admitted to having committed every act of terrorism from the past 20 years to try to avoid further torture.  Obviously, he could not have done everything he admitted to, but he freely admitted to doing everything under torture.  Therefore, torture always seems to provide "misinformation." 

In the American newspapers it was (ridiculously) reported that he had been involved in virtually every major terrorist action of his generation.

Furthermore, because he had been tortured, he could not be brought to trial in the United States - where a judge might have dismissed his case (eliminated his case) because of the barbaric treatment shown toward him.  He has been given a "military" trial, which is, basically, an unfair type of trial where there is no doubt that the defendant will be found guilty.

Now there is a movie called Zero Dark Thirty which plans to profit from the attack on Osama bin Laden's compound and the killing of bin Laden by US Navy Seals.  The only problem is that, according to Senator John McCain (a man who had been tortured), the scene in the film where the CIA gets useful information due to torture is inaccurate.

http://news.msn.com/politics/mccain-rejects-torture-scene-in-zero-dark-thirty

1)  Do you think that torture works?

2)  Can torture ever be ethical?

3)  Do you think the CIA was "right" in using torture so frequently?

4)  Why do you think these filmmakers used a scene in the movie in which torture "worked," when, in reality, torture did not work?

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Yes, I'm the guy who caused the "scandal" in Asia two years ago :P http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/

Yes, I'm also the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS