02 Diplomacy – Page 24 – Public Intelligence Blog

2011/05/012011/05/12

Bin Laden Show Part 04: President of Pakistan and China Against the Pakistani Military & Tribes

02 China, 02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Iran, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Military

Pakistan did its part

By Asif Ali Zardari, Monday, May 2

Although the events of Sunday were not a joint operation, a decade of cooperation and partnership between the United States and Pakistan led up to the elimination of Osama bin Laden as a continuing threat to the civilized world. And we in Pakistan take some satisfaction that our early assistance in identifying an al-Qaeda courier ultimately led to this day.

China carries Benazir Bhutto’s dream – by Antoaneta Becker

Zardari and Chinese leaders reportedly discussed investment opportunities in numerous sectors, including port development, hydropower, roads, railways, mining and others.

Among the projects discussed between Beijing and Islamabad is a proposed railway to link Kashgar to the southern Pakistan port of Gwadar. If realized, it would give China direct access to the Arabian Sea and provide an alternative route should a naval blockade cut oil supplies from the Middle East.

“All Chinese plans for gaining access to resource-rich Central Asia and building energy pipelines pass through Gilgit-Baltistan,” said Syed. “Gilgit, the northern areas capital, has acquired the status of gateway to Central Asia after Pakistan-China barter trade agreement and accords with Central Asian States.”

say no to pak — Click on Image to Enlarge

Pakistan: Bhutto's shadow lingers as Zardari takes reins of power

Benazir's husband is voted in amid muted rejoicing, but army hostility and militant violence could threaten hopes for stability, reports Jason Burke

Phi Beta Iota: The Op Ed is “party line” stuff. Not in the Op-Ed is the fact that China is the President's primary ally, and the military and the tribes do not like him. Not in the Op Ed is China's enormous success across multiple fronts in Pakistan, including its ownership of the port of Gwadar, previously addressed here at Phi Beta Iota. While the USA has been waging war, badly, without a strategy and without a return on investment in mind, China has been waging peace. We are reminded of how Iran lured the US neoconservatives into Iraq. In the absence of intelligence and integrity at the highest levels of the US Government, China wins, Russia ties, and US loses, across Central Asia, over the next decade. Ultimately this region is about water and rare metals. The region is not conquerable. Brzezinski and his disciple Obama don't get that yet. President Zardari is not the man his wife was (see our review of her book below).

2011/04/28

Pakistan Rules in Afghanistan–Petraeus Who?

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, History, Intelligence (government), IO Impotency, Methods & Process, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Waste (materials, food, etc)

I'm told this story is in every newspaper and on television in Afghanistan. Most Afghans believe it to be true. Basically, in spite of the Administration's posturing, Pakistan would become the governing power in Afghanistan…..The Administration's statements show a clear lack of understanding about this region….

Pakistan Tells Afghanistan: Expel the Americans

ByAhmad K. Majidyar | National Review Online

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Pakistan's leaders “bluntly” told Afghanistan's president “to forget about allowing a long-term U.S. military presence in his country,” and urged him instead “to look to Pakistan–and its Chinese ally–for help in striking a peace deal with the Taliban and rebuilding the economy.” According to Afghan officials, at an April 16 meeting in Kabul in which the leaders of Pakistan's military and intelligence also participated, Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told Pres. Hamid Karzai that “the Americans had failed them both,” and that it was time for Kabul to choose “alternative allies.” The Pakistani delegation also outlined a number of demands to the Afghan leader. Afghanpaper.com, quoting an unnamed Afghan official, lists Pakistan's demands as:

Read full article….

Continue reading “Pakistan Rules in Afghanistan–Petraeus Who?”

2011/04/282011/04/28

The Library of Utility

01 Agriculture, 01 Poverty, 02 Diplomacy, 02 Infectious Disease, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Education, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Energy, 07 Health, 08 Proliferation, 11 Society, 12 Water, Earth Intelligence, History, Threats, Uncategorized

“I imagine a library atop a remote mountain that collects the essential information needed to re-learn practical knowledge essential to civilization. This depot, open to anyone who journeys there, is the cultural equivalent of the Svalbard seed bank, a vault on the Arctic Circle that holds frozen seeds of crop plants from around the world. The utilitarian documents in this vault would be the seeds of culture, able to sprout again if needed. It would be the Library of Utility, and it would serve as civilization’s backup.”

Kevin Kelly – Author of What Technology Wants.

Read the article The Library of Utility on the Blog of the Long Now Foundation.

