Journal ISSN 1078-1935 – Page 1596 – Public Intelligence Blog

Leopoldo López, the leader of radical opposition Popular Will (El Movimiento Voluntad Popular), has taken a decision to hand himself over to government forces. What has made him do so?

Upon getting the news the arrest warrant was issued, he went in hiding, then tried to escape abroad. He changed his mind after the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (el Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional – SEBIN) made public a taped phone conversation.

Two men from a Miami-based ultra-right emigrant group discussed the plans to physically liquidate Lopez and then shift the blame on the government of Nicolas Maduro.

A number of terrorist groups were sent to Venezuela, they had accomplices in the ranks of Lopez’s team. The residence of US Central Intelligence Agency in Caracas knew about the terrorists’ plans. It never moved a finger to protect Lopez. He was doomed to face cold blooded and politically motivated action undertaken against him to serve the United States’ interests.

Conspirators hoped this «sacred sacrifice» would give an impetus to the process of the country’s destabilization and make people hit the streets. The assassination had to cement the leading position of Enrique Capriles, an old time rival of Lopez, among the opposition ranks.

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Continue reading “4th Media: US-Based Cuban Extremists Inciting Civil War and Assassination in Venezuela”

2014/03/02

Berto Jongman: Abdullaziz Alhies and Hamza Mustafa on Al Qaeda Third Generation

Cultural Intelligence

Al-Qaeda: The third generation? Part II

A new concept of Jihad may emerge from the infighting within al-Qaeda and groups affiliated with it.

With the passage of time, perhaps every phenomenon is likely to mutate and generate different copies of itself. This is precisely the case with al-Qaeda. In its third generation, one can clearly see two al-Qaeda mutants co-existing – one (al-Nusra) marginally better, the other (ISIS) much worse than the original al-Qaeda organisation.The two groups had tried for months to resolve their differences and had obviously failed. Confrontations and schisms finally culminated in an open and bloody war which left 12,000 people from both sides dead.

. . . . . . .

All that could well lead to a new conception of Jihad. A fourth generation al-Qaeda, equipped with some political insight, might well embrace the “nationalistic” model, which confines Jihad strictly to the national borders of each country, and opens up to political dialogue, political participation and power-sharing with fellow countrymen. The steps al-Nusra has recently taken already point to such a transformative model.

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This is part two of a two-part series. Part one was published on Wednesday, February 26.

2014/03/02

SchwartzReport: Clean Energy Reduces Storms and Saves Money

05 Energy, Commercial Intelligence, Earth Intelligence

Here is what I think is the truth. We could make the conversion to non-carbon energy within a generation if we could muster the political and social will to do so. Sadly, I am afraid the secret government within the government that is controlled in large measure by carbon energy intere! sts, combined with the almost grotesque ignorance of the American electorate will not allow it to happen. But it could be done, and it would be significantly cheaper for customers, would create tens of thousands of jobs, as weel as improving the economy.

Running It All On Clean Energy: ‘A Question Of Social And Political Will”
CleanTechnica

Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment Senior Fellow Mark Jacobson says the United States has the technology and logistical ability to convert to all-renewable energy sources by 2050-if we can manage to exercise the social and political will to do so. He’s the guy who told David Letterman we already have enough wind to power the entire world ‘seven times over.” Now he has proven his point with a groundbreaking roadmap to clean energy for all 50 U.S. states.

With colleagues from academia and industry, Jacobson-a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy-recently developed detailed plans that three states (New York, 2/18/13; Washington, 1/14/14; and California, yesterday-2/22/14) could use to switch over their energy infrastructures from conventional fuels to 100% renewable resources by 2050. As Jacobson uses the term, ‘infrastructure” includes electric power, transportation, heating/cooling, and industry uses. ‘Renewable power” is derived primarily from wind, water, and sunlight (WWS), generating electricity and electrolytic hydrogen.

