Government – Page 595 – Public Intelligence Blog

2013/05/182013/05/18

Neal Rauhauser: Syria, Regional War, The Only Red Line That Matters + Syria Meta-RECAP

02 China, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, DoD, Ethics, Government, IO Deeds of Peace, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

The Only Red Line That Matters

Conclusion:

Here are what I hope are a fairly complete laundry list of the issues:

NATO member Greece has collapsed, triggering regional banking meltdown concerns
Banks of Cyprus collapsed, Russian offshore banking haven taken out by Greek troubles
Russian ally Assad’s Syria is failing, loss of Tartus would exclude them from the Med
Assad regime is the only Iran friendly outpost in the area
Syrian revolt is funded in part by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, other Sunni majority regimes
KSA & Qatar funds come /w Salafist radicalization built into the deal
NATO members Greece & Turkey are at odds over Cyprus partition
Syrian instability is spilling into Iraq, fueling Sunni/Shia violence, some refugees
Syrian instability is spilling into U.S. ally Jordan, many refugees
Syrian instability is spilling into NATO member Turkey, many refugees
Israel is concerned over weapons transport to Hezbollah in Lebanon

The Syrian civil war has been metastasizing into all of its immediate neighbors – Iraq, Turkey, and Lebanon have all seen violence precipitated by this festering conflict. Regional powers Iran and Russia have connections to the failing Assad regime and have taken indirect steps to protect the status quo. Regional Salafist funders Saudi Arabia and Qatar are funneling support and pushing ideology on Sunni Syrian rebels. I do not envy Israeli policy makers and the menu of unpleasant options that reality has provided them.

Russia has drawn a red line of their own – no NATO intervention in Syria. They’ve backed it up with a naval presence and the transfer of advance anti-aircraft systems to the Assad regime. The Syrian civil war is a multifaceted, multipolar regional issue and there are no soundbite sized prescriptions that will end it.

Read full post with maps.

Continue reading “Neal Rauhauser: Syria, Regional War, The Only Red Line That Matters + Syria Meta-RECAP”

2013/05/182013/05/18

Steve Arnold: Government IT Professionals Not Ready for Big Data + Meta-RECAP

Government, IO Impotency

Government IT Professionals Not Ready for Big Data

Posted: 10 May 2013 05:29 AM PDT

It is not a surprise that 97 percent of state and local IT professional expect their data to grow by more than 50 percent over the next two years. However, more than 75 percent of them are only somewhat or not very familiar with the term big data. These findings are found in a recent report by MeriTalk and GCN did a nice write up on the implications of the study in, “Is Big Data Big Trouble for State, Local Governments?”

A survey of 150 state and local government CIOs and IT managers taken in November and December 2012 comprise the respondents in “The State and Local Big Data Gap.”

The article lists more of the statistics gleaned from the study:

“Seventy-nine percent of responding agencies said it will be at least three years before they are able to take full advantage of big data, even though they see it improving overall efficiency (57 percent); increasing the speed and accuracy of the decision-making process (54 percent); and providing a greater understanding of citizens’ needs (37 percent). And although 79 percent said they were just somewhat or not very familiar with the term, they do report having the kind of problems that big data techniques are intended to solve.”

Are state and local governments able to tap the alleged power of big data? Maybe not yet? That is certainly the conclusions that the numbers speak to.

Megan Feil, May 18, 2013

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search

2013/05/182013/05/18

NIGHTWATCH: Syria-Russia Update

06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, Ethics, Government, IO Deeds of Peace, Military

Syria-Russia: Update. This week, the New York Times reported that Russia is delivering not only the S-300 advanced air defense missile systems to Syria, but also Yakhont “ship killer” missiles, which would make it a lot more painful for any foreign navies trying to intervene in Syria or provide supplies to the rebels by sea

In 2007, the two countries signed a contract for 72 Yakhont missiles which are supersonic and have a range of about 200 miles. Some missiles were delivered in 2011 but the Russians have not said how many remain to be provided. They are among the most deadly anti-ship missiles in the world.

Comment: Details about the S-300 system delivery remain undisclosed, including whether Russians will install and operate it. A member of the Russian parliament confirmed the Russians consider the Yakhont delivery a part of a longstanding weapons contract. The effect of these deliveries is to deter a UN resolution approving creation of a no-fly zone in Syria, as occurred in Libya which evolved into a NATO air combat campaign with limited ground intervention.

Russia: Russian navy ships from the Pacific Fleet entered the Mediterranean Sea for the first time in decades this week. The task group includes the destroyer Admiral Panteleyev, two amphibious warfare ships Peresvet and Admiral Nevelskoi, as well as a tanker and a tugboat.

Continue reading “NIGHTWATCH: Syria-Russia Update”

2013/05/172013/05/17

Dolphin: Six Americans Killed as Taliban Targets NATO

08 Wild Cards, Commerce, Ethics, Government, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

‘Six Americans' killed in suicide bomb in Afghanistan as Taliban target NATO workers

Muslim militant group, Hizb-e-Islami, claimed responsibility for attack
U.S. Defense Secretary confirmed two of the dead are US soldiers
Nationality of four civilian contractors not yet officially announced
Powerful explosion rattled buildings on the other side of Kabul
Identity of dead Americans has not yet been released

By Anna Edwards

MailOnline, : 01:40 EST, 16 May 2013

Read full article with video and more photographs.

