Journal ISSN 1078-1935 – Page 2893 – Public Intelligence Blog

Panels and keynotes program schedule I was told via email from someone involved in the event that a video will be posted online.I will be posting this over a the Earth Institute blog (especially since it has zero comments for the March 25 event) as a challenge to improve the overall framework of the “State of the Planet 2012”.

State of the Planet 2010 Event Report:
Intro
I attended this bi-annual event in 2008. At that time there was not a global webcast that included panelists located in other countries. At the 2010 event, there was a V.I.P. section closer to the ‘stage' that I was not notified about. The V.I.P. section had about 3 times more people than the non V.I.P. section which was odd. Despite it being a V.I.P. section, there was never enough time given to them to ask all the questions via microphone. This is a Jeffrey Sachs event, it's his show. He's the main advisor to Ban Ki-Moon, and friends with the president of Mexico (who keynoted this event), so it seems to be more from his perspective and his friends. Therefore, it was a very narrow-visioned event that should not be entitled “State of the Planet”. People involved with the publication “State of the Future” for over a decade (www.stateofthefuture.org) were never mentioned, invited, or asked to contribute. Yet, these people have worked with the United Nations for over a decade. Collective intelligence has been written and software is being developed by those involved in the “State of the Future” (Millennium Project), yet Jeffrey Sachs was attributed to the idea of “worldwide brainstorming” for “collective invention”. And unfortunately, there was an obsession at this event on ‘climate change' and carbon. “Industrialization footprint” involves a broader range of hazards and toxins that needs more air time. More ‘fluid' thinking was lacking while an excess of a kind of cloned groupthink was prevalent (or ‘carbon copying' if you will, pun intended). The forum has great potential but as of 2008 & 2010, is too insulated and will not be respected as highly intelligent and strategically effective by a broad range of people (outside of Ivy League Columbia) concerned about serious global issues. On an interesting note, Zbigniew Brzezinski was once a Columbia professor (see Obama video on his Brezinski recognition).
Continue reading “EVENT REPORT: State of the Planet 2010, Columbia Univ, New York City”

2010/03/252010/03/25

Search: what are some the atrocities of genocide

Searches

Genocide and Other Atrocities have been isolated from one another because of the enormous gravity of the two different high-level threats to humanity, threats #6 and #7 respectively, as validated and priorities in the UN High-Level Panel Report, A More Secure World–Our Shared Responsibility–Report of the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change.

Genocide focuses on the extermination of an entire group. There is no finer site for the study of genocide than that created by Dr. Greg Stanton, Genocide Watch.

Other Atrocities focus on categories of crimes against humanity that include trade in women and children, trade in body parts (for which people can be involuntarily kidnapped or if in prison, operated on against their will, or the lesser but still atrocious harvesting of organs without permission, e.g. by the Israeli's in Haiti and my multiple groups offering financial incentives without full information or post-operative guarantees). This is not to be confused with medical tourism. Sweat shops are not quite in Other Atrocities (in our view) but slavery is, see for example Review: Nobodies–Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy. Lynching, extrajudicial killings, and comprehensive repressive racism is an Other Atrocity until it turns into a sustained campaign of violence against a specific group, e.g. Israel against the Palestinians.

Democide or “death by government” is a term that seeks to distinguish between genocide (killing them all) and the other atrocity of killing enough of them so that they all leave, a form of ethnic cleansing that leaves open the door for forced massed migration, itself an Other Atrocity. A most interesting aspect of Democide is its “routine” nature; opinion varies on whether the death of roughly 80 million people from failed or mis-guided government policies including those of the U.S. Government that have both increased poverty in America–as well as assorted injustices–and destroyed hope world-wide with unjustified support to Israel and 41 of the 44 dictators, many of whom have come to power with US complicity in the overthrow of legitimate indigenous regimes more committed to the public interest and their indigenous public. See among many other references Killing Hope–U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II-Updated Through 2003 and Breaking the Real Axis of Evil–How to Oust the World’s Last Dictators by 2025.

2010/03/252010/09/02

Journal: Legality of US Drones as Killing Machines . . .

08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Government, Military

berto small — Berto Jongman Recommends...

