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Friday, January 31, 2014

Karzai Gambles with the Taliban

Bill Roggio

World News

01.28.14

Karzai Gambles with the Taliban

Karzai is sounding more like the Taliban in his public statements and recycling their propaganda in his criticisms of the U.S., but he’ll never make peace with the terrorist group.
Just when you thought Afghan President Hamid Karzai couldn’t distance himself further from the US and the West, which have propped him up for over a decade, he surprises you. The exact reasons for Karzai’s drift from the West remain murky but one thing is clear: his anti-U.S. rhetoric may sometimes echo the Taliban but it won’t put him in their good graces.

Obama’s Vision: No More War but Plenty More Fighting

January 28, 2014 | http://www.defenseone.com/threats/2014/01/obamas-vision-no-more-war-plenty-more-fighting/77750/#.Uuh7-Jnfsa8.twitter?oref=d-interstitial-continue

Obama’s Vision: No More War but Plenty More Fighting

President Barack Obama closed out his State of the Union address by attempting to define a new post-war standard that limits U.S. military intervention in global conflicts around the world but shows no sign of letting up chasing global terrorism.

Why the Boycott Movement Scares Israel

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/opinion/sunday/why-the-boycott-movement-scares-israel.html?hpw&rref=opinion&_r=2

Why the Boycott Movement Scares Israel
February 2, 2014
JERUSALEM — If Secretary of State John Kerry’s attempts to revive talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority fail because of Israel’s continuing construction of illegal settlements, the Israeli government will likely face an international boycott ‘‘on steroids" as Mr. Kerry warned last August.

US pivot chafes at vital Asian ties(

SINOGRAPH
US pivot chafes at vital Asian ties(
Jan 29, '14)
As the United States re-examines its strategic rebalancing to Asia, Washington should pay close attention to developments this week that saw China take important steps on the road to reunification with Taiwan and towards convergence with South Korea on dealing with the problem of North Korea. The broad US goal of containing China increasingly runs against some specific and urgent political necessities of China's neighbors. - Francesco Sisci

The Other Syrian Peace Process

The Other Syrian Peace Process

by: Aron Lund
Monday, January 27, 2014

The Geneva II peace talks between Syria’s government and a group of Western-backed exiled politicians are still going on in Switzerland. The discussion is now moving on to practical measures, such as aid deliveries for the long-suffering city of Homs, that seem to have little impact on the politics of the conflict.
Inside Syria, however, another peace process has just begun, far from the camera’s eye. It just might turn out to be the more important one.

If I were a teacher

 
 
If I were a teacher

I would teach the truth: that a people without a land came to a land that had a people, and that it’s theirs at least as much as it’s ours.

By Gideon Levy | 29.01.14

US Public: Wars In Iraq and Afghanistan 'Failures'

US Public: Wars In Iraq and Afghanistan 'Failures'
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/01/31-5

Nearly Half of Americans Living Paycheck to Paycheck

Nearly Half of Americans Living Paycheck to Paycheck
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/01/31-7

U.S. National Security Watch List Map


Despite the characteristically euphemistic (not to say weasely) language, this map of issues of concern to our national intelligence officials is interesting.  You can supply your own omissions.  There are some notable ones.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z0cbpdzJ1gxE.kWvjmrr-fNk0

A War Isn't Over Till It's Over

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ivan-eland/a-war-isnt-over-till-its-_b_4673820.html
Ivan Eland

Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty, The Independent Institute

A War Isn't Over Till It's Over

Posted: 01/31/2014
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, has refused to sign a security deal with the United States that could keep about 8,000 to 12,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan after "combat operations" end at the end of 2014. These forces would train still-pathetic Afghan security forces in the field (after 13 years of U.S. training), conduct counterterrorism raids, and guard military bases in eastern Afghanistan from which drone attacks against militants in Pakistan and monitoring of Pakistani nuclear weapons arsenal are conducted. Curiously, all of these residual missions resemble "combat."

