Parag Khanna: The End of the Nation-State?

Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Peace Intelligence
Parag Khanna
Parag Khanna

The End of the Nation-State?

New York Times, 14 October 2013

Singapore — Every five years, the United States National Intelligence Council, which advises the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, publishes a report forecasting the long-term implications of global trends. Earlier this year it released its latest report, “Alternative Worlds,” which included scenarios for how the world would look a generation from now.

One scenario, “Nonstate World,” imagined a planet in which urbanization, technology and capital accumulation have brought about a landscape where governments give up on real reforms and subcontract many responsibilities to outside parties, which then set up enclaves operating under their own laws.

The imagined date for the report’s scenarios is 2030, but at least for “Nonstate World,” it might as well be 2010: though most of us might not realize it, “nonstate world” describes much of how global society already operates. This isn’t to say that states have disappeared, or will. But they are becoming just one form of governance among many.

A quick scan across the world reveals that where growth and innovation have been most successful, a hybrid public-private, domestic-foreign nexus lies beneath the miracle. These aren’t states; they’re “para-states” — or, in one common parlance, “special economic zones.”

Across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, hundreds of such zones have sprung up in recent decades. In 1980, Shenzhen became China’s first; now they blanket China, which has become the world’s second largest economy.

The Arab world has more than 300 of them, though more than half are concentrated in one city: Dubai. Beginning with Jebel Ali Free Zone, which is today one of the world’s largest and most efficient ports, and now encompasses finance, media, education, health care and logistics, Dubai is as much a dense set of internationally regulated commercial hubs as it is the most populous emirate of a sovereign Arab federation.

This complex layering of territorial, legal and commercial authority goes hand in hand with the second great political trend of the age: devolution.

Continue reading “Parag Khanna: The End of the Nation-State?”

Berto Jongman: Bits, Bytes, & Stuff

Cultural Intelligence
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

Analyzing Breaking Events (Stratfor)

Phi Beta Iota: Anyone who buys the Boston Bombing cover story may be eligible for employment at Stratfor.

Broadening Participation in Peace Processes – From “Why” to “How”

NSA Script Advised Officials To Inject 9/11 As Talking Point To Justify Mass Surveillance

Sex, China, Mistress Culture

Syria: What Chance to Stop the Slaughter?

The Snowden Leaks and the Public (NY Review of Books)

ReThink911’s “New York Times Billboard” Is Here

07 Other Atrocities, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of War
Click on Image to Enlarge
Click on Image to Enlarge

Installed on the afternoon of October 31, ReThink911’s 29-foot by 13-foot billboard will stand tall in the shadow of the New York Times Building throughout the month of November, intriguing 100,000 passersby each day and calling upon the Times to cover this vitally important issue.

911ReThink Home Page

The Evidence

Building 7
Twin Towers

Penguin: Our Oath to the Constitution — and Our Failure to Honor that Oath…

Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence
Who, Me?
Who, Me?

The old guard, with a touch of guilt and and what remains of integrity, is trying to call a halt to the rape of the Army. The neo-con dead-enders and Obamites feel their wings getting clipped and are enlisting the Barnos to sharpen their beaks.

U.S. war decisions rightfully belong to elected civilian leaders, not the military

By David W. Barno,September 12, 2013

David W. Barno, a retired Army lieutenant general, is a senior adviser and senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. He commanded U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005.

A war the Pentagon doesn’t want

By Robert H. Scales,September 05, 2013

Robert H. Scales, a retired Army major general, is a former commandant of the U.S. Army War College.

Continue reading “Penguin: Our Oath to the Constitution — and Our Failure to Honor that Oath…”

Owl: Nuclear Crime & Punishment in Japan

03 Environmental Degradation, 05 Energy, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence
Who?  Who?
Who? Who?

Effects – Death and Horrific Sickness – of First Waves of the Radioactive Tsunami in Japan

World Network For Saving Children From Radiation, Oct. 26, 2013: […] A case like this is just a tip of iceburg […] IKKO is a Buddhist monk. His life is ending. He is only 34 years old and lives in Hiwada town [near Koriyama] in Fukushima. He had a heart attack two days ago, and his doctor announced brain death. He is now connected to life-support. My sister in Fukushima knows him through her student […] She and IKKO got engaged and were planning to get married next year. She has just lost her father from cancer last April. He had worked at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant […] My sister was present when IKKO had a heartattack and is in disbelief of what is taking place since he was fine before this […] There have been many cases of sickness and death among young generations in Fukushima although it is not reported by media…Mother from Tokyo, Japan during Q & A at Cinema Forum Fukushima, Published July 3, 2013 (at 2:20 in): In Japan, it’s really a total blackout of media, even though there are lots and lots of people who have been developing symptoms…I was outside on the 15th of March in Tokyo, and then about 1 month later, I had fever of like 103ºF for 8 days. And this [baby] boy, he was totally healthy, now he’s OK, but at the time he had 101ºF fever on and off for 13 times in the duration of 3 months. He had rash all over and he was really, really sick […] he became real skinny and he stopped growing for 3 or 4 months. It is really happening. I have 2 nodules in my thyroid, and my boy has countless number of minor nodules.”

