Berto Jongman: Ahmed Kashid on Why, and What, You Should Know About Central Asia

EXTRACT: China and Central Asia None of the works under review provides the full answers to these questions, although Alexander Cooley’s book, Great Games, Local Rules, comes closest. They all agree on the unprecedented rise of China’s influence in Central Asia. Marlène Laruelle and Sébastien Peyrouse, scholars at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., demonstrate …

Berto Jongman: Mexico Drug War a Huge Lie — New Book “Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lorders and Their Godfathers”

‘Mexico’s war on drugs is one big lie’ Anabel Hernández, journalist and author, accuses the Mexican state of complicity with the cartels, and says the ‘war on drugs’ is a sham. She’s had headless animals left at her door and her family have been threatened by gunmen. Now her courageous bestseller, extracted below, is to …

Steven Aftergood: INTELLIGENCE AGENCY BUDGETS REVEALED IN WASHINGTON POST

INTELLIGENCE AGENCY BUDGETS REVEALED IN WASHINGTON POST Secret intelligence agency budget information was abundantly detailed in the Washington Post yesterday based on Top Secret budget documents released by Edward Snowden.  See “U.S. spy network’s successes, failures and objectives detailed in ‘black budget’ summary” by Barton Gellman and Greg Miller, Washington Post, August 29. The newly …

Berto Jongman: Worth a Look — Modern Catastrophism

A registered educational charity. Registered under the Charities Act, 1960 – registration no. 286264.         The oldest and most up-to-date Society       for information and research       into cosmic catastrophes       and ancient chronology revision Visit home page, many links, index since 1960. The Society’s PRINCIPAL  OBJECT is ‘to …

Berto Jongman: Not Just the NSA: Data Brokers Amass Detailed Profiles on Everyone Online

This month, a strongly worded Washington Post op-ed by Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill calling for transparency in the business practices of the online data broker industry provoked a heated response. While the ACLU and other privacy advocates have long had their suspicions about how and why data brokers were tracking individuals, as the commissioner …

Berto Jongman: US View on Al Qaeda and Training of Syrian Rebels

U.S.: Al Qaeda-linked Group Behind Benghazi Attack Trains Jihadists for Syrian Rebel Groups Ansar al-Sharia running training camps in Benghazi and Darnah U.S. intelligence agencies earlier this month uncovered new evidence that al Qaeda-linked terrorists in Benghazi are training foreign jihadists to fight with Syria’s Islamist rebels, according to U.S. officials. Ansar al-Sharia, the al …