Category: IO Sense-Making

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Sense of Justice Built Into the Brain, Study Shows

04 Education, 09 Justice, Collective Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, IO Sense-Making
Click on Image to Enlarge

ScienceDaily (May 3, 2011) — A new study from the Karolinska Institute and Stockholm School of Economics shows that the brain has built-in mechanisms that trigger an automatic reaction to someone who refuses to share.

. . . . . . .

“This is an incredibly interesting result that shows that it isn't just processes in the prefrontal cortex and insula that determine this kind of decision about financial equitability, as was previously thought,” says Professor Martin Ingvar. “Our findings, however, can also have ethical implications since the use of certain drugs can clearly affect our everyday decision-making processes.”

This work was funded by the Swedish Research Council, The Barbro and Bernard Osher Foundation, The Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems.

Read full article….

Tip of the Hat to Lynn Wheeler at Facebook.

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Bin Laden Show 76: Egyptian Faction Betrays BL

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making, Non-Governmental

Al Qaida: In a recent meeting, presumably in Pakistan, al Qaida's council elected Saifal Adel (Abu Saif), one of the early members of al-Qaida, as chief of the party Command of Control for the time being, sources told the Pakistani news service, The News. However, Muhammad Mustafa Yamni is likely to be made al-Qaida chief after a grand consultation. Yamni is currently residing in an African country.

Saifal Adel is an Egyptian and has served at key posts in Egypt terrorist groups. He worked with Ayman al-Zawahiri in the al-Jihad group of Egypt. Zawahiri was bin Laden's number two. The News reported that Zawahiri would continue holding his posts of al-Qaida patron, and the chief of the al-Qaida Militant Command. Zawahiri also will monitor the international contacts, a task that had been done by Saifal Adel.

The News' sources reported that Adnan al-Kashri had been placed in charge of general information affairs. Muhammad Nasir al-Washi (Abu Nasir) is now in charge of al-Qaida Africa affairs and Muhammad Adam Khan Afghani was appointed to direct Afghanistan-Waziristan affairs. Fahad al-Qava had been appointed as the Urgent Operational Commander.

Comment: The day after bin Laden's death, an Asia Times on Line analyst reported that the Saudi (bin Laden) faction and the Egyptian (Zawahiri) faction had had a falling out over leadership and policy direction. The full details of the policy split are not known, but what is known is that Zawahiri publicly supported the Pakistan Taliban in their moves to try to overthrow the government of Pakistan, under Musharraf and under the elected civilians. This included the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Bin Laden never associated himself with that policy. Bin Laden seems to have favored sensational attacks against Western targets over consolidating a base in Pakistan by taking over the government.

The Egyptians marginalized bin Laden. The lack of security and staff at Abbottabad – a single body guard – indicates bin Laden was a figurehead and a symbol, more than a hands-on commander. The computer disks and thumb drives, in this theory, call to mind Hitler with his war maps in the bunker in Berlin.

According to the Asia Times report, the Egyptian faction delivered the identity and movements of bin Laden's trusted courier to US intelligence and the courier was aware that he was being tracked so that he could lead US intelligence to the Abbottabad house. The courier was a key actor in an al Qaida intelligence operation to eliminate the Saudi faction and permit the Egyptians to take control.

The operation appears to have worked. The leadership selections, reported by The News, support the hypothesis of betrayal by the Egyptians. No Saudis are in senior leadership positions. Until the promotion of Abu Saif and other non-Saudis to leadership positions, the Asia Times report was just one hypothesis.

Based on statements by Zawahiri, al Qaida may be expected to help the Pakistani Taliban to try to seize control in Pakistan. For them, Pakistan is the objective, not Afghanistan.

NIGHTWATCH KGS Home

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Bin Laden Show 67: Paradigm Shift — Bin Laden and the Spring of Arab Revolutions

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, IO Sense-Making

Towards a New Paradigm Shift: Bin Laden and the Spring of Arab Revolutions

By ESAM AL-AMIN

13-15 May 2011

EXTRACT:

Despite the dozens of meetings in the review process, it’s remarkable that the whole premise of the U.S. escalation in Afghanistan and Pakistan was not challenged or probed. The U.S. has committed tens of thousands of soldiers, hundreds of billions of dollars, and uncalculated risks of alienating peoples, countries, and regions based on a faulty premise.

Since the early days regional experts warned against the broad brush approach of the Bush administration which led to the catastrophic Iraq war, the loss of civil rights of many in the country, the deterioration of the economy, and the high tension that exists between the West and the Muslim world.

Georgetown University Professor John Esposito and Gallup conducted numerous polls across the Muslim World, which revealed that Muslims across the globe unequivocally reject Al-Qaeda’s ideology and means, though they sympathize with the legitimate struggles of many Muslims battling injustice and dictators.