"College Athletes Look For Power in a Union"

"College Athletes Look For Power in a Union" -- This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Student athletes want more than scholarships for their billion dollar labor, Dr. Jill Stein and Aura Bogado respond to the State of the Union, why the Costco model beats the Wal-Mart model, and arguably the most powerful progressive in the House retires.
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/college_athletes_hope_to_find_power_in_a_union_20140130

Bill Boyarsky on the State of the Union "Spying Scandal Taints Obama's Rosy SOTU Story – and His Legacy"

Bill Boyarsky on the State of the Union
"Spying Scandal Taints Obama's Rosy SOTU Story – and His Legacy" -- Edward Snowden was not one of the honored guests at the State of the Union speech Tuesday night. But the whistle-blower's presence was felt, at least to a small degree.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/spying_scandal_taints_obamas_rosy_sotu_story_and_his_legacy_20140128

NSA spied on Copenhagen UN climate summit - Snowden leak

NSA spied on Copenhagen UN climate summit - Snowden leak:
The US National Security Agency spied on the communications conducted by other governments before and during the 2009 United Nations climate negotiations conference held in Copenhagen, according to a report based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
 

Saudi Arabia to give Egypt up to $4bn more aid

 
Saudi Arabia to give Egypt up to $4bn more aid:
Saudi Arabia is expected to give Egypt up to $4bn in additional aid in the form of central bank deposits and petroleum products, state-run Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram reported on Thursday.

What About Palestinian Security? By Matthew Duss

What About Palestinian Security?
 
By Matthew Duss
 
With Israeli settler attacks on villages growing, it's becoming apparent that sovereignty isn't the only issue concerning Palestinians in peace talks.

Obama and Kerry Jeopardize Peace with Iran By Sheldon Richman

Obama and Kerry Jeopardize Peace with Iran
 
By Sheldon Richman
 
Threatening war hardly demonstrates the spirit of peace-making.

Tag Team: White House Joins With Congress to Take Aim at Ukraine

The Cable: Tag Team: White House Joins With Congress to Take Aim at Ukraine

Link to The Cable

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 01:45 PM PST
The Obama administration has been fighting with Congress for months, but the two sides are working together to lay the groundwork for punitive new sanctions against Ukraine. http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/01/30/tag_team_white_house_joins_with_congress_to_take_aim_at_ukraine?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foreignpolicy%2Fthecable+%28The+Cable%29

The Middle East Channel The Deafening U.S. Silence on Saudi Rights


The Middle East Channel

The Deafening U.S. Silence on Saudi Rights


http://mideastafrica.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/01/28/the_deafening_us_silence_on_saudi_rights?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=*Mideast%20Brief&utm_campaign=Mideast%20Brief%201-31-2014

Israel Needs to Learn Some Manners

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/opinion/israel-needs-to-learn-some-manners.html?ref=international&_r=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=*Mideast%20Brief&utm_campaign=Mideast%20Brief%201-31-2014

First Round of Syria Peace Talks Wraps Up


First Round of Syria Peace Talks Wraps Up
 
The first round of peace talks on Syria is set to wrap up Friday in deadlock. After a week of negotiations in Geneva, Syrian government and opposition delegations have yet to agree on how to proceed. The opposing parties are expected to meet again around February 10. U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi expressed frustration that talks had not produced an agreement, even on allowing a U.N. aid convoy to enter the besieged Old City of Homs. On Thursday, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, accused of favoring pro-government areas, posted a statement that humanitarian aid should be distributed in a politically neutral manner. On Friday, the United Nations for the second day entered the largely rebel-controlled Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in order to distribute food to thousands of trapped civilians. Meanwhile, Russia has said that the Syrian government is acting "in good faith" and that a June 30 deadline for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal remains "completely realistic." The comments came after the United States accused the Assad regime of deliberately stalling and missing deadlines on the removal and destruction of its most dangerous chemical weapons. Robert Mikulak, U.S. ambassador to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said, "Syria must immediately take the necessary actions to comply with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention."

Editor's Note

Dear Readers
I am tied up in business meetings today. Will resume posting over the weekend.
Best regards.
Michele Kearney

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Data Mining Reveals the Surprising Behavior of Users of Dating Websites

Data Mining Reveals the Surprising Behavior of Users of Dating Websites

When it comes to finding the perfect mate, people aren’t as fussy as they make out, say researchers studying behavior on online dating sites.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/524081/data-mining-reveals-the-surprising-behavior-of-users-of-dating-websites/

Obama confidant’s spine-chilling proposal


Obama confidant’s spine-chilling proposal

Cass Sunstein wants the government to "cognitively infiltrate" anti-government groups


http://www.salon.com/2010/01/15/sunstein_2/

Bill de Blasio Is Wrong to Pander to AIPAC


Bill de Blasio Is Wrong to Pander to AIPAC

The powerful right-wing lobby doesn’t represent most American Jews, and it’s no longer the only game in town.
January 29, 2014   |    This article appeared in the February 17, 2014 edition of The Nation.

