Review: Still Ours to Lead – America, Rising Powers, and the Tension Between Rivalry and Restraint

Bruce Jones 4.0 out of 5 stars One Third Provocative, One Third Delusional, One Third Ignorant, March 22, 2014 I was given this book as a gift, by someone who knew I can recite from memory the ten high level threats to humanity (as identified and prioritized by the UN High Level Panel on Threats, …

Bruce Schneier: It’s Time to Break Up NSA — Outline of Necessary Intelligence Reforms by Robert Steele

It’s Time to Break Up NSA Bruce Schneier CNN, 20 February 2014 Editor’s note: Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and author of Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust Society Needs to Thrive. (CNN) — The NSA has become too big and too powerful. What was supposed to be a single agency with a dual …

2014 Rethinking National Intelligence — Seven False Premises Blocking Intelligence Reform

Is this the year in which populism defeats the two-party system, when the US stops borrowing to finance waste, and when the NSA debacle outrages the American people to the point that they call for a radical overhaul of the government? – DOC (12 Pages): Rethinking Intelligence 2.3 This post is available for complete re-posting …

4th Media: Finding a New Level of Democratic Empowerment in Malaysia: The Village Consultative Committee

Finding a New Level of Democratic Empowerment in Malaysia: The Village Consultative Committee (Editor’s note: A paper presented to the International Forum on Malaysia 50 Years On: Expectation Vs. Reality,1 BORNEO GRAND BALLROOM; Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia on 5th October, 2013] Introduction Malaysian society has been preoccupied with political discussion since the electoral ’tsunami’ of …

Gordon Duff: Are the Mormons in Charge of America’s Drug Empire? Is NSA Part of Their Power Base?

America’s Drug Empire Narcotics: Business of Western wars “Heroin trafficking is the lubrication that keeps the wheels of Western politics moving as intended.”   It was only a week ago that the US government released Eric Harroun, a former soldier who had been fighting with foreign backed al-Qaeda terrorists and the CIA against the Assad …

NIGHTWATCH: China Shows Muscle & Gravitas — Syria Shows Staying Power — USA Losing on All Fronts Due to Ignorance and Arrogance

China-North Korea: Update. China’s Foreign Ministry declined Wednesday, 8 May, to confirm the Bank of China’s closure of the account of the North Korean Foreign Trade Bank. In response to a question at Wednesday’s news conference, Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, “For specifics, please refer it to competent Chinese authorities.” Sources of the Daily NK …

Eagle: Italy Showcases Movement Getting 25% of the Vote — Pirate Party USA or a Reform Coalition — Could Break the Back of the Two-Party Tyranny

Maybe Italy’s Politicians Aren’t Crazier Than Ours Alexander Stille The New Yorker, March 5, 2013 The results of the last Italian election are baffling, if not incomprehensible, to most foreign observers: as one American friend put it, a majority of Italians voted either for a comedian (Beppe Grillo) or a clown (Silvio Berlusconi). A center-left …