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Conscious, Evolutionary, Integral Activism & Goodness

2011/04/192011/04/19

US Declares War on Iran (2005)–Ron Paul

02 China, 02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Iran, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency

In what may be one of the finest five minute presentations by Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX-14), he summarizes how US sanctions are equivalent to a declaration of war, and goes on to review how we are spending one trillion dollars a year (that we borrow) to militarize the world, in the process driving everyone into the hands of the Chinese.

This does not appear to be a prepared speech–it appears to be statesmanlike common-sense. Phenomenal.

Ron Paul on US Act of War Against Iran

See also the various other YouTube offerings on this topic.

2011/04/132011/04/13

Liberation Technology Snap-Shot

02 Diplomacy, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Multinational, IO Technologies, Technologies

Liberation technology: dreams, politics, history

Armine Ishkanian, 5 April 2011

openDemocracy

The doctrinal commitment to new cyber and social technologies as a means of solving political problems needs to learn from the past and take a more realistic view, says Armine Ishkanian.

Read full article with many links.

From Google Group The Next Net:

I just finished a conference call on the minimal mandatory requirements for liberation technology for a specific area (there are at least another 50 that would need the same stuff–a generic capability–but in 50 other languages).

1. $169 cell phone to satellite communications converters, but structured to look like some other popular digital music device, along with a turnkey solar-powered Internet hotspot.

2. Open satellite channel over the area in question that can receive collect calls from anyone in the area of interest using an announced number and one of the devices.

3. Downloadable encryption for any cell phone on a use and delete basis from the satellite channel…like digital one time pads with no residue.

3. Satellite radio into the area of interest with real news relevant to that population including news of the diaspora and exile leadership.

4. Internet steganography.

I thought CIA, BBG, and JSOG were supposed to be able to do all that. Evidently not. I am being told that a fund-raising campaign is starting up to provide these capabilities to no fewer than three areas, possibly expanding to sixteen, all privately funded because the USG is not doing it.

– – – – – –

Here is a sample headline that sums up the current state of US Government attention to “liberation technology.”

Bureau of International Information Programs Coordinator Dawn L. McCall Travels to Los Angeles and San Francisco, California April 11 – April 15

Phi Beta Iota: Ms. McCall is a very accomplished Discovery Channel executive with remarkable achievements in one to many broadcasting. She has been in her current position since 27 July 2010 and does not appear to be headed for Assistant Secretary status anytime soon. The Undersecretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs is Ms. Judith A. McHale, formerly President and CEO of Discovery Communications, parent of the Discovery Channel.

2011/04/042011/04/04

US Diplomats Lighting Electronic Insurgency Fire

02 Diplomacy, Advanced Cyber/IO, Cultural Intelligence, Government

Interesting…..what are the potential ramifications, electronic
insurgencies?

Hillary Clinton's Senior Tech Advisor Talks “Radical” Global Citizenship

BY Gregory Ferenstein, 4 April 2011

Alec Ross on subversive technologies, Libya, Wikileaks, and the future of digital diplomacy.”We're willing to make mistakes of commission,” he tells Fast Company, “rather than omission.”

In the turbulent center of the Venn diagram involving President Obama's multilateral foreign policy, open government mandates, and Middle-East unrest is Alec Ross, the Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. From asking Twitter to delay down-time maintenance during the 2009 student uprising to courting programmers for Africa, Ross's office has been tasked with coordinating the monumental logistics of a new philosophy that embraces global interdependence. Ross spoke with Fast Company about the meaning of the highly controversial “global citizenship” concept, the diplomatic difficulties in supporting subversive technologies, and the future of transparency.

Read complete article….

Continue reading “US Diplomats Lighting Electronic Insurgency Fire”

2011/03/312011/03/31

Nattering Nabobs on Libya–Never Mind Ethics

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Military, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

This how the influencers are influenced to justify to the “prol's that rule of law properly means nothing. All in place before Obama sent in Special ops and claimed that there were no boots on the ground.

Reasonable cop/barbaric cop.

Declare victory and get on with ousting Gaddafi

By Mark Malloch-Brown

Financial Times, March 31 2011 15:12

It is not just Libya that now risks long-term division. Telltale signs of fragmentation in the international community’s approach are opening up. Not for the first time Muammer Gaddafi may be on the verge of securing a public relations coup against his western opponents. Now we must declare humanitarian victory, and regroup.

Tuesday’s London conference was a confused affair. The Germans and the Italians touted a ceasefire and exile for Colonel Gaddafi. Others, notably Saudi Arabia and the African Union, stayed away. The US and the UK, meanwhile, insisted the military job was not done, with David Cameron, the UK prime minister, noting on Wednesday that UN Security Council resolution 1973 might give the allies a legal basis to arm the Libyan opposition.