Journal ISSN 1078-1935 – Page 1458 – Public Intelligence Blog

2014/09/17

ScwartzReport: Cargill Sues Syngenta (Monsanto) for Closing China Market — Should US IT Industry Be Suing Dell ,HP, IBM, Etc. for Selling Out to NSA?

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Commerce, Corruption, Government

It is beginning to look like GMO, principally an American economic activity, may not endure as structured. This is one example of why I say that. There is a developing consensus against it.

Cargill Sues Syngenta Over Sale of GMO Seeds Unapproved in China
JACOB BUNGE – The Wall Street Journal

In a fight that highlights global sensitivity over genetically modified crops, Cargill Inc. sued Syngenta AG SYNN.VX -0.56% , claiming that the Swiss seed maker's push to sell bioengineered corn seeds that weren't approved in China cost the U.S. grain company $90 million when Beijing rejected corn shipments.

The suit, filed on Friday in Louisiana state court, escalates tensions that have shaken U.S. agribusiness since China last year sharply curtailed imports of U.S. corn. Beijing's move all but closed off a major market for the grain, contributing to a sharp decline this year in prices for the U.S.'s biggest crop by value and costing shippers hundreds of millions of dollars, according to U.S. grain groups.

Continue reading “ScwartzReport: Cargill Sues Syngenta (Monsanto) for Closing China Market — Should US IT Industry Be Suing Dell ,HP, IBM, Etc. for Selling Out to NSA?”

2014/09/15

Patrick Cockburn: Letter from Arabia — ISIS is the Lesser of All Evils — And Most Certainly Less Evil Than an Invading Occupying USA…

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Corruption, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

The Impossible War

Isis cannot be beaten as long as there is civil war in Syria

BY PATRICK COCKBURN

CounterPunch • SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

A letter printed at the bottom of this article was emailed by a friend soon after her neighbourhood in Mosul was hit by Iraqi airforce bombers. This was some hours before President Barack Obama explained his plan to weaken and ultimately destroy Isis, which calls itself Islamic State, by a series of measures including air attacks. The letter illustrates graphically one of the most important reasons why American air power may be less effective than many imagine.

Continue reading “Patrick Cockburn: Letter from Arabia — ISIS is the Lesser of All Evils — And Most Certainly Less Evil Than an Invading Occupying USA…”

2014/09/15

SchwartzReport: Why Obama Will Lose to ISIS — Indeed, How He Will Empower and Enlarge ISIS…

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Corruption, DoD, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

I started out today writing a short essay on my views about this new war, then came across this, with which I agree. It makes my main point: You would think after 11 years of war in the Islamic world, we would learn something about the culture and how to work with it. Apparently not. I think one really has to ask now: Cui bono? Who benefits?

Why Obama Will Lose His Endless War in Syria and Iraq
STEVE WEISSMAN – Reader Supported News

Never bet on another man’s game,” my father loved to say. It’s a lesson Barack Obama never learned, especially in his military strikes against Islamic State.

Islamic State, or ISIL, has only one way to keep the support of Iraq’s Sunni tribesmen and former Baathist supporters of Saddam Hussein. The blood-thirsty ‘fools of God” need to be seen defending their people against a Western invasion, which is precisely what Obama gives them.

He plays the role they purposely provoked with their brutal beheadings, summary executions, and sickening use of mass rape to keep their fighters happy. He becomes the foreign, Christian crusader defiling a Muslim land, and he does it in company with Iranian as well as Iraqi Shiites, whom Islamic State despises as heretics, and with the blessing of Sunni Arab leaders it correctly sees as outrageously corrupt.

In other words, the more jihadis Obama kills, the more Sunnis that Obama recruits to their ranks. Not a winning strategy.

Read full article.

2014/09/14

Edward Luce: From England with Sanity — STOP on ISIS!

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, Government, Idiocy, Military, Peace Intelligence

America’s perpetual war on terror by any other name

If you embark on something with your eyes half-open, you are likely to lose sight of reality

Financial Times, 14 September 2014

EXTRACT

The reality is the US war on terror has succeeded where it was supposed to. Mr Bush’s biggest innovation was to set up the Department of Homeland Security. If you chart domestic terror attempts in the US since September 11 2001, they have become increasingly low-tech and ineffectual. From the foiled Detroit airliner attack in Mr Obama’s first year to the Boston marathon bombings in his fifth, each attempt has been more amateur than the last. The same is true of America’s allies. There has been no significant attack in Europe since London’s July 7 bombings nine years ago. Western publics have acclimatised to an era of tighter security.