Exclusive: CIA Helped Saudis in Secret Chinese Missile Deal

http://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-cia-helped-saudis-chinese-missile-deal-227283

Exclusive: CIA Helped Saudis in Secret Chinese Missile Deal

1/29/14  |  1/30/14 
Saudi Arabia has long been a backroom player in the Middle East's nuclear game of thrones, apparently content to bankroll the ambitions of Pakistan and Iraq (under Saddam Hussein) to counter the rise of its mortal enemy, Iran.

The Limits of Turkey's Interest Rate Hike

The Limits of Turkey's Interest Rate Hike

With a dramatic hike in Turkey's overnight lending rate from 7.75 to 12.5 percent announced on Jan. 28, Turkish Central Bank Governor Erdem Basci followed through on his earlier promise to use interest rates as a weapon to defend Turkey's currency, the lira. While the hike is a bolder-than-expected move designed to jolt investor interest, Basci is still, in effect, using a sword to fight off a barrage of artillery as a wrenching political crisis continues to erode investor confidence. Read more »http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/limits-turkeys-interest-rate-hike?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20140130&utm_term=FreeReport&utm_content=readmore

Black America: Stop The Insanity! By Lloyd Marcus


Black America: Stop The Insanity!

By Lloyd Marcus http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/01/black_america_stop_the_insanity.html

President Obama Casts Ugly Glare on Race-Tainted Drug War

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/president-obama-casts-ugl_b_4661065.html

Hard-Line Taliban Leaders Exploit U.S.-Afghan Rift

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304428004579350592183403828?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304428004579350592183403828.html&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=*Situation%20Report&utm_campaign=SITREP%20JAN%2030%202014

The State of Barack Obama's Presidency


Jan 29, 2014 11:30 am | Jacob Heilbrunn
President Obama delivered the State of the Union address, but it wasn't really about the union's state. Instead, it was about the state of his presidency, which was not good going into last night and isn't really much better coming out of it. The aloof, austere Obama was gone, at least for the moment. He spoke with passion and authority, but the discrepancy between his rhetoric and actual aspirations was patent. He isn't in danger of a shrinking presidency. It's already shrunk.
What little Obama had to say about foreign affairs was sensible. Obama wants to engage in withdrawal--withdrawal from Afghanistan as well as Congress. It was good to hear Obama say that he wants to get America off of a "permanent war footing" and that he would veto a foolhardy congressional attempt to up sanctions on Iran. Not that this deterred a reliable source of nonsense, Senator Lindsey Graham. Graham, a champion of new sanctions, responded that Obama got it all wrong: the world is "literally about to blow up" and that "I would say that trying to free people from the bonds of al Qaeda is a good thing. That going into Afghanistan is a good thing. Taking Saddam Hussein out is a good thing. Trying to get people get on their feet and elect their government is a good thing." (Seeing Graham go down in his next election attempt would be a good thing too. Let's hope that the people of South Carolina get on their feet and vote this dud out of office.)
read morehttp://nationalinterest.org/blog/jacob-heilbrunn/the-state-barack-obamas-presidency-9787

Chameleonic Opposition to an Iran Deal


Jan 29, 2014 10:04 pm | Paul R. Pillar
In the long story of the evolving Iran nuclear issue, we naturally tend to focus on whatever is the chapter immediately before us. Right now that mainly involves the negotiation-subverting Kirk-Menendez sanctions bill, which President Obama in his State of the Union address explicitly threatened to veto if Congress passed it. But we also ought to keep a longer-term view of how opponents of an agreement with Iran have kept changing their tune and changing their arguments as their earlier arguments have become inoperative.http://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/chameleonic-opposition-iran-deal-9795

Obama's Big Ideas Problem

http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/obamas-big-ideas-problem-9788

ombing Iran: Tough Tasks for Israeli Intelligence

http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/bombing-iran-tough-tasks-israeli-intelligence-9789

The End of Obama's More Modest Strategy in the Middle East

http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-end-obamas-more-modest-strategy-the-middle-east-9790

Obama Pivots to Opportunity

http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/obama-pivots-opportunity-9792

Will America's Asian Allies Go Nuclear?

http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/will-americas-asian-allies-go-nuclear-9794

Open Letter from NY Jews to Mayor de Blasio: ‘AIPAC does not speak for us’

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/01/letter-blasio-speak.html

The democracy illusion Who exactly are the good and the bad guys in Kiev and Bangkok? By Leon Hadar

The democracy illusion
Who exactly are the good and the bad guys in Kiev and Bangkok?
By

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/editorial-opinion/opinion/democracy-illusion-20140130

How Junk Economists Help The Rich Impoverish The Working Class By Paul Craig Roberts

 
How Junk Economists Help The Rich Impoverish The Working Class
 
By Paul Craig Roberts
 
The US is falling out of the ranks of the industrialized countries and is on the path to becoming an undeveloped economy.

