China Writing on the Wall
WaTimes on China’s breakneck economic expansion – good article – key quotes –
Mr. Hu said the economy grew a stunning 10.2 percent in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year, well above previous estimates.
…China’s economy has grown at an annual pace of about 10 percent for the past three years. Chinese leaders worry that surging economic growth could spark inflation or touch off an investment binge into unneeded projects that will leave already debt-laden banks with more bad loans.
Save.
Intelligence Challenge
I have been watching Robert Steele for quite some time – he is a retired CIA clandestine case officer trying to make his million selling intelligence garnered from open sources – and GroupIntel has a great post providing context to his challenging Negroponte to an intelligence duel.
“I promise you this: if you have the balls to take me on publicly, between us we will make a compelling case for the national intelligence reform you have been unable to inspire from the inside,” said Steele.
Gunslinging aside, federal intelligence services suffer from the same plight the rest of the federal government does – and is very much stuck in a doom loop in which it attempts to provide real intelligence but is forced to provide “interest friendly” intelligence (for the administration) and so on and so forth. Steele is creating a niche which will explode when the state intelligence systems fail. He and his competition are something to keep an eye on.
Shooting the Messenger III
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross from the CT Blog, who reads this site, took the time to shoot me an email about my two posts regarding Google and al-Manar. I apologize for the time lag, it has been an extraordinarily busy few days. I’ve quoted what is the foundation of his argument (full email below) –
The only intention is to correctly put al-Manar on a separate plane from news sources like CBS, CNN, ABC, and even al-Jazeera.
Denying al Manar the legitimacy (and associated moral high ground) by removing its ability to rank itself among the listed news services is a worthwhile goal – but the results are superfluous.
The key difference between our approaches is our perceptions of al-Manar’s target audience. CTBlog seems to mistakingly assume the mainstream users of Google News are potential al-Manar readers. Such efforts at expanding its target base are doomed because it inherintly appeals to a fringe group (read anti-Israeli extremists ).
As a 4GW network al-Manar seeks to garner the moral highground to gain legitimacy and in turn support among its target populace. Anyone who reads al-Manar will continue to do so or (and those looking for this type of news outlet will seek it out – this is the nature of this new free information world) while anyone who dismisses it for what it is (a terror propaganda network) will remain unaffected.
A secondary point is attempting to distance Google from al-Manar actually serves as a point for gaining/solidifying support by acting as proof that we deny their populace equal rights etc. This actually gives them the moral highground.
Bottom line – It is a non issue being made into one and it will garner very little ROI that may actually dip into the negative. That said Google should remove al-Manar out of common decency, but that is where the argument ends. Removing it will not have any major impact (if any at all) on winning the GWOT.
Email – Continue Reading →
Keeping The Books Secret
David Broder in WaPo discussing the buried official financial report of the US Government –
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY –
The Treasury Department, which compiled it, did not even put out a news release announcing its existence. Cooper said the total press run was 1,000 copies…You might think that the subject matter is as sensitive as the National Intelligence Estimate…
Whereas the budget deficit for fiscal 2005 was officially given as $319 billion, “the government’s accrual-based net operating cost . . . was $760 billion in 2005.”
IRRESPONSIBILITY –
The U.S. government has been running up bills — notably the promises of pensions and health-care benefits for military veterans and millions of other retirees — without putting the obligations on the books.
…the $760 billion accrual deficit “amounts to $156,000 of debt for every man, woman and child in America. For a family, it’s like having a $750,000 mortgage — and no house.”
The entire system is set up to unravel. Spending is up, taxes are down, globalization is up, resiliency is down, terrorism is up, security is down. Ineffective spending is up, saving is down. The list goes on.
Cascading Effects of 9/11
Ripples from 9/11 are not over yet –
There are growing concerns in New York that the dust released by the collapse of the World Trade Centre on September 11 2001 may have poisoned thousands of people involved in the rescue and clean-up effort.
With news that a coroner there has directly linked the death of a New York policeman to a respiratory disease contracted in the wake of September 11, the path is now clear for up to 15,000 people to file a class action suit, claiming that they were misled into believing the site was safe.
Add this to a list including destabilizing the airline industry, immediate damage, and the Afghani War.