Tuesday, March 12, 2013

News: UN says reporter's baby killed by Hamas - Milblogging.com ...

News: UN says reporter's baby killed by Hamas

Monday, March 11, 2013, 04:59 AM - News Stories

UN Reports the Truth: Hamas Killed BBC Reporter's Baby in Gaza. The United Nations has issued a report with unusual courage and accuracy that plainly tells the tale of Israel?s Pillar of Defense counter terror operation ? and exposes the lies of Hamas, told to a grieving father and his BBC bureau chief.? In what has become typical of international media, The Washington Post and a BBC bureau chief last November accused and convicted the Israel Defense Forces in a heartrending, angry piece without verifying their information after a fellow editor in Gaza lost his baby son in rocket fire that struck his home...
(Israel National News)

Private Manning?s Confidant. In early 2010, Pfc. Bradley Manning methodically uploaded a digital mother lode of classified United States military and diplomatic documents to the Internet insurgents of WikiLeaks. As everyone knows, WikiLeaks made these secret archives available to a few major news outlets, including this one. Many illuminating and troubling stories were published, and Washington has been gnashing its teeth ever since...
(The New York Times)

Losing Control? Social Media and Military Influence. Social media are altering the way in which information is shared worldwide in new and unpredictable ways. The uses of social media as tools of military influence, however, are still to be explored. Nigel Jones and Paul Baines analyse the significance of this change for the nature of strategic communication in the twenty-first century...
(RUSI)

For Social Media Viewing, Twitter Is Live TV; Facebook Is DVR. When you follow someone on Twitter, you see everything they post. When you follow someone on Facebook, it decides what you see. Which is right? I?d say both, and it comes down to the live TV versus DVR personalities of each service...
(Marketing Land)

World War II code talker shares story at N.M. Veterans Memorial. Bill Toledo welcomes every chance he gets to do the one thing he wasn?t allowed to do for so long: Talk about what he did during World War II.? Talking is the very thing that made him and a small group of others heroes. He is one of the few living Navajo code talkers.? ?We saved a lot of lives using our language during the war,? Toledo said...
(KOAT)

Host Of TV Gun Show ?A Rifleman?s Journal? Shot And Killed. The host of The Sportsman Channel?s ?A Rifleman?s Journal? was shot and killed in Montana on Friday. The gunman, seemingly a jealous husband, then turned the weapon on himself.? It is not yet clear if the weapon used in the crime was obtained legally...
(ThinkProgress)

Army nurse recalls captivity in World War II.? On New Year?s Day 1942, the young American civilian nurse wandered through a dark, empty hospital, hours before Japanese forces invaded Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. No military members were left to raise the American flag or play ?The Star-Spangled Banner.?? At sunrise, she walked alone on the road to her family?s home and an uncertain future as the sound of advancing enemy troops thundered in the distance...?
(ArmyTimes.com)

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British Army approaching 925K Facebook likes

Sunday, March 10, 2013, 10:11 AM - Facebook

British Army approaching 925K Facebook likes

The British Army is one step closer to reaching 1 million likes on Facebook.

The Facebook page passed 924,000 likes on Facebook on Friday and is on track to reach 925,000 likes by today or tomorrow.

The British Army has one of the top non-US military Facebook page in terms of total likes.

The next closest non-US military Facebook page is the Pakistan Army with over 700,000 likes.

The Armed Forces of the United Kingdom Facebook page is in third place with nearly 550,000 likes.

As I wrote about late last year, The British Army?s page topped 900,000 likes in December.?

The Royal Navy has nearly 200,000 likes, while the Royal Air Force is only a few thousands likes away from 300,000.

To stay on top of how government organizations are doing on Facebook, you can check out the metrics on PageData.

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Video: Russian dashcam mounted on Syrian tank

Saturday, March 9, 2013, 08:09 PM - News Stories

Video: Russian dashcam mounted on Syrian tank

As Robert Mackey over at The Lede points out, Russians have a strange fondness for mounting cameras to the dashboards of their cars.

It?s one of the main reasons you see so much video footage of auto accidents available online from Russia.

Last month's meteor that crashed into central Russia had plenty of video coverage, thanks to dashcams.

Now the dashcam is being fitted onto government tanks in Syria and not by Syrians, but by the little-known Russian news network Abkhazian Network News Agency (ANNA).

According Mackey, ANNA released footage of recent battles recorded by a camera mounted on a government tank, which can be seen here on YouTube.

