SchwartzReport: Army Goes Green (20 Years After It Was Told To…)

This is good news. The military, perhaps because it is a centralized command structure, often adopts progressive positions before general society. The military integrated long before the rest of America. It became a gender, race, and religion neutral meritocracy — an evolution in which I played a role — well before this was the norm. …

Reflections on Alternative Command & Control and Four Transformation Forcing Concepts

I have been reflecting on the past twenty years, and the remarkable resistence of the US Intelligence Community, seemingly impervious to all manner of reform recommendations, be they presidential, congressional, or public.  Reform is not transformation.  This from Dr. Russell Ackoff, a pioneer in systems thinking and reflexive practice: Reformations and transformations are not the …

SchwartzReport: Airline Fees Criminally Insane — $6 Billion a Year and Rising

Increasingly I think we are going insane as a society. The worship of profit is our real religion, and it is consuming us. The Navigator: Fee-happy Airlines Raise the Bar Again CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT – The Washington Post EXTRACT: Not to be outdone, Frontier Airlines announced that for tickets booked anywhere except on its Web site, …

Chuck Spinney: Understanding the Arab Transformation — Political & Economic Harmonization, Not Democratization, Is Core First Step

Below is a very interesting summary of the political tensions among secularism and religion and modernism and tradition in Tunisia.  I think the author, who I do not know but whose writings I have followed, is one of the most knowledgeable observers of the Arab Spring. Chuck Spinney Washington Report on Middle East Affairs April …

NIGHTWATCH: China Shows Muscle & Gravitas — Syria Shows Staying Power — USA Losing on All Fronts Due to Ignorance and Arrogance

China-North Korea: Update. China’s Foreign Ministry declined Wednesday, 8 May, to confirm the Bank of China’s closure of the account of the North Korean Foreign Trade Bank. In response to a question at Wednesday’s news conference, Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, “For specifics, please refer it to competent Chinese authorities.” Sources of the Daily NK …

Michelle Monk: PROOF of 1400+ ELITE resignations, mass arrests, retirements

PROOF of 1400+ ELITE resignations, mass arrests, retirements  This post has been rewritten and is being updated.  I’m looking for help, and if you want to take over completely, or help partially, that’d be awesome.. I’m getting tired; this “job” has a high turnover rate.  Right now, I’m mostly taking a break. The link for …