Public Intelligence Blog – Page 2663 – The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.

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Below is a BBC report of and Israeli “calorie” study drafted in support of Israel blockade policies for Gaza. To Israel's credit, an Israeli human rights group forced the release of this report, but it does nevertheless raise a question: What kind of government would authorize work on such a methodical report on this subject in the first place?

“In her reporting of the Eichmann trial for The New Yorker, which evolved into Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), Hannah Arendt coined the phrase “the banality of evil” to describe Eichmann. She raised the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions and inaction.” (wikipedia)

Read the calorie study (Israeli study of Gaza food consumption to support blockade policy) as well BBC report below, and ask yourself how would you behave if someone was even thinking about doing this to you. Would you fight back with any weapons at your disposal or meekly submit?

BBC, 17 October 2012 Last updated at 21:51 GMT

Israel forced to release study on Gaza blockade

An Israeli court has forced the release of government research detailing the number of calories Palestinians in Gaza need to consume to avoid malnutrition.

The study was commissioned after Israel tightened its blockade of the territory after Hamas came to power in June 2007.

. . . . . . .

‘Daily humanitarian portion'

The Israeli human rights group Gisha, which campaigns against Israel's Gaza blockade, fought a long legal battle to get the Israeli ministry of defence to release this document.

Dated from 2008 and entitled, Food Consumption in the Gaza Strip – The Red Lines, it is a detailed study of how many calories Palestinians needed to eat to avoid malnutrition.

“How can Israel claim that it is not responsible for civilian life in Gaza – when it controls even the type and quantity of food that Palestinian residents of Gaza are permitted to consume?”

Read full article.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Israeli Micro-Management of Gaza Malnutrition”

2012/10/212012/10/21

Michel Bauwens: Occupy – Why It Failed, Why It Matters

Politics

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220px-Michel_Bauwens_crop — Michel Bauwens

It is harder to organise a political movement to help young people than old people. Young people are less susceptible to being organised and they lack the patience for the hard graft of a long political campaign. They are more likely to be seduced by the weak ties of social networking and the false promise of slogans like ‘We are the 99 per cent.’ Nonetheless, these are the victims who need the most help and who lack the clout or visibility to be heard among the more pressing demands being made by the more militant elderly. They are the 5 per cent and we should do something for them.

London Review of Books has an excellent critical analysis by David Runciman of the Occupy movement and the 99% versus 1% narrative.

Stiffed

David Runciman

London Review of Books, 25 October 2012

The Occupy Handbook edited by Janet Byrne
Back Bay, 535 pp, $15.99, April, ISBN 978 0 316 22021 7

EXTRACT:

So how were we duped? Mainly by not paying attention. The 1 per cent didn’t conspire to rip everyone else off. They got their way by walking through the door we left open for them. We were too distracted and disorganised among ourselves to put up enough resistance. What the 99 per cent have in common is that they don’t have enough in common to make a difference politically, compared to the very rich, who are a well-organised bunch. The 99 per cent are a lot more numerous than the 1 per cent; they are also a lot more divided, and it’s the second fact that counts.

Read full review.

Continue reading “Michel Bauwens: Occupy – Why It Failed, Why It Matters”

2012/10/212012/10/21

Search: osint [as of 21 Oct 2012]

Searches

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WordPress search results are presented in reverse chronological order, and osint is a very old concept, since replaced by M4IS2. OSINT is also only relevant in the context of a larger contruct, ethical evidence-based decisions in support of policy, acquisition, and operations. Our understanding is that the US Government has eliminated the ADDNI/OS position and that most OSINT contracts have either been terminated, or are en route toward termination. OSINT has never been done properly within the USG, and absent an Open Source Agency outside the secret world, never will be. China seems to be in the lead now, with a deliberate focus on every other language except English; if there is a World Brain and Global Game in the future, it will probably be funded by and centered on China.

Below the line:

01) Alternative Search Strategies*

02) Top 25 OSINT Posts at Phi Beta Iota

03) All Past OSINT-Related Searches & Responses

Continue reading “Search: osint [as of 21 Oct 2012]”

2012/10/202012/10/21

Worth a Look: Books on Ethics and Democracy

Ethics, Worth A Look

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Eric Beerbohm is assistant professor of government and social studies and director of graduate fellowships for the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.