News of the footage was first reported by Syrian blogger Edward Dark via Twitter.

At the time of this story being published, the video has been viewed over 11,000 times.

More over at The New York Times.

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News: Was Ibrahim's Twitter really hacked?

Friday, March 8, 2013, 03:45 AM - News Stories Is State Dept buying Samira Ibrahim?s farcical ?I was hacked? excuse?? The Weekly Standard reported that Secretary of State John Kerry was planning to honor an anti-American Egyptian woman whose Twitter account contains multiple tweets endorsing terrorism against the US and Israel.? The honoree, Samira Ibrahim, asserts that her Twitter account was hacked even though the tweets in question appeared over a period of months and were never deleted.
(Twitchy)

Azeris Plan New Protest Over Army Deaths With Facebook Campaign. Thousands of Azeris are signing up on Facebook Inc. (FB) to stage a second rally in three months to protest violence in the former Soviet republic?s armed forces.? A Facebook Inc. page created to coordinate the event shows that almost 18,000 people accepted the call to demonstrate in the central Fountains Square in the capital, Baku, on March 10, with more than 150,000 invited to take part.
(Bloomberg)

Family of Canadian journalist killed in Iran granted appeal. The Supreme Court of Canada will decide whether the son of the murdered Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi can sue the Iranian government.? The high court has agreed to hear an appeal from Kazemi's son Stephan Hashemi, who argues he has the right to sue the Iranian government for allegedly killing his mother and failing to return her body after she was imprisoned.
(CP24.com)

Al Gore Sued Over Current TV Sale to Al Jazeera (Exclusive). Current TV's $500 million sale to Al Jazeera has prompted a lawsuit that claims co-founder Al Gore originally was opposed to the deal but had a "change of heart" on selling his cable network to oil-rich Qataris.? The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court by John Terenzio, who presents himself as a highly regarded media consultant, executive and TV producer who conceived the idea for the distribution of an American version of Al Jazeera.
(The Hollywood Reporter)

Andersonville presents Civil War living history weekend. Andersonville National Historic Site will host its annual Civil War Living History Weekend on Saturday, March 9? and Sunday, March 10, 2013.? This living history program offers visitors the opportunity to gain a better understanding of what life was like at Camp Sumter, the infamous Civil War military prison near Andersonville. Civil War period living historians will portray Union prisoners and Confederate guards.
(WALB.com)

New book sheds light on dark history of Civil War site in Millen.? The dark history of the Civil War is being brought into the light as a team from Georgia Southern continues to dig up artifacts from an old prison camp in Millen.? But finding the site of Camp Lawton back in 2010 was just the first chapter to the story. Now, the project historian has written the rest.? His new book marks the first full-length, fully-documented history of the prison.
(WRDW.com)

Marshall author retells Civil War story. The faces that stare back from the cover of the book already have a world-weary look that suggests life won?t be simple or easy or, for that matter, lengthy.? The photo was taken in the mid 1850s and the Towles? boys couldn?t have known what was looming up the road ? for them or for their country.? But on the cover of Keith Kehlbeck?s first book, ?Gone to God: A Civil War Family?s Ultimate Sacrifice,? the brothers seem to know more than they realize.
(Battle Creek Enquirer)

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Syrian Facebook video criticizes US (humor)

Thursday, March 7, 2013, 08:32 PM - News Stories

Syrian Facebook video criticizes US (humor)

This is a Syrian Facebook video that criticizes the military aid by the United States.

Impressive water spraying skills, I must say.

While there is some serious stuff going on in Syria, this is still funny...

Via WIRED

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Funny Military Subreddit Picture of the Week

Thursday, March 7, 2013, 05:03 PM - Reddit

Funny Military Subreddit Picture of the Week

I love Reddit. They usually run an impressive series of pictures from the military throughout the week in their Military subreddit.

Here's the latest.? It's called, "OH...so you didn't feel like mopping the barracks today? We'll fix that."

Click here for some awesome comments including the top rated comment so far:

"In all fairness, he was probably the shitbag who stood in the corner cleaning the same spot while everyone else actually did something. It's good to see justice."