Perhaps a major part of the problem was the inability or unwillingness of the U.S. government to distinguish between Al-Qaeda networks and others who have legitimate grievances but do not employ its indiscriminate killings, illegal means, or twisted rhetoric. But the recent death of Osama Bin Laden might present a real opportunity for a paradigm shift and course change.

Read full analysis and forecast….

Phi Beta Iota: The US Government is making decisions on the basis of ideology, corruption, and less than 2% of the relevant real-world multi-cultural “true cost” information that integrity would make possible.

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Bin Laden Show 60: Balanced Muslim Perspective

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, IO Sense-Making, Media

The bin Laden wedge

Uthman Badar, ABC Australia, 13 May 2011

Uthman Badar My phone ran hot last week with calls from media. After giving numerous interviews to TV, radio, and print media, there was a discernable pattern as to what journalists were after.

EXTRACT:

The reality of what most Muslims thought was, of course, far more nuanced and, dare I say it, reasonable. On our part, we had issued a statement on the killing of bin Laden in which we highlighted the substantive points on the matter.

Click on Image to Enlarge

One, Western Governments have committed far greater acts of terrorism than any individual. Two, the issue is not the person of bin Laden but the context of his struggle being a struggle of resistance against Western imperialism in the Muslim World – a resistance which Muslims globally relate to. Third, the killing of bin Laden was no real victory, it would make little difference on the ground, and the ‘War on Terror’, on the whole, was in fact a resounding failure.

These assertions confounded, apparently, most of the journalists.

Read rest of this long and extremely thoughtful essay….

See Also:

Bin Laden Show 34: Non-Event for Most Muslims

Legitimate Grievances (Anti-US Global)

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Abuse & Atrocities

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Class War (Global)

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Disinformation, Other Information Pathologies, & Repression

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Empire as Cancer Including Betrayal & Deceit

Worth a Look: Impeachable Offenses, Modern & Historic

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on War Complex—War as a Racket


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Bin Laden Show 43: Islamist Slam Fake Video

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making, Media, Military

Islamist website says US tape on bin Laden fake

Agence France-Presse, Dubai, May 10, 2011

An Islamist website has accused the United States of releasing a fake tape of an ageing Osama bin Laden watching images of himself on television, and posted a video on YouTube it says offers proof. Shoumoukh al-Islam, the main website that broadcasts al Qaeda videos, posted a video comparing an earlier picture of bin Laden and the aired picture.

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Bin Laden Show 34: Non-Event for Most Muslims

Advanced Cyber/IO, Cultural Intelligence, IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making

The unimportance of bin Laden

tariq Tariq Ramadan

Guardian, Monday 9 May 2011
Muslim majority countries will soon no longer be defined by their relationships with the West

EXTRACT:  The elements of a new political philosophy defining the West's relationship with Islam and with the Muslims can only emerge from the crucible of the broad-based movement for justice, freedom, democracy and dignity now sweeping North Africa and the Middle East. The rebirth now underway in the East must be understood first as an appeal for critical self-examination by the West. Once the rejoicing at the elimination of bin Laden, the “symbol of the cancer of terrorism” is over, the West should move rapidly to review its regional policies.

Phi Beta Iota: The West continues to lie to itself at all levels.  Absent an honest strategic analytic model and a commitment to developing a mature approach to intelligence and policy that create non-zero solutions for a world that works for all, the West will continue to decline.

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Bin Laden Show 30: Five Truths On Killing Bin Laden

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Sense-Making, Military, Peace Intelligence

Osama bin Laden

Comment: Five Surprising Truths About the Killing of Bin Laden

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |

For intelligence and terrorism experts, the frustrating part of Osama bin Laden’s assassination is not the lack of details on the operation, nor the diplomatic ping-pong currently taking place between America and Pakistan. Rather it is the media spectacle that has unfolded around the story ever since it first made headlines. The cacophony of conjecture that has hijacked the global news agenda is maintained by an army of talking heads, who rely on rumor and speculation to satisfy sensationalist media editors. The outcome is a sterile media circus, devoid of substance, which leaves news consumers confused and uninformed. To counter this trend, intelNews lists here five truths of critical importance about Osama bin Laden’s assassination. In summary: One, America does not have to prove it killed bin Laden. Two, bin Laden’s assassination is not a victory against terrorism. Three, it likely will not reduce —and may even increase— terrorism. Four, it will not have the slightest effect on the Taliban or the war in Afghanistan. Five, even if the Pakistani government consciously shielded bin Laden, there is not much the US can do about it. More specifically:

Read full posting.