Peace Intelligence – Page 12 – Public Intelligence Blog

editor spinney time — Chuck Spinney Recommends

We were looking for a nice, peaceful place near Jerusalem'

Rachel Shabi, Guardian, 24 Sept 2010

If the construction of settlements in the West Bank is meant to be on hold, why are Israeli buyers being offered new properties on Palestinian land at knock-down prices?

The housing project currently under construction in Almon offers enticingly priced, spacious family homes with a garden and a view. The surrounding neighbourhood, also known as Anatot, sits on a ridge overlooking the Judean hills, near Jerusalem, a blaze of cultivated greenery in the parched landscape. Residents have a relaxed air, and newcomers who have recently relocated from Jerusalem wish they'd made the move years ago. If I were a prospective house-buyer, I'd be charmed. But I would not be looking here – because Almon is in the occupied West Bank.

Phi Beta Iota: Worth a full read. This explains both the economics of the illegal settlements, and the massive financial resources that the Israeli government offers in favor of illegal settlements, at the same time that it lies to a complacent US Government that knows better, but prefers to sacrifice its diplomatic integrity for the pretense of progress.

2010/09/24

NIGHTWATCH Extract: Kyrgyzstan Hybrid Governance

Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Law Enforcement, Military, Peace Intelligence

Kyrgyzstan- Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states will help Kyrgyzstan stabilize the situation in the country's southern region, a source in the Russian Federal Security Service said 23 September after a regional SCO anti-terrorism council meeting, Interfax reported.

The council decided that law-enforcement agencies of member states will assist Kyrgyzstan maintain security by organizing information exchanges regarding regional militant activities, the source said. The source also said the council elected Chinese Deputy Minister for Public Security Meng Hongwei to chair the anti-terrorism council for one year. The council is set to meet next in Usbekistan in March 2011. Representatives from Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attended the meeting.

NIGHTWATCH Comment: The Moscow-centered Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) declined to undertake a more intrusive intervention mission. The Beijing-led SCO mission is primarily an intelligence exchange, but potentially affords China unprecedented access to information about central Asian security issues. The SCO will accrue positive publicity for its limited mission, upstaging the CSTO.

The Chinese-led organization looks cooperative. The Russian-led organization looks timid. This in fact confuses different missions and burdens, but the public perception is likely to favor the Chinese-led initiative in the Russian sphere of influence.

Kyrgyzstan-Russia: Issues between Russia and Kyrgyzstan over Russia's military bases in Kyrgyzstan have been addressed and an agreement will be signed, probably on the 24

NIGHTWATCH Comment: The Russians have four military facilities or bases in Kyrgyzstan, including Kant air base. Under the new agreement they will be consolidated in a single command structure and all will be governed by the new agreement, instead of four separate agreements. Russia's lease will probably be good for the next four or five decades.

NIGHTWATCH KGS Home

Phi Beta Iota: Reference: Global Governance 2025 completely missed both the Hybrid and the Open models of governance that are displacing institutionalized ineptitude now characteristic of most governments, all unable to micro-manage complexity or achieve resilience. The above report suggests that Kyryzstan could be an early node where multinational information-sharing and sense-making is more influential, more effective, and more profitable, than standing military bases, but the two can co-exist. See also Worth a Look: Future of Business is Information Sharing. To appreciate such nuances one needs a strategic analytic modeland the inclination to actually understand the eight tribes of intelligence, “true costs,” and all other aspect of holistic reality.

2010/09/23

Worth a Look: Geospatial Revolution Project Episode 1 = Absolutely Awesome

Earth Intelligence, Peace Intelligence, Worth A Look

We are excited to announce that the first episode of the Geospatial Revolution Project is now available. And, all we can say is that it is absolutely awesome. Geospatial technologies are truly revolutionary, and this episode reminds us that what we do as GIS/GEOINT professionals has (and will continue to) changed the world. In case you are not familiar with the Geospatial Revolution Project it is an integrated public media and outreach initiative about the world of digital mapping and how it is changing the way we think, behave, and interact created by Penn State Public Broadcasting. Check out our exclusive podcast with Stephanie Ayanian, senior producer, who shares her insights about this special project. And, of course, we are featuring Episode 1 in this post. Be sure to check it out!

Tip of the Hat to Matt Langan at LinkedIn.

