Civil Society – Page 131 – Public Intelligence Blog

Whither The Internet In An Age Of Cyber-Espionage?

As everyone should know by now, not quite two weeks ago the latest nugget from Edward Snowden via Glenn Greenwald and co-authors was revealed, and was that the NSA and its UK counterpart the GSHQ “have successfully cracked much of the online encryption relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their personal data, online transactions and emails.” The measures used to accomplish this include covertly controlling the setting of encryption standards, more powerful brute force code-cracking, and inserting backdoors into commercial encryption software.

This is very bad, and has led more than one observer to declare that the internet as we know it is dead as a secure medium of communication. That of course leads to the question of what is to be done about it.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Internet Balkanization, Cyber-Crime, Cyber-Espionage”

2013/09/16

Chuck Spinney: Bill Polk Primer on Syria & Chemical Weapons

03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Iran, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Extraterrestial Intelligence, Government, Military, Officers Call, Strategy

My friend Bill Polk, a well-known historian with extensive experience in the Middle East and Central Asia and author of many books on these areas, has written a backgrounder on how to make sense out of the Syrian chemical weapons issue. He has given me permission to distribute it. Herewith is his most interesting primer on the Syrian chemical weapons issue.

Chuck Spinney

Reflections on the Syrian Chemical Weapons Issue and Beyond

William R. Polk

September 15, 2013

1.The Variety of Weapons and Their characteristics
2 A Short History of Chemical Weapons
3 The Russian Intervention
4 Why the Syrians Have Accepted the Russian Proposal
5. The Prospects for Ridding The Area of Weapons of Mass Destruction
6 The Possibility of Ending the Civil War
7 Who Are the Insurgents and What do they Want?
8 Predictable Results of a Collapse of the Syrian State

Full essay below the line.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Bill Polk Primer on Syria & Chemical Weapons”

2013/09/16

Owl: Winning at Sports Much More Important in USA Than Winning at Academic Achievement

Civil Society, Idiocy

Winning at Sports Much More Important in USA Than Winning at Academic Achievement

As pointed out by financial writer and radio show host Richard Martin in commenting on this map showing the highest-paid public employees, “When a country places more importance on sports than on than on academic achievement, its decline is inevitable.” Indeed!

2013/09/132013/09/13

Open Mind: CIA PSYOP Against US Public – Labeling Truth-Seekers as “Conspiracy Theorists?”

Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Deeds of War, Peace Intelligence

CIA Responsible For Labeling Honest Research Into Finding the Truth As “Conspiracy Theories”

Boy does this article by Foster Gamble fit on this blogsite. For more than 40 years anyone attempting to find out the truth about anything that the “controllers” wanted to keep secret, was labeled a “conspiracy theorist”. Of course, then, propaganda was used to discredit any “conspiracy theorist” so no one would take them seriously. Now, the CIA admits what many have known for a long time. There is also a good little video near the bottom of this article where Foster and Kimberly offer suggestions about how to talk to others about “conspiracy theories”.Tom

News Flash — CIA Invents “CONSPIRACY THEORY” Wed, 11 Sep 2013 By Foster Gamble

It is a little-known though well-documented fact that the origin of the campaign to ridicule research into conspiracies was initiated by the CIA in 1967 to undermine the credibility of those who questioned the official claims of the Warren Commission regarding the so-called facts of the Kennedy assassination. Given the challenge we and others feel when speaking out about conspiracies, I think Lance deHaven-Smith is right when, in his new book Conspiracy Theory, he suggests “the CIA’s [covert and illegal] campaign to popularize the term ‘conspiracy theory’ and make conspiracy belief a target of ridicule and hostility must be credited…with being one of the most successful propaganda initiatives of all time…”

Of course not all proclaimed conspiracies are true. There are competent conspiracy analysts and incompetent ones, just as there are skilled and shoddy reporters, historians or practitioners of any discipline.

Continue reading “Open Mind: CIA PSYOP Against US Public – Labeling Truth-Seekers as “Conspiracy Theorists?””

2013/09/12

SchwartzReport: Can You Spell STUPID?

Civil Society, Commerce, Idiocy

This is today's Theocratic Rightist story; it is so bizarre that The Daily Show would find it too far out. A little background before you read this piece: Alex Jones has two million daily listeners, and over 300 million people have visited his YouTube channel. His program is ranked as one of the top 100 radio shows in the U.S..

When people like Alex Jones have this kind of influence one can see how the Dark Ages were created as the Roman Empire fell.

I think it is worth noting that the average IQ in the U.S. is 98, and that 15 per cent of the population is 85 or less — 71-84 is considered “Borderline Intellectual Functioning”; 70 is considered “Retarded.” It may be that the world is just too complex for many millions of citizens, and that is why hucksters like Jones, Beck, and Limbaugh hold such sway. An absolute answer, however buffoonish, is at least simple to understand.

Click through to listen to the actual audio.

Alex Jones: Syria Diplomacy a Plot to Extinguish Humans so Obama and Elitists Can be Cyborgs
DAVID EDWARDS – The Raw Story

2013/09/092013/09/09

Owl: Dark Days in America — Mid-November?

01 Poverty, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Iran, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Media, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

“There are very dark storm clouds gathering around the country and North America as a whole. Things are about to get dark, very dark in just a few short weeks. In just over two months, on November 13-14, 2013, the lights are about to go out. Will the lights come back on? It depends on who you ask. Given the past behavior of those in power, it would behoove all of us to prepare for the fact that we could be living for an extended time with no electricity…The working scenario that has emerged is that World War III is on the horizon. Syria was to be the flash point. However, with American and international sentiment running so high against American involvement in the Syrian conflict, Obama needs a Plan B in order to get America into war, because it does not appear that Congress is going to give him the authorization that he needs to force our way in Syria culminating in a military stand off between the Russians and the Chinese and the United States. Subsequently, if Obama fails to obtain Congressional support to attack Syria, he could very well turn his attention to the take down of the power grid and he could still achieve his goals in under two months.

Continue reading “Owl: Dark Days in America — Mid-November?”

2013/09/09

Berto Jongman: 40 Years Later, Agent Orange Still Deforming Children

03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Family, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Lessons, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

London surgeons help ‘children of Agent Orange'

Includes 4 Minute Video – Compelling

The Vietnam War ended nearly 40 years ago, but the casualties continue as birth defects plague the country.

There are claims that thousands of children continue to be born with horrific facial deformities due to the 20 million gallons of Agent Orange chemical sprayed by the United States.

The Vietnamese call the disfigured youngsters ‘the children of Agent Orange'.

Da Nang in central Vietnam is thought to have the highest level of congenital deformity in the world.

Inside Out's Mark Jordan joins a team of top London plastic surgeons on their unpaid mission to help these children through the charity Facing the World.

Inside Out is broadcast on Monday, 9 September at 19:30 BST on BBC One London and nationwide on the iPlayer for seven days thereafter.