October 2009 – Page 17 – Public Intelligence Blog

First Rate Deep Current Insider View Cannot Be Denied

October 16, 2009

Charles S. Faddis

I am quite certain this author has been “black-balled” behind his back–Blair and Panetta, if they even have a clue this book exists–are being told reassuringly that the author is a disgruntled former employee, something of a “cowboy,” and not at all representative of the “smoothly-running” clandestine service. Wrong. This is the real deal and I love it, for I live to speak truth to power whether power wants to hear it or not.

Perhaps the coolest thing about this book, something no one else has done, is the elegant interweaving of Office of Strategic Services (OSS) success stories from the past, with the failures of the CIA that the author sets forth for the public.

Continue reading “Review: Beyond Repair: The Decline and Fall of the CIA”

2009/10/16

Journal: True Cost of Cheap Meat

True Cost

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Deforestation and the true cost of Europe's cheap meat

Cheap meat has become a way of life in much of Europe, but the full price is being paid across Latin America as vast soya plantations and their attendant chemicals lead to poisonings and violence. From the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment Network

Phi Beta Iota: “True Cost” of anything cannot be established without a holistic strategic analytic framework such as is shown below. No one does this. Until they do, no political policy and budget will be sensible or sustainable.

2009/10/162011/10/22

Review: Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines

5 Star, Consciousness & Social IQ, Culture, Research, Economics, Environment (Problems), Environment (Solutions), Water, Energy, Oil, Scarcity

Excellent Primer, Narrowly Focused, Provokes Reflection

October 16, 2009

Richard Heinberg

I was tempted to limit this book to four stars because it fails to properly recognize, among many others, Buckminster Fuller, e.g. his Critical Path and it provides only passing reference to such foundation works as Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update and Human Scale, but place it at five stars for two reasons: 1) excessive negativity by other reviewers; and 2) a superb primer for the public ready to get past Al Gore's hysteria, the venom surrounding The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World, and connect in a very easy to read and understanding elementary counterpoint to The Resilient Earth: Science, Global Warming and the Fate of Humanity.

Another important reason for attending to this book and respecting its author, apart from him many prior works including the globally recognized The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies, is the endorsement of two of the top ten (in our view) in this arena, Lester Brown (Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (Substantially Revised)), and Bill McKibben (Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future).

Continue reading “Review: Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines”

2009/10/162009/10/16

Journal: Israel, USS Liberty, & Palestine

06 Genocide, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice

Golda vs. Goldstone: A Cultural Evolution of Getting Away With Murder

The date when the United States became Israel's unquestioning benefactor can the fixed with precision: June 8, 1967, the fourth day of the six-day 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

It was on this day that Israel's air and naval forces attacked the USS Liberty, killing 34 US Navy sailors, in what is still the worst loss of naval personnel due to hostile fire since the end of WWII. It was on this day that the Johnson Administration aborted a rescue mission in the process of being mounted by aircraft of the US Navy's 6th Fleet. With the cooperation of the US Congress, the Johnson Administration put into motion a series of responses and non-responses that cumulatively resulted a complete whitewash any serious investigation into the question of whether not Israel deliberately chose to attack a neutral US naval vessel sailing in international waters, 14 miles off the Sinai Peninsula. To date, the Liberty incident is the only major naval disaster that has not precipitated an in-depth investigation by the US Congress.

Continue reading “Journal: Israel, USS Liberty, & Palestine”

2009/10/162009/10/16

Journal: Afghanistan, Warning, Peak Oil, & Strategy

08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Military

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EXCLUSIVE: U.S. ignored warnings before deadly Afghan attack…Three intelligence reports dismissed days before eight U.S. soldiers killed

Bill Gertz, October 16, 2009

Army Maj. T.G. Taylor, a spokesman for the Army's Task Force Mountain Warrior, told The Times that the three reports did not stand out among hundreds of others and that the intelligence was deemed to be not specific and uncorroborated.

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The Economist October 17, 2009 Cover Story

Obama's War: Why the Afghanistan war deserves more resources, commitment and political will

The coalition, however, lacks three essential components of a successful strategy. It needs a credible, legitimate government to work with, the resources to do the job and the belief that America’s president is behind this war.

Many Afghans find it bizarre that the West should devote so much money to Mr Karzai, yet be unable to hold him to account over something so basic as stuffing ballot boxes on an industrial scale. For most, however, the local and provincial leaders matter more than the distant central government.

Continue reading “Journal: Afghanistan, Warning, Peak Oil, & Strategy”

2009/10/16

CENTCOM Week in Review Ending 15 Oct 09

Uncategorized

Hot Topics

AA: COMMENT: Regional instability and our options —Shaukat Qadir 10/09/09

AF: Weapons failed US troops during Afghan firefight 10/12/09

AF: French killed after Italy bribed Taliban: report 10/15/09

IQ: Iraq releases new death toll figure 10/14/09

IR: Iran investigating prominent opposition cleric 10/13/09

IR: In Iran, 2 get death sentences for postelection uprising 10/10/09

IR: Iran calls on foreign forces to leave Iraq 10/13/09

PK: Al-Qaeda's guerrilla chief lays out strategy 10/14/09

PK: ‘Feared' Uzbek militant in Pakistan 10/09/09

YE: Yemen ‘close to crushing rebels' 10/14/09

Below the fold: Instability, Special Operations, Security Forces, Foreign Affairs, Crime Continue reading “CENTCOM Week in Review Ending 15 Oct 09”

2009/10/152009/10/16

Worth a Look: Hewlett-Packard (HP)

Worth A Look

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Why Hewlett-Packard Must Articulate Its Enterprise Strategy

The challenge right now for HP is that the whole is not yet greater than the sum of its parts. For all of the operational-excellence strides Mark Hurd and his team have made, HP has yet to reveal an equally compelling externally facing strategy to the world: what is HP's core strength? What does HP do best?

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HP transforms from printers to diverse tech business

The Palo Alto company, which had $118 billion in sales last year, now draws its biggest profit from a unit that provides tech services to other companies and public agencies. But in the PC segment, Bradley “has been able to do some incredible things with a division that most people thought, before he came on board, couldn't be fixed,” said veteran tech analyst Rob Enderle. “He appears to be on a fast track” among company executives, Enderle added. Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hurd is considering a plan to fold the printing business into Bradley's division.

Continue reading “Worth a Look: Hewlett-Packard (HP)”

Full Story Online Deforestation and the true cost of Europe's cheap meat

Full Story Online

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. ignored warnings before deadly Afghan attack…Three intelligence reports dismissed days before eight U.S. soldiers killed

Why Hewlett-Packard Must Articulate Its Enterprise Strategy

Full Story Online HP transforms from printers to diverse tech business

Full Story Online

Deforestation and the true cost of Europe's cheap meat

Full Story Online

HP transforms from printers to diverse tech business