And the conversation at P2P Foundation, Tip of the Hat to Sepp Hasslberger.
$1bn fraud at Kabul Bank upsets UK pull-out from AF
03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Transnational Crime, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Government
Note buried within the report about classification of documents……..
$1bn fraud at Kabul Bank puts UK's Afghan pull-out in peril
IMF and Britain's foreign aid department both withhold money for reconstruction
By Jonathan Owen and Brian Brady
Sunday, 22 May 2011
EXTRACT:
The Department for International Development (DfID) confirmed last night that it had followed the lead of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in withholding contributions to bankroll hundreds of “nation-building” projects in Afghanistan.
The move, to “protect taxpayers' money”, came as the full extent of the scandal at Kabul Bank – described as the biggest fraud in modern times – became clear. A secret US government report into the debacle “indicates that insiders at Kabul Bank used fraudulent loans to misappropriate $850m (£525m), representing 94 per cent of outstanding loans”.
. . . . . . .
And it notes that, in addition to oversights by Deloitte, which failed to spot and report warning signs of fraud, a team from PwC didn't identify any fraud at Kabul Bank and gave it “a clean bill of health” – something
that “may have acted to delay understanding of the gravity of Kabul Bank's true financial condition both among the examination staff and the international community”, according to the document.
Say What?: Iran Helped Plan 9/11, Train Attackers
05 Iran, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency
Former Iranian Intelligence Officer Says Iran Helped Plan 9/11 Attacks
Julie Kent
Cleveland Leader, 05/20/2011
A former Iranian intelligence official who defected has claimed that Iran helped to plot the September 11 attacks, according to court papers filed on Thursday in a victims' lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court against the Tehran government.
Phi Beta Iota: Prior information, yes. Over 9 countries had prior information and warned the US via official channels prior to 9/11, but Dick Cheney had his information from the source (Pakistan) and used it to plan the counter-terrorism exercise that allowed him to let it happen as planned. To suggest that Iran, a Shi'ite country at absolute war with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (Sunni countries, one with the nuclear bomb thanks to Zbigniew Brzezinski), was behind the 9/11 attacks in any way is to raise the spectre of another 935 documented lies being formulated within the US Government to justify a direct attack on Iran. Isn't one three trillion dollar “liar's war” enough?
Iran claims to break CIA spy ring, arrests 30
Intelligence (government)Iran claims to break CIA spy ring, arrests 30
Iran's Intelligence Ministry says it dismantled ‘a complex espionage and sabotage network' and uncovered the identities of 42 operatives [CIA employee case officers] in various countries.
EXTRACT:
The statement alleged that the network was run by CIA agents via U.S. embassies in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Malaysia and sought to “gather information from scientific, research and academic centers … especially in terms of nuclear energy, aerospace and defense industries and biotechnology” as well as on oil and gas pipelines, telecommunications and electricity networks and border controls.
Phi Beta Iota: On the one hand, it would appear that CIA is finally learning how to do global targeting. On the other, it is clear that CIA is still living immunity out of official installations, rather than “cover” and certainly not non-official cover. In our view, the entire US Intelligence Community leadership needs to be flushed, and a fresh start made on the basis of an Open Source Agency (OSA) that addresses 80% of all needs by all those not now served by classified intelligence, *and* validates classified requirements as being both valid and uncollectible by open sources–which the Dutch have been doing since the 1990's.
Reference: 1996 Testimony to Moynihan Commisson
Defense Science Board: Need Another Intel Czar
IO Impotency
Unbelievable–either these guys have no clue what happened in the past, or they're all going senile and repeating history. This is 1992 all over again–remember the LIC Intelligence Working Group that never was?
DefenseAlert
DOD Advisory Panel Calls For Creation Of National Intel Manager For COIN Ops
Posted on InsideDefense.com: May 20, 2011
A new “national intelligence manager” for counterinsurgency operations is needed to improve U.S. military and civilian efforts in population centers, according to a Defense Science Board task force.
In a just-released report, the task force calls on defense and intelligence officials to lessen the current focus on technical intelligence collection from airborne sensors and bolster human intelligence operations as well as improve the exploitation of open-source information.
