Category: Topics (All Other)

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Why the U.S. Should ‘Give’ Af-Pak to China

02 China, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making, Military, Peace Intelligence, Strategy
Richard Wright

Worth a look — even if only the first paragraph.

The New Rules: Why the U.S. Should ‘Give' Af-Pak to China

Thomas P.M. Barnett | Bio | 30 May 2011
Column

Nuclear Pakistan, we are often told, is the Islamic-state equivalent of a Wall Street firm: In geostrategic terms, it is too big to fail. That explains why, even as the Obama administration begins preparing for modest troop withdrawals from Afghanistan this July, it dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Islamabad last week to smooth over bilateral relations with Pakistan's paranoid regime, which were strained even before the killing of Osama bin Laden. But Clinton's trip and the Obama administration's instinctive embrace of Islamabad is a fool's errand, doomed by history, geography and globalization itself.

In fact, the U.S. should drop the entire Afghanistan-Pakistan mess in China's lap now, while the getting is good, and here are the reasons why: …

Phi Beta Iota: World Politics Review has not figured out the new world of information quite yet, and we have no desire to copy their entire article.  Suffice to say that Barnett, who has gotten much more coherent since his first book, is on target here, but add to that that the US Government's foreign policy is both ideological and idiotic —  apart from the huge error by Zbigniew Brzezinski giving Pakistan the nuclear bomb in  the first place, the US has no business in Central Asia that is of benefit to the American people, only to the American carpet-baggers that feed at the public treasury (now much depleted and greatly in debt) while looting foreign countries.

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Gil Scot Heron, 1949-2011

11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics
Jon Lebkowsky Bio

Gil Scot Heron, 1949-2011: “The revolution will be live.”

by jonl

In my years of drinking beer and talking trash with the late Bill Morton, he seldom wrote letters to me though I wrote many to him. The one letter I did receive was a handwritten transcription of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scot Heron, who got that the revolution isn’t in the streets and isn’t in the institutions or legislatures or meeting halls. It’s in our heads.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

Continue reading “Gil Scot Heron, 1949-2011”

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Iran Played “Pivotal Role” in 9/11? Craven Idiocy

05 Iran, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Impotency, Peace Intelligence, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests
Thomas E. Mellon, Jr.

First, the lawyer. Thomas E. Mellon Jr. from Doylestown, PA.  He is representing 17 families from Bucks Couny in a Class Action Suit against Iran, al-Qaida and other supporters of Sept. 11 attack.  He is an intimate of the US Department of Justice that is on record as claiming that it has the right to lie to the judiciary.  We smell a lie pie.

Second, the plaintiff. Fiona Havlish.  She was also the lead in the 2002 filing against Bin Laden et al, but in that case the current lawyer was second on a long list of firms that participated.  She was a prime force behind a class action lawsuit seeking $100 billion in compensation.  Her husband died in the South Tower, not in Pennsylvania.  The timing of this, post Bin Laden Show, is suspect.

Third, the defectors. Three of them  A proper investigation will surely find that they have been in close consultation with the Iranian Liberation nut-jobs that are being encouraged by State, DoD, and CIA to play with public perceptions.   There is no way these three can withstand scrutiny, and we hope that Iran chooses to confront these almost certain lies in some public manner.  Remember Chalabi & CURVEBALL?

Continue reading “Iran Played “Pivotal Role” in 9/11? Craven Idiocy”

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Robert Gates: A Brilliant Career — As a Courtier

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corporations, Corruption, Government, Methods & Process, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Waste (materials, food, etc)
Richard Wright

I think the best description of Robert Gates is that he is a very smart bureaucrat who exemplifies the concept of go along to get along. He demonstrated this admirably in his farewell ‘warning’ as reported in the Wall Street Journal. This was a “guns or butter” speech designed to reassure the defense industrial complex that the safety of the U.S. will depend on the continued acquisition of pointless complex and expensive weapons systems.

Rather interestingly in this speech Gates ignored two pieces of information that might have caused him to reconsider his advocacy of super weapons systems.

Continue reading “Robert Gates: A Brilliant Career — As a Courtier”

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Bob Gates, Chief Maintenance Clerk, Talks Crap — and the Wall Street Journal Goes Along…

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy
Click on Image to Enlarge

The Gates Farewell Warning

America can be a superpower or a welfare state, but not both.

Phi Beta Iota Sidenote: BOTH of the above “choices” are corruption incarnate.  The correct choice was articulated by Thomas Jefferson: “A Nation's best defense is an educated citizenry.”

EXTRACT:

In a series of farewell speeches, Mr. Gates has warned against cuts to weapon programs and troop levels that would make America vulnerable in “a complex and unpredictable security environment,” as he said Sunday at Notre Dame. On Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute, Mr. Gates noted that the U.S. went on “a procurement holiday” in the 1990s, when the Clinton Administration decided to cash in the Cold War peace dividend. The past decade showed that history (and war) didn't end in 1989.

Read entire sorry piece….

Robert Steele

Robert Steele Sends. This is personal.  In1995, Gates was one of four Americans invited to address the French national conference on “Waging War and Peace in the 21st Century.”  He followed me on the schedule, and on hearing my presentation, sashayed up to the stage, sniffed dismissively, and said “I'm not even going to touch that.”  As we now know, I nailed it in 1989 for General Al Gray, in 1992 for the Whole Earth Review, again in 1995 for all in France (and separately in USA for COSPO under Joe Markowitz and for US Government as a Whole), and again in 2000 for NATO.  And onward to the UN and various multinational audiences who lack a single nation ready to play a leadership role in the M4IS2 arena.  Robert Gates was arrogant then, he is ignorant now….and he does “do maintenance,” that is all he has done as a placeholder at Defense.  Gate's farewell comments are crap, pure and simple.  He has overseen the waste of America's blood, treasure, and spirit with abject amorality that Dick Cheney would be proud of.  He has failed to demand what Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA) called for–a strategy, a force structure (the four forces after next) suited to the 21st Century, and an acquisition system with integrity.

Continue reading “Bob Gates, Chief Maintenance Clerk, Talks Crap — and the Wall Street Journal Goes Along…”

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