Category: Policies

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Arturo Valenzuela Quits–US Ignoring South

01 Brazil, 07 Venezuela, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Peace Intelligence, Policies, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Strategy, Threats
Arturo Valenzuela

The head of the U.S. State Department’s Latin American and Caribbean will resign this summer.

Arturo Valenzuela announced he will leave his post of Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs to return to Georgetown University, where he taught before his appointment by Barack Obama in 2009.

The United States currently doesn’t have ambassadors in Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador. There are only rudimentary diplomatic relations with Cuba.

No Difference

Phi Beta Iota: As with Anne Marie Slaughter, he no doubt has a two-year limit or he loses tenure.   It does not really matter who is in the office.   Those of us who care about the Caribbean, Central, and South America have known since 2008 that there is no difference between the policies or lack thereof of the Bush-Cheney Administration, and those of the Obama-Clinton Administration.  When Huge Chavez handed Barack Obama a copy of Open Veins of Latin America–Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent it became the duty of every person of integrity to read that book.  Evidently Barack Obama chose not to read it, and just as he misled all US citizens into thinking that he represented change, so also has he failed the entire Southern Hemisphere.

See Also:

Reference: Empire of Lies & Secrecy

Guest Post: Analysis of the Global Insurrection Against Neo-Liberal Economic Domination and the Coming American Rebellion

Review: SAVAGE CAPITALISM AND THE MYTH OF DEMOCRACY–Latin America in the Third Millennium

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Seth Godin: High School Done Right

04 Education, 11 Society, Academia, Advanced Cyber/IO, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics
Seth Godin Home

What's high school for?

Perhaps we could endeavor to teach our future the following:

  • How to focus intently on a problem until it's solved.
  • The benefit of postponing short-term satisfaction in exchange for long-term success.
  • How to read critically.
  • The power of being able to lead groups of peers without receiving clear delegated authority.
  • An understanding of the extraordinary power of the scientific method, in just about any situation or endeavor.
  • How to persuasively present ideas in multiple forms, especially in writing and before a group.
  • Project management. Self-management and the management of ideas, projects and people.
  • Personal finance. Understanding the truth about money and debt and leverage.
  • An insatiable desire (and the ability) to learn more. Forever.
  • Most of all, the self-reliance that comes from understanding that relentless hard work can be applied to solve problems worth solving.
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Call for Nuclear Global Phase Out

Advanced Cyber/IO, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making, Key Players, Policies, Serious Games, Threats

The Right Livelihood Award Foundation

Newsletter April 2011

Call for Global Nuclear Phase Out

In the aftermath of Fukushima, 50 Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award and members of the World Future Council demanded in a joint statement a global nuclear phase out.

“Nuclear power is neither the answer to modern energy problems nor a panacea for climate change challenges. There is no solution of problems by creating more problems,” states the declaration, issued by experts, activists, politicians, clergy, entrepreneurs and scientists from 26 countries.

Click here to read the full statement and to see the list of signees.

For Brazilian-Portuguese, please click here.

A German translation is available here.

Phi Beta Iota: Buckminster Fuller had it right.  Infinite free (renewable) energy is achievable, and the foundation for everything else.  That is what the anthrosphere needs, and that is what would make the anthrosphere naturally self-sustaining [it would also have extraordinary impact on water immediately and waste vaporation over time].

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Regional Metamorphosis & Social Architecture

Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Augmented Reality, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, info-graphics/data-visualization, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process, Open Government, Policies, Serious Games, Standards, Strategy, Technologies, Tools

May 10th: Let the Infinite Games Begin!

svii

At our April 6 SVII gathering Bill Veltrop, co-founder of the Monterey Institute for Social Architecture (MISA), introduced Regional Metamorphosis as a pragmatic strategy for accelerating our movement into an Age of Conscious Evolution. Jesse Clark and colleagues then produced a video that does a great job of capturing the intent and spirit of that evening.

At the conclusion of the April 6 gathering Howard asserted that Silicon Valley had what it takes to be a leader in a regional metamorphosis movement. Howard invited us to explore this possibility together at a May 10th gathering at Serena Software from 4-7 PM.

