Threats – Page 546 – Public Intelligence Blog

It is obvious that this man has no clue. We are developing fighters
(F-22/35) that have no threat that cannot be handled by the F-117 (which is the be all to end all) but we are dangerously close to imploding if more budget cuts come our way? Strengthen the force, reduce the technology (which doesn't work in most cases) and let's put DoD on the right path, defense of the Nation (and not police force of the world)……

Leon Panetta Hypes al Qaeda to Ward Off More Defense Cuts

Steve Clemons

The Atlantic, 6 August 2011

EXTRACT:

It seems that one week, al Qaeda is on the run and “near collapse” and the next, al Qaeda remains the reason why the US needs to continue to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a Pentagon designed to fight the wrong wars. This is irresponsible hyping of a threat to justify massive defense spending during a period of real fiscal stress.

Phi Beta Iota: Daniel Ellsberg had it exactly right when he lectured Henry Kissinger in the 1970's on Viet-Nam:

The danger is, you’ll become like a moron. You’ll become incapable of learning from most people in the world, no matter how much experience they have in their particular areas that may be much greater than yours” [because of your blind faith in the value of your narrow and often incorrect secret information].

Panetta would be well-served by attending to what Bob Seelert, Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide (New York) has to say:

When things are not going well, until you get the truth out on the table, no matter how ugly, you are not in a position to deal with it.

2011/08/062011/08/06

Robert Young Pelton: America in Afghanistan 1951 –

01 Agriculture, 02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Commerce, Government, IO Deeds of Peace, IO Impotency, Peace Intelligence

A tale of two countries…

In Afghanistan, the rise and fall of ‘Little America’

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Washington Post, 5 August 2011

Paul Jones arrived in a Chevy pickup, dust clouds billowing as he crossed the desert. He had set out soon after first light from his base in southern Afghanistan, an encampment that, thanks to his employer’s logistics savvy, had an ample supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Almost everything there had been sent by sea from California or Oregon, and then trucked up from Pakistan.

The 63-year-old, khaki-clad engineer came that February morning to observe a massive development project aimed at transforming the valley along the Helmand River into a modern society.

Irrigation canals would feed farms that would produce so much food that the country would export the surplus for profit. New schools, modern hospitals and recreation centers would rise from the sand. So, too, would factories, fed by electricity from a generator at a dam upriver. Jones had seen a similar transformation near his home on the outskirts of Sacramento, and he was certain it would materialize here, too. In the desert expanse, he saw “the beginning of a new civilization — a new way of life abounding in the riches of worthy endeavor.”

It was 1951.

Read full article….

2011/08/062012/12/18

Robert Steele: The Virgin Truth (Old)

Advanced Cyber/IO, Commerce, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Fact Sheets, Hacking, InfoOps (IO), Key Players, Methods & Process, Mobile, Policies, Real Time, Reform, Strategy, Threats

OBE See Instead: 2012 Robert Steele for Richard Branson: The Virgin Truth 2.6

steele smiling final — Robert David STEELE Vivas

There is a very talented author, journalist, and speaker, Mike Southon, who publishes in the Financial Times. One of his articles, “Perfect Pitch,” 7 March 2009 was instrumental in crafting the below one-page “pitch.” Mike's four web sites:

www.ft.com/mikesouthon
www.yoodoo.biz
www.mikesouthon.com
www.beermat.biz

Short Persistent URL for this post (The Virgin Truth):

http://tinyurl.com/Steele4Branson

One-Pager Online Updated

2011/08/052011/08/06

Koko: Bloomberg & Soros Do Wrong Thing Righter

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 06 Family, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Gift Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of Peace, Methods & Process, Reform

Can George Soros, Michael Bloomberg save New York's troubled young men?

CSM, 4 August 2011

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a $127.5 million plan Thursday to help young black and Hispanic men. The effort includes money from financier George Soros and his philanthropy.

Education

Socioeconomic and Health issues

Employment

Incarceration

Serious Games for Serious Civic Engagement

Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Government, Policies, Serious Games, Threats

Serious Games for Serious Civic Engagement

Use The Power of Collaborative, Serious Games to Engage Citizens and

Resolve Our Budget Crises

It’s no secret. We’re broke. Local governments, state governments, the U.S. Federal Government and many international governments are all facing budget shortfalls, spending cuts and reduced services. All of us — ordinary citizens, elected officials, civic and community leaders — know that we must make dramatic changes and tough choices to solve this crisis. But how do we engage our communities in identifying and prioritizing the best possible solutions? How do we create more engaged and informed citizens?

Our Answer? Fix Broke(n) Governments through Serious Games

On January 29, 2011, The Innovation Games® Company designed and produced an in-person serious game to help more than 100 citizens, community leaders and city officials in San Jose, CA collaboratively prioritize possible cuts to the city budget.

Instead of polling residents individually, our specially designed Innovation Game®, the San Jose Budget Games, created an opportunity for ordinary citizens to negotiate with one another, listen to their neighbors and create budgets that reflected not only their own but others viewpoints. Civic leaders left the San Jose Budget Games with both a clear and actionable list of the proposals citizens could compromise on and also a record of why they had found common ground—and the game results have impacted the actual city budget.

Our experience with the city of San Jose has convinced us that games are a powerful tool for civic engagement: Thus we’re seeking funds to extend our existing in-person version of Budget Games into an online version. Instead of engaging hundreds of citizens, we want to powerfully connect tens of thousands or even millions of motivated citizens with their elected officials—and we need your help to get this done.

UN + Start-Up Seek to Get Poor Online with Cell Numbers

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 04 Education, 06 Family, 07 Health, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Ethics, Gift Intelligence, Hacking, Key Players, Mobile, Non-Governmental, Real Time

Startup Aims to Get the Poor Online With Phone Numbers

By Stephen Lawson, IDG News

U.K. startup Movirtu plans to help 3 million or more people in poor countries use mobile services by giving them personal phone numbers, not phones.

Working with a U.N.-affiliated initiative called Business Call to Action (BCtA), Movirtu will offer the numbers, which it calls mobile identities, through commercial carriers in developing countries in Africa and South Asia. People in those countries who typically borrow phones from others will be able to log into the carrier's network and use their own prepaid minutes and bits of data.

The service is called Cloud Phone, though it operates within a carrier's own infrastructure rather than on the Internet as a classic cloud service would. Having a personal mobile identity can save users money in two ways, according to Ramona Liberoff, executive vice president of marketing, strategy and planning at Movirtu. First, they can use mobile services without buying a phone, which is a luxury even at US$15 or $20 for people making $1 or $2 per day.

Second, the cost of prepaid service from a carrier typically is less than what consumers in those countries pay someone to borrow a phone, she said. Though it's customary in many of these countries to lend a phone to someone in need, the borrower is also expected to pay the lender for the usage. The average savings from using regular prepaid service instead is estimated at about $60 per year, Liberoff said.

The service will help people to use mobile banking, insurance and farming assistance services as well as make phone calls, Liberoff said. Some of these services currently can only be delivered to individuals and not to someone sharing a phone. Personal mobile identities could be a boon to NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that want to use mobile technology.