Category: Cultural Intelligence

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Robert Steele: Japan Connects with the Truth

05 Energy, 08 Wild Cards, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Impotency
Robert David STEELE Vivas

The truth about what happened in Japan will not be known for some time. Remarkable, however, is the below admission of two key attributes for successful governance:  first, share all information broadly and quickly; and second, do not believe ignorant over-confidence (if not outright lies) told by “experts” from both the public and private sector.  The Japanese government may not be practicing complete openness, for example, with respect to the radioactive contamination of the Tokyo suburbs, but this is a step in the right direction.  “The truth at any cost lowers all other costs.”

Japan’s government failed responding to earthquake, tsunami: PM

Japan's prime minister acknowledged Saturday the government failed in its response to last year's earthquake and tsunami, being too slow in relaying key information and believing too much in “a myth of safety” about nuclear power.

“We can no longer make the excuse that what was unpredictable and outside our imagination has happened,” Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said. “Crisis management requires us to imagine what may be outside our imagination.”

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Patrick Meier: Trails of Digital Trustworthness

Advanced Cyber/IO, Collective Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence
Patrick Meier

Trails of Trustworthiness in Real-Time Streams

Real-time information channels like Twitter, Facebook and Google have created cascades of information that are becoming increasingly challenging to navigate. “Smart-filters” alone are not the solution since they won’t necessarily help us determine the quality and trustworthiness of the information we receive. I’ve been studying this challenge ever since the idea behind SwiftRiver first emerged several years ago now.

I was thus thrilled to come across a short paper on “Trails of Trustworthiness in Real-Time Streams” which describes a start-up project that aims to provide users with a “system that can maintain trails of trustworthiness propagated through real-time information channels,” which will “enable its educated users to evaluate its provenance, its credibility and the independence of the multiple sources that may provide this information.” The authors, Panagiotis Metaxas and Eni Mustafaraj, kindly cite my paper on “Information Forensics” and also reference SwiftRiver in their conclusion.

LAST PARAGRAPH BROUGHT FORWARD:  A copy of the paper is available here (PDF). I hope to meet the authors at the Berkman Center’s “Truth in Digital Media Symposium” and highly recommend the wiki they’ve put together with additional resources. I’ve added the majority of my research on verification of crowdsourced information to that wiki, such as my 20-page study on “Information Forensics: Five Case Studies on How to Verify Crowdsourced Information from Social Media.”

Phi Beta Iota:  The concept of trust reputations was discussed at Hackers in Silicon Valley in 1994.  Computers deliver information to the lowest common denominator.  Humans — human brains and human trust — remain the essence of humanity.

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DefDog: Allah’s Divisions – Culturally Stupid Americans

Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Impotency, Military
DefDog

We few, we happy few, who actually get it.  The opposite of the SOF motto that you cannot mass produce special forces, is that you WILL mass produce culturally-stupid conventional forces.  This is on the leadership — straight-leg Army flags have no clue and don't want to have a clue.

Cultural Cluelessness Threatens U.S. Commando Strategy

David Axe

WIRED, 27 February 2012

In one sense, the U.S.-led coalition has itself to blame for the riots and killings that have raged across Afghanistan in the wake of last week’s accidental burning of the Koran by American forces. Too many U.S. troops habitually disrespect their Afghan trainees, according to some of the elite forces who head up those training sessions. And those small, tactical acts of cultural stupidity can lead to a strategic moment, like the one we’re having now.

The ongoing disrespect can fuel smoldering resentment among Afghans that is compounded by the Afghans’ underlying discomfort with the decade-long foreign occupation of their country. The mishandling of the Koran was like a match on that explosive tinder.

According to members of a U.S. Special Forces “A Team” based in Laghman province, American trainers there inadvertently mistreat the Afghans with rough touching, mock insults and and a dearth of positive reinforcement. During my recent visit to Langhman, one Special Forces officer hurried to intervene when some Army National Guard soldiers wandered into an Afghan cemetery — another big no-no. “I’ve seen too many guys disrespecting their Afghans,” one Special Forces weapons sergeant says.

The accidental burning of the Koran represents was even more thoughtless … and reflects an almost willful ignorance of Afghan sensitivities. “How after 11 years here is there no system in place for properly disposing of religious [documents]?” asks one sergeant attached to a Special Forces unit based in Kabul. “It’s just fucking stupid.”

