Category: Journal ISSN 1078-1935

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Berto Jongman: US View on Al Qaeda and Training of Syrian Rebels

Civil Society, Commerce, Government, IO Deeds of War, Military, Peace Intelligence
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

U.S.: Al Qaeda-linked Group Behind Benghazi Attack Trains Jihadists for Syrian Rebel Groups

Ansar al-Sharia running training camps in Benghazi and Darnah

U.S. intelligence agencies earlier this month uncovered new evidence that al Qaeda-linked terrorists in Benghazi are training foreign jihadists to fight with Syria’s Islamist rebels, according to U.S. officials.

Ansar al-Sharia, the al Qaeda-affiliated militia that U.S. officials say orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound and a CIA facility in Benghazi, is running several training camps for jihadists in Benghazi and nearby Darnah, another port city further east, said officials who discussed some details of the camps on condition of anonymity.

The officials said the terror training camps have been in operation since at least May and are part of a network that funnels foreign fighters to Syrian rebel groups, including the Al-Nusra Front, the most organized of the Islamist rebel groups fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus.

Read full article.

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Max Manwaring: Translating Lessons Learned in Colombia and Other Wars Among the People: Confronting the Spectrum of 21st Century Conflict

Cultural Intelligence, Peace Intelligence
Dr. Col Max Manwaring
Dr. Col Max Manwaring

Translating Lessons Learned in Colombia and Other Wars Among the People: Confronting the Spectrum of 21st Century Conflict

by Max G. Manwaring

Translating Lessons Learned in Colombia and Other Wars Among the People: Confronting the Spectrum of 21st Century Conflict

Small Wars Journal, 27 August 2013

Beyond Afghanistan, we must define our effort not as a boundless global war on terror—but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America.  In many cases, this will involve partnerships with other countries…we must help countries modernize economies, upgrade education, and encourage entrepreneurship—because American leadership has always been elevated by our ability to connect with peoples’ hopes, and not simply their fears.

– President Barack Obama, Speech at the National Defense University, 23 May 2013

When we think about the possibilities of conflict, we Americans tend to invent for ourselves a comfortable U.S.-centric vision with an enemy who looks and acts more or less as we do, and a situation in which the fighting is done by conventional military units.  We must recognize, however, that in protecting our interests and confronting a hegemonic adversary today, the situation has changed.  That change is illustrated in different ways, ranging from the identity of the enemy to the very nature of conflict.  General Rupert Smith, (UK, Ret.) reminds us that,  “War as cognitively known to most non-combatants, war as a battle in a field between men and machinery, war as a massive deciding event in a dispute in international affairs, such war no longer exists…The old paradigm was that of interstate industrial war.  The new one is the paradigm of war amongst peoples.”[[1]] 21st Century reality, then, depicts an ambiguous, complex, and dangerous global security arena.  Some of the issues that emerge from an examination of the contemporary conflict arena are briefly outlined in subsequent parts of this article, and are outlined as follows:

Full article with notes below the line — Manwaring is one of America's greatest thinkers on this topic.

Continue reading “Max Manwaring: Translating Lessons Learned in Colombia and Other Wars Among the People: Confronting the Spectrum of 21st Century Conflict”

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Owl: More on Origins of False Flag Syrian Gas Attack Conspiracy

03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call
Who? Who?
Who? Who?

More on Origins of False Flag Syrian Gas Attack Conspiracy

This Yahoo item originally came out in January 2013 in a UK newspaper, The Daily Mail:

“London, Jan 30, 2013 (ANI): The Obama administration gave green signal to a chemical weapons attack plan in Syria that could be blamed on President Bashar al Assad's regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country, leaked documents have shown. A new report, that contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence, showed a scheme ‘approved by Washington'. As per the scheme ‘Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to use chemical weapons,' the Daily Mail reports.”
More:
US ‘backed plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria, blame it on Assad govt': Report
http://in.news.yahoo.com/us-backed-plan-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-syria-045648224.html

In this article, Syria's Foreign Minister refers to the US/European plot to start gas attacks and blame it on Assad (see article above), a tactic, he says, to be repeated soon in Europe, after Syria is bombed by the US and its allies, and likely providing an even better pretext to justify attacking Syria:
Syria says ‘terrorists' will strike Europe with chemical weapons
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/28/us-syria-crisis-europe-idUSBRE97R0N220130828

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Eagle: Eight Reasons US Youth Do Not Fight Back…

04 Education, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Officers Call
300 Million Talons...
300 Million Talons…

8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance

The ruling elite has created social institutions that have subdued young Americans and broken their spirit of resistance.

