Category: Policies

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Journal: Wikileaks & Israel, Wikileaks & Vatican

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence
Chuck Spinney Recommends...

Published on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 by Reuters

WikiLeaks: Israel Aimed to Keep Gaza Economy on Brink of Collapse

by Reuters

Cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv says Israeli officials wanted Gaza's economy ‘functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis.'

Israel told U.S. officials in 2008 it would keep Gaza's economy “on the brink of collapse” while avoiding a humanitarian crisis, according to U.S. diplomatic cables published by a Norwegian daily on Wednesday.

Three cables cited by the Aftenposten newspaper, which has said it has all 250,000 U.S. cables leaked to WikiLeaks, showed that Israel kept the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv briefed on its internationally criticized blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The territory, home to 1.3 million Palestinians, is run by the Islamist Hamas group, which is shunned by the West over its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence or accept existing interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals.

“As part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed to (U.S. embassy economic officers) on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge,” one of the cables read.

Israel wanted the coastal territory's economy “functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis”, according to the Nov. 3, 2008 cable.

Read rest of story at HAARETZ.com…

See Also:

Journal: Israel Demands Bribes for Access to Gaza

http://duckduckgo.com/?q=Douglas+Johnson+faith+religion
Wikileaks & Israel

http://duckduckgo.com/?q=Douglas+Johnson+faith+religion
Wikileaks & Vatican
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Journal: The Rise and Sell-Out of the Enviro Establishment

01 Agriculture, 03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 05 Energy, 07 Health, 09 Justice, 11 Society, 12 Water, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Government
Chuck Spinney Recommends...
Herewith are the first two parts of Jeff St Claire's important multipart series on the systemic corruption and corporatization of the environmental movement.

A Concise History of the Rise and Fall of the Enviro Establishment

How Green Became the Color of Money

By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR, Counterpunch

Part I

New Year's Edition
December 31, 2010 – January 2, 2011

EXTRACT:  Watt, Gorsuch, Levelle and Crowell were magnificent villains for fundraising: direct mail revenues of the top environmental groups exploded tenfold from 1979 to 1981. Green became the color of money, and the rag-tag band of hardcore activists who populated the Hill in the 1970s gave way to a cadre of Ivy League-educated lobbyists, lawyers, policy wonks, research scientists and telemarketers. Executives enjoyed perks and salaries that rivaled those of corporate CEOs.

A Concise History of the Rise and Fall of the Enviro Establishment

How Green Became the Color of Money

By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR, Counterpunch

Part II

Weekend Edition
January 7 – 9, 2011

EXTRACT:

By the end of Reagan’s second term, the big environmental organizations were well-pickled in the political brine of Washington, with freshness and passion drained out.

. . . . . .

EXTRACT:  Under instructions from Bush, Lujan ordered the Bureau of Land Management to fast track the purchase of the Goldstrike Mine by Barrick Resources, a Toronto-based company controlled by financier Peter Munk. The way thus lubricated, Barrick acquired the 1,800 acre gold mine near Elko, Nevada, for the princely sum of $9,500. By the time the mine is shuttered, the Goldstrike will yield an estimated $10 billion in gold. In 1995, in consideration for his favors, George Bush was invited to join Barrick’s board of advisers.

Phi Beta Iota: The work of Jeffrey St. Claire and CounterPunch are representative of public intelligence in the public interest–the work suffers from being isolated and lacking holistic integrity–there is no means for the public to “connect the dots” or evaluate each predatory move in situ and in context.  That is the emergent challenge and opportunity of the 21st Century.

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Weak Signals: Reality Sandwich Business Shamanism

03 Economy, 04 Education, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Corporations, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence

Business Shamanism

Daniel Pinchbeck

Using the tools of corporations to reprogram global society and distribute a new cultural operating system

Image by fdcomite, courtesy of Creative Commons license.

Now that the Evolver network and brand have established themselves to a certain extent, I want to look ahead to developments I hope to see in the near future, with this organization and other initiatives. For the next phase of development, I propose the term “business shamanism.” “Corporate alchemy” would be a viable alternative.

. . . . . . . .

We tend to forget that Roosevelt's New Deal was not a good-hearted gift to the working classes but a compromise to stave off mass uprising. The current oligarchy has determined that it will make no such deal this time around. I suspect they assume that the pulverizing of the populace with mind-numbing media, psychotropic drugs, police state tactics, and poison food had the desired effect. And they may be right.

. . . . . . . .

Phi Beta Iota: Below the line are excerpts.  Click on the title to read the entire rant.  The author is educated and thoughtful, his rant is provoking and worth studying.

Continue reading “Weak Signals: Reality Sandwich Business Shamanism”

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Reference: Genocide of Bees From Failure of Government

01 Agriculture, 03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 06 Family, 07 Health, 10 Security, 11 Society, Articles & Chapters, InfoOps (IO), Intelligence (government)

Leaked Memo Sheds Light on Mysterious Bee Die-Offs and Who's to Blame

The culprit may be a pesticide that the EPA has allowed on the market despite the fact that the company which makes the pesticide has failed to prove it is safe.

AlterNet / By Jill Richardson

December 10, 2010

Read long detailed and compelling story….

Phi Beta Iota: This is the part that the President, the Director of the Office of Management, and the Director of National Intelligence simply do not compute.  As presented in the M4IS2 briefing in Chile, in today's complex era security is everything about everything always.  Intelligence must mature.  We have wasted 19 years going on 25.  Creating a Smart Nation and a Smart Government starts with evidence-based policy-making–intelligence is where that comes from, and public intelligence is how we nurture integrity within the government.

