Veterans Today: Kerry Was Wrong – Turkey Indicts Six Jihadists for Sarin — Not Whole Story But Good Start

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, Ethics, Government, IO Impotency, Officers Call

0Shares

Kerry Was Wrong

Turkish prosecutor indicts six jihadists for alleged attempts to acquire chemicals with intent to produce sarin

Does the truth really set you free? Do I care?

The Turkish Republican Prosecutor in Adana has issued a 132-page indictment, alleging that six members of the al-Qaeda-aligned al-Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham – one Syrian and five Turks – tried to acquire chemicals with the intent to produce the chemical weapon sarin.

The Turkish newspaper Radikal reports that the suspects were under surveillance by Turkish police after they received information that the al-Nusra members tried to acquire two government-regulated military-grade chemical substances.

11 people were arrested in their safe house in the city of Adana in southeastern Turkey on May 23, 2013, after they had acquired some of the chemicals.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Veterans Today: Kerry Was Wrong – Turkey Indicts Six Jihadists for Sarin — Not Whole Story But Good Start”

2013/09/16

Berto Jongman: Eric Garland on 20th Century Myths Driving US Intervention

Ethics, Lessons, Officers Call

0Shares

Myth 1 : America has to act.

Myth 2 : America's actions are benevolent.

Myth 3 : America can win wars.

The 20th century myths driving US intervention

The logic behind a possible US strike in Syria is anachronistic, writes author.

Eric Garland

Al Jazeera, 15 September 2013

In the past few weeks, I have fielded phone calls from exasperated young colleagues in Washington DC. As strategic thinkers, they are flabbergasted that the same cohort of leaders could possibly present a casus belli for Syria that is so risk-blind and mindless, lacking any evidence of a longer-term vision. More than once I have heard the phrase, ” How can it be that people with such authority could possibly still think this way after the last twelve years?”

Even if you aren't a young American policy analyst in DC, you might be equally bewildered how the United States could be considering yet another intervention in the Middle East with limited moral justification, flimsy legal cover, and no clear strategic endgame. There is a logic here to the proposals of Kerry, Power, McCain, Graham and company – but that logic is driven by the myths from another age. To understand the mentality of the current crop of US leaders as they claim the right to enter the Syrian civil war on behalf of morality, look to the myths that drive people who grew up in another time.

The tenacious 20th century myths of today's leaders

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Eric Garland on 20th Century Myths Driving US Intervention”

2013/09/16

Winslow Wheeler: Adam Ciralsky Seven Part Vanity Fair Article on F-35 Mis-Management

Commerce, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military

0Shares

Long in the making, Vanity Fair is today releasing, on-line, it's article on the F-35 — to appear in a future issue. The article focuses on the atrocious management of the F-35–from the very start from all parties, including the absence of oversight by DOD of either Lockheed-Martin or the military services, especially the Marine Corps.

Note the Marines' refusal to respond to the question of the appropriateness of their declaration of a pre-mature IOC, and note as well the glib and fact free assurance of a viable program future by JPO head Lt. Gen. Bogdan, who seems to assume, for example, a smooth path for the program's budget — in an era when sequestration levels of spending are the new fact of life.

Note also some important insights about the Helmet Mounted Display, which may never be completely fixed and may never be viable even if it is.

Find author Adam Ciralsky's revealing tour through F-35 mis-management in a seven part Vanity Fair article at

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2013/09/joint-strike-fighter-lockheed-martin.

2013/09/16

Chuck Spinney: Bill Polk Primer on Syria & Chemical Weapons

03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Iran, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Extraterrestial Intelligence, Government, Military, Officers Call, Strategy

0Shares

My friend Bill Polk, a well-known historian with extensive experience in the Middle East and Central Asia and author of many books on these areas, has written a backgrounder on how to make sense out of the Syrian chemical weapons issue. He has given me permission to distribute it. Herewith is his most interesting primer on the Syrian chemical weapons issue.

Chuck Spinney

Reflections on the Syrian Chemical Weapons Issue and Beyond

William R. Polk

September 15, 2013

1.The Variety of Weapons and Their characteristics
2 A Short History of Chemical Weapons
3 The Russian Intervention
4 Why the Syrians Have Accepted the Russian Proposal
5. The Prospects for Ridding The Area of Weapons of Mass Destruction
6 The Possibility of Ending the Civil War
7 Who Are the Insurgents and What do they Want?
8 Predictable Results of a Collapse of the Syrian State

Full essay below the line.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Bill Polk Primer on Syria & Chemical Weapons”

2013/09/162013/09/16

Stephen E. Arnold: SharePoint Search: An Open Source Widget

Software

0Shares

SharePoint Search: An Open Source Widget

If you have SharePoint responsibilities, you know how fabulous Microsoft’s Swiss Army knife solution is. Let me explain. The “fabulousness” applies to consultants, integrators, and “experts” who can make the rusty blade cut better than it does once the system is installed.

I learned about “SharePoint 2013 Search Query Tool” from one of the ArnoldIT SharePoint experts. You can download tool to test out and debug search queries against the SharePoint 2013 REST API. The tool does not help improve either the system or the user queries, but I find this software interesting for three reasons:

After years of Microsoft innovation, there are still issues with getting relevant results. Ergo the open source tool.

SharePoint does not provide a native administrative function to perform this type of testing.

Open source may be edging toward SharePoint. If the baby steps mature, will an open source snap in to replace the wild and crazy Fast Search & Transfer technology pop into being?

Stephen E Arnold, one of the world’s leading experts in information retrieval said:

Fast Search is on a technical par with SharePoint. The idea that two flawed systems can cope with changing user needs, Big Data, and unexpected system interactions is making SharePoint software which boosts costs. Change may be forced on Microsoft and without warning.

Worth thinking about and checking out the free widget.

Stuart Schram

2013/09/16

John Maguire: Frank Znidarsic Interview on Theoretical Cold Fusion and Antigravity

05 Energy, YouTube

0Shares

Interview with Frank Znidarsic: a registered professional electrical engineer in the state of Pennsylvania. During his many years working in the energy sector, he has personally witnessed the limitations and decline of American industry. Frank has also written numerous peer reviewed and non peer reviewed articles on cold fusion, anti-gravity, and foundational physics and has been featured in Infinite Energy Magazine. He is also the author of the book ‘Energy, Cold Fusion and Antigravity’. His Quantum Transition Theory (aka Z-Theory) resolves a variety of quantum enigmas (Planck’s Constant, Quantum Jumping, Energy Level of Photons) utilizing a classical approach. His theory accounts for Cold Fusion/LENR as a byproduct of the amplified magneto component of the nuclear strong force (aka spin orbit force), and also accounts for Anti-Gravity as a byproduct of the amplified magneto component of the gravitational force. By exploring these topics more in depth, Frank believes that mankind can achieve an age of abundance in the not too distant future. Frank’s book can be purchased on Amazon, and more information about Frank can be found at his personal website, on YouTube, as well as at the alienscientist.com forums.

Frank Znidarsic: Quantum Transition, Cold Fusion, and Antigravity

2013/09/16

Owl: Winning at Sports Much More Important in USA Than Winning at Academic Achievement

Civil Society, Idiocy

0Shares

Winning at Sports Much More Important in USA Than Winning at Academic Achievement

As pointed out by financial writer and radio show host Richard Martin in commenting on this map showing the highest-paid public employees, “When a country places more importance on sports than on than on academic achievement, its decline is inevitable.” Indeed!