Category: 07 Other Atrocities

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John Steiner: American Taliban Gathers for Home War

07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, InfoOps (IO), IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests
John Steiner

FYI…From two friends…

As someone who once took an oath in the military to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, I have to wonder why a group that preaches taking over the government using “spiritual warfare” isn't a domestic enemy.  Where is the line between freedom of religious expression and sedition?

The New Apostolic Reformation

The Evangelicals Engaged In Spiritual Warfare

National Public Radio, 24 august 2011

An emerging Christian movement that seeks to take dominion over politics, business and culture in preparation for the end times and the return of Jesus, is becoming more of a presence in American politics. The leaders are considered apostles and prophets, gifted by God for this role.

. . . . . .

Tabachnick says the movement currently works with a variety of politicians and has a presence in all 50 states. It also has very strong opinions about the direction it wants the country to take. For the past several years, she says, the NAR has run a campaign to reclaim what it calls the “seven mountains of culture” from demonic influence. The “mountains” are arts and entertainment; business; family; government; media; religion; and education.

“They teach quite literally that these ‘mountains' have fallen under the control of demonic influences in society,” says Tabachnick. “And therefore, they must reclaim them for God in order to bring about the kingdom of God on Earth. … The apostles teach what's called ‘strategic level spiritual warfare' [because they believe that the] reason why there is sin and corruption and poverty on the Earth is because the Earth is controlled by a hierarchy of demons under the authority of Satan. So they teach not just evangelizing souls one by one, as we're accustomed to hearing about. They teach that they will go into a geographic region or a people group and conduct spiritual-warfare activities in order to remove the demons from the entire population. This is what they're doing that's quite fundamentally different than other evangelical groups.”

Read full summary….

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Chuck Spinney: Richard Falk on USG Learning Disability

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, IO Deeds of War, Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Misinformation & Propaganda, Officers Call, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests
Chuck Spinney

Reasoning by analogy is powerful, but dangerous for of thinking.  Einstein, for example, showed how reasoning by analogy can unleash stunning insights , but only when properly tempered by critical observation, testing, and systematic analysis, can analogical insights lead to brilliant syntheses that literally change our view of reality.

But that benefit comes with a heavy price, because this kind of reasoning is also a very dangerous way to think.  Analogies can capture the imagination and thereby bias  the Orientation of less disciplined thinkers and decision makers to distort and twist their Observations into a vision of reality the Observer/Decision Maker wants to see.  In so doing, the distorted Orientation takes decision maker off the cliff by disconnecting his Actions from the real world.  And … for every Einstein with a highly disciplined Observation – Orientation – Decision Action loop, there are thousands of crackpots, nutcases, and charlatans trying to sell their visions of “what is” to sell their pre-concieved views of appropriate decisions and actions of action.

In the below essay, Richard Falk offers a good example of reasoning by analogy done properly.  He carefully crafts and explains a limited set of parallels between the January 1968 Tet Offensive in Viet Nam to Obama's dilemma in Afghanistan.  CS

The Tet Offensive's parallels to Afghanistan

The United States should learn from mistakes it made during the Vietnam War and withdraw from Afghanistan.

EXTRACTS:

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Chuck Spinney: Karzai Cornered, US Into the Quagmire

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, Military, Peace Intelligence
Chuck Spinney

Karzai Cornered

Rediff  08/22/2011

By M K Bhadrakumar

EXTRACT:

The US expectation that the Taliban would learn to live with the American occupation in their lust for power in Kabul is far-fetched and can only be seen as wishful thinking.

. . . . . .

Equally, the ‘hidden agenda’ of the US invasion of Afghanistan can no longer be disowned. Quite obviously, the US intends to plunge into the ‘great game’ in Central Asia.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota:  This is absolutely worth a complete read.  The US is, as the author suggests, delusional in thinking the Taliban is going to put up with a US presence beyond this winter.  The US has sentenced Karzai to death, and may well lose another 1,000 troops to body bags before the public has its “Tet Offensive” wake-up.   There is nothing in Central Asia worth blood, spirit, and treasure–what is there is vastly over-stated in relation to what could be gained by refocusing on rebuilding America from inside out.  This is a study in corruption across the legislative and executive branches of the US Government.

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Cynthia McKinney: Massive Propaganda on Libya Misleads

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, Military
Cynthia McKinney

Most of what has been coming through the Total Information Dominance machinery about the situation in Tripoli – and Libya proper – is untrue. The situation there is very bad for the people, that much is true. But not only is the battle not with an indigenous rebellion – it is, rather, with a NATO expeditionary force comprised mainly of Qatari and other troops and irregulars under local Qatari regular command and coordinate with NATO proper.

Most reporting is being done from inside or near the journalists' hotels. Outside the primary location, snipers have fired at – and in one case, shot – non-mainstream journalists. Only those who are embedded with the invaders have been permitted to shoot outdoors, while the Libyan media has had its power cut off and is thus off the air.

