Public Intelligence Blog – Page 3368 – The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.

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Dealing With Assange and the Secrets He Spilled

The New York Times, January 26, 2011

Bill Keller is the executive editor of The New York Times. This essay is adapted from his introduction to “Open Secrets: WikiLeaks, War and American Diplomacy: Complete and Expanded Coverage from The New York Times,” an ebook available for purchase at nytimes.com/opensecrets.

EXTRACT: The government surely cheapens secrecy by deploying it so promiscuously. According to the Pentagon, about 500,000 people have clearance to use the database from which the secret cables were pilfered. Weighing in on the WikiLeaks controversy in The Guardian, Max Frankel remarked that secrets shared with such a legion of “cleared” officials, including low-level army clerks, “are not secret.” Governments, he wrote, “must decide that the random rubber-stamping of millions of papers and computer files each year does not a security system make.”

Phi Beta Iota: Upgraded to a Reference because this nine part overview of the entire process is elegant, informative, and provocative. A very fine contribution of lasting value.

2011/01/272011/02/02

Review (DVD): manolete [Italian Import]

6 Star Top 10%, Culture, DVD - Light, Reviews (DVD Only)

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penelope cruz (Actor), Adrien Brody (Actor), santiago segura (Actor), menno meyjes (Director)

Six Star Instant Classic–Needs to Come in US DVD

January 27, 2011

If you are a Latino or have any grasp of Latino culture, this is a 6. This is as good as Evita and confirms in my own mind Penelope Cruz, who awed in Spanglish, as the Greta Garbo of our time. It took me some time to realize it was her, as her role, both through facial and body language as well as costume and design, was completely opposite that of the role she played in Spanglish. The male star, Adrien Brody, was himself phenomenal, and one has to give enormous credit to every side of this production from script and casting to settings, supporting actors at all levels, and the over-all framing of the story. This could easily become a cult classic to be enjoyed over and over again. I personally found it head and shoulders above just about every film I have watched these past five or six years. Penelope Cruz's face is a work of art in constant motion, and I was absolutely fascinated by the choreography of her eyes and mouth and the entire setting both up close and personal and in the larger cultural landscape that the producer and director captured to perfection.

I certainly hope this becomes available in USA standard (still incredible that there is not one global standard for DVDs, digits are digits) because when it does I will buy and keep this particular DVD for recurring viewing.

Writing this review has exposed me to the enormous body of work of Penelope Cruz, and caused me to explore the work of Adrian Brody. Below are a few DVDs that I have selected from a very large–a surprisingly large–selection, all of which, in combination with the two performances by Penelope Cruz I have actually seen, cause me to feel she is truly one of the most diverse, nuanced, beautiful, and downright plain TALENTED actresses of our time.

Volver
Open Your Eyes
Elegy
and many others

The Pianist
Love the Hard Way
and many others

CORRECTION with thanks to alert reader who pointed out that Paz Vega is not Penelope Cruz.
Carmen
Spanglish
Sex and Lucia (R-Rated Edition) [VHS]

2011/01/272011/01/27

Review (DVD): The Social Network

6 Star Top 10%, Change & Innovation, Communications, Games, Models, & Simulations, Information Operations, Intelligence (Wealth of Networks), Reviews (DVD Only)

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Jesse Eisenberg

Six Star Special–The Essence of the Emerging Era

January 27, 2011

I was very glad to have a chance to see this movie on an airplane, and it was everything others had led me to believe. For myself, it captured the essence of what Peter Drucker calls the mono-maniac. I found the over-all blend of academic banality, personal eccentricities and genius, inter-personal egos and intentions, and the final financial settlements to be totally engrossing.

In many ways I consider Facebook to be the anti-thesis of Google; the first is earnest and personal despite some warts, and a self-made network–the second is secretive, mathematical, went corporate, and lost its soul in the process–as well as its direction.