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News: Rep. Serrano mourns Chavez on Twitter

Wednesday, March 6, 2013, 02:01 AM - News Stories Foul: Rep. Serrano tweets rest in peace; Praises Chavez as ?empowering the powerless?; Update: Doubles down, photo with Chavez. Appalling.? As Twitchy reported, the Venezuelan tyrant Hugo Chavez has died. Rep. Serrano (D-N.Y.) grossly tweeted the above, upon learning of the news that had most freedom-lovers relieved. Now, finally, may the people of Venezuela achieve democracy. Rep. Serrano, however, mourns the loss of a dictatorial tyrant. But, hey, what else is to be expected from a man who wants no presidential term limits here?
(Twitchy)

A rare glimpse inside Pakistan's ground zero for terrorists. ?It's been called the most dangerous place in the most dangerous region on the planet.? A rugged swath of tribal territory nestled between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Waziristan is ground zero for some of the region's most notorious militant groups and warlords, including the Pakistani Taliban and Haqqani network.? North and South Waziristan are hit by more U.S. drone attacks than anywhere else in the world.? NBC News obtained rare access to South Waziristan and last week became the first foreign team of journalists to report from North Waziristan...
(NBC News)

Soviet war veteran found in Afghanistan after 33 years. A Soviet soldier who went missing in Afghanistan nearly 33 years ago has been found living with Afghans in the western province of Herat.? The soldier is semi-nomadic, has the adopted Afghan name Sheikh Abdullah and practises herbal medicine, Russia's RIA news agency reports.? An ethnic Uzbek, he was found by ex-Soviet veterans of the war...
(BBC)

FBI Seeks Public's Assistance in Identifying, Locating Unmanned Aircraft and Operator.? On Monday, March, 4, 2013, at approximately 1:15 p.m., the pilot of Alitalia Flight #608 spotted a small, unmanned aircraft while on approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Alitalia flight was roughly three miles from runway 31R when the incident occurred at an altitude of approximately 1,750 feet. The unmanned aircraft came within 200 feet of the Alitalia plane.? The FBI is investigating the incident and looking to identify and locate the aircraft and its operator. The unnamed aircraft was described as black in color and no more than three feet wide with four propellers...
(FBI)

Syria's Civil War: Amateur video of attack on Homs in Syria. Amateur video posted on the internet appears to show the city of Homs being shelled and a tank coming under fire in Syria. Report by Jeremy Barnes...
(YouTube)

A Day in the Life of a Freelance Journalist?2013. Here is an exchange between the Global Editor of the Atlantic Magazine and myself this afternoon attempting to solicit my professional services for an article they sought to publish after reading my story ?25 Years of Slam Dunk Diplomacy: Rodman trip comes after 25 years of basketball diplomacy between U.S. and North Korea...??
(natethayer)

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YouTube accused of covering up FSA crimes

Tuesday, March 5, 2013, 10:40 PM - News Stories This news alert popped into my inbox and because I like to read about social media and the military, I went ahead and read it.

Iranian news site PressTV has published a brief interview with an activist named Mimi Laham who accuses YouTube of deliberately removing videos from its website that depict crimes by the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Laham complains that YouTube gives the FSA space on YouTube to "wage their propaganda war against the Syrian nation?, but ironically won?t allow videos of the FSA committing what she alleges are ?war crimes?.

Apparently, Laham had a play list of 60 videos, and half have now been removed.?

Not surprising, Laham admits some of the videos were flagged for being ?shocking? ? which, as any routine user would know, is in clear violation of YouTube?s terms of service.?

Laham also admits some videos didn?t respect copyright.? Yup, another violation.

You can probably see where this is going...

I know YouTube has drawn criticism before.? Regardless of why Laham?s videos were taken down, the video-sharing site?s community guidelines are pretty straightforward though.

Here?s a snippet from YouTube:

> Don't post videos showing bad stuff like animal abuse, drug abuse, under-age drinking and smoking, or bomb making.Graphic or gratuitous violence is not allowed. If your video shows someone being physically hurt, attacked, or humiliated, don't post it.

> YouTube is not a shock site. Don't post gross-out videos of accidents, dead bodies or similar things intended to shock or disgust.

> Respect copyright. Only upload videos that you made or that you are authorized to use. This means don't upload videos you didn't make, or use content in your videos that someone else owns the copyright to, such as music tracks, snippets of copyrighted programs, or videos made by other users, without necessary authorizations. Read our Copyright Tips for more information.

> We encourage free speech and defend everyone's right to express unpopular points of view. But we don't permit hate speech (speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity).
YouTube.
I don't think Laham has much of an argument at all.

I mean, it?s already been reported that both sides in the Syrian war have committed crimes.? That shouldn?t be news to anyone.