You must recall that only this past Friday, we were told in full spectrum broadcast that Gadhaffi had left with his family for Tunisia. As it turns out, that was untrue.

Here's what I was told by some of the journalists stuck in the hotel who have been able to call around the city to the many residents they know personally:

The invaders have been largely turned back. They arrived under severe aerial attacks across the city, including strafing of civilians intended to clear the streets for the invasion. They were supplemented with troop landings from NATO naval vessels in the port. This was apparently the source of many of the Qatari personnel.

The invaders have been routed in many sectors, and, in fact, most of the city is calm with the exception of aerial activity.

What is needed right now is not despair on our part, but the dissemination of information, which NATO has decided is the most important battleground. Please visit my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/don.debar for a long string of information that needs to be shared with everyone you know – especially those in, or in contact with people in, Libya.

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Koko: Goldman Sachs CEO Lawyers Up

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption
Koko

Goldman Sachs CEO lawyers up

Charles Riley

CNNMoney, 22 August 2011

EW YORK (CNNMoney) — Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has retained the services of prominent defense attorney Reid Weingarten.

Investors did not take the news well. Goldman shares plunged in the final minutes of trading, following a report published late Monday by Reuters. Shares dropped almost 5% to $106.51 — a fresh 52-week low. The stock lost another 1.5% in trading after the close.

Weingarten, an attorney at Steptoe & Johnson, is one of the nation's premier white-collar crime attorneys. He represented WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers and former Enron accountant Richard Cause, among others.

Read full article….

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Review: Litigation Under the Federal Open Government Laws 2010 from the Electronic Privacy Information Center

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Ethics, Government, InfoOps (IO), Intelligence (government), Law Enforcement, Military, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy
Amazon Page

Electronic Privacy Information Center (Author), Marc Rotenberg (Editor), Harry A. Hammitt (Editor), Ginger McCall (Editor), John A. Verdi (Editor), Mark S. Zaid (Editor)

5.0 out of 5 stars Critical USEFUL Reference, Handbook, Citizen Manual,August 22, 2011

I'm exploring a major campaign to expose illegal actions across the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals and the Defense Intelligence Agency in particular, and in talking to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) leadership got a chance to understand just how vital and USEFUL this guide is.

Senator Patrick Leahy, co-sponsor of the OPEN Government Act of 2007, and many others are on record as considering this the single most indispensable tool in any citizen's toolkit.

For myself, having seen the capricious, arbitrary, and often unethical and even abusive manner in which DIA Personnel “cooks the books” and manipulates job announcements and screening decisions, and having been personally privy to enormous abuse by the Director of the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals and a specifc group of his subordinates, consider this manual essential to my own search for justice.

Although I will use it more to inform myself so I can assist the specialist lawyers in making the most of what I know in their probing inquires at DIA and DOHA, I certainly recommend it to any citizen that has a specific concern that is not getting a fair hearing.

I also recommend the publisher and experts that put it together, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). Many folks do not realize that they have been one of the leading champions of open government, and have also been one of the leading champions in exposing fraud, waste, and abuse that has been concealed by secrecy.

The US Government, in my view, as a general observation, is out of control and no longer representative of We the People. This is the handbook for citizens to use in holding every branch of the federal government accountable for its misbehavior and its dereliction of duty in failing to represent the public interest as opposed to the interest of its very big stakeholders who are recipients of the tax dollar rather than contributors to the treasury of the Republic.

Arm yourself with this knowledge, and go into battle confident in the righteousness of your cause.

See Also [Amazon book link still broken]:

Piercing the Veil of Secrecy: Litigation Against U.S. Intelligence by Janine Brookner

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Chuck Spinney: Dysfunctional West Sharply Unstable

07 Other Atrocities, Blog Wisdom, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Misinformation & Propaganda, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests
Chuck Spinney

Item 1 is an insightful essay by Patrick Seale outlining the common characteristics of the political instabilities and revolutionary pressures now sweeping Europe and the Middle East.  Although Seale uses the term Global Intifada to describe these instabilities, the term Intifada evolved out of the Palestinian struggle against occupation.  He suggests the instabilities may be following a more general dynamic.  The common causal factors he describes in the second paragraph also bring to mind a very loose comparison of the unrest unleashed in 2011 to the explosion of revolutions in 1848 across Europe.  That many of Seale's common factors also exist in varying degrees in the United States makes one wonder why the politics of rage in the US remain confined to the right side of political spectrum. Item 2, “The World Consequences of US Decline,” is an equally insightful essay by Immanuel Wallerstein that suggests obliquely that this may be a temporary condition.

Chuck Spinney
Nice, France

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Dysfunctional West Sharply Unstable”

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