Category: Threats

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US JSOG 3000 Night Missions to Kill–Who? Why?

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Military, Peace Intelligence
Chuck Spinney Recommends...

U.S. seems to be getting good at killing Taliban, but why?

Friday, May 20, 2011  03:07 AM

BY GEORGIE ANNE GEYER

Columbus Dispatch

While the United States keeps trying to forget about Afghanistan, a new secret program in Afghanistan is quietly boasting of bringing about an end to the decade-long war.

The program is “kill/capture,” and it has been waged by the Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, for the past year, with, according to PBS’s excellent Frontline, 3,000 operations in only the past 90 days.

Essentially, it sends special forces out in the dark of night into slumbering Afghan villages to force Taliban leaders out of their hiding places and then shoot them or capture them.

There is only one major problem: It appears rather too often that the American intelligence planners are not certain that the men they are killing or capturing are really Taliban. There is, of course, a larger question: Why are we killing and capturing Taliban when this war was supposed to be about al-Qaida?

Read rest of article….

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Reflections on Tyranny versus Crowd Power

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Open Government
Click on Image to Enlarge

Sacrificial Crowds and Radical Power: A Meditation

by Justin Rogers-Cooper, 19 May 2011

Advocate (CUNY Graduate Center)

In early Jan­u­ary the BBC reported that Moham­mad Bouazazi, a Tunisian col­lege grad­u­ate who ille­gally sold fruits and veg­eta­bles in Sidi Bouzid, had died from his self-inflicted burns. He had set him­self on fire by dous­ing his body with petrol when police con­fis­cated his pro­duce. He didn’t have the proper per­mits. Pub­lic protest had been rare in Tunisia before. When he died, the BBC reported that “a crowd esti­mated at 5,000 took part in his funeral.” The crowd chanted the same mes­sage together, out loud: “Farewell, Moham­mad, we will avenge you. We weep for you today, we will make those who caused your death weep.”

Safety copy below the line–note ending on Bush-Obama “crowd control” plans.

Continue reading “Reflections on Tyranny versus Crowd Power”

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Carterizing Obama–Netanyhu Tells Him Off…

05 Energy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency
Chuck Spinney Recommends...

This important essay by Robert Parry contextualizes Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's arrogant stuffing of President Obama, which took place after Obama gave a weak-kneed speech on the Middle East.  If Parry is right, a really dirty game is in the offing.

And look at the banality of language that provoked Netanhahu: Obama's speech purported to analyze the implications of the Arab Revolt with an analysis that was viewed as being weak, inept, and self centered by some Arabs (e.g., see this cogent analysis of his language) as well as his goals for the pursuit in the Arab-Israeli peace process: namely a return to Israel's 1967 borders, with some land swaps, in return for the security of a Jewish state within these borders (a choice of language that may have been an attempt to appease Netanyahu*).

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*Mr. Obama's language was somewhat ambiguous when he said the primary Israeli-related goal of the peace process was  to establish conditions for Israel as a Jewish state
and the homeland for the Jewish people.” But it does raise a question of whether he is acceding to the sectarian interpretation of a Jewish democracy demanded by Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made recognition of Israel as aJewish nation-state a prerequisite for any final agreement with the Palestinians. This kind of sectarian definition in a democracy has unknowable ramifications for the non-Jewish minority making up 20% of Israel's citizens. For a discussion of this issue, see Isabel Kirshner, “Some Question the Existence of Israel as a Jewish State,” New York Times, 24 October 2010.

Netanyahu Sets Limits for Obama

This public rebuke raises questions about whether Netanyahu will now try to sink Obama’s reelection the way earlier Likud leaders undermined President Jimmy Carter

by Robert Parry, Consortium News,  May 21, 2011

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Oval Office rebuke of U.S. President Barack Obama – and the Republicans’ immediate attempt to exploit the dispute to peel away Jewish voters – suggest that American politics may be in for a replay of Campaign 1980.

Continue reading “Carterizing Obama–Netanyhu Tells Him Off…”

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$1bn fraud at Kabul Bank upsets UK pull-out from AF

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Transnational Crime, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Government
DefDog Recommends....

Note buried within the report about classification of documents……..

$1bn fraud at Kabul Bank puts UK's Afghan pull-out in peril

IMF and Britain's foreign aid department both withhold money for reconstruction

By Jonathan Owen and Brian Brady

Sunday, 22 May 2011

EXTRACT:

The Department for International Development (DfID) confirmed last night that it had followed the lead of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in withholding contributions to bankroll hundreds of “nation-building” projects in Afghanistan.

The move, to “protect taxpayers' money”, came as the full extent of the scandal at Kabul Bank – described as the biggest fraud in modern times – became clear. A secret US government report into the debacle “indicates that insiders at Kabul Bank used fraudulent loans to misappropriate $850m (£525m), representing 94 per cent of outstanding loans”.

. . . . . . .

And it notes that, in addition to oversights by Deloitte, which failed to spot and report warning signs of fraud, a team from PwC didn't identify any fraud at Kabul Bank and gave it “a clean bill of health” – something
that “may have acted to delay understanding of the gravity of Kabul Bank's true financial condition both among the examination staff and the international community”, according to the document.