Continue reading “Review (DVD): The Social Network”

2011/01/27

Review (DVD): Wall Street–Money Never Sleeps

5 Star, Banks, Fed, Money, & Concentrated Wealth, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Reviews (DVD Only)

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cover wall street never sleeps — Amazon Page

Michael Douglas, Shia Labeouf, Josh Brolin, Eli Wallach

SURPRISING–worth viewing in theater or at home

January 27, 2011

This is not a movie I would have gone to any trouble to see, and in a ten hour flight when I did not feel like reading it made the cut only after two other movies viewed on the way over that included sleep. This is a solid five and I was totally surprised, delighted, and provoked by the combination of the three main actors–Michael Douglas in a reprise role with more soul, Shia LaBeouf (appeared in Transformers as a totally credible honest broker, and Carey Mulligan, who was so very good I looked up and list some of her movies below. The movie is timely. While its depictions of the incestuous relations among the Wall Street banks (Goldman Sachs is obviously prominent under another name) and the Treasury Department, with no mention of the Federal Reserve are very limited, they are more than sufficient to project the total greed and irresponsibility of all concerned.

Here are the other movies I watched and review here (mostly to draw Phi Beta Iota community to them and the other excellent reviews), the list is in rank order. At Phi Beta Iota you can select Review/DVD Only to see the other 100+ DVDs I recommend.

Continue reading “Review (DVD): Wall Street–Money Never Sleeps”

2011/01/272011/01/27

Review (DVD): Inception

5 Star, Consciousness & Social IQ, Reviews (DVD Only)

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Leonardo DiCaprio

Information/Cyber-Operations on Steroids

January 27, 2011

I admire the level of detail by the several top reviews I read here, and enter this review primarily to draw those who follow my work on Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog, to the DVD and the other reviews.

This was the last of five movies I watched over the course of sixteen hours in the air, and it comes very close to making the cut toward six stars. This is–for the intelligence and information professionals–advanced Information Operations and Cyber-Psychological Operations on steroids.

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2011/01/272011/01/27

Review (DVD): Smash His Camara

4 Star, Culture, DVD - Light, Reviews (DVD Only)

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Floyd Abrams (Actor), Gilbert M. ‘Broncho Billy' Anderson (Actor), Leon Gast (Director)

Classic View of Greatest American Photo-Stalker

January 27, 2011

Rough patches, but a period cultural piece and for me quite fascinating. Almost a five and not left at four for itself but rather in comparison with other movies as alternative ways of spending time. This is a documentary of one of the greatest American “paraparatzi” of our time, in blends live interviews with re-collective discussions of specific photos that have made history including, most memorably, “windblown Jackie,” and as an American I found it both fascinating and not done deeply or broadly enough. I would have like to see much more. HOWEVER, the movie does whet the appetite for the book No Pictures, and I recommend both.

This movie, and the act of writing the review, brought to my attention other books by this photographer and out of respect I list them:

Continue reading “Review (DVD): Smash His Camara”

2011/01/272011/01/27

Review (Guest): Deadly Embrace–Pakistan, America and the Future of Global Jihad

5 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Country/Regional, Culture, Research, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Insurgency & Revolution, Public Administration, Religion & Politics of Religion, Terrorism & Jihad, Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized)

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Bruce Riedel (Author)

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Story, January 24, 2011

Retired Reader (New Mexico) – See all my reviews

This book is a very careful analysis of U.S.-Pakistani relations, especially over the last forty years. More importantly perhaps it provides the clearest explanation to date of why Pakistan appears to be so ambivalent towards Islamic extremism as manifested in what Riedel identifies as the “Global Jihad” and the Afghan Taliban movement. Indeed he does a brilliant job of guiding the reader through complexities of Pakistani politics and strategy. He makes clear that Pakistan regards India as an existential threat and treats both the Taliban and al Qaeda as pawns in its deadly game against India.

He does a particularly brilliant job describing the drivers of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate in relation to Islamic extremism, Pakistani internal politics, and Afghanistan. The ISI has a very complex agenda, which the U.S. has not always understood, but which always sees India as an overarching enemy.

Continue reading “Review (Guest): Deadly Embrace–Pakistan, America and the Future of Global Jihad”