Topics (All Other) – Public Intelligence Blog

2011/03/142011/03/14

Worth a Look: Jesse Ventura on US Government

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, 5 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Atrocities & Genocide, Congress (Failure, Reform), Consciousness & Social IQ, Corruption, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Cultural Intelligence, Culture, Research, Democracy, Economics, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Government, Impeachment & Treason, Intelligence (Government/Secret), Justice (Failure, Reform), Military & Pentagon Power, Misinformation & Propaganda, Officers Call, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Threats (Emerging & Perennial)

Former Minnesota governor, navy SEAL, and pro rassler Ventura has a new truTVshow investigating but not necessarily debunking conspiracy theories. This companion to the program, a sort of teaser, dissects such famed objects of unending speculation as the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations. Ventura concludes that none of those were twisted-loner crimes but rather resulted from conspiracies of varying vastness. Anent the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Ventura asserts that “our government engaged in a massive cover-up” and had “ties to the hijackers.” He ventures that “unanswered questions remain about how the towers were brought down and whether a plane really struck the Pentagon” and that the “Bush Administration either knew about the plan” or “had a hand in it.” Heady, paranoiac stuff, to be sure, but there are even more forthright charges regarding the assassination of Malcolm X, the Jonestown massacre, and the “stolen” elections of 2000, 2004, 2008, and, for that matter, 1980. Believable? Some of it. An action-packed read? You bet. –Mike Tribby

Continue reading “Worth a Look: Jesse Ventura on US Government”

2010/12/072010/12/07

Review (DVD): The Most Dangerous Man in America–Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, 6 Star Top 10%, Censorship & Denial of Access, Civil Society, Congress (Failure, Reform), Consciousness & Social IQ, Corruption, Corruption, Crime (Government), Cultural Intelligence, Culture, Research, Democracy, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Government, History, Impeachment & Treason, Justice (Failure, Reform), Media, Methods & Process, Military, Military & Pentagon Power, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Threats (Emerging & Perennial), Truth & Reconciliation, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution

Actors: Daniel Ellsberg, Patricia Ellsberg, Tony Russo, Howard Zinn, Hedrick Smith
Directors: Judith Ehrlich;Rick Goldsmith

Stunningly Relevant Today and Always

December 7, 2010

I completely missed the release of this film in July, and stumbled on it while picking movies for a sick son.

It opens with Henry Kissinger, since demonstrated to be a war criminal, calling Daniel Elsberg the most dangerous man in America, and lamenting the release of secret documents (that ultimately proved government perfidy). Fast forward to WikiLeaks as a sequel to the 935 documented lies led by Dick Cheney.

Continue reading “Review (DVD): The Most Dangerous Man in America–Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”

2010/05/242010/05/24

Joseph Stiglitz, Bank Secrecy, Corruption, and Financing of Atrocities

03 Economy, 09 Terrorism, 10 Transnational Crime, 9/11 research, Corruption, Research resources, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Videos/Movies/Documentaries

Video: Joseph Stiglitz talks about offshore tax evasion (3:18 point of the video Stiglitz mentions an August 2001 veto by the Bush administration on an OECD bank secrecy reduction convention).

Prof. Stiglitz is a Nobel Laureate, former Chief Economist of the World Bank and former head of the Council of Economic Advisors to President Clinton.

Here is a transcript of the most interesting parts of the video

Video with authors of the Three Trillion Dollar War

2010/05/022010/05/08

EVENT: 9-16 Oct, Univ Passau Germany, Economics of Corruption 2010: Lecture and Workshop in Good Governance and Reform

03 Economy, 09 Justice, Corruption, Government, Open Government

Training and qualifying practitioners, researchers and students in anti-corruption is increasingly requested, utterly needed, but still in its infancy. For many years now we developed a training program that fills this gap, joining the world of theory with the world of practice. An analysis of political, economic and organizational incentives allows participants to obtain a profound understanding of the forces that are at play.

Survey techniques and statistical analysis confront theory with data. Interactive tools such as games, poster presentations and case studies involve participants and make them acquainted with today's challenges. Prof. Johann Graf Lambsdorff and his team have spearheaded models for reform related to such issues as contract penalties, compliance systems, debarment, procurement, leniency and corporate liability. Participants are introduced into this body of research.

This international event continues to be offered on a pro bono basis. It is directed towards anti-corruption policymakers and practitioners, as well as towards graduate and post-graduate students and faculty in the social sciences.

2009/07/202009/10/24

Journal: World Bank to Play Sheriff in Recovering Despot Funds

Corruption, Government, InfoOps (IO), Law Enforcement, Stabilization & Reconstruction

With a tip of the hat to Intelligence Online Issue No. 598 (16-29 July 2009), we are delighted to note that the World Bank's Department of Institutional Integrity (INT) is creating a special new investigative unit to focus exclusively on identifying and facilitating the recovering of assets stolen by politicians in the emerging countries, i.e. Africa and Central Asia as well as select countries in South Asia and Latin America.

According to Intelligence Online, the one newsletter that is essential to those following the world of intelligence, the new unit will be partly financed by USD $100 million paid by Siemens on 2 July 2009 to avoid legal proceedings in connection with its payment of briber to Russian officials administering a World Bank contract awared.

Intelligence Online goes on to discuss the United Nations “Stolen Asset Recovery” initiative (STAR), which did not do investigations itself, but provided limited financiing for legal or private investigative probes.

Intelligence Online notes that Nigeria and Kenya had no difficulty finding the money stolen by Sani Abacha and David Arap Moi, but had to go to considerable lengths to force the banks to release the funds. The World Bank's unit is evidently intended to make it easier to obtain and submit legal evidence that will compell banks to release the funds.

As we learned in Africa Unchained (see review), $148 billion is believed to have been stolen by various despots from Africa alone. We speculate that a global Information Operations (IO) campaign to recover that money could be the fastest, cheapest, best means of helping Africa help herself.

2008/07/212010/07/21