Blix, who clashed with US officials when he was head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq from 2000 to 2003, said he has long been skeptical of intelligence that has been used to accuse Iraq and Iran of having active nuclear-weapons programs. “I’ve often said you have as much disinformation as information” on alleged weaponization efforts in those countries, Blix said.
In 2009, I obtained a confidential report commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which provided a shocking explanation for this seemingly contradictory policy. The report, authored by respected defence consultant Prof Ola Tunander, who had previously contributed to a high-level Danish government inquiry into U.S. covert operations during the Cold War, concluded that U.S. strategy in AfPak (Afghanistan and Pakistan) is to “support both sides in the conflict” so as to “calibrate the level of violence,” ironically to prolong, not end, regional conflicts. This counterintuitive strategy, the report argued, appears to be motivated by a wider geopolitical objective of maintaining global support for U.S. interventionism to maintain regional security. By fanning the flames of war in AfPak, U.S. forces are able to “increase and decrease the military temperature and calibrate the level of violence” with a view to permanently “mobilize other governments in support of U.S. global policy.”
It is driving the rightist prohibitionists crazy that none of the dire predictions they made about ending Marijuana prohibition have come to pass. In fact the outcomes have been the exact opposite to what they said would happen. So now they are trying to get the conservative majority on the Supreme Court to reverse what the people themselves voted for. It is not clear how this will play out but it has the potential to create a massive crisis of governance.
Robert, you are the originator of the concept of a Smart Nation, with your article in 1996 published in the Government Information Quarterly, entitled “Creating a Smart Nation: Strategy, Policy, Intelligence, and Information.” Quebec is a nation, recognized by Canada, with a distinct culture, a distinct geography, and perhaps a distinct future.
The next big disruption may well be semiconductor cooling. It's been around for a hundred years in little Peltier devices that power some little refrigerated coolers and cool computer chips, but now startup Phononic has scaled it up and made it more efficient. They are making thermoelectric heat pumps that can power refrigerators and other devices with no moving parts, no toxic refrigerants, and finally, no noise.
The U.S. Department of State has blocked the publication of a long-awaited documentary history of U.S. covert action in Iran in the 1950s out of concern that its release could adversely affect ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The controversial Iran history volume, part of the official Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, had been slated for release last summer. (“History of 1953 CIA Covert Action in Iran to be Published,”
