India-Pakistan: Today, on the eve of the first talks between foreign ministers since 2008, the Indian Home Affairs Ministry announced that India has obtained evidence that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate played a more significant role in the planning and execution of the November 2008 Mumbai attack than had previously been thought, according to Indian Home Secretary G. K. Pillai, Indian Express reported 14 July.
Pillai said information gathered from interrogations of David Headley, a U.S. citizen accused of helping plan the attack, indicated the ISI had planned the attack with Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Hafiz Saeed “from beginning to end.” He added that the ISI was not a peripheral player, but was controlling and coordinating the attack, and that Saeed also knew everything about the attack.
NIGHTWATCH Comment: The Indians have sprung a trap on the Pakistanis. It will be noteworthy if the talks are held at all. Every Indian acceptance of talks with Pakistan since November 2008 has been predicated on a discussion of terrorism first, specifically anti-Indian terrorism from Pakistan. Pakistan has argued for broader talks. Today, India narrowed the focus once again, while seeming to accept the Pakistani terms for more general discussions.
The Indian trap appears to be New Delhi's response to last week's Pakistani ministry of foreign affairs statement denouncing Indian “occupation” of Kashmir. The talks will go nowhere unless Pakistan agrees to deal effectively with ISI support to Pakistan-based terrorists, which is now almost beyond dispute. For India, Pakistan is a state sponsor of terrorism.
Phi Beta Iota: The incapacity of both NSA and CIA merit emphasis. For decades the Pakistanis have assured the USG and CIA participarly that the “radical” wing of the ISI was a “loose cannon” when it was in fact the centerpiece of Pakistani policy toward both India and the US. They did this to keep the billion a year going, from which they skimmed half to two thirds. CIA and NSA either did not get this, or blessed it, just as they either did not get or blessed the deliberate terrorist attack in Mumbai planned, funded, and executed by the Pakistani government.
“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.” —Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises
Imagine connecting item & service-requests to those lacking basic needs into a global online and mobile market forum like a Craigslist.org merged with Kiva+ SMS/txt message capabilities, something like Ushahidi, Wikimapia, as well as GoogleEarth-like & SecondLife-like 3D map to post photos and messages of requests and successful transactions without a centralized “middle-man” who manages everything.
Example: An African farmer needs a part for 1950’s Romanian pump. An aid worker posts need via UNICEF Rapid SMS. A Romanian engineer volunteers to make the part; a German pays for FedEx from Romania to Nigeria; a tourist commits to personally delivering it and posting a photograph of the farmer and repaired engine online to close out need.
It would be designed so that anyone could add “affordable” items (that meet a particular criteria) to the list. Please email earthintelnet |at| gmail.com if you have suggestions. For more info on the concept, see page 7 of the Earth Intelligence Network overview draft and this global range of nano-needs graphic. On 7/21/10 Craig Newmark of Craigslist.org sent this email: “..a number of people say they're working on similar efforts,” but he did not specify. Another great example is Practical Action's “Practical Presents” store where a goat, fish cage, farm tools, and many more products can be purchased for donation.
Global Range of Needs Index/Map/Forum could include the following items:
+ Cheap colloidal silver-treated water filters: see Potters Without Borders & Potters for Peace
+ Lifestraw, the one person water filter that can be worn around the neck
London, 14 July 2010: The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) of Oxford University and the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched a new poverty measure that gives a “multidimensional” picture of people living in poverty which its creators say could help target development resources more effectively.
The new measure, the Multidimensional Poverty Index, or MPI, was developed and applied by OPHI with UNDP support, and will be featured in the forthcoming 20th anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report. The MPI supplants the Human Poverty Index, which had been included in the annual Human Development Reports since 1997.
The MPI assesses a range of critical factors or ‘deprivations’ at the household level: from education to health outcomes to assets and services. Taken together, these factors provide a fuller portrait of acute poverty than simple income measures, according to OPHI and UNDP. The measure reveals the nature and extent of poverty at different levels: from household up to regional, national and international level. This new multidimensional approach to assessing poverty has been adapted for national use in Mexico, and is now being considered by Chile and Colombia.
Phi Beta Iota: Ralph Peters does not gush very often. Noted and recommended. By and large, America's so-called flag officers are a global disgrace–battalion commanders in way over the head, with no clue on multinational, joint, operations other than war, acquisition, military education & training, the list is long. The Secretary of Defense and the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence have been especially disappointing, since there is nothing about defense that is “intelligence-driven” and most especially acquisition–hence, as brilliant as this particular flag officer is, and we almost always agree with Ralph Peters' judgment, he is “lipstick on the pig.” It is still a pig.
Phi Beta Iota: Apart from Intelligence Online out of Paris, we regard the Association for Intelligence Officers (AFIO) in the USA, along with the Society of Competitive Intelligence Progressionals (SCIP) as being among the best of the best. Below is the table of contents from their latest newsletter. Anyone can join as a subscriber, at this time full membership is limited to US intelligence officers, but one day we hope to see AFIO become truly deeply multinational. In the meantime, we hold AFIO is the very highest regard and strongly recommend subscribing to their newsletter.
AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #26-10 dated 13 July 2010
CONTENTS
Section I – INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Afghan NSA Blasts Pak for Providing Safe Havens to Al-Qaeda, Other Terror Groups
Britain Pledges Inquiry Into Torture
North Korean Female Spy Spared
British Government Curbs Stop-and-Search Terrorism Powers
Two U.S. Spies for Cuba Ask Court to Jail Them Near Each Other
CIA to Debrief Agents Freed by Russia
NSA Offers Explanation of Perfect Citizen
Ex-CIA Chief: Secrecy After Attack on Syrian Nuclear Plant Unjustified
Microsoft Gives Source Code for Windows to KGB Successor
Lack of Ethnic Minorities a Concern in Intelligence Services
Yemen Arrests Journalist Over Links Al-Qaeda
Section II – CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE
Everything You Wanted to Know About the KGB But Were Afraid to Ask
Former Top CIA Spy: How US Intelligence Became Big Business
Ex-KGB General: Soviet Spy Stood Ready to Poison DC's Water
Five Spy Experts Discuss Lessons Learned from the Spy Swap
Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity is almost here…I'm excited to share the news that my book will ship from the printer on August 6th.
Amazon Page
To get that buzz going, I'm asking everyone I know to help me get the book off to a fast start! Please consider picking up a copy of the book, perhaps even ordering a second copy as a gift for a friend. Or forward this message on to people you think would find the book of interest so that they can pre-order a copy for themselves.
I'm thrilled with how the book turned out. Esthetically, it is beautiful. And based on the feedback from many of you, people are finding the content useful and inspiring. I look forward to your feedback.
Engaging Emergence offers principles, practices, and real-word stories for bringing compassion, creativity, and wisdom to the entire arc of change-from disruption to coherence. For more about the contents, click here.
Thank you again for your support — of me and of the book.
Appreciatively,
Peggy Holman
Phi Beta Iota: Peggy Holman is one of the top grass-roots leadership and self-organization gurus in the USA, and easily among the top 100 in the world.She may be the most active practitioner of Open Space Technology as conceived by Harrison Owen.
CitySourced Integrates San Francisco’s Open 311 System San Francisco — May 5th, 2010 — CitySourced, a real time mobile civic engagement company and a finalist at the 2009 TechCrunch50 conference, announced today that its innovative mobile phone application is now integrated with the San Francisco Open311 API to send reports from CitySourced directly to San Francisco’s 311 system. 311 systems allow citizens to connect directly with non-emergency government offices.
The ‘warrior monk'
Ralph Peters
