Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices – Page 28

2011/06/22

Twitter Volunteers Helping NATO Bomb Libya…

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Collective Intelligence, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, IO Sense-Making, Methods & Process, Military

Believe it or not….NATO appears to be attentive to and leveraging the “intellectual capital” outside the confines of its Member state intelligence services.

How social media users are helping NATO fight Gadhafi in Libya

GRAEME SMITH

Globe and Mail, Tuesday, Jun. 14, 2011

EXTRACT:

Robert Rowley, 48, supervisor of a Dairy Queen in Arizona, said he has already seen results from his Twitter activism. He was among the first to notice fuel tankers slipping past NATO warships and docking at ports controlled by Col. Gadhafi, which led to NATO interdictions.

He also wonders whether his tweets might be connected to the bombing of a Gadhafi communications centre in Tripoli. Combing through satellite images, he noticed that a property listed as a commercial warehouse had a yard containing what appeared to be military vehicles. He published his observations; 10 hours later, the spot was hit by a NATO air strike.

“I’m 5,000 miles away,” he said, in an interview before his shift at the ice-cream parlour. “It’s a very weird feeling.”

Read full article….

2011/06/20

Avaaz People Power: Slams Bahrain & War on Drugs

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of Peace

Formula 1 cancels Bahrain race for 2011

UN established new task force toward ending criminalization of drugs

Huge Wins on Bahrain F1, War on Drugs, and more!!

Within 72 hours, more than 1 million of us joined two unlikely campaigns: one to break the taboo on the global war on drugs, and another calling on F1 refuse to hold the Grand Prix in brutal Bahrain — and we won!! People power works. We see it everywhere, every day.

Seven Promises to America–Who Will Do This?

11 Society, About the Idea, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Officers Call, Strategy

steele smiling final — Robert David STEELE Vivas

UPDATED 26 Oct 2011 to add YouTube overview

Seven Promises to America – Raising the Bar for 2012

UPDATED 20 June 2011 after talking to Cynthia McKinney. Changes 7th promise to subsume End of Empire to Start of Green Non-Zero World that works for all.

Over the course of the past decade, as I have turned to non-fiction reading and reflections on integrity and intelligence, I have come to realize just how corrupt the US Government is at the political level, and how compliant the good people are that are trapped within a very bad system.

Below are the 7 promises I would demand of anyone who aspires to be President of the United States of America. I know of no one else who can credibly commit to these 7 promises.

1. Electoral Reform (9 points, 1 page)

Continue reading “Seven Promises to America–Who Will Do This?”

2011/06/192011/06/20

Future of Multinational Intelligence & Operations

Communities of Practice, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Ethics, History, IO Deeds of Peace, Methods & Process, Officers Call, Open Government, Peace Intelligence, Policies, Reform, Strategy, Threats

I am just back from a phenomenal conference on UN Air Operations put together by Professor Walter Dorn and Major Bill March. The highlight of that event was Senator Romeo Dallaire, LtGen (Ret), author of Shake Hands with the Devil as well as the more recent They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children.

Here are my notes on points made by Senator Dallaire, followed by some additional personal views of my own with respect to the future of the UN, NATO, and regional organizations long overdue as stewards of their respective regions peace and prosperity.

+ Drawing on history we can project into the future (not in a linear fashion, but from an informed foundation). We need to do both, we cannot go on as we are with our short-term perspective.

+ We must achieve a communion of humanity in the larger context of the planet as a whole–this is a grand strategic vision in which nation-states are actually limiting elements.

+ National and regional planning must be integrated into a larger global planning and forecasting process; we must go global.

+ The will to intervene in important, and should be but is not, common sense. Refugees and displaced persons are vectors for disease and root sources of rage.

Continue reading “Future of Multinational Intelligence & Operations”

2011/06/182011/10/22

Onset of Death for the Two-Party Tyranny….

07 Other Atrocities, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government

Death of the Duopoly

Being binary is bad for business, so when will politics cure its bipolar disorder? Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch on the lessons Washington should learn from the real world.

By NICK GILLESPIE and MATT WELCH

Wall Street Journal, Saturday, June 18, 2011

Nothing in American life today seems as archaic, ubiquitous and immovable as the Republican and Democratic parties.