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NIGHTWATCH: Syria is About Sunni-Shi’ite Divide

Cultural Intelligence, IO Impotency

Syria-Qatar: Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani said he thinks Qatar should do whatever is necessary to support the opposition in Syria, even if it means giving them weapons. Al-Thani made the remarks while visiting Norway to meet with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

Comment: Al Thani's remarks match those of the Saudi Foreign Minister. They reinforce that the hypothesis that the fight in Syria is between Sunnis and Shiites more than anything else. It has nothing to do with western notions of democracy.

See Also:

NIGHTWATCH KGS Home

NIGHTWATCH on Syria at Phi Beta Iota

Search: map of sunni and shiite muslim groups

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Richard Wright: Bound for Failure

Cultural Intelligence, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), Intelligence (government), IO Impotency, Officers Call
Richard Wright

Bound for Failure

In the brief introduction to a review of the book, Very Special Intelligence, Dolphin noted that the successful tactical doctrine of using combined intelligence and combat troops in tightly organized teams was being seriously diluted by the U.S. IC (read CIA, DIA, NGA and NSA) who were moving to fold the intelligence elements involved into the bureaucratic mainstream and to automate the intelligence processes involved.

As I noted in an earlier article (The Triumph of Tactical Intelligence) U.S. Forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations (COIN) in both Iraq and Afghanistan have developed an innovative tactical concept, which Dolphin noted was based on research and development work done at the U. S. Naval Post Graduate School by a team under General Dell Daily. The essence of this concept is the High-value Target Teams (HTT) which integrates special operations forces fighters with military and civilian intelligence analysts into tightly organized teams in which immediate tactical intelligence is essential to identifying so called high value targets (usually individuals) and guiding war-fighters to their locations. This apparently was not a case of intelligence support being provided by folks sitting far from the action phoning in information, but of intelligence support being very much part of the operation itself with the war fighters. At a recent hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Special Operations Forces, Michael D. Lumpkin, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense said, “USSOCOM [U.S. Special Operations Command] and the CIA currently coordinate, share, exchange liaison officers and operate side by side in the conduct of DOD overt and clandestine operations and CIA’s covert operations.”

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Jim Fetzer: 9/11 Planes or No Planes Review

07 Other Atrocities, Cultural Intelligence
Dr. Jim Fetzer

Jim Fetzer, a former Marine Corps officer, is the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth and McKnight Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

9/11: Planes/No Planes and “Video Fakery”

Read full article with images and videos.

Phi Beta Iota:  This piece adds to our knowledge.  This is the first time we have learned that the four alleged crashes were not investigated by NTSB. This is also the best and most concise overview of the major elements of  the 9/11 narrative that are demonstrably false and/or severely distorted.  Our bottom line: a sufficiency of evidence exists to demand a complete re-investigation of the matter, this time in the service of the public and with full public deliberation.

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Venessa Miemis: Critical Need for Self-Care When World-Building

Collective Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence
Venessa Miemis

The Critical Need for Self-Care When World Building

emergent by design, 21 February 2012

There’s a lot going on right now.

I’m in the process of federating with a large number of people across the globe to form a new kind of living systems organization, and lay down infrastructures that we intend will lead us towards a desired socioeconomic paradigm and human operation system. We’re pioneering practices in cultural design, systems intelligence, and coordinated creative action at scale.

It’s really, really hard.

It would seem that if one wants to engage in real transformation in the world, a shift has to take place, which is expressed through culture, but begins within.

Here’s an experiential exercise you can try, to simulate how I see it:

First, take your index finger, and point it away from you, and out into the world.

Click on Image to Enlarge

This is what all of us are familiar with doing, in some way. It’s identifying all the problems out there that need fixing. And there are many, many things, aren’t there? If only people would listen, things would finally change.

This is life from the bleachers.

Now, slowly redirect your index finger to point towards yourself, and bring it in until it’s touching the center of your chest. Perhaps you say out loud, “I AM.”

This is life on the field.

This is what world builders are doing.

It can be seen happening across every corner of the planet, with millions of people beginning to play. We’re witnessing it through uprisings, Occupy, and communities everywhere becoming self-aware.

As people awaken to what we really want and what we care about, then compare that against our fragile and crumbling systems that no longer serve these values or intentions, we begin to make choices. We decide that we are not interested in propping up old paradigms that are not life-enhancing and abundance producing.

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