American State of the Union: A Festival of Lies By Glen Ford

American State of the Union: A Festival of Lies
 
By Glen Ford
 
The sympathetic Democratic liar disarms those who are about to be sacrificed by pretending to feel their pain.

A Manufactured Crisis

January 29th, 2014 | http://www.lobelog.com/a-manufactured-crisis/#more-22921

A Manufactured Crisis

by Peter Jenkins
MC cover, final
The subtitle of Gareth Porter’s new book, The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare, is well-chosen. Large parts of A Manufactured Crisis are indeed untold till now. They amount to what the author terms an “alternative narrative”.
But don’t be misled by “alternative”. This is not the work of some crank who imagines conspiracies where none exist. One senses, rather, from the author’s meticulous sourcing and the extent of his research that what motivates him is a fierce hunger for truth and aversion to deceit.

What Jobs Will Robots Take?

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/01/jobs-will-robots-take.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Intel Chiefs: Syria a 'Huge Magnet' for International Terrorists

The Cable

Intel Chiefs: Syria a 'Huge Magnet' for International Terrorist

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/01/29/intel_chiefs_syria_a_huge_magnet_for_international_terrorists?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foreignpolicy%2Fthecable+%28The+Cable%29

Android App Warns When You’re Being Watched

Android App Warns When You’re Being Watched

Researchers find a way to give Android users prominent warnings when apps are tracking their location.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/523981/android-app-warns-when-youre-being-watched/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140130

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Has the NSA poisoned the cloud? | R Street Institute | Free Markets. Real Solutions.

http://www.rstreet.org/policy-study/has-the-nsa-poisoned-the-cloud/

South Korea approves $7 billion reactor plans in boost for nuclear power

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/world/a/21146887/south-korea-approves-7-billion-reactor-plans-in-boost-for-nuclear-power/

The Grammy Cult Ceremonies

The Grammy Cult Ceremonies


http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/01/the_grammy_cult_ceremonies.html

Should The U.S. Director Of National Intelligence Be Fired For Lying To Congress?

http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2014/01/should-us-director-of-national.html

Obama’s State of the Union 2014 Speech: Full Text

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/obamas_state_of_the_union_2014_speech_full_text_20140128

Pope Francis: The Times They Are A-Changin' Inside the Pope's gentle revolution

Rolling Stone

Pope Francis: The Times They Are A-Changin'

Inside the Pope's gentle revolution


http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/pope-francis-the-times-they-are-a-changin-20140128?print=true

Pope's Blood Stolen



Pope's Blood Stolen
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/popes-blood-stolen/

Police on Monday were searching an Italian mountain area beloved by Pope John
Paul II for a stolen relic bearing his blood. The Vatican has decried the
"sacrilegious theft" from the tiny church near the Apennine mountains.
* Pope's Blood Stolen
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/popes-blood-stolen/

SURPRISE: Massachusetts Is Home To America's Worst-Performing ObamaCare Exchange

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/01/29/surprise-massachusetts-is-home-to-americas-worst-performing-obamacare-exchange/

EPA's Wood-Burning Stove Ban Has Chilling Consequences For Many Rural People

EPA's Wood-Burning Stove Ban Has Chilling Consequences For Many Rural People


http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2014/01/29/epas-wood-burning-stove-ban-has-chilling-consequences-for-many-rural-people/

Innovation In Advanced Care Is The Key To Healthcare Reform

http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrydoss/2014/01/29/innovation-in-advanced-care-is-the-key-to-healthcare-reform/

Tax Policy is MIA in Obama's State of the Union

http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2014/01/29/tax-policy-is-mia-in-obamas-state-of-the-union/

Christmas tree fee, hemp support find way into farm bill

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/28/congress-takes-first-step-legalize-industrial-hemp/

Monsanto Shareholders Just Say No to GMO Labels

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-29/monsanto-shareholders-just-say-no-to-gmo-labels#r=rss

China Is Challenging US Military Superiority, Says Pentagon Official

China Is Challenging US Military Superiority, Says Pentagon Official


http://www.businessinsider.com/china-is-challenging-us-military-superiority-2014-1