The two 19th-century political groupings divide up the spoils of a combined $6.4 trillion that is extracted each year from taxpayers at the federal, state, county and municipal levels. Though rhetorically and theoretically at odds with one another, the two parties have managed to create a mostly unbroken set of policies and governance structures that benefit well-connected groups at the expense of the individual.

Democrats and Republicans are at risk of becoming irrelevant, says Reason.com's Nick Gillespie, as more voters identify as Independents or with other groups like the Tea Party. He talks with WSJDN's Kelsey Hubbard about the shortcomings of the longstanding duopoly in American politics.

Americans have watched, with a growing sense of alarm and alienation, as first a Republican administration and then its Democratic successor have flouted public opinion by bailing out banks, nationalizing the auto industry, expanding war in Central Asia, throwing yet more good money after bad to keep housing prices artificially high, and prosecuting a drug war that no one outside the federal government pretends is comprehensible, let alone winnable. It is easy to look upon this well-worn rut of political affairs and despair.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: A Wall Street Journal informal poll shows 83% of respondents now ready to vote for a third party, with some excluding the Tea Party as flaky. Ralph Nader led this fight, others are finishing it. We are honored to be in that number.

Journal: ‘Systemic Corruption’–Daunting Challenge in Globalized Era

My Talk With Tom Atlee: Primer on Citizen Intelligence

Reference: Electoral Reform Act & Third Party Politics

Review: Griftopia–Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America

Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It (Paperback)

Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny

2008 ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig

2011/06/18

Obama Over-Rules Top Lawyers on Libya Attacks

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

2 Top Lawyers Lost to Obama in Libya War Policy Debate

By CHARLIE SAVAGE

June 17, 2011

WASHINGTON — President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: Obama is in violation of the Constitution and an active sponsor of crimes against humanity that should subject him to consideration for appearance before an International Tribunal. His “national security advisor” is a Goldman Sachs apparatchik with his eyes fixed on the substantial holdings of real gold that could be looted (as opposed to paper gold where Goldman holds a strong but fraudulent position). Congress remains a craven foot-soldier to the Executive, and is liable for impeachment in detail for failure to fulfill its Article 1 responsibilities. US soliders are starting to come back from Libya in body bags, making it starkly clear that the US already has “boots on the ground” and blood in the sand. NATO pilots and commanders attacking Libya (not part of the “no fly” mandate) are liable for prosecution as war criminals. US flag officers accepting illegal orders are liable for court-martial should the US have an honest president in the future. An invasion of Libya is said to be planned for October, with the oil and the water and the gold as the presumed objectives. The lunacy continues….

Cynthia McKinney Reports from Libya

2011/06/18

Turkey Rising–21st Century an Ottoman Century?

02 Diplomacy, 08 Immigration, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Impotency, Strategy

editor spinney time — Chuck Spinney Recommends...

Turkey in Position to Lead Region Out of Tumultuous Century

By William Pfaff, Truthdig, Jun 14, 2011

Looking backward, there is a great deal to be said for leaving well enough alone, which is more difficult than one might think. Western Europe in the 19th century is now generally looked back upon as having constituted a pinnacle of Western civilization. Certainly in literature, music and the plastic arts this was so, the last-named in the century’s final decade, when painting ceased its period as domestic decoration and exploded into a myriad of ways to perceive not only the external world but the interior universe as well.

The modern Western intelligence was invented then, and the world has since played variations on 19th century political themes: nationalism, colonialism, imperialism, populism, class liberation, revolution, anarchism, class and racial warfare. The Napoleonic wars began the century and transformed its political institutions. The Franco-Prussian War ended the century, setting the scene for the hyper-destructive 20th century.

. . . . . . .

There is a Muslim community of peace for Turkey to inspire.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: Science and religion and philosophy, when at their best, seek to establish “best truths.” All three have been corrupted by politics, dogma, and laziness. Peace costs one third of what is now spent on war, and infinite wealth for the many can only be achieved in the context of a universal peace. If Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, and India come together on this point, Islam will be a global force in the 21st Century, not least because it will control secular corruption.

See Also:

Pfaff via Spinney at Phi Beta Iota

William Pfaff, The Irony of Manifest Destiny: The Tragedy of America's Foreign Policy (Walker & Co, 2010)

Event: 26 Oct 2011 Assisi Italy Pope, Peace, & Prayer — 5th Inter-Faith Event Since 1986 — Terms of Reference…