In November, a video of Syrian rebels executing government soldiers surfaced and went viral, and drew condemnation from around the world.

That same video can actually be found on YouTube after doing a simple search.

Considering YouTube is one of the most visited websites in the world, it relies heavily on its user community to police the site, so often it?s just a matter of time before videos that violate the site?s TOS are noticed, flagged, and taken down.

There have also been plenty of fake Syrian war videos posted online to create sympathy for one side or the other and dupe unsuspecting people, as reported by the Global Post last year.

If you want to read the full PressTV story, you can view it here.?

Of course, the comments devolve into conspiracy theories and bashing, as expected.

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Viral: Soldier's tweet to English footballer

Monday, March 4, 2013, 08:37 PM - Twitter, News Stories

Viral: Soldier's tweet to English footballer

It?s not often you see a Twitter message retweeted nearly 3,000 times, unless of course it?s some political figure or Hollywood celebrity.

But that?s just what happened when English footballer Michael Owen got into a Twitter exchange with a soldier.

JOE reports, ?James Talbot tweeted the former Liverpool and United footballer to ask whether he still played football, and it is difficult to know for certain whether this was a genuine question or a sly dig at the crocked striker.?

According to JOE, Owen has been struggling with injury for the majority of the season.

Owen responded by tweeting back to Talbot the following message:

?do you play football?? Not much nowadays but I shook the World in my day. What have you done in life??

Little did Owen know how Talbot would respond.

Talbot then tweeted: ?in answer to what I have done, served and protected your country in the army, 6 years of physical work without injury?

What was nothing more than a simple, honest response by Talbot, ended up quickly going viral and surprising the user who has less than 1,000 followers.

It appears Talbot has now been receiving abusive tweets by other Twitter users and spent time responding on Twitter earlier today.

A quick scan of the page shows numerous messages on both sides, some supportive, some not so much.

Joe Harrison ?@Joe_Harrison01 writes:
@JT1zzle @themichaelowen Well f*cking done. How good are you? You chose to so don't play that card

kurt whufc berry ?@kurt_squirt writes:
@JT1zzle hahaha bet he feels like a twat now mate!! Haha

David Woods ?@realdavidwoods
@JT1zzle @themichaelowen did the army teach u to pick a pointless fight? Nothing to be proud of here

As Talbot points out, ??I didn't say anything offensive, just responded to his belittling response??

You can follow Talbot on Twitter at @JT1zzle

More at JOE.

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News: Al-Assad says Marie Colvin not targeted

Monday, March 4, 2013, 02:54 PM - News Stories Syrian president insists Marie Colvin was not deliberately targeted in army shell attack. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad told The Sunday Times his troops did not target Marie Colvin, the paper's foreign correspondent who was killed in a rocket attack last year.? The 56-year-old reporter was killed in the Syrian city of Homs in February 2012 alongside French photographer Remi Ochlik when the building they were staying in, which was being used as a makeshift media centre, was shelled by the Syrian army...?
(PressGazette)

The Dangerous Logic of the Bradley Manning Case. After 1,000 days in pretrial detention, Private Bradley Manning yesterday offered a modified guilty plea for passing classified materials to WikiLeaks. But his case is far from over?not for Manning, and not for the rest of the country. To understand what is still at stake, consider an exchange that took place in a military courtroom in Maryland in January...
(New Republic)

Take the Iraq War Reading Pledge. This will be the 10th anniversary of the bombing of Baghdad, that began a war that was declared "mission accomplished" within two months of its start and that ultimately lasted more than eight years...
(Causes.com)

ZDNet cuts U.S. bloggers as it refocuses on global coverage. Business technology news site ZDNet has cut five bloggers from its staff in the past few weeks as it continues to realign its organization into a global one.? ZDNet has a long history of writing about the technology industry, and CNET acquired it for $1.6 billion in July 2000. In 2003, ZDNet refocused to more closely cover business technology. In May 2008, CBS Interactive purchased CNET, and since that time, ZDNet has existed as a combination of technology blog network and news outlet...
(VentureBeat)

Love Letter To War Photographer Killed In Syria Leaves Journalist In Choked Silence. A BBC Radio 4 presenter was so overcome by emotion that he fell silent on air for more than ten seconds today after hearing a moving poem by the girlfriend of a French photographer killed in Syria.? Paddy O?Connell struggled to compose himself following a reading of a love letter from Emilie Blachere to Remi Ochlik, who died alongside Sunday Times journalist Marie Colvin in the besieged city of Homs last year.? After the end of the poem, which was read by Miss Blachere herself, the airwaves were plunged into silence for about 12 seconds before the presenter regained enough composure to speak again...
(Business Insider)