20,000 Syrian Refugees in Damascus Are So Hungry They Eat Stray Animals

http://www.businessinsider.com/syrian-refugees-in-damascus-so-hungry-they-eat-stray-animals-2014-1

Edward Snowden Nominated For Peace Prize

http://www.businessinsider.com/edward-snowden-nominated-for-peace-prize-2014-1

Here's What You Need To Know About MyRA, Obama's New Retirement Program

Here's What You Need To Know About MyRA, Obama's New Retirement Program


http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-myra-retirement-heres-what-you-need-to-know-2014-1

THE ROVING EYE The real State of the Union By Pepe Escobar

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-01-290114.html

The Empire’s New Asian Clothes by John Feffer and Tom Engelhardt,

http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2014/01/28/the-empires-new-asian-clothes/

Huge swath of GCHQ mass surveillance is illegal, says top lawyer

Huge swath of GCHQ mass surveillance is illegal, says top lawyer

Legal advice given to MPs warns that British spy agency is 'using gaps in regulation to commit serious crime with impunity'

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/28/gchq-mass-surveillance-spying-law-lawyer

The world’s rich stay rich while the poor struggle to prosper

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2080bdc2-874f-11e3-9c5c-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl#axzz2rlDNWEie

“All You Need for a Financial Crisis . . .

http://baselinescenario.com/2014/01/27/all-you-need-for-a-financial-crisis/

Orders for U.S. Durable Goods Unexpectedly Slump

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-28/orders-for-u-s-durable-goods-unexpectedly-slumped-in-december.html

The Empire’s New Asian Clothes – America’s Strategic Rebalance As Covert Retreat


The Empire’s New Asian Clothes – America’s Strategic Rebalance As Covert Retreat

Posted on by
Yves here. This article provides perspective on Obama’s unseemly anxiety to push through the toxic trade deal known as the TransPacific Partnership. We’ve chronicled at some length how this is not in fact a “trade” deal but is designed to make the world safer and more profitable for US multinationals by strengthening intellectual property protections (helping Big Pharma, Hollywood, and technology firms) while providing for enhancement of the rights of foreign investors to bring cases against governments in secret arbitration panels for measures that would reduce expected profits. The effect of these investor provisions is to allow foreign companies to challenge labor protections and environmental and product safety regulations, facilitating a race to the bottom.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/01/empires-new-asian-clothes-americas-strategic-rebalance-covert-retreat.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

 
Obama Downplays Trade Authority, Trans-Pacific Partnership: Fleeting Mention Doesn’t Even Reference Recently Introduced Camp-Baucus Fast Track Bill Eyes on Trade

http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2014/01/obama-downplays-trade-authority-trans-pacific-partnership-fleeting-mention-doesnt-even-reference-rec.html

The Real State of the Union


The Real State of the Union

Posted on by
By Hugh, who is a long-time commenter at Naked Capitalism. Originally posted at Corrente.
The state of the Union is crap. 20% of the country is doing OK. 1% is doing fantastically. 0.001% is doing so well it’s criminal, literally. They don’t own everything yet but they do own the politicians, judges, regulators, academics, and reporters. So they’re getting there. The other 80%, the rubes, the muppets, the serfs, are mired in an undeclared, ongoing depression.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/01/real-state-union.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

The last thing the world needs is Congress thwarting historic US-Iran nuclear deal

The last thing the world needs is Congress thwarting historic US-Iran nuclear deal

It would be foolish for Congress to jeopardize a good deal with Iran that addresses the most urgent proliferation concerns

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/25/us-iran-historic-nuclear-deal-congress

First 'Obamacare,' now 'Obamatrade'? President's free trade goals in jeopardy.

First 'Obamacare,' now 'Obamatrade'? President's free trade goals in jeopardy.

Obama would make headway in his pursuit of new free trade deals, if only Congress would grant him the authority to 'fast-track' them. His State of the Union speech is likely to ask for that. Here's why he's not likely to get it.


http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2014/0128/First-Obamacare-now-Obamatrade-President-s-free-trade-goals-in-jeopardy

Obamacare: Tom Coburn loses cancer doctor

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/obamacare-tom-coburn-cancer-doctor-102724.html?hp=l5


Coburn says ObamaCare cost him coverage for cancer doctor


 http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/01/28/coburn-says-obamacare-cost-him-coverage-for-cancer-doctor/

Pope Francis and Pepe Mujica: Why Are Modest Leaders Making Waves?