See Also:

Sense-Making Summit: Public Health (October 2011)

2010 INTELLIGENCE FOR EARTH: Clarity, Diversity, Integrity, & Sustainability

Graphic: Intelligence Maturity Scale

Journal: Army Shines with Bee Deaths But Case Still Open

Journal: Bees’ tiny brains beat computers

Journal: Electromagnetics, Bees, & Agriculture

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Intelligence (Lack Of)

Pesticides: Germany bans chemicals linked to honeybee devastation (2008)

Journal: Bees’ tiny brains beat computers

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Story Of 2011 Will Be The Second US Housing Crash

03 Economy, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government

BUSINESS INSIDER / Money Game

Story of 2011 Will Be The Second US Housing Crash

20% price drop certain, 40% price drop probable, 80% possible

By Ilargi on The Automatic Earth. Jan. 3, 2011, 6:24 AM

EXTRACT:  Many people claim Stoneleigh and I must be crazy, and doomers and all that, for predicting an 80%+ drop in real estate values, but we in turn can't seem to understand why home prices would fall “only” 20% from here, or why they would fall “just” 40%, as Mish suggested for instance. We think that more than 20% is in the cards just because of the bubble coming back to earth; we think 40% is certain because of the bubble bursting, and we think 80%+ will then happen because the bursting bubble will take the entire financial system down with it. Pretty simple really.g, and it is worth reading….every single word of it.

EXTRACT:  According to L. Randall Wray, lenders may have the right to collect debt on certain loans, if they can prove ownership of the loan, but they can't foreclose unless and until they have a clear record (chain) of all transactions the loans went through, through their entire existence. And MERS effectively killed that chain.

EXTRACT:  The entire US housing system, lenders, builders, borrowers, the whole thing, is in grave danger, and that means both the financial system and the economy at large are as well. We're looking at not just one or two, but a whole series of reinforcing feedback loops. Which neither Obama nor Geithner nor Bernanke have any control over, other than fleetingly and temporarily.  And that will be the story of 2011.  Well, that and, of course, the euro crumbling, Japan deflating, China inflating, cities, counties and states defaulting, violent street protests, millions more Americans sinking into abject poverty, misery and hardship, and so on.

Read every word….

Phi Beta Iota: This is the best review we have found and it is chillingly credible.  In our view, the Secretary of the Treasury means well but has absolutely no clue how to actually manage the US economy back to a more stable ethical state.
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Indications & Warning: Army Spirit and Public Fat

04 Education, 07 Health, 10 Security, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Military, Officers Call, Strategy
Who, Me?

Army's “Spiritual Fitness” Test Comes Under Fire

Jason Leopold

TruthOut Wednesday 05 January 2011

Test Was Designed by Psychologist Who Inspired CIA's Torture Program

An experimental, Army mental-health, fitness initiative designed by the same psychologist whose work heavily influenced the psychological aspects of the Bush administration's torture program is under fire by civil rights groups and hundreds of active-duty soldiers. They say it unconstitutionally requires enlistees to believe in God or a “higher power” in order to be deemed “spiritually fit” to serve in the Army.

Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) is a $125 million “holistic fitness program” unveiled in late 2009 and aimed at reducing the number of suicides and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases, which have reached epidemic proportions over the past year due to multiple deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the substandard care soldiers have received when they return from combat.

Read rest of article….

Tomgram: William Astore, We're Number One (in Self-Promotion)
Posted by William Astore at 9:40am, January 6, 201
EXTRACT:  In April 2010, for instance, a group of retired top brass and others released a report claiming that 27% of Americans between 17 and 24 are “too fat to fight.”  “Within just 10 years, the number of states reporting that 40 percent of their 18- to 24-year-olds are obese or overweight went from one [Kentucky] to 39.”  No reason to focus on that, though.  After all, it was so last year.

Just as the year ended, however, the Education Trust issued a report indicating that nearly a quarter of all applicants to the Armed Forces, despite having a high-school diploma, can’t pass the necessary military entrance exam.  This isn’t Rhodes Scholarships we’re talking about, but not having “the reading, mathematics, science, and problem-solving abilities” to become a bona fide private in the U.S. Army.  We’re talking the sort of basic that, according to an Education Trust spokesperson, makes it “equally likely that the men and women who don't pass the test are [also] unprepared for the civilian workforce.”

includes

Freedom Fighters for a Fading Empire
What It Means When We Say We Have the World’s Finest Fighting Force
By William J. Astore

EXTRACT:  As for our armed forces, though most Americans don’t know it, within U.S. military circles much criticism exists of an officer corps of “tarnished brass”that is deficient in professionalism; of generals who are more concerned withcovering their butts than leading from the front; of instruction at military academies that is divorced from war’s realities; of an aversion “to innovation or creativity… [leading to] an atmosphere of anti-intellectualism” that undermines strategy and makes a hash of counterinsurgency efforts.  Indeed, our military’s biting criticism of itself is one of the few positive signs in a fighting force that is otherwise overstretched, deeply frustrated, and ridiculously overpraised by genuflecting politicians.

Read entire article (second half of same link)…

William J. Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) and professor of history, is a TomDispatch regular.  He welcomes reader comments atwjastore@gmail.com. To listen to Timothy MacBain's latest TomCast audio interview in which Astore discusses the military nightmares of a fading empire, click here or, to download it to your iPod, here.

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