Questions for you:

  1. Are you a GRIP, a game ready infinite player? Check your “symptoms” against this profile. http://www.theinfinitegames.org/e02/02.php
  1. Does the idea of playing a key role in bootstrapping a Silicon Valley regional metamorphosis initiative intrigue you? Below are some of the key roles we see needed if we are to turn this large idea into a global movement:

TEN MOST WANTED EVOLUTIONARIES

  • Angel Investors
  • Multimedia Story-tellers
  • Transformational Leaders
  • Champions of Generative Initiative
  • Leader for a Center for Regional Metamorphosis
  • Bridge-Builders from Academia
  • Online Collaboration Web Weavers
  • Developmental Mavens
  • Providers of Generative Services
  • Regional Conveners
  1. Are you willing to join with other interested GRIPs at Serena Software from 4-7 on Tuesday, May 10? At this gathering we will be —
  • Getting to know who we are — what each of us cares about, and could bring to this emerging infinite game
  • Diving more deeply into the ideas presented on April 6
  • Exploring for the best approach to getting traction in Silicon Valley — and beyond

Requests

  • If you plan to attend, please register here.
  • Register for May 10th: Let the infinite games begin! in Redwood City, CA on Eventbrite
  • The address is:
    Serena Software Inc
    1900 Seaport Boulevard,
    Redwood City, CA
  • If you can’t attend but are definitely interested, or if you have any questions, please contact Bill@MISA.ws or call at 831-462-1992
  • If you’ve a friend/colleague GRIP who is a good fit, please invite him/her to join us.
  • If you attended our April 6th gathering, you may find it helpful to refresh your memory with this video, http://vimeo.com/22894801
  • If you were not at the April 6th event it’s important that you invest the time to watch the video. The May 10th gathering will build on our April 6 work together.

Tip of the Hat to David Alan and Mark Roest.

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Oil, Food, Middle Class Down = Long Emergency

01 Brazil, 02 China, 03 Economy, 03 India, 04 Indonesia, 05 Energy, 06 Family, 06 Russia, 07 Venezuela, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, IO Sense-Making
John Robb

D2 SCENARIO

I gave a little talk at a financial conference (Casey Research) that included the following very simple economic scenario:

  • Oil prices are going up (inexorably). China + Peak Oil + Financial diversification. Oil doesn't stop going up until GDP goes down. It's an inexorable force until then.
  • The US middle class is broken.  A hollow husk unable to withstand the slightest gust.  Regardless, it's the ultimate source of demand for the global economy. It's an immovable barrier.
  • When oil hits ~$150 a barrel the impact occurs between inexorable force and immovable barrier. The combo of higher prices at the pump and for everything else (food and other essentials) starts to crush middle class budgets and force defaults.  The economy shrinks until the price of oil goes down enough to be affordable again (for those still left in the middle class).

We keep repeat the pattern above until we're in the second depression (D2).  Long term low demand.

Phi Beta Iota: This is precisely why the BRICS (now including South Africa) and a new coalition, perhaps led by Cuba and Venezuela since Chile is refusing to lead, should focus on the immediate challenge of creating infinite free renewable energy–the foundation for global non-zero advances.  Such a strategy would be inherently ethical, legal, citizen-centered, and non-violent as well as non-intrusive on any conceivable concept of sovereignty or indigenous privilege.

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Get Ready for a Global Growth Slowdown

03 Economy, Commercial Intelligence, Key Players
Chuck Spinney Recommends...

A good tour of the world economy by my my friend Marshall Auerback

Get Ready for a Global Growth Slowdown

Tuesday, 05/3/2011 – 1:31 pm by Marshall Auerback | 9 Comments

marshall-auerback-100Governments across the globe are headed for a disaster entirely of their own making.

Though capital markets remain strong, the global economic backdrop continues to deteriorate as fiscal retrenchment takes hold. Commodity markets have rallied in tandem with the fall in the dollar even though there are signs that growth in the emerging world is slowing. Japan’s economy is in the soup, the U.S. economy has failed to pick up as many thought (with a mere 2% growth rate expected to be released for Q1 shortly), and the European economy is overdue for its own slowdown. The U.S. stock market has also rallied despite the threat of a very high gasoline price, disappointing economic growth data, and a fairly mixed earnings picture.

Read full article….

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Changing the World, One Map at a Time

Advanced Cyber/IO, Augmented Reality, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, info-graphics/data-visualization, InfoOps (IO), Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Movies, Non-Governmental, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence, Policies, Real Time, Reform, Threats, Videos/Movies/Documentaries

Video: Changing the World, One Map at a Time

Hosted in the beautiful city of Berlin, Re:publica 2011 is Germany's largest annual conference on blogs, new media and the digital society, drawing thousands of participants from across the world for three days of exciting conversations and presentations. The conference venue was truly a spectacular one and while conference presentations are typically limited to 10-20 minutes, the organizers gave us an hour to share our stories. So I'm posting the video of my presentation below for anyone interested in learning more about new media, crowdsourcing, crisis mapping, live maps, crisis response, civil resistance, digital activism and check-in's. I draw on my experience with Ushahidi and the Standby Volunteer Task Force (SBTF) and share examples from Kenya, Haiti, Libya, Japan, the US and Egypt to illustrate how live maps can change the world.

Click to Visit Original Post and then View Video (53:41, Color, Major Stage Presentation)

Theme: combined clouds and crowds to achieve  social progress with maps as a foundation.

noble gold