Pope Francis and Pepe Mujica: Why Are Modest Leaders Making Waves?


http://server1.nationalinterest.org/commentary/pope-francis-pepe-mujica-why-are-modest-leaders-making-waves-9781

Political Alienation in Russia and the West

Political Alienation in Russia and the West


http://server1.nationalinterest.org/commentary/political-alienation-russia-the-west-9782

What the Obamacare “Death Spiral” Debate Misses

What the Obamacare “Death Spiral” Debate Misses


http://server1.nationalinterest.org/commentary/what-the-obamacare-%E2%80%9Cdeath-spiral%E2%80%9D-debate-misses-9783

2014: A Risky Year in Geopolitics?

2014: A Risky Year in Geopolitics?


http://server1.nationalinterest.org/commentary/2014-risky-year-geopolitics-9784

Mearsheimer: "Neoconservatives Are in Real Trouble"

Mearsheimer: "Neoconservatives Are in Real Trouble"


http://server1.nationalinterest.org/video/mearsheimer-neoconservatives-are-real-trouble-9785

The Cable Obama's Toughest Audience in the State of the Union: Fellow Democrats

The Cable

Obama's Toughest Audience in the State of the Union: FellowDemocrats


http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/01/28/obama_state_of_the_union?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foreignpolicy%2Fthecable+%28The+Cable%29

The Latest National Security coverage from FP 1/29

Pentagon investigations point to military system that promotes abusive leaders

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-investigations-point-to-military-system-that-promotes-abusive-leaders/2014/01/28/3e1be1f0-8799-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html?hpid=z5&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=*Situation%20Report&utm_campaign=SITREP%20JAN%2029%202014

How App Developers Leave the Door Open to NSA Surveillance

How App Developers Leave the Door Open to NSA Surveillance

U.S. and U.K. surveillance of smartphone users has been helped by mobile developers—few of whom bother to adopt basic encryption.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/523971/how-app-developers-leave-the-door-open-to-nsa-surveillance/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140129

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Is This the Big One? The New Wave of Financial Instability

Is This the Big One?
The New Wave of Financial Instability
 
By Mike Whitney
 
What started as a selloff in emerging markets could snowball into a broader panic that could wipe out the gains of the last four years.

US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview Exposing Death Threats

US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview Exposing Death Threats
Edward Snowden-Interview in English
 
Must watch -Video
 
Snowden warned that he faces "significant threats" to his life and that US "government officials want to kill me.
 

An Afghan War for Drones?

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/01/28/an-afghan-war-for-drones/


An Afghan War for Drones?

January 28, 2014

Amid the Afghan government’s growing resistance to an extended U.S. military stay, the Obama administration is trying out a new rationale: the need for a launching pad for drones. But it may be a case of a weapons system causing more trouble than it’s worth, says ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.
By Paul R. Pillar

Balkinization (January 27, 2014) President Obama’s Non-Constitutional NSA Initiative

 
Balkinization (January 27, 2014)
President Obama’s Non-Constitutional NSA Initiative
By Bruce Ackerman
at
President Obama seems to have forgotten the Constitution in formulating his policy on the NSA. A first warning sign came with the publication of an otherwise insightful 300 page report on NSA reform by his special advisory committee. Though the five-man panel included three eminent constitutionalists – Geoffrey Stone, Cass Sunstein, and Peter Swire – it explained that "Our charge is not to interpret the Fourth Amendment, but to make recommendations about sound public policy." (Report, p. 85) 
To his credit, Geoff Stone did reach the constitutional issue at the conclusion of a series of Huffposts elaborating on the Committee’s report. Speaking only for himself, he elaborates a "middle of the road" position --arguing that the current NSA program is unconstitutional, but that his Committee’s reforms suffice to fix the problem, and allow mass collection to continue in conformity with the Fourth Amendment.

I disagree. In my view, even the massive data-sweeps tolerated by Obama's "reformed" initiative should be viewed as a high-tech version of the “general warrant” that was “abhorred by the colonists" (See, eg, US v Kahn 415 US 143). As the Court has repeatedly recognized, it was the revolutionary generation's opposition to general warrant that motivated the Fourth Amendment's demand that "no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause... describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." (See my Huffpost commentary.)
 