If this is the balance sheet of the US war on terror, why lose sleep? Chiefly because it understates the costs. The biggest of these is the damage an undeclared war is doing to the west’s grasp on reality. Myopic thinking leads to bad decisions. Mr Obama pointedly avoided using the word “war” last week. Although there are more than 1,000 US military personnel in Iraq, and more than 160 US air strikes in the past month, he insisted on calling his plan to destroy Isis a “campaign”. Likewise, the US uniforms are those of “advisers” and “trainers”. These kinds of euphemism lead to mission creep. If you embark on something with your eyes half-open, you are likelier to lose your way.

Continue reading “Edward Luce: From England with Sanity — STOP on ISIS!”

2014/09/142014/09/14

Yoda: Fareed Zakaria on ISIS and Post 9/11 Lessons Learned — Are Kissinger and Zakaria Pushing Back Against the NeoCons?

Ethics, Media, Peace Intelligence

Astonished, we are.

Lessons outlined in below video:

01 Don't always take the bait.

02 Don't overestimate the enemy

03 Remember politics (over there).

Phi Beta Iota: It is worth noting that none of the regional countries including Jordan is ready to provide ground troops. They are all — without exception — sucking the USA in to be the target. On a positive note, for the first time in 50 years, there is a break in the ranks of the “insiders.” This is a very positive development. Any and all US activity — from mediocre intelligence support to repressive regimes to air strikes to boots on the ground — should be forbidden by the public — sadly, big money wants this war and is paying to make the public stupid in time for the 2014 elections. We are reminded of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, John Lennon, the Dixie Chicks. All right and all righteous in their time. All were also assassinated or marginalized for daring to confront the national security state that is formed and operated by traitors the FBI dares not go after. Can the Director of the FBI reconnect with his oath of office and his integrity and start making some inroads against traitors? We are not holding our breath.

See Also:

ISIS @ Phi Beta Iota

Kissinger on Not Getting Sucked In

2014/09/142014/09/14

Nafeez Ahmed: How the West Created the Islamic State (ISIS) — Jordan Hosts the Command Center — Chalabi and NeoCons Ride Again…

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Transnational Crime, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Military, Peace Intelligence

How the West Created the Islamic State

Follow the Money, Follow the Oil

Nafeez Ahmed

Counter-Punch, 12-14 September 2014

EXTRACTS

Missing from the chorus of outrage, however, has been any acknowledgement of the integral role of covert US and British regional military intelligence strategy in empowering and even directly sponsoring the very same virulent Islamist militants in Iraq, Syria and beyond, that went on to break away from al-Qaeda and form ‘ISIS’, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or now simply, the Islamic State (IS).

. . . . . . .

In other words, US forces will pursue public legitimacy through conventional social welfare while simultaneously delegitimising local enemies by escalating intra-insurgent violence, knowing full-well that doing so will in turn escalate the number of innocent civilians “caught in the crossfire.” The idea is that violence covertly calibrated by US special operations will not only weaken enemies through in-fighting but turn the population against them.

Continue reading “Nafeez Ahmed: How the West Created the Islamic State (ISIS) — Jordan Hosts the Command Center — Chalabi and NeoCons Ride Again…”

2014/09/14

Sepp Hasslberger: Beautiful Woven Refugee Tents Get Their Power from the Sun Read more: Beautiful Woven Refugee Tents Get Their Power from the Sun

01 Poverty, 06 Family, Design, Materials, Resilience, United Nations & NGOs

Beautiful Woven Refugee Tents Get Their Power from the Sun

Designer Abeer Seikaly has developed a practical yet elegant solution to the need for lightweight, mobile, and structurally sound shelters for disaster zones.

The Canadian-Jordanian's Weaving a Home project not only provides flexible, transportable shelter, but also incorporates water collection, solar power generation and solar water heating into the design.

Each tent has its own water collection system, utilizing the natural channels formed by the skin to direct water to the storage point. By using a fabric with strong thermal properties, the tents can alsoconvert solar radiation into power and heat collected water for showering.

Read full article.