The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
UN Security Council Report of the Secretary-General on Afghanistan
S/2010/10/318 16 June 2010
Overall, the number of security incidents increased significantly, compared to previous years and contrary to seasonal trends. [II 18, p. 4]
The three political priorities include support for elections, reconciliation and reintegration, and regional cooperation; the fourth priority is aid coherence. [III A. p. 5]
DEATH BY CLIENT LIST – One was murdered for revealing the client list (Deborah Jeane Palfrey), and one currently lives (and not in jail) because she did not reveal the client list (Jeanette Maier).
This weekend in Brooklyn, NY was the premiere of the film the “Canal Street Madam” about the life of Jeanette Maier and an FBI raid on her infamous family-run brothel in New Orleans. She appeared for the screening and after wards was on a panel for Q & A.
Mentioned in the film was the “DC Madam” (Deborah Jeane Palfrey) and audio of her being interviewed by Alex Jones that she would not commit suicide.
Telephone conversations used in the film were from FBI wiretaps. The FBI used 10 agents taking turns listening to calls for 4 months (5,000 calls). Jeanette Maier said during the Q & A panel that the FBI was wiretapping her phone while she was watching the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and that those tax dollars could have been spent helping keep the country safer.
Background on the Jeanette Maier case and family business:
+ Part One
+ Part Two
+ Part Three
::::
Related:
+ Palfrey page at NNDB
+ Palfrey and Maier connection to Louisiana Senator David Vitter
+ 598 page Book – Why Just Her: The Judicial Lynching of the D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey by Montgomery Sibley
Phi Beta Iota: The idea of one mobile per person was originally devised by the Earth Intelligence Network, and is articulated in both brief form and in a full-length book. Now the idea is emerging, spontaneously, from others. Below is a link to a letter in the Journal of Health Informatics in Developing Countries.
Letter: One mobile per child: a tractable global health intervention
The authors, Prajesh Chhanabhai and Alec Hold, one working at the University of Otago in New Zeland, the other for the Department of Economic and Soical Affairs in the United Nations, make several important points, not least of which is the price point: mobile telephones are being offered in Venezuela for $15, which is half the price the World Bank negotiated with Motorola.
If and when the Chinese see the opportunity (free cell phone, no extra charge for listening in), we should see both free cell phones and eventually free airtime as well as free call centers to educate the poor “one cell call at a time” at the same time that we recoup the investment in elevated national productivity, now proven to be associated with the diffusion of cell phone access.
It merits observation that the cell phone is now the “gift of life” that any one of the one billion rich (80% of whom do not give to charity now) can endow, down to a specific person in a specific village. The sooner we make cell phones ubiquitous, the sooner we can start exposing corruption at all levels (with web sites that make sense of text messages and expose corruption in near-real-time “by name,” and also creating infinite wealth among the four billion at the “bottom of the pyramid.” The human brain is the one inexhaustible resource we have, giving every human a cell phone is the fastest way to harnessing the distributed intelligence of the Whole Earth.
Interesting Side Note: Carlos “slim” Helu (richest person in the world) has a major stake in Tracfone (some phones go for $10). He could be a major player in the one mobile per child campaign. Venezuela president Hugo Chavez has a Twitter account and the Earth Intelligence Network just posted >> earthintelnet @chavezcandanga “the Vergatario” ($15 phone) + Carlos “Slim” Helu ? http://phibetaiota.net/?p=25785 #Vergatario #Venezuela #CarlosSlim
This is an excellent assessment, IMO. Chuck
“Even despots, gangsters and pirates have specific sensitiveness, (and) follow some specific morals.”
The claim was made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a recent speech, following the deadly commando raid on the humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza on May 31. According to Erdogan, Israel doesn’t adhere to the code of conduct embraced even by the vilest of criminals.
The statement alone indicates the momentous political shift that’s currently underway in the Middle East. While the shift isn’t entirely new, one dares to claim it might now be a lasting one. To borrow from Erdogan’s own assessment of the political fallout that followed Israel’s raid, the damage is “irreparable.”
Countless analyses have emerged in the wake of the long-planned and calculated Israeli attack on the Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara, which claimed the lives of nine, mostly Turkish peace activists.
In “Turkey’s Strategic U-Turn, Israel’s Tactical Mistakes,” published in the Israeli daily Haaretz, Ofra Bengio suggested Turkey’s position was purely strategic. But he also chastised Israel for driving Turkey further and faster “toward the Arab and Muslim worlds.”
In this week’s Zaman, a Turkish publication, Bulent Kenes wrote: “As a result of the Davos (where the Turkish prime minister stormed out of a televised discussion with Israeli President Shimon Peres, after accusing him and Israel of murder), the myth that Israel is untouchable was destroyed by Erdogan, and because of that Israel nurses a hatred for Turkey.”
In fact, the Davos incident is significant not because it demonstrates that Israel can be criticized, but rather because it was Turkey — and not any other easily dismissible party — that dared to voice such criticism.
Overview of Syrian-US Relations
Joshua Landis, Syria Comment, Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Joshua M. Landis is Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He is a member of the School of International and Area Studies. He writes “Syria Comment,” a daily newsletter on Syrian politics that attracts some 3,000 readers a day. It is widely read by officials in Washington, Europe and Syria. Dr. Landis regularly travels to Washington DC to consult with the State Department and other government agencies.
Landis Interview with a Foreign Journalist
1. Professor Landis, tensions between the US and Syria have deteriorated. What are the main reasons of this deterioration?
Serious, probably righteous if expensive program.
Washington Post June 19, 2010 Pg. 1
U.S. Buying Helicopters From Russia: Lawmakers balk at Pentagon's purchases for Afghan air corps
By Craig Whitlock
The U.S. government is snapping up Russian-made helicopters to form the core of Afghanistan's fledgling air force, a strategy that is drawing flak from members of Congress who want to force the Afghans to fly American choppers instead.
In a turnabout from the Cold War, when the CIA gave Stinger missiles to Afghan rebels to shoot down Soviet helicopters, the Pentagon has spent $648 million to buy or refurbish 31 Russian Mi-17 transport helicopters for the Afghan National Army Air Corps. The Defense Department is seeking to buy 10 more of the Mi-17s next year, and had planned to buy dozens more over the next decade.
The spectacle of using U.S. taxpayer dollars to buy Russian military products is proving a difficult sell in Congress. Some legislators say that the Pentagon never considered alternatives to the Mi-17, an aircraft it purchased for use in Iraq and Pakistan, and that a lack of competition has enabled Russian defense contractors to gouge on prices.
“The Mi-17 program either has uncoordinated oversight or simply none at all,” said Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), who along with Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) has pushed the Pentagon to reconsider its purchase plans. “The results have led to massive waste, cost overruns, schedule delays, safety concerns and major delivery problems.”
Until the Post learns not to demand registration (NYT finally got it), we will provide the full article (below the line).
Continue reading “Journal: DoD Makes One Intelligent Decision, Congress Freaks”
Phi Beta Iota: Tip of the hat to Berto Jongman for this referral. The report is a classic exemplar of good people doing what they know and what they have been told to do, rather than what they need to do–Dr. Robert Ackoff called this “doing the wrong thing righter.” It is not possible to secure cyberspace using the traditional top-down micro-management paradigm. The only way to secure cyberspace is to make it resilient by steering the private sector toward open everything including most especially open source software. Learn more at Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE).