Iran: A Good Deal Now in Danger

Jessica T. Mathews
For the first time, Iran and the United States have broken through more than a decade of impasse over Iran’s nuclear program. Yet the US Congress, acting reflexively against Iran, and under intense pressure from Israel, seems ready to shatter the agreement.http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/feb/20/iran-good-deal-now-danger/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=January+28+2014&utm_content=January+28+2014+CID_d9290b04fd5f6565164a4f5f8c8f6b8c&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Iran%20A%20Good%20Deal%20Now%20in%20Danger

Our Dangerous Budget and What to Do About It

Jeffrey D. Sachs

Winslow Wheeler Guest Post Various Comments on the 2013 DOT&E F-35 Report

F-35 observers, both advocates and critics, have been waiting for the 2013 Annual Report of the Pentagon's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E).  After its initial leaking to Reuters last week, the F-35 section became available to many Monday night.  It is currently at http://www.scribd.com/doc/202741252/2013DOTE-F-35-Report; it is attached, and it should also show up later this week at the DOT&E website at http://www.dote.osd.mil/annual-report/index.html.

The 19 page report is dense, bureaucratic reading, but it also is highly informative and important.  It reveals yet another chapter in the ongoing saga of problems in the F-35 program.  Most problems remain unresolved; some are getting worse, and some reveal how little the F-35's advocates can be trusted.

For an excellent (non-bureaucratic) summary of the DOT&E report, see what Eric Palmer, an aviation expert and blogger from Australia, wrote.  This material is at http://elpdefensenews.blogspot.com/2014/01/overview-of-flying-chernobyl.html. For another, somewhat more technical but also very insightful description, see what long time aviation journalist Bill Sweetman wrote at his Ares Defense Technology Blog at http://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs.aspx?plckBlogId=Blog:27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog:27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post:3c44fd3a-5cf2-4564-8a52-855d902cf829.

To supplement what they wrote, I found the following to be the salient points.  They appear below in rough ascending order of importance - at least to me.

·         Test Points: Although Lockheed Martin and others keep on telling us that the F-35 flight test program is ahead of schedule on flight test hours and test flights, it is behind schedule on why those test flight are flown: planned test points.  The discussion and table on page 34 of the attached shows the flight test program "accomplished" only 5,464 of 7,180 of the planned "baseline" (originally planned for 2013) test points.  That's 24 percent fewer than were originally planned; the "mission systems" (software) test points are 46 percent behind.  Other test points were also "accomplished," but they were added to the program once it was determined all planned test points could not be flown.  Note that "accomplished" does not mean the F-35 passed-just that the test was flown.

·         Bubbling/Peeling Stealth Coatings: The previous problem of stealth coatings degrading on the tail sections of all variants at high speed after extended afterburner use was not fixed by new coatings. The test program will collect new data; in the meantime, "non-instrumented" aircraft will have restrictions on their flight envelope and use of afterburners.

·         Buffet and trans-sonic roll-off (TRO): All F-35 variants are experiencing turbulence and uncommanded "wing drop:" put simply, the aircraft is not flying as designed, and the aircraft sometimes does things on its own, uncommanded.  We were told in congressional testimony this was fixed by changes in the flight computer's control laws.  It seems that is not so; the bad aerodynamic behavior was reduced, but it was not eliminated, and the computerized flight control changes have been exhausted as a solution.  The only possible solution is a hardware change to the wing (very costly) or computer-directed limitations restricting various pilot maneuvers (also very costly-in pilots' lives in combat).

·         Helmet-Mounted Display System (HMDS): The overpriced, foolishly complicated helmet system continues to have problems with "jitter," "swimming" images, unacceptable night vision, "double vision" and alignment with the real world.  Other fixes, including latency and light leakage have either not been tested realistically or impose a higher pilot work load.  Nonetheless, last year there were reports, including from GAO, that all these problems were on the mend.

·         Software: As discussed by Eric Palmer below and Reuters last week, F-35 software development is falling well behind schedule, and although the DOT&E report does not make it explicit in plain language, the delays are beginning to seriously threaten the Marine Corps and Air Force plans to declare "initial operational capability" (IOC) in 2015 and 2016, respectively.  The quote on page 40 says "Initial results with the new increment of Block 2B software indicate deficiencies still exist in fusion, radar, electronic warfare, navigation, EOTS, Distributed Aperture System (DAS), Helmet-Mounted Display System (HMDS) and datalink."  That says a lot.

·         Reliability/Availability/Maintainability: Reliability is poor and ranges from 30 to 39 percent behind the current objective.  The table on page 47 shows that the "availability" of the existing fleet is getting worse and has never reached, is receding from, its quite modest threshold of 50 percent at this stage in the program.  The amount of time needed to repair failures "has increased over the past year."  (Page 48.)  The Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) "is immature and behind schedule," and fixes applied to date are not working (Page 49.)

