IO Impotency – Page 259 – Public Intelligence Blog

2011/07/18

Chuck Spinney: Israel Crosses Line Into Fascism

05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Immigration, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency

Israel likes to pride itself by claiming it is the only democracy in the Middle East … Uri Avnery, a hero of the 1948 War, a former member of the Knesset, and a prominent peace activist, describes how that claim is becoming a hollow shell.

July 18, 2011

The Israeli Boycott Law

It [Fascism] Can Happen Here

By URI AVNERY, Tel Aviv

Counterpunch

Years ago I said that there are but two miracles in Israel: the Hebrew language and democracy.

Hebrew had been a dead language for many generations, more or less like Latin, when it was still used in the Catholic church. Then, suddenly, concurrent with the emergence of Zionism (but independently) it sprang back to life. This never happened to any other language.

Theodor Herzl laughed at the idea that Jews in Palestine would speak Hebrew. He wanted us to speak German. “Are they going to ask for a railway ticket in Hebrew?” he scoffed.

Well, we now buy airline tickets in Hebrew. We read the Bible in its Hebrew original and enjoy it tremendously. As Abba Eban once said, if King David were to come to life in Jerusalem today, he could understand the language spoken in the street. Though with some difficulty, because our language gets corrupted, like most other languages.

Anyhow, the position of Hebrew is secure. Babies and Nobel Prize laureates speak it.

The fate of the other miracle is far less assured.

* * *

THE FUTURE – indeed, the present – of Israeli democracy is shrouded in doubt.

Read rest of article…

2011/07/172011/07/24

Koko: Microsoft Fifth Largest Linux Company

03 Economy, 11 Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, InfoOps (IO), IO Impotency

Gorilla Kitten on Top — Koko the Reflexive

Top Five Linux Contributor: Microsoft

By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols | July 17, 2011

Linux and Open Source

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols & Paula Rooney

EXTRACT

In a Linux Weekly News story, currently only available to subscribers, an analysis of Linux 3.0 contributors reveals that Microsoft was the fifth largest corporate contributer to Linux 3.0. While only 15h overall, that still puts Microsoft behind only Red Hat, Intel, Novell, and IBM in contributing new code to this version of Linux.

To be exact, Microsoft developer K. Y Srinivasan gets the credit for helping to improve Linux. Of course, as you might guess, neither Srinivasan nor Microsoft are doing this due to any particular love tor Linux per se.

The vast bulk of Microsoft’s contributions has been to its own Hyper-V virtualization hypervisor drivers. Hyper-V is Microsoft’s 64-bit hypervisor-based virtualization system. It’s Microsoft’s answer to VMware and Linux’s own native Kernel-based Virtualization Manager (KVM).

Read full story….

Phi Beta Iota: This is interesting–and disappointing. Microsoft could be doing so much more. OpenBTS, Open Data Access, Open Spectrum, and Open Source Intelligence (now M4IS2) are rapidly approaching take-off points that will see them join Free/Open Source Software and Open Hardware. Microsoft could be central to all of this, but it evidently chooses not to. It recent waste of Sir Richard Branson in delivering platitudes to their huge event is a real let-down.

See Also:

Graphic: Open Everything

Graphic: One Vision for the Future of Microsoft

2011/07/16

Chuck Spinney: Israel To Bomb Iran Soon + RECAP

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

Former CIA Official: Israel Will Bomb Iran In September

July 15, 2011 4:04 pm ET — MJ Rosenberg

A longtime CIA officer who spent 21 years in the Middle East is predicting that Israel will bomb Iran in fall, dragging the United States into another major war and endangering U.S. military and civilian personnel (and other interests) throughout the Middle East and beyond.

Earlier this week, Robert Baer appeared on the provocative KPFK Los Angeles show Background Briefing, hosted by Ian Masters. It was there that he predicted that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is likely to ignite a war with Iran in the very near future.

Read full story….

