Across the United States, the media ecosystem is quickly evolving. Some main-stream news organizations are shrinking, as advertising decouples from journalism. Remarkable new technologies and the work of committed citizens are making it easier for us to build unique communities that share civic passion and purpose.
In the Pacific Northwest, this evolution is proceeding rapidly.
Join some 150 editors, writers, broacasters, bloggers, producers, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, educators, students, digital entrepreneurs, media activists, community journalists, public advocates and public-policy experts for, “Reimagining News and Community in the Pacific Northwest.”
Settling An Intelligence Turf War
By Walter PincusĀ Ā Ā Washington Post November 17, 2009 Pg. 29
Early last week, several long-festering bureaucratic issues that had arisen between Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair and CIA Director Leon Panetta had to be settled by national security adviser James L. Jones, through some Solomon-like decisions.
What would be the consequences of a second Islamic Emirate? My scenarios here are intended analytically, as a first-draft straw-man forecast:
The Nineties Afghan Civil War on Steroids
Momentum for a Taliban Revolution in Pakistan
Increased Islamist Violence Against India, Increasing the Likelihood of Indo-Pakistani War
Increased Al Qaeda Ambitions Against Britain and the United States
Phi Beta Iota: This is a classic status quo “Empire as Usua”l question.Ā It is not only the wrong question, trying to answer it perpetuates the insanity that begot the problem in the first place.Ā Steve Coll, author ofĀ Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, is a very smart, very well-connected mandarin with The Washington Post as his home base.Ā Ā The question that We the People should be forcing the White House and Congress to answer is this:
What If We Stop Spending $1.3 Trillion a Year on War, and Instead
Spend At Least a Third of That on Peace?
We never ask a question we cannot answer. The answer is clear-cut: we create a prosperous world at peace.See the two graphics below the fold.
Sarah Palin may claim to scorn elites, but her new book will ring familiar to its Beltway readership.
Getting even with those who crossed her, praising her allies and generally putting a self-serving sheen on last yearās presidential campaign, āGoing Rogueā is typical of the political memoir genre of recent vintage. Itās the sort of book that will send the political class scurrying to bookstores, eager to see how they fared in whatās known as āthe Washington read.ā
With no index, though, Palinās book has made that ritual more difficult.
Amazon Page
So POLITICO, having obtained a copy of the book before its Tuesday release, has created a readerās guide to āGoing Rogue,ā grouping the many characters into three categories: Friends, Foes, In Between.
Below the Fold we provide a commentary and links to a number of books about the prospects for honest independent government in 2012 and beyond.
Corruption threatens global economic recovery, greatly challenges countries in conflict
Berlin, 17 November 2009
As the world economy begins to register a tentative recovery and some nations continue to wrestle with ongoing conflict and insecurity, it is clear that no region of the world is immune to the perils of corruption, according to Transparency Internationalās 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), a measure of domestic, public sector corruption released today.
āAt a time when massive stimulus packages, fast-track disbursements of public funds and attempts to secure peace are being implemented around the world, it is essential to identify where corruption blocks good governance and accountability, in order to break its corrosive cycleā said Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International (TI).
Full Story Online
Afghanistan slips in corruption index despite aid
BERLIN ā Afghanistan has slipped three places to become the world's second most-corrupt country despite billions in aid meant to bolster the government against a rising insurgency, according to an annual survey of perceived levels of corruption.
Only lawless Somalia, whose weak U.N.-backed government controls just a few blocks of the capital, was perceived as more corrupt than Afghanistan in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.
Iraq saw some improvement, rising to 176 of 180 countries, up two places up from last year. Singapore, Denmark and New Zealand were seen as the least corrupt countries in the list based on surveys of businesses and experts.
Assessment Report (2007)Briefing with NotesBriefing without Notes
Phi Beta Iota: We have been highlighting our couinterintelligence deficiencies since the 1990's, primarily focused on the need for religious counterintelligence, but also on the need to recognize that sub-state and non-state groups are legitimate threats in and of themselves.Ā Today the US military it thoroughly penetrated by multiple networks from Opus Dei and the Mormons to radical Islamics and plain street gangs happy to not only receive advanced training, but access to easily stolen weapons–one of the dirty little secrets of the US military is how little control it has over the primary weapon of mass destruction on the planet, small arms (which we also like to sell liberally to anyone with cash and especially dictators).
