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Review: How Terrorism Ends–Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns

4 Star, Terrorism & Jihad
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4.0 out of 5 stars Needs Inside the Book for Fifth Star

April 3, 2010

Audrey Kurth Cronin

If and when the publisher provides the table of contents and a sample chapter (easy to upload using the standard publishing tools offered by Amazon Advantage) or works with Amazon to achieve Inside the Book access, I will consider buying this book.

In the meantime, I will observer that this book has been highly recommended by Berto Jongman, the top European observer of terrorism and the creator of the World Conflict & Human Rights map, and is so featured at Phi Beta Iota, the Public Intelligence Blog, where the Amazon reader can find an easy to access section on Jihad and Terrorism with all my reviews on this subject.

My one reservation about this book, lacking a sufficiency of Inside the Book information, is that it appears to assume that if one just does the “right things” such as kill leaders, terrorism will eventually die out. Robert Arkoff would turn in his grave over this thought. Terrorism is a tactic, a manifestation of discontent so grave as to indict the state as a failed state in relation to the needs of the segment adopting terrorism. Hence, this book may be more about doing the wrong things righter instead of doing the right things: assuring every group a prosperous world at peace.

Corruption, not terrorism, is in my view the primary curse of all governments and the global network of interests that seek to optimize wealth for the few at the expense of the many. Terrorism, in my view, is a logical in extremis response, a demand to be taken seriously that governments continue to treat at face value (violent crime) rather than as a root value being expressed (seriously angry people with brains and willpower).

See also:

Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism

Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

INTELLIGENCE for EARTH: Clarity, Diversity, Integrity, & Sustainaabilty

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Journal: Statecraft, Soulcraft, & Well-Being

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David Brooks

Op-Ed Columnist

The Sandra Bullock Trade

Two things happened to Sandra Bullock this month. First, she won an Academy Award for best actress. Then came the news reports claiming that her husband is an adulterous jerk. So the philosophic question of the day is: Would you take that as a deal? Would you exchange a tremendous professional triumph for a severe personal blow?

. . . . . . .

If the relationship between money and well-being is complicated, the correspondence between personal relationships and happiness is not. The daily activities most associated with happiness are sex, socializing after work and having dinner with others. The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting. According to one study, joining a group that meets even just once a month produces the same happiness gain as doubling your income. According to another, being married produces a psychic gain equivalent to more than $100,000 a year.

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If you want to find a good place to live, just ask people if they trust their neighbors. Levels of social trust vary enormously, but countries with high social trust have happier people, better health, more efficient government, more economic growth, and less fear of crime (regardless of whether actual crime rates are increasing or decreasing).

See also:

Amazon Page: The Hidden Wealth of Nations

Amazon Page: The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being

Review: Statecraft as Soulcraft

Review: The Power of the Powerless–Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe

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Journal: Military Medicine Up, Military Strategy Not…

05 Civil War, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Government, Methods & Process, Military, Strategy
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Marcus Aurelius

On Distant Battlefields, Survival Odds Rise Sharply

By ALAN CULLISON

Every war brings medical innovations, as horrific injuries force surgeons to come up with new ways to save lives. During the Civil War, doctors learned better ways to amputate limbs, and in World War I they developed the typhoid vaccine. World War II brought the mass use of penicillin, Korea and Vietnam the development of medical evacuation by helicopter.

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The lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan, medical experts say, are still emerging. One legacy is new ways to control bleeding before soldiers lapse into comas or their vital organs shut down. Thanks to new clotting agents, blood products and advanced medical procedures performed closer to the battlefield, wounded American soldiers are now surviving at a greater rate than in any previous war fought by the U.S.

The rising survival rate, now touching 95% for those who live long enough to get medical treatment, is in turn introducing new problems caring for patients with serious and chronic injuries, including multiple amputations and brain damage. The cost of treating such lasting injuries will be borne by the U.S. medical system for decades to come.

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Area 51: Collecting Memories after 47 years of Secrecy

Communities of Practice, Military, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy
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Originally published March 27, 2010
By Erik Lacitis

Seattle Times staff reporter

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VANCOUVER, Wash. — After nearly five decades, guys like James Noce finally get to tell their stories about Area 51.

Yes, that Area 51.

The one that gets brought up when people talk about secret Air Force projects, crashed UFOs, alien bodies and, of course, conspiracies.

The secrets, some of them, have been declassified.

Noce, 72, and his fellow Area 51 veterans around the country now are free to talk about doing contract work for the CIA in the 1960s and '70s at the arid, isolated Southern Nevada government testing site.

Their stories shed some light on a site shrouded in mystery; classified projects still are going on there. It's not a big leap from warding off the curious 40 or 50 years ago, to warding off the curious who now make the drive to Area 51.

The veterans' stories provide a glimpse of real-life government covert operations, with their everyday routines and moments of excitement.

Noce didn't seek out publicity. But when contacted, he was glad to tell what it was like.

“I was sworn to secrecy for 47 years. I couldn't talk about it,” he says.

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Journal: Growing Non-Violent Informed US Revolution

05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Government
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Full Story Online

Guardians of the Free Republics' letters to governors spur inquiry

At least 30 governors have received the group's demand that they cede office in three days. Federal officials say they're investigating whether the message might be considered a threat.

Reporting from Washington – Governors across the country have received letters from a quasi-religious, anti-government group ordering them to step down from office in three days, in what the group's website said was the first step to disband parts of the U.S. government.

Homeland Security Department and FBI officials said Friday that there didn't appear to be an immediate threat, and they were investigating whether the message could be considered dangerous.

The Guardians of the Free Republics describes its plan as a nonviolent and legal attempt to “restore the true Republic.”

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Journal: US Government Party to $4 Trillion Fraud

03 Economy, 09 Justice, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, Government
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Thursday, April 01, 2010

AltNews3 http://alcuinbramerton.blogspot.com/

Largest fraud case in world history deliberately ignored by Western mainstream media. $3.87 trillion phantom shares lawsuit against US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Shapiro and others actively suppressed in senior editorial offices. The Bivens action suit was filed on Friday 8th January 2010 by Pasadena attorney Al Hodges on behalf of CMKM Diamonds shareholders.

CMKM Diamonds was used by the US government as part of a covert sting operation – unbeknown to shareholders – to apprehend criminals for their offences. However, instead of prosecuting most of them, restitution deals were cut. CMKM was registered as a publicly traded diamond and gold mining company. By 2005, concrete evidence detailing fraud within the company emerged. CMKM sold hundreds of billions of unregistered shares (naked short selling) to third parties. One official estimate cites two trillion phantom shares and 40,000 shareholders as being involved. Eventually, the US Securities and Exchange Commission moved to delist CMKM stock, whose value never exceeded one penny per share. After several administrative proceedings, CMKM Diamonds stock was ultimately deregistered in October 2005. The legal status of a meeting held in Las Vegas and chaired by Robert A. Maheu is being questioned. In exchange for a US Government promise of no prosecution for phantom share sales in CMKM Diamonds, brokers, dealers, market makers and hedge fund managers promised to pay negotiated amounts to a frozen trust for disbursal at a later time. What happened to these trust monies is not clear. Robert A. Maheu was heart-attacked out in Las Vegas on Monday 4th August 2008, and died aged 90. The Central District of California Court document (08.01.10 – Case Number CV10-00031-JVS [MLGX]) can be viewed heere. Deep background here (31.03.10), here (02.03.12), here (29.01.10) and here (09.01.10). And more about Bivens Actions (Constitutional Torts) can be found here.