Berto Jongman: Peace on Earth? The Future of Armed Conflict

Peace on Earth? The future of internal armed conflict Warfare seems endemic to mankind. Nations around the world are driven by conflict. But is the impetus to war decreasing? Håvard Hegre finds statistical grounds for hope. In my view, perhaps the most evident shortcoming is that our predictions ignore the importance of political systems – …

Berto Jongman: Article on Local Peace Committees

Paul van Tongeren (2013): Potential cornerstone of infrastructures for peace? How local peace committees can make a difference, Peacebuilding, 1:1, 39-60 Potential cornerstone of infrastructures for peace? How local peace committees can make a difference Paul van Tongeren Co-founder, International Civil Society Network on Infrastructures for Peace, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Received 9 October 2012; final …

Chuck Spinney: Buy Before You Fly … How to Suck Money During Sequestration […Legalized Treason?]

The joint-service F-35 strike fighter is the Pentagon’s largest program. In fact, it is the most expensive procurement program in the Pentagon’s history.  It is also an unfolding disaster that is well documented, but of almost unimaginable proportions.  And yet, the F-35 is impervious to budget cutbacks in sequesterland.  Not surprisingly, among the cognoscenti of …

Berto Jongman: DARPA Wants a Searchable Databasie of All Voice Conversations

DARPA Wants a Searchable Database of All Your Conversations The ultimate privacy killer Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com March 4, 2013 DARPA is working on an embryonic project that would store your every verbal conversation on an Internet server, creating a searchable chat database that would represent the ultimate privacy killer. Having failed to establish its …

Chuck Spinney: Israel Seeks Exemption from US Sequester Cuts — Kerry Making the Deal?

  Oren: Israel trying to guarantee US military aid By GLOBES/RAN DAGONY Jerusalem Post, 02/03/2013 In light of cuts in US gov’t spending, Israeli ambassador says J’lem will try to safeguard funding for Iron Dome, Arrow. Jerusalem is working to salvage some of the military aid the US provides Israel, after US President Barack Obama …

Open Power: Democracy Lost & Found Essay, Book Review Blurbs and Links [Updated 3 MAR 2015]

NEW: Kindle Book Open Power ($2.99) OLD: Core Documents for Both Initiatives (Free) OLD: the foundation book The Open Source Everything Manifesto ROBERT STEELE: There are two schools of thought on effecting political (and hence economic and social) reform. One school is the school of love — this school emphasizes trust building and doing no …

Chuck Spinney: Kelly Vlahos on the Militarization of Yale Neuroscience

.. Or Escalating the Old Boot On Campus Game Below is an important, excellent and scary report by Kelley Vlahos.  But the MICC’s infiltration of elite campus’s is even worse that Ms. Vlahos says, because it builds on deep historical roots and tradition. Yale, a main focus of her report, has a long history of its …