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Mini-Me: Hit Job on Petraeus and CIA Neo-Cons? The Panetta Narrative?

Corruption, Ethics, Government, Ineptitude, Military
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Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

Op-Ed: Benghazi attack — The October surprise that backfired

Eric Morales

Digital Journal, 17 November 2012

The Romney campaign was banking on the Benghazi attack making Obama the next Jimmy Carter, however it has instead blown up in the face of the American right – only problem is, they haven't realized that yet.

Conservatives thought the September 11th attack on the American consulate in Benghazi was the little engine that could. President Obama was ahead in a majority of polls in swing states, and he was leading former Governor Mitt Romney hands down.

Then came reports that the consulate was under attack, after violent protests over a derisive movie entitled Innocence of Muslims which insulted the Prophet Muhammad and decent minded people the world over. Then the news came that Ambassador Stevens were killed along with two CIA security contractors and an IT specialist. The Romney campaign wasted no time issuing a statement even while the embassy staff was still in harms way. The media seemed surprised at their gung ho attitude on the attacks, why was the campaign using this moment of tragedy on the anniversary of another tragedy to attack their opponent, President Obama?

This was their plan. This was their moment. The Reagan revolution was getting a sequel.

The Stand Down

Michael Morell, the Acting CIA Director testified to the Senate that the CIA in Libya never asked for help. This is important in light of what we already know about the attacks. According to the Daily Beast, two hours after the attack on the consulate began Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had multiple plans in place to respond. The plans included sending in a Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST) from Rota, Spain. More plans included two special forces units to deploy to Libya, one from Italy and another from the United States. However the CIA never requested the help, and neither did the State Department.

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Berto Jongman: Western-Imperial Violence — Detailed Dismantling of Steven Pinker’s Apologetics

01 Poverty, 02 Infectious Disease, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Genocide, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 09 Terrorism, 10 Transnational Crime, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of War, Peace Intelligence
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Berto Jongman

Reality Denial : Steven Pinker's Apologetics for Western-Imperial Volence

By Edward S Herman and David Peterson

ZNET, Wednesday, 25 July 2012

It is amusing to see how eagerly the establishment media have welcomed Steven Pinker’s 2011 tome, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined,[1] which explains not only that “violence has been in decline for long stretches of time,” but that “we may be living in the most peaceful era in our species' existence.”[2] A professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University since 2002 and a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist in the general nonfiction category,[3] Pinker’s lovable theme coincides with the Nobel Peace Laureate’s current engagement in wars on at least four separate continents (Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America); his regretful partial withdrawal from invaded and occupied Iraq; his victorious termination of the 2011 war in Libya; his buildup and threats to engage in even larger wars with Syria and Iran, both already underway with aggressive sanctions and an array of covert actions;[4] his semi-secret and ever-widening use of remote-controlled aerial gunships and death squads in global killing operations;[5] and his declaration of the right to kill any person anywhere for “national security” reasons—officially making the entire world a U.S. free-fire-zone.[6] The Barack Obama regime, and before it the Bush-Cheney regime, have also supported and protected Israel’s escalated ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and the hostile U.S. actions and threats involving Iran and Syria are closely geared with those of Israel.

Read full article with detailed notes.

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Penguin: Benghazi – The Case for Impeachment

Corruption, Government, Ineptitude
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Who, Me?

Grasping at straws, but at root, some serious questions.

Republican plot to impeach Obama over Benghazi attack thickens

Washington – Reports allege a move for impeachment of Obama based on claims that he lied about the Benghazi attack and tried to cover up the truth that it was a terrorist attack. It is also alleged that he blackmailed Petraeus to co-operate in the cover-up.

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Chuck Spinny: USA & Israel, Extrajudicial Killing

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, Officers Call
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Chuck Spinney

Obama's kill list policy compels US support for Israeli attacks on Gaza

The US was once part of the international consensus against extra-judicial assassinations. Now it is a leader in that tactic.

