Journal: Demopublicans–NO DIFFERENCE

Collective Intelligence, Communities of Practice, Ethics, Policies, Policy, Reform, Strategy, Threats

Phi Beta Iota: In the interest of the public's appreciation for the current situation, below are three graphics illustrating the current political situation and issue-bias spread; followed by a list of books with one point: We the People are ready to take our country back from Wall Street and the craven Demopublicans that have sold us out.  Joe Biden might possibly be the key to a non-violent restoration of the Constitution, the Republic, and a nation able to integrate strategy, integrity, and living within its means.

Paul Ray's Empty Middle
Paul Ray's Empty Middle

Paul Ray, co-author of The Cultural Creatives, is probably the finest pollster in America because he cuts deep into values rather than just positions.

2009 Paul Ray New Emerging Culture in the USA

2008 Paul Ray The Political Compass (Updated)

2004 Ray (US) Values in America and the New Political Compass

Displacement of Democracy
Displacement of Democracy

With full credit to Michael Crane and his Political Junkies Handbook,which provided the original map of all the political factions (we added the art), the JPEG to the right illustrates the death of democracy at the hands of the two-party tyranny acting Of, By, and For the Banks–the special interests.  Every Member now serving, with a tiny handful of exceptions, is CORRUPT, both financially, and in terms of “party line” discipline betraying their constituencies, and in terms of abdicating their Article 1 responsibilities for balancing the power of the Executive.  America is not a democracy in Helsinki Accord terms–it is a quasi-fascist corporate state in which the White House is theater, policy is not based on reality, and the budget has been bankrupted several times over because Goldman Sachs has been given free rein over the Treasury for the last four Administrations.

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Journal: Afghanistan, Biden, Baer, & Brains

03 India, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 10 Security, Communities of Practice, Ethics, History, Peace Intelligence, Policy, Reform, Strategy, True Cost
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Rethink Afghanistan Part Six

Robert Baer, a former CIA field operative says, “The notion that we're in Afghanistan to make our country safer is just complete bullshit… what it's doing is causing us greater danger, no question about it. Because the more we fight in Afghanistan, the more the conflict is pushed across the border into Pakistan, the more we destabilize Pakistan, the more likely it is that a fundamentalist government will take over the army — and we'll have Al-Qaeda like groups with nuclear weapons.”

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U.S. troop funds diverted to pet projects

Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops. . . . . . .

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Why Joe Biden Should Resign

Citing a Newsweek story: “Can I just clarify a factual point? How much will we spend this year on Afghanistan?” Someone provided the figure: $65 billion. “And how much will we spend on Pakistan?” Another figure was supplied: $2.25 billion. “Well, by my calculations that's a 30-to-1 ratio in favor of Afghanistan. So I have a question. Al Qaeda is almost all in Pakistan, and Pakistan has nuclear weapons. And yet for every dollar we're spending in Pakistan, we're spending $30 in Afghanistan. Does that make strategic sense?” The White House Situation Room fell silent.

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2009 Robert Steele: Politics & Intelligence–Partners Only When Integrity is Central to Both

About the Idea, Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Definitions, Ethics, Key Players, Policies, Real Time, Reform, Strategy, Threats, True Cost
Robert David STEELE Vivas
Robert David STEELE Vivas

We've spent a great deal of time reflecting on Paradigms of Failure, and in the course of our broad reading programs, been inspired by, among others, Will Durant (especially Philosophy and the Social Problem) and Buckminster Fuller (especially Critical Path).

The central problem of our time is the failure of human organization–its failure to scale, to adapt, to assimilate.

We believe the failure stems directly from a rejection of diversity and a falsification of feedback loops–the absence of integrity.

We've come to the conclusion that the discord between politics and intelligence is contrived–there is no inherent opposition between politics (choice of best path for all) and intelligence (presentation of best achievable truth for all) provided ONE condition is met: integrity among the majority of individuals engaged in each.

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Journal: Strategy versus Secrecy

Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Ethics, InfoOps (IO), Key Players, Policies, Policy, Real Time, Reform, Strategy, Threats
Robert David STEELE Vivas
Robert David STEELE Vivas

We pay careful attention to the search terms used by those who visit us, and have noticed a very healthy focus on strategy and on secrecy.  The two are incompatible.

Strategy, by its inherent nature, must be holistic, transparent, and sustainable.  It demands broad collaboration and the broadest possible information-sharing and sense-making.

Secrecy, by its very nature, is reductionist, completely opaque, and generally not sustainable beyond the moment.  It restricts collaboration, excludes key stake-holders with relevant information, and does not share effectively.

Michael Herman's book on Intelligence in Peace and War is the best available review of why intelligence at the strategic level should not be secret.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan's book on Secrecy remains one of the best articulations of the hidden costs of secrecy to a Republic.

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Journal: India, Demography, & the Future

03 India, Legislation, Mobile, Policies, Policy, Reform, Strategy

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India’s Demographic Moment

With the right conditions in place — education, entrepreneurialism, and environmental awareness among them — a young, eager, educated workforce can be the key to prosperity.

by Nandan Nilekani August 27, 2009

Harvard Business Review

When conditions are right, large numbers of young workers can drive a nation’s growth to remarkable levels. This theory is known as the “demographic dividend,” a phrase coined by demographer David Bloom. He proposes that when young working-age adults comprise a disproportionate percentage of a country’s population, the national economy is affected in positive ways.

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Journal: Afghanistan as Microcosm

Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Ethics, Key Players, Policies, Policy, Real Time, Reform, Strategy, Threats
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10 Steps To Victory In Afghanistan

Reform or Go Home (David Kilcullen)    End Suicide Attacks (Robert Pape)    If You Can’t Beat Them, Let Them Join (Linda Robinson)    Pump Up the Police (Anthony Cordesman)    Kick Out Corruption (Nader Nadery)    Learn to Tax From the Taliban (Gretchen Peters)    Polls Have the Power (Merrill McPeak)    Take a Risk (Andrew McDonald Exum)    Don’t Believe That We Can Afford to Lose (Frederick Kagan)    Pakistani Patronage (Paul Pillar)

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4 Broad Strategies Weighed — From Pullout To Boosting Troop Level

Getting out   Scaling back

Staying put    Ramping up

Strategic Analytic Matrix

Integrated Analytics
Integrated Analytics

Phi Beta Iota: In the context of holistic strategy and integrated analytics as depicted by the two thumbnails (click on each to get to the larger graphic), we are stunned by the mediocrity and myopia of the “conventional wisdom.”  It's all connected.  Absent a coherent world view and strategic analytic model with integrity, this Administration is toast.  The Republic has no strategy, no mature threat construct, no Whole of Government planning, programming, and budgeting system (PPBS), and zero integrity in the sense of being honest about the totality of the substance of governance.

Journal: Paul Rahe and Charles Gasparino on Obama’s Implosion

Government, Policies, Policy, Reform, Strategy

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Burned by Obama:Wall St. execs feel betrayed

By CHARLES GASPARINO,September 29, 2009

Obama, according to Wall Street people who regularly deal with his economic and budget officials, is acting as if he has a blank check to do what he wants, while ignoring the longterm costs of his policies.

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Paul Rahe: Obama's wrecking crew

September 30, 200

When I was working on my book Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift, I read a work that Walter Lippmann, the co-founder of The New Republic, published in 1937. In it, with an eye to the New Deal, he observed that, while

the partisans who are now fighting for the mastery of the modern world wear shirts of different colors, their weapons are drawn from the same armory, their doctrines are variations of the same theme, and they go forth to battle singing the same tune with slightly different words. . . .

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