Hostile Teacher Writes ?The Guns Are Loaded? On Chalkboard, Asks Kids If They?d ?Care To Try Me??. An Indiana teacher is on leave today after he wrote a variety of threats for his students on his classroom?s chalkboard. After calling his student?s idiots, he noted that his ?guns are loaded.? The teacher concluded his menacing message by asking if his students would ?care to try me??
(Mediaite)

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Research: Did tweets direct bombs in Libya?

Sunday, March 3, 2013, 01:17 PM - Twitter

Research: Did tweets direct bombs in Libya?

Image credit: Defense.gov

John Wihbey over at Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab has summed up what's "new and fresh" in digital media academic research.

There are many interesting articles in the story, but one stands out more than the others - Crisis Mapping Intelligence Information During the Libyan Civil War: An Exploratory Case Study.

The study was conducted by researchers at Georgetown and the State Department.

Wihbey writes, "This eye-opening paper (from authors who have U.S. government and intelligence affiliations) examines whether or not Twitter users in Libya effectively provided ?tactical military intelligence? that proved crucial to Western intervention and helped enforce a no-fly zone. The answer seems to be ?yes.?

Here?s an abstract of the paper:

?Throughout the Libyan Civil War, Twitter users took the initiative to collect and process data for use in the rebellion against the Qadhafi regime, including map overlays depicting the situation on the ground. These data, in some cases, were processed in a way to make it easily consumable by NATO and coalition forces in their eventual enforcement of a No Fly Zone over Libya in mid-2011. This paper investigates whether the information collected and disseminated by Twitter users constituted tactical military intelligence. Some argue that to take advantage of open source information available through the Internet, organizations like NATO must first tackle the challenge of ?determining how to deal with the huge amount of unstructured data in a useful and/or meaningful way.? On the contrary, this article shows how some crisis maps created during the Libyan Civil War met the minimum requirements to be considered tactical military intelligence.?

Of course, I?m only assuming it?s an interesting article, because it turns out you have to be a Harvard grad or something to read the entire paper.

Kidding...

You have to pay a fee, or have a society membership, or some institutional access in order to view the full research paper.? Pretty much the same thing.??

Granted, Virginia Tech is the Harvard of the Southern U.S.

More at Nieman Journalism Lab.

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The Indian Army has joined Twitter

Saturday, March 2, 2013, 02:48 PM - Twitter, News Stories

The Indian Army has joined Twitter

The Indian Army's Additional Directorate General of Public Information, that's a mouthful, has joined Twitter.

The official account @adgpi

As reported by Hindustan Times, "Sources say that the Army is soon proactively going to make its presence known on social media with an official Facebook page or even a youtube channel in the offing."

The article does make mention of the U.S. military's use of social media, saying the US Army leads the way on social media in terms of armies of the world.

While the Indian Army is only now getting acquainted with social media, the US Army has literally hundreds (if not thousands) of official and unofficial social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and so on.

The first tweet sent out by the Indian Army was yesterday and included a picture of paratroopers of India and Bangladesh preparing for a jump (pictured above).

As of today, the Indian Army has nearly 2,000 followers on Twitter.

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News: "Jedi mind meld" upsets sci-fi fans

Saturday, March 2, 2013, 10:40 AM - News Stories Sci-fail: Genius Obama says he ?can?t do a Jedi mind meld? [video]. Set your phasers to ?facepalm.? While speaking this morning on sequestration, President Obama dropped this little nugget...
(Twitchy)

Syrian Electronic Army?s Twitter hacking campaign racks up another victory. If you want a view into the governments arrayed on either side of Syria?s civil war, the Syrian Electronic Army?s hacking of the Qatar Foundation?s Facebook and Twitter accounts is a good place to start...
(Quartz)

CJP urged to take notice of tribal journalist?s killing. Expressing resentment over the assassination of Malik Mumtaz, a senior journalist from North Waziristan, Khyber Union of Journalists President Arshad Aziz on Thursday urged the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) to take notice.? ?It is astonishing that the chief justice is active on all fronts but seems silent about growing violence against journalists,? the KUJ president said while addressing a protest rally...
(Pakistan Today)

