Here are the views of a former high ranking NSA official. They remind me of Richard Clarke.
Just because authority at this point only intrudes to a small degree does not mean it cannot go much further. The information will be there to work with. And there are thousands of laws.
I am always concerned I may seem alarmist about a trend but, really I'm just reporting the data, the emerging information. President Obama's comment today that this network of agencies is made up of our neighbors is patently disingenuous.
Click through to see the actual powerpoint slides that document this piece.
Béatrice Giblin is a geographer and Professor of Geopolitics. She is teaching at Paris 8 University (former experimental center of Vincennes). Professor Giblin is the founder of the French Institute of Geopolitics (2002) that she headed for ten years. Moreover, she is Head of the geographical and geopolitical magazine Hérodote, founded by Yves Lacoste whom she succeeded in 2006. Professor Giblin was the first to talk about internal geopolitics in 1984 in an article dealing with power rivalries in the coalfield located in the Nord – Pas-de-Calais, the North region of France. Incidentally, the topic of her thesis was to analyze this region as a political territory, which was a a first in the French regional studies.
This interview is about the French book “Les conflits dans le monde: Approche géopolitique” that was edited by Professor Giblin.
The “My New Book” Blog seeks to provide a multidisciplinary angle on the countries and the world we live in. The interviews address the book’s key themes, questions and findings. Moreover, the book is put in perspective by linking it to the author’s background and existing literature. Overall, the underlying question is: why should we consider reading this new book?
Below each interview, you find a form that enables you to ask the author more questions, or share your views on the topics that the book covers.
Phi Beta Iota: This is highly debatable, especially when you separate the Taliban and other legitimate indigenous insurgents from Al Qaeda, something the US Government was incapable of doing until a year ago.
Jerome C. Glenn co-founded and directs the Millennium Project, a leading global participatory think tank supported by international organizations, governments, corporations, and NGOs, which produces the internationally recognized State of the Future annual reports for the past 14 years.
A review of the trends of the 28 variables used in The Millennium Project’s global State of the Future Index provides a score card on humanity’s performance in addressing the most important challenges. (See Box 1.)
An international Delphi panel selected over a hundred indicators of progress or regress for the 15 Global Challenges in Chapter 1. Variables were then chosen that had at least 20 years of reliable historical data. The resulting 28 variables were submitted to an international panel selected by The Millennium Project Nodes to forecast the best and worst value for each variable in 10 years. The results were integrated into the State of the Future Index’s 10-year projection. Chapter 2 presents a summary of this research. SOFIs can also be created for countries or sectors.
Where are we winning?
· Access to water
· Literacy rate
· Life expectancy at birth
· Poverty $1.25 a day
· Infant mortality
· Wars
· HIVprevalence
· Internetusers
· GDP/capita
· Women in parliaments
· School enrollment, secondary
· Energy efficiency
· Population growth
· Undernourishment prevalence
· Nuclear proliferation
Where are we losing?
· Total debt
· Unemployment
· Income inequality
· Ecological footprint / biocapacity ratio
· GHG emissions
· Terrorist attacks
· Voter turnout
Where there is no significant change or change is not clear?
· Corruption
· Freedom rights
· Electricity from renewables
· Forest lands
· R&D expenditures
· Physicians per capita
From the 9/11 attacks to waterboarding to drone strikes, relations between the United States and the Middle East seem caught in a downward spiral. And all too often, the Central Intelligence Agency has made the situation worse. But this crisis was not a historical inevitability—far from it.
NB: If John Kerry had an Open Source Agency, he would be vastly better informed and much more effective.
Shifting U.S. Demographics Demand New Cross-Racial Coalitions by Sam Fulwood IIIObama won by appealing to a broad swath of voters—the young, ethnically diverse, and non-affluent—who typically aren’t a part of the traditional political calculus. But he failed to garner much support among older, white Americans. If our political fights pit one group, one generation, or one race against all the multicultural “others,” then we all will surely lose. Read More »