Collaboration Zones – Page 1481 – Public Intelligence Blog

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Obama Fails in Middle East

Robert Dreyfuss on 11/06/2009

Chuck Spinney Sends…..

The announcement by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he will not run for reelection is the exclamation point on the utter collapse of the Obama adminstration's Middle East policy. Launched to great expectations — the appointment of George Mitchell, Obama's Cairo declaration that the plight of the Palestinians is intolerable — it is now in complete disarray. It is, without doubt, the first major defeat for Obama's hope-and-change foreign policy.

Here's how it unraveled.

Continue reading “Journal: Obama-Clinton Implode Middle East”

2009/11/052009/11/06

Journal: Independents Rising

Collective Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence

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INDEPENDENCE PARTY BREAKS RECORDS;

142,817 VOTES FOR BLOOMBERG ON COLUMN C

DELIVERS MARGIN TO CITY'S FIRST INDEPENDENT MAYOR

Unofficial returns released by the Board of Elections put the IP total on Column “C” at 142,817 votes, nearly 26% of Bloomberg’s total and 13% of all votes cast. This means that 1 in 4 Bloomberg voters chose to vote on the Independence Party line.

The vote for the mayor on the Independence Party line was an increase of 91% over its total four years ago, when it drew nearly 75,000 votes on its crucial Column

Continue reading “Journal: Independents Rising”

2009/11/052009/11/05

Journal: Out of Touch with Reality I

03 Economy, 04 Education, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, Methods & Process, Mobile

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Lifestyle Hackers

Jim Routh and Gary McGraw examine why twenty-somethings skateboard right past security controls, and what it means for employers (i.e. you!)

November 02, 2009

The insider threat, the bane of computer security and a topic of worried conversation among CSOs, is undergoing significant change. Over the years, the majority of insider threats have carried out attacks in order to line their pockets, punish their colleagues, spy for the enemy or wreak havoc from within. Today's insider threats may
have something much less insidious in mind—multitasking and social networking to get their jobs done.

Continue reading “Journal: Out of Touch with Reality I”

2009/11/052009/11/05

Journal: Out of Touch with Reality II

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Immigration, 09 Justice, 10 Security, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Methods & Process

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The Elephant in the Room: A war of ideas within Islam

Backward views hold sway in much of the Muslim world. And yet there is hope.

By Rick Santorum Thu, Nov. 5, 2009

The students, one man and two women, wore Western-style clothes and spoke English with little or no accent. They disputed my description of Islam as it's practiced in the Middle East, maintaining that al-Qaeda's version of Islam in no way reflects the Islam that is practiced around the world.

So I asked them a question: Should apostates – Muslims who convert to another religion – be subject to execution?

One of the women quickly said no. She insisted that she was free to leave Islam if she wanted to, and that she knew other people who had done so without a problem – in the United States.

I said I wasn't talking about her and others' freedom of religion in this country. What if they lived in a Muslim-majority country?

Silence. Eventually, the young man blurted out, “That's different.”

Continue reading “Journal: Out of Touch with Reality II”

2009/11/052009/11/05

Journal: Out of Touch with Reality III

02 Diplomacy, 05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Government, Peace Intelligence

Chuck Spinney Sends… America's diplomatic recipe for winning the hearts and minds of “furriners” in the 21st Century:

Mix – Blind unreasoning fear with the
Domestic politics of privatizing embassy protection and the
Domestic politics of huge construction contracts

into neat grand-strategic soufflé, then bake it in the domestic political-economic oven of heated by the coals of the MICC's Long War Against Terrorism and serve hot to a world that hungers for American values.

For those readers who question the political relevance of such a tasty dish, I offer the following op-ed by Simon Tisdall of the Guardian

Continue reading “Journal: Out of Touch with Reality III”

2009/11/04

Worth A Look: Harold Wilensky

Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Ethics, Methods & Process

This interview is part of the Institute's “Conversations with History” series, and uses Internet technology to share with the public Berkeley's distinction as a global forum for ideas.

In this landmark work, the culmination of thirty years of systematic, comprehensive comparison of nineteen rich democracies, Wilensky answers two basic questions: What is distinctly modern about modern societies? In what ways are they becoming alike, and how do variations in types of political economy shape system performance? The book is being hailed as “a monumental work,” “an instant classic,” “a truly amazing accomplishment.”

Background … influence of parents … impact of the Depression … importance of education … impact of World War II … interest in understanding society … education
Working with Labor Unions … the labor movement … first research jobs
Being a Social Scientist … graduate school at Chicago … skills … temperament … defining the problem so that it can be disconfirmed
Research Methods … importance of interdisciplinary study … follow the problem … importance of comparative studies … qualitative versus quantitative research
Comparing Rich Democracies: Theory … defining modernity and social change … convergence theory … mass society theory
Comparing Rich Democracies: Examples … political economy structures … tax revolts … mayhem index
Conclusion … advice for students

2009/11/04

Journal: One Man – One Bullet on the Table

09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime, Ethics, Law Enforcement, Military, Peace Intelligence

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U.S. Needs Hit Squads, ‘Manhunting Agency’: Spec Ops Report

Noah Shachtman November 3, 2009

CIA director Leon Panetta got into hot water with Congress, after he revealed an agency program to hunt down and kill terrorists. A recent report from the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations University argues that the CIA didn’t go far enough (.pdf). Instead, it suggests the American government should set up something like a “National Manhunting Agency” to go after jihadists, drug dealers, pirates and other enemies of the state. . . . . . . .

Such a group wouldn’t just go after terrorists. “Human networks are behind narcotics trafficking, arms proliferation, piracy, hiding war criminals from authorities, human trafficking, or other smuggling activities,” Crawford writes. “Human networks also lie at the core of national governments, offering an increased potential to nonlethally influence state actors with precision. A robust manhunting capability would allow the United States to interdict these human networks.”

Continue reading “Journal: One Man – One Bullet on the Table”

Obama Fails in Middle East

Robert Dreyfuss on 11/06/2009

Full Story Online U.S. Needs Hit Squads, ‘Manhunting Agency’: Spec Ops Report

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U.S. Needs Hit Squads, ‘Manhunting Agency’: Spec Ops Report