David Isenberg: Spanking Bill Kristol — and Other Neo-Cons

Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Military
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David Isenberg
David Isenberg

Take My Neocon — Please

In case you are not aware, Jews have long been drawn to and practiced humor. It is just a plain matter of fact that in any listing of top U.S. komikers (comics) over half of them are going to be Jewish. Think Bud Abbott, Woody Allen, Hank Azaria, Bea Arthur, Lewis Black, Mel Brooks, Lenny Bruce, George Burns, Billy Crystal, Al Franken, The Three Stooges, and The Marx Brothers, to name a very few.

So, as a duly certified member of the Chosen, allow me to explain what some of my fellow tribe members have been doing lately to bring comic relief to the American public. Please note that these are not the usual standup suspects we are accustomed to seeing on comedy clubs and late night talk shows.

No, these are a distinct subcategory of the Jocus Judaica species; otherwise known as Jewish neocons, a distinct, but voluble segment of the overall neocon community.

. . . . . . . . . .

Reading between the not so thinly veiled lines (to paraphrase from the Wizard of Oz; pay no attention to the neocon hiding behind the accusation of anti-Semitism) the criticism of Hagel comes down to the fact that he may be reluctant, perhaps even unwilling, -Oh Dear Yahweh! – to attack another Middle Eastern country, like, oh say, Iran.

Speaking as both a Jew and American military veteran if that is the mark of an anti-Semite we need more of them.

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Richard Wright: Friedman on Hagel — Zionists Backing Down? Steele Overview & Remember the USS Liberty

Ethics, IO Deeds of Peace, Media, Military
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Richard Wright
Richard Wright

Given the out of control slander and vicious opposition of the Zionists and the neo-cons to Chuck Hagel's leaked nomination prospects, this comes as a pleasant surprise.

Give Chuck a Chance

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

New York Times December 25, 2012

In case you haven’t heard, President Obama is considering appointing Chuck Hagel, a former United States senator from Nebraska and a Purple Heart winner, as the next secretary of defense — and this has triggered a minifirefight among Hagel critics and supporters. I am a Hagel supporter. I think he would make a fine secretary of defense — precisely because some of his views are not “mainstream.” I find the opposition to him falling into two baskets: the disgusting and the philosophical. It is vital to look at both to appreciate why Hagel would be a good fit for Defense at this time.

The disgusting is the fact that because Hagel once described the Israel lobby as the “Jewish lobby” (it also contains some Christians). And because he has rather bluntly stated that his job as a U.S. senator was not to take orders from the Israel lobby but to advance U.S. interests, he is smeared as an Israel-hater at best and an anti-Semite at worst. If ever Israel needed a U.S. defense secretary who was committed to Israel’s survival, as Hagel has repeatedly stated — but who was convinced that ensuring that survival didn’t mean having America go along with Israel’s self-destructive drift into settling the West Bank and obviating a two-state solution — it is now.

I am certain that the vast majority of U.S. senators and policy makers quietly believe exactly what Hagel believes on Israel — that it is surrounded by more implacable enemies than ever and needs and deserves America’s backing. But, at the same time, this Israeli government is so spoiled and has shifted so far to the right that it makes no effort to take U.S. interests into account by slowing its self-isolating settlement adventure. And it’s going to get worse. Israel’s friends need to understand that the center-left in Israel is dying. The Israeli election in January will bring to power Israeli rightists who never spoke at your local Israel Bonds dinner. These are people who want to annex the West Bank. Bibi Netanyahu is a dove in this crowd. The only thing standing between Israel and national suicide any more is America and its willingness to tell Israel the truth. But most U.S. senators, policy makers and Jews prefer to stick their heads in the sand, because confronting Israel is so unpleasant and politically dangerous. Hagel at least cares enough about Israel to be an exception.

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Marcus Aurelius: Army Spreading Troops Around Africa?

Ineptitude, Military
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Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

A broad concept that illuminate the fact that Special Operations Forces are not available for such duties.

Army plans to shift troops to U.S. Africa Command

Aims for quick crisis response

U.S. Africa Command, the military’s newest regional force, will have more troops available early next year as the Pentagon winds down from two ground wars over the past decade, Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, Army chief of staff, told The Washington Times.

As part of Gen. Odierno’s Regionally Aligned Forces concept, about 1,200 soldiers will deploy to Africa as early as March in an effort to place troops strategically around the globe to respond quickly to sudden challenges in hot spots such as Libya and to develop ties with the people and officials in host countries.

“It’s about us moving towards a scalable, tailorable capability that helps them to shape the environment they’re working in, doing a variety of tasks from building partner capability to engagement, to multilateral training to bilateral training to actual deployment of forces, if necessary,” Gen. Odierno said in an interview.