Veteran Pakistani journalist gunned down in Baluchistan. March 1, 2013, New York--Pakistani authorities should investigate today's murder of a journalist in the country's restive Baluchistan province, determine the motive, and apprehend the perpetrators immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.? Unknown gunmen killed Mehmood Jan Afridi while he was headed to a local press club from his home in the city of Kalat, according to The Associated Press and local news reports. News accounts did not immediately report further details of the attack...
(CPJ)

Remembering a World War II veteran and artist. We are learning more about the sudden passing of a local World War II veteran. Captain Ed Reep died Wednesday, just 43 days before he was scheduled to fly to Washington D.C. as part of the next Kern County Honor Flight. At the age of 95, Captain Ed Reep's heart suddenly failed. He was surrounded by his family when he passed, and now his family is surrounded by his art, pieces he created serving in World War II and beyond...
(KGET TV 17)

Author to tell story of Irish Civil War unit in Springfield. A Nashville, Tenn. author will be at the Illinois State Military Museum Saturday to share stores about a Civil War regiment of Irish Americans and the flag they followed into battle...
(The State Journal-Register)

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IDF angered over soldiers' social media posts

Friday, March 1, 2013, 11:54 PM - News Stories

IDF angered over soldiers’ social media posts

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been dealing with their share of social media scandals as social media use increases among the ranks.

Last month, a photograph posted to the Instagram account of 20-year old IDF sniper Mor Ostrovski caused outrage online.? The photo showed a Palestinian boy's head in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle.

In November 2012, the IDF?s own social media division, which live tweeted and blogged its conflict with Hamas, caused a bit of an uproar after its social media chief Lt. Sacha Dratwa posted a picture of himself to Facebook.? The photo showed Dratwa at the beach with his face covered in mud with a caption that read: "Obama Style".

An article this week by BBC News discusses the IDF?s mounting social media problems and recent incidents, including punishments they?ve dished out.

Though the IDF isn?t the only military in the world with its share of problems dealing with social media, because it?s mostly 18-21-year-olds serving in the military, it is a particular challenge, points out Yolande Knell.

According to the article, Israeli military commanders were recently told to stop recruits from uploading videos and pictures "not appropriate to the spirit of the IDF".

The directive comes shortly after two soldiers were sent to military prison for 14 and 21 days for posting a clip of the Harlem Shake to YouTube in February.

Read the full story here.

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Military blogs added to Milblogging (Feb' 13)

Thursday, February 28, 2013, 08:24 PM

More than two dozen military blogs were added to the Milblogging index in the month of February --- many of them spouse blogs, several veterans, and more.? Pay them a visit and tell ?em Milblogging.com sent you.

Military Families for Justice, Military Families for Justice Team, United States, Official Blog for the organization Military Famili...

FraNk The NCO, Bob Helms, United States, Mildly Disgrunted, Mostly Content, Military NCO

Bloggin' Scogin, Becca, United States, My foray into the life of a military wife and the ...

Cautious Crow, Amber Crow, United States, Carefully navigating through life as a veteran, mi...

Semper Familia Life, Suzy Leanos, United States, Living the Marine Corps family life through Latina...

Marrying The Army, MilliGFunk, United States, A strategic marketing and brand professional who's...

The Professional Army Wife, Rachel Tringali, United States, I'm an army (military) spouse working as a PR prof...

The Kidwell's | Our Life as Airmen, Breeanna, United States, Recents: Graduate from University of South Flor...

Red, White, & Marine Wife, Kym, United States, I'm Kym...a Marine Wife, Daughter, and Sister. I'm ...

More Than a Military Spouse, Jessica, United States, My name is Jessica and I am a military spouse. Her...

Military Wife Life, Carrie, United States, Send me (Carrie, owner of MWL) or another veteran ...

Warmemoir, J.E. McCollough, United States, A counterintelligence Marine's recollection of the...

Our Wounded Family, Pauliesgirl77, United States, I've been the wife of a medically retired Army vet...

Yellow Ribbon Diary, Alia, United States, Wife, Mommy, Lover of God. Writing about the thing...

Glimpses of the Military Life, Allison, United States, Thanks for stopping by! My name is Allison. I am a...

Soldier Girl's Thoughts, Not specified, United States, she's simply JUST a: veteran, mom, spouse and mult...

The Air Force Wife, Rachel, United States, My name is Rachel. I am 19 years old and currently...

