US President Barack Obama is using executive orders and recess appointments to wield power since Congress is deadlocked. His latest executive order set sanctions against Iran, Syria and those help them use technology for human rights abuses. “National sovereignty is never a licence to slaughter your people,” said Obama, naming Syria and Iran, including Iran’s elite military forces and the head of Syria’s intelligence, “and those who abet them, for using technologies to monitor, target and track its citizens for violence.” He said technology should be used to “empower citizens, not to repress them.”
Read more on the BBC and about concerns of Obama’s use of executive power on the New York Times