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Yoda: European Union Open Data Portal Opens

Data
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Got Crowd? BE the Force!
Got Crowd? BE the Force!

A start, good this is.

EU Commission unwraps public beta of open data portal with 5800+ datasets, ahead of Jan 2013 launch

Good news for open data lovers in the European Union and beyond: the European Commission on Christmas Eve quietly pushed live the public beta version of its all-new open data portal.

For the record: open data is general information that can be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone. In this case, it concerns all the information that public bodies in the European Union produce, collect or pay for (it’s similar to the United States government’s Data.gov).

This could include geographical data, statistics, meteorological data, data from publicly funded research projects, and digitised books from libraries.

. . . . . . . .

From the newly launched website:

This portal is about transparency, open government and innovation. The European Commission Data Portal provides access to open public data from the European Commission. It also provides access to data of other Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies at their request.

The published data can be downloaded by everyone interested to facilitate reuse, linking and the creation of innovative services. Moreover, this Data Portal promotes and builds literacy around Europe’s data.

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Worth a Look: Books on Improving Intelligence Analysis

Intelligence (Government/Secret), Worth A Look
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Amazon Page

This book on intelligence analysis written by intelligence expert Dr. Stephen Marrin argues that scholarship can play a valuable role in improving intelligence analysis.

Improving intelligence analysis requires bridging the gap between scholarship and practice. Compared to the more established academic disciplines of political science and international relations, intelligence studies scholarship is generally quite relevant to practice. Yet a substantial gap exists nonetheless. Even though there are many intelligence analysts, very few of them are aware of the various writings on intelligence analysis which could help them improve their own processes and products. If the gap between scholarship and practice were to be bridged, practitioners would be able to access and exploit the literature in order to acquire new ways to think about, frame, conceptualize, and improve the analytic process and the resulting product. This volume contributes to the broader discussion regarding mechanisms and methods for improving intelligence analysis processes and products. It synthesizes these articles into a coherent whole, linking them together through common themes, and emphasizes the broader vision of intelligence analysis in the introduction and conclusion chapters.

The book will be of great interest to students of intelligence studies, strategic studies, US national security, US foreign policy, security studies and political science in general,as well as professional intelligence analysts and managers.

Comment and Nine Other Linked Books Below the Line

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Worth a Look: Routledge Companion to Intelligence Studies

Intelligence (Government/Secret), Intelligence (Public), Worth A Look
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Amazon Page
Amazon Page

The Routledge Companion to Intelligence Studies provides a broad of the growing field of intelligence studies, acting as a relection of the state of the art of the subdiscipline.

Focusing on the origins, practice and nature of intelligence studies, this Companion features essays by an array of international experts. It first explains the generic lessons of intelligence – what it is, how it is collected, and how it is processed. It then dedicates sections to the evolution of intelligence; to key episodes in modern history; and to contemporary and future threats. The importance of these three sections is to highlight how our understanding of  ‘intelligence' has been shaped by the nature of the ‘threat'. A final section offers a comparison of national intelligence systems from around the world, grounding the book in an international context and opening up Western readers to accounts of hitherto fairly unexplored countries such as China, South Africa and Japan.

This Companion will be essential reading for students of intelligence studies and strategic studies, and highly recommended for students of defense studies, foreign policy, cold war studies, diplomacy, and International Relations in general.

Rob Dover is senior lecturer in International Relations and Director of Taught Postgraduate Programmes at Loughborough University. He is author of The Europeanization of British Defence Policy 1997-2005 (2007) and co-author, with Goodman, of Spinning Intelligence (2009).

Michael Goodman is a senior lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King's College London. He is author of Spying on the Nuclear Bear: Anglo-American Intelligence and the Soviet Bomb (2008), and co-author of Spinning Intelligence: Why Intelligence Needs the Media, Why the Media Needs Intelligence (2009).

Claudia Hillebrand is a lecturer in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University.

Contents:

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Yoda: Online Education Takes Big Step

04 Education
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Got Crowd? BE the Force!
Got Crowd? BE the Force!

First step, this is.

2013 Outlook for the Growth and Demand of Online Education

by Online School

All major online colleges and universities report astounding increases in the number of students enrolling in online school certification and degree programs. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, a prominent online magazine source of educational information for university administrators and faculty members, higher learning institutions have announced a nearly 25 percent increase in online enrollment over the past four years—the highest percentage recorded to date.  With an apparent shift towards online education away from traditional classroom instruction predicted to shape the educational environment of 2013, the demise of “brick and mortar” schools will inevitably be a decisive factor shaping the future of online schools and the students who attend them. As the quality of online education continues to improve and adapt to the rapidly changing technology exemplifying the digital world, students will be able to experience a stunning variety of teaching platforms capable of enhancing as well as accommodating all individual learning styles and standards.

PRESS RELEASE

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