2010/09/212010/09/21

Engineering4Change

01 Agriculture, 01 Poverty, 02 Infectious Disease, 03 Economy, 05 Energy, 07 Health, 12 Water, Gift Intelligence, International Aid, Peace Intelligence, Technologies

website link

Engineering for Change is an online environment bringing together engineers and other problem solvers with NGOs and local communities to address basic quality of life issues such as access to clean water, electricity and proper sanitation. Also see their Twitter feed

2010/09/212010/09/21

Journal: NYPD CTD Under Dave Cohen Lauded for Brains

09 Terrorism, Analysis, Law Enforcement, Methods & Process, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

The Terror Translators

By ALAN FEUER

The New York Times, Published: September 17, 2010

EXTRACT:

Mr. Rascoff said the working relationship between the civilian and sworn counterterrorism officials in New York was better than the parallel relationships in the Federal Bureau of Investigation because federal agents, unlike the local detectives, were often as highly educated as the analysts they work with.

“F.B.I. agents sometimes look at their analysts and say, ‘So, basically, we do the same job, but I carry a gun and kick down doors while you sit at your desk all day,’ ” said Mr. Rascoff, who has been working in intelligence since 2003, when he was a consultant to L. Paul Bremer, the special envoy to Iraq.

In the C.I.A., Mr. Rascoff added, the relationship between operatives and analysts is often the chilly one between “an author of cables and a reader of cables.”

In the Police Department, he said, there is an “educational, experiential but not intellectual” gulf that can, paradoxically, bring the sides together.

“While it’s sometimes hard to harness those conflicting energies,” Mr. Rascoff said, “when it succeeds, it succeeds wildly.”

READ EVERY WORD!

Tip of the Hat to Niels Groeneveld at LinkedIn.

2010/09/122010/09/13

Y Combinator Hacker News Community’s Model for Info-Sharing & Potential for Collective Intelligence

03 Economy, 04 Education, 11 Society, Academia, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Hacking, Law Enforcement, Media, Military, Mobile, Non-Governmental, Peace Intelligence, Technologies

“Hacker News” has a welcome page and guidelines page offering an overview of what the organizers expect from those planning on posting comments and why it's good overall for the community. I (Jason Liszkiewicz) was impressed with this. Hacker News has a solid number of participants and provides a simple and mature format for exploring and contributing thoughtful feedback, insight and resources.

It has a jobs link (mainly for engineers and programmers) and the “Ask Hacker News” link which enables the community to share information and reply to what is shared. Such a model (deemed an “experiment”) that provides mature and thoughtful information-sharing is something we need more of. Communities inter-linking with communities (or at least over-lapping) to spill over each others insights can be invaluable and potentially priceless.

Example: Ask HN: What do you perceive as worth spending money on?

This simple and useful model is something I hoped would emerge + converge from the SMS/text messaging developers at ChaCha.com (humans online responding to text messaged questions) or somewhere else. Converging multi-community info-sharing online, offline, and through the mobile world on a global scale is an exciting possibility.

The next level to all of this exists in the form of ideas or fragmented applications but it seems not beyond that, yet.

Email earthintelnet|at|gmail.com or post something at this new forum to discuss these ideas. Or, provide some mature and thoughtful feedback at the Hacker News community.

2010/09/102010/09/13

Video: Visions of the Gamepocalypse, Possible Futures, Waking Up, Thinking, and Creating a Better World

04 Education, Augmented Reality, Corporations, Cultural Intelligence, Geospatial, Peace Intelligence, Technologies

See the "Long Short" (short video) on gaming and Jesse Schell's presentation

Jesse Schell: Visions of the Gamepocalypse

Hosted by The Long Now Foundation

This is a provoking and entertaining presentation.
After the short video called “Pixels” prior to the presentation, Jesse Schell starts off with what if life becomes, not Orwellian, but Huxleyan (Brave New World) where pleasure achieved through technology grips the whole lives of citizens. Imagine sensors attached to commercial products from toothbrush to television (and electric tattoos linked to Facebook) collecting data + wi-fi connections uploading behavior data to the Web. People can earn “points” like in a gaming environment depending on their behavior and habits and these points can be used for coupons, deals, and other corporate profit-pursuing conceptions.

Soon the presentation gets into prediction and if the more one practices at predicting the future, the better one can become. Other parts of the presentation:

The upward trend of mobile gaming application sales versus console gaming systems, and how micro-transactions of money (Zynga, Playdom, Playfish, Bigpoint) in connection with social networking will be like peanut butter + chocolate.
Dream states (REM sleep) as un-tapped territory that most likely advertisers will reach first.
Virtual money such as “Farm cash,” and World of Warcraft gold was mentioned to attract product attention.
A stat was shown of commercial ads on television rising from 13% in 1950 to 36% today.
“Battlefield of the 21st century” as how you spend your day and carving up those percentages to target your behaviors

Continue reading “Video: Visions of the Gamepocalypse, Possible Futures, Waking Up, Thinking, and Creating a Better World”

Category: Peace Intelligence

Journal: The Economics of West Bank Settlements