Phi Beta Iota: We know and admire Bob Baer, one of the greats in clandestine case officering, whose books, Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude and See No Evil–The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism correctly observe that no amount of professionalism in the intelligence ranks can make up for massive ideology, corruption, and impeachable malfeasance in the White House, Congress, and the military-industrial cabal. War is how the unethical elite deal with unrest at home–it syphons the poor angry young men out of the system and distracts the booboisee. Israel, like the USA, has multiple governments, and right now the two extremist versions are nominally in charge and think they can get away with bombing Iran and then redirecting the US military against Iran. The Israeli attack on the USS Liberty is the best “truth-teller” on how crazy they can get, and how much they disrespect the USA. They give no thought at all to the five front war that George Bush started with the Islamic virtual caliphate, or the consequences of “burning” the young seeking reform, turning them all against Israel and the USA.

2011/07/15

Chuck Spinney: Obama Implodes…the Story Continues

02 Diplomacy, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 11 Society, 12 Water, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency

President Obama in trouble at home and around the world. The common denominator in his problems is a failure to follow through on expectations he recklessly excites … while this mismatch is clear in the mounting alienation of his domestic political base in the United States, it is also evident his plummeting popularity abroad, particularly in the Arab World, as shown in the attached survey by Zogby International for the Arab American Institute Foundation.

ARAB ATTITUDES, 2011

Conducted by Zogby International, Analysis by James Zogby

Arab American Institute Foundation

The full report can be downloaded from this link.

Executive Summary

After improving with the election of Barack Obama in 2008, U.S. favorable ratings across the Arab world have plummeted. In most countries they are lower than at the end of the Bush Administration, and lower than Iran's favorable ratings (except in Saudi Arabia).
The continuing occupation of Palestinian lands and U.S. interference in the Arab world are held to be the greatest obstacles to peace and stability in the Middle East.
While many Arabs were hopeful that the election of Barack Obama would improve U.S.-Arab relations, that hope has evaporated. Today, President Obama's favorable ratings across the Arab World are 10% or less.
Obama's performance ratings are lowest on the two issues to which he has devoted the most energy: Palestine and engagement with the Muslim world.
The U.S. role in establishing a no-fly zone over Libya receives a positive rating only in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, but, as an issue, it is the lowest priority.
The killing of bin Laden only worsened attitudes toward the U.S.
A plurality says it is too early to tell whether the Arab Spring will have a positive impact on the region. In Egypt, the mood is mixed. Only in the Gulf States are optimism and satisfaction levels high.

2011/07/142011/07/14

DefDog: Cyber-Command Can’t Find Ball…

Corruption, IO Impotency, Military, Peace Intelligence

We generally say this approach is the same as a sucking chest wound…..

Cyberwar Plan Has New Focus on Deterrence

By JULIAN E. BARNES and SIOBHAN GORMAN

Wall Street Journal, 15 July 2011

The military must move from defending against major cyberattacks to deterring assaults by letting enemies know the U.S. is willing to retaliate with its own virtual weapons or military force, a top general said Thursday.

The Pentagon's new strategy for threats from computer hackers primarily deals with enhancing the defense of its computer systems and those of its military contractors. But Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that policy is just a start. He said that over the next decade the military would move beyond building better firewalls and make clear to adversaries that they will pay a price for serious cyberattacks.

“There is no penalty to attacking us now. We have to figure out a way to change that,” Gen. Cartwright said.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: Never mind ignoring sound advice in the early 1990's [1994 Sounding the Alarm on Cyber-Security]; never mind DoD following the secret world into the technology rabbit-hole, sacrificing all human productivity on the altar of out-sourced incoherent contracting. What the above really says is that Cyber-Command realizes it has no hope at all of defending the rat's nest it has inherited, and it is now going to do a theatrical exit toward “counter-strike.” This is absurd in various ways. First off, only 20% of what we are calling secret actually is secret. Second off, we are so far out of touch with reality that the best way to retard adversary countries is to give them our acquisition system and our incoherent technology gameplan. Third off, the denial service of attacks are now coming from angry individuals, not nations, and London is one of the hubs. Last but not least, GAO has made it clear that the DoD Global Grid is dead in the water and will never breathe–ever. Bottom line: these folks not only don't understand the new game, they cannot even find the ball.