The report — prepared by the Task Force on Defense Intelligence-Counterinsurgency (COIN) Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Operations — also warns that sensor-packed unmanned aerial vehicles and other airborne ISR assets are generating a “deluge” of data, precipitating a crisis in processing, exploitation and dissemination.
Phi Beta Iota: World-class foolishness. Doing the wrong thing righter. It does not work for counter-terrorism or force protection or anything else for the simple reason that the entire US intelligence system is in grid-lock. Not managed, not smart, not affordable, not processed, the list is long. Until the US Government restores its integrity and intelligence–to include not just Whole of Government integrity & intelligence, but eight-tribes and M4IS2 integrity and intelligence, this is just one more fiefdom, one more chain of useless over-paid over-promoted bureaucrats with zero value. 1992 deja vu indeed.
Immense Possibilities: TV Show & Web Community
Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, IO Sense-Making, Methods & Process, Policies, Real Time, Threats
Hi All: This is well worth paying attention to, checking out and even sampling. Do see the great endorsements below. Learn more about my old friend and colleague, Jeff Golden, the creator of this remarkable new program. Immense Possibilities is also interactive. As you'll see from the website, Jeff is looking for our input and collaboration. Congratulations to Jeff for creating a new public forum for what's working and for those making a true difference in these challenging times and are offering solutions of great benefit, who so often don¹t make it into mainstream news. May this show become part of the “:new main stream”.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.
Cheers, John
From: Jeff Golden
Dear Friends:
Suppose you found a public television program that brought you stunningly creative people who
¨ Craft brilliant projects that strengthen their communities for hard times to come
¨ Unite people across political and philosophical divides
¨ Connect Millenials, Gen X- and Y-ers, Baby Boomers and Elders in compelling ways
And suppose it was right there on your computer or television every Tuesday evening. Would that be worth your time?
Tuesday evening, May 24, 7:30 pm: Frances Moore Lappé
http://www.immensepossibilities.org
In the right-hand corner you'll see a box to enter your email address.
If you do that, you¹ll get a message about once a week on what IP is doing. We will not, repeat not, pass your address onto anyone else for any reason. Every message we send to you will have an easy option to unsubscribe.
Hope you'll give IP a try.
IMMENSE POSSIBILITIES is a weekly public television program, followed by an interactive webcast, that pull together the work of Jeff Golden and other social inventors who share a clear set of beliefs, values and goals. If these align with your own, and you share our passion for boosting possibilities that can forge a healthier future than the one that seems likely if we don¹t change and innovate, let's work together.
All the best,
Jeff
Arab Spring, Turkish Summer?
07 Other Atrocities, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Multinational, Officers Call, Policies
As someone who spent the better part of 2008 and 2009 in Turkey, I find the attached analysis a very useful summary of Turkish developments. To be sure, I am biased. Turkey is one of my very favorite countries, I love the people, the culture, and food, and I have been fascinated by its ongoing political evolution.
Mr. Heydarian's cogent comparison of Turkey's evolution to the so-called Arab Spring* provides much food for thought, and I find it eyeopening.
* I prefer the term Arab Revolt to Arab Spring, because the forces of counterrevolution seem to be taking over, and like its predecessor in WWI, it might not lead anywhere.
Chuck Spinney
Saintes Maries de la Mer
France
A Decisive Shift
By RICHARD JAVAD HEYDARIAN, Counterpunch
May 20 – 22, 2011
Turkey is emerging as an attractive model for the new generation of democrats in the Middle East and North Africa. Turkey, as a bastion of Islamic moderation, economic dynamism, military might, and foreign policy creativity, has inspired many who envision a prosperous and free Arab world.
Phi Beta Iota: The USA is part of the autocratic corrupt system against which the Arabs are revolting. It is neither a leader nor a model–it is an obstacle for the simple reason that the US Government lacks intelligence and integrity, and therefore has nothing to offer in the way of non-zero strategic analytics acceptable to Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and everyone else. The US Government is morally and intellectually bankrupt.
