FEMA Wants Aid Back
Reuters-
Federal Emergency Management Agency said it is seeking $4.7 million from 2,044 people, telling them in a form letter that they have four months to repay or set up a payment plan.
Ineffective government spending at its finest.
Pentagon Continues Worrying About China
WaTimes –
The Pentagon is engaged in an extensive buildup of military forces in Asia as part of a covert strategy to strengthen and position U.S. and allied forces to deter — or defeat — China.
The buildup includes changes in deployments of aircraft-carrier battle groups, the conversion of nuclear-missile submarines and the regular dispatch of bombers to areas close to targets in China, according to senior Bush administration officials and a three-month investigation by The Washington Times.
Other less-visible activities that are part of what is being called a “hedge” strategy include large-scale military maneuvers, increased military alliances and training with Asian allies, the transfer of special-operations commando forces to Asia and new requirements for military personnel to learn Chinese.
What a waste of time and resources. China’s threat is in economic destablization, not conventional warfare. Our government continues its efforts to provide security, but it is looking in the wrong direction. Classic doom loop.
Iraqi Kidnapping
Reuters –
About 20,000 people, nearly half of them women and children, have been kidnapped throughout the country since the beginning of the year, according to a survey conducted by several local NGOs.
I am skeptical about the number, regardless it is open source and offers a good ROI:
Dosseki noted that most kidnapping gangs were of local origin, and usually after ransom money.
We are progressively descending into chaos.
Internet Map
Ben Worthen of the CIO Blogs has an interesting map of the Internet. We need more structures (and cool maps) like this. It would be interesting to see physical flows of connectivity to various regions of both the country and the world.
Iraq Displacement II
WaTimes – An issue I have been watching –
In the three weeks from March 22 to April 15, the number of displaced people tripled from an estimated 23,000 to more than 69,000 people, Mr. Hakki said. By yesterday, the number had topped 80,000.
According to the Iraqi Red Crescent’s latest report, 7,056 Shi’ite families and 2,860 Sunni families were displaced, with each family representing eight to 10 people.
Look for things to get very ugly with the displacement camps segregating and insurgents instigating conflict along cultural divides. This kind of stratification serves as a superb recruitment tool for non state actors.
Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, spokesman for the Multi-National Force-Iraq, said…”We are talking with the Iraqi government to alleviate the problem. The key issue is to continue to develop the Iraqi security forces and peoples’ confidence in their ability.”
Wrong. The key issue is providing security. Getting lost in how we want to bring that about is indicative of a doom loop.