Collaboration Zones – Page 952 – Public Intelligence Blog

The final days of empire give ample employment and power to the feckless, the insane and the idiotic. These politicians and court propagandists, hired to be the public faces on the sinking ship, mask the real work of the crew, which is systematically robbing the passengers as the vessel goes down. The mandarins of power stand in the wheelhouse barking ridiculous orders and seeing how fast they can gun the engines. They fight like children over the ship’s wheel as the vessel heads full speed into a giant ice field. They wander the decks giving pompous speeches. They shout that the SS America is the greatest ship ever built. They insist that it has the most advanced technology and embodies the highest virtues. And then, with abrupt and unexpected fury, down we will go into the frigid waters.

The last days of empire are carnivals of folly. We are in the midst of our own, plunging forward as our leaders court willful economic and environmental self-destruction. Sumer and Rome went down like this. So did the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. Men and women of stunning mediocrity and depravity led the monarchies of Europe and Russia on the eve of World War I. And America has, in its own decline, offered up its share of weaklings, dolts and morons to steer it to destruction. A nation that was still rooted in reality would never glorify charlatans such as Sen. Ted Cruz, House Speaker John Boehner and former Speaker Newt Gingrich as they pollute the airwaves. If we had any idea what was really happening to us we would have turned in fury against Barack Obama, whose signature legacy will be utter capitulation to the demands of Wall Street, the fossil fuel industry, the military-industrial complex and the security and surveillance state. We would have rallied behind those few, such as Ralph Nader, who denounced a monetary system based on gambling and the endless printing of money and condemned the willful wrecking of the ecosystem. We would have mutinied. We would have turned the ship back.

Continue reading “Chris Hedges: The Folly of Empire and Obama's Legacy”

2013/10/15

Jean Lievens: Are Cities the New Global Power Node?

The End of the Nation-State?

By PARAG KHANNA

New York Times, October 12, 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 had brought about a landscape where governments had given up on real reforms and had subcontracted 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.”

Read rest of article.

2013/10/15

Berto Jongman: US-Saudi Arabia-Kuwait Backing Al Qaeda in Syria, Undermining Afghanistan-Taliban Peace Endeavor

Cultural Intelligence, Peace Intelligence

US, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait backing Al-Qaeda in Syria

LAHORE – Sunni Supreme Council and Tanzim Ahle Sunnat chairman Javaid Ibrahim Paracha has claimed that the US, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are supporting Al-Qaeda in Syria and scores of Afghan Hindus have disguised as Taliban after growing beards.

In an interview with Nawa-i-Waqt’s Sunday magazine, Paracha, who has a pivotal role in govt-Taliban peace talks, said, “It was necessary that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, before leaving for the US, denies he doesn’t know me.”

He said that talks for the release of former premier Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son are underway with Taliban. “I have facilitated video-link contact between Mr. Gilani and his son who is in Taliban’s custody,” he added.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: US-Saudi Arabia-Kuwait Backing Al Qaeda in Syria, Undermining Afghanistan-Taliban Peace Endeavor”

2013/10/15

Smart Planet: Fukushima Now a Global Disaster

03 Environmental Degradation, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Earth Intelligence

Fukushima nuclear disaster now global environmental problem

The Japanese government has asked for help — but is the plea two years too late?

Despite previous assurances, the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster continues to contaminate the world’s oceans — and the Japanese government is finally asking for international help.

The March 2011 power plant meltdown was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, and after frequent attempts to stem contamination — including the use of ice rings and the construction of a second processing plant to filter radioactive particles from contaminated water — the Japanese government has finally asked for global aid to stem radioactive leaks entering the Pacific Ocean, which is endangering the world’s food supply and ecosystems.

At a conference on Sunday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said:

“We are wide open to receive the most advanced knowledge from overseas to contain the problem. My country needs your knowledge and expertise.”

Despite Abe’s comments to the International Olympic Committee last month that the leaks were “under control,” untold thousands of tons of radioactive liquid have entered the world’s oceans, with plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) reporting a new leak this week caused by human error, and a spill of 80,000 gallons in August.

Via: IBM Times

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