Some findings of research behind the plans:

Powering the U.S. with only wind, water, and solar energy sources would save the average consumer $3,400 per year.
Over 15 years, driving an electric car could save $20,000-$40,000 in energy costs.
In 2013, states endowed with greater wind power had energy costs increase 3 cents; all other states (except Hawaii) saw costs increase 4 cents.
Large offshore wind farms could reduce hurricane storm surges up to 80% and wind speeds up to 50%.
Powering the country solely with WWS could generate a 3% GDP uptick.

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2014/03/012014/03/01

Berto Jongman: Springer & IEEE Quality Control? No. 120 Computer-Generated Gibberish Papers

IO Impotency

Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers

Conference proceedings removed from subscription databases after scientist reveals that they were computer-generated.

Richard Van Noorden

Nature, 24 February 2014

The publishers Springer and IEEE are removing more than 120 papers from their subscription services after a French researcher discovered that the works were computer-generated nonsense.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Springer & IEEE Quality Control? No. 120 Computer-Generated Gibberish Papers”

2014/03/012014/03/01

Chuck Spinney: Immanuel Wallerstein on Saudi Arabia – Besieged and Fearful

Cultural Intelligence, Peace Intelligence

Saudi Arabia: Besieged and Fearful

The Saudi regime has long been considered a pillar of political stability in the Middle East, a country that commanded respect and prudence from all its neighbors. This is no longer true, and the first ones to recognize this are those who are important internal players in the regime. Today, they feel besieged on all sides and quite fearful of the consequences of turmoil in the Middle East for the survival of the regime.

This turn-around derives from the history of Saudi Arabia. The kingdom itself is not very old. It was created in 1932 through the unification of two smaller kingdoms on the Arabian peninsula, Hejaz and Nejd. It was a poor, isolated part of the world that had liberated itself from Ottoman rule during the First World War, and came then under the paracolonial aegis of Great Britain.

The kingdom was organized in religious terms by a version of Sunni Islam called Wahabism (or Salafism). Wahabism is a very strict puritanical doctrine that was notably intolerant not only of religions other than Islam but of other versions of Islam itself.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Immanuel Wallerstein on Saudi Arabia – Besieged and Fearful”

2014/03/012014/03/01

Steven Aftergood: IG Blasts NRO Secrecy Practices

Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military

INSPECTOR GENERAL BLASTS NRO SECRECY PRACTICES

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the agency that builds and operates U.S. intelligence satellites, frequently makes mistakes when it classifies national security information, according to an assessment performed last year by the NRO Inspector General.

“From the classified documents we reviewed at NRO headquarters, 114 of 134 documents contained classification errors,” the IG report said.

Agency classification officials “lack sufficient knowledge of classification principles and procedures necessary to perform their duties,” the NRO Inspector General found. “One OCA [original classification authority] had almost no knowledge of his responsibilities.”

“Because of the lack of full compliance in multiple areas, the NRO is susceptible to the risk of persistent misclassification,” the IG said.

Continue reading “Steven Aftergood: IG Blasts NRO Secrecy Practices”

2014/03/01

Berto Jongman: World Protests 2006-2013

Cultural Intelligence, Peace Intelligence

World Protests 2006-2013

PDF (91 Pages): World_Protests_2006-2013-Final

Table of Contents
Executive Summary
1. Introduction: Rising Outrage and Discontent
2. Methodology
3. The World Awakes: Protests Increase 2006-2013
4. Main Grievances/Demands
4a. Economic Justice/Anti-Austerity
4b. Failure of Political Representation and Political Systems
4c. Global Justice
4d. Rights
5. Demonstrators 2006-2013: Who Protests and How?
5a. Who Protests?
5b. Methods of Protest
5c. Some of the Largest Protests in History
6. Who Do Protesters Oppose?
7. What Do Protests Achieve?
8. Repression and Surveillance
9. Main Policy Demands from the World’s Protesters
10. Conclusion
Main References and Complete List of Media Sources Consulted
Annex I. Main World Protests Episodes 2006-2013
Annex II. Methodological Issues