Continue reading “Dolphin: Six Americans Killed as Taliban Targets NATO”

2013/05/172013/05/17

DefDog: Russian Fleet Enters Mediterranean, Parks at Cyprus

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, Ethics, Government, IO Deeds of Peace, Military, Officers Call

Ho ho ho….

Russian Pacific Fleet Warships Enter Mediterranean For First Time In Decades, To Park In Cyprus

Zero Hedge, 16 May 2013

Earlier we reported that the US has now officially landed a Marine force in Israel as well as an assault ship, in a visit that the US Navy promptly assured “is not associated with, nor a reaction to, any world events.” It seems we were not the only ones who read this justification somewhat skeptically: so did Russia.

And in a historic event, the Russian Pacific fleet, for the first time in decades, crossed the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean, direction Cyprus' port of Limasol (hi Cyprus – Russia will be arriving shortly) in what is now the loudest implied warning to the US and Israel amassing military units across Syria's border that Russia will not stand idly by as Syria is used by the Israeli “Defense” Forces for target practice.

Russian Amphibious Ship Admiral Nevelskoi - Click on Image to Enlarge — Russian Amphibious Ship Admiral Nevelskoi – Click on Image to Enlarge

“The task force has successfully passed through the Suez Channel and entered the Mediterranean. It is the first time in decades that Pacific Fleet warships enter this region,” Capt. First Rank Roman Martov said. This is what is also known as dropping hints, loud and clear.

Admiral Panteleyev destroyer - Click on Image to Enlarge — Admiral Panteleyev destroyer – Click on Image to Enlarge

The group, including the destroyer Admiral Panteleyev, the amphibious warfare ships Peresvet and Admiral Nevelskoi, the tanker Pechenga and the salvage/rescue tug Fotiy Krylov left the port of Vladivostok on March 19 to join Russia’s Mediterranean task force.

The task force currently includes the large anti-submarine ship Severomorsk, the frigate Yaroslav Mudry, the salvage/rescue tugs Altai and SB-921 and the tanker Lena from the Northern and Baltic Fleets, as well as the Ropucha-II Class landing ship Azov from the Black Sea Fleet. The task force may be enlarged to include nuclear submarines, Navy Commander Admiral Viktor Chirkov said last Sunday.

Shore leave for a whole lot of submarines just a few hundred kilometers from Syria? Surely. From Rian.

The Defense Ministry said in April Russia has begun setting up a naval task force in the Mediterranean, sending several warships from the Pacific Fleet to the region. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in March a permanent naval task force in the Mediterranean was needed to defend Russia’s interests in the region.

A senior Defense Ministry official said the Mediterranean task force's command and control agencies will be based either in Novorossiysk, Russia, or in Sevastopol, Ukraine.

Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, head of the parliamentary defense committee, previously told RIA Novosti that the Mediterranean task force should be comprised of 10 warships and support vessels as part of several tactical groups tasked with attack, antisubmarine warfare and minesweeping.

The Soviet Union maintained its 5th Mediterranean Squadron from 1967 until 1992. It was formed to counter the US Navy's 6th Fleet during the Cold War, and consisted of 30-50 warships and auxiliary vessels

It appears that the squadron is being reincarnated and quite rapidly at that.

It also appears that the two key naval forces in the Mediterranean are finally starting to position themselves for what may soon be a face off.

Hopefully Europe's “anti-manipulation” task force can spook enough majors to push the price of Brent much lower before the moment such an escalation becomes reality.

2013/05/17

Berto Jongman: Afghanistan For Real: This Is What Winning Looks Like — Article, Full Length Movie Online, and Book

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Media, Military, Peace Intelligence

This Is What Winning Looks Like – Full Length

VICE News

NEWS

This Is What Winning Looks Like

My Afghanistan War Diary

By Ben Anderson

I didn’t plan on spending six years covering the war in Afghanistan. I went there in 2007 to make a film about the vicious fighting between undermanned, underequipped British forces and the Taliban in Helmand, Afghanistan’s most violent province. But I became obsessed with what I witnessed there—how different it was from the conflict’s portrayal in the media and in official government statements.

. . . . . . .

In February 2013, on his last day at the helm of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John R. Allen described what he thought the war’s legacy will be: ‘‘Afghan forces defending Afghan people and enabling the government of this country to serve its citizens. This is victory, this is what winning looks like, and we should not shrink from using these words.’’

The US and British forces are preparing to leave Afghanistan for good (officially, by the end of 2014), and my time in the country over the last six years has convinced me that our legacy will be the exact opposite of what Allen posits—not a stable Afghanistan, but one at war with itself yet again. Here are a few encapsulated snapshots of what I’ve seen and what we’re leaving behind.

Read full article.

2013/05/17

Marcus Aurelius: Israeli Case to USA for Invading Latin America — Hezbollah is Everywhere!

Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, Law Enforcement, Military, Peace Intelligence

Invite your attention to following article, which comes, obviously, from an author with an agenda.

Matthew Leavitt, South of the Border, A Threat from Hezbollah (The Journal of International Security Affairs, 2012-05-15), pp. 77-82

Suggest you keep following in mind as you read article:

1. There is a war going on south of the US-MX border among drug cartels for control of network of smuggling routes into and within the United States.

2. There are long-established nexes between narco-trafficking and terrorism.

3. Hezbollah receives significant support and operational direction from Iran, particularly through Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Draw your own conclusions…

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Israeli Case to USA for Invading Latin America — Hezbollah is Everywhere!”