The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
JUNE 16, 2014 Polk Report How to Evolve an Exit Strategy From America’s Foreign Policy Shambles by FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY and WILLIAM R. POLK, Counterpunch Attached beneath my introductory comment is an essay by the American historian William R. Polk. His subject is the American predilection for non-learning in foreign policy. My comment is intended …
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Non-Learning in US Foreign Policy”
Iraq: Prime Minister al-Maliki urged residents and tribes of Fallujah to ‘expel’ al-Qaida militants from the Sunni-dominated city to avoid an all-out battle. Multiple news outlets have reported that the government is planning a major ground and air attack against Fallujah if the residents and tribes fail to oust the al Qaida militants.
Attached is a very different analysis of emerging politics in the Middle East. I do not know what to make of it. Some of it rings true to me, like the pressures on Turkey to shift gears … but taken together, I just don’t know. I welcome any comments, pro or con, about it. I …
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Sharmine Narwani on Middle East Home Grown Security Arc”
Attached below are two very important reports by two of the most astute observers of conflicts in the Middle East. The first is a precisely-focused report by Rami Khouri, editor at large of Lebanon’s Daily Star. Khouri analyzes how the recent assassination of Mohamad Chatah needs to be interpreted in the context of complexities of …
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Two Evaluations of Middle East After Arab Spring”
The End of the Nation-State? New York Times, 14 October 2013 Singapore — Every five years, the United States National Intelligence Council, which advises the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, publishes a report forecasting the long-term implications of global trends. Earlier this year it released its latest report, “Alternative Worlds,” which included scenarios for …
Continue reading “Parag Khanna: The End of the Nation-State?”
CIA’s Deadly Cultural Ignorance Fear of officers “going native” keeps our intelligence agencies ill-informed about Somalia, Syria, and other hotspots. When the British ran an empire they did it the right way, if one is into imperial management. They created an entire bureaucracy, the Colonial Service, which was manned by officers who were expected to …
American Generals Stand between War and Peace The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, General Martin Dempsey, backed by his Joint Staff generals and admirals, stood between a hasty and knee-jerk President Obama who was intent on launching a military attack on Syria and a tenuous peace in the Middle …