My Crazy Life as a Navy Wife, Lashon, United States, TIME SURE DOES FLY WHEN YOU FOLLOW THE MAN YOU LOV...

Army Wives Club, Jennifer Ray-Stewart, United States, Army Wives Club brings you resources and informati...

My Life as a Navy Wife, Katie H, United States, Hi ya'll, thanks for stopping by and welcome to my...

Eight Days a Week, Abbie, United States, Hello, my name is Abbie, I'm 22 years old and rece...

Chairman's Corner, Not specified, United States, A category dedicated strictly to the Chairman of t...

Successful Military Wife, Kaye Putnam, United States, A site to empower & educate military spouses to cr...

Fallen Heroes Afghanistan, Not specified, Not Specified, This website is a tribute to all foreign military ...

Soldiers Magazine, Not specified, United States, Soldiers Magazine is produced by the Defense Media...

The Long War Journal, Multiple editors and contributors, United States, The Long War Journal is dedicated to providing ori...

Chronicles of a Navy Wife in Perpetual Motion, Sar Mon, United States, I am a well seasoned military spouse. I started th...

On The Fly, Jessica, United States, I'm a twenty-something Pennsylvania girl who curre...

Feeling bloggy., B, United States, i'm b. my huz is henry. he is so cool.

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News: Manning trial updates - blogs, Twitter

Thursday, February 28, 2013, 04:42 PM - News Stories Bradley Manning military trial updates: live-blogs, who to follow on Twitter, and analysis. Army private Bradley Manning pleaded guilty on Thursday to 10 of the 19 total charges made by the US that he leaked unprecedented amounts of classified material to Wikileaks, the anti-secrecy organization run by Julian Assange...
(Boing Boing)

China says US regularly hacks its military sites. Two Chinese military Web sites received about 144,000 hacking attacks on average a month last year, of which about two-third had originated from the United States.? In a statement published Thursday on China's Ministry of Defense Web site, spokesperson Geng Yansheng said the ministry's site as well as the Web site of China Military Online--which is operated the Chinese army--faced "serious threat from hacking attacks" since their establishment. The number of hacks targeting the two sites also had risen steadily in recent years, he said...
(ZDNet)

New Slaying Highlights Perils Of Journalism In Pakistan's Tribal Areas. The Taliban has dissociated itself; the Pakistan Army has extended its condolences; and government functionaries, politicians, and civil-society representatives have offered condolences as "unidentified" armed men took the life of another journalist in Pakistan's perilous tribal areas on February 27...
(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Press Availability on Syria. SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon again. I just have a very brief statement, then I?m happy to take a few questions. I just got to look outdoors and actually see that it is a beautiful day here in Rome, and I want to again thank our host, the Foreign Minister, and thank Italy for bringing us here today. We?re enormously appreciative and I?m very grateful to them for that, and also to all of the partner nations who came here today. I have to tell you that around that table was a very important, competent, and powerful group of countries ranging through Europe down into the Gulf as well as Turkey and Egypt, and everybody was unanimous in their conclusions...
(U.S. Department of State)

Bradley Manning pleads guilty to being Wikileaks source, denies 'aiding the enemy'. US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning has pleaded guilty on 10 counts involving disclosing information to an unauthorized person, but has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including "aiding the enemy." On Thursday afternoon, military judge Colonel Denise Lind accepted Manning's guilty pleas, while prosecutors said they plan to pursue the 12 contested charges at trial. The guilty pleas cover less serious offenses of misusing classified information and carry a combined maximum sentence of 20 years. If convicted of aiding the enemy, Manning could be imprisoned for life...
(The Verge)

Bradley Manning court papers released after Pentagon bows to pressure. The Pentagon has acceded to pressure from news organisations and human rights groups protesting secrecy surrounding the prosecution of the WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning, releasing 84 previously unpublished rulings and orders into the public domain.? The Pentagon's decision to post on the internet scores of rulings made by the presiding judge, Colonel Denise Lind, and other judges involved in the court martial process, provides the first crack in the army's approach to public information in the trial...
(Guardian)

Book tells story of Alameda's woman family in World War II.? On a July day in 1938, a young couple stepped off the dock at Pier 88 in New York City and boarded the SS Normandie, setting off for what they thought would be a six-week vacation in their native France.? Instead, Alice and Emile Pothron were delayed more than a year and later separated as the Nazis swept across Europe. They then endured nearly two more years of hardship until they met again in Portugal and could return to the United States...
(Contra Costa Times)

