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John Steiner: Third Party of Principle Against Corruption Winning in India – Implications for USA?

09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Government
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John Steiner
John Steiner

Thanks for sending the NYT article John. I am lucky to have arrived here in India just as the rolling series of local elections took place – and based on the NYT article, it is worth mentioning this to you.

All of India is electrified by the impressive win in the state of Delhi of the AAP, the anti-corruption party. I have been surprised reading the newspapers that what everyone is excited about is that a third party founded on principle could win anything. (Local elections are sometimes won by 3rd parties if they are ethnically/religiously oriented, in the areas where these groups are majorities).

"As long as we don't piss off all of the people all of the time, we can keep living large."
“As long as we don't piss off all of the people all of the time, we can keep living large.”

Like the US, the assumption has been that India will never go for a third party, this despite it being a parliamentary system. How this plays out in terms of governing remains to be seen, BUT the AAP won on its stand and promise to fight corruption, attracting both the middle class (which usually supports the liberal Congress Party) and the poor (who tend to support the conservative BJP). Both parties are widely seen as hopelessly corrupt.

Maybe there is a lesson here for a smaller democracy, ours (India has 1.2 billion people, and 750 million registered voters!) As the NYT article showed, people don't see themselves as Centrists, and are divided on so many issues. But we are surely sick of the US style corruption, which is in the popular mind focused on weal financial regulations.

Hope all is well and holiday cheer to you and Margo,

Evelyn

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Rickard Falkvinge: Zacqary Adam Green – Reflections on Property

Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence
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Rickard Falkvinge
Rickard Falkvinge

Ideas Can't Be Property. Can Dirt?

Reflections – Zacqary Adam Green:  So, we’re all in agreement that intellectual property is a bad thing that should not exist. What about plain old property? If no one has a right to monopolize the use of an idea, is there a justification to allow monopolies on the use of a little bit of the planet?

Click on Image to Enlarge
Click on Image to Enlarge

First of all, let’s make a distinction between possessions and property. Nobody is arguing that you don’t get to keep the shirt on your back, or your toothbrush, or your laptop. What I’m concerned with is the exclusive right to land, and to the structures built on that piece of land.

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SchwartzReport: Truths That Matter

03 Economy, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Impotency
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Stephan A. Schwartz
Stephan A. Schwartz

I am not an Obama fan, as anyone who reads SR regularly knows. I find the disconnect between the soaring language in his speeches and the reality of how his Executive Branch operates — an issue distinct from the problems of his having to deal with a corrupt Theocratic Rightist House — very alarming. Two of the most disturbing aspects are the rise of the Orwelli! an surveillance under Obama's Administration, and, concurrently, the suppression of freedom of the press. A democracy without a free aggressive press very quickly ceases to be a democracy. History is quite clear on this. Here is an excellent essay on the relevant issues. This special report originally appeared on the Committee to Protect Journalists website, and is reprinted here with their permission.

“This is the Most Closed, Control Freak Administration I've Ever Cover”
LEONARD DOWNIE and SARA RAFSKY – AlterNet (U.S.)

EXTRACT:

This report will examine all these issues: legal policies of the Obama administration that disrupt relationships between journalists and government sources; the surveillance programs that cast doubt on journalists’ ability to protect those sources; restrictive practices for disclosing information that make it more difficult to hold the government accountable for its actions and decision-making; and manipulative use of administration-controlled media to circumvent scrutiny by the press.

Read full article (ten screens).

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Review: The Oxford Handbook of National Security Intelligence

4 Star, Intelligence (Government/Secret)
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Amazon Page
Amazon Page

Loch Johnson (editor)

4 out of 5 stars In Thirds: Interesting, Politically Correct, Pap

WARNING NOTICE: This is not a current book. It is a reprint of the 2010 publication that was out of date across many chapters when it was originally printed. The Routledge book, Routledge Companion to Intelligence Studies is the far better book if you want something that is both current and moderately innovative.

Final Review:

I've given up on this book. I got through the first fifteen entries, and had a paragraph on each, but finally concluded that on the one hand, the book consists largely of old contributions that have been recycled into a new (2010) collection, and on the other hand, the publisher and editor tried to cram so many contributions into one book that they are all shallow. The average grade across the first fifteen is a C, with two A's and one D. On balance I am increasingly dismayed by the incestuous circle of self-citing “scholars” and a handful of practitioner-authors who are all on the same party line and largely ignorant of everyone else. There are too many errors of omission of both fact and of alternative authoritative references from outside the incest circle.

If you have an interest in my many other summary reviews of books on the craft of intelligence (decision-support), seek out free online Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Intelligence (Most). All of my reviews always lead back to their respective Amazon pages.

Best wishes to all,
Robert David STEELE Vivas
ON INTELLIGENCE: Spies and Secrecy in an Open World

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Vote and/or Comment on Review
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Neal Rauhauser: NSA Screws the USA…

Commerce, Corruption, Military
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Neal Rauhauser
Neal Rauhauser

NSA Spies, Brazil Shuns Boeing, Selects Saab

Saab wins Brazil jets deal after NSA spying sours Boeing bid

Until earlier this year, Boeing had been considered the frontrunner for the purchase. But revelations of spying by the U.S. National Security Agency in Brazil, including the personal telephone calls and emails of President Dilma Rousseff herself, led Brazil to believe that it could not trust a U.S. company.

The revelations by Edward Snowden triggered an immediate exit from U.S. hosted service providers, then a rapid decline in the prospects for U.S. communications equipment vendors, and Boeing just lost a $4.5 billion dollar sale to Sweden’s Saab. Instead of the F/A-18 Hornet the JAS-39 Gripen will grace the skies of South America’s regional power.

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