Journal ISSN 1078-1935 – Page 2125 – Public Intelligence Blog

2012/11/212012/11/21

Berto Jongman: RAND Panel on Diplomatic Goals and Counter-Terrorism Centered on Benghazi — First US Ambassador Killed in 30 Years

The American point of view?

Intelligence experts discuss strategies for dealing with terrorism. Former Saudi Intelligence chief Prince Turki Al Faisal, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Dobbins and others talk with Reuters columnist David Rohde in a panel called “Countering Terrorist Threats, Real and Imagined” at Rand Corporation's “Politics Aside” conference in Santa Monica, Calif. (November 21, 2012)

Phi Beta Iota: It was not a terrorist attack. It was a commissioned, well-planned and probably state-sponsored attack against a CIA “covert” base, not a diplomatic facility, that was engaged in acts of war against the legitimate Syrian government. The Ambassador was collateral damage. Benghazi is a micro-cosm of everything that is wrong with the US Government in the foreign afffairs arena (starting with delusional amateurs incapable of comprehending that we are our own worst enemy). The Syrian government's roles is being concealed from the public, and NSA is as usual behind if not completely incompetent on the relevant intercepts.

2012/11/212012/11/21

Dolphin: Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Wins Indira Gandhi 2012 Prize for Peace, Disarmament, & Development

Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of Peace, Peace Intelligence

A positive contrast to the corrupt Nobel Peace Price.

Liberia: Ellen Wins India's Peace Prize

The Honorary Consulate General of India in Liberia has announced that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been awarded the Indira Gandhi 2012 price for peace, disarmament, and development.

A communication issued by the Indian Honorary Consul General Upjit Singh Sachdeva on November 19, 2012 said the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development is one of India's most prestigious awards, administered by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.

The release said the award will be conferred upon President Sirleaf by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee during the Liberian leader's pending visit to India, which is being arranged.

ellen sirleaf — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
President of Liberia

The Consul General said the prize was instituted to commemorate Indira Gandhi's outstanding contribution to India and global well-being, as well as to promote the laudable causes she espoused.

“After receiving nominations from around the world, final selection for the Prize is made by a Jury of eminent persons, headed by the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh and including eminent International Scientists and Jurists,” the release said.

The Consul General said the 2012 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development is being awarded to President Sirleaf for serving as “an example and an inspiration to many a woman in Africa and beyond; for ensuring the return of peace, democracy, development, security and order in Liberia; and her strong interest in the consolidation and improvement of Liberia's relations with India since her first election as President in 2005 and her re – election in 2011”.

Moreover, President Sirleaf has been singled out for the prize for restoring financial health to Liberia which was on the verge of fiscal breakdown.

Continue reading “Dolphin: Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Wins Indira Gandhi 2012 Prize for Peace, Disarmament, & Development”

2012/11/21

NIGHTWATCH: Fall of Jordan Impact on Israel?

Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government

israel and jordan — Click on Image to Enlarge

Jordan: Update. Anti-government protests occurred for four days last week and might still be taking place. However no mainstream news services have provided recent update reports on anti-government ferment in Jordan.

Comment: The Gaza story has more glamor than Jordan, but threats to the Hashemite monarchy are far more significant for the stability of the Middle East than the Gaza fighting.

NIGHTWATCH KGS Home

Phi Beta Iota: The three dictatorships that surrounded Israel and provided stability for Israel despite the cost to their own populations, are in turmoil. Egypt is no longer stable; Syria may re-stabilize but is at risk; Jordan is increasingly at risk. It is Israel's tragedy that it is an invented state; that it has chosen to be genocidal toward the Palestinian people whose land it has taken over; and that it has relied on its stability and survival on three dictators. This is not a sustainable proposition.

2012/11/202012/11/20

Mini-Me: Spinning Benghazi

Government, Ineptitude, Military

Huh?

Mainstream Media Caught In Snarl Of Tangled Benghazi Yarns (Larry Bell in Forbes)

Tightly spun accounts of when and what the president and top administration officials knew and did prior to, during and following the deadly 9/11 terrorist attack on our Benghazi consulate are unraveling at warp speed.