Google, Facebook And Twitter Ordered To Delete Photos By UK Law Enforcement. It seems that, once again, the UK is going censorship crazy and not realizing how that only attacts more attention to that which they're trying to censor. This time, it involves some photos that were posted online of one Jon Venables, who at the age of 10, murdered 2-year old James Bulger, in a rather horrifying story. Venables was released from jail in 2001, at the age of 19 (though he has since gone back to prison). Photos of Venables, now 30 years old and apparently using a new identity to avoid his past, appeared online...
(Techdirt)

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AFP Twitter hacked, graphic Syria pics posted

Thursday, February 28, 2013, 04:31 AM - Twitter, News Stories The Twitter account of news service Agence France-Presse (AFP) was hacked on Tuesday.

The Atlantic Wire reports, "Around noon Eastern time, the photographs-only account of news service Agence France-Presse began tweeting images from the conflict in Syria. Except they were not only far below the quality levels of professional photographers, they were graphic images from the war, which the captions depicted as the handiwork of thuggish rebel armies, backed by Western conspirators."

The account @AFPPhoto was suspended by Twitter the same day, but as of yesterday the account is back online and AFP is in control.

AFP tweeted on Wednesday, "Finally! RT @AFP: Here we go, our @AFPphoto account is back up and running with great shot of Pope's farewell today."

The hacker posted graphic images and tweets, which have since been deleted.

The Atlantic Wire managed to capture screenshots of the messages.

Messages ranged from, "#Obama over turns ban against child sodliers while Syria|n rebels continue with the illegal practice" to "#Syria #Obama backed rebels use child to behead prisoners".

There are plenty more.

Read more at The Atlantic Wire (WARNING: GRAPHIC).

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Milestone: USMC reach 2.9MM likes on Facebook

Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 10:43 AM - Facebook

Milestone: USMC reach 2.9 likes on Facebook

It was over two months ago when I last wrote about the United States Marine Corps on Facebook.

At the time, their Facebook page had just passed 2,840,000 likes.

Well, here's another milestone in the military social media community...

On Monday February 25, the United States Marine Corps passed 2.9 million likes on Facebook.

According to PageData, in the last 7 days the page added nearly 7,000 likes and already has over 1,000 new likes today.

Where does the United States Marine Corps appear on the leaderboards?

As of today, they are ranked 1480th by Total Likes (Overall).

They?re ranked 1st in Total Likes among Government Organization pages.

They?re the 9th Most Talked about page among Government Organization pages.

The page is managed by Marine Corps Recruiting Command and can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/marinecorps

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Army hosting Twitter chat on sequestration

Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 10:22 AM - Twitter The U.S. Army is hosting a Twitter chat from 11am to 12:30pm ET today to discuss the impact of sequestration on Army readiness.

Via Army Live:

There will be three 30-minute sessions so that Army subject matters experts can provide the most up-to-date information to Twitter users participating in the chat:

The first session from 11 ? 11:30 a.m. will answer general questions about Civilian furloughs

The second session from 11:30 a.m. ? 12 p.m. will focus on how the furloughs may affect Army Family services and programs

The third session from 12 ? 12:30 p.m. will focus on questions about the sequestration?s impact to Soldiers and training
To join in on the conversation, go to https://twitter.com/search and search for the hashtag #ArmyChat.

More details on the Twitter chat here.

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Berger makes case for terrorists using Twitter

Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 05:53 PM - Twitter Any reader of this blog knows where I stand on the use of Twitter by terrorists.

Not a big fan I?d say?

However, JM Berger, a terrorism expert who writes for IntelWire, and who is often cited as an authority on the topic in the media, offers up some arguments for allowing the likes of the terrorist group Al-shabaab to remain on Twitter and other social media sites.

According to Berger, within the terrorism studies community, there are two common objections to ?disruptive approaches?.

Berger writes:

?The first objection is that knocking terrorists offline "doesn't work", because when you eliminate one account, the terrorists just open up a new account under a different name - which is exactly what al-Shabab did after a little more than a week. And then, the theory goes, you're back to square one. It's a high-tech game of whack-a-mole.

The second objection is that forcing terrorists off the internet destroys a valuable source of intelligence, because government, academic and private sector researchers rely on these online operations for information about what distant groups are doing and who supports them.?
It?s certainly an interesting piece and worth the read.? Berger also provides a lot of detail and analysis.

To read the full story, go here.

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