·         Survivability:  There are several problems that make it clear the F-35 is highly vulnerable, the following passage is one example of a real problem: "The fuel ingestion tests did not simulate engagements by ground-based or aircraft gun systems that are possible during low-altitude close-air support missions and within-visual-range air-to-air combat.  A Concept Demonstrator Aircraft engine test in 2005 showed the engine could not tolerate fuel ingestion events representative of such conditions (i.e., low-altitude, high speed, high-engine thrust, and higher leak rates). The program made no design changes in response to those earlier test results and this vulnerability remains in the final production engine design.  A ballistic liner in the fuel tank could mitigate this vulnerability, but the program removed this feature during its weight-reduction efforts, saving 48 pounds."

There are other details, none of them happy, such as the newly revealed cracks in the airframe. 

The report ends with a recommendation that should attract much positive attention, although it will almost certainly be roundly ignored, especially by the F-35 program office, Lockheed Martin and-therefore-Secretary of Defense Hagel.

The report recommends on page 52 that the F-35 with its block 2B software should be tested in direct comparison with legacy aircraft.  In other words, it should be empirically established if the F-35 is a step forward, or a step backward. 

For example, testing in direct comparison to the A-10 for which aircraft should perform the close air support role would be a particularly interesting exercise.  Is there a single performance characteristic that is central to the close air support mission where the F-35 can outperform the A-10?  Is there even a close air support performance criterion where it can match the A-10?

Is there someone in authority, either in DOD or Congress, who would like to find out and insist on such comparative testing?

__________________
Winslow T. Wheeler
Director
Straus Military Reform Project
Project On Government Oversight
301 791-2397 (home office)
301 221-3897 (cell)
 

President Obama's Inequality Story

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dean-baker/president-obamas-inequali_b_4676482.html

Obama To Raise Minimum Wage For Federal Contract Workers By Executive Order

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/28/obama-minimum-wage_n_4677355.html

Congress "Secretly" Approves More Weapons to Syrian Rebels

Congress "Secretly" Approves More Weapons to Syrian Rebels
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/congress-secretly-approves-more-weapons-to-syrian-rebels/

Light arms supplied by the United States are flowing to "moderate" Syrian rebel
factions in the south of the country and U.S. funding for months of further
deliveries has been approved by Congress, according U.S. and European security
officials.

The weapons, most of which are moving to non-Islamist Syrian rebels via Jordan,
include a variety of [...]

Mobile Apps Targeted by Intelligence Agencies

Mobile Apps Targeted by Intelligence Agencies
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/mobile-apps-targeted-by-intelligence-agencies/

US and British spy agencies routinely try to gain access to personal data from
Angry Birds and other mobile applications, a report says.

A National Security Agency (NSA) document shows location, website visited and
contacts are among the data targeted from mobile applications.

They are the latest report from documents leaked by Edward Snowden.

U.S. and Russia Team to Research Space Threat

U.S. and Russia Team to Research Space Threat
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/u-s-and-russia-team-to-research-space-threat/

Russian and US experts are planning to join efforts in protecting our planet
against thousands of potentially hazardous near-Earth space bodies, Russia’s
emergencies minister said.

“The collision with the Chelyabinsk meteorite last year showed that space
threats could be real and as destructive as huge fires or natural disasters on
Earth,” Vladimir Puchkov said in an [...]

Govt. Reaches Deal with Tech Firms on Data Requests

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303277704579347130452335684

The Real Problem with the U.S. Air Force

http://server1.nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-real-problem-the-us-air-force-9778

How Much is a Drone Base Worth?

http://server1.nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/how-much-drone-base-worth-9780

Tomgram: John Feffer, The Empire's New Asian Clothes

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175799/tomgram%3A_john_feffer%2C_the_empire%27s_new_asian_clothes/

Growth and globalisation cannot cure all the world’s ills

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c6f6714a-8747-11e3-9c5c-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=crm/email/2014128/nbe/Comment/product&siteedition=intl#axzz2rhdsk2hl

Editorials Opposing New Sanctions on Iran

http://armscontrolcenter.org/issues/iran/articles/editorials_opposing_new_sanctions_on_iran/

Analysis of Faults in the Menendez-Kirk Iran Sanctions Bill (S. 1881)

Analysis of Faults in the Menendez-Kirk Iran Sanctions Bill (S. 1881)


http://armscontrolcenter.org/issues/iran/articles/analysis_of_faults_in_the_menendez-kirk_iran_sanctions_bill_s_1881/

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