July 31, 2011  |

Traditionally, young people have energized democratic movements. So it is a major coup for the ruling elite to have created societal institutions that have subdued young Americans and broken their spirit of resistance to domination.

Young Americans—even more so than older Americans—appear to have acquiesced to the idea that the corporatocracy can completely screw them and that they are helpless to do anything about it. A 2010 Gallup poll asked Americans “Do you think the Social Security system will be able to pay you a benefit when you retire?” Among 18- to 34-years-olds, 76 percent of them said no. Yet despite their lack of confidence in the availability of Social Security for them, few have demanded it be shored up by more fairly payroll-taxing the wealthy; most appear resigned to having more money deducted from their paychecks for Social Security, even though they don’t believe it will be around to benefit them.

How exactly has American society subdued young Americans?

List only:

1. Student-Loan Debt.

2. Psychopathologizing and Medicating Noncompliance.

3. Schools That Educate for Compliance and Not for Democracy.

4. “No Child Left Behind” and “Race to the Top.”

5. Shaming Young People Who Take Education—But Not Their Schooling—Seriously.

6. The Normalization of Surveillance.

7. Television.

8. Fundamentalist Religion and Fundamentalist Consumerism.

Read full article.

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Rickard Falkvinge: The First Global Civil War (Over Civil Liberties)

03 Economy, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Law Enforcement, Media, Peace Intelligence
Rickard Falkvinge
Rickard Falkvinge

The First Global Civil War

Civil Liberties – Lionel Dricot:  Manning, Snowden, Assange, Miranda, The Guardian. With each passing day, we receive confirmation of a truth that many would prefer to ignore: we are at war. An undeclared, relatively quiet war, but nonetheless a war.

Unlike a conventional war, a civil war has no well defined front, nor belligerents clearly identifiable by the color of their uniform. Each camp is everywhere, in the same city, the same area, or ​​the same family.

On one hand, there is the class in power. Rich, powerful, they are used to control, they are alien to questions. They simply make decisions and are firmly convinced to do so in the public interest. They have many supporters that are neither rich nor powerful. But they fear any change. Or have strong habits. Or personal interests. Or have the fear of losing some of their properties. Or they simply don’t have the intellectual ability to understand the ongoing revolution.

On the other hand, there is the digital generation. From all sexes, all ages, all cultures, all geographic locations. They talk to each other, exchange experiences. Discovering their differences, they seek common ground while calling into question the deep faith and values ​​of their parents. I call them a “generation” but they are from all ages.

This population has developed values ​​of its own and an uncommon analytical intelligence. They use all the tools available to quickly pinpoint contradictions, ask relevant questions, lift the veil of false appearances. Across thousands of miles, its members can feel empathy towards all humans.

A Growing Gap

Continue reading “Rickard Falkvinge: The First Global Civil War (Over Civil Liberties)”

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SchwartzReport: Radio-Energized Water Eliminates Pesticides with Natural Nitrogen, Increases Output by 30%

01 Agriculture, 05 Energy, 07 Health, 12 Water

schwartzreport newThis story sounds too good to be true, and usually that means it is bogus. But the quality of the people involved, for all the extraordinary claims, suggests it is true, and the implications for agriculture are profoundly good news. I am struck also by the resemblance this story bears to homeopathy's view of water.

Wave Goodbye to Global Warming, GM and Pesticides
Independent (Eire)

Full story below the line.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Radio-Energized Water Eliminates Pesticides with Natural Nitrogen, Increases Output by 30%”

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NIGHTWATCH: Syria Update, Long Comment

03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 08 Proliferation

Syria: Update. The mainstream media headlines with slight variations predict that an attack against Syrian targets by US missiles could occur as early as Thursday. The UK and France are lobbying hard for action because of the alleged chemical attack.

Special Comment: Numerous pundits and experts have expounded on the need for the US to take action, the consequences of inaction, and the potential for a US attack to generate a regional conventional war. Curiously, they have not mentioned the probability of Iranian-instigated terrorist attacks in the US.

NightWatch has little to add to all that “wisdom,” but prefers to comment on matters not covered.

Feedback from one of the finest analysts alive provided a reminder that the “bugs and gas” (biological and chemical warfare) lobby in US intelligence contains fine people who get few opportunities to shine. That's because of the limits of intelligence on bugs and gas. Next to nukes (nuclear weapons) they are the most protected weapons a country, such as Syria and North Korea, has.

As a result, studies of national capabilities and stock piles of bugs and gas are notoriously suspect, but err on the side of caution because a little goes a long way. As a result, the record of predictive accuracy tends to be poor. That record includes the inaccurate judgments about various weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 2003.

Continue reading “NIGHTWATCH: Syria Update, Long Comment”

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