“Are citizens in a democracy complicit in the injustices perpetrated by a state that acts in their name? Yes they are, argues Eric Beerbohm. In Our Name is a major statement in democratic theory that develops a novel approach to the relationship between citizen and representative. This book will reorient our understanding of the nature of representation in a democracy and appeal to philosophers, political theorists, and social scientists alike.”–Rob Reich, Stanford University

Gary B. Adams and Danny L. Balfour

Although social scientists generally do not discuss “evil” in an academic setting, there is no denying that it has existed in public administration throughout human history. Hundreds of millions of human beings have died as a direct or indirect consequence of state-sponsored violence. The authors argue that administrative evil, or destructiveness, is part of the identity of all modern public administration (as it is part of psychoanalytic study at the individual level). It goes beyond a superficial critique of public administration and lays the groundwork for a more effective and humane profession

Constructing a positive future for public administration requires a willingness to deal with the disturbing aspects of the field's history, identity and practices. Rather than viewing events such as genocide as isolated or aberrant historical events, the authors show how the forces that unleashed such events are part of modernity and are thus present in all contemporary public organizations. This book is not an exercise in bureaucrat-bashing. It goes beyond superficial critique of public administration and lays the groundwork for a more effective and humane profession.

Continue reading “Worth a Look: Books on Ethics and Democracy”

2012/10/202012/10/20

Mini-Me: CIA Station Chief – Drone War Creating More Enemies Than We Destroy

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, IO Deeds of War, Peace Intelligence

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Huh?

Drone War Creating More Enemies Than it Destroys

Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.

New American, 20 October 2012

EXTRACT:

Reuters explains that “Western diplomats in Sanaa say al Qaeda is a threat to Yemen and the rest of the world.” An argument can be made that a bigger threat to the world is the United States’ daily drone attacks that destroy our own dedication to the rule of law and serve as effective recruiting tool for those seeking revenge for the killing.

The former CIA Pakistan station chief agrees. Speaking of the rapid expansion of the drone war in Yemen, Robert Grenier told the Guardian (U.K.):

That brings you to a place where young men, who are typically armed, are in the same area and may hold these militants in a certain form of high regard. If you strike them indiscriminately you are running the risk of creating a terrific amount of popular anger. They have tribes and clans and large families. Now all of a sudden you have a big problem…. I am very concerned about the creation of a larger terrorist safe haven in Yemen.

And:

We have gone a long way down the road of creating a situation where we are creating more enemies than we are removing from the battlefield. We are already there with regards to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Read full article with many links.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: CIA Station Chief – Drone War Creating More Enemies Than We Destroy”

2012/10/202012/10/21

Review: The Complexity of Modern Asymmetric Warfare

5 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War

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Max Manwaring

5.0 out of 5 stars A Capstone Book — Still a Disconnect Between What We Know and What We Do, October 20, 2012

John Fishel opens the book with a valuable contextual overview that reminds us of the preceding volumes that Max has put together:
Insurgency, Terrorism, and Crime: Shadows from the Past and Portents for the Future (International and Security Affairs)
Gangs, Pseudo-Militaries, and Other Modern Mercenaries: New Dynamics in Uncomfortable Wars (International and Security Affairs Series, Vol. 6)

John is modest in not mentioning two very important works, certainly relevant here, that he and Max put together:
Toward Responsibility in the New World Disorder: Challenges and Lessons of Peace Operations (Small Wars and Insurgencies)
Uncomfortable Wars Revisited (International and Security Affairs)

Continue reading “Review: The Complexity of Modern Asymmetric Warfare”

2012/10/202012/10/20

Yoda: Why OpenStreetMap Worries Old Industry (and Old Government?) — the End of Intellectual “Property” and Rise of “Value Added”

Geospatial

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yoda with light saber — Got Crowd? BE the Force!

The New Cartographers: Why OpenStreetMap Worries Tech Companies

Nevermind Apple’s maps misfire, the free, volunteer-made OpenStreetMap may end up reigning supreme anyway, as companies increasingly choose it for map data over Google. But as the project grows, it’s becoming harder and harder for its members to agree on what direction to go in next. Part 2 of a 3-part series. Read part 1 here.

“There is literally not a mapping company in the world that doesn’t use OpenStreetMap in some capacity,” Steve Coast, founder of the free, crowdsourced world map, in his keynote address to some 224 passionate geography junkies at the second annual State of the Map USA conference in Portland, Oregon, on October 13.

Already, in the last year alone, some of the biggest names in the tech sector have switched from Google Maps — which began charging for heavy use of its data in January 2012 — to OpenStreetMap (OSM) to power their map apps or websites.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Yoda: Why OpenStreetMap Worries Old Industry (and Old Government?) — the End of Intellectual “Property” and Rise of “Value Added””