Category: Corruption

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Why the U.S. Should ‘Give’ Af-Pak to China

02 China, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making, Military, Peace Intelligence, Strategy
Richard Wright

Worth a look — even if only the first paragraph.

The New Rules: Why the U.S. Should ‘Give' Af-Pak to China

Thomas P.M. Barnett | Bio | 30 May 2011
Column

Nuclear Pakistan, we are often told, is the Islamic-state equivalent of a Wall Street firm: In geostrategic terms, it is too big to fail. That explains why, even as the Obama administration begins preparing for modest troop withdrawals from Afghanistan this July, it dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Islamabad last week to smooth over bilateral relations with Pakistan's paranoid regime, which were strained even before the killing of Osama bin Laden. But Clinton's trip and the Obama administration's instinctive embrace of Islamabad is a fool's errand, doomed by history, geography and globalization itself.

In fact, the U.S. should drop the entire Afghanistan-Pakistan mess in China's lap now, while the getting is good, and here are the reasons why: …

Phi Beta Iota: World Politics Review has not figured out the new world of information quite yet, and we have no desire to copy their entire article.  Suffice to say that Barnett, who has gotten much more coherent since his first book, is on target here, but add to that that the US Government's foreign policy is both ideological and idiotic —  apart from the huge error by Zbigniew Brzezinski giving Pakistan the nuclear bomb in  the first place, the US has no business in Central Asia that is of benefit to the American people, only to the American carpet-baggers that feed at the public treasury (now much depleted and greatly in debt) while looting foreign countries.

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Robyn O’Brien’s Tedx Talk: Food’s Erin Brockovich — Allergy Kids/health care costs/global competitiveness

01 Agriculture, 03 Economy, 06 Family, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, 12 Water, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Earth Intelligence
John Steiner

Robyn O¹Brien lives in the Boulder area. She is a fresh, inspiring and credible voice for the information/patterns she has assembled/synthesized about how our food ³industry² makes us sick (allergies, cancer, etc., etc.), raises our health care costs, weakens our global competitiveness, also etc. etc. and what we can do about it.  And, she brings a deep level of compassion and wisdom to the task of transformation at hand. Kudos to Robyn….JS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rixyrCNVVGA

Robyn O¹Brien shares her personal story and how it inspired her current path as a “Real Food” evangelist. Grounded in a successful Wall Street career that was more interested in food as good business than good-for-you, this mother of four was shaken awake by the dangerous allergic reaction of one of her children to a “typical” breakfast. Her mission to unearth the cause revealed more about the food industry than she could stomach, and impelled her to share her findings with others. Informative and inspiring.

Amazon Page

Robyn authored The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It.   A former Wall Street food industry analyst, Robyn brings insight, compassion and detailed analysis to her research into the impact that the global food system is having on the health of our children.  She founded allergykidsfoundation.org and was named by Forbes as one of “20 Inspiring Women to Follow on Twitter.” The New York Times has passionately described her as “Food's Erin Brockovich.”

Robyn O'Brien
www.allergykidsfoundation.org
http://www.robynobrien.com/

Phi Beta Iota: The industrialization of agriculture, and the corruption of government, have led to a complete ignorance of the “true cost” of bad food, not only in making children ill, but in consuming fuel, water, sweatshop labor, and enabling tax avoidance and the externalization of pollution costs to the public present and future.  It bears mention that US Government regulation has totally trashed the emergent organic food movement in the USA, and there are only two sustainable agricultural models on the planet: the Amish in the USA, and the Cubans.  The truth at any cost now lowers all other costs forever.

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IMF Hypocrisy: Ethics for Staff, Not for Board

Corruption, Cultural Intelligence
DefDog Recommends....

At I.M.F., a Strict Ethics Code Doesn’t Apply to Top Officials

By

New York Times, May 29, 2011

At the International Monetary Fund, there is one set of ethics guidelines for the rank-and-file staff and another for the 24 elite executive directors who oversee the powerful organization.

. . . . . . .

“There are a lot of controls in place when it comes to the staff, but not for the leadership,” said Katrina Campbell, a compliance and ethics expert at Global Compliance.

Read full article….

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Islam is winning the ideological war — USG Helping

Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency
DefDog Recommends....

From Geostrategy Direct

A recent study by the Pew Research Center indicates that 10 years after the September 11 attacks, support for Islamic fundamentalism is growing within the Muslim world and that U.S. efforts to produce an ideological counterproposal to Islamic terrorism have fallen short.

Statistics released May 17 reveal, for example, that 47 percent of
Pakistan's 187 million people “sympathize” with Islamic fundamentalism and 4 percent believe that suicide bombing is sometimes justified. In Egypt, Turkey, and Jordan, the statistics show that 31 percent, 24 percent, and 36 percent respectively also support Islamist radicals who are the main force behind today's dominant terrorist groups such as Al Qaida, Hamas and
Hizbullah.

Continue reading “Islam is winning the ideological war — USG Helping”

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Iran Played “Pivotal Role” in 9/11? Craven Idiocy

05 Iran, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Impotency, Peace Intelligence, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests
Thomas E. Mellon, Jr.

First, the lawyer. Thomas E. Mellon Jr. from Doylestown, PA.  He is representing 17 families from Bucks Couny in a Class Action Suit against Iran, al-Qaida and other supporters of Sept. 11 attack.  He is an intimate of the US Department of Justice that is on record as claiming that it has the right to lie to the judiciary.  We smell a lie pie.

Second, the plaintiff. Fiona Havlish.  She was also the lead in the 2002 filing against Bin Laden et al, but in that case the current lawyer was second on a long list of firms that participated.  She was a prime force behind a class action lawsuit seeking $100 billion in compensation.  Her husband died in the South Tower, not in Pennsylvania.  The timing of this, post Bin Laden Show, is suspect.

Third, the defectors. Three of them  A proper investigation will surely find that they have been in close consultation with the Iranian Liberation nut-jobs that are being encouraged by State, DoD, and CIA to play with public perceptions.   There is no way these three can withstand scrutiny, and we hope that Iran chooses to confront these almost certain lies in some public manner.  Remember Chalabi & CURVEBALL?

Continue reading “Iran Played “Pivotal Role” in 9/11? Craven Idiocy”

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Robert Gates: A Brilliant Career — As a Courtier

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corporations, Corruption, Government, Methods & Process, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Waste (materials, food, etc)
Richard Wright

I think the best description of Robert Gates is that he is a very smart bureaucrat who exemplifies the concept of go along to get along. He demonstrated this admirably in his farewell ‘warning’ as reported in the Wall Street Journal. This was a “guns or butter” speech designed to reassure the defense industrial complex that the safety of the U.S. will depend on the continued acquisition of pointless complex and expensive weapons systems.

Rather interestingly in this speech Gates ignored two pieces of information that might have caused him to reconsider his advocacy of super weapons systems.

Continue reading “Robert Gates: A Brilliant Career — As a Courtier”