Patrick Meier: An Introduction to Humanitarian UAVs – Comment by Robert Steele

An Introduction to Humanitarian UAVs and their Many Uses Satellite images have been used to support humanitarian efforts for decades. Why? A bird’s eye view of a disaster-affected area simply captures far more information than most Earth-based data-collection technologies can. In short, birds have more situational awareness than we do. In contrast to satellites, UAVs offer significantly …

Berto Jongman: Jihadology – Pros and Cons and Outcomes of Imprisoning Muslims

GUEST POST: Damned if They Do, Damned if They Don’t: The Gordian Knot of Europe’s Jihadi Homecoming By Zach Goldberg Introduction The homecoming of Europe’s jihadi volunteers (or émigrés) from Syria remains an enduring source of public disquiet. That battle-hardened and radicalized Muslim-European passport holders would return to leverage acquired “skills” at home is a specter …

Chuck Spinney: Toxic Alliance – Neo-Cons and “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) War-mongers

This email continues the theme I introduced with How Obama’s Rhetoric Reinforces America’s Grand Strategic Pathway to Catastrophe. Attached beneath my introduction is an brilliant essay, The Dangerous Neocon-R2P Alliance, written by Robert Parry of Consortium News.  Parry describes how propaganda produced by this domestic alliance of convenience among a non-representative minority of unelected influence peddlers …

Berto Jongman: WSJ on US Intelligence Collection Failure In Relation to Russia, Ukraine, and Crimea

U.S. Scurries to Shore Up Spying on Russia In Crimea, Russia May Have Gotten a Jump on West by Evading U.S. Eavesdropping EXTRACTS: U.S. military satellites spied Russian troops amassing within striking distance of Crimea last month. But intelligence analysts were surprised because they hadn’t intercepted any telltale communications where Russian leaders, military commanders or …

Daniel Ellsberg: US Culture of Secrecy & Security Overreach

Q&A: Daniel Ellsberg on US surveillance The famed American whistle-blower discusses US national security, and those who expose its overreach. Sadie Luetmer Al Jazeera, 24 February 2014 Huntingdon, United States – In 1971, US military analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked thousands of pages of a top-secret study on the Vietnam War to the American press. The …