The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Fascinating interview. Note the “no plan,” the conversation with Gromyko on change, and why openness had to come first.
SPIEGEL Interview with Mikhail Gorbachev
In a SPIEGEL interview, Mikhail Gorbachev, 80, discusses the last days of the Soviet Union, his failure to resolve problems with the Communist Party and the ensuing bloodshed he says still troubles him today. He also accuses Vladimir Putin of pulling the country “back into the past.”
On Genghis Khan, Borneo and Galaxies: Using Crowdsourcing to Analyze Satellite Imagery
My colleague Robert Soden was absolutely right: Tomnod is definitely iRevolution material. This is why I reached out to the group a few days ago to explore the possibility of using their technology to crowdsource the analysis of satellite imagery for Somalia. You can read more about that project here. In this blog post, however, is to highlight the amazing work they’ve been doing with National Geographic in search of Genghis Khan’s tomb.
Electronic Privacy Information Center (Author), Marc Rotenberg (Editor), Harry A. Hammitt (Editor), Ginger McCall (Editor), John A. Verdi (Editor), Mark S. Zaid (Editor)
I'm exploring a major campaign to expose illegal actions across the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals and the Defense Intelligence Agency in particular, and in talking to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) leadership got a chance to understand just how vital and USEFUL this guide is.
Senator Patrick Leahy, co-sponsor of the OPEN Government Act of 2007, and many others are on record as considering this the single most indispensable tool in any citizen's toolkit.
For myself, having seen the capricious, arbitrary, and often unethical and even abusive manner in which DIA Personnel “cooks the books” and manipulates job announcements and screening decisions, and having been personally privy to enormous abuse by the Director of the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals and a specifc group of his subordinates, consider this manual essential to my own search for justice.
Although I will use it more to inform myself so I can assist the specialist lawyers in making the most of what I know in their probing inquires at DIA and DOHA, I certainly recommend it to any citizen that has a specific concern that is not getting a fair hearing.
I also recommend the publisher and experts that put it together, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). Many folks do not realize that they have been one of the leading champions of open government, and have also been one of the leading champions in exposing fraud, waste, and abuse that has been concealed by secrecy.
The US Government, in my view, as a general observation, is out of control and no longer representative of We the People. This is the handbook for citizens to use in holding every branch of the federal government accountable for its misbehavior and its dereliction of duty in failing to represent the public interest as opposed to the interest of its very big stakeholders who are recipients of the tax dollar rather than contributors to the treasury of the Republic.
Arm yourself with this knowledge, and go into battle confident in the righteousness of your cause.
See Also [Amazon book link still broken]:
Piercing the Veil of Secrecy: Litigation Against U.S. Intelligence by Janine Brookner
Many fear that the US is poised on the cusp of a second depression. Simon Johnson, on of the most astute observers of the current crisis, takes exception to this view by making an interesting comparison of the current economic slump to the busts of the 19th Century, particularly the long decline between 1873 and 1879.
With the fiscal option being taken off the table by Obama's capitulation on the debt limit extortion, Johnson concludes ironically that the looming right wing populist attack on the monetary option (a weak anti-deflationary tool to be sure) would be like nailing the working class to a “cross of gold” in a time of recession. In so doing, one of the most cogent critics of the Federal Reserve (for protecting the “too big to fail banks”) ends up defending its Chairman. What a strange world we live in, where modern populists adopt the values of the banker who impoverishes them.
Chuck Spinney
Nice, France
Is This A Second Great Depression – Or Could It Become Something Worse?
Simon Johnson, Baseline Scenario, 18 August 2011
Why Software Is Eating The World
Wall Street Journal, 20 August 2011
EN ESPANOL DOCUMENTO 5 PAJINAS
This week, Hewlett-Packard (where I am on the board) announced that it is exploring jettisoning its struggling PC business in favor of investing more heavily in software, where it sees better potential for growth. Meanwhile, Google plans to buy up the cellphone handset maker Motorola Mobility. Both moves surprised the tech world. But both moves are also in line with a trend I've observed, one that makes me optimistic about the future growth of the American and world economies, despite the recent turmoil in the stock market.
In short, software is eating the world.
. . . . . . .
Continue reading “Marc Andreessen: US Education Crisis–Young and Old”
Worth a read. Interesting report based on innovative research method. From the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies.
Report: Contours of Conflict in the 21st Century
EXTRACT from Overview:
In gaining a better understanding of the future nature of conflict, it is therefore of the utmost importance to go beyond the traditional Western (English) language domain experts, and include views from regions across the world. The main purpose of the Future Nature of Conflict project is therefore to map and analyze global perspectives about the future nature of conflict published over the last two decades across four language domains – Arabic, Chinese, English and Slavic.
Phi Beta Iota: Finally! For years we have talked about the need to do multi-lingual perspectives and statements (e.g. charting Chinese, Vietnamese, Philippine, and Australian statements on the Spratley Islands going back 200 years). The protocol developed by this team must be –along with M4IS2–the future of strategic dialog, policy, acquisition, and operations. Any intelligence community that is unable to do this for any issue, any question, may as well go out of business.
Reading through the report is a real pleasure, with all sources being spelled out in footnotes that are actively linked to the original sources. This is a marvelous gift to scholars and practitioners at multiple levels.
A few highlights:
Continue reading “Reference: Contours of 21st Century Conflict”
Phi Beta Iota: This March 30 article continues to be one of the best available.
Who Are the Rebels Fighting Libyan Government Forces?
André de Nesnera
Voice of America, 30 March 2011
EXTRACTS:
But experts are wondering who is this opposition and who are the rebels fighting Ghadafi’s forces?
. . . . . . .
Marc Ginsberg, former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco, says the Libyan opposition is made up of different personalities and groups.
“It’s a sort of ‘Star War' assembly of characters and people who are clearly patriots, very decent people – I’m sure – journalists, opposition military officials who have broken with the regime, former diplomats – and then you’ve got Islamists,” said Ginsberg. “The Benghazi section of Libya was basically an opposition stronghold to Gadhafi and it has a very strong Islamist character to it. So while there are very good people who are part of this opposition coalition, we really can’t say that we know for sure what their capacity is to govern Libya.”
. . . . . .
“The 20-somethings are turning away from Islamists,” she said. “Now you do have an Islamic opposition and you always will have an Islamic extremism in the region. But this is not an Islamic movement. And it is not led by Islamists and it is not demanding the setting up of an Islamic Republic.