U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Hearing:

“Rise of the Drones:

Unmanned Systems and the Future of War”

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 2:00 pm 2154 Rayburn House Office Building Written Testimony Submitted By Kenneth Anderson March 18, 2010

2010/03/222010/03/22

Video: Iraq Elections but Without Stability + New Book “The Iraq Papers”

Iraq, Videos/Movies/Documentaries

Thanks to Steven Aftergood & Secrecy News for the heads up on the new book The Iraq Papers. Secrecy News' email newsletter describes it this way:

Book page

An extensive compilation of official documents, policy advocacy statements, and assorted commentary on the U.S. decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 is presented in “The Iraq Papers,” a new book from Oxford University Press.Since it seems that there will be no new official reckoning of the Iraq war or other Bush Administration policy choices, it will be left to others to achieve their own understanding of the Bush era and its aftermath. “The Iraq Papers” provides one possible documentary starting point.”The decision to invade Iraq launched a new doctrine of preemptive war, mired the American military in an intractable armed conflict, disrupted world petroleum supplies, cost the United States billions of dollars, and damaged or ended the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans and Iraqis,” the book states.The book editors are not overly perplexed by these events. Somewhat heavy-handedly, they offer their own interpretation of events involving the decisive influence of neo-conservatives, the unitary executive, and a U.S. drive to global hegemony, among other factors. Alternative explanations are not considered here.

Video from LinkTV.org's “Mosaic Intelligence Report” on Iraq elections and Iran & Saudi influence in elections (from March 19)

2010/03/192010/03/25

Journal: Pentagon as VERY Slow Learner….

03 Economy, 04 Education, 10 Security, 11 Society, Government, Military

Time.com March 18, 2010

To Battle Computer Hackers, The Pentagon Trains Its Own

By Mark Thompson, Washington

“More than 100 foreign intelligence organizations are trying to hack into U.S. systems,” Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn warned last month. “Some governments already have the capacity to disrupt elements of the U.S. information infrastructure.” So the Pentagon recently modified its regulations to allow military computer experts to be trained in computer hacking, gaining designation as “certified ethical hackers.” They'll join more than 20,000 such good-guy hackers around the world who have earned that recognition since 2003 from the private International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (also known as the EC-Council).

Continue reading “Journal: Pentagon as VERY Slow Learner….”

2010/03/182010/03/22

Journal: OUT OF CONTROL–The Demise of Responsible Government “Intelligence” III

Civil Society, Government, Law Enforcement, Media, Military

Message from sender:

I am sure they do see a threat. If the Pentagon were not engaged in such a broad spectrum of illegal and corrupt practices wikileaks would not be seen as such a threat.

Phi Beta Iota: We ran this story earlier, but now that the New York Times is running it, it merits emphasis in conjunction with the other two “OUT OF CONTROL” posts. The Pentagon is nuts on the inside and criminal on the outside” They have lost sight of their mission, their roots within the Republic, and their responsibility to be responsible. Wikileaks, in sharp contrast, is an non-profit organization funded by human rights campaigners, investigative journalists, technologists and the general public.

Pentagon Sees a Threat From Online Muckrakers

By STEPHANIE STROM March 18, 2010

WikiLeaks.org, a tiny online source of information that governments and corporations would prefer to keep secret, published an Army report about itself.

To the list of the enemies threatening the security of the United States, the Pentagon has added WikiLeaks.org, a tiny online source of information and documents that governments and corporations around the world would prefer to keep secret.

The Pentagon assessed the danger WikiLeaks.org posed to the Army in a report marked “unauthorized disclosure subject to criminal sanctions.” It concluded that “WikiLeaks.org represents a potential force protection, counterintelligence, OPSEC and INFOSEC threat to the U.S. Army” — or, in plain English, a threat to Army operations and information.

2010/03/182010/03/22

Journal: OUT OF CONTROL–The Demise of Responsible Government “Intelligence” II

Ethics, Government, Military

Admin Threatens Veto Over GAO Role in Intel Oversight

March 17th, 2010 by Steven Aftergood

One of the simplest, most effective ways to strengthen congressional oversight of intelligence would be for Congress to make increased use of specially cleared investigators from the Government Accountability Office. This is such a straightforward step towards improving oversight that it was even championed by CIA Director Leon Panetta when he was a Congressman.

But the Obama Administration told Congress on Monday that new language to reinforce the GAO’s role in intelligence oversight was among several provisions in the pending FY2010 Intelligence Authorization Act that were objectionable to the White House and that might prompt a presidential veto of the bill.

Continue reading “Journal: OUT OF CONTROL–The Demise of Responsible Government “Intelligence” II”