Full Story….

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Immense Possibilities: TV Show & Web Community

Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, IO Sense-Making, Methods & Process, Policies, Real Time, Threats
John Steiner

Hi All:  This is well worth paying attention to, checking out and even sampling.  Do see the great endorsements below.  Learn more about my old friend and colleague, Jeff Golden, the creator of this remarkable new program.   Immense Possibilities is also interactive. As you'll see from the website, Jeff is looking for our input and collaboration.  Congratulations to Jeff for creating a new public forum for what's working and for those making a true difference in these challenging times and are offering solutions of great benefit, who so often don¹t make it into mainstream news. May this show become part of the “:new main stream”.

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.

Cheers,  John

From: Jeff Golden

Dear Friends:

Suppose you found a public television program that brought you stunningly creative people who

¨    Craft brilliant projects that strengthen their communities for hard times to come

¨    Unite people across political and philosophical divides

¨    Connect Millenials, Gen X- and Y-ers, Baby Boomers and Elders in compelling ways

And suppose it was right there on your computer or television  every Tuesday evening. Would that be worth your time?

Tuesday evening, May 24, 7:30 pm:  Frances Moore Lappé

http://www.immensepossibilities.org

In the right-hand corner you'll see a box to enter your email address.

If you do that, you¹ll get a message about once a week on what IP is doing.  We will not, repeat not, pass your address onto anyone else for any reason.  Every message we send to you will have an easy option to unsubscribe.

Hope you'll give IP a try.

IMMENSE POSSIBILITIES is a weekly public television program, followed by an interactive webcast, that pull together the work of Jeff Golden  and other social inventors who share a clear set of beliefs, values and goals.  If these align with your own, and you share our passion for boosting possibilities that can forge a healthier future than the one that seems likely if we don¹t change and innovate, let's work together.

All the best,
Jeff

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Arab Spring, Turkish Summer?

07 Other Atrocities, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Multinational, Officers Call, Policies
Chuck Spinney Recommends....

As someone who spent the better part of 2008 and 2009 in Turkey, I find the attached analysis a very useful summary of Turkish developments.  To be sure, I am biased.  Turkey is one of my very favorite countries, I love the people, the culture, and food, and I have been fascinated by its ongoing political evolution.

Mr. Heydarian's cogent comparison of Turkey's evolution to the so-called Arab Spring* provides much food for thought, and I find it eyeopening.

* I prefer the term Arab Revolt to Arab Spring, because the forces of counterrevolution seem to be taking over, and like its predecessor in WWI, it might not lead anywhere.

Chuck Spinney
Saintes Maries de la Mer
France

A Decisive Shift

Arab Spring, Turkish Summer?

By RICHARD JAVAD HEYDARIAN, Counterpunch

May 20 – 22, 2011

Turkey is emerging as an attractive model for the new generation of democrats in the Middle East and North Africa. Turkey, as a bastion of Islamic moderation, economic dynamism, military might, and foreign policy creativity, has inspired many who envision a prosperous and free Arab world.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: The USA is part of the autocratic corrupt system against which the Arabs are revolting.  It is neither a leader nor a model–it is an obstacle for the simple reason that the US Government lacks intelligence and integrity, and therefore has nothing to offer in the way of non-zero strategic analytics acceptable to Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and everyone else.  The US Government is morally and intellectually bankrupt.

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Carlos the Jackal on Osama versus Obama

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Military
Marcus Aurelius Recommends

‘Carlos The Jackal,' Cold War Terrorist: Osama Bin Laden ‘Will Be Remembered In 100 Years' Time'

05/19/11 11:16 AM ET

AP

STOCKHOLM — The notorious Cold War terrorist Carlos the Jackal says in an interview to be aired Thursday that Osama bin Laden is a martyr who earned himself a place in history through terrorism.

In the interview with Swedish national television, the Venezuelan terrorist said the former al-Qaida leader will still be remembered in 100 years' time because “of what he has done, the example he gave.”

Click on Image to Enlarge

He said “nobody” will remember President Barack Obama.

Carlos, or Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, is serving a life sentence in France for killing two French secret agents and an alleged informer in 1975.

He is also accused of having a role in two 1982 bombings – on a Paris-Toulouse train and outside the Paris office of Arab-language newspaper al-Watan – and is suspected of two other train bombings on Dec. 31, 1983.

Swedish television providedThe Associated Press with the unedited version of the telephone interview, parts will be aired in Sweden Thursday evening.

Phi Beta Iota: From the beginning we have emphasized the financial asymmetries achieved by those who seek to engage the US with asymmetric tactics–for every dollar they spent, initially the US spent $500,000 and now the US spends closer to $5 million.  It costs $50 million PER BODY in Afghanistan, and the cost in national blood, treasure, and spirit has both finished the destruction of the US economy AND revealed the lack of integrity and intelligence at the top in Washington DC.  Bin Laden's greatest gift may be to have finally inspired a “Day of Rage” in the USA at some point in the near-term future.

noble gold