Phi Beta Iota: This is a very fine contribution to the discussion but it commits the classic error of being afraid to call a spade a space. CORRUPTION is the reason why the USA is not serious about climate change (which is 10% of environmental degradation, threat #3 among the ten high-level threats to humanity). It is the LACK OF INTEGRITY among decision-makers, combined with (enabled by) a lack of public intelligence feeding public outrage such that very bad decisions can be made that profit the few at the expense of the many.
Phi Beta Iota: If integrity is lacking in any part of this process, it corrupts the entire nested cycle. It merits mention that shortfalls in integrity have cumulative compound negatives. They add up to the point that the entire process is so corrupt it leads to otherwise avoidable catastrophic failures.
This email is from an active duty colonel who travels all over Afghanistan. He actually goes on foot patrols with troops to see things for himself. Here is his latest report. His message is bad Ju Ju, I am afraid.
Chuck Spinney
La Ciotat, France
To All,
The mendacity is getting so egregious that I am fast losing the ability to remain quiet; these yarns of “significant progress” are being covered up by the blood and limbs of hundreds – HUNDREDS – of American uniformed service members each and every month, and you know that the rest of this summer is going to see the peak of that bloodshed.
The article by Michael O'Hanlon last week (i.e. Success worth paying for in Afghanistan) and the one in today's WSJ by Kagan and Kagan (i.e., We Have the Momentum in Afghanistan) made me sick to my stomach – especially the latter. Have you seen it yet? It is the most breathless piece of yellow journalism I’ve seen in the entire OIF-OEF generation.
(pieces of the article)
The initial Geiger counters used in the project were from the Reuseum, an Idaho business that recycles old technology to new homes.
Tokyo Hackerspace worked to expand the sensor network with Safecast (formerly RDTN) and Geiger Maps JP, two sites that aggregate and visualize radiation data.
The project began as a way to collect and distribute more-recent radiation information than the government was releasing, in an effort to keep Tokyo residents calm. On March 13, just a day after the explosions at Fukushima, Tokyo Hackerspace was working on getting its own radiation data. The government took almost a week to begin releasing public radiation data, and even then the data was sporadic.
It is now 1:10 in the afternoon and as the daily life in Tripoli unfolds that includes teachers, staff, and children at school, shopkeepers working in their businesses, streetsweepers sweeping the streets, people moving to and fro in the cars, on bicycles, and on foot, Tripoli has thus far since around 11:00 up to now, received at least 29 bombs.
Interestingly, the efforts of the Washington Post, New York Times, Associated Press, and others to portray Libya claims on the bombings as “absurd” are patently false and are merely efforts to defend in the court of public opinion, the indefensible bombing of civilians going about their lives in a heavily populated area. The Washington Post headlined “Libya government fails to prove claims of NATO casualties” and the Los Angeles Times headline blared, “Libya officials put a spin on a conflict.” These bombs and missiles are not falling in empty spaces: people are all over Tripoli going about their lives just as in any other major metropolitan city of about two million people.
Meanwhile, NATO has a spin machine of its own: NATO says it is making “significant progress” in protecting Libyan civilians. “What we did target was the military intelligence headquarters in downtown Tripoli,” the alliance said. I am currently with a delegation of former MP's and professors from France who are here in Tripoli on a fact-finding mission. The program for today was to visit the camps of internally displaced persons in this part of the country. However, we are not able to complete our program while Tripoli is under attack. I will do my best to visit some of the areas bombed today when/if this attack lets up.
What were you doing today between 1:00 and now? The people of Tripoli endure the trauma of repeated bombings in their immediate environment.
We are very amused. Normally we only post unsuccessful searches, but this one was so elegantly contrived we think it should be the meme that best describes the man.
Between the speech outline and the full-text presentation by Robert Steele made just prior to Gates' “sniffing,” we strongly recommend the latter to appreciate just how far in advance and how detailed the understanding was at the time, that Robert Gates and all other “mandarins” absolutely refused to consider.
In search of intelligence…among humans.