Glenn Greenwald. guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 November 2012 13.23 EST

Israel‘s escalating air attacks on Gaza follow the depressingly familiar pattern that shapes this conflict. Overwhelming Israeli force slaughters innocent Palestinians, including children, which is preceded (and followed) by far more limited rocket attacks into Israel which kill a much smaller number, rocket attacks which are triggered by various forms of Israeli provocations — all of which, most crucially, takes place in the context of Israel's 45-year-old brutal occupation of the Palestinians (and, despite a “withdrawal” of troops, that includes Gaza, over which Israel continues to exercise extensive dominion). The debates over these episodes then follow an equally familiar pattern, strictly adhering to a decades-old script that, by design at this point, goes nowhere.

Meanwhile, most US media outlets are petrified of straying too far from pro-Israel orthodoxies. Time's Middle East correspondent Rania Abouzeid noted this morning on Twitter the typical template: “Just read report in major US paper about Gaza/Israel that put Israeli dead in 1st sentence. Palestinian in 6th paragraph.” Or just consider the BBC's headline. Worse, this morning's New York Times editorial self-consciously drapes itself with pro-Israel caveats and completely ignores the extensive civilian deaths in Gaza before identifying this as one of the only flaws it could find with the lethal Israeli assault: “The action also threatens to divert attention from what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly described as Israel's biggest security threat: Iran's nuclear program.”

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Rickard Falkvinge: Why A Pirate Party WORKS

Politics
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Rickard Falkvinge

Yes, The Pirate Party Is A Silly Name, And That's Why It Works

Zacqary Adam Green, 17 November 2012

“Pirate Party? Are you serious?” I hear that all the time when I’m canvassing. “With a name like that, how will you succeed?” Well, I reply, it got your attention, didn’t it?

The last time we canvassed in New York City parks, most conversations went something like this:
“Hi, are you tired of politics?”
The person keeps walking.
“Left vs. right always saying the same thing?”
They keep walking.
“I’m with the Pirate Party!”
They stop. They slowly turn around.

Pirates. Arr, shiver me timbers. Swillin’ grog an’ plunderin’ yer treasure. That’s the image the name immediately conjures to many people. They laugh. We tell them that we don’t have a chairman, we have a captain, and they laugh even more. We tell them we want to declare mutiny against the corrupt government, and their sides are splitting.

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Berto Jongman: Video Dr. Johan Galtung at World Peace Academy

Peace Intelligence
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Berto Jongman

Prof. Dr. Johan Galtung at World Peace Academy

YouTube (59:48).  Conflict is a relationship, not an attribute.  Conflict is competing unresolved narratives.  Six case studies:  US versus Latin America on Cuba and drugs; Israel versus Iran; Israel versus the Arab World; Holocaust; Potential Anti-Semitism in USA; Debt Bondage (China versus USA; German versus Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ireland; World Bank versus Third World.

Phi Beta Iota: Professor Dr. Galtung is one of the most educated moral people speaking in English, on the planet. This one hour video is worthy of watching — without distraction — by any educated person and most particularly the President of the United States of America.

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Berto Jongman: Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT)

Software
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Berto Jongman

Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT) – Same Song, New Melody?

Florian Schaurer

Open Source Intelligence Blog, 31 October 2012

Without setting the schmaltzy pride of belated parents aside, David Omand, Jamie Bartlett and Carl Miller – as an online first article in Taylor & Francis’ well-established periodical ‘Intelligence and National Security‘ – are ‘Introducing Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT)‘. What the world needed, was yet another INT, and here it is. Of course, despite the claim of its authors, SOCMINT is nothing new at all in the OSINT domain, but merely a rebranding of one specific range of its application. Thematically rather related is the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) latest publication ‘The Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes‘, also a “first of its kind” according to UNODC (maybe a first for them, but probably not for academia, think tanks, security services etc.). So let’s have a quick look at both.

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