See Also:

2011 Cyber-Command or IO 21 + IO Roots

Journal: Army Industrial-Era Network Security + Cyber-Security RECAP (Links to Past Posts)

Reference: Bruce Schneier on Cyber War & Cyber Crime

2006 General Accountability Office (GAO) Defense Acquisitions DoD Management Approach and Processes Not Well-Suited to Support Development of Global Information Grid

2004 General Accountability Office (GAO) Report: Defense Acquisitiions: The Global Information Grid and Challenges Facing Its Implementation

2011/07/122011/10/22

John Steiner: The Political Racketeers

Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Policies

Dear Friends:

This is an interesting dialogue I’ve been eavesedropping on..

Cheers,
John

Phi Beta Iota: Others have been on this story for decades–the rest of the world is just now catching on. It is a two-party tyranny–voting for one or the other is NOT an option. What we need is an end to the one party winner take all system. Here's a starting point: Seven Promises to America–Who Will Do This?

From: John Neffinger

To Drew's point, check out this AP story from a couple days ago, noting that Obama is having trouble selling the Republican talking points he has adopted about how budget cuts that lay people off create jobs by reassuring the business community.

What is new about this moment is that things have gotten so bad, the American people see very clearly that the richest few of us are paying less than ever in taxes and should pay more. Even Republicans know this. David Brooks lashed out at his own party last week for taking its ideological aversion to taxes to a new, cult-like level of irrationality.

But to call them ideologues misses the point. The majority of rank-and-file Republicans admit that taxes on top earners should be higher, and the people calling the shots aren't mere ideologues either. They are running a hugely successful business enterprise. It's not irrational, it's very rational (if not so enlightened). The contributors invest in the politicians and lobbyists, and they make very handsome returns on their investments. To Brooks' question, the reason Washington Republicans won't cut any taxes at all as part of an otherwise very favorable deficit deal is that lowering taxes is the entire point. The concern about deficits is only a charade, just another way to discredit our government. The Republican party is not a cult. The Republican party is a racket.

This might be a moment we could make that point with new clarity. That yes there are honest and well-meaning Republicans all across the country, but their whole party is run as a racket. That Republican politicians are just errand boys, as Colonel Kurtz would say , who work only for the rich conservatives who pay for their campaigns.

Prior emails and other links below the line…

Continue reading “John Steiner: The Political Racketeers”

2011/07/11

DefDog: US Approach to Security Insane?

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Waste (materials, food, etc)

Anyone who believes we are winning the War on Terror doesn't understand the goals of AQ. They wanted us to be afraid and to spend our money, both of which the government is doing in spades…..one really has to ask, then, who is winning?

Is high security backfiring in U.S.?

By Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent

NEW YORK – As a foreign correspondent for NBC News, I haven’t spent much time in the United States during the last decade. I return only occasionally to check in with colleagues, visit family, or, this last time, to research a documentary for MSNBC.

The documentary, still in the works, is about the Global War on Terrorism, and what it has done to our military, economy and American society in general. Perhaps because the subject was on my mind, I found a recent travel experience especially meaningful.

Through my work I travel to some of the busiest airports in high-risk areas. Just this year I have been in Egypt, Tunisia, Iran, Bahrain, Libya, France, Italy and many other countries. But I have yet to feel so angry, so embarrassed or so scrutinized as I did going through airport security for a flight from Los Angeles International Airport to New York’s JFK while visiting home.

. . . . .

I’ve watched American troops fight, and sometimes die, to drive the Taliban and al-Qaida from Afghanistan, and to secure free elections in Iraq. They have been fighting for other people to be free. I was horrified to see that despite their sacrifices we’d let ourselves become a nation that appears to be driven by fear.

. . . . .

But at the airport, watching a 7-year-old girl go through a full body scan in public – just so she could fly out of the city of Los Angeles – made me wonder how much we have lost.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: The Founding Fathers do not approve….

Thomas Jefferson: A Nation’s best defense is an educated citizenry.

Thomas Jefferson: Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

James Madison: Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.