Berto Jongman: Does Power Make You Mean? Yes. Also Stupid and Very, Very Unethical

Does power make you mean? By Susanne Gargiulo CNN October 24, 2013 “Thinking Business” focuses on the psychology of getting ahead in the workplace by exploring techniques to boost employee performance, increase creativity and productivity. (CNN) — We all know the story. Someone gets promoted at work and suddenly they change — they start forgetting …

Berto Jongman: Sunni-Shia Schism — US Has No Clue and Continues to Prostitute Itself to Saudi Arabia and Israel

How the Sunni-Shia schism is dividing the world The unprecedented Saudi refusal to take up its Security Council seat is not just about Syria but a response to the Iranian threat The Muslim world’s historic – and deeply tragic – chasm between Sunni and Shia Islam is having worldwide repercussions. Syria’s civil war, America’s craven …

Stephen E. Arnold: Tables and News — or Tables and Decision-Support?

Tablets and Periodicals October 19, 2013 Are tablets the salvation of the newspaper industry? Google’s chief economist thinks they may be. In a speech he recently gave in Milan, Hal Varian points to the ways consumers’ usage of tablets differs from that of other devices. Writer Will Conley summarizes: “Varian said tablets are the most …

LtCol X: CSA Sends – Strategic Priorities for the Army – with Phi Beta Iota Comments

Please note Army Chief of Staff General Raymond T. Odierno‘s updated strategic priorities for the US Army, arranged in five (5) categories. PDF Slide Show: CSA Strategic Priorities vFinal 16Oct13 From those, here is an extract . EXTRACTS: [DOWNSIZED ARMY; EXPEDITIONARY] – Downsize, transition, and then sustain a smaller, but ready and capable Total Army …

Review: Pakistan on the Brink–The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan

Ahmed Rashid REF A — 12 Years of Lessons Learned in Time for 2014, October 13, 2013 This is an extraordinary book that required a great deal of time, not in the reading, but in the reflection. This will be a longer review than usual, even for me, because this book contains all of the …

Karl W. Eikenberry: The Limits of Counterinsurgency Doctrine in Afghanistan — The Other Side of COIN

 The Limits of Counterinsurgency Doctrine in Afghanistan The Other Side of the COIN Foreign Affairs, September-October 2013 (General and Ambassador) Karl W. Eikenberry Since 9/11, two consecutive U.S. administrations have labored mightily to help Afghanistan create a state inhospitable to terrorist organizations with transnational aspirations and capabilities. The goal has been clear enough, but its …

Steve Aftergood: CIA Halts Public Access to Open Source Service

CIA HALTS PUBLIC ACCESS TO OPEN SOURCE SERVICE For more than half a century, the public has been able to access a wealth of information collected by U.S. intelligence from unclassified, open sources around the world.  At the end of this year, the Central Intelligence Agency will terminate that access. The U.S. intelligence community’s Open …