More:

Tokyo Mother: “Total media blackout” in Japan of lots and lots of people developing symptoms related to Fukushima disaster (VIDEO) — “Many cases of sickness and death among young generations” not reported

See Also:

Yukuza Apocalypse in Japan

“The coordination of the multibillion dollar Fukushima decontamination operation relies on Japan’s organized crime, the Yakusa, which is actively involved in the recruitment of “specialized” personnel for dangerous tasks. “The complexity of Fukushima contracts and the shortage of workers have played into the hands of the yakuza, Japan’s organized crime syndicates, which have run labor rackets for generations.” (Reuters, October 25, 2013) The Yakuza labor practices at Fukushima are based on a corrupt system of subcontracting, which does not favor the hiring of competent specialized personnel. It creates an environment of fraud and incompetence, which in the case of Fukushima could have devastating consequences. The subcontracting with organized crime syndicates is a means for major corporations involved in the clean-up to significantly reduce their labor costs. This role of Japanese organized  crime also pertains to the removal of the fuel rods from Reactor no. 4. As documented in several GR articles, this undertaking –if mishandled– by careless workers under the lax supervision of corrupt subcontractors (linked to the Yakusa) creates an environment which could potentially lead to a massive radioactive fallout:

An operation with potentially “apocalyptic” consequences is expected to begin in a little over two weeks from now – “as early as November 8″ – at Fukushima’s damaged and sinking Reactor 4, when plant operator TEPCO will attempt to remove over 1300 spent fuel rods holding the radiation equivalent of 14,000 Hiroshima bombs from a spent fuel storage tank perched on the reactor’s upper floor. While the Reactor 4 building itself did not suffer a meltdown, it did suffer a hydrogen explosion, is now tipping and sinking and has zero ability to withstand another seismic event. A recent Reuters report documents in detail the role of Japan’s Yakuza and its insidious relationship to both TEPCO as well as agencies of the Japanese government including the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.  Nearly 50 gangs with 1,050 members operate in Fukushima prefecture dominated by three major syndicates – Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai and Inagawa-kai, police say.

Ministries, the companies involved in the decontamination and decommissioning work, and police have set up a task force to eradicate organized crime from the nuclear clean-up project. Police investigators say they cannot crack down on the gang members they track without receiving a complaint. They also rely on major contractors for information. In a rare prosecution involving a yakuza executive, Yoshinori Arai, a boss in a gang affiliated with the Sumiyoshi-kai, was convicted of labor law violations. Arai admitted pocketing around $60,000 over two years by skimming a third of wages paid to workers in the disaster zone. In March a judge gave him an eight-month suspended sentence because Arai said he had resigned from the gang and regretted his actions. Arai was convicted of supplying workers to a site managed by Obayashi, one of Japan’s leading contractors, in Date, a town northwest of the Fukushima plant. Date was in the path of the most concentrated plume of radiation after the disaster.  A police official with knowledge of the investigation said Arai’s case was just “the tip of the iceberg” in terms of organized crime involvement in the clean-up.”

More:
Fukushima Fraud and Corruption: Japanese Organized Crime Involved in Recruitment of “Specialized Personnel

Marcus Aurelius: US Effectiveness in Providing Security and Emergency Relief to Diplomatic Facilities

Peace Intelligence
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

FYI.  Includes Benghazi.

PDF (149 Pages): (U) Responding to Diplomatic Security Needs & Crises

EXTRACTS:

As a result of several gaps in reporting by the DOS and modifications to the Department’s reporting criteria, the researcher was unable to obtain the total number of attacks that targeted U.S. missions between 1979 and 2012.

. . . . . . .

This thesis detailed the general security environment within Tehran, Islamabad, Beirut, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Jeddah, Damascus, Sana’a, and Benghazi at the time the U.S. diplomatic missions located in those cities were attacked. Particularly relevant to this thesis were the details that made it possible to assess the receiving nation’s capability and willingness to protect the U.S. mission in their country when it was attacked; factors that this thesis has revealed to be key to the outcome of an attack being significantly more positive. Regarding the U.S. Government’s response to attacks on its diplomatic missions, the researcher noted three themes of particular concern: (1) inadequate existing DOS physical security standards, (2) inadequate funding in the DOS budget, and (3) inadequate consideration of site selection for diplomatic missions.

Winslow Wheeler: US Military is NOT the Best in the World…

Cultural Intelligence, Peace Intelligence
Winslow Wheeler
Winslow Wheeler

As Congress bumbles on with 2014 budget limits and appropriations, the narrative of American armed forces as “the best in the world” continues as the de rigueur and foppish test of patriotism at House Armed Services Committee hearings. Being what passes for “pro defense” requires blindness, and lots of money, in the current political system we endure.

In a second article on the less than first rate performance of the US military and the high cost/lesser performance of some of its most vaunted equipment, author Roger Thompson addresses the the training and hardware of the US submarine force. Congress is blind to the problems, but others are not. Find this article at http://www.pogo.org/our-work/straus-military-reform-project/weapons/2013/take-her-deep-reforming-the-us-silent-service.html.

Second article? Find the first, on pilot training and aircraft at http://www.pogo.org/our-work/straus-military-reform-project/military-reform/2013/reforming-americas-overhyped-airpower.html.

Continue reading “Winslow Wheeler: US Military is NOT the Best in the World…”

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