Public Intelligence Blog – Page 1704 – The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.

2014/12/24

Review: Before the First Shots are Fired – How America Can Win or Lose Off the Battlefield

5 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Change & Innovation, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Military & Pentagon Power, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Security (Including Immigration), Stabilization & Reconstruction

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Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz

Foreign Politics Beyond the Beltway

By Andrew Lubin on September 6, 2014

Today's foreign policy world seems like the bad old days of American indecision under Jimmy Carter; the Israel-Hamas war, Putin annexed the Crimea, President Obama's red-lines in Syria are repeatedly ignored, and the Americans killed in Iraq seem to have been sacrificed for a country whose people wanted democracy far less than the “Neocon's wanted it for them…clearly General Tony Zinni's USMC (ret) latest book, Before the First Shot is Fired; How America can win or lose off the battlefield, is being published at a most opportune time.

Writing with an honesty rare in Washington, D.C, “Before the First Shot” is Zinni's assessment of why America's foreign and military policy-making is ineffective, if not harmful, to America's national interests. In conjunction with co-author Tony Koltz, he discusses why the complex question “Are we warriors, peacekeepers, or liberators?” of Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond needs to be honestly discussed and answered when military actions are being considered.

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2014/12/242014/12/24

Review: Partnership for the Americas – Western Hemisphere Strategy and U.S. Southern Command

5 Star, Change & Innovation, Force Structure (Military), Humanitarian Assistance, Military & Pentagon Power, Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Priorities, Security (Including Immigration), Stabilization & Reconstruction, Threats (Emerging & Perennial)

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James Stavridis

5.0 out of 5 stars Our Best Thinking to Date — We Can Go Much Further, December 24, 2014

This is the pre-cursor book to The Accidental Admiral: A Sailor Takes Command at NATO which I have reviewed most favorably and strongly recommend. This book — while free online as are all NDU Press books, is a very high quality production with some complex graphics and color photographs. It is fairly priced and absolutely recommended in print if you favor books you can hold in your hands.

There have been other books by military commanders but to the best of my knowledge only General Tony Zinni, USMC (then commanding the US Central Command with two wars and 12 task forces) and General Wesley Clark, USA (then commanding NATO during the Kosovo mess) have risen to what this book strives to be, a gold standard for whole of government multinational engagement.

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2014/12/232014/12/23

Robert Steele: Secret Torture versus Open Source Intelligence

Articles & Chapters

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Robert David Steele Vivas

Secret Torture versus Open Source Intelligence

OpEdNews, 23 December 2014

In 1989, as a former spy for the CIA who became the second-ranking civilian in Marine Corps Intelligence, I ghost-wrote an article for the Commandant of the Marine Corps, “Global Intelligence Challenges in the 1990's.” This was the first article to distinguish between the conventional threat and emerging threats (such as ISIS today) and call for radical changes to how we do intelligence. I followed this up in 1990 with my own article, “Intelligence in the 1990's: Recasting National Security in a Change World,” in which I discussed six specific challenges that have still not been addressed as of today, $1.25 trillion dollars later:

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2014/12/23

Review: Collaborative Commonwealth

4 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Banks, Fed, Money, & Concentrated Wealth, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Civil Society, Complexity & Resilience, Crime (Government), Economics

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Robert A. Needham

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy the Kindle not the Print — Thoughts Worth Considering, December 23, 2014

Enough substance to warrant my finishing the book and writing a summary review.

I accepted this book from a publicist because of my strong interest in “third way” economics. I like the concept of Collaborative Commonwealth very much, an alternative concept is one put forth by Michel Bauwens and others as Open Cooperativism. The two concepts are not as similar as one might think.

What I like most about the book is its very clever use of the water analogy (drops become streams become rivers feed lakes and oceans); its starkly interesting positioning of collaborative commonwealth as being in the sweet spot between the extremes of predatory capitalism and unbridled socialism, and its combination of clear patriotism including a defense of all of the Constitutional Amendments with an equally clear indictment of the US Government as the “gang in possesion” looting the Commonwealth and helping the banksters — including the private bank known as the Federal Reserve — squeeze the last drop of blood out of We the Economic Slaves.

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2014/12/232015/01/09

JZ Liszkiewicz: Design Genius – Anti-Malaria Soap Also Impacts on Larvae in Waste Water

02 Infectious Disease, 07 Health, Design

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Holistic design.

The Success Story Of Anti-Malaria Faso Soap

EXTRACT

The soap is enriched with a special secret mixture of local herbs and leaves a scent that repels mosquitoes on the skin. In addition waste water products from the soap contain substances that prevent the development of mosquito larvae. This is important, since poor sanitation is one of the main factors in the spread of malaria. Read more.

Also see:
Design for the Other 90%; “Micro-Giving” Global Needs Index to Connect Rich to Poor/Fullfill Global-to-Local Requests

2014/12/23

Jean Lievens: Death of Facebook? Not So Fast!

IO Impotency

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End of the Facebook Revolution

At Russian authorities' request, Facebook blocked an opposition rally announcement. Its willingness to do so shows that activists worldwide can no longer count on it as a platform. Read more.

Phi Beta Iota: Facebook still yields 2X to 3X the twitter referrals for any given post. The announcement of its demise is premature. It is, however, immature, and not listening to those who might help it — and/or twitter and/or Sharknet — become the World Brain.

2014/12/22

Mongoose: Holy Father Kicks Cardinal Ass…

Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics

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A good start … now on to politicians.

A list of Pope Francis' 15 “Ailments of the Curia” delivered in his Christmas address

15 Cardinal Sins (this is a Catholic pun) below the line.

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