The Benghazi Circus (Joe Klein in TIME)

There were two attacks in Benghazi that night. The first was a spontaneous response to the anti-Islamic film that had caused similar protests in Cairo and elsewhere. That is important: there would have been no terrorist attack if the film hadn’t provided the opportunity for mayhem.

The Benghazi Test: How and Why Obama's Foreign Policy Passed It (Dominic Terney in Atlantic)

Benghazi is what a “scandal” looks like when there aren't any real scandals to talk about.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: Spinning Benghazi”

2012/11/202012/11/20

Robert Steele: Big Four Audit Firms “Not Our Job to Detect Fraud”

Commerce, Corruption

steele smiling final — Robert David STEELE Vivas
Click on Image for Bio Page

I do not make this stuff up. Of course one has to recognize that “best practices” are defined to favor the larger players, and the larger players are very interested in things like import-export pricing fraud and other less than ethical tax avoidance strategies. But the idea that the Big Four do not consider it part of their job to detect fraud when evaluating companies for acquisition, I find reprehensible. In addition, Hewlett-Packard was insanely cavalier at multiple levels, not least of all in assigning $6.6 billion as the intangible asset value of “good will” in the purchase of Autonomy — for that alone everyone at HP who signed off on the deal should be walking the plank. What troubles me as I continue to reflect on the importance of transparency, truth, and trust, is that fraud is so heavily embedded into our politics and economics that the Big Four feel absolutely no shame in adopting such an outrageous position. As a society, we are broken.

Hewlett-Packard's Autonomy Allegations: A Material Writedown Puts All Four Audit Firms On The Spot

Francine McKenna

Forbes, 20 November 2012

You can bring a Big Four audit firm to court for missing a major accounting fraud but it’s much harder to bring the auditor to justice.

Deloitte was the auditor of Autonomy, a UK software firm acquired by HP in 2011 for $11.7 billion. HP announced today it is writing down more than $5 billion, or almost half of the acquisition price, because of “serious accounting improprieties, misrepresentation and disclosure failures”.

Continue reading “Robert Steele: Big Four Audit Firms “Not Our Job to Detect Fraud””

2012/11/202012/11/20

Berto Jongman: Palantir “Demo” on Identifying Rebel Groups in Syria

IO Impotency

Identifying Rebel Groups in Syria: An Analytical Methodology

Nov 2, 2012 – Joseph Holliday

In a narrated demonstration, Joseph Holliday presents his methodology to identify and track rebel groups in Syria. Using international media, YouTube videos, and Facebook pages, he verifies and describes rebel activity and assigns responsibility to named rebel groups. Often publishing records of their attacks, rebel groups provide a wealth of information about their capabilities, key personalities, principal values, and locations through film and other digital media. Analyzing these films and verifying observations through additional sources, Joseph Holliday has been able to describe changes in rebel capability, objectives, and limitations over time with a high degree of accuracy.

Phi Beta Iota: Pedestrian poop, neither analytical nor helpful, and certainly not worth the time/price inputs. Worth watching for a sense of how little this offers. Technology is not a substitute for thinking, and incoherent visuals are not a substitute for applied human intelligence that can answer a specific foward-looking question.

2012/11/202012/11/20

David Isenberg: CIA Closes Climate Center

Earth Intelligence, Government, Ineptitude

CLIMATE: Amid budget scrutiny, CIA shutters climate center

Annie Snider, E&E reporter

Greenwire: Monday, November 19, 2012

With the U.S. intelligence budget shrinking, the CIA has quietly shut down its Center on Climate Change and National Security — a project that was launched with the support of Leon Panetta when he led the agency, but that drew sharp criticism from some Republicans in Congress.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the center said it closed its doors earlier this year, with its staff and analysis continuing under other auspices.

CIA spokesman Todd Ebitz confirmed the change.

“The CIA for several years has studied the national security implications of climate change,” Ebitz said in a statement to Greenwire. “This work is now performed by a dedicated team in an office that looks at a variety of economic and energy security issues affecting the United States.”

The CIA launched the climate change center in September 2009 after a spate of reports linking climate change and national security that drew interest from some members of Congress seeking political action on climate change.

Continue reading “David Isenberg: CIA Closes Climate Center”